This post is going to be in lieu of a Battle Report, because although the game last night I played was interesting and fairly fun, I'm of the opinion that a discussion of the things I'm finding difficult is more useful than a discussion of the entire game in this case. This post will be followed up by a post assessing some of what I can do to work on clearing up these problems, since they've been recurring.
I've had my 3 casters for MACE picked for a few weeks now, and I'm trying to iron out the wrinkles and get the lists operating smoothly. I actually feel quite good about my 3, but a substantial amount of work remains in getting them settled. Barring a late change (always possible, as I changed late in the first year of the Invitational), I'll be settled into pBorka, pGrissel, and pDoomy, who I feel have a fantastic set of different abilities and list builds while still being able to cover a lot of matchups.
I've actually gotten fairly comfortable with unpacking pBorka. This is partially because of the ease of use of the Dygmies in the early game; AD allows a board spread that helps quite a lot, and if they burrow, there is even less hassle. Additionally, the Fennblades can spread over a huge area, and the Gators don't mind if it takes an extra turn or 2 to engage if the Fennblades and Dygmies do some heavy lifting.
However, I'm running into a problem with pGrissel that I've had before with eMadrak and with other infantry swarms: it can be exceedingly difficult to get formations, model placement, and general "resource allocation" correct to ensure that I can unpack my army correctly. This is particularly true with the somewhat different formations I've been playing with.
In the past, I've usually just put an entire unit to a side, an entire unit to another side, and not made use of my entire possible command (Fennblades generally being an exception, because 12" command is bonkers). Units end up somewhat clumped, so that they take some serious casualties if a couple of heavy hitters can get in, because multiple guys will generally die.
Lately, however, I've been attempting to spread my forces, taking advantage - in deployment, rather than just in field positioning) of my command bubble. This carries risks, but it also has a lot of advantages. In this case, I can get some serious positioning advantage from spreading a unit like Long Riders, which have a number of unique capabilities, giving better use of the Bull Rush order if I need slams, or simply for massacring a large swath of infantry - possibly up to 5-6 models with Impact Attacks and extra Grissel attacks.
However, in back to back weeks, I've played in central scenario games (Destruction), and been unable to unpack my army successfully. I'm continually tripping over my own guys, blocking off charge lanes, and making life exceedingly difficult for myself. This included leaving Grissel open to 2 possible assassination runs last night, one of which failed because my opponent was millimeters out from getting to Grissel off side steps at (at least) mat 12 or 13 and PS 25-26 because one of his models was millimeters too far forward and blocking off charge lanes. And because I seriously rolled about 2/3 of my Tough checks last night. It was beyond insane. The way those were going, Grissel might've just toughed 5 times.
The second assassination run was harder, but possible still. I could have probably done more to prevent it, but part of it was dictated by the necessity of ensuring Imperatus died. I probably could have gotten some Krielstone Bearers in the way, though, which would've been enough most likely.
As it was, I ultimately clocked myself, but most of my time on the clock was eaten up by unpacking my army and trying to fix my errors. Trolls present unique problems, particularly due to the space medium bases take up. They're a blessing and a curse, in equal proportions. Lately, I'd gotten a little sloppier from running the Kithkar (Tactician), but now I'm needing to tighten my formations back up.
In the next post (soon?), I'll talk about how I'd like to try addressing these problems. Some of them involve entire formation changes, while some of them simply involve being more conscious of where I want models going on Turn 2. I've never been very good at that aspect of the game; I play a much more reactive style. I never played chess well because I lived for the board as it was now, not as it could be in 3-4 moves. This is recurring in this game, and is leaving a hole in my game I need to correct.
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