I wanted to play the list I posted earlier, but I didn't because I didn't have a Rhinodon card on me, and neither did any other Skorne player at the shop. :P
So instead I played this list, which is a point over due to me forgetting I was taking max Paingivers when counting up the points:
Xerxis, Fury of Halaak (*5pts) - Proxied by a headless Mammoth
*Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
*Titan Cannoneer (9pts)
*Titan Gladiator (8pts)
*Archidon (Bonded) (7pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
Venator Reivers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts) - Some of whom are proxied by Bloodrunners :P
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (3pts)
Extoller Soulward (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)
I hadn't planned on playing the Cannoneer, but it seems like a decent beast for eXerxis, and I like it pretty well in general. The Mortitheurge and Extoller seem like good support for it. I don't have much more planned than that. Hopefully the list will work pretty well, and maybe I'll even get to try out my game plan of throwing and knocking down lots of enemies on the way. If I play this list again, I'll probably swap some 2-point support piece for a sweet Gobber Tinker to fix up Xerxis' Rhino.
Caleb wanted to get back into Trollbloods, and felt like giving the Mountain King another chance.
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
*Mountain King (20pts)
*Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
*Trollkin Rune Bearer (2pts)
Pyg Bushwhackers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Kriel Stone Bearer and Stone Scribes (Leader and 3 Grunts) (3pts)
Trollkin Fell Caller (3pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)
If any Warlock can fix the Mountain King's Mat problem, Calandra can, and the Earthborn and Janissa are standard support to take its Arm up to 23. Both Pyg units are pretty good with Calandra, and I know from experience that Digmies can be a real pain.
Scenario and Deployment
We rolled up Into the Breach. There's a big round zone on one side of the table, and flag a short distance away. The zone can be controlled for a point, or dominated for two, while the flag can only be dominated for a point.
Caleb won the roll off, and decided to go second. He picked the table side with a decent-sized forest in the middle, probably for speed buffs from the Earthborn and its Animus. Also because his bag was already on that side of the table. My bag was already on the other side, so it was all fine by me.
I pre-deployed Xerxis in the middel, and Caleb pre-deployed the Mountain King in front of the zone. I plunked my Titan herd in front of the zone to oppose the Mountain King, and put the Venators and Archidon on the Flag side of the table to harass support, and screen for Xerxis in case I went for the Flag. The Paingivers and Krea went in support positions behind the Titan line and Xerxis, and the Willbreaker and Extoller took the far side of the table behind the Cannoneer.
Caleb deployed Calandra and his support in the center, with the Earthborn up next to the center forest to support the Mountain King. The Bushwhackers Advanced Deployed behind a house near the Zone side of the table, while the Burrowers deployed in front of Calandra and the KSB to support the table as needed.
With that, we were ready to play.
Turn 1, Skorne
Most stuff ran. Xerxis activated early on, put Ignite on the Bronzeback for Mountain King demolishing purposes, then cast Mobility so stuff could run further. The Cannoneer ended up out of his CTRL, but thank goodness for the Mortitheurge. It only ran 8 inches, although the picture shows it as having run 12. We corrected it before Caleb's first turn though.
Speed 6 is fast. A lot faster than I'm used to running with Titans. The fact that I could have thrown Rush into the mix is boggling. Maybe in one of my next trials I'll run a Gladiator and a Shaman, and get well into the zone top of turn 1.
Turn 1, Trollbloods
Caleb advanced more cautiously. He kept his heavies and Bushwhackers well out of my threat ranges, and burrowed the Digmies so I wouldn't be able to attack them on my turn. Calandra cast Star-Crossed, and threw the rest of her Fury onto the Kriel Stone. She'd be safe from my shooting behind screening models and a wall though.
Caleb is set up to keep most of his models safe, and I doubt I'll be able to get to them this turn. My goal will have to be setting myself up to control the zone with my heavy's threat ranges, forcing him to enter it if he wants to contest.
Turn 2, Skorne
Xerxis upkept Ignite. The Bronzeback and Gladiator ran forward into the zone. The Krea walked up, and popped a Paralytic Aura for shooting defense.
The Cannoneer advanced, and shot at the Bushwhackers, killing a couple with a good scatter. The Willbreaker advanced, and used Ancillary Attack, which let the Cannoneer kill another one.
The Paingivers advanced, and managed Fury, then Xerxis ducked behind my objective, and cast Diminish (the Cannoneer's Animus) to give enemies within 2" a -2 Str penalty. The Archidon flew up to screen Xerxis from any Pyg Burrower charges (those little guys are scary).
On the Flag side of the table, the Rievers advanced, used the Extend Fire mini-Feat, and sniped out the Fell Caller. Less accurate Burrowers is a good thing. The Rievers then retreated a bit with Reform.
Now I was well set up to control the zone, with my Titans' 11.5" threat range extending just beyond its back edge. If Caleb wanted to contest, he'd have to open himself up to attack. Scenario-wise, Xerxis can get around, so the flag is still an option, but I'm mainly focused on attrition right now. My ranged game was doing well, and I had a good board position, so I was pretty sure Caleb would have to come to me.
Turn 2, Trollbloods
Calandra leached in her Fury, and the Pyg Burrowers popped up in charge range of my line of Titans.
The Rune Bearer advanced, and used Harmonious Exaltation to reduce the cost of one of Calandra's spells by one. Calandra herself advanced, cast Star Crossed (enemy models roll an additional die on attack rolls, and drop the highest), and popped her Feat to reroll all 1's and 2's models in her army rolled in her CTRL. The Kriel Stone advanced, and used its Aura to buff armor.
The Pyg Burrowers charged in at the wall of Beast in front of them. Two charged the Bronzeback, three charged the Gladiator, two charged Xerxis, and three charged the Archidon. Some damage was done to everyone, but the most the Pygs were able to do was take out the Bronzeback's Mind.
Caleb debated his next moves a while, then decided to play aggressively. He ran the bushwhackers to a screening position in front of the Titans and Burrowers. Then the Earthborn advanced, and used Transmute on the Mountain King to give it various buffs based on the terrain it was near - including the forest it was in for +2 Spd. The Mountain King ran to just behind the Bushwhackers, pretty well screened from a Titan charge.
Janissa walked up, and popped a Wall out in front of Calandra and the Earthborn, and in plenty of range to give the Earthborn and Mountain King +2 Arm.
A gutsy move by Caleb, but if I couldn't get a Titan or two onto the Mountain King, it would cause me a *lot* of trouble, and possibly kick me out of the zone, especially backed up by the Earthborn like it was.
Turn 3, Skorne
Xerxis leached his Fury, and upkept Ignite. I was pretty sure I could get the Bronzeback onto the Mountain King, so that was the plan for this turn.
Xerxis went first, Feated (all models are in his CTRL, and friendly models roll an additional die on attack and damage roll, and discard one of my choice), then healed the Bronzeback's Spirit. He cast Lightning Strike on himself for free, and, after some incredibly embarrassing rolls, he managed to kill the two Burrowers engaging him, and cruise around my objective to get some distance from the Earthborn and Mountain King.
The Venator Rievers went, and killed off a couple of screening Pyg Bushwhackers. The Paingivers Enraged the Bronzeback and the Gladiator.
The Willbreaker went next, and used Ancillary Attack on the Cannoneer, who killed a couple of Digmies with the blast, mostly freeing up the Bronzeback. The Cannoneer then advanced, and killed a couple Bushwhackers in melee, then the Gladiator. The Gladiator Trampled over some Burrowers to ensure none could take Free Strikes against the Bronzeback, and bought some attacks against the Mountain King. Bad idea. The King popped out some Whelps in the Bronzeback's charge lane.
Bummer. The Bronzeback went next, put Train Wreck on itself, and sqandered 2 attacks (one potential bought attack to cast Train Wreck, and one of its Initials) to get into melee with the Mountain King. The Bronzeback came up short by 6 hit points, but did light the Gargantuan on fire. Unfortunately, it was surrounded by Whelps it could use to heal itself back up.
The Archidon killed one of the Burrowers it was in combat with, and they fled.
Luckily for me, I don't think the Mountain King can take all three of my heavies next turn. Unluckily, my Bronzeback, and maybe Gladiator, are toast.
Turn 3, Trollbloods.
The Fire on the Mountain King didn't go out, and it took 2 more damage.
The Mountain King activated, and hoovered up all the Whelps it had spawned, healing back up to a respectable 20 or so boxes. It started swinging on the Bronzeback, but thanks to Mat 5, it took all of its Fury plus several rerolls from Calandra to finish the mighty Titan.
The Rune Bearer tried to Befuddle the Gladiator, but missed. The Earthborn put Transmute on the Mountain King again, and advanced toward the Gladiator, but was just out of range. Calandra retreated a bit, cast Bullet Dodger on herself, and camped 1 or 2.
The Kriel Stone walked up and did its thing. The Burrowers didn't rally, and the Bushwhackers dinged up the Cannoneer a little with their remaining guns. Janissa finished up by plunking a wall in front of Calandra within 2" of the Mountain King and Earthborn.
Caleb needed to swing things his way this turn, but didn't quite do enough. On the other hand, if I couldn't finish off the Mountain King, he'd get another chance next turn.
Turn 4, Skorne
No spells to upkeep. The Paingivers Enraged the Gladiator, the Cannoneer and the Archidon. The Cannoneer charged the Mountain King, and did some damage. The Gladiator finished it off. Xerxis cast Mobility, and put Ignite on the Archidon, then did a Ride By Attack on one of the Burrowers Engaging the Archidon. He killed it, zipped around to the Zone side of the table again.
The Extoller shot the Earthborn for a little damage, then the Venators unloaded into it with two big CRA's. The Archidon charged it, chewed away about half its health, and crit-pitched it into Calandra.
Caleb didn't see much of a way out of this pit. I had three functional heavies to his knocked down one, and two half-dead squads of Pygmy Trolls. My Venators were in a great position to threaten Calandra or just pick off his support while Xerxis and the heavies did the bulk of the work. So Caleb decided to concede.
Victory to the Skorne!
Thoughts on Epic "Rough Rhino" Xerxis
Xerxis 2 was a lot of fun for the first time out. I really need to practice with huge based models, especially Spd 9 huge based models with Cavalry rules and Sprint. Xerxis was chomping at the bit to do a little more killing, but was more or less stuck behind the objective and the heavies for most of the game. Still, he brought plenty of support to make up for it: Ignite was solid, Mobility was great, and his Feat was just what I needed to at least partially offset Star Crossed. After a couple of games, I'll probably have him better figured out.
The list was very cool, but being a point over was not. The Cannoneer was a last minute sub-in, but I really liked the support that the gun, backed up by Ancillary Attack, brought. Diminish is also a pretty good Animus for eXerxis, since he's pretty easy to get into melee with, and not quite hardy enough to take a charging heavy without some kind of boost to Arm. The Rievers were good. I really need to put them in more lists, since they add some great fire support. Eleven points is a lot for them, but they may have found their place in this list.
The Mortitheurge was also a very good investment. I totally let Beasts roam out of Xerxis' CTRL, and given how fast he is, it's a good option to have available. Between the Willbreaker, Paingivers, and a Bronzeback's Leadership ability, running some Beasts outside Xerxis' control is doable, and it lets him get around a bit more.
I'll be trying him out with various things in the coming months. I'll definitely try that Throw spam I talked about earlier, and at least one person has had good results out of Despoiler with him, so I'll try that soon too.
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