OK, so here we go with the Baldur DH report!
Lists
Circle Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] The Devourer's Host
!!! Your army contains CID entries.
[Baldur 2] Baldur the Stonesoul [+30]
- Ghetorix [19]
- Loki [19]
- Tharn Blood Shaman [0(5)]
Tharn Ravager White Mane [5]
Tharn Wolf Rider Champion [0(7)]
Wrong Eye [17]
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew [2]
Tharn Blood Pack (max) [15]
Tharn Bloodweavers [8]
Tharn Ravagers (max) [15]
- Tharn Ravager Chieftain [5]
Cryx Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Dark Host
[Terminus 1] Lich Lord Terminus [+27]
- Kraken [36]
Bane Lord Tartarus [0(6)]
Soul Trapper [1]
Bane Knights (max) [15]
Bane Knights (max) [15]
Bane Warriors (min) [10]
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [0(5)]
Bane Warriors (min) [10]
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [0(5)]
Wraith Engine [15]
I will not comment on my opponents list. He has been gone from the game a good while and I have no idea how competitive his list is considered. It does have a lot of dudes with tough, and i will not get any corpses from them (edit: apparently i SHOULD have gotten corpses from undeads. We didnt play it that way though cause i did not read my cards lol). He can get souls and corpses from my dudes though. I also have no magic weapons really (oops) and he has a wraith engine.
The idea for my list came from listening to the first episode of the
Pillars of Salt Podcast. The idea is that even if Baldur does very little for Tharn, he CAN skew the durability of the warpwolves allowed there to insane levels. Since Loki and Ghetorix arent allowed in other themes, this is where you play them. The Tharn are mainly there to keep you alive on scenario while your brick moves across the board killing things. I went a bit crazy and included Wrongeye and snapjaw for star crossed and a heavy that did not burden Baldur with Fury. Ravagers are there as a bread and butter melee unit that takes a little bit advantage from the feat at least. The Bloodpack are there to clear up charge lanes, and they seem very solid even without caster support. Bloodweavers ambush in to help with scenario and to prevent my brick from being enveloped.
The list reminds me very much of how i played Madrak 1 in MK 2. You have beasts that are impossible to kill and slowly grind down the opponent. That is the theory at least hehe.
Terrain, Scenario and Deployment
We play Invasion. He wins the roll and chooses to go first. The terrain has one wall in each zone (note that the wall template by the west zone is not actually there. I will use it later on, i just forgot to remove it from the table). There is one obstruction in the middle and one in the west zone. There is one forest in each circle and finally there are two hills that had no effect what so ever. He places his theme-clouds centrally.
He deploys Bane knights centrally with Bane Warriors on the flanks. The Kraken is to the east and the Wraith Engine is in the middle. Tartarus is to the east slightly and Terminus is a bit to the west.
I already start regretting not picking the side with forests on for my tharn, but i wanted that central wall to create a bunker. I place my Ravagers (proxied by Skinwalkers and a Bokur) to go for the west zone and the Bloodpack (proxied by Northkin Raiders) to the east. Im guessing i wont be able to remove the Kraken quickly, so im abandoning that side for now and wanting to score the west zone. My Ghetoryx and Loki (proxied by a Feral) stay centrally as does WE/SJ. The Whitemane (proxied by Valka) stays centrally while the WR Champion flanks east. Gobbers stay in the middle and Baldur and the Blood Shaman too.
Cryx turn 1
Everything runs [/shock]
Circle turn 1
I move up pretty agressively but stay out of melee threat ranges. He has very short threat ranges though so going second didnt feel that bad. I was needlessly cautios with Ghetorix, going for a trample + animus when there is absolutely nothing that can harm him. He should be up by Loki behind the wall template for sure, but it didnt really matter.
Blood Pack is pretty careful at their flank, but i fail to space them properly for the 5" AoE. I feel no reason for them to be further than they are . Next turn they can most likely aim and shoot Banes, and then repo forward to contest. The WR Champ goes for the Wall though to be super annoying. WE/SJ walk/trample forward with Submerge and star crossed. WE could definitely be further up by charging though. Baldur walks up and root the beasts and places a Wall. He removes his tokens.
Cryx turn 2
He sort of has to move in to my threat ranges and he will not get any real pay off this turn. His Knights and Warriors move up. In the west zone he tries to have Knights screening the Warriors, and he has placed a lot of troops in the zone, making it hard for me to score. The Kraken walked up and shot at the Blood Pack, but he missed and the blast damage was healed. Terminus walks up behind his objective with the Wraith Engine.
Circle turn 2
Now its go-time i guess! I ambush in on the west with the Bloodweavers and charge some Banes. The Ravagers walk up to kill as much as possible, buying attacks with their tokens. POW 13 isnt great against the Knights though, and Tough is a thing. Ghetorix also walks up killing a couple, and then gets Spiny Growth up. In the end there are a couple of models left contesting the zone though. Loki gets magic weapons and walks forward to shoot the Engine doing some damage. He COULD have charged in and killed it, but i didnt want to break up the brick just yet. Baldur Roots the beasts and gets his wall on in front of them.
SnapJaw decides that he can either back up or go in and kill a few dudes. I decide on the latter. Wrongeye gets Submerge and Star Crossed up, but he stays way too far back to be really useful. The Swamp Gobbers place a cloud blocking LoS to my caster and WE. The Witemane charges across to the east killing a Bane and giving veteran leader to the Bloodpack. They Aim and shoot, killing a bunch of guys. The Champion walks up, jumps behind and then kills 3 Banes including the standard and officer. Should have done that first to get rid of tough... She repositions to jam/engage the Kraken. The Blood Pack repositioned to be in two waves.
No scoring this turn unfortunately.
Cryx turn 3
He is concerned that i killed so much on the west flank. It looks like his retailation killed only two Ravagers thanks to tough and DEF 13+ on my stuff. Bane Knights charge and kill Snap Jaw. Perhaps i would have survived if Wrongeye had been further up to cover him with Star Crossed. The Craken kills the Champion, but the Kill Shot does nothing important. His remaining Bane Warriors manage to kill only a single Blood Pack. He had feated this turn too and got a couple of souls for Terminus. His Wraith Engine decides to try his luck against Loki. This was a horrible idea and i told him so, but he went for it anyway. He did an expected 0 damage and is no longer incorporeal.
No scoring this turn either.
Circle turn 3
This feels great! I did lose Snap Jaw for nothing basically but a combination of bad dice and bad stats meant i lost very little else. Ravagers vengeance forward killing more Banes. After they and Ghetorix had done their thing there were only a single guy contesting the zone left. That is one too many though and Baldur decided that scoring first was worth the feat. He walks forward and boosts a Crevasse at the remaining Bane killing it. He needed a boosted 10 so it was far from certain. He puts the Wall up and feats for Roots. Earlier in the turn Loki had finished off the Engine. Loki was more than 4" away from the objective though and had he not gone corporeal i could not have done anything to him. Loki killed him just fine though when he was not incorp.
On the east side i shoot some Banes with Blood Pack, finishing the unit of Warriors. They Repo to be a bit annoying. In the middle, the Gobbers put up a cloud blocking LoS to my objective from Terminus and the Kraken. They brace for impact from the Banes. Wrong Eye gets star crossed up, but again stays very passive behind the wall. I have crushed the west flank while contesting the middle and the east. Terminus can reach my heavies but i seriously doubt he can kill more than one and the other should ensure that he dies if he tries.
Score 1-0 to circle.
Cryx turn 4
He has an extra big stack on Terminus. We measure and he can just reach Loki in the back if he charges over the mid obstruction and takes a free strike. We pause and discuss a bit and i convince him that if he does that, he will very likely just die from Ghetorix with the boost from the blood shaman. That seems very reasonable, especially since i have Baldur (who has one token on him) and some Tharn to help. Instead the Kraken and Terminus manage to kill all the Blood Pack together with Tartarus, so he can score the east zone with Terminus. His Bane Knights press forward, some of them running to contest, others charging the gobbers and Wrong Eye. They roll crazy good and kill the gobbers but do nothing to Wrong Eye behind a wall. His little soul Trapper is in the middle zone gathering souls for Terminus and being annoying.
He scores 1-1 to cryx.
Circle turn 4
I keep calm and keep attritioning. I murder the Banes contesting and some more. I brick up and score my zone. The Blood Shaman got freed up and could run over to contest his zone. Bloodweavers run forward to contest next turn. Ravagers help with the cleaning up and also position for next turn.
I score 2-1 to Circle
Cryx turn 5
He kills the Blood Shaman with the Kraken and has Terminus walk up to punch my objective, but doesnt kill it. His Banes back up in to the round zone. Terminus walks back and sprays over the Bloodweavers, boosting and killing 4. He cant contest my zone though.
We both score 3-2 to circle.
Circle turn 5
Attrition wise i am way ahead. Scenario wise i am ahead, and i can avoid assassination easily enough. Clock is in my favor too, but it seems we will be going to turn 7.
I charge his objective and kill it with Ravagers. My beasts walk up and kill Tartarus, but i forgot about the soul trapper being incorp. I brick up and score the west zone with Baldur. Wrong Eye walks up a bit to cover the beasts with star crossed. the last Bloodweaver runs to contest his zone.
I score 5-2 to circle.
Cryx turn 6
He kills the bloodweaver with Terminus and places his Knights to cover him a bit. Kraken kills my objective but does nothing to my beasts. He runs the incorporeal Trapper to my zone to contest.
He scores 5-4 to Cryx.
Circle turn 6
Baldur charges and kills the Trapper. Ravagers charges and kills the Knights and contest his zone. Mu beasts and Snapjaw kill the Kraken. They are no longer protected by the wall or Roots, but at this point it does not matter.
I score 7-4 to circle.
Cryx turn 7
He has less than a minute left and only his caster alive. He kills the two ravagers contesting his zone.
We both score 9-5 to circle.
Circle turn 7
I run my Ravagers in to his zone.
I score 12-5 to circle.
Thoughts on the list
The core of the list seemed to work in this game. My beasts were absolutely untouchable. Wrongeye and snapjaw though seemed a bit weak, though i could have played them better. They could probably have been more tharn to get a third freebee, or perhaps a Pureblood to get Wraithbane. The lack of magic attacks was noticeable, and could have been really bad had my opponent not attacked with the Wraith Engine. This puts a lot of strain on Baldurs Fury Management, and i would be one point short of getting shifting Stones in there. Possibly you could have a chef, but then you would probably change the Blood Pack for Blood Trackers or something. Tweaking can surely be done to say the least.
Will this be the next hot list? Nope, i dont think so, but it definitely is a playable list. Most of MK3 when playing trolls i have rotaded among all casters finding that there were SOOO many lists that i could play with and win with even if they were not the flavor of the month. Its like there are a few lists with 100% power, but there are a LOT of lists with 90-95% power that you might as well played for your own amusement. I think Tharn bring something similar to circle. You have had a very few lists with 100% power for a long time now, but the rest were like 50%ers. These changes open up a lot of different lists that qualify in the 90-95% category. I think this type of list WILL be competitive. It will not be the strongest list, but then again, no one will be teching for it specifically and many opponents will not have played the match up at all. That gives you an advantage to cover the last 5-10% in many cases.
It feels like a great time to be playing Circle. Now i just have to spend hundreds of dollars on Tharn...