Format: DCI Sanctioned 200 point Constructed Assault on the Mushroom Cavern map. 12 creature limit.
Number of players: 11
Factions: 4x LG; 3x CG; 2x LE; 2x CE

Eleven players showed up for a DCI sanctioned 200 point constructed tournament on the Mushroom Cavern map at EndGame in Oakland, California on Saturday, December 3rd, 2005.

..and I won!

I could hardly believe it! I've never won a medium-size tournament before. (I won a 5 player sealed Underdark tournament before, but it only went 2 rounds and one of my victories was against a brand new player, so I don't really count that as a significant tournament win.)

Enough happy-dancing. You want details...

Final Standings
1. Guy (4-0) Young Master; 3x Gith Monk; Justice Archon; fodder; 12 activations
2. Tamiz (3-1) Eye of Gruumsh; Tiefling Captain; 3x Orc Champ; fodder; 11 activations
3. Elliot (3-1; aka Xyvs, Feathers) Half-Orc Paladin; 2x Justicator; Loyal Earth Elemental; Mialee; fodder; 10 activations
4. Mike (3-1; aka Derry) 3x Death Slaad; 2x Cursed Spirit; fodder; 11 activations
5. Carl (2-2; aka Venport) Young Master; Couatl; 3x Gith Monk; fodder; 9 activations
6. James (2-2; aka Krush) Ryld; 2x Goliath Bbn; Renegade Warlock; 2x Graycloak; Elf Stalker; fodder; 12 activations
7. Matt (2-2; aka TheCloakedRanger, Aravis) Dark Naga; Helmed Horror; Gauth; 2x Duergar Champ; fodder; 8 activations
8. Louis (2-2; aka LCS) CoDA; Cleric of Yondalla; Slayer of Domiel; Skullclan Hunter; Halfling Wizard; Talenta Halfling; fodder; ?? activations
9. Andy (1-3; aka TheBeastmaster) Greenfang Druid; Dire Bear; Celetial Pegasus; Dire Lion; Griffon; 2x Timber Wolf; 7 activations
10. Jeff (1-3; aka Wayne) Rakshasa; Kobold Sorcerer; Snig the Axe; Efreeti; 2x Duergar Champ; fodder; 12 activations
11. Patrick (1-3; aka KrushJr) Greenfang Druid; 2x Dire Bear; Griffon; fodder; ?? activations

Additional Info
Tournament Report on Maxminis
DCI Tournament Details on www.wizards.com/dci/

My Warband
Young Master (Cmd 3)
3x Githzerai Monk
Justice Archon
Hill Dwarf Warrior
6x Man-at-Arms
(12 activations)

I read a lot of YM+GM warband discussion, and there are obviously a lot of great ideas in those threads. The YM + 3 GMs appears to be a strong core, but I was worried about them being blocked from their juicy targets (or scoring areas) by large enemies in the two choke points on the Mushroom Cavern map. I wanted to include at least one beater with Flight or Burrow so I could get anywhere I needed to. I analyzed a bunch of options: Couatl, Justice Archon, Xorn, Loyal Earth Elemental, Medium Earth Elemental, Justicator, etc. The Loyal Earth Elemental was discarded because I wanted my warband to be able to afford the loss of the Young Master. I couldn't afford to take a Couatl or Justicator and still keep 12 activations without losing at least one Gith Monk. The Xorn and Medium Earth Elementals were compelling, but I eventually chose the Justice Archon for its fearlessness, higher speed, and ability to charge over top of its monk allies (who would inevitably be out in front at the end of round one).

I didn't care about building to handle the metagame; I chose this warband because I wanted to see how well it could do in a tournament. I knew there would be at least one bad matchup in the tournament for me; I asked Derry to play a Death Slaad warband so I could see it in action. I almost always play him in our tournaments, so I figured he'd school me with it first hand. Not only did I *not* get to play him, but none of my matches ended quickly enough for me to go watch him play. Doh!

Match 1
Opponent: Elliot (Xyvs/Feathers) ran a Half-Orc Paladin, 2x Justicator, Loyal Earth Elemental warband with 10 activations.

Elliot won setup init and chose the "better" side (side B) of the Mushroom Cavern map.

During the first round, Elliot's creatures were closer to the bottom choke-point (and the close victory ares). I pulled most of my monks up around to the top choke point, since that would give me more maneuverability. I didn't want to fight near the bottom scoring areas.

I made a mistake positioning my Young Master so that it was more than 6 squares from where my monks would be when attacking his HoP. Doh! I thought it was game over for me; instead of being able to destroy his Half-Orc Paladin (and take the LEE with it) in one round, I knew it would take at least two, which could have been enough time for his Justicators to destroy my Young Master. Fortunately, I caught some luck, and his Justicators missed *twice* with +17 swings against an AC 21 and AC 25 (thanks to cover on one attack) Young Master. IIRC, I extracted the Young Master (hooray for Wholeness of Body and Mobility!) to a safe position. Once the Half-Orc Paladin and Loyal Earth Elemental went down, Elliot no longer had a way to get tile points, so he conceded when he saw that I could feed Man-at-Arms to the Justicators for the next few minutes until time would have run out.

Of note, I took an interesting risk in the first round and ran one of my Gith Monks into the closer scoring area unsupported. This provoked an AoO from his LEE. I did this for four reasons: 1) With all of his large base creatures, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to base his Half-Orc Paladin with all three Gith Monks coming in from the same direction; this gave me a second direction for one of my Monks to approach from. 2) I wanted tile points in round one. 3) I wanted to force Elliot to make a hard choice of keeping his LEE on the scoring area (which was the only creature in position to score tile points for him) or using it to block my monk. 4) I wanted to give myself more attack options in case I ended up needing to swarm something other than his Half-Orc Paladin in round two.

This was a very fun match, and Elliot is always a great sport and strong player. I think both of us made a couple mistakes, but I don't think either of us had a ton of experience playing our warbands, so that was to be expected.

Record: 1-0, thanks to some significant luck!

Match 2
Opponent: Andy (TheBeastmaster) ran a Greenfang Druid, Dire Bear, Celestial Pegasus, Dire Lion, Griffon, 2x Timber Wolf warband, with just 7 activations.

Andy won setup init and chose start area B (the "better" side of the map).

In round one, Andy split his forces with the Dire Bear and Dire Lion near the close victory areas, and the Celestial Pegasus and Griffon near the top choke point. The Dire Bear would score first round tile points for him. The Greenfang Druid held back, sort of half-way between his starting area and his exit squares. I out activated him, so I moved all of my monks up to the top choke point at the end of the round.

In round two, I began tearing into the Celestial Pegasus with stunning attacks; I didn't need to use any Unavoidable Strikes to hit it. It failed a stun save, then I got a crit and it didn't last very long after that. (It only took two Gith Monk full attacks and a Justice Archon attack to destroy it, IIRC.) I blocked the Dire Bear from joining the melee with some Man-at-Arms and a Hill Dwarf Warrior. Andy decided that he didn't want the Griffon and Dire Lion in the positions he had left them in at the end of round one (though I'm not sure why), so he had to spend their activations double moving to other spots. He tried to pull his Timber Wolf out of the melee and into a scoring area, but a Gith Monk stunning attack AoO killed it.

At the end of the round in which the Celestial Pegasus was destroyed (I think round 2), there was an opening to get to the Greenfang Druid, so I ran the Young Master in position, and send one Gith Monk in for an Unavoidable Strike.

In the next round, my Justice Archon moved toward the far scoring area and the Greenfang Druid got based by three monks. One hit later, the Greenfang Druid failed morale and was gone! (Andy rolled a 2.) At that point, his Dire Lion and Dire Bear reverted to their Difficult/Wild statuses, and -- thanks to their rushing requirement -- I got to choose when and where the battle took place. I got to deal with them all 1-on-1, and got to 200 points after a couple more rounds.

This match was fun for me, but probably not quite as fun for Andy. He was a great sport, though, as we played it out. I'm think this was his first tournament. Andy, if you're reading this, I'd suggest not using the Dire Lion in the future; you will get better effectiveness out of a second Celestial Pegasus instead. I'm not convinced the Griffon is really worth it, either, but I've never actually used one.

Record: 2-0, thanks to a big activation advantage.

Match 3
Opponent: Carl (Venport) played a Young Master, Couatl, 3x Githzerai Monk, warband with 9 activations.

Yikes! Mirror matches are tough for YM + GM warbands. They can come down to the init winner on the second round. To make matters worse for me, he had two commanders, which gives him a slight advantage on paper.

Carl won setup init and chose start area B (the "better" side of the map). Is there an echo in here?

I won init on round 1, so I got to move my four monks after Carl finished moving all of his creatures. He used legion's undeniable gravity to eliminate my Justice Archon's flight. He then congregated near the wall that splits the middle of the map. I parked my four monks in a mutually defensive position just above that wall, where I had been parking them in the previous two games. Both of our Young Masters were within 6 squares of squares adjacent to each others' Young Masters. Neither of us got tile points.

He left his Young Master somewhat exposed, so the next initiative would be huge. If I won init, I could get a guaranteed first-phase kill on his Young Master without provoking any AoOs myself. If he won init, he'd either be able to get a guaranteed first-phase kill on one of my Gith Monks without provoking any AoOs, or he could provoke AoOs from my Gith Monks to base and kill my Young Master. We rolled init...

Carl won init on the second round and decided to make a more conservative play. He ran a Gith Monk up and Unavoidable Striked one my Gith Monks. It failed the stun save, but made its morale check. Then, instead of finishing it off, he activated a second Gith Monk and used Unavoidable Strike against one of my *other* Gith Monks! This one succeded its stun save and also succeeded on its morale save. (Phew!) I responded by moving my unhurt Gith Monk up and using Unavoidable Strike to hit his Young Master, who succeded on his morale save. Then, I activated my wounded, but unstunned Gith Monk up to his Young Master and used Unavoidable Strike to destroy the Young Master.

With his Young Master gone, Carl's Gith Monk damage output was radically diminished. He used his last Gith Monk to Unavoidable Strike my Young Master, but it only hit for 20 damage.

I parked my Justice Archon and then a Man-at-Arms on a scoring area, and Carl wasn't able to get on one himself.

I spent the next couple rounds trying my best to ignore Carl's Gith Monks, destroy his Couatl, and keep my Young Master safe. I double moved my Young Master to a safe spot, and threw stuff at the Couatl. I forced a morale save on the Couatl in a position where he would have routed off, but the Couatl succeeded on its morale save. The Young Master used Wholeness of Body to make himself pretty tough to kill. We formed a big scrum just on my side of the wall, near the spike stones, but nobody could seem to hit anybody else important. Time was called, and Carl was able to destroy one of my Gith Monks as we finished the round, but I couldn't destroy his Couatl. In the end, I had 77 victory points (Young Master, Man-at-Arms, and three rounds of assault points) to his 34 (Gith Monk).

This was a really close match; there were several successful morale saves, failed attack rolls, and successful stun saves that -- if they had gone differently -- could have changed the result of the match dramatically.

This was Carl's first sanctioned tournament; he has all the right skills, and I'm sure he'll do well in his future events.

Result: 3-0, thanks to a couple Unavoidable Strikes against a Young Master.

Match 4
Opponent: Tamiz played an Eye of Gruumsh, Tiefling Captain, 3x Orc Champion, 4x Orc Warrior, 2x Warrior Skeleton warband. (11 activations).

Tamiz won setup init and chose start area B (the "better" side of the map). If I had won terrain init, I probably would have chosen start area A, anyway; from the first three matches, I was pretty familiar with where I should and shouldn't go when starting from side A, so I was pleased that Tamiz chose B.

Tamiz won initiative in the first round, and had me go first. We both started pushing our fodder toward the close scoring areas. With just 11 activations, Tamiz would have to move one Orc Champion before I moved any of my monks; he put this Orc Champ near the close scoring area. This was fantastic for me, since it meant one of his beaters wouldn't be near the melee in the second round. As usual, I moved my monks into a mutually-supported position just above the wall that divided the battle grid, opposite the close scoring area. I had already moved the Justice Archon so that it was within 6 squares of movement from that area. I positioned the Gith Monks so that he could choose to base them with his remaining two Orc Champs if he wanted, but not with the Eye of Gruumsh. This was probably a mistake; I had the movement advantage, so I could have held back a bit. Oh well. Anyway, he brought two Orc Champs up to be in contact with my three Gith Monks. The Eye of Gruumsh was in a support position just behind them. Neither of us got assault points.

Tamiz won initiative for round 2. Two activations later, one of my Gith Monks was destroyed. Thankfully, the cleave failed. My two remaining Gith Monks attacked. They reduced one Orc Champ to 40 hit points, stunning it, but its morale save succeeded. They put a bit of damage on another Orc Champ. Tamiz moved the out-of-position Orc Champ in for an attack, which missed. My Justice Archon flew in and put 25 damage on an Orc Champ. The Tiefling moved into position so the Orc Champs could benefit from his commander effect. The fodder war didn't go well for me; by the end of the second round, I had lost three Man-at-Arms and Tamiz lost just a single Orc Warrior! My high ACs should have been an advantage in to fodder war, but Tamiz's Warrior Skeletons and Orc Warriors were rolling well. Tamiz got assault points and I did not.

I won initiative in round three. The Justice Archon put 25 damage on the Eye and 25 on an Orc Champ, reducing it to 30 and forcing a morale save, which succeded. A Gith Monk hit the same Orc Champ for 10, leaving it with 20 hp left. Then I made a big mistake. I forgot to declare either an unavoidable strike or a stunning attack on the second attack, and only hit the Orc Champ for 10 damage, leaving it with 10 hp left instead of destroying it! This meant I had to deal with two more Orc Champ swings than I should have had to face. Yikes! Fate cut me some slack, however. Two orcs activated, but only one of their four attacks hit. Another Gith Monk finally destroyed the heavily wounded Orc Champ and put damage on another one. An Orc Champ destroyed my second Gith Monk, thankfully missing the cleave attack. The fodder war went well for me this round; my fodder destroyed two Orc Warriors and a Warrior Skeleton without taking a casualty. I charged the Eye with a Man-at-Arms. Tamiz no longer had fodder on his scoring area. The Tiefling moved up to hit the Justice Archon, but missed. My Young Master moved to attack the Tiefling, and stunned it! This was huge for me because it gave me a 60% chance to win init next round. Neither of us got assault points.

As expected, I won initiative for round four. My last Gith Monk routed off an Orc Champ and then put another 10 damage on the Tiefling routing it (though it was still stunned). The Justice Archon put more damage on an Orc Champ and the Eye. Tamiz tried to kill the Justice Archon (10 hp left) with a Warrior Skeleton, critted it, but DR reduced the damage to just 5. The Eye responded by destroying the Justice Archon. I moved fodder onto the scoring area. The Young Master destroyed the Tiefling. I scored assault points, but Tamiz did not.

I won initiative in round five. My Young Master and Gith Monk put the last 10 damage on an Orc Champ, destroying it, and then 20 damage on the Eye, which pushed me over 200 victory points and the win!

This was a very close match. Any initiative roll that had gone the other way would probably have changed the game dramatically. Tamiz has only played a few times in the last 6-8 months; if he was at the top of his game, I'm not sure I could have beat him. Then again, no amount of skill can beat the timely luck I had.

Result: 4-0, thanks to some timely luck after making a mistake.

Additional Thoughts

Mushroom Cavern Map: I played the "worse" side of the Mushroom Cavern Map in all four skirmishes. It wasn't bad at all. I think this should ease some fears of those people who worry how much the maps will slant the results. Matchups, skill, and luck were all more significant than the side of the map I was on.

Young Master + Gith Monk Mirror Match: The mirror match between two Young Master + Gith Monk warbands is really hard. One of the Young Masters will be destroyed, and the winner will probably be the player who keeps their Young Master alive.

Monk Support: Man-at-Arms are crummy support for fast monks. They're just too slow to support the monks. Had I not needed 12 activations, I would have brought much faster support. Had there not beed a very close scoring area on the Mushroom Cavern map, they probably would have been completely useless outside of activation control.