Battle Report: Makeda 3 vs. pVlad at 50pts

I got the chance to throw down against non-co-Blogger Caleb (for real though, you guys need to come up with a system or these reports are going to get confusing) and his pVlad list.  I played Makeda and the Exalted Court because she's probably my favorite Warlock in Skorne right now.  She has some cool tricks and a huge board presence if you play her well.

Here's the list I used:

Makeda and the Exalted Court (+2)
*Molik Karn (11)
*Bronzeback Titan (10)
*Titan Gladiator (8)
*Cyclops Savage (5)

10 Praetorian Swordsmen (6)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2)
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer (3)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)

Ancestral Guardian (3)
Agonizer (2)

I decided to mix up the beast brick I took in the tournament last month by adding in some infantry as a cushion.  Makeda 3 isn't fast enough to reliably get an alpha strike every game, so the Swordsmen are there to blunt the enemy's offense.  Otherwise, the list is pretty standard for Makeda 3 except for the Ancestral Guardian.  I'm looking forward to possibly making some boosted Defensive Strikes, and otherwise taking advantage of Vortex of Destruction to dish out some damage.

Play-wise, this list should be decent against all comers.  It can handle both high armor and infantry spam, and high-Def won't give it too many problems.  It has a decent scenario game, solid attrition, and Makeda's ability to dominate for scenario points against all but the meanest assassination runs.

Caleb played:

Vladimir, the Dark Prince (+5)
*Drago (8)
*War Dog (1)

Great Bears of the Gallowswood (5)
4 Widowmakers (4)
6 Battlefield Mekaniks (3)
Field Mortar Crew (3)
Field Mortar Crew (3)

Man-o-War Drakhun w/ Dismount (5)
Kovnik Andrei Malakov (3)
*Conquest (19)
Harlan Versh, Illuminated One (2)
Widowmaker Marksman (2)

This looks like a pretty well balanced Vlad list.  It has a decent shooting game with the Widowmakers, Mortars, and Conquest backed by Signs and Portents, and can cross the table quickly with Vlad's Feat on Drago, and Redline on the Conquest, both of which hit very hard in melee.

It's also 3 points over (by my count), which didn't end up mattering too much.  I'd probably just min the Mechaniks, and drop Harlan.

On to the game.  We ended up playing a center scenario (I can't recall the name right now) with two opposing flags diagonally across the table center from each other.  You could score by dominating your flag, or score 1 or 2 points by controlling or dominating your opponent's flag  there were some scattered trees and hills mooching around the table center, and a few low walls for each side to take advantage of.  I won the roll-off and chose to go first.


Deployment

Caleb pre-Deployed the Conquest on the center-Left of his side of the table, right in front of my objective.

I deployed my Bronzeback directly opposite the Conquest to keep it honest, then spaced my Swordsmen out between the Bronzeback and Molik on the Left, and the Bronzeback and Gladiator on the Right.  The Savage went on the far right.  Everything else went right behind the Swordsmen and Beasts except the Ancestral Guardian, which is a little slow to be deployed in the second rank.

Caleb deployed the Great Bears on the left to help out against Karn and the Bronzeback, and put Malakov and the Mechaniks next to the Conquest they'd be babysitting.  Vlad went to the right of the Conquest with the War Dog, to take advantage of a hill.  Drago and the Drakhun went to Vlad's right, opposite his objective.  The two Mortar Crews deployed near the hills where they'd move on turn 1, and Harlan deployed to support Caleb's right flank.  Finally, the Widowmakers and Marksman deployed on the left in front of the Great Bears to take advantage of a wall.


Turn 1: Skorne

All kinds of running.  Molik made it to the woods on my left for Concealment.  Makeda dumped 5 Fury on the Agonizer, but didn't cast Vortex of Destruction, since that would make her a prime target for Harlan.

I was pretty well set up here.  My overall strategy was to play attrition: Kill off the Great Bears and Conquest, then either work my way over to Vlad or Drago depending on whether I wanted to win by assassination or scenario.


Turn 1: Khador

Khador also did some running with Drago and the Drakhun.  Vlad cast Signs and Portents to help out the shooting element.  Malakov cast Redline on the Conquest.  One of the Mortars fired at the Swordsmen, but missed, and the other ran up.  The Widowmakers and Marksman did kill a few of Swordsmen though, and shimmied up behind a wall with Swift Hunter.  The Conquest advanced and blew up another.

It seemed like my attrition screen was holding.  More importantly, Vlad wasn't behind anything in particular, and I might be able to get Molik Karn into him.


Turn 2: Skorne

I decided to go for the assassination.  Molik could reach easily enough.  The Swordsmen ran out of the way.  The Tyrant Commander gave Makeda Press Forward, and ran.  Makeda advanced, and used her Feat, Dance of Death, and cast Fate Walker.  I wasn't planning on killing many of Caleb's troopers, but I wanted Molik to reach Vlad on full Fury if possible.  The Gladiator Rushed Molik, the Bronzeback ran, and the Paingivers Enraged both Molik and the Savage.  Molik charged one of the Widowmakers lurking behind the wall, killed her, and Side-Stepped toward Vlad.  Vlad wasn't quite in range, so Molik attacked the Conquest, but rolled snake-eyes, and I had to boost to hit, and Side Stepped into melee with Vlad.  Vlad was Def 17 Arm 19 with that War Dog, so I'd actually need to get a little lucky to kill him with only 4 Fury slots left (not good).  I didn't, and Molik was left hanging in front of Vlad and the Conquest.  The Agonizer used Spiritual Affliction to try to stop the Conquest from receiving Focus next turn, but was just out of range.  Finally, Makeda Fate Walked back a bit.  The Savage charged the Drakhun, and dismounted it, but wasn't in range to kill it off.

I'd already made a slight mistake by not Fate Walking base to base with my flag.  I would otherwise have been able to start scoring at the end of Caleb's turn.  I'd also made a huge miscalculation with my assassination run, and Molik Karn out to dry.  I could deal with the loss of Molik's mobility and damage output, but losing Fate Walker really hurts Makeda 3.  We'd have to see how much it hurt on Caleb's turn.


Turn 2: Khador

Malakov allocated to the Conquest, and upkept Redline.  Vlad started off by casting Signs and Portents, and creeping around the edge of the Kill Box, dog in tow.  The Conquest charged and killed Molik.  Sadface, but unsurprising.  The survivng Widowmakers and Harlan started picking off a few more Swordsmen.  The Mortars fired at the Bronzeback, but didn't hurt it much.  The Dismounted Drakhun hit the Savage hard, and Drago charged in to finish it off.  The Great Bears ran up to the low wall to charge out at me next turn.

That had hurt, but no more than I'd predicted.  Happily, the Agonizer had lived, which meant I still had a way to close with and destroy the Conquest.


Turn 3: Skorne

This was the time to do some important setup.  The Tyrant Commander put Press Forward on Makeda, and charged Drago, doing some damage.  Makeda charged Yarovich (the Great Bear that gives them all Steady), killed him, and shot a Blood Booned Eliminator at a Mortar Crew, taking out the team.  An Exalted Guardian killed off a Widowmaker.  Then she retreated, camping 3 Fury.  The Agonizer ran wailing into the Great Bears to hopefully slow them down as well as deny focus allocation to the Conquest.  The Swordsmen charged and killed Harlan, though one of them was killed by that War Dog's counter-charge.  The Bronzeback and Gladiator both advanced.  The Ancestral Guardian ran up next to Makeda to threaten Defensive Strikes.

Ok.  Makeda was a little exposed, but camping 3.  The Gladiator and Bronzeback were both basically full, and I was threatening well into the center of the table, keeping Vlad on his toes.  Drago would be occupied for another turn, and I had Conquest pretty well stymied by the Agonizer.  In short, I was salvaging the game.


Turn 3: Khador

Caleb decided to give Makeda something to think about.  Malakov couldn't allocate to the Conquest, but that was fine.  Vlad cast Signs and Portents again.  The War Dog charged and killed another Swordsman.  The Conquest advanced, and walked into Makeda and the Ancestral Guardian, smashing the construct.  The Great Bears had just enough room to charge Makeda past the Agonizer, and did so, doing a bunch of damage to my Gladiator and some to the Bronzeback through transfers.  The Widowmakers and Marksman picked off 3 of the paingivers, and the Mortar Crew did some more damage to the Gladiator.  The Drakhun damaged the Tyrant Commander, and Drago finished both it and the Standard Bearer.

Still ok, but starting to lose the Attrition war.  The Bronzeback's Mind was gone, and I needed it firing on all cylinders to take out the Conquest.  On the other hand, the Great Bears and the Conquest were as good as dead.  All I had to do was keep Makeda and at least one of my heavies alive through the retaliation, and I'd have my shot at Vlad.


Turn 4: Skorne

Makeda went first.  She cast Vorex of Destruction, then she and an Exalted Guardian killed the Great Bears, and she Blood-Booned an Eliminator into the Mechaniks to slide out of the Bronzeback's way, and healed its mind.  She was left camping 2.  The surviving Paingiver Enraged the Bronzeback.  The Bronzeback charged, and wrecked the Conquest, no sweat.  The Gladiator, spirit broken, hobbled into a position where it might conceivably stop Drago from contacting Makeda next round if a stiff breeze didn't kill it first.

Dice to Caleb.  Makeda wasn't in an ideal position, I probably should have moved her the other way with Eliminator, but I really wanted to make sure the Bronzeback made it in.  If Caleb could get both Vlad and Drago on Makeda, he had a good chance of killing her.  If not, I had a chance at Vlad.


Turn 4: Khador

Drum Roll.  First, the bravest little Battle Mechaniks charged the Bronzeback so that it wouldn't be able to counter-charge.  Then Vlad cast Blood of Kings and Boundless Charge on himself, and popped his Feat, Forced March to double Drago's base speed.  Then he charged Makeda across the ruined Conquest.  He did a bunch of damage, but left her with one transfer, and about half health on her and the Bronzeback.  The Man-o-War Drakhun charged the Gladiator, and applied enough of a light breeze to kill it off.  Then Drago walked into Makeda, and beat her to death with two hits, and a Chain-Attack: Bloodbath.


Victory to Khador!


Thoughts

Well I made a bunch of critical mistakes that game.  One, I really need to stop giving in to the temptation to use Molik Karn for offense with Makeda 3.  Fate Walker is simply much too critical for her to lose early in the game.  I should definitely have started camping my objective on turn 2 as well, to put Caleb on the clock.  Makeda's tough, and I had Vlad scared of her the whole game.  I should have capitalized on that rather than play attrition without also going after scenario points.  I should have waited to Feat when it could have netted me more than a single point of Fury too, and let Makeda and her beast run amok through the Widowmakers on turn 3.  Finally, I zigged when I should have zagged on Turn 4.  The Bronzeback could have made it into combat easily enough even if I'd moved Makeda away from Drago.  Without those extra attacks, Vlad would likely have backed off, and I would have lived.  Otherwise, I played a competent enough game, and recovered well from my early mistake of chucking Molik down the hole.  I used Makeda well to anchor my advance (and she can really do some work), and clawed my way back into a threatening position.  It just wasn't enough in the end.

I like my list well enough, although I'm not entirely sold on the AG and Savage.  The Savage is meant to be an early speed bump and jamming threat, and to get a little more mileage out of Makeda's Feat than Molik could get alone.  I think with the Swordsmen, my jamming potential is good enough.  I may stick with the AG, because I like the potential of its defensive strike.  I'll probably swap out the Savage at least for a Krea, and either the Swamp Gobbers or an extra pair of Paingivers.  If I drop the AG as well, I'll have room for a Mortitheurge Willbreaker and whichever 1-pt option I want, which is very, very tempting.

Caleb played a tight, conservative game, opting to keep Vlad safe and play pure attrition rather than going for scenario.  His only real mistake was allowing Drago and the Drakhun to get sidelined for most of the game.  Drago is a nasty piece of work, and I was happy to feed it 8 points piecemeal if that meant keeping it off my heavies and Makeda.  He did leave Vlad hanging at the bottom of turn 1, though I would have had to have pretty exceptional luck to actually pull my assassination off, so perhaps it was alright.  Caleb did use the Great Bears well to tie Makeda down and put damage on my Warbeasts through her.

Caleb's list seems to fit together pretty well, but it's very vulnerable to good attrition, especially ranged sniping.  It has a lot of high-value-low-durability targets like Malakov, the Great Bears, and the Mortar Crews, and very little to protect them from enemy shooting.  They, in turn, aren't expendable or numerous enough to screen Drago and the Conquest from things that can crush heavies.  Admittedly, the list puts out some respectable firepower with Signs and Portents making everything super accurate, and my list closed too quickly for shooting to take a serious toll.

Anyway, a fantastic game!  I'm looking forward to a rematch, possibly with revised lists (especially considering that someone's mental math was 3 points over the limit this time around).