DDM Richmond KY Constructed Qualifier

Here's a tournament report from the first Qualifier I went to for DDM. The original link can be found here:

http://www.maxminis.com/Forums/tabid/104/aff/66/aft/445377/afv/topic/Default.aspx

Well, first off I'd like to say that this tournament was a great time. It was well ran and from what I could see there weren't any major things that happened. Since March I started playtesting with warbands for the qualifier and had wanted to play a Quad Horror. I playtested with it against everything in lots of matches over the last 2 and a half months and felt good about everything except it's matchup against Marut/Couatl. Then lo and behold that they became popular to play. HH have a hard time with that build. It's not an impossible matchup by any means, but it is a hard one to win and one that you need luck on your side to pull off. So this last Tuesday I decided to try taking out 1 HH and replacing it with a Rakshasa. I added in the Dark Moon Monk for MW and then at least stood a chance against Marut/Couatl. My final band was:

Rakshasa
HH x 3
Dark Moon Monk
Kobold Miners x 3
on Drow Outpost

I played it alot on Vassal over the last several days to get used to placement and get used to playing it in general. Going into this morning I wasn't 100% sure of it, but I did know the band quite well and knew switching the day of was never a good idea so I stuck with the Rasta Horror band.

My first matchup was against George Estill. George was playing a Triple HH build with a Flameskull, Dark Moon Monk, Large Duergar, Azer Raider, and Timber wolf. Can't remember who won map but we played on mine. During playtesting I kept getting put on Side A which alot of people don't like. I personally have learned to play and have my positions figured out from that spot so it's the one I usually go to if I've got a choice. Before we started George mentioned that with mirror matches like these, it comes down to the dice. He was right. I didn't roll well, but I rolled better than George. He didn't make alot of errors as far as strategy, but the 6 1's he rolled really hurt him. He managed to get 1 HH, the Flameskull, and the Large Deurgar all on my Rakshasa and the Rak managed to survive for at least 3-4 rounds after that because he kept missing attacks. I managed to kill 1 of his HH and then from there it was just that I hit most of my attacks while George missed alot of his. This would be George's only loss of the day. So after round 1, I was 1-0.

Second round I played a Dual War Troll band with Urthok, 2 Timber Wolves, and a Dark Moon Monk. Ended up on his map, Dragon Shrine. I was lucky enough in this match to crit him 3 times with my HH and once with my DMM. He also failed 3 of the 4 Slapping Hands. He killed 1 HH on the 2nd round of engagement but right after that I managed to kill one of his War Trolls. The remaining War Troll wasn't able to do enough damange to the remaining HHs before they killed him. Not alot of errors on his part, just some bad die rolls. So after round 2, I was 2-0.

Third round, I got paired against James Prather who has been a good player in our state for a long time. He was ranked #1 in KY for awhile and I was looking forward to getting a chance to play him. He was playing a CE Quad with 2 Ogre Ravs, 2 Orc Champs, a Tiefling, OWD, and 1 or 2 Orc Warriors. In this matchup I knew that if I was going to win, he had to miss me with some attacks. Well he hit me, alot. The HH just weren't able to keep up with his damage output. Add that into him winning some big inits and that was pretty much game for him. So after round 3 I was 2-1.

Fourth round came and I got paired with another local, Ken McCuthen, who was playing a Dark Flames band with Dark Naga, 3 Duergar Champs, a Gauth, Snig and Sniglets. I was careful how I engaged him and waited til he put 1 Champ out there as bait. When he did I put all my HH on it and then got off a Slapping hands. He brought up the rest of his champs and the Gauth as well as the Naga. The dice went my way after that as he missed some attacks on me and also missed 2 morale checks on the Champs. So after the 4th round I was 3-1.

Fifth round came and after seeing who all was 3-1 I hoped for 1 matchup that I thought was my best chance. I got paired up with them. Steve Johnson (Myth Master Jr.) was playing an Orog, 1 HH, 2 Chraals, 2 Orc Savages, and 4 Goblin Skirmishers. We played on his map, Fane of Lolth. My game plan was to go after the Orog, but to Steve's credit he did an excellent job of just keeping him out of reach for me. I killed 1 Chraal quickly and then ganged up on the HH. Once we engaged, Steve did not win a single init. After I got rid of the HH, I was left with 1 wounded HH and the Rakshasa. Steve was left with a full Chraal and his Orog at 50. I hit the Orog and it runs. Next round I chase it down and he saves it. I win the next init and charge into flanking with the Rak and hit. Two attacks with the HH while the Orog is at 25. I hit the first attack, and CRIT on the second to kill the Orog. Anything but a crit and he probably would have killed the HH on his next activation. But after the crit the Orog and Chraal go and I won the game at that point. Steve played a good game and just got some bad die rolls. So after round 5 I was 4-1.

At this point my tiebreakers are pretty strong. Pairings come out and I get paired with the only undefeated player, Jim McKinney, who's playing his CG Variety Pack of Green Fang Druid, Rikka, FB, 2 Greycloaks with 2 wolves, Wand Expert, and an Elf Warrior. We played on my map, the Outpost. I made 1 mistake against Jim and that was that I hesitated to engage until I could get a good placement and get off a full round of attacks and a Bigbys. That round probably hurt in my opinion just because I took some damge from the Wand Expert and the Graycloaks. I engage him and manage to roll a few crits to get rid of the Greenfang very quickly. I go over and get some hits on the FB while she hits back. One of my HH dies at this point due to the FB and the Expert. I get rid of the Frenzy and attack the Expert. It needs a 14 to make morale and he rolls a 15. I move over the Rakshasa and casts my last Bigby's on it and he rolls a 19 on the save. After that he was able to finish off that last HH and between that and tile points Jim got it. So I finished 4-2 overall.

Now at this point I knew I had strong tiebreakers and just hoped they were better than Johnny Quests were. The wait seemed forever and when it came out, I placed 5th behind Quest by an opponent win % of 5.5%. Very very close. I'll admit that to come that close to qualifying and lose by 5.5% does sting a bit. But on the other hand I played very well throughout the day and walk away very proud to have placed as high as I did in a solid field of players. So, at this point I've got possibly GA if I can talk a group of guys into going and if not then it's always onto the Grinder.On another note, I'd like to proudly proclaim that HH are NOT dead as previousely rumored. ;)