NFL League Game 8: Wild Cards! (Retribution vs. Mercenaries?)

Hello again!  After another long hiatus during which stuff happened, but none of that stuff was league games, I'm back with game 8 in the season.  It was set to be a match of Skorne vs. Circle Orboros against my co-blogger and eternal foe Caleb.  We decided to spice things up a little bit, however, and played our Wild Cards for the season.   

This is an option I didn't talk about at the beginning of the summer.  Essentially, for one game, we can switch Factions, and play something different.  Since Caleb and I play each other so often, we both decided to switch things up for a game.



Pre-Game Thoughts

I rolled out my second faction, the Retribution of Scyrah, picking the Warcaster I own who I have the most experience with, Ossyan, and the one I have the least I have the least with, Rahn.

Lord Arcanist Ossyan (*6pts)
*Banshee (10pts)
Dawnguard Invictors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (7pts)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Mage Hunter Strike Force (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Strike Force Commander (2pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt (4pts)
Arcanist (1pt)

Most of this list is pretty standard for Ossyan.  A lot of powerful shooting, and a fast screening unit to make sure they don't get jammed up.  The Banshee helps out with knockdown, and Aiyanna and Holt help out with breaking armor and targeting things that need to be targeted by magic attacks.

Adeptis Rahn (*6pts)
*Phoenix (10pts)
*Chimera (6pts)
*Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
House Shyeel Battle Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
House Shyeel Magister (2pts)
House Shyeel Magister (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)
Arcanist (1pt)

This seems like a solid Rahn list.  There are lots of movement shenanigans between Rahn's spells and Force Bolt, and some hard hitting attacks to take advantage of models pulled out of position and/or knocked down.  I've never played this list before, but it seems pretty good, and Rahn has been fun when I've played him.


Caleb had picked up a shiny new passel of Dwarves, and was itching to try out some Searforge.  He only had one 'caster: Ossrum, and went with Ossrum's Tier list.

General Ossrum (*5pts) - State of War Tier 4
*Ghordson Earthbreaker (19pts)
*Ghordson Driller (6pts)
*Grundback Blaster (3pts)
Hammerfall Highshield Gun Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (3pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Herne and Jonne (3pts)
Ogrun Bokur (Client: Ossrum) (3pts)
Thor Steinhammer (2pts)

Ossrum with the dreaded Earthbreaker, as well as some quality Dwarf infantry.  The Tier benefits mean that one unit will start with Advance Deploy, Caleb can place a Trench template within 20" of the back of his table edge, Ossrum can start with his upkeep spells in play, and warjacks in Ossrum's battlegroup gain +2 Spd on the first turn.  I've never faced Ossrum or the Earthbreaker before, but Ossrum is a very good support 'caster, and the Earthbreaker is terrifying.


Scenario, List Selection, and Deployment

We rolled up Process of Elimination.  There are two 12x6 inch zones, placed 8" apart in the center of the table.  Each zone holds an objective, which counts as an enemy model to both players.  Destroying an objective is worth one point, controlling a zone is worth one point, and dominating a zone is worth 2 points.  Only one objective can be damaged per turn, and Killbox is in effect.

Caleb only had one 'caster, so there wasn't much drama to picking our matchups.  I went with Ossyan, because he had a better chance against that Earthbreaker than Rahn (and also, I'd have to proxy the Battle Mages).

Caleb won the roll-off, and chose to go first.  I picked the side of the table that had a conveniently placed wall just a hair inside one of the zones (the right one from my perspective).

Caleb placed his trench on the right side of the table, and the Earthbreaker in a forest in front of the left zone.  Then he placed the Forge Guard and Herne and Jonne in the center behind another low wall along with Ossrum and his Bokur.  The Driller went near the Earthbreaker, as did Thor, and the Blaster went to the right of the Forge Guard.  The Highshields were advance deploying.

I put the Invictors in the center left, and the Halberdiers in the center right, with Ossyan, the Banshee, and the Arcanist between them.  I split up the Stormfalls: one unit joined Ossyan in the center, while the other went on the far right next to the Halberdiers.  Aiyanna and Holt deployed opposite the Earthbreaker.  Apologies for the sea of pewter and gray.  I'll get around to painting my Ret one of these days, I swear...

The Highshields Advance Deployed on the right, and the Mage Hunters went on the left, opposite the Earthbreaker, and we were ready to begin.  Ossrum started with Snipe on the Highshields, Fire for Effect on Herne and Jonne, and Bullet Dodger on himself.

Turn 1, Mercenaries

Ossrum allocated one Focus to each 'jack, then everything ran.  Except Ossrum.  He cast Energizer so his 'jacks could get a little more speed out of the deal.  I didn't expect a Dwarf list to be hurtling upfield on turn 1, but apparently, Ossrum can do it.

Caleb is spreading out, and getting in position for the fireworks to start on turn 2, remarkably similar to what I'd be doing if I'd gone first.


Turn 1, Retribution

Ossyan allocated no Focus, because Arcanists.

The Arcanist walked forward, and gave a Focus to the Banshee.  I seriously debated Feating this turn, and going after the Earthbreaker, but by my estimation, it was just too far away for most of my troops to hit it.  So I did a lot of running.  The Mage Hunters spread out a bit, and shot the Earthbreaker for a little damage, while Aiyanna and Holt spread out behind them.  The Invictors clumped up in Defensive Line on a low hill, and the Banshee ran up just ahead of them.  The right unit of Stormfalls advanced and shot some Snipe arrows at the Highshields, killing 2.  The center-left unit repositioned to the center-right.

Ossyan cast Quicken on the Halberdiers.  I debated casting more spells, but opted to camp 5 in case Caleb tried any funny business with the Earthbreaker.  Ossyan then advanced to just behind the Invictors, and I was done.

I was pretty well set up, but quite nervous about the amount of shooting coming my way.  If I took too much damage, I wouldn't have enough resources left to crack the Earthbreaker, so it would be a race to assassinate Caleb before he assassinated me or won on scenario.


Turn 2, Mercenaries

Ossrum allocated two Focus to the Earthbreaker, and upkept Snipe and Fire for Effect.

The Highshields started things off.  They popped their mini-Feat, and received the Shield Wall order, then half of them moved Base to Base while half of the aimed, and they took a bunch of CRA's at the Halberdiers.  Overall, they managed to kill 6, including the Officer, but the Halbs passed their Command check.

Then Ossrum went, popped his Feat to give everyone +2 Arm and Spd, and Pathfinder, and cast Snipe onto the Earthbreaker.  Then he moved up beside the wall on Caleb's table side, getting up far enough not to killbox himself.

Herne and Jonne moved up to block LoS to Ossrum, and Jonne unloaded a shot at the Banshee.  He hit, and did a little damage, and the scattering blasts killed two more Invictors, and one more Halberdier.  Fire for Effect is mean on those two.  The Forge Guard ran forward to threaten my shooting.  The Driller and Blaster power-walked up on the left and right sides of the table respectively.  Thor advanced, and Tuned up the Earthbreaker,choosing to boost its damage rolls.

Then the Earthbreaker itself aimed, and started shooting.  It killed another Halberdier and another Invictor with its cannons, while its torpedoes killed a couple of MHSF, and a final Halberdier.  It had no direct hits, so no one was knocked down.

The Bokur went last, and ran up to within 2" of Ossrum and Jonne.

Caleb has done some damage, but I've largely weathered the storm.  I'll need to make this turn count for a lot though, because I cannot go on absorbing losses like that.


Turn 2, Retribution

I had a choice to make, and apparently a new set of go-for-the-kill instinct kick in when I play Retribution, because I would definitely see this as an attrition turn in Skorne.  Anyway, I decided to go for the kill.  Ossyan dropped Quicken, and allocated no Focus.

Ossyan went first.  This was a Feat turn no matter how it went down.  He cast Quicken on himself, and advanced 8 inches, enough to catch Ossrum in his CTRL.  Then he Feated to add a die to all ranged attack damage rolls by friendly Ret models on models in his CTRL.  I forgot to use his gun, but I didn't forget to camp 5, because he was definitely in the Earthbreaker's zone of pain now.

Then I advanced the Invictors, popped their mini-Feat to give them +4" of range, and shot at the Bokur.  It took all the remaining ones - 3 CRA's worth - to kill the Bokur, but now I had a real shot at killing Ossrum.  The Arcanist used Power Booster to give the Banshee a Focus, and the Banshee took a boosted shot at Jonne, slamming him over Ossrum and Herne, and killing both Herne and Jonne in the process.

Ossrum was down.  Time to try to finish this.  Aiyanna and Holt advanced.  Aiyanna cast Kiss of Lylyss on the Forge Guard to drop their Arm, and Holt tried to kill the ones blocking LoS to Ossrum for my Stormfalls.  He was out of range of the first one, and settled for killing a nearer one.  Then the two surviving Halbs charged in, and killed two more Forge Guard.

Now it was down to the Stormfalls.  I moved the first unit up, and tried for a Brutal Damage shot, but was just out of range.  The other three Sniped, and put a respectable amount of damage on Ossrum.  The second unit of Stormfalls moved up.  Even with Snipe, two of them were out of range.  But the two in range did enough damage to finish off the hardy dwarf.

Victory to the Retribution!


Post-Game Thoughts

Retribution is fun, and it's great to plop them down on the table again.  They have a very different approach than Skorne, and are always an invigorating change of pace.  I still have a lot to learn about them, though.  This time around, I think my positioning was off.  The Stormfalls should have deployed together opposite the Earthbreaker to help the MHSF try to take it out.  They ended up together after my first turn, but they were out of position to attack the Colossal, and that was part of the reason I felt pushed into an assassination run.

The run ended up going through for me, and I still had the Mage Hunters even if the Stormfalls hadn't finished it, but it ended up being a lot closer than I thought.  I also don't like to rely on assassination when it's not a sure thing.  Still, I remembered every step in order (kill Bokur, slam Jonne, clear LoS, shoot all pointy objects at Ossrum), so I executed it as well as I could have.  Still, if I hadn't killed one of those two Forge Guard, I'd have had to rely on the Pow 10's of whatever Mage Hunters could get in range.  Not at all guaranteed against an Arm 19 Ossrum.

Caleb's first foray into Mercs went pretty well for him.  He said after the game that he probably should have focused on the Stormfalls with his Highshield Gun Corps on his second turn, and he was right.  The Stormfalls are one of the core units in the list's firebase, and have better range and more flexibility than the Invictors, and a lot more hitting power than the Mage Hunters.  It certainly would have stopped Ossrum from being assassinated on my second turn, but leaving the Halbs mostly intact would have given me different options for attrition.  Certainly better for Caleb the way things turned out though.

Caleb's list looks good.  I'm not sure if there's anything I'd change, since I don't know the Rhulic options all that well.  I might try downgrading the Driller to some form of gunbunny, and throwing in the Dwarf mortar.  That would give Caleb an extra Trench template to throw down, and give the Dwarves even better defensive options.

Next game is my last, since my week 10 opponent had to drop out of the league.  I'm up against the Protectorate of Menoth, and odds are, it'll be Harby.  Thanks for reading!