In the second article in our Deck Club series, we take a look at one of the new wave of Elite heavy decks and talk about how it is matching up against the meta. Travis Provick: Ok, the real reason we are writing this article is because of your “Old One Eye” deck.  I know we have more Elite tools - starting in Legions of Death - but I think you said this deck is now 15-0.  And that includes a Game Night Kit win. Victor Naqvi:  That’s right.

”Old One Eye” - The Unsquashable

“Old One Eye” (50 cards)

[table width=“250px”] Army (27)[attr colspan=“2”] 4x Lurking Hormagaunt 2x Ravenous Haruspex 3x Ripper Swarm 3x Scything Hormagaunts 3x Striking Ravener 3x Termagant Sentry 3x Toxic Venomthrope 3x Volatile Pyrovore 3x Ymgarl Genestealer [/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (3)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Awakening Cavern 2x STC Fragment [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (9)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Great Scything Talons 3x Heavy Venom Cannon 2x Regeneration 3x Ymgarl Factor[/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (11)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x Backlash 2x Biomass Sacrifice 3x Dark Cunning 2x Ferocious Strength 1x No Mercy [/table] [table width=“250px”] Synapse (1)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Stalking Lictor [/table]

TP: So, are there any secrets to playing this deck? VN: Despite the big units, this is not a rush or bully deck. By all means, if planet 1 is Plannum (or Carnath with Plannum on the flop) and you have an Elite and some tricks, go for it. But generally you just want to take as much command as you can in the first turn to set yourself up well for the rest of the game. And often Old One Eye and a Volatile Pyrovore is enough to take planet 1 - unless your opponent is willing to use a lot of shield cards or other tools in opposition. TP: And then the big guns come out? VN: You want to get a Striking Ravener out with some supporting attachments. Save the Ymgarl Factor for him. With a few extra resources, the Ravener can take out a whole planet on its own. And with the ability to buff health as well, your opponent isn’t likely to be able to kill it, at least not so that it dies in the combat phase. Don’t forget that the Ymgarl Factor buff lasts until the end of the phase, so the extra ATK and HP can be used in multiple battles if you have a way to move it. TP: Oh, I’m well aware of that. *sigh* VN: The Ravenous Haruspex is often the Elite of last resort, but if you see the opportunity to earn a big pay day with him, don’t hesitate to take it. Basically win as much command as you can early and then star the Elite train. TP: There are also opportunities that your opponent might not be aware of. Ferocious Strength works on synapses, so in a pinch even your Stalking Lictor can wreck some face. You are still undefeated with this deck. What decks do you think are going to beat it? VN: Space Marines and Indomitable could be a challenge, as it can disrupt the multiple swings from the Ravener. Hopefully Dark Cunning or Awakening Cavern can get it going again, but that isn’t always possible. Heavy control/command Eldorath Starbane can be a problem with his strong command game choking you of the resources you need and Nullify shutting down your usual Backlash response to tricks targeting your Elites.

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We’d love to hear from our readers in the comments.  If you find any success - of failure - with Victor’s deck, let us know.  If you have your own great deck that you want to share with the world or have a deckbuilding trend that you’d like us to talk about in a future article, please drop us a line.

Welcome to the first article in what we hope will be a series dedicated to looking at deckbuilding strategy and sharing some of our deck ideas.  Since the release of Legions of Death, Victor and Travis have spent a lot of time talking about what makes an effective Necron deck and trying to come up with competitive decks for either warlord. Travis Provick: It can be a bit tough to know what to put in a Necron deck.  You have the whole card pool of common units to pull from and you can choose to add any number of different factions as allies.  All that choice is exciting, but it can also be a bit overwhelming. Victor Naqvi: Absolutely.  Figuring out the right angle of attack for a new Necron deck can be challenging.  You want to be careful about not going to crazy with the number of allied factions and consider whether your non-unit choices favour allied units or Necron cards more. TP: Anrakyr the Traveller seems like a more straightforward deck to build between the two warlords, but my first deck with him was relatively mediocre.  But I’ve been very impressed by a couple of the Anrakyr decks you’ve come up with.  They have been very strong.  

Anrakyr - Discard Toolbox

Anrakyr the Traveller (50 cards)

[table width=“250px”] Army (29)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Death Korps Engineers 2x Decaying Warrior Squad 1x Elysian Assault Team 1x Freebooter Kaptain 2x Harbinger of Eternity 1x Praetorian Ancient 5x Pyrrhian Eternals 3x Rogue Trader 3x Sacaellum Shrine Guard 2x Sanctioned Psyker 2x Standard Bearer 2x Steel Legion Chimera 3x Tallarn Raiders [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (6)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Promotion 1x Pyrrhian Warscythe 3x Resurrection Orb[/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (3)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Eternity Gate 1x Slumbering Tomb[/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (12)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Awake the Sleepers 3x Drudgery 3x Mechanical Enhancement 2x Reanimation Protocol 3x Recycle[/table]

VN: Anrakyr’s biggest asset is his discard pile.  Every card in his signature squad cares about this resource.  To that end, I wanted to build a deck that was all about treating my discard pile as a toolbox from which I could pull cards I needed for whatever situation I was in. TP: That’s a great way to look at it. VN: This deck didn’t need to fill up my discard pile as quickly as possible, so the deck eschews dedicated mill cards like Weight of the Aeons and even Flayed Ones Pack.  Instead, the only card I included beyond Anrakyr’s sig squad was 3x Recycle.  Effects that allow me to discard from my hand allow me to pitch units that are far more useful in the discard pile from my hand; units such as Decaying Warrior Squad and the first 2-3 copies of Pyrrhian Eternals. I then needed to decide which faction was to be my enslaved faction for this deck.  I chose to stick with one faction to increase consistency, so I needed to have a faction that had a lot of utility in their units.  Enter the current golden child of Conquest, the Astra Militarium.  AM units are cheap to play out, have good command presence, and can function as either command cappers or combat units.  I also had access to some really good situational cards like support hate in the form of Death Korps Engineers, increased survivability with Steel Legion Chimera, and a nasty combat surprise with the new Standard Bearer.  All three units are excellent targets for Drudgery, so I have no hesitations in discarding them for use later. Harbinger of Eternity is almost what I would call a ‘secondary warlord’.  Once he hits the table, your discard toolbox expands even more.  Discarding an event to shield one of my units and still having the ability to fire off the event reduces decision pressure and. especially in the case of an event like Mechanical Enhancement, can result in a virtual +4HP to one of your units (2 shields + 2 HP).  Harbinger also gives my Recycles a second chance, allowing me to dig through my deck even more. TP: It’s tough to play against you when I don’t just have to worry about what you might have in your hand, but what you have in your discard pile. VN: Having all these tricks means I need more money than cards from the command struggle, so I included 3x Rogue Trader.  I don’t worry about having too many tiny bodies. If I’ve discarded my Praetorian Ancient I can use Anrakyr’s ability to get him back in the late game as a scary 5 ATK, Armorbane juggernaut.  And in a pinch, I can always rotate my enslavement dial to whatever my opponent is playing and pull the biggest guy from their discard pile. After playing this deck a few times, I’ve found that the deploy stall game is huge.  It’s not unusual for me to have turns where I will play Recycle, then play Eternity Gate, then activate my Slumbering Tomb, then use Reanimation Protocol to heal my warlord, then use my Eternity Gate - all before playing a single unit to a planet.  It’s not hard to outmaneuver my opponent on command this way.  

Nahumekh - Steel Wheels

Nahumekh (51 cards)

[table width=“250px”] Army (30)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Assault Valkyrie 4x Destroyer Cultist 3x Doom Scythe Invader 1x Harbinger of Eternity 1x Leman Russ Conqueror 3x Piranha Hunter 3x Rogue Trader 3x Standard Bearer 3x Vash’ya Trailblazer 3x Warriors of Gidrim 2x Wildrider Squadron 2x Wildrider Vyper [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (5)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Gauss Flayer 2x Promotion 1x The Staff of Command[/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (6)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Obedience 2x Sautekh Complex 3x STC Fragment[/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (12)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Backlash 2x Hate 2x Mechanical Enhancement 2x Reanimation Protocol 3x Recycle[/table]

TP: I started off with the goal of making a 3-ally Nahumekh deck to leverage his ability and the ability of his signature unit (Destroyer Cultist). To maximize that value, I wanted to be able to keep my units from non-Necron factions alive for multiple turns - something that Mobile facilitates really well.  I also wanted to try to get my Staff of Change in play as quickly as possible.  This led me to Earth Caste Technician and Vash’ya Trailblazer in Tau.  I already knew that resources in Necron decks could be an issue, so I also put in Sael’um Pioneers.  With two scouts in the beginning of the list, my first deck attempt went all in on a Scout/Tomb Blade Squadron strong command deck to see if the Tomb Blade’s ability was perhaps stronger than I originally believed. VN: And how did that go? TP: Not well, which was largely as expected.  After a few losses I went back to the drawing board with a better feel of how a Nahumekh deck plays in practice.  My next experiment was going to be an Elite deck, and I was curious about the power level of the Doom Scythe Invader.  Trailblazers would still be great, so Tau stayed.  Piranha Hunters would guarantee me card draw even in situations where my opponent would challenge me for command - a problem that my first deck had, and they would never die.  I’d really liked the impact Standard Bearers were having in other decks, and I thought being able to ready exhausted Elite units would only increase their contribution. AM also has great vehicle targets for Doom Scythe, so I chose them as my second ally. Wildrider Squadron seemed like one of the best targets for Doom Scythe in the game, and Wildrider Vyper are great Elite units that have the survivability via Mobile that I like to have in a Nahumekh deck, so Eldar rounded things out for allies VN: Yeah, I think you hit on a viable list with this one.  You were a bit light on resources at times, but it was a tough deck to deal with. Any advice for someone who brings this deck to a game night? TP:  It’s ok to let your opponent take the first planet or two as long as you are building some command presence and tools for later rounds.  Try to use Recycle to seed at least one target for Doom Scythe early.  Be careful how much damage you let Nahumekh take. You really want to be able to use his ability in critical fights and 6 health is not very much. Don’t forget that you can use Obedience to move units from HQ at the beginning of the command phase. I don’t think this deck is top tier, but it is a lot of fun to play and it can be pretty competitive.   Please let us know in the comments what you think of either of these decks.  Or tell us about the Necron decks that you’ve built.

Rotation 7 - Feb 6th to Mar 17th In the grim future there are only burly men yelling.  Or at least that’s all there was in this rotation. This time around I focused on Ba’ar Zul, the Hate-bound, bringing him to two Store Championships, and also worked on my Colonel Straken damage prevention deck. I had these decks built for almost seven weeks, but, with moving taking up most of my life during that time, I didn’t get to play much. That said, I did get some great testing in and really enjoyed playing Ba’ar Zul. Speaking of our angry friend, let’s dig in.

Ba’ar Zul

[table width=“250px”] Army (29)[attr colspan=“2”] 4xBa’ar Zul’s Cleavers 3xChaos Fanatics 3xGleeful Plague Beast 3xHeretek Inventor 3xKhorne Berzerker 3xRavening Psychopath 3xRavenous Flesh Hounds 2xRogue Trader 3xSplintered Path Acolyte 2xVoid Pirate [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (6)[attr colspan=“2”] 2xPromotion 3xSlaanesh’s Temptation 1xThe Butcher’s Nails[/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (1)[attr colspan=“2”] 1xKaerux Erameas[/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (14)[attr colspan=“2”] 3xArchon’s Terror 2xBlood For the Blood God! 2xExstatic Seizures 2xPromise of Glory 2xSowing Chaos 3xTzeentch’s Firestorm[/table]

This is the deck list I used during both Store Championships. I also experimented with some changes since. I will mention those closer to the end.

When he was first spoiled some time last fall my interest in Ba’ar Zul was pretty minimal. Playing him now I found that really enjoyed the play style he affords. During this rotation I brought him to two store championships, going 3-1 and 2-2 in a 14 player event. Considering these were collectively the first eight games I had played with the warlord I was quite pleased. Starting out building the deck I wasn’t sure if there was a gimmick worth exploring so I just began assembling what I considered to be generally good Chaos cards. As I began putting things together I was curious what the collection of Khorne trait army units had to offer. Khorne Berzerker is a generally good card for inclusion in any Chaos deck, as is a copy or two of Roghrax Bloodhand. Ravening Psychopath helps stack damage onto Ba’ar Zul and guarantee he becomes bloodied on your terms. I decided that the deck also made sense with enough cultists to include Ravenous Flesh Hounds, a unit that hasn’t seen much play since the Core Set but has so much survivability in this deck it is quite valuable. Making my way through all these decisions I realized that I had almost completely filled out my deck and I still hadn’t picked an ally faction. Since I felt I had no specific needs from at this point I decided to ally with Dark Eldar solely for the use of Archon’s Terror. When I finally got around to playing the deck my general strategy was to try to win my second win condition planet using Ba’ar Zul as a damage soak. This would lead him to being bloodied and ready to tank his way through my winning planet. In most games this plan worked quite well. Ba’ar Zul would become bloodied on turn two or three and the game would be over by turn four or five. If it continued too long Ba’ar Zul would lose the ability to put pressure on. In games where my opponent didn’t offer enough opposition to bloody Ba’ar Zul I would use my own units to do so, triggering Ba’ar Zul’s Cleavers or letting Gleeful Plague Beast deal damage unshielded. That said, playing our Hate-bound warlord is something of a tightrope walk. You have to be very conscious of when you let him go and how to use him through the entire game. Games required a somewhat reckless mentality otherwise I feel the pressure would have been too much compared to other warlords. I’m not sure I would really recommend using Ba’ar Zul at any high level events unless a player is very comfortable with him of focused on fun over competitiveness. Since those tournaments I’ve added in Sslyth Mercenary, Seer of Deceit, and Gut and Pillage to help smooth out my economy.  I haven’t had enough games to really determine the effectiveness of these additions yet. What testing I have done is pretty promising, between Promise of Glory and Gut and Pillage I managed to get almost 40 resources in 4 rounds one game.

Straken

[table width=“250px”] Army (29)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x10th Company Scout 3xBlood Angels Veterans 2xDaring Assault Squad 2xFiredrake Terminators 2xIron Guard Recruits 3xRighteous Initiate 3xSa’caellum Shrine Guard 2xSteel Legion Chimera 4xStraken’s Command Squad 3xTallarn Raiders 2xWhite Scars Bikers [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (5)[attr colspan=“2”] 2xBodyguard 2xPromotion 1xStraken’s Cunning[/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (12)[attr colspan=“2”] 3xCrushing Blow 2xGlorious Intervention 3xIndomitable 2xSuppressive Fire 2xThe Emperor’s Warrant[/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (4)[attr colspan=“2”] 1xOmega Zero Command 3xRockcrete Bunker[/table]

This deck is just a continuing development of the Colonel Straken deck I talked about in my previous War Journal - It Just Won’t Die. I only ended up playing a few games since not much has changed at this point. I added in Sa’caellum Shrine Guard to help smooth out the lower end of the cost curve. Otherwise most of the changes I made were minor number changes of units that I had already included. The deck is very strapped for space but at some point I would like to find space for Troop Transport and Inspirational Fervor. As the meta shifts this deck still seems a reasonably effective style to use for Straken. Certainly it is the most effective I’ve come across. It is still lacking the over all control to actually become top tier, but we may see the tools it needs still yet.

Conclusion

Moving into the next rotation I will be catching up with the Planetfall warlords I haven’t had a chance to play with yet. Gorzod, Subject Ω-X62113, and Archon Salaine Morn will likely be the focus of my attention until at least Wrath of Crusaders releases in mid to late April, if not beyond that. Until then, Loot all da trukks and make’m go fastaaaaaa!!!! WAAAAAAAAGGGGH!!!!

[table width=“208px”] Ba’ar Zul[attr colspan=“2”] Win v Shadowsun (Planet 5) Loss v Selain (Kill 5) Win v Aun’shi (Planet 3) Loss v Ragnar (Planet 5) Win v Aun’shi (Planet 4) Loss v Zarathur (Planet 5) Win v Nazdreg (Planet 5) Win v Swarmlord (Planet 4) Win v Swarmlord (Planet 4) Loss v Worr (Kill 5) [/table]

[table width=“208px”] Straken[attr colspan=“2”] Loss v Old One Eye (Planet 6) Win v Ba’ar Zul (Planet 7) Win v Subject Omega (Planet 6) [/table]

Rotation 6 - January 7th to January 28th

Its that time again! only about a month late its time for another War Journal. This time around I will be looking at my play experience with and thoughts about Commander Starblaze. I also played some games with Zarathur, and have moved on from Old One Eye. I’m not sure how much I have that is worth while so they won’t be included today. With that out of the way let’s dig into the 41st millenium’s anime space fish.

Starblaze

[table width=“250px”] Army (32)[attr colspan=“2”] 4xArdent Auxiliaries 2xAssault Valkyrie 3xBork’an Recruits 3xExperimental Devilfish 2xFireblade Kais’Vre 2xIron Guard Recruits 3xRatling Deadeye 3xRecon Drone 2xSanctioned Psyker 2xStalwart Ogryn 3xTallarn Raiders 3xVior’la Marksman [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Support (5)[attr colspan=“2”] 2xCatachan Outpost 2xStaging Ground 1xStarblaze’s Outpost [/table] [table width=“250px”] Attachment (4)[attr colspan=“2”] 3xIon Rifle 1xSearing Burst Cannon [/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (9)[attr colspan=“2”] 2xBond of Brotherhood 2xDeception 3xSuppressive Fire 2xTense Negotiations [/table]

Life has been busy and I didn’t get as many games as I would like in and its taken me a lot longer than planned to write this. Starblaze was interesting but really didn’t capture me as much as other warlords have. I tried to construct a deck that focussed on unit efficiency as I believed that is the inherent strength in his signature squad. Using Ardent Auxiliaries and Experimental Devilfish you can build a persistent first planet bully. Add in the effect of Starblaze and you can move around your powerful Astra Militarum army units. The command presence this deck provides is also very hard to compete with. Again Starblaze’s ability and the constantly ready units provide efficiency in the command phase. AM and Tau also have quite likely the largest combined selection of two command icon units. While the basics look good on paper the reality seems to be less exciting. Neither AM or Tau have the trick available to most other factions to carry them through combat. It also seems that at least this version of the deck just doesn’t have the punch needed to win big fights. I think that maybe a heavier focus on attachments or the use of harder hitting AM units might be a direction to go as far as experimentation is concerned. I’m not sure we’ve gotten any real wow card to update it with though. I’ll probably leave Starblaze alone for the next while. Moving forward I’ve already begun to play with Ba’ar Zul, the Hate-bound and I’m revisiting Colonel Straken. I haven’t managed to get many games in in February so I will be continuing with these decks for at least a few more weeks. Until then, SKULLS FOR THE THRONE OF KHORN!!!

This deck took first place at the Face To Face Games Store Champs. Shout-out to Graham from Face to Face Games for running an awesome event that featured five different Fantasy Flight Store Championships which ran at the same time!

Gorzod’s First Dance

Army (30) 3x Assault Valkyrie 1x Crushface 2x Front line ‘Ard Boyz 4x Gorzod’s Wagons 1x Land Raider 2x Mordian Hellhound 2x Rickety Warbuggy 3x Rogue Trader 3x Shoota Mob 3x Snakebite Thug 3x Steel Legion Chimera 3x Void Pirate Attachment (4) 3x Promotion 1x The Bloodrunna Event (12) 2x Battle Cry 3x Dakka Dakka Dakka! 2x Hostile Acquisition 2x Rok Bombardment 3x Squiggify Support (4) 1x Kustom Field Generator 1x Kustomisation Station 1x Mork’s Great Heap 1x Tellyporta Pad I was extremely surprised that I won the event. I threw this deck together the night before the tournament, and bought the new War Pack at the event. I kind of expected to lose badly. Turns out Orks have some pretty annoying units! We had 8 players and ran 3 swiss rounds. The first round was against Kevin’s Eldorath Starbane deck. The first five planets were all green (Strongpoint). I won initiative. I believe my first drop was a Land Raider to planet one and a command unit to a later planet. I believe he dropped a Starbane’s Council to Osus IV (planet 3) and a Biel-tan Guardians to where my command unit was. I committed to the planet 3 with the Council. I won the first planet. I committed my warlord to a planet with his Starbane’s Council, holding 3 double shield cards in hand and 3 resources to his 2. I knew this was a huge risk because I was potentially looking at 10 damage from his council. I swing for two and Kevin doesn’t shield. I decide to NOT to Squiggify his council: I didn’t want him to just retreat. He swings for 5 with the council and I shield 2. We ready and I swing for 2, he shields for 2. I decide at this point, it’s time to Squiggify. He swings for 1 so I’m at 4 damage. We ready and I swing again which kills the Council. Kevin plays Gift of Isha and swings for 5. I have no answer for this so I’m Bloodied. At this point I’m thinking… maybe I’ve made a mistake, BUT I have major board presence as he only has his warlord and a command unit on the board while I have a Land Raider in HQ. I play a Front Line ‘Ard Boyz, I believe at this point at planet 1. The middle part is kinda muddy, but on either turn 2 or 3 he ends up DOUBLE Archon’s Terror my Land Raider and ‘Ard Boyz so he can win a planet. We split the rest of the planets until the game winner on the original planet 5. At this point I have 2 ‘Ard Boyz, a Land Raider, Mork’s Great Heap and a Kustom Field Generator in play along with a couple smaller units. This made my army very very hard to deal with and it allows my bloodied Gorzod to still swing for 2 without fear of getting assassinated. I win after an early bloodied warlord scare. Tactically, I think was probably a mistake, but in the long run it may have helped me win the game. The second round was against Fernando’s Broderick Worr deck. Another 5 Strongpoint (green) planets drop (which is terrifying when playing against Worr). He wins initiative and keeps while I mulligan. I decide that I probably should try to bully a way into victory, so I drop an Assault Valkyrie and Land Raider to planet 1 and pass. He drops a Troop Transport, an Inquisitorial Fortress (uses it on the Land Raider in the deploy phase) and a couple command units/soldiers (I believe an Enginseer Augur to planet 1, Tallarn Raiders to Tarrus (planet 2), and I think Iron Guard Recruits or something to Barlus (planet 3)). I commit to Barlus (3) and he commits to Tarrus (2). I win planet 1 by killing the Enginseer (and gets a Catachan Outpost from its death) and then using 3 double shield cards to take 3 damage total on the Valkyrie. I believe we have the same # of units (3) so Tarrus doesn’t trigger. I win planet 3 and trigger Barlus’s battle ability and discard a Troop Transport out of Fernando’s hand. This was a HUGE pull for me. After that I believe I drop down a Gorzod’s Wagons to planet 2 or 3 and a Tellyporta Pad. The pad let’s me bring over the Wagons to planet 1 to win it. I think it all leads to a big battle for the win at planet 1, where I’ve deployed a Shoota Mob and Snakebite Thug and a Rickety Warbuggy. I also deploy a Kustom Field Generator. I believe coming from HQ was a Land Raider, Gorzod’s Wagons and something else. I don’t think that unit list is entirely correct but he couldn’t recover from the first turn when he lost too much (he didn’t expect so many shields, and he didn’t hit a troop transport with the Enginseer). The third round was against Kyle’s Torquemada Coteaz deck. The earliest possible game victory is at planet 5. In this game we have a fairly even command struggle battle in the first round, but I manage to kill a bunch of his units and choke him out for command while I have a Steel Legion Chimera, Front Line ‘Ard Boyz, Mork’s Great Heap, The Bloodrunna on Gorzod (10 HP with the Heap!), Land Raider and Kustom Field Generator out. This sets up a bad chain of first planet victories for me, with the final battle also including some Rickety Warbuggys, a Snakebite Thug and Crushface. I had a pretty solid draw while my opponent just didn’t draw what he needed. I feel like this happened a lot today, so luck was in my favour! Kyle was also only playing with 2 cores, so kudos on him for doing so well with only 2, and perhaps that helped me get the W! So, final thoughts about the deck: I really like it! I mean, on paper I fully expected to not win a game. I didn’t think the deck had enough tricks to survive long drawn out battles or warlord tricks. While I didn’t play any traditionally tricky decks (Cato, Kith and Zarathur), I found it to be an extremely durable deck. Let me first say that KFG is a BEAST. It’s always been that way in Nazdreg, but with Front Line ‘Ard Boyz, it truly makes decks without AE attacks groan. If you can’t rout the ‘Ard Boyz, you’re looking at 5 HP + whatever I choose to KFG away to other units as well. If I have Steel Legion Chimera out that means any unit with 1 attack now does zero. That’s super annoying. Two copies of Steel Legion Chimera means attacks of 2 are zero. Jeez. I know it’s a big cost investment at 4, but it’s pretty boss, especially if you have a Land Raider protecting them from Archon’s Terror. I never saw a Kustomisation Station but I’m sure i’s a similar effect to the Mork’s. Scary stuff. I think in the current meta the Hostile Acquisition is pretty much just a one shield card, which initially made me worry about Gorzod, as Nazdreg’s Bigga is Betta is incredible, and so is Zogwort’s Launch Da Snots. The Wagons though are a great value 2 drop and KFG fodder too! The discount on Valkyries, Hellhounds, Chimeras and Land Raider made up for the lack of combat tricks. Gorzod seems like a fun warlord that will only get better as more vehicles come out, and I’m sure there’s lots to improve on with this list. Carry on my wayward Nobs!

Rotation 5 - December 3rd to December 22nd

Its been another slow month in my gaming life this December. I only managed to get in 10 games of Warhammer 40,000: Conquest but included in that was the first tournament I’ve been to in a while. With the release of Decree of Ruin I made the decision to focus my limited gaming time on our new Astra Militarum warlord Broderick Worr. While Captain Cato Sicarius and ”Old One Eye” were also sleeved up to play this rotation, I didn’t manage to get enough games with either to warrant reviewing them. So on that note lets talk about our grizzled Militarum vet.

Worr

[table width=“250px”] Army (28)[attr colspan=“2”] 4x Anxious Infantry Platoon 3x Cadian Mortar Squad 2x Captain Markis 2x Enginseer Augur 3x Iron Guard Recruits 3x Ratling Deadeye 2x Rogue Trader 3x Sanctioned Psyker 1x Seraphim Superior Allegra 3x Tallarn Raiders 2x Void Pirate [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Support (3)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Catachan Outpost 1x Forward Barracks [/table] [table width=“250px”] Attachment (3)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Commissarial Bolt Pistol 2x Promotion [/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (16)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x Muster the Guard 2x Noble Deed 3x Preemptive Barrage 2x Summary Execution 3x Suppressive Fire 3x To Arms! [/table]

For the first time since I started writing these journals we’ve seen the release of brand new cards. I decided to start with Worr because my last two rotations each included one of the previous Astra Militarum warlords, Colonel Straken and Torquemada Coteaz. I thought Worr would be the next logical step and provide a good frame of reference for testing. Starting out I felt able to go in pretty much any direction with putting together a deck. There is not much established wisdom or particular innovations for Worr, leaving the field open to lots of ideas. Starting with his ability, which focuses on Astra Militarum units at stronghold (green) planets, I was determined to keep the army units mono faction with the exception of Rogue Trader and Void Pirate. I decided that this would be the perfect deck to run Muster the Guard out of. Worr’s ability works well regardless of what planet he is committed to, making it easier to keep him out of danger while he is exhausted. Additionally his other ability to destroy army units that retreat from the planet he is at means that though he won’t win command while exhausted he is still very effective at destroying opposing command units. Beyond the general decisions I started to look at the opportunities his signature squad and potential synergies. I decided to add Noble Deed for the extra utility from combat units that would otherwise be destroyed because they can’t retreat. I included Enginseer Augur to help dig for the signature support Forward Barracks and potentially deploy outposts for free. With the generally solid command in the rest of the deck and numerous buffs to the ability of the Enginseer (extra attack at green planets, more sacrifice or destroy effect than I would normally have, etc) I found it worked well in this deck where maybe it wasn’t a strong include in others. I added Captain Markis for similar reasons to Noble Deed and Cadian Mortar Squad for the synergies with the sacrifice effects along with their added value under Worr’s command. When I started to play games with the Commissar I found that many of my initial assumptions seemed to be correct. Even with only three stronghold (green) planets showing up in a game - the minimum number - he is still very capable. I was able to build tremendous collections of units for very effective combats and play a strong command game. The use of Muster the Guard and Broderick’s utility for the remainder of that turn generally followed the pattern I predicted. Despite all this I actually found it difficult to win games. Most games had a reasonably tight finish, or had a one sided result after several particularly close combats, but I only managed to win a quarter of my games. At this point I think this can be attributed more to myself as a player than the deck or Worr himself. I have had a much lower win percentage lately and made a reasonable number of costly play errors, particularly in the tournament. Moving forward I’m not sure where I would go with Broderick Worr. As the Planetfall cycle continues and we see more cards become available, a more defined play style may become evident, but until that point I think I will likely fiddle with something very similar to what I’ve already built. Next rotation I’ll be focussing on our other new combatant, Commander Starblaze. But, I also plan to build Zarathur, High Sorcerer and try to get in some more games with Old One Eye. Until next time!

[table width=“208px”] Worr[attr colspan=“2”] Loss v Coteaz (Planet 5) Win v Eldorath (Planet 7) Loss v Ragnar (Planet 7) Loss v Baharroth (Planet 5) Loss v Old One Eye(Planet 7) Loss v Straken (Planet 3) Loss v Cato (Planet 4) Win v Nazdreg (Assassination 6) [/table]

[table width=“208px”] Cato  [attr colspan=“2”] Loss v Worr (Planet 5) Loss v Eldorath (Planet 6) [/table]

Rotation 4 -November 3rd to December 2nd

Its that time again! War rages on amongst the stars and my quest for greater tactical prowess and combat experience continues. It has been a rough several weeks and unfortunately my opportunities to both play games and write have suffered from a busy schedule. As a result I spent longer focusing on the warlords I had built for this rotation. In this War Journal I’m going to focus on Ku’gath, Plaguefather and Colonel Straken. I had 13 games between the two. I also played a few games with “Old One Eye” but I’m going to continue to experiment with that deck so I’ll leave that write up for my next journal.

Ku’gath

[table width=“250px”] Army (25)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x Chaos Fanatics 3x Gleeful Plague Beast 3x Heretek Inventor 3x Khorne Berzerker 4x Kugath’s Nurglings 1x Roghrax Bloodhand 2x Rogue Trader 3x Splintered Path Acolyte 3x Sslyth Mercenary [/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (1)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Vile Laboratory [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (7)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x Promotion 3x Slaanesh’s Temptation 1x The Plaguefather’s Banner [/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (17)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x Archon’s Terror 2x Cacophonic Choir 1x Exstatic Seizures 2x Fetid Haze 3x Promise of Glory 3x Tzeentch’s Firestorm 3x Warpstorm [/table]

After training for and playing in American Nationals this past Gencon I was tired of Eldorath and ready to move on to something new. One of the players I play with regularly, Victor, gave me his Ku’gath deck and challenged me to give it a go. I had mixed reviews of the Plaguefather up until that point but the tournament helped improve my opinion of him as a viable option. Playing with him this rotation, I decided to go with a very similar build, using Dark Eldar as allies. Because of my experience with him previously I only ended up playing four games with him this time around. Generally I found my playtesting reinforced what I had discovered before. Ku’gath is a powerful warlord that requires a certain type of finesse. Using a variety of powerful events along with a strong selection of command units, bolstered on both accounts by the Dark Eldar allies, there is a great amount of control to be had. That said, some of the units and effects can create very complex game states and, if you don’t have the resources at hand when you need them.it can be hard to push through. I’m still kind of working on finding my comfort zone with Ku’gath but I think his play style doesn’t quite click with me. I’ll continue experimenting with him occasionally but I feel that overall, while my opinion of him has improved substantially, I don’t enjoy playing as the Plaguefather myself.

Straken

[table width=“250px”] Army (27)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x 10th Company Scout 3x Blood Angels Veterans 2x Firedrake Terminators 2x Iron Guard Recruits 3x Ratling Deadeye 2x Steel Legion Chimera 4x Straken’s Command Squad 3x Tactical Squad Cardinis 3x Tallarn Raiders 2x White Scars Bikers [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Support (5)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Catachan Outpost 1x Omega Zero Command 2x Rockcrete Bunker [/table] [table width=“250px”] Attachment (5)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Bodyguard 2x Promotion 1x Straken’s Cunning [/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (13)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x Crushing Blow 2x Glorious Intervention 3x Suppressive Fire 2x Indomitable 3x To Arms! [/table]

Straken has gotten a lot of flak from the Conquest community since the game launched at Gencon last year. As a warlord he has been criticized for his card text essentially being a less version of the ability on Zarathur, High Sorcerer. Until lately I have agreed with all of this, but lately I’ve been starting to think more about the strength that comes from his signature squad. Looking at his signature event, Glorious Intervention, and his signature unit, Straken’s Command Squad, you can see a strong basis for an attrition style of play that isn’t really present in any other signature squad. Combine this with Rockcrete Bunker, Steel Legion Chimera, and the many double shield cards available in Astra Militarum and you’re beginning to build a strong defensive archetype. I decided to follow this direction and see how far I could take it. I decided the best course of action was to go heavy into Space Marines cards. This ally choice gives access to Firedrake Terminators, Blood Angels Veterans, and Indomitable to really flesh out a defense focused game. Playing this deck I was impressed to find that the strategy I was taking a shot at was not only effective but actually powerful and very flexible. When accompanied by Marines, not only is the defensive strategy shored up,but several very powerful offensive options become available. The deck has some novelty at this point because many players don’t expect cards like Indomitable or Crushing Blow to be played out of faction. I do have confidence in how the deck will develop over time though, even once a player knows what tricks are coming it can still be difficult to play around what is in store. I am really pleased with how this deck is working.  So far it has gone 6 and 3. Going forward I will continue to develop and practice with this list. There is a lot of potential for this style of Straken deck to be competitive and with the Unstoppable keyword being introduced and expanded during the Planetfall cycle there should be a number strong Space Marine cards to add, as well as any new options Astra Militarum gain in faction.  From just the first pack, I’m already  excited to test Righteous Initiate in the next version of the deck. I will continue to play Old One Eye, but I will be changing out Straken and Ku’gath for Broderick Worr and Captain Cato Sicarius. I hope to post my next War Journal before the holidays, so keep an eye on this space. Until then, thanks for reading and May the Emperor Protect!

[table width=“208px”] Ku’gath[attr colspan=“2”] Loss v Nazdreg (Concession 1) Loss v Nazdreg (Assassination 6) Win v Eldorath (Planet 5) Loss v Zarathur (Planet 7) [/table]

[table width=“208px”] Straken[attr colspan=“2”] Win v Aun’shi (Planet 4) Win v Nazdreg (Planet 6) Loss v Shadowsun (Planet 5) Win v Baharroth (Planet 4) Loss v Old One Eye (Planet 7) Win v Coteaz (Planet 6) Loss v Old One Eye (Planet ?) Win v Urien (Planet 4) Win v Urien (Assassination 6) [/table]

Quack… Quack… Quack… Quack. Quack. Quack. Qua- What..? Baharroth doesn’t play for the mighty ducks? Hmm… Well I suppose I should move along quickly then.

Rotation 3 - Oct 14th to Oct 29th

Well its been another few weeks and I’m done with two new warlords and moving on from another. I didn’t get nearly as many games in as I would have liked over the past two weeks and set my self back in my schedule a bit in an attempt to get a few extra games in. Thankfully, there’s nothing too pressing on the horizon, but unfortunately this rotation felt like a bit of a flop. All told I got in 11 games during this rotation, 5 with Baharroth,  3 with Torquemada Coteaz, and 4 more with “The Swarmlord”. How did I feel? Lets dive-bomb right into it.

Baharroth

[table width=“250px”] Army (29)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Autarch Celachia 4x Baharroths Hawks 3x Biel-Tan Guardians 2x Bloodied Reavers 2x Incubus Warrior 2x Rogue Trader 2x Soaring Falcon 2x Spiritseer Erathal 2x Sslyth Mercenary 2x Vile Raider 2x Void Pirate 3x Warlock Destructor 2x Wildrider Squadron [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (1)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x The Shining Blade [/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (19)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x Archon’s Terror 2x Cry of the Wind 3x Death from Above 1x Foretell 3x Gift of Isha 3x Nullify 2x Seer’s Exodus 2x Subdual [/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (1)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Banner of the Ashen Sky [/table]

When Baharroth was first released I panned him largely because of his signature army, Baharroth’s Hawks. Building his deck I found myself wishing that I was actually just using Eldorath Starbane. I decided to pair him with Dark Eldar to have access to Archon’s Terror along with a few other staple command and combat units. I also made the decision to include more Mobile units than I normally would to create a more distinct deck from what I usually play in Eldar. I didn’t get to play as many games as I would have liked but I was impressed with how Baharroth performed. Much like Old Zogwort, this warlord is very good despite his less than stellar nature signature army unit. His Hawks do manage to do work, but they suffer from more restricted deployment and greater fragility than other units. You are able to get a good discount on a number of excellent units with Death From Above. Deploying at the last planet is not a major draw back when you are getting two command icons for one resource and you are able to adjust your position with Mobile. Add to that Baharroth’s signature event, Cry of the Wind, and you can actually have units deployed using Death From Above arriving into combat much sooner than expected. This deck’s primary strength is its command game and ability to respond to threats. Having most Mobile units provide a reasonable combat presence and two command icons means you can spread out to win command and still converge on a planet for a battle. This kind of responsive presence allows the deck to dominate in multiple phases of the game. At this point I think the deck definitely needs more work.  The deck suffers when the you do not draw the right cards early. I have found that the cost curve is too high and relies too much on being able to cheat units in with Death From Above. The release of a few more good 3 cost Mobile units, or units with movement effects, for Eldar or either of its ally factions could really help make this deck style more effective. I believe that, with a couple more cards released that focus on this play style, Baharroth could become a very competitive warlord.

Coteaz

[table width=“250px”] Army (33)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x 10th Company Scout 3x Blood Angels Veterans 3x Cadian Mortar Squad 2x Captain Markis 4x Coteaz’s Henchmen 3x Iron Guard Recruits 2x Leman Russ Battle Tank 3x Ratling Deadeye 2x Rogue Trader 1x Seraphim Superior Allegra 2x Tactical Squad Cardinis 3x Tallarn Raiders 2x Void Pirate [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (1)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x The Glovodan Eagle [/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (11)[attr colspan=“2”] 3x Preemptive Barrage 3x Suppressive Fire 2x The Emperor Protects 3x To Arms! [/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (5)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Catachan Outpost 1x Formosan Black Ship 2x Staging Ground [/table]

This rotation I played Torquemada Coteaz the least.  Fortunately, I have had some experience with him in the past. Usually I’ve built his decks with Orks as his allies but I decided to explore Space Marines instead this time around. Marines provide a degree of staying power not found in cheap Ork allies. After playing a few games using Space Marines as allies I think that it makes most sense to use Orks for the greater number of cheap units. The resilience of units like Blood Angels Veterans doesn’t seem to add up to the long term attrition provided by many cheap units, at least in this deck. Using Coteaz in many ways feels similar to playing Aun’shi. Because he has an ATK of O unless you use his Action to sacrifice a unit he can find himself easily outmatched if you aren’t consciously planning your combats. Though, if you are able to leverage the advantage when you have it, Coteaz can put an unprecedented amount of pressure on an opposing warlord. In my opinion he is the premier assassination warlord. Playing this deck has reinforced my belief on how lacking Astra Militarum can feel as a faction. At this point there is something, missing but I’m not sure what it is. Regardless, there is a lot of space for exploration and growth. [I asked Brad to make some more cards to help Coteaz — Travis]

Swarmlord

[table width=“250px”] Synapse (1)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Stalking Lictor [/table] [table width=“250px”] Army (29)[attr colspan=“2”] 4x Brood Warriors 2x Hunting Gargoyle 2x Ravenous Haruspex 3x Ripper Swarm 3x Scything Hormagaunts 2x Shrieking Harpy 3x Strangler Brood 3x Termagant Sentry 3x Toxic Venomthrope 2x Tyranid Warrior 2x Volatile Pyrovore [/table]

[table width=“250px”] Attachment (3)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Bone Sabres 2x Promotion [/table] [table width=“250px”] Event (15)[attr colspan=“2”] 2x Clogged with Corpses 2x Consumption 2x Dark Cunning 2x Indescribable Horror 2x No Mercy 2x Spawn Termagants 3x Spore Burst [/table] [table width=“250px”] Support (3)[attr colspan=“2”] 1x Leviathan Hive Ship 2x Spore Chimney [/table]

For purposes of this reflection I am going to talk about the whole month of playing with “The Swarmlord”. Starting out Tyranids required a lot of learning and assessment. Unboxing them, it was evident that there is a lot of potential for both Swarlord and “Old One Eye to be fairly competitive. Playing Swarmlord I still feel that this possibility is present, but it has become apparent that it will take some work to unlock the faction’s full potential. In many ways the Faction still feels very similar to playing the core set factions in the early days of the game. For this deck in particular I wanted to focus on playing a very limited amount of Hivemind, basically only including what I felt is necessary. Instead I built a focus on command and efficiency, relying on units that I thought could synergize well with a press of small bodies. Generally this strategy seemed to be successful, allowing me to play a long game with continuous pressure. I also decided to put a bit of emphasis on infestation. So far this feels like an under-developed mechanic. I don’t feel there are enough options to trigger infestation available yet, but when you can get it on the table it does feel like there are enough effects that benefit from it to be worth while. I discussed with a friend the use of Spore Chimney versus Virulent Spore Sacs. I had been opting for Chimneys but in this deck they may be too slow for the benefit they provide. Spore Sacs might be a more effective include but ultimately I would like a more consistent option than the one time use it provides. This may be something to develop further after more Tyrnaid cards are released. I really enjoyed playing Swarmlord, it’s ability allows it to indirectly influence battles and focus more on command. I look forward to revisiting and further developing this play style and seeing how Swarmlord and Tyranids in general fair at Worlds.   For the next rotation I will be building Ku’gath, Plaguefather, Colonel Straken, and “Old One Eye’. This will likely be the last set I play before the new warlords from the Planetfall cycle start releasing and I get to start incorporating the new card into decks and my game play.  

[table width=“208px”] Baharroth[attr colspan=“2”] Win v Ku’gath (Assassination 4) Win v Old One Eye (Planet 5) Loss v Shadowsun (Planet 5) Win v Old One Eye (Planet 5) Loss v Kith (Planet 5) [/table]

[table width=“208px”] Coteaz[attr colspan=“2”] Win v Swarmlord (Assassination 4) Loss v Ku’gath (Planet 5) Loss v Kith (Planet 5) [/table]

[table width=“208px”] Swarmlord[attr colspan=“2”] Loss v Eldorath (Planet 3) Win v Aun’shi (Planet 5) Loss v Ku’gath (Planet 3) Win v Old One Eye (Planet 4) Loss v Ku’gath (Planet 3) Loss v Coteaz (Planet 5) Loss v Zogwort (Assassination 5) [/table]

So, I had just busted out of the Warhammer 40,000: Conquest main event in 9-16th place.  I was disheartened but I had to think about whether I wanted to enter the Android: Netrunner event, which was halfway through the first round.  I had been looking forward to playing in the event, but it had been a long couple days and even though my time at the Top 16 table had been brief, it had left me emotionally drained.  After walking around for 15 minutes to try to let off some steam, I realized that I may never have the opportunity again, so I went and handed in my decklist.  I’m going to talk a little bit about my experiences in the Netrunner main event, but if you want to jump straight to the Conquest Wrap-up event, click here.

Netrunner Main Event

So, with my participation in the Conquest Top 16, I had missed the first round of the Netrunner event and had been awarded an automatic loss.  No problem.  I had no illusions that I would place in the Netrunner event.  In my first game I make a few mistakes but manage to sweep opponent.  In the third round I’m starting to find my rhythm and tally two more wins. Walking to the tournament HQ to hand in slip, I think to myself, “Boy, that Assassin is doing work, I’m glad I didn’t take it out of my deck.”  Suddenly I realize that Assassin is not on the decklist I copied down from the web when I wrote out my list that morning before the Conquest event. I had reversed a few tweaks that I had tried and what I had online no longer matched the deck I had built.  The only delta is that I had an Assassin and an Architect in place of a 2nd Tollbooth and an Archer.  I knew that it was enough of an infraction to be awarded a loss in both matches and I felt terrible about my mistake.  I went to the judges and explained my error.  I knew that I hadn’t cheated, despite the error in the list, so I was happy when the judge was merciful and updated my decklist to match what I was playing.  Of course, that kind of subjective ruling can be problematic in competitive play, but I am grateful for their call. Starting the fourth round, I knew that I was starting to make my way out of the loser’s bracket and would start to be facing better opponents and likely decks I didn’t have a ton of experience playing.  I only won my runner game that round because my opponent didn’t notice that I could no longer bring a clot out on the board after a hail mary Medium seige on R&D.  I was able to top deck the final agenda on the subsequent round.  I won my corp game as well and finished the morning session 6-2.  Going undefeated in the morning session was a great way to push the disappointing results from earlier out of my head, at least for a time. After lunch, I started to face some stiffer competition.  I got swept in round 5 by a talented player from Ottawa.  I think I could have managed a split if I had been a bit more on my game, but I was definitely outclassed in general. In round 6, I faced the Italian national champion and despite a few language related misunderstandings, I felt my two losses were well deserved. In round 7, I got back on the winning side of the ledger.  My second win went to time when it probably shouldn’t have, but I felt like a poor sport asking my opponent to speed up his play or even call a judge over.  Given how often my opponent was checking the clock, it’s hard not to feel like the stall was at least partially intentional, given the game was essentially unwinnable for him at the end.  I’m 8-6 at this point and going into my last round I am hoping to come out with a winning record. In round 8, I lost the first game.  I just couldn’t get my Noise engine going.  My last game was going to be the difference between a winning and losing record. I managed to get the Astro train going and pulled it out to go 9-7 on the day. That’s a better record than I could realistically have hoped for. I should also congratulate Dien Tran for his impressive run to the Top 12 of the Netrunner event.  Dien is one of the top Toronto players and with a nearly 270 player field, making it to day 2 is an impressive feat.  We’re all very proud of Dien for the accomplishment.

Conquest Wrap-up

The stress of the main event was over and now I could just play for fun.  That meant no more Kith.  It was time to pull out my Coteaz deck. My first game was against the Australian Netrunner national champion and even though Conquest was not his primary game, he was still good enough to beat me.  My second game was against the German Conquest nationals runner-up and despite having a couple tricks up my sleeve, I went down in defeat again. I managed to bounce back in my next game with some brutal [whc mode=“short”]Preemptive Barrage[/whc] shenanigans to bloody my opponent’s warlord and push through to a definitive victory. My next match was against Eric Taylor from the Conqast podcast.  Despite getting all of the Coteaz combo pieces out, it still came down to a crazy battle at the last planet that was won when I used [whc mode=“short”]Staging Ground[/whc] to bring in a [whc mode=“short”]Void Pirate[/whc] with my last resource and used [whc mode=“short”]Catachan Outpost[/whc] to buff it up for the killing blow.  I’m grateful to Eric for his patience in letting me work my way through the final combat math - and reminding me that when Coteaz got bloodied, I hadn’t lost the game yet. I managed to win my last game pretty handily and was able to turn my day around to finish 3-2. With my two initial losses, my strength of schedule was not great and I finished 17/38.  There were surprise prizes for the top 16, so I ended up on the bubble.  Thankfully for me, a couple of the players in the top 16 had already left, so Brad was kind enough to give me one of the alt art [whc mode=“short”]Possessed[/whc] that were being handed out as prizes. I went back to the hotel to collect my other games, but some of the remaining players wanted to do another Netrunner draft.  The early sets were heavily discounted at the Event Center and FFG was still providing prize support.  We were able to get our prize support to go and enjoyed watching the Netrunner finals in the hotel boardroom before getting down to a draft.  I’ve shouted out the Conquest community already, but I have to give props to the Netrunner crew that went down.  I won’t name all dozen players that went down from Toronto, but I had a great time hanging with all of them.  With more than half of our group finishing in the top 100 or so in the main event, I think we had a solid showing. And that’s it for my World’s 2015 experience.  Thanks for reading. While Travis is back from the Fantasy Flight Games World Championships in Minnesota, where he played in the Star Wars: Armada, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest and Android: Netunner events, he still wants to share his last few updates here on The Tactical Squad blog.

When last we left our hero, he was headed to bed the night before the Warhammer 40,000: Conquest World Championship Top 16 Elimination round… My nerves weren’t too bad walking into the Fantasy Flight Games Event Center.  I’d even started to consider the possibility that I could actually win this thing.  But before that could happen, the judges needed to do a deck check for all 16 players remaining in the tournament.  I suddenly became incredibly paranoid that I had written my deck list out incorrectly the day before.  They call one competitor over to discuss an irregularity in the deck - I never did discover what that problem was.  Then another player was pulled aside for a whispered conversation. When he came back to the group, he revealed that he had listed only 48 cards on the written list.  The minimum deck size is 50.  He had just forgotten to list two [whc mode=“short”]Promethium Mine[/whc], but I had heard multiple people reference that those cards were in his deck the day before.  It was an innocent mistake, but we were still waiting for a verdict to be made.  While we were waiting, we admired the tarot sized planet cards that were to be awarded to the Top 8 players and were being set up to be used at the top table for the live stream.  Thumbs up from the judges.  The offending player would be allowed to compete with his full deck. Then it was on to the games themselves.  As the sixth place finisher, I was paired against the 11th seed, Elliot Hedman, an extremely friendly player who preferred Netrunner to Conquest, but was determined to make the best of his opportunity.  It was going to be a Kith vs. Kith mirror match.  I’d split my Kith games the day before and thought I had a decent shot, particularly if my opponent was as inexperienced as he was saying.  As is often the case with the mirror match, a lot would come down to card draw. I started with initiative and had a pretty good opening hand.  None of the key cards, but plenty of units for command and some [whc mode=“short”]Kith’s Khymeramasters[/whc] to try to take the first planet, which was a tri-color.  I was able to secure first planet, though it cost more cards than I would have liked.  My draw didn’t help and I didn’t have much to play in round 2.  I wasn’t going to win very much in command, but I could potentially snipe first planet again and force a quick game.  Or I could shift to the long game, and commit to a planet to win a few cards and rebuild.  I had a lot of resources and a [whc mode=“short”]Klaivex Warleader[/whc] in hand, so I convinced myself that even if my opponent anticipated my move I could still power through.  But I didn’t think through what the situation would look like after he won command and drew up to a mitt full of a cards, backed up by a healthy pile of resources.  I realized that one two-shield card - which was all but certain - could derail my plan so I retreated by warlord and tried to even things up with a [whc mode=“short”]Warpstorm[/whc].  But I knew that my mistake had probably cost me my chance at advancing. Another Warpstorm and another Klaivex in headquarters face did not improve my chances and after opponent deployed an [whc mode=“short”]Archon’s Palace[/whc] and a [whc mode=“short”]Khymera Den[/whc], alongside of a 2-3 new units, I knew my road was over.  I made a last ditch effort to pull out some combat tricks but after a fourth deployment round of the same, I conceded. Elliot was very gracious in victory and obviously excited to be moving on.  I hope that I was able to offer him some sincere congratulations, but I continued to berate myself inside my head as I had been ever since the beginning of the second combat phase.  My first match of every day had been full of errors, but so far I had been lucky enough not to have it result in a loss.  But in Top 16, luck isn’t going to be enough anymore.  Seeing the balance of card draw after the first round, I still probably would have been in tough, but I could have at least made more of a match of it. I didn’t expect to be in the Top 16, but now that I was there, it was a crushing disappointment not to be able to go further.  It would have been one thing to go out in a hard fought game, but in this case I got in my own way.  After about 10 or 15 minutes I was able to quiet some of the screaming voices in my head and go over to congratulate Elliot properly and wish him luck in his next round.  Which left me about 10 minutes to decide whether to late enter the Android: Netrunner event - but that is a story for another time. Congratulations to Varun Khertapal for winning the event and all the 111 competitors that made their way to Minneapolis.  Despite my initial fears, everyone was pretty relaxed - at least externally, and were a pleasure to play again.  It was a pleasure and a privilege to meet and chat with so many great players from around the world.  I haven’t done a great job keeping up with the various names in the scene, but I hope to keep in touch more in the future. I’d like to thank Shane for convincing me to attend the World Championships, splitting a room with me and being my biggest cheerleader in Minnesota.  He had faith in me even when I insisted on downplaying my chances. I’d like to thank John and Victor, two other Toronto players who made the trip and offered plenty of invaluable advice and playtesting in the days leading up to the event.  Both of them had a good showings.  John finished 4th in the Worldeater tournament and Victor lost out on the tokens for top Tyranid player on secondary strength of schedule. I also have to thank the other members of The Tactical Squad.  Jon, Liz, Alex and Mark all provided on-going moral support throughout the event and provided words of encouragement when I was knocked out. And thanks to the entire Toronto Conquest community for maintaining a pretty vibrant scene despite so many competing games.  The Netrunner scene is dominant here, but I was thrilled to show that the Toronto Conquest scene is also one to contend with.  I hope to see you all at league on Thursday. And finally I’d like to thank the Fantasy Flight and Event Center staff for running such a top notch event.  It’s not easy hosting 100s of competitive gamers, but I had a great time and hope to return next year. While my Road to Worlds ends here, I will be writing up one more post about my experiences at the remainder of the World Championship week in Minnesota, including the Conquest Wrap-up event. While Travis is back from the Fantasy Flight Games World Championships in Minnesota, where he played in the Star Wars: Armada, Warhammer 40,000: Conquest and Android: Netunner events, he still wants to share his last few updates here on The Tactical Squad blog.