RushAss game reports from the 2012 Championship Tournament in Boston

[RushAss]

Speed Swiss Game 2 vs Tim (GoIndy) playing Orcs



My round 2 game was against Tim, who had been enduring the act of sharing the back seat of Brook’s car with me for this entire trip.  As described by Kevin, round 2 featured an experimental format.  The deployment zone was 15" wide (as it is in the normal "half map" games), but there was a 9" border area on one side (rather than the usual 5"), and nothing on the other side.  Armies were 1400 points, 2 Core required, 1 Elite, 2 Command Actions. 

For some reason this was an extremely difficult point total to deal with for both players.  We hemmed and hawed, but interestingly enough I believe we both came out with some decent (if unspectacular) builds.

Set Up


Taken after each player had had 1 turn of movement.  I was getting lazy!

Orcs
From left to right as originally deployed:
3 Swordsmen
1 Swordsmen on the edge backed by Spearmen and Goblin Wolf Warg Riders

Ravenwood
From left to right:
Spearmen
2 Swordsmen with Archers behind the 2 of them
Bearkin backed by Stag Cavalry

Any set up involving a truncated map with a barrier right next to the deployment zone is going to simplify things since you only need to worry about 1 flank.  I was simply hoping to control the line while exploiting the fact that I had better cavalry than he could hope to deploy.  I had to shift my approach once I saw that I was also going to have to deal with Spearmen on the flank, so now it was hold them off on the fringe while my archery assisted line got the job done.

Standing Orders where incredibly simple for both of us.  All of my units had a standard close standing order with the Archers firing on the Orc Swordsmen that was second furthest to the left with the tiny 1 marked on it.  Tim capped the units on his front line at 2.5 and had the Spearmen and Warg Riders set to close at standard speeds.
Early Turns



Early on things went well for me.  My archery was effective (hooray for Spirit Guidance!) and as the lines clashed my guys where certainly giving better than they where getting.  I direct controlled my Stags at one point to sweep them wide, which ensured that they would be going after the Warg Riders that where leaking around the fringe instead of the Spearmen that where advancing tighter to the line.  I was able to get the match up I wanted with the Warg Riders once Tim decided to ram my Bear Kin with his Spearmen.  The Stags one-shotted the Warg Riders (3 damage on charge, then blown courage check) while only taking a point of damage in return.  Not terribly surprising when you consider that the Wargs needed 1’s to hit.  The Bear Kin where able to survive the pinch turn due to a ton of command card play on my part.  As you can see in the pic above, Aspect of Wolverine prevented the pre-combat courage check from the pinch, Aspect of Fox removed 2 attack dice from the Spearmen, and Aspect of Bear made the return attack on the Swordsmen in front of the Kin even more potent in addition to the 2 dice from the Aspect of Wolverine.  Tim failed one of his courage checks along the line, but I Kill You Meself helped keep his line intact.  I was feeling mighty good right about now since I was in a good position and my dice had been better than Tim’s up to this point.

Later turns and Elven disaster



Oh how a turn of game play can change everything!  The following turn during movement and command phase I had my pen hovering over the Spirit Guidance box on my Archers and then I said “You know what?  I only need to do another point of damage to those Swordsmen to force a courage check in the red and I’ve already got 9 dice going at them this turn”.  I decided to draw a card instead.  That proved to be a fateful error as I was about to endure the absolute worst turn of Battleground I’ve ever experienced in a 1-on-1 game.  My Archers missed.  Every single one of my line units missed.  Both of my Swordsmen where put into the yellow and both routed.  One of those Swordsmen failed a second courage check from the return attacks and perished.  And the Bearkin where killed, which wasn’t entirely a shock to be fair.  This was basically the end of the game as I failed to do a single point of damage to anybody with 24 attack dice and no defensive cards played by my opponent.  Still, I hoped for a payback from such a massive letdown and soon after my Stags rammed headlong into his Spearmen which had been reformed with a hold standing order.  I needed big things from them and they didn’t disappoint as the red card I played on them helped to put enough damage on the Spearmen to force a courage check which they failed!  The return attack put them into the red and another failure here could put me back into the game, but it was not to be as the Spearmen succeeded here and ran off with 2 red boxes remaining.  My lone Spearmen unit was hanging on, but the 3 other Orc Swordsmen where able to advance to finish off my remaining Swordsmen and then engage my Archers which sealed the deal. 



Final Thoughts 

Well, there’s not much to dwell on here.  I feel that I didn’t make any major mistakes except for not checking off Spirit Guidance on that fateful turn, but would anybody blame me for that?  Tim played a solid game with a rather standard approach, which was unconventional for him – LOL   It was funny because Rachael stopped by to snap a picture early in the game and came back about 15 minutes later, doing a double take at the fact that most of my army was simply gone!

About the game format – the half map games are strategically limited in that both players only have to really concern themselves with 1 flank, but extending the border area to 9” certainly gives cavalry a lot of room to maneuver which certainly occurred in this game.  The 1400 points was an awkward number to work with and having only 2 command actions for that sized army made it a bit unwieldy, which is what I think Kevin was going for anyways.  So while it was not as fun as a standard game, it put a different spin on it and forced us to adapt our approach for both army building and play.  We observed that mistakes in this format could be far more critical as they would be more difficult to correct.

[gull2112]

Great report! It is realy amazing how a line can disintegrate like that! It really speaks to one of the things I find really exciting about BG, the fact that the game isn't over until it is over. Tim could have thrown in the towel after your awesome turn and no one would have blamed him as the pundits called the game in favor of Ravenwood, then a few turns later the reverse happened, it was still possible that it could have switched again, but the madness was through. I think this speaks to a key aspect of BG that accurately simulates actual generalship, the psychological edge. It would have been very easy after any of those turns for one of you to feel the game was over and stop trying, assuming the end result was a given. When you can get your opponent to believe that, then you have won. It also gives Kudos to both of you that you did not succumb to this.

On a seperate note, I want to give another shout to Kevin for throwing a little spice into the tournament. Well played my friend.

[Kevin]

The 1400 points was an awkward number to work with and having only 2 command actions for that sized army made it a bit unwieldy, which is what I think Kevin was going for anyways.

 

[gull2112]

Yes, Chris was certainly not happy when he realized his Undead nasties who required 3 CAs to reanimate could only do so with the help of the right commmand card.

[Kevin]

So while it was not as fun as a standard game, it put a different spin on it and forced us to adapt our approach for both army building and play.  We observed that mistakes in this format could be far more critical as they would be more difficult to correct.

Just to state the obvious, these "speed games" are there simply because we didn't have the time to do 3 full games.  Heck, my ambition had been to do 2 full games with a speed game in the middle, then Tim was saying that you all had to hit the road ASAP, so 2 speed games it was.

In any case, I'm increasingly thinking the key to these speed games (when they are unavoidable) is to mix the parameters up as much as possible.

[RushAss]

Oh yeah, I'm not complaining about the games being this way.  This is a really nice method of getting an hour long game in and it's about the best you can do in a situation like that.  Too bad geography prevented us from staying the extra time to play the extra true-length game 

[GoIndy]

I'll be honest, I really liked the speed games.  Weird maps, weird conditions, it's different, and that's always pretty fun in my mind.  Generally, I was coming up with my army while watching basketball games in the bar around the corner, so maybe my distict lack of preparation is coming into play. 

In the game against Marcus, I remember thinking, "I'm losing, I need to pinch these clowns on the end and destroy this line before the Stags kill everything.  Then....his guy didn't rout, and I thought, well, I'm dead and buried.

Then....the two greatest turns of total dice failure I've ever seen in any game occurred.  I DO remember Marcus making that very statement, and I agreed with him.  It was my pleasure to watch the dice fail so horribly, chuckle.

I for the life of me can't figure out why I did the 2.5 close thing, but my guess is was to get the spearman out and around maybe.  I didn't like how the Stags/Spearman/Wargriders worked out, but because in the early going I was getting steamed in the middle, I do remember thinking desparate measures were called for.

[RushAss]

Then....the two greatest turns of total dice failure I've ever seen in any game occurred.  I DO remember Marcus making that very statement, and I agreed with him.  It was my pleasure to watch the dice fail so horribly, chuckle.

I think it was karma for doing so horribly in the movie quote game on the way up.

I for the life of me can't figure out why I did the 2.5 close thing, but my guess is was to get the spearman out and around maybe.  I didn't like how the Stags/Spearman/Wargriders worked out, but because in the early going I was getting steamed in the middle, I do remember thinking desperate measures were called for.

Yeah, I think you did that to get the Spearmen caught up and achieve a 5-wide line.  I remember it worked out pretty well once we engaged.

[RushAss]

Speed Swiss Game 3 vs Brook (gornhorror) playing Lizardmen



My last game of the weekend was against Brook’s Lizardmen in an 1150 point game played on a reduced map.  Kevin was kind enough to switch the format of the last 2 games to speedier rounds since we needed to hit the road.  Again, these games are simpler than the full map games but are still fun and they are a great way to squeeze in a game in an hour or less. 

Set Up



Lizardmen
From top to bottom:
Trog Warriors backed by Raptor Pack
Trog Spearmen
Trog Spearmen
Swarmlings

Ravenwood
From top to bottom:
Ravenwood Spearmen backed by Centaurs
Brownies backed by Brownies (Brownie Batch #1)
Ravenwood Swordsmen
Brownies backed by Brownies (Brownie Batch #2)

Whoever won the flank would win the game, so I was basically banking on the Centaurs being able to defeat whatever wound up on the fringe and I didn’t really fear a T-Rex or Ancients since Brook had so few points to work with.

Standing Orders where the simplest yet – Everybody close!

Early Turns



Well, the lines closed.  What else is there to describe?  I placed Spirit Guidance on the Centaurs and it’s a good thing I did because they achieved javelin range on my turn and then completely whiffed with their throw (needing 4s and 3s).  I erase Spirit Guidance to get the lonely point of damage *Sigh*


Sorry for the quality of the pic, but at least you can get an idea of the battle

The lines engaged with pretty standard stuff happening across the board where the line units where concerned on the charge turn.  It was all about the Centaur/Raptor Pack fight and whoever won that would be able to roll the opponent’s line at will.  The Centaur’s second javelin throw wasn’t much better, netting them just another sad point.  On the engaged attack I played an Aspect of Stag (4s and 6s + impact hit and an additional damage) and I managed 4-5 more points of damage, putting the Raptors well into the yellow.  The Raptors did 2 damage and then Brook erased the Fury checkbox that he had marked so that made it 3 damage, putting the Centaurs into the yellow.  Both units succeeded their courage checks.

Note that Brook also played a red command card on his attack and the upgrade for Fury allows a player to play a command card AND activate Fury on the same turn when applicable, which is what Brook did.  Though I was on the receiving end of this, it still feels right and we’re hoping that Lizardman generals rejoice throughout the land. 

Later turns



My Spearmen where really going to town on the Trogs they where facing, but strangely after the charge turn the rest of my line units simply stopped inflicting damage.  The first Brownie unit near the top of the pic died quickly and where backed up by the next bunch of victims.  You can see that the Swordsmen blew their courage check after an abysmal showing offensively, and the Brownies facing the Swarmlings blew a courage check in the red and where backed up by the next bunch of victims.

So it all comes back to the Centaurs, which I’m really hoping will pull through for me at this point.  The turn after engagement, I think both the Raptors and Centaurs stayed in the yellow with lame attacks from both parties.  A turn or two later both units got put into the red.  The Raptors succeeded their courage check, but the Centaurs failed.  The only thing that saved them was Aspect of Wolf, so they where able to rally at the end of the turn.  Since the next turn was Brook’s, he was able to final rush the Centaurs, which wouldn’t get a javelin throw or defensive skill bonus since they where on hold.  IIRC, both units killed each other and that was the game since my non-Spearmen line units where being annihilated.

Final Thoughts 

The Centaurs getting hosed by a Raptor Pack was not part of my game plan, but apparently these sorts of things do happen from time to time and this was just such an instance.  Overall his line was stronger than mine.  Both lines where set up to grind it out, but Trogs grind a bit better than Brownie Batches and my line units underperformed anyways.  The only unit I really got any value out of where the Spearmen.  Blowing 50% of my courage checks while he passed all of his certainly didn’t help much either.  Brook also played it well with his command card use (his first 5 or so cards where all red!) and Fury application.  Once my guys went into the yellow it turned into a feeding frenzy for the Lizardmen with all those extra attack dice across the board. 

Well, that concludes my games at the 2012 Battleground Championship tournament.  While my record in both events I participated in was poor, I still feel that I got in some quality play and I had a great time playing every one of these games.  Thanks to Kevin for putting the whole thing together and running it extremely well.  Thanks to all of my opponents for being competitive, honorable, and flat out fun to play with.  Thanks to my compatriots for the fun ride to and from the tournament, as well as the misadventures getting to and from the Hotel.  And no thanks to google maps and that Godforsaken GPS! 

Many of these pics where taken by Rachel and posted by Kevin.  And they where totally used without any permission given whatsoever.

[Kevin]

Many of these pics where taken by Rachel and posted by Kevin.  And they where totally used without any permission given whatsoever.

I demand 10% of the profits you make from these game reports!   

But seriously, thanks to you and all the other Jersey Boys for coming up.  15 players made it the biggest Battleground tournament ever, which tickles me pink (and I'm already plotting Championship 2013  ), and it wouldn't have happened if it weren't for everyone willing to travel.

More importantly, the very nature of a gaming tournament is that for every victory there's a loss.  So an extra tip of the hat to folks have a good time regardless of record!  Especially since the tournament was ridiculously competitive in terms of player skill.  As I've said before, there were more people who "should" make every cut than by definition could.  (e.g. At least a dozen people who "should" make the final 8.)

[gull2112]

Every game I played, except for the first, would have been a draw except for the fact that we were counting a mere greater number of VPs a victory. I think there should be some recognition for whoever gets the most, or even has a, decisive victory. Maybe even the Kingdoms award schedule based on degree of victory, so that if under the old method players would have the same number of victories, in the new method if every game was a technical draw except one marginal victory, the player with the marginal victory would get the win. This might cut down on trying to squeeze in additional tie-breaker games when folks are tired or pressed for time.

[Kevin]

I considered using VPs back in 2011.  The problem is that some people (not everyone, but some) will just concede a game once victory appears hopeless, and then how many points do I count that as?  If your opponent concedes when half his army is gone and 2/3 of yours remains, do you end up higher or lower than someone whose opponent played to the bitter end and took out 40% of his army?

-----------

That said, I could see giving a special (non-cash) prize for "Best Ass Whupping" or something like that.  Maybe even give the prize to the person who received it.  A commemorative paddle, perhaps?  

[gull2112]

The problem is that some people (not everyone, but some) will just concede a game once victory appears hopeless, and then how many points do I count that as? 

I would think this would motivate people to play to the bitter end, especially if you called a surrender as a decisive victory. I really don't know though, just a thought.

I do think the "fun" awards and booby prizes add a lot of color to the tourney! I always enjoy your awesome tournaments. The time and effort you put into them really shows!

[Kevin]

Oh, I totally agree that more people would play to the bitter end, but all it would take would be one person to cause permanent sour grapes.

"So sorry.  You played well and it looked like you really were in the finals but so-and-so conceded his game early in order to go to dinner with his friends, so his opponent got an 8-1 split and you don't make the finals.  Maybe next year."

And beyond the issue of early concessions (which if you take it away means I'm no longer able to judge a game if necessary) and forfeits, there's the annoying fact that some people lose interest in a game they're losing and rapidly fold like a cheap tent, while others (Looking at you, Jaime!  ) go down thrashing and clawing for every last point.


But thanks re:  the "for fun" prizes.  I'm increasingly thinking a "best ass whupping" prize should  be awarded to whoever received it, with the caveat that they have to make the final 8.  (Newbies and folks having a really tough weekend wouldn't appreciate it.)

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As to the game with Tim, Marcus, you were probably screwed with dice like that.  My one suggestion, though would've been to write that pinched unit off and save the blue cards for the other battles.  Sure, you kept it alive into the second turn of combat, but unless you can keep it alive into the third turn (which was hopeless) then  you're not actually slowing down the rampaging orcs.

The game with Brook just looked like bad luck biting you in the ass.  Centaurs engaged Raptors and the Centaurs are the ones who rout?  Sheesh.  Still, the rest of Brook's game was solid enough that he was positioned to take advantage of that piece of luck.

[RushAss]

As to the game with Tim, Marcus, you were probably screwed with dice like that.  My one suggestion, though would've been to write that pinched unit off and save the blue cards for the other battles.  Sure, you kept it alive into the second turn of combat, but unless you can keep it alive into the third turn (which was hopeless) then  you're not actually slowing down the rampaging orcs.

That may very well have helped.  My mindset at the time was that if I could polish off the Wolf Riders that the Stags could sweep in and do their thing.  I was also hoping that I could force a courage check on the Swordsmen and if they failed, the Stags would drill them and it would be a domino effect.

The game with Brook just looked like bad luck biting you in the ass.  Centaurs engaged Raptors and the Centaurs are the ones who rout?  Sheesh.  Still, the rest of Brook's game was solid enough that he was positioned to take advantage of that piece of luck.

Agreed on both counts