Crucible Orlando 2017 Recap - 2k Event

[Criti]

Good morning all,

Crucible 6 just wrapped this weekend in "Orlando", and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on the event itself.

The event itself took place at the Park Inn Radisson in Kissimmee, Florida - basically hugging Disney World.  Certainly not of the capacity as Adepticon, being only 200-300 people, Crucible was still a fun filled weekend of gaming.  Only about 20 people played AoS each day - with the Friday night being a narrative game that I was unable to attend, the Saturday being a 4 round 2k GT, and the Sunday being a 2k Team Event.

A quick rundown of the games at the event (and this is all from memory, so I apologize if I get anything from the lists wrong).

All Command Traits and Artifacts were randomized per the event rules, so I won't bother even mentioning them for the most part.

I attended the Saturday event playing Stormcast with the following 2k list:

Knight Venator

Lord Castellant

Lord Relictor

10 Liberators w/2 Grandhammers

5 Judicators w/bows and a Shockbolt bow

5 Judicators w/bows and a Shockbolt bow

4x3 Prosecutors w/javelins and a Trident

10 Retributors w/4 maces

5 Protectors w/2 maces

Vanguard Wing

Hammerstrike Force

GAME 1 vs Chaos - 3 Places of Power

My opponent, a righteous dude by the name of Tyler, ran a pure Skaven list, made up of 40 Plague Monks, 20ish Plague Monks, a Plague Furnace, a Corrupter, 10 Stormvermin, a Warlord, a Banner Hero, 3x10 Clanrats, an Abomination, a Doomwheel, a Doomflayer, a couple Warp Fire Throwers, and a Poisoned Wind Mortar.

Most of the Skaven deployed along the center and my left, leaving only the 3 units of 10 Clanrats along the right objective (my perspective).  I deployed both units of Judicators, the Liberators, 2 units of Prosecutors from the Vanguard Wing, the Castellant and the Venator in my middle.  The Paladins, Relictor, and 2 units of Prosecutors held back in the Heavens.

Turn 1:

I gave the Skaven player 1st turn.  He advanced  somewhat cautiously across the field, with the exception of the Doomwheel on my far left, which went insane and allowed me to push it backward instead.  His Wind Mortar tried to overcharge range, rolled a 1, and suffered 2 mortal wounds.

On my side of the turn, the Castellant shielded the Liberators and the Vanguard Wing Prosecutors showed up and dropped 9" away from the Corrupter.  The Liberators zapped over, as close as they could to the Corruptor.  The Relictor also showed up, and I dropped him on the rightmost objective.  The Judicators, remaining Prosecutors, and Venator just jockeyed for position.

The Venator let fly his Star Fated Arrow at the Corrupter... and missed.  This became the unfortunate truth of the weekend.  Over 7 games, I rolled 7 1s to hit with the Star Fated Arrow.  The bird did not damage the Corrupter either.  The Prosecutors and Judicators, however, managed to know the unit of 40 Plague Monks to 15 after battleshock, and took 2 models off the Stormvermin.

The Liberators charged into the Corrupter, bringing the Banner Hero and Stormvermin into combat range.  One vicious combat later, and I had lost 1 Liberator, while the Corrupter was now at 1 wound.

Turn 2:

 Tyler stole priority from me and just pounded forward.  His Abomination slammed into one unit of Judicators while his diminished Plague Monks slammed into the other.  The Warpfire Throwers BOTH rolled 1s on the overcharge.  One died outright.  One took 2 wounds.  The Warlord joined in against the Liberators, hoping to clear them off the Corrupter before it died.  The Wind Mortar rolled another 1 to overcharge and died.  The smaller unit of Plague Monks continued coming up the left flank.

In combat, both units of Judicators were nearly wiped out, leaving only the Shockbolt Bow wielding Primes.  I did a few wounds to the Abomination.  My Liberators lost another 2 models, but managed to kill the Warlord with Grandhammer attacks.  The Corrupter saved everything the one handed hammer bros threw out.

In my Turn 2, the Hammerstrike arrived.  The Prosecutors dropped behind the Plague Furnace and deployed my backup.  The Retributors charged into the Monks and the Furnace.  The Protectors went wide left, charging the Doomwheel.  The Shockbolts and the Venator were about done with the Doomwheel, and dropped it with some amazing shooting rolls.  In combat, the Corrupter, all but 2 Stormvermin, the rest of the big unit of Monks, the Doomwheel, and the Plague Furnace were all dispatched with little fanfare.

Turn 3 was merely a formality at this point.  After I won priority and killed the Banner Hero, we basically called it.  He had no Heroes left to score, and I had points.

Major victory to me.

GAME 2 vs Stormcast in Gift from the Heavens

A mirror match against a Stormcast list consisting of a Lord on Dracoth, a Lord on foot, a Relictor, a Castellant, 2 units of Judicators, 5 Liberators, 2 units of 10 Protectors and 6 Prosecutors in a Hammerstrike Force.

There really isn't much to say about this game.  We predicted that whoever dropped their Hammerstrike first would lose, and we were right.  His Hammerstrike came in on top of 1, and wiped my Liberators.  Mine came in on bottom of 1 and I wiped his Prosecutors and 1 unit of Protectors.  I won priority, and his Hammerstrike was a distant memory.

My objective dropped on my far right.  The closest of his units was 30" away.  His dropped on my far left... I was able to throw some Prosecutors units in the way to contest for a turn.

Major to me.

GAME 3 vs Sylvaneth in Blood and Glory

This was the most boring and least enjoyable of the weekend.  Opponent fielded 12 Kurnouth Hunters with Bows, a Hurricanum, a Treeman Ancient, a Branchwytch, 30 Dryads, and some batallion action.  He hugged his back table edge and made a long Dryad line in front to block my drops.  I sat at my back edge to steer clear of his shooting.  We sat there all game, getting the occasional little shot at one another.  My Hammerstrike didn't show up until Turn 5.  I kept one unit of the Vanguard Prosecutors in the Heavens.  They never showed up at all.  When the Hammerstrike did arrive, I did manage to conga line a teleport up a table edge and assasinate the Treeman.

The game ended in his favor on victory points - 400 to 480.

This was the only opponent whose sportsmanship I dinged over the weekend.  His movements were EXTREMELY sloppy.  His 1" gaps between models were EXTREMELY generous, to the point of being almost 2" most of the time.  He'd move a unit, then more 2 more, then go back and try and run the first unit he already moved...and tried to argue that the rules allowed that kind of movement.  He tried to convince me that his Hurricanum could throw a Comet of Cassandora at unlimited range (nice try, buddy... I have a Hurricanum in my Team List... and I just happen to have a printed copy of the warscroll).  He was pulling LoS to EVERYWHERE, despite there being 9 forest bases on the board (he even tried to argue that the trees... had they been there - that's right, he only brought the bases - were each only as thick as a pencil and wouldn't block LoS).  And somehow, his Dryads were sitting on a 2+ re-rollable save that he did not explain the origin of very clearly.

Had the Hammerstrike landed a turn earlier, I have no doubt that I would have won.  Had the Vanguard Prosecutors hit the table at all, even assuming I did nothing with them (even though on Turn 5, I did have a path for Libs to get to the Branchwych), the game would have been a draw because I wouldn't have lost another 80 points.

I don't think any outcome - win, loss, or draw - would have been exciting here.  It was a dull game, against a dull army, against a bad opponent.

GAME 4 vs Chaos - Take and Hold

This is not even worth getting into.  We both played the scenario wrong, forgetting that all enemies had to be cleared to claim and objective.  It was late, we had both been drinking, and we were still in Blood and Glory mentality.  Basically, we swapped objectives, the game ended on time, and he had about 60 more VPs than I did.  This was Turn 3

If we had time for one more turn, I would have pulled ahead in Turn 4.  But he probably would have pulled back ahead in Turn 5.

We had a lot of fun, but it was just a dice fest.

At the end of the day, I walked away with the "Craftsman" trophy (Best Painted).

The next day, I would attend and take 1st place in the Team Event... but that's a story for another time.