(unfortunately no bonus points for cosplay)
So the Mountaineer GT is the first GT in the Mid-Atlantic, and the first GT being run by Chris and Matthew Fisher. They've run some really good one days in the past, and I'm expecting nothing less for this too. It starts the 23rd of June, and runs through to the 25th. As far as I'm aware right now there are only 3 GT's in the Mid-Atlantic this year, so each one is extremely important to ranking in the masters, and I want to do a lot better than 15th of 20 like I did at Fools of War.
It's a 6 game event, 4 on day 1/ 2 on day 2, meaning there should be a good chance for submarining as well as some bubble play in the upper-mid tables on day 2. Chess clocks are in again, with 60 minutes a side, this is really no big deal from my experience with chess clocks. The lowest someone got at Fools of War that I saw was Chris in our game, who went to 3-4 minutes left, and that was with 55 minutes. 60 should be more than enough for everyone. CoK 17 is in effect, so no def 6 dragons (yay).
There are 120 points available in battle, 30 in sports, and 30 in paint, making for 180 total. With 1/3rd of the overall determined by soft scores, can easily see some variance here, although I'm still finishing my army and rebasing almost all of it so will likely lose some points here for that. One thing that is unique from soft scoring that I've seen is they have the armies put into tiers, 1-2-3 based on the level of painting skill used. Tier 3 is unpainted or 3 color minimum, and worth the least points. Having just 1 unpainted model puts you here, so really pushing to see painted armies. Tier 2 is your tabletop standard, think army painter system. Where my stuff should hopefully be at if I get everything done. Tier 1 is for the top painted armies, with wet blending and object source lighting and the such.
Sports is a vote and check system, after each game your rated as good or bad, for a good you get 3 points. Bad ratings have to be justified with the T.O., but I doubt this will be an issue for the area. Don't think I've really seen anything deserving a bad rating in any mid atlantic even I've attended so far. The vote part of the system is after game 6, you vote for your favorite and second favorite opponent. Each favorite vote is worth 2 points, second favorite is 1. If you get perfect marks you can get 30 points here, but the average is probably going to be around 20, meaning this can be the difference in placing as far as soft scores go for me.
Scenarios are randomly chosen at the start of a round, out of 9 available missions. There's 1 loot mission, 4 pillage style missions, 3 US zone control mission, and Eliminate as the kill possibility. With this range of mission styles a faster list will probably be more successful, especially one with a couple big blocks to occupy zones in missions like Occupy. Depending on the types of control or pillage missions that get rolled in, fliers can be very strong for scenario plays. The loot mission is the same as from Fools of War, with the possibility to fake out opponents with a fake loot token. I liked that mission a lot and would be a big fan of seeing it get played again. 2/3rd of these missions are going to be played overall, meaning a list designed to play to pillage and control/dominate will have the greatest chance of getting consistent wins.
Rather than doing the straight 15-5 system suggested in CoK17, Mountaineer will be using a modified 15-5/12-8 system, with minor and major wins. The MoV adjuster is still there, meaning a minor victory bloodbath has the potential to be a 17-3 at best. This should hopefully create some greater diversity in scores by the 3rd or 4th game, and if they have the dividers for minor and major wins right, should be fairly reflective of close wins.
The List!
So after Fools of War, where I went 2 wins 2 losses, I went back to drawing board for my list design. I don't think my old list was bad by any means, I definitely had some situations that did and didn't go my way, and made plenty of play mistakes. But I do feel it was very unforgiving against certain matchups, and I was riding to hard on my Rhinosaurs to clean up a battle for comfort. This put me in some risky situations and if I lost my Kaisenors early I was pretty much done for, as that was 2/3rds of my hitting units.
That lead me to return to the old crutch of dragons, and after playing a couple games with some proxy fire drakes with wings I was sold this was the right approach for my playstyle. One thing I'm going to comment on each unit with what role they can perform in the list, to give a sense for why I'm including what I include. So without further ado, my Mountaineer GT list!
Infantry-
1 Horde of Primes w/ Brew of Sharpness
I really like this unit with Sharpness, they cost a very pretty penny, but if you can get a solid charge with banechant support they will typically one shot what they hit. A very solid unit, and the pathfinder lets me shift their spot when deploying depending on the table. In fools of war I was hesitant to not put them in the middle, and I've needed to be more willing to let these guys be flexible. (Hammer - Anvil)
2 regiments of Ghekkotah Warriors
A pair of these has been very solid in playtesting, and gives me some cheap unlocks. They replace the corsairs for less points, and while they don't hit as hard, they project just enough threat to be annoying. Speed 6 is really nice for getting to the middle of the board and claiming board space, especially if your against an army without a lot of shooting. (Chaff - Anvil)
Cavalry-
2 Regiments of Kaisenor Lancers - 1 w/ Blessing of the Gods, 1 w/ Caterpillar potion
The first proper hammer unit in the list, a pair of Kaisenors can clean up any unit in the game if they're both unhindered. With blessing of the god they turn into speed 8 shock troops, with almost as many attacks and TC1 too boot. Pathfinder finds an easy home here to avoid losing the TC1 and body blocking a hindered charge for the other unit. Another unit to be possibly bane chanted, and also appreciates banner of the griffin support depending on the matchup. (Hammer)
Monsters-
2 Lekelidons
I've probably said it at least 8 times on this blog, but when you play Salamanders, you take at least 2 of the Lekelidons or Komodons. Theres just little these guys can't help do for you. Fast enough to chaff, good lightning bolt shooting with 3+ to hit if unmodified. The nerve can be surprisingly resilient to small war machine hunters, and 2 can really help soften up or clear chaff for your heavy hitters. (Chaff - Support)
Heroes-
1 Mounted Herald w/ Lute of Insatiable Darkness
Heralds are one of my favorite statlines in the army, and bane chant is super important to letting the list function. This list really wants to punch to the point of one shots, getting that extra pip of CS can make all the difference in that function. Being speed 8 gives you a 20" reach best case for Bane Chant, meaning he can be central but reach your flanks, and vice versa. (Chaff - Support)
1 Clan Lord on Fire Drake w/ Banner of the Griffin
Another one of my goto units in the army, (99% probability it's cause I own a T-Rex model), it's super versatile and much like my Primes I've been needing to open up it's flexibility. This guy can easily follow the kaisenors or Primes, and I have been tending to just tunnel vision him to supporting the middle. The breath attack 16 can also be nifty for chaff clearing or finishing low health units, making him a good finisher too. (Hammer - Support)
2 Clan Lords of Winged Fire Drakes - 1 w/ Scrying Gem, 1 w/ Healing Brew
The biggest change to my list, I added some fliers. I really missed the combination of speed 10, mobility, and hitting power that dragons can offer in my old list, and the battle captain is a good stopgap, but can only help so much. Chris Fisher was able to get around him pretty easily with 3 big flying units, and that left my kaisenors out to dry at Fools of War. I can operate all 3 fire drakes in concert to get 48 vicious breath attack if I want, or have them go off and support where they need to be. The introduction of these guys has let me play a lot more flexible, as my inspiring support and ability to remove chaff is a lot more mobile now, meaning I'm not as rigid in my deployment. I also added the scrying gem, because if you've noted the roles, their almost entirely dual in nature. Only the kaisenors have a single true purpose, and the scrying gem really helps everyone get to where I think they need to be. Boots of Levitation are another great option, but I feel the scrying gem can really help in rough matchups. (Hammer - Support)
So that's the list, 11 drops, 17 US, and 2000 points on the dot. I've been enjoying it and hope it performs better than the last one did.
Event link-
http://mountaineergt.com/
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