Maplewood Hobby Team Tournament 5/19/13

I got the chance this last weekend to head down to Maplewood Hobbies and scope out a Team Tournament with some of my fellow Dark Omen members.  The format was the same as Templecon.  We seeded ourselves based on an internal point system which sat me on Team 1 in the third slot.

My lists for the event were -
Barnabus
Spitter
Spitter
Spitter
Posse (full)
Posse (full)
Bog Trogs (full)
Thrullg
Thrullg

Rask (Watery Graves)
Wrastler
Spitter
Snapper
Bog Trog (full)
Bog Trog (full)
Bog Trog (full)
Bog Trog (min)
Croak
Croak
(free croaks dependent on specialists)
Totem Hunter

Round 1 I got matched up against Chris. We have never met before so we introduced ourselves and listed off. He was running pHaley and Siege. I know I can't play Posse against Siege so Rask it is! His list was -

Haley1
Stormwall
Squire
Aiyanna and Holt
Storm Lances (full)
Tempest Blazers (full)
Arlan
Gorman
Journeyman

I am missing two points here. He must have either not deployed something or I forgot something. Scenario was Chemical Reaction. We each had a wall about 14" out but the rest of the terrain literally never came in to play. We dice off and he chooses to go second. I deploy only my Battlegroup, Totem Hunter and the min unit of Trogs. He looks confused and asks me if that's it. I tell him that's all I am deploying to start the game. He shaded the Stormwall towards his zone, Blazers outside it, Storm Lancers across from my zone. I deploy my Croaks across from the Stormlances and Advance move them forward. I rumble forward and throw Admonition on Rask and Fury on the Horror. I stay pretty central and run the Totem Hunter full bore at the Lances. I back my croaks up a tad to make sure he can't shoot them. He throws Arcane Shield on the Lances and Stormwal and toes Stormwall in his zone.

Turn 2 comes and I start deploying Bog Trogs and he realizes running forward wasn't a great idea. I put on unit on the side of his zone with Stormwall and the Blazers while putting two units towards his shaded solo's and Stormlaces. The unit on the right charges Strangeways with 2 guys and the rest on the Blazers. They take out 3 Blazers but leave Strangeways on 1 box. The other two units charge in and eliminate 2 Stormlances and run towards Gorman et al. Rask feats, Wrastlers toes his zone, Horror enters my zone and Snapper throws out a Spiny Growth on the Wrastler. The Croaks eliminate 2 more Stormlances (man, poison is such a good rule) and Totem Hunter advances and stays out of the way. He feats, puts up TB. Strangeways kills a Bog, Blazers kill some more and turn around and stay dug in. Stormwall sweeps off that way as it's all he can do. I have 4 left over there. On the other side the lone Stormlance electroleaps and feat attacks and kills like 4 guys. Gorman acid bombs another 3. Holt eliminates a Croak Hunter.

Turn 3 I run Rask in my zone, Bogs on my left kill the Stormlance and Gorman, switch Prey to Aiyanna and Holt. Totem Hunter kills Holt and sprints towards his rear table edge. Croaks advance up and shoot at the objective doing nothing. Snapper keeps Spiny Growth on that Wrastler and he keeps toeing that zone. We are 11" away from each other so no reason to give him my Wrastler. Bogs on the right kill another Blazer. I go up 1-0. He shuffles stuff around and throws up TB. The big Guns shoot at the Wrastler for 4 or 5 damage (ARM 21 is pretty good). Blazer kills some more Trogs. JR kills another Trog herself. I go up 2-0.

Turn 4 I camp Rask in the zone. My Trogs left on the Blazer fail to kill. Wrastler stands still, Snapper throws a Spiny Growth on him. Horror advances towards the objective but, under TB, he has like 15 turns to get there (speed 4 sucks). Trogs kill JR, Totem Hunter finishes off Aiyanna and preys Haley. I go up 3-0. He shoots at the Wrastler again, throws up TB, the Blazer finishes off my right hand Trogs and Arlan and Squire get in the way with Covering fire all around Haley. I go up 4-0.

Turn 5 I kill Arlan and hit the clock to win on scenario.

Round 2 and we get matched up against the Slackjaws. They were one of the teams we knew would be super tough. I got matched up against Lee and his Trolls. Lee won the NoVA last year (I believe?) and qualified for WMW so I knew it would be an uphill battle. He is a great guy to play against and we have met once previously. He is running eMadrak with Horsies galore and an eGrissel brick. I know the Threat Saturation can own on Incursion (this rounds scenario) so I choose Rask, he chooses eMadrak and brought to bear -

Madrak2
Slag Troll
Troll impaler
Runebearer
War Wagon
Fennblades (full with UA)
Long Riders (full)
Fell Caller Hero
Horthol
Saxon
Stone Scribe Chronic-Caller

We roll off, he gets it and chooses me to go first. I deploy same as last round. He puts Long Riders on my right, Horthol on my left and everything else central. I prey the Long Riders and set my Croaks up there. Turn 1 I move up to the wall on my center table and send Swampy a bit right and Wrastler a bit left. I put up Admonition on Rask and Fury on the Horror. Croaks go durdle in some woods and the Totem Hunter screams up the field. He cautiously advances with everything except for the Fenns who scream up the field at full speed and shade to my right. as they are known to do and one lone Long Rider who runs his full deal. Horthol is pretty far forward as well. Middle flag goes away. Shocker.

Turn 2 I pull out the Bogs. I bring in two units on my left and one unit on my right. The idea is that the Fenns shaded to my right. I want to sweep through his work horses, the Tuffalo, and pinch Madrak in while putting pressure on the right. I put Boundless on the Horror. I forget to feat. I wanted to though... I get 2 in on my right Bogs charging Horthol, I get 3 on the Fennblade UA and the others scatter around some Fenns. I kill the UA, fail to even unseat Horthol and kill 2 other Fenns. Swampy measures it out and is like 1/10th of an inch out. Ouch. Snapper puts up Spiny on the Wrastler. My left hand Bogs go to town killing two Tuffalo. Croaks put some solid damage in to the Slag and my Totem Hunter takes out another Tuffalo sprinting in to his lines. My Wrastler Shades further up left. Since I forgot to feat I run my Bodyguard unit forward to stop the Fenns from getting to Rask (he missed every tough roll that round). He answers by Trampling the War Wagon over to my right and shooting out like 6 Trogs. Right hand Bogs fail the check and cry in the corner. Fenns run around and kill another Bog. Horthol takes some swings on the Horror. Tuffalo kill the Totem Hunter and charge the Wrastler for no damage. He sends the Slag in on my upper left Bogs and he maxs on fury killing only 2. The Impaler runs to engage a Bog. Madrak feats and he kills two more Bogs on my left. I score 1-0.

Turn 3 my Swampy kills Horthol and a Fennblade. I then see a shot at Madrak who is camping 2. One beast is full on fury and the other is a light and I have 5 Bogs in charge range. So what do I do? I need to clear the Wrastler first. I send in my Snapper and he fails to kill the Tuffalo on the Wrastler. More over, I put him in the Wrastlers way. I send some bogs to finish that guy off from the lower left unit. I then use some Croaks to kill my Snapper. Sigh. Rask moves up, feats and then puts Elasticity and Boundless Charge on the Wrastler. I charge Madrak and deathroll. I get him down for the count. He transfers. I fill up on fury and he is on 7 and the Impaler is on 2. I send in my upper left Bogs to kill the Impaler and the Slag. They do so easily. Order of operations is huge. I score 2-0. He doesn't know what to do. He runs some guys to be around Madrak. He clears some more guys where he can. Kills some random Trogs. I go up 3-0.

Turn 4 I mop up some stuff and stay in threatening positions. I go up 4-0. Lee concedes the last point and we shake on the game. I go watch the other games and get there in time to see Anthony win and Berger lose. We advance again.

Round 3 comes up and we have the Compleat Strategist Blue team. They have some power players on the team they feated and we feated and I got paired up against Will Allen suiciding his Goatvahna list. You can see a nice picture of his Morraig here.   I decided that the gun threat I brought to bear and my attrition game with Barnabus would win the day and also didn't want to lock in to the final round. I did switch in my specialists of two Witch Doctors which I hear are good against Goatvahna -

Goatvahna
Gorax
Stalker
Woldwatcher
Stones with UA
Ravagers full with Chieftain
Wolves of Orboros with UA
Blackclad
Grove
Tharn Whitemane
Morraig

The scenario was In to the Breach. He wins the roll and elects to go first. He sets up shaded towards the zone with everything except the Tharn. I put one unit of Posse across from the zone, a unit of Posse right next to them and then my battle group center board. Terrain mostly didn't matter again. There was a forest between the board edge and the zone which sucked for my Trogs, we each had a wall center table. Turn 1 he runs everything full bore ahead. I advance cautiously baiting his Tharn with two posse members and a Spitter. The bait Posse gets Iron Flesh and Warpath goes up.

Turn 2 and here we go, he takes the bait. Goatvahna moves up and purifies the Iron Flesh but is out of range of the Warpath, she puts up Earth's Blessing (as she does every turn for the game, I'm not going to keep saying it, assume I can't knock her down). She light cavs backwards. Tharn charge in and kill two undead Posse members and take out a system on the Spitter. Wolves jam the zone hard and Morraig is hiding on that edge. Stalker stays in the stones on the back edge of the zone. He hands me the dice, Bog Trogs come on back right and Barney feats, catching like 6 Wolves and all of the Tharn and moves 4" to the left. Heal the spitter back to fully functional. I measure out and am behind a wall with 10" to the flag. I stop moving at exactly 10" from the flag, I don't want to give up the new plan. One Spitter clears out three Tharn. Posse clear out the other three Tharn. Spitter Warpaths up and aims and takes out the Chieftan. Unit annhiliated. That's 48 boxes I don't need to worry about seeing again. Right hand Posse charges in and kills a couple Wolves but I miss both attacks on Morriag. Bog Trogs jam in and kill a couple more wolves, Stone UA, a stone and do a super flank, forcing Goatvahna forward and are looking menacingly at the stones and Gorax. Witch Doctors use Undead on each Posse.

Turn 3 he jams those wolves in and spreads some damage around, all the knocked down guys durdle around. Morraig kills a right hand Posse because of flank. The Wolves who I didn't get with the feat take some attacks. He feats and brings back the stone UA, puts Carnivore and Primal on the Stalker and camps. Blackclad puts Hunters Mark on a Turtle and the Stalker charges and takes out a Spitter, damaging another. He hands me the dice. Barnabus heals a hurt Turtle and runs to the flag to dominate. Turtles and left Posse clear out the Stalker and a couple Wolves. Right hand Posse fail to kill Morriag again and bring him down so he has like 6 Wolves again and no UA. Bogs put a hurt on the Gorax (who had taken a couple of them out). I go up 1-0

Turn 4 he runs the Black Clad over to Barnabus to contest. He stays dug in on the zone and brings my right Posse to 2 members and my left Posse to 2 members. Goatvahna heals herself up a bit. My 4 I kill the Blackclad, takes some shots at Morvahna and he Sheildguards one and transfers the other. I go up 2-0

Turn 5 Morraig and the Wolves spread some more damage around. One WoO charges a Witchdoctor and fails to kill. Tree ports to contest the flag. He brings the Bogs down to 1. Wolves kill one Turtle who had like 5 life left. My 5 I clear out the Grove with Barnabus and snack it up to put up Iron Flesh. One Turtle (full on health) runs in to the zone. Witchdoctor kills the guy engaging him, I finally unseat Morriag, he has 2 WoO left. I go up 3-0.

Turn 6 Will feels like he has to go all in. Morriag kills the Posse engaging him. Wolves kill another Posse on the right, killing the unit. Watcher shoots a Posse but fails to kill. He charges the Turtle with Goatvahna and leaves it on 4. He light Cavs away but still with in 6 inches of a Witch Doctor (who is standing with in 1" of another Witch Doctor) and, after rerolls, is on one life. He is about to punch his clock and time is called.

On his clock I would go up 4-0, I would go up 5-0 by just hitting the clock. His caster is on one life within range of a Witchdoc who has a sac target. It autokills her on no transfers. Will was a real sporting opponent and conceded the game to me. He did not have to and I appreciate it a lot. I had 17 minutes on the clock, he had less then 2. It was a tough game. She is such a bear to play against!

Round 4 and the two undefeated teams are Dark Omen (which I was on) and Dark Omen Too. I face off against Walter who I have played a bunch of times. He has Kr3oss with a bunch of horsies and High Reclaimer threat saturation. I decide Rask is up to that job. Rally Point was the scenario. I am not going to write a real report on this. It was late in the day and I was very tired. How it all panned out was I brought him down to his jack, the book, 5ish Exemplars, 5 Cinerators, two Paladins and Vilmon and he went for a long shot assassination and failed. Rask shot him in the face and it was all she wrote. It was a fun game but stressful as, once again, my team mates finished early and split so it was all on me!

It was a real fun day and Chris was an awesome PG. I would go there again, Maplewood was an awesome store, the owner seemed cool and I had a blast. All my opponents were awesome. I would play any one of them again!

For those counting at home, that's 8 tournament game wins in a row, I'm on a streak!

Product Review: Masterlink Tray

One thing that every Warmachine/Hordes player needs at some point in time is an army tray. We have models, loads of them in fact. They are expensive. Whether it's a tournament, league or just a random gaming night at your FLGS, models die and have to be removed or need to be moved from table to table.

There are many different trays out on the market right now. I've been using my "Fool's Tray" for years now. I love it but I realized last year at Theme Force event that I couldn't even fit one list on it, never mind two. I debated buying another tray but the Fool's tray fits in my Battle Foam bag great but wouldn't with the stacker. During my debate Kris Johnson opened up a web store featuring his custom trays with the ability to configure your load out. After careful consideration I decided to jump in and get a different product.

(Note: There is nothing wrong with my Fool tray and Gary makes a high quality product. I am not a fan of the stackers but his trays are functional. I will be comparing the trays as everyone in the Warmachine world has seen them at one time or another.)

When I first went to the website for Mekanika Studio's there were three choices. The Trollkin Brute which is a static tray that fits medium base models, the Battalion Brute which has various sizes and the Masterlink Tray (with and with out drawers) as well as drawer kits for the brutes. I really liked the idea of having a modular tray. I play Blindwater Congregation as well as Circle Orboros. One of these things is definitely not like the other. I placed my order and received a shipping confirmation right away (this was on a Friday). I thought the shipping was kind of expensive but I understand that it will be an odd shaped box. I got a personalized email telling me my tray would be made with in the next day. Saturday afternoon I got an email saying my tray was finished and it would be shipped on Monday. Monday morning I received a tracking number. By Thursday I had my tray in hand. Less then one full week with fantastic communication at every step of the way.

The tray was packaged very carefully. Everything was packed tight and bubble wrapped. I have received some items in the past off of Bartertown and from other "Mom and Pop" type gaming supply stores and they don't match up to the care that this was packed with. The first thing I did when I unpacked the tray was bust out my theme forces from the event last year to see how they measured up! I grabbed the three trays with the most small base spots and went to town. The tray tops fit in very smoothly and there was no play. While installing them I did notice that the holes were shallow. I matched up models of each size and there was some play unlike the holes in my Fool's tray. The hole size is more similar to the Broken Egg Games trays if you have seen them.

I was able to get an over the top Rahn Theme Force as well as a crazy Garryth Theme Force on to the same tray. That is pretty much the least cross over you could ever do. I was seriously impressed. With all that infantry I started to worry how other armies would match up on the tray. I pulled out the other three tops I didn't use and took a look at all six side by side and was impressed with the change outs I could do!

It was time to inspect the drawers. I pulled and nothing happened. What? Were they broken during shipping? I put a bit more muscle in to it and BAM! they opened. It turns out there is a magnet in the back of the drawers to keep them from opening. What an awesome feature. I was being too delicate! The drawers are a tad smaller then I hoped. I was able to fit all sorts of items in there including my mini-rulebook, malifaux decks, Hordes Template Set and such but I couldn't fit my normal tape measure. The good news is I have one of the PP tapes that they hand out at cons and I am now using that.

There is a big warning on the website about keeping them in your car in the heat, the plastic will warp. I did notice that the plastic on the sides of the drawers is a tad flimsy. I would worry about putting anything super heavy in them. Weight wise I was impressed with how light it is. Some local guys have some PVC boards they had custom made and they are super heavy. This tray is super light for what it is. Transporting it is a little bit of a bear as it is so big with no way to break it down. It's the price you pay for luxury I guess.

While I will still use my Fool's Tray for regular game nights when I only have one list (mostly because it fits in my army bag) I am sold on using the Masterlink for tournaments. I've brought it out to 3 tournaments now and moving my stuff around was so easy, I loved it! I have never met Kris before but he treated me like I was his most important customer from start to finish. The quality of the tray is well worth the price of admission. I would recommend this tray to anyone out there looking for a way to transport their miniatures!

Steamroller 4/21/2013 Battle Reports

This past Sunday I got the chance to head down to Stratford and play in the "Free Gargossal" event. I haven't been to Gaming Etc. in ages so I figured I would head down and check it out. They had a decent amount of stock and had changed up their space a lot since the last time I was there. They had plenty of room and the store was jam packed all day long!

The event was 35 points, 2 lists, divide and conquer (1) but, due to turn out, no final table variant. We had 12 players show which is awesome. Dark Omen's own PG_Bergerfett ran the event and did a smash up job all day long!

Since my Circle are still getting painted (PG_Tangible, you go boy!) I broke the Minions out again. I am not as comfortable with them at 35 as I am 50. Since they are a low model count army, a spikey damage roll here or there could prove disastrous! I've been on a Calaban kick lately so I chose him and Barnabus. My lists were:

Barnabus
Blackhide Wrastler
Ironback Spitter
Bull Snapper
Gatorman Posse (Max)
Bog Trog Ambushers (Min)
Feralgeist
Totem Hunter
Thrullg

Calaban (Bad Religion Theme Force T2)
Blackhide Wrastler
Swamp Horror
Bull Snapper
Farrow Bone Grinders (Min)
Gatormen Posse (Max)
Gatormen Posse (Max)
Feralgeist

Round 1:

Round 1 I get matched up against Matt from Steam Powered Gamer (link to the left).  Every tournament the two of us go to we always get matched up. His two lists are Fiona with a Mariner and the full pirate boat and Constance Blaze. I chose Barney as Calaban autoloses to a Mariner with Fiona's buff. Scenario was Process of Elimination. He chooses Constance and had -

Constance Blaze
Gallant
Pressgang (Max)
Forge Guard (Max)
Precursor Knights (Max with UA)
Harlan Versh
Lanyssa Ryssl
Madelyn Corbeau
Gorman

I win the roll and elect to go second and choose side though terrain was almost exactly mirror. I've played against Wyatt from Dark Omen several times who runs the same list in Cygnar. I know I need him to feat first, I felt like, going second, I could do so. One of the best parts of this scenario is the zones are at max Bog Trog range so I know exactly where I can charge. I like going second with my Trogs as well as people forget about them by their second turn.

Matt sets up Precursors in the center and shades everything off to my right. I plop my Posse off to the right across from his army and leave Barney and beasts in the center across from the Precursors. He sets up the Pressgang dead center. I prey on Gorman. His one he runs the Pressgang up max leaving the lass about 15" from my Spitter. He shieldwalls the Precursors and shuffles everything else forward, putting Lanyssa in the left hand zone alone. My 1 I cast Warpath and drop a couple templates. Totem Hunter tries to get a Pressganger but falls an inch short, no Warpath. Spitter moves up and kill 2 Pressgang members. Everyone else jumps in puddles.

Turn 2 Matt runs the Pressgang to engage my Posse. He leaves them spread out a bit still covering over to the other side. He feats. I bring on the Bog Trogs near his Forge Guard and Harlan then upkeep Warpath. Barney drops a swamp, moves forward and feats. I measure range to Connie and it's just over 12". With the rough terrain she can't get to Barney, neither can Gallant. Totem Hunter walks around, leaps in and hits Connie for 5. Bogs charge and kill Harlan and 3 Forgeguard. Posse kill all but 4 Pressgangers. Spitter kills the Lass and another Pressganger. Wrastler waddles towards center table. Thrullg hangs back ready to kill him some Precursors.

Turn 3 Matt is in trouble. Precursors stand up and shieldwall and then advance. Forgeguard stand up and kill 2 Ambushers. Connie kills the Totem Hunter. Gallant protects her not doing much. The 2 Pressgangers run forward to get in the way. He hands me the clock. I had countered her feat successfully only losing the Totem Hunter and a couple Trogs for my trouble. Time to start cleaning up.

I pray for terror and charge the posse around killing a Pressganger, a Forge Guard, making the Forge Guard flee and two Precursors. My Spitter snipes out the Precursor UA. Wrastler Warpaths forward. Thrullg charges in on the Precursors taking out a couple more. Wrastler waddles in and takes out some more Precursors. Barney finishes off the Pressgang. Snapper Spiny Growth's the Wrastler. When the dust settles Matt is left with 4 Precursors (one of them is the flag), 3 Forge Guard, Lanyssa, Gorman, Connie and Gallant. I hand the clock to Matt.

Turn 4 Matt thinks he needs to swing it in his favor and fast. He tries for Hunters Mark on the engaged Wrastler with Lanyssa and gets it (yay 9's). He shuffles the Precursors around and they eliminate the Thrullg. Forge Guard Rally. Gallant charges the Wrastler and takes more from Spiny Growth then he does. Connie charges the Wrastler at reach and blows all her focus leaving him at 10. He hands me the dice, I charge the Precursors engaging the Wrastler with Barney. I kill them both, Blood Boon up Iron Flesh in case this goes pear shaped and Warpath the Wrastler forward. He Deathrolls Connie, boost to hit and gets it. Two damage rolls later and we are shaking hands. I felt like knowing how to counter her feat was a huge deal towards winning this match. Matt let the terrain get inside of his head a little bit. My minimal amount of shooting threats meant the Precursors could have run a bit more.

Round 2

Round 2 I get matched up against Mean Jean. He is a perennial good player around these parts. I knew if I was going to have a shot that day I would see Jean across that table at one time or another. He is a fantastic player and great opponent to play against. He had Skorne with him and had Zaal and a second list. It didn't matter as I know Zaal is his go to caster. I had some good success playing Calaban against Derek from Rhode Island (another fantastic Skorne player) and I lost to Jean late last year in the Barnabus/Zaal match up so Calaban it was. His list was:

Zaal
Basilisk Drake
Basilisk Krea
Nihilators (Max)
Praetorian Ferox (Min)
Ancestral Guardian X2
Hakaar
Agonizer
Rhadiem

Jean wins the roll and elects to go first. Scenario was Process of Elimination. He sets up Rhadiem near his zone, Ferox across from my zone and everything else in center. I think I chose the wrong table edge here. I originally thought it was better because I debated on Ambushers and almost always play them. I didn't have them and there was a building between his zone and me. I set up mirrored with a Posse on each side and my Battlegroup in the middle. I know this match is going to come down to a good round of rolling for someone so I need to play balanced and cagey.

Turn 1 Jean trundles forward and puts Involible Resolve on the Ferox and Last Stand on the Nihilators. My 1 I move forward but not at max. I am out of all of his charge ranges. I put Carnivore on my more central Posse to attempt to neuter his feat as much as possible.

Turn 2 he runs a Ferox to engage my Posse and toes in my zone with another. His Nihilators run in to unfortunate positions for me. Rhadiem stays in his zone for the counter punch. Zaal stays center. He hands me the dice. Time for stuff to die. I go with Calaban and feat, upkeeping Carnivore. I debate shifting over and boosting a Hex Blast in to the Ferox but decide against it. I put Spiny Growth on Calaban. The Carnivored Posse goes and charges. They pray for rerolls and boy do they need it. Dust settles and they RFP 4 guys. Left hand Posse goes and charges, 3 guys on the front Ferox, one on the back guy who toed in with the leader running to keep everyone in formation. I do 4 to both. Ugh. My plan was to Carnivore the Horror from here but that didn't work. Horror moves up and kills two more Nihilators. I use those two to give Spiny Growth to my beasts. Wrastler stays away from charges. I gave him 2 rage tokens and he is down to 4 Nihilators. Not too shabby but not killing the Ferox is a big deal.

Turn 3 Jean moves Zaal over to his zone to dominate. Nihilators charge in and kill two Posse members and explode leaving one man left in the unit. Ferox proceed to kill one Posse in my left unit. Some damage goes on the Horror from the Nihilators, Rhadiem's AP attack, Rhadiem's mount attack (does he get that if he does the AP attack?) and the Drake spray. Agonizer does his gnawing pain. Jean scores a CP and hands me the dice. I formulate a plan that should net me all his AG's, all his solo's and probably one Ferox. I drop Carnivore as there isn't much living left. Snapper gets a free charge on the Agonizer, boost to hit, hits, pow 10 and I do like 3 damage. Buy one, boost and fail to kill. Sigh. Calaban activates and throws some healing at the Horror and camps a ton. Calaban also shoots Rhadiem and does 4. Horror now can't kill the Agonizer and Rhadiem. I choose Rhadiem and Hakaar. Hit the first attack on the beak, boosted damage and failed to kill, boosted my second, dismounted and then boosted damage on my next two and killed the dismount. It took me 3 fury and all 4 of my initials to kill Rhadiem, stupid Agonizer. Left Posse kills a Ferox, Wrastler kills a Ferox and an AG. Right Hand posse fail to kill their AG with two guys. Feralgiest runs to his zone. Score 2-1 me. I felt like my Snapper/Horror combo here probably cost me the game. Those die rolls that I talked about that would be key, they were here.

Turn 4 Jean feats with Zaal and shoots my Feralgiest. He clears the Swamp Horror, Bull Snapper and leaves me 3 Posse members in my left hand group and one in my other group. Score is now 2-2. My Wrastler eats his remaining Ferox My right Posse member charges his last AG in the back and misses both attacks (really??). Calaban makes a B line behind the house. My posse spread around in my zone. 3-2 Jean.

Turn 5 and Jean can't clear my zone but gets the Wrastler and 2 of the 3 Posse members. He hands me the clock with 40 seconds left on his clock and up 4-2. Problem for him, only Zaal is in his zone. I run my bone grinders and Calaban in to his zone and clock over winning the game. I definitely stole this one for a W. Chewing through Gators takes so long I find many of my opponents clock themselves. I had some unfavorable dice at key moments that I felt cost me the game but was able to eek it out.

Round 3

Round 3 I got the pair down game against Riker from Dark Omen. He was playing Menoth so I pretty much have to take Barnabus. Scenario was Close Quarters. His list was -

High Reclaimer
Reckoner
Reckoner
Exemplar Errants (Max with UA)
Temple Flameguard (Max with UA)
Errant Seneschal
Choir (Min)
Vassal Mechanic
Vassal of Menoth

I get turn and choose to go second. Like I said, I love second with Trogs. We both set up pretty balanced. I shade my posse towards his flag. He Rumbles forward and shades the Errants and their solo to my left while the TFG rumble forward towards my flag. He drops Ashen Veil on the Errants and hands me the dice. I drop a couple puddles and scoot in, throwing up Spiny Growths and Warpath. They are not at max range as Riker and I played a game the day before where his Errants charged in and murdered my Posse on the charge. I move everyone up in to puddles that I can.

Turn 2 Riker Shieldwall and advances the TFG. He shades to dominate his own flag throwing some shots and such around. Nothing dies. I bring on my Trogs and proceed to kill his Senschal and 3 Errants with them. I drop a puddle and walk leaving Barney on one transfer at the 13.99999" line after. I throw Iron Flesh on the Posse. Two Posse charge in to the template and other guys run in to various positions. I kill another 3 guys. Totem Hunter declared the Errants as his new Prey so he jumps in and kills another one sprinting away to safety. My Wrastler stays 3.999999" away from my flag and I pass the dice.

Turn 3 he is on 11 focus. He drops Ashen Veil, gives 1 to each jack and goes to town. One jack comes up and kills a Posse on the charge, gets an ancillary and kills another posse. The other Reckoner shoots a posse and fails to kill. Reclaimer moves forward and spawns three more Errants. They proceed to kill the Trogs down to 2 and I fail command. TFG Shieldwall forward and fail to kill my Posse. He hands me the dice. I see a low arm caster with no focus, in feat range and I have 5 models who can attack him. I upkeep Warpath. Posse activate and kill a guy triggering my Spitter to walk out of Barney's way. Barney charges forward, feats and eats a guy, kills a guy on reach and throws a boosted spell at Reclaimer bringing him down to half. Spitter activates and shoots and kills. Barney excels against small control area casters who need to play forward. It was nice to win the pair down game and play at top table!

Round 4

Will was the other undefeated. We have played a bunch of times and he is really growing to be a great player. With one Cryx in the field I didn't tech for them. I felt like it would handicap my other match ups and now here I am in the finals facing eLich. Game plan - Pop and Drop and pray! It's really my only shot.

His list is eLich and the Cryx Allstars. No need to tell you, it's pretty obvious that it's MOAR BANEZ. It's a great list and there is no real reason for Cryx to ever play anything else. He wins the roll to go first and chooses second and table edge. Scenario is Rally Point. I deploy my Posse shaded to my zone and everything else center. Will has a million dudes all over the place. Tartarus is on my left flank.

Turn 1 I motor forward as fast as possible. Will does the same. Exciting right?

Turn 2 I play the cage match. I port my objective in to the zone and dance around leaving him some tough choices. Totem Hunter was Preying his Cankerworm so he leaps at it and, after both attacks, does two damage. Wonderful. I Iron Flesh the Posse and Warpath myself. I pass the dice to Will and prepare for the hurt. He leaves Tartarus way out on the left flank and curses my objective. He destroys it with Bane Thralls but not one thrall can see Tartarus and none are with in 5 inches of him. Mistakes happen and I smiled a bit. He Excarnates an Iron Fleshed Posse and kills him creating a Bile and moves that guy and another forward and purges killing two Posse and Thrullg with two biles. What???? Dust settles and Totem Hunter is at 3 health, Posse has two members and my beasts are fine.

Turn 3 starts and I eyeball 20". I think He is in my feat range. Wrastler moves forward and kills some bane dudes activating Warpath on my Spitter who gets out of the way. I charge Barney at a convenient Bane dude who is exactly 10" away. Barney feats and misses eLich by 1/4". Sigh. I kill that dude and throw Iron Flesh up. Spitter aims and shoots on a boosted/boosted and hits eLich for like 10. Totem hunter leaps over and finishes Lich off. Whew. I knew I had to end it early. If I had not won it that turn I don't think he could have gotten me with 3 Transfers and Iron Flesh up with Tartarus way out of position and no way to kill Tartarus.

It's good to get back in the saddle and win. I have enough 2nd and 3rd tokens at home. For my troubles I got another Woldwrath, a hard cover Gargantuans book and a lot of good memories against Four solid opponents. My opponents took 2nd, 3rd and 5th respectively. That's a tough run!