I start to see a pattern — winning an event with a warband before I finish painting it…

First day

First battle

My first opponent was Daniele Gorini with Hrothgorn’s mantrappers.

My general strategy was try to evade Hrothgorn’s attacks, and try to outscore him by killing gnoblars and my passive glory gain (To The End, Frantic Exchange, Pursuit of Excellence, …).

It was somewhat closer in the second battle: At the end of second round only Myari, Hrothgorn and Quiv were standing. Myari charged on objective, but missed an important attack on Quiv, which would have scored me Surge of Aggression. But thanks to holding an objective, I scored Dominant Position. In third round I charged with my leader, but he missed (not scoring that objective again) and was killed after. But I still managed to score To the End, giving me victory 14-13, while being completely annihilated.

Match result 2-0.

Second battle

My second opponent was Samuele Lai with Rippa’s Snarlfangs.

I consider Rippa’s to be a decent match-up for Purifiers as most of their damage comes from unreliable attacks, which can be countered by Purifier’s solid defence stats while not oneshoting them when they get through. Also having two attempts for inspiration (one when defending against the weapon, second against the bite) are actually not bad at all.

First game went pretty well, killing Rippa early, scoring Surge of Aggression and furthering my lead from there.

Second game was much closer, ending with a duel of Rippa and buffed Bahannar. After squashing Rippa (like all goblins deserve), I scored Haughty Exemplars, finishing with a close victory.

Match result 2-0.

Third battle

Third was Jan-Wiles Ploegers with Mollog’s Mob.

Oh, this game sucked. My rolls weren’t that great, which ended up Mollog annihilating me in both matches.

But I will call it preparation for second day. Loss of 0-2.

Fourth battle

My fourth battle was mirror against Graham Schwikkard.

First battle started calmly, but then he played Mischievous Spirits as it was clear that he was going for Perfect Formation. Not having any way to prevent it, I used his Mischievous Spirit to put one objective token under my leader and played Frenzied Search and hoped for the best… And there in divine light Mischievous Spirits came! I ended up steamrolling him from there (annihilating him in second round while having no fighter dead), because he was lacking glory and in addition, I was rolling crit-hits (one crit and one success) from there.

<Mischievous Spirits in divine light> Mischievous Spirits in divine light.

Second game was much closer, but in the end my leader showed me power of Gauntlet of Dominance, where he pushed Aileen into the lethal hex twice and then finished her with Channel the Wind.

At the end I was at three wins of 2-0, which was enough to make it to day two.

Second day

Now only eight players have been standing. It was clear that no one was going down without a fight.

Fifth battle

My first opponent in second day was Zack Newcome with his Grymwatch.

In these battles is again shown how much of anti-objective cards are available in current meta (Gauntlet of Dominance, Distraction, Mischievous spirits, …).

In my battles against Grymwatch I try to do these things:

1. Survive
2. Do not let him hold too many (that is two) objectives.
3. Stop him from inspiring by going into his territory.

Surviving before he inspires is fine because his only big damage dealer is Gristlewel, but good luck with two swords. In both of my battles I charged aggressively into his territory, killing as much as possible and pushing him off the objectives (Mischievous spirits, Gauntlet of Dominance).

In second battle I charged my Bahannar to enemy territory so that he could attack the Duke, Valreek and one Crypt Ghoul, while not being driven back in the next round. From there Bahannar just smashed everyone and used his gauntlet of command to take care of ghouls in my territory (cowards).

Then one of the ghouls in my territory stood next to lethal hex with only one wound left. It was the first time I killed some by going on guard (Gauntlet of Dominance reaction).

The game end 2-0 with a decisive victory

After the tournament Zack wrote:

“Daniel’s deck was the most frustrating deck ever to play against.
Very well played and built. Congrats!”

Sixth battle

My sixth battle was against Michael Carlin with his Mollog from Steel City Underworlds. You can watch the recording of the whole battle.

Quick summary: In the first game Mollog refused to hit and was quickly taken down. In the second he changed his mind and annihilated me. In the third game it was all decided by the final attack, which Molly missed, and I scored Dominant Position and won on tiebreakers, as I held more objectives.

Victory 2-1.

Seventh battle

In the great final I faced of Willy once more. Time for revenge! But it was really close. I won’t spoil you how the battle went, go watch it with a great commentary from Steel City guys.

The Deck

At the end I wanted to thank my opponents, tournament organisers and Hunting Bolt Fault for it’s greraty accuracy…