VWC 2011 is now completed - Alepulp wins

Hi all,

Really enjoyed playing this years' VWC, as always. VWC really does attract the best and nicest players from all around the world. There was a time when we had Philippinos too but the game has changed. With great players from around the world such as Papa, Birigui, Xou, thekk, Miniatorix, Lord Strife, Sirokh, Skay etc. etc. it is never boring. DDM 2.0 is also not very meta heavy, especially at the moment with all the great work by the DDM Guild to keep the pieces balanced and playable.

My warband - chosen really after testing a few ideas (right now I can't remember exactly the process I went through - VWC is a looong event). The purpose behind each piece is clear:

Galeb Duhrs - very hardy with Stone Transformation. That ability (even after the rules changes) make them a favourite for soaking up those one-off big hits that many warbands have (Skull Cleaves for instance). They are slow, but careful and patient gaming with them, using hallways and gaps, allows you the benefit of a major blocker too. They are weedy as regards other defences and fall foul of ongoing effect (all three were weakened against Xou at one point). Ongoing effects can be countered, but the main one is really some form of paralysis. Hence the Healer. It has only got +18 to hit (+16 for the Rolling Thunder) and so it is important to bring in flankers - enter the spiders. Another weakness is it's low damage output from a normal attack - enter the war singer.

Healer - apart from ensuring that the GDs are kept healthy and mobile, she is quite a distraction for the opponent. Most players seek to destroy her early and so I used her in many games to divide the opponents' army so that GDs could wreak having on their own. In the end she only actually did very limited amounts of healing in the games (20 Healers' balms and 1 minor in the final was probably about as much I got off). Still... the provides "easy" points for gamers and so often go for her, leaving the rest of the board available for me to play.

Warsinger - Obvious - get in those charges. In the same was as the healer, though, sometimes I could use him to split a warband by making him available for a long move. Against Xou, I would have liked to have kept him a little longer and miscounted 16 squares as 17 to his drake.

Dark Mantle - a nice little flier with hide. Perfect for some maps as a VP grabber. Against Lord Strife I think I got 80 pts from the little critter, to only just eeek out a win

Death Jump Spiders - these are a bit weedy as regards defences, but they are amazing to use to create flanking opportunities and by jumping and then moving... (avoiding an OA), they can really be annoying. Against Xou, these three were the difference really - +11 (+13 to hit with flank) is not to be sneezed at for 10+10. they are manoeuvrable and as such great with the GDs. The Jump also allows you to attack invisible creatures at full distance - a really nice ability - maybe one reason they were so useful against the Shadow Dragon.

Fiendish snake - I only managed to use this once to intensify venom from the spiders - against Lord Strife. Again, it is a serious threat because of that extra +10 auto as a minor action. Move close, add 10 dmg and move away again. Nice if you can pull it off.

Funniest moment? Probably in the qualifiers against Lord Strife - a very unfair event where he needed to hit a piece with an Earth Archon Rumbler for the win! He needed a 2 and it was the last activation in the game... rolled a 1! I had a couple of similar major luck events when a game turned with a crit, but, since using the GDs, it's been way more about careful movement, placement and activation order to maximise the use of the STs and to be able to use the (somewhat limited) damage output.

Loved the tournament! thanks for some great games to all I played.