Quick Report: First Mammoth Game, pMakeda vs. eDoomshaper

I have enough battle reports with actual pictures on my plate right now, so I'm not going to do a blow by blow of this one.  Caleb J and I played a simple caster kill game at 50pts, and I got my first taste of the Mammoth.

I ran:

pMakeda (+5)
+Marketh (3)
*Mammoth (20)
*Gladiator (8)
*Krea (4)

6 Cetrati (11)
4 Paingivers (2)
Tyrant Commander (3)

Agonizer (2)
Willbreaker (2)


vs.


eDoomshaper (+6)
+Rune Bearer (2)
*Mulg (12)
*Earthborn (10)
*Mauler (9)
*Axer (6)

4 Kriel Stone + Elder (4)
Rune Shapers (4)
Farrow Bone Grinders (2)

Janissa (3)
Whelps (2)
Whelps (2)


The game:

I ended up going first.  The Cetrati hotfooted it upfield in Shield Wall, and managed to engage Doomshaper on turn 2, and Makeda used her Feat to bring them back on the next turn.  The Warbeasts advanced a little more cautiously, aiming to capitalize when Caleb killed most of the Cetrati.  The Mammoth didn't fire much because I didn't want any of the Trolls Snacking on the Cetrati to remove them from play.

Caleb retaliated by killing about half the Cetrati (he had some bad luck), and charging the Gladiator and the Mammoth with the Earthborn and Mulg respectively.  The combination of Defender's Ward and Gnawing Pain from the Agonizer ensured both beasts survived with all their aspects intact.

As I methodically munched through Caleb's heavies with the Mammoth, he tried several low-probability assassination runs on Makeda, but none of them panned out.  We ended up calling the game when Caleb was out of beasts, and I still had most of my models left, including a 2/3 health Mammoth and a 1/2 health Gladiator.


Thoughts

The Mammoth is very solid.  I didn't get up to as many Savagery shenanigans as I'd expected for this list, but that's largely because Caleb's list out-threated me significantly.  I played a really solid game, and I think the Mammoth works well for pMakeda.  Defender's Ward and Gnawing Pain made it a monster even Mulg couldn't take out in one round (Caleb's dice did him no favors either).  As for the list in general, the Cetrati are the only thing I'm not 100% sold on.  I could replace them with a big unit of expendable chumps who would provide a more spread out screen for the beasts.  I'm a little suspicious that a decent shooting game could just remove a lighter infantry unit, but I'll try it at least once to see what I think.

The Mammoth was also a lot of fun to play.  It's got a good Animus and some nice, scary abilities.