So for the first time in... quite a long time, I'm going to do a battle report on a friendly game. Not yet 100% sure if this will be a regular thing again, but after the weekend I was still feeling keen to do some Sturm and Drang reporting. I ended up squaring off with the Damiano Kingmaker opponent from the tournament for our third game of the Kingmaker vs Sturm and Drang match-up in a week. The lists, in case anyone needs a recap, were:
Sturm and Drang (Will Work For Food)
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
-Battle Boar
-Soul Slave (free)
Rorsh
-Brine
Dahlia
-Skarath
Husk
Husk
Husk
Bone Shrine
Bone Shrine
Orin Midwinter
Mist Speaker
Kwaak and Gub
Gobber Chef
Longchops (free)
Meat Thresher
And
Damiano
-Nomad
-Nomad
-Nomad
Max Trencher Long Gunners
-UA
Max Trencher Infantry
-UA
-2x Grenadiers
Max Steelheads
Max Steelheads
Stannis
Orin Midwinter
Kell Bailoch
Deployment
We rolled up the Pit II for the scenario, which was almost a relief since our last two games were both Spread the Net and the experience was starting to wear a bit thin. I won the roll-off and grabbed the first turn. My opponent gave me the table side with the Acid Pool. I'd taken Stockpile as my objective (his was Fuel Cache I think), so I figured it would be good to have Brine out on the left, the Meat Thresher next to the objective to heal any scratch damage it took, and Skarath in the middle. Scattered my Battle Boars amidst the lot of them. He went with more or less the same deployment he normally went for, with a Halberdier unit on each flank, Long Gunners and Trencher Infantry central, two Nomads opposite the Meat Thresher and one across from Brine. I stuck one of my Bone Shrines in the central zone and one on the left, not wanting to block my Meat Thresher in.
Pigs Turn 1
Just about everything ran. Dahlia put up Mist Walker and Haunting Melody because I hadn't bothered to check if Skarath could actually get to the forest. He couldn't, so that was a bit pointless. Sturm had put Vision on Skarath, Polarity Shield on the Meat Thresher, and Deceleration up before charging towards an enemy model to get a bit of distance.
I've made sure each Husk is within 3" of a shield guard in case of massive CRAs, as well as trying to safeguard the Meat Tresher.
Mercs Turn 1
After a bit of agonising, my opponent decided to have Kell aim and shoot the Husk on the left. I opted not to Shield Guard, took the three damage, Hyper Aggressive'd forward and sprayed and killed Kell. Good start. The Trencher Infantry did a Cautious Advance and a massive CRA into the 5 health Husk, detonating it. Sure Foot went on the Trencher Infantry, Road to War went up, and Damiano hugged his wall. His army rushed forward, mostly aiming to screen his Nomads.
Pigs Turn 2
Sturm stays in control. The Battle Boar on the far right punches the Husk in front of the Meat Thresher, doing no damage on the first hit and dropping it to 2 health on the second. The Husk then runs up into the midst of the Trencher infantry, my opponent opting not to take free Strikes. The Meat Thresher edges closer to the centre and pumps four shots into the lead Nomad on the right. Does about eight damage, all into column 3. Dahlia gives Mist Walker to Skarath, who walks up and sprays at the Husk, missing both of the intervening Trencher Infantry. The Husk explodes, catching four Trenchers and a Halberdier. The Halberdier dies, but all four Trenchers pass their Tough rolls. That... really annoyed me. Skarath tosses up Counterblast.
The Soul Slave TKs Longchops into the forest. He aims and shoots at one of the Trencher Long Gunners, killing them, dropping his trap and Repositioning back behind the forest. I charge the Husk on the left into one of the Halberdiers there, hit and kill him. Orin then hits the Husk in the back with a Chain Lightning, gets three bounces, drops the Husk to four health and kills three more Halberdiers very neatly. I consider hanging back another round and denying my opponent anything to get to, but honestly Brine for a Nomad is likely the best trade I'll get with him. I slingshot Brine forwards, Primal him, and try to backstab him with the Gobber Chef. Turns out Backstab is enemy model only, so no free charge. Brine goes into the Nomad and tears off both arms and the cortex. I opt not to buy the final attack, figuring allowing Rorsh to use his transfers is more likely to be useful than finishing off a near scrapped Warjack. Sturm activates puts Deceleration up, TKs one of the right flank Battle Boars forward and Primals it (needing to take a Fury from a Shrine, doesn't get cursed). It then Adrenalizes, walks into melee with a Trencher, kills it, Overtakes and Berserks through two more Trencher Infantry before stalling out at the front of the zone.
I figure my opponent will now Feat to kill Brine and the Battle Boar, which is a trade I'm pretty comfortable in making. Neither Nomads on the right are in range of either the Battle Boar or the Meat Thresher, and I doubt the Trencher Infantry will be able to do much to Skarath.
Mercs Turn 2
Sure enough, Damiano Feats, the near dead Nomad gets out of the way and the Halberdiers charge in. Four of them kill Brine, the last one blows up the Husk and kills himself in the process. Stannis charges through them to kill the Gobber Chef, repositions back into Damiano's Control Area, and secures that zone. On the right flank one Halberdier charges my objective, does six damage, the others just run up. The Trenchers declare charges, three go into Skarath (he misses his Counterblast Attack even with Dahlia nearby), the rest pile onto the Primal'd Battle Boar. The Boar goes down easily, allowing the Nomad on the left to Road to War into the left zone to score it, Skarath gets hit by one attack which I cancel with Vision, the others miss. The Long Gunners put two shots into the Meat Thresher. Three models need to move to get range, so the big CRA gets Shield Guarded. My opponent rolls an 11 for the second one, which does six damage to the Meat Thresher. I believe they also use their mini-Feat this turn. The Nomads on the right just edge forward a little and get into the fog properly to benefit from Concealment. My opponent gains 1 CP.
Pigs Turn 3
Sturm stays in control, the Objective heals the Meat Thresher for three health. Skarath clears off the Trenchers, though Tough requires him to use three Fury to kill the three of them and means I can't afford Counterblast. Dahlia edges forward to catch more Infantry inside her Haunting Melody. I have my Meat Thresher move up, kill some Halberdiers and one or two Trenchers, pour more shots into the leading Nomad and fail to cripple anything. The Soul Slave TKs it back, Sturm edges so it can just barely catch the lead Nomad in his Control, Feats, puts up Deceleration, takes a Fury off a Shrine and again avoids being Cursed, and Primals the right flank Battle Boar so that it can get a Berserk chain going. Said Battle Boar walks up, Adrenalizes, misses one boosted attack roll, hits the second, Trencher Toughs, Battle Boar sits there unable to do anything. Over on the left I totally blank on Stannis having Defensive Strike, walk Kwaak up to spray his Halberdiers through Stannis, get Kwaak killed for no reason. Throw two Battle Boars at Stannis to kill him after softening him with two shots from Rorsh. Orin fires a Chain Lightning at the Halberdiers, kills one. Mist Speaker goes to Influence the Halberdiers, misses. Longchops walks up, shoots a Trencher Infantry in the butt, kills him, doesn't have any place he can drop his trap, repositions back behind the forest.
Mercs Turn 3
My opponent can only get the lead (Feated on) Nomad into the Battle Engine, so he kills the right flank Battle Boar with Halberdiers (does two more points to my objective as well), advances with Road to War, walks into melee with the Meat Thresher and between its attacks and two big CRAs from the Long Gunners they drop it down to 9 health. Trencher Infantry CRA Skarath for about a quarter of his health. Halberdiers do some minor damage to the left flank Battle Boars. Orin and Damiano mostly just chill.
Pigs Turn 4
Time for Drang! The Meat Thresher gets healed another three health by the Objective, kills three Halberdiers, forces another tough check on a Trencher Infantry (he passes), and kills the Nomad engaging it. I think the last shot goes into the third Nomad and does one point of damage. I have the Soul Slave walk up and TK that Nomad around, forgetting momentarily about Road to War. Drang casts Killing Ground and Primals one of the left flank Battle Boars. Orin clears out the engaging Halberdiers with Chain Lightning. Rorsh shoots the near-dead Nomad on the left to death. The Mat 9 Battle Boars goes into the Long Gunners and kills the entire unit (finally, at long last, he stops passing Tough checks). Longchops kills a Halberdier and again has nowhere to drop his Trap. Skarath tries to spray down some infantry, hits one, they Tough. Dahlia casts Mist Walker on herself and walks up to catch more Trenchers in Haunting Melody range. The last Battle Boar on the left drops the objective to 1 health, Mist Speaker finishes it with a charge (at this point the Mist Speaker is also only on three health after running through acid a few turns back).
Mercs Turn 4
My opponent loads up his last Nomad and decides Skarath is more important than the Meat Thresher. The last Halberdier on the left kills the Mist Speaker to proc Road to War. Trenchers walk in and swing at Skarath, mostly ineffectually since they can't charge (the UA backs up to get out of Haunting Melody range). The Nomad goes in and successfully hard rolls some 8s to hit to kill Skarath, takes about six damage from the Counterblast in the process. Halberdiers on the right try to hurt the objective some more and charge the Meat Thresher, drop the Meat Thresher to about four health and leave the objective unscathed.
Pigs Turn 5
The Meat Thresher gets healed another 2 health by the objective. I put Sturm back in control. Battle Boar frenzies at Damiano and hits the wall. Polarity Shield goes back onto the Meat Thresher, it gets TK'd out of combat with the Halberdiers and positioned so it can smack the Nomad in the back. I walk it into melee, attack, and then stare in disbelief at the snake eyes on its wheel attack against the Nomad. It gets three shots into the Nomad, which do a decent chunk of damage. The Soul Slave walks up to TK the Nomad to face the opposite direction so that Rorsh and Orin can try to finish it off. Rorsh drops it to three health, one in Cortex, one in its sword arm, one in its movement. Orin bolts it, fails to break armour, gets three bounces, kills one Trencher and Dahlia. Longchops walks into the back arc of a Trencher Infantry and shoots him, dropping a useless trap somewhere and repositioning back. I take a free strike from a Halberdier to run my Battle Boar
I still can't quite believe how badly that turn went...
Mercs Turn 5
Damiano drops Sure Foot and Road to War. Nomad gets loaded up, trivially kills the Meat Thresher, struggles and fails to kill the Battle Boar because of Mat 6. Halberdiers on the right kill my objective. The Trencher officer and Halberdier and Orin all fail to hit Rorsh on the left. Damiano takes a swing on the Battle Boar, misses because of the wall, decides he's safer camping four.
Pigs Turn 6
Well, I'm not the only one having bad luck. Drang goes in control again. My Battle Boar scraps his Nomad with a single solid punch. I forget to have Rorsh cut for Fury, so he only has his Spirit Bond Fury which he uses to kill the Halberdier and knock down the Trencher UA. Orin walks up to finish off the UA, doesn't break armour. Drang toes the left zone, lobs an Obliteration at the Halberdiers, is out of range because I forgot to TK my Bone Shrine first with the Soul Slave, still clips the closest one and boosts blast damage to kill him. Gets cursed taking a Fury to get his camp up to three. Soul Slave fails to hit the Trencher Sniper in the forest (I literally only just realised I could have Mental Forced this attack). Longchops kills another Halberdier, drops a trap. I take a free strike from Damiano to run the forward Battle Boar back. I gain 1 CP, equalising the score.
Mercs Turn 6
Damiano takes a Blaster shot at my Orin, kills him, the Trencher officer, and forces Rorsh to make a tough check. Orin charges Rorsh and kills him. The Trencher sniper fails to break armour on the Soul Slave. One surviving Halberdier runs into the forest on the right, the other charges the Soul Slave and drops him to about three health.
Pigs Turn 7
Drang stays in control. Another Obliteration goes out, scattering onto the Halberdier in the forest, killing him with boosted blast damage. One Battle Boar kills Orin and Overtakes into the left zone. Longchops walks up and kills the Trencher sniper with a bite. The Soul Slave TKs the second Battle Boar so that it can walk into the last Halberdier, kill him, Overtake into the zone. I gain 3 CP.
Mercs Turn 7
Damiano shoots and kills the Soul Slave. I go to 6 CP.
That's the first time I've ever hit the turn limit in SR2017, though I won anyway. Hell of a game, but my gosh did the dice piss me off. My opponent had some appalling rolls as well, so I really can't complain, and he took it a lot better than I did.
I was hoping to get two games in, but since we weren't playing on clock the above ordeal went for three and a half hours. Still, it was a phenomenal game and a fun chance to really stretch both the anti-infantry potential of this list and its capacity to play this slow, carefully controlled attrition game over multiple turns. I got really good use out of all of Sturm's abilities, particularly the Polarity Shielded Meat Thresher out on the right flank. And hoo boy did that Stockpile objective do some good work.