So my second tournament is under a week away and it is only now that I have decided to think about what I’m going to play. 

The format is 2 monsters (with usual restrictions on units and buildings) but both monsters have to share an agenda.  I have 3 of the Rise Factions and 3 of the Now factions, 6 overall and 3 sharing an agenda (Collaborators, Protectors and Invaders) so I have plenty of options for my monster pairings.  I wanted to play something different and because I played Ubercorp and Tritons In the last tournament the choice was between, GUARD, Martians Menace, Elemental Champions and Shadow Sun Syndicate.

 The main faction I have played so therefore have the most experience with is GUARD, I love both the monsters and units for this faction and feel I could do well with them.  Though I have played a lot with GUARD I like to try and play with all my factions equally (not really worked out with the Martians) so I will probably give the GUARD a miss this time.  With the new protectors here I played my last game with a couple of Elemental units and liked how they worked with the GUARD units and a cheeky spawning of a Fire Kami, moving up to some rubble with an unaware Anglax on top and igniting it for the last point of damage made me like the pairing even more.

 Shadow Sun Syndicate, have been the second most played faction I own even though I used to have one monster, Zor-Macros, I wasn’t sold on any of the morphers until I played Zor-Macros, I really like how versatile it is and it seems to be able to play offensively but not too open whilst in its Alpha form.  I now have Zor-Raiden and at some point plan to use it with a combination of SSS and Ubercorp brawlers.

 I have only played with the Elemental Champions once and lost quite badly, see the Gakura/Incinerus Battle Report, already on the blog so I can’t even deny the loss.  I do really like the Elemental Champions but just don’t feel I’d enjoy playing them in a tournament just because I wouldn’t know what I was doing (more so than usual though).  I also didn’t want to go for the Sky Sentinel/Aquosia for Quick G1’s.  So Elemental’s aren’t going to be for this tournament, I’m sure I’ll use them once I’ve played a couple more games at the club.

 Like I said when talking about GUARD the Martian Menace don’t get a lot of play time (Although their units do in my Tritons force).  I really like all of the monsters, I still need to play Galaxius-4 but I think it does look cool on paper.  I like the power dice production of the Martians, which helps take those back to back monster turns that can win you the game, with the power pods and gaining lots of dice when taking out units with vanguards combining with Marauders taking out 3 or 4 units for 4 or 5 power dice.

 I have mentioned on previous posts I tend to play blasting armies over brawling but with the new set and the new figures that enhance brawlers I wanted to build a brawling force.  With this decision I had decided not to choose GUARD (don’t really think I need to explain why, although those G-Tanks are mean brawlers).  My options were playing Tharsis and Ares with Reapers and Steel Shell Crabs or to go for the Macros, Raiden combination with C-Types and a little support from the Ubercorp Task Masters and Carnitrons.

Lists

Martian Menance

Tharsis-5 Alpha/Ultra
Ares Mothership Alpha/Ultra

3x Steel Shell Crab
2x Elite Steel Shell Crab
2x Saucer
2x Power Pod
2x Nulifier Pod
1x Marauder
2x Vanguard
1x Elite Vanguard

3x Nuclear Power Plant
3x Construction Site
2x Newspaper Office
1x Privateer Press Building
1x Imperial State Building
1x Insurance Company HQ
1x Chrystalline Building

The Idea is to create a power base with the Imperial State building and Insurance Company HQ and to try and stay on my side of the map (I have spent far too many turns on my opponents side of the map which has cost me much damage). By having Construction sites up to half way I should be able to keep the crabs within 2 squares then attacking units/monsters a further 2 squares away. Nuclear Power plants are obviously there for healing and for the hazard the majority of my force is immune to. The Privateer Press Building is there to screen and for the occasional cheap unit.

Both monsters should be tough nuts to crack, with Tharsis having Armoured in its Alpha Form and Negation on Ares’ Ultra, damage from power attacks should be kept low. Using tough monsters may cause problems when trying to go on the offensive, by generating lots of power dice with power pods etc. Ares should be able to perform some nasty power attacks and either monster should then be able to take consecutive monster turns if needed. Tharsis’ Ultra form having Beat Back and Crunch on brawl can be a serious pain for your opponent, just moving Tharsis adjacent to an enemy monster can still cause serious damage, similar to being thrown or smashed, so will be harder to screen against, this will also help keep piling on the damage even against anything with Negation.

Shadow Sun Syndicate

Zor-Macros Alpha/Ultra
Zor-Raiden Alpha/Ultra

2x S-Type Shinobi
1x Elite S-Type Shinobi
2x Carnitron
1x Mecha Task Master
2x Interceptor
2x Shadow Gate
2x Sun Drone
1x Katana
1x Elite C-Type Shinobi
1x Shadow C-Type Shinobi

3x Skyscraper
1x Privateer Press Building
1x Insurance Company HQ
1x Imperial State Building
1x Chrystalline Building
2x Construction Site
2x Newspaper Office

I think that the main strength of this list is its movement, the Shinobi’s ocme with good movement and with the added bonus of Underground Network from the Skyscrapers I can get my units to the other side of the map. The Carnitrons are there for their trigger, If I need to get rid of big blocks of units they will join in an attack. To help my units cross the map they also benfit from the Shadow Gates and morpher having red cloak, this should help against most shooting armies.

The overall idea with this list is to keep spawning units and moving them to my opponents side of the map to try and disrupt their power base, if they try to kill the cloacked units it will use up quite a few action dice as they will have to spawn, move then attack with their units and it they attack my units with their monster then neither of my monsters aren’t taking damage.

My plan with my monsters is probably going to be the same as my units, take the fight to my opponent and try and get the game over and done with quickly. I think one of the main stengths of the list is blue Charge from Zor-Raiden, this will generate plenty of boost dice for all my figures so I should only be usng 1 dice per unit to attack. With this ability being blue and its wording saying “figure” all Zor-Macros’ morphers now have the ability as well and with red gang there in the mix I hope to be dealing 3 damage a turn with them. Another thing I really like on both monsters is Lightning attack on brawl on both forms so both can deal multiple damage on both forms without power attacks this also gets around monsters immune to super damage and negation.

Overall I really like both lists and I am having a difficult to decide so I am throwing this open to everyone on which list I should use.

I’d like to know what you think about which list to use and if you would make any changes to the lists. Votes and comments will be appreciated.

Empire of Apes Vs Elemental Champions

Gakura Vs Incinerus

Forces:

Incinerus Alpha/Ultra

3x Fire Kami
1x Elite Fire Kami
2x Watar Kami
1x Elite Fire Kami
2x Water Avatar
2x Earth Avatar
1x Rocket Chopper
2x G1 Strike Fighter
1x Elite Strike Fighter

Gakura Alpha/Ultra

4x Bellower
2x Elite Bellower
3x Stealth Ape
1x Howitzer Ape
1x Elite Howitzer Ape
1x Airborne Ape
1x Elite Airborne Ape
1x Pteradactix
1x Command Ape

Elementals pick map, Apes to take the first turn

Ape Unit Turn 1

An ape descended from the rooftops and Terrasaurs spilled in to the city, an ape with an abundance of equipment on its back seemed to be helping orchestrate this attack, all moved up to a near-by bank and recording studio.

Joe Spawned a Stealth Ape, Bellower and Elite and a Command Ape, Moved in between a Bank, Apartment Building and Music Producer to start to secure a power base.

Elemental Unit Turn 1

An attack had been detected by a G.U.A.R.D. Rocket Chopper on patrol, unfortunately all G.U.A.R.D. units were occupied with other attacks then suddenly water and fire erupted from the ground and began to take form.

I spawned 2x Fire Kami’s and an Elite, Water Avatar and Rocket Chopper. I secured the Imperial State Building and Bank Headquarters for my power base, I moved the Avatar on to a power point and used transport to get and Elite Water Kami in the middle of the map ready for it to lead attacks in future turns to disrupt Joe’s power base.

Ape Monster Turn 1

The mighty Gakura moved in to support his followers but soon overtook them and charged in to the Electrical Power Plant and Bank Headquarters tearing both structures down, arcs of electricity filled the air and rubble rained down to the ground.

Joe powered up for 2 then moved up to my power base after a few steps and brawled the Power Plant for 5 dice then blitzing to avoid the point of damage from live wire and to hit the bank for more power dice.  It was only the first turn and Joe had enough power dice for the next couple of monster activations and taking out part of my power base.

Elemental Monster Turn 1

A mass of fire and armour arrived to quell the Ape threat to the city.  The fire grew more intense and Incinerus moved up to Gakura to launch a counter attack.  Flames spewed towards the Ape leader, Gakura screamed in pain, hastily swatting out the fire.

Not wanting to leave myself open I powered up for 4 dice then moved behind the Kami’s to screen Incinerus as a power attack against Gakura would leave me open to be thrown in to the Chrystalline Building.  So I decided to try and take the game slow to start and deal steady damage, I used Incinerus’ good blast stat I shot and hit Gakura for one point of damage (better than no damage).

Ape Unit Turn 2

A Bellower ran in towards the middle of the city and an Ape fell from the sky with a bomb grasped in its feet, both launched a devastating attack at the Fire Kami’s, all lost in the blaze.

Command is a really good action and a nice new addition to the game but I didn’t really appreciate it at the moment, with the Bellower having long range and Joe using command to get the Airborne Ape amongst taking out all 3 with the Airborne Ape’s Radial Attack Trigger.

Elemental Unit Turn 2

The Water Avatar advanced to meet with the Ape threat, more Fire Kami’s appeared on the battlefield, both attacking and destroying the ape in the blaze.

I moved my units around the Imperial State Building and Incinerus to create a screen to minimize damage from a power attack in the next Ape unit turn, I needed to try and get out of my side of the map to prevent my power base from being destroyed.

Ape Monster Turn 2

Gakura lept and swung the train he was wielding in to Incinerus , a carriage became unhooked from the others eventually landing in the road, Gakura then retreated  and smashed through the Imperial State Building,the rubble tumbling down on Incinerus.

I quickly found out how horrible Blitz and Demolish this game, taking out a building for the power dice and being able to deal damage to an enemy monster is really nice (if it’s on your monster of course).  Now my power base had disappeared and I was running out of health, I was in trouble.

Elemental Monster Turn 2

Incinerus moved up to Gakura remains of the Bank burst in to flames, Gakura was ablaze once again, The giant ape was then lifted above the head of Incinerus and dropped on to the crane above a local construction site, chemicals spilled underneath the former king of the apes contributing to the blaze, a think cloud of smoke and fumes filling the air.

With Gakura sat on a rubble tile I took advantage of Ignite.  I moved adjacent to Gakura ready for a slam but dealt one point of damage with the fire tile then dealing another 3 with the slam.  This helped me close the gap in the difference in health.

Ape Monster Turn 3

Filled with rage, the great ape rose from the flames, he still had plenty of life in him yet.  As he rose Gakura latched on to Incinerus lifting him and launching him across the city in to the Chrystalline building, Incinerus didn’t look to be  getting back up.

Despite managing to close the gap with my last attack I totally missed the throw attack that was possible by throwing Incinerus over the Privateer Press building.  Thinking back I didn’t even bother checking if he had any dice in his monster pool.  A good attack from Joe now left me really behind and struggling to get the win.

Elemental Unit Turn 3

Again Fire Kami’s moved in to support, a lone G1 Strike Fighter entered the fray taking position around Gakura, hurling white hot flames at the ape with supporting fire from the G1, Gakura fell to his knees.

With Gakura only left on one health I wanted to get rid of the Alpha Form.  By spawning a G1, Elite and Grunt Kami I would be able to generate enough boost dice to hit Gakura and gain a power dice with Rage, I would also be able to use the G1 later on in the game to reach anything the Fire Kami’s wouldn’t be able to reach.  With the boost dice from the combined attack I managed to hit Gakura, killing the form.

Ape Unit Turn 3

Even more Apes entered the city again with Terrasaur allies.  Another ape dropped out of the sky and launched an attack with a Bellower on a Water Avatar.   A bomb dropped and exploded next to the Avatar, water was everywhere, flooding the roads and its armour falling to the ground.

Joe had managed to build his number of units back up at his side of the board.  Using Command he managed to move the Airborne Ape and move his Elite Bellower in to range, killing the Water Avatar stopping me from transporting my water units on his side of the board.

Elemental Monster Turn 3

Incinerus rose from the flames of the Chrystalline building its flames looking fiercer than before.  Seeing the threat from Gakura’s allies, Incinerus moved to the enemy position and opened fire.  Fire filled the space in between buildings around yet the buildings stayed untouched, the Bellowers and Apes were not so lucky.

As saw Joe was building his unit numbers I wanted to keep them at bay, using Incinerus’ Explosion trigger to remove a few.  In the position I was in Incinerus was screened from any attacks from Gakura.

Ape Monster Turn 4

Gakura was trying to recover from its wounds scrambling out of the fire and retreated away from the protectors of the city.

Joe powered up for 1 dice and decided to move out of range of my units and to move back to his own side of the map to try and prevent damage.

Elemental Unit Turn 4

The Kami’s and G1 witnessed Gakura flee but were still faced with the threat of his allies.  The Fire Kami’s launched an attack on the Ape, the jets on its back igniting totally destroying it.  The G1 Locked on to the Bellower but just before any shots were fired the shockwave from the near-by blast knocked the fighter, causing it to miss its target.

As Joe had moved to his side of the board so I was unable to deal any damage to it in my unit turn, I decided to try and take his units out with my own then to move to the other side of the board in my next turns.

Ape Unit Turn 4

Despite Incinerus’s efforts to halt the Ape/Terrasaur attack, another wave of attackers entered the fray.  Shots were soon fired towards Incinerus, hitting the mass of fire, it was if the Bellowers were being aided.  Incinerus staggered back a little, the damage he had taken over the course of the battle starting to take its toll.

Joe spawned a Stealth Ape and Elite Bellower, both moved up in to range.  A Bellower and Elite shot, with an extra dice from logistics and Spotter from a Stealth Ape for one point of damage.  2 more bellowers shot and with the same boost dice and Spotter again Incinerus took another point of damage.

Elemental Monster Turn 2

Just as he was about to retreat from the barrage of damage it had just taken but saw Gakura.  With only the safety of City on his mind Incincerus ran in for the attack.

I moved over a couple of buildings and lined up for a blast attack, the shot hit, only for 1 point of damage.  I saved a few action dice in my monster pool to allow me to make a power attack after Joe’s activation.

Ape Monster Turn 5

Joe saw this attack straight away yet I didn’t see it until he was about to roll the dice.  He moved Gakura so he was aligned and smashed Incinerus through 2 buildings which caused the 3 damage that was needed to kill the last form winning him the game.

Gakura, still filled with rage, charged towards Incinerus, with no time to react Incinerus was smashed through 2 buildings landing in the rubble of the Apartment Building but wasn’t getting back up.  The Kami’s seemed to fade away; the Rocket Chopper and Strike Fighter pilot looked on and came to realize the Apes had taken victory, they put out an emergency signal to all available units, even to the Shadowsun and Ubercorp forces.

Looking back at the game I feel that I made some bad decisions, this was the first game I have played with the Elemental Champions so I wasn’t raelly sure how to play them.  I don’t think I was agressive enough with my units and rushed in far too early with Incinerus and didn’t watch my placement.  I do like Incinerus alothough I’m not overly keen on him not having an easy way of dealing more than one point of damage in Ultra.  This is the second time I’ve played against Gakura and I think he is a really good monster, I really like how he can brawl buildings to gain power dice and is still able to hit a monster.  Gakura’s Ultra looks nice as well (didn’t really see it this game as it attacked once to win and that was just a smash) with Lightning Attack to be dealing a couple of damage a turn with 4 boost dice on brawl and his brawl triggers to annoy the enemy monster.

Overall I really enjoyed the game, was a little dissapointed with how I played but like I said it was my first game playing the Elemental Champions so hopefully in the next few games I will start to get the hang of how they should play so all in all a cool game.

I arrived at the tournament with both forces as I planned (I was sure I’d change my mind the night before and play something totally different). There were 6 people there to play 5 were my friends and a new person, this was Riftsinger who I had met on the Monsterpocalypse forums, so it was second tournament and I was already starting to meet some new players. The numbers were pretty good saying it is the first tournament at the venue for a little while so it looked like it was going to be an enjoyable day.

Game 1 – Sunny

Map – Block Wars

Forces – Ubercorp (Gorghadratron) Vs Empire of the Apes (Gakura)

This was the second time I had met Sunny, he had been dragged (didn’t take much effort by the sound of things) in to Monsterpocalypse by Tim (I’ll talk about Tim later ) so he was still pretty new to the game. I beat him last time we played, Sunny using Sky Sentinel and me using Zor-Macros, he broke from his usually tactics of move G1’s screen and shoot and once Sky Sentienl was in the open Macros chucked him around the map.

This time we were both playing new forces, I had never played a game with Ubercorp and Sunny only had played one game previously with his apes. I won the dice roll the dice roll to go first so Sunny picked map we then set up and started our game.

My plan of setting up a decent power base went in to effect straight away and I started knocking a couple of buildings down with G-Tron so it could actually move away from the deployment square.  I managed to knock out Sunny’s power base quite early on with the Robo Squix and their explosion.  Gakura did make an impressive smash through a couple of buildings dealing 3 damage, Unfortunately for Sunny this was the only damage he would deal all game.  After I left myself open for that throw I made sure I kept my screen and kept taking shots at Gakura, as I was securing the Radar Array I was hitting him from 5 squares away dealing 2 points of damage with weapons master.

I managed a pretty impressive win, I managed to hold back his units with mine then just consistently deal damage to his monster with mine.  My plan worked pretty well and I now had an impressive win as ties and positioning were being decided by the difference in damage taken and damage dealt.  So I got a pretty solid win, things could only get worse.

Game 2 – Nick

 Map – Smashville

 Forces – Tritons (Anglax) Vs Savage Swarm (Mucustus)

 I chose to play Tritons as I still hadn’t played them yet, even though I had a win with Gorghadratron I thought if I played with Ubercorp straight away I probably wouldn’t use them for the rest of the day.

Nick is also quite new to Monsterpocalypse but has been playing swarm for a while and played them in the last tournament so had more experience with his faction than I did with mine.  I didn’t play Nick in the last tournament but knew he did quite well with Mantacon.  The plan was to keep dealing damage with Anlgax’s power attacks and try to keep healing by hitting Mucustus in my unit turns.

 Again I was stuck behind some buildings so I was wasting a couple of Monster turns trying to manoeuvre in to place by removing a building or two.  I destroyed Nick’s units and power base over the first couple of turns with a Marauder and Nautilus Blaster, he tried spawning a couple of Cliff Hoppers and moved them close together so they would gain benefit from leadership but still be in range which made them a target for explosion.  I think the moment when I gained the advantage was when Mucustus was screened by a crab, fortunately Anglax has command so I was able to move the crab out of the way then move up to Mucustus, smashing it through a building.  The next few turns consisted of Nick spawning units then me destroying them.  In the monster turns I was slamming Mucustus through a building or two and Nick had chance to do some serious damage but the attack missed leaving it open to a throw on to a Beetle and a Newspaper Office to kill his form.  A few turns later and  it was over.

 Another victory, a few bad rolls for Nick and with my attacks not missing, it was a little one sided at times. I only took 4 damage and had dealt 13 so it was another solid win for me. 

 It was the last game next and I was in first place and quite far ahead of second place.  Did I have a chance of placing close to the top or even have a chance of winning this event.  Even if I lost the last game I still had a chance of winning as long as I didn’t take much damage.  As the pairings were announced I found out that I’d be playing Tim.

 Don’t get me wrong, I get on with Tim it’s just every time I play him at any game I tend to get a kicking.  I would have placed a lot better if Tim hadn’t beat me in 4/5 turns the last time we played (bad placement and Tim spotting a nice combination of attacks with Zor-Magna right in to my flaming (literally) power base.

 Final Game – Tim

 Forces – Ubercorp (Gorghadratron) Vs Elemental Champions (Incinerus)

 Map – Downtown Beatdown

 Before we even rolled to see who picked map Tim was said that he knew that he needed to beat me but also needed to do a lot of damage.  If we both did little damage there was also chance that another player could get to first place.

 Looking at Tim’s force I knew he was playing Incinerus with quite a few Fire Kami’s so it looked like there were going to be lots of hazards on the map by the end of the game.  I really like Incinerus and I want to try him out first when I get chance to use my Champions, I like that he can do a couple of points of damage with Explosion and Radial attack and that he ignores fire hazards which is probably one of the main ways of dealing more than 2 damage with a power attack.   The other problem was Flight, Incinerus has it and G-Tron doesn’t so I had to be careful where to move G-Tron as Incinerus would probably be able to out manoeuvre me.  I chose G-Tron as he had Hi defence and cloak in Ultra to protect it from blast attacks.  It also has the ability to heal which the Elementals don’t have access to.

 My first couple of turns were slow, destroying a couple of buildings to try and make my way to Tim’s power base and Incinerus.  Instead of hanging back, making Tim to come to my side of the map, I moved my units on the opposite side to G-Tron, so my force was separated and just out of range of the Elemental units.  It wasn’t going well.  The best attack of the game had to be Tim’s 10 square smash!  G-Tron was smashed though 2 fires (one Incinerus had just ignited) on to the elemental side of the map, even though I destroyed Tim’s power base with a rampage I was stuck and couldn’t really get my units across the map in time or get G-Tron passed the buildings in the middle of the map.  After a couple of combined attacks and a last blast attack from Incinerous it was over.

 The game had finished and I had lost, Tim had taken advantage of my opening mistakes and I didn’t seem to stop paying for them.  It was good play by Tim and I couldn’t quite deal enough damage to even the odds.  It was a good game anyway and I’ve only got myself to blame, I need to learn to watch what I’m doing as that’s the second time I’ve not worked everything out what he might be able to do and I’ve taken a lot of damage from a single attack.

 So after this game I ended up in second by 1 point of health, I was a little gutted that I had lost, but that’s how it works out some times.  It was a great tournament and I enjoyed every game I played, I’m now looking forward to the next.

 It was great to play the new factions, I will now be working on various lists to see how they play and try and find the best list for each monster.  I will try to work on some new lists soon (definitely for the next tournament in November and will post my progress and results)

 Thanks,

 ZH

So this was the second Monsterpocalypse tournament I had taken part in and the first time I had used the new factions from Now.

The format looked interesting, bring two lists that don’t include the same monster and after deciding who picks map both players decide (in secret) which list to use. Like I said this was the first opportunity I had to play the new factions so I began to decide upon my lists.

I had ordered three of the new factions, Tritons, Ubercorp and Elemental Champions, I had a bit of trouble deciding which ones to go for but in the end my order for Champions hadn’t arrived so it turned out to be not so difficult. It was now time to pick a monster for each faction to use on the day, for Ubercorp I went for Gorghadratron and for Tritons I chose Anglax.

I thought of my choice of map straight away, Block war. I went for a simple map so I could try and see how units and monsters would work but the biggest thing was because neither of my monster could jump, fly or even climb I wanted to have space to manoeuvre.

After taking a real beating at my first tournament I wanted to try and place a bit higher than last time (I’m not sure if I was last but I know I was very close if not) but still have fun with what I played.

Gorghadratron: I hadn’t played with either monster so I didn’t have any experience of which was better. After a quick look at the stats and abilities I decided on Gorghadratron, I liked the Health and Defence on both forms, especially with access to healing. I really like Ultra G-tron, the short range isn’t perfect but with Radar Array’s is definitely playable plus it’s a bright orange monster with cloak. it’s genius! As its Alpha doesn’t have a way of dealing of dealing multiple damage so it was up to Ultra G-tron to deal the damage. My plan was trying to build a big power base to allow me to flex later on to keep the hyper around if I needed to, screen my Ultra to prevent power attacks to try and stop enemy units/monster from getting within 2 squares so I couldn’t get shot. I wanted to try and let the alpha soak up damage with its 7 health and keep healing then hyper up to deal the damage with long range blasts courtesy of a Radar Array.

Ubercorp List  

4x Robo Squix

2x Elite Robo Squix

2x Shadowgate

2x Interceptor

2x UCI MRV

1x Sun Drone

1x Katana

1x Elite C-Type Shinobi

3x Bank HQ

3x Skyscraper

2x Radar Array

1x Imperial State Building

1x Chyrstaline Building

1x Privateer Press Building

1x Insurance Company HQ

 As I normally play GUARD I’m used to fielding a very shooty force as I wasn’t sure about Carnidons because I don’t have too many Underground Network Buildings I chose Robo Squix to be the main body of the force. The squix have good movement and some good anti-unit abilities, theses would be used to remove units packed together securing buildings in my opponents power base (also at least one of these will go in to my SSS for explosion). 2 MRV’s were included to make sure I could always spawn a second to reach my monster to heal if it wasn’t possible with the first, they are also good to help set up a power base, these used with shadowgates really protect units securing buildings from range as well as hooping on a power point with amplify. As I was missing out on blue High Impact that I would have got from Khan I included a single katana, they have plenty of movement and this paired with hover should be able to move adjacent to a Squix or 2 to grant High Impact for those extra boost dice this was to help out if I couldn’t get next to or secure a bank. The C-Type was there to help against nasty Hyper forms, interceptor to move up to drop the C-type off to lead an attack for Disrupt. The lone Sun Drone was for the extra power dice and it has pretty good defence, especially with the MRV, and cheeky no fly zone to help screen when necessary. The interceptors will allow me to spawn the Squix near the enemy then spawn the interceptors from the points further away to drop off Sun Drone or Shadowgates. Finally the Shadowgates, as I have said previously these help keep my securing units around and it’s never a bad thing to give G-Trons alpha cloak if against a blast heavy force.

I was now happy with my Ubercorp force with a hint (or huge amount) of SSS now for the Tritons.

Anglax I’ve got to say I really didn’t like this model and loved the one for Krakenoctus and never thought I would play it because of this, but after a while looking at the same previews over and over waiting for this set I really started to like it and when it arrived I think I’m starting to prefer how it looks over Krakenoctus.

As I did when choosing my Monster for the Ubercorp I had a quick look at each monsters stats, I really like Krakenoctus’ Ultra form, the combo with towing a unit to brawl, fling in to the enemy monster and to heal one damage then shooting it with following fire is really nice and as I found out the other day when I used it, it can really work well if you can put up an effective screen and be quite close to the enemy units as I managed to easily get back up to full health by the end of the game. I couldn’t help but notice Ultra Anglax’s power stat, 4 boost dice is really nice, you should save a power dice (especially with weaken for the -1 defence) on slam, headbutt or ram attack which helps when trying to take consecutive monster turns. Weaken in both forms works nicely with power attacks I don’t think lowering opponents defence would ever be a bad thing. Leach on both forms is also I really like, I normally try and get one or two points of damage on a monster in my unit turns so gaining health as well is a nice bonus, especially as it can free up your monster from brawling a building so you can hit the enemy monster again in your monster turn and also helps when you have no more High occupancy buildings remaining. Command is a good ability, being able to screen yourself but then move it in to a more effective position is never a bad thing (this came in handy in one of the rounds). Super Rampage in alpha can come in handy, as Anglax is ground bound the only way it can move round the map is by smashing things, by rampaging through a couple of buildings it can open up a side of the map to move around and gain lots of power dice. I think the ability that clinched it was Blue High Impact in Ultra, granting Nautlius blasters or anything else for that matter a free boost dice means fewer numbers in combined attacks allowing you to attack more targets.

Once again I now had decided on my monster, it just needed a force.

Tritons list:

3x Nautilus Blaster

2x Spiral Relay

2x Spadefin Skimmer

2x Steel Shell Crab

1x Elite Steel Shell Crab

1x Power Pod

1x Nulifier Pod

2x Saucer

1x Marauder

3x Bank HQ

3x Apartment Building

1x Imperial State Building

1x Chrystalline Building

1x Insurance Company HQ

2x Radar Array

1x Privateer Press Building

Again I went for a shooty force, it’s obviously what I’m comfortable with, this time a couple of brawling units were added. I really like the Steel Shell Crabs, for starters free boost dice, I’m not complaining helps to hit monsters in unit turns. I feel that the crab abilities work well both offensively and defensively, burrow allows you to move in to most places (even with their 4 movement), reach allows them to hit flying units and to extend their threat range as they can brawl through a screening enemy figure, dig in allows you to secure power points really well as this ability grants cover your opponent is faced with a defence 5 unit (and when you look at the monster stats from Now it’s on par with quite a few). I wasn’t sure about the Spadefins, I do really like their abilities but when It comes to a shooting unit my main choice was the Nautlius Blaster. As I wasn’t going to be using them as my main blast unit they would be used in a support role, to help move my units around the map, hinder my opponent by towing units in to hazards and away from secured buildings and to extinguish any hazards that may affect my monster or help my opponent’s. The Nautilus Blaster, long range and a boost dice, red! power gorge, amphibious and armour piercing. What’s not to like? Probably their low movement, this can be solved with Radar to give them 7 range and being able to tow/command them extra movement so this isn’t so much of a problem, especially if I can tow enemy units in to range and just stay at the back and shoot. Spiral relays, the only reason for them being in the list is to help out with movement issues, with red synchronised move they help the Nautilus Blasters get in to better positions and red sprint will help to get that extra little bit of movement that is sometimes missing when you really need to screen. The Maruader was included to lead attacks for explosion, the plan was for a Marauder to attack with a Nautilus Blaster to hit a unit to disrupt a power base or huge group of nasty units to gain a few power dice. I included 2 Saucers to transport the pods wanting to spawn 1 to begin with and the second if needed once a pod was dropped off the saucer is then free to secure a power, green spawn or negative zone. Power Pod, obviously there for power points to help accumulate power dice, haven’t used refuel with it though, can’t see it being as effective in this force. Nullifier Pod, I’ve really started to like this unit, I like the ability to have weaken most places on the map and to be able to place it where I need it, this is to help reduce defence even more, work especially well with the good old Nautilus Blasters.

For the choice of buildings I had a standard list with the only difference between forces being the Apartment Buildings for the Tritons that would allow me to heal and the Skyscrapers in Ubercorp to make my units even quicker.  The Privateer Press building would be for mainly screening and maybe the occasional cheap unit.  My power base would hoepfully consist of the Insurance Company HQ, Imperial State Building and a Radar Array, this should gain me quite a lot of power dice through power ups and destroyed buildings and grant radar to the necessary figures.  I would try to scatter the banks around the map so I could secure them for the extra boost dice when able each side of the map.  Finally the Chrystalline Building, what’s not to love?  Only getting thrown on to it yourself, but this is there to deal a lot of damage to widen the gap in health between monsters.

Now I had both forces ready. Now I was ready for the tournament.

In part 2, my quick report of the day’s games and see if I did well or take the beating I was expecting.

After finally getting hold of a few G1 Strike Fighters I’ve been using them a lot it my recent games with my G.U.A.R.D. force.  I found out how to use them after a couple of games and realized how ridiculous they are and have now found a place in just about every army list for my G.U.A.R.D.  Also after these games everyone else in a group found out how ridiculous they are and soon started to hate them.

G1’s have been a very big part of why I have been winning in my games, whilst being aware of people not liking them I tried to take them out of my lists but always at least an Elite and 2 grunts found their way in to the list.

I recently had a thought about how good G1’s are and if it would be possible to create a list without G1’s that is as competitive with G1’s.

The Monster

Defender X /Ultra Defender X

I decided to go for Defender X with its Ultra form as this was the first monster I opened for the G.U.A.R.D also the abilities it are really good with units.  I also wanted to really set my self a challenge by moving  away from Sky Sentinel with Rocket Choppers as it’s a very similar list as if I were using G1’s.    Blue Force Field is excellent with G-Tanks, making them 6 defence when in cover which is a really hard nut to crack.  In Hyper form Defender X grants energy cycle which helps with action dice efficiency allowing for multiple combined attacks.

The Units

4x G-Tank

2x Elite G-Tank

1x Ion Tank

1x Elite Ion Tank

2x Mobile Ops Centre

2x Repair Vehicle

2x Rocket Chopper

1x Fuel Truck

As I had decided with Defender X I wanted to use a base of G-Tanks to make the most of force field and to use them to create and maintain a power base at the back of my side of the map. After granting Radar to my units by securing the Defence base allowing my units to launch attacks from far away so I should be able to save action dice for attacks by not having to spend a lot of dice on movement.  2 Mobile Ops Centres have been added to add a bonus dice to combined attacks, it also comes in handy if I can’t get radar from a building.  I like Rocket Choppers as they have Spotter, this helps when attacking monsters as it is the same as getting a hit with a dice, therefore I can keep an action dice (as it only has a 50/50 chance of hitting) back to heal with Repair or to move a unit in to a better position. The Ion Tanks have been included for their triggers as they will lead a combined attack to try and remove power dice from my opponents pool.

My City

3x Bank HQ

2x G.U.A.R.D. Defence Base

1x Chrystaline Building

1x Statue of Liberty

1x Office Building

1x Government Building

1x Insurance Company HQ

1x Privateer Press

1x Downtown High Rise

For my buildings I decided to go for the usual choices that I use with my G.U.A.R.D, like everyone has noticed, the Defence bases replaces Radar Arrays, with it having a lot better defence and having some cool abilities, I’ve found discount really useful, getting a cheap Elite unit or a free grunt, I’ve never used teleport as I tend to use Beacon, Repair or refuel.  The Insurance Company HQ is an important part of my power base as it helps produce power dice allowing me to flex with Defender X to keep the Hyper form in one piece.  Probably the second most important building is the Bank HQ, this is to make up for the bonus dice that are lost by not using G1’s.

My first game

I first used this list against Limbo with his Planet Eaters using Xaxor.  I managed to get a decent base set up with a couple of G-Tanks and an Elite securing a Defence Base.  The tanks managed to pick off most of Joe’s units and create an advantage in numbers.  By securing a Bank HQ and Defence building and with Defender X’s Safeguard ability managed to generate quite a lot of power dice.  Joe had placed Xaxor in a very unfortunate position and was thrown in to the Chrystaline building which gave me the advantage with damage.  By hanging back and taking shots with my units then shooting with Defender X and healing the damage from Exploahawks I eventually won the game.

Summary

I enjoyed playing with this list and it seemed to work, not sure how exactly it would of gone with I hadn’t managed to throw Xaxor in to the Chrystaline building.  The G-Tanks worked well up until they were stomped on by Xaxor but the Planet Eater Belchers weren’t much of a threat.   The only thing I may change would be adding a couple more Rockets Choppers, as they can fly and have the extra movement I would be able to secure more buildings in further up the map.

Thanks for reading,

ZH

G.U.A.R.D Vs Lords of Cthul

Ulgoth Vs Sky Sentinel

Map:  Wrecking Ball

G.U.A.R.D to take first turn

G.U.A.R.D Unit Turn 1

G-Tanks escorted by Rocket Choppers arrived in the vicinity where the foul Cthul monster, Ulgoth, was sighted.  As ordered they advanced toward the Statue of Liberty securing it and defending it at all costs.  One Rocket Chopper moved further into the city scouting the area ahead.  The now fully fuelled Sky Sentinel advanced to find and put and end to the destruction of the city.

I spawned 2 G-Tanks, 2 Rocket Choppers and a Shadow Fuel Truck, I secured the Statue of Liberty to advantage of Attraction early and to use her as a foundation for my power base.  Taking advantage of the freshly spawned Fuel Truck I refueled Sky Sentinel and moved it in to the cover of some buildings screening any possible attacks and I was able to move up to attack Ulgoth in my monster turn.

Lords of Cthul Unit Turn 1

The city was full of corrupted buildings, the monstrous hulk that is Ulgoth moving further in to the city over the wreck of the Laser Knight with newly summoned minions of Cthul passing through the streets.

Joe spawned a Meat Slave and a Snatcher along with summoning a second Snatcher both Snatchers advanced in to the middle of the city to attack both low defence Rocket Choppers but missed failing to destroy the Chopper.  The Tower of Corruption in the centre of the map shot at the Rocket Chopper but like the Snatcher failed to take out the Chopper.

G.U.A.R.D Monster Turn 1

Sky Sentinel had sight of Ulgoth but also the corrupted buildings, fortunately the entire area had been evacuated due to the attack and eventual defeat of Laser Knight.  Spotting that Ulgoth would not be able to cause a lot of damage in its current position the infected buildings would be the main priority.

I had managed to advance Sky Sentinel in my unit turn with the Fuel Truck to try and get in to a good position to attack in my first Monster turn, I powered up for 2 dice to help me get in to its Hyper Form as soon as possible.  After looking at the position of Ulgoth I couldn’t see that taking one shot at Ulgoth would be worth exposing Sky Sentinel to a power attack so I decided to try and remove a Tower of Corruption to stop Joe’s units being able to move easily to my side of the map.  The shot hit destroying the building.

Lords of Cthul Monster Turn 1

It didn’t look like the foul Cthul beast hadn’t noticed the immense protector of Earth and continued its rampage through the city making short work of the near by apartment building.

I’m not going to lie, Joe took ages thinking about what he was going to do this turn, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to remove the apartment building leaving him open to a throw power attack, he then realized he was massive and didn’t care so advanced then stepped up to the building, hitting and destroying it for the power dice.  He initially missed but realized he still had a dice stuck to his hand which he got the last hit he needed.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 2

Sky Sentinel had called for air support, a trio of G1 Strike Fighters arrived on the scene.  The evil of Cthul had spread far too deep in to the city and needed to be stopped at any cost.  The G1’s flew in to the reach of the living tower and launched all they had in to it, the tower set ablaze falling in on itself.  The third G1 locked on to a stray Snatcher shooting it down with ease.

After destroying the first Tower of Corruption in the centre of the map the second was also going to be a problem allowing Joe to summon any of his units so I needed to remove it quick.  I’m sure everyone knows how ridiculous G1’s are with Sky Sentinel so it was up to them to destroy the tower.  2 of the 3 moved in range of the tower and took a shot with more than enough bonus dice they easily hit.  The G1 that had not attacked took a shot at

Lords of Cthul Unit Turn 2

A pair of Snatchers appeared from a building tainted by the Cthul, the bigger of the two floated up to a Rocket Chopper and tore it out of the sky another Snatcher appeared from the wreck, 2 others attacked a lone G1 bringing it crashing to the ground, again a Snatcher appeared from the wreck.

An Elite Snatcher was summoned from the last remaining Tower of Corruption and moved up to my Rocket Chopper on a power point attack. A couple of attacks later more Snatchers had been manufactured so the rest of my units were in trouble.  I can definitely see why Joe loves those pesky little Snatchers only by summoning an elite he managed to get 4 on to my side of the map.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 2

The Sky Sentinel had witnessed the loss of units under its command by the same evil that is trying to take over the city its duty is to protect.  Taking no notice of the risk ahead, Sky Sentinel stuck at the centre of the Cthul menace.  Landing with such a force the Sky Sentinel wiped out the vile beasts and the tainted buildings.

I wanted to remove the Snatchers or my units securing my buildings would get destroyed.  It would be expensive re-spawning my units to secure the buildings in my power base then it would be difficult trying to cause damage to Ulgoth or to take out Joes units on my unit turns so I went for a risky stomp leaving Sky Sentinel in the open to get attacked by Ulgoth. I went for it, killing 3 of the 4 Snatchers and gaining 5 power dice.

Lords of Cthul Monster Turn 2

Seeing that Sky Sentinel was left in the open Ulgoth took advantage of the situation, charged in to the gigantic protector of mankind lifting it above his head and throwing it in to the Statue of Liberty and the neighboring Insurance Company HQ.

I knew my previous monster turn was going to be risky but I didn’t think it was going to hurt like that, taking 4 points of damage was bad. I was going to have to be very careful and make sure I kept screening to keep any further damage.

G.U.A.R.D Unit Turn 3

G1’s flew in to screen Sky Sentinel while it rose from the rubble and flames.  A repair vehicle also arrived to aid Sky Sentinel.  The G1’s aimed and fired at Ulgoth in attempt to distract it from attacking Sky Sentinel.

To prevent Ulgoth from aligning and executing another power attack.  By moving my G1’s in front of Sky Sentinel I created a screen from power attacks but were also granted additional range.  With the amount of bonus dice from each G1 a couple shot at Ulgoth managing to hit and destroyed the Oil Refinery because of Volatile, the remaining G1’s shot and killed the last Snatcher.

Lords of Cthul Monster Turn 3

Ulgoth has responded quickly to the G1 Strike Fighters and followed up its attack on Sky Sentinel by smashing in to the screening G1 Strike Fighters annihilating them.

By having placed my G1’s adjacent to Sky Sentinel and each other I left them open to a stomp attack (something that I need to work on is to look for attacks my opponent can make and try and place my units/monster to minimize damage).  Now Joe had gained 3 power dice so I was trying to find a place for where Sky Sentinel couldn’t be hit by a power attack.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 3

Sky Sentinel had increased power to all of its systems but took cover behind some near by buildings, as it could not afford to take much more damage.  A shot was fired at Ulgoth which was quickly followed by another easily hitting and damaging the Cthul monster.

I managed to get behind the Indestructible Privateer Press Building and my other units provided a good enough screen to prevent Ulgoth from moving adjacent.  Taking a shot and another with Lightning Attack I began dealing a decent amount of damage to Ulgoth.

Lords of Cthul Unit Turn 3

Though many had been destroyed still, even more minions of Cthul appeared and moved further in to the city, corrupting all they passed.  A Snatcher struck a Rocket Chopper sending it in to the ground and a Meat Slave emerged.

Joe had summoned an Elite Corrupter and spawned a Snatcher then advanced both.  The corrupter was placed close to Sky Sentinel to make use of Jam to put a stop to Wing Leader.  The Snatcher attacked and hit manufacturing a Meat Slave close to Ulgoth ready to heal.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 4

G1 Strike fighters flew in, the squads’ leader launched an attack against the Corrupter destroying it re-establish communications.  The remaining G1’s fired upon Ulgoth dealing serious damage to the foul beast.

There was a gap behind all of the buildings that Sky Sentinel was taking cover behind so I moved my units to screen from being attacked by Ulgoth.  I also needed to get rid of the Corrupter so I good generate extra bonus dice to have a chance of dealing damage to Ulgoth.  I sent in the Elite G1 as it comes with 2 bonus dice also having Indirect Fire the odds looked good for hitting, I managed to hit killing the corrupter giving the rest of my G1’s Wing Leader.  Now having the extra bonus dice each the remaining 2 G1’s shot Ulgoth, hitting and leaving it on one health.

Lords of Cthul Monster Turn 4

Ulgoth retreated back to from where it came.  it stumbled up to the flaming ruins of buildings that had fallen victim to it’s rampage, Ulgoth flailed in pain and anger round flames, eventually putting them out.

Joe became a little cautious with Ulgoth as its Alpha form had nearly been destroyed.  He retreated to his side of the map and stomped out the hazards that could cause extra damage in future turns.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 4

Sky Sentinel had spotted an opportunity, Ulgoth was in retreat and had taken a lot of damage, it advanced taking cover behind the near by Bank Headquarters and took a shot that knocked Ulgoth to the ground.

With Ulgoth only have one health left on its Alpha form I had the opportunity to kill the form. I moved in to range but not compromising its position by being behind a building, I then took a shot that hit destroying the form.

Lords of Cthul Monster Turn 5

Ulgoth rose from the ground, it seemed to be full of rage and unbelievably full of energy.  As soon as it got its footing Ulgoth charged straight towards the Bank Headquarters at full speed, knocking over the building with ease and the rubble fell on to the G.U.A.R.D. Robot.

The one thing with Monsterpocalypse that causes me problems is remembering all of the abilities my units and monsters have as well as remembering all of the possible power attacks.  This came in to effect when Joe ran Ulgoth up to the Bank HQ and rammed it into Sky Sentinel for two damage, because I forgot about the Ram power attack and Ulgoth having Annihilate.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 5

After suffering a devastating blow with the Bank HQ raining down on it, Sky Sentinel hastily retreated.

I had kept an action dice behind just in case anything happened, like it did, so I managed to move behind cover again creating another screen.

Lords of Cthul Unit Turn 4

A corrupter appeared from the Corrupted Tower and Snatchers had moved up to an apartment building and launched an attack raising it to the ground.  The Tower that had produced the Corrupter took a swipe with its great tentacle but it just glanced a near by office building.

Joe summoned an Elite Corruptor for Jam again, moved his Snatchers up to an Apartment building, attacked and destroyed it.  The Tower of Corruption took a shot at the Office building to clear anything that Ulgoth could be thrown in to but unfortunately missed.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 5

Another Strike Fighter entered the conflict joining the others launching a devastating attack causing an enormous amount of damage.  The repair vehicle began the necessary repairs to Sky Sentinel for the damage from when the building was pushed on to it.

I got my G1’s in position so all benefited from the Elite and also blocked the path leading to Sky Sentinel.  With Ulgoth’s low defense I decided to try more than one attack, with all the bonus dice G1’s get both attacks hit.  To try and keep a hold of my advantage in health I repaired one health with the Repair Vehicle, these are one of the most important units to G.U.A.R.D.  The ability to heal is priceless making your opponent try more risky power attacks to counter act this.

Lords of Cthul Monster Turn 6

Again Ulgoth retreated after taking damage but then charged in to the Downtown High Rise forcing glass and steel to rain down on Sky Sentinel leaving behind a blazing inferno where once the building stood.

I had obviously either ignored or forgotten Joe’s last turn when he rammed a building on to me so it happened again, not a good move by me.  I just had more health than Joe’s monster, I just needed to be even more careful in my turns now if I was going to win.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 6

Sky Sentinel re-positioned and fired upon its disgusting adversary 2 shots were fired and both hit, the sacks and boils on Ulgoth’s back exploding with puss hitting the ground corrupting everything it covered.

I stuck with my plan of keeping mobile and trying to consistently deal damage with ranged attacks along with Lightning Attack for 2 damage each turn.

Lords of Cthul Unit Turn 5

Another Snatcher appeared, no matter how many the G.U.A.R.D. force killed still more Cthul, as if they were in unlimited in number.  Ulgoth absorbed a Meat Slave as if it aided the monster in recovering from its wounds.  The Snatchers moved in and attacked the Strike Fighters, one was taken out producing another Snatcher.

Joe managed to get a health back as he had his Meat Slave adjacent to Ulgoth, buying him some time.  He tried to gain a advantage with his units by attacking to manufacture more Snatchers which would in turn keep manufacturing more Snatchers.  Fortunately, for me, he only managed to hit with one attack.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 7

The remaining G1 Strike Fighters engaged Ulgoth in combat but only some hit, it wasn’t quite enough to finish it off.

With Ulgoth only having 2 health left I tried to finish the game there and then, the second attacked missed but it knocked it down 1 health so even if Joe managed to heal I would still have the ability to deal 2 damage.

Lords of Cthul Monster Turn 7

Ulgoth responded to the G1’s attacked by swinging furiously in to them.  One unfortunate pilot was hit and was forced in to Sky Sentinel.

As I wasn’t thinking about possible power attacks it cost me, again, luckily only a form and not the game this time.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 7

Sky Sentinel’s pilot saw that it was obvious that Ulgoth didn’t have much left in it and a couple more shots would make the city safe.  The targeting computers had been damaged during the conflict and just skimmed Ulgoth, it didn’t even notice the shot.

I had a chance to finish the game if my attack hit then my second triggered from Lightning Attack also hit.  My first attack missed only by one, if only I had a Rocket Chopper nearby, it was going to take a couple of more turns.

Lords of Cthul Unit Turn 6

A Meat Slave appeared and like the one before was absorbed by Ulgoth.  Snatchers advanced and attacked the G1’s the skilled pilots easily evaded the attack.

Meat Slaves just like Repair Vehicles are valuable to their factions gaining health just negates what your opponent has managed to do.  Although managing to heal the rest of Joe’s turn didn’t go so well, not killing any of my G1’s meant they were left to attack Ulgoth next turn.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 7

I used R&D from the Privateer Press building to give Ulgoth minus 1 defense to make it easier to hit.  2 G1’s combined and hit for a point of damage then 2 more combined with the Rocket Chopper to deal the last point of damage and to win the game.

A Rocket Chopper arrived to spot for the G1’s, a duo of Strike Fighters launched their payload at Ulgoth critically damaging the monster, the other 2 G1’s combined their fire with the Rocket Chopper, their attacking hitting.  Ulgoth stumbled backwards then fell to the floor writhing in pain tentacles filled he air until then collapsed, hitting the ground like stone, Ulgoth had been defeated and the city was safe……. for now.

Summary

I thought my plan went well, pretty much standard with Sky Sentinel, running behind cover and make blast attacks then letting the G1’s do the rest of the work. The G1’s are one of the most deadly units in the game then get even better once Sky Sentinel gets involved being able to deal multiple points of damage in both monster and unit turns is fantastic. By including the Privateer Press in my city it provides cover for the whole game then it is less the responsibility of the units to screen.  It was definitely a close game in the end despite me having dealing more damage than Joe in the early turns by me making mistakes and Joe taking advantage of those mistakes.  All in all a game I enjoyed playing,  I finally got a use Sky Sentinel and actually play a game after 2 weeks of people going on holiday and the awesomeness of winning (something I’m not used to even though I’m constantly told how ridiculous G.U.A.R.D are)

Thanks for reading

ZH

I’m not the only person that hates the fading dice.

I’m also sure I am not the only person that looked into getting custom dice. They look deceptivley cheap. £0.25 a side? Winner…wait…6 sides a dice, 24+ dice…

Though I also hope that I am not the only person that fell for that trick…

So, what are the alternatives?

- D6 and a lot of getting used to
- Indented dice and DIY hits
- Buy more dice
- Get a better box/bag

These are the only ones I can think of. I refuse to spend £9.99 every time my dice go all fadey on an unecessary duplicate accessory pack.

Buying a better bag/box. I have heard this works, and to be honest having an excuse to buy another dice bag/box is salivating, but with time it will happen again and more dice is inevitable.

D6’s. This seems wrong. It doesn’t seem natural, It’s better than nothing, but a chuffing ball-ache. Sure, 30 coloured dice will work but it’s going to make the games unnecessarily complex and long.

Indented dice seems like the most work, but the most cost/effective. They are perfect. Regular dice, with indented square faces for stickers. The problem is, and I’m not going to lie it is a BIG problem. I can’t find them ANYWHERE. I have spent countless hours of my work time trawling the internet for indented dice. I see them online, what they look like…but not where to actually buy the feckers.

AAAAARGH!

How have you been solving the dice problem?

Two holidays later… we’re back.

So, after much deliberation (and a payday later) I went nuts and ordered some stuffs:

1x Mogroth – Alpha + Ultra
1x Ancient Oshereth – Alpha’s + Ultra
4x Elite Snatchers
2x Grunt Snatchers
3x Shadow Snatchers
1x Elite Corrupter

I am a Planet Eater player at heart, I am having an affair with the snatchers.

The only problem I am having is what to actually use.

I know I want 10 snatchers. Though I also know this is neither practical or sane, 9 sounds better.

For some reason I have a real need to have 3 Shadow Snatchers in there, because I own 3. Which is fair enough, but then that only really leaves me with the option for 2 grunt snatchers.

While I would like to do that to max out on snatchers, I am well aware it wouldn’t be a stretch to say it would be redundant.

So far, I can’t help but think that maybe:

3x Shadow Snatcher
2x Grunt Snatcher
4x Elite Snatcher
1x Elite Corrupter
3x Meat Slaves
2x Cthulabite

I am well aware that the first unit turn isn’t going to be cheap. I’m not dumb. I am aware that only 5 of my units cost 1, and that I don’t want to be playing them all on turn 1.

But with three ToC and one PP Building, incubate and manufacture. It shouldn’t be too difficult so spam a snatcher onto the front line. This should then allow the units to flood the board.

This list gives me all the Flying hate I could need, all the powerbase wreckage I could need, enough free units to fuel my love for the snatchers. The meat slaves are always just there. Redonk in some games, little fat blobs in others.

I have taken a leaf from everyone elses book by taking an elite Corrupter. What can I say? I’m a conformist and I like super damage.

I have yet to test this out, as my fellow geek is on holiday and the internets have not delivered me my snatchers yet.

I’d go into which monster I’m going to use this set up with, but to tell the truth. I think it’s all of them.

Hi, as this is my first article/post on my blog in about a year I feel the need to reintroduce myself to the new readers.

I’m a british geek. I was never really a geek until I started playing a couple of card games about 5 years ago. From there I progressed to being a board gamer as well, until finally a friend of mine stumbled upon MonPoc. As a card gamer I find building an army, finding the equilibriums, game theory(without nukes) and varying strategies just as exciting as playing the game itself.

This is one of many non-battle report posts to be up over the lifetime of this blog.

Over the past year, the face of Cthul has changed largley.

Rise
When the LoC first came about, they had 4 unit types.
Squix – Jack of all trades master of poop all. Sure, flight is good, sure Confusion is good. So what, Screening characters they are meant to be? Fair enough.
Spitter – Short range and 1A + 1B is poop. Guard have G-Tanks. I know which i’d play.
Meat Slave – Sure incubator is nice but with a big fat 0 attack, Mr Creasote Lookalikes are again screeners and holders.
Task Master – This guy is good. He could be the best unit in the game, and it still wouldn’t make a viable agressive LoC strategem. (He isn’t the best FYI)

The rise strategy guide was useful in telling you that Meat Slaves are key, which I think everybody knew. It didn’t make me look at them differently as an army at all. The guide gives you no viable way to attack with these and do any amount of non-monster damage.

Why is this relevant?

Since rise, they have been blessed with a further 4 units. What is so special about these units? Everything.

From my experience, units where always the straw that broke the monsters back. Monster on monster damage is something almost every monster can cope with, but unit on monster damage is what wins games. Previously, this was something that Cthul had a real problem with, because they had no way of neutralising enemy units.

No more. The new revamped Cthul has totally shifted the way Cthul can be played. No more are the days of the Demons ruled by little fat bleeding men.

Back to the new units:
Corrupter – These little brawlers while cool, aren’t amazing at fighting. The little abilities they grant through warrant an elite in most armies with Summon.
Tanglix – Halt can really slow the enemy up, get them onto the other side of the board, and these little peckers can cuase havok hitting even flying units with Radial attack, one next to a spawn point can really slow the opponents game down.
Cthulabite – What can I say. I should hate these. Spending 2 spawning for no bonus dice sucks…if you don’t have weaken. Weaken and multishot are great crowd control, not to mention they are relatively hard to hit with confusion and flight.

These are ok, but the show stoppers are the snatchers. They are as important to Cthul as the three seashells are to the future of sanitation.

So lets look at them shall we?

Agility – If ninjas were green and purple, they’d be quite similar. While 5 movement isn’t amazing, jump is. Building leaping while still able to secure important mid table points and benefit from cover? Yes please
Strength – 2A – Dice without any bonus dice and only two defence. Nothing special yet. Although as with everything an elite in the mix makes it a different story.
Powers – So then, so far so average. What makes them playable? What makes them amazing? Manufacture. These really do fall into the top tier of units. Chaining multiple manufactures together can seriously disrupt a power base, considering that if you alternate between elites and grunts they can all get nearly all the way to the other side of the map with bonus dice all the way. I know I have managed to get 3 out on my first unit turn against a swarm of rocket choppers.

The power of the snatchers has totally shifted the look of the Cthul.

Where before the picks were quite conservative to allow for multiple eventualities and that we could ”toolbox” it seems like the shift has been to heavily focus your unit list based on these aggressive characters.

So, with my undying love and bias for the Snatchers aside, would this aggressive still be viable without them?

I’m not going to lie, Cthul players will know this, after spawning the units that are worth playing and moving and you find yourself will little amounts of A-Dice to attack with. With the lack of bonus dice it does suck mega tentacles. They are then reduced to the radial attack of the Tanglix or the Short Range multishot of Cthulabite which, just to not neither of which benefit from B-Dice.

So, can it be done without them? Yes. Will you have as much fun? Probably not.

So I know for myself, since the release of the Snatchers, the Cthul will never be the same again.

Thanks
Limbo

This is the first, hopefully not the last, battle report for this blog.

Map:  Mean Streets

G.U.A.R.D – Laser Knight

Lords of Cthul – Ulgoth

Guard to place first building, place monster first and to take the first turn

The Forces:

G.U.A.R.D

Laser Knight, Alpha/Ultra

1x Elite G1 Strike Fighter
3x G1 Strike Fighter
1x Elite Rocket Chopper
3x Rocket Chopper
1x Elite G-Tank
3x G-Tank
2x Repair Vehicles

1x Fuel Truck

I decided to go for Laser Knight as I have only used it once or twice.  As Laser Knight is immune to super damage and he can deal super damage in it’s Alpha form so I thought it would be quite a good match up against Ulgoth as I could quite consistently deal more than one point of damage a turn with crunch and power attacks to try and takeout Ulgoth before taking too much damage from Volatile.

For my units I wanted to use my G1’s that I just managed to get hold of and they’re too good not to be in most G.U.A.R.D lists.  I like to have a couple of G-Tanks with elite to secure a couple of buildings and to take out opposing units and the odd point of damage against a monster.    Repair Vehicles are a must, the ability to heal can win games.  Rocket Choppers, the spotter ability really comes in handy when trying to deal damage to a monster on a unit turn.

Lords of Cthul

Ulgoth Alpha/Ultra

3x Snatcher
1x Elite Snatcher
3x Tanglix
1x Elite Tanglix
2x Meatslave
2x Cthulabite
2x Taskmaster
1x Corrupter

GUARD Unit Turn 1

So I ended up taking the first turn, a group of G-tanks rolled up and secured the TV Network High Rise and Defence Base covering the right side of the map.  A squadron of G1 Strike Fighters flew down the left flank to prevent any Cthul units from advancing and taking out the G.U.A.R.D base.  I spawned 2 G-tanks and Elite G-tank and secured the TV Network High Rise and the G.U.A.R.D Defence Base to start generating power dice.

I spawned and advanced an Elite and 2 Grunt G1 Strike Fighters, trying to force Joe to move his units down the same side on the map to try and protect my “Power Base” and maybe get a shot against Ulgoth on the next turn.

Cthul Unit Turn 1

3 Snatchers and a Tanglix appeared around Ulgoth, all moved further in to the city.  A Snatcher appeared from behind a TV High Rise and attacked a G1 Strike Fighter the Snatcher taking out a Fighter, a Meat Slave is summoned next to the Snatcher.

Joe spawned 3 Snatchers and Tanglix.  The Snatchers moved forward securing a couple of power points so was matching me for power dice on a successful power up. The third moved up and attacked a G1 Strike Fighter managing to roll a super strike to take it out the manufacturing a meat slave on a neutral spawn point.

G.U.A.R.D Monster Turn 1

The Laser Knight has Ulgoth in its sights, the Cthul had started to corrupt the near by buildings, they had to be destroyed, all of the buildings had been evacuated.

I managed power up for a couple of power dice.  As we were playing on Mean Streets and we managed to fill the map with buildings I wanted to try and get rid of a few to try and prevent damage later on from being thrown in to them.  Lining up to 3 buildings and stomping to gain 3 more power dice and remove some buildings to try and clear the left side of the map to prevent damage in the late game.

Cthul Monster Turn 1

The Ulgoth ran up to a Skyscraper wrapped it’s tentacles around it in an attempt to pull it down unfortunately, for the Cthul, the superior build quality of the building bested Ulgoth.

Joe powered up for 2 dice then decided to move to the Skyscraper to destroy it for the power dice.

Unfortunately he fluffed the dice roll and totally missed, Skyscraper 1, Ulgoth 0.

G.U.A.R.D Unit Turn 2

Reinforcements arrive, G1 Strike Fighters for the left flank and open fire with the aid of the targeting systems from the G.U.A.R.D Defence Base killing the Snatcher next to the High Rise.  The G-Tanks halted the attack by the lone Snatcher on the right flank.

I spawned a cheap Elite G1 (Discount is a bit cheeky on the Defence Base) and a Rocket Chopper.  The Rocket Chopper moved towards the Snatcher to lower the defence with Spotter.  The amount of bonus dice from the G1 Fighters coupled with indirect fire easily took out the Snatcher.  The range bonus from Radar allowed the G-Tanks to hit the other Snatcher, bonus dice from the Elite and the minus defence from Spotter made the other Snatcher easy to deal with.

Cthul Unit Turn 2

Cthulabite’s and a Snatcher appeared close to the G.U.A.R.D line, they launched an attack the G1’s managing to hit both.

Joe Spawned a Cthulabite and summoned another next the G1’s using 4 dice to shoot the first and destroying the other with Multi Shot, really nasty against my low defence flyers.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 2

After the Cthulabites had taken the 2 G1’s Laser Knight advanced towards them and stomped, destroying one a Cthulabite, the High Rise and extinguished the fire from the

I wanted to try and get rid of the hazard and take out the Cthulabite to stop from getting to my G-Tanks securing the Defence Base whilst still trying to get rid of some of the hazards on that side of the map, I thought that another stomp was the only option to hit 3 targets.  I managed to extinguish behind me to stop a throw or slam in to it.  The Cthulabite’s looked liked they were going to be trouble with my units so I wanted to destroy at least one. Pretty successful turn,  just need to keep an eye on Ulgoth but that building seems a bit too much for it to handle at the moment.

Cthul Monster Turn 2

Ulgoth wrapped its tentacles further round the building, it ripped it apart leaving a blazing inferno.

Joe was determined to destroy this building just on principle, it wasn’t just about the power dice.  He rolled the same dice as last time trusting that this time it would work, fortunately, for Joe, it did gaining a few power dice.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 3

A repair vehicle pulled up in the vicinity on standby to make any urgent repairs.  A duo of G1 Strike Fighters to deal with the last remaining Cthulabite.

I wanted to destroy the last Cthulabite forcing Joe to spawn both again if he wanted to use them again and this meant he wouldn’t be gaining any advantage on the number of units.  The G1’s made easy work of removing the Cthulabite.  I also got a repair vehicle on the map as it looked like my monster was going to be taken a bit of damage in the next turn or so, if not I could move it on to the near by power point to  be taking advantage of the Laser Knight’s Amplify ability.

Cthul Unit Turn 3

A Snatcher appeared and took over a power point.  More Cthulabites were summoned and attacked the G1 Strike Fighters. Taking advantage of their close grouping shots were fired wiping out both G1’s and an unfortunate repair vehicle.

I hadn’t placed my G1’s very well keeping them close together to take advantage of the Elite for the extra bonus dice, although they only have short range they can get up close with flight and their movement of 5 to take a few units out with one combined shot.

G.U.A.R.D Monster Turn 3

The Laser Knight was moving through the city destroying all of the buildings tainted by the Cthul.

I moved the Laser Knight round the back of the 2 Cthulabite’s going to attempt another stomp to take out the buildings and both Cthulabite’s.  I put 3 power dice to make sure I hit and I would get them back after destroying 3 figures but failed, the building built as the same stuff as the Skyscraper.

Cthul Monster Turn 3

Ulgoth had seen an opportunity so strike, running by the Corrupted Tower block and charged towards the Laser Knight.  The Laser Knight turns and is met with a mass of Tentacles and is slammed in to the High Rise and had taken quite a deal of damage.

I thought I had my self covered but missed that he could move through a Snatcher, It was a bit risky on Joes part as he had used most of his dice on stepping to reach my monster but it had worked out slamming me for 3 damage, I now had a bit of an up hill struggle.

G.U.A.R.D Monster Turn 4

The Laser Knight rose from the flames and ruin of the High Rise and tried to wrestle the Cthul beast above his head but it struggled far too much and was far too heavy for the machine to deal with.  Just managing to lift Ulgoth the Laser Knight Slammed in to the Corrupted tower adjacent, 2 birds with 1 63 metre tall, robot like stone.

Leaving a couple of dice from my previous monster turn I had to make an attack to try and even the playing field.  I had a plan of throwing Ulgoth across the board trapping it behind a building forcing him to waste a turn destroying his own building, I then realised I didn’t have quite enough power dice or had enough to guarantee a power up then looked at Ulgoth’s base and saw the Massive ability, fail.  I went for the slam dealing a couple of points of damage kept me out of the way of extra damage.  2 points and 1 dealt to me because of Volatile, things wasn’t getting better on the damage front.

Cthul Unit Turn 4

More Snatchers had been summoned on the right flank looking like an attack was imminent the Rocket Chopper crews braced themselves.

Joe had twigged that a nice little trick was possible he moved towards my Rocket Choppers (that hadn’t really done anything) and attacked, using manufacture he placed another Snatcher next to the first and adjacent to the other Rocket Chopper.  The second Rocket Chopper attacked and hit the second Rocket Chopper manufacturing a Task Master on a power point.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 4

Even G1 Strike Fighters arrived on the left taking out the remaining Cthulabite.  The G-Tanks took aim at the Snatchers that were sure to advance to their position, with assistance from the Defence Base shot down the foul beings.

I moved the G1’s and took out the last Cthulabite.  I managed my dice to leave enough for a couple shots with my G-Tanks , both Grunts combined to take out one Snatcher and the Elite took a pot shot and luckily destroyed the other.

Cthul Monster Turn 4

Ulgoth looked as if it had increased power, it wrapped itself around the Laser Knight and hurled it across the city totally destroying the second G.U.A.R.D base.

Joe powered up for a couple of dice giving him enough to throw me in to my side of the map, taking out my spare defence base didn’t hurt as the one I was securing was the only one I really cared about.   The thing that I didn’t appreciate was my Alpha form had been destroyed, It wasn’t getting any better for me.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 5

Laser Knight had risen again from the remains of the building, charged towards Ulgoth through a blaze smashing it through 2 buildings.

I saw an opportunity that I could deal quite a bit of damage to Ulgoth and create some space in between Joe’s and my monsters.  It was a bit risky, moving through the fire and using all of my power dice, but I felt I had to give it a go as I got Ulgoth down to 1 health with the attack but now I would have to play the game a little less risky.

Cthul Unit Turn 5

Snatchers and Squix came to the aid of Ulgoth, possessing the area around them but seemed hesitant to attack.

I don’t think Joe appreciated the damage that was dealt to Ulgoth and started screening to save a bit of damage.  It wasn’t getting any easier for me.  With how his units was positioned he would be generating quite a few power dice.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 5

The G1’s now free from covering the left flank and had move over to support the G-Tanks to the right. They took aim and fired upon Ulgoth

I moved the G1’s to get a shot off at Ulgoth to take out the Alpha Form, I thought 3  including an Elite should be enough as the amount of bonus diced they have should near enough guarantee a hit.  They did hit, now I only had the Ultra form to take out.

Cthul Monster Turn 5

Ulgoth stayed in the cover of its minions and looked as if it was gathering power.

Joe left Ulgoth where it was and powered up for 4 dice, he was waiting for a big power attack in a second monster activation.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 6

Laser Knight made it’s way out of the fire and stomped destroying the last Cthulabite and the last building.

I wanted to try an remove the last building so I couldn’t be thrown in to it and to stop the cthulabite from lowering my defence with weaken.  I also wanted to get back to my half of the map so I could start to screen with my units from my spawn points.

Cthul Monster Turn 6

Ulgoth again went on the attack running in a very strange line but finished next to the Laser Knight and threw him with no thought of a lone Tanglix next to the fiery remains of 2 buildings.

Joe went for it to get the game finished. He managed to advance then step around all the hazards again not leaving many dice left for the attack but Joe had stocked up on power dice from the previous turn.  He threw Laser Knight in probably the worst place for me on the fire hazard right in the corner of the map.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 6

A Rocket Chopper G1 Strike Fighters arrived to distract Ulgoth and to hold it off until the Laser Knight could ready itself to take down Ulgoth.  The G1’s opened fire on Ulgloth, only slowing it downslightly.

I needed to pull something out of the bag or I was in a lot of trouble.  I tried screening with G1’s as well as a Rocket Chopper to lower defence.  I managed to take one health from Ulgoth from the G1 fire, I couldn’t see anything else at the time with the amount of action dice I had after using a lot spawning and setting up a screen.

Cthul Unit Turn 6

Cthulabites flew in an struck the screen of G1, at a first glance theG1’s looked like they had dodge all of the shots made against him but a last shot clipped an engine which forced it to crash in to the other.

Joe spawned those annoying Cthulabites again to remove my screening units (Cthulabites became very annoying throughout the game).  Having no bonus dice Joe rolled the maximum 4 action dice for the attack and scored one hit, I was relieved we both thought I had managed to keep my screen until Joe noticed that Cthulabites have weaken so knocked out my screen, I was in a lot of trouble.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 7

Laser Knight once again rose from the flames and rubble, now the safest place to be was in the cover of the rubble.

After I failed to power up I had a look at what I could do.  It looked like I couldn’t really move anywhere and Ulgoth would have to move through the fire to hit me and I was pretty much safe from unit attacks.  I took advantage of gaining a blast attack in Hyper form so I shot Ulgoth for 1 damage.

Chul Monster Turn 7

Ulgoth charged through the fire in to slamming Laser Knight over himself back in to the flames.

With Laser Knight only having 2 health left on his last form Joe had the health to walk through the fire hazard to get to me then slam me for the 2 damage.  The only thing Joe needed to do was to roll 6 hits with 5 action dice, 3 bonus dice and 4 power dice, he rolled 5 giving me a chance.

G.U.A.R.D. Unit Turn 7

Another wave of G1’s arrived to try and take down Ulgoth,with Laser Knight in the fray and the ever rising flames the pilots were unable to get a clear shot.

I managed to get a G1 and an Elite with a Rocket Chopper with range to try and get Ulgoth down to 2 health so Laser Knight could try and deal the remaining 2 damage on the next monster turn, unfortunately I missed.  I took the risk but I think it was necessary as it was getting worse for my last form, now I could only try and stall andkeep doing a little damage each turn.

Cthul Unit Turn 7

Snatchers and Cthulabites swarmed around Laser Knight and the near by Rocket Chopper.  The Snatcher leapt up and took down the Chopper.

Joe had a cunning plan, blocking in Laser Knight so I couln’t run away.  The Snatcher took out the Rocket Chopper to Manufacture Meatslave, things kept getting better for me I had to get rid of that Meat Slave sharpish.

G.U.A.R.D. Monster Turn 8

The situaition kept getting worse with the Laser Knight close to falling apart.  A last ditch attack was necessary to save the city from the Cthul.

I had to get rid of that Meat Slave but I also needed to damage Ulgoth. I thought about stomping thatwould only get rid of the units around me the other plan was shooting again.  I took a shot and did manage to hit, Ulgoth having Volatile destroyed the Meat Slave stopping Joe from using bleed.

Cthul Monster Turn 8

Ulgoth saw that Laser Knight was in trouble and attacked again to finish the battle.

Joe need to deal 2 damage to Laser Knight, al it would take was a slam in to the fire hazard, but hit this time.  Ulgoth moved forward and using the same dice as last time, easily hitting, Laser Knight was slamed straight in to the hazard for the 2 damage that ws needed.