Weekend Tournament Round-Up 8

I don’t always play Skaven, you know…

With another free weekend, I was able to play at another tournament. This time it was at Hamlins Toystore in Berkhamstead. I had played there previously back in April where I had won with my Skaven. Due to my previous experience with Skaven, I think it’s time I tried something new. I’ve played them at events for so long now that I plan to only use them at Grand Clashes and events I deem them necessary at.

My new mission is to try to win a Shadeglass trophy with every wayband, showing that you can win with anyone as long as you put in the effort. To this end I decided to pick a force that has always been of interest to me and not considered that strong (generally); The Farstriders.

So without further ado, the deck list:

Objectives (12)
205 – Brave but Cautious
234 – Advancing Strike
235 – Alone in the Darkness
243 – Change of Tactics
246 – Concerted Attack
252 – Defensive Strike
257 – Escalation
272 – Master of War
282 – Ploymaster
284 – Precise Use of Force
289 – Skirting Danger
291 – Superior Tactician

Ploys (11)
218 – Rangers, Advance
219 – Rapid Volley
329 – Great Concussion
331 – Hidden Paths
334 – Inspiration Strikes
335 – Invisible Walls
347 – Quick Thinker
348 – Ready for Action
349 – Rebound
368 – Time Trap
369 – Trap

Upgrades (11)
225 – Flashing Handaxe
228 – Overcharged Boltstorm Pistol
231 – Swift Stride
232 – Well-timed Lunge
376 – Awakened Weapon
384 – Deathly Fortitude
391 – Great Strength
393 – Helpful Whispers
395 – Incredible Strength
410 – Shadeglass Dagger
424 – Tethered Spirit

The strength of the Farstriders is that they excel at nothing, meaning it’s all down to how the player chooses to run them making them a tough yet very well designed warband to use. Every Farstrider player I’ve fought against or seen plays in complete different ways, with the main difference being either aggro or defensive. I decided to go with something that suits me: something that appears defensive but is actually very aggressive. More of a board control warband than anything.

I must add that I didn’t get to play any practice games at all before the tournament (not something I planned or normally do). It was all theory with a little help from some of my very skilled Shadespire friends for feedback. I was relying on my experience from playing the game so much, having played Steelheart’s Champions for the managing of 3 fighters and my Skaven experience as well.

Round 1

Round 1 started off against a chap called Gareth who was also using the Farstriders! He’s a local to the store and brand new to the game. I was kind of blessed as I was able to play someone who had the same amount of experience as myself with the warband 😂

Game 1 started off with me winning deployment. I decided to place aggressively forwards and so did my opponent. Winning priority, I decided to go first and shoot but sadly my guns were firing blanks. He then charged in and knocked one of my guys down to 2 wounds. The rest of the phase didn’t fare too well for me as I was able to wear down the enemy but my Farstrider was down to 2 wounds and another down to 1. I was able to get both Farstrider and the un-wounded Fighter inspired but was down on glory 1 to 2. Winning phase 2, my bird flew in and killed a Farstrider with amazing crits. I then lost my 1 wound fighter but Farstrider then killed Farstrider. Going into phase 3 I was up in glory and started with killing his last fighter via a bird to the eyes. The rest was spent cycling objectives and I won 9/3.

Game 2 started with my losing priority. I took a few pistol shots and charges but I spent the phase moving up and wearing down my opponent. At the end of the phase, I used Great Concussion and Rangers advance to have all my fighters inspire and gaining 3 glory in the process to my opponent’s 0. Phase 2, I went into overdrive. Eagle-eye started off by killing the Stormcast he was next to. He Quick Thinker’d away from Farstrider who was then killed by my Farstrider again. The last Farstrider was killed by a Well-Timed Lunge at the bottom of phase 2. Phase was just cycling objectives and I won 9/0.

Now while it may sound one-sided, the first phases of each game were very close and I was just able to edge it ahead with my positioning. I went through his deck too after the game and found he had 19 ploys too out of a 20 card deck haha. Told the TO and I helped him build a more balanced deck that would help suit his playstyle and seemed happy with. All in all, a great first set of games to start off with.

Round 2

Tom was my next opponent. We’ve played a lot and he’s a very good player. I was also worried about facing Fiends due to how fast they can be, either way it was going to be tough.

Game 1 started off with me winning deployment. I set up the boards so that it was diagonal with a small choke-point. The game started with cycling of cards and my opponent sitting on objectives. With some sneaky redeployment, I scored 2 glory to my opponents 2 from Hold Objectives and got 2 fighters inspired. Phase 2 was close. Farstrider starting by shooting 2 wounds off a Khorne warrior. The dog then uses Hidden Paths and I used Time Trap with Farstrider to do 3 wounds to the hound and kill him which scored Precise Use of Force and Advancing Strike. I had taken the lead in glory but phase 3 was the tipping point. My opponent killed Farstrider with Trap (which he later told me killed his objective combo). I was able to score a cheeky Escalation and win 7/6.

Game 2 started off with the same deployment but I ditched both hands and still had nothing useable. I spent phase 1 cycling all my cards and only able to score 1 glory to my opponent’s Supremacy and Hold Objective for 4. I spent phases 2 and 3 moving up with kills but I had left it too late. My opponent was able to almost wipe me out and win 7/10.

Game 3 was where I lost deployment. With the Fiends raring to go into my face I deployed back and ditched both hands. My opponent moved up but I used Invisible Walls to leave Riptooth at the back and then Great Concussion to separate him even more, scoring me Skirting Danger and Alone in the Darkness. Being 3/0 up, I Quick-Thinker’d away from a movement 7 Riptooth and then shot him to death, scoring Concerted Attack. In Phase 3, I lost a fighter but was able to use him as a bait to allow Farstrider to kill Magore. The game ended with a 11/6 win to me.

It was a super tough set and showed me the flaws with my Farstriders. However I was able to get more used to them and use my positioning skills to secure the win in game 3. Still, Tom has a very tough and well-balanced deck that almost crushed me.

Round 3

For the final round it was winner vs winner with me facing a nice chap called Sam using the fearsome Sepulchral Guard.

Game 1 began with me winning deployment. I ditched my first hand of Great Concussion and 4 upgrades. I was tempted to keep it but I needed the ploys more than the upgrades. I spent the turn moving up and getting a kill. I was able to get Farstrider and another fighter inspired but my opponent scored Supremacy and a Tactical Supremacy for 5. With some glory, I began chaining off my instant objectives. Farstrider went into overdrive, namely his bird. At the end of phase 2 I was 8/10 down. In phase 3 I managed to get enough glory and objectives scored to secure me Escalation and Superior Tactician after Farstrider went on a bloody rampage, securing me a 16/11 win.

Game 2 started with me losing deployment. I had a solid objective hand of Precise Use of Force, Advancing Strike and Master of War. My dice just weren’t on my side however. I moved up and scored damage, yet just wasn’t able to score any damage. It was made worse when I was Great Concussion’d apart. The same happened in phase 2 and at the end I had 0 glory to 3 bit had manage to wound fighter but not kill. In phase 3 I was finally able to kill and unlock my objectives. Netting 6 glory, I thought I had won until my opponent played A Destiny to Meet and scored having 4 fighters alive with none inspired meaning I lost 6/7.

Game 3 started off with long-ways deployment again. I moved up and scored a cheeky Concerted Attack. I used Great Concussion to move up and inspire all my fighters while my opponent wad unable to score anything. During phase 2 I moved up and got a few kills but the Skeletons began outscoring me so I was on the back-foot again. It didn’t help losing Farstrider along the way. Eagle Eye came into his own, however and began murdering the skeletons. I was 8/9 behind in phase 2 but got enough objectives scored to secure a win with Superior Tactician. However my Farstriders wanted more glory and killed the Warden with a Shadeglass dagger after killing the Champion which resulted in me winning 16/10.

It was a very hard set and I was shocked how killy my Farstriders turned out to be. Sam played very well with his Skeletons and took me by surprise.

With that win, I’ve now won with: Steelheart’s Champions, Skaven and Farstriders. For the next warband, I’m not sure what to use yet but I’ll definitely need to practice first beforehand haha. It was tough using a new warband as I was playing outside of my comfort zone. The experience wasn’t easy but very enjoyable and I’ll continue to use new warbands at events (with my previous caveats of course).

So which one will I use next? Maybe I’ll let the crits decide 😉