Monday, September 30, 2013

4+ Tournament 09/28/13: pGrexy's Reports

Hi everyone!  I played another tournament this past Saturday, and I had a blast again.  It was a 50pt SR 2013 without specialists.  We played with death clocks instead of timed turns, so timing was a little different and much less stressful.  I played Makeda 3 and pHexeris with the following lists:

Makeda and the Exalted Court (+2)
*Molik Karn (11)
*Bronzeback Titan (10)
*Titan Gladiator (8)
*Basilisk Krea (4)
10 Nihilators (8)
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer (3)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2)
Agonizer (2)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2)

Lord Tyrant Hexeris (+6) - Kingdom of Shadow Tier 1
*Bronzeback Titan (10)
*Titan Cannoneer (9)
*Titan Gladiator (8)
*Archidon (7)
*Cyclops Savage (5)
*Aptimus Marketh (3)
10 Praetorian Swordsmen (6)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Agonizer (2)
Extoller Soulward (2)

The Tier 1 benefit for Kingdom of Shadow is that Hexeris can start with his upkeep spells in play affecting friendly models.  The Swordsmen start with Death March, and the Archidon starts with Soul Slave.  Hexeris sometimes starts with Psychic Vampire.

I talk a little more about my lists here.  Ignore the part about Specialists, I'd thought we were going to use them, but we didn't.  I also didn't play at all on Friday (I thought it would be better to get some sleep).


Game 1 vs. Keith's Cryx

Keith (of Muse on Minis fame - he and John had come up from Iowa) was running eAsphyxious and eDeneghra.  Makeda 3 is a front line warlock, and I wasn't willing to send her out against Deneghra, who can shut down her mobility.  Plus, I'd ostensibly brought Hexeris to help out with the Cryx matchup, so I pulled him out.  Keith didn't want to deal with Hexeris' feat potentially negating Asphyxious,' so he went with Deneghra:

Wraith Witch Deneghra (+6)
*Ripjaw (5)
*Nightwretch (4)
*Skarlock Thrall (2)
10 Bane Thralls (8)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (3)
10 Satyxis Raiders (8)
*Sea Witch (2)
10 Satyxis Raiders (8)
10 Satyxis Blood Witches (6)
*Blood Hag (2)
Satyxis Raider Captain (2)
Satyxis Raider Captain (2)
War Witch Siren (2)
War Witch Siren (2)
 
Deployment and Scenario

The scenario was Chemical Reaction.  There are two rectangular zones, one closer to each player, and two objectives, one in front of each player's deployment zone.  Destroying your opponent's objective gives one point.  Dominating your own zone gives one point, while controlling your opponent's zone gives 2 points and dominating it gives 3.

Keith won the roll-off, and went first.  He deployed his Banes on the right side of the table in front of his own zone, and the Blood Witches on the left in front of mine.  Deneghra deployed roughly in the middle with the Skarlock, and the arc-nodes went out to the sides, Ripjaw on the left, and Nightwretch on the right.

I deployed my Titans on the left because I wasn't too keen on getting them charged by Bane Thralls.  I put my Swordsmen on the right so they could hold up the Banes, the Savage in the center-right to help them, and the Archidon in the middle behind a forest where it could support the army with spells on turn one.

Keith deployed all his Satyxis Raiders and Raider Captains 6" in front of his other troops, and the War Witch Sirens near the bonejacks.  The Raider squad with the Sea Witch deployed on the left, opposite my beasts.

Round 1

Keith did some Desperate Pace-ing and some Power Booster-ing, but mostly everything ran.  The Satyxis Raiders had just about made it to my side of the two zones, which was pretty intimidating.  Those things are fast.  Deneghra also ran her full 14 inches, and camped all her Focus.

I mostly ran up, and toed my Gladiator into my zone.  The Archidon flew up.  The Savage put Prescience on Hexeris, and he killed about 4 Raiders with Soulfire.  The Cannoneer, which had had Rush cast on it, advanced, and took out the Ripjaw's arc-node with a shot.  The Paingivers advanced and managed fury.

Round 2

Keith advanced Deneghra, used her Feat, Web of Shadows to paralyze my army (except the Agonizer and one Paingiver), and cast Curse of Shadows on the Gladiator.  The left Satyxis charged in, and badly mauled the Archidon and Gladiator, leaving them barely alive.  The Skarlock cast Ghost Walk on the right Satyxis, who charged the Swordsmen, and killed off 8 of them.  Harsh.  Most of the rest of the army ran.

On my turn, Marketh mulched a Raider with Soulfire.  The Cannoneer shot Deneghra for a respectable amount of damage, and Hexeris swapped Soul Slave onto the Cannoneer, and put a little more on her with a scattered Obliteration (Keith had positioned her just outside of 10" of the Cannoneer).  That was that.

Web of Shadows is a very powerful Feat, and it was a good thing I was in the zones at all.  Keith was in a good position to keep my army pinned between the Control Zone and my AD line.  My next round would need to be spectacular (or Keith would need to make a terrible mistake), or I was doomed.

Round 3

Keith upkept Curse of Shadows on the Gladiator.  The Ripjaw attacked the Gladiator, but missed.  The Satyxis finished the Gladiator and the Archidon, and damaged the Savage, but failed to kill either of the remaining Swordsmen.  The Blood Witches went incorporeal, and charged the Cannoneer and Bronzeback for some decent damage.  A Siren charged the Bronzeback, and Shadow Bound it again (boo!).  Deneghra sprinted back to the far side of her zone, camping 6.  The Banes ran up again, being much slower than Satyxis.

I could move again!  Hexeris went first, used his Feat, Dark Dominion, put Prescience on himself, and charged the Ripjaw.  He finished it off, and spent some more attacks killing the Satyxis in front of where the Gladiator had been.  They missed all their fellows though.  The Swordsmen killed a few Satyxis (who helped kill each other), and tried to start some Dark Dominion chains among the Banes, the Satyxis managed to critically knock their targets down, ensuring that I wouldn't get to move with them even if I did kill them.  The Bronzeback flailed at the Blood Witches, but I'd forgotten about their mini-Feat (and forgotten to use the Extoller).  I didn't forget to use it on the Cannoneer, who killed off a bunch of Blood Witches.  They and their magic knives accounted for a few more.

That had not been very spectacular.  I had completely failed to remember Diminish, and I forgot about the Extoller, who should have given Hexeris Eyeless Sight so he could try to start some chains among the Bane Thralls.  This is what I get for not playing any practice games with this list on Friday.

Round 4

Keith was up 2 points, and saw the potential to win this turn.  He focused on taking out the Cannoneer, the only model who had managed to make it into a zone last turn.  There wasn't all that much which could do it, but the Cannoneer didn't have all that many hit points either.  The Banes destroyed my objective, but it didn't end up mattering, because the Cannoneer fell.  Keith scored 3 points to cap himself out at 5.

Victory to Cryx!

Thoughts

Brutal, but fun!  I don't feel bad about losing this one.  I farted through my activation order a little, but I don't think it would have made a difference.  Keith's list was a bad matchup for mine, and he's a much, much better player than I am.  It was really interesting to see how he handled his army, and I wish I'd taken pictures.  He played a very clean game, and positioned well with everything.  There's a litany of things I should have done differently, but they mostly amounted to predicting what Keith could do to me a little better.  Keith's list played to Deneghra's strengths very well.  It has incredible jamming speed, and Deneghra's Feat helps it shut many enemy lists out of scenarios.


Game 2 vs. Braden's Skorne

Braden is one of our local Skorne players, although I haven't played him yet.  He brought eHexeris with a lot of guns, and pMakeda.  Both lists had a Mammoth.  I wasn't sure my Hexeris list was up to the task of cracking Skorne armor, and I have a lot more practice recently with Makeda 3, so I went with Makeda.  Braden went with Hexeris:

Lord Arbiter Hexeris (+6)
*Mammoth (20) - Bonded to Hexeris
*Titan Cannoneer (9)
*Titan Cannoneer (9)
*Cyclops Raider (5)
6 Cataphract Incendiarii (9)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Venator Flayer Cannon Crew (2)

Hexeris can channel spells through his bonded beast while it is in his command range.

Deployment and Scenario

We played Fire Support, which is a lot like Chemical Reaction.  There are two zones and two objectives, one for each played.  Destroying your opponent's objective is worth a point, dominating your own zone is worth a point, and controlling or dominating your opponent's zone is worth 2 or 3 points respectively.  The most significant piece of terrain was a forest in the center of the table, which would be handy for limiting lines of sight.  I won the roll-off, and chose to go second.

Braden deployed the Mammoth on the left opposite my zone, and put the Cannoneers and Raider in the center-left close by.  The Incindiarii and Flayer Cannon went center-right, while Hexeris deployed more or less right in the middle.  The Paingivers went behind the beasts.

I'd be scoring first, so I decided to skew my deployment toward my own zone.  Makeda is good at clearing zones, and I was pretty sure I could jam Braden's slower list out of mine.  My beasts deployed in a brick in front of my zone.  The Nihilators deployed in the middle where they could threaten Braden's zone and do some screening.  The Tyrant Commander, Orin, and the Willbreaker went in the middle, while the Agonizer went on the left to suppress Braden's beasts.  The Paingivers went behind the beasts.

Round 1

Braden ran everything except Hexeris, who put Ashen Veil on the Mammoth, and Arcane Reckoning on the Nihilators.

I did a more complicated setup, which ended up with me bricked up on the edge of my zone with my Warbeasts all huddled in a Paralytic Aura.  The Nihilators spread out in front of the forest to limit lines of sight on them.  Makeda cast Vortex of Destruction, camped one, and put 3 on the Agonizer.  The Paingivers advanced, and managed fury.

Round 2

Braden advanced, and did a lot of shooting.  He killed 3 Nihilators and a Paingiver, and put some damage on my Bronzeback and Orin.  His Paingivers managed fury.

The Nihilators ran up to screen my beasts, and one charged a group of 3 Incindiarii.  The screening ones blocked the Mammoth and Cannoneers from access to where I'd be putting my Gladiator and Bronzeback.  The one who charged the Incindiarii went... BERSERK!, and killed all three.  O.o

The beasts mostly just advanced into my zone, huddling up around the Krea again.  Midwinter tried to zing the Mammoth (well, mostly the Paingivers behind it) with some lightning, but was out of range.  The Agonizer ran up and used Gnawing Pain in case the Mammoth charged.  Makeda topped off the Agonizer, and entered the zone, her Court providing Shield Guard for the Beasts.  I ended up camping 3, and scored a point for dominating my zone.

Round 3

Braden advanced again, and this time put a lot of damage on the Gladiator with shooting, and killed 4 more Nihilators.  His Cannoneers threw up Diminish to reduce my incoming damage.  He also had Hexeris run for his zone, and we both scored one.

I was getting a leg up, and I knew it.  I decided to try to take out the Mammoth.  The Nihilators charged in, 2 on the Mammoth, and one on the Raider, doing decent damage.  Then the Krea advanced, and used Spiritual Paralysis on it and put up her Paralytic Aura.  Makeda healed the Gladiator, Rushed Molik, and gave a charge order.  She hit the Krea before reaching her charge target, and an Exalted Guardian charged into the Raider, taking its health down considerably.  The Tyrant Commander used Overcome on itself and the Standard Bearer, and the Standard Bearer ran into Braden's zone, while the Tyrant ran up to the forest.

Both the Gladiator and Molik charged the Mammoth, but when the dust had settled, it was alive at 1 box.  The Agonizer used Gnawing Pain and ran forward again to debuff the enemy beasts no matter what they did.  I ended my turn, and scored again, putting me at 3.

Braden really needed to make something happen.  I would win if he didn't kill Makeda or contest my zone next turn.

Round 4

Braden started off by healing the Mammoth.  Then it used Power Attack, Double Handed Throw to chuck Molik at Makeda!  It hit, doing a significant chunk of damage to Makeda, and knocking her down.  Furthermore, following least disturbance meant pushing Makeda out of Shield Guard range of her second Exalted Guardian, though thankfully, she stayed in range of the Krea's Paralytic Aura.

The Cannoneers and Incendiarii tried to finish Makeda off, but left her at 5 boxes with one transfer, meaning fire had no chance to kill her.  One Incendiarius had died to a Bronzeback Counter Charge, and the Raider was tied up in melee, or it could have gone very differently.

We both scored a point at the end of Braden's turn, and I scored again on my turn, bringing me to 5, and him to 3.

Victory to the Skorne! Uh... Makeda's Skorne!

Thoughts

This was a pretty rough matchup for Braden, and I played it well.  I jammed him out of the zone, and stayed there until I'd scored 5.  My list is also very resistant to shooting, and the most significant damage he was able to do was to a knocked down Makeda on the last turn.  I should have expected the 2-handed throw, and camped a third point of Fury (I could have dropped Vortex of Destruction).  There are scenarios where the shooting Titan Wall strategy works, but this wasn't one of them.  It ended up being too slow, and Braden was on the back foot for most of the game.


Game 3 vs. Todd's Mercenaries

Todd was running Shae with A Pirate's Life Tier 3, and what looked like 4-star with eMagnus.  I was still feeling good about Makeda.  Although Hexeris has good tools against Mercs with his spells, and has some firepower to help out against Magnus' Feat, I went with Makeda.  Todd went with Shae:

Captain Phinneus Shae (+6)
*Galleon (18)
*Commodore Cannon and Crew (4)
10 Sea Dog Crew (8)
*Mister Walls, Sea Dog Crew Quartermaster (2)
*3 Sea Dog Riflemen (3)
10 Press Gangers (6)
10 Press Gangers (6)
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt (4)
Bosun Grogspar (1)
Dirty Meg (1)
Doc Killingsworth (1)
First Mate Hawk (1)
Lord Rockbottom (1)

The Tier Benefits for A Pirate's Life are reduced point cost for the allowed solos (Tier 1), Pathfinder for the army on turn 1 (Tier 2), and a bonus to the starting roll (Tier 3).

Deployment and Scenario

We were playing Process of Elimination.  There are two rectangular zones 8" apart in the center of the table, and a monolith in the middle of each zone.  The monoliths are enemy models to both players, and only one can be damaged each turn.  Destroying a monolith is worth one point.  Controlling a zone is worth 1 point, and dominating a zone is worth 2.

Todd won the roll-off, and went first.  He pre-deployed the Galleon in front of the right zone, and put Shae and the Commodore in the middle.  Hawk, Killingsworth, Grogspar and Rockbottom went on the left, while Aiyanna and Holt went on the right flank, and Dirty Meg deployed base-to-base with the Galleon.  All the units were AD.

I decided to jam the Galleon, and focus on the left zone.  The Nihilators went in the center-right, with the Agonizer opposite the Galleon.  The Bronzeback and Gladiator deployed in front of the left zone with Makeda, while Molik deployed just behind the left Nihilators to support both zones as necessary.  The Krea went with the Titans, the Paingivers spread out in the back, and the other support elements deployed in the center.

Todd deployed one unit of Press Gangers and the Sea Dogs on the left, and the other unit of Press Gangers on the Right.

Round 1

Todd ran with everything except the Commodore Cannon (which can only be moved by shoving it) and Shae himself, who advanced and cast Veil of Mists in front of the Pirate support solos.

I ran with most models.  The Gladiator trampled, and the Krea used Paralytic Aura.  Makeda cast Vortex of Destruction, placed 3 fury on the Agonizer, and advanced 8" thanks to Press Forward.  The Agonizer took shelter behind a wall.  Orin managed to fry 2 Pirates with Arc Lightning, and did 2 damage to Hawk.

Round 2

Todd ran Hawk forward to give his Pirates another damage die.  The left Press Gangers charged the Bronzeback, and managed to take it down to 4 boxes (yikes!).  The right Press Gangers charged the Nihilators, but only killed one thanks to a combination of bad rolls by Todd, and a couple of Tough checks by me.  The Galleon and Holt lit up at the Agonizer, but he was pretty safe behind that wall, and the Galleon only inflicted 2 damage from a deviating template.  The Commodore shot at my Gladiator, but was out of range by half an inch.

The Nihilators stood or walked, killed 4 or 5 of the right Press Gangers, and engaged Aiyanna and Holt.  Makeda healed the Bronzeback 1, advanced, killed a Press Ganger, and arced Eliminator at a cluster of 6 Sea Dogs.  Thanks to Killingsworth, she only killed 2, and retreated 4" to a safer location.  Then she cast Fate Walker.

The Paingivers advanced, healed the Bronzeback, and Enraged the Gladiator and Karn.  Molik killed another of the right Press Gangers, and cast Fate Walker.  The Agonizer used Spiritual Affliction to deny focus allocation, and ran to 6" away from the Galleon.  The Bronzeback killed all the Press Gangers engaging it, and the Gladiator charged and killed the left objective.  The Krea advanced to just behind the Gladiator, and used Paralytic Aura.  Orin splashed some more lightning on the Sea Dogs, and did another two damage to Hawk with the chain.

Next turn, I'd Feat, and try to clear out the left zone to dominate it.  If I could kill all the pirates in the zone or push them out, I'd stand a good chance to win on scenario in round 4 or 5.

Round 3

Todd tried to shoot the Gladiator with the Commodore Cannon, but missed since it was Def 16.  Then he charged the Gladiator and Bronzeback with Hawke, the Sea Dogs and the rest of the right Press Gangers.  With Hawk's bonus, the Pirates managed to kill both Beasts!  D8<

Things were looking a lot better on the right flank.  The Press Gangers killed one Nihilator and instilled another with a turrible yearnin' fer the sailer's life (hey, if they can press gang a Gallows Grove, they can press gang a Nihilator).  Holt killed the Nihilator engaging him, and Aiyanna put Kiss of Lylyss on Molik, hoping the Galleon could reel him in and finish him off.  However, the Agonizer was in the way, and Galleon just could not hit or damage it with unboosted rolls.  Shae moved up and shot the Agonizer to prevent it from making the Galleon useless again, but rolled terribly on damage.

Well, that had gone pretty badly for me.  Losing those two heavies would make it just about impossible for me to clear out the left zone without bonkers luck.  However, Shae had moved up pretty close to the back of the Galleon to get LoS to the Agonizer.  Definitely within 4 inches.  And that meant Molik Karn could get to him.

I tried to get Makeda into him for Vortex of Destruction first.  The Krea took out a Sea Dog.  The Tyrant Commander got out of the way, and put Press Forward on Makeda's unit.  The Nihilators took out a few more Press Gangers.  The Paingivers Enraged Molik, and Medicated the Krea.  Orin shot some more lightning to thin out the Sea Dogs, and killed two more.

Then Makeda activated.  Her unit advanced, she Feated, then she got 5 Fury from attacks (3 from her guardians, 1 from her own initial, and 1 from killing Hawk with Eliminator), and advanced into a pair of Press Gangers near Shae.  She cast Eliminator twice more, but couldn't kill either of them, and wound up casting Fate Walker in case Molik couldn't finish the job.

I'd like to say I remembered Puppet Master for Molik's assassination run, but I didn't.  The Willbreaker sat there unremembered until the end of the game.  In the event, it proved unnecessary.  Molik went, bounced off the Galleon with two Side Steps, and killed Shae easily with bought attacks.  Future Sight turned out to be enough of a luck bender for me.

Victory to the Skorne!

Thoughts

I probably would have been better off taking Hexeris against the Mercs this time.  Shae's army marches on its solos, and Hexeris is great at scalpelling them out.  I would have been very nice to get Killingsworth and Hawk out of the way before the lines met, and the Pirates had killed off all my Titans.  I also made a few mistakes besides forgetting the Willbreaker.  I should have put some more effort into killing off Sea Dogs with Makeda and her Guardians on turn 2.  It was down to the last attack against the Gladiator and the Bronzeback, and if I'd killed even 2 or 3 more of them, it would probably have gone differently.  Todd played a solid game, and attritioned me out well, but he didn't have experience against Molik Karn.  Shae would have been pretty safe against just about any other model, as he was very far from everything on the left, and across a Galleon from anything on the right.


Overall Thoughts

As always, I had a lot of fun.  I went 2-1, which put me in 5th.  My overall play was alright, although I really need to practice more with my lists before the next tournament.  I did alright with Makeda 3, but I still made mistakes, and I kept forgetting activations with pHexeris in the one game I played with him.

I also got to see how a top ranked player handles a list.  Keith was very good, and I still need to process what I learned from that game.  I don't know why, but I usually enjoy it when I'm solidly outplayed by someone who is just better than I am.  I don't kick myself as hard about my mistakes for one thing. :P

Thanks to all my opponents for the great games, and thanks for reading!

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