Face to Face Store Champs Winning Deck Report

This deck took first place at the Face To Face Games Store Champs. Shout-out to Graham from Face to Face Games for running an awesome event that featured five different Fantasy Flight Store Championships which ran at the same time!

Gorzod’s First Dance

Army (30)
3x Assault Valkyrie
1x Crushface
2x Front line ‘Ard Boyz
4x Gorzod’s Wagons
1x Land Raider
2x Mordian Hellhound
2x Rickety Warbuggy
3x Rogue Trader
3x Shoota Mob
3x Snakebite Thug
3x Steel Legion Chimera
3x Void Pirate

Attachment (4)
3x Promotion
1x The Bloodrunna

Event (12)
2x Battle Cry
3x Dakka Dakka Dakka!
2x Hostile Acquisition
2x Rok Bombardment
3x Squiggify

Support (4)
1x Kustom Field Generator
1x Kustomisation Station
1x Mork’s Great Heap
1x Tellyporta Pad

I was extremely surprised that I won the event. I threw this deck together the night before the tournament, and bought the new War Pack at the event. I kind of expected to lose badly. Turns out Orks have some pretty annoying units! We had 8 players and ran 3 swiss rounds.

The first round was against Kevin’s Eldorath Starbane deck. The first five planets were all green (Strongpoint). I won initiative. I believe my first drop was a Land Raider to planet one and a command unit to a later planet. I believe he dropped a Starbane’s Council to Osus IV (planet 3) and a Biel-tan Guardians to where my command unit was. I committed to the planet 3 with the Council. I won the first planet. I committed my warlord to a planet with his Starbane’s Council, holding 3 double shield cards in hand and 3 resources to his 2. I knew this was a huge risk because I was potentially looking at 10 damage from his council. I swing for two and Kevin doesn’t shield. I decide to NOT to Squiggify his council: I didn’t want him to just retreat. He swings for 5 with the council and I shield 2. We ready and I swing for 2, he shields for 2. I decide at this point, it’s time to Squiggify. He swings for 1 so I’m at 4 damage. We ready and I swing again which kills the Council. Kevin plays Gift of Isha and swings for 5. I have no answer for this so I’m Bloodied. At this point I’m thinking… maybe I’ve made a mistake, BUT I have major board presence as he only has his warlord and a command unit on the board while I have a Land Raider in HQ. I play a Front Line ‘Ard Boyz, I believe at this point at planet 1. The middle part is kinda muddy, but on either turn 2 or 3 he ends up DOUBLE Archon’s Terror my Land Raider and ‘Ard Boyz so he can win a planet. We split the rest of the planets until the game winner on the original planet 5. At this point I have 2 ‘Ard Boyz, a Land Raider, Mork’s Great Heap and a Kustom Field Generator in play along with a couple smaller units. This made my army very very hard to deal with and it allows my bloodied Gorzod to still swing for 2 without fear of getting assassinated. I win after an early bloodied warlord scare. Tactically, I think was probably a mistake, but in the long run it may have helped me win the game.

The second round was against Fernando’s Broderick Worr deck. Another 5 Strongpoint (green) planets drop (which is terrifying when playing against Worr). He wins initiative and keeps while I mulligan. I decide that I probably should try to bully a way into victory, so I drop an Assault Valkyrie and Land Raider to planet 1 and pass. He drops a Troop Transport, an Inquisitorial Fortress (uses it on the Land Raider in the deploy phase) and a couple command units/soldiers (I believe an Enginseer Augur to planet 1, Tallarn Raiders to Tarrus (planet 2), and I think Iron Guard Recruits or something to Barlus (planet 3)). I commit to Barlus (3) and he commits to Tarrus (2). I win planet 1 by killing the Enginseer (and gets a Catachan Outpost from its death) and then using 3 double shield cards to take 3 damage total on the Valkyrie. I believe we have the same # of units (3) so Tarrus doesn’t trigger. I win planet 3 and trigger Barlus’s battle ability and discard a Troop Transport out of Fernando’s hand. This was a HUGE pull for me. After that I believe I drop down a Gorzod’s Wagons to planet 2 or 3 and a Tellyporta Pad. The pad let’s me bring over the Wagons to planet 1 to win it. I think it all leads to a big battle for the win at planet 1, where I’ve deployed a Shoota Mob and Snakebite Thug and a Rickety Warbuggy. I also deploy a Kustom Field Generator. I believe coming from HQ was a Land Raider, Gorzod’s Wagons and something else. I don’t think that unit list is entirely correct but he couldn’t recover from the first turn when he lost too much (he didn’t expect so many shields, and he didn’t hit a troop transport with the Enginseer).

The third round was against Kyle’s Torquemada Coteaz deck. The earliest possible game victory is at planet 5. In this game we have a fairly even command struggle battle in the first round, but I manage to kill a bunch of his units and choke him out for command while I have a Steel Legion Chimera, Front Line ‘Ard Boyz, Mork’s Great Heap, The Bloodrunna on Gorzod (10 HP with the Heap!), Land Raider and Kustom Field Generator out. This sets up a bad chain of first planet victories for me, with the final battle also including some Rickety Warbuggys, a Snakebite Thug and Crushface. I had a pretty solid draw while my opponent just didn’t draw what he needed. I feel like this happened a lot today, so luck was in my favour! Kyle was also only playing with 2 cores, so kudos on him for doing so well with only 2, and perhaps that helped me get the W!

So, final thoughts about the deck: I really like it! I mean, on paper I fully expected to not win a game. I didn’t think the deck had enough tricks to survive long drawn out battles or warlord tricks. While I didn’t play any traditionally tricky decks (Cato, Kith and Zarathur), I found it to be an extremely durable deck. Let me first say that KFG is a BEAST. It’s always been that way in Nazdreg, but with Front Line ‘Ard Boyz, it truly makes decks without AE attacks groan. If you can’t rout the ‘Ard Boyz, you’re looking at 5 HP + whatever I choose to KFG away to other units as well. If I have Steel Legion Chimera out that means any unit with 1 attack now does zero. That’s super annoying. Two copies of Steel Legion Chimera means attacks of 2 are zero. Jeez. I know it’s a big cost investment at 4, but it’s pretty boss, especially if you have a Land Raider protecting them from Archon’s Terror. I never saw a Kustomisation Station but I’m sure i’s a similar effect to the Mork’s. Scary stuff. I think in the current meta the Hostile Acquisition is pretty much just a one shield card, which initially made me worry about Gorzod, as Nazdreg’s Bigga is Betta is incredible, and so is Zogwort’s Launch Da Snots. The Wagons though are a great value 2 drop and KFG fodder too! The discount on Valkyries, Hellhounds, Chimeras and Land Raider made up for the lack of combat tricks.

Gorzod seems like a fun warlord that will only get better as more vehicles come out, and I’m sure there’s lots to improve on with this list. Carry on my wayward Nobs!