ShoreCon Target Expo Chronopia tournament
750 points, no terrain-specific rules
Sunday, September 12, 1999
My Army:
[Comments: right off the bat, I thought it was a 1000 point battle, so two minutes before we started, I axed my Skyrider and my Spearmen. Ah well, the clever general can deal with such changes.]
[Comments: Devout, I can handle, as that's what I play the other half of the time (although I wasn't used to the Soulflayer, I knew what to expect.) Obsidian, I could deal with, and I never faced him. Dwarf scared me, but it wasn't like the Dwarven army I usually face (the all-shooty one.) So, I felt confident going in. Little did I know...]
[More details and some photos can be found at Judge's Corner, under the ShoreCon heading in the Cons and Demos section.]
Soulflayer and Abyss Crawler walk up and down me. Too much cover for the archers to do their duty, especially with all the skeletons on the other side. He wins on points and his tactical manuvering.
High point: I take my Obsidian Guard across the middle of the field, use him and the Axemen to plow through the skeletal swordsmen. Start him running through the skeletal archers, trying toget to the Necromancer right behind the archers. However, despite support from his own archers, the Obsidian Guard is cruelly cut down by Devout Swordsmen, thanks to the Necromancer corroding him two or three times.
Low point: Bemoaning my tactical inferiority. Running my Slaves in reverse, waiting for the Soulflayer that never made it down to face them.
Lesson: Tactics are everything. If I had my Golem switched places with my Archers, I coulda taken it, but he outmanuvered me and pinned me down.
Almost the same roster, but much less cover, and no skeletons on the other side (Jackal Crossbows and Demon Wings took their place.) I make quick work of him, and kill him to a man. This was the point boost I needed (scoring was on percentage you had remaining compared to points killed. Complex math, but they figured it out. I just kept killing.)
High Point: Sending a lone Archer into close combat with the Abyss Crawler which just trampled into the middle of his warband. That way, the Crawler couldn't burrow, and the remaining archers (and their pal the Obsidian Guard) could take out the Crawler.
Low Point: After a shootout between my archers and his crossbowmen, I end up sending the Obsidian Guard to kill his last Jackal, who survived like seven shots by my archers. The other low point was watching my Slaves make Leadership rolls against Cursed to see who hits first in countercharge.
Lesson: the only way to deal with the Soulflayer is massed aimed shots. Or something like that. And terrain is everything. This was on a very open artic field, and once I got my archers in the middle more or less intact, they paid for themselves and then some.
Get this: one warband of Vulture Crossbows, some Axe-horn Warriors, and a Firethrower Team, to backup a Keeper and a Dark Tusk Totem. He ran everything up my left flank, panicking me (the player.) I swung everything around to the side, taking out the Firethrower first, and got stuck in. My Slaves kept the Totem busy, but he turned the Keeper into a second Totem. At the end of the day, Odin had three Crossbowmen, I had three archers, the Lotus Eater, and a newly-summoned Golem. (two had already died.) Then the game was called, and points counted.
High Point: I had my Stoneskinned Obsidian Guard in close combat with both Totems. He killed the Keeper-totem, and wounded the other before he went down (the Golem took out the other Totem.)
Low Point: Having the heck scared out of me.
Lesson: When the only way to win is killing the Totem(s), then all you gotta do is up and kill the Totems. Damn, that's zen.
Overall:
I met many cool people from the forum, enjoyed the Warzone BFB also. I
hope this sort of thing can happen again, and that I can attend. Oh, and
gave Target more of my money. And got invited to a nice little
small-press party too. So, all in all, the weekend was a success.
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