Round 10 (Finals): vs. Mike Brezsnyak (brez)
Ryld Argith, Red Samurai x 2, Abyssal Maw, Orc Warrior x 7

It feels pretty surreal to be in the position where if you win one more game, you're the national champion for a year. And it's somewhat disorienting to be the only one left playing, after a day and a half of being surrounded by the sights and sounds of other players going about their games to your right and left. Instead of fellow players all around, there are a lot of spectators gathering around the table, standing on all sides. If I told you I wasn't a little nervous when I sat down to play, I'd be a liar.

Before moving on to the game itself, I have to say a word or two of praise for Mike. It was an honor to play with someone whose great skill and knowledge of the game is matched with incredible sportsmanship and courtesy. The final game was a perfect example of DDM at its finest, and it was my most memorable game ever. So I want to say a very public thank-you to Mike for a well-played, tense, and fun game.

Mike's band differs in two important ways from the CE bands I'd faced the day before. A second Red Samurai breath weapon means I won't enjoy as much of an activation advantage throughout the match, and my Chraals might take quite a bit of damage too. But strangely, what ended up throwing off my calculations even more than the second Samurai, was the initiative bonus of Ryld. I ended up not winning a single initiative this entire game. Over the past nine games, I had been using my hefty initiative bonus as a crutch, and here it was being kicked out from under me.1

I was relieved when Mike won the setup initiative, and passed it to me. I set up in Cocoon Corner and played the first round pretty much by the book. Mike used very good positioning too, putting all his hitters in range of my center Chraal, but far enough back so that if I wanted a decent breath weapon, I'd have to come out of my defensive posture.

If I recall correctly, round two began with three breath weapons in the first four activations. Mike used both Samurai to breathe on two Chrall and four skeletons. I made all the saves, which was incredibly lucky. In response, I attacked with the Chraal that was based by the Samurai, scoring two hits, and then breathed on the same Samurai and an Orc Warrior with a second Chraal. (continued)

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This game was all about blocking access to tile points, and killing fodder.
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This is the opening setup of the final game. Mike won init, but let me choose. Yay!
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End of round one. Nothing too unusual about my deployment, nor Mike's.
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Mike's nearer Samurai breathes, killing two skeletons and hurting the Chraal.
The Chraal attacks twice, hitting the Samurai both times. (click to enlarge)

Then, the blue-dotted Chraal moves up and breathes, and the Samurai fails morale.
It routs to a spot two squares from the edge of the board. (click to enlarge)
Instead, I move my Green Dragon into the small, four-square victory area at the bottom of the board, immediately moving a Chrall nearby as well, to block Robert’s Chraals from attacking the dragon. Robert knows what I’m up to, and uses a Chraal to attack one of the skeletons I have blocking the cocoon area. But he misses the first attack, meaning he cannot move through this round to obstruct my own access to the cocoon victory area. This ends up being critically important, and although the second attack kills my skeleton, it’s cold comfort to Robert. When he passes the turn back to me, I immediately move a Chraal fully onto the cocoon area, meaning that no large-sized creature can score points there, and any medium-sized creature must incur an AOO to do so.

I have a big advantage at this point, but I also have two Chraals way out of defensive position. With one guarding the dragon and another well out of command camping the cocoons, I’m left with a single Chraal and a bunch of skeletons to keep his Chraals off of my Blackguard. Time is running out, but I assume that now Robert will go all-out for the Blackguard, and if I screw up the placement of a skeleton, he might get through.

I try to position my skeletons so that Robert cannot kill two with one Chraal activation, and also cannot kill one and move through to the Blackguard. I’m feeling the pressure to move fast, so as to not be stalling the game, and I’m terribly worried that in moving fast I will make a mistake. Luckily I don’t, and when time is called, Robert is too far behind in points to make up the difference. 8-1

Tournament Report — 2005 D&D Miniatures Championship
Footnotes
1 I don't want to give the impression that I had been playing nine rounds counting on winning every initiative. It's just that having the advantage on initiative rolls provides a little cushion, a slight competitive edge, a little wiggle room for small mistakes or overly aggressive moves. I had been practicing for weeks prior to nationals against lower commander ratings; perhaps surprisingly, I hadn't practiced against any Ryld bands. It felt odd to be on the other side of the fence, being the player with the net -2 on initiative instead of a net +2 or better. I think that subconciously, losing this little edge contributed to my decision to open up the path for the Orc Champion to get through. On some level, I was thinking it would be okay because I had an initiative advantage, forgetting that I didn't. Putting it in print, it sounds like a really dumb way to think. (back to text)