Makeda and the Exalted Court (*24pts)
*Molik Karn (20pts)
*Despoiler (18pts)
*Titan Gladiator (14pts)
*Cyclops Brute (8pts)
*Cyclops Brute (8pts)
*Basilisk Krea (7pts)
*Razor Worm (7pts)
*Agonizer (7pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (5pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Pretty straightforward. I've been interested in trying out the Razor Worm with Makeda 3 for a long time since it has Spiny Growth. Its other big advantage in a beast brick like this one is that it can be more than 12" away from Makeda due to Long Leash. So she can run around chopping up whatever, and it can contest or control distant objectives pretty well. Otherwise, I'm hoping the list plays similarly to the Brute Squad I played in MkII: The Brutes will be my first wave, and soak up the opponent's alpha, only for my heavies in the second line to finish the job. Orin and the Agonizer perform their roles as defensive support.
My opponent, whose name I forget right now, played Rhyas with the following list:
Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight
*Carnivean
*Scythean
*Seraph
*Succubus
The Forsaken
Strider Deathstalker
Blighted Nyss Swordsmen (Leader and 9 Grunts)
*Command Attachment (Abbot and Champion)
Hex Hunters (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Hellmouth (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Hellmouth (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Hellmouths! This is my first time going up against them, and they look like a great piece for Legion. They're excellent control and threat extension. Otherwise, this looks like a solid list, designed to rush Rhyas and as many bodies as possible into melee, and hopefully, Rhyas to the enemy 'caster. It's very melee-oriented, with just a little firepower in there for solo-hunting, but it's also very fast, and capable of a lot of movement between Slipstream and Rhyas' Feat.
Scenario and Deployment
We rolled up Outlast. Two big round zones in the middle of the table. Control for 1 CP, or dominate for 2. No killbox. I won the roll-off, and chose to go first.
I placed my beast wall pretty much in the middle, with the Brutes on the ends, and Makeda, the heavies, and the support in the middle.
My opponent placed Rhyas in the middle of his deployment zone along with the Swordsmen on her right and the Beasts mostly on her left. The Seraph broke off its flying base at some point during the car ride, so my opponent just used its base. The Hex Hunters went over on the far left, and the Succubus went in the middle near Rhyas and the beasts.
I deployed the Razor Worm in a forest, ready to threaten into the zones. My opponent deployed one Hellmouth in each zone, which would give him a lot of control until I got rid of them.
Skorne Turn 1
Makeda put Hand of Death on Molik Karn, Vortex of Destruction on herself, and Rush on the Gladiator. The Razor Worm moved up cautiously, out of Hellmouth range, and still in the forest. The rest of the list ran up the middle, still staying out of Hellmouth range. The Agonizer and Paingivers brought up the rear.
I'm advancing cautiously here. I probably want to hit the Hellmouths next turn, and I want to be able to clear out as many tentacles as I can. If I can get the drop on the Hellmouths and jam Rhyas and her heavies, I should be able to get a leg up on attrition, and possibly even have Makeda go for a zone.
Legion Turn 1
My opponent ran most of his list. Rhyas put Rapport on the Carnivean, and advanced. The Hellmouth tentacles reposition, and the Beasts move forward up the middle. The Swordsmen crowd in behind the beasts, and the Hex Hunters sprint up the left flank. The Deathstalker advanced up near the Hellmouth on the right flank.
Not much action, but plenty of positioning. My opponent has put everything outside of Molik's threat range, which is too bad, since Molik on the Feat turn is my main tool against the Hellmouths. Now I'd need to advance carefully myself to avoid being hit by an alpha strike I couldn't recover from.
Skorne Turn 2
Makeda upkept both her spells, one for free thanks to Despoiler.
Makeda advanced, and cast Spiny Growth, while her Exalted Guardians advanced into a screening position. The Krea advanced, and paralyzed the Carnivean. The left Brute advanced to toe into the left zone, and the three heavies all advanced cautiously, staying out of drag range, but getting the left Hellmouth into Molik's threat range.
The Agonizer used Gnawing Pain, and advanced behind Molik, and Orin toed into the right zone, and cast Stealth. The Paingivers managed Fury, and Enraged the right Brute and Razor Worm. The Razor Worm charged and killed a tentacle, then used Drag Below to engage the Deathstalker. The right Brute charged, and killed the next two tentacles, and put a little damage on the Hellmouth itself.
My positioning was pretty good in general, especially on the right, where I had two light beasts keeping that Hellmouth locked down. My opponent definitely had options. Rhyas' Feat could get her heavies onto mine, but I was fairly confident about my ability to counterattack, since it seemed like Molik and Despoiler were safe.
Legion Turn 2
Some measurement revealed that Rhyas was in charge range on an Exalted Guardian, which was the sort of thing I really should be on the lookout for, and which would give my opponent a very viable assassination run on Makeda, which he took. It wasn't a sure thing, since Makeda would be effective Arm 22 for most of it, and was currently camping 3 transfers.
Rhyas upkept Rapport.
She charged the Exalted Guardian and killed it, but was able to place behind it into melee range of Makeda. She did a little damage to Makeda, then Sprinted away. The Scythean charged Makeda, hit, and placed behind her. It did a fair amount of damage, and forced her to use a transfer.
The Seraph used Slipstream, and placed the Carnivean 2" forward. It advanced, and attacked the Krea. It hit, and placed into melee range of Makeda. Even at Mat 8 P+S 18 it left her alive with one transfer, and one hit box.
The Swordsmen charged in. The champion hit the Krea with its first initial, and placed into melee with Makeda. However, it also killed the Krea, allowing Makeda to Reave the Fury. The Champion failed to damage Makeda. The Other swordsmen weren't able to attack Makeda thanks to Set Defense and Intuition on the left Brute, which would have been their way into melee. One of them still placed behind the Brute, between Makeda and Rhyas.
That was it. That was everything that could get to Makeda.
The Hellmouth on the right put out a tentacle, and did some damage to the Brute, and the Deathstalker died to a free strike from the Razor Worm. The Hex Hunters ran into a position that would be relevant if Rhyas lived through my turn.
My opponent was in a pretty bad spot. That assassination run very well could have (and probably should have) worked. Two Legion heavies plus Rhyas is usually plenty good enough to seal the deal. Now Rhyas was very close to both Makeda and Molik, with just a few Swordsmen and most of the Carnivean's bulk to protect her.
Skorne Turn 3
Makeda upkept Vortex of Destruction, but dropped Hand of Death.
The Gladiator advanced, and tried to headbutt the Scythean, but missed on triple 1's. The Agonizer used Gnawing Pain again.
Makeda and the Court activated. Makeda used her Feat. She got into melee range of Rhyas, transferring off the free strike from the Scythean. The Exalted Court got her a Fury by killing a Swordsman. She took her initial attack into Rhyas, but missed, and had to transfer off the Riposte Rhyas took at her. Her next attack hit, and reduced Rhyas to 4. Now Makeda was on 2 Fury, which I decided to stay on because if I missed, the Riposte would probably kill Makeda.
The Paingivers Enraged Molik, and did a little healing. Molik activated, advanced to within melee range of Rhyas, and finished the job.
Victory to the Skorne!
Thoughts
I played a pretty good game, but made a couple significant mistakes. I dealt with the right Hellmouth pretty well, and avoided the left Hellmouth about as well as I could have. Unfortunately, I was so preoccupied with the Hellmouths that I forgot about Rhyas' personal threat range. I was pretty confident that Makeda could live through the Carnivean and Scythean if they both got to her, but with Rhyas in the mix, my opponent had a much better than 50% chance to kill her.
The list seems pretty good overall. I liked the Razor Worm, which definitely added some flexibility Makeda wouldn't normally have. Being able to be further than 12" from her helped the Razor Worm hold down the right flank on turn 2. Spiny Growth let her live through one of the nastiest assassination runs around. The Carnivean was dice off 4, the Scythean was dice off 5, and Saeryn was dice off 9, though, and that was enough for Makeda to squeak through. The Krea didn't do anything for me this game, and it probably should be replaced with something that does a bit more work. I'm still not wild about this list into control like the Hellmouth brings. I played it pretty well this time, but it was still limiting my options a lot.
My opponent played a very solid game, and I can't think of any mistakes he made. I think going for the assassination run was the right call, although he could have played for scenario by going after the right zone pretty safely. If he had, the game would certainly have gone very differently, but I would probably have been able to clear out the left zone or start trading heavies. The assassination run was a better bet overall, but it didn't pan out.
This list seems solid. It might be vulnerable to strong shooting, but Rhyas has Occultation, which will keep one unit safe for a while. It's very fast, and the assassination run itself is very strong if you put yourself in range of it.
Thanks for reading! I'll be back to my regular schedule starting this Friday with some tactics, and continuing Monday with some random thoughts.
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