lørdag 26. januar 2013

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tirsdag 22. januar 2013

I got a spot in The Great Swinnish 2013



Hmm, looks like I got a spot in the Great Swinnish in Stockholm. The tournament is huge. It has 84 players, and will run on the 13-14th of April. The size is 42 pts and each list must be played at least twice, I guess this means some more list balance will be required.

What should I play? Surely I cannot leave Hoarluk2 behind after he did such an admirable job in the Norwegian Masters... I think I'd like to give Calandra or Jarl a shot. Or, maybe Grim2 will be out in time?

Link to the organizer's post:

Here's the organizer's post at Kolgruvan (link)


mandag 21. januar 2013

Norwegian Masters 2013 - Tournament Results




Name
FactionScoreSoSCPPC Destroyed
Gard AndresenCygnar621.010213
Lukasz Sasha SzarachCryx524.010140
Szymon Simon RatkaProtectorate of Menoth 5 23.01196
Jesper Heyn Olsen Cryx 5 21.09153
Christian Tellefsen Trollbloods 425.08157
Marcin Grzegorzek Skorne 424.03136
Thomas Kastmann Cygnar 423.07151
Christial Vestøl Cryx 421.06167
Sankha Amarakoon Cygnar 421.03178
Ole Christian Val Corneliussen Protectorate of Menoth 421.00121
Tobias Olsson Circle Orboros 420.04183
Mateo Cayceo Alvarez Legion of Everblight 419.010111
Robert Willemstein Cygnar 415.06119
Mantylahti Sampo Juhani Retribution of Scyrah 320.07154
Terje Boye Khador 320.07144
Patrick Oeschlin Protectorate of Menoth 319.04123
Henning Lundheim Khador 319.02158
Jacob Grzegorzek Mercenaries 318.011119
Leif Henning Bøhli Cygnar 318.05145
Ulrik Bøe Khador 318.0592
Mikkel Christensen Circle Orboros 318.04163
Steven O'Neill Khador 318.03128
Jonas Gunnar Brand Cryx 317.08162
Morten Hultgren Legion of Everblight 317.00148
Haakon Hval Legion of Everblight 316.03129
Svein Einar Vatne Trollbloods 315.0398
Nima Yaghmai Retribution of Scyrah 219.05153
Vegard Krusedokken Circle Orboros 219.0388
John Henneli Cygnar 216.0187
Frans Ullerø Minions 215.04125
Espen Dahl Khador 215.04106
Norbert Brunhuber Circle Orboros 215.0460
Sindre Lindahl Circle Orboros 213.0255
Jori Amarakoon Legion of Everblight 213.0193
Øyvind Krusedokken Mercenaries 211.0140
Jon Eirik Bergsås Circle Orboros 112.0266
Damon Andersen Retribution of Scyrah 19.0153
Erlend Berg Johansen Cygnar 18.0055
Kenneth Lomeland Cygnar 013.0037

Best Painted was won by Robert Willemstein, for his beautiful green Cygnar army.
Sindre Lindahl won most sporting.
Haakon Hval got the faster caster kill after 15 minutes.

I placed as #5 after playing against player #3, #4, #10, #11, #13 and #19... so all of my opponents placed in the top half, giving me the highest Strength of Schedule score in the tournament. A very tough set of players to meet, so I was really happy about the end result!

Norwegian Masters - Wrap Up

The Norwegian Masters


Overall, I'm pretty happy with the lists, and the end result. I ended up placing 5th in the Norwegian Masters, with the highest Strength of Schedule of all the players. I sure had some tough opponents! And, in the final match I was just one Control Point away from 2nd place over all

The event was really well organized. Everything worked really well. Big thanks to everyone that made this happen. I especially want to mention Endre, for running a tight ship, and Terje, for doing so much work on the terrain.

Big thanks to all the foreign players that traveled to the event. It seemed to me like you all had a good time, and I really enjoyed playing against lots of new opponents. I also liked the rather casual atmosphere, it was a lot like the Danish Masters in that regard (their food was more awesomer, though :D ). All my opponents were really friendly. I am sure the fairly relaxed time limits and long breaks between games had a lot to say, this gave everyone time to eat, socialize and relax between the battles.

All in all, it was a well executed first Norwegian Masters. Next year it will be 50 pts, and I'm sure it will be even larger! And, I hope I will meet some of you again before that... maybe I'll show up at a tournament in *your* country!

Here are the full results.

Thoughts on the lists


Grim Angus


I did run into matchup problems with my Grim list. Either my opponents had too much armor for comfort, or brought strong anti infantry (like Krueger and Feora). While the list performed well for me during my practice games (going 10-2), I think I might want to redesign it to be more punchy, or with some stronger assassination options.

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia


I'm very happy with how the Hoarluk2 list performed. I think I might want to remove the Pyre, it did very little every game, I don't really need the animus, and mostly it just played bait. Maybe Scouts instead, or a unit of Runeshapers + a Feralgeist, for some more scenario strength.


Norwegian Masters 2013 - Game 6

Hoarluk2 vs Terminus (Jesper Heyn Olsen, Cryx, Denmark)

[Edit] I accidentally had written Thagrosh instead of Terminus.

Scenario: Incursion


Terminus 


- Erebus
- Scarlock
10 Bane Thralls + UA
6 Bile Thralls
Corbeau
Combine
Tartarus
Siren

I believe his other list was Skarre with lots of Satyxis. I had never played Terminus efore. I guess that this had been a good opportunity to play Grim, but to be honest, I was starting to get a bit tired after so many intense games, and I thought it would be easier to play the troll Warlock I just had played nine times. Also, I was a bit worried about Biles against all my infantry in the Grim list... though in hindsight, I guess Grim's feat and the Nyss should have claned them. Anyway, Doomy out-threatens Terminus by quite a lot, and Mulg can one-round the big guy. So I'm fairly optimistic before the match starts.

Round 1


Thagrosh and his banes.

I moved up, and he moved up. The left flag disappears.


Round 2


Mulg is definitely in the wrong spot...
This is where I started to become a bit unglued. I looked at Hoarluk, looked at Terminus  measured ten times, and for some reason I thought that Mulg was within range of Terminus  If I had computed it, I would have realized that it had to be at least 15" (10" + 7" deployment + 6" Terminus dvance  + 10" Mulg run with Rush = 33", which leaves another 15" on the 48" table). After measuring a lot, I feated, Rök killed a lot of Banes. Then, when I was planning to charge Terminus  Jesper very graciously reminded me that I had to be out of range. With opponents like that, who needs friends? :D

At this point I should just have kept Mulg back, but for some reason I charged anyway, and killed maybe 3 Banes.

He then killed Mulg with Thagrosh and 3 charging Banes. So basically I threw away Mulg for nothing. Bad play, I have no excuse!

Erebus tried to charge Rök, but was at least an inch short.

Round 3


My destruction is being plotted.
I ran up the Gobbers, put one in base to base with the middle flag, and the other one so that I had a large base opening between it and Erebus, while still within 4" of the flag. This allowed Rök to kill Erebus without any of risk of Poltergeist pushing him away. but, I forgot to Refuge Rök back in range to contest the middle flag.  I placed the Pyre near the middle flag, and shot at the remaining banes, killing just one. Also a bad move, I should just have kept him out of charge range. I score one control point.

My mistakes catch up with me quickly. The Siren charges Rök, shadow binding him after doing a Puppet Master reroll. The Banes charge the Pyre, killing it. Terminus bravely kills the single Whelp I have on the right flag (his only kill during the whole match. Way to go, big boy! :D ). Jesper scores two points... and I could so easily have denied one of them.

Round 4

Rök does not like being Shadow Bound.

Desperation time. I Primal Shock away the Siren, clear the center flag, and score another control point. I don't have much to contest the right flag with. I run over my remaining Stone Scribes to try to contest it, knowing it to be a very long shot.

He moves up some Biles, the Combine and the Scarlock, and together they blast away my Scribes. Corbeau runs in to contest the middle flag. Last control point to Jesper, and he takes a well deserved victory.

Wrap up

Not much left now, and I lost the last Control Point.

I end up 4-2, with the highest Strength of Schedule in the tournament, giving me 5th place (out of 39 players).

This was a very tight game, probably mostly due to Jesper's insanely bad tough rolls (he failed EVERY tough roll). He did roll rather well on his Bane attacks, though, both could have gone the other way. Jesper played a much tighter game than me, and I made several critical errors. I don't feel that my game was up to my usual level at all. But 4 hardcore matches and 6 normal matches were starting to take their toll, I guess.

With hindsight, I guess a better strategy would to just have been to grind him down with Refuge and Rush. It was definitely possible for me to charge in, kill some stuff, and back out, every turn, with both Rök and Mulg.

Anyway, the better player won in the end, which is how it should be. Jesper was an amazing opponent, and I hope I get a chance to play against him again.

And, wohoo! Fifth place, not bad at all! :D

Norwegian Masters 2013 - Game 5

Hoarluk2 vs Harbinger (Ole Christian Val Corneliussen, Menoth, Norway)

The Harbinger of Menoth (+5)
* Reckoner (8)
Avatar of Menoth (11)
The Covenant of Menoth (2)
Vassal of Menoth (2)
Gorman di Wulfe (2)
Anastasia di Bray - (2)
4 Choir of Menoth - (2)
Exemplar Errants + UA (7)
Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard (4)

Round 1


I run up, placing Doomshaper on the hill.

He runs up.

Round 2

Full concentration. It's time for some payback for the Massacre of the Exemplars.

I use Mulg and the Rush the Axer to wipe out every single Errant on the board. A good start! If I had done things in a better order I should maybe have used Mulg first, then Primal Shocked away Gorman, rather than activating Doomshaper first.

He kills both my Axer and my Pyre in retaliation. Gorman blinds Mulg. Harbinger feats.

Round 3 


Need to kill the blocking troll, need to trample... can the Avatar do it?
I back away with Mulg, and Primal Shock away Gorman. Bye bye, you little overpowered geek.

He tries and barely fails to kill Rök with the Avatar. It rolled max focus (again), but trampling meant it could just swing 3 times, and Rök ended up sitting on a single box.

Round 4

The nuke failed to kill off the old troll.

I activate Doomshaper,  Feat, heal Rök and toss Primal on him. Rök proceeds to scrap the Avatar and eats some Honor Guard. Mulg walks 7" over the wall and scraps the Reckoner.

Ole Christian is on the ropes now, and goes for a hail mary assassination run, which is clearly the right move. He could not see Doomy due to the cloud, but he can see the Gobbers. He uses Rhoven to strip my one camped Fury, he walks up as far as he can, and casts Cataclysm, but rolling 6 on three dice and doing little damage to Doomy. Fortunately he nukes both the Gobbers, so he cannot try again by hitting the other Gobber.

Round 5

Quick, eat the Harbinger while there is still time... 

Mulg starts hitting Harby, but dice down is called before I can complete the kill. Fortunately I had remembered to move Rök into the zone, and beat him on the points in the zone tie breaker.

Wrap up


4-1! I know my Strength of Schedule is high, and I have a realistic shot at taking a medal.

This was a pretty close game for a while. Gorman caused me major headaches, and I should have prioritiezed taking him out. I was a bit lucky when he failed to kill Rök, I do not think he should have killed him on average dice though. Also, I forgot about the Fury stripping ability... the assassination attempt was a long shot, but Doomy is not a strong boy, and it could have worked.

Last game: Terminus, which I have never faced before.


Norwegian Masters 2013 - Game 4

Hoarluk vs Siege (Leif Bøhli, Cygnar, Norway)


Leif is actually the guy responsible for getting me hooked on WARMACHINE. I had played several practice matchups against him, and at least one against his Siege list, which I lost by getting too close. So I knew the importance of staying 19.5" away from him at all times, or my old shaman would surely bite it.

Siege
- Stormwall (19)
- Squire (2)
Arlan Strangeways (2)
Journeyman Warcaster (3)
Rheinholdt (1)
Black 13 (4)
5 Ogrun Assault Core (9)

Round 1


Go for the big guy!
I go first and run up, out of his threat range.

Leif moves up.

Round 2


I wanted to place Mulg inside the trench in the center, but as far as I could tell that would place him just within the Stormwall's reach. I ran my Pyre up as a decoy... it's my least important beast, and I was hoping that it would draw some fire.

Leif, master CRA artist.
Leif decides to CRA the Pyre with the Assault Core, rolling the awesome roll you can see before you. So, essentially, he has put the entire unit within Rök's Berserk + Goad range. This is *not* a good idea. But, a few Stormwall shots and Siege shots blows the poor little Pyre to bits. My bait was taken!



Today's special: Bunched up Ogrun - for first course, second course, and dessert.

Round 3


I can also roll a lot of 1's.
This roll happened twice for me in this game...

I Feat with Doomshaper, toss a free Primal on Mulg, and move so that I'm just within forcing range of the Stormwall. Rök goes to town on the Assault Core, cutting four of them to pieces. This clears the charge lane for Mulg, who smashes into the Stormwall. After seven hits, and one miss (first time that ever happened with Primal + Wild Agression on Mulg, triple ones on three dice), I leave the Stormwall at 3 boxes... and it still has a cortex. Damn! Bye bye Mulg! I tag his objective with a Whelp and get a control point.

Stormwall vs Mulg, battle of the OP.
Who will be left standing?

Siege feats and Leif has fire dice, he blows away my Axer, and the Stormwall manages to 2-shot Mulg, doing 26 damage on the first swing. But it does not matter at this point, since I have an undamaged Rök, and he has only eight points left on Stormwall after Arlan fixed it.

Round 4


Rök smashes the Stormwall to bits, and I tag the objective with a Gobber. Now it's two points to me, and there is no way for him to win.

Round 5


I know how Leif feels...
Is there a last ditch assassination option?

I tag the objective again, and that's it. I win on scenario.

Wrap up

I was pretty happy to have this matchup, and Leif was not. I was pretty sure that Doomshaper could deal well with both his lists, and since the Siege list is a bit weak on both scenario and attrition I made sure to just keep Doomshaper well out of the threat range.

Personally, I think it's key to make lists that can win in two ways. Unless you're playing someone who doesn't know the list's shtick, it's just too risky to go for a pure assassination list. You need to either threathen to take the scenario, or to grind your opponent down, in order to force the other player to commit his caster.

I'm 3-1, this day is over, I'm tired, but feeling good. A top half position should be secured now.

I have a couple of beers and go down to Parkteatret, where I have a long chat with Ice-T from Poland. Then I take an early evening, and manage to get about eight hours of sleep before Sunday. There, my next opponent awaits... Menoth again. I don't like playing Menoth, they are so good at grinding you to dust... or charcoal. :D


søndag 20. januar 2013

Norwegian Masters 2013 - Game 3

Hoarluk2 vs Kreoss1 (Szymon Ratka, Menoth, Poland)

My third game was against Szymon Ratka from Poland. By the way, Szymon, since you asked, here is the link describing how to edit iBodger on android, so you can avoid the pain that is Slow Room.

My confident opponent,
I wish I was feeling half as relaxed.

High Exemplar Kreoss (*5pts)
* Redeemer (6pts)
* Reckoner (8pts)
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Exemplar Errants (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer (2pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)
Exemplar Errant Seneschal (2pts)
Vassal of Menoth (1pts)
Vassal of Menoth (1pts)

His other list was Severius with three jacks and Examplars. I was a bit worried about the Kreoss knockdown against my Grim that wants to be up the board, so again I picked Doomshaper. Him, at least, I can keep way back.

I go first, and Szymon takes the side with the nice obstacle to hide behind.




Round 1

Advancing upon the Inquisition.

I run up, as usual.

He moves up, zealots minifeat.

Round 2

So much Fury, so few Whelps.
I even ran out of  Fury counters,.

I use Mulg, Goad, Rök and Refuge to remove about half of the Errants. This left me with quite a lot of Fury on the board, though. It was Axer (2), Mulg(5), Rok(5), Pyre Troll(1), Doomy(3). Way too much. I had no reason to camp so much on Doomy, except that I was worried about a surprise assassination... and then I tend to camp a bit extra, just in case. Maybe it's a habit that I should try to ditch.

Szymon made the excellent play of moving up, not attacking any of my beasts, and just shooting out my Whelp that was close enough for being Comfort Food. This is of course the correct counter to what i was doing, but since noone else I've played against does this, I hadn't really thought about it.

Round 3


Mulg is about the get Reckoned with, I reckon.
My beasts go bananas. The Axer frenzies onto Rök, dealing a few points. Rök frenzies, but I choose to charge him into a well, preventing him from reaching Mulg. We were a bit uncertain about whether this was a valid play, but the judges agreed I could charge any direction I wanted as long as it was a valid charge direction (one that could theoretically get Rök into melee). The Pyre frenzied and charged Mulg. Mulg was on one Fury after I leached, but fortunately he did not frenzy. I hit the Reckoner, taking out its Movement. It  enlivened away. I knocked the cortex off the Reckoner, and cleared off most of the remaining errants. Szymon informed that I was pretty lucky with knocking off the gun, he was pretty sure Kreoss was within drop-n-pop range... and I think he was right.

[Edit] I have been informed by Mr. Golden Deal on the PP forums that the ruling was incorrect. Thank you. The offical ruling is old. This has actually been errata'ed... you cannot voluntarily choose a charge direction that causes the charge to fail. The errata can be downloaded from this page. I apologize. Fortunately it did not matter in the end.

Szymon feated, knocking all my beasts down. He removed my stone buff, the Reckoner killed Mulg, the zealots shot away the Axer.

Round 4


I has lost my Axer and had Rök on the wrong side of a wall, I forgot that I had no pathfinder. I started setting up an assassination run, gave him Primal, but then realized that I could not actually do it. So, I just used him to berserk away some Zealots.

The Reckoner killed the Pyre Troll and Kreoss went into the zone.

Round 5


If I remember correctly, I lost on tiebreaker. Or maybe I was assassinated. It was all too traumatic for my mind to hold, obviously. Maybe you can remind me, Szymon? :D

[Edit] Szymon says: It went to dice down, and Rök had frenzied away, and he had more stuff in the zone.

Conclusion


I'm now 2-1.

Szymon played an excellent game, placing his Enlivened Jacks so I could not touch him, and shooting out my Whelps under me when I overextended. My main mistake was to use so much Fury on just killing a few Errants that could not really touch me. If I had not, I could have hit the Zealots with my Axer first, and things would likely have gone differently. Also, I misjudged the distance from Doomshaper to Kreoss, which should have cost me the game earlier.

Well, I got my ass handed to me by a better player, lesson learnt. We both thought it was a very good game.

Comment by Szymon:


It was very good game and I really enjoyed it. It also was the first time when I didn't attack enemy warbeast to prevent from spawning whelps. That means that i also learned something.  I hope we can meet in Poland one day and play a revenge match 


Next game: I face the person responsible for getting me hooked on WARMACHINE in the first place, Leif Bøhli. Will I get revenge on my friend/colleague/mentor/drug dealer?

Norwegian Masters 2013 - Game 2

Hoarluk2 vs Morvahna (Tobias "The Godfather" Olsson, Circle, Sweden)

Both his lists were, if I recall correctly, rather beast heavy, so again I pick Doomshaper for my matchup. Hoarluk2 outthreats most Circle lists, so I should have a good shot at getting ahead.


Morvahna the Autumnblade (*6pts)
* Gorax (4pts)
* Ghetorix (11pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Tharn Bloodtrackers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Nuala the Huntress (2pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Gatorman Witch Doctor (3pts)

I'm sorry about the poor picture quality, this part of the room was quite dark.

I picked the table side with the nice little wall for Doomshaper to hide behind.

Round 1


He moves up, and I move up, placing my beasts outside the threat range of his beasts, but close enough to start threatening the scoring zones.

Round 2

Ghetorix, Gatorman, and Gorax.

I get engaged by a horde of infinitely respawning Tough Zombie Bloodtrackers, but they don't do all that much damage. Hey, that would make a great B-movie title. "The Revenge of the Infinitely Respawning Tough Zombie Bloodtrackers". I would pay to see it.

I start playing whack-a-mole with some of the Bloodtrackers, knowing that they will soon be back. But one has to start somewhere...

Then, disaster strikes! My measuring tape implodes. Damn crap quality Swedish IKEA tapes. Forunately Tobias has an extra tape with him, which I get to borrow for the rest of the tournament. Tack så mycket! :D

Round 3.


Rök is surrounded by small base infantry, which is not *really* like being surrounded.
Most of the Bloodtrackers are re-animated by Morvahna and I get charged again, but they can't crack my armor. Shifting zones try to spread out to protect the right zone, and the Stalker backs out, to avoid being snacked upon by Mulg.

I'm pretty sure Mulg clears the left zone of stones... it's hard to protect against Reach and Goad. Rök gets Primal and tramples over the Bloodtrackers to engage Ghetorix, rolling fire. Three hits and Ghetorix is down. This allows me to also berserk, kill the Gorax, Goad, and swing once at Morvahna. She transfered to the Stalker, taking out its mind.

I score 1 control point. My opponent has a big problem now... he's behind in the attrition game, and without Primal, he can no longer kill Mulg.

Round 4.


It's all but over, and Mulg captures my second control point

Rök was badly wounded at this point, and died to Morvahna and her support. He desperately charged Mulg with the Stalker, hoping for a miracle, but the dice did not provide one.

I use Mulg to kill the Stalker, and get another Control Point.

Round 5.


The only thing he can do now is run the Bloodtrackers to occupy the zone, but Mulg has no problem clearing them out.


I win 3-0 on control points.


Conclusion

I'm up to 2-0, and am starting to feel really good about this!

I felt in control during this match. His tarpit is extremely annoying, but it isn't really a threat to me. My beasts outthreat his by quite a lot, and with Wild Aggression and Primal hitting Circle beasts is not very hard. Tobias was a nice guy, and I enjoyed playing against him.

Next up... Szymon Ratka, proud member of the visiting hardcore Polish trio, and his Menoth. I was worried about this one, the Poles were supposed to be really good (and they were), and Menoth is one of the factions I feel a bit weak against.

Norwegian Masters 2013 - Game 1

Hoarluk2 vs Haley2 (Robert Willemstein, Cygnar, Netherlands)


I played the first game against Robert Willemstein from the Netherlands. It was a great game, and my opponent played really well.

Haley2
- Stormclad (bound)
- Squire
Jr
Gun Mages + UA
Black 13
10 Forgeguard
Stormcaller
Rhupert
Gorman

He had Caine2 as the other list. I can't kill a Stormclad with the Grim list, so I pick Hoarluk Doomshaper. I win the die roll, and go first. I want to get as far up the board as possible before I get hit with the feat.

My main targets here are the Forgeguard and the Stormclad, which are the models that can hurt mine.

Round 1

You put your left toe in, you put your right toe out.



I cast Refuge on Rök, fill the Stone, put Rush on Mulg and move up with everything, toeing into the zones.

Robert moves up, outside my charge range.

Round 2


Just a few inches more...
I move up a little bit further, outside his charge ranges, and put Wild Aggression on Mulg. I Assault towards Ryan and Refuge back with Rök. Unfortunately I don't hit Ryan, only a Forgeguard.

Robert moves up to threaten me, stormcalls a Gobber and shoots a Whelp, and uses Haley's feat.

Round 3

Run away, little trolls, those dwarves look so scary.

Realizing that he cannot score both zones in the same turn, I quite simply back out so I'm mostly outside his threat ranges. I leave something small in each zone, so that he does not score on my turn.

He takes a couple of swings with the Forgeguard, kills the contesting Gobber, and scores the right zone.

Round 4


Rök has berserked into Haley's melee range.
I survived the feat with almost no losses, but I am down a control point. My plan now is to put as much as possible into the left zone, but of course I forget to put some of the models that could have moved there into the zone. Now it's my time to feat! The Stone moves up. Pyre troll moves into the left zone and shoots a gun mage at point blank range. Rök goes bananas (or as it's sometimes called, Primal) and turns the Stormclad into scrap, and refuges into melee range of Haley. Mulg also goes into the left zone and whacks a couple of Gun Mages. The Axer cleans out several of the Forge Guard. Things are looking good! But... I forgot about Telekinesis...

He activated Haley and started moving Mulg and Rök away and out of the zones. Then he activated the remaining Dead Eye'd Gun Mages, but he accidentally put one of them inside Mulg's reach... so he was one shot short on pushing the Pyre out. Close call!

Pinegulf had taken a photo of our match.
You can see on the top left how close the Pyre was to being pushed out of the zone!


Round 5


Mulg, the snacker.
Mulg walks up, swings at Haley, and then snacks upon her broken corpse. Then, he uses her dancing pole as a toothpick. Ice-T told me afterwards that killing Haley counts as a double win. :D I kind of agree, it always feels great to kill the most broken caster in the game.

Wrap up


Robert Willemstein, the snackee.
Great guy, I hope to play him again.
Score: 1-0.

I should really have remembered Telekinesis, I could have run several more Stone Scribes into the left zone, and then he would not have had any chance of clearing it. I really have to remember to put models into zones unless there's some really good reason not to!

It was a close game, and well fought by my opponent! The players from the Netherlands have invited us to come to a tournament next fall, I hope I will have a chance to go.

Next game: Morvahna and her unkillable tarpit.




fredag 18. januar 2013

My first game of Infinity

After the rather frustrating "Hardcore"-ish tournament, I saw that a very nice Infinity table had appeared. I asked for a demo game, and it was provided by Andreas Ringqvist.

The objective was to use our squad and capture a hacker that was waiting for us in the park. It's 3 points for capturing him, 2 points for killing him and stealing his stuff, and 1 point for forcing the opponent to retreat.


My first impression was that the table was very nice. Infinity is typically played in realistic urban settings, and uses true line of sight rules.



Two enemies are in cover behind a van, ready to shoot me down if I move out of cover. I'm further down the street, ready to shoot him if he moves out of cover. The reaction system means you can gun down people as they make a dash for the next piece of cover. Stalemate!


I get the first kill, gunning down my opponent with a reaction shot as he tries to round a corner.


I flank his position by moving around the house on the left. He's hiding behind the statue in the center. In Infinity you can choose to activate a model several times, instead of activating each model once.


After we both have lost a couple of men, I manage to run in, snag the target and go into hiding. All I have to do now is survive until the mission ends.



He doesn't quite reach me. I place a mine around the corner and trigger it, blasting him to bits.

All in all, a fun and fast game. There is much room for outwitting, outflanking and outguessing the opponent. In many ways, it plays like a classic tactical board game.

It seems to be a very casual type of game. With true line of sight, and rules like "you have to be at least 30% in cover to get a bonus", I think it won't work very well in tournaments.

Thanks for the demo, I had a really good time! Hey, maybe I'll even pick up a pack of minis, not that I really need yet another game! :D


torsdag 17. januar 2013

Last models done before Norwegian Masters

Sorry about the bad picture, the tournaments start tomorrow, it's 1:15 am and I finally got my Fennblades done. I guess they could use another hour or two of highlighting, but now it's good night.

So, good night! :D

A full unit of Fennblades, barely dry.

onsdag 16. januar 2013

First Hardcore practice games, ever

There's going to be a 25 pts hardcore tournament the evening before the masters... and yesterday, I got to practice. My list:
Hoarluk2
- Axer
- Mulg
- Rök
5 Whelps
This is a stripped down version of my 35 pts list for the Norwegian Masters. Since I have had no time to practice, I thought it best to play something I'm really familiar with.
I think 5 minute time limits are pretty rough when I'm not used to it! On the other hand, I don't think many other Norwegian players are used to it either.

torsdag 10. januar 2013

My nemesis falls

Finally, I managed to get a win with my trolls against Cryx, after three defeats. Jonas' lists are:

Asphyxious2 with Banes, Tartarus, Bloodgorgers and Bile Thralls

and

Deneghra2 with Satyxis

I picked Grim and he picked Asphyxious2. I don't like Hoarluk2 against any of his lists... the Asphyxious feat can remove all my heavies in a turn, and Deneghra2 is also pretty hard with rooting my heavies for a turn.

Bloodgorgers moving up the board

There was a big obstruction on his side of the table

Jonas went first, placed (left to right) Banes and 2 Biles on the left of the obstruction, then Asphyxious, Arc Node and digger jack and the rest of the Biles, and then the Bloodgorgers.

I had placed my Nyss on my left to deal with his Banes, then Grim and retinue, the Fennblades, the spirit, and finally the Scattergunners on the right. I also advanced, placing most (but not all) of my infantry out of Bile + Excarnate threat range.

The right flag disappeared.

Next turn he killed off a few og my advance Fennblades with Bloodgorgers, and placed clouds behind them to prevent me from engaging his main force. Pretty nifty move.

Then, my dice went super hot. I feated and casted Marked for Death and the Banes. Then, Grim and the Nyss killed every single Bane (save one) and both the Biles on the left flank. The Fennblades killed some exposed Bloodgorgers and otherwise just spread out as much as possible. A couple of Scattergunners advance Unfortunately I hadn't prioritized correctly on the Banes and did not score, but I was way up in the attrition game, and the left flank (and flag) would be hard to contest for Jonas. My Feralgeist ran towards the left flag, and would be able to reach it next turn.

Jonas killed off some more of my troops, and scored the center flag. Score : 0-1.

I cleared the left flag, moved up the Earthborn to kill Tartarus. Then I packed in Grim as much as I could, behind a wall, with some Nyss and one Fenn around him. I was camping 2 Fury, but very unsure about whether I could weather the Feat. Score: 1-1.

Jonas tried to do Excarnate on a Nyss, needing an 8, but rolled a 7. Very bad luck, he would have been able to kill most of my Nyss if he had succeeded. He was unable to kill the Earthborn, even with Parasite on. That was again a bit unlucky on his part, on average dice he would be a couple of boxes short, but he was left with about 10 boxes. So, I scored in his turn, and he did not. I passed my turn, scoring again, and that was that.

I must admit that I was more than normally lucky in this game. It could easily have gone the other way, and even though I was way up for the entire game, I was extremely worried about suddenly being on the wrong end of a feat assassinaton. With excarnate and the feat, it's just so easy to clear a lane.

Things to improve:

  • Spread the infantry out even more until the Biles are dead.
  • Remember the scenario conditions

torsdag 3. januar 2013

Final preparations before Norwegian Masters

My two lists are finalized. I've had numerous practice games working out the Hoarluk2 and Grim lists now, and I'm reasonably happy with how they're performing. So far I'm 9-2 with Grim, and 8-3 with Hoarluk2, which I think is acceptable. Now, all that remains is to make sure that I know my lists inside and out before the tournament, and to try to stop making dumb mistakes. So, here's my strategy for improving my game before the tournament.

Play bad matchups


Look how happy Gard is now...
before he got one-shotted by Grim :D
The normal thing to do when playing a list in a friendly game is to take the most balanced matchup. unfortunately, I think this is a really bad habit to get into. When I get into a tournament there will be many cases where my A list is bad against his B list, and vice versa. And that means that I might get a less than ideal matchup. So, I think it's important to play those bad matchups, to try to see how I can pull a win out of the hat even if I should really be screwed.

For example, my Grim list cannot really deal directly with Colossals and Gargantuans. I had a practice game playing against the Judicator on Restoration, I just ran everything upfield, sacrificed my Earthborn to kill the Objective, and managed to jam the colossal outside the one single midfield scoring zone. So, I lost my army, but won on the scenario. 

Also, this might reveal matchups where I'm just screwed. For example, Thunderhead + movement shenanigans just kills my Grim list dead, and I don't think I can do much about it. This is important to know for the tournament matchup... I don't want to pick a list that just cannot win against one of the opposing lists.

Also, there are some opponents I always have problems with (yes, I'm looking at you, Jonas Brand). So I need to play them more, even if it means getting my ass kicked a lot...


Read the opponent's cards

My threat is 14", your threat is 13", and I'm 13.5" away from you.

I find it hard to remember everything, but at the very least I try to memorize or take a note of:

  • The Feat.
  • Anything that messes with threat ranges, moves my pieces, allows models to pass through each other, and so on.
  • The longest theoretical threat of the enemy pieces.
  • Any very dangerous spells or abilities.
  • Any special immunities.
  • Any especially hard hitting or accurate models, that I need to keep away from my heavily armored or high defense models.
  • And vice versa, any especially hard to kill models, that I need specific models to remove.

Note down tactical errors


I use the cards for this. Every time I do some silly mistake, I write a note across the relevant card to remind me after the game. These are some of the mistakes I've done way too many times:

- After moving the Earthborn, leaving him facing in a direction that will face away from Grim after he has moved. It's an easy mistake to make, since the Earthborn uses his Transmutation on Grim to give him +2" movement, and then moves before Grim. The result of doing this correctly is that the Earthborn can move more freely the next turn.

- Moving so that I can't cover Earthborn, Grim and Janyssa with the wall.

- Not checking what AOEs the opponent can throw at me, and therefore placing the units too close to each other.

- Not leaving openings for Grim and Janyssa to move through the infantry, and not leaving an open charge lane for Hoarluk if I need some extra range for forcing.

- Forgetting to shed Whelps.

- Forgetting abilities I use rarely, like Hoarluk's regeneration.


Discuss the game afterwards


Run, Fennblades, run, tarpit that Judicator out of the zone,
or I'll be roflstomped.
I find that having a chat with my opponent after the game, trying to figure out what could have been done differently, almost always reveals some ways in which I could have played better. Often, I have made mistakes I haven't even spotted, and having my opponent pointing them out reveals things I might never have figured out on my own.

Reread the cards


Most units have some abilities that are only used rarely. It's a very good idea to reread the cards before playing the first match of the day, and make a note about the abilities that haven't been used in a long time.


Mark important states with tokens


For example, if a Warbeast has it's Spirit shot out, I out down a token marked 'Spirit'. If a Fennblade dies, I put down a token marked 'Vengeance'. If Mulg is hurt, I put down a token marked with 'Mulg +2"'. And I always have a "Feat" token. This takes out any possibility of a misunderstanding, and makes it much easier to remember to use those abilities.


Don't get greedy


If I have the edge, it's better to play carefully, hold back a bit and grind down the opponent before delivering the coup de grace. If I'm ahead, I don't have to deal the maximum damage each turn, it's enough to just keep the snowball rolling. I just have to make sure I don't get assassinated or accidentally fail the scenario.

Play the tournament format


Use the same time limits, same scenarios, and so on. Nothing is more annoying than failing to score objectives because I have misread the scenario.

Play play play


And play some more. I should know every stat of every model in my army, and every ability. I want to get used to how all the models need to be placed so as to not block each other, and thereby prevent order of activation problems. I need to know all the threat ranges, with and without the different buffs. I don't want to ever have to look at the scenario booklet. And I want to know all the most played opponent casters and models.

All in all, I want to know my army so well that when I play in the tournament, the only thing I need to think about is strategy and tactics, the rest should be muscle memory.