I stepped out of the parking garage, into the surprisingly cool DC weather. To my left a driver confidently careened the wrong way into “Exit-Only” part of the hotel drop off zone. It was time for another NOVA Open to begin.
This time the event had moved to a new location, that was fortuitously closer to my brother’s apartment than the year before. I got it the night prior but got an early start on Wednesday to secure a parking spot. This year I was “sans dog” but “avec rabbits” as I would be caring for my brother and his wife’s rabbits (Brownie and Q-Tip). Arriving at 7 AM I found a parking spot quickly, and went inside to grab breakfast. The hotel had a variety of food options including a mini mart with coffee, a full restaurant, and a NOVA Open kiosk (I have listed them from least to most exorbitant in cost). The good news is that while $10 for a parfait was highway robbery, it would last me through lunch if I wished.
I got in line for registration which seemed to move a bit more slowly this year. It didn’t seem as organized, but I was earlier than last year, and it was a new location. I did hear that the hotel was having key-card issues forcing everyone to require hotel staff to let them into their room if they wanted to grab anything.
My first event was the Age of Sigmar doubles, which didn’t prove too difficult to find. The room was a large, shared, space with a few other events. The terrain at the event was spartan and quite basic, although I hear that is normal for AoS. My partner eventually made it down and I got out our display board but forgot to take any pictures : /
The event itself was based on a variety of points, roughly half would come from painting scores, then a bit from Battle Tactics scored and sportsmanship etc. We didn’t read the packet correctly and thought we could use faction-specific Grand Strategies and tactics, but this was not the case.
Round 1 – Opponents: Pastrami Reuben – Seraphon and Sylvaneth
Our first battle was a little chaotic as neither myself nor my partner had been able to practice at all. We picked it up quickly, but struggled with scoring any Battle Tactics (probably should have prepared for that one)! Our opponent’s list was built around having a casting bunker near a Realmshaper engine and nuking any unit near terrain with Comet’s Call. This was supported by a brick of angry trees that were difficult to kill and could teleport around as needed. We went second and played pretty cagily. There were few early casualties. But we were holding our own. Both teams were playing cagily and we did benefit from an amazing set of casting rolls in turn one to down a block of dryads (which were all -1 to hit, and usually -1 to wound).
The Beastmen dropped in turn two and were aggressively chewing through the Seraphon as I tied up the Sylvaneth. The Bastiladon was killed by mortal wounds on the charge, after taking additional wounds due to a miscast or something like that earlier. One of the key moments of the game came when we managed to get the Ghorgon and Minotaur lord into combat with the Slaan, Astolith Bearer and Starseer. The Ghorgon pasted the bearer, but wasn’t able to kill the seer due to some terrible rolls. Our opponents then activated the seer and blocked the Minotaur Lord from reaching the Slaan before it could activate. In the next rounds they screened the lord with the Quicksilver Swords endless spell to block the Minotaur’s charge. This allowed them to finish off the remaining Beastmen units while mine were either holding objectives, or were trying to kill enemy battleline (our grand strategy).
Result: Loss 24-13.
While the game was a bit of a bummer, but, had we killed the enemy Slaan we probably would have pulled out a win, as our opponents would not have been able to hold objectives and deal with our remaining units.
Game 2: Cog and Bone – Cities of Sigmar and Stormcast Eternals
In our next game, we faced a beautiful Cities of Sigmar and Stormcast Eternal army. These players were the only ones that weren’t aware of the fact that not accepting Depravity Dice was key to hobbling my army. They won the roll off for first turn and went second. We simply stayed put while being safely out of range of their missile units. As is tradition, the Steam tank missed its shot on the first turn. On our second turn we pushed forwards on the flanks and the Beastmen dropped. The Minotaur lord stubbornly refused to make any charges while the Ghorgon demolished the Steam tank. The Seekers raced into the crossbowmen and pulled a few off while also killing the gyrocopter.
On their turn they killed a few minotaurs with their shooting but the damage was already done. At this point I had enough depravity points to get he -1 to hit and mortal wounds on a 6+ to hit and the seekers decimated the left-hand flank. The Ghorgon was also going on a rampage alongside the Minotaur Lord. By the start of our turn three I had enough depravity points to summon a Keeper of Secrets and maintain the -1 to hit and thus we called the game. We were still only able to score a few Battle tactics thus it was a:
Result: 23-8 Win!
It was nice to see what our army looked like when everything goes to plan. It is a fast, unsubtle, list that is pretty much: run fast, hit with stick. Our opponents caught on that they should just take the mortal wounds from the depravity dice, but it was too late by then.
Game 3: Bridge Trolls– Seraphon and Sylvaneth
I will start this review by just describing one of the armies we faced. It was Krondspire Incarnate using the Rupture/ Eternal spell trick. For those not in the loop, you basically buff the incarnate using the Rupture spell (you run the risk of it charging your own units, but this is rare) and then feed it your own endless spells which it can charge for extra movement, and to increase its level.
In order to kill it, the owner needs to roll three dice at the end of each turn, and if he rolls under the number of wounds caused it goes down a level, if it hits 0 it dies (It starts at 2). Our opponent kept feeding it his own spells, increasing its level making it functionally immortal. It also has a 12” move (more as it powers up) and can run and charge. While the model is 480 points it is impossible to screen as it has fly. The long and short of it was that we tabled them (except for the immortal) and still lost. While they played well, they also got very lucky. They won the roll off, forced us to go first, then double-turned us, then made a 11” and 10” charge in their first two turns. My units were deployed pretty far back but there was no avoiding the charge. Had I moved forward then I would have gotten charged, thus sitting back and hoping the treemen failed their charge was the only hope.
We did claw things back with our own double turn. Managing to kill Durthu (with an un-modifiable 3+ save) with mortals and killed off all treemen by the end of turn 3. However, we picked our battle traits poorly, while our opponents did not. Thus by the time we could control the board we were already too far behind.
Result: 24-15 Loss
This game served as an unpleasant reminder as to why I dislike AoS. I think the double turn is a rubbish mechanic as it swings the game so wildly that it is impossible to really account for. I am kind of in a mind to say that if you finish deploying and pick who goes first you shouldn’t be able to double turn on round 2. The Krondspire is also just a really annoying model to face and appears to have some sloppy rules interactions that should be addressed.
IDK, I might just be salty due to some bad luck. Our opponents did win the roll for deploying first, priority round 2, and a number of charges, all of which would have shifted the game had any gone differently. Like I said they played well, but moving your army back to within 6” of your board edge and having most of it wiped out before your second turn is one of the worst feelings in a game, and doesn’t incline me favorably to the rules.
I also think the Hedonite Depravity dice don’t really work well as most opponents seem to know that taking the D3 mortals is always the best choice. I was able to get above 12 points on only one game. Although, I don’t have an optimized list in any way, and getting them via combat seems like the most reliable option.
With that game done, my partner and I met up with the rest of our friends and got some amazing Mexican food. I needed to be out of the parking garage by 10 PM and so I headed to my accommodations. While I loved the narrative event last year, I also really enjoyed the chance to hang out with people and get to bed at a decent hour.
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