Path To Glory - ETC All Games Up!

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teep
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter Preview + Game 1 Up!

#1441 Post by teep »

Wow, just wow! Big congrats on this game and your sheffield performance in general, you really live up to your RL name's
meaning :) As an avid student of germanic languages and latin, I guessed your name's meaning right intuitively, but when
I checked to be sure, I learned that the name day for "Jarle" in Norway is the 24th of January -cool coincidence imho!
Sorry for the nerd spam, but I got giddy and felt like sharing...

If you ever get bored with playing games, making reps and the like, I'd really appreciate a tactic's article on effective zoning/gaining board control? This is something that I'm still struggling being a newer player, and I'm sure I'm not the only one out there.
Regarding a bit of a broader topic, general advice on what to go for/avoid as an intermediate player would also be interesting how to plan a magic phases, how to avoid bloodlust, creating tough choices, keeping one's cool when presented which such choices,
reform tricks and so on).

Thanks again for all the good work and I really look forward to reading more about the Slaughter =D> !

Pax,
d
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#1442 Post by Curu Olannon »

Haha, the worst part is I already knew that about the 24th of January. I guess it kind of stuck since my birthday's the 24th of April and with Christmas obviously being 24.12 that makes the 24th an important date to me (did I mention one of my brother's is born on the 24th as well? September, but still).

What you're asking for in terms of articles would require about a year, full-time ^^ The zoning part is incredibly hard and complex to get right, especially if you want to explain it from the bottom-up, but at least it's a specific concept that I can work with. I'll see what I can do after I have the "Planning Ahead" topic finished.

As I'm sure you've seen, the next report is below :)
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#1443 Post by Curu Olannon »

Game 2 saw me face off against a very nice guy featuring an untraditional End Times list: Mannfred the Mortarch, 4x L1 Light Wizards, Casket and double Terrorgheist. Luckily, I immediately realized its potential and formulated a plan.


.::. Battle Report - Sheffield Slaughter #2 vs Undead Legions (Matt Watkinson) .::.
Points Before the Game: 16/16

Lists:
Imrik, Crown Prince of Caledor: 810
Archmage on Elven Steed: Level 4, Lore of Metal, Dispel Scroll, 265
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Battle Standard Bearer, Banner of the World Dragon, Spear, Shield, Heavy Armour, 168
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield, Spear, Crown of Command, 131
Master on Dark Pegasus: Cloak of Twilight, Lance, Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, 188

16 Silver Helms: Full Command Group, Shields, 398
10 Glade Guards: Hagbane Tips, Musician, 160

5 Deepwood Scouts: Hagbane Tips, 80

Army Total: 2200
Mannfred von Carstein, mortarch of night 650
Liche priest: dispel scroll; lore of light 95
Liche priest: scroll of shielding; lore of light 85
Liche priest: lore of light 70
Liche priest: lore of light 70

20 skeleton archers: full command 150
20 skeleton archers: full command 150
25 zombies: standard; musician 85
20 zombies: standard; musician 70
20 zombies: standard; musician 70
5 dire wolves 40
5 dire wolves 40

5 vargheists: vargoyle 240
Terrorgheist 225
Terrorgheist 225
Casket of souls 135
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

The scenario was meeting engagement, which is a mixed blessing for me: On the good side I have a lot of space to buy me time from the inevitable banishments + screams, on the bad side I can't push him. I have very little force to use against him, so my hope boils down to Final Transmutation, Hagbane Tips on steroids and him making mistakes I can capitalize on. On top of all that, I probably need some luck.

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I started the game.

:: Early Game ::

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So this is a cat and mouse game where his flyers are trying to flank Imrik who in turn is trying to zone them together with the bus. The problem is that Banishment, albeit out of range at this point in time, is getting closer and closer. The cloakpeg and hagbanes eventually keep the vargheists away, but it's taken too long and together with the wolves (which prevent me from zoning hard with the bus as ensuing raise dead + zombies will lock me in place) they've bought his air cavalry the time they need. I keep casting Final Trans on Mannfred but he keeps stopping it.

:: Middle Game ::

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We've come to the point where I have nowhere left to go. I have 2 choices: I can send the Dragon close to the bus, meaning he will be in range of Banishment, or I can go further West. In the latter scenario, the bus is too far away to zone him effectively and he can scream -and- escape my front arc. I thus decide to bring Imrik close to the bus, this opens up for screaming but if he chooses to do so he needs to allow me a counter-charge as well. This is dicey to say the least considering Banishment is also in range.

Then the miracle happens, just as it did in game 1. Final Trans goes off, the sweet '6' comes up, Mannfred dies. Matt, who's played an absolute brilliant game thus far, is shocked and I can't blame him. I apologize for being this lucky in such a crucial situation and Matt really is a gentleman about it.

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:: End Game ::

Despite Mannfred being dead the Terrorgheists keep pushing up. Since they can't march neither can reach scream range yet (I made sure only 1 could have, anyways) so it's just repositioning. The problem with this move though is that one TG is 18" away from the bus and the other is almost an auto-charge for Imrik. Magic sees IF Banishment hit Imrik and I lose a couple of wounds. I make both charges and the TGs are down. 2 turns left, 6W on Imrik, scroll still intact.

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T5, another IF Banishment, Imrik down to 3W.

The final turn comes up, I try moving Imrik to the very corner of the board where my opponent has to know his rules well to reach me (basically congaline out of the house with careful positioning of the mage), which he does. The crucial magic phase gives him the dice he needs, and a third IF Banishment manages to kill Imrik off as I'm left with my scroll, powerless to save him.

Tallying up the points the Terrorgheists committing proved to be my opponent's undoing. I am ahead, but not by as much as I thought I'd be when Mannfred bit the dust: it's a 12-8 win to the Elves.

Evaluation

This game probably seemed boring but in fact it was highly tactical with lots of finesse. Matt deployed the Banishment wizard + coven a little too far back, perhaps in anticipation of a push that never came. I view a push as far too risky, he had Doom and Darkness and S7 Banishment in addition to tarpitters galore and my magic does next to nothing. My opponent spent the majority of the early game trying to snipe small points with Light of Death but me keeping Imrik within 18" of everything and the BSB within 12" of everything stopped it every single time.

Matt's flanking move was brilliant and he had *just* enough pressure through the Vargheists on the other flank to force me to zone him with the Cloak, denying me valuable space where he could go up. The interesting part about this is that this is all due to me placing the Archers in a very bad position, if I had them centrally instead the Vargheists would not have been able to zone me like that and the bus could've zoned his flyers a lot better.

Some might ask whether I should've taken the risk and pushed seeing as he has absolutely nothing that can compete with neither the bus nor Imrik in combat. The answer to this question is 3-fold: 1. The depth of ME is really working against me here. 2. Even if I get in, TG screams can completely ruin my day. 3. If I get in and the initial screams don't kill me, I'm far from sure to get the TG before they scream even more. I do believe Mark Wildman, the other Imrik player who placed 2nd, met Matt as well. He pushed him hard and then got IF'd D&D. Both TGs opened up and scored 15W but Mark luckily saved 7 of them, leaving Imrik on 2W. He then proceeded to steam roll his entire army and win 20-0 I believe. It should be noted that Mark had Death and more shooting than I did and I don't know any specifics about this game.

When I got lucky with Final Transmutation on Mannfred, I believe Matt made his first (and only) big mistake of the game as he pushed his TG up, basically achieving nothing. Perhaps he could've kept one alive by splitting them up. Although I was lucky, there is no doubt that he got lucky as well, IF'ing 3 turns in a row was exactly what he needed and the chances of that happening are way lower than FT killing a model (roughly 1/64). In the end though, my "lucky roll" was more important than his, because it gave me an edge in an otherwise very hard matchup.

Opponent`s Final Placing: 52/102
My Points: 28/32
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

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sparkytrypod
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter Preview + Games 1, 2

#1444 Post by sparkytrypod »

congrats on the result curu, fantastic!

pity we didn't get to talk more, I had a massive night on the town with woody and pash on Friday, which left me in a very unhealthy state for games and conversation on Saturday!

some of the games were just mental with so many power characters around and I am happy to have played an end times tournament, but I am certainly looking forward to the sensibility of etc games for the next while!

I had the pleasure of playing 2 of your fellow countrymen, gentlemen both.

I will also be making an effort to attend more English events as the size, variety, standard of both opponents and tournament was great in my opinion.
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter Preview + Games 1, 2

#1445 Post by Curu Olannon »

Thanks sparky! It's unfortunately always too little time in situations like these, too many things I want to do and too many people I would like to see. I was glad we got to talk for a little while at least, thoroughly enjoyed the little chat you, Sedge and I had.

Yeah I heard about Norwegians running into yours and alenui's Teclis all the time, apparantly you schooled them well ;) We will have to work harder before next time.

Also, loads of cool tournaments happening in Norway and Sweden before the ETC, let me know if you're interested :)
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#1446 Post by Curu Olannon »

The last game of day 1 saw me face another Host of the Eternity King list, but this time around it was a completely different setup to what Russ had taken against me: Alarielle the Incarnate of Life backed up by an L4 Shadow Wizard and tons of infantry. At first glance a seemingly good matchup, but how do shock troops perform against 4+ regen, steadfast blocks all over the place? Dodgy, at best. In addition to that, the scenario was 2 towers: Place to buildings in the middle of the map, 24.1" apart. The one who controls the most gets +1000VPs and you need 5 or more infantry to hold a building.


.::. Battle Report - Sheffield Slaughter #3 vs Host of the Eternity King (Dave Pyle) .::.
Points Before the Game: 28/32

Lists:
Imrik, Crown Prince of Caledor: 810
Archmage on Elven Steed: Level 4, Lore of Metal, Dispel Scroll, 265
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Battle Standard Bearer, Banner of the World Dragon, Spear, Shield, Heavy Armour, 168
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield, Spear, Crown of Command, 131
Master on Dark Pegasus: Cloak of Twilight, Lance, Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, 188

16 Silver Helms: Full Command Group, Shields, 398
10 Glade Guards: Hagbane Tips, Musician, 160

5 Deepwood Scouts: Hagbane Tips, 80

Army Total: 2200
Alarielle Incarnate of Life (K) 540
Archmage (HE) Dispel Scroll, Khaines Ring of Fury, Obsidian Amulet
Level 4 Mage Lore of Shadow 300
Master (DE) Dawnstone, Enchanted Shield, Sword of Might, Heavy Armour
SDC, RXB Battle Standard Bearer. 160

30 Witch Elves (DE) Full Command 360
20 Darkshards (DE) Full Command 270
16 Black Guard (DE) Full Command 270

5 Doomfire Warlocks (DE) 125
5 Doomfire Warlocks (DE) 125
Great Eagle (HE) 50
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

This is a very hard matchup for me. It does not take a whole lot before my ability to control buildings disappear completely and I have absolutely no way to contest his ability to do so. However even before the game starts properly, Dave´s poor dice are conspiring against him: The L4 Shadow rolls no doubles and no sixes and that means so much in this game it cannot be overstated.

I deploy the Archers behind the relative safety of a hill with the Dragon and bus flanking them. In hindsight the placement of Imrik and bus should have been reversed. I scout up against his Warlocks to deny him the opportunity to run away. The plan is to dance for a couple of turns, hit him around T3 with everything and take the focus away from my infantry, whose job is to stay safe far away.

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I started the game.

:: Early Game ::

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I send the bus up the center and Imrik on one flank, the Cloak on the other, while the Hagbanes try to deal with Warlocks. Said Warlocks keep passing 4++ and panic tests though so this becomes a very risky proposition as a single doombolt can annihilate my ability to control the tower and this highlights why I should've sent the bus wide and the flyers central: The threat arcs vs Warlocks would be a lot better.

Dave however cannot cast a single Doombolt. He fails multiple times and I dispel it easily when he barely makes the casting value of 12.

:: Middle Game ::

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Imrik flames the Witchelves, killing 10. I then engage the Black Guard with all my 3 guys, killing the BSB with Imrik. He fails his stubborn roll. Both flyers pursue and the Helms reform 3-wide. I then have to tank a Dwellers, I let it pass since I need the scroll for doombolt on the Archers (who are still kept safe although my Helms are taking a huge beating from spells and magic), who are in turn slowly whittling down the Warlocks.

When the Black Guard fail their LD10 I can't help but empathize with him, he's had nothing but crap dice throughout the game and it feels unfair to actually be up at this point.

:: End Game ::

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The Helms go into Witches where I'll be safe from Dwellers because I no longer have Look out, Sir! I expect my L4 to die along with the Helms sooner or later, but it's still safer to be here. Besides, by locking down the WE, Imrik + Cloak Peg come back eventually. The Warlocks are thinned out and I scroll a doombolt before the L4 goes down.

The Witchelves deal massive damage to Helms and L4 go into rank 1. Dave then allocates as many attacks to him as he can - the full 16 - and deals 0w. I then counter-charge with Imrik and deal massive damage. He allocates 16 to the L4 yet again, this time: 2W, which means I'm still alive. He is barely steadfast but again fails the LD10 roll and I run him down.

I kill the last Warlock and have the Archers in the tower. To contest me he has to claim his own, thus I'm outside the range of both Darkshards and Dwellers (though to be honest he could've moved Alarielle out alone as he had the last turn). Instead however he Dwellers the characters, I fail my S-test for all 3 (BSB, L4, Stubborn Noble) and this gives him a healthy chunk of points to at least partially make up for his bad luck throughout the game.

Counting up then I'm barely ahead as the bus + characters there are worth quite a bit and he has L4 + Alarielle + Witchelves intact: it's an 11-9 victory to Imrik!

:: Evaluation ::

Ok, let's try and take a serious look at this crazy game. First of all, my deployment is horrible. Allowing his Warlocks to threaten my infantry for multiple turns is disastrous: A single Doombolt can ruin the day and although Dave never 6-diced it, he very well could have in which case I'd likely just be dead and looking at a big loss. The bus should've been there to zone stuff out, possibly the cloak as well, with Imrik going down the middle (where I sent the bus). I played too much like a normal game and did not properly consider the importance of the scenario and its implications.

The lack of Mindrazor made my mid-game easy. Once everything was in position engaging him is risk-free for me. The Black Guards failing their stubborn is indeed unfortunate, but would it have mattered much? The BSB were dead and I had everything engaged. Sure the WE could've flanked the Helms but I'm 2 up on my armour against them and he as no way to counter this. I think, in hindsight, breaking the BG when I did worked more to his favour than to mine because Imrik + Cloak were unable to threaten him for a turn.

Likewise, the WE's breaking when they did is fortunate for him: If he had broken in his own turn instead I could've separated the characters and avoided the Dwellers. True, the L4 should've died but he did so in the end regardless.

It's a pity the dice were so wild in this game for Dave. Because of my blunder in the deployment + early game he was set up to win big. It should be noted however that if he'd pushed the Doombolts even more, he likely would've gotten them through. With all that said, it is without a doubt yet another game where the dice save me just as I need it the most: I'm counting 3 in a row and I was sure I'd spent my luck for the tournament when day 1 was over.

Opponent´s Final Placing: 17/102
My Points: 39/48
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Angelust
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter Preview + Games 1-3

#1447 Post by Angelust »

For those of us unfamiliar with the terminology, can you at least define what zoning is, or link a description/example for us?

This was an exciting series of games. Thanks for the write up!
sparkytrypod
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter Preview + Games 1-3

#1448 Post by sparkytrypod »

i believe what curu means by this is that you set up your models during your turn in such a way that any positive move for your opponent leaves his models at risk from either shooting, a charge or to a lesser extent magic, from your models.

ideally at the same time this moves your models into a favourable position for your next turn also.

using curus example of how he should have deployed the cav bus in his last game, the cav bus has a wider charge arc as the front of the bus is wider than the imriks base, this gives the warlock fewer positive/safe moves and keeps his archers, his only infantry, in a watch tower game safer.

at least that is my understanding, im sure curu can explain better!
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter Preview + Games 1-3

#1449 Post by Curu Olannon »

@Angelust - Basically, using the Undead game above as an example, if I place my bus 17" away from where his Terrorgheist can go, if he goes there he is risking an 8+ charge from me, which is 68% likely to be successful on Swiftstride. Thus, a smart player will unlikely go to that spot because he knows he will likely get charged and lose the Terrorgheist for no substantial game. Thus, when I place the bus it creates a "zone", and by placing it correctly I'm completely "zoning him". Magic and shooting can likewise do the same, but the amount of that in this game from my army is negligible. If I had 3 cannons, they could of course have zoned the Terrorgheists as well, but this is a static kind of zoning that is easy to see and predict.

@sparkytrypod - Yes, pretty much ;) It should be noted that usually movement zoning is the most powerful because it is hard to predict and evaluate, doubly so with mobile threats. It's impossible to keep all options in mind.
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#1450 Post by Curu Olannon »

Day 2 started and I was facing Orcs and Goblins. A fairly vanilla list but no Trolls and a watchtower which I assume was around to ensure that the madness that is the End Times characters cannot just completely steam-roll the list. Smart!


.::. Battle Report - Sheffield Slaughter #4 vs Orcs & Goblins (Dave Sweeting) .::.
Points Before the Game: 39/48

Lists:
Imrik, Crown Prince of Caledor: 810
Archmage on Elven Steed: Level 4, Lore of Metal, Dispel Scroll, 265
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Battle Standard Bearer, Banner of the World Dragon, Spear, Shield, Heavy Armour, 168
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield, Spear, Crown of Command, 131
Master on Dark Pegasus: Cloak of Twilight, Lance, Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, 188

16 Silver Helms: Full Command Group, Shields, 398
10 Glade Guards: Hagbane Tips, Musician, 160

5 Deepwood Scouts: Hagbane Tips, 80

Army Total: 2200
Savage Orc Warboss: Amour of Silvered Steel; Obsidian Lodestone; Great Weapon 246
Savage Orc Great Shaman: Earthing Rod; Level 4; Spells of the Big Waaagh 230
Night Goblin Warboss: Fozzrick’s Folding Fortress 155
Savage Orc Big Boss: Standard of Discipline; Battle Standard Bearer; Great Weapon 119
Night Goblin Shaman: Dispel scroll; Level 2; Lore of Undeath 110
Savage Orc Shaman; Lucky Shruken Head; Level 1; Spells of the Big Waaagh 120
Goblin Big Boss: Dragon Helm; Luckstone; Spear; Shield; Light Armour; Gigantic Spider 94
Goblin Big Boss: Enchanted Shield; Dragonbane Gem; Spear; Light Armour; Gigantic Spider 89

20 Night Goblins: Short Bows; 3 night goblin fanatics; Musician 145
20 Night Goblins: Short Bows; 3 night goblin fanatics; Musician 145
39 Savage Orc Big Un’s; Boss; Musician; Standard Bearer; Extra Hand Weapon 464

Squig Herd; 9 Night Goblin Herders; 1 Squig 35
Goblin Spear Chukka 35
Goblin Spear Chukka 35

Mangler Squig 65
Mangler Squig 65
Rock Lobba 85
Doom Diver 80
Doom Diver 80
2,397 points
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

Finally back to battle line and less ways for me to screw up :D Terrain goes up fairly well, I manage to keep stuff at the edges of the board for the most part. I also choose the side and take the one with the most favourable defensive terrain. Dave is left with a fairly empty corner but the Fortress of course largely makes up for this.

In terms of magic I didn't get Final Trans. That is a pretty big deal here as my magic goes from "pretty scary" to "couldn't care less!". He gets foot and hand of note. Deployment is fine, I get the SD and bus in a good position and Archers are fairly well protected.

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Despite having +1, Dave got first turn. Between that and not getting Final Trans, I was feeling yesterday's streak of luck abandoning me, as predicted.

:: Early Game ::

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Yes, that last picture shows how much doom divers hurt when OnG get T1. It's just brutal for Elves. Note that the round base on his left is the Mangler, he was afraid of his model which I can understand. Also note that Imrik is positioned to charge the Rock Lobber in its flank (no frontage on WMs so alignment and wheels as you please!), thereby also killing off the Mangler.

I cast plague on spider riders and blades on Archers, Dave scrolls Robes on Imrik, perhaps in anticipation of my next move.

:: Middle Game ::

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Unfortunately a blurry picture. Like Dave, I was afraid of my model so the 50x100 filler behind the Tower is Imrik. I landed on the mangler and drew 3 fanatics, overran into a Doom Diver and drew 3 more fanatics. Result? 2W!

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The bus has to chill because of fanatics everywhere and few wounds left. I use the Cloak to block a spider hero and kill the other with repeated plagues + blades + hagbanes. This is turning into a game for the small points. I scroll summon cavalry, fearing Hexwraiths that can tie down Imrik.

:: End Game ::

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Notice the green ring on the Cloak peg? Yeah, that was kind of a big moment. A bolter finally hits me and I have less than 5 RnF so it's randomized. It hits the cloak, I fail my ward, he wounds... 1W! Lucky.

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Foot lands on Helms, Dave gets his second cascade (the first was changed by the Earthing Rod) but manages the 4+ required. He takes out just enough despite my 2++ BOTWD to get 50% for them.

Counting up then he has small points here and there, half Helms half Glade Guard if I remember correctly, I have everything save for 1 BT and the big unit in the tower. 14-6 to Imrik!

:: Evaluation ::

This game was fairly typical for this matchup I feel. Imrik is near-impossible for him to kill. I waded through a rock lobber hit (warded), 2 manglers, 3 fanatics (and drew the rest) + a foot or two and was left on 6 or 7 wounds. As opposed to a normal star dragon, the 10W and the 10A from combined profile means he's very very tough and won't lose to combat res.

The bus was intending to get stuck in, but in the end never had the opportunity to do so. This is fine as long as I keep the majority of the points intact. Losing half points is a blow indeed, but bearing in mind how much heat they took this is to be expected. Keeping all characters alive was important to me and really helped getting a relatively big difference because of Imrik basically clearing the field on his own.

The opening with the rock lobber and an overrun into the Doom Diver was what made the game for me here. I'm not sure how this could've been improved seeing as the goblins had no champions, but openings like this with WMs is incredibly dangerous, as I have experienced many times myself with RBTs. In the end, I think the T2 charge from Imrik which tied down and killed the doom divers fairly quickly was what secured me a solid win.

Opponent's Final Placing: 25/102
My Points: 53/64
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Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

:: Path to Glory - High Elves Army Blog ::
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#1451 Post by Curu Olannon »

After game 4, I knew that I'd need two more solid results for a good placement. The problem is that the field was tightening in around me and the lists were getting slowly but surely more and more mad. In my vicinity I had Kairos (a disaster as he can select Final Trans and re-roll the dice for a '6') in multiple forms, Karl Franz (whom I basically have no answer to apart from locking down with the bus), Malekith x10 or so which I was ok with and a number of other, hard lists. Luckily enough I drew one of the best lists I could meet: Malekith without significant shooting. Add to that, I met a very good friend - my club mate Øystein! While I didn't travel to England to play Norwegians per se, Øystein is always a nice opponent to play against and I was happy with the pairing in many ways.


.::. Battle Report - Sheffield Slaughter #5 vs Host of the Eternity King (Øystein Berg) .::.
Points Before the Game: 53/64

Lists:
Imrik, Crown Prince of Caledor: 810
Archmage on Elven Steed: Level 4, Lore of Metal, Dispel Scroll, 265
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Battle Standard Bearer, Banner of the World Dragon, Spear, Shield, Heavy Armour, 168
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield, Spear, Crown of Command, 131
Master on Dark Pegasus: Cloak of Twilight, Lance, Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, 188

16 Silver Helms: Full Command Group, Shields, 398
10 Glade Guards: Hagbane Tips, Musician, 160

5 Deepwood Scouts: Hagbane Tips, 80

Army Total: 2200
Malekith the eternity king: 1000
Sisters of Twilight: 275
Master: Heavy armour, sea dragon cloak, enchanted shield, dragonbane gem, battle standard: 115

47 Witch elves: Standard of the eternal flame, musician, standard bearer, champion: 557

5 Doomfire warlocks: 125
5 Doomfire warlocks: 125
2197 points
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

In my first game vs Russ, I was on the back foot from the start of the game because of his ranged power in the shape of 60 Darkshards. With the continuous threat of these guys decimating my bus with a single good round of Withering, the pressure was on me to create opportunities and open up the game. While I did manage that, I took a big risk that didn't pay off and then I was lucky to get the game regardless.

This matchup is completely different, without the core shooters the pressure is on Malekith to create situations. With Searing Doom and Final Trans rolled for me then, I can chill out and await an opening.

Image

With +1, I went first.

:: Early Game ::

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Bus moved up to within 22" of Malekith, putting the L4 within 24". Cloakpeg zoned Warlocks by landing right in front of them, this was a move solely intended to control the Sisters of Twilight from slingshotting with the Warlocks and getting my back field (the last thing I wanted). IF Searing Doom took 7W off of Malekith and I immediately knew I was massively ahead in this game. Glade Guards followed up by killing 2 Warlocks and the rest panicked. What a start! In Øystein's first turn, Malekith took a very defensive but exposed position while the Witchelves moved up the building and the Sisters moved to the back field. His magic was contained and it was my turn 2. Like in game 1, I had 2 options: Charge in, or hope for magic to carry the day?

:: Middle Game ::

The difference between this game and last is that in this game, my opponent does not have a scroll. Thus, by avoiding combat and maintaining my options, it's only a matter of time before Malekith goes down. I had both Doom, Hounds and Trans so my options were wide open. Thus I decided not to engage the Witchelves with a triple-charge (peg + Imrik + bus) because I viewed it as safer to simply bide my time and wait for magic to kill him.

I wouldn't have to wait long, as my next magic phase gave me 6 dice which I promptly used to IF Searing Doom again, killing Malekith off! It would seem my luck from day 1 was returning. Imrik also flamed a lot of Witchelves while Hagbane Tips kept claiming Warlocks.

Image

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Witchelves entered the building. At this point in time my only goal is to not lose any points: I am currently 1700 up due to fortitude rules so I entered "boring play mode": Keep stuff alive!

:: End Game ::

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Endless reform shenanigans kept my Archers + scouts safe and Imrik + Cloakpeg dodged the Sisters after some initial potshots dealt a few wounds. I kept Doombolts in check and Sisters failed to bring Archers below 50% towards the end of the game. Hagbane also killed off one unit of Warlocks so I was a comfortable ~1800 points up, losing 0VP!

20-0 to Imrik!

:: Evaluation ::

There isn't much to say about this game. It was all over in 45 minutes I believe from we started dropping terrain til we shook hands at the bottom of T6. The matchup is in my favour but Malekith was also deployed and moved carelessly, by trying to hug cover and buy time perhaps I would've had a hard time reaching him. The problem with this of course is keeping the WE save from multiple charges, so it's an iffy matchup for sure for him.

Going into game 6 I had a very tough field in front of me. In terms of both player skill and army power level the best of the best were all around me. I'd have to get lucky with the pairing and/or the game to have a chance at the podium.

Opponent's Final Placing: 37/102
My Points: 69/80
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Re: Path To Glory - Invasion 2014 Game 2/5 up!

#1452 Post by Curu Olannon »

Time for the final game of the tournament! In my vicinity there were multiple favourable lists, some downright horrible lists and some playable. I was paired against a Kairos variant, which I consider to be somewhere between playable and horrible, depending largely on the early turns and winds of magic in particular. I had a practice game on Friday evening against a carbon copy of this list, which it just so happened that Luke was around to see unfold. In that game, my opponent placed all characters in the Warriors which were subsequently charged by Imrik + Cloak, eventually all dying, which I think is a losing strategy here because of 2 things: 1. Your opportunity to cast Final Transmutation and/or other horrible spells from Kairos is gone T2, basically. 2. By not spreading out and using the mobility from the discs + daemonic mounts you are not putting pressure on the HOTEK player apart from magic. A lord on disc is a disaster for the bus if he can get a combo-charge with anything else that includes a challenger, basically. Anyway, Luke knew well how to play this matchup and it was an intense match from before terrain was done until the bottom of T6. Game on!


.::. Battle Report - Sheffield Slaughter #6 vs Legions of Chaos (Luke Morton) .::.
Points Before the Game: 69/80

Lists:
Imrik, Crown Prince of Caledor: 810
Archmage on Elven Steed: Level 4, Lore of Metal, Dispel Scroll, 265
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Battle Standard Bearer, Banner of the World Dragon, Spear, Shield, Heavy Armour, 168
Noble on Barded Elven Steed: Heavy Armour, Enchanted Shield, Spear, Crown of Command, 131
Master on Dark Pegasus: Cloak of Twilight, Lance, Heavy Armour, Shield, Sea Dragon Cloak, 188

16 Silver Helms: Full Command Group, Shields, 398
10 Glade Guards: Hagbane Tips, Musician, 160

5 Deepwood Scouts: Hagbane Tips, 80

Army Total: 2200
Chaos Lord ( General) - Mark of Tzeentch, Halberd, SpellShield, Talisman of Preservation, Crown of Command, Scaly Skin, Soul Feeder, Third Eye of tzeentch, Disc of tzeentch - 398
Kairos Fateweaver - 565
Bray Shaman - Death, Mark of Tzeentch, Shard of Herdstone - 135
Bray Shaman - Beasts, Mark of Tzeentch, Dispel Scroll - 110
Exalted Hero - BSB, Mark of Tzeentch, Halberd, Shield, Armour of destiny, Daemonic Mount, Barding - 254
Exalted hero - Mark of Tzeentch, Great Weapon, Dragonhelm, talisman of Endurance, iron Curse, Daemonic mount, Barding -221

10 Pink horrors of Tzeentch - Standard Bearer, Musician - 150
23 Chaos Warriors - Full Command, Mark of Tzeentch, Sheild, Blasted Standard - 446
Chaos Chariot - Mark of Tzeentch - 120
Total - 2399
Pre-battle thoughts and deployment:

I deployed terrain as close to the table edge as I could, making sure to have the minimum 6" between it as much as possible, especially in the corner as I didn't want Luke's Warriors to band up here with a herdstone in front in a sensible formation. The LoS, apart from this, was largely open which is a good thing for me as Kairos can rain death upon me regardless and an open field benefits my zoning: The bus locking stuff down with challenges and stubborn/steadfast is disastrous since Imrik is always looming nearby, ready to counter fairly quickly. Luke picked Flesh, Throne, Speed of Light, (can't remember last for this head), Amber Spear, Transformation of Kadon, Withering and Enfeebling. I got Plague, Robes, Blades, Final Transmutation.

I put the bus down centrally with the intention to zone out the middle with both flyers on my right flank, opposite his Herdstone. His Warriors went behind the Herdstone with the BSB while the rest of the army spread out: Characters alone in the middle and Horrors + Chariot on the opposite flank. I spent the Scouts to deny Kairos a potentially sweet spot T1 in case I lost the roll-off while the Glade Guard were positioned between the bus and flyers in anticipation of him moving around here.

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Luke doing his "UK Top Ranked pose" on demand!

With +1, I went first.

:: Early Game ::

The first thing that happened after deployment was a rather discussion about the Warriors: Luke said he'd placed them facing towards the table flank but every single model was facing directly ahead. He said he'd told me prior to the game starting but I had no recollection of this. Since I'd gotten to know him over the weekend I let it pass since I had no reason to believe he was lying (from my impression this is not something he'd likely lie about to win), but if I had not known him I would never have accepted this seeing as the unit was in fact even in an illegal formation (1 guy at the "rear" rank, aka "flank" file). The problem with this facing was that I had to move the Cloakpeg to a position where he could charge me with the BSB if I wanted to threaten the block with a combo-charge (which is pretty much essential so Imrik doesn't get stuck and all hell breaks loose). I thought for a long while because this would mean my Cloak Peg would have to run if charged, automatically giving up 188 VPs. In the end though, the Cloak Peg is negligible here, he cannot zone any of his characters save for Kairos who is flying anyways and the Warriors would likely sit in the house all game. It was a necessary sacrifice to ensure the demise of his BSB and I took a long time to ensure that said BSB had no-where to escape Imrik.

Meanwhile the bus reformed to a Bretonnia lance formation. This is a good position to know for stubborn busses: It allows for reforms in many directions and gaining/losing inches as you need while threatening a big part of the table.

Magic saw Plague of Rust land on his Lord. Final Trans was stopped. Kairos warded Hagbane shots.

Image

Luke's response was swift and aggressive: Kairos moved to 24" away from Imrik, BSB charged Cloak who ran off the board and left the Exalted stranded alone in Imrik's path, Lord on disc moved to flank the bus and the Daemonic Hero moved up in anticipation of being needed. The chariot started its long move as well. Warriors with bray shamans into the house.

Magic came up box cars. Luke wanted to summon Plaguebearers but only had Horror models. I said it was fine and he placed them next to my bus, asking me: "Your bus has to move straight forward now, right?" to which I replied "Yes, as you are 1" away so I cannot wheel". He then cast Amber Spear with IF on Imrik, taking 6W. Oh my. The miscast did nothing but drain his dice.

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The dice along my bus are the Plaguebearers, yet to be deployed as models.

In my turn 2, I sent Imrik into the BSB who elected to hold. Glade Guard charged his over-zealous Lord, hoping to pin him in place until Imrik could arrive. I then declared a swift reform on the bus, which Luke objected to because his Plaguebearers were 1" away. I was confused at first and he reminded me that I'd agreed they could only move ahead. In truth I had, but that was under the premise that I wanted to move instead of making a reform. We then had a long discussion, involving the main judge as well, as to how a reform is technically done. I find this a common misconception: Many people believe that a reform is technically a pivot, after which you move each model individually. A reform is technically a "teleportation move" where you basically remove all the models from the table and then re-arrange them as you please: Making sure the center of the unit is the same and no model has moved over 2". This distinction is very important and the rulebook is quite clear on this. I apologized for the misunderstanding since I had agreed to Luke's question about my Helms only being able to move straight ahead, but as I explained it is impossible to block a reform (with a very, very few exceptions if you have 4+ units all sat 1" away). Despite these hiccups the discussions were all friendly and Luke was a gentleman about it all so the game progressed with a long rank of Helms moving up to provide support to the Glade Guard.

Said Glade Guard lost a few, but held on Imrik's LD. Imrik, meanwhile, crushed the BSB and reformed towards the Lord. This was my one chance to get in the game in a matchup that's otherwise very, very hard for me. I'd still need help from the dice, but if they were willing, a win is not impossible and I have the opening I wanted. I just need the Glade Guard to hold out one more turn!

Image

:: Middle Game ::

Daemonic Mount hero ran up to support his Lord. Kairos moved away to 24" from Imrik. Magic came up 3+2, he re-rolled the 2 and got 4. He then channeled twice, making it a hopeless 11v4. The first cast was 6D6 Amber Spear on Imrik which I scrolled. He then cast 5D6 Gateway which I managed to stop on 4D6 with double sixes. Dodged a bullet for sure! In combat, the Archers didn't die and held, LD10 with 18" Inspiring Presence is a godsend at times.

I then reformed the bus to 5-wide again. I'd need combat resolution to zone his Daemonic Mount hero. Imrik counter-charged the Lord. I think Luke blew his scroll this turn on Blades of Aiban, but at this point in time the Lord had already suffered 2x Plague of Rust so had "only" the ward vs Imrik. Imrik went in, hoping charge + flank and hopefully a wound or two would make a difference, but the Kairos re-roll ensured the Lord passed his LD7 break test as I did 0 (!) wounds with 10 S10 attacks. At least he did no wounds back, lucky armour saves on my part stopping the S6 Lord.

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The Warriors exited the house. Daemonic Mount hero charged Archers. Magic saw his Lord get T9 with a very large cast of Throne of Vines followed by Flesh to Stone on IF. In combat we both failed to do any wounds, I held on stubborn LD10 re-roll while his Hero killed the Archers. Due to the overrun rules and 1" away from friendly however the Daemonic Hero couldn't overrun and was right in my sights as the Helms lowered their lances...

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:: End Game ::

At this point in time there were no more room for tactics: It was down to rolling dice. The bus into the Hero, Blades go off on Imrik, I challenge with Crown guy due to the 1+ armour save to maximise my chances of a favourable combat result. I win by 3 but he holds on a 6-, much to my dismay. The Lord and Imrik keep doing 0w to eachother.

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Warriors charge Imrik: If the Banner of the World Dragon falls he will be hard pressed to pass his LD tests with all that static. Plaguebearers flank the Helms. Magic sees me stop Flesh to Stone, I can't remember what he gets off in return (might have been a failed cast). In combat I roll huge on Imrik due to Blades and put 7 wounds on the Lord. He's already spent the Kairos re-roll on the Daemonic Mount combat (where I challenged with the champion) I believe and when the Lord rolls triple 2's for his ward, he goes right down! The bus rolled miserably and the Plaguebearers were alive, denying me a reform.

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It is now my turn to get a big magic phase. I draw dispel dice on Blades on the bus and then try a Final Trans on Kairos. I may as well give it a go with 7v2 D6 left. Yet again, I get very lucky as the '6' comes up and the Daemon goes down. With Imrik about to eat 1 champion/character per turn, this is looking promising indeed! A very, very hard string of events for Luke, losing the Lord and then Kairos back-to-back in just a few phases on dodgy dice. Regardless, he is in a good mood and I apologize for my sheer luck.

His chariot then finally reaches the Helms. He rolls big, I fail lots of saves but hold on steadfast.

Image

After this, the Warriors eventually fail their LD8 steadfast after many tests and Imrik runs them down. In the very last turn of the game his Exalted barely kills the BSB while the chariot piles in to reduce the Helms to a single model. As it's the standard which is left alive, I at least have 1 combat res, making it an LD6 roll to hold 200 points. I fail the roll, which is just fair considering my fairly lucky run all weekend, and the end score is thus a 14-6 victory to Imrik!

:: Evaluation ::

Where to begin? What a blast of a game! This was a game where I was down from the start: I have to try and create something and that "something" has to happen quickly! In any other case, Kairos will slowly but surely whittle me down while the characters pick the bus apart with ease.

Luke's commitment to the Herdstone gave me this option. I'm not sure exactly why he placed the Warriors there with the BSB, giving me such a huge target that he could not get away. It would be sufficient to have the Bray Shamans there for the +2PD, it's not like my list has a lot of ways to deal with them. With Imrik not having any targets to go for, I would be stranded for at least another turn. As it were, my ability to get into combat T2 and then create a lockdown T3 ensured that I could tank 1 round, the 6W Amber Spear, and scroll another. Though IF dispelling Gateway was lucky, getting 11v4 was quite lucky as well.

Usually when playing from behind you have 2 options: Try and minimize the loss or go all out. With Kairos and TLoS, I only had one option here and that is to go all out: Any other action and he'll completely wipe me. This is actually a good thing because there is never a place for second guessing: It's all about getting stuff stuck in combat as soon as possible, vs as important enemies as possible. To this end, although sacrificing the Peg Cloak hurt (he could've zoned the chariot which would've saved the bus), it was necessary to draw out the BSB and get my opening.

In my opinion I played the better game here, but that is not to say the 14-6 was deserved. Given my play, I'd say around 10-10 would be "fair" given my flank charge on his Lord T3. However this is Warhammer and with End Times no less, things are just crazy. It could easily have been 4-16 the other way despite this charge, as it were the dice gods were with me yet again and the final transing of Kairos sealed the deal. It should be noted that his Daemonic Hero passed a good few crucial tests to keep him alive in the game, had he broken along with the Lord T3/T4 he would be hard pressed to do much. The Daemonic Hero failing a break test at the wrong time would allow me to reform 1 or 2 wide and charge Kairos - we've seen that before with the crazy Elf busses and it's nearly impossible to avoid.

Last but not least, a big shoutout to Luke for being a very sporting opponent. Throughout the weekend I had nothing but nice players on the opposite sides of the table but this was the final game on table 3, everything went against him (including referee decisions, e.g. the reform) and he was still in a good mood and the game went on without bitterness or any awkward silence.

With the big win in game 6, I was very eager to see the final scores. I knew table 1 had gone down 20-0 after Karl Franz got pitted out of existence by Curry's Malekith (and here I thought I was lucky...) so I wasn't anticipating to win. Likewise, table 2 saw a fellow Imrik player, Mark Wildman, win big against his opponent. I knew Russ had taken a 16 or more on the table behind me but I was unsure how many points he had prior to this.

Unfortunately, as the points were all tallied up I was 1 small point behind Russ, 2 behind Mark. I probably would've lost a tie breaker anyway but I was -so- close to the podium which was especially bitter as I'd capped Russ in game 1. Regardless, I was happy with my performance throughout the weekend and consider a 4th place out of 100 competitors to be a strong showing (statistically it is my strongest tournament placing in a singles event) and bearing in mind how little I'd prepared this is nothing to be ashamed of.

Going to Sheffield was an absolute blast and I'm very happy I made the trip. I will definitely go back to the UK for tournaments later on, but I'm not sure when I'll have the opportunity to do so. I made lots of new friends, met with tons of awesome people and had a great time.

Stay tuned for a post-tournament analysis ;)

Opponent's Final Placing: 8/102
My Points: 83/96
My Final Placing: 4/102
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1453 Post by RE.Lee »

Great report! Those were some really top opponents and they seem to have brought their top game against you. Despite missing out on the podium your result is very impressive. Doing so well in such a competitive environment is a true reflection of your skill. Congrats! =D>
cheers, Lee

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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1454 Post by Curu Olannon »

Thanks RE.Lee :) Hopefully I'll be able to attend more tournaments like this this year (in terms of size and people, not rules ;) )
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1455 Post by gaz »

Great stuff Curu. Thoroughly enjoyed reading (much more interested than the last batch of uncomped reports with Teclis).
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1456 Post by Curu Olannon »

Thanks gaz! I agree, NM last year was just lol. It is interesting to note though that the Sheffield restrictions are fairly close to uncomped Warhammer, yet led to better games than NM.

It could, of course, also be due to the fact that I took Imrik instead of for example a carbon copy of my NM list (or Hristo's tower, for that matter) ;)
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1457 Post by Galharen »

I was considering taking metal lore in my etc list, would you recommend it in etc meta too, regarding your experience from uk tourney?
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1458 Post by Curu Olannon »

Metal in an ETC setting is something I have faith in if you are running a defensive list - however I believe you'll want a second lore as well as Metal is very polarized: It's frequently either great or close-to-useless. What you'd be looking for then is a lore to complement it so that you always have at least one big threat. Examples include Shadow, High and Death.

It should also be noted that 5D6 Searing Doom from an L4 has a ~70% chance of success if memory serves, whereas this increases to over 90% with the Book of Hoeth. Bearing in mind how powerful repeated casts of Plague of Rust is (doubly so with RBT backup), the Book is a solid choice for an L4 Metal mage. If you look at my BSK reports, you can see my opponent fielding a list just like this in game 1: Defensive bowline with WL bunker, L4 Metal with book and L4 Shadow with power scroll (the latter makes it very, very hard to justify using the dispel scroll before combat is engaged as a power scrolled mindrazor can ruin anyone's day) and L1 with the scroll. The downside is of course that you are putting several hundred points into magic without any way to reliably generate dice or manipulate winds, but this is a risk you'll have to take if you want to do the metal approach I believe.
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1459 Post by Ferny »

Sounds like fun was had despite the setting. Well done on the placement - looking forward to seeing you reporting on ETC now.
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1460 Post by Curu Olannon »

Indeed, lots of fun ;)

ETC reports are unfortunately a long time away yet. Trust me, I will comment on it in due time!
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1461 Post by Browncastle »

Great reports and great games, congrats on the 4th place.
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1462 Post by Ladril Caledor »

Imrik seemed to perform really well for you in this tournament. I feel he is considerably stronger and more reliable than any Star Dragon Prince build and well worth the extra points. Are you planning to use him again in the future?
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1463 Post by Curu Olannon »

@Browncastle - Thanks :)

@Ladril Caledor - Seeing as I have no plans to play ET Lists for the foreseeable future, I doubt it. Compared to a normal star dragon prince he is just better, but it's all about the context. A normal star dragon has no place in a meta like this I fear, but given the rules of Sheffield the Star Dragon allows you to take Teclis +200 points compared to Host of the Eternity King lists.

Anyway, I will touch upon this and other topics in the post-tournament analysis ;)
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Re: Path To Glory - NM Game 1/5 up!

#1464 Post by Curu Olannon »

A bit late, but better late than never. Read on to see my thoughts with regards to End Times characters and lists, going to England and more!


.::. Sheffield Slaughter - Post-Tournament Analysis .::.

My gaming club, 2d6, have a long tradition with going to Sheffield Slaughter. Chris Legg was kind enough to reserve over a dozen tickets for us and we quickly filled the spots. Personally I was very excited to go to England for the first time. I'd heard a lot about both the tournaments and players since many members of our club go there several times a year, and they have always come back with positive experiences. From the get-go we knew it would be a lightly-comped event, with some changes close to what we're used to back home: Restrictions on magic and LoS vs the big spells, two of the biggest offenders in BRB Warhammer in my opinion (see my NM post-tournament analysis for more thoughts on this subject).

Then the End Times hit us.

At first, I didn't know what to expect. I got the Khaine book very quickly and looked through its rules, as well as getting the rules for Karl Franz and Nagash. It was apparant to me that these would play a huge role in the coming tournament, because they are so incredibly strong. None of these caught my eye though (but I must admit I considered Malekith for a good, long while because his rules are just so over the top), when I saw Imrik I immediately knew I wanted to make a list based on him. You might say I got a bit nostalgic, as my first High Elf army was based around Imrik on an Emperor Dragon, back in 5th edition. I started making lists and theoryhammered a bit, eventually landing on L4 Metal + bus with BOTWD to go along with him. Some Hagbane WE Archers + Scouts rounded out the list nicely.

However the first test game threw me off. The game devolved into a parody of proper Warhammer where everything was based on how hard the winds would affect the game. In practice, my 265 point wizard would either make or break the game. True, Imrik and all his might helped set the context, but at the end of the day my L4 Metal could easily shift the game completely if the winds were right. This was largely what I experienced at NM, but having Teclis there I was usually on top of things (doubly so with Forbidden Rod to compensate when I needed it). This is not a kind of Warhammer I enjoy playing, because you are at the mercy of a simply 2d6 roll, the first player to bully his big spell through gets a huge advantage.

So, after just a couple of test games, both played within 90 minutes total, I decided not to bother with any more playtestined and instead embarked on the headache that is finding a High Elf list I have faith in under ETC restrictions.

Fast forward a month or two. We are about to leave. A few members of 2d6 have decided not to leave because of the End Times rules. However, most of us still went. I am very glad we did!

Chris had gone to some lengths to ensure we wouldn't all travel to England to play 6 games vs other Norwegians: He avoided pairing any of us against eachother for the first day. A much appreciated gesture! The other side of this deal was that many of us were paired against some of the best players in England, which to be honest is only a fair deal. I enjoy starting a tournament with a tough matchup, it gets me in the right mood and it's the best time for a big win since it sets you up for the rest of the tournament, and the least bad time for a big loss as you can cope with it and play catch up (as indeed evidenced by Russ Veal who played an amazing string of games to make it to the podium after losing 4-16 in game 1).

Game 1 indeed proved to be a very interesting game as well. True, the winds played a huge role here and my ability to put several wounds on Malekith early on indeed shaped the game, but more so this game felt like a "normal" game where positioning mattered a lot and mistakes made in the movement phase were penalized heavily on both sides. That said, I feel Russ made a few bad decisions with regards to magic, trying to squeeze too many spells through on a high risk profile instead of going all-out with the big spells he could really take advantage of (for example I don't recall him 6-dicing Withering on the bus). Regardless, the game was a lot more tense and interesting than my practice games had been and I was of course very happy to start off on such a promising result.

Game 2 unfortunately proved to be a lot more typical. True, I had an army that simply couldn't cope with what I met and on top of that I made a huge error in my deployment + T1 play (basically I didn't see his main threat before it was too late) and only a lucky final trans saved me. In the end though, 6-dicing was the name of the game and triple IF Banishment + my IF final trans were pretty much the only things interesting that happened here.

Game 3 and we were back to movement being a big deal. However, like Russ my opponent never went 6-dicing here and i believe that if he had done so, I would've lost. Again though, the somewhat polarized nature of my army and the deployment error was what put me in this position.

Game 4. I meet an opponent that simply can't cope with Imrik. I manage to capitalize on this. Magic was insignificant here, but the game largely boiled down to the asymmetrical nature of the matchup. This is partly my reason for taking Imrik - the same way game 2 was really hard for me I will have games that are really hard for my opponent. It is also partly my opponent's fault for bringing orcs - a race which can't handle half of the End Times "typicals", but then again you simply can't build Orcs to handle this so it shows the inherent flaws of the system.

Game 5. Double IF Searing Doom. Magic wins me 20-0.

Game 6. Very hard for me. I manage to capitalize on mistakes, but by and large this was a game of movement, not magic. With that said, a lucky cast takes me from a 10-10ish result to a big win.

So overall, the games weren't -as- dominated by insane magic as I fear they would've, but magic played a huge role and it makes for extremely polarized matchups: Either you have the magic you need and you're good to go or you don't and you have to pray for luck. This is in stark contrast to how I'm used to approaching magic: I love playing with magical setups that give me tangible, reliable buffs in every single phase, regardless of split. Most of the comp systems I play in favour this approach to magic, the comp basically takes away your ability to go for huge spells if you want reliability and magic then ends up having less of an extreme effect - but also less matchups/phases where you do jack shit. True, taking Metal I knew I'd have some useless matchups, but wanting to cope with some of the madness that I knew would appear I felt I had to take it.

I probably sound wildly negative now, but trust me when I say that Sheffield overall was a huge success. I highly enjoyed all the games and some of them were extremely tactical, most notably #1 and #6. I just don't think End Times adds anything though. While it was fun having Imrik on the table and just go "yeah, you go there and you best be ready to take 10 S10 ASF re-roll to wound attacks to the face", at the end of the day it leads to rock/paper/scissors situations that are hopeless for one of the players. It gets to a point where list building becomes an unproportionally big part of the game, where you basically have no chance whatsoever if you meet the wrong list. Don't get me wrong, every system in the world has good and bad matchups, but ET pushes this to extremes where you're pretty much ensured 20-0s in some cases.

One thing the tournament did that I really enjoyed was placing a cap on how many points you could score per rounds. At NM, we had a guy at 60-0 day 1, which enabled him to play for 10-10s day 2 with a fair amount of certainty he'd win (and indeed he did). By capping, you reduce the impact of getting extreme matchups and keep it interesting until the very end. It rewards clever armies that can play stable vs anything and it incentivizes smart, aggressive play when you are up and safe, conservative play when you are down. I.e. headless rushing and hoping for luck to get the huge wins is inherently penalized. Extreme lists also find a hard time performing well because you are bound to run into bad matchups and they hurt so much. The best example here might be Russ Veal who would've won the UK masters (running the same rules pack as Sheffield), but he lost 2 games so the capped system hurt him a lot.

The list worked better than I had expected it to. I was lucky in a couple of rough matchups, partly opponents making mistakes I could capitalize on, partly the dice being quite good to me. With more preparation, I might've been able to get a stronger list in the sense "more versatile", but it might've required a bunch of new models. I mean Hristo basically broke this comp with his UK Masters winning list, a list that is nigh on untouchable barring huge risks and lucky dice.

Overall, the weekend was amazing. I had a ton of fun, met lots of new and great people including 5 new opponents who were all a pleasure to play against. Going back to England to play Warhammer is only a matter of time for sure :)
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

Follow me on Courage of Caspia, my blog.

Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

:: Path to Glory - High Elves Army Blog ::
:: Curu Olannon's Vindicators - 2500 points Army Blog (Old book, outdated) ::
Jal
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1465 Post by Jal »

It was good to meet you at Sheffield - and I think my fave moments watching your games was Luke choosing the dice that resulted in Kairos getting FT'd.

The crazy thing about Sheffield was the top few places.

Down to me in 6th (with Eternity King), apart from Steve Follows at 5 (with Karl Franz) we all had Eternit King lists - 3 Malekiths, 2 Imriks and a Karl in top 6.

Agree on the socring system - liked it so much, running it at my next event.
Amit Hindocha

ETC England 2016 T9A
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1466 Post by Curu Olannon »

Hey Amit, thanks for stopping by :) Was nice meeting you as well! Can't wait to get back already, but with the multitude of tournaments stacking up before ETC in Prague it looks like it'll be a few months before I am able to go back.

Ah yes, asking Luke which dice to throw for that FT on Kairos was epic. I was inspired by a fellow Norwegian who did the same the day before. He was playing Kairos and went 20-0 x3 on day 1 after he Final Trans'd people with the imbalanced re-roll left, right and center.

I think that the top placings were largely skewed because no-one took the "anti-big-guys" lists like the one Hristo played at the masters. Likewise I think my opponent from game 3 had a really interesting concept revolving around blocks of regen-infantry due to Alarielle. Sheffield's top field was very polarized, but perhaps a more mature meta would see more variety. I really don't think Malekith is -that- strong, his weaknesses are too glaring (doubly so when anyone can bring a folding fortress in addition to the 2 buildings already on the table).

16-4 is a godsend. I hope this will increase in popularity :)
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

Follow me on Courage of Caspia, my blog.

Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

:: Path to Glory - High Elves Army Blog ::
:: Curu Olannon's Vindicators - 2500 points Army Blog (Old book, outdated) ::
Jal
Posts: 95
Joined: Wed May 02, 2012 8:44 am

Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1467 Post by Jal »

Dom Pemberton had Double Banishment and Searing Doom in his Empire list (plus 2 cannons and steam tank).

He was on table 2 game 5 (vs Curry) and table 5 game 6 (vs me).

With proper planning, it's not that hard to help mitigate Malekith's weaknesses - eg I only left Malekith out in the open within 24" of the building all the mages were in for 1 turn, and had pinned the War Alter at that point to make sure I couldn't be double banished, and still had my scroll.

As it turned out, I still ended the game with 2 wounds left on the big guy having more or less routed Dom's army.

You guys planning on coming to Lonon's Burning (25th/26th April)? Comp is similar to ETC draft 2. I spoke to Mats and he was going to see what he could do to attend
Amit Hindocha

ETC England 2016 T9A
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Curu Olannon
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1468 Post by Curu Olannon »

The problem with Empire is their static nature. That said, I think they'd still do fine holed up in a tower. Anyway, too few of those builds around, they would've given our lists a tough run. My matchup vs Alarielle was not easy, mildly put.

London Burning - I can't go. Maybe someone else will. I haven't been paying attention since I knew I couldn't attend. Will look to go back to the UK sometime after ETC :)
Retired from Warhammer. Playing Warmachine & Hordes (Cygnar).

Follow me on Courage of Caspia, my blog.

Warhammer blogs from 2011-2015:

:: Path to Glory - High Elves Army Blog ::
:: Curu Olannon's Vindicators - 2500 points Army Blog (Old book, outdated) ::
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Baleanoon
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1469 Post by Baleanoon »

I'm glad you mentioned folding fortress Curu, I'm actually considering High magic dark shards in a folding fortress teamed up with a Star Dragon for my next event. the only restrictions are no single models over 800 points (So no imrik sadly) and no Khaine magic. I like the idea of bringing my own building to protect myself from cannons.

I've also considered putting the archmage on the dragon for ward save purposes, or taking the everqueen for 5++ and Khaine's ring to bump the save to 4+ on rider and mount.
I saw Karaz-a-Karak...and then I burned it to the ground.

Baleanoon and House Morhathel march once again for the Glory of Khaine and his chosen King.
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John Rainbow
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Re: Path To Glory - Sheffield Slaughter: All Games Up!

#1470 Post by John Rainbow »

Great reports and the great results we've come to expect from you Curu. Well done.
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