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.



Lord Arbiter Hexeris (*6pts)
*Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
*Titan Gladiator (8pts)
*Cyclops Brute (5pts) - Bonded
*Cyclops Shaman (5pts)
*Basilisk Drake (4pts)
*Basilisk Drake (4pts)
Croak Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Venator Slingers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Extoller Soulward (2pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)
Paingiver Task Master (2pts)

The scenario was Fire Support.  There are 2 flags offset from each other a little near the table center, one friendly and one enemy.  Each player has an objective close enough to their own flag to contest it.  Dominating your own flag is worth a point.  Controlling the opponent's flag is worth a point, while Dominating it is worth 2.

Doug won the roll-off, and decided to go first.  I picked the table edge where I wouldn't have to split my brick to go around a forest.  Doug put his Slingers on my right flank, and Hexy and the battlegroup in the middle.  The Task Master also deployed centrally, so as to give no clues where the Croaks would go.

I deployed in my standard line.  I put the Gladiator and Bronzeback directly opposite Doug's heavies, Makeda, the Krea, and the Drake right next to them, and the Brutes on the flanks.  Molik deployed on the right flank to take advantage of that wall in case of Croak Raider.

Doug Advance Deployed the Croaks on the left away from Molik, because he didn't want them massacred by him on the Feat.

Round 1

Doug ran everything except Hexeris and the Gladiator.  The Gladiator Rushed the Bronzeback and trampled, while Hexeris put Ashen Veil on his bonded Brute, and charged.

On my turn, I moved into a tight formation to protect myself from shooting.  The Krea charged up with Paralytic Aura on, and the Brutes ran into position just ahead of her.  The heavies ran/trampled up to about her position.  Makeda Cast Vortex of Destruction, put 2 Fury on the Agonizer, and charged forward.  Her Guardians ran up to spread Shield Guard around.  The Paingivers managed Fury, and the Agonizer and Drake ran as well.

Round 2

Doug upkept Ashen Veil.  The Croaks walked up and started shooting my formation.  They did some damage to the Gladiator (Rat 6!?  I need some), but my formation is super strong against ranged attacks, and everything else was mostly fine.  Doug's Brute ran to just outside engagement range of my lead Brute, screening the Croaks.

The Shaman Rushed one of the Drakes, and advanced.  Hexy Rushed the other Drake, and another beast.  The Drakes walked up, and sprayed into my formation.  One of them killed the Agonizer with good targeting.  The other did a little damage to an Exalted Guardian.  The Slingers ran to jam Molik and the Bronzeback.  Doug's Gladiator and Bronzeback ran to the second line, and his Paingivers managed Fury.  Orin used Null Magic to stop Makeda's more epic shenanigans.

On my turn, the Gladiator took a little damage from fire, and Makeda upkept Vortex of Destruction.  The left Brute moved up to engage one Drake and a couple of Raiders, and the Right Brute walked to engage the other Drake.  The Krea moved up, and used Paralytic Aura to counteract Ashen Veil.  Makeda Feated (since she'd be on the front lines and I wanted plenty of transfers), and she and one Exalted Guardian moved up, killed Doug's Brute, and put heavy damage on his left Drake.

The Bronzeback killed the one Slinger in front of it, and used Train Wreck on Molik.  Molik killed most of the remaining Slingers (who passed their Cmd check), got to Doug's right Drake, killed it, and used Fate Walker.  The Gladiator walked into the Krea's aura.

Round 3

Doug had no upkeeps.  The Gladiator Rushed the Bronzeback, and Riled a bit.  The Shaman shot at a Gobber, but missed.  The Drake tried to walk away, but died to a free strike.  Hexeris boosted Ashes to Ashes into the Exalted Guardian between Makeda and the Bronzeback, and killed both Gobbers.  Then he Feated the Fury off his own beasts, and threw a Hellfire at the Exalted Guardian, but failed to kill her.  The Croak Raiders managed to finish her off, and put a little more damage on the right Brute in melee (Gang?  What??), breaking its Mind.

The Bronzeback charged Makeda, but between her 4 transfers and the amount of boosting it had to do, simply couldn't finish the job, even with a Chain Attack Grab and Smash knocking her down.  Orin continued to cramp Makeda's style by using Null Magic.

On my turn, Makeda wiped the blood off her chin, and upkept Vortex of Destruction.  The Gladiator continued to burn merrily.  The Krea used Paralytic Aura to debuff the Bronzeback's Def.  Makeda and her last Exalted Guardian scooted out of the Gladiator's way, and put some damage on the Bronzeback.  The Bronzeback killed the last Slinger.  The Drake moved up, and took a shot at Orin, but was out of range.

The Paingivers managed Fury, and Enraged Molik and the Gladiator.  The Gladiator killed Doug's Bronzeback, and Molik finished the Shaman and Orin.  Now I'd be able to cast spells again.

Round 4

The Paingivers Enraged Doug's Gladiator, who charged and killed my Gladiator.  Hexeris and the Croaks focused fire on Molik until he finally went down.

Makeda upkept Vortex.  She and her Exalted Guardian damaged the Gladiator pretty badly, and she camped a bunch.  The Krea advanced, and used Paralytic Aura.  The Paingivers Enraged the Drake.  The Bronzeback ran to a relative position.  The Drake charged the Gladiator and killed it.

Round 5

Doug had no choice but to focus all fire on Makeda.  Hexeris hit her with a Hellfire, and put Ashen Veil on the Croak Raiders.  They disengaged from melee with the Brute, and got 6 shots in at Makeda when Doug ran out of time.  We rolled out the rest of the assassination run, and she had 2 boxes left, plus 1 Fury to transfer off probable fire damage.

Victory to Makeda's Skorne!

Thoughts

A grind of a game, but a fun one.  Doug made the best of a pretty bad matchup, but ultimately, list selection cost him.  The Brute Squad is too resistant to shooting (even incredible Croak Raider shooting), and he wasn't able to dent my hitting power on the approach.  Once we got to melee, I was able to out-trade him easily, and ended up with a fully functional Basilisk pair, 2 dinged up Brutes, and a nearly-full Bronzeback.  Doug sidelined the Bronzeback well with Slingers, and deployed the Croaks well to deny me an explosive Feat against them.  I probably could have held off on the Feat, but I definitely wanted Makeda to be as defended as possible on turn 3, and needed her to do some punching and get some Fury back.


Game 4 vs. Cryx

My opponent, Shannon, was running Body and Soul, and a Goreshade 3 list, but he was locked out of Body and Soul :D.  Zaal was ostensibly my Cryx drop, but I didn't feel bad dropping Makeda 3 into Shade 3, and I wanted to play her again because she's fun.  Shannon's list was:

Goreshade, Lord of Ruin (*5pts)
*Defiler??? (5pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (3pts)
Bane Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Soul Hunters (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Satyxis Blood Witches (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
*Blood Hag (2pts)
Darragh Wrathe (4pts)
Bane Lord Tartarus (4pts)

The scenario was Recon.  There's one vertical zone in the middle of the table with an objective on either player's end.  There are also two flags way out on the flanks.  The zone can be controlled for 1pt or dominated for 2, while the flags can only be dominated for 1 each.  I won the roll-off, and decided to go first.

I deployed in a pretty standard line with my Brutes on the wings, Makeda in the middle with the Titans and Basilisks, and Molik and the support models in the second line.

Shannon deployed Goreshade in the middle with the Ghost Raiders, Defiler, and Tartarus, the Bane Knights and Soul Hunters on the left with Darragh, and the Bane Thralls and Blood Witches on the right.

Round 1

I ran forward, keeping the Brutes more or less on the flanks.  I ran the Krea and Drake forward a little more aggressively than usual too.  I wanted to bait some charges into the Drake (one of my only sources of Magic Weapons), and clean up the Banes.  If enough of them died prior to Goreshade's Feat, I'd be able to weather Stationary without too much trouble.  The key to that was forcing them into my threat ranges with the targets Goreshade wanted to destroy the most.  I got Vortex up on Makeda, but that was pretty much it as far as non-running.

Shannon mostly ran forward as well.  The Soul Hunters went for a far flank, and everything else moved up.  Goreshade cast Scything Touch on the Soul Hunters.

Round 2

I mostly repositioned for the Feat next turn.  The Gobbers put out a cloud to screen my workhorse models, while the Drake exposed itself and sprayed a few Blood Witches.  The Brutes ran to set the battle line in the center-left of the table.  Makeda upkept Vortex, but that was all she did that turn.

Shannon charged the Drake, and killed it with Bane Thralls.  Some Soul Hunters and Bane Knights charged the left Brute, while some more Banes charged the center-right Brute.  Both Brutes were damaged, but neither Brute was killed.  The Blackbanes ran to jam Molik and the Gladiator.  The Blood Witches ran forward.  Darragh and Tartarus also ran forward.  Goreshade sprinted over to the left flag on full camp, and dominated it, giving Shannon one point.

Round 3

Feat turn time.  I had the Exalted Court clear up the Blackbanes jamming Molik, while Makeda killed some of the lead Soul Hunters, boosted Eliminator into a patch of Banes, and advanced into melee with a couple other Soul Hunters, killing 2 of them.  The right Brute disengaged to clear a path for Molik, and died to Free Strikes.

The Bronzeback charged and killed a couple of Bane Thralls, giving the Fury to Makeda.  Molik went on a total rampage, and killed about half the remaining Cryx infantry before capping out.  I hadn't been able to send him after either Tartarus or Goreshade due to positioning, but he put me in a decent position, attrition-wise.

At this point I remembered what Goreshade's Feat did, and realized that instead of going for glory with Makeda, I probably should have used Fate Walker, and retreated.  Too late now, although she was camping 4.  I'd just have to hope Shannon tanked his damage rolls.  He also scored another point, but scenario was not my top concern.

Shannon handled Vengeance moves quickly, ran a Ghost Raider up to Makeda, then had Goreshade Feat, freezing her in place, and walk over.  He cast Scything Touch on himself for free, and burned through her transfers with his 8 attacks.  Tartarus charged in and finished killed her.

Victory to Cryx!

Thoughts

I got greedy, and I really should know better, although to be fair, I didn't remember 3Shade's Feat until after Makeda's activation.  After Molik's rampage, I was in a decent position to play attrition.  I would probably also have been a bit better served going with my Zaal list, which has plenty of guns to wear down the Cryx horde, and plenty of magic weapons to deal with Incorporeal shenanigans.


Overall Thoughts

I had a blast again, and all my games were really fun.  I played well in my first three, and might have pulled the 4th one out if I hadn't gotten greedy with Makeda.  All my opponents were great.  I'm probably going to make some changes with my list setup.

As fun as Despoiler has been, I don't think it's been doing what I want it to with Zaal - at least not reliably enough that I think it's worth the 10pt investment.  I'll probably go a little harder into anti-Cryx territory, and sub in a Shaman and 5 more points - probably a second Extoller and 3rd regular AG, but I'm considering a Willbreaker or Agonizer for the 2pt slot, and either Marketh or the Tyrant Commander for the 3 pt slot.

For Makeda 3, well, the Aradi are out in less than a week, and PP Forum user neonchameleon posted a very intriguing list with a 2x Sentinel/Raider package in a Makeda 3 beast brick.  I will definitely be giving it a try, since I think such a strong ranged game combined with such an explosive melee presence will melt a lot bricks and generally open up a lot of options for Makeda 3.