-
Welcome to the Heroscapers 2.0 site! We've still got some dust to clear and adjustments to make, including launching a new front page, but we hope you enjoy the improvements to the site. Please post your feedback and any issues you encounter in this thread.
dok's battle reports
- Thread starter dok
- Start date
For Heroes Only, I thought I killed at least 2 of your Black Wyrmlings with Kaemon Awa before he fell. One was near Wannok and the other was heading that way. Didn't matter either way, though.
Huh... the first few rounds of our game was one of the only times all weekend where I actually used my normal, fully-featured, not-in-a-rush-because-of-Gencon-time-limits note taking, and I only credited Kaemon with one. Still, I could easily be wrong. I'll edit it.
Good games, and it was great getting to spend time with you this weekend, Tommy.
Either way, it didn't effect the outcome of our game.
TREASURE QUEST
I had played with a few different builds for this format. It's really pretty different than normal heroscape. I came to the conclusion that very fast bonding was the way to go, as the bonding squaddies can run interference or cover glyphs while your bonding hero cleans up. The faster your bonding hero, the better. I also liked Cyprien, for obvious reasons. Eventually I settled on vminer's favorite army: Nilfheim, Greenscalesx2, Cyprien, Sonya. Sonya isn't extremely useful in this build, actually, but she's a decent way to spend those points. I liked the idea of adding Heirloom so that my opponent wouldn't be able to stand on a glyph and delay the end of the game, but in the end I decided that with Nilfheim and Greenscales in the army, I can just rely on being able to out-slug my opponent if they try to play a glyph-squatting strategy.
Game 1
Opponent: Infectedsloth (Kaemon, Krug, Hydra, Raelin, Marro Warriors)
Map: Fossil
Nathan had beaten me in an online event (Minions>Protectors), and had just qualifed for day 2 of the main event, so I knew he was no joke. However, he had very little experience in treasure quest, and it showed. On Fossil, treasure quest is a sprint. Infectedsloth started by putting Raelin on a perch and moving a couple heroes forward, but I had two glyphs (one missed trap roll) in a flash. In round 2, IS brough Krug forward against Nilfheim, but I disengaged from him and avoided any ice shards to charge him up. Once Nilfheim had 3 glyphs, I didn't want to risk him on the other side of the map where the Hydra and Kaemon lurked, so I sent Cyprien there to finish things off. He managed to survive the attacks that came his way, winning the game for me. The entire match took less than 15 minutes.
Game 2
Opponent: Jason H, aka vegietarian's dad (Ornak, Cyprien, Sonya, Othkurik, MBS, Isamu)
Map: Fossil
This was my first of two matches against Ornak armies. Unfortunately my notes are spotty on this one. I know Jason used Ornak to get things moving, but he missed at least one trap pickup roll. He ran Othkurik around for some acid spray attacks, but couldin't kill much aside from some greenscales. Nilfheim and Cyprien each picked up a couple glyphs for the win.
Game 3
Opponent: jdtenor (Arrow Gruts x3, Mimring, Krug, Ornak, Isamu)
Map: Elswin Plateau
Well, to be the champ you gotta beat the champ, I guess. jdtenor won both the Treasure Quest and Dragon's Horde events last year with this basic build, in addition to a second place in TQ the year before that. The formula is simple: double activation of Mimring and Krug on OM1, versatile Arrow Grut bonding on OMs 2 and 3. It works.
On Elswin plateau, every treasure is 9+ spaces from the startzones, so even Cyprien takes a turn to get going. I led off with greenscales, looking to get a hold of the move glyph, while jdtenor went Ornak followed by Mimring bonding. I was careful to advance the greenscales and Nilfheim into spots where George would have to choose between picking up treasures or hitting with fireline. Predictably (and correctly) he chose to collect treasures, but this meant that Nilfheim got the jump on damaging Mimring with fireline.
By the start of round 2, I held the move glyph and a treasure (I had missed a roll again), while Mimring had two. I moved greenscales to cover one treasure while I collected another, and Nilfheim and the greenscales managed to take down Mimring and cause his two treasures to drop. Krug moved up close to another glyph, but I was able to block him off it while leaving it open. A move-boosted Cyprien swooped in from 10 spaces away to take the last treasure and end the match.
Game 4
Opponent: fomox (Death Chasers x3, MBS, Nerak, Cyprien, Sonya)
Map: Elswin Plateau
It was a 16-player event, so we were the only 3-0 players and the winner was the champion. fomox is very skilled with the DCoT, and had managed to turn a couple of his earlier games into virtual kill 'em all games by covering glyphs and taking out opposing heroes. I was keenly aware that the high-attack Deathchasers, or a well-timed chill touch, could take down Nilfheim and swing the game.
The bonding squads took the early OMs. fomox was reluctant to push MBS or Nerak forward to the glyphs, electing to activate each of them and then snipe at Nilfheim with MBS. I established an early glyph lead and killed the Deathchasers that dared approach the dragon king, but Nilfheim took a couple early wounds. I played it conservatively, burning the healer glyph in the second round before bringing Nilfheim back to the middle of the map.
In the third round (my first foray into round 3 in the tournament?) both Cypriens entered the fray. I claimed the second-to-last glyph with my move-boosted Cyprien. Mike's only hope (aside from terrible trap rolls) was to kill the hero I activated on my next OM. He correctly guessed that my next OM was on Nilfheim, but couldn't take him down right away. Nilfheim claimed the last glyph to give me the win and the title.
4-0, first place.
I had played with a few different builds for this format. It's really pretty different than normal heroscape. I came to the conclusion that very fast bonding was the way to go, as the bonding squaddies can run interference or cover glyphs while your bonding hero cleans up. The faster your bonding hero, the better. I also liked Cyprien, for obvious reasons. Eventually I settled on vminer's favorite army: Nilfheim, Greenscalesx2, Cyprien, Sonya. Sonya isn't extremely useful in this build, actually, but she's a decent way to spend those points. I liked the idea of adding Heirloom so that my opponent wouldn't be able to stand on a glyph and delay the end of the game, but in the end I decided that with Nilfheim and Greenscales in the army, I can just rely on being able to out-slug my opponent if they try to play a glyph-squatting strategy.
Game 1
Opponent: Infectedsloth (Kaemon, Krug, Hydra, Raelin, Marro Warriors)
Map: Fossil
Nathan had beaten me in an online event (Minions>Protectors), and had just qualifed for day 2 of the main event, so I knew he was no joke. However, he had very little experience in treasure quest, and it showed. On Fossil, treasure quest is a sprint. Infectedsloth started by putting Raelin on a perch and moving a couple heroes forward, but I had two glyphs (one missed trap roll) in a flash. In round 2, IS brough Krug forward against Nilfheim, but I disengaged from him and avoided any ice shards to charge him up. Once Nilfheim had 3 glyphs, I didn't want to risk him on the other side of the map where the Hydra and Kaemon lurked, so I sent Cyprien there to finish things off. He managed to survive the attacks that came his way, winning the game for me. The entire match took less than 15 minutes.
Game 2
Opponent: Jason H, aka vegietarian's dad (Ornak, Cyprien, Sonya, Othkurik, MBS, Isamu)
Map: Fossil
This was my first of two matches against Ornak armies. Unfortunately my notes are spotty on this one. I know Jason used Ornak to get things moving, but he missed at least one trap pickup roll. He ran Othkurik around for some acid spray attacks, but couldin't kill much aside from some greenscales. Nilfheim and Cyprien each picked up a couple glyphs for the win.
Game 3
Opponent: jdtenor (Arrow Gruts x3, Mimring, Krug, Ornak, Isamu)
Map: Elswin Plateau
Well, to be the champ you gotta beat the champ, I guess. jdtenor won both the Treasure Quest and Dragon's Horde events last year with this basic build, in addition to a second place in TQ the year before that. The formula is simple: double activation of Mimring and Krug on OM1, versatile Arrow Grut bonding on OMs 2 and 3. It works.
On Elswin plateau, every treasure is 9+ spaces from the startzones, so even Cyprien takes a turn to get going. I led off with greenscales, looking to get a hold of the move glyph, while jdtenor went Ornak followed by Mimring bonding. I was careful to advance the greenscales and Nilfheim into spots where George would have to choose between picking up treasures or hitting with fireline. Predictably (and correctly) he chose to collect treasures, but this meant that Nilfheim got the jump on damaging Mimring with fireline.
By the start of round 2, I held the move glyph and a treasure (I had missed a roll again), while Mimring had two. I moved greenscales to cover one treasure while I collected another, and Nilfheim and the greenscales managed to take down Mimring and cause his two treasures to drop. Krug moved up close to another glyph, but I was able to block him off it while leaving it open. A move-boosted Cyprien swooped in from 10 spaces away to take the last treasure and end the match.
Game 4
Opponent: fomox (Death Chasers x3, MBS, Nerak, Cyprien, Sonya)
Map: Elswin Plateau
It was a 16-player event, so we were the only 3-0 players and the winner was the champion. fomox is very skilled with the DCoT, and had managed to turn a couple of his earlier games into virtual kill 'em all games by covering glyphs and taking out opposing heroes. I was keenly aware that the high-attack Deathchasers, or a well-timed chill touch, could take down Nilfheim and swing the game.
The bonding squads took the early OMs. fomox was reluctant to push MBS or Nerak forward to the glyphs, electing to activate each of them and then snipe at Nilfheim with MBS. I established an early glyph lead and killed the Deathchasers that dared approach the dragon king, but Nilfheim took a couple early wounds. I played it conservatively, burning the healer glyph in the second round before bringing Nilfheim back to the middle of the map.
In the third round (my first foray into round 3 in the tournament?) both Cypriens entered the fray. I claimed the second-to-last glyph with my move-boosted Cyprien. Mike's only hope (aside from terrible trap rolls) was to kill the hero I activated on my next OM. He correctly guessed that my next OM was on Nilfheim, but couldn't take him down right away. Nilfheim claimed the last glyph to give me the win and the title.
4-0, first place.
HEAT OF BATTLE
I wasn't planning on playing this one. I figured that I'd either play day 2, or if I missed it, get a chance to spend some time in the dealer hall. However, Megasilver had a ticket that he didn't want to use, and I (predictably) couldn't resist it. I thought about the format for a couple minutes and decided I wanted to run 10th with Marcus. I figured this could be effective in Heat of Battle where Marcus can be dropped into position - I was more right about this than I had appreciated when I picked it - Marcus was extremely useful in this build and I was constantly taking advantage of that attack bonus. The big decision I had with this build (after 10thx3, Raelin, Marcus) was whether I'd rather have a fourth squad of 10th, or two squads of rats. I decided that with all the 4thx5 and 4thx6 builds I expected to see, the extra figures would be more useful. There was one notable game where 10thx4 definitely would have been better, but by and large this choice paid off.
Game 1
Opponent: WOOKIE (4thx6 + Sam Brown)
Map: Fulcrum
Well... I was gonna have to beat the 4th sometime, so I may as well get it started. Predictably, we each claimed one of the two central high spots. (Thank goodness of the new placement rules; otherwise this game would have been won on the d20.) Wookie overflowed the high ground and took positions in a couple other spots around the map. I managed to pack all three squads of 10th on or next to the high ground, with Raelin on the high ground towards the edge of the map (out of range of the other high ground) and Marcus closer to the center of the map (in range and only on level 2, but next to a jungle tile and adjacent to two level 3 spaces occupied by Redcoats). I put the rats across the middle of the map.
I used the opening activation to tie up several 4th with rats, and never activated them again. The early exchanges were between the unengaged 4th and any exposed non-rats they could find (including the non-vanishing Isamu), while I gunned down at any unengaged 4th before moving on to some engaged ones. Neither of us wanted to be the one to move forward and allow the other one to WTF, but eventually this forced wookie to shoot the rats. Unfortunately for me, he was spectacularly successful doing so, killing 7 rats in just 2 turns. I'm not a superstitious player in general, but I took that opportunity to switch to the Gencon dice I had won the night before.
I had already killed quite a few 4th at that point, though, and I managed to push things from there. I was outnumbered in riflemen, but I was rolling 4 or 5 dice on defense, and 3, 4 or even 5 dice for attack. Once I had a lead, I was able to induce him to come to me, which amplified my advantage; I WTFed more than he did this game. It was slow going, but when time was called, I was up - we each had a little under two squads left, but Raelin and Marcus versus Sam Brown gave me a sizable point edge.
Game 2
Opponent: Juniour (Stingersx5 + Q10 + Marro Warriors)
Map: Burial Marsh
We each claimed the high ground on one side of the map with our initial placements, and ended up pretty much covering one side each with our ranged commons. I put Raelin on the high ground in the back, while Marcus was farther forward in a spot where he could boost four redcoats on level 3 road. The rats were in front. Juniour threw Q10 in with his stingers, while be put the Marro Warriors off to the side, where they could take some shots at Raelin.
This game went very quickly. I only activated rats once, and Q10 actually cleared them out pretty effectively. The stingers had a hard time, as any of them that moved in to attack were vulnerable to devastating Marcus-boosted WTFs in return. Junior tried to move up and take out Raelin with the Marro Warriors, but the 10th took them down. When Q10 moved in to try to get some wrist rocket attacks, he didn't last long. In the end I lost a squad of 10th and three rats.
Game 3
Opponent: Kevin W. (Warforged x6 + Marcu)
Map: Trailblazer
Kevin isn't on the boards, but he plays with the Columbus guys, which is pretty much all you need to know to know he can play well.
When I saw this map/matchup, I knew I was in trouble. Trailblazer is unquestionably the worst map for a WTF army in HoB, as it forces you to choose between moving twice a round, abandoning the high ground, or risking lava damage. Compounding my problems was Kevin's army, which could drag me on and off lava field at will, bypass my rats with careful tactical switching, and move my figures away from Marcus or out of Raelin's aura. This was the one game of the day where I really wished I just had a fourth squad of redcoats instead of the rats.
This game was a bit of a blur in my memory; it took a ton of concentration and I didn't have time for any note taking. I spent most of the game pretty convinced I was going to lose. Kevin did a great job in initial placement ensuring that our armies would be nicely mixed up. I had Marcus and Raelin in the middle of the map, hoping to get some benefit out of them. I put one OM on rats early on, but it was very hard to tie much of his army down. He was on Raelin by the second turn, and was switching my figures off of height most of the time, with the occasional switch onto lava field in turn 3. This was the one match where the 10th's bayonet charge was really useful - with the height such a mixed blessing, I was constantly doing bayonet dances to try to get that crucial third die. Raelin did go down sometime in the second round, but I was managing to kill warforged at a decent clip (those two meager defense dice didn't save Kevin very often when I did catch a 2-skull roll). This was an extremely tactically intense game, with scatters and bayonets and tactical switches all over the place.
I really wish we had had another 10 minutes to play this one out, because the outcome was still in doubt at the end. I lost my last redcoat on the last turn of the last round, leaving me with 4 rats and a full-life Marcus against 2 warforged and Marcu. I have a small edge (small because rats are almost hopelessly useless against warforged, although they can kill Marcu if Eternal Hatred doesn't) but it really still could have gone either way. Anyway, I have to give Kevin respect for bringing a very cool army and giving me one of the most memorable games I played at Gencon.
Game 4
Opponent: Major Q23 (Zombies x5, Raelin, Fen Hydra)
Map: Isenfel
Isenfel is a horrible map for an army like mine in regular play, but in HoB where I can start set up on the high ground, it's actually very nice. I placed first and claimed one end of the central high ground with a squad of Redcoats. William staked out the move glyph area with zombies in response. I then took the other side of the central high ground with rats, essentially giving myself control of the entire center of the map. It ended up with zomeies on one side of the center, protected by Raelin hiding behind a Ruin, and the Hydra with another squad of zombies on the other side, near the healer glyph (obviously intended for the Hydra). I had Raelin and Marcus on low ground in the middle of my mess of 10th and rats - no need for them to be on a perch when they couldn't be reached.
Early on I concentrated my fire on the Hydra. I used an early scatter to put a rat next to the healer glyph, thus ensuring that the Hydra would have to clear rats before it would have a chance to burn the glyph. As it turned out, it didn't matter anyway, as those elevated WTF attacks of 5 (often three a turn!) were able to take down the Hydra pretty quickly.
I had a harder time taking out Raelin, as the best I could manage was two level ground attacks of 2v3 or 3v3, depending on whether I could wait then fire. But I did eventually bring her down. Q23 punched a hole in my rat screen with a well-placed onslaught attack, and managed to turn over a squad of redcoats over the course of the game, but the dice were just too slanted against him. I was rolling 5 or 6 dice on defense against his 2 attack dice, and on offense I was throwing 4 or 5 attack dice against his 3 defense (once Raelin was down).
Game 5 (finals)
Opponent: Sir Dendrik (4th Massx5 + Drake RotV + Eldgrim)
Map: Trailblazer
I was happy to draw Trailblazer again. That meant our game would require some dynamic play, as opposed to just a bunch of back-and-forth WTF like my opening game against the 4th. And while the 4th have a small advantage over the 10th on this map (due to being able to spread out without worrying about Raelin's aura), it's not nearly as slanted as my game two rounds earlier against Warforged.
I placed my redcoats in a cluster on the level 2 rock plateau on one end of the map, with a couple redcoats on the adjacent hot ground and one on the cool perch. Sir Dendrik placed most of his 4th on hot ground arrayed around my cluster. I placed Raelin far enough back so that she wouldn't take elevated attacks unless my position was overwhelmed, and put Marcus in the thick of the 10th. The rats were strewn about the roads in the middle.
Unfortunately, this game didn't have much drama after the first round. I tied up as many 4th as I could with an opening OM on the rats. We exchanged some early shots, but I had arranged the rats on the low ground such that most of his unengaged 4th would have a hard time getting off the hot ground without engaging other rats. Sir Dendrik made the risky call of WTFing on OM 3 rather than moving down to safe ground, and he paid the price with a brutal set of lava damage rolls that wiped out 5 of 7 minutemen. This was doubly devastating because many of his surviving 4th were poorly positioned or tied up with rats.
Sir Dendrik did his best to nibble at the edges of my position after that, but I still had most of my Redcoats when he was out of 4th Mass. At that point, Isamu decided to finally do something useful for me. Isamu is my least favorite figure, and if you'd ever watched how he performed for me, you'd think I was his least favorite player. However, this game he finally earned his keep, vanishing three times and taking down Sgt. Drake, thus sparing me the trouble of trying to bring my 10th pod to bear on mr. Thorian Speed.
5-0, first place.
I wasn't planning on playing this one. I figured that I'd either play day 2, or if I missed it, get a chance to spend some time in the dealer hall. However, Megasilver had a ticket that he didn't want to use, and I (predictably) couldn't resist it. I thought about the format for a couple minutes and decided I wanted to run 10th with Marcus. I figured this could be effective in Heat of Battle where Marcus can be dropped into position - I was more right about this than I had appreciated when I picked it - Marcus was extremely useful in this build and I was constantly taking advantage of that attack bonus. The big decision I had with this build (after 10thx3, Raelin, Marcus) was whether I'd rather have a fourth squad of 10th, or two squads of rats. I decided that with all the 4thx5 and 4thx6 builds I expected to see, the extra figures would be more useful. There was one notable game where 10thx4 definitely would have been better, but by and large this choice paid off.
Game 1
Opponent: WOOKIE (4thx6 + Sam Brown)
Map: Fulcrum
Well... I was gonna have to beat the 4th sometime, so I may as well get it started. Predictably, we each claimed one of the two central high spots. (Thank goodness of the new placement rules; otherwise this game would have been won on the d20.) Wookie overflowed the high ground and took positions in a couple other spots around the map. I managed to pack all three squads of 10th on or next to the high ground, with Raelin on the high ground towards the edge of the map (out of range of the other high ground) and Marcus closer to the center of the map (in range and only on level 2, but next to a jungle tile and adjacent to two level 3 spaces occupied by Redcoats). I put the rats across the middle of the map.
I used the opening activation to tie up several 4th with rats, and never activated them again. The early exchanges were between the unengaged 4th and any exposed non-rats they could find (including the non-vanishing Isamu), while I gunned down at any unengaged 4th before moving on to some engaged ones. Neither of us wanted to be the one to move forward and allow the other one to WTF, but eventually this forced wookie to shoot the rats. Unfortunately for me, he was spectacularly successful doing so, killing 7 rats in just 2 turns. I'm not a superstitious player in general, but I took that opportunity to switch to the Gencon dice I had won the night before.
I had already killed quite a few 4th at that point, though, and I managed to push things from there. I was outnumbered in riflemen, but I was rolling 4 or 5 dice on defense, and 3, 4 or even 5 dice for attack. Once I had a lead, I was able to induce him to come to me, which amplified my advantage; I WTFed more than he did this game. It was slow going, but when time was called, I was up - we each had a little under two squads left, but Raelin and Marcus versus Sam Brown gave me a sizable point edge.
Game 2
Opponent: Juniour (Stingersx5 + Q10 + Marro Warriors)
Map: Burial Marsh
We each claimed the high ground on one side of the map with our initial placements, and ended up pretty much covering one side each with our ranged commons. I put Raelin on the high ground in the back, while Marcus was farther forward in a spot where he could boost four redcoats on level 3 road. The rats were in front. Juniour threw Q10 in with his stingers, while be put the Marro Warriors off to the side, where they could take some shots at Raelin.
This game went very quickly. I only activated rats once, and Q10 actually cleared them out pretty effectively. The stingers had a hard time, as any of them that moved in to attack were vulnerable to devastating Marcus-boosted WTFs in return. Junior tried to move up and take out Raelin with the Marro Warriors, but the 10th took them down. When Q10 moved in to try to get some wrist rocket attacks, he didn't last long. In the end I lost a squad of 10th and three rats.
Game 3
Opponent: Kevin W. (Warforged x6 + Marcu)
Map: Trailblazer
Kevin isn't on the boards, but he plays with the Columbus guys, which is pretty much all you need to know to know he can play well.
When I saw this map/matchup, I knew I was in trouble. Trailblazer is unquestionably the worst map for a WTF army in HoB, as it forces you to choose between moving twice a round, abandoning the high ground, or risking lava damage. Compounding my problems was Kevin's army, which could drag me on and off lava field at will, bypass my rats with careful tactical switching, and move my figures away from Marcus or out of Raelin's aura. This was the one game of the day where I really wished I just had a fourth squad of redcoats instead of the rats.
This game was a bit of a blur in my memory; it took a ton of concentration and I didn't have time for any note taking. I spent most of the game pretty convinced I was going to lose. Kevin did a great job in initial placement ensuring that our armies would be nicely mixed up. I had Marcus and Raelin in the middle of the map, hoping to get some benefit out of them. I put one OM on rats early on, but it was very hard to tie much of his army down. He was on Raelin by the second turn, and was switching my figures off of height most of the time, with the occasional switch onto lava field in turn 3. This was the one match where the 10th's bayonet charge was really useful - with the height such a mixed blessing, I was constantly doing bayonet dances to try to get that crucial third die. Raelin did go down sometime in the second round, but I was managing to kill warforged at a decent clip (those two meager defense dice didn't save Kevin very often when I did catch a 2-skull roll). This was an extremely tactically intense game, with scatters and bayonets and tactical switches all over the place.
I really wish we had had another 10 minutes to play this one out, because the outcome was still in doubt at the end. I lost my last redcoat on the last turn of the last round, leaving me with 4 rats and a full-life Marcus against 2 warforged and Marcu. I have a small edge (small because rats are almost hopelessly useless against warforged, although they can kill Marcu if Eternal Hatred doesn't) but it really still could have gone either way. Anyway, I have to give Kevin respect for bringing a very cool army and giving me one of the most memorable games I played at Gencon.
Game 4
Opponent: Major Q23 (Zombies x5, Raelin, Fen Hydra)
Map: Isenfel
Isenfel is a horrible map for an army like mine in regular play, but in HoB where I can start set up on the high ground, it's actually very nice. I placed first and claimed one end of the central high ground with a squad of Redcoats. William staked out the move glyph area with zombies in response. I then took the other side of the central high ground with rats, essentially giving myself control of the entire center of the map. It ended up with zomeies on one side of the center, protected by Raelin hiding behind a Ruin, and the Hydra with another squad of zombies on the other side, near the healer glyph (obviously intended for the Hydra). I had Raelin and Marcus on low ground in the middle of my mess of 10th and rats - no need for them to be on a perch when they couldn't be reached.
Early on I concentrated my fire on the Hydra. I used an early scatter to put a rat next to the healer glyph, thus ensuring that the Hydra would have to clear rats before it would have a chance to burn the glyph. As it turned out, it didn't matter anyway, as those elevated WTF attacks of 5 (often three a turn!) were able to take down the Hydra pretty quickly.
I had a harder time taking out Raelin, as the best I could manage was two level ground attacks of 2v3 or 3v3, depending on whether I could wait then fire. But I did eventually bring her down. Q23 punched a hole in my rat screen with a well-placed onslaught attack, and managed to turn over a squad of redcoats over the course of the game, but the dice were just too slanted against him. I was rolling 5 or 6 dice on defense against his 2 attack dice, and on offense I was throwing 4 or 5 attack dice against his 3 defense (once Raelin was down).
Game 5 (finals)
Opponent: Sir Dendrik (4th Massx5 + Drake RotV + Eldgrim)
Map: Trailblazer
I was happy to draw Trailblazer again. That meant our game would require some dynamic play, as opposed to just a bunch of back-and-forth WTF like my opening game against the 4th. And while the 4th have a small advantage over the 10th on this map (due to being able to spread out without worrying about Raelin's aura), it's not nearly as slanted as my game two rounds earlier against Warforged.
I placed my redcoats in a cluster on the level 2 rock plateau on one end of the map, with a couple redcoats on the adjacent hot ground and one on the cool perch. Sir Dendrik placed most of his 4th on hot ground arrayed around my cluster. I placed Raelin far enough back so that she wouldn't take elevated attacks unless my position was overwhelmed, and put Marcus in the thick of the 10th. The rats were strewn about the roads in the middle.
Unfortunately, this game didn't have much drama after the first round. I tied up as many 4th as I could with an opening OM on the rats. We exchanged some early shots, but I had arranged the rats on the low ground such that most of his unengaged 4th would have a hard time getting off the hot ground without engaging other rats. Sir Dendrik made the risky call of WTFing on OM 3 rather than moving down to safe ground, and he paid the price with a brutal set of lava damage rolls that wiped out 5 of 7 minutemen. This was doubly devastating because many of his surviving 4th were poorly positioned or tied up with rats.
Sir Dendrik did his best to nibble at the edges of my position after that, but I still had most of my Redcoats when he was out of 4th Mass. At that point, Isamu decided to finally do something useful for me. Isamu is my least favorite figure, and if you'd ever watched how he performed for me, you'd think I was his least favorite player. However, this game he finally earned his keep, vanishing three times and taking down Sgt. Drake, thus sparing me the trouble of trying to bring my 10th pod to bear on mr. Thorian Speed.
5-0, first place.
GENERAL WARS
General Wars was my chance, at last, to play some cutters at Gencon. The cutters have become a favorite among several of the top online players like Bengi and Filthy, so I've had plenty of chances to see how well they can work. With 5 squads of cutters, I had 200 points left of Utgar. Cyprien/Sonya seemed like a natural choice. After the tournament, I was saying that I wished I had taken Zettian Guards and DW8k or a Hydra, though. Executive summary of this tournament: cutters good, Cyprien baaaaaaaaad.
Game 1
Opponent: Mr. Wookie (10thx4, Kaemon, Guilty)
Map: Fulcrum
For the first few rounds, both of us poured our OMs into the common squads... and the cutters put on a clinic. Thanks to scurry I never lost more than one cutter in a turn, while I was consistently taking out a redcoat with mob attack, and often a second one as well. When the dust cleared, I had killed every redcoat except one, and put two wounds on Kaemon with an opportunistic mob attack in the startzone, while still holding 9 cutters, plus a healthy Cyprien and a 2-life Sonya.
At that point, the OMs shifted to Kaemon and he started quick releasing at the advanced cutters, so I decided to use Cyprien to finish Kaemon off. Cyprien swept in from behind cover for the first strike, and the two of them settled into a slugfest on level ground. When the dust cleared, I had attempted four chilling touches and four attacks on Kaemon, for a grand total of... zero wounds. Ouch. Kaemon quick released his way through my remaining cutters without incident - I was only able to manage one more round of mob attacks, and I never managed another wound.
Game 2
Opponent: Infectedsloth (PKx4, Cyprien, Marcu)
Map: Isenfel
Cyprien is a worry for the cutters, but I know from hard=-won experience that cutters can beat phantom knights. The game started with the common squads again. I had a decent number of cutters up, and things were going fine for me when Nathan brought his Cyprien into play. I leapfrogged up with my own Cyprien, took a level spot next to his Cyprien, and attaked/chilled. Nothing. I ended up getting two more chances to chill and attack before him. Still zero wounds delivered on the day for Cyprien. Still, I figured I was OK, since my Cyprien was exactly 8 spaces from the healer glyph, while Infectedsloth's was 9 spaces away, and he didn't have Sonya. So, unless he rolled a 20 or something, I would be OK... yeah. You know what happened.
I'm actually sort of annoyed with myself about the rest of this game. I don't have any notes, but looking at the numbers I think I still should have had a chance to still win it. I was just sort of in shock about how bad Cyprien had performed for me in my first two games, and I don't think I really focussed on the game after that. Bummer. IS did play a very strong game, keeping his PKs stocked on the high spots.
This brought me to 0-2, which is a frustrating place to be since it means I will probably not be matched up against the top players who I travel to Indy in the hopes of playing against.
Game 3
Opponent: Son of Akden (Izumi, Tagawa, Kaemon, Guilty, Harqx2)
Map: Elswin Plateau
I rolled out the cutters for a round and change to grab the glyphs and block things up, then sent Cyprien in to take down Kaemon and the Tagawas. Cyprien remained hilariously ineffective. He took a bunch of wounds without killing anything, burned the healer glyph, took some more wounds while still not scratching Kaemon's armor, and then flew over to eat some Harqs to heal up. His first successful chilling touches of the tournament were against those Harqs. Thanks, Cyprien. You're a star.
Anyway, Cyprien finally did his job and took down Kaemon and some Samurai, and the cutters cleaned up without too much trouble. I gave Andrew some advice on Order Marker management and wished him luck; he's a solid player for a younger kid.
Game 4
Opponent: Michael V (Nilfheim, 4thx3, Tarn Viking Warriors)
Map: Isenfel
Once again I led with cutters, while Michael led with Nifheim. I figured I would have to switch to Cyprien to take Nilf down, but as it turned out some mob attacks and some very hot dice took Nilfheim down straight away. I switched over to Cyprien (no real reason at this point, but he needed the practice) and he ended up killing 7 minutemen before going down. The cutters cleaned up without difficulty.
Game 5
Opponent: Arrow Grut (Charos, Greenscalesx4)
Map: Elswin Plateau
My two wins had delivered me from the wilderness, so I got to play a good game against a strong opponent who was playing his favorite army.
As usual, I started out with the cutters, claiming the glyphs and working my way up towards the height. I managed to lure Charos to a spot next to one of the single-spaced perches, and then I scurried around to open the spot for Cyprien to fly up there. Once again, I had put Cyprien in exactly the situation I wanted - he was on height against the one figure I needed him to kill, with the healer glyph in range for him but not for Charos. Once again, every chill touch attempt failed, and I dropped from 5 life to zero life in a single turn. That's the last straw - I'm moving Cyprien to a C- in my power rankings.
The rest of the game was a grind. There was a lot of maneuver while I gnawed at the edge of his position on height. Because of bonding, Matt was able to kill two cutters per Order Marker whenever Charos was involved, although I tried to make it difficult for him to engage. My hope was to take down the Greenscales first, as it seemed easier to finish the Greenscales than their king, but I was getting too many single-kill turns, and the odds were slowly turning against me as time wound down. I decided I needed to shift strategies and go for the big kill, as I had no chance of winning if Charos was still alive with time called. Using mob attack and some hot dice with that one elevated cutter that could manage a 3v3, I started piling the wounds on Charos. I was losing cutters fast and furious at this stage, but the non-Charos attacks on GSWs were also getting some good kills.
About 20 seconds before "last OM" was called, with my last possible round of mob attacks, I killed Charos. I lost just one cutter the last turn of the round, leaving me with three cutters and a 1-life Sonya against two surviving Greenscales. Great game, Arrow Grut.
3-2 and I hate Cyprien a lot.
General Wars was my chance, at last, to play some cutters at Gencon. The cutters have become a favorite among several of the top online players like Bengi and Filthy, so I've had plenty of chances to see how well they can work. With 5 squads of cutters, I had 200 points left of Utgar. Cyprien/Sonya seemed like a natural choice. After the tournament, I was saying that I wished I had taken Zettian Guards and DW8k or a Hydra, though. Executive summary of this tournament: cutters good, Cyprien baaaaaaaaad.
Game 1
Opponent: Mr. Wookie (10thx4, Kaemon, Guilty)
Map: Fulcrum
For the first few rounds, both of us poured our OMs into the common squads... and the cutters put on a clinic. Thanks to scurry I never lost more than one cutter in a turn, while I was consistently taking out a redcoat with mob attack, and often a second one as well. When the dust cleared, I had killed every redcoat except one, and put two wounds on Kaemon with an opportunistic mob attack in the startzone, while still holding 9 cutters, plus a healthy Cyprien and a 2-life Sonya.
At that point, the OMs shifted to Kaemon and he started quick releasing at the advanced cutters, so I decided to use Cyprien to finish Kaemon off. Cyprien swept in from behind cover for the first strike, and the two of them settled into a slugfest on level ground. When the dust cleared, I had attempted four chilling touches and four attacks on Kaemon, for a grand total of... zero wounds. Ouch. Kaemon quick released his way through my remaining cutters without incident - I was only able to manage one more round of mob attacks, and I never managed another wound.
Game 2
Opponent: Infectedsloth (PKx4, Cyprien, Marcu)
Map: Isenfel
Cyprien is a worry for the cutters, but I know from hard=-won experience that cutters can beat phantom knights. The game started with the common squads again. I had a decent number of cutters up, and things were going fine for me when Nathan brought his Cyprien into play. I leapfrogged up with my own Cyprien, took a level spot next to his Cyprien, and attaked/chilled. Nothing. I ended up getting two more chances to chill and attack before him. Still zero wounds delivered on the day for Cyprien. Still, I figured I was OK, since my Cyprien was exactly 8 spaces from the healer glyph, while Infectedsloth's was 9 spaces away, and he didn't have Sonya. So, unless he rolled a 20 or something, I would be OK... yeah. You know what happened.
I'm actually sort of annoyed with myself about the rest of this game. I don't have any notes, but looking at the numbers I think I still should have had a chance to still win it. I was just sort of in shock about how bad Cyprien had performed for me in my first two games, and I don't think I really focussed on the game after that. Bummer. IS did play a very strong game, keeping his PKs stocked on the high spots.
This brought me to 0-2, which is a frustrating place to be since it means I will probably not be matched up against the top players who I travel to Indy in the hopes of playing against.
Game 3
Opponent: Son of Akden (Izumi, Tagawa, Kaemon, Guilty, Harqx2)
Map: Elswin Plateau
I rolled out the cutters for a round and change to grab the glyphs and block things up, then sent Cyprien in to take down Kaemon and the Tagawas. Cyprien remained hilariously ineffective. He took a bunch of wounds without killing anything, burned the healer glyph, took some more wounds while still not scratching Kaemon's armor, and then flew over to eat some Harqs to heal up. His first successful chilling touches of the tournament were against those Harqs. Thanks, Cyprien. You're a star.
Anyway, Cyprien finally did his job and took down Kaemon and some Samurai, and the cutters cleaned up without too much trouble. I gave Andrew some advice on Order Marker management and wished him luck; he's a solid player for a younger kid.
Game 4
Opponent: Michael V (Nilfheim, 4thx3, Tarn Viking Warriors)
Map: Isenfel
Once again I led with cutters, while Michael led with Nifheim. I figured I would have to switch to Cyprien to take Nilf down, but as it turned out some mob attacks and some very hot dice took Nilfheim down straight away. I switched over to Cyprien (no real reason at this point, but he needed the practice) and he ended up killing 7 minutemen before going down. The cutters cleaned up without difficulty.
Game 5
Opponent: Arrow Grut (Charos, Greenscalesx4)
Map: Elswin Plateau
My two wins had delivered me from the wilderness, so I got to play a good game against a strong opponent who was playing his favorite army.
As usual, I started out with the cutters, claiming the glyphs and working my way up towards the height. I managed to lure Charos to a spot next to one of the single-spaced perches, and then I scurried around to open the spot for Cyprien to fly up there. Once again, I had put Cyprien in exactly the situation I wanted - he was on height against the one figure I needed him to kill, with the healer glyph in range for him but not for Charos. Once again, every chill touch attempt failed, and I dropped from 5 life to zero life in a single turn. That's the last straw - I'm moving Cyprien to a C- in my power rankings.
The rest of the game was a grind. There was a lot of maneuver while I gnawed at the edge of his position on height. Because of bonding, Matt was able to kill two cutters per Order Marker whenever Charos was involved, although I tried to make it difficult for him to engage. My hope was to take down the Greenscales first, as it seemed easier to finish the Greenscales than their king, but I was getting too many single-kill turns, and the odds were slowly turning against me as time wound down. I decided I needed to shift strategies and go for the big kill, as I had no chance of winning if Charos was still alive with time called. Using mob attack and some hot dice with that one elevated cutter that could manage a 3v3, I started piling the wounds on Charos. I was losing cutters fast and furious at this stage, but the non-Charos attacks on GSWs were also getting some good kills.
About 20 seconds before "last OM" was called, with my last possible round of mob attacks, I killed Charos. I lost just one cutter the last turn of the round, leaving me with three cutters and a 1-life Sonya against two surviving Greenscales. Great game, Arrow Grut.
3-2 and I hate Cyprien a lot.
infectedsloth
GenCon Main Event Champion - 2019 & The Doom of Ma
Nice reports dok, they were entertaining reads. It was nice meeting you, and getting two games in, although I wise they would have ended up being a little more competitive(especially treasure quest). Man, I knew that you got unlucky with Cyprien, but I had know idea it was that bad, C- indeed.
Arrow Grut
Treasure Quest Champion!
That last game was very, very enjoyable. Don't worry, from playing TQ 2 years ago, thats probably the 4th or 5th Cyprien I've killed with the Greenies plus Charos combo. Anyways, great game.
Don't worry, from playing TQ 2 years ago, thats probably the 4th or 5th Cyprien I've killed with the Greenies plus Charos combo. Anyways, great game.
How so? Maybe I didn't explain it well, so let me elaborate. I want to play against good players, and I want to be challenged. Winning easily against someone who is still learning (particularly a young player) doesn't really give me any pleasure. I'd much rather lose to a great player in a tough game than beat a neophyte in a walkover.
I realized yesterday that I've never lost a tournament game on Fossil. I counted it up as best I can, and I think I'm 11-0 lifetime on that map. Clearly, a great map.
I wonder if I have a "nemesis" map that I've lost on an unusual amount. Looking through, I think my 2-3 record on Guardian at Gencon 2011 is my worst record on any map I've played on multiple times.
I wonder if I have a "nemesis" map that I've lost on an unusual amount. Looking through, I think my 2-3 record on Guardian at Gencon 2011 is my worst record on any map I've played on multiple times.
Are you sure I did? I assume this would have been round 1, as that was the only round where I put 1, 2, and 3 on the rats. I thought I had put the X on the Marro Warriors.
To answer your question, no, there would not have been any reason to do that. If one of your figures has an "X" marker power, or if your opponent has a Mindflayer, then it can be a good idea.
Oh, I thought you were saying that you were at Gencon and you had seen me do that in that game.
I didn't actually put 4 OMs on the rats in one round. When I said "I put my first 4 OMs on the rats", I meant that I put 1, 2, and 3 on them in the first round, and the 1 on them in the second round.
There are times when it doesn't matter if you put four order markers on a card or not.
A good example is a Thanos centered army. It's a waste to not have all three active order markers on him once the two sides are within range of each other. He's durable with all that life and defense, but he's best when you're killing something with his big hit every turn and keeping the focus on him rather than the rest of the army that has the only job of staying alive long enough for Rejected By Death to kick in after Thanos Dies.
Can't think of a time where you'd want to put all four order markers on a card for any other reason than if the special ability was dependent on it.
A good example is a Thanos centered army. It's a waste to not have all three active order markers on him once the two sides are within range of each other. He's durable with all that life and defense, but he's best when you're killing something with his big hit every turn and keeping the focus on him rather than the rest of the army that has the only job of staying alive long enough for Rejected By Death to kick in after Thanos Dies.
Can't think of a time where you'd want to put all four order markers on a card for any other reason than if the special ability was dependent on it.
Arrow Grut
Treasure Quest Champion!
I could see putting 4 OMs on a card if you want to draw a lot of attention to them. Though it is risky, as your figure with all the OMs will take all the fire, it could divert attacks off another figure for a round.
killercactus
The Guy That Thinks Runa is Good (and has actually
You might want to if they have a Mindflayer or something else that knocks a random OM off.
The CEE
New member
I love reading your tournament battle reports dok. The level of detail you include in each one is just about unparalleled. They've been keeping entertained during my breaks at work. I'm eagerly anticipating your Gencon 2013 write-ups (assuming you plan to write them that is)!