tournament advice

[Joachim]

Hello guys,

 

I'm going to my first tournament in a couple of months and wanted to ask for some general advice as well as advice on the limited model pool I have.

 

I currently only have zoraida and titania. Apart from the box sets I own: waldgeists, mctavish, gators, wisps, rougarou and the emissary. 

 

Some questions:

1. Are there general tips for tournament play?

2. What strats and schemes will make zoraida or titania shine, and what strats/schemes should I look out for and are difficult for both these masters.

3. Are there models I should get before the tournament? I'm thinking primordial magic for titania? I can borrow some models such as the doppleganger from a friend if necessary.

 

Looking forward to your advice, Joachim.

[Adran]

1 Have fun.

Don't get stressed out about time constraints.

You are probably best playing models you are comfortable with rather than trying something new, and spending much of your game time thinking about how to use something not not sure on. This depends a lot on you as a player, but I know I would rather play 5 turns of a game with models I'm comfortable with rather than 2 turns using "the best" models that I don't fully understand. 

I think you have a pool that can do everything out there. What they shine at depends on how you play them, and so I'm assuming you have an idea of what you have found easy with each master.

[Joachim]

What are the opinions on the emissary?

 

Personally he performed very well in every game i take him and he's proven to be quite flexible. The only thing he can't reliably do in my opinion is go and kill something, as his damage is a bit underwhelming for his cost. Nevertheless, he can summon changelings, which he can do pretty reliably with zoraida as he can cycle through the next four cards increasing your chance for a mediocre mask, depending on the scheme pool and map the hazardous terrain can be really nice, he gets regen from the destined condition and he has a reliable offensive condition removal which is pretty rare, and he can remove scheme, corpse and scrap markers on a trigger. Granted you'll need to invest cards if you really want to get these effects off, but situationally these moves can be very strong imo. Also the fact that he has a ca attack can be nice against incorporeal enemies, as the mediocre damage 4 becomes quite nice in this case.

On the other hand it is a 10ss investment and as always you have to compare to what you can do with the same points. I've read in several places that he's one of the weaker emissaries and that some people never consider him when building competitive lists. Nevertheless I've always felt that he's able to do something for me every turn and adapt to the flow of the game.

 

[Sol_Sorrowsong]

No idea on Titania crew, but Z (swampfiend upgrade at least) with McTavish, Bad juju (eternal), 2 waldgiests, wisp and a gator seems a pretty decent list for killing schemes.  Unfortunately there isn't much scheme running in this list as wisp and gators are insignificant and waldiests and BadJuju walk so slow.

McTavish will get some nice shooting done though and giests will tie up enemy.  Gators would I guess be anti-scheme and wisp allows the free voodoo per turn plus some annoying displacement due to her psuedo-lure 

[feagaur]

I would suggest getting the Spawn mother box. With the wisps you're looking at getting a gupp a turn. And with Juju around they can be real fun. I'd also suggest getting a Doppleganger. Can't go wrong with her really.

For Zoraida I'd suggest getting either a nurse or iggy. Or both. Can never have too many conditions.

McTavish would work well with Titania as well as Zoraida. With all the scheme markers that are going to be put down he's going to be able to use his gator snack ability almost every turn. 

As to what strats and schemes they would shine in. I'd say between them they'd be able to do most competently. Though I always seem to struggle with Head hunter (both should be good for denying it and Z's obey would be good for picking up  heads, it just never seems to work for me). If you do get the Spawn mother, having her give +2 ch to silurids and gupps meaning they are leaping 9" and 7" respectively means Stake a Claim becomes a lot easier. Or just stick Hexed Among You on McT or Juju and have them start 'from the shadows'.

Aeslin is great for denying killy schemes by making sure your models can't be pushed. Or use her to cripple summoners by pitting them on -ves to Ca. And if there are any scheme marker schemes in their then Titania and her crew are laughing. Dig their graves with Aeslin and Titania should be 3 points in the bag.

For general Tournament play in general. I can only suggest you go to enjoy yourself. If you start getting stressed about how your playing you'll end up playing worse, so just go with the flow. Everybody has to start somewhere and most of the people you play will be friendly and help out where they can.

[Joachim]

Yeah, I agree that adding the spawn mother box to my swampfiend collection would make me very versatile with zoraida. I just don't really love the models at the moment. I might get it eventually but it's not high on my list at the moment. A doppleganger I might have to try as I can borrow one from a friend.

 

I usually really like bad juju, mctavish and then 100% swampfiends with zoraida. Everything brings out bad juju, and everything can give mctavish +1 on his sh.

Together you have two really nice threats, of which bad juju just comes back and mctavish should at least be a considerable distance away from your enemies. And usually a waldgeist or 2 can provide enough roadblock for mctavish, at least for a while. There are certainly ways around this setup, but if the opponent needs to be in the middle of the board, for example extraction and show of force, then it can be harder to dodge. I do find that mobile crews and strats that force you to spread out can be harder this way, cause mctavish and juju eat up about half of your ss. I tend to rather drop one of them and get some mobile stuff, like silurids or gators (but in this case popping gups could be nice). 

I'm more comfortable with zoraida but i'm getting in some games with titania. I think she can be really good at killy strat/schemes, not because her crew is extremely killy (though tooth + rougarou can sometimes be very brutal) but she has a lot of good minions that are relatively difficult to put down. She has some stuff that can help set up a big beater, though I'm not really convinced that that's the way to go with her. I'll find out the next couple of weeks.