Ides of Derp, Part deux

Game 5 I drew against Ian with his Legion. He used pVayl, and I again dropped eXerxis, on Two Fronts.

I had heard how good a player Ian was, that he basically doesn't play for the entire year but emerges from the muck once or twice a year to roflstomp dudes. Things started well for me, when he positioned his Scythean where Molik removed him trivially. Following the Legion reprisal, I got greedy eyes seeing him place his Seraph within side-step range of Vayl. I took the bait, and got a prompt reminder that Vayl had Dark Sentinel as the Seraph slipped away. I tried to mitigate things as much as possible, with the rest of the game jockeying between the two of us throwing models in each other's zone, and ticking off control points. After a bit of to-and-fro Ian closed it by dominating his zone once more, and flinging Typhon into the objective. Another awesome game, but I was ultimately outclassed.

Game 6 saw me plonked in front of Shed regular Dan Lister, with me dunking eXerxis into Butcher 2 Doom Reaver spam, in Fire Support.

Dan pretty trivially took the scenario win. By and large, that's the way things would go with this particular match up. And some people have questioned my list choice, considering I had things like Nihilators, Keltarii and Incindiarii in my Mordikaar list. But the way I figured it was that Mordi just didn't have the bodies to be able to get up attritionally, whereas the Xerxis list had pieces that would negate berserk, and the speed to bully a flank and start working across the board. It was a bit of a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't. And my idea with Xerxis may have worked had I chosen the correct flank to bully; with a shitty obstacle, bang smack in the middle of the table just out of my deployment zone, I veered to the right away from my objective and flag. As I started shaving away at Doom Reavers, darting in and out with my Archidon, Molik and Brutes, Butcher trotted up the board and claimed the scenario victory.

Final round placed me against Andrew who dropped Gorten with a tonne of dudes, and I went with Mordikaar, into Incursion.

The match up favoured me in the attrition battle, but I discovered I had so many small component pieces in the list that I ground down my clock WAY too much over two particular turns. Having several pieces gives the list a lot more dynamic play, but holy shit did it make me work for it. By the end I had chewed through 30 Forgeguard, and half his high shields, with the Despoiler in their midst creating a new Void Spirit every turn. the Cetratii kept being Revived back, and the Agoniser again wouldn't die, shutting down his jacks. But to get to that point I ended up with only 3 minutes on my clock before I finally committed Mordikaar to the flag on the far right and started to tick off the CPs. However that wasn't enough, and I clocked as Mordikaar shot off an offending High Shield that has run to contest the flag, leaving me on 4 CPs as the buzzer went.

So that was my Ides of March experience. My worst tournament result to date, coming out with 2 wins and 5 losses. I was pretty flustered about that, but the immediate sledging I copped definitely drew me out of any foul mood I may have had. But beyond that, it wasn't like I felt I compltely mishandled things; some of my losses were really close, and in the games where I timed out I was winning in other areas. The other losses hinged on missing one vital rule, or play, and I can strike that one up to experience and now knowing what to do next time.

Overall, my performance is like this drawing of a cock I found in the Takapuna Grammar toilets:

Bent and flaccid, and while still arched threateningly, all I produce is dotty piss.

It is with some ambivalence I consider where I move forward. There's definitely consideration to give Mordikaar and Xerxis a wee break, and I think that would be healthy. The lists I still like a lot though, and if I had not made those mistakes, or managed my clock better, I would have a far more respectable win-ratio. But for now I'm looking to the Hexeris's and Makeda's for a break, and revisit Zaal.

But mad thanks must go out to David Stent for running yet another great event. All my playing and rumination on this game is in preparation for these tournaments, and its just a pleasure when you come out the other end of an event like this just wanting more. A large part of that is the result of Stent's organisational abilities and the hard work he puts in.  

He's still way eviller than I am though.