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dok's battle reports

Great reports overall Dok, always enjoy them. It was great to come out and see you play and get to be at GenCon with a friend. See ya soon.
 
I guess I gotta get this NHSD report down before I forget everything.

The format for the third annual Rocky Mountain Rumble was standard kill 'em all with 560 points. We were playing Rolling Rumble (no rounds; immediately start a new game when your previous one ends) leading into a semifinal and finals round.

I narrowed things down to about 5 builds pretty quickly. I was sorely tempted to dust off the zombies, which I haven't played in a long time. However, I decided to play an army I've never played in a tournament before - the Roman/Warlord/10th build:

100 Romans x2
100 MDG
50 MBS
80 Raelin RotV
225 10th Regiment x3
555, 24 spaces

I've said before that this is my favorite Roman/Warlord build, and I figured that the points would never work out better than they did here. I was a little worried about not having a special attack or special power (MBS doesn't count) - I've never gone to a prebuilt event without one before. Still, it's a very strong build with a solid theoryscape and the ability to win a lot of games by attrition.

After a little delay where I got the rest of the games going, I got to sit down for my first match.

GAME 1
Opponent: Son of Arathorn (Knights x3, Gilbert, Hawthorne, Theracus, Airborne Elite)
Map: Molten Stronghold (Potion of Healing & Scarab of Invulnerability, power side up)

My army is a sort of meatgrinder for a melee army, but a well-timed AE drop and initiative win could break my army. SoA decided not to roll for drop for the first two rounds, though, hoping to set up a strong screen with his knights before going for the drop.

My first bonding activation moved MDG forward a bit towards the middle of the map on my right-hand side, next to the lava mound with the battlements on top of it. I then moved some Redcoats out to deal with SoA's rapidly approaching Hawthorne-Theracus bomb. In round 2, the redcoats finished off Hawthorne, I moved out more Romans to block any knight advances near MDG, and I put Raelin on a (hot) perch. Poor placement with MBS left him exposed to some knights, though, and he went down fast.

From there on, it was the predictable grind through knights. While I concentrated on killing knights, Gilbert managed to work his way next to Raelin, and it only took him three attacks to kill her. Still, MDG-boosted 10th attacks brought him down, and I ended up finishing the game with MDG and a little under half of my soldiers left. The Airborne never dropped - Curran was sort of kicking himself for declining the drop roll those first two rounds.

GAME 2 (1-0 vs. 1-0)
Opponent: McCabe (Stingers x4, Hive, SBN)
Map: Remains of Clionesia (Move + Wind, no T-glyphs)

The Hive is a little tricky to play on this map, but McCabe did a nice job putting him in a spot where he would have solid sight lines on most of the middle of the map. He also had a clear sight line to the move glyph, so I knew I had to concede that.

I always dread playing 10th against stingers. The stats just aren't good. I knew I needed Raelin to stay alive for a while for me to have a chance, but I thought I had a way to pull it off. I put Raelin in the shadow of the ruin, and placed MDG/Romans to block the approach on one side. I figured that the 10th I would be ferrying up from the back would block the back side.

Things started very poorly for me, though, as MBS went down almost immediately and Raelin took 3 wounds from a stinger that slipped through. Still, at that point I had things set up the way I wanted - I had 10th at both ends of the ruin, protected by Raelin, shooting approaching stingers, with the 10th on one side boosted by MDG, and plenty of available soldiers to replace losses and keep Raelin safe.

However, at this point, my bad dice turned for the worse. McCabe was rolling for the sting every time, and while he missed it a few times, he was avoiding the dreaded 1-3 roll that would cost him a turn. I was having a lot of trouble killing Stingers, and they were having no trouble killing my 10th and Romans. Meanwhile, rebirth was cutting into the losses I was inflicting at a pretty fast rate.

Late in the game, McCabe dropped a redcoat to take me down to only three left. In desperation mode, I moved two of my remaing Redcoats outside Raelin's Aura to try to kill some of his stingers. I took down only 1, which set up the key sequence of the game.

At this point, McCabe had 4 stingers left - one on the move glyph, and three in threat range of my three surviving Redcoats. He moved them up, rolled for drain (as he had the entire game), and rolled a 1. He killed the one on the move glyph. Then on my turn, I WTF'ed, and took out all three stingers. Suddenly, I had gone from a longshot to win, to a healthy favorite. I took down SBN with only one loss, and then took out the rebirthed stinger and Hive to end things.

It was a heck of a game - my closest of the day. McCabe was a very cool opponent, both when the luck was going his way and when it turned against him. It's easy to fault him for rolling for drain when the conservative play probably wraps up the game, but McCabe had lived by the drain all game long.

GAME 3 (2-0 vs. 3-0)
Opponent: Bonesnap (Nilfheim, GSW x2, Raelin RotV, Kaemon Awa, Guilty, Marcu)
Map: Fossil (Initiative and 20-sider)

This was another strong ranged army that could disrupt my 10th pod strategy. However, as fate would have it, this was a pretty boring game. My luck was just dumb. In the first round, I moved Marcus up near my hill, while Nathan planted Nilfheim on the little hill on the same side of the map. On my next turn, I ran 10th next to MDG and pasted Nilfheim for 4 wounds with attacks of 3v6. Nilfheim was dead by the first OM of round 2.

Kaemon+Raelin is a very nice combo on Fossil, so I played conservatively with Raelin and the 10th at that point. I sent the Romans and MBS out in front to wound Raelin and clear out some of the GSWs, then finished Raelin and cleaned up Kaemon and the rest with the 10th.

This was a game that could have been interesting and tight, but ended up being a bit of a foregone conclusion when the big dragon went down in a blink. Still, it was cool to get Chinese food delivered to me (from the restaurant next door) at the table, while I played. Definitely one of the perks of Cyborg Gaming in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

SEMIFINALS
Opponent: Troy (Phantom Knights x5, Cyprien, Sonya, Isamu)
Map: When Paths Cross (Defense)

After a delay while I keyed in everyone's records to figure out strength of schedule (and we waited for the last game involving an undefeated player to end), we were finally able to seat the semifinals. I was one of the three remaining undefeated players, and I drew another one in Troy. The other semifinal pitted Elginb against my opponent from the previous round, Bonesnap.

On paper, 10th and Romans like facing the PKs, but the wrong map or glyph can flip that around, as I've discovered playing the PK side of it.

Troy opened with Cyprien while I opened with the Romans. MBS hit his first paralyzing stare of the day at an opportune time, and slapped 3 wounds on Cyprien with height. The Romans took the defense glyph, and Cyprien was dead by the first OM of round 2.

The Phantom Knights then proceeded to make my life painful. I was trying to move my figures out to the high ground, but the PKs kept engaging me in inconvenient spots and clogging up my whole army. The tight spot on the map between the big tree and the long ruin basically turned into a massive mosh pit of Romans, redcoats, and PKs. I was able to hold onto the defense glyph and keep MBS alive, but both Raelin and MDG died fairly quickly to the PK onslaught. At that point, my army was slow, too - I forgot how annoying Romans are without the move bonus. I was frequently unable to get a full activation's worth of attacks on Roman turns, and on 10th turns I was often reduced to shooting from range, which predictable results. This was the only game of the day where I really missed having a special attacker.

Still, with the defense glyph, and the sheer number of troops at my disposal, attrition was decidedly in my favor. Eventually I was able to seal up all of the spots where the PKs could claim height advantage, and clean up the remainder of the PKs. Isamu whiffed on his second vanish.

FINALS??
Opponent: Bonesnap

After the semifinals ended, I had to take care of prizing people out before some folks started to leave. By the time I was done with that, I was pretty burned out from the stress of running the event and playing at the same time. If Elginb had won the other semifinal, I would have been all over a finals match, but a rematch of a game from two rounds earlier just didn't excite me much. Thankfully, Nathan was just as unexcited as I was, so we agreed to roll d20s for it. I rolled an 11 first, handed him the die, and watched him roll a 13 to take the championship.
 
It upsets me to hear that I was your most boring match of the day. Unfortunately, it's true. Everything seemed to stack against me so much on that one it was actually comical. It was almost like playing a survival type game, where your success is determined by the percentage of your opponent's army that you can destroy, but your defeat is a forgone conclusion. Oh well, a few sound beatings keep you humble. I enjoyed it nonetheless and I look forward to trying it again.
 
Yeah, it wasn't really anything you did - you played it well, but Nilfheim just decided to take a game off.
 
Again, I will say, Stupid Airborne Elite!!! If I had dropped them first round all I woulda had to do was assassinate Raelin in the first couple turns, and then roll up the knights while firing on the 10th. Or fly Hawthorne in to BR his way through some Brits. Oh well, that was my first tourney match ever, and I'm actually glad I got my a** handed to me. Got rid of my nerves for the rest of the games.
 
Yeah, it wasn't really anything you did - you played it well, but Nilfheim just decided to take a game off.

I'll be honest with you -- they way he played the rest of the day, he deserved a break. It would seem that I have a history of leading off with a figure, then getting him shot dead in an unreasonably short amount of time. I need to learn to move out with the cheap fillers first.
 
looking forward to the reports from this last event. Any hint to when they are going up?
Probably not until Thursday or so, but this weekend at the latest.
 
OK, I'll take a quick break to get the report out for our December 3rd event.

The format was pooled draft, as we've done before, but with a twist: this time we drafted to a relatively lightweight total of 375 points. My draft pool (825 point maximum) was:

10 Otonashi
20 Marcu
65 Shotgun Sullivan
140 Eltahale
160 Shurrak
200 Cutters x4
225 Horned Skull Brutes x3
820

The basic idea was to have lots of cutter/brute options, but also provide some special attackers to make them a bit scary to draft.

We only had 4 players show due to a heavy snowstorm that morning in Denver, but that just meant we got to play a round robin.

Game 1
Opponent: GeneralRolando (Thanos, Iron Man, Drake RotV, Raelin RotV, Isamu)
Map: Incendium (wound + move)

I won the roll and opened the draft by taking Raelin. GR responded by taking Thanos and Isamu. This sort of floored me, but that was why he brought him, I guess. This pretty much ensured I was going to go common-squad heavy. After doing the math out, I realized I couldn't afford two squads of HSBs unless I dropped down to two squads of cutters. So I decided to bite the bullet and draft just one squad of HSBs, along with 4 squads of cutters and Marcu.

R1 OMs: Cutter Cutter HSB, Isamu Thanos Thanos. Init to dok.

In round 1, I rolled out the cutters to grab both glyphs and to engage Thanos. Thanos disengages for a wound, but kills 2 cutters. In my third move, I moved up the HSBs to spots next to cutters.

R2 OMs: Cutter Rae, Cutter, Thanosx3. Init to dok.

Thanos did manage to tag Raelin for 2 wounds, but after that the cutters fully mobbed Thanos. Thanos couldn't safely disengage at this point, and was reduced to just killing one cutter each turn and blocking mob attacks. Both Thanos and Raelin took lava damage, and the Wannok glyph did another wound to the mad Titan.

R3 OMs: Cutter HSB Cutter, Thanosx3. Init to dok.

The cutters managed to inflict a 4th wound to Thanos in their first OM. After Thanos killed one more cutter, the HSBs barged up to triple-engage Thanos, and their three attacks of 4 brought him down. Isamu vanished the one time he was attacked, but Wannok ended the game.

Not much to speak of about this game, except that it was my first time really taking advantage of the HSB's powers, and that Thanos really needs more backup than just Isamu.

Game 2
Opponent: Seth A (Raelin RotV, Q9, Stingersx3, SBN, grubsx1, Drake SotM, Dumutef)
Map: Elemide (chief's map: a D&D/Lava/Tundra combo. Two startzone spaces for each army near the middle on high, hot ground. Fairly compact, with lots of elevation changes and some molten lava to work around.)

Seth has had some rough luck against me, including a ridiculous game in our Gencon prep event that I never did a report on where I beat him in the reverse the whip round with his Deathstalkers and Q10, beating the Heavy Gruts I had brought. However, the worm was apparently ready to turn.

Seth won the roll and took Q9. I took Raelin... and then I think I blacked out. When I came to, though, Shurrak was at the front of my startzone. :duh: Seth, surely not believing his good fortune, picked out the three squads of stingers, and topped off with Otonashi. I was left with 120 points and little to spend them on, so I settled for two squads of cutters and Marcu.

This was a classic case of overthinking things. I was thinking hey, I need a Q9 counter, but I was scared of taking Stingers with the Cutters sitting there for him to take, so I took Shurrak, who seemed like a better choice than Eltahale on a lava map. But this leaves him the stingers, and doesn't leave me enough points for anything useful against Q9 if he takes the stingers. I would have been in a much better situation (still an underdog, but a better situation) if I had just taken the stingers and accepted that he gets to play with 3 squads of cutters. Heck, I could have taken 2 squads of stingers, and then taken Shurrak when it came back to me. All in all, this was a badly botched draft.

R1 OMs: Marcu Shurrak Shurrak, Oto Q9 Stingers, dok wins Init.

I opened by dropping Marcu on the move glyph, which was inside Raelin's aura thanks to her advanced position. Otonashi was also in the advanced position, and put 2 wounds on Raelin in her turn. The stingers put a third wound on Raelin the next turn. Shurrak sped across the map but couldn't wound Q9, and Q9 hit him for 1 wound on the next turn.

R2 OMs: Stingers Q9 Stingers, Shurrak x2. Seth wins Init.

The stingers fail to wound the Raelin-protected Shurrak. Shurrak disengages (no wound) to set up a 3-stinger sweeping sword, which kills 1 but fails to knock the other two into the lava. Q9 puts another wound on Shurrak, and Shurrak bounces back for a particularly good sweeping sword, putting a wound on Q9 and killing 2 stingers. However, on the next turn, some stingers took height, hit their drain, and down Shurrak.

The last round+ was an uneventful decimation of my army by Q9. The Cutters struggled to approach and never got an attack off against Q9.

It was a great game Seth; he outdrafted me by a mile and played a solid game to secure the win.

Game 3
Opponent: chief (Deathstalkers x2, Sudema, Runa, Dünd, Murphy, Sullivan, Deadeye, Guilty, S-Raider)
Map: Incendium (move + wound)

Since we had each played on 2 of the 4 maps that were out, I agreed to go back to Incendium for the last game. We were each 1-1 with a win over GR and a loss to Seth, so this was effectively the second place game.

chief had brought his semi-suck team, as he sometimes likes to do at these draft events. I won the toss and took three squads of cutters. Chief responded with Shurrak and James Murphy. Seeing that he had 140 left, I figured the wise thing to do was to take the best 140 points left off the board, so rather than draft three squads of Brutes, I drafted Eltahale and Marcu. Chief filled out his army with Guilty and Dünd (who was ready to earn his points). I took the fourth squad of Cutters and Otonashi.

R1: Cutters Cutters Cutters, Dund, Shurrak, Murphy. Init to dok

While chief slow-rolled his heroes into position, I grabbed the glyphs and mobbed Shurrak for a couple wounds. On the third OM, James Murphy took a Shotgun to Shurrak, which didn't bother Shurrak but killed two cutters that were next to him.

R2: Cutters Eltahale Eltahale, Dünd Murphy Shurrak. Init to dok

In the first turn, I re-engaged Shurrak and mobbed him for 2 wounds. Dünd hit his crippling gaze on the cutters, but all he wiped out was the X. Murphy killed another three cutters with a shotgun blast on Shurrak, but Eltahale put an end to those shenanigans by killing Shurrak.

R3: Dünd Murphy Guilty, Eltahale Eltahale Cutters. Init to chief

Dünd, on a mission to prove he's underappreciated, hit his gaze on Eltahale, this time taking out two good OMs. Murphy and Guilty then went about wounding Eltahale, dropping her to 3 life at the end of the round.

R4: Murphy Dünd Guilty, Eltahale Eltahale Cutters. Init to chief

The heroes turned their attention to Eltahale, who was close to death and loaded with OMs. Murphy and Dünd each did a wound to her on their turns, taking her to 1 life, although mercifully crippling gaze did not hit a third time. Eltahale, after failing to kill Murphy, thunder stepped to Dünd. Eltahale failed to wound Dünd, but did manage to kill herself in the process. Still, the cutters managed to kill Murphy, and wannok managed to kill Guilty.

In R5, it was just cutters against Dünd, and when crippling gaze missed, it was over in short order.

Another good game with Jeff; I think he got seduced by Shurrak-on-lava much like I had the game before. Still, the shotgun trick really helped him a lot and got my cutter numbers dangerously low.

After the three games we played an epic game of Chaos in the Catacombs, which I will have to write up some other time.
 
I wanna throw up the online tournament results so that stuff is in the right order.

For the online event, I decided to play knights. In retrospect, this might not have been the best event to play Gilbert for the first time, because moving figures around is the trickiest part of online play, and the knights involve a TON of movement.

Anyway, at 520, I decided to do something a little bit funky and work in the Tarn Viking Warriors. The basic plan was to move them out near glyphs or other key spots, then use Jandar's Dispatch to adjust their position from then on out. It ended up working pretty well.

Knights x4, Gilbert, Raelin, Tarn Viking Warriors

The format was a straight 16-player elimination, with placement brackets if you lost.

Game 1
Fi Skirata (Blastatrons x1, Gladiatrons x1, Q10, DeathWalker 9000, Zettian Guards, Isamu, Otonashi)
Badru Valley (Astrid)

This one was the only game I played without google docs, so no pretty pictures.

I opened with the Tarns, who missed their charge roll, while FS opened with the Glads & Blasts. I dispatched the Tarns onto Astrid, and the knights started fighting the Glads and Blasts on the height on my left hand side. The Knights won out, and Raelin moved up to the left side as well, overlooking the glyph. At that point I slow rolled basically my whole army up to the middle, except for a couple knights that I sent off to harass Q10 and keep him from moving up. FS brought the ninjas to fight the scrum of knights and vikings, but to no avail. I moved Raelin over to the other side to aid the advance, and FS whiffed on his one explosion attack on her. The knights moved up, and took out DW9k in the first shot. Q10 went down to a bunch of attacks of 5. Knights with an attack glyph are really good. I only lost a couple knights this game.


Quarterfinals
Sixthflagbearer (Mezzos x4, Krug, Eltahale)
Stygian Rift (Valda + Lodin)

This was a very bad map for sixthflagbearer to draw against me. On most maps, he would be able to plant the Mezzos on high ground, and keep them there, with height advantage, until the markers ran out. On this map, all the high ground is lava, thus allowing me to get lots of even-ground shots, and/or forcing sixthflagbearer to risk losing precious Mezzos to the lava field.

I won the roll-off and chose to place first. I put Valda on my right.

Thanks again to Filthy for the dice-roller app, and Kinseth for putting together this set of google draw figures for our game.

(chat transcript has been slightly edited in parts for clarity.)

ROUND 1

sixth_r1_original.jpg


After opening with a non-berserk Tarn Viking advance, my second turn went off with a bang when I rolled five symbols for Jandar's Dispatch. This allowed me to land a viking on the move glyph, and led to a pretty insane turn - since I maxxed out every move that turn, I ended up moving 49 total spaces.

The early knight turns were a real bear on this map - I was trying to move as much up in as cohesive a way as possible, using as much of my move as possible, while trying to keep figures in Raelin's Aura but avoiding putting figures on the lava. The last requirement led to a real traffic jam in the early going, and led to lots of checking and re-checking of possible moves on the physical map.

Anyway, I leaked one knight out ahead to take a stab at Eltahale (no luck), and sixthflagbearer killed that knight and took a shot at the glyph-holder, but that was it for hostilities in the round.

Chat transcript:
Code:
(4:43 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer has placed all 4 Order Markers:[/I]

[I]1 OM on Krug
1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmongers
1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmongers
1 OM on Eltahale
 [/I]

(4:43 PM)[I]User dok has placed all 4 Order Markers:[/I]

[I]1 OM on Knights
1 OM on Raelin
1 OM on Knights
1 OM on Tarns
 [/I]

(4:43 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]11[/B] on the d20.[/I]

(4:43 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]10[/B] on the d20.[/I]

(4:43 PM) [B]dok[/B]: good luck!

(4:43 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: you too

(4:43 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]1[/B] on [B]Tarns[/B][/I]

(4:44 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 1 sec, wanna do a screencap

(4:44 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 

(4:44 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: k

(4:44 PM) [B]dok[/B]: berzerker charge...

(4:45 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]5[/B] on the d20.[/I]

(4:45 PM) [B]dok[/B]: your turn

(4:45 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]1[/B] on [B]Mezzodemon Warmongers[/B][/I]

(4:46 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: no attack

(4:46 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]2[/B] on [B]Knights[/B][/I]

(4:46 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Jandar's Dispatch

(4:46 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]5 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 5 blank(s) with 12 total dice.[/B][/I]

(4:46 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: nice

(4:47 PM) [B]dok[/B]: good timing for that

(4:47 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: sadly :)

(4:49 PM) [B]dok[/B]: knights

(4:50 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: he cant move there, 1st one

(4:50 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: takes 6 move

(4:50 PM) [B]dok[/B]: I have 6 move...

(4:51 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: knight have 4 move, rolled 5 symbols

(4:51 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: nvm

(4:51 PM) [B]dok[/B]: I'm on their turn now

(4:51 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: valda

(4:51 PM) [B]dok[/B]: yes

(4:52 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Anyway, all done

(4:52 PM) [B]dok[/B]: your turn

(4:52 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]2[/B] on [B]Eltahale[/B][/I]

(4:53 PM) [B]dok[/B]:  Sorry that turn took so long... translating from the physical map to  the drawing was a bit slower than I expected.  I'll get the hang of it.

(4:53 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: me too

(4:53 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: done

(4:53 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]3[/B] on [B]Knights[/B][/I]

(4:53 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]X[/B] on [B]Raelin[/B][/I]

(4:54 PM) [B]dok[/B]: JD

(4:54 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]5 skull(s), 4 shield(s), and 3 blank(s) with 12 total dice.[/B][/I]

(4:54 PM) [B]dok[/B]: I'm hot today!

(4:55 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: yea

(4:56 PM) [B]dok[/B]: now the knight turn

(4:57 PM) [B]dok[/B]: wait, I thik that was an illegal move

(4:57 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: wait, doesnt that take 7? water to j5

(4:57 PM) [B]dok[/B]: there we go

(4:57 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: yeah

(4:57 PM) [B]dok[/B]: yes, sorry, moved the wrong one.

(4:58 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, up on Eltahale; 3v5.

(4:58 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(4:59 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(4:59 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: safe

(4:59 PM) [B]dok[/B]: your turn.

(4:59 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]3[/B] on [B]Mezzodemon Warmongers[/B][/I]

(5:01 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 9f att 8f, 4v4

(5:01 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:01 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 4v5; on shadow

(5:01 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:01 PM) [B]dok[/B]: dead

(5:01 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: adjascent anyways

(5:01 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: dead anyways

(5:02 PM) [B]dok[/B]: shadow still affects adjacent.

(5:02 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: interesting...

(5:02 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: I 13 att tarn on glyph

(5:02 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 4v5

(5:02 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:03 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 4v4; not on shadow

(5:03 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:03 PM) [B]dok[/B]: safe

(5:03 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OMs
ROUND 2

sixth_r2_original.jpg


This turn saw the Mezzos and Knights battle in the center of the map. Once the knights were positioned to engage any possible snipers, Raelin moved up to a hot spot that overlooked the action. The Mezzos generally got the worst of the exchange, dropping a figure and four exoskeleton markers against two knight casualties. Insult was added to injury at the end of the round, when both Mezzos on hot ground were taken down by lava damage, although Raelin took a wound as well.

Chat transcript:
Code:
(5:04 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer has placed all 4 Order Markers:[/I]

[I]1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmonger
1 OM on Eltahale
1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmongers
1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmongers
 [/I]

(5:05 PM)[I]User dok has placed all 4 Order Markers:[/I]

[I]1 OM on knights
1 OM on knights
1 OM on knights
1 OM on Raelin
 [/I]

(5:05 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]10[/B] on the d20.[/I]

(5:05 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]14[/B] on the d20.[/I]

(5:05 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]1[/B] on [B]Mezzodemon Warmongers[/B][/I]

(5:07 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 9h att j7

(5:07 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 5v7

(5:07 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]4 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:07 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]4 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 7 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:08 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 8h att gilbert

(5:08 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 4 v6

(5:08 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 3 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:08 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 3 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 6 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:08 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]1[/B] on [B]knights[/B][/I]

(5:09 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]5 skull(s), 5 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 12 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:09 PM) [B]dok[/B]: sorry

(5:09 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Need to attack first

(5:09 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Your choice whether I keep that dispatch roll or not

(5:10 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: keep it

(5:10 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK

(5:10 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 3v3 on the Mezzo

(5:10 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]0 skull(s), 3 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:10 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]0 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:12 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, knights

(5:13 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, first the two with Gilbert boost, up on the Mezzo. 4v4.

(5:13 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:13 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]3 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:14 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: exo off

(5:14 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]4 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:14 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:14 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: kill

(5:15 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, level ground on the Mezzo, 3v3

(5:15 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:15 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]0 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:15 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:15 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: oops

(5:15 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: safe

(5:15 PM) [B]dok[/B]: now up on that mezzo, 3v4

(5:15 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:15 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:15 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: exo off

(5:15 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 6 left

(5:16 PM) [B]dok[/B]: your turn

(5:16 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]2[/B] on [B]Mezzodemon Warmonger[/B][/I]

(5:17 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 9h att 9I

(5:18 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 5v4

(5:18 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]4 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:18 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: v5

(5:18 PM) [B]dok[/B]: yes ;)

(5:18 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:18 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: I 12 att I 10

(5:19 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 4v4

(5:19 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:19 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:19 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]2[/B] on [B]Raelin[/B][/I]

(5:20 PM) [B]dok[/B]: your turn

(5:20 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]3[/B] on [B]Mezzodemon Warmongers[/B][/I]

(5:23 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: F 8 att raelin

(5:23 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 3 v 4

(5:23 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:23 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:23 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: i 12 att Raelin

(5:24 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 3v3

(5:24 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:24 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:24 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]3[/B] on [B]knights[/B][/I]

(5:24 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]X[/B] on [B]knights[/B][/I]

(5:24 PM) [B]dok[/B]: down on the Mezzo, 4v3

(5:24 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:25 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:25 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: exo off

(5:25 PM) [B]dok[/B]: JD

(5:25 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]5 skull(s), 5 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 12 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:28 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, knights

(5:28 PM) [B]dok[/B]: sorry about delay

(5:29 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, lets start with the unboosted one.  Up on the Mezzo

(5:29 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 3v4

(5:29 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]0 skull(s), 3 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:30 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:30 PM) [B]dok[/B]: no wound

(5:30 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, now up on H9 from I9

(5:30 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 4v4

(5:30 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:31 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:31 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: exo :)

(5:31 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, now straight across, 4v4 again

(5:31 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:31 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:31 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: safe

(5:32 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 4 exos left

(5:33 PM) [B]dok[/B]: lava damage!

(5:33 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Gilbert:

(5:33 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]0 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 1 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:33 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Raelin

(5:33 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 1 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:34 PM) [B]dok[/B]: your turn

(5:34 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: i 12

(5:34 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 1 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:34 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 1 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:34 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: dang
ROUND 3

sixth_r3_original.jpg


Round 3 was the Eltahale Round. Eltahale jumped onto low Shadow and took a couple Thunder Step hits on Raelin. The first one delivered two wounds, but the second one bounced off. The knights took her down after that. The Mezzos killed a couple knights on the third turn, while the knights managed to kill a Mezzo, take another exoskeleton marker, and put some wounds on Krug when not attacking Eltahale.

Chat transcript:
Code:
(5:32 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OMs

(5:32 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer has placed all 4 Order Markers:[/I]

[I]1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmongers
1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmongers
1 OM on Eltahale
1 OM on Eltahale
 [/I]

(5:32 PM)[I]User dok has placed all 4 Order Markers:[/I]

[I]1 OM on Raelin
1 OM on knights
1 OM on knights
1 OM on knights
 [/I]

(5:32 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2[/B] on the d20.[/I]

(5:32 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]7[/B] on the d20.[/I]

(5:32 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]1[/B] on [B]Eltahale[/B][/I]

(5:35 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: thunder step

(5:35 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: att raelin

(5:35 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 6v4

(5:35 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]3 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 6 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:36 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:36 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 2w... 2 life left

(5:36 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 1 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:36 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: dang

(5:37 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: thunder step damage

(5:37 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]1[/B] on [B]knights[/B][/I]

(5:37 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 4v5

(5:37 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:38 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 4 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:38 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: safe

(5:38 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]6 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 4 blank(s) with 12 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:38 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: gettin lucky

(5:39 PM) [B]dok[/B]: on JD, yeah.  Bad time for it though.  Not good sight lines.

(5:41 PM) [B]dok[/B]: ok, knights

(5:42 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, two Gilbert-boosted attacks on Eltahale; 4v5.

(5:42 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:42 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]4 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:42 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:42 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]4 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:42 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 2 wounds

(5:42 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 3 life left

(5:43 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, now 2 attacks with height on the Mezzo.  4v4.

(5:43 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:43 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:43 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:43 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]4 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:43 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: safe

(5:43 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: kill

(5:44 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: my turn?

(5:44 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Just letting you remove

(5:44 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]2[/B] on [B]Eltahale[/B][/I]

(5:44 PM) [B]dok[/B]: yes, your turn

(5:45 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Shocker

(5:46 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: thunder step, att raelin

(5:46 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 6v4

(5:46 PM) [B]dok[/B]: yep.  6v4

(5:46 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 3 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 6 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:46 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]0 skull(s), 3 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:46 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]2[/B] on [B]knights[/B][/I]

(5:46 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(5:46 PM) [B]dok[/B]: go ahead and roll the die for damage; sorry for jumping the gun there

(5:47 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]0 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 1 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:47 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: phew

(5:47 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: well, shes dead anyway

(5:47 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Gilbert stays put; 4v4 on Eltahale

(5:47 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:47 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:47 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 1 wound

(5:47 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]:  2 left

(5:47 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]4 skull(s), 5 shield(s), and 3 blank(s) with 12 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:48 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: havent blanked yet

(5:48 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Yeah, dispatch has been pretty sick this game

(5:48 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: adly :0

(5:48 PM) [B]dok[/B]: not that important at this stage, but still

(5:50 PM) [B]dok[/B]: knights

(5:51 PM) [B]dok[/B]: OK, boosted on Eltahale, 4v5.

(5:51 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:51 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 3 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:51 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: dead

(5:51 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Down on the Mezzo, 4v3.

(5:51 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:52 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:52 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Krug

(5:52 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:52 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:52 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 2 wounds

(5:52 PM) [B]dok[/B]: anger... growing

(5:52 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: hes gettin angry :)

(5:52 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]3[/B] on [B]Mezzodemon Warmongers[/B][/I]

(5:52 PM) [B]dok[/B]: your turn

(5:53 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: c7 att d9

(5:53 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 4v4

(5:53 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]3 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:53 PM) [B]dok[/B]: v5

(5:53 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 5 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:54 PM) [B]dok[/B]: matters not

(5:54 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: same height

(5:54 PM) [B]dok[/B]: oh sorry

(5:54 PM) [B]dok[/B]: misread

(5:54 PM) [B]dok[/B]: thought you were talking about c9

(5:54 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: e13 att f13

(5:54 PM) [B]dok[/B]: anyway, still dead

(5:54 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 4 v 4

(5:54 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:55 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:55 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]3[/B] on [B]knights[/B][/I]

(5:55 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]X[/B] on [B]Raelin[/B][/I]

(5:55 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]6 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 4 blank(s) with 12 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:55 PM) [B]dok[/B]: LOL

(5:55 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: sheesh

(5:56 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Now you know my secret

(5:57 PM) [B]dok[/B]: knights

(5:59 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 3v3 on the Mezzo

(5:59 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:59 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(5:59 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: exo off

(5:59 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 3 left

(5:59 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 3 left

(5:59 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: oms

(5:59 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Raelin lava

(5:59 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]0 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 1 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:00 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: shhot
ROUND 4

sixth_r4_original.jpg


I began shifting my army forward to take out the rest of sixthflagbearer's forces. I made a significant error when I positioned Raelin such that one of the Mezzodemons could get adjacent without disengaging. This led to Raelin going down at the end of the round, but by then I had a pretty dominant position, with all but one exoskeleton marker removed and Krug most of the way dead.

Chat transcript:
Code:
(6:00 PM) [B]dok[/B]: now OMs

(6:00 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer has placed all 4 Order Markers:[/I]

[I]1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmongers
1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmongers
1 OM on Krug
1 OM on Mezzodemon Warmonger
 [/I]

(6:00 PM)[I]User dok has placed all 4 Order Markers:[/I]

[I]1 OM on knights
1 OM on knights
1 OM on Raelin
1 OM on knights
 [/I]

(6:00 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]18[/B] on the d20.[/I]

(6:00 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: lets finish this round, the n I gotta go

(6:00 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]15[/B] on the d20.[/I]

(6:00 PM) [B]dok[/B]: ok

(6:01 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]1[/B] on [B]knights[/B][/I]

(6:01 PM) [B]dok[/B]: down on the Mezzo, 4v3

(6:01 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:01 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:02 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: kill

(6:02 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]8 skull(s), 4 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 12 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:02 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: finally

(6:02 PM) [B]dok[/B]: hah.  I would have MUCH rather it had been the last three times

(6:04 PM) [B]dok[/B]: down on C7, 4v3

(6:04 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:04 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]0 skull(s), 3 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:04 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: i think its safe :)

(6:04 PM) [B]dok[/B]: F11 on the mezzo, 3v3

(6:04 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:04 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:04 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: safe

(6:05 PM) [B]dok[/B]: e11 on Krug

(6:05 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:05 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:05 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: safe

(6:05 PM) [B]dok[/B]: krug again

(6:05 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:05 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]0 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:06 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 1 wound, 5 left

(6:06 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]1[/B] on [B]Mezzodemon Warmongers[/B][/I]

(6:06 PM) [B]dok[/B]: Yep, I have 3 red dice sitting on his card

(6:06 PM) [B]dok[/B]: ;)

(6:07 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: e 13 att f 13

(6:07 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 4v4

(6:07 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:07 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:07 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: f12 att e 11

(6:08 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 4v4

(6:08 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:08 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:08 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]2[/B] on [B]Raelin[/B][/I]

(6:08 PM) [B]dok[/B]: your turn

(6:09 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]2[/B] on [B]Mezzodemon Warmonger[/B][/I]

(6:09 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: e7 att raelin

(6:09 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 3v3

(6:10 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]0 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 3 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:10 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

(6:10 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: f12 att f11

(6:10 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 4v6

(6:10 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:10 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: shoot

(6:10 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 6 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:10 PM)[I]User dok revealed OM [B]3[/B] on [B]knights[/B][/I]

(6:12 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]6 skull(s), 4 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 12 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:13 PM) [B]dok[/B]: knights

(6:14 PM) [B]dok[/B]: ok

(6:14 PM) [B]dok[/B]: up on the e7 mezzo, 3v4

(6:15 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 2 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:15 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]4 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:15 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: exo

(6:15 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 2 left

(6:15 PM) [B]dok[/B]: down on the same mezzo, 4v3

(6:15 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:15 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:15 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: exo, 1 left

(6:16 PM) [B]dok[/B]: e11 on krug

(6:16 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:16 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:16 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: 2 wounds

(6:16 PM) [B]dok[/B]: krug again

(6:16 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: now he is angry

(6:16 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]1 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:16 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:16 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: safe

(6:17 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]3[/B] on [B]Mezzodemon Warmongers[/B][/I]

(6:17 PM) [B]dok[/B]: 5w on krug.  angry.

(6:17 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer revealed OM [B]X[/B] on [B]Krug[/B][/I]

(6:17 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: e7 att raelin

(6:17 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]2 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:17 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]3 skull(s), 0 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 3 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:18 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: Mwahahahaha

(6:18 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: e13 att f13

(6:18 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]1 skull(s), 2 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:18 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: dang

(6:18 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]2 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 1 blank(s) with 4 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:19 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: yeah, i really have to go, but quick roll for lava
(6:19 PM)[I]User sixthflagbearer rolled [B]0 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 1 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:19 PM)[I]User dok rolled [B]0 skull(s), 1 shield(s), and 0 blank(s) with 1 total dice.[/B][/I]

(6:19 PM) [B]sixthflagbearer[/B]: mezzo safe

(6:19 PM) [B]dok[/B]: as is the knight
sixth_r5_original.jpg


At this point, sixthflagbearer needed to leave, and eventually decided to concede rather than pick the game up again. I did play out the rest of the game with Filthy the Clown, and ended up with Gilbert, the Tarns, and a squad of knights left at the end.

Semifinals
Kinseth (Greenscales X 4, Raelin RTV, Nilfheim, Isamu)
Concrete Jungle (Valda + Lodin)

Kinseth put together a fantastic flip-book for this one, so I'd first refer you to that.

The key sequence in this game was from Kinseths second OM through the second OM of round 2. His dice were fairly hot here, taking out all the Knights and Vikings I had near the move glyph, and allowing him to claim the glyph and stream greenscales in to create a choke point. With the other glyph having almost no value, and me having no range, Kinseth was able to simply hunker down and rely on Ice Shards to try to kill knights with 6 defense.

At that point, I needed either some great dispatch roles or some hot dice if I had any chance to outflank him. Neither panned out. Kinseth played a great game, avoiding several mistakes that I suspect a lot of people would have made.

3rd Place game
Charr21 (Warforged Soldiers X2, Fen Hydra, Krav Maga Agents, Marro Warriors, Crixus)
Badru Valley (Astrid)

Here's a flip-book of this game. It's not as detailed as Kinseth's - it's basically one shot per turn, plus a couple more for things like disengagements.

Spoiler Alert!


Final game log


This was the best game for the Tarns - I hit the charge roll for the only time in the tournament, and was able to use all four of them to keep a hold of Astrid.

Final result: 3-1, third place.
 
Here's my report for the January 29th event in Colorado.

We played an interesting format - 700 points, B+ or worse figures only, and partial Heat of Battle rules. You had to place at least 300 points in your startzone, but the others could be placed anywhere other than your opponent's startzones. We also added a rule to HoB placement that squad figures had to be placed within two spaces of the first figure from that card that you put down. This really reduced the advantage of placing first, and made it a tough call whether you would rather place first or get opening initiative.

Once I thought of playing Thanos+Cutters, it was tough for me to think of anything that could be better. Most of the figures that really scare cutters are A-ranked, and the rest are easily taken down with Thanos. I really like playing Thanos with bonding figures, to increase the number of chances you get for Rejected by Death, and I did think about Romans instead of Cutters, for this reason. However, with someone else asking for Romans, I didn't want to go begging for those extra squads myself. Ne-Gok-Sa was just some hard-to-kill filler in this army.

With the semi-HoB rules, I could get (more than) my full 300 points for the startzone just by dropping Thanos.

Game 1
Opponent: GeneralRoloando (Venocs x4, Snipers x2, Taelord, Zetacron, Syvarris)
Map: Around the Bend (?? and Healer)

GR won the roll-off and elected to place second and win initiative. I ended up controlling the central bluff and the height on my side, while GR had Vipers on the height on his side and Omnicrons clustered near his startzone, with his heroes holed up inside his startzone.

GR started with the Vipers while I went with the Cutters. An opening frenzy led to a few dead cutters, but with scurry, it was tough for the Vipers' one or two attacks each turn to keep up with the Goblins taking four swings. By the middle of the second round, the vipers were down, and the cutters had the Snipers blocked onto the low ground. Scurry was pretty brutal against the Omnicrons.

In the closing stages, GR was able to use the tight spaces to prevent mob attack, so I brought Thanos around to deliver the final kills on the heroes. He took some wounds, but burned the healer and finished things off. I had 7 cutters, Thanos, and NGS left at the end

Game 2
Opponent: Rosencrantz (Thanos, Zombiesx5, Theracus)
Map: Can't Take the Heat (Wound and Move)

I was very worried about this one... zombies are brutal against cutters, with their ability to engage enough to limit the effectiveness of scurry, and the ease with which cutters can be turned into fresh zombies. And NGS couldn't mindshackle Thanos, since I already had him in my army.

Troy won the roll and elected to take opening initiative. I was terrified of move 6 zombies, so I set up around the move glyph, giving Troy the wound glyph. I generally tried to make it a single-front battle, as I wanted our figures to be as un-mixed as possible. I ended up with my figures in a band extending from the glyph towards Troy's startzone, while the zombies were roughly in a mirror image arrangement. We both stashed Thanos in the backs of our startzones at spots with only two adjacent spaces (i.e. no onslaught or mob attacks). Troy put Theracus in front of Thanos, while I put Ne-Gok-Sa next to Troy's startzone.

Troy started with the zombies, taking out one cutter each turn (but no ZRAs, since I hadn't killed any) and putting two zombies in Thanos's face. I spent my first turn killing Theracus with a mob attack, then took out two zombies on the next turn. Troy brought back a zombie on the next turn, while I put NGS in Thanos's face.

Troy won initiative the next turn, but spent his first two turns blasting NGS with Thanos. With no return zombie attacks to worry about, I went crazy with mob attacks, taking out six zombies in two turns, eliminating his forces near the wound glyph. Troy got one back the next turn, but I killed another one on the last turn. I lost two cutters to lava damage.

I got the initiative switch to open the third round, and continued my cutter rampage. At this point we settled into a pattern of two zombies dying each turn while one was brought back in the next, but the net 1-for-1 exchanges were working in my favor. By the end of the round, when Thanos spent another turn attacking NGS, the zombies were starting to get below the critical numbers where they lose effectiveness. I lost another three cutters to lava damage, though.

In the fourth round, I switched back to Thanos to finish off the last couple Zombies and get him onto the board, while Troy's Thanos finally killed NGS. At that point it was Thanos and about nine cutters versus Thanos. I was able to harass Thanos a bit with the cutters and force some disengagement wounds. Eventually it did settle into Titan versus Titan, though, and I simply rolled better to close out the match.

Game 3
Opponent: kpucblek (Romans x3, Mittens, Mohicans x3, Brave Arrow, Moltenclaw)
Map: Common Ground

For the first time, I won the roll-off, but I opted to place first and defer initiative. I ended up with all of the move-side high ground and some of the initiative-side high ground, while Chris had his figures on the middle ground near my (empty) startzone. Thanos was on the common ground next to Brave Arrow, while Moltenclaw and Mittens hung back in the startzone.

Chris opened with Romans, taking swings at Thanos with a Roman and Mittens, while I put literally every OM all game on the cutters. Chris had never really played against massed cutters before, and it took him a while to adjust to what scurry and mob attack can do. He did keep taking swings at Thanos, but meanwhile I tied down Moltenclaw, and just buzzed 8-move cutters all over the place, wearing through kpucblek's army. Thanos did die towards the end, but there were 7 cutters remaining (plus NGS) when Brave Arrow and Mittens were brought down to end the match.

Game 4
Opponent: Elginb (Red Skull, Ogre Warhulk, DW8k, Air Elemental x6, Theracus, Otonashi)
Map: Divided v2

Elginb did a great job summarizing this one in his blog post, and I don't have a ton to add. He won the roll-off and elected to place first, but with only heroes in his army, he couldn't claim nearly as much real estate as I could with each cutter squad placement. After grabbing attack and defense with the cutters on my first turn, I got to work with Thanos, trying to kill DW8k before he killed too many cutters. Thanos was able to claim the height, and although it took him three tries to take down DW8k, once he had I was pretty confident I could finish things out.

This was the only match where I really leaned on Thanos more than the cutters; with the constrained spaces, air elemental factor, and Dave's hero-centric army, Thanos's big ranged attack was more useful than the cutters' distributed attacks.

4-0, first place.
 
Game 3
Opponent: kpucblek (Romans x3, Mittens, Mohicans x3, Brave Arrow, Moltenclaw)
Map: Common Ground

For the first time, I won the roll-off, but I opted to place first and defer initiative. I ended up with all of the move-side high ground and some of the initiative-side high ground, while Chris had his figures on the middle ground near my (empty) startzone. Thanos was on the common ground next to Brave Arrow, while Moltenclaw and Mittens hung back in the startzone.

Chris opened with Romans, taking swings at Thanos with a Roman and Mittens, while I put literally every OM all game on the cutters. Chris had never really played against massed cutters before, and it took him a while to adjust to what scurry and mob attack can do. He did keep taking swings at Thanos, but meanwhile I tied down Moltenclaw, and just buzzed 8-move cutters all over the place, wearing through kpucblek's army. Thanos did die towards the end, but there were 7 cutters remaining (plus NGS) when Brave Arrow and Mittens were brought down to end the match.
I cry, "Rematch!" Actually, I really would like to try again, now that I know the devestating power of those little suckers!... Plus I would like to had the placement phase done all over again. However... dok, you kicked my butt. Man, I felt totally humiliated after that one! As always, great playing with you!
 
GENCON 2012

4x400

There's not much to say about my preparation for this event. I actually posted my planned armies for this event last year after Gencon (I missed the event on account of day 2) and I stuck with those this time around. It felt like a neat challenge to try to make the strongest armies possible without any intersecting pieces. This was the best I could do with it - no Q9, but plenty of other metagame monsters. I had a bunch of figures I was planning to play in this format and nowhere else, just to sort of get it out of my system. Anyway, on with the four cheese blend...

Game 1
Megasilver
- AGx4 + Swogx3 + Krug + ITB
My army: 10thx4 + Raelin + Marcu
Map: Ticalla Sunrise

Great, opening game against one of my roommates... at first Mega thought they had called out his rats/Q9/Krav build, and I was already preparing mentally for a loss. But when he looked at his card, he saw that it was actually his Arrow Grut build, which was a significantly better matchup for me.

I moved out towards the wound glyph while Tommy moved the other way. He sent some AGs and a swog out to kill Raelin on height, but the 10th were able to kill them and pod up. At that point it was just a grind through the remaining AGs. Krug rolled lots of shields, and did kill Raelin, but eventually went down. ~8 10th and Marcu remained.

Game 2
Retlaw
- Houndsx2 + Q10 + Zetacron + Isamu
My army: Knightsx4 + Gilbert + Isamu
Map: Elswin Plateau

A knight grabbed the move glyph, but when I lost it I didn't reinforce, and instead just took the height. The hounds didn't do much. Q10 went on a frenzy, killing 4 engaged knights in 2 turns at one point, but eventually Gilbert and the knights won out. Isamu only killed 2 before missing a vanish. It was nice to get a game in against Walt after our almost-game was re-paired two years ago.

Game 3
Scaper_Dude
- Drones x8
My army: Deathreaversx3 + Marro Warriors + Kaemon Awa + Airborne Elite
Map: Elswin Plateau

Scaper_Dude and I had a couple epic games in the championship last year (we each won one, both with his Hydra/PK army) and I didn't expect anything to come easy in this one. On paper, a ratpodge is favored against a melee common build like this one, but there were a lot of ways I could lose it.

I opened things with four OMs on the rats, getting them in good enough position that Brandan had no choice but to grind through my rats to get to my uniques. And that he did - while the attack and defense dice were pretty even, he hit a lot of 6-figure and 9-figure activations, which allowed him to tighten the noose on the Marro Warriors very quickly. Elswin gives lots of paths to the high ground, so I couldn't effectively limit the number of attacks. By the third round, I was already running out of potential places to drop the Airborne. My the fourth round my rats were spent and my Marro Warriors were getting attacked, and killed.

I switched to Kaemon and kept killing. Scaper_Dude had lost less than half of his drones by the time the MW and nearly all the rats were dead. Kaemon worked his way over to the hill next to the heal glyph. Kaemon got knocked down a couple wounds, but burned the heal glyph and bounced back up to height. Brandan put 5 drones on the high ground to block off potential Airborne drops, and sent the rest to Kaemon. The last rats blocked off even ground hits, So Kaemon was rolling 5 defense dice. Kaemon got hot and counterstruck four or five Drones, but in the end he went down. There were 7 drones (and one rat) left after the round when time was called. The Airborne never dropped. There was a slightly higher than 95% chance they would drop in a game that long, but things with a 5% probability do happen. As usual, Brandan played a nearly flawless game and was a gracious opponent.

Game 4
Tiny Timmy
- Romansx4 + Marcus + Krav
My army: 4th Mass x5 + Eldgrim + Kyntela
Map: Fossil

The Krav are obviously a concern for the 4th, but without Raelin in the build, you can just take shots at them and the whiff will come soon enough. TJ is a solid player, but in this game he couldn't roll defense dice very well. I ran some 4th up and managed to kill one Krav on a point blank shot, and the other two fell to whiffs. At that point, it was a predictable run as the 4th WTFed the approaching Romans and finished off Marcus.

3-1, 5th place.
 
LIGHTWEIGHT

Like (evidently) many people, my first thought when I saw this format (300 points, 16 or fewer spaces) was four squads of 4th Mass. I also figured that lots of people would run five squads of stingers. At first I figured I would join the crowd, but after some toying with builds, I decided that the strongest play was to meta the meta and play four squads of Phantom Knights (and Marcu). While I was a little worried about Q9 and 3 squads of rats, 4 or 5 defense isn't terrible against a Queglix onslaught. Plus, I figured that the stinger builds might take out the Q9 builds for me, anyway. As it turns out, the most common builds in the event were those stinger and 4th builds, with several Q9s in there for good measure. The most concerning builds to me were common squad melee armies that outnumbered me. There were a few of those, including a Blade Grut/Grimnak build and at least one Romansx4 build. My hope was that the more numerous ranged builds took out those builds for me. This mostly worked. Mostly.

Michael B. - Romansx2 + Marcus + Krav
Map: Trailblazer

Michael was a very nice guy who said that he only plays Heroscape once a year, at Gencon. I was very afraid of Romans with my army, but it was the Romansx3 builds that scared me. The PKs snuffed out the Krav in the first round, and then worked with height for much of the rest of the game. With just two squads of the soldiers, I was able to win on attrition without too much trouble.

Matt A. - 4thx4
Map: Ticalla Sunrise

Matt is an excellent younger player. He was playing in the adult events all weekend, and ended up winning the kid's tournament. However, he was playing exactly the sort of build I had expected to see when I fielded the Phantom Knights. He was going to need some luck to pull out a victory here.

Matt started by building toward the larger height with the 4th, near the unique attack glyph, but I simply stayed out of range of those minutemen and moved towards Wannok. Matt moved some figures that way to get engagements and limit the 7D and 8D rolls, but I was able to kill them as they came up. Matt then tried to pod up, hoping to induce me to come to him, but I just continued to shift my figures towards my side of the map and reinforced the wound glyph, knowing that it gave me control over the location of the fight. Matt was able to induce me to at least give up height advantage by moving forward a bit and taking pot shots, but I was just rolling more attack and defense dice than he was. I had 4 PKs and a 5-life Marcu (one early wound glyph hit) left at the end of the game.

Arrow Grut - ratsx3 + Raelin + Krav
Map: Burial Marsh

I have to give Arrow Grut credit here. He predicted the same ranged common metagame that I predicted, and he chose an army that counters it very effectively. He rode that counter build to a 2-0 record. However, my counter was an absurdly effective counter against his counter.

Matt gamely attempted to advance his figures to get some high ground, but all this did was shorten the gaps for me. By the end of the second round, I had lost one phantom knight, and he had lost all three Krav and Raelin. We decided to play the game out, and the rats did manage to to take down a couple more PKs before the end.

Filthy the Clown - Cuttersx4 + Mindflayer
Map: Elswin Plateau

Filthy is a very skilled player and was my primary practice partner leading into Gencon. We have played a bunch of games against each other between the online events and other online practice games. The funny thing was that despite his consistent success against everyone else, he just couldn't ever beat me, even when we played matches that favored him on paper. This wasn't a skill thing - he was just somehow snakebit when it came to games between us. However, here he earned the win when it really counted.

We had been talking after each round of the event; Doug was counting off how many Q9 builds had lost, as Q9 build could pretty much defeat his army singlehandedly. For my part, Q9 was less scary, but the scary massed melee builds were all taking losses... except Filthy's cutters, which I now had to handle on my own. I had been dreading this matchup, as I know that non-bonding melee is pretty much the worst thing to face cutters with. At this point, the only undefeated armies were Filthy's, mine, and Orcelfarmyone's dad, who was playing 4thx4.

With the length of Elswin Plateau, both of us spent the early rounds simply developing our armies - I grabbed the high ground while Doug took the move glyph and massed in the middle. Once the battle was joined, though, things went fast and furious. On some maps, I could effectively restrict the cutters engagements and prevent mob attack, but Elswin Plateau is just too wide open, so Filthy was able to flow three different ways. Between scurry and the 8 move cutters, Doug was getting a mob attack basically every turn, and I think he killed the mobbed PK every turn except one all game. He occasionally added a second kill with another attack. For my part, I was able to arrange engagements so to get a chance to kill two cutters a turn multiple times, but I had some costly whiffs on that second attack.

All in all, I was only trading kills, which just wasn't good enough when I had 12 PKs and Marcu to Doug's 15 cutters and a Mindflayer. Marcu did make it interesting in cleanup when it was down to 3 cutters and the MFM. An Eternal Hatred and a Mindflayer mindblast slowed him down considerably, but I survived a triple disengage with two life left to burn the healer glyph and prolong the game. I had the mindflayer down to two life at the end of the round, but The mindflayer won initiative and wounded Marcu to 3 wounds (stealing an X in the process). I had a chance to kill the mindflayer with an OM on him, but the MFM blocked, took my next OM and 2 life with mind blast, and then Enslaved me to put Marcu on low ground where the last three cutters mobbed him to end the game. If Marcu gets the kill on the MFM the turn before, Filthy is the one losing an OM, and Marcu could have killed a cutter on the next OM to prevent any Mob attacks.

Unfortunately for team OnlineScape, George's 4thx4 army was able to outlast Filthy in the finals (on Trailblazer, where the trees and molten lava created choke points that prevented the mob attacks that had devastated me). Doug had won 4x400 earlier and was 9-1 on the day, though, so it was hard to feel too bad for him. ;)

3-1, 4th place.
 
HEROES ONLY

Before Gencon, I had been planning to play my "swiss army knife" build in this format: Raelin, Krug, Q10, and six black wyrmlings. I had won a local event with this army, only losing to a Silver Surfer and some crazy dice, and I had also won with it in the online event. However, I was increasingly convinced after seeing what happened in Assasin's creed that Heroes Only would be a Silver Surfer parade. So, seeing as I was 0-3 lifetime against the Surfer, I set out to build an army that would absolutely wreck the Surfer. I was sticking with my six black wyrmlings, but I decided to change up the rest. I went to Eternalthanos and asked for the figure that I knew he would have. He came through for me, so I rode into the event with Thanos, Isamu, and six black wyrmlings. Surfer can't run from the mad titan, and the wyrmlings can wound him easily while they give Thanos two chances per turn to reject death. Eat that, Platnium P***y.

Game 1
Opponent: Ryan H (Thanos, Spider-Man, Marcu, Isamu
Map: Trailblazer

Ugh. What a gut punch to start the event with. Two Thanoses in the entire tournament, and we were matched up in the first round. I had a small advantage, but basically, this was a coinflip.

Ryan started things out by going after my Wyrmlings while I took shots at Spidey. I got a couple wounds on Spidey and then got the jump on Ryan's Thanos, taking an attack on height before we settled into a slugfest. Despite rolling more dice, it was my Thanos who went down first. My wyrmlings were already too depleted by the next round to do anything, but Isamu vanished a few times (including a 7 while standing on Lodin!) and I managed to pull Thanos back from the dead.

My Thanos finisehd Ryan's Thanos and Spider-Man, but my defense dice were pretty bad, and I was getting wounded heavily by Marcu and Isamu. I killed Isamu and wounded Marcu, but Marcu finished my Thanos and Isamu in quick succession.

We were both a little bummed to be playing the semi-mirror match, but Ryan was a good opponent. He made his way though the surfer-laden field to the finals, but in the end lost to Nicktheant's Surfer army.

Game 2
Opponent: Matt M (Silver Surfer, Raelin, Skahen, Marcu, Isamu)

Unfortunately, my notes are pretty spotty on this one, and I don't remember much of the match. However, this was exactly the sort of army mine was built to defeat, and it came through for me. Thanos rolled poorly for me (back to back 7v7 and 6v7 attacks on the surfer yielded no wounds) and the Surfer ended up on top of the confrontation. However, the Black Wyrmlings both killed the Surfer and brought Thanos back in short order. In the end, only one Wyrmling was dead.

Game 3
Opponent: Megasilver (Silver Surfer, Kaemon, Ana, Isamu)
Map: Ticalla Sunrise

My second of third games against one of my roommates on the weekend, and my second straight Surfer game. Tommy led out with Kaemon, hoping to snuff out some Wyrmlings, but he only killed a couple before Thanos took him down. However, once again, my Thanos was incapable of taking out the opposing Surfer in a slugfest. However, again, the Black Wyrmlings stormed through, taking out the Surfer, Ana, and Isamu. Thanos did come back from the dead, but the Black Wyrmlings pretty much handled things on their own.

Game 4
Opponent: Jake (Syvarris, Ulginesh, Morsbane, Chardris, Arkmer, Kyntela, Theracus)
Map: Fulcrum

This game started well enough for me, with Thanos killing Morsbane (whew) and Arkmer, but his defense wasn't too great, and he took some early worunds. At the start of round 3, Syvarris 1-shot killed Thanos with an allskull/whiff, costing me a full round of OMs.

The Black Wyrmlings did their job, killing Syvarris, Theracus, and Kyntela, and giving Thanos twelve chances to reject death. However, it was not to be. Isamu missed his first vanish, and that was that.

2-2
 
CHAMPIONSHIP

I had a lot of ideas for armies for this year's championship at 470 and even 460, but the 450 point total pretty much sent me back to the drawing board. What I eventually decided on was to go back to a classic: Arrow Gruts. I ended up taking spider_poison's 2006 army (Arrow Grutsx3, Swog Rider x3, Raelin, Krug) and adding Nerak. This gives the build another moving part (Nerak doesn't bond) but I welcome a little more complexity to the build. The Swog Riders are the weak point of the build, and two more Swogs would be a better play than Nerak, but they roll at least 6 defense dice while Nerak and Raelin live.

I knew this was playing things very, very tight here, especially given the map set, but I wanted to take the chance to sneak into day 2. I just needed a few favorable matchups at the right spots.

Game 1
Opponent: Mantrainchoochoo (Knightsx3, Gilbert, Eldgrim, Airborne Elite)
Map: Ticalla Sunrise

Well, so much for favorable matchups in the right spots.

I played on the side of the map with the sandy high ground on my left and the wound glyph on my right. I left Raelin and Nerak at the front of the startzone and led out by assembling my orcs on the 7 hexer in front of my startzone. I put a couple Swogs on the level 1 ground to boost two AGs on level 2, and sent Krug out as far as Raelin could reach, to the foot of the sandy high ground.

Things actually started out extremely well for me, as Mantrain put Gilbert in range on a perch, and I shot him to death in just two turns. However, Eldgrim followed in behind in the second round, and went nuts. Eldgrim killed a swog attacking up with a 2v7, overextended, and killed a second swog with a 2v6. This pretty much killed the hitting power of my army. In the third round, the Airborne dropped, won initiative, and killed the last Swog and Raelin. Krug moved up to try to kill them, but he was dead soon enough, which basically ended things.

With an early loss, there wasn't much hope of making it on strength of schedule, so I was pretty much in a 4-in-a-row-or-bust mode.

There was one unfortunate footnote to this game...
Spoiler Alert!



Game 2
Opponent: Akden (10thx4, Cyprien)
Map: Jotun's Gap

Obviously, Akden's army is no joke, but 10th without Raelin aren't a terrible matchup for Arrow Gruts, as 2 defense is manageable even if the Swogs go gown. However, I made a pretty serious error at the beginning of the game. My plan was to pod up on the high ground next to the move glyph, and shove Raelin behind the ruin so that the 10th would have to work all the way around to have a chance to kill her. However, I moved her up one turn too early, before I had all the spaces next to her blocked off. Wouldn't you know it, Akden's next OM was on Cyprien, who flew up, put 3 wounds on Raelin with a chill, and killed her with his attack. Suddenly I was starting 0-2 in the face.

Fortunately for me, though, the rest of the game pretty much went to plan. Cyprien took a few quick wounds, and Akden ended up running him away to the opposite end of the map to save him for cleanup. My AGs then proceeded to do a nice job mowing down 10th as they charged the hill. I lost one swog pretty fast, but the other two held up for a while. Krug took two quick wounds when charging the opposite hill, but this was just enough for him to be scary. Cyprien jumped back to my hill to flee Krug, but a few turns of concentrated attacks (and some more merciful chilling touch rolls) took him down. At that point it was a wounded Krug, Nerak, one Swog, and about 5 gruts against about 8 Redcoats. Akden charged Grut hill and tried to limit Krug's engagements, but Krug managed to kill a few more before going down. The last swog and a couple more gruts did get killed, but I managed to finish the redcoats with Nerak and about a squad of Arrow Gruts remaining.

Game 3
Opponent: Cleon (Stingersx5, Q10)
Map: Fossil

For the second time, I was playing Cleon on day 1 of the main event, and while his army was awfully similar to the one he played against me the other time (just Q10 instead of Nilf+Marcu), my army was a hair weaker than the Q9/rats/Raelin/Hydra combo I had in 2010. ;)

This was my second straight game against 300 points of ranged commons and a 150 point hero, but I liked this matchup a lot less. That third point of stinger defense against range would figure pretty prominently here, and Q10 has the ability to machine pistol my pod-friendly army from a safe distance. However, Fossil offers the best position for my AG/Swog combo of any map in the pool: I can put the gruts on height 3, supported by height 2 swogs, and get a lot of attacks of 3 and even a handful of attacks of 4. (Of course, the stingers get attacks of 3 all the time, but hey, you take what you can get.)

Things started out reasonably well for me. I left Nerak in the startzone (he could still cover all of the plateau except the two furthest forward high spots) but moved Raelin two spaces forward - not onto the plateau, but just below it, as this give the stingers worse sight lines. I set up my pod, and went about shooting stingers. The 1-range advantage was pretty key here, as I was able to take out stingers on the opposite high ground that couldn't get to me. I did my best to restrict shots on the swogs (and they were rolling 7 defense dice when they were attacked) and while one of them died early, the other two provided ample boosts. Cody brought some stingers forward to try to take down Raelin, but he was only able to get a couple wounds on her before Krug and elevated Gruts took them out.

When Q10 came forward and started threatening my position, I moved Krug forward to engage, but the stingers hit a juice and had him dead before he even got a shot at the soulborg. Q10 took three quick wounds from the gruts, however. Things quickly progressed to endgame, with a hot run from the stingers taking out the last couple swog riders before being brought down. When I grabbed the wound glyph to take down the final stinger, it was a 1-life Q10 against a 3-life Raelin, Nerak, and about 4 gruts. In the last round, I won initiative (which I didn'r really want!) and managed to tie Q10 down on the first two turns, limiting his movement and keeping him from killing more than one Grut. On my last OM, I sent Nerak to the wound glyph. Nerak managed to withstand the wrist rocket onslaught, leaving me with a wounded Raelin, a wounded Nerak, and a couple gruts at the end of the game.

Game 4
Opponent: Necroblade (Death Chasers x4, Raelin, Nerak, Ogre Pulverizer)
Map: Isenfel

Necroblade was 3-0 on the day. I couldn't figure out how I was getting paired up (all of my opponents were no better than 1-2, so my OW% was low). Later we realized that Necroblade had mistakenly been put down for a loss in one of his earlier matches, thus putting him at 2-1 instead of 1-2. Oh well, at least this was a winnable match, right?

Well... uh, maybe not. Quite simply, this match was the worst beating I've ever been given in a game of Heroscape. I was never in this thing. Isenfel doesn't really offer any intermediate height to work with, making it a terrible map for my army. With Orc Battle Rush and the speed of Jacob's army, augmented by the move glyph, there was just no way for me to get my slow-developing army podded up on the high plateau before the deathchasers were on top of them. I made the mistake of trying to move up Raelin and Nerak before rolling with the AGs; I would have been better off just shooting from my startzone. I was able to create a choke point at the front of the ruin, and my Raelin-boosted Nerak rolled great dice, but the AGs just couldn't kill deatchasers (rolling 5D) fast enough for it to matter. I brought Krug up top to relieve the pressure, but an untimely initiative switch and some hot dice meant that Krug went from unwounded to dead without me taking an attack with him. At that point, it was just a matter of time, as Jacob methodically eliminated Nerak, killed Raelin, and popped the swogs. I killed a few Deathchasers but didn't really dent his army.

Thus ended my 2-year reign as champ, as there was no way my strength of schedule could get me into day 2. Honestly, that's not why I'll remember this game though: I'll remember it for just how clinically my army got taken apart. We could play that match 10 times on that map and Jacob probably wins 9 of them. The only way I win is if Krug does some crazy stuff, which is possible but unlikely. (On a map where I can find some high ground before he's on top of me, things could be more interesting.)

Game 5
Opponent: ??
Map: Ticalla Sunrise

My opponent was a no-show in round 5, so I got a walkover. I managed to talk fomox into sitting down and playing about half a game with me in the middle of the round, which was great. I let him play the Arrow Gruts, while I played cutters.

Final record (officially): 3-2, 24th place. For my part, I'll call it a 2-1 record, setting aside the 455 point army and the last round non-match.

Next up are some battle reports were I actually did well!
 
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