Battle Report: Grimm Angus vs. Tyrant Xerxis

I got a game in this Saturday against Caleb.  To celebrate the completion of my first Cetrati model, I picked between two Cetrati-loving warlocks: Tyrant Xerxis and Archdomina Makeda.  I went with:

Tyrant Xerxis (+5)
*Titan Cannoneer (9)
*Titan Gladiator (8)

6 Cataphract Cetrati (11)
6 Venator Rievers (5)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)

Ancestral Guardian (3)
Extoller Soulward (2)

This is my current 35pt Xerxis list.  I've gotten a few games in with this incarnation.  It's lots of fun, but may get some refinement as I continue to play.  The list is a pretty tight brick with the Titans on one side and the Cetrati and AG on the other.  My basic strategy is to walk forward in formation, and force my opponent to come to me with my shooting element and general toughness.  If I can, I'll make them come in piecemeal with Inhospitable Ground (which turns Xerxis' CTRL into rough terrain for enemy models), then I'll just roll over them with my brick (which is apparently a rolling brick or something).

Caleb gave Grimm Angus a whirl to see how their respective playstyles meshed:

Grimm Angus (+6)
*Earthborn Dire Troll (10)
*Dire Troll Bomber (10)
*Troll Impaler (5)
*Rune Bearer (2)

10 Fennblades (8)
*Officer and Musician (2)

Stone Scribe Chronicler (2)
5 Whelps (2)

An interesting list with a strong ranged element, some good jamming, and a melee powerhouse in the Earthborn.  It's got great ability with terrain thanks to Grimm's spells, the Earthborn's natural Pathfinder, and No Quarter.  I'm not too familiar with Grimm's shenanigans, so I'll just have to see what happens.

I meant to take pictures for this battle, but then I forgot.  I won the roll off, and chose to go first.

Deployment
I deployed in a brick on my right, between a forest and a hill.  The Gladiator would have to go through the forest, while the Cannoneer, deployed next to it, would go around.  The Cetrati deployed next to the Cannoneer, with the Ancestral Guardian (AG) next to them, and the Venators behind the AG, slightly to the right of the bulk of the Cetrati brick.  The Paingivers and Extoller deployed behind the warbeasts.

Caleb deployed the Fennblades opposite my Venators and AG.  The Bomber and Grimm deployed opposite the core of my Cetrati, in a good position to run behind a wall toward the middle of the battlefield.  The Earthborn and Impaler set up next to them.  The Earthborn could go around or over the wall, and the Impaler could also advance up behind it.  The Chronicler and Rune Bearer went behind Grimm.  The Whelps Started in the trolls.

Turn 1: Skorne
The Cetrati ran, half of them ending up on the hill to my right.  Xerxis used Press Forward on himself, put Fury on the AG, and put Defender's Ward on the Cannoneer.  The Gladiator Rushed itself, and Trampled through the forest.  The Cannoneer ran forward to just behind the Cetrati's left edge.  The AG and Venators ran to just behind the Cetrati.  The Paingivers went behind the beasts, as did the Extoller.

This is a pretty standard turn one for this list.  Next turn, I'll start hunkering down, and trying to draw the Trolls into mt brick with my firepower.

Turn 1: Trollbloods
The Fennblades ran straight at my right flank.  The Rune Bearer used Harmonius Exaltation on Grimm, and advanced.  The Chronicler also ran.  The Earthborn hooked around to my left to threaten my warbeasts.  The Bomber ran straight ahead, keeping in line with the Cetrati.  The Impaler put Far Strike on Grimm, then advanced.  Grimm advanced to a bit behind the low wall, put Return Fire on Bomber, the Impaler and himself, then shot and killed a Cetratus.  The AG picked up his poor unfortunate Soul Token.

Ugh.  I guess against Trollbloods (and a lot of other armies, now that I think about it), I'll have to start bricking on turn one.  I wasn't too worried about the death of one Cetratus; the unit was still plenty dangerous, and they'd be much harder to get rid of next turn.  I was a lot more concerned about the Earthborn.  I knew how fast and dangerous those things could be.

Turn 2: Skorne
Xerxis let Defender's Ward drop from the Cannoneer, since it looked like it would end up in  line with the Cetrati instead of ahead of them, but upkept Fury.  The Cetrati advanced, and went into Shield Wall.  Xerxis cast Rush on the Cannoneer, and used Overcome on the nearby Paingivers, letting them advance through the rest of the forest.  He then advanced, and cast Defender's Ward on the Cetrati to help them weather the coming turn.  The Cannoneer advanced, cast Diminish, and shot at the lead Fennblade.  Despite boosting, it missed, and the shot scatted onto the Officer, Drummer, and another Fennblade.  I boosted damage against the Officer, and took it out along with the Drummer.  The Ancestral Guardian ran to the edge of the Cetrati to give them some Defensive Strike protection.  The Venator Rievers advanced, and killed 4 more Fennblades.  Not only did Caleb fail every Tough roll; he also failed the subsequent Cmd check for losing half the unit, a stroke of very bad luck for him.  The Gladiator stayed put, as the Cannoneer was within the Earthborn's charge range, and I wanted to make sure it wasn't at risk before charging in itself.  The Paingivers and Extoller continued to advance behind the beasts.

Caleb's luck with Tough and that Cmd check really hurt him this turn.  I hadn't been looking forward to grinding through the Fennblades with his beasts on the loose, and now I wouldn't have to.  My plan was to try to take out or wear down those heavies next turn, depending on what Caleb did, and try to keep myself as safe as possible in the meantime.

Turn 2: Trollbloods
Caleb started the turn with the Rune Bearer, who put Harmonious Exaltation on Grimm to reduce a spell cost.  Grimm then shot the Cannoneer for some decent damage, and more importantly gave the Earthborn a speed boost to get to grips with it with Bait the Line.  Grimm then put Return Fire on the Bomber, and cast Marked for Death on my Cetrati, reducing their formerly proud Def 14 down to 9.  The Fennblades fiddled around, one of them getting out of the Bomber's way, and rallied.  Then the Bomber advanced, and threw bombs at my Cetrati, killing 2 Venator Rievers in the blasts, but doing only minor damage to the Cetrati themselves.  The Earthborn charged my Cannoneer, taking it down to 1 hit point.  The Impaler finished it off with a thrown spear.  The Chronicler looked at the Fennblades in extreme disappointment, then put Feign Death and Concealment on them to protect them from further shooting.

My main problem was the Earthborn, which had to be dealt with immediately.  My Gladiator had been put out of commission by Grimm's feat, so I'd have to do the job with Cetrati and Xerxis.

Turn 3: Skorne
Xerxis dropped Fury from the AG, but upkept Defender's Ward on the Cetrati, then started things off by using his Feat, Total Annihilation, and advancing 2" into range of the Earthborn, and putting some damage on it with 3 attacks, then buying a fourth to kill one of the inevitable Whelps who spawned in to clog my Cetrati's avenues into the combat.  Then he took a 1" Overtake move to make space for a Cetratus where the Whelp had been, and used Press Forward on the Cetrat to let them advance 4" instead of 2.  The Cetrati advanced on the Earthborn, and entered Shield Wall.  I made sure to put one in contact with Xerxis to give him the +2 Arm bonus from his Feat.  The Cetrati killed off the Earthborn, and all but one of the Whelps, who would remain an aggravation to be dealt with next turn.  The Gladiator rushed herself, then advanced into B2B with Xerxis just in case the Cetrati got slammed away or something.  The Paingivers and Extoller advanced, but had little to do.  The AG spent a Soul Token to use Spirit Driven, letting it advance into B2B with the Cetrati.  The Venators kept up the pressure on the Fennblades, dropping one.  The Paingivers and Extoller continued to have nothing to do.

The Earthborn was a significant chunk of my opponent's army dealt with, and I was in a good position to handle his next turn mostly unscathed.  The most threatening piece left against my brick was the Dire Troll Bomber, but the Cetrati, who were still blocking its LoS to Xerxis, would be Arm 24 against its attacks for the upcoming turn.

Turn 3: Trollbloods
Grimm upkept Marked for Death on the Cetrati, then activated, and cast Lock the Target on the Gladiator to keep it from charging in next turn.  Gimm also shot the Gladiator for minor damge.  The Impaler cast Snipe on the Bomber, and shot at a Cetratus, hoping to slam it out of formation with Critical Smite, but didn't roll a double.  The Bomber unloaded on the Cetrati, but didn't manage to finish any of them off.  At this point, Caleb decided to concede the game.  He would have to run his Fennblades into my Brick just for Grimm to survive the coming Turn, and he didn't think he would be able to do enough damage after that.

I wasn't so sure he was out of the game, but it can be very discouraging to have a key unit rendered useless by a single bad roll, then throw your best shot at a tough formation, and not kill a single model.

Thoughts
I played a pretty solid game.  This is a list I've played a couple of times before, and I like it.  I did do a couple of things I feel I should have done differently, including Shield Walling on Turn 1.  I'm just not used to a 23" threat ranged gun.  Since my Cetrati would have been a little further back on turn 2, I could have kept Defender's Ward on the Cannoneer, which is pretty nasty in conjunction with Diminish.  Rather than being a necessary sacrifice, Candice would probably have lived through the Earthborn's attacks, and killed it with the retaliation.  I managed the Earthborn and his attendant Whelps well with the setup I had, though, making enough space for my Cetrati to get in there and finish the beast off.

Caleb made one mistake on Turn 1, when he didn't put Tale of Mists on the Fennblades.  It's great for weathering ranged attacks due to it granting Concealment (though Feign Death is nice too).  If he'd done so, I don't think I would have been able to kill enough Fennblades to force that Cmd check, and they would have been able to participate in the battle, making it a lot less one-sided.  His other, less major mistake, was focusing the Bomber's attacks on the Cataphract Cetrati, who are worn down slowly by the bombs rather than killed off.  If he'd focused on the Venators, he'd have crippled a good chunk of my ranged game.  The Cetrati can withstand a lot of punishment, but can also be kited to a degree.  Since he'd taken out my Cannoneer, the surviving Venators were the only thing keeping him from a run-and-gun strategy which might have worn me out eventually.

I'm thinking of juggling my list around a little.  For one thing, I really like Aptimus Marketh with Xerxis, especially if I have a lot of shooting.  Including Marketh gives Xerxis a lot more options with all his spells, especially Inhospitable Ground.  I'll probably try the list with Marketh in place of the AG, despite how much I like it in the list.  I'm also thinking of swapping out the Titan Gladiator for either a Basilisk Krea or a Basilisk Drake.  The Krea gives a kind of unnecessary level of defense against most lists, but when you need it, you really need it.  The Drake would be there to help clear infantry off of the brick, and do a little solo hunting.  The main reason for the switch would be to add in the Venator unit attachment, and another solo, likely an Agonizer.  The Venator UA add a lot to how they perform, and the Agonizer gives my whole brick some extra protection against Beasts, and some extra denial against Jacks.

Caleb's list seems pretty solid as well.  Not knowing Trollbloods much, I'm not sure what I would change.  I like Grimm's denial potential with his Feat, Lock the Target, and the Knockdown effect on the Net.  He can also launch stuff like the Earthborn really far with Bait the Line on his regular ranged attack.  I might swap out the Fennblades for a unit with CRA, another ranged beast, or another Earthborn (too many beasts, though?).  That way, Grimm could keep a Knockdown ranged assassination threat in play.  He could hit screening models with the net, and then throw a lot of ranged attacks into the caster with CRA, his own gun, and boosted shots from the Bomber and Impaler.  He could make the assassination even better with his Feat and/or Marked for Death.  He'd lose out on the Fennblades' jamming potential, but with a Spd-debuffing feat, Grimm doesn't necessarily need much jamming.

Any Grimm players have advice?