2020 C3V Playtest Tournament - (Congrats vegietarian18)

[Chris Perkins]

The Chris Perkins v. AgentWard pool of armies is:

* Weakness to Bug Spray: Amberhive Protectors x4, Amberhive Queen, Sujoah
* Ugly Orcs: Horned Skull Brutes x3, Goblin Cutters x3, Bugbear Basher x2, Isamu
* The Outsiders Strike Back: Children of the Dark Star x3, Z'Thoth Mouth of the Abyss, Agga-Zemir, Eldgrim
* Agressive Negotiation: deathknights of Valkrill x2, Ranjit Singh, Boreos, Krav Maga Agents, Marcu Esenwein

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

Playing today @ 2:30 pm EST.

[Son of Arathorn]

It’s been a while since I did OHS. When placing armies, does the first player place their entire army and then the second player places their entire army, or do we take turns placing 1 army card’s worth of figures until all figures are placed?

[kevindola]

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

It’s been a while since I did OHS. When placing armies, does the first player place their entire army and then the second player places their entire army, or do we take turns placing 1 army card’s worth of figures until all figures are placed?

entire army

[Son of Arathorn]

Thanks kd!

[dok]

Originally Posted by Heroscaper Guy

Point Total: 500 Points
Map: Valledonn’s Fortress
Glyphs: Valda; Wannok
Hero - Army: Ranjit, Rygarn, Marro Warriors, Syvarris, Deathreavers
Dok - Army: Axentia, Siiv, a crap ton of Xulatica Fire Ants (okay it was x5)

Which units survived?
12 Ants, 1/2 Siiv

General Battle Report/Flow of game (be as detailed or general as you like)

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1
OM 1 deathreavers,
OM 2 Syvarris did 2 wounds to Axentia
OM 3 Rygarn did 1 wound
Axentia did one wound to herself and 3 to syvarris

Round 2
OM 1 Syvarris did 2 wounds to axentia
Enemy 1 axentia killed him
OM 2 Axentia is killed by marro. Phoenix rising kills one marro and 2 reavers
Enemy OM 2 Axentia kills a marro
OM 3 Rygarn deals 2 wounds to axentia
OM 3 Axentia is dealt a leaving engagement wound and doesn’t kill a marro

Round 3
Enemy 1 Axentia kills a marro
OM 1 Other marro runs to valda and doesn’t clone
Enemy om 2 Ranjit is dealt 2 wounds by axentia
OM 2 Rygarn deals a wound
OM 2 enemy Ranjit was dalt 2 wounds
OM 3 Ranjit whiffed

Round 4
OM 1 Deathreavers move up
Enemy om 1 Ants move up and try and sting unsuccessfully
OM 2 Axentia is dealt a wound by rygarn
Enemy om 2 Ants kill a few reavers
OM 3 Ranjitt kills axentia
Enemy om 3 Ants come forward and fail at attacking
End of round Wannok wounds siiv

Round 5
OM 1 Deathreavers kill an ant
Enemy OM 1 The ants kill a reaver
OM 2 Rygarn kills an ant
Enemy om 2 ants kill 2 reavers
OM 3 Ranjit removes the ants x
Enemy om 3 Ranjit dealt a wound and a reaver killed
End of round Rygarn takes wannok

Round 6
OM 1 Ranjit removes om 1 and kills an ant
Enemy om 1 skipped
OM 2 Rygarn kills an ant
Enemy OM 2Ants do nothing
OM 3 Deathreavers do nothing
Enemy om 3Ants kill the marro and wannok deals a wound

Round 7
OM 1 Ranjit does lion and kills an ant
Enemy om 1 Ants kill 2 reavers and wound rygarn
OM 2 Rygarn kills an ant
Om 2 is revealed
OM 3 Deathreavers do nothing
Enemy om 3 Ants kill a few reavers and wannok does another

Round 8
OM 1 Ranjit removes an om and kills an ant
Enemy om 1 Last deathreaver is killed om shuffled to rygarn
OM 2 Rygarn kill an ant
Enemy om 2 The ants kill them all off picking off rygarn losing an om and then ranjit

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?
So a lot of the powers were used this game (which makes sense over 8 rounds). Axentia was a shark and proved a bit annoying to remove with her rebirth causing me to have to kill her all over again at a bad time (since i couldnt kill others with the marro so it was wasted), and her burn was used on her once and on Syvarris once (I think, it was a long day, and its what i have in my notes). The Rebirth killed a Marro and two reavers. Ranjit's boost was used each round and his OM power and while it was "succesful" each time I rolled, I did miss one time where I pulled an x. I liked Ranjit, he seemed more interesting than i thought at first glance, while Axentia was a bit annoying. She might need a reduction in life/other stats (to make it so you dont have to deal 14 damage) or an increase in points, but I'm guessing other tests will tell.

This is a solid summary of the game. A few thoughts, mostly just emphasizing points above:

• Axentia takes a long time to kill
  
  
• Phoenix Rising triggered in a highly advantageous way for me this game. Not only did it kill 3 figures including the Marro that attacked it, but since the other three Marro had no targets in range aside from Axentia, it wasted the remainder of their attacks. This ended up having a huge impact on the game as Axentia lived long enough to track down and kill two more Marro Warriors.
  
  I don't think this is an issue, thematically - it makes sense that Axentia doesn't rise from the ashes instantaneously. But it means that a lot of the time, she's even tougher than you'd think for 14 life.
  
  
• One of the nice things about Ranjit is that when you start actually revealing numbered OMs on him, Diplomatic Subterfuge keeps those turns pretty efficient.

[Son of Arathorn]

The Knight of Scape v. Son of Arathorn pool of armies is:

* Rainbow Alliance: Ranjit Singh, Syvarris, Krav Maga Agents, Zetacron, Marro Warriors, Siiv, Isamu
* Makwa Hunting Party: Teeth of the Makwa x5, Makwa Tribesman x1, Raelin (RotV), Kira Jax
* Bugs in Black: Amberhive Protectors x4, Sujoah, Krav Maga Agents, Isamu
* ALIENS: Children of the Dark Star x4, Agga-Zemir, Marro Warriors, Black Wyrmling x2

Knight of Scape chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, Son of Arathorn chooses who places first.

We'll be getting underway here in about 45 minutes, barring a delay or early start.

[caps]

Originally Posted by capsocrates

This game will go down at 1830MT/2030ET this Thursday

Getting underway here pretty soon. Voice will be here.

[Chris Perkins]

Played with AgentWard earlier today.

Which units survived?
AgentWard won with 3 HSBs, 4 Cutters, 1 full life Bugbear, & 1 2-life bugbear.

General Battle Report/Flow of game
I moved Sujoah to Valda and had 8 move protectors for the first 3 rounds. Rounds 1 & 2 consisted mostly of trading cutters & protectors (very slow and tedious opening, neither had much attack and with the cutters scurrying everywhere). We each traded like 3-6 of those low-cost units before AgentWard moved onto the HSBs. The cutters had brought my queen down to 1 life, which the HSBs finished off quickly. With my needing to use Special Attacks (killing my own figures) to do much damage to the HSBs, that engagement went in AgentWard's favor and I was never able to get the HSBs below one full squad.

How useful were the playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?
Amberhive Queen: The Queen's initiative boost was activated in round 2 & 3. Round 2 it was not enough to overcome AW's roll but in round 3 it made the difference to win me initiative. The Queen had very few chances to give a 2nd attack to my Protectors, and the only one that hit led to another futile 1-attack against a HSB.

Amberhive Protectors: Had to use their SA when attacking HSBs when at level ground because 1 v 4 was so useless. When I had height, I generally used a 2-attack regular attack instead of the SA to save some protectors.

Bugbear Basher: Only activated one on a single OM; had minimal to no effect on the game.

Any additional comments
Amberhive protectors v. cutters wasn't the world's most interesting matchup; lots of very low attacks and not much happening on each OM. The protectors were quite fun, especially at 8 move for most of the game with valda. Sujoah is still over priced; frankly, a 50-90 point uncommon hero that you could bring 2 of would be a more interesting and probably competitive army. The army would be helped alot by include MWs, but so would almost every army. Probably not the best army for Raelin or Rats though.

Thanks for the game AgentWard.

[caps]

Originally Posted by capsocrates

This game will go down at 1830MT/2030ET this Thursday

Valledon Fortress
caps
B-11 Resistance Fighters, Brute Gruts, Axentia, Rygarn, Kursus
vs
CaptainStupendous
12th Cacusus Rifles x3, Cathar Spearmen x2, Motley Max, Guilty McCreech

Round-by-round

Spoiler Alert!

Round1
Cathars move up
Brute gruts move up
Cathars move up
Axentia moves up, harming herself with Immolation
Caucasus Rifles attack Axentia from lower ground, putting 1 wound on her
Axentia engages a Cathar and Rifle and kills a Cathar with her normal attack (no spears or immolations occurred)

Round2
Cathars reposition and put 3 wounds on Axentia
Axentia leaves engagement from a Rifle, taking a wound, and decides to land next to two Cathars and a Rifle (no spears or immolations occurred), she then kills a Cathar with her normal attack
The remaining adjacent Cathar safely left engagement and then it attacked Axentia along with two others; they killed her, and Phoenix Rising took out a Rifle
Safely unengaged, Axentia engages Motley Max and whiffs against him
Rifles put a wound on Axentia
Axentia's 2/5 attack on Max was blocked

Round3
Axentia finally lands a solid hit (4/5) on Max who resists poorly 1/3
Cathars swarm Axentia, putting 3 wounds on her
Axentia is blocked by Motley max (2/5)
Cathars put 2 more wounds on Axentia
Axentia kills Motley Max (4/5)
Rifles finish off Axentia and kill a Brute Grut

Round4
Brutes advance, killing a Cathar
Rifles kill a Brute
Brute OM Chrono-keyed over to B-11s who kill the only Rifle in sight
Rifles advance and put 2 wounds on Rygarn
B-11s advance, taking the move glyph and killing 1 Rifle
Cathars advance, but cannot kill any B-11s

Round5
Kursus Sonic Fists at a Rifle and Cathar (3/5) but the Cathar blocks
Cathars advance and kill two B-11s and Kursus
B-11s kill a Cathar
Cathar take Wannok and kill the last Brute Grut and another B-11
Last B-11 kills the Cathar on Wannok
Rifles ping the B-11 and miss

Round6
Rifles take height and kill the last B-11 (taking all 3 OMs)
OM1 Chrono-Keyed to Rygarn, who kills a Rifle
Last Rifle takes height and puts a wound on Rygarn
OM lost on B-11s
Cathars attack Rygarn
OM lost

Round7
Rygarn temporal jumps away from Cathar
Rygarn kills a Cathar
Cathar chase Rygarn
Rygarn kills another Cathar
Cathar is blocked by Rygarn
Rygarn is blocked by Cathar

Round8
Rygarn kills the last Cathar
Rifle Gas Grenades Rygarn to death

Stats

Spoiler Alert!

caps
Attack rolls: 58 out of 98 (59.18%)
Defense rolls: 43 out of 127 (33.86%)
Total dice rolled: 225

CaptainDude
Attack rolls: 67 out of 145 (46.21%)
Defense rolls: 32 out of 96 (33.33%)
Total dice rolled: 241

Which units survived?
CaptainStupendous won with 1xRifle and Guilty McCreech

General Battle Report/Flow of game
I spent my first OM rolling out Brute Gruts, which was probably a mistake. Meanwhile Cathars were rolling out to meet the onslaught of Axentia. She killed a pair of them with her normal attack and then by the time she died she was engaged with just one Rifle. The Cathars did not engage her after Phoenix Rising so she flew over to hammer on Motley Max. She had some dud rolls but after 5 or 6 OMs she managed to kill him right before the Cathars and Rifles finished her off.
The rest of the game was the rest of my army trying to finish off the rest of his. I made some poor decisions with my B-11s and they ultimately had less impact than I would have liked. But with 1 life left Rygarn hit his one and only successful Temporal Jump to move onto the road, which he then used on his turn to get out of the reach of the remaining Cathar while still being able to attack them. He ended up single-handedly finishing off the Cathar, but then whiffed against a Gas Grenade.

CaptainStupendous never held any of the glyphs (when they would have mattered) and never got a Braced Spear roll
I never held Wannok and only held Valda briefly; I also never got Immolation to hit, except once against Axentia

How useful were the playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?
Axentia: Only got one Immolation roll and it was against herself, but she drew a lot of attention, killed 2xCathar with her normal attack, 1xRifle with her death, and then killed Motley Max with her normal attack. Despite her bad luck, she managed to "take her points" (~135 Motley Max + 37 2xCathars + 30 1xRifle = 202 points)
Motley Max: Never got an OM, but he drew Axentia's attention. 0 points taken

Any additional comments
I enjoyed the game, and Axentia, although I would have liked her to pull off some Immolation rolls.

[Knight of Scape]

Point Total: 500
Map: Valledonn’s Fortress
Glyphs: Valda; Wannok

KoS: Teeth of the Makwa x5, Makwa Tribesman x1, Raelin (RotV), Kira Jax
SoA: Children of the Dark Star x4, Agga-Zemir, Marro Warriors, Black Wyrmling x2

Which units survived?
SoA resigned when I had 6 Teeth of the Makwa as well as the Makwa Tribesman and Kira Jax both at full health, while SoA had one black wyrmling and one Child of the Dark Star. (I had killed off his OMs for the round on turn 1, so I would highly likely have mopped up his last two units with no losses).

General Battle Report/Flow of game (be as detailed or general as you like)

Spoiler Alert!

In round 1 I put all three OMs on the Makwa Tribesman in order to mobilize as many of my Teeth as possible with Makwa Hunting Party. This let me make a play for both glyphs and put a bunch of units in position to climb onto the height. SoA led out with the marro warriors. They failed to inflict any damage on the Makwa, thanks to some bad attack rolls on their part and some good Shield of the Great Bear rolls on my part, but they did give Raelin 3 wounds. The Tribesman killed two of the marro warriors, and I was able to grab Wannok and also keep SoA off of Valda (which would have been much more useful for his army than for mine). Hunt of the Makwa came into play only on the third turn here, since before that I didn't have any tribesman close enough to give a second attack.

In round 2 I brought Raelin up and started attacking with the teeth. I used the third OM to move the Tribesman to a more favorable position and get two attacks with him. The rest of the game was mostly my Makwa continually reinforcing and holding the central hill against charging Children.

The Tribesman only got one more numbered OM the whole rest of the game. Most rounds I was putting all four OMs on the Teeth (X because of Agga's Spreading Madness) because I already had enough of them developed to ensure I'd get three decent attacks in.

SoA tried to establish a foothold with the children and Agga, but I kept killing off the children almost as fast as they could climb up, and eventually their numbers ran out. SoA did manage to assassinate Raelin with the Black Wyrmlings, which left the Teeth completely defenseless against the Children, but by then there were just too few of them to turn the tide. Agga was sturdy, but eventually fell to repeated strikes from the Makwa, and was limited in what he could do with only one attack per activation.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

Spoiler Alert!

As far as I remember, the Makwa Tribesman was only attacked 3 times (twice by Marro Warriors and once by Agga) and he blocked all three attacks, so his Shield of the Great Bear never came into play (the Teeth's SotGB on the other hand was really useful).

Hunt of the Makwa allowed the Tribesman to get an additional attack 3 of the five times he was activated (the only times he couldn't use it were on the first two turns of the game, and on the first turn he couldn't attack at all). While it wasn't too hard to activate, this power did force me to think differently about how to place the Tribesman and the Teeth to try to help him get his second attack.

The Tribesman's decent offensive potential and his ability to activate Hunt of the Makwa let me gain a lot of board control. Initially I wondered if having multiple Tribesmen would be better, but since his main utility was in the early game when I needed to develop my Teeth and he fell off once I could consistently get three attack with Teeth, I think SoA was right to not bother targeting the Tribesman and having more than one of him wouldn't have helped me.

Agga-Zemir's approaching doom came into play on the first 3 or 4 turns, letting him fly towards the center while the Marro warriors were fighting the Teeth over the glyphs. By the middle of the second round, however, Agga-Zemir was engaged, and he stayed engaged pretty much until he died (since I didn't want him to fly off and kill Raelin or take height on a Tooth), so he didn't get to use approaching doom.

Spreading Madness was significant. It's because of this power that I chose to use this army instead of my Ranjit Singh one, which I felt like would have been wrecked by Spreading Madness. It was still very annoying for this army, but 2 out of the 5 times SoA got to use it he hit my X OM, so it wasn't nearly as impactful as it could have been. In round 2, SM forced me to take an extra turn with Raelin, but I used it to retreat her to a better defended position, which wasn't awful. In rounds 3 and 4, spreading madness moved my X to Raelin. By round 5, Raelin was dead, so all SM could do was move an OM to Kira Jax, which wasn't nearly as bad for me. I only got a single attack of 3 on those turns, but I got to move 6 Makwa. In round 6 Agga again moved an OM from the Teeth to Kira, and Kira used that OM to kill Agga.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?

Spoiler Alert!

I like the tension that "Hunt of the Makwa" creates with "Hunting Party". Since the Teeth move after the Tribesman, it's tempting to charge forward with him to immediately get shots in, but if he hangs back with his fellow Makwa, he can get two attacks. "Hunt of the Makwa" also forced me to consider my "Hunting Party" movements more carefully, trying to ensure that even if SoA engaged the Tribesman and/or killed one of my Teeth, I'd still be able to get the second attack in. The Tribesman seems like a good fit in a Makwa army, providing a cheap way to activate the Teeth's powerful movement ability, while packing more of an offensive punch than other cheap scouts or tribesmen.

Agga-Zemir's power level seems highly dependent on the matchup and on his ability to guess the right OM to move. More chance dependent than I really like, but such units are certainly an established part of Heroscape canon. He definitely felt scary to face, although ultimately with my army I felt it was best to just eat the madness and focus on taking out Children, because Agga's own offensive abilities are pretty mediocre, particularly against an army built of cheap squad figures.

[Cuzmo_of_Gilead]

The Scaperedude v. Cuzmo_of_Gilead pool of armies is:
* Motley Bunch: Marro Stingers x3, Nakita Agents, Motley Max, Izumi Samurai
* The Frying Pan: Warforged Soldiers x4, Axentia
* Nilfheim to the Max: Greenscale Warriors x3, Nilfheim, Motley Max
* Marcus Rising: Roman Legionnaires x3, Axentia, Marcus Decimus Gallus, Me-Burq-Sa, Marcu Esenwein
Cuzmo_of_Gilead chooses which army to play first or may defer. After armies are picked, Scaperedude chooses who places first.

This should be going down in about an hour (9 EST). Armies have not been chosen yet.

[Dysole]

AYP and I getting set. He has Ranjit and co. I have ants and a BIG BEE.

~Dysole, curious to see how the swarm plays