Well, I'm only a couple of weeks late in recapping WMW!
This year was my first visit to the convention, and it was an absolute blast. Luckily, we had an easy time with flights, hotels, and all the essentials of getting there, so I was able to go in on a low stress, focus on having fun note. For a brief recap of LCQ games:
Round 1 was Butcher3 vs. Doomy3 with Destruction. I blew game one because I made order of activation mistakes, got rattled, and make stupid decisions that ended up feeding Butcher3 one piece after another for no gain. I wasn't aggressive enough on my feat turn, when I had the potential to clear out nearly or all of an IFP unit and maybe take zone control.
Round 2 was Carver vs. Doomy3, and it ended all in favor of D3. Only the Dygmies were lost. Scenario was Recon, and I just took command of the zone and he didn't have enough to break me.
Round 3 was Fire Support, Bradigus vs. Doomy3. I got to play Josh Wheeler of Chain Attack, giving me a game against a prominent podcaster for the weekend - a side goal! I'm not sure I played correctly into Brad, but I broke 2 sets of stones top of 2 and essentially killed a Watcher (also feat turn), then Admonitioned Mulg out on an order of activations error on his part and he couldn't get to him due to broken stones. From there, I got the heavies down and simply ground the game out.
Round 4 was Close Quarters, Kreoss2 Tier vs. Doomy3. Shoulda taken pGrissel, but it turned out OK! Calculated to approximately 90 points of healing across the course of this game, including the Mauler to 3 at one point, and back up to 20 by the end. He jammed into me but I was able to use Whelps and the Storm Troll to contest (they died) but it bought me enough time to clear his army. Because we were X-1 and couldn't go to Top 8 probably, he just went into me on my feat turn to see how bad it was. It was even worse than he expected. Also, I was aggressive enough on my feat to remove more than half of his army, which was huge.
Round 5 was Incursion, Butcher2 Dogs of War vs. pGrissel. I got rolled pretty badly - I was doing OK removing guys, but I hadn't played pGrissel enough and I had a lot of order of activation trouble, clock trouble, etc. I just didn't do a good job of managing my attacks and placements, and I ended up getting rolled pretty hard. My opponent did a good job of taking advantage of my inexperience with my own list - and against his - and he easily won.
So, I learned a few key lessons.
Lesson 1: I'm going to pick 2-3 lists for the coming 6 months (or at least for the Jan - June period) and stick on them. Currently I'm trying Gunny and either Madrak2 or pGrissel, one of the two. I want to get months of reps in with them so I know my own lists as well as I can manage.
Lesson 2: Get Timed Turns reps in. I hate Timed Turns, I really don't like the style, but I need the practice. It should make me an overall better player, too, but I definitely need to work on it.
Lesson 3: Force the scenario more often. I had multiple times in LCQ or other games where I should have put scenario pressure, and I didn't. I need to get the hang of putting on better scenario pressure and trying to ride that out to victory. Scenario play is still a major weakness; I focus too much on tabling the opponent and then using scenario to close out after the table is clear. I had multiple times over the weekend where, had I simply slammed my army/caster in to one scenario point and chased that, I could have easily won.
Outside of these games, I got in a game with Josh of Muse on Minis also, and games against the Atlanta players Akira and Stephen. All 3 of them were absolute pleasures to play, and I had a great time getting to know them. Hopefully I'll be taking trips down there in the near future to get in some more practice, since I learned a lot in all the games.
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Doomshaper 3: More Games Played, More to Conclude
Just a continuation of my thoughts on Doomshaper 3, thus far!
This post is a little less focused than others, and is primarily to make some observations about Doomshaper. I'm enjoying him greatly so far, but I've definitely seen some trends that I need to start getting used to. So here we go!
Thought #1:
I need to choose my targets wisely. I know that's not much of a statement, coming from a beast heavy list, but I'm not really used to it that much at this point, coming from more infantry heavy lists. In recent games, that's been a little bit of a problem,and I need to smooth that out. The feat gives me a little bit of leeway, meaning that I can make some poor choices, but I need to be better about prioritizing.
Thought #2:
Most games, you need to feat aggressively. That MAT 6 for Trolls can be a real holdback in some cases; it's unfortunate, but it keeps coming up. I've been learning to position aggressively so that I can get the feat burned on a turn I really have a chance to dig in with the boosted attacks. The Mauler gets really stupid on that turn, and Mulg is himself, of course. Interesting, I'm starting to think that a non-tier list with Rok has potential to give a strong infantry clear AND a strong beater. However, it loses out on some serious benefits, and I'm not 100% sure it shouldn't be a Doomy2 list instead for Refuge and Wild Aggression. Still, thoughts to consider.
Thought #3:
The feat doesn't want to just be aggressive in terms of offensive output; the more I've played it, the more I think, especially against an infantry army relying on charges, you REALLY want to jam your guys into their face. Get every bit of pressure you can going, really. I learned some major lessons in my game against Liam, including that I really, really wish I had simply slammed my entire freaking army into his face on the feat turn and dug in, went hot on fury, whatever was necessary to do a ton of work. I actually lost Mulg on feat turn (fucking Blood Hag is the stupidest damned model around) because I couldn't heal, and it turns out a 5 armor swing from Gaspy1 is a thing. Had I maybe slammed in a bit harder, screwed up charge angles, etc., I might've been in a better spot. Hard to tell now, but lessons learned.
And thank you to everyone who doesn't run Gaspy1. You're making the world a better place for everyone else. Nobody gives that guy enough credit, really.
Thought #4:
A fast army can put this army on the back foot, and make the positioning game very dicey. A game with Liam taught me that; running a lot of Cav models, so his threat ranges were all in the 12-13" range or better, put me heavily on the back foot. I had to be very careful about timing, positioning, etc. That's where I like some ranged presence, and it's giving me some list thoughts going forward. It's actually very strange; with the tier and the feat, this list plays like a strange combo of Doomy1 and Doomy2 in some places.
This post is a little less focused than others, and is primarily to make some observations about Doomshaper. I'm enjoying him greatly so far, but I've definitely seen some trends that I need to start getting used to. So here we go!
Thought #1:
I need to choose my targets wisely. I know that's not much of a statement, coming from a beast heavy list, but I'm not really used to it that much at this point, coming from more infantry heavy lists. In recent games, that's been a little bit of a problem,and I need to smooth that out. The feat gives me a little bit of leeway, meaning that I can make some poor choices, but I need to be better about prioritizing.
Thought #2:
Most games, you need to feat aggressively. That MAT 6 for Trolls can be a real holdback in some cases; it's unfortunate, but it keeps coming up. I've been learning to position aggressively so that I can get the feat burned on a turn I really have a chance to dig in with the boosted attacks. The Mauler gets really stupid on that turn, and Mulg is himself, of course. Interesting, I'm starting to think that a non-tier list with Rok has potential to give a strong infantry clear AND a strong beater. However, it loses out on some serious benefits, and I'm not 100% sure it shouldn't be a Doomy2 list instead for Refuge and Wild Aggression. Still, thoughts to consider.
Thought #3:
The feat doesn't want to just be aggressive in terms of offensive output; the more I've played it, the more I think, especially against an infantry army relying on charges, you REALLY want to jam your guys into their face. Get every bit of pressure you can going, really. I learned some major lessons in my game against Liam, including that I really, really wish I had simply slammed my entire freaking army into his face on the feat turn and dug in, went hot on fury, whatever was necessary to do a ton of work. I actually lost Mulg on feat turn (fucking Blood Hag is the stupidest damned model around) because I couldn't heal, and it turns out a 5 armor swing from Gaspy1 is a thing. Had I maybe slammed in a bit harder, screwed up charge angles, etc., I might've been in a better spot. Hard to tell now, but lessons learned.
And thank you to everyone who doesn't run Gaspy1. You're making the world a better place for everyone else. Nobody gives that guy enough credit, really.
Thought #4:
A fast army can put this army on the back foot, and make the positioning game very dicey. A game with Liam taught me that; running a lot of Cav models, so his threat ranges were all in the 12-13" range or better, put me heavily on the back foot. I had to be very careful about timing, positioning, etc. That's where I like some ranged presence, and it's giving me some list thoughts going forward. It's actually very strange; with the tier and the feat, this list plays like a strange combo of Doomy1 and Doomy2 in some places.
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Doomshaper 3: List Thoughts
From thinking, a little table time, and talking with others, I've decided that I think Doomy3 has quite a variety of possibilities to unlock. I don't think he's list locked into a certain particular list, the way Runes of War essentially is, but I do think he wants to build the vast majority of his army for beasts. Beasts feel like they tend to synergize best with his set of abilities, particularly the feat, but also his free animus scroll, Admonition, and Implacability. Additionally, Goad is always useful with Doomshaper.
So here are a few list builds that I've thought up, tried out, talked about or seen. Some of them I'll leave free points, because I think they'll be "season to taste" lists. Others I think build pretty tightly. For a quick reference, tier benefits are as listed:
Tier 1: Army has +2 Armor first round of game
Tier 2: +2 Battlegroup Speed first round
Tier 3: +1 to Starting
Tier 4: -2 points to Gargantuans
I might do more list builds in the future; each one takes up a good bit of space, so I don't want to go beyond 3-4.
Runes of War Doomy3:
Doomshaper + Scroll, Mulg, Earthborn, Mauler, Axer, Janissa, Krielstone, flavor to taste (Runeshapers, Fire Eaters, etc.)
This is the classic Troll beast brick. It hinges on Janissa, but it's a solid hitting, powerful brick with a lot of armor. It synergizes well with Doomshapers feat, and it can remove pretty much any piece from the board in one round.
It does suffer from lack of activations, particularly short 2 units of Runeshapers, so every attack has to be valuable. However, this Mulg is as close to as invincible as this game can introduce, especially on feat turn. Not much else to say about this; the list speaks for its own style.
Tier 4 Doomshaper: Hail to the (Ice) King Baby
Note: I'm assuming most people will go double Glacier King here. I'm not 100% certain on whether I like this or Glacier and Mountain; the problem with the Mountain is you're highly reliant on the spray. And it's 2 points more, but not really better.
Anyway, it's Doomshaper Unit, 2x Ice King, Whelps, max Stone + UA, probably 2x Fire Eaters, and 6 to play with (Axer maybe?). The unit and last six can be variable, depending on list goals. But this is likely approximately the list you'll see.
This list has the benefit of 16 point GK's, which are pretty much a steal. However, it's all-in on the Gargantuans and assuming they'll be able to stick around long enough. Frequently this is true, since it's a lot of boxes at good ARM and the feat, but still worth noting. With this list, if you don't pick your targets 100% perfectly, you could end up swamped early. I don't believe it's bad, necessarily, but it will take a very careful amount of testing to make sure this works the way you want.
I can't say much about this, since I've never gone 2x Gargantuan before. I think it's highly viable, but might suffer in scenario in some cases, and lack of attack volume might result in it being swamped sometimes.
Tier 3 Doomshaper: Movin' On From Runes (My current build)
Doomy Unit, Mulg, Mauler, Axer, Bouncer, either 1 Pyre 1 Storm or 2x Storm, max Stone, 1 unit of Fire Eaters, Whelps
This list still uses some of the Runes of War core, but moves away a little into other beast packages. It takes advantage of the tier benefits to get board position and claim space, and brings a bit higher volume of attacks, plus the electro leaps from the Storm to help deal with infantry more than other list styles.
It's still reliant on good attack choices being made, but it's not quite as restrictive; it relies heavily on the Storm Troll to get volume out with his shots. Bouncer could be subbed out for Impaler here and be quite viable, but I went with the Bouncer for protection value and because Bump + Admonition can introduce weird attack angles.
This list doesn't hit as hard as the other two lists, but I think it plays into more matchups, thus far. The Storms, Axer with Thresher, and Electroleaps can remove a fairly large chunk of models from the board, helping deal with infantry swarming. I've given some consideration to finding a way to rework the points and possibly try to give Bushwhackers + UA a shot. It's really weird, but I think it might be able to do a lot of work infantry clearing, or (when needed) flanking hard and shooting support in the back. I've had good luck with Bushwhackers in this before, so it's under consideration. The problem is thus far, the points don't add up well.
More to come!
So here are a few list builds that I've thought up, tried out, talked about or seen. Some of them I'll leave free points, because I think they'll be "season to taste" lists. Others I think build pretty tightly. For a quick reference, tier benefits are as listed:
Tier 1: Army has +2 Armor first round of game
Tier 2: +2 Battlegroup Speed first round
Tier 3: +1 to Starting
Tier 4: -2 points to Gargantuans
I might do more list builds in the future; each one takes up a good bit of space, so I don't want to go beyond 3-4.
Runes of War Doomy3:
Doomshaper + Scroll, Mulg, Earthborn, Mauler, Axer, Janissa, Krielstone, flavor to taste (Runeshapers, Fire Eaters, etc.)
This is the classic Troll beast brick. It hinges on Janissa, but it's a solid hitting, powerful brick with a lot of armor. It synergizes well with Doomshapers feat, and it can remove pretty much any piece from the board in one round.
It does suffer from lack of activations, particularly short 2 units of Runeshapers, so every attack has to be valuable. However, this Mulg is as close to as invincible as this game can introduce, especially on feat turn. Not much else to say about this; the list speaks for its own style.
Tier 4 Doomshaper: Hail to the (Ice) King Baby
Note: I'm assuming most people will go double Glacier King here. I'm not 100% certain on whether I like this or Glacier and Mountain; the problem with the Mountain is you're highly reliant on the spray. And it's 2 points more, but not really better.
Anyway, it's Doomshaper Unit, 2x Ice King, Whelps, max Stone + UA, probably 2x Fire Eaters, and 6 to play with (Axer maybe?). The unit and last six can be variable, depending on list goals. But this is likely approximately the list you'll see.
This list has the benefit of 16 point GK's, which are pretty much a steal. However, it's all-in on the Gargantuans and assuming they'll be able to stick around long enough. Frequently this is true, since it's a lot of boxes at good ARM and the feat, but still worth noting. With this list, if you don't pick your targets 100% perfectly, you could end up swamped early. I don't believe it's bad, necessarily, but it will take a very careful amount of testing to make sure this works the way you want.
I can't say much about this, since I've never gone 2x Gargantuan before. I think it's highly viable, but might suffer in scenario in some cases, and lack of attack volume might result in it being swamped sometimes.
Tier 3 Doomshaper: Movin' On From Runes (My current build)
Doomy Unit, Mulg, Mauler, Axer, Bouncer, either 1 Pyre 1 Storm or 2x Storm, max Stone, 1 unit of Fire Eaters, Whelps
This list still uses some of the Runes of War core, but moves away a little into other beast packages. It takes advantage of the tier benefits to get board position and claim space, and brings a bit higher volume of attacks, plus the electro leaps from the Storm to help deal with infantry more than other list styles.
It's still reliant on good attack choices being made, but it's not quite as restrictive; it relies heavily on the Storm Troll to get volume out with his shots. Bouncer could be subbed out for Impaler here and be quite viable, but I went with the Bouncer for protection value and because Bump + Admonition can introduce weird attack angles.
This list doesn't hit as hard as the other two lists, but I think it plays into more matchups, thus far. The Storms, Axer with Thresher, and Electroleaps can remove a fairly large chunk of models from the board, helping deal with infantry swarming. I've given some consideration to finding a way to rework the points and possibly try to give Bushwhackers + UA a shot. It's really weird, but I think it might be able to do a lot of work infantry clearing, or (when needed) flanking hard and shooting support in the back. I've had good luck with Bushwhackers in this before, so it's under consideration. The problem is thus far, the points don't add up well.
More to come!
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Doomshaper 3: Game Experience
Well, it's been a couple of weeks of theorycrafting and one round of game experience, but I'm back with more thoughts. So here's a little bit of impression about Doomy3. I'll probably follow up in a later post with more in depth list thoughts!
Thoughts: Doomshaper is really the biggest weakness of his own list. I was significantly up in a game versus an Axis tier list, controlling the scenario with all of his heavies dead, and still he was able to pull up a good shot at an assassination run. Granted, I'd flubbed mine the turn before and made a maneuver that left me open, but I realized very quickly after my opponent started that I could die. Luckily, free strikes from Mulg, an Axer, and a Mauler were a bit too much for him to overcome (Rage on Mulg and the Mauler, too!)
So this leads to my next thought: Implacability will win games for Doomshaper. My opponent wanted to set up an Axis assassination run, but the inability to push my warbeasts backwards meant he had to go for a much jankier move around that put him down to his very last attack in our simulated run. Additionally, Implacability stopped Axis from moving my beasts around with battering ram, AND stopped the Inverter's counter charge. So... It's huge, at certain times. Some games it won't matter, but I think it will flat out win some games.
However, there was a notable problem: The only thing that forced my opponent into me in my games was a central scenario. Had my opponent been in a slower scenario, he could have drawn back and bought time. The scenario and terrain really set me up for an ideal situation, which was nice, but unreliable at best.
So my next thought: Doomy lacks a way to force an opponent into him. As much as I enjoyed my Fire Eaters, I think they're not necessarily where I want to go, AND I don't know that I want to stay with the normal "Beast Brick" style that has been heralded via Runes. While I think this beast brick is effective, I think - from early, snap judgements that I may rethink - Runes does it better due to walls and 8 more points (tier and beast points).
From bouncing ideas off of other players and some suggestions for what else to throw in (Thanks Liam!), I think bringing in a longer ranged game to force the opponent to come meet me is a highly advantageous game plan. I actually think I want to try Bushwhackers and maybe 1-2 ranged beasts that can get into my opponent to feel as if they have to move in somewhat, and I think it might - in some game situations - allow me to delay my feat one turn. I think, if you can force a Turn 3 feat from Doomshaper, it will be way more devastating. I think there are some exceptions, but being able to wait and really put the offensive feat portion to use feels huge.
Finally, and this may shift as I try different list builds and ideas, but I think that Tier - for now - is the way to go. I don't have double Garg's to try Tier 4, but I think that the +1 to starting and +2 speed are huge. Going first enables Doomshapers army to get incredibly forward - 21"+ even going first - and to allow zone control. If the opponent comes in too fast, a feat turn 2 can be devastating. Not fast enough, and a Turn 3 feat might occur, which has a much higher potential for the offensive portion of the feat to be used.
Once I have a Glacier King, I'll probably try a single GK list; it won't be Tier4, so no point reduction, but I think that the GK plus other beasts to allow zone control and sheer power has a lot of merit. Post-WMW, I'll probably proxy and try it, but for now I'm just going with what's out (beyond proxying Doomshaper himself!)
Thoughts: Doomshaper is really the biggest weakness of his own list. I was significantly up in a game versus an Axis tier list, controlling the scenario with all of his heavies dead, and still he was able to pull up a good shot at an assassination run. Granted, I'd flubbed mine the turn before and made a maneuver that left me open, but I realized very quickly after my opponent started that I could die. Luckily, free strikes from Mulg, an Axer, and a Mauler were a bit too much for him to overcome (Rage on Mulg and the Mauler, too!)
So this leads to my next thought: Implacability will win games for Doomshaper. My opponent wanted to set up an Axis assassination run, but the inability to push my warbeasts backwards meant he had to go for a much jankier move around that put him down to his very last attack in our simulated run. Additionally, Implacability stopped Axis from moving my beasts around with battering ram, AND stopped the Inverter's counter charge. So... It's huge, at certain times. Some games it won't matter, but I think it will flat out win some games.
However, there was a notable problem: The only thing that forced my opponent into me in my games was a central scenario. Had my opponent been in a slower scenario, he could have drawn back and bought time. The scenario and terrain really set me up for an ideal situation, which was nice, but unreliable at best.
So my next thought: Doomy lacks a way to force an opponent into him. As much as I enjoyed my Fire Eaters, I think they're not necessarily where I want to go, AND I don't know that I want to stay with the normal "Beast Brick" style that has been heralded via Runes. While I think this beast brick is effective, I think - from early, snap judgements that I may rethink - Runes does it better due to walls and 8 more points (tier and beast points).
From bouncing ideas off of other players and some suggestions for what else to throw in (Thanks Liam!), I think bringing in a longer ranged game to force the opponent to come meet me is a highly advantageous game plan. I actually think I want to try Bushwhackers and maybe 1-2 ranged beasts that can get into my opponent to feel as if they have to move in somewhat, and I think it might - in some game situations - allow me to delay my feat one turn. I think, if you can force a Turn 3 feat from Doomshaper, it will be way more devastating. I think there are some exceptions, but being able to wait and really put the offensive feat portion to use feels huge.
Finally, and this may shift as I try different list builds and ideas, but I think that Tier - for now - is the way to go. I don't have double Garg's to try Tier 4, but I think that the +1 to starting and +2 speed are huge. Going first enables Doomshapers army to get incredibly forward - 21"+ even going first - and to allow zone control. If the opponent comes in too fast, a feat turn 2 can be devastating. Not fast enough, and a Turn 3 feat might occur, which has a much higher potential for the offensive portion of the feat to be used.
Once I have a Glacier King, I'll probably try a single GK list; it won't be Tier4, so no point reduction, but I think that the GK plus other beasts to allow zone control and sheer power has a lot of merit. Post-WMW, I'll probably proxy and try it, but for now I'm just going with what's out (beyond proxying Doomshaper himself!)
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Doomshaper 3: Spells, Scrolls, Whelps and Pygs
Continuing with Doomshaper3, I'll provide my thoughts on his spells, his once-per-games (because we needed 3 mini-feats that rivalled top quality spells!), and why the Scroll Bearer looks better than you and your army.
Spell List of Doom: Giving a Troll warbeast Admonition, alone, would have made me ecstatic. Just imagine killing Mulg when he can bounce away from your location and get into a more awkward spot. Or moving Doomshaper out of the assassination run, or closer to Mulg so he can get those Protective Fit swings. All I have to say is: Giggity.
The cherry on top? Implacability. A brand new spell that basically means that Troll beast line you see is not moving. So g'luck with that one, buddy. No knocking Mulg or Doomy down to prevent the Admonition or Protective Fit, now. Kreoss1? Aww, you're cute, buddy. Gimme a hug. Doomy ain't going down that easy.
In all honesty, Implacability would only be an OK spell, except one critical fact: It's NOT an upkeep, so all those Purification casters are stuck with it. Eiryss2 can't clear it for Haley TK's. Sure, you have to cast it every turn, but there is almost no reason not to in a matchup where it's useful. Some games it will never come up, obviously; it may only be a 30-40% use. But certain matchups that give Trolls problems - Krueger2, for example - are now brutally harder on the Krueger player, in combination with the feat particularly.
The rest of the spells are interesting supplements. Stranglehold makes its return as one of the best "shitty nukes"; any time you can force half of an action to be forfeited is pretty sexy. Repudiate is what Purification probably should be - or at least many of the casters with Purification should probably have this instead.
The spell with probably the highest highs and lowest lows is Unminding. Unminding is probably a 15-20% spell, at best. Probably even less a lot of the time. But it may be a game winner sometimes, for the sheer combination of abilities it contains. Reducing a beast by 2 fury is already outstanding; stealing their animus is just a cherry on top. Against Hordes, it means that Doomshaper's capabilities get strangely unpredictable; he may be stealing that Rush to deny it to the opponent, or Sprint to send Mulg to strange places. Repulse could be a surprising benefit sometimes, for surprise scenario wins. It gives a strange amount of flexibility for Doomy into Hordes, which I find highly fascinating and fun-sounding to play.
Scroll Bearer: First off, this may be one of my favorite models, visually. It screams out everything I love about Trolls - the goofy sense of humor, the scroll/pseudo-tribal aesthetic, and the fact that even our whelps stand up and scream at you. I love this little guy.
From a control standpoint, his set of abilities are quite excellent. Hand of Yolandi, in particular, feels like it can be used to control the field at a pivotal moment; for example, if you need to overextend or put Doomshaper a little further forward against a caster like Sorscha2 or Butcher3. Hand ensures that he's burning nearly his entire stack just to move himself or other models (Energizer/Impending), and removes much of the fury efficiency of Flashing Blade, or can be used to exert heavy control over low fury casters particularly.
The other two scrolls both have an, "Expend this to up the brutality of your alpha" feeling. They don't provide the direct control characteristic of the rest of Doom3, but instead help keep fury costs lower for a turn, or ensure that you do maximum damage on turns when you need it. Any model with sprays or multiple attacks feels likely to benefit particularly; Champions also come to mind and fit well with his tanky theme, although benefitting less from his other abilities.
These scrolls, in a fashion, feel as if they give Doomshaper 3 a similar feel to Grissel, but tailored to a different set of conditions and matchups. The 3 minifeats combined feel somewhat less than Grissels feat - but they're not even the full feat, just additional "use as needed" abilities! Doomshaper feels as if he has roughly 2-2.5 feats across the game based on these scrolls, which I think help him deal with the fact that his spell list has a few spells that are highly situational.
Up next, thoughts on matchups and army compositions!
Spell List of Doom: Giving a Troll warbeast Admonition, alone, would have made me ecstatic. Just imagine killing Mulg when he can bounce away from your location and get into a more awkward spot. Or moving Doomshaper out of the assassination run, or closer to Mulg so he can get those Protective Fit swings. All I have to say is: Giggity.
The cherry on top? Implacability. A brand new spell that basically means that Troll beast line you see is not moving. So g'luck with that one, buddy. No knocking Mulg or Doomy down to prevent the Admonition or Protective Fit, now. Kreoss1? Aww, you're cute, buddy. Gimme a hug. Doomy ain't going down that easy.
In all honesty, Implacability would only be an OK spell, except one critical fact: It's NOT an upkeep, so all those Purification casters are stuck with it. Eiryss2 can't clear it for Haley TK's. Sure, you have to cast it every turn, but there is almost no reason not to in a matchup where it's useful. Some games it will never come up, obviously; it may only be a 30-40% use. But certain matchups that give Trolls problems - Krueger2, for example - are now brutally harder on the Krueger player, in combination with the feat particularly.
The rest of the spells are interesting supplements. Stranglehold makes its return as one of the best "shitty nukes"; any time you can force half of an action to be forfeited is pretty sexy. Repudiate is what Purification probably should be - or at least many of the casters with Purification should probably have this instead.
The spell with probably the highest highs and lowest lows is Unminding. Unminding is probably a 15-20% spell, at best. Probably even less a lot of the time. But it may be a game winner sometimes, for the sheer combination of abilities it contains. Reducing a beast by 2 fury is already outstanding; stealing their animus is just a cherry on top. Against Hordes, it means that Doomshaper's capabilities get strangely unpredictable; he may be stealing that Rush to deny it to the opponent, or Sprint to send Mulg to strange places. Repulse could be a surprising benefit sometimes, for surprise scenario wins. It gives a strange amount of flexibility for Doomy into Hordes, which I find highly fascinating and fun-sounding to play.
Scroll Bearer: First off, this may be one of my favorite models, visually. It screams out everything I love about Trolls - the goofy sense of humor, the scroll/pseudo-tribal aesthetic, and the fact that even our whelps stand up and scream at you. I love this little guy.
From a control standpoint, his set of abilities are quite excellent. Hand of Yolandi, in particular, feels like it can be used to control the field at a pivotal moment; for example, if you need to overextend or put Doomshaper a little further forward against a caster like Sorscha2 or Butcher3. Hand ensures that he's burning nearly his entire stack just to move himself or other models (Energizer/Impending), and removes much of the fury efficiency of Flashing Blade, or can be used to exert heavy control over low fury casters particularly.
The other two scrolls both have an, "Expend this to up the brutality of your alpha" feeling. They don't provide the direct control characteristic of the rest of Doom3, but instead help keep fury costs lower for a turn, or ensure that you do maximum damage on turns when you need it. Any model with sprays or multiple attacks feels likely to benefit particularly; Champions also come to mind and fit well with his tanky theme, although benefitting less from his other abilities.
These scrolls, in a fashion, feel as if they give Doomshaper 3 a similar feel to Grissel, but tailored to a different set of conditions and matchups. The 3 minifeats combined feel somewhat less than Grissels feat - but they're not even the full feat, just additional "use as needed" abilities! Doomshaper feels as if he has roughly 2-2.5 feats across the game based on these scrolls, which I think help him deal with the fact that his spell list has a few spells that are highly situational.
Up next, thoughts on matchups and army compositions!
Doomshaper 3 Spoilers: First Thoughts and Feat
Caveat: This post may need to be updated to reflect any possible changes/incorrect spoilers. Not expected, but just in case :) This series will be in multiple parts to break it into slightly more manageable chunks. I am combining the Feat with the First Thoughts, because quite frankly, my first thoughts came from this feat, before I ever saw the spell list, and I was already drooling.
So... The angry, human-hating shaman returns in all his battlegroup-supporting glory. And it's one hell of a return.
I'll avoid precise spoilers, because they're easily available a number of other places, so I'll simply assume that readers can go elsewhere. Instead, I'll attempt to concentrate on impressions, and a bit of theorycrafting, for our upcoming Troll overlord. From my initial thoughts and views, I feel that Doomshaper has some very obvious ways he can be played, including the traditional beast brick, but I feel like this might miss viable alternatives.
First Thoughts: PP wants Trolls to play more beasts. Hands down, I cannot draw any other conclusion from this. It seems clear that Privateer Press wants to emphasize beasts more within the faction, especially when taken in consideration with epic Borka. My guess would be that the designers have looked at the Troll lists/lineup, and felt there was an overreliance on Runes of War and infantry swarms, and sought to correct this.
I know that the design of characters occurs long before public playing, but I can't help but see Doomshaper as, in some ways, an evolution/improvement on Borka2. His feat doesn't stop opposing armies cold (rimshot) in the same manner, but I think his play initially seems more dynamic from my first impressions, largely because of the sheer power of his spell list, and the brutal nature of his feat.
His Field Marshal feels like a nice, supplementary set of healing in addition to normal Troll healing. If you don't get our beasts off the table, between natural Regen and Hyper Regen, given a couple of a turns a beast could be back up to half health from being nearly dead. And that should frighten a lot of opponents.
As always with Doomshaper, Goad is wonderful. It gives an unpredictable edge to otherwise frequently static Troll threats and angles, which often sets up assassinations or helps preserve our beasts.
Feat: How did we get a 3 for 1 feat? I don't know, but I love it. Boosting our melee attacks was already a huge boon to fury efficiency, mitigating very average attack values (5-6 is our average outside of Mulg and Rok). Now, we can focus more heavily on inflicting maximum damage, providing us with more high-value attacks.
Additionally, we take the already hardy Troll beast package, and it takes LESS DAMAGE? Holy. Crap. Quite frankly, this seemed unbelievable when I saw it. And then - the beasts heal when damaged? That seemed beyond insane. This feat - with some help from Implacable, particularly - screams at me they they want beasts on the table. Some of our lights are essentially unkillable by heavies now, which blows me away. Mulg, Clyde (EBDT), or our Gargantuans? Nigh immortal, short of Silence of Death or the very highest Synergy chains.
Doomshaper brought the Dire Trolls to the Kriels. Now, I think PP wants Trollblood players to unleash the beasts of war onto Immoren with Doomshaper3.
Next: Spell List and Scrolls (Or: How Whelps Look More Awesome Than Your Army)
So... The angry, human-hating shaman returns in all his battlegroup-supporting glory. And it's one hell of a return.
I'll avoid precise spoilers, because they're easily available a number of other places, so I'll simply assume that readers can go elsewhere. Instead, I'll attempt to concentrate on impressions, and a bit of theorycrafting, for our upcoming Troll overlord. From my initial thoughts and views, I feel that Doomshaper has some very obvious ways he can be played, including the traditional beast brick, but I feel like this might miss viable alternatives.
First Thoughts: PP wants Trolls to play more beasts. Hands down, I cannot draw any other conclusion from this. It seems clear that Privateer Press wants to emphasize beasts more within the faction, especially when taken in consideration with epic Borka. My guess would be that the designers have looked at the Troll lists/lineup, and felt there was an overreliance on Runes of War and infantry swarms, and sought to correct this.
I know that the design of characters occurs long before public playing, but I can't help but see Doomshaper as, in some ways, an evolution/improvement on Borka2. His feat doesn't stop opposing armies cold (rimshot) in the same manner, but I think his play initially seems more dynamic from my first impressions, largely because of the sheer power of his spell list, and the brutal nature of his feat.
His Field Marshal feels like a nice, supplementary set of healing in addition to normal Troll healing. If you don't get our beasts off the table, between natural Regen and Hyper Regen, given a couple of a turns a beast could be back up to half health from being nearly dead. And that should frighten a lot of opponents.
As always with Doomshaper, Goad is wonderful. It gives an unpredictable edge to otherwise frequently static Troll threats and angles, which often sets up assassinations or helps preserve our beasts.
Feat: How did we get a 3 for 1 feat? I don't know, but I love it. Boosting our melee attacks was already a huge boon to fury efficiency, mitigating very average attack values (5-6 is our average outside of Mulg and Rok). Now, we can focus more heavily on inflicting maximum damage, providing us with more high-value attacks.
Additionally, we take the already hardy Troll beast package, and it takes LESS DAMAGE? Holy. Crap. Quite frankly, this seemed unbelievable when I saw it. And then - the beasts heal when damaged? That seemed beyond insane. This feat - with some help from Implacable, particularly - screams at me they they want beasts on the table. Some of our lights are essentially unkillable by heavies now, which blows me away. Mulg, Clyde (EBDT), or our Gargantuans? Nigh immortal, short of Silence of Death or the very highest Synergy chains.
Doomshaper brought the Dire Trolls to the Kriels. Now, I think PP wants Trollblood players to unleash the beasts of war onto Immoren with Doomshaper3.
Next: Spell List and Scrolls (Or: How Whelps Look More Awesome Than Your Army)
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Trolls vs. Cygnar, 12-18-2014
I'm back! Going to try (again) to be more brief; writing long posts was part of what wore me out I think, and got me a little less likely to post. So here goes!
My List:
Jarl
-Rune
-Impaler
-Bomber
Horgle
-Slag Troll
Highwaymen + Braylen
Warders
SoBragg
Swamp Gobbers
Chronicler
Totem Hunter
His List:
Stryker2
-Squire
-Stormclad
-2x Sentinel
2x max Stormlances
Stormblades
-UA + 1 WA
Stormblades
2x Stormblade Captain
Scenario: Close Quarters
Terrain: Forest touching my flag, forest just on the other side of his. Hill on his side opposite my flag, hill on my side opposite his flag. Random obstruction in the middle.
Quick Assessment: Lots of infantry for me to kill! Not so fond of the Deflection, though, since that'll put especially the Stormlances in an awkward spot to kill. 19 ARM + 5 boxes leaves only the Bomber as reliable at ranged, really. And he's got a lot of heavy hitting, so my Warders are probably forfeit.
Deployment: I put the Highwaymen to the left with Braylen and Horgle & co. Bomber, Jarl, and Rune went right, Warders central, SoBragg far right (near the forest) with the Totem Hunter. Chronicler behind the Warders and Highwaymen.
All his Stormblades were in 2 clumps centrally with Stryker. The Stormclad was line up with his flag, Sentinels to either side, Stryker with the Stormclad, and the Stormlances hard to either flank.
Game Time: This section will be a little different than previous writings. I'm going to be a little more succinct about the happenings.
We both ran up, mostly, in Round 1. I'd preyed one unit of Stormblades, and he kept them back to deny the Prey bonus. On Turn 2, I decided my priority was finishing off the Stormclad; I wanted his heavy out of the way, because most everything else could be killed by normal PS 12 shots or CRA's from the Highwaymen. He shield guarded a Slag shot, but the other shot + 2 Bomber shots (I rolled the 7 to hit like a boss, unboosted) + 2 Warders got the 'Clad, and half-crippled a Sentinel (I blew out the damage). A Highwaymen CRA took down 1 lance, while the Assaulting SoBragg crapped out to do minimal damage.
He feated, and he took out a ton of guys. He took down about 6-7 Highwaymen, at the cost of 3 of the 4 Lances knocked down (Chronicler w/ Hero's Tragedy), all but 1 Warder, all but the 2 swords guy of SoBragg. He also got a few damage into either the Bomber or Impaler, I forget which.
My retaliation involved killing as much shit as I could manage. I managed to take him down to about ~6 Stormblades + 2 Stormlances on one side, and about 2 Lances on the other, plus the Captains on either side. The Slag Troll finished a Sentinel, while the Impaler slapped down the other.
He did what he could to retaliate; he removed another Highwayman or two, and put some damage into the Slag and Bomber, but he was running out of guys at this point. The one Stormlance got the last SoBragg, but he toughed.
On my turn, I wiped up the remaining Blades, cleared the Captain on my flag side, and took out the Sentinel, along with a Lance or two. I made one big error, though, and left Jarl in range for a Velocity + charge from Stryker on my Tactical Supremacy move... Shit. I should've just kept him back and fed contesting models into his flag repeatedly, since he was nearly out of models that could contest and won the long game. So, crap.
On his turn, he velocity'd for 2 into Jarl, who was on a 2 camp, leaving him on 5. His overboost put him at PS 26, or Dice +11 into a 16 box Jarl. his first two hit, and blasted me hard, leaving both the Impaler and Bomber on a single box each, with no transfers. His third shot hit... and snake eyes, leaving me on 3 HP. So then Horgle got a Slag bonus, walked up behind Stryker, and gave him a hammer to the back of the head.
Post-Match: We both made a lot of mistakes, playing with unfamiliar lists. We forgot abilities, or placed in bad spots; I left Jarl way too far forward a couple of times, trying to do too much. That said, I was incredibly happy with my infantry shredding on my guys, as well as general mobility. The Totem Hunter, Jarl, and Braylen all dashed in and out with ease, giving me a lot of board movement. If I'd played the game the way I intended to early, then Swift Hunter + Tac Supremacy would've moved the Highwaymen all over the board, but I screwed up and failed at that, and made it way easier for him to kill the Highwaymen.
The Warders will become Gators, too, after I move some points around. I felt like I had to pull the Warders along, somewhat, and I like the volume of attacks as well as potentially higher DEF better from the Gators, particularly in synergizing with the feat (-2 to attack rolls). I have other changes I'd like to make that I've discussed with another local player, so I'll be probably maneuvering a couple more things around and trying a couple of new ideas.
My List:
Jarl
-Rune
-Impaler
-Bomber
Horgle
-Slag Troll
Highwaymen + Braylen
Warders
SoBragg
Swamp Gobbers
Chronicler
Totem Hunter
His List:
Stryker2
-Squire
-Stormclad
-2x Sentinel
2x max Stormlances
Stormblades
-UA + 1 WA
Stormblades
2x Stormblade Captain
Scenario: Close Quarters
Terrain: Forest touching my flag, forest just on the other side of his. Hill on his side opposite my flag, hill on my side opposite his flag. Random obstruction in the middle.
Quick Assessment: Lots of infantry for me to kill! Not so fond of the Deflection, though, since that'll put especially the Stormlances in an awkward spot to kill. 19 ARM + 5 boxes leaves only the Bomber as reliable at ranged, really. And he's got a lot of heavy hitting, so my Warders are probably forfeit.
Deployment: I put the Highwaymen to the left with Braylen and Horgle & co. Bomber, Jarl, and Rune went right, Warders central, SoBragg far right (near the forest) with the Totem Hunter. Chronicler behind the Warders and Highwaymen.
All his Stormblades were in 2 clumps centrally with Stryker. The Stormclad was line up with his flag, Sentinels to either side, Stryker with the Stormclad, and the Stormlances hard to either flank.
Game Time: This section will be a little different than previous writings. I'm going to be a little more succinct about the happenings.
We both ran up, mostly, in Round 1. I'd preyed one unit of Stormblades, and he kept them back to deny the Prey bonus. On Turn 2, I decided my priority was finishing off the Stormclad; I wanted his heavy out of the way, because most everything else could be killed by normal PS 12 shots or CRA's from the Highwaymen. He shield guarded a Slag shot, but the other shot + 2 Bomber shots (I rolled the 7 to hit like a boss, unboosted) + 2 Warders got the 'Clad, and half-crippled a Sentinel (I blew out the damage). A Highwaymen CRA took down 1 lance, while the Assaulting SoBragg crapped out to do minimal damage.
He feated, and he took out a ton of guys. He took down about 6-7 Highwaymen, at the cost of 3 of the 4 Lances knocked down (Chronicler w/ Hero's Tragedy), all but 1 Warder, all but the 2 swords guy of SoBragg. He also got a few damage into either the Bomber or Impaler, I forget which.
My retaliation involved killing as much shit as I could manage. I managed to take him down to about ~6 Stormblades + 2 Stormlances on one side, and about 2 Lances on the other, plus the Captains on either side. The Slag Troll finished a Sentinel, while the Impaler slapped down the other.
He did what he could to retaliate; he removed another Highwayman or two, and put some damage into the Slag and Bomber, but he was running out of guys at this point. The one Stormlance got the last SoBragg, but he toughed.
On my turn, I wiped up the remaining Blades, cleared the Captain on my flag side, and took out the Sentinel, along with a Lance or two. I made one big error, though, and left Jarl in range for a Velocity + charge from Stryker on my Tactical Supremacy move... Shit. I should've just kept him back and fed contesting models into his flag repeatedly, since he was nearly out of models that could contest and won the long game. So, crap.
On his turn, he velocity'd for 2 into Jarl, who was on a 2 camp, leaving him on 5. His overboost put him at PS 26, or Dice +11 into a 16 box Jarl. his first two hit, and blasted me hard, leaving both the Impaler and Bomber on a single box each, with no transfers. His third shot hit... and snake eyes, leaving me on 3 HP. So then Horgle got a Slag bonus, walked up behind Stryker, and gave him a hammer to the back of the head.
Post-Match: We both made a lot of mistakes, playing with unfamiliar lists. We forgot abilities, or placed in bad spots; I left Jarl way too far forward a couple of times, trying to do too much. That said, I was incredibly happy with my infantry shredding on my guys, as well as general mobility. The Totem Hunter, Jarl, and Braylen all dashed in and out with ease, giving me a lot of board movement. If I'd played the game the way I intended to early, then Swift Hunter + Tac Supremacy would've moved the Highwaymen all over the board, but I screwed up and failed at that, and made it way easier for him to kill the Highwaymen.
The Warders will become Gators, too, after I move some points around. I felt like I had to pull the Warders along, somewhat, and I like the volume of attacks as well as potentially higher DEF better from the Gators, particularly in synergizing with the feat (-2 to attack rolls). I have other changes I'd like to make that I've discussed with another local player, so I'll be probably maneuvering a couple more things around and trying a couple of new ideas.
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