Late Bloomers

I'm already a confessed electronic RPG fan, but I've also got an eye for nostalgia and 16-bit gaming systems. The Nintendo Wii has cornered the market on that. This is most fascinating to me because I bought the Wii to play the silly motion control physics type games. Then I figured out that those physics weren't all that versatile. However, there's a deep back catalogue of excellent RPG and adventure-RPG games on the Virtual Console service, and I've enjoyed several over the last few years.

Chrono Trigger: This is my latest download, and I'm really enjoying just about every aspect of it. The music is excellent, the story is deep and engaging, and the combat (the bread and butter of any RPG experience, though it is sometimes a grind) is fun. The combat system actually changes and grows differently depending on which characters the player decides to use from the roster, as there are dual and triple techniques that require more party members to execute.

This one threw me for a loop when my main character and virtual proxy was slain in a cutscene, and was gone for like 3 hours of gameplay while I completed an optional(?) sidequest to resurrect him. Most JPRGs tend to allow the player to focus all advances and powerups on that single character, without worrying for his safety. I foolishly did this, and I missed him while he was gone. 3.5

Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario: I'll lump these two together, as they're practically the same game. I was skeptical at first, as the art style of both games is, well, Mario-cartoon. They're "kid-friendly" titles as well, and while that tends to turn some people off, I've always been able to enjoy games in an objective space.

Quite simply, if a player can get past the art style and occasionally childish storyline, these games are fucking stellar. I couldn't put them down at some points. The music is amazing, the combat is engaging and awesome, and the writing is great. While all RPG stories are a bit contrived, the Mario RPGs spend a lot of time winking at those conventions, so a savvy player feels like they're always in on the in-joke. Kids won't get that, but since the games are kid-friendly they don't need to; they're still fun. 4.0

Dungeon Explorer: This is a bit of nostalgia for me, as a good friend had a Turbo-Graphix 16 when I was wee, and we played this game then. I played it a lot. However, I never beat it, as I never had the stretch of time at a friend's house necessary to play through a one-player game (it's rude?).

I picked it up to see how it holds up, and I was again pleasantly surprised. Most of the TG16 games I've bought aren't so good in retrospect, but Dungeon Explorer is a blast. It plays like Gauntlet II, but there's two types of magic which have specific effects for each of the dozen character classes. The Fighter and the Thief can beat the game straight through, with no continues, utilizing some strategy. The other classes have a rougher go of it, but it's a lot of fun all around. Good music to boot. 3.0

Final Fantasy whatever: it's the first game for the old Nintendo Entertainment System in the FF series. I guess it's actually like the third release in Japan but the first in the US? Whatever.

I've already given away the pun blind here in that I didn't enjoy this game much. The final fantasy games have, with a few exceptions, always been a mystery to me. I've never been particularly engaged by their story, and the gameplay feels more like a grind than a fun romp.

Final Fantasy Tactics breaks this mold, and I loved it. Final Fantasy Legend II for the Game Boy is another wonderful game (one of my all-time rags actually). But Final Fantasy for the NES is blah. I'm not down on the characters, the music, the combat. . .I just put it down one day and haven't returned. 1.5

The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time: this is often heralded as one of the best RPGs and one of the best console games in history. Nintendo even plans to release it again (and again, and again in all likelihood) on their 3D handheld. However, I didn't dig it all that much.

There's a difference between party-based RPGs and single-dude adventure RPGs, and for me that gap is huge. I want a deep roster of fantasy character tropes to work with in any game, and as fun as it was running Link all over the countryside, OOT just didn't do it for me in the long run. I was still just one guy all the time.

It didn't feed my fractured psyche at all.

The music was good, the chicken rescue missions were fine, and the story seemed good, but the insipid side quests and childish storyline were too much for me. It amazes me that Zelda games are too childish for me, but Paper Mario was not. Go figure. 2.0

Baby's room: painted.

Baby Furniture
: assembled.

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages: painted, based, and arced.

Harlan Versh, Illuminated One: painted, arced.

Precursor Knights painted (of 12):2

Number of VPs the Flint crew got at the NAC at origins this year: 1

-Merlin out

Location:The Hizzle

Silly Battle Report and Hobbyist Painting Schedule

There's an open invite at the Gamer's Sanctuary in Flint to play Warmachine or the sister game of Hordes on Monday nights. I don't often get there to play, because the wife and I work and have a toddler, so getting out on a weeknight can be a bear. There's another wee one due soon, so that will liven things up further.

But I got to play last night. I got there a bit early, and started a demo of Malifaux with Adam, who is really interesting in showing people the game. It's clear that he likes it a lot. He said he enjoys it because it's a true skirmish game, meaning that a player doesn't need a lot of models to play the game and compete in tournaments. That's all good. He showed me the Lady Justice starter box, and I might pick it up, if only to play a smaller-scale minis game than WarMachine some time. Plus, the miniatures in question are gorgeous, and I'm enjoying the painting side of the hobby. More on that later.

After my demo I found that most of the guys I'd played with before were already getting their game on. So I had to make some new friends to get in a game. I wound up talking to two guys who wanted to play, and we wound up deciding to play a small-scale, three-player game of WM. At 15 points WM is very much like Malifaux described above, with not a ton of models on the table. Adding a third player can really mix it up. We decided to play "King of the Hill", inventing some scenario rules to encourage combat in the center. However, I wanted the scoring to reward aggressive play, while the other two did not. We wound up going with a less stringent point system, and I feel the game suffered for it.

It was still lots of fun.

Player A was a Protectorate of Menoth player, who played prime Scrutator Severius as his warcaster. He had the starter box as his starting point, so his 'jacks were a Revenger, Repenter, and Crusader. Then to pad out his list to 15 points he added a Hierophant, which is the Menoth equivalent of Cygnar's Squire, and a Vassal of Menoth mechanic to repair his 'jacks if they got wounded. Solid. He won the die roll and set up first in one corner of the board.

Player B was playing Mercenaries, specifically the Highborn Covenant mercenary contract, which can include any mercs who work for Cygnar. I own several of the models Player B used, including his warcaster Ashlynn D'Elise. He ran a single Mangler 'jack with her, instead using his points to buy 12 infantry in 6 Steelhead merc Halberdiers and 6 Cygnar ally/merc Percursor Knights, as well as having 3 points for one of the more dangerous merc solos in the game, Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios. Eiryss is downright nasty. He also had a one-point goblin who helps Ashlynn take extra shots. B set up in a central spot between and across from my own and A's deployment zones.

I decided to play a 'caster I've never used, epic warcaster Lord Commander Coleman Stryker, the leveled-up (or, "just different", according to some sources) version of the basic Cygnar posterboy. Epic Douchebag is a more melee-centric 'caster than prime Stryker, and he's got some powerful attacks that allow him to finish games on his own. He's dangerous. I decided to use some powerful troops to support wonderboy, giving him his character Ironclad Ol' Rowdy, a full unit of Stormblades with the UA, and the Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team. That's a lot of elite units to bring out to a small game, but I knew it would be an uphill battle.

Player A moved his 'jacks up super-slow and had Severius cast his awesome upkeep spells to help power and defend his warmachines. Player B raced around some terrain in his way, moving the halbardiers and Eiryss up one flank and the PKs and Mangler up the other. Ashlynn took center stage with her goblin buddy. Ashlynn also cast a Twister cloud in my direction, but it deviated away from the fight. I ran my whole crew closer to the center of the table, as victory conditions dictated that we must fight over it. The only exception was the Black 13th, who moved out on the flank, toward the Menoth 'jacks, and missed all their shots. However, Ryan's Mage Storm area-of-effect attack hurt the Crusader and Mechanic (the mechanic was what I wanted to kill, but poor damage roll. . .).

Player A actually backpedaled the next turn, dropping back and using the mechanic to heal the Crusader's damage and the Hierophant to heal the mechanic's wounds. I was surprised. Ashlynn moved up and got all in the objective with her troops. I knew that it was time to strike, so the Black 13th shot a few guys on Ashlynn's team, then Stryker himself shot a halbardier and cast an electrical storm on 3 others. The Stormblades charged in and finished off the halbardiers, but I knew that the counterstrike was going to hurt. Rowdy got close but didn't actually engage anything.

Player A again moved slowly, just moving his Revenger flamethrower 'jack to try and shoot Eiryss, who was threatening that side of the table. Turns out Eiryss is _really_ hard to shoot, as he defense is 16. Even with three dice the Revenger failed to hit. Other than that the Menites stayed pretty far back.

Ashlynn was not so conservative. Player B moved her up and used her feat, which forces two extra dice on every attack made within 12" of her until her next turn, and Player B gets to choose which two to drop. So everything on her side essentially hits during this turn, and everything on the counterstrike will probably miss. She also cast Distract on my Stormblades, meaning that they weren't as good at hitting or defending themselves. The Mangler and PKs killed all but three of the 'blades and hurt Rowdy pretty well (better than average damage rolls).

I had a hard time countering that, with Ashlynn's feat up my accuracy sucked. Stryker and the B13 were out of her Roulette-bubble, however, and the four of them fired some shots into combat, Stryker disrupting the Mangler and the B13 killing some PKs. The Stormblades charged the Mangler but only one hit through Roulette. He did some impressive damage to a heavy 'jack, but not really enough.

Player A stayed out of the fight and tried to crispy Eiryss again. Ashlynn & Co. hurt Rowdy some more, and the Mangler killed my remaining Stormblades. Epic Stryker really likes to have spare melee troops around to benefit from his feat, but with the 'blades gone I wasn't doing much. Eiryss moved over to threaten me instead of Severius. I had the B13 clean the PKs off of Rowdy, had Rowdy charge and kill Eiryss, and then had Stryker charge the Mangler himself. Ashlynn actually used her upkept Admonition spell to move behind the Mangler during this charge, and the Rowdy used his counter charge ability to try and rush and punch her. He missed, but he had her engaged. Ashlynn stabbed Rowdy for his temerity.

Stryker used his Overboost ability to hurt himself and gain additional strength for melee attacks. Then he chopped the Mangler into pieces himself in three quick swings. I used his feat to move over the wreck marker of the Mangler and stab the now-closer Ashlynn with a single attack which did a substantial amount of damage. Ashlynn's player was not pleased with the turn of events, as I'd managed to almost kill his warcaster, and besides her all he had was a goblin in the control zone.

Player A joined the fight finally, moving his flamethrower 'bot in and setting Ashlynn on fire (finally got a good roll, Ashlynn's defense is even better than Eiryss') and killing her. Player B was out of the fight. Player A moved his guys up a bit toward me and popped Severius' feat, which stops my 'caster gaining any focus next turn. Uncool.

At this point I was in some trouble, as I'd lost a huge chunk of my army, and Rowdy was hugely damaged, with his big hammer arm crippled (roll one less die to attack). Aside from Rowdy all I had was Stryker and the B13, and since the Menoth 'jacks had spread out a bit I moved up my guys and took potshots at Severius. The B13th rolled well and managed to do 10 wounds to him. Stryker shot his decent-power Magnum at the Repenter and disrupted it (it can't gain or use focus while disrupted).

Player A thought he had me dead bang at this point. He moved his flamethrower 'jack Repenter in to shoot, but as he couldn't give it focus he had to roll well. He _did_, setting Stryker and Rowdy on fire and doing several wounds to Stryker. The Revenger ran at the B13 and engaged two of them, killing one. Severius tried to convert the other B13, but I passed my command check.

He overextended, however, and Stryker managed to put the fire out (rolled a 1 or a 2 during the start of my turn, fire goes out. Otherwise stay on fire and take a Power 12 attack every. single. turn. until you roll a 1/2 during Maintenance phase) and walk close enough to get Sevvy in range of Magnum. Stryker squeezed the trigger and it was lights out for the Scrutator. Cygnar won the hill. Combined arms FTW.

It was a weird game. We should have set more aggressive point-gaining conditions, as we were playing to three points, but after our 5 or 6 turn game (which took more than two hours) no one had scored ANY points. Next time I'll lobby for better chances at getting points.

I think I'm going to Gen Con, but I'm going to want to paint a lot of stuff before I get there:

Epic Nemo warcaster
Constance Blaize warcaster
Heavy warjack kit mainly for Defender or Gallant
Storm Strider battle engine
Harlan Versh
Epic Eiryss
Archduke Runewood
Full Unit of Precursor Knights and Battle Chaplain (12 models)
and Full Unit of Arcane Tempest Gun Mages

I've got like 5 weeks to paint A LOT of stuff, and I'm gonna have a new daughter soon. I hope I can get it all done.

-Merlin out

Battle Report: Newness

There's a new Warmachine book out, and it's all the rage with the scene. I like it quite a bit, though as a newer player the shiny newness doesn't have quite the same appeal to me. I played a game with Ray, using proxies to represent the new models which have not yet come out. Ray wanted to try the new Sanctifier heavy warjack for the Protectorate of Menoth, and I wanted to try out a lot of Cygnar newness.

Our lists were, at 50 points:

Me playing Constance Blaize, Knight of the Prophet +6 points
* Gallant 9 points
* Squire 2 points

Journeyman Warcaster 3 points

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team 4 points
Captain Arlan Strangewayes 2 points
Archduke Runewood 3 points
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution 3 points
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One 2 points
10 Precursor Knights 8 points
* Precursor Knight Officer & Standard 2 points
Stormblades 5 points
* Stormblade Officer & Standard 3 points
** Stormclad 10 points

My opponent ran High Executioner Servath Reznik +6 points
* 2x Sanctifier 9 points each
* Scourge of Heresy 9 points
* Hierophant 2 points

4 Choir of Menoth 2 points
5 Exemplar Cinerators 8 points
10 Idrian Skirmishers 10 points
* Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide 3 points
Vassal of Menoth 2 points
3 Wracks 1 point
1 Covenant of Menoth 2 points, but that's a point too many. . .I gotta remember to add these things up for my opponent. :p

My foe won the roll to go first and decided to deploy a 'jack wall in the middle of the table, with the Scourge front and center and the Sanctifiers running its flanks. Reznik came behind them. The Idrians found some cover in the woods near the center-right (my right, I guess) of the table and declared their prey to be the Black 13th. The Cinerators came down the center-left of the table, climbing toward a hill on that half of the map. The book said no knockdown and the choir no shooting. The Idrians dug in in the woods, making them tough to get rid of. Reznik cast Iron Aggression on one sanctifier and Ignite on the Cinerators.

The no shooting thing was funny, because my army wasn't shooty at all, I set my Precursor Knights in the middle of the table, with the Stormblades on their left a bit (across from his Cinerators) and the Black 13th and Harlan Versh on the right. Behind the infantry in the center left was my 'caster, 'jacks and support solos. Epic Eiryss was on the left flank up a bit for Advanced Deployment.

I moved the PKs up in Shield wall for armor. The Stormblades ran toward the same hill the Cinerators were approaching. Eiryss put a bolt into the Cinerators to remove Ignite, staying a good distance away. The 'jacks and support moved up behind the melee wall, and the Black 13th moved behind the Precursors a little to screen them from the Idrians who were hunting for their blood. Harlan moved up just a bit. Constance put Banishing Ward on the Stormblades, so that both of the frontline melee units were immune to Reznik's Perdition tricks.

Next turn saw the book giving flaming attacks to all the Idrians, who immediately moved up and took some potshots at my guys. They set Versh, the Stormblade Officer, and a couple of my grunts on fire, but they failed to penetrate anyone's armor. The 'jack wall moved up a bit, with one Sanctifier running to move up behind the Idrians. This is the one with Iron Aggression on it. The Vassal Enlivened it as well. Reznik recast Ignite on the Cinerators, but they were out of range to hit anything with their charge. Choir said no shooting again.

Then the shit hit the fan. Harlan and the PK managed to douse their flames but the two Stormblades on fire died horribly. I activated Constance early and cast Crusader's Call to give all the troops +2 inches on a charge and then popped her feat. I realized later that all her (faction) models get this hookup, which also spikes the threat range on her 'jacks. Nice. I moved Runewood to get a shot at an Idrian blocking the PK's charge lane to the IA Sanctifier, gave the PKs +2 to their charge attack and Terror, and blasted the Idrian off the table. I had the PKs charge into the IA Sanctifier and the Idrian front runners (there were 4 and the UA hiding in the woods still). The PKs managed to do some hurt to the Sanctifier, but not much. I had decided not to pop their minifeat for extra damage yet. Two of them died to free strikes I incurred intentionally to get more guys at the Sanctifier.

The Black 13th and Harlan took a few shots and managed to kill an Idrian, but it was tough with the cover and the few who were available were engaged by Precursor Knights. Harlan straight up missed his first shot, which of course meant he wasn't much use. I then had Gallant activate and charge the IA Sanctifier, using reach and an opened left by a murdered PK to get to it. He did about 15 boxes of hurt with the two focus he had (one from Arlan and one from Morrow accumulator). The Stormblades charged in and all but erased the Cinerators from the board. There was one left after their charge, and the Stormclad mugged it too. Again I lost a grunt to a free strike during this, and it put Constance at 3 soul tokens for the next turn. Eiryss killed a member of the choir. I had Junior move the Arcane Shield from the Stormclad to Gallant, since the Stormclad was now close enough to both Reznik and Scourge to be a victim.

My foe dropped Iron Aggression, deciding not to kill the PKs screening his 'jacks. The Idrians decided to whack the Black 13th, and the paper-thin trenchcoat armor of those elite gun mages wasn't bolstered enough by Constance's feat to save them. He managed to kill a few more PKs with Scourge and the other Sanctifier, but now Constance had 9 souls on her, and things were gonna get ugly for him next turn. He moved Reznik up and cast Engine of Destruction to make him a death machine. His plan was to wreck the Stormclad with Reznik and then hide behind the wreck, then use his remaining focus to Perdition and move the second Sancifier closed to Constance.

He rolled poorly on his first two damage rolls (3 and 4 on two dice, i think), which meant he had to keep burning focus to make sure the Stormclad didn't just end Reznik next turn. He got two good rolls after that, but then Reznik was low on focus and the Stormclad was still up, though heavily damaged (all systems but movement crippled). Reznik bought one more attack, stabbed a PK to death, wracked it, then tried to Perdition the second Sanctifier closer, but Junior's armor was at over 20 by now, and Reznik was out of focus to boost damage. He did kill two more Stormblades with the other Sanctifier (now both Sancs were flush with focus from souls, since we're playing SoulMachine, cue the Parliament Funkadelic y'allz!) by stabbing the wrack and making it explode around them in a pow 14.

He wanted to Perdition the 'blades, but of course I still had them warded, and the PKs have Spell Ward all the time. It was nice. For me. The Covenant said no spells, Reznik popped his feat and waited for the hammer to fall. Under Reznik's feat I couldn't allocate to Gallant, and my upkeeps all dropped. That was all right, as I was starting to realize that Constance's threat range and ability to stab things is pretty good with Gallant involved. I activated the PKs and tripped their minifeat for extra damage dice and they managed to finish the formerly-Iron Aggressioned Sanctifier, which freed Gallant to move around. They also pounded some Idrians down. Harlan killed the three who'd come out to get the Black 13th with his Quad Iron.

Then I had the Stormclad get out of the way of my Shenanigans, as it was blocking Constance's charge lane. I had Arlan give a focus to Gallant (it's worded as "gains a focus" instead of "allocate", and Reznik's feat stops allocations, so I think that's legit?) so that it could run over to Reznik and give Constance the flanking bonus. Runewood gave Constance a +2 to her first charge attack and (needlessly) Terror. Constance's 11-inch charge with 2-inch reach was more than enough to get to Reznik, and even if the hill was rough terrain Runewood could have given her Pathfinder.

She cast Crusader's Call for that extra 2 inches of threat, and with her remaining 12 focus she charged in a finished the High Executioner. In two swings with the flanking bonus. Nice.

Aftergame points:

The Sanctifier was pretty solid, since I needed to get rid of Idrians to get to him, and they just powered his decently-fast, reach heavies. My opponent has been honing a Reznik list that normally includes a Guardian and the Vilmon+Paladins module instead of the two Sanctifiers. I'm not sure the two Sancs were better, but maybe. The Paladins probably would have been eaten up by the enchanted maces of PKs, but you never know.

Gallant was all right. In fact, I never allocated to it from Constance. Arlan and the Morrowan bonus were pretty good to get it going. I probably should have given it one the turn it charged the IA'd Sanc, but alas.

Runewood was good as a Pathfinder insurance policy, and he did manage to pick off a key model with his handgun in a jam. That was cool. He made the PKs insanely accurate on their charge turn as well, and I liked that a lot.

Constance is interesting to me for a number of reasons. First, I did not cast many spells with her. I'm a newer player, and I like pCaine and pHaley, and I'm always strapped for focus. With Constance, I cast Banishing Ward turn one, and Crusader's Call turn two and three. That's it. If I wasn't able to get to Reznik on the last turn I would have cast Transference and used my focus to bolster the attacks of the remaining Stormblades and PKs (would have walked around the crippled Sanctifier to get to him too), but she's quite light on the spellcasting. That's alright, as her 16 armor gets a decent boost from camping a bit.

Crusader's Call is super deluxe awesome. She helps her whole force get that charge. Stormblades can Assault 10 inches, and PKs 11. Moreover, her 'jacks get the benefit as well, so the Stormclad and Gallant both had 12-inch threats with their reach. It was nice.

I briefly considered a Centurion with her, as it can then charge 9 with reach for an 11-inch threat, but then it gives up its no-charge * action, so. . .maybe? With Sword Knights marshaling it it can Pronto as well, for a 15-inch threat! But mediocre mat might discourage some. Still, interesting options.

-Merlin out.

Great Lakes Qualifier Report

I played a version of the deck I played at this tournament last Origins.

Round 1: Paul (ishatarri ven Tap/bleed)-->> John K(? Muaziz does something)-->> Sean K( g6 Salubri Marionette)--> Me (Shadow Out of Time v5)

Things went pretty badly for John and myself early. The tourney was 16 players, so that meant 4 player tables. I find that this sort of thing makes for odd tourneys. Alas.

I had a slow start. John got up 4 Tremere (3 little ones and Muaziz). I got Nehemiah and Tyler. Tyler got Mind Numbed early, which hurt. Nehemiah still brought a Reckless into the house, but Sean was a consistent bleeder and I hadn't draw a Villein yet.

Paul was the winner for all this. His Mustafa and Ubende were hurting my votes a lot, and Shasa was bleeding hard with Legal Manip and Uncontrollable Impulse. Usually after some Mind Numb/Freak Drive action.

John stayed alive for awhile, but eventually succumbed. The table leveled a bit. I was gaining pool each turn at least, and Paul was hurting now as he'd gotten up Victor P and made him Prince of Paris. Worse for him, Sean had Serena the black, who is Greta Kirscher with a third eye bonus.

The game turned on a single play. Sean got a Pulse on Serena, and then bled with the Marionette. I had an Archon Investigation. I knew that burning her would help Paul immensely, but he was low on pool and I had the cards in hand I needed to oust him.

I played the Archon. Tyler bled for two at stealth, but Paul had the Scalpel Tongue he needed (and I didn't have the Hall of Hades Court) to cancel Nehemiah's votes during the KRC ousting referendum.

Paul then ousted us both in quick succession.

Paul: 4VP and GW

Game MVP: Mind Numb. Slow down your predator, oust your prey.

Round 2: Me--> Dave S (Alan Sovereign wall street wall)--> Devin (The Reg Driscoll show)--> Matt (!Sal bleedbox)

Matt was an effective predator. His deck actually had a lot of blood denial elements with burning touch, hide the heart, and Greg winter all making an appearance. He got out Langa, Nketchi, two Bros in Arms, and Greg early. That was a lot of minions coming my way.

I got Nehemiah and Giangaleazzo, but Gian got mugged early by Langa after an aggressive Villein. He never quite recovered. Nehemiah stole Greg, but Dave blocked pretty much everything for a while.

Dave got General Perfido, Alan merged, and Piotr. Alan got a gun and the general anima gathered him. Piotr got a lawyer for plus bleed.

Devin got a Soul Gem and a Presence skill on Reg. Then he played Little Mountain every turn and forgot to draw a Freak Drive for a bit.

I did not do well with a single minion and Alan blocking everything. Worse, Matt got Uriel with Bashee Ironwail. He bleed for 5 using all his guys.

I made a crazy deal to refill Nehemiah by voting for something that wouldn't hit Dave. I called a neonate breach and hit Devin for 1 and Matt for 4. Devin saw his chance and became a sudden predator, bleeding for 5 unblockable with Reg, burning him with Daring the Dawn, and then bleeding again with new Reg.

With Matt gone I managed to hit Dave for 3-4 pool per turn, but his portfolio was too deep for me to do lasting damage. I begged Devin not to oust me, but he did. Dave got him in the two player. No GW and no MVP.

Round 3: Ryan (HoS bleedbox)--> Me--> Kevin (Weenie vote with TEN Kaymakli Nightmares)--> Alayna (DoC vote)

I knew what Kevin was playing because he'd wrecked Robb earlier in the day. I'd also played against his deck on another occasion so it was known to me. So. . .when I had the opportunity to bring up Shawda Dorrit by turn two I took it. Her three votes turned his deck from a table nightmare at a four player to a weenie bleed nightmare for Alayna.

She got two DoC, but the weenie pressure was high and she could not afford more. Ryan got Byzar and Viuda Blanca.

I also got Nehemiah and Mylan up, but it took a long time. I actually didn't do much until Nehemiah showed up, though I did make Kevin put some damage on himself with KRCs, while he was bleeding the hell out of Alayna.

I didn't get any Dominate, so my Deflections were dead cards. Ryan did bleed me a bit with Trochomancy, and got a Pulse on Byzar later. His main contribution to predatorhood was milling two cards per turn with a Slaughterhouse.

The game fell into my lap from there. I waited until Kevin was going to oust Alayna on his next turn and ousted him before he had the chance. Alayna was on 3 pool by then. She lunged unsuccessfully at Ryan, passing a big nasty Reckeless that was unblockable, but her three bleed got blocked.

Ryan failed to oust me, but I actually did not draw another pool damaging vote with my 8 cards + Nehemiah goodness. Still, with Mylan I was able to bleed for three with my three guys. Ryan bled ms a couple times, but now Giangaleazzo had joined my ready region and I did draw some KRCs.

Me 4VP and GW.

Game MVP: Shawda Dorrit, for being cheap and votey and just what I needed to win this game.

I did not make the finals by a half VP ( I was actually 7th of 16 players with a single game sweep, behind Alayna's 4VP and GW on tournament points. David Wilson, who organized the event, posted a redaction of the finals on the Michigan VTES Facebook page.

I'm having trouble generating a link to a Facebook page for linkiness here. Perhaps David will mosey by and leave some info in the comments here. I'd quote him out of context but. . .

I played my Al Muntaquim Chainsaw deck in a pickup game during the finals, but the Lambach on my left wouldn't let me get a Magic Chainsaw, and the game devolved into mutual bullying. It broke when my predator decided to oust me, and then the Lambach player, in quick succession. My Caitiff had just finished munching on the last Tzimisce, too.

Ah well. It does what combat decks often do: it wrecks it's predator and then loses spectacularly.

-Merlin out

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allz

Location:Ypsilanti MI