Guild Ball (#56): KTC March Match 4: Corsair vs Tapper

The currently top ranked Guild Ball player in Norway, Fredrik, was my last opponent. I think I have lost the last 4 or so games against him. Maybe I can reverse the trend today? He had just picked up Brewers. I considered dropping Shark, who I think is stronger against teams that like to bunch up. But, I wanted to see whether Corsair could actually deal with the Brewer scrum without A&G.

Fishermen

I changed my lineup to see whether Jac's pushing abilities could mess sufficiently with Tapper, or not. Gutter went out.


Corsair (Captain)
Tentacles (Mascot)
Angel
Hag
Jac
Siren

Brewers

Tapper
Scum
Friday
Hooper
Pintpot
Spigot

Round 1

I kick off, and again it is pretty perfect.


Corsair: 6, Tentacles: 0, Angel: 1, Hag: 0, Jac: 3, Siren: 3

I do drag in Hooper, the other interesting models have been anchored so I cannot drag them in.

I place Angel too close to the fight and she is taken out by a tooled up Scum. Siren finishes off Hooper after the rest of the team has beaten on him.

Round 2

Tapper moves in on Jac and has the hottest dice, soloing him - in cover and on full health! He lands the KD, the Commanding Aura, and with his last 4 attacks he needs 27 out of 28 dice to hit on 2+. I computed it afterwards and the odds were about 2% for that result. This really gave me huge problems, losing all of Jac's attacks meant that I was now losing the scrum.

Losing a bit of track of the games notes here since I am getting a bit tired.

Friday scores, and Angel scores, and first Hag and then Siren gets beaten up. Brewers take it, 6-12!

Taking out Tough Hide models really sucks without any access to damage buffs. Next time, I will drop Shark!

The end result of the tournament was 3-1 to me and Fredrik- but I won on strength of schedule. My very first tournament win in Guild Ball! The prize: Limited Rage (yay!) - and a gift card from Outland that I convert into a Shadespire starter. :D

It was a fun event, well organized by Stig, as always!

Guild Ball (#37): Shark vs Tapper

My old friend Tomas has not played in a while, but today he removed his Brewers from storage!

Fishermen

Just trying the same list as last time again.

Shark
Tentacles
Greyscales
Hag
Jax
Siren

Brewers

The starter, but swapping Stave for PintPot (good call against Shark...)


Tapper
Scum
Friday
Hooper
PintPot
Spigot


Friday kicks and it goes pretty wide.

Turn 1

Shark: 4, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 1, Hag: 2, Jac: 2, Siren: 3

I think not giving Greyscales 2 so he could run and dodge was a mistake. Hag did not need 2 influence here.

Shark has no problem retrieving it, though. Next time I should have Siren on the flank, so I don't have to go with Shark first, removing my turn 1 goal threat. The ball gets passed along the line, ending at Greyscales.

Round 2

I am 3 momentup up, and win the initiative.

Shark: 4, Tentacles: 1, Greyscales: 4, Hag: 0, Jac: 1, Siren: 3

Greyscales builds momentum off PintPot and scores. 4-0 to the Fishermen!

The ball is passed up the field, and Scum charges and Hamstrings Shark. Even so, he is able to Quick Time himself and grab the ball off Spigot.

Turn 3

Shark charges Tapper and bounces off him, scoring another goal! 8-0 to the Fishermen.

The ball is kicked out to Tapper who moves up and kicks it in. 8-4 to the Fishermen.

The ball is kicked out to Jac, who passes it to Greyscales, who I had been smart enough to give a single influence. He taps it in. 12-4 to the Fishermen!

Port Mortem

Tomas had not played against the Fishermen before, and he was unprepared for their extreme mobility. I think that the Brewers have to kill the ball, if they can, and force some brawling, because out-footballing the fish is not easy!

Guild Ball (#35): ClogCon 2017 Tapper vs Corsair

Last game at ClogCon! I have heard that Corsair is a drag (ha) to play against, so I asked Matthias to show me what it's all about.

Brewers

I have never used Veteran Spigot. Yes, I know it's a poor pick, but I wanted to see what the guy could do.

Tapper
Scum
Hooper
PintPot
Veteran Spigot
Stave

Fishermen

Corsair
Salt
Hag
Jac
Sakana
Avarisse & Greede (Union)

I get Field Dressing, Knee Slider and Who are Ya? as Plot cards.

Fortunately Guild Ball is not crushed under the iron heel of WADA.

Corsair kicks and it's on.

Turn 1

Tapper: 3, Scum: 1, Hooper: 2, PintPot: 2, Veteran Spigot: 1, Stave: 3

Tapper gets pulled in by Corsair and handed off to the Avarisse and Greede and Jac death pit. Salt moves up to be "annoying". I send the Otter to the bench. 1-0 to the Brewers.

Turn 2

Tapper: 0, Scum: 3, Hooper: 3, PintPot: 2, Veteran Spigot: 1, Stave: 3

Corsair wins the initiative. Tapper gets taken out immediately. PintPot goes in, but is taken out. 4-1 to the Fishermen.

Turn 3

I take out Sakana, and Hooper is taken out in return.

Spigot runs through the forest, kicks, scores, and Knee Sliders back to safety.

7-6 to the Brewers!

Turn 4

Tapper gets back in the mix. I take out Hag and Jac.

Turn 5

I win the initiative, and need just a single point to win. Tapper activates and punches Salt, taking him out with the last hit.




Poor little otter, he has fallen off his base!

Brewers win 12-6. I eked out a win in the end, but this felt decidedly uphill.

Post Mortem

I asked around on Facebook for advice.

Mainly the advice seems to be to block drags with high defense models (like Scum or Friday, possibly with Esters), or with models that ignore a Character Play (Esters and PintPot).

Tough hide models takes time to take out, and running everyone at Corsair is an option, to avoid have one model taken out with no retaliation.

Stave can break up the death pit.

Avarisse is pretty slow, so trying to move the melee out of his range is also an option.

Guild Ball (#34): ClogCon 2017 Veteran Rage vs Tapper - Missing Mist

Last day of BonesCon. Sandra and I play Union versus Brewers!

The Union

I have 6 painted Union models. These models are those models.

Veteran Rage
Strongbox
Benediction
Harry "The Hat"
Hemlocke
Mist

Brewers

Tapper
Scum
Friday
Hooper
Mash
Spigot


Tapper kicks and off we go.

Turn 1

Veteran Rage: 1, Strongbox: 1, Benediction: 1, Harry "The Hat": 3, Hemlocke: 3, Mist: 3

I grab the ball and it ends up on a flanking Mist. Benediction gets poisoned.

Turn 2

Veteran Rage: 4, Strongbox: 1, Benediction: 2, Harry "The Hat": 1, Hemlocke: 0, Mist: 4

The plan is to build a momentum with Mist and score, and then see if I can get a quick kill with Rage.

Mist fails totally. I am surprised, when I see Stig's Mist she tends to land it pretty much all the time. Surely it is just a fluke.

Tapper overextends. I move Benediction in, Veteran Rage uses "My Gang", and Rage sends Tapper to the bench.

Turn 3

With Tapper out I think beating up more Brewers sounds just dandy.

Veteran Rage: 4, Strongbox: 0, Benediction: 1, Harry "The Hat": 4, Hemlocke: 0, Mist: 3

Spigot is taken out by Rage. Mist again fails to score.

Turn 4

The Brewers get the ball and it is kicked up the field! Friday kicks at the goal and scores! 4-4.

Friday is taken out in retaliation. The clock runs out. A handful of activations later the Union wins on the clock.

Post Mortem

WTF Mist? Really? I am so painting the limited edition Mist up and putting this freak on the shelf.

Guild Ball (#33): ClogCon 2017 Shark vs Tapper

My last game on Saturday is versus Sandra. I play Shark, she plays Tapper.

Fishermen

Again, just the box.

Shark
Salt
Angel
Greyscales
Kraken
Siren

Brewers

Tapper
Scum
Hooper
Mash
PintPot
Stoker


I get Knee Slider, Windback and Who are Ya?,  and Shark makes a great kick, Stoker will no be able to kick it to PintPot.

Turn 1

Stoker runs up, fires at Shark for 4 total damage holds on to the ball, which allows Shark to grab it and pass it Greyscales. I shake the burning condition.

Turn 2

The ball is passed to Shark, who scores. He gets ganged up on bad afterwards, leaving him on one health. I had forgotten my Knee Slider, which would probably have saved him.

Round 3

Both Salt and Shark are taken out. Greyscales retrieves the ball and scores another goal. 8-3 to the Fishermen!

Old man Greyscales is again able to get hold of the ball, and it's all over. 12-3 to the Fishermen!

Post Mortem

Mash never got control of the ball, which allowed Fish to just keep doing Fish things all game long. I am really starting to like this team!

Guild Ball (#31): ClogCon 2017 Match 3: Tapper Brewoff!

For the last match I meet Arne Peters who is also playing Brewers!

Draft

I get Sic'Em, which I am very happy about. I also get Field Dressing and Heroic Landing. I also get to receive, which is good for me!

I figured that this would be a mosh pit, so I took all the hardest hitting models I could find, plus Friday for a hard to kill model with goal threat. The only difference was that he took Stoker and I took PintPot. I think this makes me massively up in the mirror. PintPot bursts out such incredible damage over two turns, and is great for sending in and killing Spigot.

Overall game plan: Kill Tapper first.

Drunk Brewers

Tapper (Captain)
Scum (Mascot)
Friday
Hooper
PintPot
Spigot

Tipsy Brewers

Tapper (Captain)
Scum (Mascot)
Friday
Hooper
Spigot
Stoker

Turn 1

Tipsy Tapper first kicks, and then overextends into my lines. I get to pull him in and take him down to 11 health. Looking good!

Turn 2 

I go first. Drunk Tapper beats on Tipsy Tapper. Scum gets Sic'Em and goes total murderfurball. Tipsy Spigot also goes down. Friday runs up and scores. 8-0 to Drunk Brewers!

Turn 3

Tipsy Tapper returns and does a mighty charge, taking PintPot from 20 to 0 in one single activation! I then clean up and take out Stoker and Hooper. 12-2 to the Drunk Brewers!

Post Mortem

My opponent gave me an opportunity to get his Tapper early on, and with him gone the game is a snowball. We had a good time, Arne was super entusiastic about charging in Tapper for the PintPot kill!

Guild Ball (#30): ClogCon 2017 Match 2: Brewers vs Alchemists

For the next match I get Martin, a very friendly guy who is also the tournament organizer. I had played a game against him yesterday, so I knew this was going to be rough - he was obviously a lot more experienced than me. Fortunately I had a couple of practice game against Smoke, so at least I had some idea about what Smoke can do.

The draft gave a fairly different list, though, clearly more punchy than Stig's standoff tech.

Brewers

Tapper (Captain)
Scum (Mascot)
Mash
Spigot
Stoker
Hemlocke (Union)

Alchemists

Smoke (Captain)
Flask (Mascot)
Calculus
Katalyst
Mercury
Decimate (Union)

Round 1

Tapper: 2, Scum: 1, Mash: 2, Spigot: 2, Stoker: 4, Hemlocke: 2

I screwed up terribly by moving Tapper in early on a charge. I had figured out that the key here is to get Tapper in a position so he threatens at least two players on the next turn, without over-extending. I forget that you can ignore rough ground by paying 1 momentum, this allows Decimate to reach me, building a lot of momentum and bringing Tapper down to 9 health.

Mist moves last, so that she can copy and move templates without me being able to react.

Round 2


Alchemists win the initiative. Tapper is obviously dead so I allocate nothing to him.


Tapper: 0, Scum: 3, Mash: 0, Spigot: 3, Stoker: 4, Hemlocke: 3

Tapper gets taken out in the first activation. I have probably lost, but it's not over until it is over, maybe there is a way to salvage the situation.

Round 3

There isn't, at least I cannot find it. Scum, Stoker and Hemlocke all go down. 7-0 to the Alchemists.

Round 4

I take out Mercury and Smoke, going to 7-3.

Round 5

Scum, Spigot and Tapper are taken out. 12-3 to the Alchemists!

Post Mortem

Losing Tapper like that was just stupid. Lesson: Don't do stupid things again and again. Also, remember to heal my models, I had little chance of winning initiative so I should have spent it all on healing.

Guild Ball (#29): ClogCon 2017 Match 1: Tapper vs Ox

My first match is against Brian Flynn playing Butchers. I have never played against Butchers before, but I have watched a game once, so I already had some idea about how hard they could hit...

Draft

When I saw him pick Boar, I picked PintPot. PintPot is great against high efficiency models like Boar and Rage. If he gets into melee then Boar cannot charge, and a momentous Concussion stops Boar from attacking and then berserking.

I picked Stave last. I thought that with Boar and Ox in the other team, it would be possible that I could control Ox for a few turns. 

My main strategy would be to bounce Ox away with Stave, and have PintPot neuter Boar, while I hoped to get some takeouts and goals. My main takeout targets would be Meathook and Shank, who are not very solid. His strategy was probably 6 takeouts, all the picks were damage dealers.

Brewers

Hooper (Captain)

Scum (Mascot)

Friday

Spigot

PintPot

Stave

Butchers

Ox (Captain)

Truffles (Mascot)

Boar

Meathook

Shank

Rage (Union)


I kick with Tapper, I want him to be able to engage.

Round 1 

Tapper: 3, Scum: 1, Friday: 3, PintPot: 1, Spigot: 1, Stave: 3

Rage was sent flying by a well timed Barrel. I was able to get into Meathook with Tapper, taking half her health and leaving her at 7. A missed pass made Rage and Shank end up in the rear. I am pretty happy with the first turn.

Round 2

Tapper: 5, Scum: 1, Friday: 2, PintPot: 1, Spigot: 1, Stave: 2
Ox: 5, Truffles: 1, Boar: 1, Meathook: 0, Rage: 1, Shank: 3

I activate Tapper and take out Meathook. Tapper then charges into Shank, taking him down to 8. The Butchers start hitting back. I use Stave to send Ox flying again, into the rough ground.

PintPot runs up and uses Smashing Face to apply Bleed and deal 2 damage to Boar. Then he gives him a Concussion, removing his single influence. Boar goes down to 15 health at the end of the turn.

Round 3

Tapper: 6, Scum: 1, Friday: 2, PintPot: 0, Spigot: 2, Stave: 0
Ox: 5, Truffles: 1, Boar: 1, Meathook: 0, Rage: 1, Shank: 3

PintPot repeats last round and Boar goes down to 10 health. Shank is taken out. Ox uses The Owner. Tapper is now at 7 health. The Butchers win the initiative.

Round 4 

Tapper: 1, Scum: 1, Friday: 4, PintPot: 2, Spigot: 4, Stave: 0

4 attacks is enough for PintPot to take out poor Boar, who did 0 damage all game!

The Brewers finally get Ox in properly and Brewers start falling. Scum, Spigot and Tapper are taken out. Ox is left at a single health.

Friday snatches the ball and taps it in! 10-5 to the Brewers.

Round 5

I gave Friday 4 influence and she throws a knife into Ox' throat. 12-5 to the Brewers!

Post Mortem

This went well. The Butchers hit really, really hard, but keeping Boar concussed and Ox down on his ass allowed me to get ahead early. 1-0, an auspicious start to the tournament!