Renegade Open Non-Team Tournament Reports

Hello again everyone!

I also played in the non-team event the next day.  We had enough to play 5 rounds, although only the top 8 would play the last 3 rounds to make room for another event.  I decided to keep the same Makeda 1 list from the day before, but after significant fury management woes, I decided to switch the Mak3da list out for a more conventional Zaadesh 2 list:

Lord Tyrant Zaadesh (*28pts) - Imperial Warhost
*Bronzeback Titan (18pts)
*Titan Gladiator (15pts)
*Titan Sentry (15pts)
*Titan Sentry (15pts)
*Archidon (10pts)
*Basilisk Krea (0pts)
*Basilisk Krea (0pts)
*Agonizer (0pts)

Siege Animantrax (17pts)

Mortitheurge Willbreaker (4pts)

Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (2pts)

I like Zaadesh 2 a lot.  He feels like one of the most "Skorne" 'casters we have, especially with a big beast brick like this one.  The main work comes from the Titans, while the turtle and Archidon give me some flexibility a brick doesn't usually have.  The plan is: clouds up front, murder stuff with elephants.  :)  I would run a second free Agonizer instead of one of the Kreas, but I only own the one.

On to the games!


Round 1

My first opponent had played on the last team we'd matched up against in the team tournament.  He'd played against Ben.  Today, he was running Ossyan and Elara 2.  Ossyan was running guns as usual, which meant I was dropping Zaadesh.  My opponent correctly predicted I'd be hiding behind clouds all game, so he went with Elara.

Elara, Death's Shadow (*28pts) - Defenders of Ios
*Manticore (14pts)
*Manticore (14pts)

Arcantrik Force Generator (17pts)
Arcantrik Force Generator (17pts)

Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen (0pts)
Houseguard Thane (0pts)
Houseguard Thane (0pts)
Arcanist Mechanic (2pts)
Arcanist Mechanic (2pts)
Arcanist Mechanic (2pts)

Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (13pts)
*Command Attachment (Officer and Standard Bearer) (4pts)
*Weapon Attachment (Soulless Escort) (1pt)
Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (13pts)
*Command Attachment (Officer and Standard Bearer) (4pts)

We played Standoff.

I won the roll-off, and deployed first.  My opponent Advanced Moved his Halberdiers, and then I got to moving.

The brick rolled forward with Paralytic Auras and clouds in place to make my army as hard to shoot as possible.  Zaadesh put Inviolable Resolve on the painted sentry.  The Archidon stayed behind the clouds too.  AFG's can do a lot of damage.

My opponent Shield Walled the Halberdiers up 11 inches, and kept everything else near the AFG's as they moved into range.  No shots were fired, as everything ran into position.  Scything Touch went on Skeryth.

I had the Archidon run behind the house in the right zone.  From now on, its job was to keep the Halberdiers from scoring.  The brick continued to roll forward with Force Auras and Gnawing Pain.  The left Sentry put Ornery up, but the right one had to run to get into position.  Zaadesh put up Battle Charged, and popped his Feat.  The Siege Animantrax crashed into the left Halberdiers, and killed a bunch.

The AFG's directed heavy shooting into the lead Sentries, but didn't do a lot of damage through Arm 23.  A Manticore and Skeryth charged into my Sentries, but took almost as much damage as they dealt (with the painted Sentry counter-charging in).  The right Halberdiers moved to where they could march through the cloud next turn to attack my support.  We each scored a point, bringing us to 1-1.

I some more Halbs with the Animantrax, while the Titans killed off Skeryth and the Manticore, and did some damage to the left AFG.  The Archidon continued to hide behind the house.  No movement on scenario, we went to 2-2.

My opponent sent in the other Manticore against Titans, and I was able to counter-charge into his zone.  The Halberdiers on the right moved into my zone and started attacking my support.  We were still at 2-2.

I responded by killing the Manticore and one of the AFG's.  I moved Zaadesh into the left zone to score it.  3-2.

My opponent was really on the back foot.  He did what he could, but didn't kill anything.  He moved the Halberdiers mostly around the Swamp Gobbers to attack my objective, but sent 3 back into his zone.  He could not contest the left circular zone, so I scored, bringing it to 4-2.

I killed off everything in he had left except the Halberdiers contesting my zone and Elara herself.  I ran the Swamp Gobbers into the right circle.  I scored both circles, and got one more for killing my opponent's objective, so I won on scenario 7-2.

Victory to the Skorne!

This list worked very well, and I can see why Zaadesh is so well liked in Imperial Warhost, and with the Siege Animantrax.  My opponent was less experienced than I am, and made some mistakes, which let me turn my brick against his most powerful pieces one at a time.


Round 2

This time, I played against Dave, a Twin Cities meta regular who plays Legion.  He brought Kallus 2 and Fyanna 2.  I figured Fyanna would have an advantage against Zaadesh, so I dropped Makeda.  Dave dropped Kallus:

Kallus, Devastation of Everblight (*28pts) - Ravens of War
*Angelius (17pts)
*Angelius (17pts)

Anyssa Ryvaal (8pts)
Blighted Nyss Deathstalker (0pts)
Blighted Nyss Deathstalker (0pts)
Grotesque Assassin (0pts)
Spell Martyr (1pt)
Spell Martyr (1pt)

Blighted Nyss Raptors (18pts)
Blighted Nyss Raptors (18pts)
Grotesque Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts) (12pts)
Hellmouth (6pts)
Hellmouth (6pts)

We played The Pit II.

I won the roll-off, and chose to go first.  Dave chose to Ambush with the Grotesque Raiders.

Makeda put Quicken on the Cetrati.  I advanced conservatively, with my Cetrati heading toward the right rectangle, and the Ferox and Rhadiem going for the left along with the Gladiator.  The Legends, Molik, Makeda, and the support stayed in the middle where I could redeploy them as needed to react to my faster opponent.

Dave also advanced conservatively, well aware of my Ferox's 19" threat range.  There wasn't a lot of action anywhere on the table.

I decided to play for territory.  I advanced everything into the three zones, and popped Makeda's Feat.  Dave would have to pull back or commit to a turn of almost no damage just to stay in the game.  And if he did that, my army was prepared to eat his relatively fragile one alive.

He chose to pull back, leaving only a smattering of solos and the Hellmouths to contest the zones.  He also deployed the Grotesques.  Between them and some shooting from the Raptors, he did some damage to Makeda, but I kept everyone alive and mounted.  Dave either didn't have the models available to contest the Central zone or forgot that I could score it with the Legends, so I ended up scoring once on his turn. 1-0

Most of Dave's army was safe, attrition-wise, but if I was a little lucky, I could score all 3 zones and kill his objective for a scenario win this turn.  Makeda cast Carnage.  I had some of my backline models clear the Grotesques out, killed the objective with Rhadiem, and had the Ferox kill off the tentacles, the Deathstalker, and the few remaining Grotesques.  Molik toed the left rectangle to score.  The Cetrati advanced, and killed everything in the right rectangle except a Deathstalker, who they missed.  The game would go on.  I had the Legends and Scarabs move to screen Makeda.  I didn't know Kallus 2's whole shtick, but I knew part of it was long threat ranges.  I scored 3 for the turn, and the game was now 4-0.

Dave committed back hard.  He contested all the zones, wiped out my Ferox with Angelius attacks and Raptor shooting, and killed off two of the Legends.  The Angelius in the left zone also Repulsed Molik out, but was unable to kill off Rhadiem, meaning Dave didn't score any points this turn.  It was still 4-0.

At this point, it was a fairly easy task to clear out the left rectangle and score it with Molik, so that's what I did, winning 5-0.

Victory to the Skorne!

The Makeda list runs very smoothly, and I was able to put a lot of pressure on Dave right when it mattered.  The long melee threat of the Ferox was definitely in his head too.  I played it pretty well, but it helped a lot that I got to go first, since that let me establish a board presence that might've been denied by Dave's super-fast list if he'd been able to go first.


Round 3

I'd made it to the top 8, and was paired up against Jake, who'd been on the Muse on Minis team the night before.  He was playing Haley 3 in Gravediggers and Nemo 3 in either Storm Brigade or Heavy Metal.  I was worried about Nemo shredding Makeda with lightning, so I dropped Zaadesh.  Jake dropped Haley 3:

Major Prime Victoria Haley (*25pts) - Gravediggers
*Grenadier (9pts)
*Grenadier (9pts)
*Grenadier (9pts)

Trench Buster (0pts)
Trench Buster (0pts)
Captain Maxwell Finn (0pts)
Commander Anson Hitch (4pts)
Patrol Dog (2pts)

Trencher Long Gunners (Leader and 9 Grunts) (18pts)
Trencher Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (16pts)
*Weapon Attachment (Rifle Grenadier x3) (6pts)
*Command Attachment (Officer and Sniper) (5pts)
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt (8pts)
*Captain Jonas Murdoch (4pts)
Trencher Express Team (5pts)
Trencher Express Team (5pts)

The scenario was Spread the Net

Again, I won the roll-off, and decided to go first.

I rolled up and clouded up.  I put Inviolable Resolve on the unpainted Sentry, and advanced behind a spread of clouds surrounding the central forest.  I snuck my Mortitheurge up to the wall in front of my flag, ready to claim a single point before being cruelly gunned down on turn 3.

Haley's Trenchers advanced behind their own cloud wall, and Haley put up her time barrier to buff her whole army, and Tactical Supremacy on the Trencher Infantry to reposition out of those clouds.

I Feated, and through my Sentries and Animantrax into the fray.  I killed a couple Trenchers, and braced for the retalliation.

Jake killed the Animantrax and one of the Sentries, but lost some Trenchers (and had a Trench Buster get knocked down) by my Defensive and Retalliatory Strikes.  The other Sentry was badly damaged as well.

I was pretty tired at this point, so I decided to try an assassination attempt.  I had the Archidon try to crit-Pitch a trencher into Haley, but it missed.  The Gladiator Rushed the Bronzeback, which advanced, and threw the right Trench Buster into Haley.  Jake and I mistakenly thought I could boost the damage roll on Haley, and for a moment I thought I'd killed her, but then we remembered that you can't boost collateral damage, so she lived.  I decided to concede the fight and call it a day.

Victory to Cygnar!

I wasn't familiar with Hal3y Gravediggers last year, but this game definitely showed me how it worked.  I probably should have continued to advance conservatively behind my clouds and engage on turn 3 instead of 2.  I'll remember that for next time.  I'll probably also switch some Drakes into the list, because they add their excellent magical sprays, which can take care of the Haley echoes long enough to remove their Def buff for a turn or two.

I had a lot of fun again; I'll definitely participate again next year.  I need to work on my endurance though - I could have tried to play that last game out with what I had, but I was really flagging.  I like the Makeda 1 list a lot still, and Zaadesh is definitely promising, and tons of fun.  I loved the Siege Animantrax, both in the Zaadesh and Makeda 3 lists, and it seems like it's becoming quite a power piece in Skorne.

Pax's Opinion of Haley 3 Gravediggers