Re: KC's Underrated Unit Tourneys- NEW 8/12/10 - GenCon 2010
I've waited far too long to post this, but here's my all access report from GenCon 2010.
A little background for those that haven't followed my exploits - I wasn't supposed to go to GenCon this year. My son - born on August 4th - was scheduled to have his birthday party on GenCon weekend. However, thanks to some bartering with my wife, I was able to use 2 days of GenCon as a birthday / father's day present.
My brother and I arrived in Indy at 11:50 PM on Thursday night and met
phantazm21zero, his girl and
Mechabeast. Arriving Thursday night meant that I didn't get in on the General Wars and Smackdown fun.
lonewolf and
ManTrainChooChoo (the winners of those events) can thank my wife and son for me not being there to whoop up on them.

Instead, my first game of the con came at 12:30 AM on Friday. phantazm, Mecha and I played an excellent game of Munchkin Booty (ARRRRRRR!!!) I ended up as a Spanish Pirate with a Brig for a ship and 4 years of Ick on my feet, but couldn't beat phantazm to Level 10. I also played a bit of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 which is always enjoyable.
I woke up Friday morning and starting getting into Main Event mode. I was originally going to play this army:
Major Q10 - 150
Marro Stingers x6 - 510
I anticipated seeing a lot of Q9 and Deathreavers, and I liked how this army matched up against them. With the wound glyph in play, however, and being scared a bit of the 4th Mass, I was going to switch to this:
Major Q9 - 180
Marcu - 200
Marro Stingers x5 - 500
However, since I didn't make General Wars, I didn't get to play my Vipers in a tournament already. phantazm and a lot of other people on the site were egging me on to play them, and I knew I'd have a blast doing it one way or another. I didn't really like the metagame for Vipers, but peer pressure won out and I settled on playing:
Major Q9 - 180
Raelin - 260
Venoc Vipers x6 - 500, 21 hexes
I did like that most of the maps were small, which meant that Vipers could normally engage the enemy in the middle of the map from the starting zone with one Order Marker if they were in the front. The high variance of the Vipers really needs a consistent army partner, hence Q9/Raelin. I said going into the tournament that Frenzy would win me one game outright, and Q9 would win me one game outright, so I had to win 2 out of the other 3 with skill to make Day 2.
My basic plan was to lead with Q9/Raelin, getting Q9 to the best spot on the map for him and position Raelin somewhere behind him to force the opponent to come in closer to hit her. Hopefully, this would allow the Vipers to engage from the starting zone (I always put them in the front and Q9/Raelin a row or 2 behind). Engaging from the starting zone is huge, because that means you can quickly replace them when they fall and not lose activations. If I couldn't engage and I had a turn on them, I would move them out from the back and try to keep them out of threat range, or at least force my opponent to come off of advantageous ground to kill them. Once I felt comfortable that I could engage with 3 Vipers, I'd start giving them turns since they're a better activation that Q9 if I know I can get 3 attacks + Frenzy.
Enough basic strategy - onto the report:
Round 1 - Dave Kaelin (Microcorp Agents x3, Phantom Knights x3) on Fulcrum
Although I hadn't playtested my army at all before GenCon, this army wasn't one I was expecting to face. I decided I was pretty comfortable against it since he can only attack 3 times per OM, which is nice for Vipers, and he doesn't have any really big attacks to threaten Q9. I sent Q9 up to the high ground on the left side and was able to keep him by Raelin with a jungle tree. The Agents got to high ground faster because I spent a turn on Raelin, and got a couple big attacks on Q9 to score 2 wounds early. That scared me. What scared me even more is that they hit their first 3 Stealth Armor rolls.
Once I got Q9 up to height, Dave brought his Phantom Knights out knowing that Q9 wasn't afraid of the Agents anymore. He swarmed my Soulborg but Q9 held strong for a while and retaliated. Once he got enough of them to the middle of the map with his Agents, I sent in the Vipers. My first turn, I engaged 3 figures and got 2 Frenzies, which was awesome. The bad part about it though was that I didn't kill a single figure in those 3 turns thanks to Stealth Armor and good defense rolling by Dave. WTF. What sucked even more is that soon after, Dave's remaining Phantom Knights killed Q9. Crap.
Things weren't looking good. He had a handful of Agents and Knights left against about 13 Vipers (he had been picking Vipers off here and there). I thought I was in trouble.
Then, the Frenzied attacks of the Vipers came down to bear.
There were many Viper casualties, but throughout the rest of the game I got 5 successful Frenzy rolls and my extra turns and speed were too much for Dave. I killed the last Phantom Knight with 2 Venoc Vipers remaining. As I had predicted, Frenzy won me a game.
1-0
Round 2 - Worseley (Marro Stingers x7, Raelin) on Invasion
Even though the Stingers can only make 3 attacks per turn, I knew this would be tough as Q9 doesn't like the Stingers at all. You know what else he doesn't like? When the Stingers roll 7 out of 8 Stinger Drains successfully.
I used all the cunning and manipulation I had in me to get him to leave Raelin's aura with Marro Stingers by flanking with Vipers from time to time and playing very conservatively with Q9, and killed the ones that did. I was actually in pretty good shape even after Raelin's death, but I made a huge tactical error by moving Q9 down to low ground, not realizing that he had a Stinger or 2 that could get height on me that turn, and also deny me from reclaiming my perch.
That caused Q9's death, and my D20 was cold for Frenzy after the last hot game. Without those extra turns, my remaining Vipers were no match for his 3-defense Stingers. He won the game with 6 or 7 Stingers left. I think if Q9 could've just killed 3 or 4 more I'd have had a chance to pull it out with the Vipers, but that play blunder really cost me.
1-1
At this point, I started proclaiming that my losing streak had begun and figured I was done for the tournament.
Round 3 - Ryan (Airborne Elite, Drake SotM, Marro Warriors, Finn, Syvarris) on Jotun's Gap...?
I can't remember what map this game was played on, but I think it was Jotun's Gap as there was a ruin on the high ground and low ground in the middle. I know that I liked the map because it allowed me to hide Raelin behind the high ground ruin and she could still see Q9 around the side or possibly over the top.
His AE didn't drop, and it became apparent that his plan was to charge the starting zone with Finn, hoping to sacrifice him and put his spirit onto one of his uniques. I wasn't a really big fan of that, so I ignored him. He actually engaged Q9, but I took a passing swipe and made for the height, hiding Raelin behind the ruin. I was content to let Finn hack at Vipers while I shot at the other units in his starting zone. I threw a normal shot from height at Syvarris and killed him in one attack (4 skulls vs. 0 shields). Then I went to work on the Marro, killing 3 of them quickly with Queglix Gun. He failed a Water Clone try and I killed the last one. While he skipped a turn or 2 I shot Finn a couple of times and waited for Drake to advance.
His AE failed the Drop again and he charged with Drake. My Queglix put 3 or 4 wounds on him before he engaged me (from low ground), and his sword helplessly clanged off of Q9's armor. The Queglix Gun finished Drake quickly and also cleaned up Finn. The AE never dropped and I might have activated the Vipers once. Again as predicted, Q9 won me a game by himself.
2-1
At this point, I laughed with Mechabeast and phantazm21zero and said that if I win the next 2 games with Vipers, I'd sprint back to the hotel room and flail my hands in the air. Mechabeast added that I had to make fire engine noises.
Round 4 - Hendal (Major Q9, Deathreavers x2, Marro Stingers x4, Isamu) on Fossil.... or is it?
I didn't really like this matchup at all. I don't even remember if that army is correct, but I saw Q9 and got pretty scared.
Hendal was taunting me, knowing he smoked me at GenCon 2008. I sat down and got ready to take my beating and then heard:
"Everyone get up - they have to re-pair everyone."
I literally jumped up and screamed "WOO-HOO!"
Real Round 4 - Tom Cafaro (Zelrig, Greenscales x2, Stingers x2, Deathreavers x2) on Midnight Lagoon
I was a bit unsure about this matchup, but definitely happier about it than
Hendal's army. I put an early OM on the Vipers knowing that Zelrig was probably charging and I wanted to spread them out and engage him, but Zelrig still did plenty of damage by wiping out chunks of Vipers. I knew then that Q9 was my ticket to winning this match. The Rats were pretty much a non-factor as Q9 took the ones that moved out down fairly easily. When the Stingers came out, I made sure to kill them when I could and not allow them any big shots on Q9.
I picked my targets cautiously, and got a Viper activation or 2 on Zelrig. I didn't get any Frenzies, but I scored 2 wounds over time on the Dragon and killed some Greenscales. Tom was playing pretty slowly, and I soon realized that I had only 10 minutes left in the round and was down on points because so many Vipers were dead. To make matters worse, a Stinger went all Wanted on me and curved a shot around a ruin to hit and kill my Raelin (Tom insisted that he could see Raelin - I didn't think so but allowed the shot). At this point, I had Q9 and 2 Vipers (220 Points) left against Zelrig (2 wounds), 5 Deathreavers, 4 Stingers and 5 Greenscales (all 505 Points) - bad. I kicked my play into overdrive and started flying Q9 all around the map. I knew I had to get Zelrig, and I got a couple Stingers and two Greenscales on the way to net me 120 Points. Something engaged my Q9 (I can't remember if it was a rat or a Greenscale) a bit after I heard "5 minutes remaining", and I took the disengagement wound to go after Zelrig on my #3 OM. As I was moving Q9, I heard "this is the last Order Marker". He still had his #3 left also.
Well, I thought, this is it. I played pretty well, but I'm going to be 2-2 and out of the Top 16. At least I had fun. Then I started rolling Queglix Gun:


1 wound - Zelrig still has 3 life. Ehh, it was worth a shot, right? My second shot:


I couldn't believe what I just saw. Zelrig fell in a blaze of majestic Queglix Gun fire. For good measure, I shot at a Greenscale:


Why not, right? Tom's #3 was on the Deathreavers - I think he thought we would get another round in and he could tie Q9 down. The rats couldn't inflict any wounds, and time ran out. I won on points 220 - 200 thanks to some insane luck and skillful fast play at the end of the game. Tom played a great match - unbelievable finish.
3-1
At this point, I couldn't believe I had a shot to sneak into Day 2 now, and was thinking about making fire engine noises. Those hopes were all but dashed when I saw my next pairing...
Round 5 - MattserTruckRally (Q9, Gilbert, Raelin, Knights x2) on Fulcrum
Crap - one of the best players in the world, and he has Q9 to slaughter my Vipers. I again setup for my impending doom until:
"We have to re-pair everyone again - sorry about that."

Unbelievable. I got out of playing
Mattser and
Hendal and 2 Q9's thanks to bad pairings. I found my real opponent wouldn't be much easier...
Real Round 5 - Clarrissimus (Zelrig, Greenscales x2, Cyprien, Sonya) on Warden
I was again much happier with this matchup than Q9, and I saw him wince at my Q9 across the map. Again, I knew Q9 would need to be my MVP against the squad-killing Zelrig and the Soulborg-hating vampire. Also, the healer glyph was on the map in a single-hex water hole, which meant Q9 and Zelrig couldn't get it, but Cypien could - bad.
I led out with the Vipers a bit trying to avoid the Zel-blasts and knowing that he really didn't have any range. Zelrig still got quite a few snakes, though I did get a Greenscale or 2 and pushed a wound or 2 through on big Red. Eventually Zelrig claimed the wound glyph on height and I flew Raelin onto the ramparts there while Q9 moved onto the road and shot up. He wounded Raelin once and I put a wound glyph wound onto her - part 1 of my plan was working.
In the next round I moved Q9 up a bit more to within 4 spaces of the healer glyph and shot again for no wounds on Zelrig, but I got a Greenscale in the front. He fired back to no avail and engaged Q9 with a Greenscale. I then flew Raelin to the Healer glyph and burned it, knowing that Q9 was still in her aura and now Cyprien couldn't have it later. Part 2 of my plan had worked.
He attacked again to no avail on Q9 and sent a Greenscale to start attacking Raelin. Thankfully, he didn't anticipate my next move and didn't put a Greenscale on the front part of the high bridge, which would've blocked my access. On my #3, I ran Q9 right up the road, taking a leaving engagement wound and engaging Zelrig on even ground. Raelin could still see Q9's shoulder pad through gap in the top of the ruin. Part 3 of my plan worked.
Clarrissimus was forced to attack Q9's 9 defense with just Zelrig and 2 Greenscales as he couldn't engage anymore. He also was attacking down on Raelin with a 3rd Greenscale. However, Q9 was firing steady bullets into Zelrig and brought him down just after Eric flew Cyprien over to kill Raelin. It should be noted that Raelin survived a long time until the vampire ended her life. Q9 mopped up some Greenscales and claimed the Wound glyph while Cyprien flew towards my starting zone at the remaining Vipers. With my turns on Q9, I decided to attack Greenscales even eventually Sonya by coming down off of the bridge because I knew Cyprien could just eat snakes to get any wounds back.
Well, Cyprien flew into my starting zone and killed some snakes, but then something happened he didn't expect - the snakes had a turn. My 3 remaining Vipers all engaged Cyprien and did 3 wounds - and I hit Frenzy. The first 2 did 2 more wounds and my last Viper, with victory in my grasp, failed to wound Cyprien. BAH!!!! The vamp snacked on my 3 snakes and left my starting zone with 2 wounds. I wounded Sonya once and was going to forget about her and focus on the daddy, but then I realized that with her alive, I was behind in Points. I sent her back to her coffin and prepared for the 1v1 with Cyprien. Usually this would be great for me, but Warden has a Wound glyph on the high-middle of the map, and that spot isn't friendly for double-hexers to climb up to. Cyprien landed on it and Q9 took a wound after I shot Cyprien for one or two more.
I thought I'd positioned Q9 in such a way that on my next turn, I could get up to the even ground and, if he won initiative, he couldn't attack me from height. I won initiative and tried to move up, only to find out that I miscounted. So, I moved Q9 next to the high ground and conceded that I needed to let him have that one high shot to get him off of the glyph and get me onto even ground. However, it never came to that as some strong Queglix rolling and some poor Cyprien defense sealed it for me. This really was a fantastic game - probably my most fun game of the Con.
4-1, 13th seed for Day 2.
I couldn't believe at all that I made it to Day 2. I needed some great matchups and some luck on my side to do it, but I somehow squeezed in there. I was absolved from sprinting back to the hotel and making fire engine noises due to the heavy traffic on our way back.
I saw that I was playing EternalThanos86 in the Top 16 round - another Zelrig/Greenscales army. Since I'd just beaten 2 of them, I felt pretty good. I didn't really know what to add to help me in that matchup, so I opted for Venoc Warlord and Marcu for glyph grabbing / denying / wound glyph protection. I thought some extra speed would help getting to Zelrig and Raelin quickly, and I knew I planned on leading with Vipers since he had no range other than Zelrig. Well, onto the match:
Top 16 - EternalThanos86 (Zelrig, Raelin, Greenscales x4 + Fen Hydra and Isamu) on Jotun's Gap
The first thing I have to say is that Eric is a class act to play scape with. We both had a blast playing this game, and I think it could've went either way.
He brought big Z out and blew a hole in my vipers. I planned for that though and, with Zelrig out of Raelin's aura, I got 2 Vipers engaged to him. I knew I had a shot to get some wounds in here and, with a timely Frenzy, could cripple him early. I failed the attacks and the Frenzy, and Zelrig disengaged and blew up more Vipers - bad. I did score 2 wounds on the passing swipes, though, but had I got any wounds earlier he may have been less likely to disengage.
He eventually did get Raelin up and I got some snakes around for a wound or 2. I even snuck a Viper into his starting zone, leashed his Hydra, and scored a wound on it! There were a couple times that I got Frenzies in key moments and killed some Greenscales and wounded Raelin some more, but he eventually surrounded her with Greenscales, all the while shooting things with Zelrig. I tried to bait him off of his perch by moving my Raelin up and Q9 out and taking the defense glyph with Marcu, but he didn't fall for it until I killed his Raelin.
After killing Marcu, he finally engaged my Raelin, and I had a surprise OM on the Vipers to finish Zelrig when he did it. Unfortunately, his Greenscales were positioned well and I could only get 2 attacks. A timely Frenzy got 3 engaged and I did a wound or 2, but it wasn't before all my Vipers were dead (I should note that it took him 4 attacks to finally kill my Viper that leashed his Hydra). This was my first mistake - I should've used Q9 to kill Zelrig and saved a few Vipers for the Hydra. I had to take two passing swipe wounds to kill Zelrig with Q9, and I cleaned up his Greenscales as the Hydra finally killed the annoying Viper engaged to it and started its advance. My second mistake was not taking a high-ground normal attack at this point and going for Queglix, which scored no wounds
This was my third mistake - I placed 2 OM's on the Venoc Warlord to ensure that I could engage the Hydra before it caught Q9. Had I lost initiative, this might have been a great move. But I won, and I moved Mittens into the Hydra's way. That was really all I needed to do, and I wished my other 2 OM's were on Q9. He put 5 wounds on Mittens, and the Warlord's attack disappointed me. He then broke engagement (I failed the passing swipe - it hurt that he was 2/2 on swipes against Q9 and I missed the Hydra, but I guess I did go 2/2 on Zelrig) and caught up to Q9. The 2 brutes battled back and forth for a while, but I was again going with Queglix instead of the normal attack (I think the math tells me that this is right, but I wasn't sure anyway), and I couldn't get another head off. The Hydra finally did finish me and cleaned up the Venoc Warlord.
Had I saved a couple of Vipers to tie up the Hydra and block the road I'd have been in better shape, and I should've taken that 5v6 when I had the chance. But, it was an outstanding game and I congratulated Eric on his stellar play and win. I still think I played a good tournament and I had a blast playing in it and making my second Top 16 in as many tries.
FRENZY!!!!!!
(Rest of GenCon report to come.....)