Re: Dark Elf Tournament Report « Result #2 on Oct 7, 2009, 2:07pm »
Game 5 v. Greg Pearson (Beasts of Chaos 15 comp) There¡¦s always a little bit of tension about the last game of the tournament. It¡¦s one last chance to break a losing record, or it could be the game that decides if you are going to win it all or not. Everyone wants to end the day on a high note. Historically, I¡¦ve always lost my last game at the Crossroads. My record was 2-1-1, and it would be nice to push things over the top. Our last round was based purely on battle points, which is why I found myself facing this army.
Doom bull: heavy armor, shield, biting blade, mark of nurgle Bray Shaman: braystaff, lvl 2, chaos armor, the gore tooth, mark of nurgle Bray Shaman: braystaff, lvl 2, 2 scrolls
7 gors, 9 ungors; full command 5 gors, 7 ungors; musician 2 chariots 2x5 war hounds 4 minotaurs: great weapons, Nurgle, light armor 3 minotaurs: great weapons, nurgle, light armor 3 chaos ogres: great weapons, heavy armor, standard, musician 6 centigors: shields, throwing axes, musician Shaggoth: great weapons, light armor Giant: mutant monstrosity
Greg¡¦s army was beautifully painted, and one of the highest comped armies at the tournament. He was the only beast player, and despite having a very friendly list, he had racked up an impressive amount of battle points. On paper this looked like a very easy match up for me, but you know what they say about things being worth the paper they are printed on¡K
Dark: 1,2,4,6 Death: 1,3
Death is one of the best basic lores out there for pure destruction, and with his chariots and herds, I¡¦d want all the magic missiles I could get. Having Doom and Darkness would be even more awesome against the low Ld beasts, but not necessary.
After taking a closer look at Greg¡¦s army, I remembered that we met before. He made the drive out to Waltham MA to participate in a Lost Legion tournament last December. Well enough reminiscing, time for some action!
1 ¡V Most of the beef in Greg¡¦s army ended up on the right flank: his giant, shaggoth, and four camera shy minotaurs. I suspected my crossbows wouldn¡¦t be sticking around the top of that hill for too long! His doom bull with ogre bodyguards held the center, backed up by both chariots and some screening hounds. Opposing that were my infantry, Malice, Spite, and Sorrow. I move the hydra and shades up through the woods, with Sethra hiding behind the big beastie. The dark riders moved up the right side to just before the halfway line on the board. Aliera started the phase by fumbling her winds of death. Greg¡¦s shaman was quick to recover the ball and unleash a crow¡¦s feast that we knocked out of the air. I didn¡¦t have enough offense left to get a first down, and why have I started using football metaphors when talking about Warhammer? Ahem. In the shooting phase bolts fill the skies and rain among the beasts: one chariot is wounded twice, the minotaurs on the right suffer five wounds, and one centigor is killed.
Greg is not only my equal in battle points, he¡¦s also no stranger to misfortune as well. Both of his herds go unruly. His Nurgle shaman (hereafter named Stinky) leads his herd towards my crossbows on the hill. Greg moves the shaggoth and giant up to support them, making it all look like part of a cunning plan. The beast magic shaman (hereafter named Shaggy) rambles towards the dark riders. The rest of his army moves forward very cautiously, except for the centigors that race through the woods to get some cover from my shooting. I suppress his magic, and his turn comes to an end.
2 ¡V Both my chariots pass their stupidity tests, but the harpies fail terror and flee from the shaggoth into some impassable terrain. Raise your hand if this is a surprise. Malice charges at Stinky¡¦s herd, who let it to safety. I take a chance and charge both dark riders into his centigors, hoping to finish them off the old fashioned way. Mr. Hydra marches up into the face of the minotaurs, taunting them and trying to terrorize Shaggy¡¦s herd. Aliera bails out of the black guard and into the spear unit. With half of Greg¡¦s magic defense on the lam, Sethra and Aliera conjure up a veritable cyclone of destruction (child wind, blade wind, and winds of death oh my!) Two of the fleeing ungors are frozen to death, and the wounded chariot is buffeted to pieces. After the winds calm, another hail of bolts riddles the beasts: the second chariot is pin cushioned and lurches to a stop; one hound is killed, and the giant takes a single wound. Ruin and the shades managed to completely miss or fail to wound their targets, the only bad part of a very good round.
The dark riders unleash their hatred and spears and managed to kill all of one centigor. The survivors kill four dark riders from one unit, breaking both of them. Greg runs down the larger unit, and leaves the lone straggler to run off the table. Have I learned nothing from my battle with Jarrett? Dark riders should never charge any T4 opponents! Argh!
The centigors continue their rampage and charge Ruin. Greg¡¦s giant charges Malice, and the shaggoth charges my crossbows. Their bellows deafens everyone on the field. His hounds charge at my spears, hoping to kill Aliera, but their charge is blocked when Malice flees. Greg doesn¡¦t take the bait of charging my hydra, instead he moves the herd to one side, and the minotaurs to the other. The ogres move up behind the hounds in the center. I manage to suppress his magic, but can do nothing about the centigors as they easily stampede Ruin¡¦s crew. My right flank has vanished, the left flank is in retreat, and my center is threatened by two big beasties.
3 ¡VThe calamity continues to grow as Malice fails his fear check and thunders into my spears. I hope for a brief moment that he won¡¦t hit them, but when we measure it¡¦s a clear hit. Five spears are crushed, but at least the unit doesn¡¦t have to panic. It¡¦s about at this point in my game that I start having flashbacks to the Colonial, where a series of miscasts and failed panic tests decimate my army by turn three. I try to clamp down on the frustration, but I¡¦ve shifted from Just Having Fun to Must Win. My crossbows rally to face a unit of hounds that are rounding the rubble strewn hill. My spears turn to the left, and I aggressively push the black guard forward. Mr. Hydra tries to prevent Spite from being dual charged by the minotaurs and herd. The shades retreat at top speed back to the woods in case the herd comes their way. Sethra shows her displeasure with the giant by battering it with several spells, causing five wounds to it before suffering a small magical hemorrhage and ending the phase. Sorrow ignores the easy target of the hounds, killing an ogre in the unit behind and wounding the doom bull.
Greg sends his hounds in again after Aliera, hoping that her allergies to dog fur will prove her undoing. The minotaurs charge into Spite. Gregs army begins to close the net around my elves. Shaggy¡¦s herd moved closer to my shades, making rude and suggestive gestures. The centigors gallop around the woods to threaten Sorrow and get in my back field (there are a long number of reasons you don¡¦t want beasts in your rear). The shaggoth mounts the hill, looking at the spears like they are the next things he plans on mounting. (In the picture, the little arrow marker shows the shaggoth¡¦s actual position, he is facing to the right). The giant ignores my black guard, working his way around to their side, as the minotaurs close in on them. Magic is suppressed again, so it¡¦s on to combat. Spite takes two wounds but holds his ground. Aliera allergies kick in and she nearly chokes to death before Morrolan throws her an inhaler. The spears mop up the wolves, killing four of them and running them down
4- This is not the position I expected to find myself in: surrounded by beasts in three directions, with none of my units in a real place to support each other. Something needs to come together! My crossbows charge his hounds, and Morrolan leads the spears in a charge against Greg¡¦s doom bull and ogres. They flee, and leave me stranded with a giant and shaggoth on my flank. Malice rallies to face the oncoming centigors. The black guard have nowhere else to go, so march forward into the beast¡¦s trap. Mr. Hydra tries to move into position for a possible crossfire. He¡¦s been less than effective all game. Sethra sends her familiar out of the forest, and channels a blade wind that kills off all the centigors! The shades redeem their lackluster performance this game by killing three ungors and panicking Shaggy¡¦s herd. The crossbows break and run down the hounds, while Spite does a wound to kill a minotaur. The survivor holds.
The beasts close the net around me. The giant and shaggoth charge my spears, who flee to safety. His doom bull rallies to face Mr. Hydra. The black guard are bushwhacked by the minotaurs and beast herd. I am unable to prevent Stinky from casting bear¡¦s anger. Eight black guard die, but they hold. Spite defeats and runs down the last minotaur.
5- So much is up in the air right now. The black guard are cut off, my spears are running, and his monsters are prepared to crush my center. Spite charges the doom bull and his retinue, hoping to net a few points before I die. Rather than throw Mr. Hydra in the combat as well, I move him alongside the combat towards the black guard fight. If both units went in, Greg would have fled. The spears thankfully rally, and I turn Malice towards the big beasties. The shades move out of the woods to defend the rear of my spears. If that herd is still there next turn, they will likely cross fire my spears. Aliera calls a winds of death and finally brings down the giant. Sorrow misses the shaggoth completely. The shades draw careful aim and kills two ungors and a gor. This panics the herd, which flees 12¡¨ off the table! No more worries about cross fire, and one less shaman to worry about!
Spite smashes down an ogre and wounds another, doing a wound to the doom bull as well. The doom bull manages one hit and fails to wound. Ouch! Spite breaks and runs down the doom bull, over running into Stinky¡¦s herd and doing seven more wounds! The superior initiative of the black guard comes into play as they cut down the foe render, Stinky, and two minotaurs. Spite¡¦s catastrophic arrival swings the battle well in my favor; the minotaurs flee with the black guard on their heels, and the herd cut down by Spite. His over run careens recklessly up the hill and gets an impressive amount of air before crashing to pieces at the bottom. The Duke Boys would be proud.
In the span of one turn, the tables have completely turned! All Greg¡¦s magic offense and defense, his general, two herds, and a giant have all perished. The minotaurs rally, ready for one last ditch effort. The shaggoth gallops forward at full speed, gambling on my failing a few panic tests that I won¡¦t be able to rally from.
6 ¡V Sethra, my spears, and Sorrow all pass their terror test. The spears charge the shaggoth in the flank, and overwhelm it with static CR. The black guard finish off t he minotaurs, and my shades and hydra move to claim two forest for some scenario bonus points. The battle fields is silent, but for the cries of victory from the Dark Elves.
12 pt win for the Dark Elves!
Greg used his army very well, and honestly had me on the ropes for most of the game. The herds hung back and were mainly ablative armor for his shaman, until he could arrange a combo charge with one of his hammers. His two monsters worked in tandem and scattered most of my army before I could kill them. Two large targets increase the likelihood of one of them engaging the enemy! His centigors were the all stars, completely cleaning out my right flank on their own. Luck really went my way in round five in eliminating a few units, but picking which combat to resolve was crucil in allowing Spite to join the black guard fight. Greg demonstrated some solid generalship, and took his bad dice rolls in stride.
I could have been a bit more congenial in my demeanor, and I think it prevented an average game from becoming a great game. If there¡¦s a lesson to be learned from this game, it¡¦s to never give up until the end, and take your misfortune with a smile.
That brings the Crossroads to an end! I finished with a 3-1-1 record, and a 12th place finish out of 71 people! It was my best Crossroads result yet, and my second highest tournament finish ever. The ride home was much more relaxing than in years past ƒº Thanks to everyone for reading, and to all my opponents for some great games, I¡¦d play you all again in a heart beat.
Now let¡¦s see if I can get 150 Skaven painted in time for the Conflict in January¡K
« Last Edit: Oct 7, 2009, 2:10pm by jchrisobrien »
Re: Processing paint judging « Result #4 on Oct 6, 2009, 9:49am »
@Nidal sorry I missed your post on the previous page until today.
I don't think we need to make paint judging more complex for the TO/players, any more than comp judging. The more we can keep those things in the invisible background the better. I also dont' think we need to seperate it out from the event. As a player I'd rather be playing friday night than waiting 2-3 hours for folks to finish a bring it to the judges painting judgement.
I'm happy to give feedback - though just like being a comp judge it's a bit of a pain in a neck when someone says 'how could you give me a X, I deserved a Y' - when really they deserved an X or an X- That's a personality thing some folks whine more naturally than others, and have some have more inflated opinions of their painting
I do think we need to really really push players to set up and display their armies with names whenever they aren't playing - as finding armies was often the hardest thing. The 'ardboyz event did add some complexity as there were times I didn't want tojudge armies as I wasn't sure if this was someones GT or 'ardboyz stuff.
I'd suggest 1- a preprinted name tag for the army in the tournament packet 2- clear instructions overhead and in the packet please set up your army for display before/after rounds 3 - A standard for what a ten would typically look like (this is debatable as it might vary by room if you want a decent distribution) 4- instructions for the judges on what the paint distribution should look like - bell curve around a ten, no more than 5 in the 15-20 range etc.
I'm with Kevin and Paul I love feedback (my gaming group doesn't go in much for painting so at a GT is where I get it) but I'm not convinced it has to come from paint judges. I think as you get to know folks you are more willing to say "well what do you think about this" for me bringing the army to crossroads to the GT I did that's explicitly what I wanted to have happen - does this look competitive still?
@Kevin - well I do have a red and blue WoC army I brought, it's more elves are such pansies it's hard to respect their painting (JOKING . . .) any sausage product is yummy to me: )
Re: Comp Council will be judging lists blindly. « Result #5 on Oct 2, 2009, 9:14pm »
LOL. Put my name on it. If I score too low I know their scared of me.
GRRR!!!
We are talking about a bunch of adults. If a noticeable mistake in comp was made I have every belief that it was an honest mistake. Now that I realize who was on the council and how the threads between the tournaments/events/community cross they have as much at stake at getting it right as we (the common player) do. Many of those on the council serve as a driving force that keep this game alive and thriving. they know that skewing scores on purpose is going to piss people off and maybe even drive people from the event/their event/or the hobby in general. Nobody wants that least of all them.
Again as i said with the painting. Thank you to those for putting the time an effort into making the tournament the best it can be. I look forward to next years!
If you do the math, 70 armies x 2min each to examine them = 140min of work per judge, not even including any time spent explaining the score to the owner and giving tips and advice. It's a lot of work to do this sucker well. Which is why I fully support compensating the judges a bit for their time and work.
Something we can all take away from this is...
1. People need to realize that the judges are volunteers. 2. They are putting alot of time into it even if it's not alot per army. 3. They deserve something for it. I mean how many of us even stopped to say thank you to them? 4. Gary does not like Red and blue High elves. (bummer cuase that's my next project.)BTW cat litter is under rated! 5. Gary likes wieners cooked in crock pots??? I will have to look for a recipe on line.
Honestly I think people are looking for painting contest feedback from a GT event. Maybe an entirely different parallel event is in order? Maybe an additional $3 -$5 for a painting contest entry?
For those look for feedback, there is another path. this tournament had no shortage of awesomely painted armies. Maybe try to grab one or two of the owners and pick their brains. Being a somewhat quite person in public I would have loved to talk painting with someone. I know I wished I could have tracked down the painter of one of those high elf armies. When you looked at it. I mean really looked at it. The person that painted it had some SERIOUS skill. I think the only reason it didn't get the recognition it desrved was color choice. It wasn't going to get your attention from a table or two away.
Re: Processing paint judging « Result #7 on Oct 2, 2009, 7:49pm »
Nice. I have no objection to such a break, Corey. Sounds good. Actually, I'd also fully support adding a dollar or two to the registration fee to fund buying lunch for the paint judges as well. I liked the pre-judge Friday night (with dinner bought for the judges) idea too.
If you do the math, 70 armies x 2min each to examine them = 140min of work per judge, not even including any time spent explaining the score to the owner and giving tips and advice. It's a lot of work to do this sucker well. Which is why I fully support compensating the judges a bit for their time and work.
Re: Warriors of Chaos at Crossroads « Result #8 on Oct 2, 2009, 7:44pm »
The Legion as a whole had our best Win/Loss ratios in rounds 2 and 5. Second game of the day, baby! After we’d woken up/shaken off the hangovers in our first games, but before we got tired.
Nice report, Gary! Cool army. I'm really tempted to try Valkia at some point, much as my Slaanesh-loving heart usually sneers at Khorne.
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