From Mr Walrus: I played in an Aberrations 100 point sealed tournament last night, and thought I'd write up a little report on it.
The tourney took place at Gamers Lair, in Edmonton, Alberta, and seven people participated. Six players used Aberrations Starters, and one player was randomly selected to get two Aberrations boosters (the store only had two boosters left in stock). I ended up with a Starter.
I opened up my box and dumped it out, and immediately knew that I was going to have tough time in the tournament. My rare was a Gibbering Mouther. The other rares pulled were a Skullsplitter, Frenzied Berzerker, Fiendish Giant Praying Mantis, Half-Elf Bow Initiate, Green Dragon, Crow Shaman, and a Hook Horror.
After some number crunching and loud lamentation of my rare-pulling ability, I had a team assembled. Kobold Sorceror 20 pts, Cmnd 1 Half-Elf Hexblade 33 pts Gibbering Mouther 26 pts Kobold Champion 11 pts Gnoll Skeleton 5 pts Man-At-Arms 3 pts
My general strategy was to use Hexblade's Curse on the toughest opponent, get the most out of the Sorceror's Commander Effect and Magic Missiles, and hope that the Gibbering Mouther would somehow be useful.
Match 1 vs. Will
Will ran the following team: Orc Sergeant 24 pts, Cmnd 2 Fiendish Giant Praying Mantis ??pts Rhek 22 pts Silent Wolf Goblin 12 pts Celestial Black Bear 6 pts
Seeing the Mantis across the board I realized that I was going to have some problems if it got anywhere near my fragile Sorceror and the Hexblade. The Mouther ended up in the Treasure room not too far from Will's assembly tile. The Mouther managed to rout the Silent Wolf Goblin before it could do much, the Hexblade failed to curse the Mantis, and everybody else moved to where I hoped they would do me some good. The Hexblade managed to curse the Mantis on the second try, then charged in and bashed him. The Hexblade was promptly routed when the cursed Mantis still managed to whack him for 30, and things weren't going well for me elsewhere in the battle. I ran my Kobold Sorceror back to put the Hexblade under command so that he could rally, which left my Kobold Champion by himself trying to fight off the Orc Sergeant and Rhek. At some point the Celestial Bear was routed and my Gnoll Skeleton and Man-At-Arms were killed, but I don't remember where those events fit into the order of the battle. The Hexblade rallied and the Kobold Sorceror fired off all of his Magic Missiles, causing the Mantis to rout. Luckily for me he did, and kept on going until two or three rounds later he was off the board. While the Mantis was running the Orc Sergeant was going after him, which was good for me, because the Hexblade and the Sorceror wouldn't have been able to stand up to the Sarge and the Rhek in combat. I kept walls between my troops and the advancing Orc and Rhek for the last round or two, then time was called. I was ahead on points and won the game. 1-0
Match 2 vs. Conrad
Conrad used the following: Skullsplitter Cmnd 2 Mountain Orc Formian Warrior Gnoll Mad Slasher Dekanter Goblin
I had a bit of confidence going into this game, although the Skullsplitter's Executioner's Blade worried me, especially since the Gibbering Mouther is always out of command. The Mouther ended up fairly close to the bulk of my warband to begin the game. Early rounds saw the Mouther mobbed by enemies, the Hexblade attempting to get into a good position to curse the Skullsplitter, and a bit of bashing went on between the grunts in the middle of the board. Then, in an amazing instance of dice luck... the Gibbering Mouther hit three attacks against the Skullsplitter. Then, in an amazing instance of horrible dice luck, Conrad rolls a one for the Swallow Whole save. The Gibbering Mouther ate the Skullsplitter which still had over half of his HP left. The Gibbering Mouther also just became my favourite member of the warband. Other stuff happened, resulting in the Hexblade cursing the Formian Warrior, which was the only opponent left, then being killed. The game came down to my Kobold Champion with 5 HP left and his Formian Warrior with 15 HP. The Kobold managed a mighty stab, which knocked the Formian down to half health. It ran off, and the Kobold cemented his position as my warband's iron man(He'd been hit only twice in the first two rounds).
2-0
Final Match vs. Yves
Yves used the following Cleric of St. Cuthbert Cmnd 3 Frenzied Berserker Gnoll Carrion Tribe Barbarian Hill Dwarf Warrior
Yves' warband was tough as nails, and I knew that I only had one shot to win it: the Mouther had to eat the Berserker. Yves was aware of the Mouther's success in scarfing down the Skullsplitter, and knew that he had to get rid of it before the Berserker became desert. The Mouther started off a lot closer than he could have liked to his Assembly Tile, and most of the early rounds involved him trying to figure out how to get rid of it without using the Berserker and me advancing my troops. The Cleric of St. Cuthbert used Deific Vengeance to blow up my Gnoll Skeleton, but other than that not much happened until Yves had had enough of the Mouther. He rushed in with the Berserker... and missed. Next round, he won initiative... and missed twice. The Hexblade cursed the Berserker, and the Mouther went to work... three hits! The save... a one! The Gibbering Mouther ate the Berserker! The Carrion Tribe Barbarian routed the Mouther, which actually didn't make it off the board by the end of game. I used the Hexblade's melee attacks and the Kobold Sorceror's Magic Missiles to rout or kill the rest of the enemies. 3-0
The moral of the story? Gibbering Mouthers are a lot better than I thought they were. Also, a Half-Elf Hexblade makes them downright scary.