Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - BR vs Tomb Kings July 30th!

#961 Post by Curu Olannon »

For my opening game I drew the only Bretonnian opponent in the tournament. I was excited to face these with a Star Dragon as the only experience I have vs them is with the Deathtrain. My opponent however was nowhere to be seen, but being a local guy the organizers were able to call him and they woke him up! He thought the tournament was next weekend :D Anyway he got there fairly quickly and as I`m a fast player and Bretonnia tend to have few units I wasn`t stressed out.


.::. Battle Report - Invasion #1 vs Bretonnia (uncomped) .::.
Points Before the Game: 0/0

Lists:
Prince on Star Dragon: Dragonhelm, Star Lance, Crown of Atrazar, The Other Trickster`s Shard, Shield = 598
Noble Battle Standard Bearer on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Banner of the World Dragon, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance = 172
Noble on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour, Ogre Blade = 134
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Scroll = 155
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Ironcurse Icon = 135
Heroes = 596, Characters = 1194

17 Silver Helms, Full Command & Shields = 421
5 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows, Standard Bearer = 95
5 Silver Helms, Shields, Champion, Standard Bearer = 135
Core = 651

3x1 Repeater Bolt Thrower = 210
Frostheart Phoenix = 240
2x1 Great Eagle = 100
Rare = 550

Army Total = 2395
Bretonnian Lord on Horse, HKB thing, Gauntlet of the Duel, Sword of ASF, Grail Vow
Paladin BSB, War Banner, Grail Vow
Paladin, Dawnstone, Dragonhelm, Grail Vow
L2 Life Mage, Scroll

8 KOTR, FC
8 KOTR, FC
8 KOTR, FC

5 Pegasus Knights

X Grail Knights (quite a few, can`t remember specifics)
2 Trebuchets
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

I wanted to deploy the bus with an ensured way to block his Grail Knights. I thus started with chaff on both extreme flanks so I could close in regardless, with the bus in a central position and the flyers hidden. This game had a scenario where the board was sliced into 5 pieces of equal width, each being worth 200 VPs to whoever had a unit with a banner in it at the end of the game (contested zones would yield 0 vp). I was more concerned with munching down as he didn`t have the Falcon Horn, which makes this a highly favourable matchup for me. Furthermore his Trebs had a terrible time getting good lines of fire.

Spells: I got Arcane, Walk, Apotheosis, Hand of Glory. He got Shield of Thorns and Earthblood.

Image

I managed to grab T1.

HE T1

I moved bus straight towards his deathstar. Dragon and Phoenix took up flanking positions while cavalry closed in. Magic I walked my bus. Shooting was ineffective, so a quick T1 for me.

Image

BR T1

One unit (with the L2) blocked my bus. Another charged my Helmdart, which fled. He tried to redirect into the bird but didn`t make it (12 I believe he needed). Peg Knights move up centrally. Shooting sees one Treb miss, the other scores 4W on the Frostheart.

Image

HE T2

The 1W Frostheart rams the Pegknights, Eagle charges Treb, Reavers block grails. Dragon + bus charge blockers. Dart rallies. Magic sees me try and heal the bird but it`s stopped with a scroll. Shooting panics some knights. In combat I get lucky as the Frostheart survives and the Peg Knights break, I chase them down and am within minimum range for the Treb => safe. He is lucky as his knights hold on Insane Courage.

Image

BR T2

Knights charge Reavers, I elect to flee seeing as I`ll go through my own unit and he can only redirect into the bus or fail the charge. He decides not to tempt his luck vs 2++ so he gets a failed charge. In combat, he has 1 Knight left which holds on Insane Courage yet again...

Image

HE T3

Reavers rally and move up to block him again. Frostheart goes into second treb. I win all combats but the treb survives and Frostie.

Image

After this, the match can be summarized in the pictures below. TL;DR - I zone his grails and engage them with the bus and kill them all, eventually.

Image

Image

The RBTs took care of his remaining, small Knights and I healed up the Frostheart as well (models and units below 50% wounds/models respectively gave up 25% of their VPs). I tabled him with 300VP in bonuses with small losses in return and had an additional 200 from the scenario I believe. 20-0 victory to the High Elves!

Evaluation
First of all, creds to my opponent for keeping his calm despite the somewhat stressing situation and a terrible matchup. Short of my making a huge mistake with the Star Dragon and his Lord wiping it, I don`t see what he can do here. Traditional Bretonnia armies with Life would be a big problem for me, but an L2 only has 44% chance to get Dwellers and when he didn`t, it was a fairly easy game for me.

Regardless we both had a blast with lots of laughs and funny moments, including his back-to-back insane courage tests.

Opponent`s Final Placing: 18/20
My Points: 20/20
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Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

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anorexia
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 1/5 up!

#962 Post by anorexia »

wow! just great read as always.

hail the dragons! i hope You won that whole tournament
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John Rainbow
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 1/5 up!

#963 Post by John Rainbow »

Nice work. As you say a great matchup for your list. I'm curious as to why your opponent took such a list based around a Grail-star and without a lvl.4. It seems like a poor choice to me and I think it shows in his placing. For instance, much like SHs for us, I think Errants are much better as a bodyguard for a character based bus and the lack of a lvl.4 means he is already down in one area in which he could potentially gain an advantage. Weird list decisions I think.

Either way, you have to play well still and deserved the win it seems.
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 1/5 up!

#964 Post by Curu Olannon »

@anorexia - Time will tell :)

@John Rainbow - I agree with you 100%, to the point where I questioned my opponent as to why he didn`t have an L4 for example. I do know that when he arrived 25 minutes past game start time his list wasn`t ready and his miniatures were all a mess in a box, so I suppose he had some hasty decisions to make. As for KOTR vs Errants I`ve heard it argued both ways. Suffice is to say that this list with an L4, double scroll and falcon horn would be a LOT harder for me. Given his few drops I could relatively easily position my bus where I needed it as well. This, coupled with the ease of which I could hide from the Trebs, pretty much meant the game played itself.
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 1/5 up!

#965 Post by John Rainbow »

Curu Olannon wrote:pretty much meant the game played itself.
Give yourself some credit :wink:
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 1/5 up!

#966 Post by Curu Olannon »

John Rainbow wrote:
Curu Olannon wrote:pretty much meant the game played itself.
Give yourself some credit :wink:
I will, where it`s due ;) Next report coming up soon!
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - BR vs Tomb Kings July 30th!

#967 Post by Curu Olannon »

Second game saw me a draw a club-mate, featuring a fearsome Skaven force with a Bellstar (including an Assassin with Weeping Blades and Potion of Strength), double HPAs, WLC and lots of rats. The first game might`ve seen a soft list opposite me, this one, not so much.


.::. Battle Report - Invasion #2 vs Skaven (uncomped) .::.
Points Before the Game: 20/20

Lists:
Prince on Star Dragon: Dragonhelm, Star Lance, Crown of Atrazar, The Other Trickster`s Shard, Shield = 598
Noble Battle Standard Bearer on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Banner of the World Dragon, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance = 172
Noble on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour, Ogre Blade = 134
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Scroll = 155
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Ironcurse Icon = 135
Heroes = 596, Characters = 1194

17 Silver Helms, Full Command & Shields = 421
5 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows, Standard Bearer = 95
5 Silver Helms, Shields, Champion, Standard Bearer = 135
Core = 651

3x1 Repeater Bolt Thrower = 210
Frostheart Phoenix = 240
2x1 Great Eagle = 100
Rare = 550

Army Total = 2395
(roughly)
Grey Seer on Screaming Bell, Skalm, Power Scroll
Warlock Engineer, Brass Orb
Warlock Engineer, Condensor, Scroll
Assassin, Weeping Blades, Potion of Strength
BSB, Storm Banner

Stormvermin, War Banner
Poisoned Wind Mortar Team
3 units of Slaves

HPA
HPA with Warpstone Spikes
WLC
9 Gutter Runners
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

The goal vs Skaven is to isolate the HPAs and at all costs not make the Bell get into my bus. By taking away the HPAs I can finish off the deathstar with a combo-charge towards the end. The SD can tank it and the Frostheart can perceivably hold it, with a little luck, for long enough.

The mission this game was Assassinate: Any characters and their mounts were worth double VPs. Risky business for a Star Dragon vs Bell-Skaven...

I positioned the bus centrally, opposite my opponent, intent on engaging him fast. Phoenix and SD both grabbed cover on a flank. I got Walk, Heal aaaand can`t remember two last. He had everything from Ruin.

Image

I managed to grab T1 and storm banner went up.

HE T1

I move up and Walk the Dragon into a very juicy spot for T2. With the Banner out so early, I can afford to play hard: The Bell can randomly inflict D3W on the Dragon from T2 onwards so biding my time is generally not a good idea.

Image

SK T1

One HPA moved forward, the other was angled a bit so as to stop in Slaves. Slaves moved up, rest was cautious. Magic saw me stop Warpgale, he skitterleapt the Brass Orb dude next to my Frostheart. I was ok with this as I had rolled 3+3 in my phase, making the Frostheart I4. Shooting: WLC targeted Dragon but rolled misfire for Strength/bounce. Brass Orb either missed or I passed my I-test.

Image

HE T2

In splitting up the HPAs and moving the Slaves forward, my opponent had given me a huge opening. Time for the Union Pacific to start working:
Image

The red circles indicate where his HPAs are. The blue lines show charge arcs for bus and dragon into Slaves, allowing Dragon to overrun into 2nd HPA. Lastly the grey line shows how the Phoenix can railroad the last HPA out of its sphere of influence.

So basically that`s what I did. Slaves broke, Dragon into HPA. Opening created!

Image
Note that I had to reform the bus to ensure that they could charge past the Dragon if the HPA went down and the Slaves countered, just a slight adjustment of their angle but an adjustment all the same

SK T2

HPA ran forwards, Slaves counter-charged SD. Bell magically charged the Frostheart. This was a 50-50% chance and I reckoned he had another ~30% for breaking it so basically I took a 15% chance of losing the game in my aggro T2 manoevre. Luckily, the Phoenix held up though and the SD did what it does best as its breath weapon helped tear the HPA apart in a single turn (also, thank you very much S7 Star Lance!).

Image
Nevermind the Verminlord aka HPA in the lake, he was dead

HE T3

I managed to Walk the RBT to keep railroading the second HPA as I had a feeling the grind could go on for some time. Bus counter-charged Slaves to relieve the Dragon. Phoenix held again and Slaves died. I reformed.

Image

He basically had one shot at getting back in the game: his upcoming T3. His Bell inflicted D3W on the SD, getting a 1, so it was up to the WLC... Which failed! With that, the game was all over bar rolling dice as my Frostie held yet again, so in my T4 the bus and the Dragon hit the Bell unit and wiped it in 2 rounds of combat.

Image

At the end of the day then only the 2nd HPA was alive. A 20-0 victory to the High Elves!

Evaluation
Getting first turn here and putting the pressure on him so swiftly was crucial to this win. By bearing down on him early and isolating one HPA whilst killing the other proved to be very effective - more so than I`d hoped for. Having the Phoenix block the Bell is a bit risky (charge + flank + 3 ranks + 2 banners + war banner prior to impact hits...) but he`s 50-50 for getting it and by not targeting the Grey Seer but rather the unit, I can usually grab a handful of kills with Thunderstomp thrown in the mix as well. By presenting the bird`s flank, he touches me with his entire frontage. This means that he can`t just champ-tank my attacks. Due to the risky business of 50-50 charging he didn`t declare Potion of Strength either, so the Assassin came out way later, at which point the Phoenix`s death wouldn`t have mattered too much.

I didn`t say anything about the right flank the entire report for a single reason: It was uneventful. I tried pushing with the Helmdart and charging the WLC with the Eagle, but nothing paid off so in the end we just had a grind that eventually ended when the Bell was torn down.

Opponent`s Final Placing: 6/20
My Points: 40/40
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

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Danidude
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#968 Post by Danidude »

Just a quick note on the Bret guy, I have played vs him a few times, and he is the most unlucky warhammer guy I know! He did not HKB anything on Invasion, if that paint some of the picture. His list is soft, as far as I know he loves to play more fluffy.

As another teaser, the last game(the High Elves) is vs me ;)
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John Rainbow
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#969 Post by John Rainbow »

Good win. Railroading is an interesting way to play random movement although I agree that it is how it should be played RAW. My local meta lets them fudge a charge against the railroader or move forwards only. It makes random movers a real pain. I'm glad you've gotten some payback for the rest of us!
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Browncastle
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#970 Post by Browncastle »

Nice to see some pictures from the games, Im must say thank you for this teqnik on railroading random movers. I had a couple off games against my danish friend at our cabin, and I got a minor loss, then a draw. Im finally seeing some light in the tunnel, when it comes to fighting skaven.
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#971 Post by Curu Olannon »

@Danidude - His dice were OK this game, drawing this matchup however is pretty terrible. Then again, a grailstar is weak against pretty much anything HE can play and there were a total of 5 (!) HE armies at the tournament so he was bound to run into trouble. Great opponent to play against, keeping his spirits up despite the game slowly falling apart. By the way, do you know if his nickname on 2d6 is "Korhil"?

@John Rainbow - Usually I play ETC and ETC allows virtual pivots and fudge charging from random movement. I think both are completely retarded, especially the last one considering how strong HPA/Stanks already are. In that sense it was refreshing to be able to force some of the worst enemies out of play here. It does force people using them to think differently because suddenly they aren`t the super-flexible problem solvers they`re used to.

@Browncastle - There are multiple ways to counter Skaven effectively. Railroading of course helps, regardless of list. I think the strongest card we have against Skaven are our cavalry busses and/or Deathstars. They don`t care too much about anything in the army, apart from Wither, Plague (BOTWD doesn`t work here I think?) and HPAs. I find that putting wounds on the HPA with flaming is essential as Too Horrible to Die! can be a real pain at the wrong time (more on this later), which is one of the (many) reasons I had an L2 fire mage when I used to run the Deathtrain.

I`m hoping to have time for game 3 tonight ;)
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#972 Post by Curu Olannon »

Third game and last game of day 1 saw me draw Skaven yet again. This time however it was a completely different flavour: Huge units of Slaves, more Warlocks than I can count, double Grey Seers with 4++/5++ (warlocks having MR2 and MR3 for maximum snipe-protection), double WLCs, doomwheel, Hellpit... The good news is that the only threat to my cavalry here, unlike vs bell-lists, is the HPA. If that is dealt with, the Helms can pretty much do as they please. Oh, and Plague spells can hurt me.


.::. Battle Report - Invasion #3 vs Skaven (uncomped) .::.
Points Before the Game: 40/40

Lists:
Prince on Star Dragon: Dragonhelm, Star Lance, Crown of Atrazar, The Other Trickster`s Shard, Shield = 598
Noble Battle Standard Bearer on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Banner of the World Dragon, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance = 172
Noble on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour, Ogre Blade = 134
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Scroll = 155
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Ironcurse Icon = 135
Heroes = 596, Characters = 1194

17 Silver Helms, Full Command & Shields = 421
5 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows, Standard Bearer = 95
5 Silver Helms, Shields, Champion, Standard Bearer = 135
Core = 651

3x1 Repeater Bolt Thrower = 210
Frostheart Phoenix = 240
2x1 Great Eagle = 100
Rare = 550

Army Total = 2395
Grey Seer, 4++, scroll
Grey Seer, 5++
Warlock, MR2
Warlock, MR3
Warlock, Brass Orb
Warlock, Doom Rocket
Warlock
Warlock
Warlock
BSB, Storm Banner

Clanratblock
4 big Slave blocks

3x5 Gutter Runners

HPA
Doomwheel
2x WLC
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

This game had an interesting scenario: Centered in the middle of the table is a 24" wide and 12" long rectangle. Whoever has the most core units` worth of points within this rectangle claims an additional +750VP. With my Helms being near-indestructible (see below), this would be good for me. Lore of Plague has a spell that really threatens my Helms: Wither. At the ETC this year, the Swedish HE player experienced losing his entire bus to this spell. Basically he let it through once in the early game, failed to dispel it with a very low roll T4 or T5 and his opponent got IF T6 I believe for the sweet result of insta-killing all Elves. For this reason I was not intending to push him too hard early on, but rather force out some of his toys, establish central control and munch down on him mid-game with a combo-charge late-game.

Deployment went very well, his HPA and Doomwheel were on opposite sides so I got to choose the Dragon`s matchup, which is an easy choice here seeing as it`ll devastate the HPA whereas the Doomwheel is disastrous for it. Furthermore the bus got in-between the Dragon and the Doomwheel so that it would be very hard for said toy to make a difference in this game.

I was very happy with the deployment and even managed to grab cover for both monsters. Spells unfortunately gave me 0 doubles and no Fiery, which would`ve been crucial this game. I had Walk, Heal, Tempest and Hand of Glory. He had <insert nastiness from Skaven spells>.

Image

He managed to grab T1.

SK T1

So right off the bat I had a feeling this would be a long game. He spends a lot of time completing his movement phase and when we get to shooting, he wants to target my cav 4" from the back of the front model, conveniently enough likely to hit the Phoenix behind the hill. I firmly point out that the tournament uses ETC rules where they don`t contradict the rulebook, to prevent worst plays like deliberately over-guessing, fanatic slingshots etc. He agrees, but it feels like it`s more because he doesn´t want to take a fight. In Norway this is considered worst play almost regardless of what tournament you attend and most make sure to ban it by playing with ETC rules (i.e. FAQ and Worst Play) just to make it 100% clear.

So anyway, moving on then he skitterleaped his Warlock Engineer next to my monsters but missed by a mile. I made a mistake here as I thought it fired like a Stone Thrower and thus had to be centered on a model while he claimed he could place it anywhere. As he couldn`t/didn`t produce a reference we played it like a stone thrower but the scatter made it not matter anyway. I tried to stop Howling Warpgale which would`ve allowed my Phoenix to put some pressure on him and the Eagles to move towards artillery, but I rolled miserably.

Image

HE T1

Time to call the Union Pacific! Helmdart moves up to force his HPA, rest advance cautiously. Dragon makes sure to have vision for said HPA unless he rolls very, very well. Magic sees me cast Hand on the Dragon for M9. Shooting does nothing of value.

Image

SK T2

HPA moved straight up and quite a long way as well, into Dragon`s arc. Rest was cautious. Magic: Again I fail to stop Howling Warpgale. Arrived Gutter Runners kill my RBT in the Western corner (super-risky move to place them here in my opinion seeing as failing to kill it allows for counter-charges and shooting). One WLC blows up.

Image

HE T2

So basically I had a perfect situation now. HPA is isolated, all my important elements are intact, my scroll hasn`t been spent, Brass Orb did nothing and my monsters are on full wounds. Furthermore I can start being a bit more aggressive with the bus seeing as Wither only has 12" of range and I have last turn. Consider the following:

Image
Blue line shows that the Doomwheel cannot get to where it`s needed. Red lines show corner-possibilites for the Dragon.

My Dragon can charge corner-to-corner on either side of the HPA. The back corner results in Slaves needing 6 to charge, the front meaning they`ll need 10. I went for the first, the reasoning being that if the Slaves charge, I can combat-reform and counter-charge with the bus. Phoenix turns around and Eagle turns towards gutter runners. Bus moves up. Magic: Can`t remember, might`ve drawn his scroll with Arcane. In combat the SD does what it does best yet again and kills off the HPA.

Image

SK T3

Slaves charge Dragon. Magic sees howling warpgale go through my defenses yet again. Shooting sees the remaining WLC target the Dragon. He hits 2 Slaves and the Dragon, randomize comes up 2 hits on me. HPA had removed the Crown and with a strength of 8, the shot insta-kills both the rider and the Dragon. Again the issue of 10 from the back was brought up but his first bounce was short, hence 2 Slaves being hit. The expendable rule is just about balanced, considering Slaves cost an entire 2 points per model... Helmdart panics.

Image

HE T3

The Dragon dying is obviously a huge blow, but not all is lost. The Phoenix is still intact and the bus is now free to do as it pleases. With only 3 turns left it will be impossible for him to wither me thrice. I charge Slaves and bird moves up. Helmdart keeps fleeing. Hand of Glory goes on bird for next turn. Slaves hold on steadfast.

Image

SK T4

This turn took half an hour to complete (I know this because of timestamp on the pictures) and this largely boils down to a single event: His Doomwheel flank-charged my Helms. Magic and shooting was uneventful, so let`s skip to combat. Impact hits kill one or two and then I start massacring Slaves. He loses badly but is steadfast by one model. This is huge, as him losing one more here would allow me to reform 2 or 3 wide and engage his bunker, deep within his lines. However the Doomwheel had such an angle that it would flee through his own gutter runners and off the table (at least it would be very close). At first he wanted to flee directly backwards (what?) and I was about to open the rulebook when he conceded. Then he simply started moving said Doomwheel but in the wrong direction, steering clear of the Gutter Runners. Luckily its position was easy to establish due to it being 50mm wide and having maximised contact so I moved it back and we started measuring. It was extremely close and I was about to call a judge (who had already been around at our table because I claimed his characters moved over 2x M during their movement phase when he wanted to shuffle them quite long. At which point he claimed "You are only being difficult with me now because you`re losing. Come on, man, I just want to have fun!" Fun? As in 220 Slaves Skaven army of doom fun? I didn`t even know what to say, besides I wasn`t losing due to the scenario which I felt I was in control of. The judge agreed with me by the way), but he simply moved it and claimed it didn`t go off the table. I was getting tired and it was getting very late and we were short on time so I didn`t pursue the issue further (though I should have).

Image

HE T4

Helmdart rallied. Reavers charged Gutter Runners and redirected into Doomwheel but failed to catch. Magic was unimportant. I killed Slaves and reformed the bus.

Image

SK T5

At this point the time was almost up and we were no-where near done. He moved up units to block my bus and rallied Doomwheel. Magic saw my scroll come out to stop Plague. Shooting can`t remember.

Image

HE T5

I was so tired at this point that I made a huge blunder. The Helms, whom I had intended to stay behind the impassable on the right flank, simply walked up to have vision beyond it instead. It was late, the match was on overtime and I just brainfarted. Magic saw me blow up a mage. Reavers tried a desperate charge on the Doomwheel (I had a standard due to scenarios so was up on static if he didn`t kill me), it failed. Phoenix moved up.

Image

SK T6

Doomwheel into Frostheart. He moves Grey Seer with Warp Lightning within front arc of my Helmdart. The crucial magic phase sees Warp Lightning go off, score 6 hits and kill all remaining Helms. With that, my hopes of winning went down the drain. The Frostheart held vs Doomwheel, but I was locked and couldn`t help out in the central combat.

Image

I would have to kill an obscene amount of rats to kill off the Slaves (which would`ve given me the objective and thus a VP difference of 1500) which I failed to do. Although the Frostheart killed the Doomwheel, it was by far not enough. He scored the objective, giving him +750VP, which was a lot seeing as he was already up. A couple of mistakes, one of them huge, cost me the game and in the end the loss was 4-16 for the High Elves.

Evaluation
2 Mistakes stand out: The Star Dragon choosing the wrong corner and the Helms not hiding behind the impassable (if I had claimed the objective I would`ve tied the game). The first was largely a strategical mistake seeing as I was feeling the pressure when I shouldn`t have: There was plenty of time, Doomwheel was too far away and one WLC was down. A bad call, so to speak. The Helmdart mistake was just terrible though, I specifically thought of Warp Lightning the turn before and then forgot literally right before I moved them.

Playing against an opponent constantly trying sneaky(read: illegal) moves and getting away with "that extra inch" etc all the time is exhausting. I don`t think I have encountered this before, so in that sense this is a good experience as I know how I`ll handle it next time. I was wrong with regards to the brass orb and for that, I apologize, but he could`ve simply shown me the rules and I would`ve resigned.

I should also note that we finished this game 30 minutes on overtime. This is the first tournament game I`ve ever had that has even been close to maxing the time, so it was a very long day (I arrived 9.30 and this game finished 20:15 roughly) which helps explain why I messed up the Helmdart. Still though, lesson hopefully learned.

Going into day 2 I knew I`d have to make every point possible to have a chance. My opponent was now sitting at 53 points, 9 ahead of me. Even with 2x 20-0 I would need help.

Opponent`s Final Placing: TBA
My Points: 44/60
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#973 Post by Curu Olannon »

Game 4 and, luckily for me, a new day. I was exhausted after day 1 and a good night`s sleep most definitely helped me reset and focus for the last 2 games. This time I drew Empire in the hands of a clubmate. Despite having gone to several tournaments together we had never met previously. I quickly decided to go all-in, come hell or high water.


.::. Battle Report - Invasion #4 vs Empire (uncomped) .::.
Points Before the Game: 44/60

Lists:
Prince on Star Dragon: Dragonhelm, Star Lance, Crown of Atrazar, The Other Trickster`s Shard, Shield = 598
Noble Battle Standard Bearer on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Banner of the World Dragon, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance = 172
Noble on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour, Ogre Blade = 134
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Scroll = 155
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Ironcurse Icon = 135
Heroes = 596, Characters = 1194

17 Silver Helms, Full Command & Shields = 421
5 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows, Standard Bearer = 95
5 Silver Helms, Shields, Champion, Standard Bearer = 135
Core = 651

3x1 Repeater Bolt Thrower = 210
Frostheart Phoenix = 240
2x1 Great Eagle = 100
Rare = 550

Army Total = 2395
GrandMaster: Runefang, Charmed Shield, Luckstone, Pot Of Speed
Lvl 4 Light, DB Gem, Scroll
BSB horse, GW, dawnstone, dragonhelm
Lvl 2 Life Horse, Crown of Command

14xIC Knights: FC, Std of Disc
5xKnights
10xArchers
5xArchers

5xDemis: Mus, Gleaming Pennant
3xDemis

Stank
Stank
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

No cannons is a good start for me. STanks are a lot easier to deal with from a monster perspective because of their shorter range, vulnerability to being blocked and forced move straight towards whatever they want to shoot.

The scenario this game simply limited casting to 5PD max, which I`m fairly used to. There was quite a bit of terrain so I could hide away my important stuff. I got the bus opposite his, slightly skewed towards his flank anchored by big demis. The idea was to outflank the demis as quickly as possible and force him to commit peacemeal, or, if he refused, counter-charge. He countered my flank with small demis and the second stank, somewhat overkill in my opinion but I know that something as strong as that coming from the flank mid-late game can be tough.

I grabbed Drain Magic, Apotheosis, Hand of Glory and Arcane Unforging. He had Burning Gaze, Pha`s Protection, Net, Banishment, Throne of Vines and Earthblood.

Image

With +1, I went first.

HE T1

Monsters go wide, Reavers block Demis (an overrun will take him into the SD), bus somewhat cautious. Magic: Big cast of Unforging draws his scroll. Shooting: Can`t remember.

Image

EMP T1

Demis into Reavers. Stank cautious. Bus reforms to 3-wide. Magic: Can`t remember. I think it might`ve been Pha`s on the Demigryphs. Demis kill Reavers and overrun into SD.

Image

HE T2

Helmdart and Phoenix goes into Demis. Both Eagles go to blocking duties. Magic: Can´t remember. Shooting: Hurt the rightmost Steam Tank (2W) and other Steam Tank (1W). In combat I fluff bigtime and even though I win, he holds on steadfast.

Image

EMP T2

He charges blockers. Magic sees me dispel Pha`s on Demis, he nets my bus. Blockers die, bus overruns but fails to roll the double 6s to reach me.

Image

HE T3

I try moving the bus fail Pha`s. However, my position is such that if he charges me with his bus, the necessary alignments for maximising models mean his STank will be blocked out. I manage to get Unforging through his defenses and remove the stubborn crown. Shooting sees some more wounds on the Eastern Stank. Demis finally perish and I reform, the Frost is blocking the STank from being able to charge the SD.

Image

EMP T3

Bus into my bus. He then realizes that the STank is blocked and has to move straight ahead, into the Phoenix. Not optimal for me, but with having to waste the Great Eagles so early there wasn`t a lot I could`ve done. Magic sees me scroll a big cast of Pha`s Protection on the bus. Earthblood goes up with Throne already being up. He wins combat but I hold on steadfast. No significant damage dealt to my cavalry. STank deals 4W to the Frostie and I flee.

Image

HE T4

He declares Potion of Speed for I9 Grandmaster. SD into cav. I spend the Helmdart to railroad the STank in case things go bad. Magic sees me crucially force through Drain Magic in a 6v4 phase, removing his 4+ regen. I also manage a 1D6 Hand of Glory, boosting my Prince to I9. This is crucial if he challenges me with the GM.

In combat he leaves everything where it`s at so the SD starts eating Knights. It`s pretty bad for him and he needs snake eyes to hold. He fails, rolling 3 twice in a row (Hold the Line! had me sweating this out) and I pursue with both: Hitting the STank in a combo-charge.

Image

After this it`s mostly clean-up. On the Eastern flank the 2nd Stank rolled misfire/above remaining wounds so many times it did next to nothing and the small demis wiped an RBT but lost all their models in the end. He got the 1W Phoenix with Banishment and I cleaned up the Archers, though not the L4. Counting up, I was massively ahead. 17-3 to the High Elves!

Evaluation

The strategy paid off, but it was a way more tense game than I`d have liked. I don`t think I would`ve needed to allow him an overrun into the SD and this might`ve allowed me to deal with the big demis easier. Also, the Helmdart was in a difficult spot and the Eagles had to go too soon. I was lucky to have it all work out so well in the end.

HE vs Empire can swing massively, but the lack of cannons gave me a lot more freedom than I`m used to. This helped set up some really threatening positions and with the lack of his 2nd stank, my opponent simply couldn`t find the power needed to deter my early aggression.

Meanwhile, my Skaven opponent from game 3 had taken a 20-0, increasing his lead. We were now in 1st and 2nd place with me trailing 12 points behind. My Empire opponent from this game drew him for game 5, so I was looking for some serious help (not to mention getting a big win myself) to even have a chance.

Opponent`s Final Placing: 5/20
My Points: 61/80
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#974 Post by Curu Olannon »

Game 5 saw me finally draw what I consider to be a good matchup. Throughout the tournament I felt I had been drawing iffy matchups from an otherwise favourable pool (including 4(!) other High Elf armies, Chaos Dwarfs, no-magic mono-Khorne WoC and Hexwraiths-heavy VC). True, the Bretonniagame was easy because of his grailstar being so weak vs my bus, but the other games were all hard despite what the results might indicate.

I was especially happy to meet one of our own - Danidude was bringing his Allarielle-star as a stand-in player. I considered this to be a great end to a great tournament in many ways and was especially relieved to have a matchup that heavily favoured me.

Then I saw the map...


.::. Battle Report - Invasion #5 vs High Elves (uncomped) .::.
Points Before the Game: 61/80

Lists:
Prince on Star Dragon: Dragonhelm, Star Lance, Crown of Atrazar, The Other Trickster`s Shard, Shield = 598
Noble Battle Standard Bearer on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Banner of the World Dragon, Heavy Armour, Shield, Lance = 172
Noble on Ithilmar Barded Elven Steed, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour, Ogre Blade = 134
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Scroll = 155
High Mage Level 2 on Elven Steed, Ironcurse Icon = 135
Heroes = 596, Characters = 1194

17 Silver Helms, Full Command & Shields = 421
5 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows, Standard Bearer = 95
5 Silver Helms, Shields, Champion, Standard Bearer = 135
Core = 651

3x1 Repeater Bolt Thrower = 210
Frostheart Phoenix = 240
2x1 Great Eagle = 100
Rare = 550

Army Total = 2395
Allarielle the Radiant
Prince, Armour of Silvered Steel, Dawnstone, Sword of Anti-Heroes
Lothern Sea Helm, Banner of Avelorn
Light Mage, L2, Dispel Scroll

12 Silver Helms, FC
12 Archers, FC
2x5 Reavers, Bows & Spears

25ish White Lions, BOTWD

3 RBTs
Frostheart Phoenix
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

First of all, the map and Scenario: There was a house in the middle of the table. A house. I have written extensively about how utterly broken the rules surrounding a house is previously but in this case it makes the matchup go from +2 to -1. If the Lions get into that house and Allarielle can cast Dwellers in 360 degrees, it will be nigh on impossible for me to win. The Scenario was that the table was split into 4 rectangles of equal size and holding one of these would grant +250VP. The house, being in the very middle, would contend all 4 (but could only hold 1).

Luckily the tournament used ETC rules where they don`t contradict the rulebook and prior to the ETC ruling houses as impassable, reforming into a house was illegal (basically one could teleport a unit that way). This would prevent him from moving into the house T1 at least.

Deployment then was largely dictated by this. His Lions were directly in front of the house with Reavers on either side with all my heavy hitters lined up towards him. Magic gave me double drain, soul quench and walk between worlds I believe. He got Dwellers, Throne, Regrowth, Earthblood and I can`t remember the light spells.

Image

With +1, I went first.

Olannon HE T1

Basically everything went up to threaten his house-zone. I got a high cast of boosted soul quench on a unit of Reavers but he scrolled it. Shooting killed a couple of Helms. To enable the soul quench cast I had to move the BSB into the second rank in favour of the mage in the front rank. I placed the BSB on the right flank to provide re-rolls for the troops on the other side of the house.

Image

Danidude HE T1

Lions move up 10" and Reavers block as much as they can. Magic is luckily low so I don`t have to spend my scroll vs Dwellers. Shooting takes out the RBT on my weak side but not much else.

Image
Notice how the Star Dragon has no-where to land vs his Lions, same for Frostheart and the cavbus is blocked out.

Olannon HE T2

I contemplated for a while how to deal with the situation at hand. I didn`t realize he could block me quite so well, so I was in trouble. Luckily for me, he had forgotten about the BSB placement. Having him enter the house is disastrous but luckily my BSB could solo-charge past his blocking reavers. I would then be looking at charge + downhill + bsb and maybe a casualty vs his 3 ranks and 2 banners. With 2++ vs his entire unit, I was at least hoping to hold him in place for one round. Thus it was that I solo-charged him with the BSB, willing to sacrifice him just to give my monsters a go.

As I was declaring the rest of the charges though (Prince + Helmdart into Reavers, Phoenix + Eagle into Reavers) I realized, many thanks to a rules question by Danidude, that with the dart I could connect to 4 reavers, allowing my Dragon to go corner-to-corner and thus overrun straight into the White Lions.

The bus reformed and went around. Magic: Can`t remember. Shooting killed more Helms. Combat was interesting. Helms + Prince only killed 2 Reavers. I took a minute or so and in the end I decided to use breath weapon. If they would hold and my BSB would break, the game would be over. Besides, if the Dragon gets into the WL the game is also over (albeit the other way around). Thus it was that I flamed the Reavers, scoring a mighty 2 hits resulting in a single death. The Dragon luckily killed the last 2 (only barely!) and I overran into the WL. The Dragon could only connect corner-to-corner with Allarielle so I went to town and promptly killed her. The BSB killed his champ in a challenge. Reavers held vs Frostie + Eagle.

Image
Picture shows his Phoenix having moved

Danidude HE T2
The situation was becoming dire for him. Phoenix moved to the hill and Helms tried pushing vs my RBTs. Magic saw me scroll whatever it was he had because I was expecting the unit to die soon and the sooner, the better. Shooting was insignificant and in combat, my Frostheart and Eagle wiped out the Reavers. My BSB died because Allarielle was dead and thus I was left with only a 5+ vs too many WL. This was the one critical fight where my Prince had to pass a test without re-roll(I was furthermore challenged by his Prince and dealt a total of 0W with the Dragon somehow). I was stubborn due to his BOTWD (gotta love this in a mirror match) and passed the LD10 test.

Image

Olannon HE T3

Frostheart into WL. Bus tried a swift reform but failed. Shooting killed more SH with Reavers blocking them. WL died in droves, my Prince died but I still could not hurt his Prince (what??) with the Star Dragon. I won, he held on LD10 re-rollable. Monster reaction test passed.

Image

Danidude HE T3

Phoenix counter-charge at last! Silver Helms killed blockers and caught the few remaining in pursuit. The Phoenix` charge proved to be inefficient as I won bigtime (besides I was still in that challenge). Prince was still alive, but now down to 2W at least. Phoenix broke, WL held.

Image

Olannon HE T4

Bus moved up cautiously, grabbing cover. Helmdart had taken an RBT so moved onto the table again, this time trying to go for the last 2. In combat I killed the last of the WL + the Prince with scoring a huge thunderstomp and was finally free.

Image

Danidude HE T4

He decided not to take the charge downhill with the Frostheart but instead played it safe. Shooting killed the Helmdart.

After my T5:

Image

His Frost scored an RBT kill and my RBTs wiped his Helms (2 RBTs killed 12 Helms in 5 rounds of shooting, showing off their power in Elf matchups). This concluded the game, and although I had lost the BSB and lots of small stuff + the Prince I was way ahead. Counting up, I had a 16-4 victory and I reported the results. This would put me at 77 points which I doubted would be enough seeing as I was trailing by 12 points and the SK-EMP game at table 1 was close. Danidude then came up to me and reminded me that we had forgotten the scenario however and this gave me +250VP, which made it an 18-2 victory to my High Elves! The hope was real and we paid attention to table 1 for the remaining 45 minutes.

My Empire friend had gone all in, deploying everything on the 12" line and pushing hard. It seemed to be working out for him as he was engaged and killing slaves left, right and center, but when the HPA went down to the big demis only to roll a `6` and pop back up with 5W, charging them the next second I knew that this was beyond hope. Skaven won the game 12-8 after they had to finish prematurely @T4 (could`ve tipped both ways but time was up) and he was thus the winner of Invasion @85BP, with me taking 2nd place @79BP!

Evaluation
This game proved to be a lot more tense than I`d have thought, given the matchup. In hindsight, I should probably have sent the Dragon past the house to simply physically block him. I was afraid of the RBTs getting too much firepower in though, but denying him the house was by far the most important for him here. As it were, I was lucky to find an opening after his excellent use of Reavers (and kudos on spending the scroll T1 for a simple boosted soul quench, not an easy decision to make but in hindsight most definitely the correct one) to block 2 flyers and the cav out (!) and sacrificing the BSB was easily worth it.

I find that people often underestimate the flexibility of the bus, with its opportunities for drastic combat reforms, character-shuffling, pinning stuff in place etc. Throughout this tournament the bus played a crucial role in every single game. I have slowly learned how to play around its weaknesses and feel I often have an edge when wielding it, despite its many shortcomings and inherent frailty.

When I got the Dragon into the WL I knew the game was all but over. Perhaps I should`ve used the bus more aggressively to try and hunt down the last 2 RBTs. With Ironcurse Icon it would be extremely hard for him to take it down. It`s important to remember these little things when the game goes well as every point matters (in general, in this particular tournament I could`ve gone 2x 20-0 in G4 + G5 and I still would`ve finished 2nd). I was happy with how I kept finding openings though and managed to turn an otherwise tricky game (due to the house) to an overwhelming win.

Lastly, kudos to Danidude for being a great sport throughout the game and reminding me of the scenario points when he remembered. Although it made no difference in the end, it made that last game on table 1 quite a nail-biter!

Post-tournament analysis coming soon.

Opponent`s Final Placing: 7/20
My Final Placing: 2/20
My Points: 79/100
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 All Games Up!

#975 Post by Danidude »

In the last match there I did some big mistakes. Firstly I did not move 10" up with my WL's leaving you with a gap for your BSB, moved them like 8-9" and slightly to the left, giving you even better view for your dragon to clip me. I was to afraid that phoenix could sneak past the reaves as one died to DT when marching to block you. And on the scroll use, yeah, I needed those reavers first turn to block.

Also I did not change the position of Allarielle so the SD could not overrun into her. However I will say that I did not know of the rule that the star dragon did not need to maximise on the reavers if the Silver Dart could pin the other 4 reavers. So that did come as a bit as a surprise for me, however after thinking it over a few sekonds, I could totaly see it as legal. So I want to thank you from giving me that leason, and can use this thrick in the future.

So next time I will have to be even more carefull with character placement. And congratulation to Curu Olannon to be the only one to be able to kill all my characters, it was only the Skaven player with tons of slaves that managed to kill another character of mine, the BSB.

And now that Invasion is done, I will not use Allarielle for a LONG time. She is fun to use to get +8 to casting life/light spells, however I am tiered of useing here and want to go over to something else.

As for the Bretplayers nick, I do not know as I dont use 2d6 a lot.
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 All Games Up!

#976 Post by Curu Olannon »

Hey Daniel, thanks for weighing in! Mistakes were made, dice were rolled. I think the biggest mistake in this game was me not putting the dragon directly in front of the house. If I had done this I don`t believe it would`ve been possible for your WLs to move out of my arc, nor could you have moved close enough to get into the house next turn by ways of blocking me out, either. I am not used to being in a situation where I have to push to deny an enemy the opportunity to get a sweet spot such as this.

As for the charge with the Helms + Star Dragon into the Reavers, this is something I often use to manipulate where my opponent can strike back. The relevant ruling is as follows:
ETC FAQ wrote: 2.3. Q: While charging, do I have to maximize frontage or supporting attacks?
A: Neither. You only have to maximize the number of models in base-to-base contact. You don’t have to maximize individual model’s or unit’s base to base contacts, as long as maximum amount of models is in contact with 1 or more models.
If you recall I also referenced an explicit ruling for this situation, this is the one I was thinking of (cavalry go into contact with trolls as well):
Image

You can read more about this particular situation here: http://warhammer.org.uk/phpBB/viewtopic ... 4b43cbaaa8

Another thing that could`ve turned the tide here (with some luck) would be the Lother Sea Helm`s Naval Discipline. Upon contact by my BSB you could`ve reformed away from the SD`s overrun but in the heat of the battle I can understand that you forgot about this. Furthermore, since my BSB moved first it`s hard to tell what my Dragon will do.
And congratulation to Curu Olannon to be the only one to be able to kill all my characters, it was only the Skaven player with tons of slaves that managed to kill another character of mine, the BSB.
Thank you very much :) To be fair, I probably had the best army for doing so. The Frostheart, bus and Star Dragon are all terrible for your WLs to face. Combined, it`s just insane. Having been on the infantry end of this mirror matchup (I can find the reports if you want me to, alternatively you can look them up under my BR section of this blog), I know how devastating a Star Dragon is to us. In general though I believe WL should go 3 wide with the Lothern Sea Helm. This allows your entire command to occupy the front rank and you can make way as you see fit.
And now that Invasion is done, I will not use Allarielle for a LONG time. She is fun to use to get +8 to casting life/light spells, however I am tiered of useing here and want to go over to something else.
This I can understand very well. What happened in the Skaven game, did you ever get Dwellers off on his bunker?

Again, thanks for a really good last game. I`m hoping to go again next year and I`m hoping to see you there. With a little luck we can push the Fantasy part of Invasion to rival 40k as well ;)

Post-tournament analysis coming up!
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Re: Path To Glory - Indian Summer All 5 Games Up!

#977 Post by Curu Olannon »

With the exception of a league I participated in ages ago (where I came first out of 12), this is my strongest competitive result thus far. Usually I aim for top 10% and over 75BP, but for this tournament I was hoping to win seeing as I knew a lot of the strong players were away in England, playing the NWGT. Anyways, let`s move on!


.::. Invasion - Post-tournament Analysis .::.

Invasion is a local Con almost, gathering over 100 people in total spread over multiple gaming systems. While 40k and Fantasy are the biggest, Warmachine and Flames of War are also popular and this year there was also some X-Wing games going. Fantasy has grown a lot in the past year as last year had less than 10 competitors from what I heard (with the winning player going 100-0) whereas this year had 26 registered (don`t know why the last 6 cancelled at the last minute). At this rate, the tournament will reach a respectable size in a year or two. The event was well-organized but could do with more staff as I think they grew bigger than expected. The lack of a dedicated fantasy go-to guy/referee was keen-felt seeing as the other tournaments I`ve been to this year have been exceptional in this particular regard (both SM and IS had highly knowledgable dedicated judges). Regardless the tournament was a blast and I had a great time, I`m really hoping I get to next year as well despite the 5-hour drive.

Onto the meta. With only 20 players the meta will be heavily skewed with regards to what people have available and what they like to play. There were 5 High Elf armies and some nutty armies out there, but in terms of pure filth there was little. Yes, 30 Hexwraiths can be a pain (for some), yes L4 Life + L4 Shadow double Stank Empire can be a pain (I never played him but he finished third @70BP) and yes, the Skaven armies I met were very hard, but overall people did not bring lists as nasty as I had thought. Perhaps I dodged some of the bullets, but I know for a fact that all the other HE armies would struggle big time vs me so in that sense they dodged me as well. It`s hard to draw any definitive conclusions based on my experience here, but I think it`s safe to say that Skaven uncomped is one of the worst things we can face, as High Elves. True, the Deathtrain would perform very well here with pretty much spamming out hurt and taking it back with ease (assuming Wither isn`t cast 3 times successfully) but it`s hard to see it getting a very big win and the Dwellers-heavy meta does it no favours.

I went to the tournament with the list I intend to bring to BSK. I need more practice games to flesh out my matchup table which I need to have ready by mid-October. Looking forward now I have Norwegian Masters coming up (2k uncomped) which I suppose I have to prepare a bit for. This leaves me little time to practice with the ETC Star Dragon list (this tournament is held the 11th and 12th of October - please do attend if you can! Send me a PM if you`re interested and I`ll help out with practical stuff.) and I`ve also been asked to proxy some Vampire Counts for test games... Anyway, given that many of the lists I faced weren`t pure filth and quite a few of them gave me training against factions and army types I haven`t played against before with the Star Dragon I got a lot more relevant games than I`d have thought I would. For this, I am very grateful. While on the subject of lists, given that the tournament was using a modified version of SLoS where Hills, Buildings and Impassable still counts as blocking terrain I think I probably would`ve taken a Star Dragon list even if I had not been preparing for another tournament. In this case, I would`ve prepared the list with 2 Frosthearts and 2 Eagles instead of my current rare setup. The rest would`ve stayed the same. It`s hard to say if this list would`ve made it through practice games without changes, but for those of you wondering this would be my preferred starting point if I wanted to use the Star Dragon in an uncomped environment where SLoS essentials are in play. True, war machines are a pain but the meta is slowly turning away from it, to the point where Elves are the most common enemy and multiple threats are more often what you face rather than Deathstars. In a context like this, the Star Dragon truly shines.

Performance-wise I was very happy with game number 2. I made very few mistakes here (non of significance as far I`ve identified) and was very proud actually when I won by something like 3200 victory points. I also played quite well vs Bretonnia. Some deployment hiccups due to my never-ending optimism for the RBTs but he didn`t notice nor realize how to capitalize on it so I was free by the end of my T1 (basically he might`ve been able to isolate the bus by stopping Walk. Possibly a bit too risky to blow the scroll T1). Empire was equally good, the hiccup here was the Demis into Reavers => Overrun into SD placement. I could`ve easily avoided this and the Star Lance on the charge probably would`ve given me a better position.

That leaves the High Elf and the Skaven game, 5 and 3 respectively. Game 5 was good, I was able to see lots of openings when presented with opportunities however simply not parking the Dragon in front of the house was bad. Likewise I had an excellent strategy vs Skaven in game 3 that I managed to execute flawlessly until it came to positioning the Dragon. That mistake combined with the Helmdart move T5 deserved to cost me the game and, ultimately, the tournament. These are the kinds of mistakes I have to eliminate in my play to improve. It`s all about being structured and keeping the various possibilities in mind without rushing ahead. Some things are hard to calculate on the fly yet neither of these cases have anything to do with that. They are quite simply tactical errors where the situation is easy to analyze.

Image
In action vs Skaven, Game 3

In light of that then I`m very happy coming in at 2nd place with 79 battle points. Games 4 and 5 are probably the biggest variance factors here, they could both easily have gone the other way. I do believe however that despite my mistakes here, I was better at exploiting the opportunities presented than my opponents so I don`t feel I was very lucky to grab these wins. True, the Empire-game was very hairy at a moment but I always felt I had the upper hand (i.e. if I could`ve switched armies at any point I never would`ve done so).

Image

Lastly, being nominated and not least winning best painted was quite shocking to be honest. I was very humbled by all the positive feedback my army received. I`m hoping I`ll have the motivation to do an overall quality increase on my army now, because I`m very proud of some of the models I`ve made and painted whereas others hardly qualify for tabletop standard.

Where do I go from here? Well, I`m looking at a completely different type of list for Norwegian Masters, something I`ve never played before. After that it`s all back to the Star Dragon for a few weeks with BSK being held the first weekend in November. After that I`m not sure what I`ll do, but as those of you who read this blog frequently know, I have lots of concepts I want to try out.

I also won 2 prizes, one for the second place and one for best painted. Thus I exited the tournament with a Giant and a Tomb Kings Warsphinx:

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I`m the worst at smiling on demand

Not sure what I`ll do with these but I suppose my Chaos Dwarfs project can use at least one of the kits as a basis for a K`daii Destroyer ;)
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Auere
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 All Games + Analysis Up!

#978 Post by Auere »

Nice report. I am trying to build a similar list right now - will have it in combat tomorrow!

Hate to be an ant-fucker, but I think you forgot heavy armour on your prince. As he is, he is only sporting light armour, which doesnt make sense.

If you need to keep him on max. 600, I would suggest giving him enchanted shield instead of dragon helm.
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 All Games + Analysis Up!

#979 Post by Curu Olannon »

Auere wrote:Nice report. I am trying to build a similar list right now - will have it in combat tomorrow!

Hate to be an ant-fucker, but I think you forgot heavy armour on your prince. As he is, he is only sporting light armour, which doesnt make sense.

If you need to keep him on max. 600, I would suggest giving him enchanted shield instead of dragon helm.
You are correct, the Prince does not have heavy armour. I can`t give him heavy armour because it puts me over 600 points. Furthermore I`ve tried Enchanted Shield and it`s not worth it. 2++ vs Fire is way better at conserving points seeing as there are so many fire-damage things in the game and the difference between 2+ and 3+ armour save is negligible.
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John Rainbow
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 All Games + Analysis Up!

#980 Post by John Rainbow »

Great result Curu. You deserve it. Congratulations and good luck with the list at BSK.
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 All Games + Analysis Up!

#981 Post by Curu Olannon »

Thanks John :)

Played a game vs Dark Elves after the tournament as well. Hoping to have a BR up by tomorrow. Another tournament this saturday but it`s doubles with random partners and just for fun, however it does mean I won`t get to play more games at proper point values before next week at some point. That said, I`m really looking forward to Beerhammer (800 points double, we are all maxing out to have the armies play themselves to allow for more of said Beer) :D

Here`s what I`m bringing:
Noble BSB Heavy Armour 99
Noble, Merwyrm Shield, Warrior Bane, Dragonbane Gem, Heavy Armour = 99

10 Archers, Musician = 110
10 Archers = 100

24 White Lions, FC, BOTWD = 392

Army Total = 800
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Danidude
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 All Games + Analysis Up!

#982 Post by Danidude »

Yeah, its a rule I will start to use at turaments to get favereble combats. And on the star dragon move, I do also think you should have set him in front. That would have forced me to charge you at turn one and you could have fleed sefely away or take it. I do belive the dragon would still managed to take on the unit by it self.

On the naval disepline, I could not have gotten away, as your BSB pinned Allarielle.Thats why I dismissed that move.

On my skaven match, I did not dwellers him as I thought dwellers still had LoS, witch was talked about in the club for the event. I had not gotten the news that had changed it back from not having. So the point of dwellering was not there for me, if I had known I would have 6 diced it turn 1. Also that game I forgot to change one of my light spells to Burning Gaze. I will say I was really nervus that game too as it was my first turnament game. (Not counting local turnaments)
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 All Games + Analysis Up!

#983 Post by Curu Olannon »

That`s right, I did lock Allarielle down with the BSB. My thinking was that I wanted to shut down the Dwellers as soon as possible. The Dragon could most definitely have tanked a charge for a turn before the Frost and bus could come to the rescue I believe. I did have Apotheosis after all. Besides, I`d have challenged and if you had refused I would`ve put the BSB at the back. LD10 is good, but iffy without re-rolls.

As for Dwellers it`s a pity you didn`t get the info. I think your list might be one of the best against his, given this vital piece of information. Burning Gaze would also help a lot vs the HPA.

BR vs DE coming up :)
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Re: Path To Glory - IS done, SD returns! BR vs EMP 05.08

#984 Post by Curu Olannon »

Another game vs DE, again the dreaded peg-circus, shooty-avoidance build. This match was something I wanted to play to see whether pushing them is a viable option for the Star Dragon.

.::. Battle Report - 2400 vs Dark Elves (ETC comp) .::.

My list:
Prince on Star Dragon: Dragonhelm, Star Lance, Crown of Atrazar, The Other Trickster`s Shard, Shield = 598
Noble BSB on Barded Steed, Banner of the World Dragon, Heavy armour, Shield, Lance = 172
Noble on Barded Steed, Enchanted Shield, Heavy Armour, Ogre Blade = 134
Mage L2 on Steed, Scroll = 155
Mage L2 on Steed, Ironcurse Icon = 135
Heroes = 596, Characters = 1194

17 Silver Helms, Full Command & Shields = 421
5 Ellyrian Reavers, Bows = 85
5 Silver Helms, Shields, Champion = 125
Core = 631

4x1 Repeater Bolt Thrower = 280
Frostheart Phoenix = 240
1 Great Eagle = 50
Rare = 570

Army total = 2395
His list:
Dreadlord on Dark Steed: General, Brace of Rptr Handbows , Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Giant Blade, Dawn Stone, The Other Tricksters Shard, 287
Supreme Sorceress: Level 4, Lore of Death, Dispel Scroll, Ring of Hotek, 295
Master on Dark Pegasus: Lance, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Cloak of Twilight, 188
Master on Dark Pegasus: Great Weapon, Heavy Armour, Sea Dragon Cloak, Battle Standard bearer, Talisman of Preservation, Charmed Shield, 211
Master on Dark Pegasus: Lance, Sea Dragon Cloak, Shield, Armour of Destiny, 184

5 Dark Riders: Rptr Crossbow, Shields, 100
10 Dark Riders: Rptr Crossbow, Shields, 200
25 Darkshards: FCG, 328

5 Harpies: 75
4x 1 Reaper Bolt Thrower: 4x 70

2x 5 Doomfire Warlocks: 2x 125
Total: 2398
For this game I tried the 4 RBT build because it`s -1 drop, bringing me down from the common 8 to the crucial 7. RBTs are also great in Elf matchups. With the intention being to push, I had a strong flank where I basically put 2 RBTs and the bus + monsters a bit closer to the center. The idea was to win this completely and push towards his Darkshards mid-game. On my weak flank I had 1 RBT and Reavers with the Helmdart and last RBT centrally positioned. I was happy with the state of things before we rolled off for T1. Spells: I got Walk, Arcane, Hand of Glory and Soul Quench. He got Spirit Leech, Soulblight, Fate and Purple Sun.

The following pictures show the deployment and early game (I went first):

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I wasted no time in rushing my strong flank and at the same time took care to line up charges for his RBTs, ensuring possible overruns and lockdown of the WL and Harpies behind the hill. Bus commanded the center with the Reavers moving towards the middle for mid-game shenanigans. L2 with Arcane blew himself up in my first magic phase and all I got for it was a charmed shield...

I took a risk with the Helmdart as I charged the survivors into his Darkshards. The idea was to hopefully survive and hold him for a turn, which would`ve allowed me a perfect charge for the monsters. I failed 2 DT tests however and his BSB took care of the rest. Still worth trying, in my opinion.

He blocked me out but I still claimed both RBTs and the Warlocks (he charged an overrunning Eagle, I fled and he caught me but he was on the hill so my combined shooting took them all down) and secured the strong flank utterly without losing more than an Eagle (for 5 Harpies, 5 WL and 2 RBTs). Towards the end of the midgame I walked the Dragon to his flank, setting up for an intensive midgame.

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When I set up the Dragon and the Frost he immediately made a brilliant response: BSB + 4++ peg moved to counter my bus (these are lethal) while the Cloak-dude and Lord moved to Darkriders for a counter-charge. I made a very uncharacteristic mistake as I forgot to move Reavers so I couldn`t block him out. His shots killed off the Prince and scored 2W on the Dragon. I passed monster reaction test, luckily. I then slammed both monsters into his Darkshards, killed lots (including his L4) but he held on steadfast. I took care to put the bus` flank to him so he couldn`t target my characters and then reformed with Reavers providing static by rear-charging. Eventually both characters broke and were run down.

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Cloak + Lord massacred my monsters, I reformed bus to claim his Darkshards. RBTs nearly got to his Lord but he had 1 Darkrider left so saved 100 points + the lord by moving them into cover at the very end.

Losing the Dragon and Phoenix could`ve gone both ways. When he charged, I had 5W on the SD. His cloak managed 1W => 3W due to D3. His Lord needed 2 then, scored 3 hits and 1W. Re-rolling a 1, he just barely scored the last wound. This could`ve gone both ways: Had he not killed me I would`ve breathed fire on the Darkriders (likely to lose steadfast due to RBT casualties previously) and won big because of 2d6 thunderstomps.

In the end however I claimed enough points to take home a 12-8 win to the High Elves! Despite losing the Dragon I kept all RBTs alive and I had a lot from him as well.

// Evaluation //

I`m not sure whether 4 RBT + 1 Eagle is the best setup here. More testing needed. Dual Eagles are very, very powerful, but RBTs are great in Elf matchups (of which there are quite a few) and furthermore, -1 drop brings me to 7.

Pushing in this matchup seems very risky, but I suppose it`s better to staying at a distance because of DE superior shooting. By pushing, it`s hard for him to pressure my bus properly and I can dictate the pace of the game. Furthermore, I don`t think a lot of DE players are used to a HE army like this, but if I don`t push I`m not playing to my advantages.

As always, C&C very welcome ;)
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Re: Path To Glory - BR vs Dark Elves 18.09!

#985 Post by Curu Olannon »

Looking ahead, Norwegian Masters is coming up in just a few weeks. The comp is a bit odd. It`s mainly uncomped, though some armies get a boost. Furthermore, Special Characters are worth extra VP if killed. Lastly, SLoS and ETC FAQ are in use (the latter only when it doesn`t contradict the rulebook).

I want to try a new style of play that I have not played a lot thus far. With SCs being allowed as well I think this is a perfect arena for trying out Teclis in a super-defensive list whose purpose is to stand still against almost anything and win a ranged war. An initial meta-analysis points to DE flying circus, HE bus/infantry, TK sphinxes, DoC madness and Empire as the most feared opponents. This is partly based on my knowledge of other strong players and partly on what`s the most popular these days. I feel that the following list has strong answers to all of the above, more so than other lists I have been trying to make. Furthermore I want to expand my repertoire, thus it is time to try something completely new:
Teclis 450 (Flaming Sword of Ruin, Searing Doom, Savage Beast of Horros, Enfeebling Foe, Harmonic Convergence, Purple Sun, Dwellers Below, Banishment)
Noble BSB, Reaver Bow, Merwyrm Shield, Dragon Armour = 145
Mage, Lore of Light, Dispel Scroll = 110
Mage, Lore of Light, Forbidden Rod = 120
Mage, Level 2, Lore of Light, Ironcurse Icon = 125
Characters = 950

20 Archers, Musician & Champion = 220
10 Archers, Musician = 110
5 Reavers, Bows = 85
5 Reavers, Bows = 85
Core = 500

20 White Lions, Full Command, Banner of the World Dragon = 340

3 RBTs = 210

Army Total = 2000
Savage Beast of Horros is an amazing spell for the BSB, allowing him to pump out S7 shots and become an absolute beast in combat. Boosted it basically allows my mages to become quite fearsome. It is important to remember that the light mages are expendable once combat is initiated. In this case I can both use them as throw-away damage dealers and redirectors. Harmonic Convergence is a cheap spell that can be boosted on 3D6 (90% chance of success) for amazing value (it also affects mages). Together with Flaming Sword of Rhuin, I have a number of easy-to-cast-spells that are hard for an opponent to prioritize dispelling but that will still have a significant impact on the game. Enfeebling Foe is a utility spell that is almost always useful, doubly so with the threat of Dwellers behind. Together, these spells allow me to make the most out of even bad magic phases. The best situation for this list is to draw the scroll T1 and roll low on winds T2, using the Forbidden Rod to simply decimate an opponent completely (Enfeebling Foe + Dwellers for example).

Searing Doom I feel is a must-have given the threats above. It is lethal vs DE pegriders, Steam Tanks and any kind of MC. Banishment helps keep the big hitters like GUO, DP etc in check, Dwellers deals with Elfstars and Purple Sun is very good vs DoC, OK, CD and DW. In all, Teclis provides the flexibility I think I need to play defensively.

I`m hoping to have time for a testgame or two next week. Stay tuned for a completely new playstyle and list development ;)
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Cold Phoenix
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Re: Path To Glory - BR vs Dark Elves 18.09!

#986 Post by Cold Phoenix »

Curu, congratulations on the second place in Invasion. Just sorry that your game 3 was against someone that nasty. I've had the misfortune to encounter that type of player before and I don't think there is a good way to deal with them when they start creatively misinterpreting rules/measuring/dice to give them an advantage. Trying to stop them cheating just brings up “I just want to have fun”, “Calm down, it’s only a game” and similar comments. I’d rather lose 0-20 against someone who’s enjoyable to play rather than win 20-0 against this sort of player.
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Re: Path To Glory - BR vs Dark Elves 18.09!

#987 Post by gaz »

Thanks for all the reports and analysis. Great reads.
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Re: Path To Glory - BR vs Dark Elves 18.09!

#988 Post by Mufasa »

You don't think think that Seahelm is worth it in this kind of list? I would also take Comet from heavens. It will give you something to do if your opponent don't want to play and hides in the corner.
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Re: Path To Glory - BR vs Dark Elves 18.09!

#989 Post by Curu Olannon »

@Cold Phoenix - It`s an experience worth having, I know better how to handle myself should this occur again ;)

@gaz - You`re welcome!

@Mufasa - Sea Helm is interesting, but where to find the points? Comet is a strong spell for sure and would help out against hordes. Same goes for flaming cage.
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Mufasa
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Re: Path To Glory - BR vs Dark Elves 18.09!

#990 Post by Mufasa »

I know you don't like this but drop the Reaver bow. I'm not sure that savage beast is worth to cast just for the Reaver bow. With Teclis you have so many other useful spells (I think amber spear could be worth taking from Beasts instead). Savage beasts in combat with this list is really situational and dangerous.
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