AUSTRALIAN TEAM CHAMPS - a Team NZ North captains log by Mitch Cowan, Pt.2

Going into day 2 NZ North was ready to continue the good showing we had given the previous day. We had run through the matchups of the final three teams and were confident we'd be able to place in the top 3. Quietly we all wanted to take this thing down 7-0.

Round 5 - NZ South - Incursion

Team	Opponent	Expectation	Result
Mitch, eKrueger	Will Wjinveld, eVayl	Bad	Loss
Chas, eHaley	Tony Djikstra, Bradigus	Neutral	Loss
Nikola, eVayl	James Glover, Rahn	Good	Win
Pete, pMorvahna	Dave Brown, Ryas	Good	Win
Charlie, Harbinger	Adam Oakson, Xerxis	Neutral	Loss

First up our brothers in NZ South. Before we crossed the Tasman we knew this would be one of the harder fights we'd have throughout the weekend. At least on paper we had the goods, but this one would be decided in the matchup process. It started terribly with a loss on the dice off. We would only get to decide 2 matchups and with the teams so evenly matched, that didn't bode well.

The really sad thing about this round of pairings for me is that the first 2 pairings actually went to plan. The idea was to take Tony and Will out of the matchup process early and rely on us being able to get more favourable matchups with Adam, JJ and Hooch.

It could have worked too but I didn't position Nikola well enough so he got matched up against JJ who had 4 really good matchups across the rest of our team.

Ideal matchups losing the roll off using the strategy above should have been, me forward into Will and Tony, pick Will then put Nikola and Chas into Tony, Tony probably picks Chas leaving Nikola receiving probably Hooch (Dave Brown) and JJ, pick Hooch leaving Charlie and Pete to be matched up against Adam and JJ.

We were definitely in with a chance however. Two swing games and my belief I could finally slay the beastie that is Will Ouijaboard.

Those two swing games didn't go our way sadly and the expected loss of mine to Will seemed all the more certain once I tried making plays that just didn't work out.

I know the guys took this loss really hard, as did I. We all wanted the Northern killing spree to continue into day 2 and I couldn't shake the feeling I had lost it in matchups. Thankfully, after this round we all broke for lunch and team NZ North got to catch some much needed fresh air.

Round 6 - New South Wales - Recon

Team	Opponent	Expectation	Result
Chas, eHaley	Nathan Frawley, pHaley	Neutral	Win
Nikola, pVayl	Jeff Traish, eDoomshaper	Good	Win
Mitch, eKrueger	Chris Davies, eIrusk	Good	Loss
Pete, pMorvahna	Dylan Simmer, Issyria	Good	Loss
Charlie, eFeora	Jack Ding, eVayl	Neutral	Loss

This was the team to beat, they had been tearing up the field prior to us, but again we just had to play the matchup. Personally I had heard of Traish, being on the WTC team and Will W from NZ South had given me a heads up on Jack Ding.

Again I lost the roll for team selection, meaning I would only get to chose 2 matchups vs a very evenly matched set of lists.

Coming out of the round pairing, I was confident we had the matchups that would at least give us the shot we needed. The big question marks were Chas and Charlie. In the case of Chas, discussions of this matchup previously had moved his expectations from Good, to Bad and back to Neutral.

Was really stoked to have Chas take out the pHaley double Stormwall list with his Sword Knight laden eHaley. The sportsmanship displayed by Chas in taking an incredibly long winded assassination run was legendary considering all that was needed was a dead journeyman. What a gentleman.

Charlie had some experience in the legion matchup with eFeora, but we all knew it would be dicey. This turned out to be true when he was unable to clear a single key Hex hunter preventing a charge on an Angelius. Charlie wasn't able to keep pace in the trade and Jack took it out over the next few turns.

Nikola put the hurt on Traish's eDoomshaper taking out I believe Mulg and the Earthborn in a single turn. Nikola continued his rampage cleaning up some champions and taking his opponent down on assassination.

Personally I was confident going into the Khador matchup with eKrueger, but this would list lock me for eMorvahna in the final round. I went with eKrueger as it gave me the best chance to help the team take at the very least 2nd and if I could use myself as a roadblock in the next round, take the whole thing out. While Una and the Rotters where just printing money all day long, I got caught out by an excellent Objective choice by my opponent (Stockpile) meaning Ghetorix wasn't able to sprint to safety. This turned a still very winnable game into an uphill battle, with the Iron Fangs flooding the zone and that god damned Fire for effect Mortar wrecking house.

There was also a touch of controversy to this otherwise excellent and hard fought game. A judge call on a key Gorman black oil left us about 10 minutes behind the round timer. My last turn, which ended up being a truly terrible assassination run was cut short by the round ending causing a double loss and a headache for the TO.

So we were now 2-2 with no provision for round tie breaks. Yaaaay.

Conferring with my team, I asked if they would be ok with my conceding to Chris as it was clear I would be very very unlikely to win our game. While the gesture was, I hope, appreciated, the TOs decided not to take the concession. It ended up being ruled both teams lost the round with no tie break to speak of..

This was by far the hardest fought round of the tournament. NSW has gone on an absolute tear over the weekend dropping at most a single game against the other teams, eventually taking out the whole damn thing.

I'm really proud of our team for putting on an absolutely heroic effort to go essentially 2-3 for gameplay and 2-2 in terms of scoring. Get a taste of the Kiwi! 

To my opponent Chris, I hope I get the chance to play you again mate. It was such a tight game and very well played. Congrats to you and your team.

Round 7 - Queensland - Two Fronts

Team	Opponent	Expectation	Result
Pete, eKaya	Luke Van Kyyck, Lucant	Bad	Win
Charlie, Harbinger	Sheldon, 3Butcher	Good	Loss
Nikola, eVayl	Dave Lancaster	Good	Loss
Chas, eHaley	Tobias Ford, Ossyan	Good	Win
Mitch, eMorvahna	Dave Potts, pXerxis	Bad	Loss

Final round and we were now in this for Second place. Losing the dice off for the 3rd round, we are again put in the position of being able to only guarantee 2 pairs. POSIEDON!!!!!!! Why do you curse me?!?!?!

Nikola was put forward first this round which drew Khador and Circle from QLD. Taking Circle he eliminated a really bad matchup for 2 members of the team which was awesome.

We put Chas and Charlie up against the Khador player who chose Charlie. Another green light on paper.

They presented Retribution and CoC next. To Chas's delight we got to pair him with Tobias's Ossyan list in a very live scenario for our third green lit matchup.

Pete and I were then matched up against the CoC and Skorne players respectively. Thinking back I should really have just counted myself out due to having to play eMorvahna who was geared for Legion, but I remained hopeful until around the 2nd turn.

Pete was going to have a really hard game ahead of him no matter what list his opponent chose.

Charlie was the first to report back losing out to the Butcher Unleashed with a key Bulldozer play by Sheldon which caught him off guard and ended with Harbys head on the ground.

Next was Chas who was living the eHaley dream against the hapless Ossyan closing it out in short order by scenario.

My game dragged on against a surgically played pXerxis Tier 2 Fist of Halaak list containing a truly ridiculous 296 boxes across his unit choices alone. I think I got through a measly 96 boxes based on AP. Dave took it out after going through all of my beasts to and finishing off Morvahna with a Incindus CRA.

It was fun to see just how many Cataphracts a Wold Wrath and Morvahna herself could get through, but the Bloodtrackers were Incindus rocket magnets and the Skinwalkers were totally outclassed by the Arcuarii.

Nikola was the next to report his fall to eKrueger. While he had started to pull ahead slightly, some really conservative play by Dave L forced Nikola to make plays that didn't go his way. eKrueger slowly pulled it back into his favour and sailed away. This one sounded like a really tough game for both sides.

We were now waiting to see whether we were going out 1-4 or a more respectable 2-3. Pete had ended up in an eKaya vs Lucant match and had managed to get into a position where a scenario win was on the cards. The clock was now in the 5 minute combined range and van Kyyck needed to clear a pair of Rotterhorns and a Stalker from his zone to win. The last attack roll was resolved with a second on Luke's clock but Pete's zone remained uncontested at which point he gestured defeat with a handshake.

Final thoughts

Team NZ North ended up 3rd overall. Which after some reflection, I'm pretty stoked with. I won't lie though, we all wanted the top spot really badly and it made our performance day 2 all the more painful. We got so damn close. Literally 2 games from 1st place. One against NSW and QLD was all it took.

The results breakdown really speaks to how much of a threat NZ North were:

We were 1st in CPs and 2nd in overall table wins and AP. Those 2nd places conceded only to the winners, NSW. We really did carve it up and every member of the team contributed to that effort.

Every new person I got to meet over the weekend was a pleasure to play. I'd happily play any one of them in future. Hopefully I get the opportunity. I don't doubt the rest of NZ North feel the same.

In terms of my effectiveness as captain I definitely lost the matchup process to NZ South, Adam did an awesome job positioning his players. In all other rounds, we had the 3 green matchups I was aiming for and those losses to NSW and QLD could easily have gone the other way. At the end of the day, the team let me know when I made a bad decision and were nice enough to let me know when I did good.

All said NZ North were a pretty easy bunch to do matchups for really with such good list pairs and ability to back it up. Personally I couldn't think of changing a single thing about the teams makeup. While a little more practice for myself and a couple other members wouldn't have been missed, this  is something that will definitely be happening should we get the chance to represent NZ again.

I know each member of NZ North would like nothing more that to return in 2016 and take it out 7-0 as it should have been this time around. Based on this performance, I don't see why that couldn't happen.

Will close with a big thank you to the organisers and hosts for putting on such an epic event, as well as the other teams who showed up for us to smash, champions all. Cheers!


And a massive thank you to Mitch for sharing his insights and taking the time to write this up. you're the bees knees brah.