Deckbuilding, Tournament Reports, Warhammer 40K Conquest - Warhammer 40k Conquest: Games of Berkeley Store Championships Report 2/21/16

I’ve been eagerly awaiting the 2016 Store Championships for multiple reasons:

1.) This is the first year my work schedule has permitted me to attend tournaments on a regularly.
2.) Warhammer Conquest is in a fantastic state right now, and almost all of the warlords are viable.
3.) I’m hoopjoooooooooooones.

Without further ado, let’s jump into the preparation and results of the event.

(Btw, many thanks to Games of Berkeley for hosting the event.

THE WARLORD

For weeks leading up to the event I tested out multiple warlords whom I thought were the top picks for championship season. I’ll briefly go over some of my notes here.

Packmaster Kith

Core Set

Reaction: After this warlord commits to a planet, put a Khymera token into play at this planet.

/Eldar Allies: Still really strong, but could prove to be problematic vs. Worr. I have a lot of playtest experience with Kith historically, but have been out of touch for a while. Even with these concerns, I still feel Kith is an amazing pick for a tournament.

Ragnar Blackmane

The Howl of Blackmane

Reaction: After your warlord commits to a planet with an enemy warlord, deal 2 damage to a target enemy unit at that planet.

/AM Allies: It’s still solid at combat, and very solid on command due to

Iron Guard Recruits

The Scourge

and

Sanctioned Psyker

Core Set

. However, my recent playtesting results (where I lost to big ork units) made me shy away from him; I feel like Cato is going to be more useful now that singular targets are gaining in popularity…the “new” Shadowsun builds could prove very problematic if I don’t have an indomitable at the right time, and Old One Eye elite decks are always a possibility.

Broderick Worr

Decree of Ruin

Army units that retreat from this planet are destroyed instead.Each other [Astra Militarum] unit you control at a [STRONGPOINT] planet (green) gets +1 ATK and gains, 'Cannot retreat or be routed'.

/Ork Allies: Yep, it’s really good.

Forward Barracks

Decree of Ruin

Reaction: After a combat round ends, if you control an [Astra Militarum] unit at the planet where the battle is taking place, put 1 Guardsman token into play at that planet.

is amazing, and the bullying potential is massive. However, Worr is still too new to me and Warhammer Conquest in general and I was concerned about making a mistake based on my lack experience with him.

Eldorath Starbane

Core Set

Reaction: After this warlord commits to a planet, exhaust a target non-warlord unit at that planet.

/Dark Eldar Allies: Still an amazingly rounded warlord, but has serious issues with the aforementioned Forward Barracks and swarm in general. I have put in a lot of miles with Starbane, but am not the biggest fan of his playstyle. He can occasionally run into bullying problems if he draws too command heavy and can’t rely on

Gift of Isha

Core Set

Action: Put the topmost [ELDAR] unit from your discard pile into play at a planet. If that unit is still in play at the end of the phase, discard it.

to save the day. This is not to say I don’t think he is a very strong warlord…just that he doesn’t fit my playstyle.

Zarathur, High Sorcerer

Core Set

Interrupt: When damage is assigned to an enemy unit at this planet, increase that damage by 1.

/Ork Allies: Ding ding ding! I have the most experience with this warlord overall, and he has great options vs. just about everyone. However, I am scared to death of his matchup against Space Marines: I bloodied an opponents Zarathur at regionals last year on turn one because of the dreaded

Drop Pod Assault

Core Set

Combat Action: Target a planet where a battle is taking place. Search the top 6 cards of your deck for a [SPACE MARINE] unit with printed cost 3 or lower. Put that unit into play at the targeted planet, and place the remaining cards on the bottom of your deck in any order.

and

Eager Recruit

Core Set

combo feature. (Sorry Matt!)

It has been said that Zarathur is the most technical of all the Warlords in Warhammer Conquest, and I agree. This is a double edged sword for any card game – a single mistake that other warlords can shrug off become game losing mistakes, but the tactical finesse given provides some serious “wow” moments unseen by other decks. Remember this paragraph as you finish the article.

THE DECKLIST

:Warlord:

Zarathur, High Sorcerer

Core Set

Interrupt: When damage is assigned to an enemy unit at this planet, increase that damage by 1.

:Army Units:
4x

Zarathur's Flamers

Zogwort's Curse

Action: Sacrifice this unit to deal 2 damage to a target non-warlord unit at the same planet.

Rotten Plaguebearers

Gift of the Ethereals

Action: Exhaust this unit to deal 1 damage to a target unit at this planet.

Snakebite Thug

The Threat Beyond

Forced Reaction: After this unit resolves its attack, deal 1 damage to it.

Splintered Path Acolyte

Zogwort's Curse

Interrupt: When you deploy a Daemon unit, sacrifice this unit to reduce its cost by 2.

Chaos Fanatics

The Threat Beyond

Noise Marine Zealots

The Threat Beyond

This unit gets +2 ATK while it is at a planet with a warlord.

Rogue Trader

Core Set

Void Pirate

Core Set

Gleeful Plague Beast

Zogwort's Curse

Forced Reaction: After the combat phase begins, deal 1 damage to each unit at this planet.

Front line 'Ard Boyz

Boundless Hate

This unit must be declared as a defender, if able.

Xavaes Split-Tongue

The Threat Beyond

Reaction: After an enemy unit at this planet is destroyed, put a Cultist token into play at your HQ.

Evil Sunz Warbiker

The Threat Beyond

This unit gets +2 ATK while it is at a planet with a warlord.

:Supports:
1x

Shrine of Warpflame

Zogwort's Curse

Reaction: After an enemy unit is destroyed, exhaust this support to return the topmost Tzeentch card from your discard pile to your hand.

Ammo Depot

Gift of the Ethereals

Action: Exhaust this support to draw 1 card if you have 3 or fewer cards in your hand.

:Attachments:
1x

Mark of Chaos

Zogwort's Curse

Attach to an army unit. Interrupt: When attached unit leaves play, deal 1 damage to each enemy unit at this planet.

Promotion

Core Set

Attach to an army unit. Attached unit gains 2 command icons.

:Events:
2x

Infernal Gateway

Zogwort's Curse

Combat Action: Put a [CHAOS] unit with printed cost 3 or lower into play from your hand at a planet. If that unit is still in play at the end of the phase, sacrifice it.

Warpstorm

The Threat Beyond

Combat Action: Deal 2 damage to each unit without any attachments at a target planet or HQ.

Slaanesh's Temptation

Descendants of Isha

Attach to a planet. Increase the cost of each enemy unit being deployed at another planet by 1. Forced Reaction: After a battle at attached planet ends, sacrifice this attachment.

Tzeentch's Firestorm

The Threat Beyond

Action: Deal X damage to a target non-warlord unit.

Promise of Glory

The Threat Beyond

Deploy Action: Put 2 Cultist tokens into play at your HQ.

Sowing Chaos

Decree of Ruin

Deploy Action: Destroy each army unit with printed cost 2 or lower at each [Tech] planet (blue).

Squig Bombin'

Zogwort's Curse

Action: Destroy a target support card.

DECK THEORY

With Marines, Kith, Worr, and Zarathur maintaining control of the meta, I realized that I needed to lightly tune my decks to be more aggressive at early P1 battles if needed. I started to favor Noise Marine Zealots over Khorne Berzerkers because they require less setup to become a threat and as Kingsley pointed out, the lack of

Ork Kannon

Zogwort's Curse

Combat Action: Exhaust this support to target a planet. Each player deals 1 indirect damage among the units he controls at that planet.

in the deck made them even less reliable when needed. If my warlord was present, I would feel more secure with a 5/3 attacking unit as opposed to a 3/4 in this meta. Though it may seem minimal, realize that it’s next to impossible for a low cost unit (I’m looking at you

Anxious Infantry Platoon

Decree of Ruin

Forced Reaction: After a combat round at this planet ends, you may pay 1[RESOURCE]. If you do not, retreat this unit.

to block a 5 damage swing, and

Forward Barracks

Decree of Ruin

Reaction: After a combat round ends, if you control an [Astra Militarum] unit at the planet where the battle is taking place, put 1 Guardsman token into play at that planet.

meant that I wanted to end combat sooner than later. The Noise marines are also a great way to flush

Indomitable

Core Set

Reaction: After a [SPACE MARINE] unit is assigned damage by an attack, prevent all of that damage.

out of an opponents hand.

Front line 'Ard Boyz

Boundless Hate

This unit must be declared as a defender, if able.

has proven quite useful against “routless” warlords. I have been in multiple situations so far where I’ve been very close to having Zarathur blooded (massive no no) or having him flat out killed and the ‘Ard Boyz give me that critical stall during combat to run away if I need to commit Zarathur due to a stacked HQ. Time will tell if I favor them over

Inquisitor Caius Wroth

Descendants of Isha

Reaction: After this unit enters play, each player must choose and discard down to 4 cards in his hand, if able.

but so far I am happy.

Next, I noticed that Sowing Chaos was not always useful..but when it was it was game breakingly so. I was teetering between 2x of these, but eventually settled on 1 copy.

Finally, you’ll notice 1x Squig Bombin’ is in the deck. I followed the same theory behind Sowing Chaos on this one, but noted that it’s exceptionally useful vs a lot of cards that can create problems for Zarathur:

Catachan Outpost

Core Set

Combat Action: Exhaust this support to give a target unit +2 ATK for its next attack this phase.

(Zarathur hates burst damage)

Staging Ground

Zogwort's Curse

Action: Exhaust this support to deploy a unit with cost 2 or lower at a planet.

(See above)

Ksi'M'Yen Orbital City

The Threat Beyond

Combat Action: Exhaust this support to move an Ethereal unit from your HQ to a target planet. Then, ready that unit.

(Negates the strength of Slaanesh’s Temptation and Armorbane really messes with Lord Z)

Forward Barracks

Decree of Ruin

Reaction: After a combat round ends, if you control an [Astra Militarum] unit at the planet where the battle is taking place, put 1 Guardsman token into play at that planet.

(Do I need to say more?)

Troop Transport

Boundless Hate

Action: Sacrifice this support to either put a Guardsman token into play at a planet or put 2 Guardsman tokens into play at a [Strongpoint] planet (green).

(Seems like a bad tradeoff, but if I do not have a Warpstorm or Gleeful Plaguebeast I may need an extra weapon against Worr’s combat math)

Khymera Den

The Threat Beyond

Action: Exhaust this support to move any number of Khymera tokens you control to a target planet

(Again, if I am without a board clearing card, Khymera den can be a huge problem for Zara as tokens can dance around Plaguebeast)

Archon's Palace

The Howl of Blackmane

Interrupt: When your opponent wins a command struggle, exhaust this support to cancel either the card bonus or the resource bonus of that planet this phase.

(If I have a nice ammo depot setup but my opponent chokes resources, I could be in for some trouble)

Kraktoof Hall

Core Set

Combat Action: Exhaust this support to move 1 damage from a target unit you control to another target unit at the same planet.

(I hate seeing this card hit the table..but even more so I hate seeing…)

Tellyporta Pad

Zogwort's Curse

Combat Action: Exhaust this support to move a target [ORK] unit you control to the first planet.

(Dances around my board wipe effects)

Shrine of Warpflame

Zogwort's Curse

Reaction: After an enemy unit is destroyed, exhaust this support to return the topmost Tzeentch card from your discard pile to your hand.

(A t1 shrine in skilled hands is extremely powerful)

Ammo Depot

Gift of the Ethereals

Action: Exhaust this support to draw 1 card if you have 3 or fewer cards in your hand.

(Cut them off before they start drawing!)

One last thing: The extra 1 shield cards in the deck (assuming I don’t need them for their effect) have actually been very useful to protect the glass-cannon element that this deck skates upon. Against Kith, you really do not want to damage your own Plaguebeast because it will setup an easy

Klaivex Warleader

The Scourge

Reaction: After you deploy this unit during the combat phase, destroy a target damaged army unit at this planet.

for your opponent. I made this mistake once again my friend Sean, and it really stuck with me.

THE MATCHUPS

::Game 1 vs.

Aun'shi

Gift of the Ethereals

Each [Tau] unit you control at this planet gains Armorbane. Forced Reaction: After this warlord resolves its attack, move it to your HQ.

::

Honestly, I am mildly afraid of Aun’Shi due to early Orbital City plays / lack of HP on Zarathur, but other than that I believe this is not a bad matchup. My command hand was solid, and so was my opponents. However, I bullied planet 1 multiple times with Snakebite Thug and sealed a game victory by using Firestorm to eliminate a Gun Drones enabled unit. The planet flop was mostly blue and I was sitting on a copy of Sowing Chaos should my opponent try to outswarm me.

Result: Win

::Game 2 vs.

Broderick Worr

::

As annoyed as I was to see a t1 Forward Barracks, I had a beautiful counter-play: Slaanesh’s Temptation. This meant my opponent would be resource locked very fast if he did not remove the planet attachment, but I made a dumb misplay and ignored a blatant

Elouith

Battle: Search the top 3 cards of your deck for a card. Add it to your hand, and place the remaining cards on the bottom of your deck in any order.

commit with Zarathur, opting for a

Tarrus

Battle: If you control fewer units than your opponent, gain 3[RESOURCE] or draw 3 cards.

which I realized I could not cash in on. For some mindless reason I thought Forward Barracks was a unit and miscounted the board state. In retrospect, this single odd play could have truly locked in my defeat because I would have drawn 3 cards with that move, and edged closer to the copy of Squig Bombin’ I desperately wanted. The second turn led to yet another Slaanesh’s Temptation as my opponent cleared the one previously played. My board state was building with Ammo Depot and a wealth of options, including Warpstorm. By turn 4, I was 100% sure I could win this game based on my Mark of Chaos, Gleeful Plaguebeast, and Warpstorm arsenal. Then, silly tournament green-ness hit.

Midgame, I did not realize we were running out of time due to the intensity of the match. As soon as I heard that my opponent would win due to planet wins, I psyched myself out, made some awful plays, and committed Zarathur to the wrong planet which essentially let my opponent turn the game around. This was a brutal learning lesson as I did not pay attention to the “game clock” nor did I try to speed things up with my opponent before we were running out of time. Essentially, and no disrespect to my opponent, I lost the game for myself by losing my composure and throwing away my gamestate that I spent turns to build. A critical loss at

Atrox Prime

Battle: Deal 1 damage to each enemy unit at a target HQ or adjacent planet.

where I had a Mark of Chaos equipped Plaguebearer should have completely locked the board down in my favor, but I committed to P2 with my Plaguebeast assuming my opponent would not go to 1. A dual P1 commit would have appeared to have been suicide for him because I had initiative, a Warbiker with a promotion (to ignore my warpstorm) and a few other beefy units. I even had an Infernal Gateway and Noise Marine combo in hand in case things became desperate. Furthermore, in my haste due to time I also ignored my warpstorm play which at that point may have still solidified my win even without my warlord present.

Result: Loss

::Game 3 vs.

Archon Salaine Morn

Boundless Hate

Reaction: After a Kabalite or Raider unit enters play under your control at a [Material] planet (red), gain 1[Resource]. (Limit once per phase.)

::

The planet flop meant this was a five turn game minimum, and I was not extremely worried about this matchup because Zarathur melts swarms. Seeing as she was just released, I do not believe Morn is quite scary yet at a competitive level. My opponent appeared to have drawn very badly, and I squeezed out a weird warlord kill victory due to some misplays on both sides of the board. Honestly, my head was not in it after beating myself up game 2. If my opponent drew a single copy of Klaivex Warleader, I probably would have lost this game.

Result: Win
Side note: After the game, I realized a no-brainer strategy vs. Morn is to command snipe on card planets.

Result: Win

Final Results: 2nd Place out of 6

FINAL THOUGHTS

My deck performed admirably the entire event and while there are some possible minor changes to make, at this point I believe it is a very strong take on Zarathur. My Squig Bombin’ needs turned out being true: If I had drawn my single copy in my game vs. Worr, I believe I would have recovered from my awful misplay; the final nail in the coffin that game was a at the game winning planet. Finally, Front line ‘Ard Boyz really did their share of legwork and I was extremely pleased with them.