2022 NOVA Open - Centaur's Recap

Hey Reader!

So Rythbryt, Red Jacket, Zorro, and I all went to the Nova Open this year, and it was fun to play against a wide range of people from across the country! While I didn't do well, I wanted to give a quick recap of how the matches went, army I took, and a few highlights.

But first, quick shout out to Telcontar101 and others that we met at the tournament! It was cool to actually put a name to the face of the people who read our blog, and for that we thank you, :)

I.  The Army List: Shire + Rangers Historical Alliance

I decided to go with an army that I enjoy: a Shire army that included Aragorn/Strider with all the cool toys, because I love that guy, and I teamed him up with a vast number of bodies to reduce the chance of getting broken in two hours. So here's the army I took:

Warband 1

Aragorn/Strider with Anduril, Horse, Bow, and Armor (Army Leader)

Warband 2

Gandalf the Grey

5 Hobbit Archers

9 Hobbit Militia

Warband 3

Farmer Maggot with Grip, Fang, and Wolf

5 Hobbit Archers

4 Hobbit Militia

Warband 4

Holfoot Bracegirdle

12 Hobbit Shirriffs

Warband 5

Mayor Will Whitfoot

2 Hobbit Shirriffs

5 Hobbit Archers

5 Hobbit Militia

Warband 6

Farmer Cotton

5 Hobbit Archers

7 Hobbit Militia

TOTAL: 800pts, 68 models, 35 casualties to break, 51 to quarter, 11 Might Points

So we've got decent magic and archery protection with Gandalf, a Big Beater with Aragorn, some 8" move infantry with the dogs for tagging objectives, and 20 archers (plus Aragorn's bow and a lot of rocks).

I didn't know how this was going to do, but having played all of the scenarios a few times against a wide range of armies in practice, I walked into the tournament with a rough idea of what I needed to do.

Round 1: Hold Ground v. Riders of Theoden Legendary Legion

I started at Table 6, which was my random placement, but hey - at least I can say I got to the top ten tables! :P Hold Ground is a maelstrom deployment mission, and I won the priority roll, so I had to drop first. That was fine at a point, as I was able to make sure that my guys deployed in two groups, forcing my opponent to decide where he wanted to go.

Philip (who came all the way from the west coast, and is a super chill dude that I highly recommend playing against if you have the chance - really nice guy) deployed everyone right next to each other, and even burned 3 Might on Eomer to get that to work, but it paid off: with Gamling, Theoden, Eomer, Dernhelm, and Deorwine all in a tight ball, there was a lot of killing power in a tight space.

Up until the final turn of the game I had about 20 models in the center and he couldn't get more than 6 in (which would have been 7 points for me), but on the last turn he was able to get 11 guys in, so I only took 3 points for having more near the center and I wounded Theoden. In exchange he was able to break me without being broken (as he was a few away from being broken) and he killed Aragorn (who couldn't get above F8 on any of his Heroic Strikes), so this was a 4-5 Minor Loss for the Shire.

On the whole I thought it turned out about as good as it could have; Maggot and the Mayor held out as long as they could to buy time for me, and they actually lasted longer than I thought they would, but in the end losing priority several turns in a row cost me the ability to keep him out of the center.

Round 2: To the Death v. Army of Gothmog Legendary Legion

I found myself down on Table 21, so I guess I must have been one of the highest of the Minor Loss guys from Round 1, as I was just above center of the tables. This game was against Tyler, who is actually a friend of Philip's! He lives in Texas now, but grew up on the west coast which is how they know each other.

This one was tough, I'm not going to lie: Aragorn continued his streak of not getting above F8 on Strikes, there was a lot of cover from archery for Gothmog and co. (along with March + Drum for quickly getting into combat), and Gandalf was having a bear of a time casting, so it was a tough fight.

The turn where The Time of the Orc Has Come went off was also particularly brutal, with me losing about 20 models in a single turn. I was only able to get two archery kills the entire game, and thankfully one of them was a shot at the banner who was not next to another warrior at the time, so I was able to remove the banner VPs for the match, but that was all I could do. It was a 0-10 Major Loss, and well deserved: my opponent played really well, my dice quit, and I was clawing at points the entire game.

Round 3: Assassination v. Halls of Thranduil

[Sorry - didn't snap a picture of this one as I forgot. Classic Centaur blunder, :P ]

I moved down to Table 32, which was actually a really cool Rohan board: very thematic, lots of overhangs and cool buildings, and the scenery was gorgeous. I was against Jess from Chicago, sporting a Thranduil's Halls list that only had 2 sentinels for archery: the rest of it was glaive warriors and palace guard supporting two captains and Thranduil (so no Tauriel or Legolas either).

For Assassination I chose the captain with his shield back behind him and Maggot as my assassin. He placed his three warbands before I placed Aragorn or Maggot, so I was able to put my assassin and Aragorn up against my target. And it paid off: on Turn 2 Aragorn and Maggot were into his captain, and we won combat (Aragorn once again got to F7, but hey - it was good enough for this particular fight). 

I resolved one of Aragorn's attacks and did two wounds, and my opponent opted not to roll Fate as it would only net me 5 VPs. So that sucked, but hey - it meant I was up 5-0 going into the rest of the match.

And it got better and better: we broke his army with about 10 minutes left, and all told we killed around 70% of them by the time it was over. But between Aragorn not being able to wound Thranduil (even though we had 6 dice on 4s, not a single wound) him breaking me on the last turn, and him killing Gandalf (his target) with his assassin (the other captain), it was a 6-8 Minor Loss for me. Up until he broke me it was going to be an 8-7 Minor Win, but just like that I lost one too many guys. But that's how it goes.

Very close match, very nice opponent, would gladly play him again.

Round 4: Retrieval v. Grey Company Legendary Legion

Day 2 found me on Table 34 (so not much of a move) doing Retrieval against a Grey Company player. Nick C. is a great guy who plays Star Wars Legion mostly, but decided to try out MESBG and brought a tough as boots Grey Company army: Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and about 15 rangers to support them.

Thankfully Gandalf's Blinding Light helped to mitigate the archery, but yet again Aragorn was having issues getting above F8 in combat (and caused me to suffer 1 wound against his Aragorn past Fate). And we had enough bodies to slow down the hero swarm, burning their Might quickly in the first few turns of the match.

Gandalf went down quickly, which was a shame, but he'd used up most of his resources before he died, so I was fine with that at a point. Thankfully, even though Aragorn couldn't Strike above F8, he had Might longer than his heroes did, and he was able to slowly cut his way through Aragorn and Gimli. Had I been smart I would have hidden him after that, but due to stray arrows Legolas was able to kill Aragorn, and since both of us were broken and I was one turn away from getting the objective when the game ran out, it was a 3-3 Draw. I was winning it 3-2 up until the second to last turn, but that's fine. The advantage of playing Legolas is that it gives you the chance to shoot accurately, so that's just how the game goes.

Round 5: Reconnoitre v. Shire + Wanderers in the Wild Convenient Alliance

As I headed to Table 35 for Round 5, it was Reconnoitre, which is not my favorite scenario with Shire, but it can be done, thanks to the dogs. I was up against Roy from the Chicago group, and he brought another Shire army as well! Gandalf, Dunedain, Bullroarer Took, and hobbits supported by Tom and Goldberry, so a very interesting list (that had not scored any VPs yet all tournament). 

It was a slugging match as you can guess, and my dice decided yet again that helping me was too much to ask, :P Aragorn continued his streak of not striking up past F8, resulting in him losing a strike-off to Bullroarer Took (who starts at F3), and taking wounds for his trouble. And thanks to Refreshing Song Gandalf was able to get off about 9 Might worth of channeled spells, and Bullroarer got 6 Might worth of Heroic Moves and Heroic Strikes. It was crazy.

But the craziest thing in the world had to be Aragorn, engaged in combat, getting hit by a firework and then wounded for his last wound, so I lost my army leader...to a firework. I guess that's just how this tournament goes, :P

Had one priority roll gone my way two dogs would have gotten off which would have given me the win. As it happened I ended 1-2 turns away from getting off the edge with Holfoot's men, and had we started another turn I would have broken him (without being broken), which would have changed the outcome. As it stands, it was a 0-2 Minor Loss for me: all of the VPs were tied to wounds on Aragorn.

Conclusion

So all told, a disappointing showing: dice rolls played a huge factor, and naturally matchups like Army of Gothmog are just really good counters to hobbits, so I can't complain about that too much. None of the games had any real highlights, but two highlights do stand out. 

One of the best highlights of the tournament for me had to be during Round 1 when Jay Clare passed by (as he was helping to judge the tournament), saw my army, stopped, got down, looked closely at it, and said, "Hobbits! Someone is running hobbits! They're so lovely, and I'm so glad to see them here!" And that just warmed my heart, because 1) I love these little guys, 2) we got such a great supplement for them, and 3) I'm not a great painter, so to hear that from the guy who runs the game was just such an honor.

And second, I got visited by my wife and 13-month-old girl, just as Gothmog and his boys were barreling toward us. Getting to see them was such a joy, and I'm glad they were able to come out to support me, :)

She's actually pretty good with measuring tapes

And it was very rewarding to go with a squad: coming up short in four matches just short of victory is tough, but it's a lot easier with friends.

We'll see about next year; it was a very long weekend for my wife at home, so we'll see if I'm able to go back again next turn. But a huge thank you to Devin Moreno and the staff that made the tournament possible - you guys rock, the terrain was awesome, and I'm grateful for the chance to play against people I would probably not meet otherwise, :)

So sorry that this wasn't a "I made the top tables with Shire, and it was awesome" post, but I did have fun, :) We'll see what the future holds - until then, you know where to find me,

Watching the stars,

Centaur

"(Your teacher) is a human...and is therefore blinkered and fettered by the limitations of your kind." ~ Firenze, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix