I ran:
Void Seer Mordikaar (+5)
*Bronzeback Titan (10)
*Basilisk Krea (4)
6 Cataphract Cetrati (11)
10 Praetorian Swordsmen (6)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2)
6 Paingiver Bloodrunners (5)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
This is a lot heavier on the infantry than most of my 35pt lists, and I'm a little nervous at having only one heavy. Mordikaar has a great attrition game, but he isn't one of the Warlocks who can get infantry to remove enemy heavies easily like Xerxis or Zaal. I'll also have limited options against high-Def. On the other hand, this list will be quite a slog for my opponent. The Bloodrunners form an early jam, and get Mordikaar a couple of Soul Tokens from Hollow. The Swordsmen and Cetrati follow up, getting in the way and being difficult to remove. Revive can keep all three units around a lot longer than they otherwise would be.
My opponent, Caleb H, ran:
Zevanna Agha, The Old Witch of Khador (+3)
*Behemoth (13)
*Scrapjack (-)
*Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2)
Cylena Raefyll and 9 Nyss Hunters (10)
6 Iron Fang Pikemen (5)
*Black Dragon Officer and Standard (2)
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt (4)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2)
I consider this pretty standard for Old Witch. There are two attrition units, either of which can be given annoyingly high Def with Iron Flesh, and both of which hit hard. Behemoth provides good ranged support, and Old Witch gives it the ability to shoot through forests. The Mercs are all solid, and help the list deal with heavy threats or augment the Witch's ability to sling Gallows around and camp. Overall, this seems like a strong scenario list. Old Witch brings a lot of denial with her Feat and Murder of Crows, and the list is pretty well suited to slogging it out with high-Def Nyss and high-Def and high-Arm Iron Fangs. The only tool for countering another high-Def list is Behemoth, but two 3" AoE's is pretty good, especially for 35pts.
Scenario and Deployment:
We rolled up the first scenario:
Caleb won the roll-off, and chose to go second. The table was very symmetrical: each side had a low wall in front of the zone (but annoyingly outside of the killbox) and a forest and hill around the zone's corners.
I deployed my Swordsmen in the center-right, and my Cetrati, beasts and Mordikaar in the center-left. The Idea was to jam the zone, and then continue to jam it using Hollow and Revive until I'd worn Caleb's army down enough to take a shot at the Old Witch. My Bloodrunners went in front of the Cetrati when the time came for Advance Deploy.
Caleb deployed the Iron Fangs in the center with Aiyanna and Holt and Gorman behind them, and put Behemoth in the center-right (from my perspective). Old Witch, Scapjack and Sylys went on the center-left. The Nyss Hunters deployed on the left, to hook around the zone toward the Cetrati.
Turn 1: Skorne
Most of the army ran. The Krea used Paralytic Aura and charged. Mordikaar advanced and put Hollow on the Bloodrunners and Banishing Ward on the Cetrati.
The Bloodrunners were far up, and getting ready to jam the Khadorans on my next turn. They might get me a bunch of Fury with Hollow if Caleb decided to attack them.
Turn 1: Khador
Old Witch allocated 3 Focus to Behemoth. Most of Caleb's army ran. The Old Witch teleported up behind one of the forests near the zone and used her Feat, Field of Talons, catching much of the area my army would be moving into. She may have put Weald Secrets on Behemoth, but I forget. Behemoth trampled forward, got some shots off on the Swordsmen, and killed one.
My one-wound infantry would be pinned in place by the Old Witches Feat next turn. I'd start moving troops into the zone though, to prevent Caleb from jamming me out of it with Iron Flesh infantry on his next turn.
Turn 2: Skorne
Mordikaar kept up his spells. The Cetrati moved up in shield wall, and toed into the Zone. Mordikaar used his Feat to give me some defense against the Alpha Strike, and Revived the dead Swordsman into the zone. The Krea used her aura and advanced, and the Bronzeback ran a little. The Paingivers stayed out of range or still, and Medicated the beasts.
That was it. I was pretty adequately protected by my Feat, but Caleb could still get to me. We'd see what transpired next turn.
Turn 2: Khador
Old Witch allocated 3 to Behemoth. The Nyss advanced, and fired two big CRA's at the Bloodrunners, but one missed, and the other Bloodrunner passed its Tough check. Aiyanna advanced and cast Kiss of Lylyss on the Swordsmen to reduce their armor, and Holt aimed and killed one. Behemoth trampled up and damaged the objective with Bombards, killing one Swordsman in the crossfire. The Iron Fangs Shield Walled, and attacked the Cetrati, killing one with a big CRA, and coming up short on the other. Scrapjack attacked some Bloodrunners, but missed, and Old Witch put Iron Flesh on the Iron Fang Pikemen, and summoned a Murder of Crows in front of the Nyss. Gorman advanced, and put a cloud over himself.
That was reasonably painless. I'd be getting my masses of infantry into melee next turn, and I hoped to do some damage. It was down to the slog now. And protecting our 'casters of course.
Turn 3: Skorne
Mordikaar upkept his spells. The Bloodrunners attacked a few Nyss and some Iron Fangs, and killed one Iron Fang and one Nyss. The Krea used Paralytic Aura, and walked up to debuff some Iron Fangs. Mordikaar Revived a Swordsman into the Iron Fangs' rear arc. The Swordsmen advanced, used Perfect Strike to ignore Shield Wall, and killed 2. The Cetrati stayed in Shield Wall, did 2 2-Cataphract CMA's and killed one more Iron Fang. The Bronzeback advanced to a better position.
The Nyss would be able to charge the Bronzeback next turn, but I was hoping they'd roll low, and it would live. Otherwise, I was in an ok position. Revive would put me ahead on the attrition war soon enough, and with back strikes, I was getting around Iron Flesh on the Pikemen.
Turn 3: Khador
Old Witch and Sylys upkept Iron Flesh, but let Murder of Crows drop. Old Witch allocated 1 to Behemoth's cortex, and 3 to its subcortex. Aiyanna threw Kiss of Lylyss on the Bronzeback, and Holt shot up another Swordsman. Behemoth charged and destroyed the right objective, and lobbed some Bombard shots into Mordikaar, who transferred one solid hit to the Bronzeback, and took some damage from a second hit. The Nyss charged into the Bronzeback, and killed it dead. They also killed two Bloodrunners, so one Soul Token to Mordikaar. The surviving Iron Fangs attacked the Cetrati, but didn't do enough damage to kill a second one. Gorman advanced, and threw Black oil at an un-engaged Cataphract, blinding it and its neighbor. Scrapjack continued to fight a Bloodrunner without results.
Note to self: never hope. Losing the Bronzeback was bad. It's the list's finisher, and I really needed something that could contend with Behemoth. Well, I'd have to try to wrap this up quickly. Unfortunately, the Old Witch was well hidden behind that forest.
Turn 4: Skorne
I had little choice but to slog on with the game. Mordikaar let both Hollow and Banishing Ward drop. The Bloodrunners took out another Iron Fang as well as a 5th. The Swordsmen took out the last two non-Standard Bearer Iron Fangs. I'd used a few Side Steps and Shadowplays to move my troops within Essence Blast range of the Old Witch. I was thinking that if I hit with the Krea, I could possibly assassinate her this turn. The Cetrati tried to take out the last one with a 3-man CMA, but rolled snake eyes. That was ok. The Krea moved up, and shot at the Old Witch with Spiritual Paralysis, but missed. After that, Caleb reminded me that I wouldn't have been able to attack the Old Witch with Essence Blast anyway, because my models didn't have LoS (which is good to keep in mind). Mordikaar aimed, and killed the four Nyss who'd charged the Bronzeback with his Death Blast (regaining 6 hit boxes, thanks Life Drinker!), then cast Hollow on the Swordsmen, and Revived 2 of them into combat with Gorman and Aiyanna.
Holding on.... Behemoth was still a major problem, but I was winning the infantry war, and Caleb was running out of non-Behemoth models to kill them.
Turn 4: Khador
Caleb dropped Iron Flesh from the Black Dragon Standard Bearer, and Behemoth's Subcortex got 2 Focus. Aiyanna cast Kiss of Lylyss at the Krea, while Holt charged and killed a Swordsman, and shot the Krea for moderate damage. Gorman gave the Swordsman in combat with him some googly eyes. Sylys put Arcane Secrets on the Old Witch. The Old Witch channeled Gallows through Scrapjack and the Krea, doing more damage, and put Iron Flesh on the Nyss Hunters. The Nyss advanced (one dying to a lucky Bloodrunner Free Strike), and CRA'd into Mordikaar, but rolled low for damage. Behemoth aimed, and shot Mordikaar with the Bombards, forcing him to kill the Krea with transfers.
Ok. Now I was out of beasts, which was really no good. Old Witch was still hidden, and I still didn't have much to do about Behemoth.
Turn 5: Skorne
Mordikaar spent one of his precious remaining Fury points to upkeep Hollow. The Cataphracts advanced in Shield Wall to screen Mordikaar from Behemoth. The Swordsmen spread out to kill off Gorman, and Holt, and wound Aiyanna and Sylys. They also did a few incidental damage points to Behemoth with Penetrating Strike. Mordikaar aimed and shot the Nyss again, but missed this time. No more hit points for him. The Bloodrunners and Paingivers mobbed the surviving Nyss, and managed to kill one more.
Progress? Next turn I'd charge the Cetrati into Behemoth and see if they could do enough damage, but I was a little doubtful. They can pull something like that off in a couple of turns if a few are revived into good charge positions.
Turn 5: Khador
Behemoth's Subcortex got 2 Focus. It turns out Behemoth has Arcing Fire, and it merrily shelled Mordikaar over the Cetrati's heads. He exploded.
Victory to Khador!
Thoughts
I made one really serious mistake which ended up costing me the game, and that was exposing my Bronzeback early. Losing the Bronzeback meant that I had no good answer to Behemoth. That in turn put a lot of pressure on Mordikaar from Bombard shells I really had no answer for. It would not have been too hard to gum Behemoth up with Swordsmen and get the Bronzeback into it. Otherwise, I used my infantry well enough. Revive is a fantastic spell, and just a few bodies started giving me the leg up on attrition.
I like the list, but I'm not sure the Bloodrunners have a place in it. They're certainly good, and it's nice to have a Hollow target with AD to jam opponents that much earlier. They might be the sort of thing I'd want to add in at 50pts though, and spend those 5pts getting myself some extra support at 35. This game, an Agonizer would have been really helpful. For that matter, so would a second heavy. Mordikaar is a lot of fun, but I definitely need to practice and see what lists work best for him.
Caleb played a tight game. He kept the Old Witch safe, and didn't expose her trying to get a bunch of Soul Tokens - she hid behind a forest and supported her army through Scrapjack. He got an advantage on turn 3 when he killed my Bronzeback, and exploited it consistently until he was able to win.
I'm not sure about Caleb's list for Old Witch, and he wasn't 100% happy with it either. I feel he may be spending too much on support with both Aiyanna and Holt and Gorman di Wulfe. The Iron Fangs' attrition potential would definitely be significantly better if they could take a max unit. Then again, Kiss of Lylyss is what let the Nyss finish off the Bronzeback (doing just enough damage with 4 charging in), so A&H definitely help out. Behemoth is great with Old Witch, although I can see replacing him with a cheaper ranged 'jack. Gorman's the only model who didn't do much this game, but that was mainly due to having no good targets outside of one shot at 2 Cetrati.
Sorry about the lack of pictures. I really am trying to be better about them, but I keep forgetting once the game starts up. Tomorrow is WM night again for me, so I'll try to remember then.
Thanks for reading.
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