This past weekend Gamescape in San Francisco was hosting a tournament. This is the third one I've gone to there, and both the previous times had similar trends: I went 2-2, and got assassinated on turn 2 in game 2. My goal for this tournament was to win at least 3 games, while avoid getting assassinated. Spoiler alert: neither of these happened. Still, I think I learned a lot from the experiance, and thought I'd write up a quick summary to organize my thoughts.
Since I was really trying to win, I decided to go with my two best casters, Saeryn and Epic Thagrosh. I know I'm supposed to be sworn off them for the next few months, but I really don't feel comfortable enough with any of my other Warlocks to take them to a tournament and expect to win. I played my standard lists:
Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
* Carnivean
* Scythean
* Shredder
* Shredder
Blackfrost Shard
Blighted Nyss Striders
* Blighted Nyss Striders Officer & Musician
2 Spell Martyrs
Reinforcements:
Nephilim Soldier
The Forsaken
Thagrosh, the Messiah
* Carnivean
* Scythean
* Shredder
* Shredder
* Shredder
* Shredder
Full Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters
2 Spell Martyrs
Reinforcements:
Nephilim Soldier
The Forsaken
My first match was against Alex, the player who assassinated me last tournament with Rahn's feat. This time though, he was bringing Skorne. As it was a control zone scenario (SR 2012 #9, Outflank, Outfight, Outlast), I went with Saeryn, as her feat is pretty mean for controlling zones. He went with Master Ascetic Naaresh:
Master Ascetic Naaresh
* Molik Karn
* Bronzeback Titan
* Archidon
Full Nihilators
Min Paingiver Beast Handlers
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer
Reinforcements:
Min Venator Reivers & UA
I'm really annoyed with myself for this game, since I was hungover and made numerous misplays which cost me the game. I was doing well early on since his Archidon failed a charge against my Carnivean by less than half an inch, allowing me to retaliate by killing it with my Scythean before moving him into the right zone and feating while the Striders held off the Iron Fleshed Nihilators and Venator Reivers on the left. However, that turn I forgot to activate my Carnivean, whose spray would really have helped next turn. He responded by feating as well for the armor, and had Molik Karn go after the Blackfrost Shard, but he rolled terribly to hit and end up stuck out front. My Scythean then dropped the Bronzeback to 13 hp - if only I had just a little more damage, say from the Carnivean's spray, I'd be ok taking hits from it since Spiny Growth would have a pretty good shot of knocking out an aspect if he tried to kill me. To make matters worse, I also forgot about my reinforcements, and the Nephilim Soldier definitely could have crippled out the BB even with +3 ARM. As it stood I had my Carnivean move up to finish it off, but ended up leaving Molik Karn unscathed - a costly mistake, as he then trampled up to Saeryn and finished her off. So much for not getting assassinated...
My next match was against the Blindwater Congretation, played by Ben, the guy whose won all the other tournaments I've been to at Gamescape. Though he won the first round and I lost, he was paired down and I was paired up, giving me hope that if I did well I could still place. He decided to go with Caliban the Gravewalker's Theme Force, Bad Religion:
Calaban, the Gravewalker
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Bull Snapper
Full Gatormen Posse
Min Gatormen Posse
Min Farrow Bone Grinders
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Feralgeist
After losing because I was unfocused last game, I tried to put my all into this game. Unfortunately, my dice disagreed. Going with Epic Thagrosh, I had my Carnivean charge behind an obstacle to spray Snapjaw while under Spiny Growth and Dragon's Blood. He tried to respond by charging past it and attacking me with his reach tail, but POW 14 meant he just ended up leaving himself exposed while doing very little damage to me. This is where things went wrong. Despite only needing 6's, my Scythean missed 3 of his 6 attacks. Not a big deal, I sent two Shredders up to finish the badly wounded Snapjaw. Even with boosted damage at dice-9, all 4 attacks failed to do a single point of damage. I had Thagrosh spray into the melee, reducing SJ to 2 HP and setting him on fire. Thinking I had him, I then had my Carnivean walk over and throw the beast at Wrong Eye. To make sure I finished him, I boosted the damage roll...and only managed an 8 when I needed a 9 for the kill. He responded by putting Parasite on my Carnivean and killing it with Snapjaw, as well as damaging my Scythean badly. Realizing I needed to go for the assassination, I ran my Shredders and Scythean up into Calaban under Manifest Destiny and my feat - and failed to do even a single point of damage across all 4 beasts. So much for MD helping out bad rolls. I almost had another shot when he poured almost everything he had into my Scythean. He was finally forced to sacrifice a gator to his Witch Doctor, and even then only managed the kill since Parasite was up. While I'm really annoyed at my dice for betraying me so badly, it was nice to play a solid game against a really good opponent.
My third game was against Cryx, led by Lich Lord Terminus:
Lich Lord Terminus
* Harrower
Full Bane Thralls
Full Revenant Crew
Min Blackbane's Ghost Raiders
Bane Lord Tartarus
Captain Rengrave
While this was a reinforcements match, he forgot to bring his in, so I don't remember what they were. I ended up playing Epic Thagrosh, meaning the battle featured two large based casters, both the highest-ranking individuals available to their armies. This battle was tricky because he had two units that could revive themselves. I managed to snipe out Blackbane and Tartarus early, but unfortunately my Carnivean missed a crucial shot on the Revenant Crew leader, meaning a large portion of the unit would come back next turn and worse, my Carnivean was pretty far ahead of the rest of my army. Fortunately, my opponent misjudged how fragile he was and sent Terminus in, who barely managed to scratch him thanks to Dragon's Blood and Spiny Growth. In return, the Carnivean ate his face. I'm really starting to love the DB/SG combo - I can't wait to try it on the Archangel, even if thats going to be 30+points!
My final game was against a Retribution player with possibly my worst matchup: lots and lots of infantry:
Lord Arcanist Ossyan
* Chimera
Full Dawnguard Sentinels
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard
Full Houseguard Halberdiers
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard
Full Mage Hunter Strikeforce
* Mage Hunter Commander
Ghost Sniper
Ghost Sniper
Arcanist
3 full units, complete with UAs. Man I wish I had Kallus right about now. Lacking that, I used Saeryn, hoping some well-placed Blightbringers would help turn the tide, particularly if I would get rid of his Sentinels, his best way of dealing with my heavies. This was a bloody matchup: I managed to deal some pretty serious damage as he moved his force up the board, but Quicken helped them arrive mostly intact, and he did pretty decent damage to my Scythean with the few remaining Sentinels and some Halberdier CMAs when I forgot to feat. Still it allowed me to drop a massive Blightbringer that killed ~8 models. The Blackfrost Shard ended up doing pretty well, as without any heavy targets to Ice Cage/Kiss of Lyliss, they ran around picking off annoying models with Weaponmaster and Ice Bolt, including both Ghost Snipers and the Arcanist. Eventually it was down to my Carnivean, half a unit of Striders, and my Spell Martyrs against the Chimera and Mage Hunters. Unfortunately he was able to use his feat and all the firepower he had left to finish off my heavy, which pretty much sealed my fate as I was out of beasts. Looking back I really should have run my Shredders into his force for Blightbringer as they advanced, as not only would I have done decent damage, but I also would have prevented him from charging my Scythean with so many models at once. Its been a while since I've played Saeryn, and not using her for so long taught me a few things. Of the casters I play, she is by far the worst once her beasts are gone. Thagrosh, Kallus, and even Lylyth can fight pretty well on their own, but Saeryn has terrible combat stats, and can no longer use Blightbringer without a beast to target.
So I ended up going 1-3, my worst record yet. On the upside, I learned a lot about my force and what to focus on; I'll definitely remember to practice, particularly with bringing in reserves, before next time. I'm also realizing that while Saeryn used to by my #1 caster, I think that title has been passed to Epic Thagrosh. The +4 ARM combo is so potent that often, my opponents will just ignore the beast that has it. In the meantime, I'm probably going to set both these casters aside until the next tournament. After all, if avoiding Saeryn helped me figure out Epic Thagrosh, maybe setting them both aside will help me figure out my other Warlocks!
Since I was really trying to win, I decided to go with my two best casters, Saeryn and Epic Thagrosh. I know I'm supposed to be sworn off them for the next few months, but I really don't feel comfortable enough with any of my other Warlocks to take them to a tournament and expect to win. I played my standard lists:
Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
* Carnivean
* Scythean
* Shredder
* Shredder
Blackfrost Shard
Blighted Nyss Striders
* Blighted Nyss Striders Officer & Musician
2 Spell Martyrs
Reinforcements:
Nephilim Soldier
The Forsaken
Thagrosh, the Messiah
* Carnivean
* Scythean
* Shredder
* Shredder
* Shredder
* Shredder
Full Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters
2 Spell Martyrs
Reinforcements:
Nephilim Soldier
The Forsaken
My first match was against Alex, the player who assassinated me last tournament with Rahn's feat. This time though, he was bringing Skorne. As it was a control zone scenario (SR 2012 #9, Outflank, Outfight, Outlast), I went with Saeryn, as her feat is pretty mean for controlling zones. He went with Master Ascetic Naaresh:
Master Ascetic Naaresh
* Molik Karn
* Bronzeback Titan
* Archidon
Full Nihilators
Min Paingiver Beast Handlers
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer
Reinforcements:
Min Venator Reivers & UA
I'm really annoyed with myself for this game, since I was hungover and made numerous misplays which cost me the game. I was doing well early on since his Archidon failed a charge against my Carnivean by less than half an inch, allowing me to retaliate by killing it with my Scythean before moving him into the right zone and feating while the Striders held off the Iron Fleshed Nihilators and Venator Reivers on the left. However, that turn I forgot to activate my Carnivean, whose spray would really have helped next turn. He responded by feating as well for the armor, and had Molik Karn go after the Blackfrost Shard, but he rolled terribly to hit and end up stuck out front. My Scythean then dropped the Bronzeback to 13 hp - if only I had just a little more damage, say from the Carnivean's spray, I'd be ok taking hits from it since Spiny Growth would have a pretty good shot of knocking out an aspect if he tried to kill me. To make matters worse, I also forgot about my reinforcements, and the Nephilim Soldier definitely could have crippled out the BB even with +3 ARM. As it stood I had my Carnivean move up to finish it off, but ended up leaving Molik Karn unscathed - a costly mistake, as he then trampled up to Saeryn and finished her off. So much for not getting assassinated...
My next match was against the Blindwater Congretation, played by Ben, the guy whose won all the other tournaments I've been to at Gamescape. Though he won the first round and I lost, he was paired down and I was paired up, giving me hope that if I did well I could still place. He decided to go with Caliban the Gravewalker's Theme Force, Bad Religion:
Calaban, the Gravewalker
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Bull Snapper
Full Gatormen Posse
Min Gatormen Posse
Min Farrow Bone Grinders
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Feralgeist
After losing because I was unfocused last game, I tried to put my all into this game. Unfortunately, my dice disagreed. Going with Epic Thagrosh, I had my Carnivean charge behind an obstacle to spray Snapjaw while under Spiny Growth and Dragon's Blood. He tried to respond by charging past it and attacking me with his reach tail, but POW 14 meant he just ended up leaving himself exposed while doing very little damage to me. This is where things went wrong. Despite only needing 6's, my Scythean missed 3 of his 6 attacks. Not a big deal, I sent two Shredders up to finish the badly wounded Snapjaw. Even with boosted damage at dice-9, all 4 attacks failed to do a single point of damage. I had Thagrosh spray into the melee, reducing SJ to 2 HP and setting him on fire. Thinking I had him, I then had my Carnivean walk over and throw the beast at Wrong Eye. To make sure I finished him, I boosted the damage roll...and only managed an 8 when I needed a 9 for the kill. He responded by putting Parasite on my Carnivean and killing it with Snapjaw, as well as damaging my Scythean badly. Realizing I needed to go for the assassination, I ran my Shredders and Scythean up into Calaban under Manifest Destiny and my feat - and failed to do even a single point of damage across all 4 beasts. So much for MD helping out bad rolls. I almost had another shot when he poured almost everything he had into my Scythean. He was finally forced to sacrifice a gator to his Witch Doctor, and even then only managed the kill since Parasite was up. While I'm really annoyed at my dice for betraying me so badly, it was nice to play a solid game against a really good opponent.
My third game was against Cryx, led by Lich Lord Terminus:
Lich Lord Terminus
* Harrower
Full Bane Thralls
Full Revenant Crew
Min Blackbane's Ghost Raiders
Bane Lord Tartarus
Captain Rengrave
While this was a reinforcements match, he forgot to bring his in, so I don't remember what they were. I ended up playing Epic Thagrosh, meaning the battle featured two large based casters, both the highest-ranking individuals available to their armies. This battle was tricky because he had two units that could revive themselves. I managed to snipe out Blackbane and Tartarus early, but unfortunately my Carnivean missed a crucial shot on the Revenant Crew leader, meaning a large portion of the unit would come back next turn and worse, my Carnivean was pretty far ahead of the rest of my army. Fortunately, my opponent misjudged how fragile he was and sent Terminus in, who barely managed to scratch him thanks to Dragon's Blood and Spiny Growth. In return, the Carnivean ate his face. I'm really starting to love the DB/SG combo - I can't wait to try it on the Archangel, even if thats going to be 30+points!
My final game was against a Retribution player with possibly my worst matchup: lots and lots of infantry:
Lord Arcanist Ossyan
* Chimera
Full Dawnguard Sentinels
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard
Full Houseguard Halberdiers
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard
Full Mage Hunter Strikeforce
* Mage Hunter Commander
Ghost Sniper
Ghost Sniper
Arcanist
3 full units, complete with UAs. Man I wish I had Kallus right about now. Lacking that, I used Saeryn, hoping some well-placed Blightbringers would help turn the tide, particularly if I would get rid of his Sentinels, his best way of dealing with my heavies. This was a bloody matchup: I managed to deal some pretty serious damage as he moved his force up the board, but Quicken helped them arrive mostly intact, and he did pretty decent damage to my Scythean with the few remaining Sentinels and some Halberdier CMAs when I forgot to feat. Still it allowed me to drop a massive Blightbringer that killed ~8 models. The Blackfrost Shard ended up doing pretty well, as without any heavy targets to Ice Cage/Kiss of Lyliss, they ran around picking off annoying models with Weaponmaster and Ice Bolt, including both Ghost Snipers and the Arcanist. Eventually it was down to my Carnivean, half a unit of Striders, and my Spell Martyrs against the Chimera and Mage Hunters. Unfortunately he was able to use his feat and all the firepower he had left to finish off my heavy, which pretty much sealed my fate as I was out of beasts. Looking back I really should have run my Shredders into his force for Blightbringer as they advanced, as not only would I have done decent damage, but I also would have prevented him from charging my Scythean with so many models at once. Its been a while since I've played Saeryn, and not using her for so long taught me a few things. Of the casters I play, she is by far the worst once her beasts are gone. Thagrosh, Kallus, and even Lylyth can fight pretty well on their own, but Saeryn has terrible combat stats, and can no longer use Blightbringer without a beast to target.
So I ended up going 1-3, my worst record yet. On the upside, I learned a lot about my force and what to focus on; I'll definitely remember to practice, particularly with bringing in reserves, before next time. I'm also realizing that while Saeryn used to by my #1 caster, I think that title has been passed to Epic Thagrosh. The +4 ARM combo is so potent that often, my opponents will just ignore the beast that has it. In the meantime, I'm probably going to set both these casters aside until the next tournament. After all, if avoiding Saeryn helped me figure out Epic Thagrosh, maybe setting them both aside will help me figure out my other Warlocks!
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