| Krueger1 or Krueger2? |
Most of my love for him is still theoretical, but so far he's shown to be a really good "problem solver" caster.
At any rate, let's get this show on the road.
Game 1: Krueger2 vs. Legion's "Saeryn & Rhyas"
My list:
Krueger2
- Ghettorix
- Feral Warpwolf
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Woldwyrd
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Shifting Stones
Stoneward & Woldstalkers (Shrimp)
Blackclad Wayfarer
Blackclad Wayfarer
His list:
Saeryn & Rhyas
- Carnivean
- Raek
- Harrier
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (max, no UA)
Blighted Nyss Strider Scouts (max, UA)
Blighted Nyss Raptors (max)
Spawning Vessel
Annyssa Ryvaal
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker
>> I won the roll to go first and decided to go first. Whereas I typically prefer to go second lately, I also feel like it's important to practice going both first and second, as deployment/initial movement do change quite a bit depending on when your first turn is.
Pre-game thoughts:
After asking several questions about his list and units, it occurred to me that pretty much everything in his army would have stealth. This was also actually the first time I'd even HEARD of this caster (or should it be "these casters"), and I remained uncertain how they would dial their force up.
However, I did notice some weaknesses. For a pair of casters who have 12 combined fury, he had very few beasts. If I could kill the Carnivean or Raek fairly quickly, I'd be able to severely limit what the caster(s) could do.
The plan was to survive for a few turns until I could get a good table position, then have a turn or two of all-out aggression. I'd also of course remain opportunistic - if he wanted to gift me important models, I'd be happy to oblige.
Deployment:
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| Raptors would eventually put Prey on Ghettorix. |
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| Don't see much infantry these days... |
Circle Turn 1:
I had the range to get a few boosted Mannikin sprays in against the Striders. So, I had the Wyrd go and shoot a couple Mannikins.
Sentry Stones activated and placed themselves to that their forests were touching the other big forest already on the board, and the Mannikins tried their luck. They needed 11's to hit, and one of them got it.
Everything else stayed inside my forest bunker. Alten and the two Blackclads stayed in the forest too, as this Legion list didn't really have much eyeless sight.
I did foolishly put the Shrimp behind a wall on the left, thinking they'd be good to go with cover. Hah :)
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| Kind of looks like a clusterf***, but it's actually pretty well-ordered. |
Legion Turn 1:
My opponent advanced extremely warily.
The Striders apparently had Hunter, so would ignore the Shrimps' cover bonus. They needed 6's to hit and 6's to kill, but only managed to kill one of the Shrimp. Pretty lucky of me.
Other things worked hard and genocided my Mannikins.
I guess you could say they killed them to a Mann... ikin.
* crickets *
Not much else happened.
I think that's to my opponent's credit - if he had overcommitted, I could have easily taken advantage. Better to be cautious.
Circle Turn 2:
Well, my opponent hadn't really given me anything too crazy, so I decided to continue to plink away and set myself up to take the rightmost flag while threatening the leftmost.
Mannikins managed to spray away a couple pot handlers. One Mannikin got the Lifetime Achievement Medal for spiking an "11" to kill a Strider Deathstalker AND a "9" to kill a pot handler, both without boosts!
Both Sentry Stones did make sure to position themselves exactly 4" from the flag on the right.
Shrimp decided their fancy wall wasn't worth much, and ran away to a more central location behind my objective.
I ran my Wyrd over to within 10" of the flag on the left, ready to charge if necessary.
Alten aimed and shot at the Harrier, who was behind a wall. He got the "7" he needed to hit, then between the 3+d3 damage and his POW 12, the Harrier had 1 health left, no spirit, and grievous wounds. Haha, it's been a LONG time since Alten has been able to shoot a beast - seems like it's been all Warmachine lately.
Not much else happened.
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| I made sure to spray around the Legionnaires, who have vengeance. No need to kick that beehive yet. |
Legion Turn 2:
Again, my opponent was extremely cautious.
He could score on the left this turn, and focus on cracking my castle.
The Pot created a Shredder, who combined with the Carnivean's spray to kill my leftmost Sentry Stone.
Striders mostly did nothing but they did manage to score one.
Raptors stayed aloof.
Score: 1-0, advantage Legion.
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| Not much has died so far on either side. Time to change that if possible. |
Circle Turn 3:
I needed to contest one flag and try to claim the other.
More importantly for my own goals, I wanted to kill Rhyas (she'd be feated back to life no doubt) and punch a hole through his infantry to kill the Carnivean. All without popping my feat.
Woldwyrd started it off, and charged the Strider on the flag on the left, killing it. He otherwise just stared at the Striders surrounding him.
On the right, I had the Shrimp go first. They managed to kill the Shredder in my way.
Pureblood went next and used his spray to kill Rhyas (needed an "11" to hit and a boosted "7" to kill I believe) as well as spiking some crazy damage to also kill the Pot (needed a "14" to kill it). Bonus Round: he also killed a Legionnaire without needing to boost.
Feral put Primal on Ghetto, then advanced and killed three Legionnaires.
Alten finished off the Harrier.
Blackclads combined to kill 3 more Legionnaires.
Sentry Stone shifted to the right to give some semblance of shelter to the exposed Blackclads. His Mannikin tried to punch a Raptor but even in its back arc he missed. He WAS engaging two of them though.
Krueger went and used TK on Ghetto to get him another 2" closer to the Carnivean. He put up Storm Winds (as he had been doing every turn) and camped 2.
Ghetto's charge lane was finally completely clear, so he finally charged the Carnivean. Even with poor dice, he killed the hapless creature with a fury to spare.
Shifting Stones shifted up to control the flag (somehow?) for a point.
So that turn, I killed: Pot, Carnivean, 7x Legionnaires, Rhyas, and a Strider. Not terrible, though Fort Krueger was now a random hodgepodge.
Score: 1-1
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| Rhyas will be feated back soon, but she isn't in reach of Krueger. Without the Carnivean, can his list deal with my heavies? |
Legion Turn 3:
The Raptors surrounded Ghetto, but failed to kill him, even with poisoned shots.
Saeryn was forced to feat Rhyas back, and Rhyas easily finished off Ghetto.
Legionnaires got some punches in on the Feral, but he mostly shrugged them off.
Raek charged my Wyrd and did about 10 damage.
Pot handlers charged the Feral as well, accomplishing nothing.
Annyssa did manage to kill both of my Blackclads on her own though. Nice!
Score: 1-1
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| Feral is surrounded by 7 infantry, lol. |
Circle Turn 4:
The shop was closing soon, and I needed to finish the game. I figured I had a pretty good chance at assassination anyways.
Pureblood went first and sprayed at Rhyas and Saeryn both. He caught Rhyas and killed her with the spray. Saeryn was still there behind a wall with a full(ish) stack, but nobody to transfer to.
Shrimp went next and charged and killed a couple infantry models behind the Feral.
Krueger went next. He advanced 6" and POPPED HIS FEAT. This had the effect of pushing away all of the remaining infantry models from the Feral's charge arc.
The feat also pushed Saeryn back from the wall.
Krueger TK'd himself 2" closer to be in range of Saeryn and boosted a shot at her.
He needed a "10", got it, and with his 4 remaining fury, he reloaded twice and boosted damage twice, killing her.
It should be noted that the Feral had an easy charge on her as well, and would only take a single pot handler free strike if he did. :)
I suppose I would have scored two more points had it been a tournament.
The game ended.
Game Results: Win for Circle Orboros via (triple!) assassination!!
Post-game thoughts:
My opponent had a cool list that I struggled to find effective ways to deal with. DEF 15 on infantry is tough to hit, and he was good at being cautious/patient.
I thought it was a mistake for the Carnivean to advance close enough to shoot my Sentry Stone, as it was essentially the only model other than Rhyas who could easily hurt my own heavies.
Then again, the Sentry Stones were making pretty damned sure that my important models couldn't be harmed. I don't blame him for being somewhat desperate to kill one.
In hindsight, I don't think this Legion list was very good into Krueger, or any list with 3 protected heavies. All it takes is one somewhat lopsided trade (Ghetto is more points than a Carnivean), and my other two heavies are allowed to essentially run the table.
I didn't really play very well on the left side of the table. Stealthed DEF 15 models aren't easy for any of my units to deal with, and their ability to ignore the wall made my Shrimp poor choices. I should have had the Wyrd in front with the Shrimp following it. Combined, I'm confident that I'd have at least fought the Striders + Raek to a stalemate.
Krueger continues to impress!
Game 2: Krueger2 vs. Cygnar's Haley1!
My list (didn't change):
Krueger2
- Ghettorix
- Feral Warpwolf
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Woldwyrd
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Shifting Stones
Stoneward & Woldstalkers (Shrimp)
Blackclad Wayfarer
Blackclad Wayfarer
His list:
Haley1
- Squire
- Ironclad
- Centurion (?)
- Thorn
Jakes
- Ol' Rowdy
Gun Mages (max w/ UA)
- Firefly
Black 13th
>> I won the roll to go first (I keep winning it!), and chose to take the side with a really stupid obstruction in the middle to hide Krueger behind.
Pre-game thoughts:
We were playing incursion, and none of his ranged attacks were more than like 10 or 12 inches. I felt like Krueger had a fairly large advantage this game.
This was also my opponent's like, 2nd or 3rd game with this list, though he had JUST beat another Circle player with this list directly before we played. I actually didn't even know how jack marshaling worked until this game. Haha, still learning so much random crap about this game :)
The plan was simple: advance, threaten objectives, and win on Turn 3 or 4 at the latest. By that same metric, if I hadn't won by Turn 4, I wouldn't likely win at all.
Deployment:
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| I stacked it pretty heavy on the right side for not apparent reason other than I had to pick a side. Trying to split up would likely be folly. |
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| Here's a shot without his hand in the way. |
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| Pink Cygnar. Actually kind of looks like some sort of gender stereotypes commentary thing. Blue and Pink! Let's not have that discussion here. |
Cygnar Turn 1:
He ran up. Jakes and Ol' Rowdy headed for the understacked side and the objective located there.
Gun Mages got on a hill. UA hid out in the back.
Not much else.
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| Favorite rules interaction this game: Alten can shoot from his hill at the other hill without elevation affecting his shot. This is a novelty for a Circle player, as we don't have much range available. |
Circle Turn 1:
I also ran up. Rather, I kind of just trampled up. The goal was to threaten the two middle flags while remaining mostly aloof.
Between Alten and some likely Mannikins, I managed to kill 3 Gun Mages. Alten got off the hill and behind the mobile forest screen.
Sentry Stones combined with the stupidly large obstruction to make another huge bunker. Krueger Kastle. hehe
Everyone else hid behind it!
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| Krueger also put up Storm Wall. |
Cygnar Turn 2:
He moved up some and attempted to make a wall of jacks to contest/threaten the center flag.
Ol' Rowdy moved up to threaten scoring on the left.
Haley lost her nerve and camped out on the hill instead of behind her jack wall (which was probably best for her, health-wise).
Mannikins got genocided again.
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| Dumb obstruction getting in the way of taking good(ish) pictures! |
Circle Turn 2:
Time to put the screws on, if possible.
One Blackclad got Hunter's Mark on the Ironclad.
Feral put Primal on Ghetto.
Pureblood shifted to the right and did 5 or 6 damage with its spray to both heavy jacks nearest to Ghetto.
Mannikins, Alten, and the Wyrd combined to kill off the rest of the Gun Mages over the course of the turn.
Ghetto charged and managed to kill both heavy jacks.
Krueger used TK on the Wyrd (before it went over to shoot) so it could also control the rightmost flag. He then POPPED HIS FEAT. This pushed Rowdy and Thorn, and that was it.
In hindsight, I think Rowdy couldn't be pushed because of a spell put on him by Jakes.
Shrimp advanced and killed two of the Black 13th.
Last Blackclad ran to control the center flag.
I scored twice!
Score: 2-0, advantage Circle.
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| Not the best turn for Cygnar. |
Cygnar Turn 3:
After staring at the board for a little, he decided to call it. He was doubtful if he could even kill Ghetto, much less threaten anything else. I agreed. There wasn't much chance of him ever truly getting the rightmost flag under control, and the center one was easily threatened by my two remaining beasts.
Best to just call it.
Game Results: Win for Circle Orboros via implied scenario!!!
Post-game thoughts:
Try not to be too harsh with my opponent. He's actually a very good Retribution player, but learning a new faction can be pretty rough. His list will need to be tweaked significantly to deal with Circle at all though. I don't mean to be abrasive, but I believe my Baldur1 list would do just as well in this game. His individual models can pack a punch, but he will need some experience in discovering how to meld them together.
Anyways, I don't want to talk smack. Great opponent, great guy, just not the best "competitive" circumstances. My caster hurt his shooting a lot, and my terrain generation also made things difficult. The scenario made this game as lopsided as it probably could be.
So, let's just jump into talking about Krueger2 in general!
General talk about Krueger2:
I'm liking him! Whether or not he could stand up to Sloane or not is still a BIG question, but I think it's fairly reasonable to say that he can be used as a counter to many shot-heavy lists.
It's interesting - I find that my play style in MK3 has been fairly passive. I can't afford to risk my beasts, and as such I have to find ways to protect them. This usually involves hiding them behind Sentry Stones. Circle is SO squishy that we can't afford to expose any of our models without risking them.
Krueger2 makes me think of at least what I perceive to be a cagey boxing match. Feints and jabs followed by one or two really powerful knockout punches. If those punches aren't enough, then I'm exposed and essentially dead. Just have to be patient and wait for the right opportunity.
Can't wait to keep playing him. Even if you all decide to vote for Baldur2 at the upcoming tournament, I'll still be playing Kruger2 afterward.
Upcoming:
Tournament this weekend. 3 or 4 rounds. Baldur1 + either Krueger2 or Baldur2.
Tournament the weekend after at a local con. Maybe 2 days if I can qualify for Masters on Sunday.
NOTE: I'm going to be trying to do live updates on Twitter throughout my tournaments from now on. If you're curious in my game-to-game results before I write the reports, follow me on Twitter! Should be a link or something of the sort on the right panel of this blog, near the top.
My next purchase: Celestial Fulcrum. It will for a few games at least replace the Wyrd and Shrimp. I actually have high hopes for it!
My other next purchase: Wrongeye and Snapjaw for Baldur2!
Also, I need to find a list to use my new Reeves + War Wolves. I finally hired someone to paint them. Can't wait to see how they look. He already finished Alten, and he looks really good! I'll try to get a good close picture soon for you :)
Anyways, that's it for today! Wish me luck in my tournament tomorrow!
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