Event Recap: Git Your Squig On

Recently, I had the opportunity to take Zarbag's Gits to a tournament at a local Games Workshop in the area. I was itching to try the warband in a competitive setting and since it was for a Shadeglass trophy, I figured people wouldn't know how to play against them. To my pleasure, not only did they exceed my expectations, they won the whole tournament!

Zarbag's Gits are quite the interesting warband and required a lot of theory-crafting prior to me feeling comfortable enough to even play test them. With 9 members, planning my turns in advance was paramount. Many times, there would be a seemingly obvious play but when I took the extra minute or two just to think the turn out, I realized there was usually a more viable play in the long run.

Before I get into the decklist, I wanted to do a quick overview of the warband and how I used each of the members throughout the tournament. Just scroll past it if you want to see the deck list.

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Warband Tactics:

Zarbag, the leader of this motley crew of goblins, is perhaps one of the most unimpressive warband leaders released so far. With lackluster stats and no innate spell or ranged ability, he is more of a liability than a boon, even with the 2 rolls for dodge. When playing the warband, I kept him safe in the back/middle of my board and gave him objectives such as the Slumbering Key and A Destiny to Meet to secure some easy glory tokens.

I consider Drizgit to be the true leader of the warband. Not only does he hit on smashes (hammers), when inspired he can be a consistent force of damage as his attack gains another smash roll and his movement goes up to 4. Remember not to over commit him but also don't be afraid to throw him in there either as when he dies, his Squigs inspire.

Speaking of Squigs, Bonekrakka and Gobbaluk are fantastic members of the warband. Spotting identical stats, the Squig Bros are great sources of damage due to them hitting on smashes. Throughout the tournament, I used them aggressively and was not disappointed. In two of my games against the Eyes of the Nine warband, I got a first turn charge and kill!

Everyone's favorite member of the warband and for good reason, Snirk is an absolute pleasure to play. When playing the warband, I usually opted to go second and place him right at the front of my board. After my opponent's first turn, Snirk automatically inspires allowing him to get in there and immediately start swinging. The best part is that you can activate him multiple times in a phase. I actually was able to kill 3 members of the Sepulchural Guard with him in just 2 activations. Don't forget you can push an enemy fighter when you land on their hex, even into lethal hexes!

Lastly, we have the peanut gallery. The 3 archers have identical stats cards and I only activated them to grab objectives or to try to pick off an enemy with one health remaining. I say try because they hit on fury (swords) which is harder to land. In one of my games, I missed with all of them over the course of 4 activations! Prog has a fun ability that reduces the enemy attack action dice by 1 when he successfully lands an attack but that rarely impacted the game much for me.

As you can see, the main sources of damage in the warband are Drizgit, his two Squigs, and Snirk. The rest of the warband either camped objectives or were used to attack when the moment demanded it. Don't forget to use Scurry, its an amazing rule that if used correctly can help you nab multiple objectives at once!

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Here is the list I used to win the tournament.

As you can see, the deck carries the "core package" that a lot of competitive decks carry, however I really tried focusing on using the high model count to my advantage as well.

Note (11/12/18): I have replaced Combination Strike and Scragged with Extreme Flank and Superior Tactician. I found that the former is extremely easy to score as some boards even allow you to score without moving models from their starting hexes and the latter really helps you push that glory count higher, especially since you have 5 immediate score objectives.

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Objectives:

Advancing Strike and Defensive Strike are great immediate score cards that are easy to get quickly whether you are playing offensively or defensively. Snirk almost guarantees Advancing Strike every game. Escalation is great too as the warband really shines when you throw some upgrades on them. Plus your opponent can help score this for you.

Fired Up is perhaps one of the easiest cards to score in the game, especially with Snirk flailing around. Its great for getting those upgrades out early too. Our Only Way Out is where you really start taking advantage of the high model count and the warband's unique rule: Scurry. Precise Use of Force is another great objective as most of the members only deal 1-2 damage. Its pretty easy to score once you start piling up some damage.

Supremacy is another great card that takes advantage of Scurry. Even if your opponent uses an Earthquake or a Great Concussion to stop you, you can your own cards right after to position your models back onto the objectives or score both this and Our Only Way Out in a later turn. Mad Scurry combos really well with Scurry and the Move Action Drizgit and his Squigs can make. Obliterated, perhaps one of my favorite cards in the deck, is also fairly easy to score as Snirk is bound to take someone out throughout the course of the game.

Combination Strike is a "win-more" card and I know the community has mixed feelings about those type of cards but, I think because there are so many immediate score objectives in the deck, it can and has been fairly consistent. Scragged is a very situational card and to be honest, I got lucky in that I was able to score it in all my games. I am currently looking for a replacement but haven't settled on one yet. Lastly, Keep Them Guessing is a card that forces you to make four different types of actions to score. Its great for the first turn but towards the end, it might not line up towards your board state.

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Gambits:

Great Concussion is an amazing card in that in can completely ruin your opponents attempts to grab objectives and because you can isolate an enemy that has wandered too far into you territory. Just be careful because it can also mess up your plans to capture objectives. Make Some Noise and Quick Advance are great in that they allow you to move your models wherever they are needed. Whether its on an objective or right next to an enemy, you can achieve your win conditions with greater consistency. Plus, in a warband in which it can be hard to move everyone effectively at times, these cards can come in clutch.

These are 3 cards that I never leave home without due to the fact they can almost assuredly take down any fighter you need gone. You can even use all 3 at once for a whopping 3 additional damage which tremendously helps a low damage warband such as the Gits.

Stab 'Em In The Knee is similar to group of cards above in that it can help do some extra damage if you can hit your opponent. Fungal Blessing is solid in that when you lose a fighter, which is inevitable, you can punish your opponent. Time Trap and Ready For Action are two more cards I never leave home without. Ensuring an activation goes the way you want it to is huge.

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Upgrades:

Deathly Fortitude and Sudden Growth are great for throwing onto Snirk as he is usually targeted by your opponent heavily. Don't be afraid to throw it on your models that are camping on objectives too to help score more glory as well. Great Strength is another great card that helps with this low damage warband.

A Destiny To Meet and Slumbering Key are usually reserved for either Zarbag or an archer just camping out on your board. I was able to score them every game, just make sure you protect your boys in the back. Shadeglass Dagger is fantastic and really helps eliminating high health models, especially leaders.

These last cards are great for improving the defense characteristics of your warband. All of them use dodge except for Drizgit, so they really help in keeping your squishy boys alive.

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End Results:

The tournament was a lot of fun especially with its unique scoring. If you are a fan of soccer (football), you will recognize the scoring format we used. Wins were worth 3 points, draws were worth 2, and losses were worth 1.

My first game was against one of my local rivals playing Eyes of the Nine. I ended losing because my archers failed to kill his Brimstone Horror over the course of 4 activations which didn't allow me to score Defensive Strike, Precise Use Of Force, and Combination Strike. Unlucky. End Result: 7-9.

My second game was against the Sepulchural Guard and I was able to use Snirk, Drizgit, and the Squig Bros to bully his skeletons around the board. Although I did end up losing Snirk, I was able to keep my backfield well defended and won the game comfortably 14-3.

At this point, there was only one player who had won both of his games and the rest of us (9 other players) were each at a single loss and win. As a result, the player with the most scored glory would compete at top table. As it turns out, that was me

My third game was against another Eyes of the Nine warband. A first turn charge with Bonekrakka helped me score an early kill on one of his acolytes. By the end of my second activation in the second phase, I had killed the rest of his warband with Snirk and the Squig Bros. We played out the game allowing me to cycle through my objectives and score unhindered. I won 19-3.

3 players ended up with a 2-1 record and when it came time to tally the glory, I nabbed first place by quite the difference. I don't know how the spread was calculated, but I ended up with +22, second place was +8, and third was +4.

Overall, I had a blast and was able to capitalize on the fact that no one really knew how to play around Zarbag's Gits. The warband is a ton of fun to play and offers a lot of strategic nuance. I highly recommend you try them out!

Cheers,

Aman