ETC 2012 The Aftermath

Well the ETC 2012 for Warmachine and Hordes took place last weekend as I said in the previous entry and I thought I’d write up a few notes on the event.  I didn’t take any photos as I was using my phone for its chess clock app and needed every drop of power so the images shown below are poached from other sources ;-)

Firstly I’d like to expand on my concluding comments from the last entry regarding my concerns of how the logistics for the event were going to be overcome.  On the whole my concerns were unfounded and the event ran with relatively few hick-ups, something I am very happy to state.  If anybody is really interested on what the community thought the feedback forum can be viewed here.

ETC 2012 a tale of team: Has anyone Seen My Pair?

Day 1

After doing a days work team member Andy McBirnie and myself drove down to Mansfield, arriving around 7:30pm with a view to meeting fellow team mates Austin Pickles and Andy Garrard as well as our Finish opponents for a showdown at circa 8pm.

The first round was probably a bit of a bone of contention as far as event organisation was concerned, with teams starting at all sorts of odd times and people hustling and bustling through the venue as well as people playing casual games; however we set-up without incident and were started off by a ref and it was fine for us.

Perhaps our first game could be described as a ‘Baptism by Fire’ as the Fins were all seasoned tournament veterans and had toured Europe playing the game, so they were a bit good!!!!

Game 1

I was drawn against a really nice bloke who spoke perfect English and had perhaps the nastiest Cryx Terminus list I’ve ever seen.  He had me on the ropes from turn one, but I held my composure and played to the best of my ability denying him a caster-kill opportunity throughout the game and making tactical sacrifices to stay in the game with regards to scenario.  I felt that I gave a really good account of myself regards game-play and held out to the bitter end without giving up.  I eventually lost via ‘time out’, though my opponent had more Control Points regardless!

Highlights of this round would be Terminus gathering enough souls on his feat turn to reach ARM 37!!!!  Band Lord Tartarus being set on fire and making no less than 8 tough rolls (jeez).

The team took a beating in the opening round with three of us loosing and just one win.  My opponent said he’d not lost in the last eleven international matches, which is damned impressive so that made me feel better!  Andy McB ended one of the Fins unbeaten international records, which stood at about sixteen – so well done Andy!

Team: Anyone Seen My Pair? Vs Team: Finland on Friday night

 Day 2

I think after the beating on Friday night the team’s morale was probably a bit low, however we were eager to make our mark and were drawn against a Dutch team; I was thinking it had to be another ‘kick-ass’ foreign team and we were on for another hiding…

Game 2

My opponent was another really nice chap who spoke fluent English and was playing Trollbloods; Jarl Skuld.  I felt more in control this game and went to work with the same focus and determination I had on the Friday.  I played initially for a scenario victory as Jarl was staying well back and had a Fellcaller who could partially reverse my knockdown feat.  In the end I played the attrition game and killed lots of expensive multi-wound Troll units and solos and began to threaten a win on tertiary conditions as I was controlling my zone full and the objective in the centre as well as being deep into my opponents zone.  I did get the opportunity for a caster kill and went for it, Jarl was killed with a couple of Reckoner shots and a Vanquisher to the face after Kreoss feated, so a win for me!

Highlights of this game were probably the Errants who just refused to die holding up the entire Troll line, just one managed to hold off a full unit of Tuffalo cavalry as it was in the way and kept on passing tough rolls or being missed – unbelievable!

The rest of the team obviously felt empowered to emulate my victory we won 3-1, our overall standing being 4-4.

Game 3

After lunch we played our third game, again against a foreign team, some Belgians this time.  Again my opponent was a great chap who spoke excellent English.  He had a Menoth list led by Amon Ad Raza and five assorted light jacks as well as one heavy.  I took the first turn as my opponent chose the board edge.  Possibly a mistake on his part as we had a radial deployment which ultimately denied his table edge advantage and I went first…

I played well in this game once again lulling my opponent into a trap which I sprung to kill his Errants and give me the initiative.  I also played well attritionally killing his heavy quickly meaning mine could stand against his lights with the Errants weapon master ability to lend a hand.  In the end I killed almost all of the infantry and all but two jacks for the loss of virtually nothing.  Victory came when my opponent ran out of time, though I had flooded the scoring zone with my models and tertiary victory conditions would have won me the game.

Highlights were baiting the enemy Errants into a bad position and killing them and my heavies smashing their way through a swathe of enemy lights, wreck markers created loads of difficult ground as a result.  I also sent a fully boosted Vanquisher shot at Amon in an assassination attempt, but missed and scattered miles away (boo)!

The rest of the team got stuck in too this round and we won again 3-1; it felt like we had hit the ground running on day two so far with the team being 7-5 at the half way point.

After a short break the draw was up and again we faced a foreign team, who all spoke a weird kind of English – the Geordies!!!

In this round the Geordies used their team feat, allowing them to swap two pairings for a more favourable match up.  I was one of the feated players and was drawn against another Menoth player, basically because he had The Book (Covenant of Menoth) which would deny my feat somewhat.

Game 4

Again another really nice chap, who was using Grand Scrutator Severius (Prime), a caster I am very familiar with as well as his list composition.  I was surprised that he didn’t have an arc node, but rather two light warjacks (Repenters).

The game was a test of Menite skill to a certain extent as we had numerous mirrored units.  I made the exact same manoeuvre as in the previous game to bait the enemy Errants out of their protective wood and feated them, followed by setting them on fire, insurance basically if they didn’t die to the original hit.  This effectively gave me the whole left flank and a safe harbour for Kreoss.

I eventually won the game by killing Severius, he was on fire, had no focus, had taken half wounds already and then took a charge off a battled up, fully loaded Reckoner and I had just Purified his Defenders Ward off so my opponent just held out his had to admit defeat!

Highlights of the game included my opponent thinking Saxon Orrik could give a jack pathfinder, something I had to get the cards out to prove who was right (all in good spirits from us both I might add).  This left his Avatar and Reckoner a bit stuck behind a wall.  Rhoven heroically gave a Reckoner Menoth’s Sight and it assaulted Eiryss2, but failed it’s ‘to hit’ roll so Rhoven dispatched the Elven hooker himself.

The team also won this round 3-1 which uplifted our spirits from the previous day to much higher heights!

So after day 2 the team was now 10-6 and I was personally 3-1.  Andy McB was also undefeated at this point with an impressive 4-0 win record.

A table O' Stormwalls!

Day 3

After four gruelling matches the team discovered we had drawn team ‘Epic Flail’, led by Brett Wilkie (UK’s #1 ranked player) and we knew they all had a Cygnar army which included the brand new Colossal warjack: Stormwall.  Too be honest we all felt that we couldn’t cope with the Stormwall with our lists and knew we would really struggle.  Epic Flail are a superb group of players too so we would be on the ropes from the off… 

Game 5

Just prior to this game starting the ‘Best Army’ nominations were announced and both us and Epic Flail were nominated, which was a real feather in the cap for both British teams.

We popped our team feat this round, as did Epic Flail and as we’d already been feated upon we could change any match-ups Epic Flail made so it cancelled out and I was drawn against Brett, we’ve played many times and I’ve always lost, but always had a fantastic game.

Brett fielded Haley2, perhaps Cygnar’s most feared warcaster and Brett played like a machine without making mistakes and I was up against the wall and on the defensive.  Brett eventually won the game on scenario, but I played my heart out and inflicted loads of damage on his forces.

Highlights of the match were Brett making a rare mistake and not understanding the scenario scoring conditions allowing me some opportunities to hit back hard.  Perhaps the highlight of the match was Kreoss finding his pair and charging the Stormwall personally and in doing so Dispelling the Arcane Shield spell ready for a brace of battled up Reckoners to charge…  The Reckoners' hit the enemy Colossal as hard as they could dropping the machine to just four health and setting it on fire…  Then the Errants valiantly charged and polished it off – timmmmmmber!!!  The Errants got unit of the match for holding off the Stormwall and clogging its placement to hit my warjacks and Kreoss.  Another funny highlight was the Piper charging Eiryss2 and slaying her – he has killed loads of important enemy solos and bods down to my lucky 'to hit' dice – he he!

Amazingly we drew this round with the Flail boys, but won it on secondary conditions, so another team win with the team standing at 12-8.

Game 6

The sixth and final match up was against a group from the London area, though I think they were all of German origin, so another foreign match up.

Our team was feated on again and I ended up being drawn against another Menoth player, most likely because he had The Book, which as per game 4 would nullify my feat to a certain extent.  My opponent was using the Harbinger and feated on his turn one locking my army down somewhat.  This match up again came down to knowledge of the game and the ins and outs of how Menoth work and I again won my in-faction battle.

Highlights of the match included my opponent making a fatal error in underestimating Errant survival preventing his Avatar from charging my Reckoner (my Errants refused to die, or I Self Sacrificed making sure there was no charge lane) then succumbing to my Reckoner.  During the game I managed to set Harbinger on fire at least twice and she eventually died to a continual barrage of Reckoner and Vanquisher shots, despite camping her FOCUS up to ARM 24!  I think I killed almost every model on the board without taking much more than the loss of half the Errants.  Perhaps the hariest moment of the match, for me, was missing Nicia twice, needing sevens on 3D6, then she charged Kreoss and dealt him 12 damage – ouch!  The bint died the next time however as Kreoss thought it best to feat on her!!!

Unbelievably the team won again, 3-1 making it five wins and one loss overall with a 15-9 win/loss record.  I personally went 4-2 which was above my personal goal target of going 3-3.

Final Standings

Winning the sixth match was fantastic and we felt we had a good shot at a podium finish and we’d been nominated for ‘best army’ too so the team was doing great and we were all knackered but on a real high, just enough time to get a refreshing drink and pack up prior to the awards ceremony at 5pm.

During the final awards ceremony we were delighted to come THIRD and win a set of nice trophies a piece – AWESOME!!  The answer to Has Anyone Seen My Pair? was definitely answered!!!

Hordes & Warmachine ETC 2012 THIRD PLACED TEAM trophy