Battle Report: Doomy3 vs. Makeda3 (50pts) - Battle of the Bricks

pGrexy and I got a game in on Tuesday, and decided to pit my newest Doomy3 list up against the tried-and-true Makeda3 brick that has been my nemesis for so many months now.

Also, HEY I'M WRITING A BATTLE REPORT! It's been a while since I wrote one of these, I am sooo far behind Maxtermynd and pGrexy...





pGrexy's List:
Makeda and the Exalted Court (*2pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Cyclops Brute (5pts)
* Aradus Sentinel (8pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Molik Karn (11pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)

That's just nasty, especially if Orin can get close enough to shut down my spellcasting. The Agonizer and Orin are my main targets - Orin so that Doomy3 can start shutting down beasts with spells, and the Agonizer because, if I can find a way to kill them on or before my feat turn, I've got a good chance of winning the attrition battle (eventually...).

My List:

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Dire Prophet(*3pts)

* Scroll Bearer
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
* Rok (11pts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Dhunian Knot (Leader and 2 Grunts) (3pts)
Lanyssa Ryssyll, Nyss Sorceress (2pts)
Troll Whelps (2pts)

The Dhunian Knot was proxied, though I did manage to get a unit of them that very night (Thanks Jamie!!), but didn't have time to assemble them. The point of this list is simple - brick like mad, get the alpha strike, and survive the counter attack to do it all over again. The Bone Grinders are there to boost Doomy3's spell range on his 3 really good offensive spells in the beginning, and to let me keep access to Rok, the Axer, and the EBDT's animi if/when they kick the bucket.

This is probably the first list I've ever made that comes close to matching a Mak3da list punch for punch in attrition, thanks to Doomy3's spells and feat, and I was going to be using every advantage I could get.

Scenario and Deployment:

We rolled Incursion (3 objectives), and I won the roll, choosing to go first. The table was pretty even - a forest, wall, and hill on my side (left to right) in an even line about 16"-20" or so up, and a farther back wall and forest on pGrexy's side, with a house thrown in there somewhere out of the way (it never became important). 

I deployed in a standard line - Lanyssa and the EBDT on my left, down from the forest and the middle flag beyond it, then the Axer, Mulg, Doomy3 and Scroll Bearer down from the wall, and finally Rok and the Bone Grinders directly across from the right flag. The KSB and Stone Scribes were scattered behind them, as were the Dhunian Knot, to provide the best access for abilities. Whelps started out in the beasts.

pGrexy deployed in normal fashion for his list - on my left, just back and left of the center objective in a line, were Molik, the Brute, the Bronzeback, Mak3da and company (the 2 grunts on either side of the beasts next to her), the Gladiator, and Orin on the far right. The Paingivers, Krea, and Agonizer formed the 2nd line, and they were a pretty tightly packed bunch (in order to take advantage of the Krea's animus and the Agonizer. The Aradus Sentinal advance deployed directly across from Doomy3.

Trollblood Turn 1:

The Axer put Rush on the EBDT and charged the Bronzeback to get a few more inches up, and the EBDT ran into the forest, followed by Lanyssa. Mulg and Rok ran straight forward, then Doomy3 dumped 6 fury on the stone and did likewise, just over an inch behind the wall. The scrollbearer ran up behind him, but kept his distance. The Bone Grinders beside him, angling slightly for the flag if they needed to claim/contest later. The KSB put up stone strength and it's usual +2 Arm and spread out behind, while the Knot did the same.

Skorne Turn 1:

Seeing some opportunity, Greg advanced the Aradus Sentinel and took a shot at Doomy3, was less than 1/2 an inch out - and scattered 5" straight back onto the Scrollbearer and Dhunian Knot unit leader, killing both of them. Well, damn. The rest mostly ran straight up, pilling into standard brick formation with the Krea front and center protected by Mak3da's guards and the Agonizer behind them, with Molik in reserve on my far left behind the Brute and Bronzeback (where, pointedly, I had no chance of getting to him).


Trollblood Turn 2:

With the leader dead, the Dhunian Knot grunt was forced to run into formation, and I was only able to put 1 Puppet Master up, on Lanyssa. Doomy3 feated first thing, cast Implacability, Admonition on the Earthborn, and Rush on Rok, before moving behind the safety of the wall. The EBDT, within range of a forest, raced forward to beat 1 of Mak3da's handmaidens into pulp, goad into the Krea, beat it to death (with help from the other handmaiden's POW), and Goad a little ways away. Lanyssa moved up and put Hunter's Mark on the Sentinel (getting around Swarm thanks to a lucky roll), while the KSB put up Stone Strength and moved up into a good range. Rok charged the Sentinel, beating the tar out of it despite the Agonizer, while the Bone Grinders moved up to the right side flag in preparation for claiming a point. I was reallllly loaded up on Fury this turn (15 in total; 4 on Rok, 5 on the EBDT, 3 on Mulg, 2 on the Axer and 1 on Doomy3), so I was REALLY hoping for some whelps to show up next turn or it was frenzy time....

Skorne Turn 2:

After some thought, we theorized that Molik could probably kill his way through my infantry to be next to Doomy3, but it would be a long shot to kill him with Mulg so close and Implacability up (no knockdown/push/pull/slam on battlegroup).

Undeterred, my crafty opponent managed to zap 3 bone grinders with Chain Lightning from Orin, conveniently killing all of those close enough to claim a point, then maneuvered the Brute around the Earthborn to bait out Admonition, but I let it go and he made no attacks (I think because it ran?). The Gladiator moved up next, positioning itself on the other side of the EBDT, but I again refused to move it, suspecting (probably correctly) that the Gladiator didn't have the chops to kill it at ARM 20 under Doomy3's feat turn - I regretted this almost immediately, as pGrexy then proceeded to Arm Lock the EBDT, holding it in place. Mak3da cast Vortex of Destruction while just outside Mulg's animus' range and advanced up next to the EBDT while the remaining Exalted Guardian advanced around it, clearing the way for the Bronzeback and Molik. I think they managed to land a hey-why-not hit between them, but this stopped pretty quickly once a whelp spawned in the Bronzeback's path, and Mak3da had to clear it out. pGrexy did not feat, which was probably wise...

The Bronzeback, true to form, walked up and started hitting, barely managing to kill the Earthborn with all of it's attacks, even with Doomy3's feat up. This surprised both of us a little, and with nothing really to do, Molik walked up and sullenly gutted a whelp I'd spawned blocking his route before the poor dire troll bit it. Paingivers did something in there (moving up near Orin to block Rok's way around the Gladiator), and the Agonizer put up it's usual obnoxious bubble-o'-terrible.

Trollblood Turn 3:

Losing the EBDT actually helped - it spawned a Whelp for Mulg to munch on and dropped 5 fury from the mix, letting me clear Rok and the Axer without a problem. With the Agonizer sitting in the back (annoyingly well protected by sheer titan bodymass if nothing else), and Mak3da's feat still in the cards, I was in a bit of a pickle. I could either play the attrition game, using Doomy3's spells to shut down some beasts and outright kill the others, or go for a reach/Goad-assisted assassination run on Make3da with Mulg and Rok.... Yea, that decision pretty much makes itself, doesn't it?

Being pressed for time, I had the Knot put Puppet Master on my warlock and Mulg while the remaining Bone Grinder cast Craft Talismen on Doomy, who then cast Stranglehold on the Bronzeback (re-rolls for the win!) and Primal on both of my remaining heavies. The Stone moved up and around the heavies, getting as close as I could without blocking charge lanes to give them the +1 STR buff.

Upon closer inspection (and measuring using Doomy3's control), it turned out I'd goofed - Mulg had the space, but not the speed to get to where the EBDT had died (conveniently 2" from Mak3da), so the Axer put Rush on him, negating Primal. Mulg moved first, getting up next to the Bronzeback so it couldn't counter-charge and close the small gap between it and the Gladiator to shield Mak3da between them. If I could crit-smite her, Rok would have no trouble finishing her off, but for some reason I didn't boost to hit, and wasted the re-roll trying for the crit. I was down to under 5 minutes on the deathclock at this point, and despite 2 more boosting attacks, didn't crit Mak3da or do a lot of damage to her - she still had 3-4 fury and over half of her health. It was up to Rok, so he saddled over to Orin and the two paingivers on the right, killed and Goaded through all 3, and ended up close enough to Mak3da with Primal up -- at which point, my dice decided it was time to go on holiday to another continent. Mak3da lived, and I was in trouble. I ran Lanyssa into melee with Molik, hoping to bog him down a little and block a charge lane to Mulg or Doomy3, and ended with only 33 seconds left on my clock.

Skorne Turn 3:

Mak3da put up Vortex of Destruction, feated, and dealt some serious damage to Rok. Sacrificing movement to Stranglehold, the Bronzeback killed Mulg while the Gladiator finished off Rok. The Brute managed to miss Lanyssa several times, but Molik killed her easily.

At this point, with no heavies of my own remaining and only 33 seconds left on my clock, I conceded defeat. With 4 beasts and Mak3da preparing to dive headlong into my squishy support infantry next turn or stay back, claim points, and wait me out, I had no real options.

Victory to the Skorne!



Thoughts:

That was a fun game, and I'm learning that Doomy3 is less straightforward than his previous versions, and much more difficult to get used to than I thought. He can do a lot, but most of it is shutting down enemy beasts and keeping mine up and running. Beyond the feat and no-knockdown, he doesn't give a lot of buffs to his beasts, and those he does are geared towards making them obnoxiously (but not impossibly) hard to tie down and kill.

Losing the scrollbearer so early definitely hurt, but I kept up the pressure most of the game. pGrexy made some really good calls, bricking up and keeping just far enough out to not get Mulg'd on the 2nd turn, and keeping the Agonizer well back. It didn't save the Aradus Sentinel, but that little jerk's -2 to damage rolls definitely influenced me from going the attrition route.

What I maybe should have done on turn 3 was this: Stranglehold Molik, Repudiate Mak3da to remove Vortex of Destruction (if I could get a bead on her) or shut down the Bronzeback with Unminding (if I couldn't), Goad Rok around/through the tasty back line infantry to eat that obnoxious Agonizer, and finally try to kill the Gladiator and leave Mulg near Mak3da with Runebreaker up. That seems like a lot, but the Dhunian Knot makes hitting high-DEF less unlikely - it was a really good idea to take them in this list, even over Janissa.

Right now, I'm toying with dropping the EBDT for a Mauler - good animus, less situational all around, and a point cheaper - and maybe a Swamp Gobber Chef (mmm, Bone Grinders...) or something.

Thanks for reading!!