kingmagic
2007-04-07, 02:06:40 PM
Editor's Note: This game takes us back to Steven's first game in the Blood War league. If you've been keeping up with the recaps, this one may seem out of place. That's because it is.
The Blood Wars League is a bit different from past leagues in that it will only run for three weeks and, so far as I know, there will be no finals. The rules are similar to an event that was run at the last GenCon -- each player gets two boosters from which to build a warband, and bands may be modified between matches. We need to play at least three matches (one per week), and we need to play three different people before we can play the same person twice. After each match, we get to roll against a matrix of figures and add whatever figure we rolled to our sideboard.
Neat-O!
Building the Warband
When it comes to Sealed matches, I run very hot or cold with my pulls. Underdark League -- cold. Wardrums Release -- cold. Wardrums Internal League -- hot. War of the Dragon Queen Release -- hot. Blood War Release -- frozen. But this time out, I have to admit that I got a pretty decent draw. In fact, one could argue it's almost too good.
The pulls from both boosters resulted in this --
Commanders --
Red Hand War Sorcerer
Harmonium Guard
Free League Ranger
Rares --
Fire Giant Forgepriest
Ice Devil
Uncommons --
Half-Orc Spy
Large Water Elemental
Maug
Orc Wizard
Soulknife Infiltrator
Commons --
Blood of Vol Cultist
Greenspawn Sneak x2
Skeletal Reaper
Soldier of Bytopia x2
Wow. There's actually enough for a couple of different warbands there and at least two distinct ideas I'd like to try.
The Red Hand of Doom
Red Hand War Sorcerer
Fire Giant Forgepriest
Maug
Orc Wizard
Greenspawn Sneak x2
Hellspike map
A very simple and direct Titan band with an even simpler strategy -- SMASH! The Forgepriest scores critical hits on 18-20, while the Maug acts as a solid backup beater (dishing out magic damage thanks to the Giant). The reliable Greenspawns provide flanks and Assault points, the Orc Wizard keeps powerful figures from basing the Giant or my commander with three castings of battering ram (and blasts them with fireburst when they get too close). Finally, with the Red Hand lashing out with lighting bolts from behind the Giant, this could be a difficult band to face. It suffers from a fairly squishy commander and lack of long-distance threats, but with any luck, the Hellspike map will help mitigate things somewhat. It's 5 points short of 200 ... maybe I'll be able to grab a Fiendish Snake or a Kobold Monk at some point to push it up to seven activations.
Fire & Ice
Harmonium Guard
Fire Giant Forgepriest
Ice Devil
Greenspawn Sneak x2
Keep of Fallen Kings map
This is more of a Spoiler band. It could do extremely well or very horribly, depending on the matchup. Twin Titans often survive longer than lone Titans in sealed play, and the area effects of the Ice Devil are almost guaranteed to clear out enemy activations quickly. The absolute most horrific matchup for this band would be Vlaakith, whose immunity to cold would render much of the "BOOM!" aspect of this warband moot and whose disintegrate spell can be ruin for even the Forgepriest with an unlucky Save. But it'd still be worth a shot.
Of the two, I think the first band is more solid, but the second band looks like a lot of fun. We'll see which one I try, and what else I pull to make either or both bands work a little bit better, as I start getting into some skirmishes.
The Opponents
After much deliberation, I decided to go ahead with the first version of my warband, thinking it was probably the most solid choice. In retrospect, I still think it is, but it'll take another match and some better dice luck on my part to determine whether that's really the case.
Red Hand War Sorcerer (34 pts)
Fire Giant Forgepriest (84 pts)
Maug (41 pts)
Orc Wizard (24 pts)
Greenspawn Sneak x2 (12 pts)
Hellspike map
Total -- 195 pts, 6 activations
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mi20070405a_wbmontano.jpg
The Blood Wars League is a bit different from past leagues in that it will only run for three weeks and, so far as I know, there will be no finals. The rules are similar to an event that was run at the last GenCon -- each player gets two boosters from which to build a warband, and bands may be modified between matches. We need to play at least three matches (one per week), and we need to play three different people before we can play the same person twice. After each match, we get to roll against a matrix of figures and add whatever figure we rolled to our sideboard.
Neat-O!
Building the Warband
When it comes to Sealed matches, I run very hot or cold with my pulls. Underdark League -- cold. Wardrums Release -- cold. Wardrums Internal League -- hot. War of the Dragon Queen Release -- hot. Blood War Release -- frozen. But this time out, I have to admit that I got a pretty decent draw. In fact, one could argue it's almost too good.
The pulls from both boosters resulted in this --
Commanders --
Red Hand War Sorcerer
Harmonium Guard
Free League Ranger
Rares --
Fire Giant Forgepriest
Ice Devil
Uncommons --
Half-Orc Spy
Large Water Elemental
Maug
Orc Wizard
Soulknife Infiltrator
Commons --
Blood of Vol Cultist
Greenspawn Sneak x2
Skeletal Reaper
Soldier of Bytopia x2
Wow. There's actually enough for a couple of different warbands there and at least two distinct ideas I'd like to try.
The Red Hand of Doom
Red Hand War Sorcerer
Fire Giant Forgepriest
Maug
Orc Wizard
Greenspawn Sneak x2
Hellspike map
A very simple and direct Titan band with an even simpler strategy -- SMASH! The Forgepriest scores critical hits on 18-20, while the Maug acts as a solid backup beater (dishing out magic damage thanks to the Giant). The reliable Greenspawns provide flanks and Assault points, the Orc Wizard keeps powerful figures from basing the Giant or my commander with three castings of battering ram (and blasts them with fireburst when they get too close). Finally, with the Red Hand lashing out with lighting bolts from behind the Giant, this could be a difficult band to face. It suffers from a fairly squishy commander and lack of long-distance threats, but with any luck, the Hellspike map will help mitigate things somewhat. It's 5 points short of 200 ... maybe I'll be able to grab a Fiendish Snake or a Kobold Monk at some point to push it up to seven activations.
Fire & Ice
Harmonium Guard
Fire Giant Forgepriest
Ice Devil
Greenspawn Sneak x2
Keep of Fallen Kings map
This is more of a Spoiler band. It could do extremely well or very horribly, depending on the matchup. Twin Titans often survive longer than lone Titans in sealed play, and the area effects of the Ice Devil are almost guaranteed to clear out enemy activations quickly. The absolute most horrific matchup for this band would be Vlaakith, whose immunity to cold would render much of the "BOOM!" aspect of this warband moot and whose disintegrate spell can be ruin for even the Forgepriest with an unlucky Save. But it'd still be worth a shot.
Of the two, I think the first band is more solid, but the second band looks like a lot of fun. We'll see which one I try, and what else I pull to make either or both bands work a little bit better, as I start getting into some skirmishes.
The Opponents
After much deliberation, I decided to go ahead with the first version of my warband, thinking it was probably the most solid choice. In retrospect, I still think it is, but it'll take another match and some better dice luck on my part to determine whether that's really the case.
Red Hand War Sorcerer (34 pts)
Fire Giant Forgepriest (84 pts)
Maug (41 pts)
Orc Wizard (24 pts)
Greenspawn Sneak x2 (12 pts)
Hellspike map
Total -- 195 pts, 6 activations
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mi20070405a_wbmontano.jpg