I played in a local tournament at Tower Games this past Saturday, and I'm finally recovered enough from the sleep deprivation, greasy food, and glue fumes (there was a lot of preparatory gluing the night before) to write about it. It was 4 rounds with 2013 rules, but no Specialists or Divide and Conquer.
Here are my lists:
List 1
Master Tormentor Morghoul (+7)
*Bronzeback Titan (10)
*Titan Gladiator (8)
*Archidon (7)
*Cyclops Brute (5)
6 Paingiver Bloodrunners (5)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (1)
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor (2)
Agonizer (2)
List 2
Lord Tyrant Hexeris (+6)
*Titan Cannoneer (9)
*Titan Gladiator (8)
*Archidon (7)
10 Praetorian Swordsmen (6)
*Officer and Standard Bearer (2)
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers (2)
Extoller Soulward (2)
Agonizer (2)
Round 1 vs Jen's Legion of Everblight
She played:
Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight (+6)
*Ravagore (10)
*Carnivean (11)
*Shredder (2)
10 Blighted Nyss Legionaires (6)
3 Blighted Nyss Raptors (6)
Anyssa Ryvaal, Talon of Everblight (4)
The Forsaken (2)
I went with Morghoul, and ended up going first. The scenario was Outflank - it had 2 circular control zones spaced pretty far apart in the center of the table.
Turn 1
I ran up with pretty much everything, put Admonition on the Bronzeback, and dumped 4 Fury on the Agonizer. My basic plan was to hit the Legionaires with the Bloodrunners and BRMT, and kill off Rhyas' warbeasts with mine. I'd probably try to contest both zones, but Morghoul doesn't spread out very well, so I would only be using the scenario to try to force Rhyas into my charge range.
Jen advanced with the warbeasts, and killed a few Bloodrunners. The Raptors and Anyssa ran down my flanks. The Legionaires ran to mostly behind a wall. The Shredder charged up. It looked like Jen was trying to clip around the sides with the Raptors, and shoot Morghoul to death with arrows.
Turn 2
The Bloodrunners got into the the Legionaires, and killed about half of them. Morghoul Abused the Archidon, popped his Feat, and camped a few Fury. The Gladiator Rushed the Bronzeback, who charged and killed the Shredder. The Archidon charged the Carnivean, and took it out.
Anyssa and the Raptors shot at Morghoul (who transferred 2 hits), and the Ravagore and Legionaires killed off all the Bloodrunners. A few Legionaires ended up in melee with the Archidon.
Turn 3
I saw an opening on Rhyas, and I took it. The Archidon killed off the Legionaires in melee with it, then the Gladiator Rushed the Bronzeback, and Morghoul Abused it. It charged the Ravagore and Rhyas, and I finished off the Ravagore with my initials since Rhyas was camping 4 Fury. I bought and boosted two attacks on Rhyas, and killed her.
Victory to the Skorne!
Thoughts
My Morghoul list was not very well suited to winning this game on scenario, but is a better list overall against Legion because it has a lot of tools to shut down their powerful beasts. Jen wasn't expecting Morghoul's insane charge ranges or hitting power. The Archidon killed the Carnivean with little effort, and the Bronzeback made it to Rhyas when Jen thought she would be safe.
Round 2 vs. Bryan's Mercenaries
He played:
Phinneus Shae (+6) - A Pirate's Life Tier 4
*Mariner (8)
*Nomad (6)
*Buccaneer (3)
*Commodore Cannon and Crew (4)
10 Sea Dog Crew (8)
*Mr Walls, Sea Dog Quartermaster (2)
Lady Aiyana and Master Holt (4)
First Mate Hawk (1)
Bosun Grogspar (1)
Doc Killingsworth (1)
Lord Rockbottom (1)
He had 2 more points, but I don't remember who he took.
I went with Hexeris, and ended up going second. I don't remember the name of this scenario, but it was another spread out one, with a control zone on one side of the table, and a flag you could only dominate (control with your warlock/caster) on the other.
Turn 1
Bryan ran most of his army. Shae put Storm Rager on Hawk. The Commodore shoved itself into position.
I ran my Archidon into position, and sniped out Killingsworth with Soulfire. I tried to kill Hawk as well, but fell short on the Damage roll. My Swordsmen and Titans ran too.
Turn 2
Shae activated first, and Feated, moving the army forward, then cast Coup-de-Main. Bryan charged the Archidon and a few Swordsmen with several of the Pirates, Hawk, and the Nomad. The Archidon lived, but the Swordsmen who were in range did not. A few more swordsmen died to the Mariner's deck gun. Rockbottom used Money Shot on the Commodore, and it shot at the Gladiator, doing some damage. The Buccaneer charged at the Cannoneer, and tried to knock it down, but missed.
The Swordsmen did a little damage with Vengeance, then Hexeris advanced, and popped his Feat. The Swordsmen and Darkly Dominionated pirates accounted for the whole Pirate unit as well as Hawk, and engaged the Mariner. The Gladiator charged and killed Grogspar, netting me a Control Point. The Cannoneer charged the Buccaneer, but didn't quite do enough damage to kill it. The Archidon did a bunch of damage to the Nomad.
Things were looking good for me at this point. Bryan was on his back foot, and would have to try to contest both zones with few resources in his next turn.
Turn 3
Shae toed into the second control zone. Aiyana and Holt advanced. Aiyana used Kiss of Lylyss on the Gladiator, and Holt advanced into the Swordsmen around the Mariner, but didn't quite free it up. The Commodore slammed it backward, but it was still in the Zone. The Nomad finished off the Archidon. The Mariner finished the Swordsmen engaging it.
The Gladiator shook off Knockdown. The Swordsmen finished off the Nomad with great plinking fury. The Cannoneer finished off the Mariner. The Gladiator Rushed itself, and trampled back into the Control Zone. Marketh advanced, and cast Soul Slave on the Gladiator. Hexeris picked off Aiyana with Soulfire, and camped a few.
Turn 4
The Commodore again slammed the Gladiator, but it stayed in the Zone. The Mariner advanced, but Bryan had forgotten to put someone Base to Base with it to load its gun. Shae ultimately decided to contest the zone and camp focus.
I started my turn, but then it was dice down. I had won, 1 CP to 0.
Victory to the Skorne!
Thoughts
I played a pretty solid attrition game, and was able to wear Bryan down. I used the Gladiator on the left zone to force him to split his army, and I was on my way to munching through his models when Dice Down was called. My best move overall was killing Killingsworth on turn 1. Bryan played a pretty solid attrition game too, and might have killed off my Swordsmen and alpha-striked my beasts if he'd had 4+ Tough on the pirates the whole time.
Round 3 vs. Todd's Cygnar
He played
Captain Alistair Caine (+5)
*Old Rowdy (9)
*Squire (2)
10 Horgenhold Forgeguard (8)
Greygore Boomhowler and 9 Co. (9)
6 Rangers (5)
Eiryss, Angel of the Retribution (3)
Reinholt, Gobber Speculator (1)
Journeyman Warcaster (3)
I went with Hexeris because of all the infantry and solos in both his lists, and went second. The Scenario was Process of Elimination, which in 2013 has destructible monoliths in each zone.
Turn 1
The Cygnar stuff ran up, and Caine hid behind a forest. The Journeyman Warcaster cast Arcane Shield on Boomhowler and Co, making them Arm 19.
In my turn, the Archidon flew at the Rangers so Hexeris could kill them off with spells. Unfortunately, Hexeris was not so lucky, and only killed one. The rest of my stuff ran up. Some Swordsmen ran up behind a wall to oppose the Boomhowlers.
Turn 2
Caine and the Rangers killed the Archidon with some good damage rolls, then Caine Gatechrashed back into the forest. The rangers also killed a couple Swordsmen The Boomhowlers advanced, and shot at the Swordsmen, but didn't do much with their Low Rat. Boomhowler gave them 4+ Tough in honor of this blog. The Forge Guard ran to behind the Boomhowlers, and Eiryss ran around a building to flank me.
The Swordsmen Vengeanced over the wall, and charged the Boomhowlers. I completely blanked out, and forgot to use their mini-feat (letting them do an automatic point of damage to warrior models), meaning they killed one model. :/ The Cannoneer and Gladiator advanced. The Cannoneer destoyed the first monolith.
Turn 3
Most of the remaining swordsmen, including the officer, we killed by a combination of shooting and melee from Todd's army.
I was loosing the attrition war, and I needed to pull off a big turn with Hexeris' Feat. I advanced him, Feated, and shot a couple of Forge Guard with spells, but they didn't hit each other. The Gladiator destroyed the second monolith. The Cannoneer killed a couple of Boomhowlers. Marketh tried start a Dark Dominion chain in the Forgeguard, but the one he killed missed again.
Turn 4
Meanwhile, I'd left Hexeris just a little too close to Caine. He Feated, and shot Hexeris to death.
Victory to Cygnar!
Thoughts
I really should have popped the Swordsmens' mini-feat on turn 2, but I just forgot about it. The auto-plinking would probably have accounted for about half of the Boomhowlers, and I would never have exposed Hexeris like that on turn 3. After that, I could have destroyed the second objective and played for time, or focused on the Forgeguard to force Caine up into range of my spells. Todd played a very solid game despite a few minor mistakes, and capitalized on his army's great attrition when I panicked, and put Hexy into Caine's threat range.
Round 4 vs. Ryan's Mercenaries
He played:
Captain Bartolo Montador (+5)
*Galleon (18)
Lady Aiyanna and Master Hold (4)
Wrong Eye (9)
*Snapjaw (-)
*Bull Snapper (3)
Dougal MacNaile (2)
Thor Steinhammer (2)
There were 2 more points that I don't remember in there.
I played Morghoul, because Hexeris could not deal with a Galleon, and went first. We played Incursion - the scenario with 3 flags where 1 of them disappears.
Turn 1
I ran forward with my beasts, put Admonition on the Bronzeback, and dumped a lot of Fury onto the Agonizer. The Bloodrunners ran toward Aiyanna and Holt to kill them off, and claim one of the flags. I positioned most of my forces so a forest was between me and the Galleon, where I could see it but it couldn't see me.
Bart hid behind a wall, cast Batten Down the Hatches and Hot Shot on the Galleon. The Galleon moved forward, and with some help from Dougal and Bart, managed to kill all but two of the Bloodrunners, including the Master Tormentor. Aiyanna and Holt advanced, but didn't have anyone to shoot.
The objective closest to Bart disappeared, leaving one near Aiyanna and Holt, and one in the center of the field.
Turn 2
The surviving Bloodrunners weren't in range of Aiyanna and Holt, so they ran to engage them. The warbeasts advanced to the edge of the woods, and the Swamp Gobbers put up an overlapping cloud so to block all line of sight to the beasts. The Agonizer ran up to deny the Galleon Focus next turn.
Bart stayed behind the wall, cast Batten Down the Hatches, and Feated. Wrong Eye ran to contest the center objective. Wrong Eye cast Spiney Growth on the Galleon, who advanced to help contest the objective, but had nothing to shoot.
Turn 3
Morghoul Enraged the Bronzeback, then I made a terrible mistake by forgetting to Safeguard him before entering Bart's CTRL range. He was knocked down, and ended the turn camping 3. I moved the Brute up near Morghoul, and Safeguarded the Bronzeback. The Bronzeback charged Snapjaw and killed it. The Gladiator and Archidon set up for charges on the Galleon, assuming Morghoul survived. The Gobbers made another cloud.
The Galleon advanced into the Gobber cloud to draw LoS to Morghoul. It rolled 4 shots on its Deck Guns, and barely failed to kill him through 3 transfers. Then it hit him with the Harpoon, but I Shield Guarded the shot to my Brute. Nothing else could attack Morghoul, so he would live! Then Bart cast Batten Down the Hatches, and Wrong Eye cast Spiny Growth, bringing the Galleon to Arm 24.
Turn 4
My best shot here was to kill the Galleon, and retreat a bit with Morghoul. I'd need decent rolls, since Arm 24 is just absurdly high on a model with 50 or so hit boxes. I enraged all the beasts except the Brute, who Safeguarded Morghoul. Then I abused the Gladiator and the Bronzeback. They charged the Galleon, but due to some mediocre rolls to go with that high Arm, they left it standing at about half its hit boxes. There was no way the Archidon could finish it.
I was about to lose half my battlegroup, and the lack of sleep from the night before was really starting to wear on me, so I decided to concede and pack up for the day.
Victory to the Mercenaries!
Thoughts
I had a chance to win it, but the dice just weren't with me. Three charging heavies ought to have been able to do it, but all the armor buffs meant they needed a little luck too. Bart with a Galleon and Bull Snapper is a really mean combo. I'm not sure how else I would have handled the main threat of the Galleon, but in the future, I'll definitely play both the Bloodrunners and the Archidon a little differently against this list. I would have run the Bloodrunners up the far flank at Aiyanna and Holt instead of the mid-flank where they were in range of the Galleon's AoE's. I also would have kept the Archidon open as an assassination threat against Bart. I might actually have been able to pull this off on the turn after Bart feated, but I'd committed to taking out the Galleon.
Overall Thoughts
So that was loads of fun. It's great to get a lot of games in against a lot of different players with different factions. There's a lot to this game that I don't think I would encounter much outside a tournament setting. It was also my first experience with timed turns, and they were definitely something different. I got pretty used to it by the end, but every turn felt rushed. The rushing did cause me to make mistakes I'd never have made otherwise, like forgetting the Swordsmen's mini-feat in game 3. It also lent a real feeling of hurried, desperate combat that was very enjoyable once I'd gotten used to it. Happily, I'll have a chance to do it all over again at a 50pt 3 list tournament with all the trimmings (Specialists, Divide and Conquer, etc.) that Tower is holding next month.
As a side note, Caleb, my opponent from these two games went on to take 1st, so major props to him!
No comments:
Post a Comment