Aces High events

 

With space and time being at a premium in Antics, it's the perfect place to host the X-Wing Aces High format. 8 players drafting pre-built ships and having a couple of fun games, maybe trying ships they wouldn't normally fly.

Aces High

Baron Administrator Tournaments brings to you; Aces High at Antics. These events will have a player cap of 8, splitting into 2 pods for the dogfight itself. Then the pods will be split and re-paired for a second round to determine a winner. Registration for the event will start at 11:00am and the draft will start at 11:30am. Entry for the event will be £5.

8 players, as that's what the kit provides for. A short event, as Antics closes at 4pm on a Sunday. The money goes towards prize support and potential larger events, should AMG actually solicit any.

Ships will be provided, simply bring your dice, tokens, and templates, plus a way of keeping track of Bounty points and Victory points.

The ships are –

·         T-65 X-Wing

·         Eta-2 Actis

·         RZ-1 A-Wing

·         Firespray-class Patrol Craft

·         Xi-class Light Shuttle

·         Fireball

·         TIE/rb Heavy

·         Droid Tri-Fighter

 It's an interesting mix of Ships, even some Medium bases. The pilots are diverse, but the better the pilot sounds on paper, the less upgrades the ship has. Only run this once but the ships seem pretty balanced.

All using pre-generated Quick Build cards. Player order will be randomly determined then, in that order, the ships will be chosen.  This will be your ship for both games. The Players will then be placed in a pod and play the scenario.

Ships will be deployed in Player order, within Range 1 of any board edge and beyond Range 2 of all other ships, once all ships are deployed; the game begins with the following extra rules;

·         After a ship performs an attack and damages an opposing ship that was at full health, the attacking player gains 1 Victory point

·         After a ship performs an attack, if it destroys the defender, the attacking player gains Victory points equal to 2 plus the ships Bounty points. The destroyed ship loses all Bounty points and the attacking ship gains 1 Bounty point.

·         If a ship flees, its player loses Victory points equal to its Bounty points plus 1. Then it loses all Bounty points. 

·     Start of Round, before the Planning Phase, each player with a destroyed ship (in player order) rolls an Attack die then sets up their ship on a Hyperspace point that has a matching symbol. If this is not possible, then they set up at Range 0 of a board edge.

      Scoring seems a little complex on paper, but once you start playing and scoring it's quite straightfoward. Ships also come back so an early death doesnt put you out of the game. The bounty system also means a lucky kill on the leading ship can bring you right back into things.

·         The game lasts 60 minutes. Once this time limit is reached, finish the current round and report your points

All players will be awarded a promo card at the end of the event. After the second game, the player in each group with the most total Victory points will be awarded an Antics Gift Voucher. £10 for Pod One, £5 for Pod Two

 A fun event, and one I'll run most months at Antics. I may also explore some of the other Quick Builds in my collection and change up the available ships every few months

If you want to keep up with the events I run, check out Baron Administrator Tournaments on Facebook

Did you enjoy what you read?
Do you have something to say?
Do you have an opposing opinion?
Feel free to comment below, and please share this post with your friends.

Lando's Friday Challenge - Joshua's Nurgle Daemons

I recently had my fourth challenge game, against Joshua's Nurgle Daemons. For reference, my army is here;

http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/06/landos-friday-challenge.html?zx=f668c8e0cfe0c6cb 

Josh took the following (in order of deployment)

• Feculent Gnarlmaw
• 3 Nurglings
• Daemon Prince
• Great Unclean One (in reserve)
• 3 Nurglings
• Poxbringer
• Smallpox Scrivener
• Sloppity Bilepiper
• 3 Beasts of Nurgle
• 30 Plaguebearers
• 30 Plaguebearers
• Daemon Prince with Wings
• 3 Nurglings
• 30 Plaguebearers
• Poxbringer

This looks on paper like a really good match-up. A slow moving army, with almost zero range attacks. That means I can choose where I engage and not have to risk any Overwatch. However, the resiliency of Nurgle is disgusting and 90 Plaguebearers is a lot. Like, almost double my model count on their own. While I can leave combat and re-engage on a whim, if my units ended up bogged down, Aeldari fragility would become a problem.

We chose the Tactical Gambit mission, as Tabletop Tactics videos have made it look fun. Gambling on how many Objectives you are going to achieve and giving your opponent points if you are wrong is an interesting wrinkle.

The Game

Josh had the first turn and I failed to seize. With no real shooting available to his force, I decided to not put any units in the Webway.

Josh guessed 1 Objective, to start the game conservatively. This was good, as he drew a had full of unachievable cards. Behind Enemy Lines and Assassinate were highlights, as cards he could not possibly score in his first turn. He spent the turn manoeuvring into position, getting ready to guard Objective markers and receive my charges. His inability to score anything made the Victory Points 0/1.

My first turn also saw me guessing 1 Objective, having learnt how cruel the cards can be (sidenote; I actually forgot my cards, leaving me rolling for my objectives. Don't do this, it's really annoying).  Defend 5 cant be scored in one turn, so that was no use. Witch Hunter and Assassinate are the same things against Nurgle, so again not great turn 1. Supremacy was scoreable though. I positioned my army to make the charges I wanted where I wanted and moved on to the Psychic Phase.

Mirror of Minds is a high variance power. Because it involves a roll-off that repeats upon success, it can oft-times do nothing. This turn though, this game, it went crazy. I cast it on one of the Poxbringers and managed to win 5 straight roll-offs, and Josh failed to stop the Mortal Wounds with Disgustingly Resilient rolls. That scored me Assassinate, Witch Hunter, First Blood and ensured I would fulfil my Tactical Gambit.

The assault phase saw my start to chew through the Plaguebearers. I ended the turn with the Victory Points at 0/8.

The game continued along this vein. The cards weren't kind to Josh and the score spiralled beyond his ability to catch up. When he conceded at the end of Round Four, the Victory Points we 3/26 in my favour.

Aftermath

While the flow of the game went as I expected, the wrinkle of Tactical Gambit rapidly dragged victory out of Josh's reach in a way that didn't feel fair.

Harlequins put out a lot of attacks, and Josh's force lacked the ability to thin their numbers pre-combat. Add in the re-rolls from the Great Harlequin and the Plaguebearers weren't as big a worry as I expected. They still took multiple units for me to tackle them, but I was able to do things like charge two units in from opposite ends to minimize the return attacks.

Josh played well, but his Tactical Objective deck did it's best to let him down at every turn. In later turns he was having to guess higher numbers so that the bonus points would have a hope of catching him up. Ignoring the mission itself,  the game was fun. Once the Great Unclean One turned up, it was met with a desperate scramble to keep things away from it. Which mostly failed. And it's always a pleasure to game with Josh.

I'll have to get some photos of his armies and do a showcase. He has done a real good job on his Death Guard and his Nurgle Daemons.

I've played four games with the Harlequins now, and I've been really happy with the way they operate on the tabletop. Their tricks are enjoyable to use and Riddlesmiths is fun. The variety of builds is limited though, so I'll get a couple more games in and then change my challenge army to something else.....

Lando's Friday Challenge - Ron's Deathwatch

This week saw my third challenge game, against Ron Gargett's Deathwatch. For reference, my army is here;

http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/06/landos-friday-challenge.html

Ron took the following (in order of deployment)

• 3 Bikers
• 3 Bikers
• Watch Captain with Jump Pack
• Corvus Blackstar, containing a Librarian and two 5 man Veteran Squads
• Corvus Blackstar, containing a Librarian and two 5 man Veteran Squads
• 5 Veterans
• Watch Master (Warlord)
• 5 Veterans
• Corvus Blackstar

This was my worst match-up so far; a mobile, shooting army. All the Veteran squads had a Frag Cannon for devastating Overwatch, and three Fliers to keep his guys out of assault. Both the Librarians had Null Zone too. After looking at my army, he chose the Furor Tactic, letting him re-roll 1s to wound my Troupes.

Ron chose the Cleanse and Capture mission. Three Objective cards a turn, so plenty of opportunities to score points. I'd have to approach the mission very carefully, holding Objectives is not the Harlequin strong point.

The Game

With Ron having the first turn, things were an uphill struggle. His shooting phase took a chuck out of my army and had the potential to leave me reeling. Luckily his assault phase didn't really follow up.

My first turn consisted of ignoring the Corvuses and taking on the units currently on foot, to much success. The only sticking point was the Watch Master, a solitary Biker and a squad of Veterans I couldn't quite reach. I left the Skyweavers in the Webway and Path of Heroes was pretty key too. I have become a fan of that Stratagem.

Ron's second turn felt like more of the first, with a lot more losses to my forces. I did manage to Deny a key Null Zone though, which let my Great Harlequin and his Shadowseer survive the turn on 1 wound each.

My response left him with next to no Infantry alive, merely the Watch Master, a Librarian, the Biker and 2 Veterans. This was facilitated by bringing on the Skyweavers. Haywire Cannons make a mess of infantry as well as vehicles. This allowed me to start racking up the points, as the Corvuses would have trouble scoring points in future turns.

Time meant that the third round was our last. Ron made a good effort in trying to pull points back and killed half the Skyweavers, as well as finally vanquishing my Warlord. I was very low on models at this point.

My final turn saw the Watch Master also fall, as well as the remaining Skyweavers put a lot of damage into 2 of the Corvus. Both were Hovering, making it easier to shoot one, and the other one was still in combat with a lone Player which allowed me to charge without receiving overwatch.

The game ended with me ahead, 8 Victory Points to 5.

Aftermath

To be honest, the game was brutal on both sides. If you were on foot, you were not long for this world. Both armies are good at killing opposing units in the phase of their choice, but not great at being on the revenge side of the equation. If the game had gone on, I would not have had many, if any models left at the end of Ron's next turn.

I can see why most people are putting their army in Starweavers. The mobility and protection seem key against armies like the one I faced today. I've also been finding the Prismatic Cannons hit and miss. The Focussed profile is not worth using at 1 shot, and the random shots on the other two profiles aren't great when you only have two of them.

However, I am becoming happier with the army as I become more comfortable with its usage. There are a lot of tricks available to the Harlequins, practice will help me learn which ones to use when.

Lando's Friday Challenge - Alfie's Armageddon Astra Militarum

This week saw my second challenge game, against Alfie Bennet's Astra Militarum. For reference, my army is here;


http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/06/landos-friday-challenge.html 


Alfie took the following (in order of deployment)

• Tempestor Prime (in deep strike)
• Militarum Tempestus Command Squad (in deep strike)
• Company Commander
• Heavy Weapons Team, with Missile Launchers
• Taurox Prime, containing a squad of 10 Tempestus Scions
• Chimera, containing a Company Commander and Infantry Squad
• Tempestus Scions
  
• Tank Commander, in Leman Russ Battle Tank
• Leman Russ Demolisher
• Stormlord, filled with the rest of the infantry (38 models)

 I foolishly didn't make note of how they were organized. I think it was 2 Battalions and a Supreme Command. I know the Scions were in a Militarum Tempestus Detachment and the regular Guard were Armageddon Regiment.

It was a lot of troopers and a Super-heavy Tank to boot. That's a lot of firepower, and quite intimidating.

Alfie wanted to play the Open War cards. For deployment, we got standard Dawn of War. The Objective card was Burn and Pillage. That's 3 objectives in each deployment zone and if you control an opposing one at the end of the turn, you destroy it. The winner is the first one to destroy all three of their opponent's objectives. Finally, the Twist was Warpstorm, adding one to all Psychic and Deny the Witch tests. Great for my three Shadowseers, less good for Alfie's lack of Psykers.

The Game

With the Stormlord carrying so many units, I feared going second. So I put my Skyweavers in the Webway, to bring in at an opportune moment. My fears were realised when he finished deploying before me and I failed to seize the initiative.

Round 1

Astra Militarum turn 1

The Chimera moved to the middle of the table to start heading towards my objectives, followed by the Taurox Prime. Then his guns opened up on a couple of Troupes and two of the Death Jesters. It felt like I couldn't make a save and I took a lot of casualties and lost the Death Jesters. If that carried on, this game was going to be an uphill struggle.

Harlequins turn 1

I wasn't going to gain much by sitting back. I left the two dwindled Troupes guarding objectives and ploughed forward. Heroe's Path once again sent my heroes forward to key positions and the bulk of my force moved straight up the centre. I also once again used the Shadowseer with Twilight Pathways to send the Starweaver forward.

My shooting finished off the Tempestus squad out in the open, after Mirror of Minds had killed four of them, and the remaining Death Jester dropped the Commander with the Heavy Weapons squad to 1 wound.

My charge phase saw me successfully engage the Tank Commander with the Starweaver, the Heavy Weapons and Officer with the Death Jester, The Taurox Prime with a Shadowseer and the Chimera ended up surrounded by the bulk of my force. The only disappointment was the Solitaire failing its charge.

The Death Jester killed off the Company Commander and held up the Missile Launchers, meanwhile the Shadowseer and Starweaver prepared to stop their tanks from firing in the next turn. Versus the Chimera, my goal was to surround it and lock it in combat to keep the bulk of my force from being shot in Alfie's second turn. To my horror, the Troupe with Kisses killed it outright, leaving my army out in the open right in front of Alfie's.

Round 2

Astra Militarum turn 1

His deep striking Storm Troopers arrived on my back line, near the Voidweavers. The Leman Russ' fell back from the Starweaver and a lot of troops disembarked. There were a lot of guns pointing at the bulk of my force.

The good (for me) part of his shooting phase was him losing 3 Tempestus Plasma Gunners overcharging against a Voidweaver. Everything else found its mark and I took a hammering. By the end of his turn, I had gone from 3 Troupes, the Great Harlequin and a Shadowseer at his front line, to just the two characters. Both of whom were surrounded by Guardsmen and Officers.

Harlequins turn 2

I had gone from being outnumbered to being severely outnumbered and on the verge of being tabled. 4+ Invulnerable saves don't cut it when mixed with Toughness 3, and the Shadowseer's aura can only do so much. Luckily, the mission we were playing had an instant win condition - control all three opposing Objectives at the end of turn.

One Objective had the Missile Launchers on it. If the Solitaire and or the Skyweavers could kill them in melee, that would easily give me that one. Even if they failed, the bikes should outnumber the heavy weapons at the end of turn.

The second Objective was currently held by the Leman Russ and the Stormlord. While the Russ is Objective Secured, so is the Troupe in the nearby Starweaver. If they disembark and sit on the Objective, I can steal that one away.

The final Objective was the tricky one. After some measuring, it was clear that the Taurox and the Stormlord were out of range to control it. I could also move the Starweaver into range after the Troupe disembarked. However, it was being controlled by a lot of Objective Secured Storm Troopers. This could be the one that makes or breaks me.

The second Objective was easy. The Troupe disembarked and moved onto their Objective. As long as I didn't go crazy and assault either tank, that one was mine.

The first Objective was straightforward. The Death Jester fell out of combat, as his firepower would be needed elsewhere. The Solitaire moved up and I brought the Skyweavers out of the Webway.

That third Objective.....
The Great Harlequin and Shadowseer fell out of combat, ready to brave the Overwatch from the Tempestus if needed. The Death Jester prepared to fire. The Starweaver moved over behind them to hold the Objective should they fall. The remaining Voidweaver moved into range of them. The final Shadowseer even used Twilight Pathways on herself to close the gap.

It took pretty much all of the Psychic and Shooting phases, but the Tempestus' were slain, leaving the Starweaver in control of the Objective. The Troupe it had protected were in control of another, leaving just the Skyweavers and Solitaire to succeed in the Fight phase to give me the win.

Thankfully, the Skyweavers made their charge, only losing 1 bike to Overwatch. I fear that if they had failed and the Solitaire had to move in, thee n an errant Krak Missile would have spelt it's doom. Their Zephyrglaives being 2 damage each sealed the Heavy Weapons Team's fate, giving me the third Objective and the game.

Aftermath

Looking back, Alfie reflected that he could have positioned better on the Objectives. While he is right, as it allowed me to steal the game out from under him, I was so under pressure from his other decisions that I had to go for the desperate triple grab.

His firepower was really good, and it felt like I was unable to make any saves. That last bit probably isn't true, but I was pulling a lot of models off the table at a worrying rate. I was able to close the distance really quickly though, so getting to his army wasn't a problem.

If positioning was Alfie's mistake, underconfidence was mine. When the Chimera died to the first unit I had activated, I realised I had made a grave error. My goal was to lock it in combat, to skip Alfie's second shooting phase,  and instead, I put all the best targets directly into Rapid Fire range. To make matters worse, I had jumped across terrain that would have protected me from so much firepower by blocking lines of sight, allowing me to pick and choose what I engaged in my second turn. If the mission hadn't had an instant win condition, I doubt I could have taken control of the game back and would have been tabled turn 4, if not turn 3.

This teaches me two things; firstly, don't get carried away trying to do sneaky tactics. Sometimes patience is the way forward. Secondly, always play the mission.

ALWAYS PLAY THE MISSION!

Many players get distracted trying to table their opponent and lose because their opponent was either too hard to kill or better at killing than them. But the mission allows you to win when facing superior troops. Every turn you should be keeping in mind what you need to do to achieve the mission, this being a wargame means killing will be part of that. Learning to play to win rather than play to kill will increase your ability to win games and still lead to epic stories.

As an aside, Alfie has long been wondering about the Stormlord as a choice for his army. His worries have been twofold. If he puts it in every Guard army, does that make him boring? Also, as a Titanic unit, is it fair on his opponents for him to bring it?

For the latter point, at 2000 points it seems silly to stop someone playing Titanic units. Thier reputation from 7th Edition for dominating the game just isn't true anymore. You can ignore them, their effectiveness lessens as they take damage and every weapon has a chance of hurting them. In this game, I used terrain where I could to block its lines of sight and mostly ignored it. Killing it wouldn't have achieved the mission, so I didn't look to doing so.

As for the former point, is starting your army building with the same unit everytime boring?

No. We all have a unit or character we like to field. Maybe they are the character that attracted us to the game/army. Maybe we really like the model/paint job/conversion and want to show it off. Maybe we really like what it does on the tabletop or how efficient it is. Whatever the reason, we should be able to field that unit. What's the point in spending money on a unit and spending time putting it together and painting it, if we are going to guilt trip ourselves into not using it?

I look forward to facing my next opponent.

Lando's Friday Challenge - Newby's Sisters of Battle

This week saw my first challenge game, against Dave Newby's Sisters of Battle. For reference, my army is here;

http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.com/2018/06/landos-friday-challenge.html

Newby took the following;

Sisters of Battle Battalion

• Cannoness (Warlord)
• Cannoness
• Battle Sister Squad
• Battle Sister Squad
• Battle Sister Squad
• Battle Sister Squad
• Imagifier
• Imagifier
• Imagifier
• Exorcist
• Exorcist
• Exorcist
• Immolator
• Immolator
• Immolator

Sisters of Battle Outrider

• Cannoness
• Seraphim Squad
• Dominion Squad
• Dominion Squad
• Dominion Squad
• Immolator
• Immolator
• Immolator

That's a lot of Tanks to deal with, especially protecting the Sisters from my melee capabilities. I could see this being a difficult game. I was going to have to focus on the mission, killing what I can while trying to keep enough of my units alive to keep the game going. Once the Sisters disembark, they become much easier to shift, but that still leaves their transports.

Newby chose the Cloak and Shadows mission, which has the standard 3 Objective cards a turn but if you shoot a unit over 18" away, you get -1 to hit. There is a 1 point Stratagem to ignore this for a phase against one unit. While that feels like it helps should he get the first turn, it potentially hurts what little early shooting I have, and his army is pretty mobile too.

The Game

After setting up the objectives, I rolled on the deployment table and got Vanguard Strike. Due to all of his Transports, Newby easily finished deploying before me. Here came his first mistake.

Given the option of choosing to go first or second (we are playing the rules as written), he chose to let me go first!

I had a die in hand ready to try and Seize the Initiative. I think you need a really good reason to choose to go second. Some mission types favour the player who has the final turn, for instance. The majority of the time, however, I feel you want the first turn when possible.

His second mistake came shortly thereafter. Dominion Squads and their Immolators have the ability to make a free move at the start of the game after the first player has been determined. This allows them to get closer to the enemy and start using their Immolation Flamers sooner, as well as get to Objectives quicker. Newby chose to not use this ability.

Talking to him after the game, I saw his reasoning. He let me go first as Harlequins want to close with their opponents. That would allow him to maximise his firepower in his first turn. He also didn't scout move in an effort to minimize my ability to get First Blood.

I'll discuss why both of these ideas were wrong after the report.

Round 1

Harlequins turn 1

My priority this turn was scoring points and minimizing which units he could kill during his turn. I had to keep the core of my force back due to some of the Objective cards I drew, which also meant I had to be surgical. I moved a Shadowseer, the Voidweavers, the Starweaver, the Skyweavers and used Heroes Path to move the relic-bearing Shadowseer, a Death Jester and the Solitaire.

My Psychic Phase saw me cast a few powers, the two key ones being Path of Twilight on the Starweaver to get deep into his lines and Mirror of Minds, which killed a surprising 3 members of the only Sister unit not in a Transport.

In the Shooting Phase, I opened up with the Skyweavers against one of the Exorcists, using the Stratagem to negate the shadows for the turn. Haywire is insane. I managed 6 Mortal Wounds just from the 4s and 5s to wound, let alone the d3s from the 6s. They deleted their target and I used Fire and Fade to move them back behind terrain. The Voidweavers also killed the Seraphim,

My characters charged 3 of the Immolators (not the Flamer ones) to lock them down and cause a couple of wounds, while the Starweaver managed to charge BOTH Exorcists to remove their firepower.

I scored First Blood, Secure Objective 3 and Secure Objective 6 (both in my deployment zone) to make the score 3-0.

Sisters of Battle turn 1

He moved up one Immolator to get some shots on the Skyweavers and fell his other stuff back from combat. The lead Cannoness and the Sister squad with her moved to deal with the Starweaver, and the rest of the tanks that could shoot attempted to deal with my Heroes.

His shooting phase was ineffective, and he caused 6 wounds across his targets but failed to force me to remove a model. I suspect he may have needed to disembark more units to get more shots.

The Cannoness and Sisters charged the Starweaver and continued to fail to bring it down. It survived quite a bit from them, only losing 1 Wound across the turn.

He scored Secure Objective 5 to make the score 3-1

Round 2
  
Harlequins turn 2

I moved the Great Harlequin, a Shadowseer and two of the Troupes to deal with the Immolator nearing my lines and moved the other Troupes up towards his deployment zone. My Heroes prepared to take on specific targets, with the Solitaire rolling a double 6 for his Blitz. All the skimmers moved into the deployment zone, with the Starweaver dropping off it's Troupe.

My Psychic Phase was spent baiting out his Deny Stratagem and causing Mortal Wounds to nearby targets.

In the Shooting Phase, the Skyweavers claimed their second Exorcist, some Fusion Pistols killed the Immolator near my lines to force the units inside to disembark. My shooting at his few disembarked units was a little lacklustre, however.

In the Charge Phase, my Solitaire went for his Warlord, my Shadowseer went for an Imagafier and the Great Harlequin and support went for the Dominions and Imagifier. Everything else charged the nearest tank in an effort to jam Newby up and remove movement options. The Skyweavers charged and surrounded the final Exorcist, meaning of the 3 the only one that got to fire did it as Overwatch.

The Solitaire killed his Cannoness to grant me Warlord kill, the Troupes killed the Dominion and Imagifier, the other Troupe reduced their foes to 1 model. The damage done to the tanks was inconsequential, but the key was removing their firepower for the next turn.

I scored Strike and Evade, Dominate, Psychological Warfare and Warlord to make the score 9-1.

Sisters of Battle turn 2

This turn is where the full impact of his mistake cost him. He couldn't get the majority of his units out of combat, nor could he disembark the units within them. There simply wasn't enough room. I had successfully jammed him into his own deployment zone. This left him only a couple of units to work with.

They put in work, managing to finish off the original Shadowseer and the Starweaver to score some points. But that was literally all he was able to do with his turn. He scooped as he felt that he was losing too many points and expected to be hit heavily as my Troupes would reach his lines in my next turn.

He scored Witch Hunter and Scour the Skies, but the game end meant I scored Linebreaker to make the score 10-3.

Aftermath

As I said, we discussed the rationale for his costly decisions. Letting me go first gave me the ability to dictate the flow of the game, and shut down a lot of his firepower. Not scouting with the Dominions meant he was stuck in his corner deployment zone, which robbed him of the ability to move in the second turn. These are the things, as a Harlequin player, that are key to victory.

If you can decide where the fights are happening and lock the opponent's key shooting in combat you control the game. This battle was an extreme example of that, as normally there is some counterplay. But those early decisions proved costly.

Whenever a game presents a decision to you, always consider why you are making the choice you are making. Every decision is important, that's the nature of games.

I look forward to facing my next opponent.

Lando's Friday Challenge

In an effort to play more Warhammer 40,000, and try out more armies, I have pencilled in Friday afternoons for taking on challenges. It's a convenient time slot for me, as I'm in Antics running FNM anyway and not actually play Magic while I'm there.

Hopefully, it will also give me time to play against more people and more armies, plus regular gaming should incentivise me to get models actually fully painted. I plan on doing reports on those games in this blog, with pictures, assuming I get each opponents consent. I'll let my opponent decide on the Mission, my only stipulation being that the game is Matched Play at 2000 points.

So, what army am I trying out for the first few games?

Harlequins

Veiled Path Battalion

• Troupe Master, Fusion Pistol, Harlequin's Caress (Warlord - Player of Twilight)
• Shadowseer (Relic - The Mirrorstave) (Psychic Powers - Fog of Dreams, Veil of Tears)
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol, 6 Harlequin's Caress
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol, 6 Harlequin's Embrace
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol, 6 Harlequin's Kiss
• Death Jester
• Death Jester
• Death Jester
• Voidweaver, 2 Shuriken Cannons, Prismatic Cannon
• Voidweaver, 2 Shuriken Cannons, Prismatic Cannon

Veiled Path Battalion

• Shadowseer, Neuro Disruptor (Psychic Powers - Twilight Pathways, Mirror of Minds)
• Shadowseer (Psychic Powers - Shards of Light, Webway Dance)
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol
• A Troupe of 6 Players, Fusion Pistol
• Solitaire, Harlequin's Caress, Harlequin's Kiss
• 6 Skyweavers, 6 Zephyglaives, 6 Haywire Cannons
• Starweaver, 2 Shuriken Cannons

Comes in at 1967 points, with 13 Command Points.

I plan on always using the Great Harlequin Stratagem on my Troupe Master, and having the whole mask re-enact the dance known as "The Folly of Khaine". Leaping straight into the opponent and trying to break their back, while throwing the Wailing Doom in spear form, represented by the Skyweavers.

If nothing else, it'll be a gloriously short game. Mobility should let me hit hard and fall back to claim any objectives. It will be interesting seeing how this fares, especially once the fragility of the Aeldari meets the weapons of the enemy. We shall also see how often the Riddlesmiths ability actually comes into play.

Final Fantasy Regionals

This weekend saw the Final Fantasy TCG Regionals at Antics. I don't often get a chance to play the game, so I built a deck and had some quick refresher games in the week.

FFVII.Dec

Summons
3 x Bahamut Fury (1-190S)
1 x Phoenix (3-020H)
Backups
3 x Wedge (4-076R)
3 x Biggs (4-090R)
3 x Jessie (1-204S)
3 x Zack (4-031C)
3 x Zangan (1-188S)
Forwards
1 x Barret (1-205S)
3 x Barret (1-114R)
3 x Barret (4-089R)
3 x Vincent (PR-002)
1 x Vincent (2-077L)
3 x Vincent (4-075H)
1 x Tifa (1-016C)
3 x Tifa (1-189S)
3 x Tifa (2-011L)
2 x Cloud (1-009C)
1 x Cloud (1-187S)
3 x Cloud (4-145H)
2 x Cloud (1-182L)
1 x Cloud (PR-021/1-182L)
1 x Sephiroth (1-186L)

FF7 was the first Final Fantasy game I played, it introduced me to the series. It was also the first digital RPG I played. It helps that I love the story and the characters. With the FF TCG I only collect the cards from FF7, which limits my card pool. However, it lets me play the characters I like.

I built around the core of the Starter Deck. I removed the non-7 cards long ago. When building for this event, I decided to stick to the Fire/Earth archetype, splashing for Light Cloud. I finally put in a single Dark Sephiroth in case of a dangerous Backup. I don't really follow the meta, so I wasn't sure what I should be looking out for.

The event had 12 players, which meant 4 rounds and a top 4 cut. I'm terrible with names, so I don't remember the people I faced that I didn't know before the day. I will protect everyone's ID by not using any names.

Round 1
I faced a deck that wanted to fill the field with Monsters and attack in one turn. My deck came out quite aggressive and put my opponent on the back foot. He didn't really recover.
1-0

Round 2
I faced a control deck built around Porom and Palom, one that was used to re-teach me in the week. It was a close game, though I misplayed and forgot to use Biggs to increase Barret's power. This may or may not have changed the game. My opponent was on 6 damage at end of the game.
1-1

Round 3
I'm not sure how to describe what my opponent's deck was doing, due to my lack of experience with the game. There was a lot of back and forth with the game. The Legend Tifa was key in helping me get enough attacks through to win.
2-1

Round 4
Again, not sure about this deck but I believe it was built around Knights. My opponent was much better at the game than I was, but I made a fight of it. Got him to 6 damage by the end.
2-2

For my first ever constructed event, especially a Regional, 2-2 isn't bad. I came 8th and got some promos and boosters as prizes. It was a well-run event, as all of Lee Tucker's events are. I had a good day and it left me encouraged to try and get more games in. It's a shame my scheduling rarely allows me to.

I'm probably going to take the Sephiroth out of the deck, as I didn't see any worthwhile targets for his ability. Not sure what I'll replace him with. Maybe an extra Vincent or another Tifa. Or I'll forget by the time I next play. Plus another set comes out soon so we shall see what that brings.

Thanks to Lee Tucker for running the event, Richard Langsford for organizing it and sorting out the prize support and my opponents for all being a joy to play against. I hope to get more games in, this event was a great ambassador.

Amonkhet Standard

As I said in a previous post (http://hiveoffunandsilliny.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/i-was-out-damn-it.html?zx=d5b0ffc2c2a63d20),  I want to collect a set of Amonkhet. I've done quite well on the main set, though the Invocations are proving to be problematic. As the recent Game Day was coming up, i needed a handful of cards, including the Game Day promos. This left me with two choices; play in the event or trade for them. This would potentially become problematic as one of them is a highly Standard-playable dragon.

As you can see, the full-art, foil promo is better art. I'll also need it for my Dragon collection. This lead to me sitting down on the Saturday night to deck build for the next day's Game Day at Antics.

I've not had a Standard-legal deck in about a year. Not really had any interest in the format in that time, especially since Kaladesh hit none of my flavour buttons. So I started my deck-building by going through my collection and pulling out any interesting Standard-legal cards in Black and Green.

Why these two colours? They are my favourite to play as a combination, and no matter the format usually lead to a Midrange Rock-style deck. It has become a deck of decent solo creatures, disruption, removal and incremental advantage. It's a style of deck I play often, my Modern weapon of choice being Jund. This came from reading the old Five-With-Flores articles, where one about Midrange lead me to learn that it fit my playstyle, and I haven't looked back.

That procedure left me with roughly a Fat Pack (Bundle for you new kids) box full of cards I thought might be playable/interesting/fun. A little more sifting/cutting lead to actually having to make decisions.

• How much land do I want?
• Do I want an Energy package?
• Do I invest heavily in Delirium?
• Do I go more aggro or control?

Here is the answer I can up with

Main Deck

4 x Sylvan Advocate

4 x Tireless Tracker

2 x Verdurous Gearhulk

1 x Ishkanah, Grafwidow

2 x Noxious Gearhulk

1 x Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

2 x Nissa, Voice of Zendikar

1 x Liliana, the Last Hope

2 x Ob Nixilis Reignited

2 x Liliana, Death's Majesty

4 x Oath of Nissa

2 x Traverse the Ulvenwald

4 x Grasp of Darkness

2 x Transgress the Mind

2 x Ruinous Path

1 x Never (to) Return

4 x Hissing Quagmire

4 x Blooming Marsh

3 x Evolving Wilds

1 x Blighted Fen

6 x Swamp

6 x Forest

Sideboard

1 x Manglehorn

2 x Gonti, Lord of Luxury

1 x Ishkanah, Grafwidow

2 x Transgress the Mind

2 x Pick the Brain

1 x Dispossess

3 x Appetite for the Unnatural

3 x Flaying Tendrils

This is what I settled on by the time I went to bed. I had a slightly different build, but jamming some games on Forge told me I probably needed some more early removal, which meant switching in the Grasp of Darkness'ss. A few more games told me that weakness had been shored up, but I needed to get to bed rather than get more games in.

Some of the choices will look strange. I settled on 24 land out of habit. One of the Basic Lands should probably be another Evolving Wilds, but I could only find three. The Blighted Fen is a pet card. I'll always try and run one while it's in Standard. It's also a potential out to cards like Ulamog.

The 1 Liliana, the Last Hope is because that's all I currently own. It's too good a card to not use, and should potentially be a higher number, but I'm not going to trade for one or more just for this deck. 12 pieces of removal (including Planeswalker abilities and Gearhulks) felt about right. I suspect that's one of those things one gets a feel for as one plays the game more and more.

The Sideboard was a little haphazard. I knew the "popular" decks in the format were Mardu Vehicles and Aetherworks Marvel. However, I had no idea how popular they would be locally. So the board is attempted answers to those decks, and some other cards, again based on what I had immediately available.

The deck ended up being pretty straightforward G/B Rock, with a small Delirium package. Not enough to go all in, but enough to power up some cards in the late game/get to that board state sooner. Ulamog is a surprise card to push over the top, should the game go long enough. The double exile should be enough, even if he then gets Cast Out, or faces similar removal.

So, How did I do?

The event was 4 rounds with a Top 4 cut. My interest was in making the Top 8, as that's how you won the Dragon. Trueheart Duelist was the participation promo, so that was easy to achieve. With 12 Players, a record of 2-2 (6 points) should Top 8. That meant I could afford 2 losses and still make my goal. Not that I particularly wanted any losses, but it was nice to know an average record would still get me the card.

I thought no more of it and settled down to play my first match. It went great. 2-0 and didn't touch my Sideboard. That's not just the first match, that would be repeated every round during the Swiss. I faced a variety of decks, none of which appeared to be typical builds of any archetype I've read about. The games came down to drawing enough removal, having Planeswalkers stick and beating down with the creatures. So, basically, what the deck is supposed to do.

This left me facing down the Top 4 having already achieved my goal. The semi-final and final went the same way, facing someone I had already faced in the Swiss. My deck continued to do it's job and I was victorious.

This meant I also won this snazzy playmat.

I've since played the deck in an FNM to similar results. One game loss and a final round that ended in a time out. Actually did some sideboarding that day though. This has lead me to want to make some changes to the Sideboard

1 Appetite for the Unnatural becomes 1 Manglehorn

1 Appetite for the Unnatural becomes 1 Dispossess

1 Ishkanah, Grafwidow becomes 1 Never (to) Return

To be honest, this is another of those "feeling" things, where I'm having trouble explaining my reasoning. I think I want the Appetite for the Unnaturals swapped out, as a second Manglehorn is probably better in the Mardu Vehicles match-up and the second Dispossess is better against Aetherworks Marvel and Dynavolt Tower. Ishkanah, Grafwidow is coming out because I don't actually see a reason to side it in, so a second Never (to) Return replaces it, giving me extra removal if wanted and a hedge against any emergent Graveyard strategy.

I'll be playing this deck at FNMs for a while, unless other games distract me. It's a great time slot to play the Star Wars LCG. I've got a sweet Lothal Spectres deck to test and hone down from 12 Objective Sets. But it's nice to have a Standard deck I enjoy playing again, after so long. It will be interesting to see what Hour of Devastation brings, especially as I will want a set of that to compliment the Amonkhet set.

Speaking of, as of writing this, I still need two cards. Hopefully I'll be able to track them down/trade for them soon. Then on with the chore of trying to get more of the Invocations.

The Results Are In

Belated posting, been busy with work and life. Let's get things back on track.

This past Sunday I held my third 40K Tournament. It did well, we got 12 players. The scenario was  Maelstrom of War: Tactical Escalation. Here are the results;

1. Jack Lambourne, Tzeentch Daemons. 3 wins, 46 points
2. Ian Atrill, Orks. 3 wins, 32 points
3. Mike Pooley, Necrons. 2 wins, 1 loss, 30 points
4. David Newby, Sisters of Battle. 2 wins, 1 loss, 26 points
5. Charlie Bennett, Ynnari. 2 wins, 1 loss, 25 points
6. Ron Gargett, Alpha Legion. 1 win, 1 loss, 1 draw, 17 points
7. Alfie Bennett, Homunculus Covens. 1 win, 2 losses, 34 points
8. Chris Tucker, Necrons. 1 win, 2 losses, 20 points
9. Josh, Space Wolves. 1 win, 2 losses, 26 points
10. Macaulay Uniack, Raven Guard. 1 win, 2 losses, 7 points
11. Les Harvey, Dark Angels. 2 losses, 1 draw, 19 points
12. Kyle Clements, Blood Angels. 3 losses, 27 points

There is a nice spread of armies, with only one repetition. Which is the pattern so far. All three events have had a duplicate faction. Interestingly they have been a different faction and different players each time.

Jack's Daemons have won back to back events. I believe part of this is there ability to swarm the table via Summoning and rapidly overwhelm opponents. Especially as they usually start the game outnumbering them. It's something a lot of forces can't deal with unless they are set up to deal with it, which may cost them against others. It was possibly a key to the success of the Orks as well. Mobs of boyz set up in trucks, an army of large-ish, fast moving units.

End of May sees a repeat of this event, while we await 8th Editions release and the discussion into how to move forward with these events once that has happened.

Thanks to everyone that came, I hope that they all enjoyed it and I'll be sending out the survey shortly

Second 40k Starter Event Report

I'm typing this up during the event, so it's probably going to be a little disjointed.

We had 10 players again, so maximum turn out. Some different players and some players playing different armies. Only one repetition, and both of those are different styles.

• Khorne Daemonkin, mono-daemons with Flesh Hounds, Bloodletters and a Skullcannon
• Blood Angels infantry, with Terminator support
• Blood Angels, 4 Dreadnoughts with some infantry support
• Sisters of Battle, with Saint Celestine and 2 Exorcists
• Tzeentch Daemons, Flamers galore
• Skitarii, Rangers and a Dunecrawler
• World Eaters, Berzerkers and Raptors
• Raven Guard, Shrike leading Assault Marines, Scouts and Sternguard
• Crimson Slaughter with a Vindicator
• Saim-Hann Elder, with Wraithguard in a Wave Serpent.

As I type this, round one is coming near to an end. Everyone is playing the mission, no-one has come here just to try and table people. It's part of the intent of the event. I've limited the guest list to ensure a good atmosphere. Some players aren't great at facing newer players and that rapidly turns things toxic. That then leads to players not wanting to return to future events or even losing interest in the game. Definitely something I want to avoid.

Second round has led to an interesting match up. The Blood Angels players are facing off, with the more experienced one giving advice to the newer player. The latter played Harlequins last time and recently obtained the Blood Angels army. I'm hoping that he gets some good advice.

I'm considering asking at the end if any of the players want me to feature their army on the blog. It'll be interesting to hear the whys behind some of the builds and their intended tactics, alongside how they felt the games went.

Via summoning, the Tzeentch army managed to practically table the World Eaters. Far too many Flamer templates and not enough successful saves.

Final round I was unable to get pictures because a player dropped. This meant I got to play a match! I'll talk about the list I'm trialling in a future post. I won on behalf of the player that went, but as is my custom the player I beat got the win as if he faced the bye.

Everyone seemed happy with the event, the winner played the Tzeentch Daemon list, facing off against the Sisters of Battle in the final round. I've sent out the same questionnaire as last time, and nearly had a full set of responses already. I'm really enjoying running these, and I'm looking forward to the next one where we pump up the points, lift some restrictions and move onto Maelstrom missions,

Second 40K Starter Event

I'm currently prepping for this weekend's event. I thought I'd share the battlefield with you all. The more observant among readers will be able to plan their tactics based on this, but that's the advantage of recon ;)

The Red Cross is The Relic. The key objective for the mission. As per the mission rules, it starts in the dead centre of the field. Players will be fighting to capture and control this, moving it away from their opponent as needed.

The Black Rectangles are the Deployment Zones. Not much to say here, the Players set up their armies in these, one in the top, one in the bottom. Units with Scout will shoot forward from these. Units with Infiltrate will want to deploy outside of these. Units with Outflank will come on from the sides.

The Blue Shapes are Line of Sight Blocking Terrain. These serve to break up the lines of fire and give models/units places to hide. If you can be partially seen past these, they will be worth a 3+ Cover Save.

The Grey Ovals are Area Terrain. The features of these will block some lines of sight, but mostly will grant cover to models in their marked area. They will gain a 5+ Cover Save.

The Grey Rectangles are Ruins. This offer vantage points for shooting units, as well as cover to models behind their walls. They will have a 4+ Cover Save.


This will be the set up on Sunday, and after players have tried it out may well be the set up for the next few events. Looking at upping the points and removing some of the restrictions for April's event.

Next time; A summary of the Event itself.

Ours is the Fury!

Recently, we had a Store Championships for the Game of Thrones card game. Because I did quite well (went undefeated), and because the blog is rapidly filling up with 40K related posts, I thought I would talk a little about my deck.

House - 
Baratheon

Agenda - 
Fealty

Plots - 
Summons x 2
The King's Peace x 1
A Feast for Crows x 1
A Clash of Kings x 1
Filthy Accusations x 1
Summer Harvest x 1

Characters - 
*Robert Baratheon x 3
*Ser Barristan Selmy x 2
*Stannis Baratheon x 3
*Melisandre x 3
*Ser Davos Seaworth x 3
*Selyse Baratheon x 3
Asshai Priestess x 3
Fiery Followers x 3
*Edric Storm x 3
*Shireen Baratheon x 1
Vanguard Lancer x 3

Attachments - 
Stinking Drunk x 3
*Lightbringer x 3
Red God's Blessing x 3
*Ruby of R'hllor x 3

Locations - 
Dragonstone Port x 2
*Chamber of the Painted Table x 2
*Tobho Mott's Armory x 2

Events - 
Consolidation of Power x 3
Seen in the Flames x 3
Even Handed Justice x 3
Ritual of R'hllor x 3


I have a deck built for each House for a Melee Cube, so none of the decks have Neutral cards and they currently all use the Fealty Agenda. As time goes one, each House may get it's own Agenda and Neutral cards may be used, but currently I'm not playing the Cube often enough to make changes like that yet.

Essentially, the deck uses Melisandre and a suit of R'hllor cards to kneel opposing characters, plus help from effects like Stinking Drunk. Then it relies on either repeating those effects or Stannis to keep those characters knelt. I then attempt to win a few challenges while actually winning the Dominance Phase.

Mel kneels an opposing character whenever a R'hllor card is marshaled or played. Including her when first marshaled, but not including any Dupes, there are 23 cards in the deck with the trait. There are also 14 other cards that kneel opposing characters. This allows for a lot of board control, and meant that an opposing Mountain stayed knelt for practically a whole game at one point.

Stannis the Mannis turns all the kneeling into a soft lock. While he is in play, each player cannot stand more then 2 characters in the standing phase. While that seems symmetrical, my deck is more often than not kneeling their characters with no benefit to them. Give Stannis Lightbringer, and suddenly he stands every time he gains power. Give him Red God's Blessing and he has the strength to win challenges and gain power from Lightbringer's Renown and therefore stand himself. That's one less character to worry about standing. This allows him to win challenges the next turn and keep it going. The two Summons in the Plot Deck are there to find him and Melisandre as quickly as possible.

Bobby B, the only King I respect. Intimidate and Renown are great keywords. And then he gets +1 strength for each other kneeling character. Kneel before your King! That can lead to him being hard to stop in a challenge, especially as you should have knelt their strongest/most threatening characters. Spoiler alert - I failed to draw/marshal him during the event.

The Onion Knight. When the opponent has so few defenders, the Stealth on him is amazing. His ability to dodge death is great too. I can even use Selyse to give him an Intrigue icon. He is the man you want when you want to make a small winning challenge.


Combo - Ruby of R'hllor and Seen in Flames. I never managed to pull this combo off, but as both cards have the R'hllor trait for Melisandre, I'm not that annoyed. Seen in Flames essentially acts like Thoughtseize in Magic the Gathering. I look at your hand and choose a card for you to discard. It being a Challenges Action means I can use it to stop any combat surprises, or after you have drawn cards from effects like Insight. Then (in theory) the Ruby works like Cabal Therapy. If I win an Intrigue challenge with the attached character, I can name a card and the losing opponent reveals their hand and discards each card with that name. Choosing correctly is made easier when I have seen their hand through the first card. Especially in subsequent turns where they may not have been able to play all the cards I've seen. Also, each use shows me their hand to keep my information up to date.

Finally, the Dominance Package. A Feast for Crows gives me 2 extra power when I win Dominance, which can often end the game. Painted Table can be knelt when I win Dominance to steal a power from the opponent. Mott's Armory draws me a card when I win Dominance.
Winning Dominance can be easy, as my opponent's characters should be knelt and therefore not contribute their strength. Fiery Followers stand themselves during the Dominance phase to contribute extra power and Edric Storm lets me stop an opposing character from contributing strength should they manage to stand someone.
Ritual of R'hllor is the icing on the cake. When I win Dominance, it lets me turn leftover gold into power on R'hllor characters, to increase my overall power gain. Then, because it has the R'hllor trait, Melisandre can kneel someone. It can either be played early for an extra kneel trigger, or late to finish the game.

That's the deck I've built for my favourite house. It's a control/prison style deck that wins through inevitability, but can also gain a chunk of power quite quickly. It did better than I expected, as it is made for Melee and the format was Joust. I suppose attempting to build a deck that can lock down multiple opponents makes it good at focusing on one opponent. I won the event, but passed down the Bye at Regionals as I don't intend on going while the players that came to the event will do.