I managed to get a game in against Caleb's Trollbloods. We're both experimenting with our lists for Adepticon. I'm signed up for the Masters qualifier, and we're both going to do a bunch of casual play as well. As I mentioned in this post, I'll be taking Makeda 3 and Zaal 2. This time, I was running Zaal 2 with the same list I talked about:
Zaal, Ancestral Advocate (*6pts)
*Cyclops Shaman (5pts)
*Basilisk Krea (4pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
*Tyrant Vorkesh (3pts)
Immortals (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Extoller Advocate (2pts)
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 seems like a good attrition list. The objective is to get into a scoring position, and grind my way forward until I've won on scenario or managed to kill the opposing 'caster. There are a lot of bodies to chew through, and most of them will give Zaal extra Fury when they die. It should grind well against rival infantry lists. Armor will be tougher, but there are a decent number of attacks, and Zaal can boost a lot of infantry damage rolls with Transferrence.
Caleb is experimenting with 4 lists he likes, and here's the one he took against Zaal:
Grim Angus (*6pts)
*Glacier King (18pts)
*Troll Impaler (5pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Fennblade Officer and Piper (2pts)
Trollkin Scattergunners (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
*Scattergunner Officer and Standard Bearer (2pts)
Dhunian Knot (3pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Trollkin Fennblade Kithkar (2pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)
Whelps (2pts)
Trollkin Sorcerer (1pt) - Client: Fennblades
Grim is a solid Warlock who can lock down armies well with his Feat, debuffs Def with Marked for Death, and generally supports his army pretty well. The list has a good jamming element in the Fennblades, and a lot of power to clear infantry in the Scattergunners. Grim and the Glacier King provide some heavier long-ranged shooting. The list's biggest weakness is that the Glacier King is the only model that can really tackle heavy armor.
Scenario and Deployment
Outflank was already set up on the table we used, so we played that. There are two 12" diameter circular zones 8" apart in the center of the table. Control a zone for one point, or dominate it for two. No objectives, and no killbox.
Caleb won the roll-off, and decided to go first. I decided to take the table side with less forest splitting up my approach.
Caleb pre-deployed the Glacier King in front of the larger forest with Grim, the Impaler, the Dhunian Knot, and the Fell Caller nearby. The Fennblades went to the right of the garg, with the Scattergunners behind them, and the Chronicler and Sorcerer lurking nearby.
Caleb's deployment would make it hard for him to contest the left zone, but could let him swarm and lock me out of the right zone. I decided to put the Cetrati in the center-right, where they could march into the right zone and hold out for a long time. I supported them with the Slingers on the far right to do damage against the Troll infantry. The Immortals took the left, since I trusted them to take the zone unless Caleb shifted very hard to the left. Hakaar went in the center-left to boost the Immortals' speed, and the Nihilators went in the middle with Zaal to spread out and hit the Troll infantry in the flank. The two beasts deployed about 7" apart to spread Paralytic Aura on my high-arm models.
And with that, we were ready to start.
Turn 1, Trollbloods
Caleb ran everything more or less. The Fennblades got into the left zone, with the Scattergunners still behind them. Grimm and the Glacier King got into the forest near the right zone. The support models hovered near the models they were supposed to target, although the Fell Caller stayed pretty far forward.
A pretty basic advance. The Fennblades were easily threatening the far side of the right zone, meaning I'd be charged, or risk being jammed out. Caleb did not reposition anything to contest the left zone, however.
Turn 1, Skorne
I moved up a bit more cautiously. The Immortals ran 10" into the front of the left zone. The Nihilators ran into the threat range of the Fennblades in the center of the table. Hakaar ran up behind the Nihilators, keeping most of the Immortals in his Cmd. The Tyrant Commander put Press Forward on the Cetrati, and ran up a bit.
The Cetrati advanced in Shield Wall toward the right zone. The Slingers ran up very cautiously, since I really didn't want them engaged by Fennblades. Zaal, the Shaman, and the Krea all advanced with Parlytic Aura up. Zaal also cast Transferrence for future turns. The Paingivers brought up the rear.
I was pretty well set up to receive a charge here, with only the front rank of Nihilators much exposed. They should get me a few souls along with the ability to push steadily into both zones.
Turn 2, Trollbloods
Caleb decided it was time to engage. Grimm leached his Fury, and Caleb got started. The Impaler put Far Strike on the Glacier King, and the Dhunian Knot put Puppet Master on the Glacier King, Grimm, and the Impaler. The Glacier King coolly sniped Hakaar down with 3 aimed shots, and Grimm blasted one of the Cetrati off the table with a 17 for damage. Puppet master really earned its keep both times.
The Fennblades charged in, killed one Nihilator, caused another one to Tough, and engaged a Slinger. They also spread out to deny me access to the right zone as much as they could. The Scattergunners ran up behind them, ready to pump sprays into me troops next turn. Sorcerer ran to stay in range of the Fennblades, and the Chronicler put Tale of Mists on the Scattergunners so that the Slingers wouldn't be able to lay into them over the Fennblades heads next turn.
The Fennblade moved up to support the infantry from the center, and the Welps ran to stay with the Glacier King.
Caleb hadn't done much damage, and still hadn't contested the left zone. I was in a pretty good place as long as I could get the Cetrati into the right zone, and take out as many Fennblades as possible.
Turn 2, Skorne
Zaal shuffled forward a tiny bit with Righteous Vengeance, leached his Fury, turned his Souls into Fury, and upkept Transference.
All the Slingers except the engaged one aimed, while the engaged one walked into melee with the Fennblade engaging him. The Slingers killed two Fennblades, and spread Corrosion to 4 more plus a Scattergunner who happened to be in range. The Tyrant Commander put Press Forward on the Nihilators, who walked up, and killed some more Fennblades. The Cetrati managed to get two models into the zone, but failed to kill the Fennblade they were engaging.
The Immortals ran into the left zone. The Cyclops Shaman, Basilisk Krea, and Zaal all continued to advance with Paralytic Aura up. Zaal tried to snipe out a Scattergunner with Sunder Spirit, but missed twice. He also Feated, giving himself Arm 23, and the Immortals Arm 22 for a round. The Paingivers brough up the rear again.
I scored a point for controlling the left zone, and really put the pressure on Caleb by sticking the Cetrati in the right zone. The Nihilators were blocking the table center pretty well, so the only model Caleb could reasonably contest the left with was the Glacier King, and I was prepared to reposition to the left pretty well if he did.
Turn 3, Trollbloods
Caleb went into the tank. He spent a while deliberating, and decided he needed to kill the two Cetrati contesting the right zone. Then he could focus the rest of his attacks on clearing the light infantry.
The Fell Caller advanced, and attacked a Nihilator, but missed twice. The Dhunian Knot put Puppet Master on Grim, the Glacier King, and the Impaler. Grim put Far Strike on the Glacier King, and advanced, taking a free strike from that Nihilator (which missed). He popped his Feat, and put Marked for Death on the Nihilators. He shot one of the Cetrati, but without boosts, did no damage.
The Impaler put Far Strike on itself, advanced, and shot the Krea (to get the Cetrati out of the Paralytic Aura). It successfully slammed the Krea back over a Paingiver, and did a little damage. The Fennblades advanced and took some swings at the Cetrati, mostly doing no damage. The Scattergunners advanced, and unloaded into the Cetrati, hoping sheer volume of attacks would get through their armor. They did a few damage here and there, but Caleb ran out of time after the 7th or 8th one had shot.
Victory to the Skorne!
Thoughts
I played a much better game this time around than I had with my previous eZaal outings. I stayed on target, and played to grind the game out against the trollbloods. I was not 100% confident before the game about placing the Slingers opposite the Fennblades without a melee screen, but I played that flank well. The Slingers and Nihilators were able to do damage from either side while the Cetrati soaked up most of the hits. I also played the Immortals pretty well. They were just self-sufficient enough to hold down the left zone by themselves and put pressure on Caleb to spread his forces more than he wanted to.
The list worked well, and I'm pretty happy with how it plays overall. The Shaman/Krea beast loadout is still a little strange, but I was able to keep a lot of the army covered by Paralytic Aura on the approach, and the Shaman is a great threat extender for Zaal with Craft Talisman. I may try to squeeze a Raider into the list to add some sniping power and threat range to the Shaman, Krea, and Extoller Advocate. I wasn't too impressed with eZaal at first, but my most recent games show that I just need some practice, and he has potential. With the right list, maybe he can really be the DIYD 'caster I've wanted in Skorne since Mk 2 started.
Caleb's biggest mistake this time around was ignoring the left zone at deployment. I was able to exploit that and force him into a bad place. After the game, he said he should have gone all-out for the right zone, which might have worked out for him. If he'd run his Fennblades to jam out the Cetrati, and Feated to slow everything else, he could have gone pretty far up on points. However, that would mean leaving Grim fairly exposed.
Caleb's list is good against infantry, but does indeed struggle against armor. Neither the Fennblades nor the Scattergunners were doing much against the Cetrati, and that was the unit Caleb needed to remove. It's possible that Glacier King shooting would have killed a Cetratus or two, Caleb ran out of time before we could find out.
Next week, I'll hopefully get the chance to try out my modified Makeda 3 list, and Caleb will see if his anti-infantry slot can't be better covered by Calandra (who he was playing pre-EE, and will now bring back in the post-EEra) or eBorka.
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