Battle Report: Force Wall mk II vs Morvahna2

One more battle report with Force Wall before I take a hiatus to talk about other lists that I play. This time I was faced off against Mike, the same guy I played round one of the last Steam Roller, once again with his Circle Orboros. I'm very interested in seeing if Force Wall could be a potential list to take against Circle, as that would open up my Steam Roller pairings a fair bit.

NFL League Game 7: What Are the Odds? (Skorne vs. Cryx - 50pts)

Hello again, dear readers, and welcome to the 7th installment in my recounting of Tower's NFL-style summer league!  I've been skilled or lucky enough to win all my games so far, but this time, I'm up against Cryx, a tough matchup for Skorne under most circumstances.  Furthermore, my opponent, Jamie, has only one loss so far, meaning I'm in for a serious fight.

Battle Report: Force Wall mk II vs The Great Machine

This past Sunday I got in a full day of gaming over at Bob's house. We decided that we wanted to try "re-racking" this time, i.e. game against one another with a pair of lists, then reset and play again with the same lists now that we know their secrets. Of course being us this turned into a pair of 4 hour games, but that'll happen when death clock isn't on the line and you have these monsters running around in the background:

Fuzzy little weirdos...

Battle Report: Force Wall mkII vs Cephalyx

This week I got to face off against the new Cephalyx contract with the second edition of my Force Wall list. I've felt that my previous list was performing pretty well, but wanted to try and see if using a Hyperion would help add some armor cracking and also make the list less reliant on rough terrain slowing down my opponent's forces.

NFL League Game 6: Something something Molik Karn (Skorne vs.Convergence - 50pts)

Pre-Game Thoughts

I'm getting caught up with my league games this week, and I had another one recently against Josh and his Convergence.  My earlier league game against Convergence taught me to respect their threat ranges, and I already know they can both run and break heavy armor.  They've got a couple of nasty tricks too.

Battle Report: Force Wall vs Convergence

 

I got to play with Force Wall against my buddy Bob a couple of times over the past couple of weeks, one against Father Lucant and the second against Iron Mother.

NFL League Game 5: Whips and Wolves (Skorne vs. Circle Orboros - 50pts)

Hello again!  After about 2 and a half weeks of alternately being out of town or otherwise unavailable, my opponent and I finally got together for the 5th game in Tower's NFL-Style League.  For week 5, we move up to 50pt lists, meaning I can finally try out the lists I mentioned back in my state of the lists post.  This time, I'm up against Circle Orboros, the faction of tricks. Circle has a lot of little movement tricks, includeing Shifting Stone teleports, so they can strike from a lot of unpredictable angles.  They've also got some serious melee hitting power in several of their Warbeasts, so they can kill whatever's around when they get there.

Steam Rollin': 7/5 Tournament Battle Report part II

Welcome back! Last time we left off with the Angry Elves going 1 and 1 with hard fought games against Circle and a double Colossal list. Time to see what we can do with the other two games.

Steam Rollin': 7/5 Tournament Battle Report

 

This past Saturday I attended a 15 man 50 pt Steamroller at one of my local game stores. As I've mentioned on the blog, I'm working on developing Ossyan and Vyros2 for competitive play, so they were my choices for the tournament.

List Building with Incendiarii

Last week I picked up a box of Cataphract Incendiarii, and I'm running through a couple of lists I'll likely play regularly now that I have them.

Out of all the Skorne releases in Gargantuans, the Incendiarii probably added the most to the faction.  They provide a solid answer to high-Def, while keeping some ability to hurt high-Arm with CRA's.  Continuous Fire from their Incendi is also a menace to shield wall units and medium-Arm units that don't care about the Pow 6 blast damage.  It can also threaten some of the squishier beasts and jacks as well as most Warlocks and Warcasters.

They're also really tough for a shooting unit.  Their 12/15 defensive stats are nothing to write home about - until you factor in their 8 hit boxes.  Standard anti-infantry tech just doesn't phase them, and that makes them a lot less manageable for the opponent than most ranged units.

All in all, they add a lot of flexibility to most armies they're in, and I'll probably run a unit with most of my Warlocks, at least at first.  Here's what I'm thinking right now:


Supreme Aptimus Zaal & Kovass (*5pts)
*Cyclops Raider (5pts)
*Cyclops Shaman (5pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
*Aptimus Marketh (3pts)
Cataphract Incendiarii (Leader and 5 Grunts) (9pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Immortals (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Hakaar the Destroyer (4pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)

I'm running Zaal as one of my Warlocks for the league, and this is my current thought for him.  My big concerns are the lack of a proper melee heavy, and no way to mitigate difficult terrain besides the Kovass.  But on the other hand, I have a very solid firebase.  The Raider and Shaman give me some solid boostable shooting, and the Incendiarii have a lot of flexibility.  The guns will give the list more options against enemies who try to outmaneuver me.

I'd really like to fit an Extoller into the list to add to the firepower, collect more Souls, and hand out Eyeless Sight, but points are thin on the ground.  I really don't want to go down to 2 Warbeasts if I can avoid it.  I might swap the Shaman for a second Raider, since that would pack a little more punch as a shooter, but the Shaman does add a lot of utility.


Lord Arbiter Hexeris (*6pts)
*Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
*Titan Sentry (Bonded) (9pts)
*Titan Gladiator (8pts)
*Cyclops Savage (5pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
*Basilisk Drake (4pts)
Cataphract Incendiarii (Leader and 5 Grunts) (9pts)
Paingiver Beast handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Extoller Soulward (2pts)

I haven't played eHexeris in a while.  At 50pts, I usually play him in tier, but I'm willing to shake things up for the Incendiarii.  This list is more of a beast brick.  The Incendi are good for getting more mileage out of Black Spot, and triggering Vampiric Harvest, and give Hexy more to rely on against high-Def than just Ashes to Ashes.  The Drake also makes the list a little more combined arms than I'm used to with eHexy, which will be nice.

I'd like to have a Willbreaker in the list, and I might end up dropping the Soulward for one.  The Krea also works very well with a Cyclops Raider, and more shooting in the list wouldn't be a bad thing.  Ultimately, I think I prefer the jamming and hitting power of the Cyclops Savage.  With Black Spot and Train Wreck, it can take out half a unit, and it's very expendable at 5pts.


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

pHexeris likes some shooting to take advantage of his Feat and give him some control, and the Incendiarii are great at that.  Combined with spell channeling, this list should be pretty well equipped to snipe out the enemy's support game.  The Swordsmen make a good screen, and can do some serious work on Hexeris' Feat turn, and the Bronzeback and Gladiator should hit hard enough to take care of the kinds of heavies this list will likely see across the table.  The T1 Kingdom of Shadow benefit lets Hexy start with his upkeep spells in play, which is nice too.

I'm working my way toward Kingdom of Shadow Tier 4, though, which will have 2 units of Swordsmen and 2 min units of Incendiarii.  At Tier 4, KoS becomes a decent jamming list that takes advantage of Hexy's channeling abilities and AD, extended deployment zone Swordsmen to keep the opponent out of scenario, and those 8 Fire AoE's will help keep a lid on enemy plans to contest.


Void Seer Mordikaar (*5pts)
*Titan Gladiator (8pts)
*Archidon (7pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
*Tyrant Vorkesh (3pts)
Cataphract Incendiarii (Leader and 5 Grunts) (9pts)
Praetorian Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
*Praetorian Swordsmen Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer (3pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)

I'm not sure if I like this better than my current Mordikaar + Despoiler list, though I'll certainly try out both.  Revive is a heck of a spell for any unit, but it seems especially dirty on Incendiarii, who can take full advantage of the positioning opportunities Revive allows to aim and drop fire templates where they really need to go.  Each one also does a lot of damage in its own right, so Reviving them will make them extra hard to remove, and extra punishing.

Otherwise the list is a standard Mordikaar slogfest.  The Swordsmen make a good Hollow target, and the Cetrati are hard to get through when they also have Revive to draw on.  I'm not 100% sold on the beast loadout.  I might try to get Despoiler back into the list, and/or embrace the shooty theme more fully by fitting in a Mammoth.


Tyrant Xerxis (*5pts)
*Titan Gladiator (8pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Cataphract Incendiarii (Leader and 5 Grunts) (9pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer (3pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Ancestral Guardian (3pts)
Extoller Soulward (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)

Under Xerxis, the Incendiarii will be chucking out fire from relative safety behind the Cetrati.  Martial Discipline lets Xerxis' Incendiarii avoid being jammed, and gives Xerxis options against high-Def, which used to be a serious problem for him.  The Cetrati, as usual, are a staple for Xerxis, and backed up by a Krea, an Agonizer, and Defender's Ward, they're going to be a chore for anyone to remove.  The rest of this list is mostly support for the main brick, though the Nihilators and AG's will be holding down a flank in a spread out scenario.  Xerxis has the tools to make AG's tick: damage buffs to threaten heavies, and a tight formation that benefits from the added protection of Defensive Strike.  Martial Discipline also lets living models see and move through AG's, though not the other way around.

I'm also building Xerxis toward a tier list: in this case, a Tier 2 Fist of Halaak that's been gathering steam ever since a version of it went 4-0 at the World Team Championship last year.  It's almost pure Cataphract spam, and runs 2 min units of Incendiarii as well as 2-3 min units of Arcuarii as well as the central Cetrati block.  Most lists simply can't handle that level of armor, and the list has plenty of options against high Def with the Incendiarii.  High arm is never an issue for Xerxis.


The other Warlocks I currently own are Makeda 3, Morghoul 1, and Makeda 1 (though I've proxied/borrowed Rasheth enough times now that I really should buy him), and I don't have plans for Incendiarii in their lists right now.  I'm very happy with the Makeda 3 Brute Brick I'm running, and my current Makeda 1 and Morghoul 1 lists are running a Mammoth to deal with high Def.  The Incendiarii can definitely work with all 3 of them (Makeda 1 in particular, since she brings them and their screen back from the dead with her Feat), but I have no plans to put them in those lists right now.

That's it for now.  Further observations on the Incendiarii as I write up battle reports.


Speaking of which, I haven't been missing connections with my game 5 opponent, so I'm likely to have games 5, 6, and 7 all next week between Tuesday the 8th and Tuesday the 15th with game 8 soon to follow, so expect reports sometime around then!

Battle Report: Force Wall vs Damiano

After my talk about Force Wall last week it's time that I walked the walk, so I got in a 50 pt game vs Josh, a local Merc player at Pegasus. It's always an enjoyable and challenging game vs him, so I knew that my list would get a good workout. And besides, it's a classic match up: dude swarm vs jack brick, can the Force Wall make the difference?