Post by jagius021 on Sept 2, 2017 5:30:34 GMT
Hello all! I used to do battle reports on occasion back when the ole pp forums were the place to be, and since I recently have rejoined the game I figure I would give it a go again. If this sucks, criticize me harshly. We are skorne and we thrive off the pain! Anyways I didnt quite figure out how to put the pics in how I wanted, so the next one will have pics, I promise (I dont).
Anyways, my friend got herself into CID and asked me to play a game with her, for science. She runs Convergence and wanted to test out Orion. I own Cygnar, Skorne and Mercs, so I opted for some fun with Skorne. She asked to find a way of breaking the caster, or barring that, find some fun things to do with him. I opted to run Winds of Death (even though I am sure that was everyone's first thought too) because I had recently acquired a second Cannoneer (or rather, poorly cobbled him together from bits and a battle box gladiator). So anyways, here is the list!
Whoa Black Betty bam Jalaam
Primus Jalaam
Cyclops Raider x2
Titan Cannoneer x2
Venator Reivers Full
- Officer and standard
Venator Reivers min
Venator Slingers max
Paingiver Beast Handlers max
Extoller Soulward
Venator Dakar (freeeeeee)
Venator Catapult crew (freeeeee)
vs!
Orion
Assimilator
Corollary
CIpher
Diffuser
Galvanizer x3
Inverter
Mitigator
Monitor
Dispersion Optifex
Attunement Servitor
Elimination Servitors (free)
Reflex Servitors x3 (free)
LIST DISCUSSION
So some explanation on my list. The thing I really liked about going into this was the combination of Swift Hunter (from theme) and Warpath. Having enjoyed Kraye's Repo 5, I saw this and was eager to test it out. I dont know why I didnt run a Shaman in this list, but I opted for 2 cyclops raider instead. I guess just to see how they would do. The other oddity of the list is the min unit of reivers. I was going to deploy a lot centrally, and wanted something to flank with that might get the scavengers blessing, and figured this was a decent way to meet my necessary venator points and threat some. Okay, I lied, there was another oddity, the catapult crew. Once upon a time in mk 2 I had won an ebay lot that gave me 2 of these bad boys, and I jokingly ran them and they were BEASTS. So I wanted them to relive their glory days, and also for whatever reason these guys have burst fire as well. So against most heavies they are straight dice, and they can often hit them too.
Her list... It has a ton of mines. like, ridiculous mines. I am also disappointed to not see a Prime Axiom. With all the guns I have I was curious to see if I could chip it away. Instead she brought a lot of repair. Greeaaaatttt. Well, lets see how this goes!
We are playing scenario, but because we are dumb we accidentally played an old scenario (one with 2 flags and a centrally located circle zone. She wins the roll and goes first. I opt for the side that has.... well, they look the same really. But I place my wall in the zone, near-ish a forest, and across from her flag. I figure that mr shooty is going to enjoy this wall a lot this game (Spoiler Alert! He does). She places Orion Centrally, with little clusters of warjacks across the board- a heavy with a galvanizer and a light and a solo. And in good convergence fashion, everything is within 6 inches of something else. I put jalaam close to the wall, the cannoneers on either side, and the raiders on the edge of the control area. the max reivers are centrally located, the dakaar and the catapult are a bit to the right, and the min reivers are on the faaaaar right. She AD the mines EVERYWHERE. its a thick line across the board. They are dug in. It is unfortunate. I AD my slingers slightly left of center (I foresee them getting the scavengers prey). Oh, and that big ole ground pounder heavy she has is my prey. I wanted to get rid of him ASAP.
Turn 1, Her. The mines move forward and dig in. She runs everything except Orion who casts Mage Sight into a forest that my slingers were about to enter. As much as I like to make fun of her, she sometimes plays well. she casts Avenging Force and passes the turn.
Turn 1, Me. I move Jalaam into position behind the wall, casting Vanish to get there at the end so as to not trigger countercharge. I pop two shots into the Assimilator, doing tiny damage. I decide its a good time to pop feat. I move everything up, and some mines take the bait. They dont hit anything due to feat, but blast damage does kill a couple slingers. The catapult puts some more damage on the Assimilator, as does a cannoneer who was correctly positioned. Raiders fail at doing anything useful, Reivers mini feat and get some damage in on the Assimilator and a few mines. There are still a lot of them left and their pow 7s can still clear my fluffy gunners with average dice. I pass the turn.
Turn 2, Her. She upkeeps her spells, and shoots with avenging force, it kills a reiver. She throws bombs in, and in typical Becca luck, she wipes out a lot of slingers. Her jacks all have to boost to hit, and some of them still miss. This feat is pretty neat as it turns out. She positions the Assimilator in such a way that I cant not eat it next turn. Say what you will about bait, it sure does taste good.
Turn 2, Me. The flanking reivers are still sorta held at bay by those bombs. time to clear things up, one way or another. I move them into bait range, and even one into melee. she doesnt take the bait so I pop a few shots into a Light. Jalaam kills off the assimilator (now her caster is prey), and vanishes over a bit for some safety. cannoneers and raiders clear the monitor too. Between warpath and swift hunter, I am able to position a cannoneer for a good retaliation if she charges the reivers or jalaam, who has like 3 fury on him still. The PGBH whip off some fury, and my friend the catapult keeps dinging away at the heavies. The slingers throw acid everywhere, and for this I praise them, specifically because the acid only splashed onto the solos and did not harm them, not triggering her upkeep. that extra 3 inches would be all she needed to put an Inverter into Jalaams face. She has Orion on the flag so she gains a point.
Turn 3, her. She drops mage sight but upkeeps avenging force. she pops feat and the Inverter Charges. he knocks down the cannoneer, swings at jalaam and does some minimal damage which I take, then repos in front of jalaam, screening Orion. She does some shooting but jalaams cover makes it hard to hit him, so she moves things around the flag to protect it and to clog the zone. She gains a point
Turn 3, me. I stand up my cannoneer and charge the inverter and smash it to bits. The other beasts blow up the rest of her heavies and a light, and a lot of her solos are dead. Jalaam is in an action movie sequence with Orion, standing up from cover to shoot at him and ducking back down. He does some minimal damage that is negated by spending focus. At this point its time to start moving things to threaten that flag or goad the assassination. She scores a point. (thats 3 for her so far)
Turn 4, her. She sees that this is looking pretty damn futile, and goes for a hail mary. Her gun can push things around, so she is torn between clearing the zone, or.... maybe... just maybe, clearing my flag. My flag has 4 reivers around it. If she can clear my flag and dominate it, she can score 2 points and win it right there. she gives magic bullet to the light jack and casts Power Blaster on it (by the way, such a cool spell!). Power blaster kills the stuff jamming the light, so he can do work now. Orion then charges at a reiver near the flag, falling short of my dude but ending right by the flag, perfect positioning for her. One of her mines rush in to clear some dudes, and only gets 1. 3 brave souls remain. She shoots with her light, hitting a dude and magic bullet hits another, only 1 reiver remains! Her puncture solo fires a shot at the remaining reiver..... AND MISSES! With her last ditch effort thwarted and the flag contested, she concedes the game.
Things we learned
Vanish is super fun. I love that spell. being able to free yourself from melee or ignore things like countercharge is great. Warpath is also really great with swift hunter. my beasts were always where I wanted them. I was sad that I never got to use that neat spell scavengers blessing, but there never seemed to be a good time to do with with the threat of ground pounder and mines out there. Deadeye also didnt see a lot of play, but I blame that on not needing to hit anything with high defense. I literally hid behind that wall all game too, so that was neato. With hunter, you could seriously abuse your opponents own useful terrain while still being safe behind your own. That being said, from a design standpoint, I felt like he could lose a point (or even 2) of MAT and it would be okay. He could use perhaps a special ability on those reivers, maybe something against small based units. As it sits, even with prey against her caster and boosting, I did negligible damage against him with Jalaam. I feel like he will probably be great against cavalry given his own mobility and increased damage against them. The Feat is more fun that it seemed on its surface, because of its ability to let you challenge counter chargers and even risk a free strike better.
Her caster was really neat. He actually has a pretty good stat line to feed to his jacks, so that was new to me. rat 6 in convergence? I am used to rat 2. this is cheating, clearly. I really liked the spell Power Booster, as it is just so flavorful and interesting. Had I been playing cygnar, she would have undoubtedly used it against me to kill off support models. Orions feat is also interesting, changing based on the presence of focus/fury. As it reads, its all models that are affected, regardless if they have focus/fury manipulation rule. so your units, they dont have any focus. they are going to get eaten. Oh, and those damn mines. Every time I get intimidated by them, I realize I didnt need to worry at all later. And every time I underestimate them, I lose a unit of slingers.
All in all, I enjoyed Jalaam and will probably have to play him against her again soon. I should have my Siege Animantarax together by that point so you better believe I will run it. I am also curious to see how he will do with Dead eye on cataphracts. I also am in love with the Hydra, and feel like he alone might be able to set up a lot of Warpath movements even though he cant benefit from it himself. A shaman seems useful with him as well because from my experience, I always wanted to use my focus to boost to hit or to keep a safe transfer buffer. Even thought I am compelled to run him in a really gunny list, I am going to try him in a more melee centric army just to see how that works out, probably having only arcuii for ranged.
So its crazy late and I know I have left things out, but what do you think? Have you tested out Jalaam, and what are your thoughts on him? Anything work exceptionally well, and anything fail exceptionally hard?
Anyways, my friend got herself into CID and asked me to play a game with her, for science. She runs Convergence and wanted to test out Orion. I own Cygnar, Skorne and Mercs, so I opted for some fun with Skorne. She asked to find a way of breaking the caster, or barring that, find some fun things to do with him. I opted to run Winds of Death (even though I am sure that was everyone's first thought too) because I had recently acquired a second Cannoneer (or rather, poorly cobbled him together from bits and a battle box gladiator). So anyways, here is the list!
Whoa Black Betty bam Jalaam
Primus Jalaam
Cyclops Raider x2
Titan Cannoneer x2
Venator Reivers Full
- Officer and standard
Venator Reivers min
Venator Slingers max
Paingiver Beast Handlers max
Extoller Soulward
Venator Dakar (freeeeeee)
Venator Catapult crew (freeeeee)
vs!
Orion
Assimilator
Corollary
CIpher
Diffuser
Galvanizer x3
Inverter
Mitigator
Monitor
Dispersion Optifex
Attunement Servitor
Elimination Servitors (free)
Reflex Servitors x3 (free)
LIST DISCUSSION
So some explanation on my list. The thing I really liked about going into this was the combination of Swift Hunter (from theme) and Warpath. Having enjoyed Kraye's Repo 5, I saw this and was eager to test it out. I dont know why I didnt run a Shaman in this list, but I opted for 2 cyclops raider instead. I guess just to see how they would do. The other oddity of the list is the min unit of reivers. I was going to deploy a lot centrally, and wanted something to flank with that might get the scavengers blessing, and figured this was a decent way to meet my necessary venator points and threat some. Okay, I lied, there was another oddity, the catapult crew. Once upon a time in mk 2 I had won an ebay lot that gave me 2 of these bad boys, and I jokingly ran them and they were BEASTS. So I wanted them to relive their glory days, and also for whatever reason these guys have burst fire as well. So against most heavies they are straight dice, and they can often hit them too.
Her list... It has a ton of mines. like, ridiculous mines. I am also disappointed to not see a Prime Axiom. With all the guns I have I was curious to see if I could chip it away. Instead she brought a lot of repair. Greeaaaatttt. Well, lets see how this goes!
We are playing scenario, but because we are dumb we accidentally played an old scenario (one with 2 flags and a centrally located circle zone. She wins the roll and goes first. I opt for the side that has.... well, they look the same really. But I place my wall in the zone, near-ish a forest, and across from her flag. I figure that mr shooty is going to enjoy this wall a lot this game (Spoiler Alert! He does). She places Orion Centrally, with little clusters of warjacks across the board- a heavy with a galvanizer and a light and a solo. And in good convergence fashion, everything is within 6 inches of something else. I put jalaam close to the wall, the cannoneers on either side, and the raiders on the edge of the control area. the max reivers are centrally located, the dakaar and the catapult are a bit to the right, and the min reivers are on the faaaaar right. She AD the mines EVERYWHERE. its a thick line across the board. They are dug in. It is unfortunate. I AD my slingers slightly left of center (I foresee them getting the scavengers prey). Oh, and that big ole ground pounder heavy she has is my prey. I wanted to get rid of him ASAP.
Turn 1, Her. The mines move forward and dig in. She runs everything except Orion who casts Mage Sight into a forest that my slingers were about to enter. As much as I like to make fun of her, she sometimes plays well. she casts Avenging Force and passes the turn.
Turn 1, Me. I move Jalaam into position behind the wall, casting Vanish to get there at the end so as to not trigger countercharge. I pop two shots into the Assimilator, doing tiny damage. I decide its a good time to pop feat. I move everything up, and some mines take the bait. They dont hit anything due to feat, but blast damage does kill a couple slingers. The catapult puts some more damage on the Assimilator, as does a cannoneer who was correctly positioned. Raiders fail at doing anything useful, Reivers mini feat and get some damage in on the Assimilator and a few mines. There are still a lot of them left and their pow 7s can still clear my fluffy gunners with average dice. I pass the turn.
Turn 2, Her. She upkeeps her spells, and shoots with avenging force, it kills a reiver. She throws bombs in, and in typical Becca luck, she wipes out a lot of slingers. Her jacks all have to boost to hit, and some of them still miss. This feat is pretty neat as it turns out. She positions the Assimilator in such a way that I cant not eat it next turn. Say what you will about bait, it sure does taste good.
Turn 2, Me. The flanking reivers are still sorta held at bay by those bombs. time to clear things up, one way or another. I move them into bait range, and even one into melee. she doesnt take the bait so I pop a few shots into a Light. Jalaam kills off the assimilator (now her caster is prey), and vanishes over a bit for some safety. cannoneers and raiders clear the monitor too. Between warpath and swift hunter, I am able to position a cannoneer for a good retaliation if she charges the reivers or jalaam, who has like 3 fury on him still. The PGBH whip off some fury, and my friend the catapult keeps dinging away at the heavies. The slingers throw acid everywhere, and for this I praise them, specifically because the acid only splashed onto the solos and did not harm them, not triggering her upkeep. that extra 3 inches would be all she needed to put an Inverter into Jalaams face. She has Orion on the flag so she gains a point.
Turn 3, her. She drops mage sight but upkeeps avenging force. she pops feat and the Inverter Charges. he knocks down the cannoneer, swings at jalaam and does some minimal damage which I take, then repos in front of jalaam, screening Orion. She does some shooting but jalaams cover makes it hard to hit him, so she moves things around the flag to protect it and to clog the zone. She gains a point
Turn 3, me. I stand up my cannoneer and charge the inverter and smash it to bits. The other beasts blow up the rest of her heavies and a light, and a lot of her solos are dead. Jalaam is in an action movie sequence with Orion, standing up from cover to shoot at him and ducking back down. He does some minimal damage that is negated by spending focus. At this point its time to start moving things to threaten that flag or goad the assassination. She scores a point. (thats 3 for her so far)
Turn 4, her. She sees that this is looking pretty damn futile, and goes for a hail mary. Her gun can push things around, so she is torn between clearing the zone, or.... maybe... just maybe, clearing my flag. My flag has 4 reivers around it. If she can clear my flag and dominate it, she can score 2 points and win it right there. she gives magic bullet to the light jack and casts Power Blaster on it (by the way, such a cool spell!). Power blaster kills the stuff jamming the light, so he can do work now. Orion then charges at a reiver near the flag, falling short of my dude but ending right by the flag, perfect positioning for her. One of her mines rush in to clear some dudes, and only gets 1. 3 brave souls remain. She shoots with her light, hitting a dude and magic bullet hits another, only 1 reiver remains! Her puncture solo fires a shot at the remaining reiver..... AND MISSES! With her last ditch effort thwarted and the flag contested, she concedes the game.
Things we learned
Vanish is super fun. I love that spell. being able to free yourself from melee or ignore things like countercharge is great. Warpath is also really great with swift hunter. my beasts were always where I wanted them. I was sad that I never got to use that neat spell scavengers blessing, but there never seemed to be a good time to do with with the threat of ground pounder and mines out there. Deadeye also didnt see a lot of play, but I blame that on not needing to hit anything with high defense. I literally hid behind that wall all game too, so that was neato. With hunter, you could seriously abuse your opponents own useful terrain while still being safe behind your own. That being said, from a design standpoint, I felt like he could lose a point (or even 2) of MAT and it would be okay. He could use perhaps a special ability on those reivers, maybe something against small based units. As it sits, even with prey against her caster and boosting, I did negligible damage against him with Jalaam. I feel like he will probably be great against cavalry given his own mobility and increased damage against them. The Feat is more fun that it seemed on its surface, because of its ability to let you challenge counter chargers and even risk a free strike better.
Her caster was really neat. He actually has a pretty good stat line to feed to his jacks, so that was new to me. rat 6 in convergence? I am used to rat 2. this is cheating, clearly. I really liked the spell Power Booster, as it is just so flavorful and interesting. Had I been playing cygnar, she would have undoubtedly used it against me to kill off support models. Orions feat is also interesting, changing based on the presence of focus/fury. As it reads, its all models that are affected, regardless if they have focus/fury manipulation rule. so your units, they dont have any focus. they are going to get eaten. Oh, and those damn mines. Every time I get intimidated by them, I realize I didnt need to worry at all later. And every time I underestimate them, I lose a unit of slingers.
All in all, I enjoyed Jalaam and will probably have to play him against her again soon. I should have my Siege Animantarax together by that point so you better believe I will run it. I am also curious to see how he will do with Dead eye on cataphracts. I also am in love with the Hydra, and feel like he alone might be able to set up a lot of Warpath movements even though he cant benefit from it himself. A shaman seems useful with him as well because from my experience, I always wanted to use my focus to boost to hit or to keep a safe transfer buffer. Even thought I am compelled to run him in a really gunny list, I am going to try him in a more melee centric army just to see how that works out, probably having only arcuii for ranged.
So its crazy late and I know I have left things out, but what do you think? Have you tested out Jalaam, and what are your thoughts on him? Anything work exceptionally well, and anything fail exceptionally hard?