*Masters 2021 Day Two* Ogres of the Moonlit Unit – A Hobby Blog (23)

Note – this article is part of an ongoing series – previous articles can be found here.

It’s time to dive into the second day of the 2021 U.S. Masters! I forgot to share the photos of my army all set up on the last blog, so I will do that now.

 Round Five: Nick Mikelonis – Nightstalkers – Raze

This was my first time meeting and playing against Nick, and it was an absolute treat. He’s a consummate sportsman with a nicely painted Nightstalkers list that brought a diverse array of threats to the table. He also gave custom names to his units, which definitely deserves a shoutout!

The Plan:

I had a significant advantage in both Unit Strength and number of Units going into Raze. We more or less mirrored one another with our placement of objective markers. Two ended up left-of-center and one on the right. My plan was to defend Nick’s objective markers to prevent him from scoring them while aiming to score two of my own. I put some token resistance in the center of the table and deployed heavily on either flank. As I did in my previous game against Brad, I hoped to win one or both flanks and then turn in towards the center objective marker.

What I Did Well:

Thanks to my aforementioned advantages, I was able to score the objective marker on my right flank on the second turn. I then positioned my units in such a way as to present Nick with a lot of bad charges. My abundance of chaff pieces really helped me to set this up.

Without many other options, Nick crashed into my lines. A bad situation was made even worse when we started rolling dice. He was consistently damaging under average in Melee and I was consistently damaging above average. The most heinous example was the Red Goblin Sharpsticks Horde on the left. Over the course of three turns, his Shadowhulk failed to so much as Waiver me, whereas I Routed him! To his credit, Nick took it on the chin and kept a positive attitude throughout the game.

Mistakes:

I did end up backing off of one of Nick’s objective markers in the middle of the game without thinking, and he was able to score it. The absolute blood bath taking place across the battlefield must have clouded my vision! In the end, it didn’t matter as I scored two of my objective markers and controlled the center objective marker. A convincing win for the Ogres!

Result: 16-5 Win

Round Six: Hank Googe – Varangur – Pillage

For the final round, I had the privilege of facing off against Hank’s beautiful Varangur army. What a great way to end the tournament!

The Plan:

Another game with objective markers, and another game where I started with a considerable advantage in Unit Strength and number of Units. The objective markers were spread evenly across the board but skewed towards one of the long table edges. Hank won the roll for table side and first turn, allowing him to start the game in an advantageous position. This time I had deployed most of my army in the center and right end of the board and was hoping to sweep around that flank. I was conceding the objective markers on the left but it would hopefully take him most of the game to win control of them.

What I Did Well:

I used my chaff pieces and the terrain to present Hank with a lot of bad charges. He mostly opted not to take them, instead repositioning his units and peppering me with an obnoxiously lethal Lightning Bolt (7) from his Magus.

I had clear the right flank quickly for my battle plan to work so, after failing to bait a charge, I pinned the Lord on Chimera in place with Kuzlo & Madfall. This cleared the way for both Hunters Hordes to rush ahead while the Siege Breakers Horde stalwartly held the center.

The plan worked as I envisioned, but not before some bad dice threatened to ruin my day. Thanks to some clever positioning after Routing Kuzlo & Madfall, the Lord on Chimera was able to slip away from the Hunters Hordes. All I had to do to pin him in place was to charge him with the Red Goblin Sharpsticks Horde and do a single point of damage. Which, of course, I didn’t do. Uh-oh!

This allowed the Lord on Chimera to fly over their heads and come crashing down into the flank of the Siege Breakers Horde. Fortunately, the luck swung back in my favor, as Hank rolled a measly 4 on the Nerve check and failed to Rout me. I was Waivered, sure, but that’s why I paid for the Chalice of Wrath!

Mistakes:

My delay tactics on the left flank panned out alright but I could have done it more effectively. I let Hank’s units get a couple of charges that I had no business giving up, and I kept moving my Ogre Warlord into spots where he never seemed to have enough range or line of sight to make good charges. 

Thankfully, the rest of the battle worked out so well that I was still able to come out on top.

Result: 14-7 Win

Reflection

When the dust settled on the final round I had earned 3 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw for a total of 70 battle points (out of a possible 126). Back in part 21 of my blog, I set three goals for myself at Masters

1. Four wins. My best showing at Masters was in 2019 with my super efficient Undead list. I went 3/2/1 (W/L/D) and secured tenth place. I would like to improve upon that record by securing four wins and I’d like to think I’m capable of earning them.

2. Best Ogre general. Ogres are tied for the second most popular army at Masters, and the other four Ogre generals are no slouches. This is definitely a stretch goal for me, but it’s something I am going to be clawing tooth and nail to achieve.

3. Hold onto as many points as possible in a loss. One of the best aspects of Blackjack Scoring is the wide spread of points the losing player can earn – anywhere from 0 to 14. Every point you earn improves your overall standing, so it’s important not to lose hope or adopt a “screw it, who cares?” attitude when you realize you’re going to lose the scenario.

I fell just shy of achieving the fourth win, but I’m happy all the same. The three games lost/drew were all close and, with a few better decisions, could have been mine to win. I also narrowly missed out on my second goal, with Jeff Swann surpassing my performance and, in fact, winning first place Paragon (overall). I absolutely accomplished my third goal, however, with my two losses clocking in at 6 and 7 points.

Those high-scoring losses helped propel me into a respectable 20th place for battle. That, combined with my 10th place painting score and 5th place sportsmanship score, landed me in fifth place overall! Needless to say, I am really proud of my performance!

Overall, I definitely feel like my army matched my expectations. It had enough tools to give me a fighting chance in every round, even when faced with a bad matchup. If there is one area in which I need to improve, it’s deployment. The list has more total units than most, which means I can hold my hammer units (or other important units) in reserve until my opponent has deployed their entire army. Not every general or every list employs a reactive approach like this, but it’s a crucial component to my success. In the games where I nailed deployment, I felt much more in control and confident of the outcome. In the games in which I misdeployed a chaff, support, or hammer unit, I had a tricky time recovering from and controlling the tempo of the game. It’s tough because deployment happens on the clock, and I don’t want to burn too much time before my first turn. There is also only a narrow window of time after the matchup is announced for the round in which you can analyze your opponent’s list, the terrain, and the scenario to come up with a plan. Getting more experience with the list against more opponents is the best way for me to get better at this.

My next opportunity to compete with the army is the Crossroads GT in September. It is another 2300 point tournament so I will run the exact same list. My experience at Masters, combined with some more practice games over the coming months, should help me prepare. 

I’d love to hear some feedback on this style of tournament report, so drop your thoughts into the comments below or hit me up on social media!