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Post by Azahul on Dec 5, 2018 1:35:22 GMT
Game number two is an Arkadius vs Rasheth game. The lists: Arkadius -War Hog -War Hog -Road Hog -Road Hog -Gun Boar -Splatter Boar -Gorax -Targ Mire -Wrastler Mist Speaker Kwaak and Gub Witch Doctor Gobber Chef Rasheth -Cyclops Shaman -Cyclops Shaman -Cyclops Raider -Agoniser Max Reivers -UA Min Slingers Flayer Cannon Max Beast Handlers Venator Dakar Soulward Soulward Gobber Chef Animantarax Animantarax Deployment My opponent won the starting roll and took first turn. He set up with his Animantarax on the left, Reivers on the right, so I counter deployed with my War Hogs, Mire, and Wrastler on the left and Arkadius with the Road Hogs and both ranged lights with Targ on the right.  My objective is a Fuel Cache, his is a Stockpile. The Hellmouth and Bloodtrackers are the Flayer Cannon and crew (they aren't actually in this picture, my opponent forgot to deploy them. They'll show up in later pictures though). Skorne Turn 1 Everything ran forward, staying about 17-19" away from my lines. The Animantarax closer to the centre had to lurk behind the wall because there was no space for its base in front of the wall that wouldn't have been vulnerable to a bottom of one Feat. Rasheth dumped Fury and ran.  Pigs Turn 1 This is a pretty cagey game but I've got a bit of an advantage thanks to the hill touching my zone, I feel. The only issue is that I kinda want Mire on the right where his clouds will be more effective because of the lack of Guidance but I also want him on the left for Rage once the Animantarax come into range. Anyway, I start by having my Splatter Boar put Lucky Shot on the Gun Boar and then walk forward to drift a cloud AOE in front of the Reivers. Arkadius maltreats the Splatter Boar, puts up Guardian Beast and Forced Evolution on a War Hog, walks over to use Raw Adrenaline on the Gun Boar, and then repositions back towards the centre. The Gun Boar runs into the trench, Targ uses Ancillary Attack, and it shoots the Raider clipping a Shaman and two Reivers in the blast. Both Reivers die and both lights lose about a third of their health. Mire does edge to the right to throw down a cloud to protect Arkadius somewhat and the rest of my list barely edges forward. Everything bar the Forced Evo'd War Hog stays outside of Rasheth's 20" walk and Feat threat. Kwaak puts Enliven on both War Hogs.  I realise after taking this picture that I've forgotten to move the Road Hog forward so it goes up a little as well onto the hill. Skorne Turn 2 My opponent focusses his attention on my Gun Boar, killing it with his three lights and a Breath of Corruption from Rasheth (killing a Slinger in the process). This also does about five damage to the Road Hog, and the Reivers contribute some more chip damage to bring it down to about 20 boxes. The rest of his list lurks about out of range.  Pigs Turn 2 I put Enliven on the Road Hog and charge the Slinger. I miss the Slinger with the Assault Spray, but boost to hit and damage on the Shaman hit by the Gun Boar earlier and leave it on four boxes. Punch the Slinger to death and Sprint back to the trench. Arkadius heals the War Hog almost back to full health by casting Psycho Surgery and then spending a bit of Fury manually. I shuffle around a little. Enliven is on the Road Hog and Forced Evo'd War Hog because I was worried I would accidentally kill the Slinger and leave the Road Hog exposed. My Gobber Chef runs to contest my opponent's zone. The Splatter Boar drifts some Corrosion AOEs onto the Reivers on the right, killing one and getting Corrosion onto a few.  I score my zone, bringing the score to 1-0 in my favour. Skorne Turn 3 Fire goes out on the Shaman and the Stockpile restores its crippled aspects. Several Reivers die to Corrosion. The Slingers come forward and fail to hit the Road Hog in the trench with some flare shots. Rasheth walks across behind the wall and kills two of them channelling a Breath of Corruption and a Sunder Spirit at the Road Hog, doing a good bit of damage. The Raider and Shamans and the remaining Reivers bring the Road Hog down to about 7 boxes. The central Animantarax tries to finish the job but the only attack that hits Def 16 rolls snake eyes for damage and does nothing. On the left his Gobber Chef fails to kill mine, so his Animantarax has to finish the job. The Flayer Cannon lurks behind the wall with Rasheth.  Some poor scenario play on my opponent's part means he doesn't have a unit in the uncontested left zone and that he's failed to contest my zone. We each score our zones for a 2-1 score. Pigs Turn 3 I could maybe go for scenario play by clearing his zone and the right zone, but that seems like a lot of work. I check the distance from my War Hog to Rasheth. It's more than 17", but less than 18", and his objective is right there to serve as a Frenzy target. So... My Fuel Cache gives the Forced Evo'd War Hog Pathfinder. Targ walks up and heals my Road Hog's crippled spirit. The Road Hog uses Full Boar and runs to serve as a frenzy beacon. The Gorax Primals my Forced Evo'd War Hog. I put Rage on my other Road Hog with Mire and casting Shadow Walk on it with the Witch Doctor. Arkadius then activates, Maltreats off the Gorax (should have been the War Hog in retrospect) and Feats. Everything moves towards my near dead Road Hog, ending with the War Hog killing it with his frenzy attack. Arkadius pumps two boosted Primal Shocks through the War Hog, doing a whole 1 damage to the objective. My remaining Road Hog then activates, overtakes through a Slinger onto the objective, punches it once to drop it to 6 boxes. The War Hog then activates, charges the objective, overtakes off it onto Rasheth, kills Rasheth through his transfers.  It behooves me to point out that I neglected to mention Overtake when my opponent asked me what my threat range was, so this came as a shock to him. I do feel pretty bad about that, but he's played against me before. Really should know that all Minion beasts have Overtake by this point  Even the Dracodile has it and he can't even use it! |
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Post by Azahul on Dec 5, 2018 2:05:26 GMT
Game number three was a Kolgrimma vs Sturm game. The Kolgrimma list was one that seems to be making the rounds among Troll players down under, with the following: Kolgrimma -Glacier King -Mauler -Axer -Runebearer Max Champions -Skaldi Max Stone -Northkin Elder Bears Fell Caller Deployment He won the starting roll and took first turn. I stuck with the same table side from the previous game. He had his bears Ambush, deployed his Champions on the left, Glacier King on the right. I had my Dracodile central but the rough plan was to square it off against the Champions alongside Skarath, while my other two heavies took down the Glacier King. Brun and Lug being immune to the Glacier King's gun was a nice bonus.  My objective is a Stockpile, his is a Fuel Cache. Trolls Turn 1 The Stone advanced and rolled up a single Fury. Kolgrimma dumped Fury into the Stone and ran, along with the rest of her army.  Pigs Turn 1 The Glacier King threatening 15" in melee and Kolgrimma being Kolgrimma has put me under a ton of pressure. Sturm puts Polarity Shield on the Dracodile and casts Deceleration, but opts to camp two instead of casting Vision. I run the Dracodile to the right to just outside the range of the Glacier King to control the threat there, and push up with everything else keeping within 3" of Orin with virtually every model in my army. Dahlia, Brun, and Lug are basically the only exceptions, but the latter two are mostly out of Kolgrimma's line of sight and I figure if she comes forward to kill Dahlia there'll be nothing stopping the rest of my army from killing her.  Trolls Turn 2 Kolgrimma Feats, but because Mire has Floodwaters up the pushes are pretty minimal and only really reach across my front ranks anyway. She goes and lurks behind the cloud. The rest of his army moves up. The Glacier King takes a few gun shots at the Dracodile and rolls well for damage, doing about 10 points total even at dice minus 8. The rest of his army just moves up, the Champions lurking behind behind Kolgrimma-made clouds on the left. The Bears ambushed in on the right but chose not to move into the zone to stay out of Lug's threat range. The Stone ran to the left side to support the lead Champions. I forgot to take a picture. Pigs Turn 2 I Primal, Puppet Master, TK (with the Soul Slave), and Guidance Skarath. Dahlia runs to over the lead knot of three Champions with her Control Area. Skarath charges in and kills two of the three Champions, the last one surviving by spreading damage to the rest of the unit. I then decide to run the Dracodile to the left flank, but because I can't stop the Glacier King from getting to my objective and then redirecting attacks onto the Dracodile I move Sturm up and Feat on the Glacier King and the Mauler. Only realised afterwards that I could have just blocked LOS with one of Mire's clouds. Deceleration goes up again and Vision goes on Sturm and everything crowds in around Orin save for Brun and Lug out on the right again.  We each score our respective zones bringing the score to 1-1. Trolls Turn 3 My opponent considers an assassination run on Sturm but ultimately decides he doesn't have enough attacks. He has the Glacier King make a shot on Lug just to push him away a little bit and runs the Bears into the zone on the right (one contests my zone and takes four damage from Lug's Counter Charge/Return combo). Kolgrimma decides a maxed out Skarath makes Dahlia too tempting so she comes forward and sprays Dahlia, killing her, and Vanishes back behind the cloud camping four Fury. The Champions walk up to the Dracodile but only one can make melee range, does inconsequential damage.  One bear is contesting my zone, my opponent scores his zone and the right zone for a 1-3 score in his favour. Pigs Turn 3 Kolgrimma is within 11" of the War Hog so assassination run time. I have my Dracodile move to the left to get out of the way and sprays to hit Kolgrimma. Does about 9 damage and forces out a transfer. The Soul Slave TK's the War Hog forward, a Battle Boar Primals him, and a Mist Speaker gives him Guidance. Sturm receives Puppet Master from Eilish, moves forward, TK's a Stone unit member out of the way, sprays a second one and clips Kolgrimma. Also spikes damage on Kolgrimma, forcing out another transfer, and knocks down the stone guy in front of him. Orin then Chain Lightnings the knocked down guy, gets two bounces to get Kolgrimma and gets three, does about 2 damage to Kolgrimma. The War Hog then charges in and kills Kolgrimma through her two camp with an attack to spare, even in spite of her successful Tough roll.  Hoo boy. The Glacier King addition makes this a lot tougher than previous Kolgrimma lists I've played into. Normally I just need to account for Kolgrimma's personal threat and arrange so that she can't do work without dying, but that 15" melee threat on a Gargantuan is a real pain. Had I gotten first turn I would have at least been the one with the board presence to put pressure on my opponent, but in this game I could only really hold it at bay with the Dracodile and my Feat. Mind you, had I just remembered that Orin could protect the objective from Hunter's Mark and Mire could cloud it to stop the Glacier King from using it as a charge beacon I probably wouldn't have felt quite as pressured. I think I have the tools to deal with it, but it's a tricky game. |
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Post by Azahul on Dec 5, 2018 3:14:34 GMT
And finally, game number four was a special Christmas treat. Lylyth3 and her eight reindeer, playing into Sturm and Drang. Lylyth3 -Azrael -Zuriel -Nephilim Bolt Thrower -Succubus Max Raptors Max Swordsmen -UA Anyssa Ryvaal Nyss Warlord Deployment My opponent won the starting roll and I stuck to the same table side again. He set his Raptors on the right, Swordsmen on the left. Again I was faced with the dilemma of wanting the Dracodile on both table sides. Ultimately plumped for sticking it on the right, since it would be pretty resilient against the Raptors' boys and I was confident I could take out the Swordsmen with Skarath and a few other tools.  Both objectives are Stockpiles. The Mist Speaker is Anyssa's Prey target. Legion Turn 1 Lylyth cast Battle Host and Wind Wall. Everything ran up, save the Nyss Warlord (my opponent forgot to activate him, chose not to move him when I pointed that out to him). I forgot to take a picture. Pigs Turn 1 Again, going second into a strong assassin had me opt to cast Deceleration, put Polarity Shield on the Dracodile, and camp two with Sturm. Ran the Dracodile up on the right to bully that zone. Had to run Orin rather than walk and Stealth him to keep up, but couldn't really get him somewhere I could block LOS. I considered running three Shield Guards around him but I felt Dahlia, even on a hill with Haunting Melody up, needed one to supplement her two camp.  Legion Turn 2 The Swordsmen ran up, losing one to Counterblast and one to Countercharge on the left. Lylyth activated, Feated, and moved over the wall on the left to Stationary both the War Hog and Battle Boar in range of Orin. She killed the Gobber Chef with her last shot and Blood Booned a Wind Wall. She then repositioned to the left as she couldn't get back over the wall. Anyssa moved around the Dracodile and killed Orin with her second shot. The Black Frost Shard hit the Dracodile with Kiss and a couple of ineffectual Ice Bolts. The Raptors together managed to put about five damage onto the Dracodile. Azrael then went and did about ten more on his own. Zuriel just walked over to Lylyth. The Bolt Thrower put a shot into the Dracodile but rolled low and did nothing. The Nyss Warlord ran into the zone.  Pigs Turn 2 With Lylyth well inside the threat range of both Lug and Skarath, I decided I wanted to go for an assassination. My Warbeasts shook stationary and the left Battle Boar put Primal on Lug and got out of the way. Brun dropped Stonehold and cleared out the engaging Swordsmen, killing two with a boosted Frosthammer and a third with his charge attack on one by flanking with Lug. With the coast clear, the Soul Slave TK'd Skarath forward. Sturm activated, TK'd himself up, TK'd Lug forward, charged a Swordsman who he utterly failed to kill and boosted a TK into Lylyth. Couldn't pull her forward the full 2" but the inch or so he managed was enough and spun her around. I forgot to Feat, but since Zuriel had no Fury on him it probably didn't matter too much in terms of the success of the run1. The Dracodile received Guidance from the Mist Speaker and charged Lylyth. Hit her with the spray, rolled real low for damage and did nothing. Skarath then charged in, ate through Lylyth's transfers and left her on one health. Finally, Lug went in. I gave him Puppet Master with Eilish and was able to kill one of the two Swordsmen able to take a free strike on him after his Trample, but couldn't get the other. Luckily, I only took four damage from the free strike. The first bought swing on Lylyth killed her.  I practically won that game on the back of the wall on the left. By not allowing Lylyth to shoot and back up properly, it put her in this really unfortunate position of being unable to do work and get to safety. Like Kolgrimma before her, that ended up getting her killed. There's a local tournament coming up on Saturday so that's basically my tournament practice squared away  |
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Growl
Junior Strategist
Posts: 496 
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Post by Growl on Dec 5, 2018 13:34:34 GMT
I am just so impressed with the overall clean play you pull off. I recently played a game with my Cryx, hopefully will post my report soon, lost on clock although I felt I was in the definite winning position, primarily because I just forgot about 2 spells that my caster can use that would have made my Rube Goldberg assassination plan much easier and less time consuming. I am putting the final pieces of my Minions armies together so hopefully I can soon entertain you with my slapstick and stupid playing. Your reports are awesome, I am doing my best to study them and ideally understand better how and why you move things when and where you do. I very much appreciate those, few, moments where it seems you did not make an optimal move and call it out and say how you could have done it better. Good luck at your tournament.
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Post by apoc2148 on Dec 5, 2018 16:40:11 GMT
NVM, a closer look at the pictures answered my question.
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Post by Azahul on Dec 6, 2018 23:57:09 GMT
I am just so impressed with the overall clean play you pull off. I recently played a game with my Cryx, hopefully will post my report soon, lost on clock although I felt I was in the definite winning position, primarily because I just forgot about 2 spells that my caster can use that would have made my Rube Goldberg assassination plan much easier and less time consuming. I am putting the final pieces of my Minions armies together so hopefully I can soon entertain you with my slapstick and stupid playing. Your reports are awesome, I am doing my best to study them and ideally understand better how and why you move things when and where you do. I very much appreciate those, few, moments where it seems you did not make an optimal move and call it out and say how you could have done it better. Good luck at your tournament. I heartily encourage you to post up reports, no matter how poorly you do in them Honestly, most of the reason I do my own reports is to find things like the mistakes you mention. It's a big part of how I strive to get better at the game, and putting my mistakes down into words and rationalising them to the internet at large is how I cement those lessons in my memory. I don't do this just for the acclaim and praise of the Minions community. (But keep that coming please. I do like it.) NVM, a closer look at the pictures answered my question. Awww, now I'm curious. |
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Post by apoc2148 on Dec 7, 2018 12:13:00 GMT
NVM, a closer look at the pictures answered my question. Awww, now I'm curious. The quick read that I did of your battle report of Sturm vs Maelok, I thought that when you used vision to stop the damage roll from the crit tail strike from the drac that it stopped the slam portion of the crit strike. But zooming in on the picture made me realize that Skarath did in fact get slammed even though the damage roll was ignored from vision.
-Side thought: I was actually leaning towards using a Maelok inf spam list as my paired list with Sturm and Drang. It would be along the lines of this:
Maelok BW -Soul Slave (Free) -Wrastler -Blindwalker -Snapper Witch Doc x2 (free) Max croak raiders x2 Min GMP x4
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Post by Azahul on Dec 8, 2018 14:21:30 GMT
The quick read that I did of your battle report of Sturm vs Maelok, I thought that when you used vision to stop the damage roll from the crit tail strike from the drac that it stopped the slam portion of the crit strike. But zooming in on the picture made me realize that Skarath did in fact get slammed even though the damage roll was ignored from vision. -Side thought: I was actually leaning towards using a Maelok inf spam list as my paired list with Sturm and Drang. It would be along the lines of this: Maelok BW -Soul Slave (Free) -Wrastler -Blindwalker -Snapper Witch Doc x2 (free) Max croak raiders x2 Min GMP x4 If you can come up with a Rask version of that list you'll have a solid Champions pair My only issue with the Maelok list is that I'm not sure it solves the problems the Sturm and Drang list likes to see. Seeing as I'm pairing it with Arkadius at the moment, Rask would actually feel like the logical list to swap in if going for something on the Gator side since those two have so much overlap. What match-ups do you see Maelok covering that Sturm and Drang would struggle into? Mortality and Croak Raiders would lead me to assume medium base infantry lists like Madrak1 Champions or Primal Terrors, but both of those are lists I feel comfortable into with Sturm and Drang. Conversely, I'm not sure either list does terribly well into fast, hard-hitting alpha strike lists or armour skew battlegroup based lists. Not unplayable match-ups necessarily, but it feels like there's some real overlap in the two lists' weaknesses there. Mind you I don't actually play the Gator Warlocks, just watch them from the piggy side of this here forum, so I might be missing something about what your plan is for the Maelok list  |
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Post by Azahul on Dec 9, 2018 23:55:35 GMT
Tournament report time Attended a small three-round Warmachine tournament as part of a larger wargaming convention over the weekend. In case anyone was doubting, I took the following lists: Sturm and Drang -War Hog -Battle Boar -Battle Boar -Soul Slave Mire -Dracodile Brun -Lug Dahlia -Skarath Orin Eilish Mist Speaker Gobber Chef Arkadius -War Hog -War Hog -Road Hog -Road Hog -Gun Boar -Splatter Boar -Gorax -Targ Mire -Wrastler Kwaak and Gub Mist Speaker Witch Doctor Gobber Chef Round 1 - Mirage Ran into my most regular Legion opponent, one who's been playing against my Sturm and Drangodile list basically since its inception. He had an Anamag PT/Lylyth3 Children of the Dragon build. We've played enough games to have seen Sturm play into both match-ups before, though the Lylyth3 game was the most recent report up above where he got screwed hard by a wall. He dropped Lylyth3 after carefully checking the table for such obstacles, figuring that he could at least try to take out my important backline solos instead of being slowly ground down on attrition if he dropped PT. His list was the same as the one he dropped last week: Lylyth3 -Azrael -Zuriel -Nephilim Bolt Thrower -Succubus Max Raptors Max Swordsmen -UA Anyssa Ryvaal Nyss Warlord Deployment I won the starting roll. Got lumbered with a table side featuring a massive swathe of Burning Earth. I set up with Mire and the Dracodile skewing a bit to the right, since the Rubble there would be invaluable against even the Eyeless Sight models. Mucked up my deployment a little and had to set up the Soul Slave on the other side of the Dracodile to Sturm for sheer space constraints, but figured I'd be able to run him across without a problem. My opponent deployed in the opposite fashion to our previous game, with the Swordsmen facing off against the Dracodile this time and the Raptors on the left facing Brun and Lug.  Both objectives are Stockpiles. Anyssa picked Dahlia as her prey target. Pigs Turn 1 Dahlia put up Haunting Melody, Brun put up Stonehold, Sturm put Vision on Skarath, Polarity Shield on the Dracodile, and Deceleration in general and advanced forwards, and the rest of the army ran. I skewed Dahlia and Skarath to the right so that Dahlia would be able to spend the game camping in the rubble with Mire because even Rat 9 struggles into Def 20.  Legion Turn 1 Lylyth cast Windwall and moved left, with her battlegroup running with her. The Swordsmen rushed forward, the Warlord following in their wake. The Raptors and Anyssa circled hard out onto the left flank.  Pigs Turn 2 There's a spot I can stick the Dracodile in the Legion zone where neither the Warlord nor his heavies can walk into melee with it, so the Dracodile receives Puppet Master and charges in. Catches four Nyss in the spray but I decide I'll want Mire camping two so I can only afford to boost on one. Only hit the boosted shot, but also kill my charge target with one of my four initials. I then brick up on the left flank with my three heavies, with Skarath putting up Counterblast. Sturm casts Deceleration and camps in the zone. Mire and Dahlia camp in the Rubble. Eilish used Gate Walker after Puppet Master to get onto my flag. Mire tossed a Caustic Mist to cover some of the gaps so that Anyssa and the Raptors wouldn't be able to snipe so easily.  Legion Turn 2 The Bolt Thrower walked up and shot the War Hog, getting the Crit Knockdown but pushing him back into Brun first meaning Stonehold kept the War Hog on his feet. The Nyss Warlord and Swordsmen opted to run so that they could contest the right flag more thoroughly and lock down Lug's Countercharge. I opted not to Counterblast with Skarath, though I really should have since nothing came close enough to trigger it for the rest of the round. Azrael tried to shoot Lug, missed, and instead killed the Swordsman engaging him. His second shot was Shield Guarded by a Battle Boar. The Raptors and Anyssa put a couple of shots into Brun, struggling hard with his Arm 17 Stonehold combination and only forcing one transfer of about four damage from the one spike, and then a couple of shots into Skarath that caused Vision to pop and did a little bit of damage. Lylyth hung back and just cast Wind Wall.  Azrael is the red proxy base in front of the Bolt Thrower. I scored my zone, he scored his flag, so the score is 1-1 currently. Pigs Turn 3 Kill Azrael, the Kiss of Lylyss Black Frost Shard guy, and free up the right flag were my objectives for this round. The Dracodile went first, edging a little to the left so that he wasn't in base contact with this conga line of Swordsmen on the right flank. He then killed a couple of Swordsmen in melee with him on his left hand side. Orin was then able to hit the Warlord with a Chain Lightning that bounced three times, killing the Warlord and three Swordsmen and allowing Eilish to Puppet Master Lug and capture the zone. I then had one Battle Boar Primal Lug, while the other made a Throw power attack on one of the remaining Swordsmen to throw him into the Abbott who was in the forest near the centre flag. Spiked the Collateral Damage and actually killed both of them, to my surprise. I had Skarath take a spray on the Kiss Black Frost Shard guy and one other Black Frost Shard member, but missed the Kiss one and killed the other. Put up Counterblast. By killing the Abbott I'd actually freed up the centre flag, which meant Brun ran onto the flag and Lug went in on Azrael. Killed him with two Fury to spare, used Overtake to get into melee with the Kiss Frost Shard, missed the first attack, finally hit and killed him with the last attack maxing him out on Fury. I was pretty cognizant of the fact that Lylyth would be gunning for an assassination at this point so my War Hog hung out next to Sturm, Sturm put up Deceleration and camped three, and the Mist Speaker and Mire created a cloud wall in front of him.  I scored my zone, the centre flag, and the right flag while Lug contested the left, bringing the score to 4-1 in my favour. Legion Turn 3 Sure enough, my opponent goes for an assassination this turn. Thankfully though, Zuriel doesn't try to get involved. Instead he is used to kill Lug, which makes me pretty confident that my opponent can't get enough attacks onto Sturm. Lylyth went first and Feated. She chose to shoot my War Hog to Stationary it first, since it was a lower defence, but I used Shield Guard to a Battle Boar which forced her to waste her second shot on the War Hog before finally freezing Sturm in place. One Raptor killed my Gobber Chef, leaving just three Raptors walking into the Burning Earth and taking shots at Sturm. Dice minus 8 and three transfers meant I came through relatively unscathed. The last Swordsmen rushed forward to engage the Dracodile and contest the right flag.  My opponent scored his flag, so the score went to 4-2 in my favour. Pigs Turn 4 I really only need to clear his swordsmen to score three more and win. Orin kills two by killing into melee with them and firing off a point blank Chain Lightning. The last one dies to the Dracodile when it walks around him to engage the Objective, killing both the Swordsman and the Objective. I muck around around using my heavies to kill his Bolt Thrower, Sturm TK's the Raptor in the zone out of it, and contest his flag.  With my flag, the centre flag, my zone, and his objective the score runs up to 8-2 in my favour. Not much to say here that I think I didn't cover in the last report. I've got a lot of defensive layers that make it difficult for assassination lists to deal with, and nothing in the army is terrible scared of POW 10 Poison shots. Once Kiss is off the table he can realistically only kill things in melee with his two heavies, and camping Fury and Shield Guards is enough to keep even the Lesser Warlocks relatively safe so long as they have some means of preventing the Raptors from getting shots in. Primal Terrors would have been the better drop but I understand my opponent's reasoning because I've been there before. The attrition game was better odds than the assassination list, but neither were in his favour I feel. The prospect of playing a slow attrition game that you'll probably lose with a list that doesn't have many tricks to catch the opponent off guard is pretty unappetizing, better to go with the lower odds assassination list that is at least fast and flexible enough to capitalise on any mistake your opponent makes. Basically why Arkadius is historically my default drop. |
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Post by Azahul on Dec 10, 2018 1:00:48 GMT
Round 2 - Spread the Net Into Ret this time around, running a Rahn/Ossyan build. I felt happy dropping Sturm into either. He dropped Rahn, running: Rahn -Discordia -Phoenix -Chimera -Helios -Sylys Battle Mages Battle Mages Battle Mages Shyeel Arcanists Magister Artificer Deployment He won the starting roll, I grabbed a table side with Rubble in the centre instead of the one with Corrosion in the centre. He deployed his Helios behind the acid, two Battle Mage units and Discordia on the left, one Battle Mage unit and the Phoenix on the right. I set up my Dracodile with the intent to run it onto both the centre zone and my own zone. Skarath set up on the right to take advantage of the hill, the other two heavies ended up on the left along with both the Gobber Chef and Mist Speaker as disposable contesting/flag capping solos.  Retribution Turn 1 Polarity Shield started the game on the Helios so we were going to have a funny game there. He ran everything forward. Discordia used the Imprint in spite of the fact that he measured to make sure I couldn't get any Turn 1 sprays onto him.  Pigs Turn 1 Polarity Shield went on the Dracodile, Vision on Skarath, and Deceleration went up. The Dracodile ran to land on both the centre and my own zones. Dahlia put Mist Walker on Skarath (I decided Haunting Melody would be functionally useless in this game) and Skarath cast Countercharge and charged forward onto the hill. He was about half an inch too far forward so the Soul Slave moved up and TK'd him back to where I needed him to be. Mire then put a cloud on top of Skarath to block LOS to everything behind him, giving Skarath a pretty tidy combination of Stealth, Concealment, Vision, Elevation, and Counterblast. Mire did not cast Floodwaters because he had to stand too close to the Dracodile to get the cloud where I needed it and I needed that Dracodile blocking LOS. I bunkered most of my army behind this, with just the two heavies out on the left flank away from the brick.  Retribution Turn 2 Discordia came forward and sprayed my War Hog, Lug, and the Battle Boar. Missed Lug sadly, tagged the others. The Chimera ran up and Rahn Force Hammer'd the War Hog back into Brun. For the second time in two games Stonehold prevented the War Hog from getting knocked down. Brun transferred the three damage he took (Stonehold not doing anything to Collateral damage sadly) over to Lug. Most of the rest of my opponent's army ran towards the left flank.  Pigs Turn 2 My Battle Boar stood up and Primal'd Lug and got out of the way. Eilish gave Lug Puppet Master. Brun moved up aggressively. I decided I needed to contest my opponent's zone to stop Rahn from scoring it, but which meant clearing a couple of Mages so that Lug could Overtake into that zone. The Dracodile moved across to do the job, killing one Mage. Sturm cast Deceleration, Feated on Helios, and TK'd Lug forward so that he'd have the distance to get into the zone (he didn't need it to charge Disco). My War Hog killed the other inconvenient Battle Mage, along with the Chimera and a second Battle Mage who was in the way. Lug then charged in, killed Discordia, and moved into my opponent's zone. I decided Orin was actually less valuable than Eilish in this match-up, and had him push forward to use Chain Lightning to kill a couple of Battle Mages. Mire, Dahlia, and Skarath worked together to repeat the Counterblast-Caustic Mist-Mist Walker-on-a-hill combo. Eilish himself had positioned so that he was only really in range of my important solos, I figured the Dracodile could happily tank some boosted POW 10s at Arm 22.  I scored my zone and my flag, so the score went to 2-0 in my favour. Retribution Turn 3 Rahn Feated and slammed the War Hog back into Brun a second time with Force Hammer, then TK'd the Phoenix up and turned Lug around to face my army. A few Battle Mages and Arcanists took pot shots at Brun but his Stonehold and Deceleration Combo proved as effective as it had against the Raptors. The Phoenix charged the War Hog and killed him. On the right the Dracodile did as expected and took a bunch of boosted POW 10s with only a few little scratches. The Artificer moved onto the flag.  My opponent scored his zone and flag. I scored my zone and flag. The score went to 4-2 in my favour. Pigs Turn 3 Lug frenzied from Primal into Brun. He took a big hit from the Phoenix's free strike, which failed to cripple anything, then another 15 damage from his swing on Brun since his attack bypassed Stonehold. Left Lug on one health. Brun ran around Lug to contest my opponent's zone. On the right Skarath moved to just within 4" of my opponent's flag and sprayed a couple of Battle Mages dead. Orin finished most of the remaining ones off. Dahlia threw away two Fury and ran behind the Burning Earth. A Battle Mage, the Battle Boar, and a Caustic Mist formed a wall between the Helios and Sturm. The Dracodile sprayed the Phoenix and a couple of Battle Mages and only killed one or two, doing negligible damage to the Phoenix.  I scored my zone and flag, so the score was now 6-2 in my favour. Retribution Turn 4 Helios received some focus from the Arcanists. The Phoenix moved up behind Brun and killed him, getting within 5" of the Mist Speaker. Rahn launched a Chain Blast on the Mist Speaker, hit him and killed him and the Gobber Chef with the secondary blast. The Helios tried to drag in Skarath but missed one of the Tractor Beam shots and couldn't make melee range. Did get him out of range of the flag though. Battle Mages took some inconsequential pot shots here and there, knocking down the Battle Boar and doing a little bit of damage to Skarath with some good damage rolls.  My opponent scored his zone and flag, I scored my zone making the score 7-4 in my favour. Pigs Turn 4 I forced my Battle Boar to stand and ran it to contest my opponent's zone. I then only needed to kill the Artificer and run a solo onto the flag. Sturm TK'd himself forward and sprayed the Artificer to death. Dahlia ran to the flag. Skarath killed the last Battle Mage on that flank.  I scored my zone and his flag, bringing the score to 9-4 in my favour and winning me the game. Honestly, this game felt a lot like round one. Rahn is a bit scary because he can blow through Orin's tokens on his own with boosted TK's and still have one left for the assassination. So long as I kept Eilish alive and relevant though I could prevent the Battle Mages from getting involved, and I felt that with Deceleration his army really couldn't do enough damage to trouble my list at range. A slow piece trading game suited me just fine, particularly since he really did need to be feeding me models to contest my scenario elements to prevent me from winning the way I did. Two polarity shielded huge bases just circling each other in the centre was pretty funny though |
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Post by Azahul on Dec 10, 2018 2:03:06 GMT
Round 3 - Standoff Final round of the event and onto the finals tables. My last opponent was running Circle, a double Bones Krueger2/Wurmwood pair. I'd theorymachined the Krueger2 match-up a bunch and was very happy to see a Celestial Fulcrum without a Mist Speaker, giving my Stealth solos like Mire and Orin a bit more safety and making the Dracodile's spray a lot more valuable. I hadn't actually played either match-up yet, but I dropped Sturm figuring that if he dropped Wurmwood he'd have a pretty hard time Strangeholding an Arm 22 Dracodile even after he worked his way through Orin's tokens. My opponent dropped Krueger though, running: Krueger -Megalith -Woldwarden -Woldwarden -Woldwyrd -Woldwyrd Sentry Stones Sentry Stones Shifting Stones Stoneshaper Stoneshaper Wayfarer Gallows Grove Gallows Grove Celestial Fulcrum Deployment I won the starting roll and took first. We actually ended up playing on the same table as last round, except I ended up on the other side. Set my Dracodile to the right of the Acid Pool, but with Mire directly behind it so that he could lurk in it without casting Floodwaters. Sturm went to the right of the Dracodile with Skarath, intending to work his way up towards the right-hand zone so that I'd be able to score it later in the game. The War Hog went there as well to provide an additional Shield Guard, leaving just a Battle Boar and Brun and Lug to hold down the left. My opponent put his guns on the right opposite the Dracodile, with one Woldwarden. The other Woldwarden and Megalith skewed left.  Both objectives are Stockpiles. Pigs Turn 1 I put out Polarity Shield and Vision on the Dracodile and Skarath respectively (figuring the extra damage from the Woldwyrds on the Dracodile would be worth the lowered threat of his heavies), cast Deceleration with Sturm, and moved up carefully. Dahlia did not cast Haunting Melody, she just camped four and she and Skarath ran up the table. All three of Sturm's beasts ran to within 3" of the Dracodile because I needed all three to properly shut down a Woldwyrd's output. Orin ran up, Brun cast Stonehold and charged into the trench, Lug ran into the trench along with the Gobber Chef, the Mist Speaker just moved up and summoned a cloud.  Circle Turn 1 The Woldwyrds came forward to shoot the Dracodile. I Shield Guarded all of the first one's shots, so that it wouldn't be able to get any 4d6 damage shots on the Dracodile. Quite a lot of sixes were involved even on the 2d6 damage rolls so my poor pig beasts got a little beat up. The second Wyrd plus the lightning attack from the Fulcrum (the only shot in range) managed to do 10 damage to the Dracodile with some pretty good rolls themselves. My opponent's heavies then ran up, and just when I thought he was feeding me a heavy for free Krueger moved up, TK'd himself further forward, and Feated across most of my Warbeasts.  Pigs Turn 2 My objectives this turn were to try and shut down my opponent's ability to do much work while I waited for his Feat to wear off. I could blind the Fulcrum but I would need to assault it, which would push the Dracodile quite far forward. I worked out where everything needed to be and moved Sturm up into the rectangular zone to catch all my opponent's beasts bar the far left Woldwarden in my Feat. He also cast Deceleration and camped three. The other support solos all moved up. Dahlia put Mist Walker on Skarath who sprayed the Sentry Stone on the right and killed it without needing the Puppet Master I'd also loaded on there. The Dracodile charged the Fulcrum and landed the Blind, doing no damage because of the Fulcrum's immunities. I just edged Lug back into the trench on the left and didn't really move forward until I needed to.  Circle Turn 2 The Fulcrum backed up. Stoneshapers gave +2 Strength to the Woldwarden on the right who walked into melee with the Dracodile and rolled abysmally. Of his four attacks I think the highest damage roll was a 5, he managed just 6 damage to the Dracodile in total. The Woldwyrds added their own shots, and again I used Shield Guard so only one could get any damage on the Dracodile. At this point it was down close to 20 boxes. My opponent had his Wayfarer throw a Hunter's Mark on the Dracodile, taking two damage from Eilish for his troubles, but then when my opponent checked where he could TK Megalith to he realised he couldn't actually get fully into my back arc. On the left a Woldwarden tried to hit the Gobber Chef with a Lightning Storm. Missed and scattered forward. Sadly failed to damage Lug, because Hyper Aggressive would have allowed me to get close enough to charge him even after Krueger TK'd him backwards. Krueger ended up with no landing zones in the left zone however that weren't close enough for Lug to get to, so he opted to stay out of the zone entirely.  We each scored out zones, bringing the score to 1-1. Pigs Turn 3 I wanted to kill the Woldwarden without using the Dracodile so that the Dracodile could go after either a Woldwyrd or the Fulcrum again. The Soul Slave TK'd the War Hog around, and Eilish gave it Puppet Master. It charged in and killed the Woldwarden with its last attack. I measured out where the Dracodile would end up if I sent it to kill a Woldwyrd, and checked where Mire would have to go, and ultimately decided that it was safer to keep blind on the Fulcrum. The Dracodile just walked forward and sprayed, doing no damage again but reapplying Blind. Skarath sprayed the Gallows Grove on the right that my opponent had been keeping in reserve as a contesting model, killing it. Since my Dracodile was contesting my opponent's zone and there was no need for me to contest the left Brun and Lug and their solo companions all ran right. Sturm moved into the right zone, needing to TK himself to get there, and cast Deceleration.  I scored the right zone and my own zone, bringing the score to 3-1 in my favour. Circle Turn 3 The other Gallows Grove moved into the forest on the left to give Krueger LOS to Lug. He hit Lug with a TK to get him out of my zone and turn him around, then killed the Mist Speaker and Gobber Chef with a Lightning Storm. Megalith then tried to do the same thing to the Battle Boar in the zone, but rolled a triple one to hit the TK. That meant my opponent actually needed to commit a model to contest my zone, which ended up being the Wayfarer. The Woldwarden moved into my opponent's zone and cast its animus. One Woldwyrd moved into the right circle zone, and both Woldwyrds pumped shots into the Dracodile. I had two Shield Guards in position, who helped, and the Dracodile had about 25 boxes left by the end. The Fulcrum basically stayed where it was. The Shifting Stones ported themselves in around my War Hog to make it harder for it do anything next turn. The Sentry Stone took some sprays and killed Orin.  Krueger scored the left zone, making the score 3-2 in my favour. Pigs Turn 4 With the help of two TKs I'd be able to get Lug onto Megalith and my War Hog onto the other Woldwarden. I dropped Vision from Skarath. My Battle Boars provided Primal, one to each, and the one in melee with the Wayfarer boosted an attack into the druid. Hit and did three damage, just enough thanks to the Arcane Void damage from a little bit earlier. Dahlia moved up to catch the Woldwyrd in her control range and Skarath killed it, taking three Fury to do so ensuring that he'd be taking a threshold check next round. Mire cast Weald Secrets on the War Hog and put up Floodwaters. Eilish put Puppet Master on Lug, then the Soul Slave TK'd him forward. Sturm cast Deceleration and TK'd the War Hog around so that it could charge the Woldwarden. Both the War Hog and Lug did their job, killing their respective targets. The War Hog was able to Overtake into the Gallows Grove, kill it, and Overtake into the Sentry Stone with one Fury left. Sadly, left the Sentry Stone on three boxes. Finally, the Dracodile just tagged the Fulcrum with his spray again.  I scored my zone and the right zone, bringing the score to 5-2 in my favour. Circle Turn 4 Last ditch assassination run time. My opponent had about 15-20 minutes on clock and spent about 10 working out what to do. Finally decided he had to take a free strike from the War Hog onto Krueger, after the two Stoneshapers failed to get Crit Knockdowns off. The War Hog rolled high enough to force a transfer to the Woldwyrd. Krueger TK'd himself far enough to see out the other side of the forest. He TK'd Sturm, but there was no where to put him that wasn't within 3" of a Battle Boar and still in range for his other guns. He fired his first gun shot, which was Shield Guarded to the Battle Boar. Made a second gun shot which did no damage. The Woldwyrd moved up and forced one transfer. The one Mannikin failed to do more than a couple of points of damage, the other two died to free strikes from Brun when they tried to move over and help. With nothing left at that point my opponent conceded.  Krueger2 Bones is a list I've had tight games into against worse players using my older lists, so I was very pleased with how this went down. Committing the Woldwarden on my Feat turn was probably the mistake that turned the game, because after that the attrition and scenario pressure swung heavily in my favour. Krueger just doesn't have the pieces to lose something for nothing, particularly into a list where he struggles to kill something for nothing. The presence of a Mist Speaker instead of the Gallows Groves makes this a much more difficult game for me though. It still feels pretty close as match-ups go, but it's a much more forgiving game than the Arkadius vs Krueger2 game is where I lose if I slip up even the tiniest bit. Anywho, winning that game won me the tournament. Feels very weird to do so without touching Arkadius, but if anything were going to cement how much I like this Sturm list that would be the way to do it |
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Growl
Junior Strategist
Posts: 496
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Post by Growl on Dec 10, 2018 3:15:44 GMT
Great job and great write ups! Circle is always a tough match up for me and I was wondering what you think about your lists against Tharn heavy lists? Particularly I’ve been seeing Moshar with Lord of The Feast shenanigans.
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Post by Azahul on Dec 10, 2018 3:38:24 GMT
I haven't had a huge problem with Devourer's Host yet. Ravagers are a bit annoying because of their ability to still get boosted damage rolls on the Dracodile without charging, but you still cost them a lot with Polarity Shield (no Brutal, no second attack) and reducing their threat range usually stops most of the unit piling in so it's still an engagement the Dracodile wins through without a problem. Lord of the Feast is manageable because of the Shield Guards, just make sure he ends up somewhere away from the squishy solos. I've not played into Mohsar specifically yet, but I imagine either having the Dracodile operate without Fury on it (not the worst thing in the world, it has a respectable output and can even realistically kill some heavies without spending Fury) or have your Gobber Chef nearby in case of the Feat. Dahlia can also stop the Feat from causing too much carnage, though it can effectively cost you a round. She's also basically impossible for most models in a Devourer's Host list to actually touch, which lets her be fairly belligerent. And Skarath and Lug are both Threshold 9, which I imagine would help against Mohsar.
There's a report somewhere a fair few pages back, one of my early games with the Sturm list, that is I think the only game where I've lost Mire before the Dracodile. The culprit there was a Wolf Rider Champion, but had I been camping two Fury with a Shield Guard nearby I'd still have survived the experience. But that lady plus the Lord (or Lady) of the Feast are some of the bigger threats to Mire out there at the moment so I'd keep an eye on them.
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Post by ajay29 on Dec 11, 2018 6:38:38 GMT
Really enjoying the reports Azahul, been kinda “meh” about the game the last few months but re-igniting the interest with that S&D list, can’t wait to get more games in with it myself.
Keep up the good work!
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Post by Azahul on Dec 11, 2018 20:17:07 GMT
Really enjoying the reports Azahul, been kinda “meh” about the game the last few months but re-igniting the interest with that S&D list, can’t wait to get more games in with it myself. Keep up the good work! I couldn't ask for a better result than keeping someone else keen on the game I hope you enjoy the list. Just... maybe don't play it into someone who is similarly down. I've been winning a lot of games having lost basically nothing. Could be demoralising |
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Even the Dracodile has it and he can't even use it!
