The Wrath of the Green Lady – A Masters Tournament Blog (Part Three)

This article is part of an ongoing series. If you haven’t read the previous entries, you can do so by clicking on the links below:

Part One

Part Two

Round Three – Scott Holcomb – Smoke and Mirrors

For the third round, I continued to win the opponent lottery by matching up against Scott Holcomb and his Kingdoms of Men. Scott took the idea of theming your army and turned the dial to eleven. It was truly a sight to behold and he went on to deservingly win the Players’ Choice award. Scott and I had previously played in the 2017 Masters, back when I had no idea what I was doing. I remember that he won the game and that he was a great dude, but the details are fuzzy beyond that. I was running a Goblin army converted over from Warhammer Fantasy, and he might have been running Twilight Kin. Whatever the case, he certainly didn’t have this gorgeous pirate army yet! Here is his list:

Army: Kingdoms of Men

Points: 2300

Unit Count: 15

Unit Strength: 28

260, Fanatic Horde

— Brew of Haste

225, Knight Regiment

— Brew of Strength

215, Knight Regiment

— Maccwar’s Potion of the Caterpillar

210, Knight Regiment

— Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding

145, Fanatic Regiment

145, Fanatic Regiment

150, Foot Guard Regiment

— Fire-Oil

— Indomitable Will

225, Giant

95, Hero on Pegasus

— Indomitable Will

95, Hero on Pegasus

— Indomitable Will

95, Hero on Pegasus

— Indomitable Will

155, Captain

— Horse

75, Army Standard Bearer

— Lute of Insatiable Darkness

105, Wizard

— Pegasus

— Lightning Bolt (3) to replace Fireball

— Bane Chant (2)

105, Wizard

— Pegasus

— Lightning Bolt (3) to replace Fireball

— Bane Chant (2)

Initial Thoughts and Strategy

Honestly, I did not like my odds in this matchup. Any objective-based scenario was going to be rough due to Scott’s 5(!) flying Heroes, but Fool’s Gold had to be the worst. I lack the Ranged attacks to deal with them, and they can easily redeploy to contest objectives anywhere on the board once they become revealed. I was hoping my Seductress would be able to deal with one, or perhaps two of them. My plan was to deploy my objectives fairly deep in his half of the board, using Scout to advance quickly and keep the fighting on his side. I put both “0” objectives in the center, with the “2” on my right flank and both “1” objectives on my left. I deployed the De 6 wall in the center, hoping to perhaps fool him into thinking my valuable tokens were in the center while being able to hang back and claim his center tokens (if they turned out to be valuable). Then split my forces fairly evenly between the right and left flanks.

Brief Summary

The left flank went as planned. I Routed several of his units and laid claim to a number of objectives. 

The center was mostly meant to delay the bulk of Scott’s army, and it did just that. I got a lucky flank charge (off a hill) on his Foot Guard Regiment with my Forest Shambler Regiment on the second turn (he didn’t see it coming) which certainly helped my cause.

The right flank, however, is where my plan fell to pieces. He deployed his Knight Regiment with Brew of Strength opposite my hammer units, and I needed a way to tie that unit up for a turn so I could advance and win the battle. I thought to do this via some clever positioning with my Naiad Wyrmrider Centurion. I was all set to get the charge on his Knight Regiment and press the advance with the rest of the flank. Scott’s only chance at stopping this was to flank charge the Naiad Wyrmrider Centurion with a Hero on Pegasus. A safe bet, I thought, as he only has 3 Attacks (doubling to 6 in the flank).

As luck would have it, Scott took the charge, then proceeded to hit and wound with all 6 Attacks. No worries, I thought. His Nerve is 13/15 with Fury and Regeneration (4+). Except, Scott rolled a “9” twice and Routed him. Ouch. This stroke of bad luck eventually cost me the entire flank, as I had nothing to prevent the Knight Regiment from charging into somebody (the Abyssal Fiend ended up eating it) at full strength. It took him a while, but eventually, he stood victorious and happily claimed my 2 point objective.

At the end of six turns, I was winning the game. We rolled for seven and got it. Scott had the top of the turn, and brought it to a draw. On the bottom of seven, all I had to do to win was Rout a Wizard on Pegasus. I charged it with a Forest Shamblers Regiment and the Seductress. I whiffed hard. The result? A dead 10 – 10 Draw.

Things I Did Well / Mistakes

I think I deployed my objectives well and made the right choices during the game. Nothing, in particular, stands out as a stroke of genius or a glaring mistake. This was the second time in a row I watched a win slip away from me thanks to the turn seven roll. A little frustrating, but I was happy with my performance and having fun. Besides, with a humble record of 1-1-1 I shouldn’t be matched up against a heavy hitter for round four, right?

Round Four – Brad McKay – Loot

Wrong! In the fourth round, I was matched against the reigning Master, Brad McKay, and his Nightstalkers. It was a bit surprising, given my record, but Brad was on the same points as me. Just like Scott, I had played Brad in the 2017 Masters. I remember him playing a tight game and taking my toys off rather handily. I was excited for a rematch (and a chance to defeat the Master) and hoped to show him that I had improved over the years. His list, though. Oh man, his list…

Army: Nightstalkers

Points: 2300

Unit Count: 11

Unit Strength: 17

255, Fiend Horde

— Brew of Strength

235, Fiend Horde

— Maccwar’s Potion of the Caterpillar

230, Fiend Horde

— Sir Jesse’s Boots of Striding

290, Void Lurker

— Brew of Haste

285, Void Lurker

— Aegis of the Elohi

280, Void Lurker

— Mead of Madness

185, Planar Apparition

— Bastion (2)

165, Planar Apparition

165, Planar Apparition

105, Phantom Troop

105, Phantom Troop

Initial Thoughts and Strategy

My strategy with Loot is always the same. Concede one of the Loot tokens but put enough resistance to make my opponent work for it. Focus on winning the remaining two Loot tokens. In this case, I conceded the Loot token on my left flank and concentrated on winning the middle and the right flank. The Void Lurkers were going to be a problem for my list, but I figured if I played cagey I could prevent them from getting any advantageous charges.

Brief Summary

We played chicken for the first two-three turns. I think he was caught off guard by how effectively I was able to block off charge lanes. Once we committed, I was able to lock down two Void Lurkers. The Seductress took one, and the Naiad Wyrmrider Centurion took the other. Great! 

The third Void Lurker committed to my lines in a risky maneuver. It was protecting a Horde of Fiends that had just claimed the center Loot token. This combat was my chance at the game, in retrospect. I put 12 damage on that bad boy and needed to roll a “6” twice to Rout him (thanks to Brutal). I did not get a “6.” Predictably, Brad was able to remove all 12 damage on the ensuing turn and sneak off to safety with the Loot token. In the end, we had very similar Attrition scores, but he held two Loot tokens and I only held one, resulting in a 15 – 7 Loss.

Things I Did Well

I was definitely proud of the way I handled the Void Lurkers. I Routed one of them, came darn close to Routing a second and effectively tied up the third long enough to prevent it from having a major impact on the game.

Mistakes

I choked myself up a bit in the middle of the table. I was using the Forest Shambler Regiments and Hunters of the Wild Troops to prevent him from charging my hammers. This was smart. However, I didn’t need to keep my units in front so close to my units in back. I only needed to get close enough so as to prevent a Void Lurker from landing. As a result, when he charged into my chaff (and didn’t Rout it), I couldn’t pivot all of the hammers enough to bring them into combat. This was a learning point that I hope to put into good use moving forward.

End of Day One

At the end of Saturday, my record was 1-2-1. Not the greatest, but my losses had been worth 8 and 7 points, meaning I was sitting comfortably in the middle of the field. For me to achieve my goal of winning three games, I would have to win both games on Sunday. A tall order, but certainly not out of my reach. Stay posted for my next blog post to see how it panned out!