{"id":332,"date":"2015-03-05T20:36:28","date_gmt":"2015-03-05T20:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/?p=332"},"modified":"2015-03-05T20:36:28","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T20:36:28","slug":"dd-minatures-sealed-match-3-complete-lightning-arms-shocks-team-underdark-wins-200-166","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/?p=332","title":{"rendered":"D&D Minatures Sealed Match #3 Complete: Lightning Arms Shocks Team Underdark, Wins 200-166"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"naga<\/a>This game had less finesse than either of the prior two…it was a pure brawl from round 2.\u00a0 I was definitely worried for team Lightning Arms having 73 points in one mini, however the Marilith ended up being a total house.\u00a0 She was able to maneuver such that she could use her Enhanced Mobility, hit with her Melee Reach and\u00a0 and yet still have fodder units protecting her.\u00a0 She could also bypass both the passive defenses of DR 5 and Conceal 6 with her Magic Damage and Blindsight, allowing her to put out 150 damage over 3 rounds.\u00a0 The Shadow Dragon put out a bit of damage, but it was too spread out.\u00a0 He ended up taking a risk and Shadow Jumping to hit 5 units with his breath weapon, but almost everyone saved against both the breath weapon and the resulting morale save, which pretty much sealed the game and allowed the Marilith to do her thing.<\/p>\n

The ‘Hard-to-Kill’ medal goes to the Greenspawn Sneak <\/strong>who placed himself in Victory Area B<\/strong> on setup.\u00a0 He survived 3 rounds of attack from the Gnoll Claw Fighter (including a Pounce<\/strong>) and 2 from the Drow Enforcer.\u00a0 Having so many attacks tied up by such a low-cost unit definitely hurt Team Underdark.\u00a0 For 6 points with AC 19 the little draconic definitely pulled his weight.<\/p>\n

Here’s the turn-by-turn:<\/p>\n

Setup<\/strong> – Team Underdark won the map and placement rolls and were pretty confident going into the skirmish.\u00a0 Setting up, they got their Darkmantle into Victory Area A, denying the Greenspawn Sneaks easy Turn 1 VP’s.<\/p>\n

Turn 1: Lightning Arms:\u00a0 6, Underdark:\u00a0 0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A charging Darkmantle tragically misses with a charge against the Greenspawn Sneak in Victory Area B…the Sneak had better luck, hitting the Darkmantle twice for an early kill.<\/p>\n

Turn 2:\u00a0 Lightning Arms:\u00a0 6, Underdark: 16<\/strong>\"naga<\/a><\/p>\n

A quick swoop by the Shadow Dragon slays the 2nd Greenspawn Sneak and TU ends up with early VP’s, as they seem to every game.\u00a0 Lightning Arms was determined to keep everyone together to benefit from the Harmonium Guard’s AC Bonus Commander Effect<\/strong>.\u00a0 They knew that would put them at heavy risk to a big Breath Weapon, but the thought was if the Dragon was close enough to blow he was close enough to kill.<\/p>\n

Turn 3:\u00a0 Lightning Arms:\u00a0 6, Underdark: 26<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Bluespawn Stormlizard<\/strong> let out an underwhelming Lightning Bolt<\/strong>, with everyone it hit saving.\u00a0 Still, he caught the Barghest, Shadow Dragon and \"naga<\/a>Drow Enforcer<\/strong>, for a total of 30 points of damage.\u00a0 The next choice was the biggest decision of the game, and it took almost 5 minutes to make.\u00a0 The Bluespawn<\/strong> decided to retreat<\/strong> and took 15 damage from an Attack of Opportunity<\/strong> in order to let the Marilith<\/strong> in for 6 attacks vs. the Barghest<\/strong>.\u00a0 She hit 4 times for 40, though the Naga<\/strong> moved up and healed him for 30.\u00a0\u00a0 This sets the Shadow Dragon<\/strong> up for his Shadow Jump\/Breath Weapon<\/strong>.\u00a0 He does 50 damage total across 5 minis, but both the Bluespawn and War Sorcerer make their morale saves.\u00a0 At this point, Underdark knows they’re in trouble, with both the Dragon and Barghest now at risk.\u00a0 Looking back, I would have made the same call with the dragon and just hoped to hit even a couple creatures for full damage.<\/p>\n

Turn 4:\u00a0 Lightning Arms:\u00a0 54, Underdark:\u00a0 86<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lots of points put on the board this turn.\u00a0 The Barghest<\/strong> kills the Hero of Valhalla<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Marilith<\/strong> does 50 to the Shadow Dragon<\/strong>, and the Red Hand War Sorcerer<\/strong> finishes it off with a Lightning Bolt<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Shadow Dragon<\/strong> and the Earth Mephit<\/strong> finally kill the Bluespawn<\/strong>.\u00a0 And +10 VP’s for Team Underdark keeps them ahead.\u00a0 However, with the dragon gone and the Barghest<\/strong> knowing he was next, the writing is on the wall.\u00a0 There won’t be enough damage left on the board for Team Underdark after the next turn to be able to even force a Morale Check on the Marilith<\/strong>.\u00a0 So the only hope is to clear everyone else and gather enough VP’s to maybe eke out a win.<\/p>\n

Turn 5:\u00a0 Lightning Arms:\u00a0 102, Underdark: 102<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Marilith finishes off the Barghest.\u00a0 Frustration continues as the Gnoll misses the Sneak for the 3rd round in a row, 6 total attacks, though the Drow Enforcer finally slays the little creature.\u00a0 Red Hand War Sorcerer kills the Earth Mephit.\u00a0 \"naga<\/a><\/p>\n

Turn 6:\u00a0 Lightning Arms:\u00a0 102, Underdark:\u00a0 156<\/strong><\/p>\n

It still looks like Underdark<\/strong> is winning, but it never really feels like it.\u00a0 The Marilith<\/strong> is an unstoppable force at this point, and is either going to wipe the little dudes from the Victory Area or run down the Naga<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Naga<\/strong> kills the Red Hand<\/strong>, but that allows her in range of the Marilith<\/strong>, who hits for 50.<\/p>\n

Turn 7:\u00a0 Lightning Arms:\u00a0 156, Underdark:\u00a0 166<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marilith<\/strong> kills the Naga<\/strong> and a routing Deep Gnome<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Turn 8:\u00a0 Lighting Arms:\u00a0 200, Underdark 166<\/strong><\/p>\n

Overall this was a very fun, if not very dramatic, match.\u00a0 Team Underdark<\/strong> were never able to put the Marilith<\/strong> in danger, while she was able to get off her full attack nearly every round.\u00a0 I didn’t see much of a way around that for Underdark<\/strong>, as if she needed to she could’ve just cleared the Victory Areas and sat on them.\u00a0 Her threat range with Enhanced Mobility and Melee Reach<\/strong> just seemed enormous.<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts:<\/strong>\u00a0 I felt I made fewer mistakes that game, and I was able to play a little quicker overall.\u00a0 I still struggle with the first two turns of every game, and where I should put each piece to minimize the chance of an early kill by either team.\u00a0 Lightning Bolt<\/strong> seems like a stronger spell for me now, as I used to always picture it as just a straight line down a vertical path.\u00a0 However, now I understand I can use LOS and angles to catch quite a few creatures in it.\u00a0 The Red Hand<\/strong> also managed one turn to hit the entire enemy team with a Snowball Swarm<\/strong>.\u00a0 Granted it only did 5 damage per model, but that still equaled 35 total damage.\u00a0 The Red Hand<\/strong> definitely was worth his point cost as he did 2nd highest damage in the game, only losing out to the Marilith<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This game had less finesse than either of the prior two…it was a pure brawl from round 2.\u00a0 I was definitely worried for team Lightning Arms having 73 points in one mini, however the Marilith ended up being a total<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions\/345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/playingwithmyself.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}