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Derek Wiswell v. Abraham Apfel

Wed, 07/22/2009 - 11:21 — TresChic

 

It's 8:30AM on Sunday.  I'm running a fever and my throat feels like Ed took advantage of my drunken state the night before.  Matchups are posted and I find out I'm playing Abe Apfel... one of the dudes who brought the infamous DoggyDeathstars… wonderful!
 
I migrate over to my table and await ensuing DoggyStar shenanigans... only Abe doesn't show.  In fact, everybody from his club (all 3 DoggyDeathstars and one other rather tooled VC list Todd was matched up with) were no-shows to round 4. I was actually pretty jazzed I might not have to play against the DoggyStar after all, waiting to get repaired when in walks Abe. Apparently, he and his group thought the round started at 8:45 (misinformed by some dirty 40K players). 8:30 is pretty early for a start time (my one and only suggestion to the CAWS guys would be to push that to 9/9:30AM next year). I suggest we roll for sides before he starts unpacking, but he really, really needs to use the restroom. After a trip to the urinal, unpacking etc, we don't really start deploying until 9AM. It didn’t end up making much difference really, as our game was absurdly quick.
 
Quick rundown of his list:
 
  • VC Lord, (Level 3) with the Frost Blade, Red Furry, Infinite Hatred, Nightmare
  • Lesser Vamp, (Level 1) with Power Stone, Dispel Scroll, Biting Blade Forbidden Lore, Nightmare
  • Lesser Vamp(Level 1) with Power Stone, Black Periapt, some other magic weapon, Forbidden Lore, Nightmare
  • Wight King BSB, Drakenhof Banner, Skeletal Steed
  • 16 Dire Wolves w/ Doom Wolf
  • 20 Zombies
  • 20 Zombies
  • 20 Zombies
  • 7 Wraiths w/ Banshee
  • 6 Blood Knights with Hatred Banner
 
Abe was actually 1 of 3 friends who together decided to bring the DoggyStar to the Battle on Beale. There was some variation as to the items/bloodline powers on the lesser vampires, but beside that, all 3 lists were identical. The general idea is to deploy all 4 characters in the large unit of Dire Wolves. This creates an extremely mobile (16” fast cav moving), and terribly punchy (especially that Lord… he kills stuff dead) unit. Coupled with guaranteed Dance Macabre, it’s capable of some truly frightening things. Allow me to preface my opinion on Abe and his buddy’s armies with an honest disclaimer regarding my own. I also play VC, and know doubt about it, I brought a hard list to Memphis:
 
  • VC Lord, (Level 3), Forbidden Lore, Dark Acolyte, Dread Knight, Book of Arkhan, 2X Power Stones, Cadaverous Cuirasse.
  • Lesser Vamp (Level 2), BSB, Dark Acolyte, Summon Ghouls, Flayed Hauberk, Sword of Might
  • Lesser Vamp (Level 2), Dark Acolyte, Summon Ghouls, Nightshroud, Biting Blade, Dispel Scroll
  • Lesser Vamp (Level 2), Avatar of Death, Dark Acolyte, Enchanted Shield, Black Periapt
  • 20 Ghouls w/ Champion 
  • 20 Ghouls w/ Champion 
  • 20 Ghouls w/ Champion 
  • 20 Zombies w/ Musician
  • 5 Dire Wolves
  • 5 Dire Wolves
  • 5 Dire Wolves
  • Corpse Cart w/ Balefire
  • 22 Grave Guard w/ Hellfire Banner + Champion
  • 1 Vargulf
 
Its 11 casting dice, with a Lord guaranteed to know the spells he wants. I honestly tried to stay away from the nastiest items/combinations: Drakenhof Banner, Helm of Command, Frostblade, Dreadlance, Redfurry, Skull Staff, Zombie Dragon etc. I also made a conscious effort to moderate the army choices: 1 Rare choice (the Vargulf), 1 Special choice (Grave Guard), and put a significant number of points into core… at least a lot more than you usually see in a VC army. Still, it’s 4 (good!) characters, a butt load of magic, and I didn’t expect it to get stellar comp.
 
That said, Abe’s list is simply heinous! It’s patently broken, and built for no other reason but to rape all before it with extreme prejudice.  It's one of the most discussed and optimized builds in modern WFB.  I understand he and his crew are recent converts from the 40K world. This might explain things, as I’ve heard tournament lists tend more towards the rape and pillage in that arena. Leadership 2 isn’t known for it’s fluffy bunnies, but still, as a group, for his crew to send three guys with this nightmare to BoB carries a message I certainly wouldn’t want to emulate, and would sincerely caution against repeating in the future.
 
Choice of lore 
There are very, very few lists out there which start with any kind of advantage against the DoggyStar (as outlined very concisely in last month’s edition of Tales of Battle). I knew that to have any chance against it, I needed to bulk up on the Flaming Attacks. I was totally happy I’d decided on the Banner of Hellfire on the Grave Guard instead of the Warbanner. It’s mostly in there for Nurgle Daemons, but obviously helps a lot against the Drakenhof Banner as well. The only other source of fiery smackdown in my list is the Lord, and the magic lore he chooses. I had plenty of time to consider this as I was waiting for Abe to get back from the bathroom and unpack. Options included: Light, Metal and of course, Fire. Light is normally my lore of choice when playing against VC (if I don’t go with Vampire Lore that is). However, the main reason to choose Light (Cleansing Flare) only really gets a chance to shine (excuse the pun) in wars of attrition. It’s awesome in the long game, slowly but surely grinding away at the enemy army. Unfortunately, I was all too aware there wouldn’t be much “long game” in this matchup. Cleansing Flare is only good once you get up close and personal with the enemy, and only with multiple castings. Against the DoggyStar, you don’t have the luxury of either. Fire, while to the point, is somewhat prosaic, and lacks utility/metagame spells (though a Vampire Lord with the Flaming Sword of Ruin is SOME kinda mean bitch!) Metal on the other hand, has everything you could ask for in this matchup. It can put the fear of Baby Jeebus into the enemy with Distillation of Molten Silver (2D6 S4 flaming magic missile) and Spirit of the Forge (should gack all his Blood Knights with a single casting). It also packs a fair amount of utility magic with Transmutation of Lead (awesome on either the DoggyStar or Blood Knights) and Law of Gold (for the gacking of nefarious magic items, of which there were many to choose from in Abe’s list). Metal it was.
 
Deployment
The Scenario involves picking up 6 objectives around the battlefield.  His deployment pretty much ignores the objectives, concentrating on one half of the table... so I'm pretty sure I'll at least get the 4 extra points for that.  The deployment phase is one of the DoggyStar’s very few weaknesses. It only has 7 or so deployables. He deploys his Wraiths as a screen in front of his Blood Knights (a very, very expensive screen, but understandable considering Spirit of the Forge) next to which he puts a unit of Zombies, then the DoggyStar, and on the opposite flank the last 2 Zombie units. I stick my Grave Guard in front of his Wraiths, my Ghouls in front of his Zombies, a couple Dire Wolf units out on the other side of the table to collect the objectives he seems to be ignoring and my Corpse Cart w/ Balefire right in front of the DoggyStar.
 
Turn 1
I win 1st turn and move up a few inches.  Magic consists of throwing a few magic missiles at the Wraiths.  One gets through with double 6's, but slays 1 Wraith and doesn't expose he Blood Knights.  The rest of my dice get to work summoning more Ghouls.  He moves about 8" fwd, keeping the line with his Zombies.  His magic phase included an attempted Curse of Years, which was stopped, and a Gaze which I let through, and a few IoN on his zombies.  I stored a die with the Black Periapt, and took a deep breath for round 2.
 
Turn 2 
I knew round 2 was do or die. Either I got the jump on him now, or he certainly would come his turn. I decided to march right up into his face and create my own little "Deathstar-ish" unit.  I stuck my General, BSB and one other lesser vamp into my Grave Guard (who were also packing the Hellfire Banner)... though I had no Drakenhof Banner on my BSB to make it a true DeathStar, and put it right in front of his Wraiths.  A couple Dire Wolf units and Zombies block his DoggyStar from doing anything scary with a regular charge... though Dance Macabre still posses a problem of course.  My Ghouls march up in front of his Zombies, and I'm confident I'll make short work of them whenever those combats happen.  I throw a couple magic missiles at the Wraiths, killing 3 of them and giving line of sight to his Blood Knights.  I cast Spirit of the Forge, which he dispels, and Law of Gold on the Blood Knights, which gets through and ends up permanently gacking the Hatred Banner they’re carrying. Now he's out of scrolls and has only 1 dispel die remaining.  Things got a little strange here: I announce I'm using the Book of Arkhan to push my Grave Guard-star into his Wraiths.  He picks up his last die, rolls it and it's a 1!  About a second after the die comes to rest, he knocks the book the die was on with his hand, sending it to the ground.  I saw it pretty clearly, but while he's under the table looking for the die I ask him if that was a 1 or not.  He's a little flustered, and he said something I didn't understand, and then rolls another die without really making eye contact with me, and it's ANOTHER 1!  Sweet justice, how I love thee!!!  In goes the "GuardStar".  They make short work of his remaining Wraiths, and easily overrun into his Blood Knights.  Things are looking good.
 
Bottom of Turn 2
He's in trouble, and he knows it.  He's declares a charge with one of his Zombie units into the unit of Dire Wolves blocking his Doggystar from doing anything nasty to the flank of my GuardStar whilst it's busy ripping his Blood Knights apart.  I recognize this charge as the mistake it is, because it means his Zombies won't be able to get out of the way of his DoggyStar so it can be Danced into the flank of my Guardstar during his own magic phase. Things get a bit strange here again:  The Zombies are clearly in charge range, so he moves them into the FRONT of the Dire Wolves.  As soon as he does this, his mistake becomes clear. He realizes he just prevented his Doggystar from saving his Blood Knights, freezes for a couple seconds, then claims the Zombies where in my Dire Wolves FLANK and moves them from the front, to the flank!  ??? My eyes must have conveyed my disbelief, because he moves the Zombies back (definitely not where they were before he moved them) and measures to “prove” to me the Zombies were in my Dire Wolves’ flank.  I say the Zombies where clearly in the front, and ask him why he would move them into the front himself, then claim they where in the flank afterwards...  I repeated this question several times and didn’t get an answer... Eventually he asks if he can take back the charge entirely, which I reluctantly allow…
 
OK, so no charges declared.  He moves the Zombies in the remaining moves phase such that his DoggyStar can fastcav reform into a position to be Danced into my Guard's flank (which he certainly couldn’t have done had he completed his charge with the Zombies).  I sigh heavily and await his magic phase.  All his casters are within my Corpse Cart's Balefire effect, and he has 11 casting dice (including Power Stones) he can funnel through Dance Macabre. He decides to roll 2 dice for 5 attempts at Dance Macabre! I’m not certain why he didn’t go with 3 dice for 3 attempts, plus 1 attempt on 2 dice, as this would all but assure a successful casting and a world of pain for my Grave Guard. Thanks to the Balefire, he fails 4/5 times (needing an 8 on 2 dice), and I dispel scroll the one that gets through.  I obliterate his Blood Knights.  Now I can see the far side of his Doggystar, and can charge it on my turn 3 with my own (flaming attack packing) "Guardstar".
 
Turn 3 
My T3 consisted of charging his DoggyStar with my GuardStar and Vargulf. He reformed his DoggyStar 8 wide before trying to push them into my Grave Guard’s flank… another decision that puzzled me. It meant that when I charged in on T3, I could avoid his Lord. I ended up killing his Wight King BSB with the Drakenhof Banner, and putting a significant dent in the Dogs.  My Ghouls charged his Zombies and start the quick process of chewing through them. 
 
His Lord ended up gacking my Lord and Vargulf with Frostblade, Redfurry, Infinite Hatred ownage (that combo really is pretty nasty).  It's a moral punch in the nuts, but I knew it was coming and I'm quickly consoled by returning the favor with combat resolution.  I still have 3 characters, Grave Guard and several huge units of Ghouls which can't possibly crumble fast enough to disappear in the remaining rounds.  He has a single unit of Zombies left, which are quickly crumbling!  
 
In summation, I think he could have easily had the game if he’d rolled his Dance Macabre dice in a more appropriate manner. While I can’t say I’m terribly inclined to offer such a list constructive criticism, I think I impressed on him my opinion that it was a game changing error. I feel I won not necessarily because I did something right, rather because he, despite helming a clearly superior list, didn’t seem to have a great deal of experience playing it.
 
Derek