This past weekend in Stratford, CT one of the new DOGC Members, Shane York, notched his first tournament win as a member of the team.  He’s has been on a roll since joining and has played his way into back to back final tables at his two most recent tournaments. Here is a review of the games that landed him on atop the standings last Sunday… 

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This past Sunday I got the chance to head down to Stratford and play in the “Free Gargossal” event.  I haven’t been to Gaming Etc. in ages so I figured I would head down and check it out.  They had a decent amount of stock and had changed up their space a lot since the last time I was there.  They had plenty of room and the store was jam packed all day long!

 

The event was 35 points, 2 lists, divide and conquer (1) but, due to turn out, no final table variant.  We had 12 players show which is awesome.  Dark Omen’s own PG_Bergerfett ran the event and did a smash up job all day long!

 

Since my Circle are still getting painted (PG_Tangible, you go boy!) I broke the Minions out again.  I am not as comfortable with them at 35 as I am 50.  Since they are a low model count army, a spikey damage roll here or there could prove disastrous!  I’ve been on a Calaban kick lately so I chose him and Barnabus.  My lists were:

 

Barnabus

Blackhide Wrastler

Ironback Spitter

Bull Snapper

Gatorman Posse (Max)

Bog Trog Ambushers (Min)

Feralgeist

Totem Hunter

Thrullg

 

Calaban (Bad Religion Theme Force T2)

Blackhide Wrastler

Swamp Horror

Bull Snapper

Farrow Bone Grinders (Min)

Gatormen Posse (Max)

Gatormen Posse (Max)

Feralgeist

 

Round 1:

Round 1 I get matched up against Matt from Steam Powered Gamer (http://steam-poweredgamer.blogspot.com).  Every tournament the two of us go to we always get matched up.  His two lists are Fiona with a Mariner and the full pirate boat and Constance Blaze.  I chose Barney as Calaban autoloses to a Mariner with Fiona’s buff.  Scenario was Process of Elimination.  He chooses Constance and had –

 

Constance Blaze

Gallant

Pressgang (Max)

Forge Guard (Max)

Precursor Knights (Max with UA)

Harlan Versh

Lanyssa Ryssl

Madelyn Corbeau

Gorman

 

I win the roll and elect to go second and choose side though terrain was almost exactly mirror.  I’ve played against Wyatt from Dark Omen several times who runs the same list in Cygnar.  I know I need him to feat first, I felt like, going second, I could do so.  One of the best parts of this scenario is the zones are at max Bog Trog range so I know exactly where I can charge.  I like going second with my Trogs as well as people forget about them by their second turn.

Matt sets up Precursors in the center and shades everything off to my right.  I plop my Posse off to the right across from his army and leave Barney and beasts in the center across from the Precursors.  He sets up the Pressgang dead center.  I prey on Gorman.  His (turn) one he runs the Pressgang up (to) max (distance) leaving the Lass about 15″ from my Spitter.  He Shieldwalls the Precursors and shuffles everything else forward, putting Lanyssa in the left hand zone alone.  My 1 I cast Warpath and drop a couple templates.  Totem Hunter tries to get a Pressganger but falls an inch short, no Warpath; Spitter moves up and kill 2 Pressgang members.  Everyone else jumps in puddles.

Turn 2 Matt runs the Pressgang to engage my Posse.  He leaves them spread out a bit still covering over to the other side.  He feats.  I bring on the Bog Trogs near his Forge Guard and Harlan then upkeep Warpath.  Barney drops a swamp, moves forward and feats.  I measure range to Connie and it’s just over 12″.  With the rough terrain she can’t get to Barney, neither can Gallant.  Totem Hunter walks around, leaps in and hits Connie for 5.  Bogs charge and kill Harlan and 3 Forgeguard.  Posse kill all but 4 Pressgangers.  Spitter kills the Lass and another Pressganger,  Wrastler waddles towards center table, and Thrullg hangs back ready to kill him some Precursors.

Turn 3 Matt is in trouble.  Precursors stand up and Shieldwall and then advance.  Forgeguard stand up and kill 2 Ambushers.  Connie kills the Totem Hunter.  Gallant protects her not doing much.  The 2 Pressgangers run forward to get in the way.  He hands me the clock.  I had countered her feat successfully only losing the Totem Hunter and a couple Trogs for my trouble.  Time to start cleaning up.

 

 

I pray for terror and charge the Posse around killing a Pressganger, (and) a Forge Guard, (which made the Forge Guard flee, and (killed) two Precursors.  My Spitter snipes out the Precursor UA.  Wrastler Warpaths forward.  Thrullg charges in on the Precursors taking out a couple more.  Wrastler waddles in and takes out some more Precursors.  Barney finishes off the Pressgang.  Snapper Spiny Growth’s the Wrastler.  When the dust settles Matt is left with 4 Precursors, one of them is (contesting) the flag, 3 Forge Guard, Lanyssa, Gorman, Connie and Gallant.  I hand the clock to Matt.

Turn 4 Matt thinks he needs to swing it in his favor and fast.  He tries for Hunters Mark on the engaged Wrastler with Lanyssa and gets it; yay 9’s :).  He shuffles the Precursors around and they eliminate the Thrullg and Forge Guard Rally. Gallant charges the Wrastler, takes more (damage) from Spiny Growth then he inflicts.  Connie charges the Wrastler at reach and blows all her focus leaving him at 10.  He hands me the dice, I charge the Precursors, (which are) engaging the Wrastler, with Barney.  I kill them both, Blood Boon up Iron Flesh in case this goes pear shaped and Warpath the Wrastler forward.  He Deathrolls Connie, boost to hit and gets it.  Two damage rolls later and we are shaking hands.  I felt like knowing how to counter her feat was a huge deal towards winning this match.  Matt let the terrain get inside of his head a little bit.  My minimal amount of shooting threats meant the Precursors could have run a bit more.

 

Round 2

Round 2 I get matched up against Mean Jean.  He is a perennial good player around these parts (Reigning Boost for a Cure Champion!).  I knew if I was going to have a shot that day I would see Jean across that table at one time or another.  He is a fantastic player and great opponent to play against.  He had Skorne with him and had Zaal and a second list.  It didn’t matter as I know Zaal is his go to Warlock.  I had some good success playing Calaban against Derek from Rhode Island (another fantastic Skorne player) and I lost to Jean late last year in the Barnabus/Zaal match up (B4AC semi finals) so Calaban it was.  His list was:

 

Zaal

Basilisk Drake

Basilisk Krea

Nihilators (Max)

Praetorian Ferox (Min)

Ancestral Guardian X2

Hakaar

Agonizer

Rhadiem

 

Jean wins the roll and elects to go first;  Scenario was Process of Elimination.  He sets up Rhadiem near his zone, Ferox across from my zone, and everything else in center.  I think I chose the wrong table edge here,  I originally thought it was better because I debated on Ambushers and almost always play them.  I didn’t have them and there was a building between his zone and me.  I set up mirrored with a Posse on each side and my Battlegroup in the middle.  I know this match is going to come down to a good round of rolling for someone so I need to play balanced and cagey.

Turn 1 Jean trundles forward and puts Inviolable Resolve on the Ferox and Last Stand on the Nihilators.  My (turn) 1 I move forward but not at max (so)  I am out of all of his charge ranges.  I put Carnivore on my more central Posse to attempt to neuter his feat as much as possible.

 

 

Turn 2 he runs a Ferox to engage my Posse and toes in my zone with another.  His Nihilators run in to unfortunate positions for me.  Rhadiem stays in his zone for the counter punch, Zaal stays center, and he hands me the dice.  Time for stuff to die;  I go with Calaban and Feat, upkeeping Carnivore.  I debate shifting over and boosting a Hex Blast into the Ferox but decide against it (instead) I put Spiny Growth on Calaban and the Carnivored Posse charges.  They Pray for re-rolls and boy do they need it; dust settles and they RFP 4 guys.  Left hand Posse charges 3 guys on the front Ferox, one on the back guy who toed in with the leader running to keep everyone in formation; I do 4 to both… Ugh.  My plan was to Carnivore the Horror from here but that didn’t work, (instead) Horror moves up and kills two more Nihilators.  I use those two (Fury, generated by the Feat,) to give Spiny Growth to my beasts.  Wrastler stays away from charges, I gave him 2 rage tokens and he is down to 4 Nihilators.  Not too shabby but not killing the Ferox is a big deal.

Turn 3 Jean moves Zaal over to his zone to dominate.  Nihilators charge in and kill two Posse members and explode leaving one man left in the unit.  Ferox proceed to kill one Posse in my left unit.  Some damage goes on the Horror from the Nihilators, Rhadiem’s AP attack, Rhadiem’s mount attack (does he get that if he does the AP attack?) and the Drake spray.  Agonizer does his gnawing pain.  Jean scores a CP and hands me the dice.  I formulate a plan that should net me all his AG’s, all his solo’s and probably one Ferox.   I drop Carnivore as there isn’t much living left.  Snapper gets a free charge on the Agonizer, boost to hit, hits, pow 10 and I do like 3 damage.  Buy one, boost and fail to kill.  Sigh.  Calaban activates and throws some healing at the Horror and camps a ton.  Calaban also shoots Rhadiem and does 4.  Horror now can’t kill the Agonizer and Rhadiem.  I choose Rhadiem and Hakaar.  Hit the first attack on the beak, boosted damage and failed to kill, boosted my second, dismounted and then boosted damage on my next two and killed the dismount.  It took me 3 fury and all 4 of my initials to kill Rhadiem, stupid Agonizer.   Left Posse kills a Ferox, Wrastler kills a Ferox and an AG.  Right Hand posse fail to kill their AG with two guys.  Feralgiest runs to his zone.  Score 2-1 me;  I felt like my Snapper/Horror combo here probably cost me the game.  Those die rolls that I talked about would be key, they were here.

Turn 4 Jean feats with Zaal and shoots my Feralgiest.  He clears the Swamp Horror, Bull Snapper and leaves me 3 Posse members in my left hand group and one in my other group, score is now 2-2.  My Wrastler eats his remaining Ferox (and) my right Posse member charges his last AG in the back and misses both attacks (really??).  Calaban makes a B line behind the house.  My posse spread around in my zone;  3-2 Jean.

Turn 5 and Jean can’t clear my zone but gets the Wrastler and 2 of the 3 Posse members.  He hands me the clock with 40 seconds left on his clock and up 4-2.  Problem for him, only Zaal is in his zone.  I run my bone grinders and Calaban in to his zone and clock over winning the game.  I definitely stole this one for a W. Chewing through Gators takes so long I find many of my opponents clock themselves.  I had some unfavorable dice at key moments that I felt cost me the game but was able to eek it out.

 

Round 3

Round 3 I got the pair down game against Riker from Dark Omen.  He was playing Menoth so I pretty much have to take Barnabus.  Scenario was Close Quarters.  His list was –

 

High Reclaimer

Reckoner

Reckoner

Exemplar Errants (Max with UA)

Temple Flameguard (Max with UA)

Errant Seneschal

Choir (Min)

Vassal Mechanic

Vassal of Menoth

 

I get turn and choose to go second.  Like I said, I love second with Trogs.  We both set up pretty balanced.  I shade my posse towards his flag.  He Rumbles forward and shades the Errants and their solo to my left while the TFG rumble forward towards my flag.  He drops Ashen Veil on the Errants and hands me the dice.  I drop a couple puddles and scoot in, throwing up Spiny Growths and Warpath.  They are not at max range as Riker and I played a game the day before where his Errants charged in and murdered my Posse on the charge.  I move everyone up in to puddles that I can.

 

 

Turn 2 Riker Shieldwall and advances the TFG, he shades to dominate his own flag throwing some shots and such around; nothing dies.  I bring on my Trogs and proceed to kill his Senschal and 3 Errants with them.  I drop a puddle and walk leaving Barney on one transfer at the 13.99999″ line after.  I throw Iron Flesh on the Posse.  Two Posse charge into the template and other guys run in to various positions and kill another 3 guys.  Totem Hunter declared the Errants as his new Prey so he jumps in and  kills another one sprinting away to safety.  My Wrastler stays 3.999999″ away from my flag and I pass the dice.

Turn 3 he is on 11 focus.  He drops Ashen Veil, gives 1 to each jack and goes to town.  One jack comes up and kills a Posse on the charge, gets an Ancillary and kills another posse.  The other Reckoner shoots a posse and fails to kill.  Reclaimer moves forward and spawns three more Errants.  They proceed to kill the Trogs down to 2 and I fail command.  TFG Shieldwall forward and fail to kill my Posse.  He hands me the dice.  I see a low arm caster with no focus, in feat range and I have 5 models who can attack him.  I upkeep Warpath.  Posse activate and kill a guy triggering my Spitter to walk out of Barney’s way.  Barney charges forward, feats and eats a guy, kills a guy on reach and throws a boosted spell at Reclaimer bringing him down to half.  Spitter activates and shoots and kills.  Barney excels against small control area casters who need to play forward.  It was nice to win the pair down game and play at top table!

 

Round 4

Will (Boutwell) was the other undefeated.  We have played a bunch of times and he is really growing to be a great player.  With one Cryx in the field I didn’t tech for them,  I felt like it would handicap my other match ups and now here I am in the finals facing eLich.  Game plan – Pop and Drop and pray!  It’s really my only shot.

His list is eLich and the Cryx Allstars.  No need to tell you, it’s pretty obvious that it’s MOAR BANEZ.  It’s a great list and there is no real reason for Cryx to ever play anything else.  He wins the roll to go first and chooses second and table edge.  Scenario is Rally Point.  I deploy my Posse shaded to my zone and everything else center.  Will has a million dudes all over the place.  Tartarus is on my left flank.

Turn 1 I motor forward as fast as possible.  Will does the same.  Exciting right?

 

 

Turn 2 I play the cage match, I port my objective in to the zone and dance around leaving him some tough choices.  Totem Hunter was Preying his Cankerworm so he leaps at it and, after both attacks, does two damage… Wonderful.  I Iron Flesh the Posse and Warpath myself.  I pass the dice to will and prepare for the hurt.  He leaves Tartarus way out on the left flank and curses my objective.  He destroys it with Bane Thralls but not one Thrall can see Tartarus and none are with in 5 inches of it.  Mistakes happen and I smiled a bit.  He Excarnates an Iron Fleshed Posse and kills him creating a Bile and moves that guy and another forward and purges killing two Posse and Thrullg with two Biles.  What????  Dust settles and Totem Hunter is at 3 health, Posse has two members and my beasts are fine.

Turn 3 starts and I eyeball 20″.  I think He is in my feat range.  Wrastler moves forward and kills some Bane dudes activating Warpath on my Spitter who gets out of the way.  I charge Barney at a convenient Bane dude who is exactly 10″ away.  Barney feats and misses eLich by 1/4″… Sigh.  I kill that dude and throw Iron Flesh up.  Spitter aims and shoots on a boosted/boosted and hits eLich for like 10.  Totem hunter leaps over and finishes Lich off.  Whew.  I knew I had to end it early,  If I had not lost it that turn I don’t think he could have gotten me with 3 Transfers and Iron Flesh up with Tartarus way out of position.

 

It’s good to get back in the saddle and win one;  I have enough 2nd and 3rd tokens at home! For my troubles I got another Woldwrath, a hard cover Gargantuans book and a lot of good memories against four solid opponents.  My opponents took 2nd, 3rd and 5th respectively.  That’s a tough run!

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Congrats to Shane on a great run! DOGC turns it’s sights on the team tourney season, and looking forward to our first team trip to GenCon in August. Stay tuned…