2019 C3V Playtest Tournament - Complete (Congrats dok)

[BiggaBullfrog]

Originally Posted by Dysole

I'd feel real leery having only 2 runners in my army.

~Dysole, punching in options

Really? I was thinking that 2 is the sweet spot -- 1 doesn't give you security but 3 is taking up too many points and Marro Warriors would better cover any weaknesses, as well as help stall mid-game if things go south and you need a round to bulk up the li'l guys. Of course you'd also have to go pretty try hard and keep them close to or in your start zone, but you'd do that with 3 anyway. Of course, I've only played the WW faction twice, but I think both were with 2 Runners and I felt comfortable even without going full try hard. That said, I believe you've got more experience with them than I do and I definitely consider you a better player.

[kevindola]

Anybody who might be lurking or on the fence, go ahead and sign up!. The commitment is 1 game every 2 weeks so pretty light.

I'll be closing sign ups tomorrow evening to roll out Round 1 Monday morning.

[kevindola]

Looking for one more entrant to give us an even number. Thanks!

[kevindola]

If there is anyone who wants to signup late today, please send me a PM and I can work you in no problem. Good luck to everyone and don't forget once your game is complete to PM me or post in the thread here the results using the format in the OP as a guideline for information to include in your write up. Thanks to everyone participating!


Round 1 is on Wyrmwalk (Treasure Glyph x4)

The Taeblewalker v. Toogwick_Tuk pool of armies is:

* : Marro Drudge x3, Othkurik, Re-Tak-Shi, Iskra Esenwein, Rechets of Bogdan
* : Mohican River Tribe x3, Makwa Bowhunter x3, Brave Arrow, Raelin (SotM), Marcu Esenwein
* : Kurrok the Elementalist, Re-Tak-Shi, Water Elementals x9
* : Mohican River Tribe x3, Teeth of the Makwa x2, Makwa Bowhunter x3, Brave Arrow

Toogwick_Tuk chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, Taeblewalker chooses who places first.

The AgentWard v. Kinseth pool of armies is:

* : 12th Caucasus Rifles x2, Roman Legion x3, Marcus Gallus, Me-Burq-Sa, Patrick Ferguson, Isamu
* : Venoc Warlord, Venoc Vipers x5, Clawfoot Interceptor x3
* All your Hatred belongs to us: Acolytes of Vorganund x5, Skull Demon x3
* Are we in New Jersey yet?: Wildwood Monarch, Wildwood Sentinel x1, Wildwood Runner x5

Kinseth chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, AgentWard chooses who places first.

The vegietarian18 v. flameslayer93 pool of armies is:

* : Beakface Sneaks x4, Quorik Warwitch, Clawfoot Interceptor x2, Eltahale
* : Acolytes of Vorganund x4, Corvor the Tainted One, Krav Maga Agents
* The Rebellious Order Marker: Capuan Gladiatros x2, 53rd North Carolina Sharpshooters x3, Priscus, Capt Nathaniel Blount
* Red Dwarf: 12th Caucasus Rifles x2, Shieldsmiths x3, Concan, Air Elemental

flameslayer93 chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, vegietarian18 chooses who places first.

The Sir Heroscape v. Zetsubo pool of armies is:

* Berserk Birdmen: Beakface Sneaks x5, Clawfoot Interceptor x2, Quorik Warwitch, Rygarn, Marcu Esenwein
* Blood and Tears: Acolytes of Vorganund x5, Morgoloth, Skull Demon
* Tree People: Wildwood Monarch, Wildwood Sentinel x2, Wildwood Runner x3, Bol
* Snipers and Vipers: Venoc Vipers x3, 53rd North Carolina Sharpshooters x3, Venoc Warlord, Capt. Nathaniel Blount

Sir Heroscape chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, Zetsubo chooses who places first.

The Flash_19 v. Dysole pool of armies is:

* : 12th Caucasus Rifles x3, Roman Legion x3, Marcus Gallus, Siiv
* : Acolytes of Vorganund x4, Corvor the Tainted One, Van Nessing
* If at Firs, You Don't Sucseed...: Wildwood Monarch, Wildwood Sentinel x2, Wildwood Runner x3, Isamu
* ...Tribe, Tribe Again.: Mohican River Tribe x3, Teeth of the Makwa x2, Makwa Bowhunter x3, Brave Arrow

Flash_19 chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, Dysole chooses who places first.

The Maklar the Silver Prince v. Leaf_It pool of armies is:

* : Teeth of Makwa x5, Makwa Bowhunter x5
* : deathreavers x2, 12th Caucasus Rifles x4, Augamo
* Wild Would: Wildwood Monarch, Wildwood Sentinel x2, Wildwood Runner x3
* Birdothers From Another Mother: Beakface Sneaks x7, Quorik Warwitch, Clawfoot Interceptors x3

Maklar the Silver Prince chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, Leaf_It chooses who places first.

The All Your Pie v. kevindola pool of armies is:

* Wet Dry World: Kurrok the Elementalist, Re-Tak-Shi, Fire Elemental x5, Water Elemental x3
* Blue-Green Midrange: Wildwood Monarch, Wildwood Sentinel x2, Wildwood Runner x2, Zetacron
* One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Roman Legion x3, Venoc Warlord, Ne-Gok-Sa, Me-Burq-Sa, Clawfoot Interceptor, Bol
* Acolytic Converter: Acolytes of Vorganund x3, 12th Caucasus Rifles x3, Morgoloth

All Your Pie chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, kevindola chooses who places first.

The Heroscaper Guy v. superfrog pool of armies is:

* hey demons, it's me ya boi: Acolytes of Vorganund x4, Corvor the Tainted One, Skull demon, Siiv
* grey and black 2.0: Capt Nathaniel Blount, Calibrax the Kyrie Warrior, 53rd north carolina sharpshooters x5
* Goliath's Goblin Grenades: 12th Caucasus x4, Goblin Cutters x3, Eltahale
* Swamp Two Ways: Marro Drudge x3, Durgeth Ravagers x2, Re-Tak-Shi, Uzog

Heroscaper Guy chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, superfrog chooses who places first.


The Chris Perkins v. dok pool of armies is:

* Are the Drudge Playable Now? : Marro Drudge x5, Re-Tak-Shi, Tul-Bak-Ra, Isamu
* D20 > Defense Dice ?: Mohican River Tribe x4, Makwa Bowhunter x5, Brave Arrow, Marcu Esenwein
* Dances with Gryphillins: Mohican River Tribe x4, Makwa Bowhunter x1, Brave Arrow, Capt. Nathaniel Blount, Theracus, Bol
* Out of Bounds!: Acolytes of Vorganund x3, Skull Demon x2, Corvor the Tainted One, Drow Chainfighter x1

dok chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, Chris Perkins chooses who places first.

[Heroscaper Guy]

Originally Posted by kevindola

Round 1 is on Wyrmwalk (Treasure Glyph x4)

The Heroscaper Guy v. superfrog pool of armies is:

* hey demons, it's me ya boi: Acolytes of Vorganund x4, Corvor the Tainted One, Skull demon, Siiv
* grey and black 2.0: Capt Nathaniel Blount, Calibrax the Kyrie Warrior, 53rd north carolina sharpshooters x5
* Goliath's Goblin Grenades: 12th Caucasus x4, Goblin Cutters x3, Eltahale
* Swamp Two Ways: Marro Drudge x3, Durgeth Ravagers x2, Re-Tak-Shi, Uzog

Heroscaper Guy chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, superfrog chooses who places first.

Superfrog and I should be playing at 4 his time, 6 central time tonight. I picked my demons, he picked the Russians.

[kevindola]

The All Your Pie v. kevindola pool of armies is:

* Wet Dry World: Kurrok the Elementalist, Re-Tak-Shi, Fire Elemental x5, Water Elemental x3
* Blue-Green Midrange: Wildwood Monarch, Wildwood Sentinel x2, Wildwood Runner x2, Zetacron
* One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Roman Legion x3, Venoc Warlord, Ne-Gok-Sa, Me-Burq-Sa, Clawfoot Interceptor, Bol
* Acolytic Converter: Acolytes of Vorganund x3, 12th Caucasus Rifles x3, Morgoloth

Playing late Saturday (8/31) night at an undefined time yet.

Acolytic Converter (kd) vs. Wet Dry World (AYP)

[All Your Pie]

[kevindola]

Originally Posted by kevindola

Playing late Saturday (8/31) night at an undefined time yet.

Acolytic Converter (kd) vs. Wet Dry World (AYP)

Time defined as now. (and/or in 20 minutes)

EDIT: And done. Re-Tak-Shi allowed a Splashy pod of doom on the height on this lava field map, and while the 12th killed all stragglers outside of the pod, Kurrok kept respawning them and whenever I did get close with the 12th they would fall to a rogue elemental (and 12th cannot be regened)

The Acolytes fared no better as 3 attacks of 5 kept them from engaging the Water Pod, and even Morgoloth's double attacks were all blocked by the Splashpad's 6 defense.

[All Your Pie]

Got the win against the Acolyte/Rifles mix.

Point Total: 475
Map: Wyrmwalk
Glyphs: 4 Treasures

AYP - Army: Kurrok, FE x5, WE x3, Re-Tak-Shi
kevindola - Army: 12th Caucases Rifles x3, Acolytes x3, Morgoloth

Which units survived?
Kurrok unwounded, RTS unwounded, 3 Water Elementals.

General Battle Report/Flow of game (be as detailed or general as you like)
A high roll on Emerge from Swamp let me immediately set up RTS in the middle of the lava hill near my starting zone. I developed the waters towards that hill and the FE towards the roads while kd moved up his rifles. For a few turns, the rifles did a pretty effective job of mowing down the FEs, but I managed to snag a kill on any of them that developed significant board position. I was trading significantly down on point value, but Kurrok was safe and I could continually summon back my elementals whenever I didn't have good attacks to make.

Eventually I got kd down to 2 rifles, and after a potentially strong grenade whiffed he switched OMs to the Acolytes. Here, he was continually hampered in developing a slow-roll due to my water elementals being able to rain 3 attacks of 5 from elevated RTS water and my ability to spawn fire elementals on the road for a suicide run, almost always killing 1 or 2 cultists. He was forced to summon Morgoloth far away because of this, making it very difficult for him to take effective turns with Dark Pact. After 3 cultists died in an attempt to reach my pod, he began putting OMs on Morgoloth solo. He defended reasonably well on the way in and had the scarab of invulnerability for backup, but he couldn't crack 6 defense WEs and didn't get a crucial initiative switch, so Morgoloth fell to a couple volleys of all three WEs attacking from height. After that, RTS emerged from swamp next to a single remaining Rifle and the elementals moved in for the kill.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?
Emerge from Swamp was used twice, both times presenting a very useful opportunity. The first round I was able to put RTS in an ideal spot without using an OM to get there. Without Emerge, I wouldn't have been able to get quite as effective a position and would have had to spend an OM for it to boot. In the middle rounds, I declined a 12-15 roll that didn't help much. In the final round, I tied up the last 12th Rifle, as kd could have grenaded every unit in my army if he won initiative. It likely wouldn't have changed the outcome of the match, but it might have been crucial if kd still had a few more units remaining.

Swamp Ooze was the crux of my strategy, boosting my water elementals on many occasions (and only once giving them a chance to water tunnel for one extra space). I almost never was able to leverage it effectively against the Rifles due to their range, but all of the 6 or so attacks I made against the Acolytes were boosted, as were all 9 of the attacks on Morgoloth. I believe they also defended 5 times with both the boost from water and elevation, and survived every time.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?
I love the theme of both of RTS's abilities, particularly Emerge from Swamp--it's a perfect match for the motion that the figure looks like it's in. Her ability certainly made the water elementals playable here, as they would have had very few good positioning options otherwise. I was quite surprised by how effective the combination was, and I enjoyed it a lot purely because I think the premise for the army is very silly--it is otherwise a very slow, turtly build which I don't normally enjoy.

Arguably, it could be seen as a negative that RTS opens up such a build, although I'm just glad to have a reason to use something besides just FEs with Kurrok. It could also be seen as a thematic failing that this build is fairly effective, possibly moreso than RTS and Drudge. I personally don't mind strange combinations working out effectively, though, so I wouldn't count that as a point against her.

A small note on the 12th Rifles, it felt odd to me that Gas Grenade reduces defense dice for the purposes of defending against the grenade itself. That does make rolling a skull on it an auto-kill against anything with 2 defense or less, and gives it decent odds against 3 or 4 dice as well. I don't think it's unthematic, as that gas historically was nasty stuff, but there are times where it's almost as strong as a standard explosion SA in and of itself, while also backed up by 2 decent attacks. I really like the basic idea of the implementation though, so the only thing I might change would be to make the Gas not lower defense against the 1 skull you roll to activate it. But, it's up to y'all if that critique bears out in the rest of the tests.

Overall, this was a really fun game and I enjoyed all of the units involved. Looking forward to the rest of the event!

[dok]

Originally Posted by kevindola

The Chris Perkins v. dok pool of armies is:

* Are the Drudge Playable Now? : Marro Drudge x5, Re-Tak-Shi, Tul-Bak-Ra, Isamu
* D20 > Defense Dice ?: Mohican River Tribe x4, Makwa Bowhunter x5, Brave Arrow, Marcu Esenwein
* Dances with Gryphillins: Mohican River Tribe x4, Makwa Bowhunter x1, Brave Arrow, Capt. Nathaniel Blount, Theracus, Bol
* Out of Bounds!: Acolytes of Vorganund x3, Skull Demon x2, Corvor the Tainted One, Drow Chainfighter x1

dok chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, Chris Perkins chooses who places first.

Starting in 10 minutes or so. We'll see if I made a terrible enough demon army.

[Cleon]

Question: if I Morsbane the Wildwood units, can they become official units because I like them so much? (and I have a similar question with the Makwa Bowhunter)

[superfrog]

Got our 18th sign-up. Stay tuned.