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

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

Part Three

Round Five – Rashad Navidi – Control

I was sitting in my hotel room late Saturday night when Jon Vanase, co-tournament organizer, ran the round five matchups. He read them aloud to those of us in the room, and when he got to, “Greg Person v. Rashad Navidi,” I started pumping my fists in the air in celebration. Rashad and I met at last year’s Masters but did not have the opportunity to play. I was really looking forward to getting a game in and honestly just having more time to chat with a stand-up dude. Rashad was running an Undead list that had a lot of the expected elements, but he also fielded a few unique units to make the army his own.

Army: Undead

Points: 2300

Unit Count: 13

Unit Strength: 23

320, Revenant Cavalry Horde

— Brew of Strength

270, Soul Reaver Infantry Regiment

— Blessing of the Gods

270, Soul Reaver Infantry Regiment

— Maccwar’s Potion of the Caterpillar

185, Wraith Regiment

105, Revenant Cavalry Troop

105, Revenant Cavalry Troop

55, Skeleton Warrior Troop

55, Skeleton Warrior Troop

260, Wight Horde

260, Wight Horde

230, Mhorgoth the Faceless

75, Undead Army Standard Bearer

— Lute of Insatiable Darkness

110, Necromancer

— Inspiring Talisman

— Undead Horse

— Weakness (2)

Initial Thoughts and Strategy

Rashad had one more point of Unit Strength than me, but I had one more Unit than him. This made for a fairly even match, but I thought Scout would help me take the table zones I wanted and, hence, the game. I really did not want to mess with the Soul Reaver Infantry. Those units are terrifying. I planned to avoid/delay them while concentrating on taking out the rest of his army.

Brief Summary

Rashad deployed both Regiments of Soul Reaver Infantry, with the Troops of Revenant Cavalry, Undead Army Standard Bearer, and Regiment of Wraiths on my left flank. I put a few token units of resistance on the left flank to slow him down.

All I ended up Routing on this flank was a single Troop of Revenant Cavalry, but it was definitely the right play. By the time those units had fought through the battle for the center and the right flank was already decided.

On the right flank, I set up a big Charge onto the Horde of Revenant Cavalry. I fell just short of Routing them, but luckily their Counter-Charge couldn’t quite Rout the Horde of Molochs. I got them on the second attempt and turned my attention towards the center.

The Tree Herder and Greater Earth Elemental were dealing with the Hordes of Wights, and the Abyssal Fiend joined the fray once the Horde of Revenant Cavalry was gone, sealing my victory. Things started to look a little dicey, however, once Mhorgoth the Faceless (or Shameless, as Rashad called him) lobbed a nasty Drain Life (9) in my direction and Routed the Horde of Molochs. Yikes.

It came down to a final Melee to decide the fate of the game. My Greater Earth Elemental charged a Regiment of Soul Reaver Infantry to prevent them from crossing into a different table zone. I needed some luck to Waiver them but did not get it. In return, he needed some luck to Rout me and did not get it. I barely squeaked out a 14 – 7 Win.

Things I Did Well

Honestly, I think my strongest play of the game was deployment. After that, I started making some questionable decisions and some careless mistakes. Perhaps I was tired, or perhaps I was starstruck by playing Rashad, but this was not my tightest game.

Mistakes

Both Rashad and I had a few “bone-headed” moments where we forgot some simple things. For example, Rashad forgot to move his Regiment of Wraiths one turn. I pointed it out and let him go back and move them. In another instance, I positioned my Greater Earth Elemental poorly and left his flank exposed to a possible Surge from a Horde of Wights. Rashad pointed it out and let me change the angle of my pivot.

In a perfect world, I wouldn’t make mistakes like that. I certainly try my best to avoid them. And in a competitive environment, it’s acceptable to let those mistakes stand and have you and your opponent suffer the consequences. However, I don’t like winning or losing due to silly mistakes and prefer to play with a (reasonable) level of open discussion and “take-backs.” Nothing major, but enough to correct simple, yet costly mistakes. I was appreciative that Rashad was on the same level.

Round Six – George O’Connell – Raze

It’s time for a confession. I knew from the moment that George arrived at Masters on Friday evening that he and I were going to play in round six. I knew because I was fielding a Forces of Nature army, and one of those forces is called karma. You see, me and my big mouth decided it would be fun to organize a -/28 Staff Predictions for the U.S. Kings of War Masters article. In it, I wrote, “Of all the War Engine spam lists, George’s is the most efficient. He has spent the fewest points possible (Rabble Hordes and Regiments) in order to unlock all the filth you could possibly pack into 2300 points. Do I think he will win some games? Definitely. Do I think he will win the tournament? No. There are plenty of armies (see his round one opponent) that were built specifically to counter this monstrosity. Maybe some people enjoy facing off against a list like this, but for me, it’s a hard pass.” Sigh.

George and I have known each other for over a decade, and we have a good relationship. But when he got to Masters he immediately called me out for insulting his list. He was giving me guff all weekend for it. So, of course, I knew this was coming. I had brought it upon myself!

Army: Goblins

Points: 2300

Unit Count: 24

Unit Strength: 25

125, Rabble Horde

125, Rabble Horde

125, Rabble Horde

125, Rabble Horde

125, Rabble Horde

75, Rabble Regiment

75, Rabble Regiment

130, Winggit

— Goblin Spotter

130, Winggit

— Goblin Spotter

130, Winggit

— Goblin Spotter

65, Goblin Blaster

65, Goblin Blaster

65, Goblin Blaster

90, Big Rocks Thrower

90, Big Rocks Thrower

90, Big Rocks Thrower

75, Mawpup Launcher

75, Mawpup Launcher

75, Mawpup Launcher

80, Banggit

— Inspiring Talisman

60, Banggit

60, Banggit

95, Wiz

— Boomstick

— Bane Chant (2)

150, Magwa & Jo’os

Initial Thoughts and Strategy

Due to the placement of the Objective Markers, George split his army between the left and right flanks. I thought this might give me an advantage, as he couldn’t focus all of his Ranged attacks on a single flank. The terrain map for this round put the two pieces of impassible terrain deep in either deployment zone, making them absolutely useless. The hills could hide some of my units, but the forests were too small to be much help. Given these factors, I thought to myself, “f*** it, let’s rush those Goblins full throttle and see what happens.”

Brief Summary

What happened is pretty much what you’d expect, and what I deserved. My army got wiped from the table. There were some incredibly key Nerve rolls that went in George’s favor (multiple times where he needed an 8-9 with a re-roll to Rout and got it) and a few that went against me (multiple times needing a 6-7 with or without a re-roll and failing to get it). Some of these instances were comically bad. The Tree Herder, at full health, took a Goblin Blaster to the front and was Routed. Do the math…

I did have some shining moments of hope throughout the game. Most of my charges resulted in hot dice rolls and dead Goblins. The Seductress took off a Goblin Blaster and two War Engines. In the end, though, all that was left on George’s side of the table were a handful of Individuals, the Winggits, and a single Horde of Rabble. Over the final two turns, they provided enough Ranged damage to Rout the remaining 3-4 units in my army. The final result was a 1 – 20 Loss.

Things I Did Well

What can I say? I gave it the old, college try. With a little bit of luck, a better terrain layout, and some close reading skills (see the mistakes section), the result might have been different. Despite the crushing defeat, George and I still had fun during the game and shared a lot of laughs. I can’t/don’t blame George for taking this list. The rules allowed it. Shame on all the regions that voted for 2300 instead of 1995!

Mistakes

To borrow a phrase from Kris Kaspner, I cast Mind Fog on myself this game. During setup, George and I reviewed the rules for the scenario. For the first time in my entire Kings of War career, I misread the scenario and played it incorrectly. I have no idea why. And it cost me. In Raze, you score the Objective Markers at the end of your turn and remove them from play (barring the center Objective). We didn’t do that because I misunderstood. Instead, we scored the Objective Markers at the end of the game. I would have easily scored my three Objective Markers which, under Blackjack scoring, would have altered the result to a 5 – 16 Loss. Heck, I could have even changed up my strategy and possibly won the game. Sigh. Karma.

I will be back with one final installment of this blog, wherein I reflect on the overall performance of the list and discuss possible changes for future tournaments.