Battle Report: Adeptus Rahn vs. General Ossrum (35pts)

Hello again!

This is the third Battle Report in my backlog of Battle Reports, and there are two left to go.  I'll be spacing them out over the coming week so that by the time I play again, I can get back to a 1-or-2-per-week schedule.

At any rate, this game happened a few weeks a go as well, but I have pictures to help boost my accuracy.  I decided to get back into the groove with Retribution, and I'm really interested in Rahn.  Multiwound bricks are popular right now, and they're one thing he can deal with pretty well with his spell list and Feat.


I ran the 35pt version of a combined arms Rahn list I made a while ago:

Adeptus Rahn Shyeel (*6pts)
*Phoenix (10pts)
*Chimera (6pts)
*Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Dawnguard Invictors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
*Dawnguard Invictors Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
*Soulless Escort (1pt)
House Shyeel Magister (2pts)
House Shyeel Magister (2pts) - Proxied by a Strike Force Commander
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)
Arcanist (1pt)
Arcanist (1pt)

The rationale behind this list is pretty straightforward.  I like having a selection of models that are decent at shooting and in melee, and the Invictors fit that bill.  The Phoenix will give them a 'jack to flank with, as well as do some hard hitting of its own.  The Chimera would love to be a second Phoenix, but there weren't points for one, and Rahn really does like having 2 arc nodes.  The Magisters are there to drag people around, take advantage of Rahn's Feat, and add to the list's control element with slams.  The Assassins are there because Rahn loves knocking people down, and Mage Hunter Assassins will end games if they charge a Knocked Down Warcaster.

Caleb, my co-blogging arch-nemesis, is honing his skills with dwarves, and brought the following list:

General Ossrum (*5pts) - State of War Tier 4
*Wroughthammer Rockram (8pts)
*Grundback Blaster (3pts)
*Grundback Blaster (3pts)
Hammerfall Highshield Gun Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Hammerfall Highshield Gun Corps Officer and Standard Bearer (3pts)
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Lord Rockbottom (2pts)
Thor Steinhammer (2pts)

The Tier 4 bonuses for Ossrum are 1 - a unit in the list gains Advance Deploy, 2 - place one Trench template up to 20" into the table for every two units in the list, 3 - friendly models/units can begin the game with Ossrum's upkeep spells on them, and 4 - Warjacks in Ossrum's battlegroup gain +2 Spd on the first turn of the game.  This list has a strong mix of shooting and melee, and cracks armor quite well.  Ossrum goes a long way toward countering its biggest weakness, its low speed, with his spells and Feat.


Scenario and Deployment

We set up Outflank, a pretty basic scenario.  There are two big circular zones 8" apart.  Controlling a zone is worth 1 point, and Dominating a zone is worth 2 points.

Caleb won the roll-off, and decided to go first.  I picked the table edge with a forest in the middle to hide Rahn from all of Caleb's shooting, and a couple of walls to lurk behind with my infantry and solos.

Caleb deployed his Trench template in his AD area in the middle to stick one unit into it, then started with his regular deployment.  The Forge Guard went in front of the left zone (from my perspective).  Ossrum, the Rockram, and one of the Blasters deployed in the middle along with Thor, Rockbottom, and Herne and Jonne.  The other Blaster deployed behind the Trench template.  Caleb chose to Advance Deploy the Gun Corps.

I countered by putting Rahn behind a forest, with the Invictors opposite the Forgeguard.  I put the Magisters and the Phoenix in front of the other zone to hold it if Caleb put the Gun Corps on the right, and claim it if he didn't.  The Chimera deployed on the left flank to support the Invictors, and the Arcanists deployed with their 'jacks.

Caleb did indeed place his Gun Corps in and around the Trench (a maybe-not-quite-to-size rectangle torn out of a paper).  I deployed the Mage Hunter Assassins on the far left flank.  I'm not usually a fan of wide flanking maneuvers like this, but I decided to try it anyway.  I'd seen it pay off a couple of times before.  A few dangerous models getting into the support line can wreak havoc on an army, and might be able to salvage my chances if Rahn's magic couldn't keep the generally cheaper and better armored dwarves under control.  Also, a single MHA is very much able to one-shot a Warcaster, and Caleb would have to split his attention if it looked like I was about to try it.

The MHA's are sneaking around near the house.

That was deployment.  Caleb chose to start with Fire for Effect on Herne and Jonne, and Snipe on the Gun Corps.


Turn 1, Mercenaries

Ossrum allocated one Focus to each 'jack.

The Gun Corps advanced in Shield Wall to help them out against any shooting my side mustered.  The Forge Guard ran in 3-dwarf Defensive Line pods for the same reason.

Ossrum laid down some extra extra movement for his battlegroup with Energizer, and advanced a little further.  Ossrum's 'jacks ran.  One Blaster ran up toward the white zone, while the other went up the middle.  Both ended up a bit ahead of the Gun Corps.  The Rockram ended up just behind the Gun Corps.

Herne and Jonne, Thor, and Rockbottom all ran up behind the Gun Corps.

A pretty standard turn of advancing for State of War.  Caleb has kept his troops in a close formation, which might be good or bad against my list.  On the plus side, nothing was that likely to be pulled beyond the range of supporting models at this point.  On the other hand, if Rahn could get range for some slams, I'd really be able to disrupt the Rhulic line.


Turn 1, Retribution

Rahn allocated no Focus, but the Chimera did Apparate forward 2 inches.

The two Arcanists advanced, and gave their respective 'jacks a Focus each.  The 'jacks, in turn, ran.  The Phoenix put itself in the middle to respond to whatever the Mercs did, while the Chimera dashed into the blue zone, as close to the lead dwarves as possible.

The Invictors ran to behind a low wall, as did the two Magisters.  The Mage Hunter Assassins dashed up around the house to nip around the flank on the next turn.

Sylys advanced, and used Arcane Secrets on Rahn to give him better accuracy on his magic attacks this turn.  Rahn advanced to just behind the forest, and cast Force Hammer through the Chimera at the lead Blaster, hoping to slam it through the Gun Corps behind it.  It only went one inch though, and the boosted Pow 12 didn't hurt it too badly.  He also cast Force Field (an absolute must - Fire For Effect boosts all of Herne and Jonne's damage rolls on their Scattershot *Attack, and choosing where those shots scatter would save a lot of elves).

I'd put myself in a decent position, but Caleb's cagey advance meant I hadn't been able to apply control early like I'd wanted to.


Turn 2, Mercenaries

Ossrum upkept his spells, and allocated one Focus to each Blaster.  The central Blaster spent one of its Focus to stand up.

Ossrum cast Energiser for 1 Focus to give the Blasters a little more range, and used his Feat to give everything in his CTRL +2Spd and Arm, as well as Pathfinder.  He also spent two Focus on Energizer to get the right Blaster into position.  Finally, he advanced to just behind Caleb's wall.

The Gun Corps advanced in Shield Wall, and used their mini-Feat to gain extra shots with their Carbines.  They focused fire on the two arc nodes, depleting the Phoenixes Force Field (though the Generator was still fine), and half-wrecking the Chimera (and taking out its Arc Node and Generator in the process).

Herne and Jonne advanced, but were out of range of anything for their Scattershot, and with me choosing the deviation directions, Caleb chose not to shoot.

The right Blaster advanced toward the Magisters behind the wall, and sprayed.  It spent its Focus to boost both its attack and damage rolls for the attack, but the Magisters were just far enough apart that only one died.

The Forgeguard ran to engage the Chimera.  The central Blaster got behind the wall to support the melee dwarves in the next turn.  The Rockram also advanced to flank the wall.

No scoring yet, but Caleb was in a very dominant position.  The 'jacks and Gun Corps were putting serious pressure on the white zone, while the Forge Guard would outclass the Invictors completely in melee.  More to the point, it would be very hard for me to score a significant number of kills this turn due to the universally high Arm of Caleb's list.  There was just one sure way out of this pickle jar: kill Ossrum immediately!


Turn 2, Retribution

Rahn dropped Force Field, and Allocated no Focus.

The Phoenixes Arcanist gave it a Focus with Power Booster.  It advanced, and used that Focus to kill one of the Gun Corps in front of the wall area.  It was now well within range of Ossrum, and unengaged.

Sylys gave Rahn some Arcane Secrets to hit Ossrum better with.

Then Rahn activated.  He popped his Feat, giving friendly Faction models in his CTRL boosted attack and damage rolls with magic attacks, and +2 range on all non-channeled spells.  Then he cast Telekinesis at Ossrum.  Even at Def 17 for being behind a wall, Ossrum was hit (4 dice drop the lowest at Focus 8 is pretty darn accurate).  Rahn placed Ossrum just on the other side of the wall, facing away from my army, then cast Force Hammer.  He hit, and Slammed the sturdy dwarf into the wall for respectable damage.  He also knocked Ossrum down.

This made the Rhulic warcaster an easy target for the Magister, who pulled him onto a hill (and did a little more damage) with Force Bolt.  And that in turn made him visible to all the Invictors, who used Extend Fire to gain +4 inches of range, and put him down with a volley of CRA's.

Victory to the Retribution!


Thoughts

Caleb really had me on the ropes after his second turn.  I would have been very difficult for me to deal with his high-Arm infantry and Blasters given my positioning.  I had overextended the Chimera a bit to get that first Force Hammer off.  If I'd slammed the Blaster 3" or further, I would have survived the counterattack a lot better, but as it is, I ended up sacrificing the Chimera's arc-node for a minor inconvenience to a 3pt 'jack.  I also wasn't a fan of the flanking maneuver with the MHA's.  I can see the potential, but it would have been a lot better to have them available on me second turn, possibly holding down the right flank with the Magisters.

The list seems like a lot of fun, and I do really like Rahn's ability to control the table with Telekinesis and Force Hammer.  I'm not 100% sold on Invictors instead of a melee unit like Sentinels or Halberdiers.  I do like the guns, but I might really want some Reach infantry in the list.  I'm still looking forward to picking up some Little Kittens Wearing Mittens for the list.  Rahn's Feat is great on them of course, and MaxterMynd's Force Wall reports have sold me on them as decent melee infantry as well.

Caleb played a very solid game, and only made one real mistake: he put Ossrum base to base with a wall.  Against TK 'casters, you really need to put your own 'casters 1" behind the wall.  They'll still get cover, but there's no way to set them up for a slam and drag like Rahn can (or the various ways eKrueger, eHaley, and Scaverous can finish off a caster).  Otherwise, Caleb's advance was very solid.  The Gun Corps worked well for him, taking out one of my Arc Nodes, and putting some damage on the Phoenix while staying very hard to hurt.  It didn't end up mattering this time, but I would put the Trench template a little further forward.  This list gets out of its AD zone pretty fast, and I can see having the Trench a little further forward, in front of a zone, for example, as a nice benefit.

Caleb's list seems very solid.  It has tools against high-Arm and spread out infantry.  It can apply some attrition pressure early with Sniped AD Gun Corps, and Ossrum's ability to speed up his army and swap spells make it easy to get that kind of work out of most of the ranged units.  I don't know that Thor is necessary, although I suppose I never got to see the Rockram in action.  I can certainly see how having tuned up rolls would make it even killier, especially given its two Crit effects.

That's it for this report.  There are two more coming up, and by the end of the month, I should be caught up on reports.

Thanks for reading!