1500 Point Tournament Report

[Xaereth]

Howdy, folks! I finally started a YouTube channel, and have posted a few battle reports on there from a tournament I went to last weekend. Lots of pictures and stuff. Let me know what you think!

Game 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQbYh4eQBto

(the rest of my games are on my channel)

[Amboadine]

Thanks for the link. Will have a sit down to watch later.

[marcopollo]

I watched your game against the WoC player who had his MC out on the flank. Poor guy. I felt for him falling prey to the trash talk. Great results from your tourney. I liked your style of bat reps.

[Dark reaper]

I have watched all three games now and found them really interesting.

I think you played well, even though (IMO) you commited your Dark Riders way too early against the Cauldron unit in game 2. In the last game, it seemed like you were in complete control and could do whatever you liked. Him placing his Skullcrushers on an abandonded flank is a mistake he probably won't do again.

Have you thought about changing anything about your army? How do you think the Dagger+Dreadspears combo worked out? Would it have been better to simply have a dispel scroll and put your SS in a unit of Darkshards instead?

[Xaereth]

I watched your game against the WoC player who had his MC out on the flank. Poor guy. I felt for him falling prey to the trash talk. Great results from your tourney. I liked your style of bat reps.

Haha, thanks for watching! I feel a little guilty for trash talking him into it, though I suppose that is part of the game. It *was* his choice though, and I wasn't being abrasive - just friendly jibes that he chose to take seriously. Glad you liked the batreps though, I will try to get more games played soon so I can do more batreps!

Good news is that I've already painted a unit of 5 Doomfire Warlocks, which will mean no proxies next time

I have watched all three games now and found them really interesting.

I think you played well, even though (IMO) you commited your Dark Riders way too early against the Cauldron unit in game 2. In the last game, it seemed like you were in complete control and could do whatever you liked. Him placing his Skullcrushers on an abandonded flank is a mistake he probably won't do again.

Have you thought about changing anything about your army? How do you think the Dagger+Dreadspears combo worked out? Would it have been better to simply have a dispel scroll and put your SS in a unit of Darkshards instead?

Thanks for watching and for the kind words! Encourages me to keep making them

Also thanks for your critique on my Game 2. What would you have done different (I would benefit from input from more veteran players )? I felt like the time was right, since my characters at that point were still alive, and his own Sorceress would be coming out to snipe my own guys pretty quick with nasty Death magic.

I actually really liked having the Sac Dagger. As I mentioned in the reports, I got a MAXIMUM roll of "6" in the magic phase, and (as you can tell from my lists) I really wanted strong magic phases. The Sac Dagger gave me a couple extra power dice when I needed them, which was a godsend. For now, I really like the spears instead of the Shards - we'll see what later games tell me however

BTW, do you feel I absolutely need a scroll? I've literally never taken one in any game of Fantasy I've played, and never really had issues. Sure it would help, but I generally find other magic gear is also very useful

[Dark reaper]

In game 2, I just don't think he has anything that threatens you at that point. He can't really move forward anyway, as you are able to flank charge him no matter where he goes. If he has a death mage, it really makes no difference at all, as he can just as easily cast magic from out of combat as the death spells are direct damage.

During the Norwegian Masters last year, I played without a scroll as well and it worked okay. This was with the last book, but the principle is the same. There are some matchups where you are perfectly fine without a scroll, but in others it just a huge asset. If someone for example casts "The Dwellers Below" at your bunker, there is a 50/50 chance that your Supreme Sorceress dies. If you keep meeting armies like the ones you faced here though, it is not 100% necessary. The problem with the sac dagger imo is that you have to on average spend 18 points to get one power dice. This can be worth it if you have some really good spells that can really make a difference in the game though. I think the biggest factor however, is that it forces you to go bleakswords/dreadspears, which I think of as nearly useless units. Without the dagger, you could try other core configurations, such as a Darkshard bunker or Dark Riders, if you want to mount your sorceress on a horse. Keep in mind that there are no right answers here however, you should always take what works best for you. I currently play a Witch Elf deathstar myself, and there are a lot of people who dismiss this as a sub-optimal build. Just try some things and see what works.

Anyway, what you should keep in mind after this tournament is that you played better than your opponents, even though your list was probably a bit more challenging than theirs. Don't feel guilty about redirecting the Skullcrushers with Dark Riders. You exploited their frenzy and did exactly what you were supposed to do. None of your units could really beat the Skullcrushers in a straight combat anyway. If the two armies march towards each other, that is almost always a good thing for the WoC and a bad thing for the DE.

[marcopollo]

If you are comfortable without a dispel scroll, that is great. I am not. I am a veteran of 6th edition, where you could have more than one dispel scroll on any mage. So I used to take 3 or 4 of them. Having only one now seems like being naked to me. Personally, I don't like the fickleness of magic. That is why I usually take death to try to snipe away mages early. Again just my preference.