And so - we are done!

The Group Phase of the New Zealand Vassal Tournament is over and we move into the knockout phase. Firstly, congrats to the 19 players who spent a tremendous 63 days playing in the Group Phase. Of the 43 games played, it was pretty even across both groups. And a big congrats to our Top 4 from both groups - they win the right to move on to the slaughter that is: THE KNOCKOUTS!

Here's how it works from here. We're pairing our Top 4's up in the standard 1A v 4B, 3A v 2B, 2A v 3B and 4A v 1B. However, unlike standard knockouts, the pairings will play up to three games and the winner will be determined by two criteria. First player to get a 3pt win is the winner of the pairing, regardless of the number of games. Second is that the first player to score two 2pt wins will advance. Got it?

Well, without further ado, here are those juicy matchups!
thereisnotry vs Mando
atmsalad vs TimmerB
Amadeus vs theultrastar
spryguy1981 vs Darth Moore
You have until the end of the 15th of July to get your matchups done. Go for it!

Some Extra Stuff
Just before the carnage begins, it's worth noting that - as the only Kiwi in the Top 4 on either side - I can officially crown Darth Moore (aka. Paul) as our 2015 NZVT New Zealand Champion. That is, of course, quite separate to what everyone else is gunning for - kinda an internal thing for us Kiwis - so, congrats Paul and hurry up and beat everyone else already.

Also, here are some links if you need them:
The Original NZVT Page
http://www.bloomilk.com/Forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=16976
The Group Phase of the NZVT
http://www.bloomilk.com/Forums/default.aspx?g=posts&t=16996

Mauri ora, mauri mate!

Actually - you are right! Will edit that. Good spotting. You've also managed to find the final flaw in my otherwise amazing spreadsheet!

EDIT: Actually, I had a result with atmsalad and Darth Moore around the wrong way. atmsalad is 2nd.

I (Trevor) just played my match vs Mando (Trevor)

Trevor -vs- Trevor...and Trevor won!

Seriously, thereisnotry beat Mando/obikenobi1, 229-107

thereisnotry's squad:
--BHs--
56 Durge on Speeder
43 Cad Bane, Bounty Hunter
35 Asajj Ventress, Nightsister
27 Lobot
12 Gha Nachkt
12 Rodian Assassin
3 Ugnaught Demolitionist
12 Mouse Droid x6
200pts. 13 activations
.....Reinforcements: 20 Blizz

Mando's squad:
--Durge Protector--
54 Darth Caedus, Sith Lord
49 Juggernaut
31 Barriss Offee, Rogue Jedi
30 Vergere
14 Exar Kun, Dark Force Spirit
11 Freedon Nadd, Dark Force Spirit
10 Squib Trader
(199pts. 7 activations)

I saw that he was low on activations, so I just brought Blizz, for his ability to do auto-damage to several pieces at once. I won the map roll so we played on Peaceful City. The Juggernaut received VCA6. Freedon Nadd haunted Exar, who haunted Caedus. Dark Master was given to Caedus as well.

First off, I've gotta say that my saves were lucky in this match. I think I won most of the inits. I also had several huge save rolls go my way. Basically, I couldn't safely do my big Durge-strafe in the first round since Barriss' mines would eat me alive, so nothing interesting happened in the first round. In the second round Bariss moved up near several of my pieces and then Caedus came to SBM her twice...and that ate up Gha Nachkt, my Rodian Assassin, my Ugnaught, and a Mouse. It also put 60dmg on Cad (6 saves total) and 40 on Assaj (4 saves total). Lobot also got lucky because he only had to roll 2 saves and he made both. I responded by dropping Barriss right after that (good riddance!). Now that Barriss was gone, it was safe to strafe...or so I thought. I took 40 on a crit as I went over Caedus, and then 20 from the Juggernaut. And then I thought I had Vergere dead to rights, with a 40dmg strafe and a 50dmg attack...but the @#$% Juggernaut bodyguarded everything! (He made most of his saves too.) Durge jumped off his bike and grabbed his Jedi-Hunting gun. I won the next init and figured that I needed to go right away with Durge, before he died, so I put 90 into Vergere (and regenerated to 60hp), and some of it was BG'd by the armor-covered Juggernaut. Exar now used Dark Aura, and then Caedus SBM'ed to put Assaj adjacent to him, but he missed his first attack. He hit his second, but I got lucky on my save with a 20, so Assaj stayed at 70hp. Cad used FA to hit all 3 of Mando's pieces...that stinkin' Juggernaut BGed and armored just about everything (I thought he would've used Draw Fire on every attack, but he decided not to). Assaj moved up to attack Vergere, killing her/it and leaving the Juggernaut at 10hp after some poor BG-armor saves. After this, Durge died to the Juggernaut's Crushing Blow double attack. Then Blizz moved up to Flame both Caedus and the Juggernaut...the big J failed a save, so he died. At this point it was a 50hp Caedus vs a 50hp Assaj and a 20hp Cad and a fully-armed-and-operational Blizz. I won the next init and used Charging Fire to hit Caedus for 40 (failed Makashi save...huge). He was now at 10hp, and attacked Assaj, who was lucky enough to Parry twice...a 19 and a 17. Blizz finished Caedus with a Flamethrower after that.

Really, really tight game. If a few of those saves had gone differently it would've been a very different game. That Barriss-Caedus move was a killer...it likely would've crushed my squad if Exar's Dark Aura had been active at the time...but the way the pieces sat on the board, Mando just couldn't afford to wait until the next round in order to do his big SBM-Mines move.

ATM beat me.

Score? 3-0? Squads?

Tim and I did this a little differently. We both wanted a break from the norm, so we agreed to decide what faction the other person was going to play. I had to play sith and he had to play vong.

First game I played a squad with caedus, 3 GA troopers, Jaq and Finn Gilligan. He played a rendition of charging vong. I brougt in 4 diplomats so that was pretty much game. We played on cantina and with the diplomats blcking the key doors I was able to really only engage when I wanted to. The final score was something like 96 to 57, but the game was well in hand.

Second game we swapped factions, I played a super stealth nomb bomb squad with 3 peace brigade soldiers and some spit poison dudes. He played jasons lord krayt squad and we played on rhen var. This game came down to some really really bad vassal dice. Tim made a mistake to not take krayt to his safe zone in the back field and instead leave him to where I could get to him with several poison guys and 2 peace brigade solder. We called it in the 3rd round I belive.

If you need anything else from me kezz feel free to ask :)

Amadeus vs theultrastar
spryguy1981 vs Darth Moore

You guys better get your skates on!!!

Me and Amadeus wrapped up our 3 game series last night.

Amadeus won our first matchup, got a 2 pt win. I ran Boba, Arica, Thrawn, etc. Amadeus won Talon, Boba, and toys, brought in a MTB and 6 mice, really made all the difference. He won map, we played on Jabba's palace. I don't remember the score.

2nd game, I tweaked my squad up a bit, but ran pretty much the same thing. Amadeus tweaked his squad a bit but pretty much ran the same thing. We played on the same map. This time I won, score was 156-83

3rd game, I ran the same exact squad from game 2, Amadeus switched things up and ran Dr Daman's Little bit of Blues Guitar. We played on Ruined Base/Commanders Office. I won the third game. I don't remember the score, I got a 2 pt win.

I started the PM train with him. We'll see if we can get something going soon.

Well, since he's one of the favourites, I think he should play you instead of doing the tournament. High 5?