I'm still tooling around with my Makeda 3 list, trying to get her down. This time, I've gone with the following:
Makeda and the Exalted Court (+2)
*Molik Karn (11)
*Bronzeback Titan (10)
*Titan Sentry (9)
*Titan Gladiator (8)
*Basilisk Krea (4)
6 Farrow Slaughterhousers - proxied by Immortals (6)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Agonizer (2)
The things I'm trying with this list are the Slaughterhousers and the Titan Sentry. The Slaughterhousers are pricey, squishy, and a little slow, but they do have a few things going for them. First, they've got Tough, Reach, and Take Down. Tough and Reach are always nice, and Take Down (which ignores Tough and removes boxed targets from play) is great on a unit. Second, they are the only way to get any use out of Sunhammer, Makeda's least inspiring spell, because they have Finisher, giving them an extra die of damage against previously damaged targets.
The Sentry is an all around good beast, and I'm including it in the list to help me out against Alpha Strikes. It has Locker and Reach, and takes a good deal of energy to destroy. It can benefit from Makeda's Feat too, which is nice. I'm expecting to use it more as a defensive piece to hold up the enemy while my main offensive pieces set up their attack from behind it. Between the Sentry and the Slaughterhousers, I think I'm pretty well defended against hard-hitting first strikes, and I've got some extra synergy to play around with too.
The rest of the list is totally standard for Makeda 3: The Bronzeback, Gladiator and Molik Karn bring offense and utility. The Agonizer adds some denial and defense for my heavies. The Krea throws her Aura in for both defense and offense, and can zap some models with Spiritual Paralysis if I really need to debuff Def. It's also got Makeda's weakness to denial. Anything that can slow her movement or deny options to her army will hurt. I think I'm pretty well defended against an alpha strike, but my screen doesn't consist of that many models.
My Co-blogger, Caleb J, decided to run pGrissel with a horde of mostly units:
Grissel Bloodsong (+5)
*Earthborn Dire Troll (10)
*Dire Troll Mauler (9)
*Rune Bearer (2)
5 Trollkin Warders (8)
3 Long Riders (7)
6 Kriel Warriors (4)
*Piper and Standard Bearer (2)
*2 Caber Throwers (2)
Kriel Stone and 3 Stone Scribes (2)
*Stone Scribe Elder (1)
Horthol, Long Rider Hero (5)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2)
This list has two powerful heavies in the Earthborn and Mauler, and two tough, hard-hitting units in the Warders and Long Riders. Long Riders are ghastly, and are probably the meanest unit in Trollbloods. Warders are very tough for their cost, and have Reach and Weapon Master to top it off. Both have great synergy with Grissel's Fell Calls (especially Hoof It). Between those units and the screening Kriel Warriors, this list has the makings of a very solid brick.
The only vulnerability I see is a strong denial game. The list doesn't have much shooting or Pathfinder, so shutting down its movement or forcing it to march through difficult terrain will slow it down considerably. Heavy armor cracking, particularly expendable Weapon Master units, will probably also cause trouble for this list. It's relying on a relatively low number of durable models, and anything that can trade punches effectively with them will wear them out quickly.
Deployment and Scenario
We played the SR 2013 scenario Fire Support, although we set it up a little wrong. We set it up with two Objectives along the table's center line, and a Flag on each player's side of the table. We also played that the Objective next to our own Flag was a Friendly Faction model for the opponent, and that we had to destroy it to score on our own flag. Looking at the SR2013 PDF, I can't say why we decided this, but that was how we played it.
Here's the table. We were ignoring the river this time around.
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| Those hands are going to be hard to maneuver around. |
The terrain is pretty evenly set up, and we've got low walls and forests around the center, where the Objectives and Flags are situated.
I won the roll-off, and chose to go second.
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| Trollblood Deployment |
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| Skorne Deployment - Those Immortals are Slaughterhousers |
Turn 1: Trollbloods
Caleb ran up with everything, loaded down the Kriel Stone (which used its Warding Aura), and cast Hallowed Avenger on the Earthborn. Grissel also used Hoof It on the Warders so they could keep up with the Kriel Warriors.
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| Caleb moves up and spreads out. |
Turn 1: Skorne
I ran up, keeping my army safe behind the wall and the Sentry. The Slaughterhousers ran up to get started on the Objective I'd need to destroy to start scoring. Looking at the Warbeasts opposing me, I decided to have Makeda cast Vortex of Destruction rather than Sunhammer. She also put 4 Fury on the Agonizer.
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| I'm pretty well out of the Troll threat ranges. |
Turn 2: Trollbloods
Caleb ran most of his army forward to jam me. The Kriel Warriors Got as close as they could to my beasts, and the Long Riders ran forward to make trouble for my Slaughterhousers and threaten slams on my beasts. The Stone Scribe Chronicler put Hero's Tragedy on the Kriel Warriors to knock down any Warrior models who killed them next turn.
I haven't suffered any damage yet, but I need this turn to be a big one. I need to drive the trolls back, and break through their infantry brick. If I could destroy most of them, I'd be in a good position to trade heavies with Caleb and come out on top. If I couldn't get far enough, Caleb would be able to start scoring with impunity on his own Flag.
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| This picture was taken after I'd charged with the Slaughterhousers on my turn, but before I'd started making attacks. |
Turn 2: Skorne
I upkept Vortex of Destruction. The Slaughterhousers charged the Long Riders, killing two and wounding the third. Makeda and her Court advanced, Makeda used her Feat, and cast Fate Walker on herself and Train Wreck on the Sentry. One of her Guardians killed off a Kriel Warrior, and was knocked down at the end of her activation.
Then my beasts did as much work as they could. Molik killed off most of the Kriel Warriors and one of the Warders. The Bronzeback put Train Wreck on the Sentry and advanced. The Sentry killed off another Warder, and tried to kill a fourth, but it toughed out. The Agonizer advanced, and used Gnawing Pain. The Krea walked forward, and zapped the Earthborn with Spiritual Paralysis. Makeda was all loaded up of Fury now, so I had her use her Fate Walker move to advance.
Not a terrible turn. I'd started cracking through the line, and Makeda was pretty safe. I hadn't started scoring, but I'd done decent damage instead. I'd have to be satisfied with that, and work through the rest of the Trollkin next turn.
Turn 3: Trollbloods
Grissel started out by advancing and using her Feat. The Rune Bearer used its once-per-game ability to hit the Knocked Down Guardian with Calamity. The Kriel Stone advanced, and used its Aura. The Chronicler used Hero's Tragedy on the Warders. The Caber Throwers advanced, and one of them Knocked Down the Sentry. The other Knocked Down and did some damage to Molik Karn. Horthol and the remaining Warders finished off Molik.
Then the Earthborn sneaked past the Knocked Down Sentry, and started smashing Makeda. It did a little damage to her, and she transferred some to the Krea. The Mauler destroyed Caleb's Objective, gaining him a point and allowing him to control his Flag. Finally, Caleb's army used its Hoof-It moves to jam my army up spectacularly. Grissel used her move to retreat to Caleb's flag and dominate it, bringing his total Control Points to 3.
That was not good. I had a bunch of problems. I needed to kill the Earthborn and free up Makeda. I also needed to get a model, preferably a tough one, within 4" of Grissel's flag, otherwise I'd lose at the end of my turn.
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| Trolls Everywhere! |
Turn 3: Skorne
Okay. Makeda upkept Vortex of Destruction. Then her unit activated. The Exalted Guardians failed to kill the Caber Thrower. Then Makeda attacked the Warders, who I'd forgotten had Heroes Tragedy on them. She killed two of the remaining 3, then fell over, denying the rest of her army the Vortex of Destruction bonus (since her melee range disappeared) and making herself horribly vulnerable to assassination next turn. Fantastic -_-
Well, The Gladiator, Sentry, and Slaughterhousers killed or knocked down all the models who could Reach Makeda in melee. The Bronzeback Beat Back its way through the Mauler, and got within 4" of Caleb's flag (whew).
Well, that hadn't been so terrible, but I'd forced my beasts to the max. The Krea had been healed by the Paingivers, but still didn't have much health. Caleb had a decent shot at Makeda's life, but no real shot at the scenario this turn. We'd see how it turned out.
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| Just in range to contest! My nerves were on edge when I took this pic, hence the shaky cam. |
Turn 4: Trollbloods
Grissel upkept Calamity. Then she walked forward, and shot Makeda with her sonic Spray and 2 Rifts. At the end, both Makeda and the Krea were still alive. Horthol tried to reach Makeda from next to the Bronzeback, but the Bronzeback dismounted him with a Free Strike, and he was half an inch out of range.
That was everything Caleb could throw at Makeda this turn. Since Grissel was out of Fury and next to the Bronzeback, Caleb decided to concede.
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| The board at the end of Caleb's turn. |
Victory to the Skorne!
Thoughts
Gah! That was close. I played a pretty solid game with one very dumb exception. Makeda definitely should not have attacked the Warders on my third turn. Caleb came very close to finishing her off, but the dice didn't come up in his favor. I ended up hampering my own offense, and leaving myself horribly open to assassination. Otherwise, I managed to grind down the brick. I judged threat ranges well, and I got the first strike in despite being badly jammed. I was way up on attrition, and had closed Caleb's window on winning via scenario pretty quickly.
The Slaughterhousers were consistently pretty good at offense, and they were at their best against low-Def and Tough Trollbloods. I'm not sure they're quite what I'm looking for though, and I don't see their interaction with Sunhammer fitting my playstyle very well. I might end up going for a cheaper, more expendable screen, and put another point or two into support. The Sentry was solid. It did moderate damage, and stayed alive, which was all I wanted it to do. It wasn't an all-star, but I'm pretty happy with how it performed overall.
Caleb also played a solid game, and his move to dominate his flag on his 3rd turn really put me on the back foot. He threw away the Long Riders on turn 2 - he should have held them back rather than let them be charged by the Slaughterhousers. I also feel he jumped the gun going after Makeda on the third turn though. If he'd focused on taking out my Sentry, and used his Hoof It move to keep his Earborn safe, he'd have been in a better position on turn 4. Attacking Makeda was a long shot, and ended up costing him the Earthborn for no real gain.
I do really like Caleb's list. Warders are extremely durable, and make a great second wave unit for Grissel. I do feel that Grissel plays a little better with Troll lights than with heavies: her infantry hits plenty hard enough with all its ordinary power and Calamity. I'd at least replace the Mauler with a light Troll, and add some infantry into the mix. The Earthborn is really good, and brings a nasty animus with it, so I'd consider keeping it around. Otherwise, the list's biggest weakness was a lack of pathfinder. I'd really recommend throwing a Fell Caller Hero into the list. It's true that the Fell Caller's Calls don't stack with Grissel's, but they add a lot regardless, especially Pathfinder.
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