I wanted some practice with Zaal at 35pts, and I wanted to try Tiberion out with Zaal, since so many people swear by him. My Tiberion isn't fully assembled, but he's my only heavy, so it's easy to tell which one is him.
Supreme Aptimus Zaal (+5)
*Tiberion (11)
*Basilisk Krea (4)
*Aptimus Marketh (3)
*Kovass (-)
10 Praetorian Swordsmen (6)
*Officer and Standard (2)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Hakaar the Destroyer (4)
Ancestral Guardian (3)
Ancestral Guardian (3)
Agonizer (2)
This is pretty straightforward for Zaal. The only new piece is Tiberion, who I'm pretty excited to see in action. Otherwise, we have some Swordsmen to provide bodies, souls, and a screening element (in roughly that order of importance), 3 AG's (well, 2 plus Hakaar) to take advantage of those things. The Krea is there for defense for whoever needs it, and the Agonizer is there to either give me 1 turn of disruption against 'jacks, or help stall out 'beasts going after Tiberion.
My frequent opponent and co-blogger, Caleb, is continuing with his foray back into Circle, and plunked down epic Krueger and the following band of druidic miscreants:
Krueger the Stormlord (+5)
*Warpwolf Stalker (10)
*Razorwing Griffon (5)
*Gorax (4)
5 Warpborn Skinwalkers (8)
*Warpborn Alpha (3)
5 Woldstalkers and Stoneward (5)
Blackclad Wayfarer (2)
Druid Wilder (2)
Gallows Grove (1)
This is pretty infantry heavy for circle, but it does have decent armor cracking in the Warpwolf Stalker and Woldstalkers. It also has access to some very powerful infantry blending. All in all, it seems well balanced. It's been a long time since I've played eKrueger, so we'll see how this goes.
Scenario and Deployment
We rolled up the scenario Two Fronts: There are 2 rectangular zones and 2 objectives, one friendly and one enemy of each. The friendly zone can be dominated for 1 point, while the enemy zone can be controlled for 1 or dominated for 2. Destroying your opponent's objective is worth a point. In addition, a Warcaster/Warlock cannot dominate while the enemy objective is in their CTRL, and models within 4" of a friendly objective can run or charge without being forced or spending Focus. No kill box.
Caleb won the roll off, and with a scenario caster like eKrueger, decided to go first.
I forgot to get pictures of deployment, but Caleb deployed his Woldstalkers on my left, across from my zone, and his Skinwalkers in his center right, in front of his zone. The Warbeasts, solos, and Krueger all went mostly in the middle.
I decided to defend my zone with Tiberion and the Agonizer in the center left, and put some pressure on eKrueger to stay out of Caleb's with my Swordsmen and AG's in the center right. Zaal, Marketh and the Krea went more or less in the middle.
Caleb Advance Deployed his Gallows Grove on the right to kill some Swordsmen through it, and we were off.
Turn 1, Circle
Caleb runs more or less everything. Krueger floats forward and casts Stormwall more so he can fully leach from his battlegroup than because he needs protection against shooting. The Gallows Grove teleports into the forest on the right for Prowl.
Turn 1, Skorne
I mostly run. The Swordsmen run forward as far as they can, and spread out. The Ancestral Guardians run, and the Krea moves up behind them with Paralytic Aura up.
Zaal advances, puts Inviolable Resolve on Tiberion, 3 Fury on the Agonizer, and 1 Soul Token on all the AG's, leaving himself camping 1. Then, he walks up behind the Krea. Marketh advances, and uses Spell Slave to cast Last Stand on the Swordsmen.
Tiberion puts Bump on himself, and Tramples into my zone, with the Agonizer behind him wailing Gnawing Pain. He might be in the Warpwolf's threat range, but it'll be hard to kill him off. The Paingivers spread out behind everyone else.
I'm set up mostly out of Caleb's threat ranges. The Woldstalkers might do some damage, but I'm ok with losing a few Swordsmen.
Turn 2, Circle
Caleb decides that the Warpwolf is probably in range to charge Tiberion, but with Bump up, will probably just bounce off. He decides to slow me down, and go for my support.
The Woldstalkers advance and Zephyr forward, then kill 2 Swordsmen with shooting, and do a couple of points to the Agonizer (Tiberion Shield Guards one of the shots that has LoS). The Stalker and Gorax advance behind them.
Krueger advances, and pops his Feat, which pushes most of my models (but not Tiberion! Woo!) back 3" and reduces their Speed by 2 for a round. Then he uses Telekinesis to retreat a little.
The Gallows Grove teleports forward some more, ready to have spells chanelled through it at any time. The Skinwalkers and Razorwing advance cautiously. Caleb wants to stay well out of my threat range for my coming turn.
With my Speed reduced, I'll be running instead of charging next turn, so Caleb is setting up for the counterattack here.
Turn 2, Skorne
Time to get back into position. Zaal upkeeps Inviolable Resolve, but drops Last Stand.
The Swordsmen and Ancestral Guardians run as fast as their slowed-down legs can carry them. This gets the Swordsmen just up to Caleb's front lines to jam, and the Ancestral Guardians to a few inches behind them.
The Krea uses Paralytic Aura, and moves up again. Tiberion uses Bump on himself again, and walks 2" forward. The Agonizer uses Gnawing Pain again, and runs up behind Tiberion again. They are the best of friends.
Marketh advances, and puts Last Stand on the AG next to Hakaar in case it gets to make any defensive strikes. I'll want the Kovass' killing power next turn.
I'd spent my turn running back into the game, and bracing for Krueger's counterattack. Zaal doesn't mind losing infantry, but I'd be letting Caleb do a number on a fairly small list.
Turn 3, Circle
Krueger Leaches back up to full, and Caleb starts off his counterattack.
The Woldstalkers forfeit their Move to aim, and the Stonewarden casts Zephyr to get the engaged ones out of combat. The three who can see the Agonizer try to finish it off, but leave it at 2 boxes after a helpful Shield Guard from Tiberion. What a little champ! The other two Woldstalkers each kill a Swordsman.
The Wilder advances, and uses the Gorax's Animus, Primal, on the Razorwing Griffon. The Griffon proceeds to Trample over 3 Swordsmen (killing 2), and both the regular AG and Hakaar. It boosts damage on both, and kills the regular AG, just does 2 points to Hakaar. I spawn the Kovass from the regular AG.
The Blackclad Wayfarer advances, and sprays down the line of Swordsmen jamming the Skinwalkers, killing all 3.
The Gallows Grove continues its inexorable journey forward. The Gorax casts Primal on the Warpwolf Stalker, and charges and kills the last Swordsman blocking the Warpwolf's charge on Tiberion.
Krueger advances, and casts Telekinesis a few times: once to move a Skinwalker into a charge lane on Tiberion, and once to move the Stalker into a better charge angle on Tiberion. Then he fries the Kovass with his Lightning Bolt, and casts Telekinesis on himself a final time to retreat a bit.
The Skinwalkers charge in next. One and the Alpha charge Hakaar, onc charges the Krea, one charges my objective, and the one Krueger teleported charges Tiberion. The last one is still jammed by a Swordsman, and charges it. The Krea takes a little damage, and the objective is reduced to 1 hit box. The two charging Hakaar finish him off, allowing me to spawn the Kovass again. The Swordsman is splattered. The one charging Tiberion can't break his Arm 23.
The Warpwolf Stalker advances toward Tiberion, swings, and damages him. This triggers Bump, which pushes the Stalker back into the Woldstalkers and still within Reach range of Tiberion. At dice -5, however, the Stalker doesn't even scratch out an aspect.
And with that, Caleb has no more activations.
Caleb's forces crash into mine...
...but...
...Krueger is awfully close...
...to the Kovass...
Turn 3, Skorne
Zaal leaches back to full.
Marketh puts Last Stand on the Kovass, which is still full on Souls from Hakaar. Zaal Feats, and takes a few swings at the Razorwing for the heck of it.
Then the Kovass walks through the Skinwalkers and mulches both the Blackclad and Krueger.
Victory to the Skorne!
Thoughts
I played a decent game, but not amazing. I deployed the Tiberion/Agonizer team well to hold down the left, but I should have supported them with the Krea too. The Agonizer is Def 15/Arm 18 in the Krea bubble, which would have made it even harder to get rid of. I didn't predict the Razorwing Trampling over my lines, and I might have held back a little bit with my AG and Hakaar if I'd thought about it.
The Swordsmen really impressed me this game. With Cmd 10, they spread way out, and screened basically my whole line. They definitely complicated Caleb's activation order. They weren't very durable though - Nihilators might have made some Tough checks there and held up the Skinwalkers a little longer. Tiberion was good. Between Inviolable Resolve and Gnawing Pain, he was nearly impossible to remove, and was immune to Krueger's tricks thanks to Immovable Object. He's a great anchor for the list. I might have to try him out a little more at 50pts.
Caleb played a pretty solid game as well, although he definitely put Krueger in harm's way on his third turn. He may have been too concerned with taking out Tiberion with his Stalker, when it might have been better used attacking my center AG's and Zaal. Otherwise, he timed his Feat well, and pushed me into a weak position on turn 2. He also killed a lot of my models very efficiently on turn 3. A different activation order might have been able to get rid of the Kovass both times, but it would have been a little dicier.
Caleb's list did pretty well. It's a solid, control-oriented list with answers to massed infantry and heavy armor. I feel like it needs some kind of fast jamming force, like Bloodtrackers maybe, to really take advantage of Krueger's Feat. I also think it needs some Shifting Stones, although both of those might be things to add at 50pts.
Thanks for reading!
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