The Big Final Tournament of 2014

We started the big final single-elimination tournament featuring all of the tournament winners from the past year with a few "wild cards" getting a change to play in to the big tournament. Go to post whatever to see the match-ups. Predict the winner - the report will come fast.

Jacob and I decided to do an 8-team double-elimination tournament over break. Lose two and that army is eliminated. We started playing on December 30th and have battled 8 times so far in between all of the travel . . . we hope to finish the tournament in the next week or so. We really wanted to see how some of our new customs would fair in a tournaments setting.

How were the armies selected?
We used the random number generator in Excel to randomly select one unit from each of the 6 generals except for Utgar/Valkrill, who got three selections. We then built armies that totaled between 580-590 points each around that selected unit. We decided to lean heavily on synergy with the selected unit and bypass units that had more synergy with other units. We also decided that higher ranked units would be paired with lower ranked units and vice-a-versa if no synergy was apparent. We decided to allow fractional common squads to make the army building easier.

How was the 1st round of battles selected?
We used the 20-sider to match-up the 4 “good” generals with the 4 “bad” generals in the first round. Yes, we put Vydar in the bad general category since they are heading that way.

Who got which army?
20-sider for the first battle, loser got to pick their army in the second battle, and so on. We also stressed that if one of us hasn’t played much with a unit, they had to take that unit. So, Jacob ended up with Shadow Slayers and Richter. I played Grigor and Rigor and Kursus for the first time.

What if two of our own armies have to battle each other?
No problem, whoever owns the two armies gets to select which one they want to play with. Or, if Jacob has homework to do, Damon will just battle himself with both armies.


Round 1 Match-ups: all battles in this round took place on the Jungle Hill map.

Battle 1
Utgar1 (Damon): Vulcan Incendiborgs, Siiv, Haveech Eradicators x4 = 580
Aquilla (Jacob): Shadow Slayers of Kresnik x4, Van Nessing = 585

Battle 2
Einar (Jacob): Richter, Priscus, Retarius, Capuan Gladiators x3 = 580
Utgar2 (Damon): Grigor and Rigor, Mimring, Swog Rider x4, Arrow Gruts x4 = 580

Battle 3
Ullar (Damon): Aubrien Archers x4, Haduc, Acolarh, Morsbane = 590
Utgar3 (Jacob): Sonya Esenwein, Cyprien Esenwein, Skeletons of Annellintia x 3.75 = 589

Battle 4
Jandar (Jacob): Nilfheim, Johnny Shotgun Sullivan, Airborne Elite, Dze-Teh x3 = 585
Vydar (Damon): Kursus, Nakita Agents, Zaeus, Otonashi, Gorillinators x3 = 585

Predict the winners. I will update the thread with the results of the first round and very brief battle reports.

Battle 1- Utgar 1
Battle 2- Einar
Battle 3- Utgar 3
Battle 4- Vyadar

don't look until you pick

outcome:

Sounds like fun!!

Battle 1
Utgar1 (Damon): Vulcan Incendiborgs, Siiv, Haveech Eradicators x4 = 580
Aquilla (Jacob): Shadow Slayers of Kresnik x4, Van Nessing = 585

Eradicators are Bad! I think dual wielding Slayers for the win!

Battle 2
Einar (Jacob): Richter, Priscus, Retarius, Capuan Gladiators x3 = 580
Utgar2 (Damon): Grigor and Rigor, Mimring, Swog Rider x4, Arrow Gruts x4 = 580

This was a tough one .. I'm going with Gladiators because of the low defense of the Gruts, though I haven't played with Grigor & Rigor .. he (they?) could be the difference.

Battle 3
Ullar (Damon): Aubrien Archers x4, Haduc, Acolarh, Morsbane = 590
Utgar3 (Jacob): Sonya Esenwein, Cyprien Esenwein, Skeletons of Annellintia x 3.75 = 589

Cyprien is going to snack on Elves and the Skeletons are hard to beat with only 2 attack dice.

Battle 4
Jandar (Jacob): Nilfheim, Johnny Shotgun Sullivan, Airborne Elite, Dze-Teh x3 = 585
Vydar (Damon): Kursus, Nakita Agents, Zaeus, Otonashi, Gorillinators x3 = 585

My money is on the Airborne & The Dragon King! Plus I'd like to see the Yeti's advance.
--

And wow, I didn't realize that all 4 of my Winner picks were Jacob. Good luck Nomad!!! : )

Along the same lines. Do you all have an interest to get a Superhero/villain c3g tournament going. Piper and Sydney and myself do. Other than the newest release I have most of the units and would be happy to spread them around to go through the tournament. Sydney has to have Anti-Monitor so I was thinking 1600 pt armies (poor Beyonder). Let me know if you all are interested.

Derek S wrote:Along the same lines.  Do you all have an interest to get a Superhero/villain c3g tournament going.  Piper and Sydney and myself do.  Other than the newest release I have most of the units and would be happy to spread them around to go through the tournament.  Sydney has to have Anti-Monitor so I was thinking 1600 pt armies (poor Beyonder).  Let me know if you all are interested.

I'm always down for C3G .. been a long time since I played Superheroes.

We should plan some game-day events, so I can plan some travel

Jacob is pretty excited about many of the new C3G dudes. Honestly, I haven't looked at anything C3G related since summer.

Yes - we should do a satellite tournament (play what we can in local area and then get together a time or two to finish it off). We can all pick a couple of armies and set up a 16-team double elimination tournament (whatever armies we need extra to make 16 could just be filler - to be played by whoever). We could do this over time. Jacob would be thrilled!

Anyways - let's give it some more thought.

Battle 1
Utgar1 (Damon): Vulcan Incendiborgs, Siiv, Haveech Eradicators x4 = 580
Aquilla (Jacob): Shadow Slayers of Kresnik x4, Van Nessing = 585

Jacob had never played with the Slayers and it was obvious that he was not schooled in the subtleties of how to make them an awesome squad. He ran in to some fire from the Incendiborgs early, but eventually took them out. Dad rolled the 20-sider pretty well on ranged attacks from the Eradicators (once getting off 3 attacks from the same figure) and only losing one when attempting a ranged shot all battle. The 4x4 strength of the Eradicators wore down the rest of the Slayers and killed Van Nessing in one turn. Final Score: Eradicators 280 points left.

Battle 2
Einar (Jacob): Richter, Priscus, Retarius, Capuan Gladiators x3 = 580
Utgar2 (Damon): Grigor and Rigor, Mimring, Swog Rider x4, Arrow Gruts x4 = 580

MVP: Richter. The easy to kill Arrow Gruts and Swogs made life very fun for Richter and his special attack. He killed three figures twice and two figures a few times. Mimring tried to get into the action on top of the hill and tied Richter down a couple of times, but couldn't make any headway. The Caps did a good job of tying Rigor and Grigor down. Rigor or Grigor, I am not sure which one, finally took out Richter in the end game. Poor Retarius didn't even get to move in this blowout as Priscus and the Gladiators threw the few remaining orc corpses in a pile and but it to blaze. Final Score: Gladiators 266 points left.

Battle 3
Ullar (Damon): Aubrien Archers x4, Haduc, Acolarh, Morsbane = 590
Utgar3 (Jacob): Sonya Esenwein, Cyprien Esenwein, Skeletons of Annellintia x 3.75 = 589

On the first turn, Dad rolled frenzy thee times and put a heavy dent into the Skeletons (Jacob missed the necro on 5 of the first 6 kills). Haduc and his auto shield proved very fortuitous through out the battle. Alcolarh saved 4 archers from impending death early on. Jacob finally rolled out Cyprien and Dad had him up to 4 wounds at one point. Morsbane got one chance at negation on the vamp but failed before dying. The battle seemed really close until the end game. But at 105 points a squad and another 195 points for the Sonya and her beau, it really added up. Final Score: Skeletons 308 points left.

Battle 4
Jandar (Jacob): Nilfheim, Johnny Shotgun Sullivan, Airborne Elite, Dze-Teh x3 = 585
Vydar (Damon): Kursus, Nakita Agents, Zaeus, Otonashi, Gorillinators x3 = 585

Nakitas and Gorillinators were able to take apart the Dze-Teh. Zaues and some long range shots pierced Nilfheim enough to keep him from rolling over Vydar. It was close a very close match, but Primadons and angels came out on top with more advantageous dice rolls. Funny thing, at least for me, was that this battle took 8 rounds to complete, Jacob rolled for the drop every round, and the Airborne were left flying around never to see the battlefield (they were probably too scared after seeing monkeys with guns). Final Score: Gorillinators 93 points left.

So, Damon and Jacob split the first round of battles.

In the winner's bracket, it will be
Eradicators v. Gladiators
Skeletons v. Gorillinators

In the loser's bracket fighting for their lives, it will be
Arrow Gruts v. Shadow Slayers
Aubrien Archers v. Dze-Teh

These have been played on Cryto's Maw (Nothing but snow, ice, and lots of glaciers) - I'll update next time I have time. Who do you think won?

Skeletons and Gladiators in the winners bracket, Arrow gruts and Dze-teh in the losers.

For the C3G tourney The 1st 4 armies we are using are: Sydney- Anti-Monitor, Derek- Apocalypse, sage, X-23, Omega Red, Marrow, Trickster, Piper- Batgirl, Oracle Batman II, Alfred, Robin (100) Batman (Terry), Commissioner Gordon, 5th precinct x3, Jonah Hex, Azrael, Huntress, and Spoiler, Team 4- Bruce Banner, Bucky, Capt. America, Incredible Hulk, Vision, Wasp, Yellow Jacket (190), Iron Man (Classic). All teams are between 1600 and 1625.

I wasn't going to be too worried if a few guys were in multiple armies if it made since. I have another round of teams picked if we ever get started or finish this round. All teams could change if we wanted to get going on this sooner than later.

Also, I got a PM on heroscapers that I will forward to you guys about a tournament on Groundhogs day.

Round 2 Match-ups: all battles in this round took place on Cryto’s Maw.

We had three convincing wins and one battle that was so improbable it defies any thing you could ever imagine . . . and I’m still losing sleep over it.

Winner’s Bracket

Battle 5
Utgar1 (Damon): Vulcan Incendiborgs, Siiv, Haveech Eradicators x4 = 580
Einar (Jacob): Richter, Priscus, Retarius, Capuan Gladiators x3 = 580

Cruddy attacks and nice defensive rolls took this battle to the 9th round before all was decided, but on the second order marker of the battle things were pretty much decided. Cryto’s Maw is one of those maps that is much wider than it is long. A couple of turns, and you can be engaged with the enemy in their start zone. Damon foolishly placed that OM#2 on Siiv who could pounce on the Treasure Glyph. But in so doing, he gave up position and three attacks. Jacob sent in the Gladiators, who quickly dispatched Siiv, and sent others around the big Glaciers ready to pounce on Eradicators. Damon was on the defensive the rest of the battle fighting for height. The Incendiborgs did a great job of tying down Richter for round-after-round to prevent the super-gladiator from doing too much damage. But, by the end of the game, the common gladiators did steamroll. Poor Retarius did not get to move for the second battle in a row. Final Score: Gladiators had 260 points left and remain one of two unbeaten armies. The Eradicators move into the loser’s bracket.

Battle 6
Utgar3 (Jacob): Sonya Esenwein, Cyprien Esenwein, Skeletons of Annellintia x 3.75 = 589
Vydar (Damon): Kursus, Nakita Agents, Zaeus, Otonashi, Gorillinators x3 = 585

Angels and Primadons quickly gained the high ground, content to shoot from range to pick off pesky Skeletons. Strategy was working great . . . until Cyprien jumped in. On this wide but shallow map, he was able to attempt a chilling touch on Zaeus in one move . . . 19 + 2 from Sonya = Zaeus was a gonner. Things went downhill from there as Cyprien used his stealth and the skeletons used there numbers to decimate the poor Nakitas and Monkeys. Kursus had a chance to get things close by using Sonic Fists on a two skeletons and Cyprien, but he only rolled 1/5 in his attack and promptly died. Final Score: Skeletons had 355 points left and will move on to meet the Gladiators. The Gorillinators drop to the loser’s bracket.

Loser’s Bracket

Battle 7
Utgar2 (Damon): Grigor and Rigor, Mimring, Swog Rider x4, Arrow Gruts x4 = 580
Aquilla (Jacob): Shadow Slayers of Kresnik x4, Van Nessing = 585

Things looked semi-promising as Gruts and Swogs moved into position . . . but so where the Slayers. Jacob learned a little bit from his first battle. Arrows were flying, but making little impact. Slayers waited until they could charge in and get double attacks, often with height. Grigor and Rigor foolishly left height to grab the Treasure Glyph, only to lose all 8 lives in one turn from three Slayers and their double attacks. Final Score: Shadow Slayers stay alive with a convincing 265 points left. Arrow Gruts are the first to be eliminated from the tournament. The Slayers advance to play the Gorillinators in their next loser-out battle.

Battle 8
Ullar (Damon): Aubrien Archers x4, Haduc, Acolarh, Morsbane = 590
Jandar (Jacob): Nilfheim, Johnny Shotgun Sullivan, Airborne Elite, Dze-Teh x3 = 585

Airborne dropped prior to OMs in the first round. On a map like Cryto’s Maw, it is an Airborne dream. Damon figured that his Archers would be easy prey early, so he sent in Morsbane and Haduc in tandem to the center of the map trying to draw fire. The Airbone picked off a few Archers and earned some wounds on the two wizards, but Haduc killed a couple of Airborne. Yetis moved and moved and moved – jumping glaciers while knowing they couldn’t be attacked from range. Perfect map for Yeti’s.

With one life left, Morsbane broke free to the center of the map and rolled for negation on Nilfheim, who was still sitting in the start zone . . . a 19 . . . plus 1 from Haduc. Nilfheim dies!!!!! Morsbane earns his points for the first time this writer has ever witnessed. Things look very nice for Team Ullar! Sadly, the Yetis crush both Morsbane and Haduc in consecutive turns causing Team Ullar to lose two OMs.

Over the next few rounds, Archers are sent out, Yetis traverse the map into Ullar’s start zone. Much killing and mayhem ensue. Johnny goes down, Acolarh gets heavily wounded. Yetis and elves dies. When the dust cleared it was 2 Yetis v. 3 Aubriens and a 1 life Acolarh.

Ullar wins initiative and knowing they can’t hit the Yeti’s from range, they charge in and manage to kill one of the Yeti’s. The last Yeti takes out a stray archer. The other two archers climb to height but can’t shoot from range. The Yeti traverses to take out another archer. The archer fails in his attack. The Yeti kills the last archer. Acolarh engages the Yeti but fails. The last Yeti thumps Acolarh with his mighty Yeti club for the win.

Final Score: Dzu-Teh had that one Yeti and 25 points left for the win. Damon is still losing sleep – Morsbane killing Nilf in a single roll, but I still lose? On a different map, team Ullar would win. Right? Dzu-Teh will take on the Eradicators in the next loser-out battle while the Aubriens are done for the tournament.

Dad only has 2 armies left. Jacob has all 4 of his and 2 of them are undefeated . . . nothing new under the sun. Three out of four ain't bad in your predictions, Derek.

Round 3 Loser’s Bracket Match-ups:

Eradicators v. Dze-Teh @ Stygian Rift
Gorillinators v. Shadow Slayers @ Stygian Rift

Predict the winners.

Morsbane earns his points for the first time this writer has ever witnessed.

HA!


WOW!! awesome battles and great reports!!!!

Eradicators and, and, and, I don't know. Gorrillanators in a close one. Nice battle reports. You should do this on Scapers'.

Me and Syd are about ready to get under way

Round 3 Loser’s Bracket Match-ups

Eradicators v. Dze-Teh @ Stygian Rift

The Airborne elite dropped right away and won initiative, but could only take out a couple of Eradicators in the first round. The Incendiborgs picked off a couple of Airborne and tied down the others before taking them out of commission in the next round. Nilfheim entered the fray and did his thing, decimating two of the Incendiborgs and a number of Eradicators before finally falling to three Eradicator attacks. It was all Eradicators v. Yetis for a few rounds (the Yeti’s took out the last Incendiborg). The Eradicators didn’t shoot from range the whole game and with the additional defense die and extra move compared to the Yetis’ where able to finally rid the board of Dze-Teh. It came down to Johnny “Shotgun” Sullivan versus two Eradicators and Siiv. The Eradicators got a wound on Shotgun, but Johnny shot-gunned them down. At the end of the round, Johnny had an open shot on Siiv, but whiffed. On the first OM in the final round, Siiv climbed to height and gets a couple of wounds on Johnny, who whiffed in defense. Johnny aimed his shotgun point blank at Siiv’s chest, but whiffs on his attack, again. Siiv rolls 2/4 skulls with his normal attack . . . and . . . Johnny whiffs again! Dad wins! Siiv is the MVP! Final Score: The Eradicators win with 40 points left and will play the winner of the next match-up. Team Yeti packs up their bags to catch the next train for the Thaelink Tundra.


Gorillinators v. Shadow Slayers @ Stygian Rift

A little smoke powder, Gorillinators in shadow tying down Slayers, and Zaeus using his Railgun eventually take out all of the Slayers. Kursus even got into the action, taking out the last two Slayers with his Sonic Fists. Dad was feeling pretty good because Van Nessing had only one life left while Dad had 2 lives left on Kursus and 2 on Zaeus, plus Otonashi to start the deciding round. Jacob won initiative, charged up and engaged both Zaeus and Kursus. Jacob rolled 5/5 skulls to bury Kursus, reveals the X for another turn and then rolls 5/5 skulls to kill Zaeus. How could this happen!? Dad’s OM is burned. Van Nessing moves down and dispatches poor Otonashi. What just happened!? Final Score: The Shadow Slayers won with one life left on Van Nessing for a total of 21 points. They stay alive and will face the Eradicators in a rematch of their round one battle and are hoping for revenge.

Dad still has one of his armies left while Jacob has had one of his eliminated.

Next up:

Winner’s Bracket
Skeletons v. Gladiators @ Stygian Rift (Winner moves to championship battle, loser will face the victor of the match below. Jacob decided to play with Richter and friends making Dad play with Cyprien and the Undead).

Loser’s Bracket
Eradicators v. Shadow Slayers @ Blackroot (Loser is done, winner faces the loser of the match above).

Who will advance to the championship battle? Who will stay alive?

Wow! A couple of nail-biters there! Right to the bitter end .. those are the best 'Scape skirmishes!!

Skeletons versus Gladiators is going to be fun. Stygian Rift should be a fun map for that contest. Melee on Melee with lava fields .. nice.

I am surprised that the Eradicators are staying in ... it is all about the claws instead of pulling the trigger.

missed my predictions before the report. Was going to go with Gladiators and Slayers. I'll go with the Skeletons to get in to the championship.

It would have been interesting to see the Shadow Slayers come up against Cyprien & the Skeletons ; )

Thanks for these reports! Really awesome!

I kind of rushed the last report, but needed something to do at halftime. OK, the dice are shaking for the Skeletons and Eradicators match-up.

Well for C3G Tournament i think one of my teams will be something like this:

Lieutenant Stone-140
Code Blue Officer-210(70x3)
SWAT Riflemen-175(35x5)
SWAT Explosives Expert-105(35x3)
SWAT Assaulter-200?(25x8?)
---830
something like that  ... since only 24 start zones i cant get tones of civilians, J. Jonah James and Anarky... but I'll find something

I like the Gladiators for a win in the 1st game.

Jacob wrote:
Well for C3G Tournament i think one of my teams will be something like this:

Lieutenant Stone-140
Code Blue Officer-210(70x3)
SWAT Riflemen-175(35x5)
SWAT Explosives Expert-105(35x3)
SWAT Assaulter-200?(25x8?)
---830
something like that afro ... since only 24 start zones i cant get tones of civilians, J. Jonah James and Anarky... but I'll find something

I don't think we will hold a strict start zone but don't want to get to ridiculous with starting zone. 

If you are 58 Jacob should have a job! Good rolling in the championship.

Eradicators v. Gladiators @ Stygian Rift.

Rd 1: Dad moved the Incendiborgs up, followed by Eradicators – gained the Thorian glyph on the right side of the map (not good). Jacob sent out Richter followed by Capuans. A few skirmishes in round one, but both commanders seem to be playing for position and the next round.

Rds 2-3: Dad vacates the Thorian glyph knowing that it is in a well and hopes that Jacob takes the glyph because that figure will be easy prey. One OM on Incendiborgs with a couple of kills, but the Eradicators do most of the moving up from the start zone and positioning. Jacob got a couple of kills with Richter and Capuans, he even brought up Priscus a bit. Richter was left on the center high-ground lava field for a wound at the end of the round. There were a couple of other casualties this round, but mostly moving about. Jacob learned trying to hold the Thorian glyph was useless as two Capuans died trying.

Rd 4: Jacob was able to free Richter for a leap and hammer attack on a row of Eradicators but was only one kill worth it? Capuans kept surging – removing all redundancy markers on the Incendiborgs. Dad continued to play for position and managed to take out a couple of Capuans with Eradicators and a couple with Incendiborgs. Eradicators are getting ready to surround Richter if they can win initiative . . .

Rd 5: Dad wins initiative and hits Richter with three attacks of 4 for a couple more wounds. Richter hits back for one kill while the Capuans take out an Incendiborg and others move out of the start zone. Dad hit Richter again, this time hard enough for the poor hero to meet his maker. Eradicators continue to move up into the shadow in the center and to the right side.

Rd 6: Eradicators push forward and kill a Capuan and put a wound on Priscus. Capuans take out the last two Incendiborgs. By the end of the round a number of mangled Marro and Gladiators lie on the battlefield, but Dad seems to have position. Jacob has 2 Capuans, 4-life Priscus and full-life Retarius left, all defending near their start zone. Dad has 6 Eradicators and Siiv remaining – plus positioning.

Rd 7: Priscus and the Capuans manage to take out 1 Eradicator. Dad maintains height and hammers Priscus and a Capuan into their graves. Retarius moves up and kills an Eradicator with his net-trip. Three Eradicators take out Retarius in two attacks with some nifty skull rolls and an Eradicator dies from an overloaded ranged attack. The last Capuan manages to kill an Eradicator only to die quickly at the hands and claws of the mighty ERADICATORS!

Final Score: The Eradicators had four squad members left and a full life Siiv for a total of 160 points. I’ve learned that the Eradicators can be very, very good with a strong screen like the Incendiborgs, who moved out front and took the brunt of attacks while the Eradicators could move in and hit hard during the middle and end games – and even shoot from range if the threat warrants it. I found that to be a pretty successful strategy. Dad finished the tournament with a 7-7 mark and so did Jacob. Happily, 6 of Dad's 7 wins came with the Eradicators.

The Eradicator/Incendiborg/Siiv army will get a chance to battle someday in the future . . . they have earned a birth in the Champion’s Championship of all Champs Tournament to be held sometime in the far and distant future.

New Year’s Tournament Final Standings
Army (Commander)    W L
Eradicators (Damon)      6 1
Gladiators (Jacob)         3 2
Skeletons (Jacob)         2 2
Shadow Slayers (Jacob) 2 2
Gorillinators (Damon)      1 2
Dzu-Teh (Jacob)           1 2
Aubrien Archers (Damon) 0 2
Arrow Gruts (Damon)      0 2

Final Thoughts for our Customs:

Richter: a dominant stud in two battles and fell without earning his points in two battles. He was dependent on keen strategy, good placements, and winning initiative if you are going to leave him out to hang at the end of a round. He is definitely worth 180 points as a great hero that requires finesse to play.

Shadow Slayers: Still the best common squad in the game in my opinion, but there are ways to play these boys that will optimize their usefulness, which the commander in these battles was just learning to do. And they didn’t get to use any of their specials in their four battles, but were still pretty respectable.

We have the armies drafted and maps built for our next 8 team double-elimination tournament “MLK Classic.” I’ll start a new thread for that one in a bit. Featured customs include Torver, Stenvar, Anubian Alphas, Gammacron, and Kyrllin.

WOW~ Nice battle report and championship tournament!

Maybe I will take my Eradicators out of the original packaging now ...

Entertaining. Looking forward to the next round.