NFL League Game 3: Abomination! (Skorne vs Khador - 35pts)

Pre-Game Thoughts

Greetings tabletop sportsfans.  It's time for the third battle of Tower's NFL themed summer league, and this time I'm up against Khador.  I don't have the greatest record against Khador, but that has given me a pretty good idea of what to watch out for.  Khador has a lot of hard-hitting infantry, and I'm expecting at least Ironfang Pikemen and the Great Bears of the Gallowswood, and even though high-Def is on the outs in our meta, I might see some Winter Guard Death Star and Kayazy Assassins.

'Caster-wise, I was prepping for three in particular (for whatever reason, I'm worried about three 'casters per faction, no more, no less) who can give Skorne trouble: Butcher 3, Irusk 1, and Sorcha 2.  The Butcher offers very little army support, but he can basically kill everything himself, and he murders Warlocks.  Sorcha 2 has a great spell list, and a serious armor cracking feat, and Irusk 1 is great at attrition in general.

I chose my lists mainly with Butcher 3 in mind.  I wanted to have an answer to him in both lists so that I could base my selection on the other 'caster my opponent went with.  To that end, I went with my mostly infantry based Zaal list, and a slightly modified version of my Makeda 3 brick.

Supreme Aptimus Zaal (*5pts)
*Tiberion (11pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
*Aptimus Marketh (3pts)
*Kovass ( - )
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Hakaar the Destroyer (4pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Ancestral Guardain (3pts)
Agonizer (2pts)

Zaal has an innate ability to deal with the Butcher thanks to his love of Ancestral Guardians and Last Stand.  Last Stand lets his models kill the Butcher, even at full camp, and he's a support-type caster who likes to stay far, far away from trouble.  Against other lists, he'll have a decent attrition game, and always threaten assassinations.

Makeda and the Exalted Court (*2pts)
*Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
*Archidon (7pts)
*Cyclops Brute (5pts)
*Cyclops Brute (5pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)

Without Molik Karn available, Makeda's best way to retreat from combat is Sprint from the Archidon's Lightning Strike animus.  Orin Midwinter is good in general, especially against potential high-def units, and is Makeda 3's anti-Butcher 3 tech.  Khador doesn't usually have trouble cracking armor, but if a list looks like it might struggle, I'll drop Makeda 3.

My opponent, Tom, brought Butcher 3, since he really is rising to the top as a meta-bender for Khador, and Irusk 2 - a little like Irusk 1, but a little different.

The Butcher, Unleashed (*4pts)
*Juggernaut (7pts)
*War Dog (1pt)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Black Dragon Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Black Dragon Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Tactical Arcanist Corps (Leader and 2 Grunts) (4pts)
Ogrun Bokur (Client: The Butcher) (3pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)

This is a solid Butcher 3 list with a wall of clouds for the Butcher to hide behind, and a wall of meat to ensure the enemy needs to commit some serious hitting power within the Butcher's melee range.  Basically your standard Butcher delivery system.

Supreme Kommandant Irusk (*5pts)
*Behemoth (13pts)
*Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Black Dragon Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Doomreavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
The Great Bears of the Gallowswood (5pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Widowmaker Marksman (2pts)

This looks like a pretty well rounded eIrusk list.  It has a variety of hard-hitting units, a good all-around 'jack in Behemoth, and eIrusk's great supporting spell list and abilities.  Battle Lust will let this list remove heavies, and Tough, and the Black Dragons and Doomreavers should be able to mow through any pesky infantry.


Scenario, List Selection, and Deployment

We rolled up a scenario, and got Outflank.  There are two large circular zones midway up the battlefield.  Controlling a zone is worth one point, while dominating one is worth 2.  Nice and simple.

We set up the table, and hid our 'casters.  I picked Zaal, while Tom went with Irusk 2.

I wanted Zaal because his list spreads out a little more, and because I do want to try out a couple of non-Makeda 3 lists.  I need to get some experience with other 'casters too.  Zaal also has a little more reliability against Irusk's Tough with the Swordsmen.

Tom picked Irusk because he saw that both my lists had anti-Butcher tech, and if I could keep Butcher 3 honest, his more-or-less complete lack of support for his troops would probably swing any attrition war in my favor.

I won the roll-off, and chose to go second, picking the table edge with what looked like the least annoying terrain setup, though neither of them was that great.

Tom set up his Iron Fangs on the right with the Kovnik, and Behemoth on the left.  Irusk, Sylys, and the Great Bears went in the middle.

I set up my Swordsmen opposite the Iron Fangs with the AG's interspersed to provide support and melee threats, and Marketh just behind for spell support.  Zaal, Tiberion, the Krea, and the Paingivers went on the left opposite behemoth.

Finally, Tom deployed the Widowmaker Marksman in the forest in front of Irusk, and the Doomreavers on the far right to threaten my Swordsmen.

Turn 1, Khador

Irusk allocated one to Behemoth.

Irusk walked forward, gave the Iron Fangs Tactical Supremacy (they get a 3" move after all your activations this turn), and put Fire for Effect on Behemoth.  Then he Energized Behemoth and himself up the field a bit.

The Kovnik and Iron Fangs ran upfield, since I had no real shooting.  The Doomreavers ran up as well.  The Great Bears ran behind the Iron Fangs.  The Widowmaker walked up beside the Iron Fangs.

Behemoth Trampled forward, and took a couple of Bombard shots at the Krea, but was out of range even with a scatter.

This is a standard Khador advance.  Irusk is far back for safety.  The Iron Fangs and Doomreavers are threatening my Swordsmen.  My left flank feels safer, but I don't love the prospect of Behemoth dropping shell after shell right at Zaal.


Turn 1, Skorne

The Swordsmen and Ancestral Guardians ran forward, with the lead Swordsmen in the charge threat of most of the Khador infantry, but I hoped not the walking threat.

Zaal walked up, and gave the nearer AG and Hakaar a soul each, put Inviolable Resolve on Tiberion, and threw a couple of Fury on the Agonizer.

Tiberion ran, and the Krea used Paralytic Aura, and charged Behemoth, stopping when she hit Tiberion.  The Paingivers walked up, and managed Fury, and the Agonizer ran up behind a wall near the zone.

Finally, Marketh advanced, and put Last Stand on my middle Ancestral Guardian.

I ran to meet the Khadoran offensive.  I was not happy at all about this split deployment, but hopefully next turn, I'd be able to take a crack at the Khadoran Infantry while joining my line and contesting both zones.  The eventual plan was to either out-attrition the Khadoran infantry or get a Kovass or Ancestral Guardian into Irusk.


Turn 2, Khador

Irusk dropped Tactical Supremacy, but upkept Fire for Effect, and allocated 1 Focus to the Behemoth.

Sylys advanced, and used Arcane Secrets on Irusk.  Irusk advanced, and cast Airburst on an Ancestral Guardian barely in his CTRL, and the AoE hit the Swordsmen Officer and Standard Bearer.  He boosted damage against the Officer, and killed both, denying the Swordsmen their mini-Feat and Side Step.

Behemoth advanced, and shot at the Agonizer twice.  It missed both times, thanks to Cover, but didn't deviate onto the Paingivers either time.

The Kovnik gave the IFP Shield March, and they advanced in Shield Wall, ending up just out of range of the Swordsmen.  The Doomreavers charged two of their number into the lead Swordsmen, forcing an Abomination check, which the Swordsmen failed.  Ugh.  They also killed 2 Swordsmen.

The Widowmaker advanced, and deftly sniped out Marketh, which removed my chance of rallying the Swordsmen before their activation next turn with Inviolable Resolve.  Ughhh.

The Great Bears ran upfield a bit, staying behind the IFP line.

Well... crap.  With the Swordsmen out of commission for a turn, and out of a mini-Feat and Side Step permanently, I'd have to hope the AG's could hold up my right flank.  The left was looking a bit better with Zaal's battlegroup completely intact, but I was still in a tough spot.


Turn 2, Skorne

Time for some Righteous Vengeance, courtesy of Hakaar, who walked up into dudes-killing range, and knocked down a Doomreaver (who Toughed due to being in Irusk's Cmd).

Then Zaal upkept Last Stand on the AG and Inviolable Resolve on Tiberion.  I did some quick CTRL measurements, and off we went.

The Agonizer used Spiritual Affliction to deny Focus Allocation, and sobbed its way over to Behemoth, which would at least keep the 'jack's damage potential to a minimum.  The Paingivers Enraged Tiberion.

Tiberion charged the Iron Fangs in his zone, and after a lot of Tough Checks, managed to Crit Smite the one he could reach into the next one, and kill them both, leaving him maxed on Fury.  The Krea walked up, and used Paralytic Aura.  Zaal walked up behind her, threw a soul on the Ancestral Guardians, and cast Bump on Tiberion to hopefully help him survive the turn.

The Swordsmen meebled around, getting out of the way, and preparing to be useful next turn by rallying (yay).  Hakaar walked up to engage the Marksman and all the nearby Iron Fangs, and killed the Doomreaver he'd knocked down as well as 3 of the 4 Iron Fangs.  The AG behind him ran to a supporting position to threaten Defensive Strikes with Last Stand.  The last AG advanced, and killed off the other Doomreaver who had attacked the Swordsmen.

The basic plan was to force his infantry to deal with the AG's or be attritioned out.  Once they killed the AG's the Kovass would pop out, and hopefully kill Irusk, or at least do enough damage to give me the right flank, and start threatening Irusk.


Turn 3, Khador

Irusk had no Focus to allocate, but did upkeep Fire for Effect on Behemoth for free.

Irusk went early, popped his Feat to give my models/units in his CTRL -2 Speed, and prevent them from receiving (or giving) Orders for a round.  It also stands up his models, and lets them ignore clouds and forests, but that effect would not come into play.  He also cast Battle Lust (an additional die on melee damage rolls and Fearless for a round) on the Great Bears and the Iron Fang Pikemen, and cast Energizer for 3 Focus to bring Behemoth within aiming range of Zaal.

The Great Bears charged in, and killed Tiberion, though it did take them 5 attacks to seal the deal.

The Iron Fang Pikemen used their mini-Feat, Iron Zeal, to give themselves +4 Arm and immunity to Knockdown and Stationary for a round.  They charged the Krea and Hakaar, and killed both easily, along with a couple of Swordsmen.  I spawned the Kovass on Hakaar with a clear line of sight to Irusk.  The nearby Swordsmen passed their Abomination check.

Tom went into damage control mode.  He charged the Iron Fang Kovnik at the Last Standed AG, but the Kovnik failed his Abomination check, and sat there looking scared.

Tom had remembered that the Doomreavers had Magic Weapons, and the 4 remaining ones charged the Kovass (The Swordsmen and Widowmaker Marksman passed their Abomination checks).  The Last Stand AG killed one of those with its Defensive Strike, and one was just out of range.  The first one killed the Kovass on the first swing, then killed the Widowmaker, then hit an Iron Fang, who Toughed it out thanks to being near Irusk.  The last Doomreaver in melee took its initial swing at the Last Stand AG, but didn't finish it off.

Behemoth aimed, and shot at Zaal.  The boosted, Fire for Effect shot missed and scattered wide.  The unboosted normal shot hit him directly for 8 damage.  He chose to transfer to the wounded AG, taking 6 damage from backlash.  I spawned the Kovass again (and the Swordsmen passed yet another Abomination check).  The Kovass could still see Irusk.

Sylys moved to be able to take a free strike on the Kovass with his magic staff.

This was taken partway through the next turn - I forgot until then because I was so focused on the game at this point.

Losing both my beasts (not to mention having the Great Bears within axing range of Zaal) meant the sooner I ended the game, the better.  Fortunately for me, there was a Kovass ready to help Irusk join it in the ghost realm.  All I had to do was clear out everything capable of taking Free Strikes against it.


Turn 3, Skorne

Zaal cut himself for 1 Fury to bring himself back up to full.  He had no spells to upkeep.

The Swordsmen went first, and killed two of the remaining Doomreavers who were threatening Free Strikes on the Kovass.  This forced Tom to promote the one in front of the Kovass, meaning it wouldn't be able to make any more attacks (including Free Strikes) for the rest of the turn.*  Perfect.

I was pretty sure the Kovass could kill Irusk with just Zaal's Feat, but I wanted to be extra sure, so I wanted to get Last Stand on it.

So the Paingivers charged the three Iron Fangs who had killed the Krea, and heroically killed them with a trio of 8's to hit (Anatomical Precision made the Pikemen's high Armor moot).

Zaal would need to walk out of the forest to get into range of the Kovass with Last Stand, but unfortunately, the brave Paingivers were in the way.  Unfortunately for them!  Zaal killed two with Sunder Spirits to the back, left the forest, and barely got within range to put Last Stand on the Kovass.  Then he popped his Feat. to let the Kovass boost melee attack and damage rolls with tokens for every model of mine that had been destroyed.

The Kovass charged Irusk, and was easily able to stay in Sylys' melee range.  Sylys died in the first Thresher, and Irusk died horribly on the second attack.

Victory to the Skorne!


Post-Game Thoughts

Sweet merciless Ancestors, that was close!  Luck was pretty wild this game, and I made a lot of mistakes that cost me dearly.  I shouldn't have deployed Zaal so far from the infantry.  Instead, I should have kept everything in a mutually supporting formation pretty centrally.  Against my deployment, Tom was basically able to refuse my left flank until he could get the Great Bears in on Tiberion.  On my first turn, I forgot about Airburst (and lost my whole Swordsmen UA to it), and let Marketh get sniped out of the game - two things I really should have been able to prevent.  After that (thanks to the failed Abomination check on the Swordsmen), it was all I could do to keep myself in the game at all.  I played Hakaar and the AG's pretty well, and definitely got them into a pretty optimal position for ghost-dropping on my second turn.  I'm not thrilled that my plan had to come down to that, but I'm pleased that in this case, it worked.

I can't judge the list based on this game, since I made some grievous mistakes, but there are a few things I'd really have liked to have.  The first is a second infantry unit.  Swordsmen are good, but if I'm going to be using one unit sacrificially, I'd really like to have more than just my AG's to take advantage of it.  I suppose that's one of the limitations of 35pts.  I could swap Tiberion for a Cyclops Raider and a unit of Swamp Shamblers, which Zaal runs extraordinarily well.  Tiberion wasn't the bulwark he's supposed to be against this list, but Battle Lusted Great Bears will kill just about anything.

The MVP of this fight is Hakaar.  Righteous Vengeance let him move up, and he was able to put some attrition power against the Iron Fangs that forced them to kill him, which is what I needed them to do.

Tom generally outplayed me (although the Swordsmen failing their Abomination check was a major stroke of luck for him).  He deployed well, and managed his activations to snipe out my critical support pieces early on.  His fatal mistake was forgetting the Kovass, which threw him into a scramble when it did appear so close to Irusk.  Tom was well aware that Irusk is pretty easy to kill, and he would have been a lot more careful if he'd kept the Kovass in mind.

Tom's list is very solid, with incredibly high damage output, and a reliable attrition game with the Tough, high-Arm Iron Fangs.  It doesn't have many major blind spots, but it does from the limitations all 35pt lists have.  For one thing, there aren't quite enough bodies between Irusk and danger to feel perfectly safe.  Tom also probably wants a Mortar Crew for Fire for Effect when he bumps the list up to 50pts.

Thanks for great, bloody, and nerve-wracking game, Tom!

My next match is Skorne vs. Skorne, and Zaal is effectively out of commission for the round thanks to Hakaar, Tiberion, and Marketh all being injured.

*This seems weird, but it's actually to prevent people from killing their own unit leaders to get better angles on formation by field promoting someone to the front lines.  If they do it, the newly promoted soldier can't attack.