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!

This weekend in Nanuet, NY at Toy Whiz, Anthony Ferraiolo started the year off right for DOGC winning the SR 2014 Hardcore Event. Here is a review of the games played and how the day was won…

It was a great day for a tournament on a snowy Saturday in January! It was my first trip to Toy Whiz and the store is an awesome venue for an event of any size. I encourage everyone to take a trip to Nanuet, NY and check it out. Also want to give a quick shout to Jeff Frederickson, PG extraordinaire who ran the event and did a good job getting us out of there in a reasonable amount of time. Now onto the event at hand!

Whenever I head down for games in the NYC Metro, I know there will be a strong collection of players; this field was no different. Despite being only a dozen players, there was 3 or 4 multi time Masters qualifiers in the mix, so there would be no soft games. I attended with the intent of trying my eMorvahana build in the Hardcore format. I had not played Hardcore in 2013 at all and my last experience in 2012 was with Terminus who is an entirely different ball of wax than eMorvy.

I’m still running the same version of the eMorvahna list I’ve had since GenCon. I see no need to make changes at this point, but again I want to stretch it a bit and see what it can do in different formats. If you need another copy of my list you can find it HERE. The only thing the Morv build shared in common with Terminus list was the mass of infantry models on the table. However, the models in the Terminus build are required to do less work, and the real threat is imposing him upon the opposing force. With my eMovahna list, each model is doing more in each activation, and Morvahna is a true support piece. Her positioning is also much more tricky, especially in Hardcore where time is short. I don’t have the luxury of being able to make a mistake, especially when she is likely be taking damage. I will try to use my strength in numbers and speed to my advantage in hopes of taking control of the zone and scoring Pressure Points on the opposing Lock/Caster. Let’s see how this goes!

ROUND 1: vs Siege

RECAP: This round was vs someone I haven’t seen since before TempleCon last year, and a lot has happened in a year, for sure, but I was happy to be across the table from Dave Serrano. Playing Cygnar with Circle is never a great feeling, and playing Siege is even less fun. Circle is more susceptible to boostable guns than most others. Siege, presents a unique challenge as with the Feat he has an opportunity attrition my Feat out of the game by killing whole units while also posing a hugely credible threat to Morvahna herself. I didn’t like this opening match up at all, but hey, this is what we are here to see.

Dave wins the start roll chooses to go first. I survey the table, and there is a building on one side, and a wall in the zone more on one side of the table than the other, that is also supported by a forest deeper on that side of the table, and I decide that’s my ticket. I figure that if I need to I can take a Pressure Point and hide behind the forest, which Mage Site shouldn’t be able to get around; if all goes right I can push my position to the zone and camp the wall. Siege sets up with Stormwall in the middle of his zone, and puts the Avenger to the R (from my side of the table), then sets the gun mages to the far R with a Stormsmith and Arlen. On the L is Siege with two more Stormsmiths, Junior, Reinholdt, and a Squire. AD out front are the Rangers with Eyriss out the far R. On my side of the table I setup my line w/ Morvahna in the middle, the Wolves of Orboros to my L with Feral just next to Morvahna, the Woldguardian flanking Morvahna ot the R, and the Skinwalkers on the far R. The Ravagers AD out front center flanked by the two Gallows Groves, and stones mixed in the lines with the Ravagers.

On the Cygnar opening turn, the Rangers slunk forward, and Stormwall moved forward dropped a pod. The Gun Mages run into position, and Eyriss ran into position ready to do damage when needed starting next turn. Junior put Arcane Shield on Stormwall, and the Stormsmiths ran to each flank. On my turn, I didn’t waste much time, I knew I had to get up the board. So I pushed my line; the storm pod was close enough to charge with the lead Ravager, and the rest ran to engage what they could, I got a few Rangers stuck as well as an outlying Gun Mage. The pod was easily dispatched. Next I had the Wolves run at the building on the L, reason why I picked that side to deploy them was because they could successfully envelop it and the UA could hide behind it. The Skinwalkers moved freely in the woods on the R to the edge thanks to Pathfinder. I put Fog of War up and dropped and arc node in front of Eyriss. I didn’t have much time to eyeball the distance to see if I could get within Stealth  range and decided to try slinging a Sunder Spirit at her; taking her out first turn saves headaches later. Alas, my opponent positioned her astutely and Morvahna ate the Sunder Spirit and took some damage. Not a stellar way to end the opening turn but my lines were up the board. Finally I moved my beasts forward to flank Morvahna, leaving them far out of Stormwalls gun threat range. My opponent would have 7 quick minutes to respond.

On the next turn Siege had the turn to do something, and he started in on the Ravagers. Between the Rangers, Stormwall, and the some Gun Mages, he was able to take out about half of the Ravagers, and some WoO. The damage was not significant at this stage, and with a rather indecisive turn (thanks to a lot of Reach and good board position), I decided to jam his lines aggressively knowing I had to stop the Feat,  that was inevitably coming next turn, from blowing me off the table. The remaining Ravagers ripped through the Rangers thanks to corpse tokens and re-rolls. Morvahna activated and put Carnivore on the Skinwalkers before retreating to the woods near the back of my table side. Skinwalkers activated and charged into Eyriss and the Gun Mages they could reach. The ATGM made the Terror check but failed Command check for the damage they took from losses sustained from all the charges. Eyriss was eaten by two Skinwalkers. The WoO finished the job of clearing the zone on turn 2, putting the first Pressure Point on Siege, doing 5 damage to him. I finished the turn by having the Wold Guardian put Flesh of Clay on himself and the Feral ran to the wall to take a good position. The Stones flanked the heavies ready to port into Stormwall whom I suspected was coming forward next turn.  I was much happier with this turn and turned the dice over to Dave.

Top of 3, I knew Siege was going to Feat this turn and I suspected it would be in an effort to take out the Feral. I was right about the Feat as the Warcaster activated first and used his Ground Pounder attack to clear out the area in front of Stormwall. He had to make room for the Colossal to contest the zone, which also met he wasn’t going to be able to gain the aiming bonus. As such, not willing to risk two missed Defender cannons on 12’s, he opted to have Stormwall kill what he could within melee reach and drop covering fire to cause problems for my units next turn. The Feat had made quick work of the Ravagers, although I was able to keep 1 alive back by the wall next to the Feral. The WoO had taken losses as well thanks to the Storm Smiths and Junior. All said and done, the only thing in the zone was the Stormwall, but he was completely untouched and I was nearly out of Ravagers, but had a Feral and a number of other attacks to put into him. That was the plan this turn, start with the Feral and do as much as I could, then get the WoO in on him with a mini feat, I also knew I could get two maybe three Skinwalkers there on a charge and my last Ravager, then Feat with Morvahana and hopefully jam out of the zone; hopefully not to run out of time! The plan went off very well, the Feral did a ton to the Stormwall who did not have Arcane Shield anymore as it was moved to Siege after he came forward aggressively last turn. The Skinwalkers activated next and they finished off the Colossal with two that reached him, and the others cleared the remainder of the ATGM and Stormsmith. Sweeping the R flank successfully. the WoO activated and charged to clear off the rest of the support in the rear leaving just Siege, Arlen, and a Stormsmith with the Avenger. I then moved Morvahna forward, Feated back all the Ravagers and most of the WoO that had been lost jamming his remaining models as best as could be managed, then Light Calv moved to the wall. I would dominated for another Pressure Point and 7 more damage to Siege.

Turning the dice over to my opponent. Dave surveyed the board, and he indicated there was little hope of what he could do. Siege couldn’t contest the zone, the remaining Stormsmith couldn’t navigate the wall of reach weapons to get to the zone and the Avenger with a Colossal wreck marker in the way and being attached to the ATGM could not move far enough to get to the zone. All that being true, I would dominate the zone again that turn ending the game via Pressure Points assassination.

Opening Round Final Shot

ROUND 2: vs eButcher3

RECAP: Another player I hadn’t played since before TempleCon last year, Will; who is now running Butcher3… shaking my head just thinking about it. Only 2 players there with Butcher 3 on the docket, and I get one of them in Round 2. Will was coming off a strong showing in round 1 where he top of two assassinated one of the masters players (Charlie Moss) playing his list from TempleCon Hard Core where he finished top 5. Given that result I new Will was well versed in what he was doing with the list. Fortunately, this is a list I want to see more because I need to get comfortable in this matchup as I will see Butcher3 for sure. Looking at the matchup and the board, I decided I wanted to go first. Last time I faced this list in the Invitational I had to go second and realized that taking board position against this list is very important especially with the pressure Butcher can put on you starting turn 2. So I opted for first; my opponent astutely took the side with the wall to deny me the natural protection it offered.

On deployment I decided to go with my WoO on my left as there was a building on the right and it was close enough to the zone that I would have to entirely sweep around it with the larger unit, unlike the last table; so I wanted my smaller more maneuverable unit to navigate that, which means the Skinwalkers to the R. Beast load out in the middle, and Ravagers would AD out front center. Will decided to deploy his Widowmakers and Eyriss directly across from the WoO which was the most sensible place, then took his two units of Black Fang IFP and double stacked them across from the zone with his Juggernaut and Butcher to the center L (as I looked at the board), and Fenris was on the far L flank by himself to avoid the unnecessary abomination checks on his friendly models. Madelyn and Saxon were near Butcher to support the army as needed.

On the opening turn, I took strong position with the Ravagers in the zone to threaten anything that came into the zone, and new I would be getting the alpha, everything else ran forward to support and make a nice battle line about the 20” line or so up the table. I moved Morvahna to my R where I had a hill to toe, and decided to put Carnivore on the Skinwalkers this turn as that is where they where it would be needed most next turn, given the amount of troops on that side. Comfortable with my position I turned the dice over to Will. The lead IFP unit ran into the zone and right into engagement with my Ravagers to set the line of engagement as far up the table as they could, but it cost him Shield Wall on the opening turn. The Widowmakers took position on the L side with Eyriss and fired from the woods to put work into the WoO.

On my next turn, I knew it was going to have to be decisive and with only 7 minutes, I had to go immediately. I could to clear the Ravagers with the Skinwalkers so they could spring into the second line of troops. I upkept with Carnivore on the Skinwalkers and moved into the spaces behind and around the Ravagers with Carnivore to clear most of the IFP that were in the way. I then activated Morvahna and cycled Carnivore onto the WoO, slung a well positioned Death Knell onto a few IFP before moving her into safe position at the edge of the kill box diametrically opposed to Butcher. The WoO activated and charged the Widow Makers, Fenris, and the lone IFP still in the way. Cleared all I encountered thanks to Powerful Charge + Carnviore + CMA. Fenris was dehorsed, and the Ravagers were now primed to charge into the second wave of IFP. I had to move quickly so I did what I could to get through their activations. I was still tied in a bit, but managed to clear the zone of IFP, however, I could not score as I was going 1st. However, I felt good about the position I was in, with ⅔ of the IFP gone. I moved my two beasts into more threatening positions and dropped stones in front of them and Morvahna and my two heavies. Will took the dice and was pretty far down on model count and I still had my Feat, so I was in commanding position. He used the IFP remaining to Mini Feat and move into the zone, and cleared about half the Ravagers. The Juggernaut now moved into the zone to clear a few more models. The Widow Makers were all tied up, but Fenris managed to kill a few models. The Kovnik was able to get a Skinwalker, triggering Relentless Advance and he had managed to stop me from scoring a Pressure Point but this turn it was likely going to get bad next turn.

On my turn, there were a half dozen IFP in the zone w/ a Kovnik, and the Juggernaut. I up kept Carnivore on the WoO, and mini feated to charge them in to clear some IFP, put damage on the Juggernaut, and remove unmounted Fenris. I then activated Morvahna and cycled Carnivore onto the Skinwalkers. I charged them in behind the Ravagers again to poke holes in B2B lines of the IFP under Iron Zeal and Shield Wall, enough to leave them vulnerable to the remaining Skinwalkers. I had a couple of Ravagers charge the Juggernaut and do some additional damage to him. Then the Wold Guardian was dropped in and able to finish the Juggernaut off clearing the zone. I took a Gallows Grove and dropped it in front of the Wold to stop Butcher from pulling him from a safe position; he would have to come forward to deal with him. With that, the zone was clear, and a Pressure Point on Butcher for 5 damage. Will took the dice and knew Butcher would have to get his hands dirty this turn, and it started with him moving forward to clear the models between him and the Wold, with the Argii attacking the Ravagers they were engaged with. Butcher cleared the models in the way, then used impending doom to pull the Wold in. He did enough damage to take out the remaining models around the Wold and took out his Spirit. The feated, back to full Focus, and with the clock running low, decided to stop there, believing he would only make himself more vulnerable next turn with the a lot still in range of him. Before I took the dice, we tabulated that Butcher would take another Pressure Point because he was not contesting the zone; that’s a total of 1o damage on Butcher.

As my turn started, I still had my Feat, but wouldn’t need it, because I only need to cause three damage to Butcher and dominate the zone by moving Morvahna in to cause another 7 points of damage from the final Pressure Point to end the game. I activated Morvahna first, moved Carnivore to the Feral and used my remaining Fury to sling a boosted Sunder Spirit into Butcher doing some additional damage. I activated the Wold Guardian relying on two chances at a re-rollable 8 to KD Butcher, and I had Feral with Carnivore as a fail safe. The first swing from the Wold was successful and Butcher was on the ground. No damage, but he was prone. Feral was teleported in on the first swing he did the requisite three damage to ensure that that he was done at the turns end. The remaining attacks from the Feral and finished Butcher without needing the final Pressure Point. This was a solid victory against a tough list and opponent. Was happy to be moving onto the next round.

semi final final table shot

ROUND 3: vs eButcher3 (again)

RECAP: After the end of my last round I learned the pair down from the previous round had lost, meaning I would be playing on top table in the next round. This round would be against Jeff, a player whom I’ve not faced since he was playing Skorne a year earlier at the Dragon’s Den. Now he has moved onto Butcher 3, and I would have to overcome him again if I was going to win. The difference in this match was the list had two Devestators, making my ability to gain pressure points that much harder. I again won the roll for first turn, and took it, and my opponent again put me on the side of the table (we were on the same table I had just played on). My deployment had worked out well last time, so I opted to do the same thing this time. Jeff only had only one unit of IFP (which he stated later was to save time and prevent scenario Pressure Points) and put it in the same place as my previous opponent, and everything else was mostly the same.

On my first turn, opened up just as last time, with my Ravagers going strong to the center of the board, the WoO and the Skinwalkers moving way up the board, with Carnivore on the Skinwalkers and Fog of War up. My opponent had a different opening turn in this game, however, using the Kovnik to Shield March the IFP who Shield Walled, and used their Mini Feat, allowing them to touch the outside of the zone. The Widowmakers took the same position at the edge of the woods with Eyriss and opened fire on the WoO. Fenris ran around the flank full bore to try and force an Abomination check but was unable to get there.

My second turn I would have to charge the Ravagers across the zone, luckily the POW 15 from Brutal Charge would help break up the IFP under Iron Zeal. I did just that, and was able to get about 5 IFP off the board. Then I dropped the right Gallows Grove up the table and was able to get it in the back arc of the Kovnik, despite him having cover from the building. I was able to get him off the table with a Sunder Spirit from Morvahna. Then used the Mini Feat from WoO to dehorse Fenris on the L, and piled the Skinwalkers and remaining WoO into the zone behind the Ravagers. The Beasts moved into the zone and the stones dropped in front of them to protect from Impending Doom and be sure they could threaten the whole zone. Butcher took the dice and moved the remaining IFP into action by starting to clear the front line of the unit, and get into the zone. The Jacks moved forward as much as they could but did not want to open. Widowmakers were able to get another round of shooting due to how effective they were last round I wasn’t able to get them engaged. Eyriss then moved forward again and the WoO were down to less than half, and the Ravagers were down a few models. Saxon also was on fire this game plucking his second model in as many turns. The dogs were able to help at this point and so was Butcher. Ravagers were down below half as were the WoO. Zone was contested, and the two jacks were going to be able to get in next turn.

On my turn, I decided I would Feat back what I lost and score a Pressure Point this turn to get damage on Butcher and perhaps make it difficult for the ‘jacks to get in the zone. I activated the remaining Ravagers first and got a few IFP, then activated the WoO who were finally able to engage Eyriss and the Widow makers as well as Saxon. I up kept Carnivore on the IFP and then Feated 10 of the models I lost back onto the table. Then had Morvahna use a Gallows Grove to get a well placed Death Knell on the IFP Flag, Corbeau, Ayianna and an Argus. I was able to kill all but the Argus. I then retreated to the rear of the zone, and let the Skinwalkers kill the remaining IFP to heal Morvahna about half of the damage she had taken. The Stones moved farther forward, and the beats were now pressed further forward in the zone. I had successfully cleared the zone, and dominated putting 7 damage on Butcher. Jeff knew that the game was tilting in the wrong direction and had to get into the zone, and be aggressive with Butcher. He started with the first Devstator, moved forward and popped open, clearing most of the models around. This allowed the second Devestator to move into the zone, pop, and clear more infantry, he hot rolled a lot of damage on the 8 box models. The space available now cleared room for Butcher to get into the zone and start to really cleanup. He cleared the models around him, impending doom feated, and cleared some more, and ended the turn with 4 focus on him.

Butcher was in the zone, close to Morvahna, who had now been healed back to to full thanks to Imperishable Conviction. The two jacks had opened up, which allowed me the opportunity to possibly take them out. However, Butcher was in the zone only on ARM 22 and down ⅓ of his HP. So I decided to go for him. I did not upkeep Carnivore. I activated Morvahna first, put Carnivore on the Wold Guardian, and threw a Sunder Spirit into Butcher, with a re-roll had Butcher down to half life. I activated the Stones and dropped the Wold Guardian behind the Butcher, and activated the Wold, who went to town able to KD the Warcaster on the first swing. Then using Ram started pushing Butcher toward the Feral so I could walk into Melee with the second heavy. However, on the final swing with the Wold, Butcher was finished. Tourney over!

Final Table Shot

This event was a great exercise for me. I was fortunate to win, given the matches I had. As I said at the onset I wanted to see how the Morvahna list worked in the format and I think it has real potential. The jam tactic does have a lot of viability because it puts direct damage onto the opposing ‘Lock or ‘Caster if I can use it to score Pressure Points. Additionally once damaged, her assassination becomes that much more live. Also, when the opposing Caster/Lock is bleeding my infantry becomes that much more likely to finish the job with charges and re-rolls. The trouble is having to activate everything and move quickly. Unlike the Cryx lists I have run in the past, I cannot rely on my Feat to keep me in the game alone, and to support my tactic of trying to take over the zone, I have to get the most out of my activations, which creates the leverage in the attrition. Additionally I saw that I don’t need to Feat to win with the list in this format. While I obviously would prefer to do but, with time constraints that I have it doesn’t need to happen. Seeing that go successfully in round 2 gives me confidence that it’s a viable thought going forward (when applicable and I need to save time). I believe it’s a list that can be played in the Hard Core format, as long as I get through my progressions efficiently, and don’t waste unnecessary time.

Another take away from the event now getting a better look at Butcher3, I realized the value of having the immobile models; being able to prevent the Impending Doom from pulling everything in is huge. That means placement on Stones and Gallows Groves can save your battlegroup from certain death. That doesn’t mean they can tank the opposing army, just means you can use them to buy time, or even catch an unsuspecting Butcher 3 player from failing to realize the interaction. Killing the Kovniks slows the army down, but unless you can get them early, it doesn’t make enough of a difference to waste a high priority magic missile on them.

The last point of note was that the Butcher3 lists were nearly identical to what I saw at the Invitational, with some combination of IFP, Widowmakers, Eyriss, Corbeau, and Kovniks. The additional points expenditure on Fenris or A&H, or whatever are subtle details, to what the list wants to do. You have to manage his threat range and make him burn focus to clear the jam between your caster and him. The heavy jack in his list is only a trade piece, and while it’s a problem, it’s important not to take the bait and give a heavy to make it happen, only to have Butcher mop it up in retaliation. Recognize that and not wasting the effort to kill the heavy, when those pieces are really need to kill Butcher.

I’m overall happy with the table time from the event, and got some pretty sweet games in, bonus was being able to take home the W! Toy Whiz is a great venue and thanks to Jeff Frederickson for running the tourney.

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…