My List:
Grissel Bloodsong, Marshal of the Kriels
Mulg
Axer
Runebearer
2x max Warders
max Champs
max Krielstone with UA
Fell Caller Hero
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Opponent:
Butcher1
Spriggan
War Dog? (not sure, never mattered if so)
Nyss with Valachev
Winterguard Rifle Corps
Kayazy with Underboss
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Aiyana and Holt
Eiryss2
Kovnik Joe
(might be more, but this is really all that mattered)
Scenario: Outflank
Terrain: A pair of forests on either side of the left zone (from my view), the one on my side was not directly in front of the zone, the one on his side was. Hill in the middle of each zone, house (obstruction) in the middle between the two zones.
Deployment: I placed Grissel center to hide her behind the house, the Champs fairly central around her with Mulg and the Axer to either side (Mulg on the left I think), Krielstone center middle, Fell Caller and SSC center middle, and one unit of Warders to either side.
He placed the Kayazy to my right, Nyss to my left, Winterguard centralish (slightly to my left), Butcher and Spriggan and support center. AD Eiryss went center, the Widowmakers went to the left zone, Marksman to the right.
I looked at his list and my first question was how much Pathfinder he had. Since the answer was not really very much, I realized Inhospitable Ground could be near game breaking. Unfortunately, this assumption is based on the idea that I don't make dumb mistakes. Spoiler alert: I make dumb mistakes.
I was directly netlisting (I try not to call it netdecking as much anymore - thanks Liam!) Chad Shonkwiler's "Miserable Meat Mountain". eGrissel makes all the units a respectable speed, she can fuel the stone... It's a fantastic armor skew.
So I rolled my guys up the board full speed ahead. Grissel got Exalted from the Runebearer, put 5 on the stone, put up Dash, and I ran everything pretty much straight up the board. Only thing I switched up was actually angling my Champions off to the left, since I felt that was where they'd be needed based on the Spriggan's positioning and the bulk of his models. Stone did not put up the aura, since all the shooting I worried about was auto point from Widowmakers. SSC Tale of Misted the Warders across from the Widowmakers. Basically, I just jammed Warders up the board fast.
He shot a few points off a Warder with the Widowmakers, ran up his guys so the Kayazy were threatening the right, the Winterguard RC center, and the Nyss to the left. Spriggan threatened centrally. The Kayazy got Iron Flesh, Joe put Tough on the WRC, and that was about it I believe.
I had an easy, fast set of activations. Stone went first, put up No Stealth (trying to catch a Kayazy for Grissel). The only question was whether to Turn 2 Feat or not. I anticipated a likely Butcher feat, so I went ahead and put it up with Grissel, she put up Dash and Inhospitable and added to the stone, leaving her on 1. The Kayazy was just a hair out of range for removing stealth, but her AE 4 that leaves a POW 12 circle in play took out 2 Kayazy on an OK drift. The left Warders took down 1 RC member (other toughed), the right warders charged against 2 Kayazy with the Fell Caller buff, and got lucky to roll a 10 on one of them to take down a 3rd Kayazy and occupied a ton of real estate on the right side zone, while the Champions stayed centrally. I positioned the Champs and Mulg so that the Krielstone and Grissel were very hard to shoot, and passed turn.
My opponent thought for a little while about order of activations, and decided to pop feat. Butcher moved up, and he accidentally shot a Warder before popping feat, dealing about 3 points or so, with the Warder using Hyper Aggressive to barely engage a Rifle Corp member to get the Unyielding bonus (and in melee penalty to shooting, too). After feat, he moved his Winterguard and Nyss up, removing a Warder or two (can't remember how many, I think two) and a Champ with the Widowmaker's help. The Kayazy were able to charge onto two of the Warders, taking down one on that side with Feat help, while the other damage roll plinked. All in all, Grissel's feat really aided in weathering the Butcher feat.
Next turn, I managed to remove a number of Nyss from the board, including Cylena, and a few WRC. I took the Kayazy down to 3 men left, put up Dash, but made a big mistake with Grissel. I miscounted her Fury, leaving her with 1 transfer, and I moved her too far up in getting greedy to clear a zone. I had other options for clearing the zone, and should have kept her safe behind a house. I cleared the right zone and scored (got Eiryss as well), but left Butcher with a charge line to Grissel; it would leave him having to hit around a wall, needing 8's, but it was my major mistake of the game.
My opponent cleared a lane to Grissel, almost cleared the Stone but it was able to stay up and on Grissel, but it didn't matter. Butcher got on Grissel after casting Fury, boosted the charge, and did 16 damage which I sent to the Axer. Mulg moved over, but wasn't quite able to get to Butcher for a melee swing. Next shot hit needing 8's on 2d6, doing about 10 or so damage. Mulg swung and connected, doing about 6 or so himself at D-1. Butcher's next shot on 2d6 also hit needing an 8, and Grissel failed the tough.
Takehome: Don't move Grissel into a stupid position. I had the game won; I was up massively on attrition, and he had very few ways to damage my Warders by the end, particularly because the Nyss were scattered and lacking charge lanes. I made a dumb mistake, got greedy, and it cost me a winnable game.
That said, I was very happy and I see why Chad loves the list. It hits hard, it's extremely tanky and can handle a lot of attrition, and is surprisingly mobile because of Dash allowing movements ignoring free strikes. It was a lot of fun to play with, and I learned one of the best lessons - Grissel doesn't need to do much. Grissel2 can really let her army ride to victory very handily, if you give her the space.
