Experience from a middling tournament player…

[Regelridderen]

So just returned from a tournament of 21 players, and placed sorely in the middle - let’s just say that with less than a handful of GG3 games, I was hoping for best painted and nothing else, but… I had a great time and picked up a thing or two. So here’s a quick recap.

Round One - Covert Corner - Leave / Spread / Sabotage / Breakthrough / Load’em    -    Pandora2 vs Parker2

I always seem to have the good fortune of starting tournaments vs. the second best vassal player in the word. It didn’t help, that I’d never tried the schemes/strat.

My plan was to send ‘dora to hold the centre, while having the rider and Candy flank and hit center midgame. So I went with Sabotage and Leave.

On the other flank, Adze, a Sorrow and the Poltergeist  advanced only to have Mad Dog blast the Adze in the face, then having Parker come and finish the job turn one. Candy and the rider did great. Securing both a strat marker and Sabotage Turn two, but bad hands and the lay of the land conspired and they never really got out of the corner. Although they secured me the three points I got.

Trouble is, Pandora was left alone with Parker and Mad Dog, and even if she summoned the poltergeist three times, she couldn’t keep herself alive.

So I lost 3 - 7

Round Two - Carve Wedge - Assassinate, Hidden, Vendetta, Catch, In Your…    -    Pandora2 vs Nekima2

Good thing about losing is that you get to face a push-over, the flipside is that you get to introduce a newbie to Pandora, and the game was basically over, when Candy got on his heels from T1. I tried summoning Aversions to control movement, and started seeing a problem in them being Incorporeal and having Antipathy, when opposing models could move through, then get bounced away - and the woe having enough problems with missing engagement ranges, but Kade and Teddy had a field day, ripping nephilims limb from limb.

A win 5 - 3, but we only got to three turns ( I pity the guy, as he went to face Pandy in his next fight as well ).

Round Three - Guard Standard - In Your… / Meetup / Trap / Public / Spread    -     Pandora2 vs  Misaki1 

Misaki had a nice first turn, blasting half my crew with lightening. Luckily her thing is mobility, and Guard is about winning the centre, and Pandy excel at it. It was a tough fight though. Still, when Fast Candy hit the centre T1, I knew it was all a matter of time. It was a tough fight though, ivolving Ototo, a crime boss and minako rei - and Laugh Off is annoying when your thing is pushing opponents out of the way. I stumbled a bit though, choosing In Your… while struggling to get Dora into position. Another struggle was Public demonstration… but I got the first point at least.

Another win 4 - 3, once again we only made it through three turns, but I scored both schemes by T3, his line was broken Hinamatsu about to take up position by an objective in his deployment, while the my minions were about to rip Fuhatsu apart by the fourth objective. While Misaki and a lone Torakage was scrambling to score Breakthrough in my deployment zone.

Round Four - Carve Standard - Catch / Meetup / Sabotage / Trap / Martyrs.    -     Pandora2 vs Moonshiner

I heard some bad things about Moonshiner, so I raced to break his bubble with Pandora and Candy in T1 and take him off guard, when his golem was Hazardous in more ways than one. The gamble payed off as his crew got split. It wasn’t sustainable of course when Shojo started generating pass tokens en masse T2. But I focused on scoring points - the polter and a sorrow collaborated on one flank to score sabotage and push a marker while another sorrow pushed one up against Shojo. By Seizing the initiative I was able to hold my opponents markers back - somewhat.

Final score was 5 - 5 after another 3 turn game, but a grueling and hard-fought one. And I now understand why Moonshiner is popular.

Round Five - Cursed Flank - Assainate / Vendetta / In Your… / Public / Load’em     -     Pandora2 vs Hoffmann2

I was tired, though about going Dreamer1 with Pandora2, but just wanted an easy familiar game while facing a new and unknown master in a new and unknown strategy. I made another mistake, taking the Hoff head on, when really had no reason to wade into his bubble - and I even brought plenty of Lures to split his bubble apart. Alas tournament play is an endurance game, and mine was spent. 

I liked cursed though. It’s sovery different from the previous kill strats. There was a lot of interacts - and a lot of wasted kills.

But it was another loss 3 - 8.

[hydranixx]

Nice write up. Pandora2 is a bit of a monster but you were up against some really powerful masters too, so it kinda evens it all out.

To be honest though, I can't help but read that there were 3 games where you only finished turn 3 and think, your meta needs to start using chess clocks😂😭

[TeddyBear]

3 hours ago, hydranixx said:

To be honest though, I can't help but read that there were 3 games where you only finished turn 3 and think, your meta needs to start using chess clocks

If you can believe it, there are also metas where the second round is almost not completed. If you try to point out something like this to the reference To, he isolates you from the group or puts you in a position to estrange themselves from the group.🤷

[Hawkoon]

Had a small tournament with just 4 people last saturday, and all my games ended after turn 3.  2 of those games was due to my opponent conceding though, but I doubt any of them would go beyond turn 4.

Oddly enough I played Pandora as well for all 3 games. (my only completely painted kw)

For the record the games were as follows:

1. Pandora 2 vs Von Schill 1 - Close game, but managed to win by 1 VP after turn 3 (4-3). I'm not sure I would have won that one if we'd have more time.

2. Pandora 2 vs Damien 1 - Killed off a few of my opponents models early on and locked up the rest with Candy and summons. My opponent conceded in t3. 4-1 win.

3. Pandora 1 (yes! 1!) vs Yan Lo 2 (green) - Got lucky on this one with some severe damageflips on self loathing against komainu and blasting out a lot of damage. By the end of t3 my opponent didn't have many models left to score anything, so he conceded. We didn't even bother counting up the VP because I had already won all 3 games.

I really like Pandora (both of them) and will probably play her more often now that I've got her gang all painted up

[Regelridderen]

10 hours ago, hydranixx said:

Nice write up. Pandora2 is a bit of a monster but you were up against some really powerful masters too, so it kinda evens it all out.

To be honest though, I can't help but read that there were 3 games where you only finished turn 3 and think, your meta needs to start using chess clocks😂😭

Pandora2 finally made Pandora feel like she had a function in the crew - and yes, I’m warming up to the chess clock idea.

[Maniacal_cackle]

1 hour ago, Regelridderen said:

Pandora2 finally made Pandora feel like she had a function in the crew - and yes, I’m warming up to the chess clock idea.

Chess clocks are a bit of a hassle for players who don't need them.

And a gigantic boon to games that do need them xD

I hated the idea but finally came round and love it for competitive play.

[Regelridderen]

14 hours ago, Maniacal_cackle said:

Chess clocks are a bit of a hassle for players who don't need them.

And a gigantic boon to games that do need them xD

I hated the idea but finally came round and love it for competitive play.

I imagine them to be a good tool inlearning to make snappier decisions.