Note – this article is part of an ongoing series – previous articles can be found here.
The 2021 U.S. Masters was a truly surreal experience and one that I am exceptionally grateful for being able to attend. It was also the first tournament showing for the Ogres of the Moonlit Hunt, so let’s take a quick look at how the army performed across six highly competitive games.
I am going to split this tournament report into two blog entries – the first will cover my games on day one, and the second will cover my games on day two as well as an overall reflection on my performance. Rather than provide blow-by-blow battle reports, I will aim to provide a basic outline of the flow of the game, focusing on my plan, what I did well, and any mistakes I made.
If you’re new to my blog, welcome! Here’s the list:
Round One: Nic Murray – Undead – Salt the Earth
Nic is a true gentleman and I could not have asked for a better round one opponent. He was playing a bruiser of an Undead list, seen here:
The Plan:
The objective markers were fairly evenly spread across the board, with three on my half, one in the middle, and three on Nic’s half. My basic plan was to defend the objective markers on my half of the board while concentrating my force to steal just one additional objective marker, giving me a potential 4-3 win. To pull this off, I needed to prevent his four scary hammer units (Wights Hordes and Soul Reaver Infantry Regiments) from getting favorable charges, and to Rout them in one go. I also needed to prevent his flying monsters (Vampire on Undead Pegasus and Revenant King on Undead Great Flying Wyrm) from sneaking into my backfield. Effective use of my chaff was definitely going to be crucial to pulling off this plan.
What I Did Well:
I did a great job neutralizing his hammer units. I put the pressure on the Wights Hordes on my right flank early, and was able to trade my Ogre Warlord for one Wights Horde (a great trade that I would do every time). Nic realized this flank was collapsing and wisely burned the objective marker. The second Horde had nowhere to run and I eventually gave it a beat down on turn six, only to roll an epic Double Ones!
The Soul Reaver Infantry Regiments advanced slowly in the center of the board behind some screening Zombies. I was able to Rout one of the Regiments and ignore the other one (it Routed one of my Boomer Regiments but that was it).
The Vampire on Undead Pegasus didn’t have many charge opportunities throughout the game (until my ill-fated Double Ones) and ended up having very little impact. The Revenant King on Undead Great Flying Wyrm had deployed far to my left and, realizing he was out of position, Nic spent the first few turns flying him across the board to where the action was happening. He eventually charged into my lines but I was then able to tie him up for the remainder of the game. I didn’t Rout him, but I did minimize his impact on the game.
Mistakes:
The game ended on turn six with Nic controlling one more objective marker than me. At the time, we both pointed to the Double Ones being the deciding factor, as it allowed Nic to Rout my Hunters Horde and steal an objective marker. While that was an unfortunate turn of events, there were two key mistakes I made that set me up to lose.
First, I had to abandon one of the objective markers on my table side. This was not a bad decision, but I obviously should have burned the objective marker the turn before I jumped ship. This gave Nic an extra objective marker for free and was a costly mistake.
Second, I misused the Red Goblin Sharpsticks Hordes. I held them back and sat them on objective markers. While this doesn’t seem like a terrible decision, the truth is that they would have served me much better screening the Hordes of Ogres. Nic’s only Ranged Attack was Lightning Bolt (3) on Jarvis, so a pair of Red Goblin Scout Troops could have easily been the ones to hold the objective markers. Using the Red Goblin Sharpsticks Hordes as screens would have enabled me to push the right flank more aggressively and win it sooner, allowing me to swing back towards the center of the battlefield and presumably claim more objective markers.
Result: 6-15 Loss
Round Two: Ryan Munsell – Salamanders with Elf Allies – Loot
I had the pleasure of playing Ryan at the San Antonio Masters, in which he narrowly defeated my Undead. I was happy to get a rematch against Ryan’s beautiful Salamanders army and see if my Ogres could succeed where my Undead had failed.
The Plan:
I deployed both Red Goblin Sharpsticks Hordes, two Red Goblin Scouts Troops, and Kuzlo & Madfall on my left flank across from one of the Loot tokens and Ryan’s Drakon Riders Horde and Lord on Drakon. My goal was to eventually cede this Loot token to Ryan but to effectively take the Drakon contingent out of the game. That would enable me to focus on claiming the other two Loot tokens and winning the game 2-1.
What I Did Well:
My plan was executed perfectly on the left flank. It took Ryan a full three turns of Melee to Rout the first Red Goblin Sharpsticks Horde.
Meanwhile, I grabbed the center Loot token with a Red Goblin Scout Troop and spent the rest of the game running away with it. I grabbed the right Loot token with a Hunters Horde and presented Ryan with a very risky charge. Ryan took the bait, rolled a little below average, and I was able to clean up the right flank as a result.
Mistakes:
Ryan had a lot of units that could threaten a Red Goblin Scout Troop – Lekelidons, a Phoenix, a pair of Individuals, etc. and I absolutely should have handed off the center Loot token from the Red Goblin Scout Troop to a tougher unit (literally anything else in my list). Instead, I kept running away and on turn seven, I simply ran out of places to hide. I ended up having to drop the Loot token and then run in front of a Tyrants Horde. This flipped the game from a 2-1 win to a 1-1 draw. Insert sad trombone music here.
Result: 10-10 Draw
Round Three: John Green – Forces of the Abyss – Invade
This was my first opportunity to play a game against John and it did not disappoint. He had a very cool Succubi-themed list composed of all my favorite metal Elf units from the days of Warhammer.
The Plan:
My general plan was to prevent the Succubi Regiments from getting multi-charges on the Ogre Hordes and concentrate my force on one flank, using my slight advantage in Unit Strength to give me the win in Invade. I wasn’t terribly concerned with his Individuals, as they don’t hit quite hard enough to scare my Hordes and I can hide the Red Goblin Blasters from their line of sight.
What I Did Well:
True to form, I did not let the Ogre Hordes get multi-charged (except when the Siege Breakers Horde rolled a Double Ones at the end of the game, but fortunately I did not need their Unit Strength to win). I pushed hard on the right flank and used a Red Goblin Sharpsticks Horde to screen, enabling me to get the right charges at the right time. Brutal on the Ogre units and Ravenous Lizard on Kuzlo & Madfall, coupled with an abundance of Melee 3 in my army, meant I was able to Rout just about everything in John’s army in one go.
The dice were all over the place in this game, but they definitely gave me an advantage at several key moments. At one point John’s Succubi Regiment on my left flank charged a Red Goblin Scouts Troop and did one measly point of damage. Yikes!
Mistakes:
I’d hazard to say that this was the first game in which I made all the right decisions. Or, I at least didn’t make any glaringly bad decisions. When the dust settled I had a sizeable advantage in Unit Strength and a small advantage in Attrition.
Result: 17-4 Win
Round Four: Brad McKay – Northern Alliance – Push
Another year at Masters, and another round four game against Brad McKay. It was time to shake off hunger and exhaustion (four games in one day is a gauntlet) and bring my A-game because Brad is a top-tier player running a top-tier list!
Note – I spoke in-depth about this game on the latest episode of Unplugged Radio, so be sure to give it a listen!
The Plan:
Here’s the thing. Brad’s four Ice Elementals Hordes backed up by two Ice Queens is a serious problem that my list can’t really deal with. I knew Brad would deploy them in the center of the table, so I put some token resistance in the center and then spread everything else out on the flanks. In Push, this basically meant I was playing for a small loss. Given the circumstances, I was okay with this plan. If we had rolled Control or Pillage I might have had a better shot at a win, but then again if we rolled Dominate I would have been toast.
So, the plan was to entrust my Loot tokens with a Red Goblin Sharpsticks Horde on my extreme left flank and march them safely across the board. I couldn’t hope to claim the center Loot token, and the chances of stealing Brad’s (which were safe in the hands of an Ice Elementals Horde on my center-right) seemed slim-to-none. Minimize my losses, maybe come up ahead on attrition, and take a small loss.
What I Did Well:
The plan worked even better than expected! Brad was never able to shoot one of my units with more than a single Ice Elementals Horde, and I Routed the Frostfang Cavalry Hordes on either flank in fairly short order. I also took out the Lord on Frostfang on the left flank, but the one on the right flank had other plans in mind.
You see, my chances at stealing Brad’s Loot tokens suddenly improved after a lucky charge from a Red Goblin Blaster to the front of an Ice Elementals Horde melted them in a glorious explosion.
Seeing this, the Lord on Frostfang ended up taking the Loot tokens as he was easier to protect than the other Ice Elementals Horde. Speaking of which, I Routed that Ice Elementals Horde and was ready to charge the Lord on Frostfang if we went to turn seven… which, we didn’t.
Mistakes:
For the second game in a row, I felt like I made all the right decisions. If I had flooded the center of the board in an attempt to claim the central Loot token, I have no doubt the Ice Elementals would have made a mess of my army. Instead, they mostly stood around and watched as I won the battle for the flanks. Who knows what that seventh turn would have held, but it very well could have given me a massive victory if I Routed the Lord on Frostfang and stole his three Loot tokens. So close!
Result: 7-14 Loss
Thanks for reading, and be sure to check back soon to hear about my second-day exploits!
