The Hardcore at this year’s TempleCon was quite literally, round by round, the best test and set of games in one tournament that I have played to this point in my competitive Warmachine career. I played against five truly great opponents with some exceptional lists, and was able to run the gauntlet to the top. I’m still quite amazed at the accomplishment given the challenge; this one will be one that I am proud of for a long, long time.
Leading up to TempleCon I had started to grow curious about how my eMorvhana list would perform in the Hardcore format. I took it to a tourney in the NYC area and was able to come out successful and feeling good about the list in the format. As such, I resolved that if I was able to qualify for Masters before Saturday of the Con, I was going to make a run at Hardcore. As it would turn out, I was fortunate to be able to get out to a quick start and qualify on Thursday, so on Saturday I broke out my eMorvy and made a go.
The 2014 Hardcore format, much like 2013 really pressures players to push their lists into the middle and play; my particular build can do a great job of getting to the center of the board making my opponent make difficult decisions quickly while my pieces are bearing down on the opposing lines. Also the heavy recursion mechanic in the build also bodes well for pushing more models back into the zone as well as really putting a lot of pressure on my opponents to keep up with the model trade. My list has not changed from it’s original version throughout the whole run, and in case your not familiar with it:
eMorvahna
Feral
Wold Guardian
Tharn Ravagers (full) w/ WA & UA
Skin Walkers (full) w/ UA
Wolves of Orboros (full) w/ UA
Stones w/ UA
Gallows Grove x 2
With my history of playing Cryx in Hardcore, I do not have trouble getting through a lot of activations quickly, so I am comfortable with the amount of models. The significant difference with this compared to my past experience is the number of additional die rolls this list makes with the multiple attacks, buying attacks, and re-rolls. So learning how much to push things and when to use all the extra resources was the hard part. Fortunately I have had a lot of opportunity to play the list over the past 8 or 9 months, so I had a pretty good handle of what is needed and when. However, given the level of competition I would see in this event, I would need to muster all the skill I had.
Round 1: vs eButcher2 (tier)
Synopsis: There are a few matchups I really don’t want to see with my eMorvy list and after I surveyed the field before the event, there was a couple of lists I definitely wanted to avoid. At the very top of the list was Tom Hoffman, the defending TempleCon Hardcore Champion and his Doom Reaver spam list. The Doom Reavers can one shot my Ravagers, and, even worse, on a charge can one shot my Skin Walkers as well. Moreover Berserk means they are doing more work per model than one model normally would. I narrowly escaped it when I faced it at GenCon in Masters and in a condensed time format it would be decidedly worse being that it’s so well suited to pick me apart. So who do you think I get in the first round? … Tom Hoffman it was. The last time that Tom and I played it was TempleCon 2012 and also my first ever competitive Warmachine game at a Con. Certainly a lot has changed since then, and Tom and I have had some good banter back and forth about the eMorvahna/eButcher matchup. So while I’m not relishing this matchup in the opening round, I’m excited to have a go against an awesome player like Tom.
Going into the game, as I said earlier, I felt that Tom had a list advantage and to make matters worse he had first turn. There was a forest in the middle of the board that was going to impact the game; I had more Ravagers than he had Man Hunters. So I was hoping this would slow down the Doom Reaver rush enough to keep me in the game long enough that my Feat would put me over the top late. So on the opening turn the opposing line came blazing up the board, with Fenris bringing up the rear on my right side of the forest, and Butcher holding down the left of the forest in the rear guard. The Doom Reavers were funneling around the forest and creating layers in a strong positional set up by Tom; it would only allow me to deal with the front line. Getting the dice on the opening turnI made a quick decision to sacrifice my Stones and use them as Death Knell beacons to clear the front Doom Reavers allowing me to spring into the second line. I focused on the R side first as I had a wall on my near side for Morvhana to hug (benefits of going second). I dropped one Stone out in between four of the nearest Doom Reavers. I used the Stone Keeper to Rock Hammer (targeting the Stone) damaging the two nearest Doom Reavers, thanks to re-rolls. Then I was able to drop a Death Knell (through a Gallows Grove) to clear the other two. Then I sprung two Ravagers over and a Skinwalker into the next line to clear another half dozen Doom Reavers, leaving Reach models blocking my rear lines. The WoO on the left launched forward with the help of another Ravager to clear about five more off that side and one Man Hunter. I was not unhappy, but not feeling great, as the first turn of real damage was about to come my way, I knew Tom was going to get the most out of every model.
On turn two, the lone Warjack in Butchers battle group started to come forward, around the left side of the tree, and I lost my front swath of troops to the oncoming Doom Reaver charge. Turns out the front row of reach troops and distance I left between my models meant the Doom Reaver horde was not able to reach further into my lines. Bad news was Man Hunters were pressing off the left forest seeing right through and Fenris astutely set to counter anything I did and threatening to win the game on the Feat. When I got the dice back I presumed Butcher’s Feat was coming next turn, so I wanted to get as much off the board as possible to limit the damage it would do, but I also needed to protect a few pieces so I could Feat to gain the upper hand. I started with a similar move as last time, dropped another stone forward on the right side to clear more models with the same combo used in the prior turn only being this time Morvahna was close enough to move out cast at the stone and Light Calv back. With the path clear three more Skinwalkers were able to get into the Doom Reavers and clear about five more. Then the Ravagers got into the mix and cleaned up about another half dozen models, and the WoO were also able to get forward and take out another six themselves. Bad news was my force was mostly completely exposed to the Doom Reavers at this point, good news was the horde of maniacs running at me was down below half of it’s starting numbers. Most importantly I was able have one model in each of my units safely tucked back; now I was hoping my positioning was good enough that I wouldn’t lose a whole unit. With a deep breath I turned the dice over to Tom bracing for the Feat incoming.
Tom did in fact Feat this turn, and was able to dig all the way to the my rear lines after the Feat move with a few important models. He was able to get my Stone Keeper, my last Gallows Grove, my WoO UA, and both my Ravager attachments (using his Juggernaut to do so). I still had a few models in each unit left, including a couple Ravagers and about four of the WoO unit and one Skinwalker left. It was a decisive turn by Khador, I would be able to Feat my models back but I would only have limited models that could actually attack on my turn; this was my fear entering the game, would I be able to do enough with the active models I had left to limit his retaliation on the follow up turn. If this turn went well, my hope was I would put myself into position to start getting Pressure Points next turn. So I started with Morvahna, killed the nearest Doom Reaver engaging her. Moved Carnivore to the WoO as there was more of them left alive (and thus more able to attack and leverage the healing on Morvy), and then Feated down to a single HP to bring back 15 models that I had lost including bringing the Skinwalkers and Ravagers back up to full.The Feral trampled about three Doom Reavers to land next to Fenris, doing enough damage to dismount him, and hitting all of his attacks on the Trample. Then the WoO activated to clear the way for the Wold Guardian (and heal Morvahna back up to about half life), I was able to get my heavy beast into the Juggernaut to bring him down to barely functional. Then the remaining Ravagers charged and finished off the Jack. Feeling good about this turn, I had already survived eButcher’s Feat, and pulled ahead after my Feat; I was feeling like I was finally ahead in the game having the only two heavies left on the board.
The next turn was Butcher’s first to really get into the game. His resources were limited, and dwindling but he began to level the playing field with Lola. He came into the forest to clear a number of Ravagers, and his remaining force started to clear out what was engaging them as they had now been jammed in place by models Morvahna brought back with the Feat. Fenris was able to do some damage to the Feral, but not nearly enough.When the turn was over, there was only a single model in the zone besides Butcher; this meant I had an opportunity to start to put damage on Butcher with a Pressure Point. I took the dice and used my remaining pieces to clear all the remaining models besides Butcher. I trampled Wold Guardian into the zone however, was not able to put a scratch on the Warcaster. I was able to Control the zone scoring the first Pressure Point meaning Butcher would eat five points of damage.
With no models left and a heavy in the zone, Butcher had to deal with the Wold that was in his face, so he went to town on the beast dispatching him; and realizing that I still had the Feral and a few pieces left, Tom decided to blow the rest of his stack to clear as many models as he could reach. taking another five damage because I was still controlling the zone. I took the dice back knowing that if I moved Morvahna to dominate the zone, it would only take a few points of damage on Butcher to end the game. So I charged with the remaining WoO UA that I had feated back and as fortune would have it, they still had the mini feat! So I popped it and landed what would be enough damage to end the game once Morvahna moved into the zone. So Tom and I shook on an awesome game played! This was a monster win to get in the opening round of the tournament, and I was happy to be on to the second round!
Round 2: vs Gorten
Synopsis: In my second round I faced the fifth international player I had played on the weekend to that point He and I had played before, at TempleCon 2013 in the team tournament. He was playing Gorten then as well. However, since that time the Earthbreaker had come out. This really was a huge issue for me because He has the Auto KD on the two main guns, and normally I would keep myself immune to blast damage by staying B2B with the Wold Guardian, however with the Quake shot that would only make it easier to KD Morvahna and lose the game. That said there was also limited time to react and I was going to have to pay special attention to how close I got to the Colossal. I didn’t see it right away, but this really was very bad for me. Luckily I had the advantage of having a quick list, in shortened Hardcore turns.
I did win first turn and ran my Skinwalkers out on my right side and the WoO out on my left. The Ravagers went up the middle to the top of the hill where their DEF bonus would not be benefited versus the Colossal thanks to the Driller rule. Morvahna put up Fog of War and put Flesh of Clay on herself then separated from any nearby models. The Guardian and Feral moved up into the Stones that had ported further up field to threat the position of the Earthbreaker, just behind the Ravagers. My opponent took the dice ran the Colossal into place, and pushed his Forge Guard up as far as they would go. Dropping a wall out in front of himself, Gorten moved up to a strong position behind the Forge Guard, and was flanked by Arcanist Corp. The support solos moved up behind Gorten and the other infantry moved up to oppose the WoO on my far right. Lastly the Basher was able to circle out from behind the Earthbreaker and position between the Colossal and the Skinwalkers.
Turning the dice over to me, I charged the Skinwalkers into the Basher, and was able get some very good damage on him. The Ravagers then charged forward and got into the lines of the Forge Guard. They were positioned well so I couldn’t get passed them, but was able to get around a few to hold the Earthbreaker in place. The front of the Forge Guard were wiped, then the WoO launched into the infantry on the right pushing the line forward. I moved Morvahna to the very edge of the kill box as far from Earthbreaker as I could be, and up kept Fog of War and re-applied Flesh of Clay, this time moving Carnivore to the Wolves. Then I moved the Stones further forward, and put the two heavy beasts further forward to threaten the Colossal. My opponent took the dice and operated confidently, putting Tune Up on the Earthbreaker and then activating the Basher to Flak Field the Skinwalkers and using his attack to kill one. Then the Earthbreaker when to work on the Ravagers and Skinwalkers nearest him. He put boosted shots into the Ravagers in front of him and the Skinwalkers near the Basher. Then used his Repeating Cannon to start taking out the KD Ravagers and Skinwalkers, taking out four of them was a reasonably productive activation. The Forge Guard then counter assaulted the Ravagers and started to thin their numbers even more. Gorten pressed forward still and put the Rock Wall back up and the Arcanists again moved to protect the key solos.
This was not going well as I took the dice back and I had to spend a minute to think through my turn. I was going to have to Feat this turn or risk losing my most important units. The WoO were going to be able crash home, but I knew my opponents Feat was coming next turn, so I would likely have two turns of non productivity out of my models and risk wasting my Feat on models that would just die on the following turn. The next important piece was that I was going to also have to be mindful of where Morvahna ended up. I really had no opportunity to go anywhere else with her. I decided to port the Feral over to the Basher to finish him off and spring the remaining Skinwalkers into the Earthbreaker to continue to hold him in place. So that’s what I did; the Feral ripped through the Rhulic jack quickly, allowing the last couple of Skinwalkers to get into the Earthbreaker. They were finally able to put some damage onto the Colossal; then the remaining Ravagers launched into the Forge Guard getting the UA to the Colossal. He landed a big rip on the Colossal meaning he had some measurable damage at this point. Morvahna then replenished her forces with the Feat and reapplied Flesh of Clay after upkeeping Carnivore and Fog of War. The Wolves then got into the mix with the remaining Forge Guard and cleared them off mostly, save for about two, healing Morvahna quite a bit. The new forces were successfully jammed into the opponents remaining pieces with a comfortable layer ready to counter assault after the retaliation next turn. I turned the dice over to my opponent feeling okay about where I was.
Gorten’s turn to Feat, and he activated first, pushing into the lines, Feated and pushed all the nearby models back and away freeing up his own remaining pieces to charge and push the line back further protecting his support that was keeping him in the game. Then used his Dual Handcannon to start taking models off. Then his remaining Forge Guard came forward and cleared out a couple of Ravagers. Then the Arcanists started to throw Flame Blasts at Wolves taking out some of the nearest, and dropping one cloud in front of Gorten. Then Thor Tuned Up Earthbreaker again and he used his guns again to clear out the Skinwalkers nearest him, KD the nearest set then putting them down with boosted damage shots from the Repeating Cannon. It really was tilting to have that shoot things down he was in melee with that are normally a bear to deal with. With most of my remaining models affected by Land Slide, my retaliation was going to be limited. Good news was the Feral was not affected and within charge range of the Earthbreaker. So that was the first order of business; if I could finish the Colossal this turn, I felt I would be able to hang on to win the game. So the Feral charges the Earthbreaker and puts six attacks into him doing enough to get him down to just a few boxes. The Wold Guardian was teleported in by the Stones into melee with the Colossal and was able to finish him off. Feeling great about that, I moved what Ravagers I could into melee with the nearest models and started to swing. I cleared the rest of the Forge Guard, and clipped an Arcanist. The Wolves had a few models outside the Feat and I was able to get two of them to Gorten and mini Feat for Power Swell. They did some reasonable damage on him (about half his HP). and the remaining models move forward into the group of support solos. Morvahna was now back up to full health, and camped three Fury upkeeping both spells again and reapplying Flesh of Clay. My position felt very strong now, and I felt that I had to make it through whatever last ditch effort Gorten had I was moving on.
On the final turn of the game, my opponent assessed his options and realized they were very limited. He opted to keep all his Focus, and try to kill the Guardian. After all his Focus was spent, the Wold was still standing; with two heavies looming over the Caster my opponent opted to concede the game. After a scary round two, I was onto the third, hoping for a bit of a reprieve in the matchups before the late rounds.
Round 3: vs Lylyth3
Synopsis: As I was saying, after last round I was hoping for a reprieve, only to look up at the board and see I was playing one Jake Van Meter; so much for that reprieve. I had just played Jake the night before in the team tournament, and seeing as I pulled that game out of my butt with Mohsar, I was pretty sure I wasn’t beating JVM twice in the same weekend, but we would give it the old college try anayway.
I did get first turn, but in this case it didn’t matter, the Legion list had plenty of guns, with a unit of Striders, Angels, Ravagore, Lylyth herself… you get the picture, there was a lot of guns. What’s worse is that Jake going second gave him the chance to get his guns across from where he needed them to be, the high volume low pow Striders would show down right against my WoO on the right flank and the battle group would lean on my Ravagers and tear into my multi wound models. Unfortunately I did not have a choice I had to get across aboard; if I was fortunate it would not cost me my Feat to get there. Up side was Jake wasn’t coming to me and this was Hardcore, so there was a punitive kill box and a short clock for him to contend with.
Opening turn, I blast across the board and threat saturate like a champ. I had a hill on my side of the board where I put my battlegroup blocking LOS to Morvy, and had a command bunker, WoO running up my R flank and the Skinwalkers advancing up the L,and Ravagers up the middle. I tried to space a layer that would leave some of his guns out of range of my second wave in hopes of saving my Feat. Jake took the dice, and as you might imagine I wasn’t successful in my positioning. The Striders on the R took out a half dozen WoO, and the front four ravagers went down to the battle group. He burned every inch of his clock to get through the attacks and made sure Lylyth was inside the kill box as to not take auto damage next turn; dice back to me.
So, that went as expected and unfortunately even running my second wave would not engage enough and as such I was worried about losing too many models to recover with my Feat, so Jake had successfully forced me into my Feat on the top of two. I was able to rush forward, engage his line and Feat my lost pieces back onto the table and engage the jam to slow his guns down, and put the pressure on him, half my models engaging his and the other half pending retaliation; clock back to Jake. He took a long minute to ponder the turn on how to not lose the game next round as Lylyth was potentially going to be exposed so this was his Feat turn. His plan was to Death Chill the rear line and wipe the first one. The support pieces came forward and started to clear the front line out to allow more shots. That was a tall task, and wasn’t as successful as I suppose he would have liked. He did successfully Death Chill or kill most of my Ravagers thanks to Angels, Overtake, and Lylyth. When he put the dice down, I only had about six models left alive that were not Death Chilled.
Well, my Feat was successfully burned, and he had managed to attrition me down to where he would have the piece advantage by the end of his next turn. I surveyed the board and decided to go for assassination, as Lylyth only had a single transfer left. I believed I could get four or five models to her, and spring a couple Sunder Spirits to finish her off. I up kept Carnivore on the WoO and for some reason had thought I had it on the Skinwalkers. So when I went in with them I needed hard 9’s to hit and not the 7s I had thought (thanks to Tenacity); to make matters worse Morvahna was out of range for Scales of Fate. I was moving quickly, and never thought to CMA, but it mattered not as my dice loved me enough to land two of my four attacks (yay Rapid Strike) on sweet 9’s. Then got one Ravager in on her, at MAT 9, who, after careful judge measurement, was within reroll range, and landed the blow that Lylyth would transfer. Then I tried to get two WoO into Lylyth with mini-feat up, however, again after judge help, it turns out I could only get one in, but it was still enough to get her down to very few life points. Given I only needed a couple points, I did not want to risk re-rolls on non boosted attacks, I went for one fully boosted Sunder Spirit, and landed it finishing the job.
It was a fast and furious contest with not only one of the best players in the game, but one of my favorite people to play with. I think we both knew what the others plan was, it came down to getting the chance to pull the trigger, and having the dice cooperate when it was needed. I was fortunate to have the chance and do it the old fashion way… who needs re-rolls anyway? 🙂
Round 4: vs Retribution
Synopsis: In the semi-final round I was paired up with Tucker, a local CT player whom had knocked off one of my teammates, Walter, in the last round. He was playing Kaelyssa infantry spam with eEyriss3 in the mix. Out of the three games I had played so far, I felt the most confident in my list heading into this match. High DEF infantry is what this list does well, and my recursion mechanic was strong in this matchup. I wasn’t going to get the alpha, but I wouldn’t need it as my Reach advantage was significant; just needed to avoid dying in a silly way to Energy Siphon.
Tucker jammed across the board quickly and popped Feat to ensure he would get ahead quickly. So I spread my Reach advantage across the front lines, and made sure to put Flesh of Clay on Morvhana to stop anything dump from happening and put Carnivore on the WoO. I felt like the next turn would be the worst of it, I braced and flicked the clock back.
Retribution did the best they could to crash home, and the Reach did mitigate what they could do significantly. There was a lot of gun fire from the MHSF that cleared off some of my front layer of WoO allowing the lead Infiltrator unit to get into my lines a little deeper. The Ravagers held their portion of the board up and the Skinwalkers were left largely alone being the farthest away. Getting the dice back, the damage incurred was not so bad at all. I countered with the WoO who were able to get some good work done. Then the Ravagers responded to clear another swath of models, including putting damage on a light jack that had come forward. Before I activated the Skinwalkers to crash in behind the Ravagers, I had Morvahna rotate Carnivore to them in order to get the most out of their attacks, she also Purified off Phantom Seeker from Kaelyssa before retreating with Light Calv. I decided not to Feat, as I felt that my units were mostly safe, and that he wouldn’t be able to clear them off during the next turn based on my position and jam. This was risky, but if it worked I would be well ahead next turn. Lastly my Guardian ported in to finish off the jack, and bait his remaining jack forward.
With Ret now back on the clock, Tucker lined up an assassination on Morvahna. He had his arc node forward, and his heavy to clear a path for some spell slinging. Eyriss’s unit crashed in and unfortunately her targets were Skinwalkers. She would have to kill a Skinwalker to generate a Quick Work shot on Morvahna. Fortunately he was unable to kill the heavy infantry which stops the assassination train. Full fledged damage control mode was the next play for Retribution, and on this turn, they were not able to get their full offering of attacks, meaning that the game was about to tilt into my favor. He did commit his heavy to kill the Guardian with some help, but his heavy was in my face and I was down one.
Getting the dice back, I knew this would be Feat turn for me, with the assassination failed, it’s time to capitalize; started with Morvahna, who feated back nearly all the models lost, and then I elected to box myself after the turn was over, so I would not be in danger of another assassination, and was sure to put Flesh of Clay up before I was done. Next we teleported the Wold Guardian in order to wipe the arc node further reducing any chance I could get clipped, and then the Ravagers surged forward to through the forest in the near middle of the table and cleared most of the infantry in the kill box; the Skinwalkers mopped up the area so it could be scored. The Feral charged in to finish off the heavy, and lastly the Wolves got into the last remaining pieces of the gun lines jamming them out. Carnivore healed Morvahna back to more than half her life, I took a pressure point at the end of my turn, but scored one in return.
Kaelyssa had most of her force gone, so she was forced to jam whatever was left into the zone, and put every available attack and shot on the Feral. Thanks to some hot rolls the Feral was unexpectedly taken off the table. The Warcaster moved around the forest camping what she had left and she took a position to try to threaten Morvahna next turn if she survived. On my turn with most of my army now back on the table, I moved all my pieces to clear the zone again. With another pressure point impending, Kaelyssa had moved into range of a Gallows Grove from which I could safely arc a boosted Sunder Spirit into her. I only needed a few points of damage at this point to auto finish Kaelyssa.when Morvahna moved into dominate the game was over. I got what I needed from the SS, and moved to the zone to finish off the game.
Phew! That one was way too close for comfort. The Energy Siphon is very serious and the Eyriss3 tech is scary as well. Eating the pressure point I felt like was the right thing to do given how far I was ahead on attrition, and it’s worth noting, why give your opponent a 20%er if you can give them a 0%er? Now… Onto the final!
Round 5: vs Butcher1 (tier)
Synopsis: As fate would have it, there would be another final table in a high profile event at a major con for Chuck and I; as he likes to say we only like to play at final tables in big cons :-). Chuck and I agreed to turn off the round timer on this one (with PG permission) and go until there was a final winner, as we didn’t want a TempleCon Hardcore final coming down to who jammed what into the zone as the clock expired. We wanted to see a Hardcore win with a caster dead; as it should be.
With that, it was pButcher and a Claws of the Dragon Tier list that stood between me and my first Hardcore win at a Con. They won the roll to go first (Tier benefit) deployed their two jacks in the middle with either unit of Black Dragon IFP flanking each side, and Butcher right in the middle. My setup was the same, with Wolves to my L and Skinwalkers to my R and the battle group in the middle with Ravagers out front.
On the opening turn he moved across the board and layered his front line in Shield Wall formation. With Shield March and Advanced Move from the tier, the IFP were nearly halfway across the board. They did not use the mini Feat, as really there was no reason to waste it when they could jam with with it next turn and I couldn’t reach a lot of Chuck’s stuff anyway. On my turn, I crashed with Ravagers cleared the front models, and filled in the gaps behind with my rear guard units. We had both successfully jammed the zone and I had taken first blood.
Chuck took the dice back, and the play was clear: Shield March, advance, and kill as much as possible then pop mini Feat, hoping to mitigate what I could do. Chuck was able to clear all but one of the Ravagers with his two units, thanks to some good CMA work, and got a Skinwalker and a couple of WoO. On my turn it was Feat time, as I only had a Ravager left, and didn’t want to risk losing all those bodies for good. I activated Morvahna, up kept Carnivore and Feated back everything I had lost. Healed myself a few and camped. Wolves then mini-feated, charged and cleared a good amount of IFP on the L. The Ravagers moved back to jam the Jacks and Butcher back, then the Skin Walkers went to Work on the R, killing a few more IFP, and a Kovnik. Despite their work, that flank was looking strong for Khador as I hadn’t killed as much as he did; good news was I controlling the other flank pretty well.
Khador turn, Chuck decided to push the Flank he was strong on. The remaining Kovnik activated to clear Butcher of a Ravager. Then Butcher activated popped Feat and rushed into a few more Ravagers and a Skinwalker. He easily dispatched the three models he was in melee with which allowed his IFP on the R side to really push forward and charge into more of the Ravagers, and clear a few more. Then his Jack ran forward to engage some of the remaining Skinwalkers so their next turn would be mitigated. On his weaker board side, Chuck’s other Jack moved forward to clear a couple of WoO, continuing to anchor that side preventing the zone from clearing. The last of the IFP pressed forward and took down another WoO.
On my turn, I surveyed the board, and saw that we were starting to run out of pieces, but I had to start to get rid of his heavies, and this would require using mine. Good news was one of his Jacks was nearly out of the game way on the L and at this point, not threatening to my battle group. I had my Warlock and two heavies to deal with Butcher and a Juggernaut. So I opted to port the Feral in, in hopes of one rounding the Khador heavy, which would force Butcher forward to deal with my heavy beast, hopefully leaving the warcaster exposed for retaliation my next turn. Let’s see if I can make it happen. Feral goes in and leaves the Juggy on life support. The Skinwalkers CMA to finish him off. On the L side the remaining Ravager and WoO clear off the IFP on that side and jam up the now lone Jack. I finish off my turn by moving the Guardian into the stones to be able to teleport to where the Feral was so Butcher could be dealt with, if he indeed comes in. I activated Morvahna, put Carnivore on the Guardian before ending my turn, setting up my counter plans for next turn.
Khador turn, and it quickly becomes apparent that Butcher is going to get his hands dirty. The Kovnik activates again, clearing the path for Butcher to the Feral. He is able to one shot the Skinwalker in the way, and clears a nice charge lane for Orsus to the Warpwolf. The charge attack missed, but don’t worry, he two shots the beast and camps the rest. Juggernaut does kills another WoO on the far side, and Chuck clocks back to me… and closes his turn proclaiming, “Let’s see if the bitch can kill me!”
Let’s see indeed!
The piece trade has happened as planned and now it’s go time, I up kept Carnivore, ported the Wold Guardian in, boosted the first attack roll and landed it, KD Butcher, boosted damage, then boosted my second damage roll and had him down to less than half life. Go, go Goat! She charges in, Life Trader and brings Butcher closer to the end, another attack, and I’m a few HP away; and her third attack with Life Trader and boost finishes the game, winning me a Hardcore Title!!!!
Overall what an amazing tournament! As I said at the onset, most difficult stretch of players I’ve ever had to overcome to win a single event. Kudos to all the guys I played, especially Chuck who proves every time I see him play why he’s the best in the game. Can’t ask for a better person to play a great game with, or have more fun playing against.
I have become extremely impressed with how truly versatile my list is; adaptable to a bunch of different styles, and it has performed so well across the board. After playing through this event this past weekend, I have to say it may be best suited for Hardcore. It gets across the board quickly, recursion in the opponents face, and makes it difficult to stop from eating pressure points. What’s more is Morvahna herself is difficult to assassinate with access to Flesh of Clay, Empathetic Link, Fog of War, Imperishable Conviction and the Fury mechanic which is another asset in the Hardcore format.
Couldn’t be prouder of my performance or how the list performed this weekend! An amazing event, with awesome opponents, resulting in one of the crowning achievements of my competitive career!
Dark Omen Gaming Club 