VC and NHSD (2014)

[Xotli]

Well, it was another NHSD in SoCal, and there are three important take-aways AFAIC:

• We actually managed two more participants this year than last year. Still only a total of 10 folks, which is less than a third of what we could expect in the game's heydey, but it means that our attendance is up for the first time in years.
• Since I supplied armies for 70% of the attendees, most of them included at least one VC unit, and at least one (mine) was 100% VC start-to-finish.
• I contributed an extra Van Nessing, plus high-quality card provided by Xorlof, to our prize table. This year it was the only prize we had other than the cash we get out of entrance fees, which we typically divvy up into piles of decreasing amounts. First place in the tourney gets their pick of whatever prizes we have, second place gets pick of what's left, and so forth. This year our grand prize winner, who had an all-classic army, chose Van Nessing over the biggest pile of cash.

I choose to interpret this as proof positive that VC is having a positive impact on keeping Heroscape alive.


Highlights from the VC armies:


I brought the only all-VC army:

• 055 Kursus
• 315 Gorillitroopers x3
• 150 Beakface Sneaks x5
• 520 Total

The 'troopers are the highlight of this army. Kursus is mainly there to round out the points and provide a bonding option should one be needed. The Sneaks serve a similar function to rats: get in the opponent's way and screen the 'troopers. They're not quite as effective at this as rats, of course, but they get the job done. Evasive means they can survive the opponent's range attacks, and Flocking keeps them scrambling around the board, as long as they can keep attacking.

The 'troopers have that great option of bonding plus a strong melee attack, or go for the ranged attack, and then decide whether to stay put and shoot twice, or jockey for better position but only shoot once. This makes them highly flexible, and their Tough makes them hard to kill. Their primary weaknesses are being a two-man squad (somewhat mitigated by the possibility of being able to shoot 3 or 4 times), and a moderately short range (5) and average move (5).

Kursus is mostly useless. Using the bonding means giving up the chance to turn 2 melee attacks into up to 4 ranged attacks, and his stats just don't warrant it. Certainly he's never worth putting an actual OM on. And, with 3D and 3 life, he's not gonna stick around long. And his primary power is a (potentially) suicidal SA. However, once I figured out from the first couple of games how unlikely he was to be much of a factor, I actually felt much better about taking the risk with Sonic Fists. I mean, why not? If he dies, he's not really any less useless than he is just sitting over there playing target. In the last game of the tourney, I lept onto Thorgrim's head, dealt one wound each to both him and Alastair, and took out 3 MacDirk Warriors. Of course, he died the very next turn, since he was at that point surrounded by the enemy, but it was so worth it.

Now, understand one thing: I am a strictly mediocre tourney player. I love the game, but I'm never a threat to anyone in competitive play. In my six previous tourneys, the only times I didn't come in dead center of the pack were the time I came in dead last, and the time I came in next-to-last. This year, I came in fourth out of 10, and I managed to beat one of our best players. Now, admittedly, he had some atrocious die rolls (his first 3 defense rolls for his KMA were all whiffs, meaning I took out the entire squad before they could kill a single one of my figures), but still: I offed 9 minions and Atlaga while only losing about two-thirds of my army. In my final game of the night, I came within 7 points of the win against the MacDirk army, including wiping out two squads of rats ... if my opponent hadn't had Isamu, I'd have won by 3. (Thus my new catchphrase: I lost by Isamu! ) In the end, I came out 2 and 2, with the highest SoS of the 2-game-winners.


My elder son's friend was playing 'Scape for the 3rd time in his life, not coincidentally attending his 3rd tourney. He went with a Nicky and the Thralls army:

• 140 Nicholas Esenwein
• 060 Preyblood Thrall x2
• 090 Deathstrike Thrall x3
• 090 Bloodburst Thrall x3
• 140 Mohicans x2
• 520 Total

Here, the Mohicans provide some much-needed ranged support, who also aren't afraid to get their hands dirty by charging in for melee attacks. They have no one to answer their War Cry, but their Concealment is still an important factor.

This particular thrall composition is probably not the one I would have chosen--I would have dialed down the Deathstrikes and maybe gone for one more Bloodburst--but it served our friend well. When I went up against him, I soon discovered how useless Tough is against Rupture. And Nicholas can be just as scary as Cyprien, as long as you play him more conservatively. With only 5 life and no Stealth Flying, you need to pretty cautious, especally about Overextending (in my game, our friend only used it once, and only when he knew it was the final round of the game and judged it worth the risk). But if you do play it cautious, you can take Nicky from mostly-dead to only-a-little-dead in just a couple of turns, and bring back any dead thralls you have lying around while you're at it. Trust me: I'm speaking from experience here. If the game goes to points, erasing wounds and bringing back dead figures can make a huge difference.

This year, our friend (who came in dead last his first year and middle-of-the-pack his second) came in second place overall, with 3 wins, tie on SoS with our other 3-game-winner (that would be the minion/KMA army), and right around 100 pts to edge him into near-victory.


The remaining armies with VC components didn't fare as well: our Quahon player didn't manage to replicate on the field the fearsomeness she's ascribed here in the forums, and my elder son couldn't get his points worth out of Mok, in both cases no doubt due to the giant targets painted on their backs. Still, all-or-significantly-VC armies pulled 2nd and 4th place, and that's not too shoddy IMHO. And I think some of our diehard classic-only guys may be rethinking their stance on VC units.

I'd love to hear anyone else's experiences with VC units on NHSD!