Makeda and the Exalted Court vs. WOLD WAR, 50pts

Here's the second to last game in my backlog.  I played this one last Tuesday, so it's still pretty fresh in my memory.  No pictures of this one, but I'll do my best to describe what was going on.

Todd, one of the regulars at Tower, picked up Circle recently.  Specifically, he picked up Bradigus, and he's building his way toward a Tier 4 Wold War list of the kind that the Internet has warned you about.  He'd only had 3 or 4 games with it when we played, and still had to proxy some of the models (because Tower keeps running out of Woldwatchers for some inexplicable reason), but he'd already had some good results.  And that's not surprising, because Bradigus is good, and in Tier, he's very good.

UPDATE:  Todd actually took a video of this game, and said he would be fine with it if I posted it here.  It's a casual game, so it's a little long, and I do a fair amount of goofing off and fidgeting, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Since this is my first report against Bradigus, and since a lot of people are still looking for answers right now, I'm going to go a little further in depth than usual with my tactical analysis.  I'm going to take a good look at Bradigus, then at my opponent's list, and I'm going to spend more time on my in-game planning blurbs than usual.


Bradigus

At first glance, Bradigus looks like a middle-of-the-pack support Warlock.  He doesn't have the statline for melee at Mat 6 P+S 13 (even with Reach) on the offensive end, and Def 14 Arm 16 on the defensive end.  He has a good ranged weapon, Pow 13 and RoF 3, but it's only Rng 8, and with his large base, he usually wants to be a little further from the front lines than that.

He has a few significant special rules.  The Animi of Constructs in his battlegroup cost 1 less to activate, he has the ability to Repair Constructs (including non-Warbeast Constructs), and he can only take Construct warbeasts in his battlegroup.  Also, he's Steady, but that's less of an issue for him.

He has two offensive spells: Rift (a Pow 13 4" AoE which remains in play as rough terrain for a round), and Battering Ram (a Pow 12 that pushes its target 3").  At Fury 6, he's not going to do a lot of offensive spellslinging, although the existence of Woldwardens and Megalith mean these spells see a lot more play than they would on a lot of 'casters.  He's also got Mystic Wards, a potentially great disruptive spell which strips enemy upkeeps and animi from his battlegroup, and prevents casting, channeling, or upkeeping spells for enemy models within 5" of a model in his battlegroup.  Finally, he has Synergy (for every model in his battlegroup which has hit an enemy with a melee attack this turn, models in Bradigus' battlegroup gain +1 to melee attack and damage rolls), which can be absolutely brutal with a large battlegroup and the ability to get the last model or two in the Synergy chain into a good position.

Bradigus' Feat is very solid.  His battlegroup is pushed 5" toward a table edge immediately, then pushed 5" away again at the end of the turn.  This allows him to get an alpha strike in, even with the ordinarily slow Wolds he has to take, if he chooses the opponent's table edge, or lets him pull some off the wall slides if he choses one of the side table edges.

Overall, Bradigus has a lot going for him, but he doesn't look as horrifying as people have made him out to be.  After all, striking first, hitting hard, and having spell denial is nothing new for Circle.  Epic Krueger with Druids can do a lot of what Bradigus seems to do, and has a significantly better spell list for denial and control.

But that's Bradigus out of Tier.  Here's Todd's list:

Lists

Bradigus Thorle, the Runecarver (*6pts) - Tier 4 Wold War
*Wold Guardian (9pts)
*Wold Guardian (9pts)
*Wold Watcher (5pts)
*Wold Watcher (5pts)
*Wold Watcher (5pts)
*Wold Watcher (5pts)
*Wold Watcher (5pts)
*Wold Watcher (Free)
Sentry Stone and Mannikins (Leader and 3 Grunts) (3pts)
Sentry Stone and Mannikins (Leader and 3 Grunts) (3pts)
Shifting Stones (Leader and 2 Grunts) (2pts)
Shifting Stones (Leader and 2 Grunts) (2pts)
Shifting Stones (Leader and 2 Grunts) (2pts)

The Tier benefits for Wold War are:

Tier 1 - +1 FA on Shifting Stones and Sentry Stone and Mannikin units.  This is a huge benefit.  Bradigus can do triple teleports, and 9 Stones can heal and manage Fury a lot better than 6.

Tier 2 - If you include one unit of Shifting Stones, one unit can redeploy before turn 1.  I don't see this being that useful.  So much of the army starts in AD already, and there are 3 units of stones to make sure things get where they need to go.

Tier 3 - If you include a Sentry Stone and Mannikins, each Sentry Stone starts with 3 Fury.  This is a pretty big deal as well, since it means you can sacrifice your first 3 Mannikins to make forests on turn 1, and then make 3 new Mannikins to do it all over again on turn 2.  With 2 Sentry Stone units, Wold War is very hard to approach, and very hard for most factions to shoot, since there's a wall of Forest AoE's in the way at all times.

Tier 4 - If Bradigus is the only living model in the list, you get a free Wold Watcher.  This is a pretty severe restriction, but Wold Watchers are fantastic with Bradigus, and a free one puts you 5pts up at the start of the game.

The list Todd was running is probably going to be pretty standard for Bradigus in competitive play.  There's a little room to mess with which heavies to take, and how many lights, but a lot of what I'm seeing is two 9pt heavies, six Watchers, three units of little rocks, and two Sentry Stones.

It's a very strong list for a couple of reasons.  First, it has the incredible delivery that two or more turns of forest screening can give it.  It's going to be very hard to engage this list at range, especially to get rid of Shifting Stones.  That brings us to the second reason this list is so strong: the three units of Stones plus Synergy mean that Bradigus can deliver himself or a heavy at a Mat above 10 and a P+S around 20 (higher for the heavies) to a caster from more than 30" away.  That's... a lot.  Third, the list attritions really well.  Those Watchers will Stone Form every turn to be Arm 21, and with Synergy up, they and the Guardians can kill just about anything in the game.  Finally, the list has two of the more common situationally good abilities: RFP that affects living and undead, and Magic Weapons.  So incorporeal spam and recursion type armies will not have their usual tricks to play.

The list is not without its weaknesses.  It's fiddly and unforgiving, and anything that can seriously mess with its activation order can be very effective against it.  Small mistakes on the Bradigus player's part will pay off big for the opponent, and if you can force Bradigus to choose between two bad options, you can push a small advantage hard, and take away a lot of options.


My list was the Makeda 3 + Brute Squad list I've been running.  I'm practicing with it for tournaments and conventions, and Bradigus is likely to be out in force at both.

Makeda and the Exalted Court (*2pts)
*Molik Karn (11pts)
*Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
*Titan Gladiator (8pts)
*Cyclops Savage (5pts)
*Cyclops Brute (5[ts)
*Cyclops Brute (5pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)

If you've read my other reports, you've read about this list in action before.  It's a strong attrition and scenario list with a lot of potential to clear zones, move around the table quickly, and do a lot of damage to just about any list in a turn.  I'm hoping that those strengths and Makeda's hardcore non-squishiness will carry it through against Bradigus' various strengths.

My pre-game plan is pretty basic.  If there's a split scenario, I'll go hard for points, and try to force Bradigus to come at me in waves.  The more Wolds I can break, the less chance Bradigus has of damaging any of my beasts or Makeda.  And I'll have a better chance to keep Makeda safe from assassination, and scoring points until I win or an opening on Bradigus appears.  In a center scenario, I'll have to be a heck of a lot cagier.  I have to get my jam into Bradigus well enough to disrupt his ability to block LoS and teleport, and then try to execute a debilitating turn of heavy damage to stop Synergy from overwhelming my low-model-count list.

Either way, breaking the Shifting Stones is going to be absolutely crucial.  I need to sneak a Rushed Cyclops (probably walking) up to at least one stone, and smash it before the lines clash.  If I can do it twice, so much the better.  Then I can start a hit-and-trading game without worrying about teleportation as an assassination or attrition tool.

Those are my thoughts on Bradigus and how I'm going to approach him anyhow.  We'll see how they stack up on the tabletop.


Scenario and Deployment

We rolled up Supply and Demand, a center scenario, and a killbox scenario.  There's a 12" circular zone in the middle of the table, and two objectives on opposite corners, just outside the objective.  If a Warcaster/Warlock has the enemy objective in their CTRL, they cannot dominate the zone.  Otherwise, it's 1 point for controlling the zone or destroying the enemy objective, or 2 points for dominating the zone.

I wasn't thrilled about having a center scenario, as that gives Bradigus the best angles on my army, and doesn't let Makeda play her best scenario game, but those are the breaks.

Todd won the roll-off, and decided to go first.  I chose the table edge with a hill, a wall, and a little more open space to attack from.  The other side of the table had a couple of forests that Todd could have used to hem me in if I had gone with it.

Todd deployed Bradigus in the middle of his deployment zone, and a Wold Guardian on either side.  The rest of the list was AD.

I deployed in my standard formation, since I had nothing to react to: Makeda in the middle, with the Krea and Gladiator.  The Brutes deployed just outside them.  Molik deployed on my right flank in front of the wall, and the Bronzeback and Savage deployed on the left near the Gladiator.  The Paingivers huddled up to the Beasts to Condition Fury off on turn 1, and the Agonizer went behind the center of my list, ready to help me survive the Synergy chain.

Todd deployed the AD portion of his list.  The Stones went down first in three lines, one behind the other, spread out so that anything in the army could enter their areas for teleportation.  The six Wold Watchers spread out, four within the stone triangles, and the other two on the flanks.  The Sentry Stones and Mannikins deployed in the middle where they could move up and generate forests.

And with that, we began.


Turn 1, Circle Orboros

The front unit of Shifting Stones shifted forward its full 8 inches.  The other two units slid into position behind the first, ready to leapfrog Bradigus or one of the Wold Guardians into my lines.  The six Wold Watchers advanced, used Stone Form to boost their Armor, and used their Animi to be immune to Pushes and Slams.

The Sentry Stones shifted forward, and the Mannikins ran into place in front of the stones, but didn't create forests since there wasn't any shooting on my side of the table.

The two Wold Guardians ran to get into the rearmost Stone triangle.  Bradigus cast Synergy, and advanced into the triangle himself, and with that, Todd's turn was done.

Thoughts

This seems like a pretty typical opening turn for Bradigus, except that against a shootier opponent, Todd would probably have held that front unit of stones back a bit so he could screen it with forests.  The front Shifting Stones were about a quarter of the way into the zone, and his potential threat range was well on the other side of it with teleportation.

In short, Todd was quite well set up against me.  On his second turn, he could push the line of engagement further forward, or wait for me to come to him.


Turn 1, Skorne

I wanted to set my leading light beasts up within 10" of those lead shifting stones, since that was the range a Rushed Cyclops could threaten on a walk.  I also wanted a decent defense against shooting, and a good core of protection for Makeda.  Finally, I needed everything to be further than 8.5 inches from the leading Wold Watchers, and my heavies further than 10.5 inches from the lead Shifting Stones.

On to the turn.

The Krea used Paralytic Aura, and charged forward, getting just into the zone.  The Brutes ran to get just barely ahead of her, and a bit to the sides.  The Savage ran up next to the Brutes.

The Gladiator Rushed the Bronzeback, and Trampled up.  The Bronzeback ran forward to just ahead of the Gladiator.  Molik advanced, and used Fate Walker.

Makeda put 5 Fury on the Agonizer, and gave her unit a Run order.  I wanted the Agonizer's Gnawing Pain aura up starting on turn 1, and I wanted at least one transfer on Makeda.  Makeda and the Court ran, putting themselves around the Krea: Makeda about an inch behind, and the Exalted Guardians about an inch to either side, a bit behind the Brutes.  I fondly think of this formation as Makeda's Bunker, although the Agonizer is usually the one who hangs out in it the most.

Speaking of the Agonizer, I had it use Gnawing Pain, and run up next to Makeda.  Now my front line would be extra annoying to remove.  The Paingivers activated last, and used Condition on the Krea, Gladiator, and Molik, bringing me down to 5 Fury on the table.  Last of all, Molik took his Fate Walker move to nip into the side of the Bunker a bit back from the front, a little short of where the Bronzeback was, but on the other side.

All in all, mischief managed.

Thoughts

Now to explain my fiddly positioning a little more.  I really couldn't avoid Bradigus' threat range, but I could make it difficult for him to take advantage of Synergy.  The Wold Watchers were out of charge range of my lights, meaning they'd have to either teleport or benefit from Bradigus' Feat to reach me (necessary to build up the Synergy chain).  Either way, Bradigus couldn't assassinate Makeda.  Putting Molik and the Bronzeback outside of 10.5" of the leading line of stones meant it would be very difficult to get a Synergy'd up Wold Guardian into either of them, and that was what I was afraid could really take them out this early on.

I saw three real avenues open for my opponent.  The first is probably the conventional play for Bradigus: Advance the Wolds and shoot, create forests to block LoS, reposition for attrition while keeping the killer threat of Synergy'd Bradigus in play near the back line of stones.

The second was the sort of go-for-throat type of move I like with Makeda 3.  Bradigus walks up, Feats, and casts Mystic Wards for denial.  Then the Wolds charge and 'port in to destroy what they can, then slide 5" back at the end of the turn.  Some Watchers stick around to keep me from getting to the Guardians.  The upside is a good chance to get up on attrition, and throw a tremendous wrench at Makeda's ability to support her army.  The downside is that Todd would be putting a lot of his army right up next to some serious Skorne beef, and I'd be able to kill a lot in retalliation, especially if I'd judged the range on my heavies right and kept them out of teleport range of the heavy hitting Wold Guardians.  Potentially devastating, but a slight miscalculation could mess Todd's game up significantly.

The last option I saw was the assassination run.  Bradigus could get into Makeda.  Whether he could teleport in directly, or whether he'd have to Beat Back or get his Wolds to shoot out some space for him, he could reach Makeda without too much effort.  This is another reason I'd kept my Cyclopes out of charge range of those Watchers.  Bradigus could get to Makeda, sure, and she was only camping 1.  But without Synergy, Bradigus is swinging at Mat 6, P+S 13, and Makeda is a Def 15/Arm 17 who goes up to Arm 19 after taking damage.  The math isn't good for Bradigus, even if he gets a lucky early Crit Smite.  If Bradigus goes for a no-Synergy assassination and comes up short, that's curtains for him.

So those were my thoughts going into round two.  I looked like I was where I needed to be, but the exact positioning was pretty sensitive.  If I'd misjudged, it could end badly.


Turn 2, Circle Orboros

Bradigus leached his Fury, and the Shifting Stones Serenity'd the Fury off the Wolds that still had any.  Bradigus upkept Synergy.

The Sentry Stone units activated first.  The first stone teleported forward a bit.  Its Mannikins advanced, and threw spray after spray at the Krea, boosting attack and damage.  They did a little, and I used Shield Guard twice.  Then the other Sentry Stone advanced.  By this time, I was on to Todd's plan, and I saved my Shield Guards for later in the turn.  This set of Mannikins only sprayed twice, did a point here and there, and sprouted a forest blocking the direct line from my left hand Brute to the nearest Shifting Stone.

The Wold Watchers activated next.  In succession, they advanced, and boosted shots into the Krea.  I was fairly certain Todd was trying to get rid of her so Bradigus could teleport in and attack Makeda.  I used my two other Shield Guards (I don't call this formation the Bunker for nothing) to redirect two shots, and those Wolds took their second Fury to go into Stone Form.  The four that hit the Krea boosted damage.  They did take her most of the way down, breaking her Spirit, but she was still up after the last Wold had fired.

The two rear units of stones shifted around a little to get better coverage of the Circle force.  Bradigus and the Wold Guardians advanced to stay within teleportation range.  And that was that.  I don't think Bradigus cast Mystic Wards, which was a minor oversight, given that I wouldn't likely be risking Makeda on the front lines just yet.

Thoughts

Todd had opted for the assassination run, and it hadn't worked out for him.  He wasn't willing to place Bradigus with the risk of him being out of range, or having to take more than an attack or two to get to Makeda.  He definitely did the right thing by holding back when he failed to kill the Krea.  The math on an unbuffed Brad killing Makeda is shaky enough without him having to Beat Back his way to her.

The assassination run's failure would have some nasty consequences for Bradigus, though.  Todd had used the Mannikins to shoot rather than turn into forests, and so I had clear sight lanes to most of his army, including several Wold Watchers who had boosted damage rather than take on Stone Form.


Turn 2, Skorne

I needed this turn to be decisive.  Fortunately, decisive turns are something Makeda 3 does well.  She leached her Fury, but had nothing to upkeep since I hadn't cast Vortex of Destruction on turn 1.

The Paingivers started the turn by Enraging the Savage, the Bronzeback, and Molik Karn, and Medicating the Krea to heal her Spirit.  I measured Makeda's CTRL a bunch, inched her up to just behind the Krea, measured some more, and popped her Feat.  For the rest of the turn, whenever a model in her battlegroup killed an enemy model, I could put a Fury on Makeda or take a Fury off a Warbeast in her battlegroup.  I was catching just about everything in the zone, and a good chunk of the table outside it.  My beasts would be free to range the table.  Then Makeda cast Rush on the Cyclops Brute in front of the lead stones.  I had several opportunities to break stones, and I wanted all of them open in case some of them failed.  She camped 4.  Bad luck happens, and if something got to Makeda next turn, I wanted her to be able to grit her teeth and live out the turn.

The Gladiator shuffled up a bit, and used Rush on the Bronzeback.

The Bronzeback charged one of the Wold Watchers which had boosted damage last turn, and switched Rush out for Train Wreck (to give it Beat Back) when completed the charge.  It killed the Wold with its initial attacks (then used Makeda's Feat to remove the Fury it had given itself when it used Train Wreck), and reached a cluster of stones.  It managed to break one from each unit, and Beat its way Back to a nearby Stone Formed Wold Watcher.  It missed twice, and failed to kill the Watcher by 4 hit boxes (I know now that I should have been hitting automatically, but I also shouldn't have rolled 2 sets of Snakeyes in 5 attacks.  Oh well.)

Molik charged one of the other non-Stone Form Wolds, Side Stepped into a position to attack two, killed both, and used Fate Walker to retreat at the end of the turn.  Good job Molik.

The Savage charged the Wold the Bronzeback had failed to kill, and finished it off.  Then it killed a Mannikin.  The two Brutes advanced, and killed the other 4 Mannikins, and one more Shifting Stone between them.  I had them remove Fury from Molik Karn with most of these attacks, dropping him down to 1, which would make him fully usable next turn (evil Skorne laughter here).

The Krea stayed put, screening Makeda with her Exalted Guardians.  I did not anticipate facing much shooting next turn, since both the remaining Wold Watchers had my jam to deal with, so I didn't use Paralytic Aura.  The Agonizer used Gnawing Pain again, catching the area around the Brutes and Savage handily, but leaving the Bronzeback hanging behind enemy lines.

Molik used his Fate Walker move to retreat to just ahead of where he'd started the turn.  He should be safe enough there for now.

Thoughts

I'd presented Todd with a tough situation, but a pretty obvious course of action.  Bradigus had to start clearing out my jamming Lights or risk being held in place when the heavy's and Makeda came to clean up the attrition game.  The Bronzeback also had to die.  It was deep in Todd's flank, and if it was allowed to stay there, it would keep killing Wolds (especially if it lived past this next turn, when it was likely to Frenzy).

There was no immediate win for Todd, but Wold War is a very resilient list.  Even after losing 4 beasts and all his teleportation power, Todd was still in the game.  Supposing he managed to kill the Bronzeback, he'd match me two heavies to two, and he probably wouldn't be down more than one light beast after his turn.


Turn 3, Circle Orboros

Bradigus upkept Synergy, and he and the remaining Shifting Stones cleared the Fury off the remaining Wolds.

Todd didn't need to do much thinking about this turn.  He just got down to business.

The Wold Watcher near my right Brute hit it a little, and went into Stone Form.  The Wold Watcher near the left Brute did the same.  The center-right Wold Guardian charged the right Brute, and crumpled it handily.  The center-left Wold Guardian charged the Bronzeback, and killed it.  Synergy'd Wold Guardians are mean.

Bradigus finished up, and bought attacks at the left Brute, bringing it down after his initial and 4 bought attacks (he was at +4 Synergy, and swinging at dice minus 2).  He used his last attack to trigger Beat Back, and retreated an inch, camping 1.

The Sentry Stones shifted around a little, and each created another Mannikin, but Todd opted not to do any Devourings.  I had more Fury on the table than I could Leach right now, and I'd welcome the chance to get my Beasts more under control.

The Shifting Stones moved around to screen Bradigus a little.  He was pretty darn close to the line of engagement, and Molik Karn was still a huge threat.

Thoughts

Todd was coming back pretty well from a very destructive turn.  I'd killed 20pts of his, and taken away his teleportation, and he'd responded by killing 20pts of mine, including the Bronzeback.

As far as what I would do, I had a couple of options.  The Savage was likely to Frenzy, and I'd have to take a check on the Gladiator as well.  However, if the Gladiator passed, I'd have a good chance at playing attrition.

I usually consider this the smarter bet.  If I played it right, I could get Makeda into the right remaining Wold Guardian and Wold Watcher.  Between herself, her squaddies, and Molik, I had a decent chance of killing both of them with Vortex of Destruction up.  Pow 15 boosted Weapon Master damage rolls are a force to be reckoned with.  Then, the Gladiator might be able to get into the last Wold Watcher, though there was a Sentry Stone in the way which might have stopped it.  If it did, it would be able to take out the Wold, and reduce Bradigus to (hopefully) just himself and the last Wold Guardian.

On the other hand, Molik had an angle on Bradigus.  He'd have to use one of his initial attacks on a Shifting Stone to Side Step into position, but then he'd be attacking a 14/16 Warlock with just one transfer up.  That's a pretty good situation for Molik to be assassinating, especially with no Tough or anything to throw more random chance into the mix.


Turn 3, Skorne

After a bit of evaluation, I decided that assassination was the better option.  It's usually a lot riskier, but in this case, I put the odds at better than those of finishing off two high-Arm warbeasts with Molik and Makeda when Makeda would be spending a lot of her stack on Vortex and possibly Fate Walker.  So assassination was the order of the day.  Probably.  One more thing would make it a surefire green light for me.

Makeda Leached from Molik and the Gladiator.  The Gladiator passed its Threshold check, but the Savage failed, and dinged up the Wold Watcher a little.

Before I started with the Paingivers, I advanced the Krea, had her use Paralytic Aura, and had her shoot Bradigus.  With the boost, she hit, and his Beat Back move had taken him just a hair out of range of the nearest Wold Watcher's Shield Guard.  Bradigus was Paralyzed, dropping his base Def to 7.  Now I could proceed with the assassination in confidence.

The Agonizer used Gnawing Pain again, and the Paingivers conditioned the Krea and Enraged Molik.  Molik charged a Shifting Stone, and provoked a free strike from the nearer Wold Watcher.  He took a few damage to the Mind, but was otherwise fine.

His first initial attack hit the Shifting Stone automatically, and shattered it, and he Side Stepped into melee range of Bradigus.  Three swings later, and the Circle Warlock was dead.


Victory to the Skorne!


Even More Thoughts

I played one of the best games I've played recently with this list.  I didn't make any mistakes with my opening deployment, and my setup throughout the game was solid.  My CTRL measurements on turn 2 confirmed that I was within walk and hit range of Shifting Stones with my lights, just in case Todd had gone for the conventional LoS blocking approach.  I drove in really hard on turn 2 when I had the opportunity, and managed to take a big enough chunk out of Bradigus' list to go on to win.  I'm particularly happy with how using my Feat to free up Molik Karn worked out.  Makeda 3's Feat has a lot of tricky little uses, and taking advantage of that one was nice.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Makeda and the Exalted Court as a Bradigus drop, which is nice, since this is my favorite list in Skorne right now.  The list performed very well, and I felt tense, but basically in control, for most of the game.  Makeda 3 is very good at turning small opportunities into big swings in table control, and that definitely happened this game.  I need more trials against Wold War with this list, of course, to see if my approach is consistently good, but I'm pleased with the initial game.

Todd is still new to Circle, and new to Bradigus, who seems like he can be pretty unforgiving.  Nevertheless, he played a decent game, especially against an opponent who's as experienced as I am with Makeda 3.  Going for the top of turn 2 assassination was the wrong move.  Even if Todd didn't have to sacrifice his LoS blocking potential to kill the Krea just to make the run possible, the odds were against Bradigus with no Synergy finishing the job.  Todd recovered well on his third turn, but I'd already done a number on his list, and he had an uphill fight from there on.

Bradigus is really intimidating, and Todd built a very strong list for him.  Even when the stones are out of commission, there's no relief.  You still have to fight your way through Arm 21 lights, and Arm 20 heavies if you're going to slug it out against Wold War.  It's not an easy fight for a lot of armies, especially ones that scrificed too many points to break the necessary Shifting Stones.

As expected, removing one Stone from each unit does turn the pressure of an assassination off, and given how hard Synergy'd Bradigus hits, it's probably necessary in the long run.  Discipline is essential against Bradigus, since you have a fight ahead of you even if you take the teleport assassination off the table.  Removing lights is a good way to wear down the Synergy chain, and removing heavies is critical when you get the chance.  Make sure you protect your heavy hitters, so you can keep the damage up against the Wolds.

Scenario didn't come up much in this game, but Bradigus seems very strong in center scenarios.  The Wolds can build Synergy chains more easily, and support each other better while keeping the scenario contested.  The Stones can threaten anything in the zone, and really open up the field for Bradigus to win on scenario just as handily as his potent assassination.

Those are my thoughts anyhow.  I'd be happy to hear about other experiences with any faction if anyone has any insights.

As always, thanks for reading!