That's right folks, I've decided to take the plunge - instead of playing 40k at Feast like in years past (I actually won the 40k tournament one year, and am therefore auto-qualified for all "finals" events for 40k), I will be playing an entirely different game system. For better or worse, I will be attending a major con for reasons other than 40k.
Madness.
These lists are representative of my efforts to get ready for FoB, having 3 full 50-point lists completely painted and ready, and potentially even getting a 4th list ready for Hardcore. Instead of practicing with "CrutchVahna", I'm working on other lists that I think may pair well with her in a 3-caster setting. I'm actually going to attempt an article talking about my own approach to pairings in the future, but for now, here are two reports :)
I had a couple games scheduled against my good friend Vince, who owns nearly the entire Skorne line, and has been playing Warmachine for a very long time. He took a list that just crushed me a while back when I was just getting back into it.
Actually, here's the link. (it's the 2nd report, in case you can't stand the thought of reading through the first one)
It's got a lot of crazy assassination potential, and I'm still trying to figure out how to play against it well. Vince wanted to play it twice, so I took Kreuger2 first, then Baldur1 against him.
Game 1: Circle Kreuger2 vs. Skorne Makeda2
My list:
Kreuger
-Ghettorix
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Gorax
Wold Stalkers
Wold Stalkers
Druids of Orboros
-Druid Overseer
Shifting Stones
-Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Gallows Grove
Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer
Druid Wilder
His List (same for both games):
Makeda2
-Gladiator
-Archidon
-Archidon
-Molik Karn
-Basilisk Krea
Praetorian Ferox (max)
Extoller Soulward
The Mission:
Two big circle zones in the middle. Control for 1 CP, Dominate for 2 CP. NO KILLBOX.
**Vince won the roll to go first, and took it. Doh!
Pre-game thoughts:
Well, I was crushed last game. I wanted to avoid an embarrassing end this time - I figured that I could probably win if it came to attrition, due to my Druids being able to control the board well, along with Kreuger's innate abilities.
Essentially, my goal was to survive his assassination attempts, then dominate one zone while contesting the other. After seeing Makeda's stats, I didn't feel that this would be a great assassination matchup for me.
Deployments:
 |
| Heh, I have so much advanced deploy... |
 |
| His army looks so slow and unassuming. No AD, and he's only 7" onto the board. He couldn't possibly threaten me on Turn 2 if I stayed conservative, could he? |
He cast all his crazy spells, and suddenly the entire army was threatening me.
One thing of note: Vince's Ferox ran up and used their large bases to block line of sight to the Krea, but all benefiting from Paralytic Aura.
 |
| Should Skorne be able to move this quickly? |
Circle Turn 1:
I knew I needed to kill some Ferox this turn, as they would do some nasty stuff to my Druids, and make my life much more difficult. I also knew I needed to keep Kreuger away from his rightmost Archidon.
First, I activated the Druids. Druids moved up to the wall and used their magic push/pulls to get a could Ferox out of the Paralytic Aura bubble. Leader cast Counter-magic, though I quickly realized that Mak2 didn't have much in the way of offensive spells, and eventually just dropped it.
I moved some stones and the Stalker over to the forest on the right, and had Kreuger go over there, figuring the Archdon's ~16" or so was enough to avoid, and camping 3 just in case. Probably should have just camped most of it, honestly.
Ghettorix moved into some stones - I was reasonably confident that if an Archidon tried to kill him, he had an alright chance to survive. If not, that Archidon would still die to my other stuff, and I'd have had a turn to avoid his assassination. I would pop my feat the next turn and be able to kill his stuff for another turn before he could retaliate.
In theory :)
Wold Stalkers advanced and killed two Ferox, and would have killed a 3rd, but Makeda used "Stay Death" to keep it alive. Doh!
 |
| Not much damage from me this turn - I figured I'd probably be able to kill at least 3 Ferox. Only killing 2 wasn't so much worse, exactly, but it did make things less certain. |
Skorne Turn 2:
Ferox charged and killed a Druid and a Wold Stalker.
Gladiator put Rush on the rightmost Archidon.
Makeda popped her feat, and hemmed and hawed over how he could kill me. Apparently, if he hadn't misplaced a few models, he thought he could have gotten his Archidon into Kreuger, which is really crazy.
Instead, he used Road to War and Leashed the Archidon toward my Ghettorix.
Pain Givers gave Enrage to the Archidon.
Archidon charged Ghettorix. Ghettorix probably should have used his Animus, but forgot to. Never really looked at it, to be honest. Hitting models back seems pretty awesome though :)
At any rate, the Archidon fluffed its attacks bigtime. Ghetto didn't even have any systems gone. I'm not convinced that the Archidon should have killed Ghetto, but it certainly had the potential to do so. Boosted melee attack rolls is pretty nice, and he was POW 17 vs. my ARM 19 with 5 attacks.
Realizing that he wouldn't likely kill Ghetto with his final attack, Vince opted to kill a nearby stone instead, cracking it easily.
Other Archidon charged my Wold Stalkers and killed one.
Krea popped Paralytic Aura (this and every other turn).
Molik toed the right-hand zone to contest it.
 |
| Well, kind of a good turn for me - Kreuger was still alive, and so were all my heavies. |
I needed to take advantage of my um, advantage. My goal was to kill the Ferox, Ghetto's Archidon, and Molik, then pop my feat and prevent Vince from charging in to piece-trade.
First, Ghetto went, and killed the Archidon fairly easily through good rolls.
Right- hand Gallows jumped up ~5", to within 8" of Molik.
Kreuger went next, Telekinesis'd Molik 2" closer, turning him around. He then popped his feat, catching most of the army, and forcing the Ferox backwards, out of combat with the Druids. With his final Fury, he used Gallows to drag Molik even closer. I think I got about 4".
Druid Wilder went up to the Stalker and put Primal on him, to make sure he could kill Molik.
Stones teleported Stalker into B2B with Molik.
Stalker warped for STR killed Molik with 3 attacks. Overkill much? :-/
Druids went next and walked up to get into range of the Krea. They hit the Krea and did some damage, also killing the Extoller Soulward and some Paingivers. However, they had gotten too close to one of the Ferox, and as such locked themselves in melee with him. Sloppy mistake :-/
Wold Stalkers went next and killed two Ferox.
Other Gallows jumped into the left zone to contest it.
That was about it. Pretty productive turn, killing two heavies and some more of his Ferox.
 |
| Oh, I also scored a point in the right zone! 1-0 to Circle so far! |
Vince wasn't sure what to do - he needed to control his zone and contest mine, but do so through my Feat.
He ran some Paingivers into my zone.
The lone Ferox tried (and maybe succeeded?) at killing a Druid.
Archidon on the left killed my Grove.
Makeda got into the zone on the left and dominated it for 2.
Score: 2-1, advantage Skorne.
 |
| Not much happened this turn - love K2's feat. |
Stalker frenzied (due to Primal) and killed a Wold Stalker.
Blackclad went up and fried three Paingivers with an awesome 8" spray and good rolls.
Stones healed Ghetto a 2nd time (they did it last turn too).
Ghetto walked up and killed the final Ferox. He then used his Animus in case the Archidon decided it wanted to try to kill him.
Druids shot at and finished off the surprisingly squishy Krea.
Other Wold Stalkers used Zephyr to get 3" up, aimed, and killed the remaining Paingiver in the right zone, as well as other Paingivers that were being protected by the Krea.
Other Wold Stalkers used Zephyr to get into the left zone, shooting at the Archidon and doing a small amount of damage.
Kreuger got into the Zone, and dominated it for 2.
Score: 3-2, advantage Circle.
 |
| Good position for me to be in, currently. |
Skorne Turn 4:
Vince cleared his zone, but couldn't get into my own zone with anything but his Gladiator, who ran.
He did dominate his zone though.
Score: 4-3, advantage Skorne.
Circle Turn 4:
I ran Ghetto into the left zone, used Druids and TK to push the Gladiator out of my own zone, and called it, dominating for the final 2 points to win.
Results: Win for Circle via Scenario, 5-4!!
Post-game thoughts:
Well, once Vince tried to kill my Ghettorix and failed to do so, it was always going to be a difficult game for him. Denying his list the crazy assassinations it can get is essential, and in this case, I was able to stop it from happening.
I'm not sure how the game would have gone had Ghetto died. I'd have had to have Kreuger TK the Archidon to face backwards, then have all my Stalkers shoot him up, possibly finishing him with Druids or something. This would have left the Ferox more alive, but I think I'd still have had the resources to deal.
At any rate, I was happy with the win. I think in the future, I'll be a little more bold with Kreuger, moving him up most of his inches, then popping the feat, daring my opponent to try something when they can't charge. I actually think that Kreuger2 is an excellent drop against this particular list - I just played it a little awkwardly.
Game 2: Circle Baldur1 vs. Skorne Makeda2
My List:
Baldur1
-Woldwrath
-Megalith
Druids of Orboros
Tharn Bloodtrackers
-Nuala
Shifting Stones
-Stone Keeper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
His List (same as last time):
Makeda2
-Gladiator
-Archidon
-Archidon
-Molik Karn
-Basilisk Krea
Praetorian Ferox (max)
Extoller Soulward
Mission:
Two zones, same as last time.
**Vince won the roll to go first, and took it, again. *facepalm*
Pre-game thoughts:
This one had me worried. The Archidons could ignore both the Megalith animus and Baldur's feat, as they fly and therefore ignore rough terrain. I would need to just stay well outside his threat range, and do the same stuff as last game, dominating one zone while I contested the other. I knew the Wrath wasn't going to be killed easily - he would be great for contesting the other zone.
Killing Archidons would be key in this game - if I could kill them quickly, I could pop Baldur's feat and control the board easily. If they stuck around, I may be in for a looong game.
Deployment:
 |
| His is just about the same as last time. Druid overseer on the left is a proxy for a Blackclad, FYI. |
He moved up, similar to last time, though he kept Molik on the left this time. Oh yeah, Bloodtrackers used prey on the Ferox.
 |
| So damn quick. Really hard for me to get over that speed, apparently. |
Circle Turn 1:
I kept Baldur WAAAAY back from the double Archidons in the middle. I popped some smoke and stuff, and used the Druids again to drag three Ferox outside the Krea's bubble of awesome.
Wrath killed one.
Bloodtrackers killed another one (two, really, but Vince used Stay Death to keep one alive).
Megalith used Earth Spikes to finish another.
Stone Keeper nearly finished off a 4th, but failed. Stones surrounded Megalith.
Baldur grew a forest and put Stone Skin on Megalith.
 |
| Will Vince be able to assassinate me this turn? |
Vince went for a less obvious route - his Ferox killed a Gallows Grove and Stone Keeper.
One Archidon charged Megalith but failed to kill him.
Another Archidon positioned himself to counter-charge me if I went into the Ferox.
Molik killed a few of my Bloodtrackers, who got sad :-/. Also, he killed a Blackclad.
 |
| Really, not an awful turn for me. |
Circle Turn 2:
I needed to do some damage this turn, for sure. My goal was to wipe out the Krea, an Archidon, and the Ferox. Basically, everything he had exposed.
Baldur upkept Stone Skin.
First, the Stones sent Megalith up to B2B with both Ferox.
Megalith used his Animus to lower the Ferox and Archidon DEF, then killed both Ferox easily.
Prey shifted to the Krea.
Druids sucked the Archidon toward them, but kept it within 5" of Megalith.
Wrath walked up and annihilated the DEF12 Archidon.
Baldur made a forest surrounding him and shifted himself into the rightmost forest.
Bloodtrackers charged (???) the Krea and killed it, shifting Prey to Molik.
 |
| Not sure why I didn't just shift Prey to Molik, Stone Form the BTs and kill him with shooting, rather than going for the inferior target in the Krea. Still need to smooth some things out :-/ |
Skorne Turn 3:
Vince needed to do some damage this turn.
He cast some spells and got his remaining Archidon into my Megalith, but first cast Lightning Strike on himself to hit-and-run after he killed my battered Megalith.
He did enough damage that he needed to do 4 boxes on his final attack. He managed to get Crit: Pitch on Megalith, threw him at the wall, and got 3 dice for damage. I was sitting on Stone Skin, so my ARM 21 vs. his POW 17 meant he needed an "8" on three dice.
His roll:
 |
| Triple 1's. No damage. Ouch. |
Molik charged in and killed most of my Bloodtrackers with a slew of perfect 7's to hit with sidestep, and the Paingivers charged and finished off the final one. Haha, the ignomy of it all!
Makeda got into the left zone and dominated it for 2.
Score: 2-0, advantage Skorne.
 |
| Well, Megalith surviving was a big deal. No denying that. |
Circle Turn 3:
Megalith healed in the control phase to get up to "full" spirals, and Baldur upkept Stone Skin.
Baldur created a forest for Megalith to stand in, which he then conveniently shifted into, sacrificing movement. He hit the Archidon once, getting him down to DEF 11 with his weapon's ability "
Weight of Stone" I don't remember what else he did. I think he just camped the rest,.
Oh yeah, he popped his feat, barely catching the Gladiator.
Megalith activated and, with MAT 7 against DEF 11 and POW 18 vs. ARM 17, he easily killed the Archidon.
Blackclad moved up and roasted a few Paingivers, but one of them was still in the zone, and passed his CMD check. I was foolish, and didn't face Megalith to see the final one, as he could have used Earth Spikes to finish him off so I could dominate the zone :-/
Druids, mostly engaged by some Paingivers, used their powers to pull Molik close, and also killed a few Paingivers nearby, along with the Extoller Soulward.
Wrath then charged Molik, but did all but one damage to him, leaving Molik alive.
Stones shifted behind the Wrath, ready to heal him.
 |
| Guess it's only fair - I couldn't knock the jerk down due to Makeda's feat, and thus had to hit Molik on 7's. Good news: Wrath was barely (barely) toeing the zone, and kept Vince from scoring again. |
Skorne Turn 4:
He healed Molik a bit, then had him wail on my Wrath. After all 7 attacks from POW 15 weaponmaster Molik, here's what my spirals looked like:
 |
| Not the best picture. He came close though - I had less than 20 boxes remaining, which is a lot for one guy. |
He couldn't do anything much with the Gladiator, since I had him under my feat (rough terrain and couldn't gain pathfinder), so he stayed there, mostly.
 |
| #whatagrind |
Stones healed the Wrath.
Wrath punched Molik, then killed the Paingivers close to the Druids.
Druids walked up and pushed the Gladiator back 5".
Megalith popped his Animus.
Blackclad killed the final Paingiver.
Baldur dominated his zone for 2 points.
 |
| Looking grim for Skorne, once again... |
Skorne Turn 5:
Vince couldn't really do much - his Gladiator could have tried to get into my Megalith via a "super slam" on a Druid, which would have worked (we rolled the dice just for fun), but not gotten him into the zone. We even rolled Makeda charging my Wrath, which *almost* would have worked (he had some high damage rolls in there).
In the end, he couldn't kill the Wrath or contest my zone, so I scored 2 CP in his turn, then 2 more in my own turn to end the game.
Results: Win for Circle Orboros via scenario, 5-2!!
Post-game thoughts:
Well, I'm certainly getting more fluent at using Baldur1. This wasn't the list I would pick in a multi-list tournament against Skorne, so I was happy to have some experience against it. Wrath has been doing good things for me, despite the fact that this game none of Vince's stuff would stay knocked down!
Had his Archidon killed Megalith (he did get unlucky, though an 8 on 3 dice does fail like what.. 20% of the time or so?), the game would have been very different. Baldur would have needed to use his forest teleport move to attack the Archidon, or shoot some spells at it, or something, and my Druids would have had to drag it around, wasting their attempts on Karn. If they had dragged the Archidon close enough, Baldur probably would have killed the damn thing with his sword, and Molik would have survived, though he obviously enough survived anyways.
I think the luck swings in this game helped me, but not as monstrously as it would seem.
At any rate, I need to get better at target priority - Bloodtrackers should have killed Molik. There was no reason they should have charged (???) the Krea instead of just Preying Molik and doing filthy things to him with POW 13.
I'm content though - a list that just crushed me a few months back was defeated not once, but twice, and I *am* getting better, albeit slowly.
Still a long way to go though. Probably going to be a disappointing FoB, though I think it'll still be super fun at least :)
No comments:
Post a Comment