Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Battle Report: Makeda 3 vs. Stryker 2 (50pts)

I'm continuing to experiment with Makeda 3 and double Aradus Sentinels.  This time, I was up against Andy and his Cygnar.  I ran my version of the list with the Krea and Orin Midwinter:

Makeda and the Exalted Court (*2pts)
*Molik Karn (11pts)
*Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
*Aradus Sentinel (8pts)
*Aradus Sentinel (8pts) - Proxied by a Cannoneer
*Cyclops Raider (5pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)

Objective: Bunker

The idea behind this list is that the Aradi can attrition the enemy down from range, and force them into my lines on my terms, where my counterattack can be most productive.  I'm running them with Makeda rather than a Warlock with more traditional ranged support because her Feat gives her one of the most explosive counterattacks in Skorne.  She can completely reverse the tempo on a lot of armies that are able to get through the Aradus shooting quickly, and charge them.  She also buffs the normally pillow-clawed Sentinels' damage output with Vortex of Destruction.


Andy played the following list:

Lord Commander Coleman Stryker (*6pts)
*Lancer (6pts)
*Squire (2pts)
Storm Lances (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts) - Proxied by Nyss Raptors
Horgenhold Forge Guard (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Captain Jonas Murdoch (2pts)
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
*Gun Mage Officer (2pts)
Lieutenant Allison Jakes (3pts) - Proxied by a Beast Mistress
Journeywoman Warcaster (3pts)
Archduke Alain Runewood (3pts)
Captain Maxwell Finn (3pts)
Stormblade Captain (3pts) - Proxied by a Hex Hunter
Stormblade Captain (3pts) - Proxied by a Hex Hunter
Victor Pendrake (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pt)

Objective: I forget.  Effigy of Valor, maybe?  Seems good for this list?  It didn't come up...

I've only played Stryker 2 a couple of times before, but this looks like a fairly straightforward list for him.  The Forge Guard and Storm Lances are a lot of tough, hard-hitting models who can easily take advantage of the extra move and attack from Stryker's Feat, and the Storm Lances have a good gun on turns where they don't want to charge.  The Gun mages add extra ranged support, and a bit of flexibility with Thunderbolt shots and the ability to ignore Stealth.  There are also a lot of solos here adding extra support and extra hitting power (probably also with Stryker's Feat in mind).  The list as I've posted it is 3pts over, but I'm probably misremembering point costs.  I used to use Forward Kommander to reconstruct my opponents' lists for reports, and I make more mistakes than I used to now that it's down.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

The Continued Adventures of Makeda 3 with Bugs: Gunbjorn and the Glacier King (50pts)

As I mentioned in my last battle report, I'm very excited about Aradi and the potential to use them with Makeda and the Exalted Court.  In particular, neonchameleon posted a list with double Sentinels that I think has a lot of potential with her.  Last game, I played the list as it was posted.  This time, I tweaked it a little.

Makeda and the Exalted Court (*2pts)
*Molik Karn (11pts)
*Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
*Aradus Sentinel (8pts)
*Aradus Sentinel (8pts) - proxied by a Titan Cannoneer
*Cyclops Raider (5pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)

Friday, August 21, 2015

Battle Report: Captain Gunnbjorn vs Fiona the Black, 50pts... with a Glacier King!!

So, this glorious frozen bugger was pre-released at GenCon the other week:



... and I proxied him in a game within 2 days of the rules coming out (gotta get some use out of the Mountain King...).

Tentative Conclusion: GOOD. Not great, but well and truly Good.

Battle Report after the jump.


Thursday, August 20, 2015

Quick Report: Makeda 3 Combined Arms vs. Vlad 2 Tier

Neonchameleon posted the following Makeda 3 list to the Skorne Forum in this thread, and I was really interested to try it out.

Makeda and the Exalted Court (*2pts)
*Molik Karn (11pts)
*Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
*Aradus Sentinel (8pts)
*Aradus Sentinel (8pts)
*Cyclops Raider (5pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)
Extoller Soulward (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts) - neonchameleon was undecided on the last 2pts, but I always like Agonizers.

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Zaal, Ancestral Advocate vs. Vayl, Disciple of Everblight, 50pts

I managed to give eZaal a try two Tuesdays ago, and here's how it went.  I ran the following list:

Zaal, Ancestral Advocate (*6pts)
*Tiberion (11pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
*Basilisk Drake (4pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
*Tyrant Vorkesh (3pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Venator Slingers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer (3pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Hakaar the Destroyer (4pts)

This is my starting point with Zaal 2.  I'm mainly thinking of leveraging the infantry and Transference for damage, but I still wanted a heavy hitter, and Tiberion is self-sufficient, hard to kill, and has Reach and Shield Guard, and can't be pushed off scenario.  There was also some talk on the Forum about combining Zaal's spell Vision (cancel the first hit the model suffers, then Vision expires) with Tiberion's animus Bump (the first time the target suffers damage from a melee attack, the attacker is pushed 3" away).  The Basilisk Krea is there for a little more defense against shooting, while the Drake is there for the great spray, and to make the Krea hit like a heavy with Flank.

The Cetrati are another really durable unit.  Their job is to ferry Zaal around until the late game, when he'll need to take a more active role than providing Transference boosts for the infantry.  Speaking of Transference boosts, Cetrati themselves are a great unit to benefit, since they can hit with 4 dice and still be in Shield Wall.  The Slingers and Nihilators are mostly there to provide Souls, but both units can get work done.  Slings are surprisingly effective, especially against low-def infantry and Warjacks, and will do wonders against infantry spam type lists.  Nihilators will be a lot more dangerous than normal with access to Transference to boost their attack rolls.  Boosted Mat 7's will be a huge improvement against some of the targets that give Nihilators trouble.

Finally, Hakaar's in the list because he's a powerful model that can use Souls, benefits from Transference, and takes advantage of Zaal's Feat.  Boosted Mat 9's is great, but Arm 26 when loaded up with Souls is the real selling point.  He'll be very hard to take down on the Feat turn, and be ready to do even more damage on the next turn.

That's the theory anyway.  Here's how it went down on the table.

Friday, August 7, 2015

4+ Tournament 07/25 Games 3 & 4

Continued from my Games 1&2 post.

Game 3 vs. Skorne

I was up against Doug, who I've seen at Tower a lot, but only managed to get half a game in against.  He was running pXerxis with Fist of Halaak and eHexeris with Croak Raiders.  I was super confident about Makeda 3 into Hexy, and I'd had a few practice games with her into Fist, which is a slog, but not as terrible a matchup as you'd think.  I was pretty happy about Zaal into Fist, but not so much into Hexy.  So I dropped Makeda 3.  Doug didn't want to be list-locked going into round 4 (and was a little burned out on Fist), so he dropped Hexy.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

4+ Tournament 07/25 Brute Squad and Zaamblers! Games 1 & 2

I went to another tournament this month, and this time, I made sure the pictures work.  I meant to have this report up sooner, but I unfortunately got sucked into epic Zaal epic drama on Wednesday and Thursday, so here it is at the end of the week.  There's another tournament coming up August 22nd, and I'm totes planning to run epic Zaal, hopefully with epic results!

I ran Makeda 3 and Zaal with Despoiler again.  The lists are as follows: