Joel Schuster
Germany
Bretten
Baden-Württemberg
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Last night I played my 82nd match of CITOW. We were among experienced players but for Ruben, who only played the game twice one and a half year ago. No matter that, Ruben is quick to grasp a game and how it goes. So I refreshed him on the rules and was pointing out a few subtleties during the game.
For once we went with a random assignment of gods which yielded this:
Khorne - Marlon
Nurgle - Julian
Tzeentch - Joel
Slaanesh - Ruben
Initial tokens were nobles in Norsca and the Empire, warpstones in Kislev, Bretonnia and BorderPrinces, peasants everywhere else.
First event: Greenskins Invade, affecting The Empire, Tilea and Badlands. So, my warpstones quite nicely spread in the center but unfortunately totally unaffected by the battle limiting event 
Turn 1, Khorne feared for the Empire but could not effectively cover it with the Bloodthirster, he put a Battle Cry instead. Not a good decision imho. So Slaaneshs only viable option to start with was Norsca. Nurgle went for Kislev, I played Persistance of Change to Bretonnia before putting any units. Khorne swallowed the decoy, put a warrior to Bretonnia that I teleported to Norsca, getting rid of nasty horned ones around my warpstones. With a Change of Ways to BP, this effectively resulted in a double tick for me, as Slaanesh decided to play Field of Ecstasy to Norsca, denying Khorne a chance on a DAC there and make his own save. The only other option he had for a kill, he blew with a dice result of 1-2. I upgraded my cultists at once and added a Warpstone to Tilea.
Turn 2, we got an Up From Skavenblight, Khorne putting the tokens. The Horned fella kept on walking back to the center of the map. Nurgle invested into the Empire and stacked figures and warriors in Kislev. Also Slaanesh walked down to the center of the board, but misinvested in the Empire to no avail (InsidiousLies + Demon). I had some trouble fending off enemy efforts to screw me and decided it is not worth bothering to try for another double tick and rather focussed my attention on VP and setting up for ruining regions as quickly as possible. Everybody ticked once this turn, Slaanesh upgraded his cultists.
Turn 3, we got Electors Sue for Peace, so the one battle limiting event replaced the other. Khorne picked Badlands to be affected in addition to the Empire. Corruption stacked all over the place. DrainPower helped me to delay and I got a TemporalStasis to Tilea where I had some corruption, cultists and warpstones present. Time to set for the locust swarm, ruining one region in a dash and then move on to the next region. Bloodthirster went to Kislev against massive Nurgle warrior infestation. Nurgle also got some stocks in the Empire and decided to play Stench of Death to the Empire with no battle happening there. I was the last to play down remaining power points so I made sure I ruin Tilea and realized that I could steal 2nd place in the Empire as well. Loads of points so I pushed it before Nurgle gained even more out of the situation. The Green Guy got Provender of Ruin after we both shot into the late 20 VPs. Again, everybody ticked once and so Khorne finally upgraded his cultists. No double tick again, he was pretty much out of the game already. Slaanesh lacking behind in VP but still retaining some options with his newly placed nobles.
Turn 4, we got a Plunged into Chaos, but actually nobody had killed any peasant, so no score. I got a bad hand that turn, no Temporal Stasis unfortunately, but 2xDazzle. At least I drained some more power and with my 2nd upgrade in place I got up on 8 power points temporarily. All of Norsca, Troll Country and Kislev were facing massive corruption by then. I realized that with my current hand and against presented effort I would most likely be unable to ruin another region this turn. I also realized that with 2 regions already ruined and 3 northern regions on the brink, my other investements further south might not matter anymore when push comes to shove. So I had to change strategy for this turn and go all destructive on the other gods. I actually played one Dazzle early to Norsca and another one late to Troll Country. A card much disliked in general by many players but I saw such rare effective uses before so I dared to give it a chance. Slaanesh controlled additional Khorne cultists up north by 2xSoporific Musk, which gave him more potential corruption and also some dice. Some hits and the double dazzle really worked out to keep all 3 northern regions from ruination at 9, 10 and 11 corruption ! I took my single tick in the Badlands. As Khorne whiffed some more dice, Slaanesh surprisingly took a double tick, grabbing both power upgrades for 9pp. One more double for Slaanesh and he wins by dial.
Turn 5, we got Mass Exodus for just a minor effect, but Electors Sue for Peace still active. Nurgle tried to turn attention to the Badlands, where I had part of my locust swarm and no battle would take place. But I pointed out that the party is actually still going on in Norsca, TrollCountry and Kislev, because if these regions ruin, Badlands will not matter the slightest. So one Battle Cry went to Kislev, which kept me in the game. Slaanesh decided to play Field of Ecstasy to Troll Country though. I finally got 2xTemporalStasis and 2xWarpShield as I cycled my deck of cards. Too late to make much of a change, Turn 4 was simply a lost turn for me and so its hard to make up. I put my TempStasis cards to Norsca and Badlands. Slaanesh would have to pay a dear cost to ruin Norsca but he could afford to put another cultist through his power upgrades. With the corruption lock in Kislev, Nurgles best hope to win being smashed, he was still in the race by Provender of Ruin and trying to take part wherever possible and maybe take away another 2nd place here or there. I teleported him out of Badlands after he had paid the costs to limit his VP gathering. So I ruined Badlands single handedly. Could not apply any WarpShield for a save taking part anywhere else but managed to squeeze in a single cultist to Troll Country, which was a save ruination. This plan got me on 51VP exactly. However, Slaanesh went unnoticed to collect 3 DACs for another double tick and thus the win, helped by a late and sneaky Dark Influence ! At the point we realized this we could have still prevent one DAC but then noone else was getting 2 either. Khorne was just too thinly spread and performed too poorly overall this game. We could have seen it coming but then we didnt take Ruben that seriously a contender and Nurgle and me were just too deeply enganged in our fight to win this by VP in the last two turns.
All in all, a typical game of Chaos. Two players race for the win while a 3rd one steals it away. In my personal stats, Slaanesh is still the underdog in the base game for all the matches I played. So while there was certainly an effect of disregarding Slaanesh abit too much, it also honors Ruben as a really good player to steal this one from our seasoned hands. Well done ! 
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Paul Sinkovits
United States
Glendale
Arizona
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I wholly agree with you that Slaanesh is the underdog of the base game.
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Dan Bradshaw
United States
Southington
Connecticut
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To be fair, Slaanesh probably likes being the underdog. Much better view as far as he/she/it is concerned.
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Andrew Taylor
England
Scarborough
North Yorkshire
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GoodOmens wrote: To be fair, Slaanesh probably likes being the underdog. Much better view as far as he/she/it is concerned.
anything for a nipple twist with that guy lol
I totally agree on your point though. Khorne has to work fast and be very lucky with the dice rolls to get those ticks. without double ticks early on, it's all over. Slaanesh is too far behind everyone normally but it can depend on the player. Slaanesh was 3rd in my first 5 player game of CITOW expansion. we played with none of the new cards etc.
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Posted Fri Jan 27, 2012 1:03 pm
