Just for Mike

Hi Mike :)

This is for you...


DogCon approaches. This will be my first Australian tournament (I hope the first of many) so I am super-excited - not just about the travel and playing new opponents but also hanging out for the weekend with mates and smashing the Aussies.

DogCon has a repuation for being a hard mans event. FluffyCon this is not. Soften up at your peril. To emphasise this point the composition scoring for the event has no bonuses for soft armies. You are either (in the judges opinion) on-target or hard. This has led to a "-1" kind of thinking; go hard enough to get a -1, make sure taking the negative comp score is worth it in terms of your choices, and be prepared to face opponents who have taken a similar attitude.

DogCon is big. More than 120 players? That's an enormous event by anyone's standards (and can only add to my childish excitement). This opens up the interesting and unusual possibility of getting a run of opponents where you might play well, win all your games, and still not see the best players because of the large numbers. Quite a few people could in fact win all their games at this event! I'm not under any illusions - barring sheer dumb luck of the draw I don't expect (or hope) to face any "named" players. I'm just keen to face 6 unfamiliar opponents and have us both do our best to beat the stuffing out of each others armies.


So what's the plan? Vampires.

Having done Dwarfs, lingered on Lizards, dabbled with Dark Elves, busted out Brettonians and exasperated myself with Empire I've finally succumbed to the dark (darker than Dark Elves dark!) side and gone undead.

I'm enjoying the army immensely but am still finding my feet and as a result haven't been demolishing my opponents like I've been led to believe VCs do without breaking a sweat, lifting a finger or using any brain power whatsoever.

The list I'm taking (or at least version 5; the current version which I might take) looks hard to me (certainly compared to Empire!) but I'm told by more experienced and well-travelled players is likely to be spot on (in a "-1" kind of way) for DogCon.


Looks like this (at the moment) with notes for Mike to understand what the heck I'm talking about:

Lord - Lord of the Dead (raise Skellies above starting strength and +1 to cast), Sword of Might (for a total of 4 str6 attacks), Infinite Hatred (rerolling misses in every round of combat), Dread Knight (mounted on a barded steed with heavy armour and a shield (for a 2+ save), Cadaverous Cuirass (not affected by Poison attacks or Killing Blow), Dispel Scroll, Book of Arkhan (bound 3 Van Hel's Danse which lets a unit get a free 8" move - gold)

Hero - BSB, Dread Knight, Black Periapt (lets the BSB store his power dice and use it as dispel dice in the enemy magic phase, or store a dispel dice and use it as a power dice - handy), Walking Death (an extra point of combat res), Helm of Commandment (gives his weapon skill to a unit within 12")

Hero - Talisman of the Lynci (9" move), Great Weapon, Hatred, 2+ save


20 Skeletons - full command
20 Skeletons - full command
21 Zombies
5 Wolves
5 Wolves
5 Wolves

20 Grave Guard (uber-Skeletons of dooooom!) - Full Command, Warbanner
6 Black Knights with a banner giving them Hatred
5 Black Knights with nothing

4 Wraiths and a Banshee (an awful unit really... very nasty)



So the army/list is FAR from soft and should go 6 rounds and give me a good result and some enjoyable games. I'm under no illusions at all for this event - I haven't a hope in placing or even making the top 10. I just want a really good time and 6 opponents who give me a challenging game.


I've had a fair bit of playtesting so far and now that I'm on holiday hope to do a lot more. The games have all been fun (had a cracker of a game against Orcs and Goblins recently - a real blast) and I've learnt more about the army and what it can do (and what I shouldn't do!) in every game so no complaints there.

Still thinking about making changes. Had a moral dilemma and moment of weakness where I put a Varghulf in there too (sort of a monster Vampire thing - can go a bit nuts and combined with the Wraiths is a bit silly) but was talked out of it thank goodness. Have some other options including some Spirit Hosts (ethereal ghosties - not as deadly as the Wraiths but can be a good matchup against some armies).

Hopefully now that I'm under some pressure I'll post up some more detailed reports of the practice games and a solid report on the tournament itself. We're really spoiled for events right now - I get back from Oz, wait three weeks for the next tournament (FluffyCon) then another three weeks before another event here in Auckland (Equinox) which is being run by the City Guard.

Life is good :)