Battle Report: Calandra vs eHexeris

pGrexy and I got a lovely game in this last Saturday, and I took the opportunity -- and borrowed a friend's models -- to play my Calandra list WYSIWYG. Much fun was had by all!


My List:
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)
Troll Whelps (2pts)

As mentioned previously, I like this list. Calandra seems like she'll be a trick to get used to, but overall her 'roll better/roll worse' functions are pretty straightforward. I've never fought epic Hexeris before, so this should be an interesting game.


pGrexy's list:
Lord Arbiter Hexeris (*6pts)
* Cyclops Savage (5pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Titan Cannoneer (9pts) (bonded to eHexy)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Venators Reivers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)

So this is a bit different than the lists I'm used to playing against - the Bronzeback and Gladiator paired together means that if I try to kill one, I need to have the other distracted or face a dead Mauler the next turn. I also don't often face Venators, so this'll be fun on the bun!

I won the roll, and elected to go second.


Deployment
From left to right (by my view), his line consisted of the Gladiator, Bronzeback, then Cannoneer in the middle of the board (right in front of a hill...hmm), Savage and eHexeris, Paingivers behind all of them, then Venators and Extoler on the right flank. The Cannoneer-on-a-hill thing was going to be a problem again, and I knew I was going to have to do something about that.

My line consisted of the Mauler on the left, Calandra, Runebearer, and the Axer behind and to the right of him, Fennblades to the right of the Mauler, and Fell Caller, Janissa, and Impaler spread out behind them. The Whelps stayed off the field, as I'm not worried about fury management in the early game.

Turn 1 - Skorne
The Titans advanced in a rough line, the Cannoneer moving ahead a bit on the hill with the Savage alongside and Paingivers behind. The Venators moved up with the Extoller behind them, giving the little devil a nice squishy meat shield. eHexy tossed a few friendly upkeeps around, and advanced next to the Cannoneer on the hill.

Turn 1 - Trollbloods
Ok, that's an imposing line of beasts. I ran the Fennblades up along the front to provide cover and had Calandra, Janissa, the Fell Caller, and the Runebearer spread out behind them. The Mauler and Axer riled a bit and ran forward, angling towards the 'titan wall', while the Impaler ran straight up into a nice concealment-granting field and prepared to start dealing damage. Calandra put up Star Crossed and Bullet Dodger on herself (for good measure).

Turn 2 - Skorne
eHexeris started the turn off with a bang by dropping Black Spot on the Fennblades and then killing one with  a channeled Hellfire through the Cannoneer - who then promptly fail their command check; this was reallllly going to hurt. The Cannoneer found herself (just barely) within Calandra's control range, and thanks to a poor roll managed to miss the front Fennblade and had it's shot scattered into uselessness. The majority of the Venators, sadly, did not suffer this crippling disadvantage, however despite some good rolls, extra shots due to Black Spot, and only a couple of tough saves they only managed to kill 4 Fennblades and knock down another 2, shutting down my entire right flank; Fennblade survivability continues to be lackluster, but it could have been far worse. The Bronzeback and Gladiator moved up a bit for a more advantageous rush and enrage powered charge-fest next turn, confident that my beasts weren't withing decent charge range (this turn at least). The Savage continued to be inconspicuous near eHexeris, waiting for his time to pounce....

Turn 2 - Trollbloods
The Fennblades stayed put and failed to much of anything interesting, but recovered from their moral disaster. The Axer put Rush on the Mauler (you know, like one does), anticipating some long-range killing. Calandra cast Star Crossed again (I cannot think of a situation where this won't happen every turn), and in a surprise move ambled forward just a bit and cast Befuddle on the Bronzeback, walking him up 3" straight forward and presenting his backside to the Mauler. Not one to look a gift horse (or elephant) in the mouth, the Mauler charged, cast Rage (+3 STR animus) on himself, and proceeded to apply his namesake to the unfortunate titan, killing it in 4 hits and a headbutt. Janissa threw down a rock wall in front of Calandra and ambled up beside her to prevent things getting around it, the Fell Caller taking up a similar position on the left side. The Impaler came up near them as well, dropped it's on Animus on itself, and hocked a spear for a respectable 5 damage on the Cannoneer.

Turn 3 - Skorne
eHexeris upkeeps Black Spot on the poor Fennblades, while the Paingivers move up and enrage both the Cannoneer, Gladiator, and Savage. The Gladiator starts the turn by Grand Slamming the Mauler smack in it's Bronzeback-killing face, throwing it back 7" into the wall in front of Calandra, and taking out half the body and a good chunk of the spirit --- but in the process spawning a whelp directly in it's way for follow up. We both stop for a moment and consider the massive utility of this; by doing damage and slamming, the Gladiator inadvertently denied it's own ability to follow up; Whelps are freaking AMAZING! Once we calmed down, the Gladiator followed up, killed the little whelp, and waited. Knowing that Mauler had to die for it's presumption (killing the Bronzeback AND blunting the Gladiator's activation?! That dog won't hunt, monsieur), the Cannoneer followed up around the now-pasted whelp and finished off the Mauler in a massive display of cannon-bludgeoning murder.

Once that was over, eHexeris decided to feat - a few animi were thrown around, and then 2 fully boosted Hellfires were sent directly at the Impaler, but due to miraculous (one would say Star Crossed...) luck, the Impaler survived in half decent condition. The Savage sprang forward (with the help of a Rush from eHexeris) to beat the crap out of the now-injured Impaler (killing it) and a Fennblade or two while the Venators continued to pincushion the remaining Fennblades into obscurity.


Turn 3 - Trollbloods
Realizing the party-sub sized pickle she was in, Calandra figured it was now or never. She feated, cast a fully boosted Force Blow to knock eHexeris down, and hoarded fury for Fate Blessed re-rolls. The army came together with surprising precision - Janissa moved up near the titans and cast Tectonic Shift, pushing both back just enough for the left-most Fennblades to get a good shot on eHexeris. The Fennblades, in a frantic desire to make themselves useful, charged eHexeris, making the best of reach to leave space for more to follow. A lucky hit or two left eHexy with only a single fury remaining and 5 hit boxes down (he knew more was coming). The Fell Caller charged in next, delivering 1 good hit and doing significant damage -- to the Cannoneer. Not wanting to be outdone, the Axer put Rush on himself and charged straight at eHexeris, barely getting in range (thanks to reach) and dealing the killing blow.

Victory to Trollsbloods!!

Thoughts

Calandra's feat really saved my bacon on the last turn - the sheer mass of 1s and 2s rolled (and re-rolled) was pretty amazing, and I'm pretty sure there were a couple of re-re-rolls in there from Fate Blessed as well (Calandra ended the game with no FURY and a Savage within certain-death range). I'm fairly certain this is one of the only situations where a die can be re-rolled no less than 3 times: an example that came up is that the first roll is a 1,2; re-roll to a 3,3 on Feat; re-roll again to a 2,2 on Fate Blessed for 1 Fury; feat re-rolls those again into a 4,5 -- it's a hit! I pulled a victory in this one out on the skin of my teeth, but it was a pretty fun game regardless.

One thing I'm noticing is that Calandra's abilities are both subtle and alarmingly direct, and unlike a lot of Warlocks/Warcasters, work to improve everything rather than focus on something specific. The biggest part is dice - reducing opponents rolls, re-rolling friendly model's 1s and 2s on the critical turn, and using spare fury to re-roll bad rolls. However, the other part is just direct interference - a knockdown spell (not a crit knockdown, just a flat knockdown-when-damaged spell; that's actually pretty amazing), a positioning spell to move warbeasts around, a fury-reducing spell to help out when you've over-extended, and a very good DEF boosting spell that will flat out get her out of harms way when missed. There's not a spell or ability on her card that I wouldn't use every game, against virtually every opponent.