So, that battle you heard about, the one that took place yesterday... Yes. That was me and LuckiestLuke, taking the arena by storm.
The book I chose was a Malakai Priest whose primary idea is to summon a Bridge Troll and use the Crown of Protection to turn that Bridge troll into a WAR TROLL.
As side-options he packs a whole bunch of Attackspells, a forge and some equip, as well as four temples (HoB, Malakai's, Meravan's and a Lasertower). His creatures are Samandriel, Metatron, Troll, Ehren, two Redhelms and three Initiates of the Dawnbreaker, just because I love those little guys. No Cassiel.
So Luke opened with a Flower and Mhegedden, into another Flower and Gerard Madranger.
I opened with Ehren and a Forge, into Troll, Crown and a stack of armor on the troll.
At that point, both of us got terrified of the other's lategame. I imagined him swimming in gold and mana by the time my army got anywhere near ready to deploy and from what I've gathered, he thought that by the time his buildup reached its break-even-point, my troll would reach the break?-never!-point.
Both of us quickly moved into our respective center tile, at which point he had added a Panzerguard to his Army and placed a forge, while I'd equipped a healing ring and a regrowth belt to myself, as well as a Life Link to Ehren (which synergizes nicely with the healing ring.)
He boldly placed a ballista, moving the Panzerguard in there to panzerguard it, thus forcing me to either endure his range attacks or move into the tile with him.
I chose the latter option, even though he outnumbered me 4 to 3, at that point. I somewhat regretted the decision after he revealed a banner of command on the damnable dwarf.
Alas, most of the match played in that zone. We were in range of both Forges, with his ballista unable to shoot anything but my forge. Participants in the battle at this time were Orc, Gerard, Panzerguard and Mhegedden on one side, against a 3-armor-Troll and a Lifelinked Ehren.
My first focus was to kill Gerard. I achieved that by having someone attack the Panzerguard to get rid of the guarding, then blasting the pirate luminously for 7 dice and a burn. Luke equipped a healing wand and tried to keep him alive, while also trying to kill one of my creatures. The troll was the first to get 5 damage due to some guarding, so he focused that one.
We agreed after the game that his focus on the troll with "free" regen, instead of Ehren, whose damage at least would get transferred to the mage, was one of the deciding factors of this match.
To make this long story a wee bit shorter:
I killed Gerard. Just before he died, Luke used his gold to get a Knight of Westlock out, much to my annoyance. I managed to get three burns onto Mhegedden, all of which stayed until his fiery demise. Mhegedden drew at least one heal action from the healing wand, as well as two lesser heals. All hail Malakai.
Luke equipped an elemental wand with a surging wave, because that's actually a very smart thing to do and he's a smart guy. He never did roll a push though, so that's kinda bad luck for him. He almost got the troll, because I felt save and didn't heal it or put a restore on. A swift Dazzle for a stagger and a horrible roll on his part with a thrown rock for 4 blanks saved the troll and sealed the deal.
His Mhegedden had burned, my troll had been healed to full. My Ehren was at 0 damage, his Panzerguard and the KoW about to die. At this point, he switched over to focusing my 14-ish damage mage who only had one armor (and aegis), while I still hadn't bothered attacking his mage.
Attacking mages isn't my style. I'm a conqueror, not an assassin. I also like control more than chance.
His efforts were commendable, but they just ran onto a wall of healing, undoing every bit of progress he made. That pretty much sums up the match and my book. With the troll on 3 reg and Ehren on up to 4 heal per turn, I undo my enemy's progress.
Having spent his attack spells and being informed that my heal spells were still in good supply, Luke surrendered the match. I was at 17 dmg and him at single-digit, but the game was clearly in my favor, seeing as both my creatures had endured through that whole match, while he stood alone, his army vanquished by the justice of Malakai's light.
Noteworthy:
That was my first match with this book. At multiple points during the game, I'd wanted to summon a Redhelm Avenger, but never quite got around to do it. It's an 11 mana investment costing me a full action (and probably my QC too, with those mana costs)
The match, for me, was basic as hell. I didn't do much more than spam attack spells, attacks/guards and heal a lot. Both books were, of course, geared around battle, so neither of us tried to evade it. I could have chosen to draw him out, spread his forces while I destroy his forge and flowers. His ballista, after all, wouldn't prove much of an annoyance against the massive sustain I had in my squad. We both somehow silently agreed to a brawl though.
I am somewhat surprised to see that I came out on top. He outnumbered me through most of the battle. As for the guarding-game, he had an interceptor as well as an elusive hard-hitting demon monster. All I had was two tanky bois and a mage that served as artillery-support.
Healing ring and life link is fun and with Ehren you never feel like you "waste" the healing spell on someone who never had much damage.
Burns can actually kill. Mhegedden took at least 12 damage from burns alone, forcing his mage to spend more and more actions/mana on healing.
This is where the matchup was glaringly in his favor. He had forge, two flowers, discount cape and a forge, while I had nothing but my forge (which, in turn, eats even more mana). One of the reasons why I'm willing to go for this build and also a main reason why it worked in this match is Dazzle. That little wonder of a spell. I got four of them in my book and I think I spent them all.
I actually never use Blind on time. I'm always like "well, I'll kill the creature anyway..."
I'll have to say though, it's a whole mixed bag that spell. You don't get to use it for the next attack of the creature, since it only activates after successfully dealt damage. Most of the time I'd preferred to try for a Stagger or a daze for immediate protection instead of using blind for a lasting impact.
The other issue is who to use it on. The panzerguard was sure to get its attacks out because I had to get around the guard and wasn't willing to use attackspells to do that. Mhegedden dealt the most damage but I was hellbent on killing him anyway. The mage also serves as a nice target, but he's worse than creatures because he can just go like "lol, ok, I use other spells then. You do you, buddy."
In the end, I only threatened to use it after I'd killed all his creatures, to deny him the mage kill. I actually just healed instead, because I wanted to use the healing ring more.
I really want to use that card, but I never quite think the situation warrants it...
Anywhoo.
GG. WP.
Enjoyable match, and bloody till the last minute.
