OHS Season 54: Bring 2 Strike 1 - Congrats Chris Perkins!

[srd717]

Fun semi-final game with Grey Waves. He banned my Dreadguls. I chose Steamroller and he countered with Mantises and Stingers. Lots of offense on both sides with neither side's defense topping 25%. Unfortunately, his Stealth Armor didn't care about my 65% offense in the early game. His battle report is excellent and sum's it up very well but I think understates how well he played Mantises in the early game. He used the battlements really well to make it impossible for me to get 4 attacks off on any given turn without giving up height or Dual Strikes on the other end. Well played and a well deserved spot in the finals.

Overall, I really enjoyed this season. I thought the bring 2 strike 1 created interesting and competitive matchups in all 6 of my matches despite the fact that I mis-balanced my two armies. While I think on the surface Wolves/Morgoloth and Dreadguls/Jotun is decently close, Guilty and Marro Warriors in comparison to 2x Mezzos as fillers significantly shifts the matchup towards Dreadguls. As a result, Dreadguls got banned in 4 of my matchups and Jotun did not get nearly as much playing time as I would have hoped.

Highlight of the season: First time top 4 in a regular OHS season. (Semifinals in the VCheese 3 Bracket was also good but significantly helped out by a first round bye).

Lowlight of the season: Getting Jedi Mind-tricked by Dok which allowed him to trample stomp 6 heavies and put 3 wounds on Grimnak in a single turn lol.

Thanks to the OHS team for another fun event and can't wait for season 55!

[superfrog]

The Finals are on Orthoptera.

The grey waves (5-0) {8} v. chris perkins (5-1) {1} armies are:

Classic Steamroller
* Crixus, Marcu Esenwein, Spartacus, Capuan Gladiatorsx3
Marro and Mantises
* Marro Stingersx3, Red Mantis Blade Dancersx4
Defense
* Arktos, B-11 Resistance Corps, Brute Gruts, Eldgrim the Viking Champion, Guilty McCreech, Raelin the Kyrie Warrior [RotV], Varkaanan Greyspears
Offense
* Estivara, Kira Jax, Quahon, Fyorlag Spidersx3, Wyvern

chris perkins chooses who picks first grey waves chooses who places first

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by superfrog

The Finals are on Orthoptera.

The grey waves (5-0) {8} v. chris perkins (5-1) {1} armies are:

Classic Steamroller
* Crixus, Marcu Esenwein, Spartacus, Capuan Gladiatorsx3
Marro and Mantises
* Marro Stingersx3, Red Mantis Blade Dancersx4
Defense
* Arktos, B-11 Resistance Corps, Brute Gruts, Eldgrim the Viking Champion, Guilty McCreech, Raelin the Kyrie Warrior [RotV], Varkaanan Greyspears
Offense
* Estivara, Kira Jax, Quahon, Fyorlag Spidersx3, Wyvern

chris perkins chooses who picks first grey waves chooses who places first

Finals going down Wednesday Dec. 6th @ 8 pm Eastern.

Draft:
I chose to pick first.
Grey Waves chose to ban Defense.
I chose to pick Offense.
Grey Waves chose to pick Marro and Mantises.

[Grey Waves]

Originally Posted by superfrog

The Finals are on Orthoptera.

The grey waves (5-0) {8} v. chris perkins (5-1) {1} armies are:

Classic Steamroller
* Crixus, Marcu Esenwein, Spartacus, Capuan Gladiatorsx3
Marro and Mantises
* Marro Stingersx3, Red Mantis Blade Dancersx4
Defense
* Arktos, B-11 Resistance Corps, Brute Gruts, Eldgrim the Viking Champion, Guilty McCreech, Raelin the Kyrie Warrior [RotV], Varkaanan Greyspears
Offense
* Estivara, Kira Jax, Quahon, Fyorlag Spidersx3, Wyvern

chris perkins chooses who picks first grey waves chooses who places first

Starting now!

Edit: Chris is finishing up a work call so should be starting in a few minutes instead

[Chris Perkins]

I got the win in finals for my 5th OHS title tonight behind some absurd dice that really didn't give Grey Waves much of a fighting chance in this one.

I had debated with myself for a long time on how to open in this game, with a few options / considerations.

• Option 1 was sending the Wyvern to Valda on OM1, with then moving Estivara on OM2. The issue was there wasn't a great Estivara spot 7 moves away, as I wanted shadow/jungle to cover her for a possible stinger opening. I also didn't like this play if I won init, because it would give a ton of attacks down on Wyvern in Rd 1.
• Option 2 was sending the Wyvern to Valda on OM1 and then taking 2 more turns with spiders where Quahon moves 14 spaces across the board to bash the SZ while (hopefully) taking the init glyph. This option is great if I lose Rd 1 init and not so great if I win it.
• Option 3 (which I ended up going with) was slow-rolling out of my SZ quite a bit. This included Estivara OM1 to get forward a bit, then advancing Wyvern & Quahon 1 OM each while spider spread out. This is less good if Grey Waves open Stingers & wins init, because he might get some heighted shots on Quahon that way if they just rush forward (with Valda on OM2). But, having played into this army in Rd 4 (and watching a few other elimination games) I kinda thought Grey Waves would open Mantises, so I decided to go this route as I thought it was better/smoother into the Mantises opening regardless of whether I won init or not.

Rd 1 I go Estivara/Spider/Spider(Spider) & GWs goes all Mantises. I win init and move up Estivara. GW ends up developing the bulk of his Mantises over the round, rather than charging in with just a few. I advance some spiders and send Wyvern to height in a spot where he blocks the norther approach to my SZ and then send Quahon into the middle where she can threaten more of the board.

Rd 2 I go all Spiders & GWs goes all Mantises. I win init. Quahon advances and hits 3 Mantises with a 1/4 that still manages to kill 1. Spiders advance and take 1 attack from height, which misses. GWs misses the attack into Quahon (who had height) & an adjacent spider but kills the forward most spider. That was the only time GW got multiple attacks off from the same Mantis, as I was able to spread out more effectively to deny it after that. Quahon takes an LEA (miss) to bomb the SZ, killing 2 Stingers, while spiders spread out and engage some more Mantises. Mantises double-engage Quahon and do a few wounds. Quahon then sends a chain through one of those Mantises that goes 2/4 and ends up killing all 3 Mantises (2 with 5 defense) for a massive swing in my favor. GWs ends the round by double-engaging Quahon again and killing 1 spider. I took Dagmar on OM2 & Valda on OM3.

Rd 3 I go all Spiders & GWs switches to all Stingers. I win init, Quahon takes 2 LEAs, and kills 3 of the 4 Stingers in the middle SZ pod while a spider blocks in the 3 Stingers left in the top pod. GWs advances around and into water to get more shots off on Quahon, but fails the drain with a 3 to kill a Stinger and really sink the nail into the coffin. Quahon takes 1 more LEA (a stinger that had engaged her) (miss) to hit 2 Stingers + 1 Mantis in the top SZ pod, but rolls a 1/4 that all 3 block. Spiders come in to tie up the Stingers. 1 Stinger takes an LEA (hits), another attacks a spider, and the last one attacks up into Quahon (drain successful) but she blocks the 4v4. Quahon rolls another poor attack but kills 1 figure and spiders kill another Stinger.

The rest of the game was mostly just mop-up duty, with just 3 Mantises floating around the board. I won init again in Rd 4 and Quahon started single-engaging them to take 6v4s while spiders tied up the others (they were out of range for LBSA). End game was slightly protracted as I was still avoiding giving a Mantis 2 attacks in 1 turn, but Quahon & the spiders clean them up without too much trouble.

I win with Quahon (4 life), Wyvern + Estivara (full health), half my spiders, and an un-used Kira Jax for a final game state that accurately depicts GWs dice tonight. GWs ends up going 0/8 on Stealth Armor rolls, which is brutal and nearly impossible to recover from.

GGs Grey Waves, tough one given how it played out.