First Battle Report in Forever: Fist of Halaak vs Miserable Meat Mountain (35pts)

It's been, like, two months since I posted on this blog.  I haven't given it up, but I also haven't played much Warmachine recently.  I've been pretty busy with non-gaming stuff (taking classes mostly, which pushes my workday later, which really cuts into gaming time)  I did manage to play a game this past Friday against Caleb, and even though I didn't take pictures (probably for the best considering the state of my models), I'm posting the report.


I decided to try out one of the huge lists in Skorne right now, Xerxis 1's theme force, the Fist of Halaak.  Since I only have one unit each of Arcuarii and Incendiarii (for now...), I wanted to play a 35pt game.  Here's my list:

Tyrant Xerxis (*5pts) - Fist of Halaak Tier 2
*Titan Gladiator (8pts)
*Archidon (7pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (10pts)
Cataphract Arcuarii (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Cataphract Incendiarii (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer (3pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)

The Tier 1 and 2 benefits for Fist of Halaak are: Cataphract units become FA:U, and if you have 2 or more units of Cataphracts, reduce the cost of Cataphract units by 1.  Fist of Halaak is one of those rare lists that skews hard while maintaining a lot of options against almost any kind of opponent.  It runs a lot of mid-to-high armor multi-wound infantry, which means most infantry clearing tech isn't great against it.  A lot of the army shoots, which lets the Fist pick its battles and dictate positioning well.  The Incendiarii give it a decent game against infantry swarms, and it shreds heavy armor.  The list is significantly stronger at 50pts, where there are 2-3 more min units of Arcuarii and/or Incendiarii.

Caleb decided to give his Trollkin equivalent a shot, and plunked down a Miserable Mountain of Meat led by Grissel 2.

Grissel Bloodsong, Marshall of the Kriels (*6pts)
*Troll Impaler (5pts)
*Storm Troll (5pts)
Trollkin Warders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Trollkin Warders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Kriel Stone Bearer and Stone Scribes (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
*Stone Scribe Elder (1pt)
Horgle Ironstrike (3pts)
*Pyre Troll (4pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)

Meat Mountain is another skew list.  A lot of Trollblood Warlocks can run it, but the core of the list is always the same: two full units of Warders, the Kriel Stone, and at least one light beast with a damage buff Animus.  Grissel 2 runs the Mountain pretty well, since her Feat bumps the Warders' Arm up to hideous levels in melee, and she's got Dash and Inhospitable Ground to give them a little extra support.

We played no scenario because we were feeling too lazy even to set up Incursion.  I won the roll off, and decided to go first to claim some table space.  Caleb picked the table side with a wall in the middle for Grissel to hang out behind.

Deployment:

I set up the Cetrati pretty much right in the middle, with the beasts to their right, the Arcuarii to their left, and the Incindiarii behind them.  The Tyrant and Xerxis went behind the Cetrati with the Incindiarii, and the Paingivers went behind the beasts.

Caleb put one unit of Warders in the center-left, and the other in the center-right.  Grissel, the Impaler, and the Storm Troll went in the middle, while Horgle and the Pyre Troll went on the left (from my perspective) to support the left unit of Warders.  The Fell Caller and Kriel Stone unit went behind Grissel in the middle.


Turn 1, Skorne

I ran everything except Xerxis, who walked up with Press Forward, and put Defender's Ward on the Cetrati.


Turn 1, Trollbloods

Caleb walked the Impaler up, and had it put Far Strike on Grissel, who cast Dash, put 4 Fury on the Kriel Stone, and tried to scatter a little damage onto my Cetrati with a shot (but it scattered wide).  Both units of Warders ran, and the Stone put up its Warding Aura with "no continuous effects," and ran to catch most of the Warders in the Aura.  Horgle put Hot Shot on the Pyre, and both of them ran.  The Storm Troll and Fell Caller just ran up with everyone else.


Turn 2, Skorne

I decided to get fancy, and pick off a couple of Warders.  The Arcuarii walked up to drag the left Warder leader.  They hit it with a 3-strong CRA, dragged it in, and disabled it, but it Toughed.  The Tyrant Commander gave the Cetrati Press Forward, and tried to get a swing in on the Warder the Arcuarii had dragged in, but couldn't quite get the range.  The Cetrati advanced in Shield Wall, and tried to finish off that Warder, but it Toughed again.  Sad Trombone sounds.

Xerxis advanced, and Feated defensively.  I know the Meat Mountain skews armor, but Xerxis and Cataphracts can crack it even without the Feat's damage buff.  I was thinking that Warders will likely have a tougher time wading through Cetrati than the Cataphract brick would have getting through the Warders.  That +2 Arm from Xerxis' Feat would mean that the turn of boosted damage from charging would be weathered as well as possible, while I'd still have all the tools I needed to deal with Caleb's brick.

Xerxis also cast Fury on the Archidon as part 2 of my cunning plan to get rid of some Warders.  The Gladiator Rushed the Archidon, and ambled forward.  The Paingivers took the Gladiator's Fury away with Condition, and Enraged the Archidon.  The Archidon charged a lead Warder on the right, cast Lightning Strike on itself to let it Sprint away if it killed the Warder, and boosted its charge attack roll.  It missed.  I bought a second attack, which also missed.  More Sad Trombone.

The Incendiarii put some damage on another Warder with a CRA.

My position was not great, but not terrible.  I'd really wanted to kill those two Warders, and get an attrition advantage before the main slog, but I was basically in the defensive position I wanted to be in.  Except of course for the poor Archidon.  Who was going to die.


Turn 2, Trollbloods

 Grissel and Horgle leached their Fury.  Horgle upkept Hot Shot.

Grissel activated early, stayed behind the wall, and cast Dash again.  She also fired a Crescendo shot at my Cetrati.  She didn't damage the two she hit, but any who entered the AoE or ended their activations there would suffer a Pow 12 hit.  Grissel put some more Fury onto the Kriel Stone to top it off, and camped 2.  Finally, she popped her Feat to give her army Hyper Aggressive and Unyielding. 

The Impaler walked a bit to the left, and used Far Strike on the Pyre Troll.  Horgle cast Flaming Fists on one of the left Warders.  The Pyre Troll advanced, cast Flaming Fist on another, and boosted a shot at one of the Arcuarii.  It hit, and set 2 Arcuarii, a Cetratus, and the Tyrant Commander on fire (along with minor damage to the Arcuarius).  The Fell Caller advanced, and gave the left Warders

The The Warders on the left charged, 3 against the Cetrati, and one against the Arcuarii.  They did some minor damage to two Cetrati, and reduced one of the Arcuarii to a single hit box.  The right Warders layed into the Archidon, and killed it.

The Stone advanced, and used the "no continuous effects" Aura.

Losing the Archidon put me in a bit of a pickle, especially since it hadn't killed anything.  On the other hand, it had tied up the right unit of Warders for a turn, meaning Caleb was engaging my army in waves rather than all at once.  Hopefully, I'd be able to concentrate my forces on the Warders jamming my brick, and then deal with the other unit in a turn or two.


Turn 3, Skorne

Some fire went out.  The rest of the fire didn't cause any damage.  Horay!  Xerxis upkept Defender's Ward.

The Cetrati went into Shield Wall, advanced as far as they could with the Warders in their faces, and did a 6-strong CMA on one Warder, reducing it to 1 hit box.  Xerxis charged in, and smashed another Warder out of the way with a Combo Smite, killing it.

The Tyrant Commander gave the Arcuarii Pathfinder with Overcome, and finished off the Warder who had toughed so much last turn.  The Arcuarii charged, and killed two more Warders, leaving just one wounded one from the left unit.  The Incendiarii did a CRA on one of the Warders from the right unit, and did some damage.

Three of the Paingivers ran up to jam the right Warders a bit, while the last one stayed near the Gladiator.  The Gladiator snuffled around, and Riled up a bit.

A good turn for me.  Killing most of the left Warders was good, and the Paingivers would cause a few activation order issues for Caleb before he could get the right Warders into my brick.  The Cetrati were doing fine, and the two other Cataphract units were still up.  Caleb still had pieces to threaten me, most notably the light beasts, but he was pretty well on the defensive now.


Turn 3, Trollbloods

Grissel and Horgle leached their Fury, and Horgle upkept Hotshot.

Grissel aimed, and spray-yelled at the Paingivers jamming the Warders, killing one.  She also cast Dash, and camped 2.  The Fell Caller advanced, used War Cry to give the right Warders +2 to melee attacks, and sprayed the Cetrati for no effect.

Horgle put Flame Fist on the Storm Troll to give it +2 to melee damage rolls, and camped one.  The Impaler shot at a Cetratus, but missed, and cast Far Strike on the Pyre Troll again.  The Pyre Troll aimed, and shot an Arcuarius.  It killed the one it hit directly, and set two others on fire.  It Riled a little as well.

The Storm Troll charged the Cetrati, but had a lot of trouble hitting Def 14, and didn't do much.  4 of the 5 Warders walked into the Cetrati (not having LoS to charge since they'd been facing the Archidon).  They had trouble getting damage through on Arm 22, and didn't do much.  The last one wiggled around a bit, and missed the Paingiver engaging it.  The remaining left Warder also attacked a Cetratus, and also didn't do much.

The Stone put up its Aura, catching the whole army this time, and used the "no continuous effects" option again.

Caleb was in some trouble.  I had charge lanes into his back lines now, and a good opportunity to remove the Storm Troll and most of the Warders.


Turn 4, Skorne

All the fire on my side went out, except on one Cetratus, who took no damage, and one Arcuarius, who died.  Xerxis Leached from the Gladiator, and upkept Defender's Ward and Fury.

The Tyrant Commander gave the two remaining Arcuarii Pathfinder with Overcome, and charged the last of the left Warders, finishing it off.  Xerxis gave himself Press Forward, advanced, and Combo Smited one of the right Warders into the Fell Caller (the Warder Toughed).  The Cetrati advanced back in front of Xerxis, and took out the Storm Troll.  The Gladiator (who was Enraged) slammed and killed one of the right Warders, and knocked down another.

The Incendiarii tried to finish off the Fell Caller, but he Toughed.  The Arcuarii charged Horgle, and killed him, making the Pyre Troll wild, and engaging the Impaler.

Now Caleb was really on the back foot.  The Warders were starting to fall, and the four remaining ones were not enough to stop my mostly intact army from finishing them off, and carrying right on into Grissel.  Caleb's only remaining option was an all-or-nothing assassination run on Xerxis, mostly full and camping 2 Fury.


Turn 4, Trollbloods

Caleb spent a while thinking through the labyrinthine activation order that would get Grissel to Xerxis with attacks to spare.

The Warders advanced to make room, and made a couple attacks against the Cetrati, although their hearts weren't really in it.  The Fell Caller forfeited his move to stand, and killed the Arcuarius engaging the Impaler with a spray.  He also gave Grissel Pathfinder with Overcome.  The Impaler aimed, and boosted a shot into one of the Cetrati screening Xerxis, hoping for a Crit Smite.  It nailed it with two 6's and a 4, and knocked both Xerxis and the Cetratus down.  As a final setup, the Kriel Stone advanced, and put up the +1 Str Aura.

Then Grissel cast Dash, hopped the wall, and charged right into Xerxis.  Unfortunately for her, Xerxis is made of pretty stern stuff, and her damage rolls were not up to the task of killing him, even with automatic hits.

With Grissel looking at a very probable death next turn, Caleb conceded the game.

Victory to the Skorne!


Thoughts

I played an ok game, although I made some mistakes.  I threw away the Archidon on turn 2.  Jamming with it wouldn't necessarily have been a bad thing, but it sure didn't need Fury to get work done, and being Def 14 is a pretty big upgrade for a heavy.  It may well have lived through the Warders with that one extra point of Def.  I also made the mistake of spreading damage around on the Warders on turns 2 and 3.  I wouldn't have been hit as hard in return if I'd just focused my attacks on one unit, and let the other stay at Pow 10.

Fist of Halaak is definitely a strong list.  I was really impressed by how huge of an impact Martial Discipline made.  I've used it before, but when you have multiple very hard hitting units including ones with ranged attacks, it's amazing.  I never felt jammed up, even though the 3 Cataphract units, Xerxis, and the Tyrant Commander were all doing stuff in the same area of the table.

Caleb was new to Meat Mountain, and definitely wasn't quite sure what to do with the Fist of Halaak.  He might have been better off if he'd held hit Warders back on the turn I'd Feated, and charged in when the Cetrati were less easy to hurt than Arm 24, and when both units of Warders could charge in, and possibly overwhelm the Cetrati.  He also should definitely have started with the plan of going around the Cetrati to get to the easier to damage Cataphracts.  If he'd focused his shooting and some Warder charges on the Arcuarii, he could have wiped them out pretty easily, and removed a major thorn in his side.

The double Warder setup was definitely rough, and most lists probably do struggle against it.  Fist of Halaak looks like it can match the Meat Mountain's grind though, and Caleb's overall lower damage output had him at a disadvantage.  He'd probably be able to close the gap a bit by adding a jamming unit at 50pts.

Thanks for reading!  I'm not sure about the schedule of upcoming reports, but I'll write them when I play the games.