The Road to Victory
Back in 2011 I had absolutely no idea what to play in the main event. This was my army build:
Sergeant Alexander Drake (ROTV)
Marcus Decimus Gallus
Theracus
Roman Legionnaires x 2
10th Regiment of Foot x 2
I had thought the combination of Marcus Decimus Gallus with the 10th had some potential because he acts like Taelord somewhat for soldiers. I didn’t do very well but in thinking about what I would run for this year’s championship (2013) I realized that I needed Raelin if was going to do a pod army well. I usually stay away from pod armies agreeing with the fellow “I’m just not that in to Raelin”. So anyway, here is my battle report for this year’s championship.
My army:
Sergeant Drake Alexander (ROTV)
Marcus Decimus Gallus
Raelin (ROTV)
10th Regiment of Foot x 2
My notes will usually include something about how Drake did because I wondered if he was worth putting in the army. I noticed Vegie (not a clown) ran something very similar in Heat of the Battle this year opting for another squad of 10th and fillers rather than Drake. It seems like you need a heavy hitter in each army, but maybe that’s not always the case.
Championship Day 1
Game 1 ~ Win
Facing Necroblade on Stygian Rift (even though I didn’t realize who he was at the time)
Raelin (ROTV)
Su-Bak-Na
Marro Dividers x 4
This was a very close game. The dividers took the Move+2 glyph and the Lucky20. They quickly moved into my pod which worked good for me. His Cell Divide power worked some with Su-Bak-Na and the glyph making a difference on a couple of rolls. Overall, the firepower of the 10th with support from Marcus and Raelin wore the majority of his army out. As Su-Bak-Na moved in, Drake moved up to try to take him out but failed. Drake acted as a target for Su-Bak-Na and he fell without taking down a single figure. The 10th finished SBN off though.
Game 2 ~ Win
Facing Megasilver on Quasatch Playground
Venoc Vipers x4
Major Q10
Venoc Warlord
Megasilver had a very good strategy. Because of how fast the Venoc Vipers are, he would position them exactly 9 spaces out moving only 2 up at a time and hope for Frenzy. This way he was getting sometimes 4 or 6 attacks, but I was only able to get in 2 because of my pod structure. There is a picture posted by Retlaw that perfectly demonstrates the strategy he was using. I made a mistake at the beginning moving 2 of my 10th outside of Raelin’s aura. He exploited this making them the first 2 to fall. We traded Vipers for 10th and after all his Vipers were gone I had only 2 10th left. He moved Q10 out to try to clean up taking out 1 of my 10th. I had a turn marker on the 10th and got one Wait Then Fire, height advantage, and Marcus bonus (I think) shot at Q10 who was adjacent to a bush. I rolled 4 skulls and Q10 rolled 0 shields. With a full strength Drake it wasn’t difficult to take out the Venoc Warlord. A lucky roll hastened the end of the battle, but it would have been interesting if Q10 had survived that.
Game 3 ~ Win
Facing a very nice guy who is apparently Greygnarl's dad on Stygian Rift.
Krug
Raelin (ROTV)
Sonya Esenwein
Swog Rider x 3
Arrow Gruts x 2
This was a very close battle winning on points. The moderator came and called it on time. The 10th did very well. He moved into my pod for the most part using Swogs for bonuses and sometimes moving outside of his Raelin aura. After the first Swog Rider fell he moved to using Krug. I worked him down as he approached and used Drake as a stopper so he couldn’t get to my 10th with multiple attacks. Drake fell but the 10th took down Krug. In the end I had only 2 of my 10th left, Marcus having 4 wound markers on him, and Raelin at full health. He had only 3 Arrow Gruts, 2 Swog Riders, Raelin, and Sonja Essenwein. 255 points to his 215. It would have been interesting to play it out since Marcus wouldn’t have been overly effective if he took out my 2 remaining 10th. Sonya wouldn’t have had hardly any figures to destroy though.
Game 4 ~ Loss
Facing Weesel99 on Embattled Fen
Major Q9
Me-Burq-Sa
Axegrinders of Burning Forge x 3
I did okay at the beginning in setting up the pod and taking out Me-Burq-Sa. But I had no answer for how he was using Q9 as a sniper from exactly 8 spaces out. I should have sent Drake out on a suicide mission or worked him around to the other side of the board creating somewhat of a triangle effect. I, however, chose to let Drake sit in the swamp so Q9 could move up just two spaces and start Queglix. I moved 10th over to the other side of the board and took out all of his dwarves but Q9 ended without a scratch.
Game 5 ~ Loss
Facing Pickle 4192 on Shiver
Braxas
Marro Stingers x 3
Marro Warriors
Set up the pod well at the beginning. Stingers moved in and were a threat at first. Throughout the game he rolled for Stinger Drain every time getting it most times toward the beginning and a dead stop toward the end well after he had the advantage. My attack rolling was not the greatest. He moved up Braxas into the pod and in 2 turns rolled successful on every single Poison Acid Breath roll. 6 of my 10th were gone as my fire power struggled to take down Braxas. Bayonet Attack helped to take down Braxas but I had lost too many 10th to compete. Drake was largely ineffective in the end game. My only hope was to take out Stingers one by one as they were scattered around the board. Drake failed 3 consecutive times to take out one Stinger with height advantage. Opponent finished with probably 4-5 Stingers and all of his Marro Warriors (this will be important later).
So I got into Day 2 to based on my Strength of Schedule which I really don’t understand. It’s probably because I won my first 3 and lost my last 2 as opposed to someone else who lost their first 2 and won their last 3. Not a stellar start but it got me in.
Back in 2011 I had absolutely no idea what to play in the main event. This was my army build:
Sergeant Alexander Drake (ROTV)
Marcus Decimus Gallus
Theracus
Roman Legionnaires x 2
10th Regiment of Foot x 2
I had thought the combination of Marcus Decimus Gallus with the 10th had some potential because he acts like Taelord somewhat for soldiers. I didn’t do very well but in thinking about what I would run for this year’s championship (2013) I realized that I needed Raelin if was going to do a pod army well. I usually stay away from pod armies agreeing with the fellow “I’m just not that in to Raelin”. So anyway, here is my battle report for this year’s championship.
My army:
Sergeant Drake Alexander (ROTV)
Marcus Decimus Gallus
Raelin (ROTV)
10th Regiment of Foot x 2
My notes will usually include something about how Drake did because I wondered if he was worth putting in the army. I noticed Vegie (not a clown) ran something very similar in Heat of the Battle this year opting for another squad of 10th and fillers rather than Drake. It seems like you need a heavy hitter in each army, but maybe that’s not always the case.
Championship Day 1
Game 1 ~ Win
Facing Necroblade on Stygian Rift (even though I didn’t realize who he was at the time)
Raelin (ROTV)
Su-Bak-Na
Marro Dividers x 4
This was a very close game. The dividers took the Move+2 glyph and the Lucky20. They quickly moved into my pod which worked good for me. His Cell Divide power worked some with Su-Bak-Na and the glyph making a difference on a couple of rolls. Overall, the firepower of the 10th with support from Marcus and Raelin wore the majority of his army out. As Su-Bak-Na moved in, Drake moved up to try to take him out but failed. Drake acted as a target for Su-Bak-Na and he fell without taking down a single figure. The 10th finished SBN off though.
Game 2 ~ Win
Facing Megasilver on Quasatch Playground
Venoc Vipers x4
Major Q10
Venoc Warlord
Megasilver had a very good strategy. Because of how fast the Venoc Vipers are, he would position them exactly 9 spaces out moving only 2 up at a time and hope for Frenzy. This way he was getting sometimes 4 or 6 attacks, but I was only able to get in 2 because of my pod structure. There is a picture posted by Retlaw that perfectly demonstrates the strategy he was using. I made a mistake at the beginning moving 2 of my 10th outside of Raelin’s aura. He exploited this making them the first 2 to fall. We traded Vipers for 10th and after all his Vipers were gone I had only 2 10th left. He moved Q10 out to try to clean up taking out 1 of my 10th. I had a turn marker on the 10th and got one Wait Then Fire, height advantage, and Marcus bonus (I think) shot at Q10 who was adjacent to a bush. I rolled 4 skulls and Q10 rolled 0 shields. With a full strength Drake it wasn’t difficult to take out the Venoc Warlord. A lucky roll hastened the end of the battle, but it would have been interesting if Q10 had survived that.
Game 3 ~ Win
Facing a very nice guy who is apparently Greygnarl's dad on Stygian Rift.
Krug
Raelin (ROTV)
Sonya Esenwein
Swog Rider x 3
Arrow Gruts x 2
This was a very close battle winning on points. The moderator came and called it on time. The 10th did very well. He moved into my pod for the most part using Swogs for bonuses and sometimes moving outside of his Raelin aura. After the first Swog Rider fell he moved to using Krug. I worked him down as he approached and used Drake as a stopper so he couldn’t get to my 10th with multiple attacks. Drake fell but the 10th took down Krug. In the end I had only 2 of my 10th left, Marcus having 4 wound markers on him, and Raelin at full health. He had only 3 Arrow Gruts, 2 Swog Riders, Raelin, and Sonja Essenwein. 255 points to his 215. It would have been interesting to play it out since Marcus wouldn’t have been overly effective if he took out my 2 remaining 10th. Sonya wouldn’t have had hardly any figures to destroy though.
Game 4 ~ Loss
Facing Weesel99 on Embattled Fen
Major Q9
Me-Burq-Sa
Axegrinders of Burning Forge x 3
I did okay at the beginning in setting up the pod and taking out Me-Burq-Sa. But I had no answer for how he was using Q9 as a sniper from exactly 8 spaces out. I should have sent Drake out on a suicide mission or worked him around to the other side of the board creating somewhat of a triangle effect. I, however, chose to let Drake sit in the swamp so Q9 could move up just two spaces and start Queglix. I moved 10th over to the other side of the board and took out all of his dwarves but Q9 ended without a scratch.
Game 5 ~ Loss
Facing Pickle 4192 on Shiver
Braxas
Marro Stingers x 3
Marro Warriors
Set up the pod well at the beginning. Stingers moved in and were a threat at first. Throughout the game he rolled for Stinger Drain every time getting it most times toward the beginning and a dead stop toward the end well after he had the advantage. My attack rolling was not the greatest. He moved up Braxas into the pod and in 2 turns rolled successful on every single Poison Acid Breath roll. 6 of my 10th were gone as my fire power struggled to take down Braxas. Bayonet Attack helped to take down Braxas but I had lost too many 10th to compete. Drake was largely ineffective in the end game. My only hope was to take out Stingers one by one as they were scattered around the board. Drake failed 3 consecutive times to take out one Stinger with height advantage. Opponent finished with probably 4-5 Stingers and all of his Marro Warriors (this will be important later).
So I got into Day 2 to based on my Strength of Schedule which I really don’t understand. It’s probably because I won my first 3 and lost my last 2 as opposed to someone else who lost their first 2 and won their last 3. Not a stellar start but it got me in.
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