Damn... wrote the first report and then computer crashed before i posted... Sigh...
Kaya 1 vs Durgen
Lists
I played a modified version of the list discussed previously (thanks for the feedback). My opponent played a troop spam with Durgen. Neither of us had played the caster before, so... you know what to expect lol.
Circle Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] The Devourer's Host
!!! Your army contains CID entries.
[Kaya 1] Kaya the Wildborne [+32]
- Ghetorix [19]
- Loki [19]
- Warpwolf Stalker [17]
- Tharn Blood Shaman [0(5)] (Wilder)
Bloodweaver Night Witch [4] (Morvahna 1)
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [4] (Druid)
Tharn Wolf Rider Champion [0(7)]
Bríghid & Caul [7] (Ravager and Tanith)
Tharn Bloodtrackers (max) [15] (Reeves)
- Nuala the Huntress [4] (Kaya 2)
Tharn Wolf Riders (max) [18] (Longriders)
Mercenary Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] The Irregulars
[Durgen 1] Durgen Madhammer [+29]
- Ghordson Avalancher [17] (Nomad)
- Ghordson Avalancher [17] (Nomad)
- Reinholdt
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Eiryss 1 [0(7)]
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord [0(4)]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6]
Kayazy Assassins (max) [15]
- Kayazy Assassin Underboss [0(4)]
Steelhead Halberdiers (min) [7]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Terrain, Scenario and Deployment
He has Anastasia so he gets to go first. We play Recon II. The terrain can be seen in the pic, though there is a very small linear obstacle mid field that is hard to see. I pick this side because i like the big forest to work with for my Wolfriders, but terrain seems pretty unimportant.
He deploys Caster and jacks in the middle, kayazy towards the east zone and then Halbs all over the place. Support and Artillery interspersed in the lines.
I deploy with my wolfies to the east and bloodtrackers to the west. Ghetorix prepares to go alone to the west zone while Loki and Stalker goes more towards the east zone. Caster and support and B&C in the middle. Champion is towards the west.
Bloodtrackers Prey the westen Halbs and B&C prey something. Cant remember and didnt matter.
Mercs T1
He runs up but respect my threat ranges, so he does not go full steam. He is very spread out and he cant get pathfinder on the east flank.
Circle T1
Bloodtrackers posture against Halbs, staying outside 11". He needs to come to me. Wolfriders actually reached and shot 2 Halbs, and then positioned behind the forest with Occultation up. Beasts move up carefully waiting for him to approach.
Mercs T2
On the west he runs to engage Bloodtrackers with halbs and spreads out the other unit nearby. He also engages my Wolfriders. Kayazy with Primed are placed to counter punch. Anastasia charges Lanyssa cause i forgot about her. He knocks down Loki with an avalancher and shoots it with a Cannon too, but rolls poorly and does 5-10 points total.
Circle T2
I get to play in the sprinkler. Bloodtrackers murder 10+ halbs with stabs and quick work. Wolfriders kill 10+ halbs too and Anastasia. We decide to call it off before i have even finished my turn. I would have murdered a LOT of stuff and i would not have been forced to expose anything important really to do so. This wasnt really fun for either player, so we play another game instead.
Even with almost no caster support i did terrible damage to his army while staying pretty safe. I wouldnt have won instantly but it was very clear that it was only a matter of time before i killed his stuff and won on scenario. Sure i could have messed up and lost on assassination, but i had no reason to come forward with Kaya so i think i would have been fine. Next game!
Kaya 1 vs Magnus 2
Now lets try that against a more standard strong list!
Mercenary Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] The Irregulars
[Magnus 2] Magnus the Warlord [+28]
- Buccaneer [6]
- Freebooter [9]
- Nomad [11]
- Nomad [11]
- Nomad [11]
- Talon [7]
- Talon [7]
- Toro [13]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution [0(6)]
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist [0(4)]
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor [0(5)]
Ragman [0(4)]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [6]
Kayazy Eliminators [5]
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8]
Terrain, Scenario and Deployment
Same terrain and scenario as before. He goes first as always...
He deploys the Freebooter and Buccaneer on the west flank with a talon on each flank and the nomads and toro pretty centrally. One Artillery on each flank too.
I deploy basically identically as last time.
He moves his heavies forward with the theme bonus. I Prey the west Talon with the Bloodtrackers and the Toro with B&C.
Mercs T1
He runs up, but does not really respect my shooting threat. He takes as much space as he can pretty much.
Circle T1
I have Nuala switch Prey to the Freebooter and shoot it down. I switch prey to the westernmost Nomad (as i can reach it) and my three last bloodtrackers cripple its movement. Wow! I reposition out in a swarm. Ghetorix does animus trample and gets in to the zone. Loki and the stalker stay very passive. I want Loki to not get caught in the feat as that could allow him to drag in a heavy to the Stalker. Wolfies guard the east flank from anastasia, being very safe with stealth and behind that forest. Champion stays back guarding the west flank from that little twerp too. God i hate her!
It feels amazing to be up on attrition already. Shooting down a heavy before it did anything really helps attrition.
Mercs T2
He cant reach the Stalker or Loki if he feats so no feat this round. Instead he uses lights to kill bloodtrackers and move up with Two nomads in the middle, one using the obstruction to prevent drags, the other using the tiny wall. Kayazy are in front. The east Talon contests the zone from behind the forest.
Circle T2
I get to play in the sprinkler again! Ghetorix kills the damaged Nomad and uses Animus. Caul charges the Buccaneer (who is DEF 17 against charges!) and does one fat boosted swing that hurts it a lot. Bloodtrackers skirmish around, but accidentally got engaged by the dodging Buccaneer. Champion jumped and stabbed the Talon in the back doing significant damage. I sacrifice a bloodtracker to get Divine Inspiration on the Stalker. I miss the Hunters Mark, but Stalker easily murders the east Nomad after Loki shot it doing 14 damage! I pull back Loki with Kaya and the Stalker sprints away. Wolfriders Jusmp behind the east Talon and actually get it to 1 box with spear throws, but it still contests. I repo out in a big swarm in his backlines. I score my flag with the nightwitch.
1-0 to Circle
Mercs T3
I am way up on attrition, so he decides to get really creative! He can charge up and catch all my beasts and my caster in the feat. He also get the three closes wolf riders. He choses that i can go north-south, so not the normal east-west that you expect. He blocks the lane to his caster with his two heavies, who also kill my objective. His Kayazy charge Loki and the Bloodwitch, and sidestep to Kaya, hitting her once. I transfer (which helps me manage my fury much better lol) to the Stalker. He kills some Bloodtrackers and the Champ on the west flank and Orin scores his flag. Mine is contested by the Toro.
1-2 in favor of Mercs.
Circle T3
Now this could have been very interesting. He did a really daring play exposing his caster. His plan is to try and kill Kaya NEXT turn. Unfortunately, there is a mini emergency at home and i have to leave before we can play it out
Magnus is camping 4 but he is standing mid field. If i could remove one of the heavies, Loki could actually charge him despite the feat, but alas, i cant do that. I can however probably shoot Magnus with all five Wolfriders (jump ftw) in the back, and follow up by feating and casting spells with Kaya. Not at all a great assassination though and 100% all in. Otherwise, i could try have Loki engage the two heavies, doing what damage he could and then have Kaya kill the Kayazy, or at least one of them to disable gang. I could possibly feat and place the Stalker in front of her to block too to prevent the next turn assassination. It was a very interesting move i must say!
I think the best bet is probably to have the wolf Riders do their thing and throw spears at Magnus. If they do well, i pull the trigger with Kaya, or i could go for the attrition play afterwards if they did too little damage. Ghetorix can move to his flag, locking it down so he wont be scoring any more points for a while. Unless he gets really lucky with dice next turn i dont think he kills more than one beast, and i do not think he can assassinate if i camp like 3. I thill think i win this game, but that type of all in move he did was exactly what he needed to get a chance to bounce back. Maybe i go for the assassination and fail, and then he just wins straight up.
So, now we have tried Kaya 1. Occultation was actually super legit imo. Wolfriders that can move around like that without fear are super legit. Probably not worth playing Kaya 1 just for that, but still fun to have tried. Next up is Kromac 1. If you are wondering what happened to Iona, i skipped her both because i forgot she existed, and because id rather wait for her official rules just to be sure. Kaya 2 and 3 i will skip just because their synergy with Tharn is so laughably weak that i do not count them as "reasonable" casters here. Kromac pretty much qualifies for that too, but he REALLY likes access to the Blood Shaman, and Loki is probably good too with +3" of threat. Ill give him a try at least!