Well, this past Monday was our Wretched night. We discussed it as a group, and enough people showed an interest, so we decided to use the extra Monday in January to run it. I didn't want to give my opponents too high saves, but i also didn't want to completely duplicate another band i knew would be present. I opted for a LG Double Mint band.
Village Priest x2, Dwarf Caver x2, War Weaver x2, Dwarf Artificer x2; 198/8
I knew they would have high AC, and i knew the Cavers would be annoying with their two attacks, but i figured i could mitigate that.

Matchup 1 (loss): Eddie Jr. - Succubus, Witchknife x2, Orc Sergeant, Bugbear Champion of Erythnul, Wizened Elder Watcher
Map: Tomb of the Queen Peregrine (i forget)
Side: ? (i forget)
Well, this match proved that i *could* have mitigated the cavers. I just failed to do so. I was able to stun them one round with my witchknives, just one round too early it would seem. The fact that i never rolled over a 5 with the witchknives *while* flanking hurt my chances greatly. I played the best i could to play a great game (Eddie is a great player and i have never beat him) but my dice just weren't in the game with me. I went through all 4 of my dice that game. In the end, he had 150 to my 134 when time was called (i had 9 rounds of victory points to his 5).

Matchup 2 (win): Will, kid - Sand Giant, Maug, and others
Map: Tomb of the Queen Peregrine (my choice - he didn't have one)
Side: ? (don't recall)
He wasn't prepared for Wretched.

Matchup 3 (win): JP - Orc Sergeant, Feral Minotaur, Fiendish Girallon x2, Derro x2, Ophidian
Map: Tomb of the Queen Peregrine (don't recall)
Side: ? (i forget)
He put up a valiant fight, but the mino and girallons just chewed through his ranks.

I took third for the night, with my only loss going to #2 (who lost only to #1 in the third round). Loyce was #1 with another Double Mint band: Village Priest x2, War Weaver x2, Earth Shugenja x2, Combat Medic x2. His matchup against Eddie was much more favorable, as the healing was silenced by the witchknives. All in all, we had a blast playing the format. The games are longer and more frustrating, but if you take it all in stride it is a good time. I don't recommend this on a regular basis.

I considered the Feral Minotaur, but realized that Disruptive isn't much of a drawback when neither side brings a strong Commander.

Aside from that, he's a beast, and the Girallons are worse.

Am a bit surprised so many ran LG bands. Guess the redundant spells make for a lot of inefficiency.

I guess when I read the format information, I took it that you could only run one commander.

Thanks for the report. It's interesting to see what some would do in Wretched.

I guess when I read the format information, I took it that you could only run one commander.

I thought that too, but i reread it and it says you must have at least 1.

I think CE is Wripe for Wretched. Large Fire Elemental is 50 points for 60 hp and not impressive stats, plus requires commander handicap (unless Req[creature] is not allowed...). Put this burning suck with orc sergeant for 30 hp at AC 15 leading to 74 points. Top it off with incited mantis and inhibited ogre zombie for some serious movement limitations, and throw in succubus as well.

Can't have the Large Fire Elemental since it predates Aberrations.

You've got some good ideas otherwise. Having both Incited and Inhibited pieces greatly limits the band's flexibility.

I just read the rules - geez, I think the informal wretched other people presented (no dupes, limit number of commanders, etc) were perhaps better balanced.

I guess when I read the format information, I took it that you could only run one commander.

I thought that too, but i reread it and it says you must have at least 1.

I'm still not seeing that.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mit/20070111a

"Each warband must contain a commander."

Same text in on the EXPerience website. I think no more than two might have been better, myself.

I'm noticing that a lot of the pieces being considered for Wretched are dual-faction. Specifically, either LE/CE or CG/CE...

Witchknife
Ankheg
Scorpion Clan Drow Fighter
Flesh Golem
Red Slaad
Ethereal Filcher
Wyvern
Giant Frog
Wizened Elder Watcher

Odd.

I'm still not seeing that.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/mit/20070111a

"Each warband must contain a commander."

Same text in on the EXPerience website. I think no more than two might have been better, myself.

That is the text i am referencing also. We took "must contain a commander" as you cannot give them a commanderless warband. We figured it would say "must have one and only one commander" if it meant otherwise. Where is Guy at ...

All-Commander or mostly-Commander warbands that exploit this loophole violate the spirit of Wretched.

One bad Commander, required. Two bad Commanders, a nice way to burn a few points if you don't mind giving your opponent two figs that can add to Initiatives and rally.

If they can limit the point cost to no less than 198, they can surely limit us to no more than two Commanders.

Highlander rule would've solved the dual crappy commander problem. Of course people have mentioned before that they aren't happy with this particular set of Wretched rules.

At previous league nights we've used:
1. Minimum 198 points.
2. Maximum of one of any creature (exception for number 7. below).
3. 1 or 2 Commanders.
4. Minimum Commander rating of 2.
5. All creatures must be under command. (In other words, many Difficult or Wild creatures might not be usable.)
6. Banned creatures include: Arcane Ballista, creatures with Summons spells, Requires Commander, Requires Dwarf Commander, or Command Dependant.
7. All Minions must be included if a creature gets them and do not count as a creature for the purposes of rule 2. above.
8. Minimum of 2 appropriate creatures must be provided for those that may need them (Lich Necromancer, Mina, etc.) if they are included in the warband.
9. Must have a minimum of 4 activations.
10. Must follow all other normal Warband Building rules (faction, 8 creatures maximum, no more than 70% on any one creature, etc.).
11. The Map you bring is what you'll be playing on and doesn't go with the warband you bring.
12. For each game you'll swap warbands with your opponent so you'll always be playing against the warband you brought.

I had previously posted this re: our Wretched game:

For the record, we played the Wretched Format in our weekly League Event last night.

It sucks.

Nobody had any fun (that I talked to).

The winner had a downright nasty band of:

2 Earth Shugenga
2 Combat Medics
2 Village Priests
2 War Weavers

There was a TON of spell repitition that was utterly useless (including useless Bulls' Strengths) and a lot of +5 attacks for 5 damage. A GREAT band for the Wretched Format, that's for sure.

My only loss on the night was to him. But playing really bad Skirmish figures, is simply not fun, even if your opponent is too (in my humble opinion) and I'll not play that again.

Wow. Can you imagine playing this in a mirror match? How miserable would that be? And how long would it take to kill anything? They've got more healing per round than the entire band has damage output in a round.

My version of "wretched" sets the warband limit as a minimum point total instead of requiring that your warband fit within a narrow point window. So, in a 200 point tournament, you could give your opponent a band worth 200 points or 211 points, but not 199. The list of banned figures has varied. I haven't played in a while, though.