San Antonio Regionals Thoughts and Results

I apologize for my absence and lack of posts recently. Life got busy with family, work, and a new obsession with Twilight Imperium IV (such an amazing game!!!). Anyways, the San Antonio Regionals were this past Saturday (June 16), and we had 7 players in attendance. I surprised myself by going 3-0 and coming in 2nd losing to another player on tournament points. I wasn't able to get pictures during the games (although I believe one of them was videoed by the hosting store so it may be online in the future), but I wanted to give a general run down of the tournament and discuss things I learned as well as what comes next.

First things first, there were no Uthuk players in attendance. This was a big shock to pretty much everyone there. Most of our local Uthuk players also play Waiqar, and apparently they all decided to try to catch people off guard by pulling out the Waiqar rather than running their Uthuk they had been playing recently. This led to a total of 4 of the 7 players bringing Waiqar with 2 Latari players (including myself), and a single Daqan player. The abundance of Waiqar had me a bit worried at the beginning of the day as I still had yet to play against them, and it would now be impossible to dodge them the entire day. On top of the lack of Uthuk players, 3 of the 7 players in attendance also had byes from Store Championships which meant anyone not winning 8-3 or better in round 1 was starting at a deficit.

The final results on the day, as well as each of the lists played, can be found on the FFG forums here with a very nice write up by the TO from the event. The Top 4 however were Waiqar, Latari, Latari, and Daqan, and the winning list was:


Waiqar

Ankaur Maro
- Violent Forces

Heavy Crossbowmen 3x1
- Tempered Steel
- Rank Discipline

Reanimates 4x3
- Raven Tabards
- Aggressive Drummer
- Lingering Dead

3x Carrion Lancer 1x1

I fortunately never had to go up against this list, but after talking to the guy piloting it, he had build it with Latari (and my list in particular) in mind. Apparently the idea is that I would not be able to shoot all of the Lancers off of the board before the Reanimates go into my lines, and at that point, I wouldn't have enough to chew through the big block of them. On top of that, the Crossbowmen would provide some solid shooting being able to consistently put out 9 damage or so a shot which my list would not be able to tank through. I'm not sure how things would have played out had I had to face this list, but I can say from looking at it, I'm glad I didn't have to find out.

My list for the tournament was very close to what I had been practicing recently, however, as the Darnati did not end up coming out before the event, I swapped Lay of the Land for Close Quarters Targeting and ran the following list:

Latari
Aliana
- Malcorne's Bequest
- Ambush Predator

Deepwood Archers 3x2
- Maegan
- Wind Rune
- Frontline Scion
- Close Quarters Targeting

2x Leonx Riders 2x2
- Bull Pennon
- Rank Discipline

Scion 1x1

I have really been enjoying this list due to the flexibility it provides. Not only is it very flexible during setup allowing me to move one unit of Leonx Riders around after deployment, often catching my opponents off guard, but each of the units (other than the Scion) are all extremely mobile with lots of little tricks to out maneuver my opponents. On top of that, I am really enjoying the defensive nature of the list. I tend to play it very cautiously using the threat of Aliana and the Leonx Riders to keep my opponents off guard while the Archers do most of the work. I have found this play style to be a lot of fun as I am able to play defensive and dodge around my opponent, but then when I see an opening, the list is fast enough to capitalize on it.


This is basically what my list looks like in my mind until I decide to send in the Leonx Riders and Aliana.

Another thing I really like about this list is that it takes great advantage of the current objectives being played. In Demoralize Their Forces, I am able to use the Leonx Riders and Aliana to catch a lot of opponents off guard and get the flank charges necessary to score the objectives. This played a major role in the first game which was against the other Latari player in attendance. He scored more points than I did from our units being killed, but I had been able to get two flank charges off which turned what would have been a 9pt loss into a 31pt win giving me the 7-4 victory rather than the 6-5 loss.

Not only is the list able to get flank charges off relatively easily, but it can also play really well into the other two objectives which require units to pick up objective tokens. With multiple fast and maneuverable units, it is not hard to send a unit of Leonx Riders or Aliana off to collect objective tokens if needed. In Round 3 playing Supply Raid this again came up huge for me. Throughout the game, I was able to collect 6 of the 8 objective tokens (my opponent's Worm Star had the other 2), which gave me a net 80pts just from the objective alone helping solidify my 2nd place spot with a 9-2 win.

Overall, I had a great time at the event, and I am loving the game more and more. It is mentally challenging without being a complex or difficult game. So what comes next for me? I am still working on it with work and family, but my hope is to make it out to Worlds in November. With that being the case, most of my games between now and then will focus on practicing different styles of play and various lists to see what I think will work best at Worlds assuming I can make it. I am most looking forward to the Darnati being released in the near future and getting them onto the table. I have no idea how to play a big block of infantry, but I am really looking forward to trying out various lists and play styles with them to see what I can come up with.

One current idea I am toying with is going all in on a big block of Darnati to see how survivable I can make them and how long they can stick around and do consistent damage. The current idea is to run something along the lines of:

Darnati Warriors 3x3
- Blackthorn Assassin
- Shield Wall
- Frontline Scion
- Raven Tabards
- Marching Starling
- Lay of the Land

Deepwood Archers 2x2
- Dispatch Runner
- Rallying Starling
- Simultaneous Orders

These two units combined come out to 129pts which is quite a bit to sink into making 1 unit really tick, but I want to see how it plays out on the table. The idea is that the Darnati will be able to consistently remain at Defense 3 whenever needed by combining the +1 Defense from their modifier dial with Shield Wall which the Deepwood Archers will continually be able to ready for them using Rallying Starling. Once engaged, the Darnati will be able to weaken the amount of damage coming back at them with the Blackthorn Assassin forcing the attacker to lose a die and the Stun from the Frontline Scion cancelling hits on the attacker's modifier dial. Additionally, they will be able to attack twice a round with the aid of Dispatch Runner effectively doubling their damage output and Rallying Starling removing the Stun token from Dispatch Runner to keep the Darnati Warriors operating at 100%. Raven Tabards, Marching Starling, and Lay of the Land are then thrown in there to make the unit a lot more maneuverable and flexible.

I am by no means convinced this is the best way to run the Darnati, but I thought it would be a very different style than what I have been running, and it would be a fun place to start my testing of the unit. I am not sure yet what I will fill the rest of the list with (happily taking suggestions please), but I am hoping to get the list on the table in the next week or so and see how these two units work together. If you have any other ideas on how to best get use out of the Darnati Warriors, please let me know! Until next time, may the Morale Deck always flip in your favor!