Mals Blog- US Masters

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Malossar
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Re: Mals Blog- Colonial Carnage List analysis

#721 Post by Malossar »

Hey teep!

Don't worry I've gotten all of the prep work on the videos done! But I've had in the last week: a two year old with a broken arm, a 6 month old with the flu, 3 job interviews, and a 60 hour work week.


I hope to get the videos up soon.
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Re: Mals Blog- Colonial Carnage Swed Comp GT Results

#722 Post by John Rainbow »

Malossar wrote:So I feel bad. Mainly because I've neglected this blog for a long time though truth be told I've neglected this entire part of the forum for the better part of the year. Part of this is due to the fact that Gatti (jwg20) has pressed me into doing the youtube blog with him that I just don't have the time to update things here as well as in depth as I can on the channel. This also stems from the fact that it's much faster to record a video with me talking through points than it is to type it out and spell check and then upload pictures to imageshack and then to the forum. Finally, and this point should be taken with a grain of salt and know that I include myself in this, but as 8th edition winds down the army blogs have gotten stale in general. Our lists have moved to the cookie cutter and originality has taken a bit of a dive. Arhain and I spoke about this at length at Colonial Carnage and hearing his frustrations with blogosphere I realized that I was partly to blame for this and I will now extend my apologies to the role I've played.
Just wanted to catch up on this point - I don't think you have any blame in this (or any more or less than anyone else). I think here on Ulthuan we've been blessed with several great army blog authors who for various reasons have begun posting more sporadically. I going to go out on a limb and say that I think Curu, Seredain, you and I (and most of the others who used to post BatReps regularly) are all of a similar age (almost 30 in my case) and while I don't claim to have as good a blog as any of you guys, real life has been getting in the way much more now I've gotten married, am trying to find a job, etc. I imagine the same is true of the others and yourself. I guess what I mean is that at some point, other things start to take priority and maybe some of the stuff that has been posted here in the past will inspire the next generation of players to start doing the same thing. We have a great community on Ulthuan and it is still very active so I'm not sure how much of a problem it is but I for one would certainly love another regular tactics-oriented poster to emerge.

As for the nature of the lists we've all been playing, I think your Shadow Prince is definitely in the more adventurous/original category. The nature of competitive play is such that cookie-cutter rises to the top so to me it is no surprise that the competitive players here play with those kinds of lists. Unlike you I don't see this as an issue. Sure it is nice to play with fun and new builds but it is my view that the real value of the army blogs is in teaching tactics and match-up analysis, etc and that can come from playing with any build - or at least the core theories can. Speaking from my own experience, even though I dislike Seredain's build for example, I still learned a lot from his insights into how the list functioned and how he went about things. The same went for my reading of Brewmaster D's work (BTW where did he go? It's a shame we lost him as his analysis was awesome!).

Finally, on the subject of End Times. I completely agree. The scene in State College has completely collapsed with people leaving (and I am leaving in May too) and now there are 3 of us playing here that I know of. Only two of us get together with any regularity. Having said that we have been having a great time playing a load of stuff with Nagash, Imrik, etc and I have loved it. I am a massive fan of the ET for just the pure fun and excitement aspect. I am also very hopeful for 9th ed.
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Re: Mals Blog- Colonial Carnage List analysis

#723 Post by Andros123 »

Just wanted to catch up on this point - I don't think you have any blame in this (or any more or less than anyone else). I think here on Ulthuan we've been blessed with several great army blog authors who for various reasons have begun posting more sporadically. I going to go out on a limb and say that I think Curu, Seredain, you and I (and most of the others who used to post BatReps regularly) are all of a similar age (almost 30 in my case) and while I don't claim to have as good a blog as any of you guys, real life has been getting in the way much more now I've gotten married, am trying to find a job, etc. I imagine the same is true of the others and yourself. I guess what I mean is that at some point, other things start to take priority and maybe some of the stuff that has been posted here in the past will inspire the next generation of players to start doing the same thing. We have a great community on Ulthuan and it is still very active so I'm not sure how much of a problem it is but I for one would certainly love another regular tactics-oriented poster to emerge.

As for the nature of the lists we've all been playing, I think your Shadow Prince is definitely in the more adventurous/original category. The nature of competitive play is such that cookie-cutter rises to the top so to me it is no surprise that the competitive players here play with those kinds of lists. Unlike you I don't see this as an issue. Sure it is nice to play with fun and new builds but it is my view that the real value of the army blogs is in teaching tactics and match-up analysis, etc and that can come from playing with any build - or at least the core theories can. Speaking from my own experience, even though I dislike Seredain's build for example, I still learned a lot from his insights into how the list functioned and how he went about things. The same went for my reading of Brewmaster D's work (BTW where did he go? It's a shame we lost him as his analysis was awesome!).

Finally, on the subject of End Times. I completely agree. The scene in State College has completely collapsed with people leaving (and I am leaving in May too) and now there are 3 of us playing here that I know of. Only two of us get together with any regularity. Having said that we have been having a great time playing a load of stuff with Nagash, Imrik, etc and I have loved it. I am a massive fan of the ET for just the pure fun and excitement aspect. I am also very hopeful for 9th ed.
+1

As a guy who doesn't post that often here, but read a lot of your guys stuff, I can only agree. I really appreciate the time you put in uploading battlereps, discussions, list building thoughts etc. both here and on your channel.
So take the time you need and upload stuff, when you have the time.

@Teep
Yeah it is a very fun list indeed. Also I really liked trying for once NOT to have 4 bolt throwers, but instead 2 phoenixes which makes your army significantly more offensive.
As for the strategies it is all centered around the phoenix guard and them having a 3+ ward. They are strong enough to hold the center by themselves, and then the phoenixes usually clear the flanks, before combo charging in the middle. Sometimes you can't avoid unfavorable matchups, but then I have a loremaster with an ogreblade, who somewhat makes up for that. Besides this guy have so many buffs and debuffs, that you only need one magic phase to turn those phoenix guards into real bad asses. They took on these new ET blightkings in a deamons army. They where marked of nurgle and they are t5, which is pretty rough. However, I got wyssens wildform of and saw them march straight through them.
Of course it all depends on my opponents. I found them to be a very good counter to wood elves. Especially the flamespyre phoenix. Often I would cast walk between worlds on the flamespyre in order to do another round of flaming on some fragile t3 dudes :) . However, only being t5 hurts a lot I think. I had a game, where I lost it to a boosted soul quench #-o .
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Re: Mals Blog- Colonial Carnage List analysis

#724 Post by Malossar »

ETC Comp review as done per a request from a subscriber. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU_vDJ1I7hA


The High Elf comp is done at about 44:00 minutes. Be warned I get a little ranty (but not in the way you might expect).

There's some other good content on the channel besides battle reports. I'm a self-described terrible battle reporter so stay tuned for more content.
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Re: Mals Blog- Colonial Carnage List analysis

#725 Post by Curu Olannon »

I don't think originality has taken a nose dive with regards to High Elves in general. The current ETC comp however bans a huge number of builds that would have been interesting to try out. Personally I was looking at a couple of builds that I don't think anyone else (apart from the ones who I built them with) have been playtesting. I'm not saying it's out-of-this-world original (though I tried a couple of them as well), but enough to distance them from the cookie-cutter lists we see elsewhere.

I also know of others who've tried lists that I have never before seen which are now banned in draft 3.

As for blogging on Ulthuan, the reason I haven't been posting is because we (as a team) don't want to share our playtesting publicly. We are doing a lot of stuff and in addition to revealing our HE ideas, posting reports would also reveal what we think works for the other factions.

With that said I'll do some feature reports when the lists are released (should be june-july I believe?). I'm currently at roughly 120 practice games of which ~75% or so are with illegal lists as the draft has gradually narrowed it down.
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#726 Post by Malossar »

Well it has been awhile since I update the old army blog despite being relatively active still. Anyway I figured i should at least post about the upcoming U.S. Masters tounament being held this weekend (February 6-7).

The comp as usual is Swedish with added comp for end times units (yay storm fiends) with a range band of 4-16 and a cap of 600vp placed on the spread. Ie if I take a 4 and you a 16 you still only start 600 points up.


This lead me to want to take a lower comp or harder list as I believe taking a hard list will quickly overcome the deficits of the comp given to softer armies. Also in Swedish I needed to avoid flying units and heavy shooting due to what I believe to be over comped for the prospective power. Finally I wanted a very durable and aggressive list in order to take down armies like dwarfs who can take all of their toys and still comp a 12.4. :roll:

Looking back through my army lists I realized that there was a build or variant of it that I hadn't played since the 8th edition book first came out, and I wanted to give it a crack! My eagle list that took first at Quake this year wouldn't suit as it plays to the WLD style and is heavily copped in Swedish. Same with some of my shadow warrior lists.


So can you guess what I took? I'll give you a hint, it's a 7.2 comp :) which so far is well below the mean for other high elf players.

I'll be sure to post my list as soon as they're made public.

Mal
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#727 Post by SpellArcher »

Haven't a clue Mal but I'd be keen to find out!

:)
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#728 Post by Malossar »

No monster mash, no shooting avoidance.


Fast and aggressive! And I comp a 7.2.


:D Come one give me a list
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#729 Post by Malossar »

Prince [140]
+Heavy Armor [14]
+Shield [3]
+Giant Blade [60]
+Dawnstone [25]
+Dragon Helm [10]
+Elven Steed w. Barding [27]
+Potion of Foolhardiness [5]
=276 (-19)

Archmage [185]
+Level 4 [35]
+Dispel Scroll [25]
+Obsidian Lodestone [45]
+Elven Steed [20]
=310 (-47)

Noble [70]
+Heavy Armor [4]
+Charmed Shield [5]
+Ogre Blade [40]
+Elven Steed w. Barding [15]
= 134 (-10)

Noble [70]
+Battle Standard Bearer [25]
+Heavy Armor [4]
+Enchanted Shield [5]
+Other Tricksters Shard [15]
+Star Lance [30]
+Elven Steed w. Barding [15]
=164 (-22)

12x Silver Helms [276]
+Shields [24]
+Full Command [30]
=158 (-12)

5x Ellyrian Reavers [80]
=80 (-4)
5x Ellyrian Reavers [80]
=80 (-6)

13x Archers [130]
+Light Armor [13]
+Musician, Champion [20]
=163 (-5)

24x Phoenix Guard [360]
+Full Command [30]
+Razor Standard [45]
= 435 (-24)

Frostheart Phoenix [240]
=240 (-40)
Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
=70 (-7)
Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
=70 (-9)
Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower
=70 (-12)
Great Eagle [50]
=50 (-5)
Great Eagle [50]
=50 (-5)

Total: 2498
Comp: 7.2
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#730 Post by John Rainbow »

With High Magic on the AM I assume?
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#731 Post by Malossar »

Ah Life magic actually
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#732 Post by SpellArcher »

Looks pretty good Mal.

The bus is on the small side but Life and the MR help with that. It's packed with blender characters so won't need magic to carve through stuff. Life should make the Prince a match for almost anything. Normally I'd look to put at least one character in the PG, I guess you have the option if not facing cannon. Shooting is enough, you have plenty redirectors. Can't go wrong with the Frostheart.
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#733 Post by Prince of Spires »

Surprising that the list gets such a good comp score. It looks like a variation on a fairly standard HE cavalry bus, and one of the stronger builds we have. Nice list :) It's probably a Swedish comp thing, otherwise I would drop one reaver unit for more helms I think.

Let us know how it goes

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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#734 Post by SpellArcher »

Prince of Spires wrote:Surprising that the list gets such a good comp score.
No World Dragon.

:mrgreen:
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#735 Post by John Rainbow »

How is it all going? I heard the NE were 17-7 at the end of day 1.
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#736 Post by Malossar »

Hey guys!


Had a blast drank a ton in vegas. The list did okish, I wasn't used to having such a deathstar build (having played 9th since its release really hampered my performance I think with a cav bus).


Played:

Keith B:

5.8 Nurgle Wall Plague Demons.

Loss 20-0 (cav bus runs off the table!)

Game 2: Chris O Brien

10.2 Star Dragon

Win: 14-6

I lost 6 helms from one bolt thrower on turn one which really hampered my ability to get points. I eventually gave up the unit in the last turn from his one surviving bolt thrower and the mage after grinding down a phoenix guard block. Unable to score the dragon after 3 apotheosis heals back 8 wounds!

Game: 3 Ricky O&G Gunline Line

Win: 20-0

Chaff gets around his blocks after some bad animosity. I go all in and win big.


Game 4: Ogre Gunline 11.5

Terrible match up. I'm up 12-8 bottom of turn 6 but my phoenix guard fail 8/9 ward saves which panics them off the central objective giving up half their points and my 300 point objective.


10-10


Game 5: Dark Elves


I'm up 20-0 bottom of turn 6 after smashing his witch elves and chaff and only giving up my eagles. I also pick up his general from a suicide frost heart run. However on the bottom of turn 6, I get purple sunned, killing my general, bsb, wizard, 6 helms and panics the unit off the table.

I lose 16-4.


That about sums it up!


I'll have some stuff about 9th age soon enough.
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Re: Mals Blog- US Masters

#737 Post by SpellArcher »

Malossar wrote:Had a blast drank a ton in vegas.
This is compulsory for US Masters, no?

:)
Malossar wrote:I get purple sunned, killing my general, bsb, wizard, 6 helms and panics the unit off the table.
Ouch! How many sixes is that?
Malossar wrote:I'll have some stuff about 9th age soon enough.
Looking forward to it.
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Re: Mals Blog- 9th age,

#738 Post by Malossar »

Lots of 1s... then lots of 6s hahaha.


And yes. Masters is specifically designed for drinking, especially when its in Las Vegas #-o


Onto 9th age. Brawler Bash is just around the corner and I'm anxious to start getting test games in, here's what I'm looking at as a core and will have several options listed below. I think I'm leaning toward a prince on a flamespyre phoenix. He has the same combat ability as last edition, improves the ward save, has a great shot at resurrecting which saves a crap ton of points towards the end of the game has the flamewake attack AND is cheaper by oh 80-90 points? From him i'm designing a core list focused on speedy objective grabbers durable enough to take several rounds of shooting (silver helms), and a solid block for the prince to fly around and zap things. I also need enough shooting to win the chaff war and gain maximum board control.

Prince - 470
+High Warden of the Flame
+Flamespyre Phoenix
+Giant Blade
+Gem of Fortune
+Lucky Shield

6x Highborn Lancers - 157
-Barding, Champ, Banner
6x Highborn Lancers - 157
-Barding, Champ, Banner
5x Elein Reavers - 85
-Bows
5x Elein Reavers - 85
-Bows

12x Archers - 143
-Standard, Banner of Becalming

23x Phoenix Guard - 420
-Full Command
-Razor Standard

Sea Guard Reaper - 75
-Multi Shot
Sea Guard Reaper - 75
-Multi Shot


This comes to 1667 points. Leaving 833 for magic and close combat support or more shooting.


Option 1:

Prince - 350
-Master of the Canreig Tower
-Book of Meladys
-Mithril Armor
-Shard of Ceradryn
-Great Weapon


Commander - 176
-Battle Standard
-Queens Guard
-Moonlight Arrows
-Longbow
-Heavy Armor
-Lion Fur
-Obsidian Nullstone

9x Queens Guard - 144
-Skirmishers

11x Sword Masters - 163
-Champ, Musician

This rounds to 2500 even. I add in some 12 nasty moonlight shots and a loremaster whose magic with the changes in v.11 is actually quite terrifying when combined with the book. The banner on the archers (who some games will end up hiding to keep the banner alive) allows him to cast as a wizard master. He then adds some nasty punch to the phoenix guard block. Sword Masters are also here to draw fire from the flame phoenix.


Option 2:

Mage - 120 (Lore of Shadow)
+Level 2
+Dispel Scroll

Mage - 95 (Lore of Shadow)
+Level 2


Commander - 176
-Battle Standard
-Queens Guard
-Moonlight Arrows
-Longbow
-Heavy Armor
-Lion Fur
-Obsidian Nullstone

9x Queens Guard - 144
-Skirmishers

14x Swordmasters - 217
+Champion, Standard
+Icon of the Relentless Company

Sea Guard Reaper - 75
-Multi Shot


This list drops the MoCT and swaps him for a mini shadow coven. Which really synergizes well with the flame phoenix. it nets me 135 points, bulks the swordmasters and adds the third bolt thrower for a pretty terrifying shooting phase!


Option 3:

Mage - 120 (Lore of Shadow)
+Level 2
+Dispel Scroll

Mage - 95 (Lore of Shadow)
+Level 2


Commander - 229
+Bsb
+High Warden of the Flame
+Heavy Armor
+Lion Fur
+Sword of Might
+Duskstone

14x Swordmasters - 217
+Champion, Standard
+Icon of the Relentless Company

5x Knights of Ryma - 170
+Devastating Charge
+Musician


Less shooting focus but maintain the presence of shadow. I add in a 5th! cavalry unit as a flanking hammer with 10 str 6 attacks likely hitting most things on 2s. The BsB in this build is pure defensive to sit in the phoenix guard and dish out as much as he can take. I could see myself dropping the knights in this build and going heavy into the swordmasters and placing the bsb here.

Thoughts?
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