The Doubles format required two players to team up and nominate a single Master that would be their crew leader over 5 brawls. the second Master could be changed from game to game. I formed an alliance with Dom "Dumb Luck" Westerland, one of the more prolific gremlin players in the UK, with him bringing Som'er alongside my Ophelia. Unfortunately I wasn't able to contribute quite as much to the available model pool as Dom, as you can see below.
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| Mine are the models in muted tones. Dom's have Scorpion Green bases |
Round 1
Since I was the last person to arrive at the venue, team "One and a Half Grem" suffered a bye through to the next round.
Round 2
Shared Destroy Evidence vs Jo-anne (Neverata) and Aidan (Cunningstunt) fielding Leviticus and "Ramatar" (that's aRamos to everyone else!).
This was where I first experienced the Pigapult and saw how it really comes into it's own when firing disposable Bayou Gremlins at Evidence markers. The first turn saw two Gremlins sucessfully destroy their evidence, and Reckless used to fire a third to protect an enemy counter from a roaming Watcher. My first meeting with Ashes and Dust ended when it met the Gremlin gunline, and Ophelia met a sticky end when she gambled our last Soulstone on a Pigapult launch (only a DF 12 flip required and she flipped a 2 and then Soulstoned a 1! Opheliafaceplantapult!). Ramos manifested late in the game and did his best to clear up the gremlins in his DZ for breakthrough but it wasn't enough and the Gremlins squealed to a narrow victory
Round 3
Shared Reconnoiter vs Mitch (Stern) and Simon - another meeting with Avatar Ramos, this time with Kaeris in support.
The Gremlins again turtled up in our deployment zone with the plan of launching from the Pigapult or just plain legging it across to the enemy half once they came a bit closer. Ramos manifested early and was on us too quickly. Ophelia got paralysed when we forgot about the Arachnid Swarm's trigger, which meant our main offensive power was out of action. In Turn 3 aRamos was in our deployment zone cutting up Gremlins with impunity and droppings Large SPAs and Electrical Creations in their midst. It was a bloodbath and the Arcanists sealed a comfortable win.
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| Ramos reaches the Gremlin gunline, tears up Ophelia and rips our plan to shreds |
Round 4
Shared Escape and Survive vs Rich and Phil playing as Perdita and Hoffman.
In the first activation of the Turn 1, a companioned Ophelia, Pigapult and Pere Ravage managed to land a very big explosion into the middle of the Guild forces. Nino, his Grandmother and the Enslaved Nephilim all perished in the detonation, as well as a big chunk of Perdita's wounds. I later learned that Dom had promised our opponents (guys from his FLGS that he was relying on for a lift home!) that he wouldn't pull this move, so I felt rather bad for how effective it was (especially with +1 feud damage!). The Guild never fully recovered from this strike. Hoffman secured himself in the center of the board with Stake a Claim and Bodyguard active meanwhile Somer manifested and, with the help of Reactivate from a Hog Whisperer, crossed the whole length of the table in one turn, including a brief pause for Peaches to stampede all over an unfortunate Guild Guard. His ability to give free Reckless to all Gremlins around him, combined with McTavish giving everyone the Scout ability, meant that the Gremlin horde was able to quickly cross the table and gang up to finish off Perdita and claim max VPs for the strategy, giving the Gremlins their second win of the weekend.
Round 5
Shared Claim Jump vs Malcolm & Andrew playing Hoffman & Lady Justice.
We had a similar tactic in this game to the previous. Turtle up in a corner and make more Gremlins for a few turns, then Avatar up and make a rush for the Claim (with Swamp Gas to push enemies off the marker) in turns 4-6. Hoffman and his Peacekeeper/Guardian combo positioned themselves near the claim but also refused to commit. We sent our Mosquitoes to get rid of a roaming Watcher, and once it was gone, to tie up enemy models in melee to stop them walking about.
The plan went pretty well, a couple of hit and run strikes with Rami and Ophelia got rid of some Death Marshalls, but Lady J was hiding behind the building nearest the Claim and we couldn't get a bead on her. Andrew and Malcolm wisely kept her protected after we announced Assassinate on her, but this worked in our favour as it kept her out of most of the fight.
In Turn 5, we suddenly realised that aSom'er has "Companion: Bayou Gremlin", and how ridiculous this was when combined with Reckless Frenzy. Thus began around 10 or 12 simultaneous activations whereby we swarmed onto the claim marker all guns blazing. Unfortunately Som'er didn't make it close enough to use Swamp Gas, and the Peacekeeper advanced next to the claim marker. All that remained was to see how many Gremlins survived the Peacekeeper/Lady J melee onslaught.
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| The buildings made accessing the Claim Jump marker rather difficult |
In the final tally, the Gremlins had two extra models within 3" of the objective (helped by the large base of the Peacekeeper blocking too many Guild from getting close). Another Gremlin victory!
Our final results for the day were thus 3W/0D/1L and a bye. Unfortunately the first round bye only ended up counting for 0.5 Tournament points, and so we finished on 9.5TPs which put us in 4th place. Narrowly behind Mitch and Simon who also had 9.5TPs but a much higher VP Diff due to a rollicking 10-0 final game win (I heard that Collodi + 8 Marionettes wrecked the enemy Master in the first activation of their game!).
Narrowly missing out on a podium spot (and a pair of custom 3rd place trophies made up of the Hog Whisperer and a Piglet) was a bit disappointing, but it didn't detract from an awesome weekend with a great bunch of people.
I don't think I'll be able to make it to the Team GT in June, but the main GT in November is getting closer and I'm already looking forward to it!
Mike
1 comments:
Good write-ups. Never tried a Brawl, but I love the way this event was set up - need to persuade my local Henchman to try it.
I had no idea the Pigapult was so large and imposing on the table!
Do you know what models your opponent used to make his Steampunk Arachnids? Are those three Brass Arachnids?
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