Southern Ontario Open Recap Part 2

So after our night on the town the alarms woke us up earlier than any of us really wanted. After rocking the free breakfast at the hotel and the mandatory (should be for all convention goers) shower we threw on the Team Spite shirts (except Tim who forgot his) and hit the road for the Canadian Legion that was hosting the event.

Some of the only photos I remembered to take

When we go to the Legion I got to say quick hellos to some of my Canadian buddy like Northblade, Chadi, Boots, and Charles (my partner in crime after the painting class) After the hellos it was time to break out the minis and get the tray ready for the day. It was at this time Tim realized he brought one of his troll cases and didn't have the minis needed for one of his lists :/

This mess is my tray prior to round one. Damn three lists and trolls :)

I don't know about y'all but round one of any event is always the most nerve racking for me and the lead up to pairing is always anxious. All I was hoping for was a match up where I had a clear drop and didn't have to think too much. Lucky for me this came true and I was paired up vs Legion and the scenario was destruction. 

Round1: I was paired up with Fadi from Northblade's meta. I forget what his other two lists were but I was nearly 100% sure he was going to drop eVayl theme force and I was right he did. Fadi's list was as follows (to the best of my memory):

Vayl, Consul of Everblight (*6pts)

* Naga Nightlurker (5pts)
* Raek (4pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Ravagore (9pts)
* Ravagore (9pts)
Spawning Vessel (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)

I dropped Runes of War. I was very happy with round one as it was a central scenario I felt very comfortable, the terrain was set up in such a way I could put my wall in great spots plus there was water, and I know the Vayl list pretty well to boot. 

I won the roll and decided to go first. I deployed in a pretty standard runes set up with the Doomie, the beasts, Janissa, and the KSB centralized and two units of runeshapers on each flank. Turn one everything pretty much runs forward. I had a little brain fart in my turn one as I forgot to do no continuous effects from the KSB and on his turn the ravegores set two of my runeshapers on fire....doh! All in all the game went pretty well for me and I feel hes was a little too conservative as I was able to score three scenario point on top of three and then get another two on top of four to win the game on scenario. Out of round one W CP:5 AP 23....1-0

Round2: I was paired up with Andrew who was playing Circle. His three 'locks were eKreuger, pMorvahna, and eMorvahna. I was pretty sure I was going to see eMorvahna so I decided to drop runes of war once again. He did indeed drop the Goatlady and his list was as follows:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow (*5pts)

* Gorax (4pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Warpborn Skinwalkers (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
* Warpborn Alpha (3pts)
Wolves of Orboros (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Wolf of Orboros Officer & Standard (2pts)
Druid Wilder (2pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)

The scenario for round two was balance of power which from my experience isn't all that "live". I decided to drop runes once again. Just like in round one I won the roll for initiative and once again elected to go first. This round my side of the table wasn't as favorable to my standard deployment as there was a pretty large obstruction on my right flank that would effect my standard "unpacking" He deployed his skinwalkers across from the runeshapers on my right flank and the unit of wolves across from the runes on my left flank where they could run into a forest. I went with a pretty standard turn one except the two units of runeshapers on my right flank were not able to get as far out as I would normally like them. The next turn we exchanged minis on the flanks and were jockeying for position. I lost the mauler to a primaled stalker on a turn I was considering feating but decided to hold off. I attepted to RFP as many of the skinwalkers as possible but my axer just didn't damage Mulg enough and Mulg was fully healed after eating two skinwalkers. Once he was down to a skinwalker and the alpha he ran them around my right flank and feated putting a lot of pressure on my backfield and swinging the attrition game largely in his favor. Luckily for me he had scales a few too many time and Morvahna was pretty far up the table to get feated skinwalkers into my backfield and she had 2 fury left in her. After surveying the table I felt I had a very solid Mulg assassination run in line if I could get all my orders of activation layed out properly. Janissa advanced and tectonic shifted pushing two skinwalkers off of Mulg and one off of Doomies back arc. Doomie was now un-engaged and I advanced him forward to rampager a beast out of mulgs charge lane, put fortune on Mulg, and feated. I was struggling deciding if, after receiving rush, Mulg was in charge range of Morvhana it was going to be <1/4" either direction. I decided I could afford to charge and fail so I charge a wilder that was a little closer but on the same trajectory I needed. I had to take a freestrike from a gorax but mulg was at full health so it wasn't too scary. Once the charge of the wilder was completed it turned out I would have been able to charge Morvahna....oh well. I killed the wilder with my fist and was able to take my club initial on Morvahna without having to goad. Since Doomie's feat was up she was going to have to take a D6 each time she transferred and between Mulg's dmg and feat dmg she just couldn't hold up. Mulg killed her with two fury remaining. Round 2 W CP:0 AP: 42.... 2-0

Round3: Before the pairing came out I was desperately hoping for some compelling reason to pick one of my other two lists. I was really enjoying runes of war but I needed to get the other lists on the table. Turns out I was paired up with David who was playing Cryx so Grim2 you're up. David was playing Lich2, Terminus, and pSkarre. He ended up dropping pSkarre and the list was as follows:

Pirate Queen Skarre (*6pts)

* Desecrator (9pts)
* Skarlock Thrall (2pts)
Bane Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (5pts)
Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (5pts)
Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls (2pts)
Necrosurgeon & 3 Stitch Thralls (2pts)
Satyxis Blood Witches (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
* Satyxis Blood Hag (2pts)
Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Satyxis Raider Sea Witch (2pts)
General Gerlak Slaughterborn (3pts)
Satyxis Raider Captain (2pts)

Scenario for round three was incursion. The board was pretty fair in regards to terrain with nothing really sticking out except one fag was in a forest. I won the roll to go first and I never like to go second vs Satyxis so I elected to go first. I deployed the SoB and Saxon on my right flank across from the right flag which was in the forest, D&S got deployed on the left flank, and the Hunters Grim/battlegroup/scattergunners/dygs we all centrally deployed. Turn one dygs burrowed, Grim put mirage on the scattergunners, and everything advanced. I tried to keep minis far enough back so as not to get charged by the raiders. I did a pretty good job of not getting charged on his turn but he decided to just run his raiders into my army and start jamming up the scattergunners and the dygs pop up zone.....the flag on my left went away. On turn two I popped my feat and attempted to clear as many raiders and mcthralls as I could but didn't' get as many as I would have expected. Over the next few turns the middle of the was just bogged down with back and forth fighting and David taking the advantage on attrition due to the recursion he had in his list. I really didn't execute a good game plan after engagement was established and felt like I was fighting an uphill battle the entire game. As I was getting very short on time I attempted a last ditch attempt to snatch a win from the jaw of defeat and was able to dominate the right flag to get up to four control points with 20 sec left on my deathclock. He was able to contest on his turn however and I lost on time. This game was very disappointing to me and has stuck with me since it ended. I have replayed it in my head multiple time and I just played poorly and didn't really make it tough on David. I had some terrible dice throughout the game but by no mean was this why I lost. It seems to me that dice tend to favor a well executed game plan and my rolls reflected my play. As I mentioned above I wish the list was a little different from design but I really wish I could play this game again from go. I cannot say with confidence that I would win but I can say I would play a better game. My hopes of an undefeated day one went out the door and the wind was completely out of my sails. I took a while looking at the table and replaying things in my head. Round 3 L CP:4 AP:37.....2-1

Round 4: I was still a little out of sorts and replaying the last round and I don't remember the warlock pairing for this round. I was playing Matt and he had Legion so I was gonna drop runes I figured I could play eGrissel day two if I qualified. The scenario for this round was Close Quarters. He dropped Saeryn. Once again I won the roll for initiative. I don't remember too may details from this game but I ended up winning via assassination on my feat turn as he ended up killing himself with feat dmg. Round 4 W CP:0 AP 75...... 3-1.

So at the end of day one I was 3-1 and had only played two of my three lists. When they did the raffle and announcements for day two they decided all the 3-1 players were invited back to day two and that they weren't going to narrow the field to the top 16. So I was back for day two and after losing round one Tim clawed back to a 3-1 record and was also going to be playing on day two. It was at this time that the announce the top player from each faction for the day and turns out I was the top Trollblood player and got a Trollblood patch and pair of dice for that achievement. I was pretty worn out by this point and while our initial plans were to hit up the town once again I ended up just going back to BWW to grab some food and watch the UFC PPV.

We came back for day two but neither Tim or myself were that into it. I got paired up with Phillip who play with Ze Frenchies out of Quebec I believe. He was playing mercs and was a really good dude. I forget his pairings at this time but know one had an earthbreaker. The scenario for this round was Outflank. I had so much fun playing runes on day one I said screw it I'll play it again. He selected:

Magnus the Warlord (*6pts)
* Nomad (6pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Kayazy Assassins (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2pts)
Kayazy Eliminators (Leader and Grunt) (3pts)
Kayazy Eliminators (Leader and Grunt) (3pts)
Steelhead Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Lord Rockbottom (2pts)
Ragman (2pts)
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw (9pts)
* Bull Snapper (3pts)

I may be off with one or two of the solos but I am pretty sure this was his list. Turn one prtty standard advances on both side. Top of two I rock hammered a bunch of kayazy and was able to kill one girl from each pair of eliminators so I was pretty happy at the end of my turn with what I killed and amy positioning......well I shouldn't have been. I kinda forgot what Magnus' feat did and after clearing the left zone (a couple of those runeshapers didn't want to die) he got Magnus into his zone and feated. Oh no! I was pretty much locked out and was done at this point. Hindsight being 20/20 I may have been able to throw my axer into the zone to get myself an extra round but I got rolled game over. Since the game ended early we got to chat a but and he was a good dude and I hope to run into him at Templecon next year.

Tim lost his round one game to a guy we know from Buffalo. Seeing as we were both out of the running for anything we decided to drop and hit the road back to the States. The tourney was very well run and I hope they do it again next year. While I would love to say I won and was heading to WMW the best part of these trips is truly the old friends you get to catch up with, the friends to travel with, and the new people you meet.