Alright, so the finisher on my thinking about how to approach Calandra. This has been a relatively brief summary of my thoughts, I suppose; I could probably stack up a fairly lengthy list of the things I've thought about with her, but I wanted to hit what I thought were the main points.
But as with every caster/lock in this game, they're only as good as their army composition. Calandra fits into an interesting position for me; you want to maximize her rerolling/dice manipulation potential with a solid volume of attacks, but she really turns on high value attacks strongly also. For example, the Bomber's two shots benefit tremendously from her; his blast damage starts killing models it shouldn't. On the flip side, however, if you want to maximize her Star Crossed dice manipulation, you need to flood with defense to maximize the number of missed attacks.
For Troll pieces that work with Calandra, I'll mostly cop out and say to read these: Calandra by Vash or Calandra by Sevwall. Actually, read the one by Sevwall either way; it's freaking hilarious.
I will point out, in addition to the Bomber, two pieces that I think benefit tremendously in Trolls for Calandra: the Burrowers and the Scouts. They both have DEF 13 and multiple attacks, maximizing the use of her feat, and both have a degree of built-in protection in the Burrow order and Prowl for the Scouts. They can get work done offensively or defensively, and the Scouts in particular can be relatively solid pieces for either putting some chinks into armor or taking down some infantry due to Gang.
For my part, I'm currently favoring a Minions-heavy DEF spam, utilizing some of the stronger units available. Currently, the core pieces I have are Boomhowler, the Nyss Hunters, and Gatorman Posse. The Gatorman Posse can Dirge to 13, and the Nyss Hunters are a DEF 15 base, so their value is obvious.
Boomhowler gets a little more subtle (words never used to describe him before) in using Rage Howl to punish enemy jacks/beasts. Star Crossed really begins to get amazing work done when you push an enemy beast (say a Stalker) to MAT 4, now needing to boost to hit DEF 13, but not doing it as reliably, because Star Crossed pushes the average dice below 9 (slightly) on 3D6. If the enemy misses attacks on the DEF 12 Boomhowlers... Bonus.
Additionally, all 3 of these units bring a solid offensive game for Calandra. The Boomhowlers and Nyss both have ranged and melee attacks, and the Gatormen have 2 attacks each. Under the feat turn, that's a significant amount of rerolling, providing solid odds that you'll be able to get work and kill what you need. The Nyss become even more reliable at removing single wound infantry even with solo shots, and 2 man CRA's hit all but the highest DEF under the feat.
So, my current list (sans beasts) has been max Gators, max Boomies, and max Nyss, taking me to 28 points. I've also thrown in a Runebearer, Gobbers, and Bone Grinders for 5 points, taking me to 33, because they keep Calandra safer, maximize her efficiency, and let her use her offensive spells more often without as much risk to her.
I've run various battlegroups with her; I had fairly solid results with Mulg, Pyre, and then throwing in Runeshapers, but that's because Mulg is Mulg. I've really liked it when I ran a Bomber, Impaler, and Slag Troll with her, because she absolutely shreds infantry, but beasts/jacks get hammered hard by the higher value shots available.
However, I've also debated moving in Dahlia and Skarrath for more denial. This may be overkill; it's one of the places I'm still waffling. However, with that pair along with another 12 points of beasts for her, the infantry mulching would be superb, and I would be able to keep infantry out of my face in a way that I can't otherwise.
I might post a little more on Calandra; I feel like I have more I could say, but I'm trying to keep a (slight) degree of brevity to my typing, so I'll leave it here for now. Hope this has been helpful reading for a few people, and I'll try to figure out more to post about in the near future for other Troll warlocks!
Showing posts with label Calandra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Calandra. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Calandra Truthsayer (Or How to Manipulate Dice), Part 2
I'm trying to be a little responsible and move relatively quickly into Part 2 of my talking about Calandra before I lose my own interest, so... With no further ado, Star Crossed (SC)!
Part 1 gave a little bit of an overview of her other abilities and ways of thinking about her, particularly her rerolls and her board control. She actually has some very strong abilities - a "sort of" Telekinesis but with a few differences, knock down on a stick, and a lot of rerolling abilities. Her rerolling, in my opinion, is one of her most underrated abilities; rerolling brings attack values that are at somewhat marginal odds into a much higher likelihood of hitting.
In this part, though, I'll talk about her purely defensive spell (one of her two), SC. Bullet Dodger pairs with SC to bring a degree of protection to her; it puts her up to DEF 16 against non-Blessed ranged weapons, but SC really makes her defensive values tick.
Mathematically, SC is effectively an approximate reduction of 1.5 from the average dice roll; a 7 becomes a 5.5 approximately, and a 10 becomes an 8.5. This isn't strictly accurate, but it serves as a useful approximation; effectively, the player can expect to see significantly more rolls of 5 or lower on 2D6. In combination with standard MAT and RAT values, this brings about a situation in which MAT 6 or lower really start to struggle to hit DEF 12 (standard Troll DEF). DEF 7 retains fewer problems, but will still miss on some occasions because of dice spikes.
Dice spikes are really where SCbegins to either shine or fail. As a convenience, we tend to average dice rolls - 7 for 2d6, 10-11 for 3d6, etc. However, in reality, we see certain deviations away from the average because of the randomness of dice, and SC can begin to take advantage of that. If someone is rolling fairly average on 3d6 - maybe 1-3-6, for example - they may miss a MAT 12 because you now drop the 6, meaning they hit either a 10 or 11 for MAT 6/7. If they happen to spike high and hit anyway, then you're getting the other side of the spectrum. SC makes the low spikes significantly more likely, which is where it's power comes from.
This is where my personal theorycrafting kicks in; I feel that you can either look at SC as a DEF bonus that you should not rely upon but will cause a few attacks to miss, or you can try to DEF spam and abuse its potential. If you choose to rely on higher DEF values, Trolls are sadly lacking in higher DEF choices; we have a few units at DEF 13, but are primarily DEF 12 or below. That's not to say this won't work sometimes - DEF 12 versus MAT 6 or lower will hold up fine, but the odds of missing become a good bit lower at MAT 7.
So how can it be done? Minions are a viable option! Trolls have access to one of the broadest Minions selections of the factions, including core units such as Boomhowler, Cylena and the Nyss, and the Gatormen, as well as solos such as the Totem Hunter and Pendrake, among a number of others. By using minions that can push DEF 13 - or have ways of lowering MAT/RAT values for other models - the math begins to skew back in an ideal fashion, helping to make full use of SC once again.
Additionally, these models hold up well on their own; there are obvious benefits to all these units or solos, with each playing a direct role. Calandra herself helps them out in particular with her feat beyond SC; her feat is one of the few in Trolls that directly benefits Minions. A well-timed feat with these units can be startlingly powerful in its ability to set the opponent on the back foot early and induce a game of catch-up, and SC can help hold you out front.
I'll do one more part, talking about what use I've found with Calandra lately, particularly my list build and what I'm still figuring out with her. Calandra's an interesting caster that presents some unique capabilities to Trolls, and she can turn on some pieces - both in Trolls and in Minions - in ways that most of our faction cannot.
Part 1 gave a little bit of an overview of her other abilities and ways of thinking about her, particularly her rerolls and her board control. She actually has some very strong abilities - a "sort of" Telekinesis but with a few differences, knock down on a stick, and a lot of rerolling abilities. Her rerolling, in my opinion, is one of her most underrated abilities; rerolling brings attack values that are at somewhat marginal odds into a much higher likelihood of hitting.
In this part, though, I'll talk about her purely defensive spell (one of her two), SC. Bullet Dodger pairs with SC to bring a degree of protection to her; it puts her up to DEF 16 against non-Blessed ranged weapons, but SC really makes her defensive values tick.
Mathematically, SC is effectively an approximate reduction of 1.5 from the average dice roll; a 7 becomes a 5.5 approximately, and a 10 becomes an 8.5. This isn't strictly accurate, but it serves as a useful approximation; effectively, the player can expect to see significantly more rolls of 5 or lower on 2D6. In combination with standard MAT and RAT values, this brings about a situation in which MAT 6 or lower really start to struggle to hit DEF 12 (standard Troll DEF). DEF 7 retains fewer problems, but will still miss on some occasions because of dice spikes.
Dice spikes are really where SCbegins to either shine or fail. As a convenience, we tend to average dice rolls - 7 for 2d6, 10-11 for 3d6, etc. However, in reality, we see certain deviations away from the average because of the randomness of dice, and SC can begin to take advantage of that. If someone is rolling fairly average on 3d6 - maybe 1-3-6, for example - they may miss a MAT 12 because you now drop the 6, meaning they hit either a 10 or 11 for MAT 6/7. If they happen to spike high and hit anyway, then you're getting the other side of the spectrum. SC makes the low spikes significantly more likely, which is where it's power comes from.
This is where my personal theorycrafting kicks in; I feel that you can either look at SC as a DEF bonus that you should not rely upon but will cause a few attacks to miss, or you can try to DEF spam and abuse its potential. If you choose to rely on higher DEF values, Trolls are sadly lacking in higher DEF choices; we have a few units at DEF 13, but are primarily DEF 12 or below. That's not to say this won't work sometimes - DEF 12 versus MAT 6 or lower will hold up fine, but the odds of missing become a good bit lower at MAT 7.
So how can it be done? Minions are a viable option! Trolls have access to one of the broadest Minions selections of the factions, including core units such as Boomhowler, Cylena and the Nyss, and the Gatormen, as well as solos such as the Totem Hunter and Pendrake, among a number of others. By using minions that can push DEF 13 - or have ways of lowering MAT/RAT values for other models - the math begins to skew back in an ideal fashion, helping to make full use of SC once again.
Additionally, these models hold up well on their own; there are obvious benefits to all these units or solos, with each playing a direct role. Calandra herself helps them out in particular with her feat beyond SC; her feat is one of the few in Trolls that directly benefits Minions. A well-timed feat with these units can be startlingly powerful in its ability to set the opponent on the back foot early and induce a game of catch-up, and SC can help hold you out front.
I'll do one more part, talking about what use I've found with Calandra lately, particularly my list build and what I'm still figuring out with her. Calandra's an interesting caster that presents some unique capabilities to Trolls, and she can turn on some pieces - both in Trolls and in Minions - in ways that most of our faction cannot.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Calandra Truthsayer (Or How to Manipulate Dice), Part 1.
So, the repeatedly-delayed post about Calandra is here! Calandra's kinda infamous for screwing with the dice, and has been the subject of more tilts from the person across the table than any other caster I've played. That usually occurs after a turn of seeing Star Crossed costing otherwise easy kills combined with some toughs, along with my feat of dice manipulation. Star Crossed is second primarily to Ashlynn for messing with the dice, but can be cast every turn, rather than Ashlynn's powerful one-hit wonder.
This will be a two part post, simply because I have a lot to say. I'm kinda long-winded, this is my blog, and I'll talk if I want to! Part 1 will focus on how to play her without Star Crossed abuse, and Part 2 will dig into use of Star Crossed (including my way of running her currently). I might do a part 3 of either lists/pieces I like with her, because I honestly think this is going to run too long to put it on there as it is. That's fairly probable, actually.
There has been a lot of debate about Calandra, and whether to abuse Star Crossed or see it as a bonus. Star Crossed (SC) can be very powerful in that it makes 1-1, 1-2, or similar dice rolls much more likely, but MAT values about 7 mean that it has less return. SC benefits models with DEF 13 or higher the most, in that mathematically it reduces the average attack value to approximately 5 (slightly higher), meaning that MAT 7 becomes much less likely to hit.
Before I dig in, here's a summary of the lady herself:
Passive: Fate Blessed - spend a Fury to reroll an attack or damage roll from a Faction model.
Mercy Killer - gain a damage dice on her melee attacks on wounded models.
Spells:
Befuddle - Non-Warcaster/Lock enemy model is advanced (by the caster) up to 3", no free strikes.
Bullet Dodger - Model gains +2 DEF against ranged attacks and Dodge (allows 2" movement ignoring free strikes after being missed by enemy attack).
Force Blow: POW 12 RNG 10 that knocks down on damage.
Soothing Song - Remove 1 Fury point from each Faction beast in control once per turn.
Star Crossed - Add an additional dice to enemy attack rolls, drop the highest.
My original train of thought was to use Star Crossed as a bonus, and enjoy using Befuddle, Force Blow, and Soothing Song, seeing Star Crossed reliance as a trap. Befuddle is situationally powerful, but ignores many effects that prevent places or pushes. Force Blow can fuel an assassination run, and Soothing Song is fantastic for getting rid of a Fury after a passed Frenzy check - I honestly find that to be one of its best uses.
One incarnation of this list that has been suggested is a nasty assassination list - using War Wagons and double Bombers to put the enemy caster/lock on his butt (Force Blow or War Wagon) and pound him with boosted POW 16's under Calandra's feat. It can be a game winner very, very quickly, and an extremely difficult assassination to stop particularly in Killbox scenarios. I've had a lot of success with her and ranged beasts - she has some solid abilities to keep the enemy at arm's length.
Being able to manipulate enemy position with Befuddle is a huge boon, also. There aren't that many abilities in the game that move the enemy with a spell - we just all know the ones that do because manipulating your opponents board position is huge for throwing off game plans. It's a very limited position movement, but sometimes simply manipulating a beast to face the wrong way can be enough - denying the charge they would have had otherwise. Or giving yourself a back arc shot so you go from 8 to hit to 6, in some cases. The odds improvement, in combination with her rerolls, are fantastic.
Additionally, you can run her as a Fate Blessed battery; don't worry about spell casting, and use her as Fortune for the army a limited number of times. Basically, a mini-Morvahna 2. Some animi, some rerolls, and we're good to go. It can help substantially with all the MAT 6 models we have, especially when you've used some support, and you don't want that now-MAT 8 model with Fell Caller support to go to waste. That just sucks. Or when Mulg creases someone's forehead with a club, then farts for damage. That 1-2 with Mulg just got re-rolled - hey, now it's a 3-5, and you spent one fury on your caster to increase your damage by 4-5 points.
And honestly, there's a lot to be said for that outlook. Look at how powerful Morvahna2 has been in the recent meta, and a lot of its because of her dice manipulation; being able to reroll is very powerful. Granted, Calandra can't do it to the same extent; she has limitations in the form of her Fury pool, and the abilities she wants to hand out. But the ability to have a back-up reroller is wonderful for you, and can be intensely frustrating for your opponent.
I apologize for this, but I'm going to hold off on lists/pieces I like with Calandra for now, because I don't want to make the posts too long. Please, if you happen to read this and think that length of post or something isn't a problem, hit me up on the NC Gunbunnies forums at Dav2K5, email me at bwill1983@gmail.com, or comment on here. Or if you have any other suggestions; I'd actually like to know if anyone's reading this much :) I'm trying something I've never done before in the blog, and I'd like to improve it a little. It'll never be much more than a niche blog, but if I can improve my writing and presentation, I'm all for it.
This will be a two part post, simply because I have a lot to say. I'm kinda long-winded, this is my blog, and I'll talk if I want to! Part 1 will focus on how to play her without Star Crossed abuse, and Part 2 will dig into use of Star Crossed (including my way of running her currently). I might do a part 3 of either lists/pieces I like with her, because I honestly think this is going to run too long to put it on there as it is. That's fairly probable, actually.
There has been a lot of debate about Calandra, and whether to abuse Star Crossed or see it as a bonus. Star Crossed (SC) can be very powerful in that it makes 1-1, 1-2, or similar dice rolls much more likely, but MAT values about 7 mean that it has less return. SC benefits models with DEF 13 or higher the most, in that mathematically it reduces the average attack value to approximately 5 (slightly higher), meaning that MAT 7 becomes much less likely to hit.
Before I dig in, here's a summary of the lady herself:
Passive: Fate Blessed - spend a Fury to reroll an attack or damage roll from a Faction model.
Mercy Killer - gain a damage dice on her melee attacks on wounded models.
Spells:
Befuddle - Non-Warcaster/Lock enemy model is advanced (by the caster) up to 3", no free strikes.
Bullet Dodger - Model gains +2 DEF against ranged attacks and Dodge (allows 2" movement ignoring free strikes after being missed by enemy attack).
Force Blow: POW 12 RNG 10 that knocks down on damage.
Soothing Song - Remove 1 Fury point from each Faction beast in control once per turn.
Star Crossed - Add an additional dice to enemy attack rolls, drop the highest.
My original train of thought was to use Star Crossed as a bonus, and enjoy using Befuddle, Force Blow, and Soothing Song, seeing Star Crossed reliance as a trap. Befuddle is situationally powerful, but ignores many effects that prevent places or pushes. Force Blow can fuel an assassination run, and Soothing Song is fantastic for getting rid of a Fury after a passed Frenzy check - I honestly find that to be one of its best uses.
One incarnation of this list that has been suggested is a nasty assassination list - using War Wagons and double Bombers to put the enemy caster/lock on his butt (Force Blow or War Wagon) and pound him with boosted POW 16's under Calandra's feat. It can be a game winner very, very quickly, and an extremely difficult assassination to stop particularly in Killbox scenarios. I've had a lot of success with her and ranged beasts - she has some solid abilities to keep the enemy at arm's length.
Being able to manipulate enemy position with Befuddle is a huge boon, also. There aren't that many abilities in the game that move the enemy with a spell - we just all know the ones that do because manipulating your opponents board position is huge for throwing off game plans. It's a very limited position movement, but sometimes simply manipulating a beast to face the wrong way can be enough - denying the charge they would have had otherwise. Or giving yourself a back arc shot so you go from 8 to hit to 6, in some cases. The odds improvement, in combination with her rerolls, are fantastic.
Additionally, you can run her as a Fate Blessed battery; don't worry about spell casting, and use her as Fortune for the army a limited number of times. Basically, a mini-Morvahna 2. Some animi, some rerolls, and we're good to go. It can help substantially with all the MAT 6 models we have, especially when you've used some support, and you don't want that now-MAT 8 model with Fell Caller support to go to waste. That just sucks. Or when Mulg creases someone's forehead with a club, then farts for damage. That 1-2 with Mulg just got re-rolled - hey, now it's a 3-5, and you spent one fury on your caster to increase your damage by 4-5 points.
And honestly, there's a lot to be said for that outlook. Look at how powerful Morvahna2 has been in the recent meta, and a lot of its because of her dice manipulation; being able to reroll is very powerful. Granted, Calandra can't do it to the same extent; she has limitations in the form of her Fury pool, and the abilities she wants to hand out. But the ability to have a back-up reroller is wonderful for you, and can be intensely frustrating for your opponent.
I apologize for this, but I'm going to hold off on lists/pieces I like with Calandra for now, because I don't want to make the posts too long. Please, if you happen to read this and think that length of post or something isn't a problem, hit me up on the NC Gunbunnies forums at Dav2K5, email me at bwill1983@gmail.com, or comment on here. Or if you have any other suggestions; I'd actually like to know if anyone's reading this much :) I'm trying something I've never done before in the blog, and I'd like to improve it a little. It'll never be much more than a niche blog, but if I can improve my writing and presentation, I'm all for it.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Battle Report 3-12, Trolls vs Cygnar
Sorry for the delay posting last Wednesday's game folks; I got a combination of busy and distracted. I made the mistake of starting to play Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, and... Well, it was a mistake. A tasty, fun mistake.
So, one of my worries with my Calanda list was getting shot up on the way in; I was worried Cygnar in particular could put in enough damage to remove Gators or Boomhowlers while avoiding Star Crossed. I didn't actually get to test that theory this week!
My opponent, a local Cygnar player named Joe, decided to try out a Darius tier list and see how it would work. For my part, I wanted to try out a variation on my Calandra list, subbing in a Bomber, Impaler, and Slag for Mulg, Pyre, and the Runeshapers; I feel that Calandra can support the list fairly well through fury soaking with Soothing Song and Star Crossed. Scenario was fire support. My list:
Calandra Truthsayer
Runebearer
Bomber
Impaler
Slag Troll
Max Gator Posse
Max Nyss Hunters
Max Boomhowlers
Bone Grinders
Swamp Gobbers
Feralgeist
Joe's list, as close as I can manage:
Darius Wrecking Crew Tier 2:
Darius
Centurion
Minuteman
Journeyman Warcaster
2x Sword Knight Units with UA
**Both units marshalling 2 Hunters each
I ended up going first. I had a rock in front of me that blocked LOS (not linear obstacle, the bigger size), a house off to my right, and a linear obstacle to my left that had little impact. Joe had a forest in the middle of the board, but fairly clear access to either side.
I sent my Nyss down one flank, Calandra + Battlegroup + Protection down the center, and my Gators + Boomhowlers (Boomies in front) on the left. Calandra put up Bullet Dodger and Star Crossed, camping on three. I made an early mistake with her, in that I did not put up the Gobber cloud to put her into concealment, and I charged her up the middle not behind the rock, so I did not have cover or LOS. My early worry was the Hunters shooting up my Gatorman posse, so I tried to screen them behind Boomies, and I wanted to get Calandra up the board aggressively to abuse Star Crossed, which may not have been a mistake, but I went about it poorly.
Joe responded by Prontoing all 4 Hunters forward and running the Knights up behind them. The Minuteman got 3, moved, jumped, and shot two Boomhowlers, both failing tough checks (they never passed a single one all game). Then the pain started, with the Hunters beginning to shoot up Calandra bottom of 1. Because of Pronto, they were able to aim, needing only 7's to hit and boosting to hit to get around Star Crossed. At this point I started swearing, because there was a reasonable chance that I would half-kill most of my beasts with transfers. Both damage rolls on Calandra spiked at dice -1, producing more swearing, before the third boosted failed to hit due to Star Crossed, and she took her Evasive move behind cover; the final shot went into the Bomber, plugging more damage into him. Darius and the Centurion both just ran through the forest (Pathfinder from the Tier bonus).
Calandra cut for two, I sighed from relief that I hadn't quite gotten Calandra killed bottom of 1, and I decided to start the slaughter. Calandra went first, popped feat, befuddled a Hunter to send its ass to me and move forward, and the beatings commenced. I took down 3 of the 4 Hunters plus a Minuteman, along with a few Sword Knights from Boomy shots. The Bomber claimed one Hunter, the Slag claimed another, four Nyss 2-man's at Dice - 3 claimed the third, and Boomies + Gators took down the Minuteman. I felt a lot safer at this point, getting Calandra behind smoke to deny LOS, and sat back to see the return.
At this point the game will get a little hazy, because it bogged down - Joe engaged the Sword Knights into the Nyss on the right, the Sword Knights into the Boomies and Gators on the left, and we bogged down a couple of turns. He got the Centurion in the mix, but Befuddle and some spiked dice left him nearly dead - had I not forgotten to put more effort into killing Junior, I would have killed him, but Darius's feat put him fully operational again. We bounced attacks around in the Nyss and Sword Knights, but as the clock was winding down, I realized that I didn't really need to spike any more damage into him, blew up the objective with the Bomber, and put the Feralgeist onto his flag to go to 2 CPs. He had little way to retaliate and conceded.
My alternate Calandra battlegroup worked extremely well - I was very happy with its performance, as the ranged attacks that it can put out really take advantage of her feat while remaining at a distance, and really help aid the slog that she creates with Star Crossed. All the pieces pretty much worked nicely with each other; my major mistakes came in the form of bad first turn issues that I learned quickly from.
My next post will be giddiness about new Troll news (and won't really be a post as much as me just being happy), but I'm going to post some theory about a new Calandra list modification soon; hopefully by tomorrow. It may not be practical, but it'll be cramming as much denial into one list as possible and giggling manically.
So, one of my worries with my Calanda list was getting shot up on the way in; I was worried Cygnar in particular could put in enough damage to remove Gators or Boomhowlers while avoiding Star Crossed. I didn't actually get to test that theory this week!
My opponent, a local Cygnar player named Joe, decided to try out a Darius tier list and see how it would work. For my part, I wanted to try out a variation on my Calandra list, subbing in a Bomber, Impaler, and Slag for Mulg, Pyre, and the Runeshapers; I feel that Calandra can support the list fairly well through fury soaking with Soothing Song and Star Crossed. Scenario was fire support. My list:
Calandra Truthsayer
Runebearer
Bomber
Impaler
Slag Troll
Max Gator Posse
Max Nyss Hunters
Max Boomhowlers
Bone Grinders
Swamp Gobbers
Feralgeist
Joe's list, as close as I can manage:
Darius Wrecking Crew Tier 2:
Darius
Centurion
Minuteman
Journeyman Warcaster
2x Sword Knight Units with UA
**Both units marshalling 2 Hunters each
I ended up going first. I had a rock in front of me that blocked LOS (not linear obstacle, the bigger size), a house off to my right, and a linear obstacle to my left that had little impact. Joe had a forest in the middle of the board, but fairly clear access to either side.
I sent my Nyss down one flank, Calandra + Battlegroup + Protection down the center, and my Gators + Boomhowlers (Boomies in front) on the left. Calandra put up Bullet Dodger and Star Crossed, camping on three. I made an early mistake with her, in that I did not put up the Gobber cloud to put her into concealment, and I charged her up the middle not behind the rock, so I did not have cover or LOS. My early worry was the Hunters shooting up my Gatorman posse, so I tried to screen them behind Boomies, and I wanted to get Calandra up the board aggressively to abuse Star Crossed, which may not have been a mistake, but I went about it poorly.
Joe responded by Prontoing all 4 Hunters forward and running the Knights up behind them. The Minuteman got 3, moved, jumped, and shot two Boomhowlers, both failing tough checks (they never passed a single one all game). Then the pain started, with the Hunters beginning to shoot up Calandra bottom of 1. Because of Pronto, they were able to aim, needing only 7's to hit and boosting to hit to get around Star Crossed. At this point I started swearing, because there was a reasonable chance that I would half-kill most of my beasts with transfers. Both damage rolls on Calandra spiked at dice -1, producing more swearing, before the third boosted failed to hit due to Star Crossed, and she took her Evasive move behind cover; the final shot went into the Bomber, plugging more damage into him. Darius and the Centurion both just ran through the forest (Pathfinder from the Tier bonus).
Calandra cut for two, I sighed from relief that I hadn't quite gotten Calandra killed bottom of 1, and I decided to start the slaughter. Calandra went first, popped feat, befuddled a Hunter to send its ass to me and move forward, and the beatings commenced. I took down 3 of the 4 Hunters plus a Minuteman, along with a few Sword Knights from Boomy shots. The Bomber claimed one Hunter, the Slag claimed another, four Nyss 2-man's at Dice - 3 claimed the third, and Boomies + Gators took down the Minuteman. I felt a lot safer at this point, getting Calandra behind smoke to deny LOS, and sat back to see the return.
At this point the game will get a little hazy, because it bogged down - Joe engaged the Sword Knights into the Nyss on the right, the Sword Knights into the Boomies and Gators on the left, and we bogged down a couple of turns. He got the Centurion in the mix, but Befuddle and some spiked dice left him nearly dead - had I not forgotten to put more effort into killing Junior, I would have killed him, but Darius's feat put him fully operational again. We bounced attacks around in the Nyss and Sword Knights, but as the clock was winding down, I realized that I didn't really need to spike any more damage into him, blew up the objective with the Bomber, and put the Feralgeist onto his flag to go to 2 CPs. He had little way to retaliate and conceded.
My alternate Calandra battlegroup worked extremely well - I was very happy with its performance, as the ranged attacks that it can put out really take advantage of her feat while remaining at a distance, and really help aid the slog that she creates with Star Crossed. All the pieces pretty much worked nicely with each other; my major mistakes came in the form of bad first turn issues that I learned quickly from.
My next post will be giddiness about new Troll news (and won't really be a post as much as me just being happy), but I'm going to post some theory about a new Calandra list modification soon; hopefully by tomorrow. It may not be practical, but it'll be cramming as much denial into one list as possible and giggling manically.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
March 1st Steamroller at Gamer's Armory
One our local PG's Chris ran a 50 point Steamroller tourney for us today; we were missing a few regulars because they were down in Florida, attempting to bust up the scene at Crucible, but we still had several people up for attendance. It was a 2 list format, second list optional, no divide and conquer. My casters were Calandra and the Huntersgrim, previously chosen in a challenge by local Will, who is one of the two voices behind the NC Gunbunnies podcast - check them at at Muse on Minis!
A special thanks to Phillip, who drove all the way down from Baltimore and joined us to game and visit family in the same trip. It was great having you here, wish I'd gotten to play against you, but hopefully sometime soon!
Battle reports will be spaced out into three separate posts to keep them a little more readable, so results from the first game below. Sorry about the lengthy post, but this was a bit more complicated game than the others in places!
My first game was against a local Circle player, who I hadn't had the pleasure of playing against until today. The scenario was Close Quarters. After we chose our lists, we diced off and he won, electing to go second.
My list:
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Pyre Troll (5pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (4pts)
Feralgeist (1pts)
Lawson's List (as closely as I can rebuild it):
Krueger the Stormwrath (*5pts)
* Feral Warpwolf (9pts)
* Megalith (11pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Tharn Bloodtrackers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Nuala the Huntress (2pts)
Tharn Bloodweavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Wolves of Orboros (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Wolf of Orboros Officer & Standard (2pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Wolflord Morraig (5pts)
My list was basically simply designed to abuse Star Crossed and take advantage of three powerful Minion units. Terror checks from the Gators and Rage Howler could abound, while the Runeshaper and Pyre Troll AE's could scatter into low armor guys theoretically. Mulg provided a solid beater and protection, with the Swamp Gobbers blocking LOS to Calandra and the Feralgeist to fill things out.
For deployment, the Runeshapers went on the left flank behind a forest, supporting a portion of the Gatorman Posse split behind the Boomhowlers in the center. Calandra was fairly central, with her protection staff brought along, and the Nyss Hunters to the right closest to my scenario
My opponent countered the Hunters with the Weavers and Trackers, taking Lord Morraig against some of my Gatormen and Runeshapers, the Wolves central with Megalith and the Feral, and one Grove on either flank.
I advanced the Boomhowlers aggressively to claim the center, while the Gatormen advanced spread behind them, the Runeshapers ran full speed into the forest, and Calandra's crew (beasts + protection) went a little right of central for potential friendly domination points, with Bullet Dodger on Calandra and Star Crossed up. The Nyss Hunters advanced very cautiously, trying to protect against the Bloodtrackers and not lose anything early, but hoping I could bait the Bloodtrackers into trying for shots, aiding my board position a bit.
The Circle countered by running the Bloodtrackers up the board, with three advancing well ahead with Lightning Tendrils to jam my Nyss, while the Bloodweavers came in behind. The Wolves advanced with a good amount of spread to claim a major chunk of the center of the board, while Megalith came in with the Weavers. The Feral stayed fairly central, with the Shifting Stones placed to allow some double teleport action. Morraig advanced towards the Runeshapers, taking advantage of the forest for Stealth via Prowl.
For my second turn, Mulg advanced, and with a well timed Crit Slam removed the three jamming Bloodtrackers, followed by Calandra activating and feating to start the carnage, and putting up Star Crossed, since I needed a lot of 7's and 8's, and even a few 9's, to hit. A lot of death occurred, but the sum total was the Boomies and Gators advanced further into the center after removing several Wolves and a couple of Tharn (can't remember which kind). The Nyss advanced up and put a serious hurting into the Bloodtrackers and Weavers, and a flat double 5 roll on Morraig from a Runeshaper's Rock Hammer dropped him on the ground. A little more than half the Wolves were dead, about 7 of 11 Trackers, and 2 Bloodweavers were gone, with solid board positioning resulting.
Unfortunately, a misunderstanding about rules of Protective Fit from Mulg and the movement from Bullet Dodger highlighted the next turn and my survival. The Trackers activated and managed to off 4 of the Nyss despite Star Crossed due to Lightning Tendrils, but the Bloodweavers failed a command check from Dirged Gators to take them out of the game for the moment. The Wolves put some damage into the Boomies, but my Tough rolls blew up, and Morraig advanced around to engage two Runeshapers. Krueger feated, putting lightning circles down in several places, killing more Nyss but Tough kept up the Boomies. This also put a single damage onto Calandra, triggering Protective Fit from Mulg to move him a little further up the board and out from in front of Calandra. He tried for an assassination run, not realizing Bullet Dodger allowed me to move away on any missed attack, by double teleporting the Feral with Tendrils in front of Calandra, but missed the first attack, so he killed the Pyre Troll as a consolation prize.
I followed this turn with a severe set of derps. I managed to get the Gators and Calandra onto the Feral to kill it, and killed a few more bits and pieces across the board. However, this set Krueger on 4 transfers rather than the 1 he should have had. I still charged Mulg into Krueger, rather than simply charging Megalith and removing his last heavy from the board, and only hit Krueger once due to Skyborne, with approximately 19 damage transferred into Megalith. At Dice +2 (due to the Pyre animus from Bone Grinders) I should have simply finished Megalith, but instead failed to finish the kill on Krueger.
He tried for one last Calandra kill, teleporting Megalith on Calandra, and I forgot to move Calandra out when Megalith 1-2-1'd the attack roll, but the second shot hit Calandra with a low damage dice roll, and Mulg's protective fit blew out Mind and Body on Megalith. I closed out the game by simply going and beating Krueger into the ground.
So, despite a series of severe derps on my part in protecting Calandra and not prioritizing targets well, I got a little luck from Star Crossed to get out of game 1 with a win!
A special thanks to Phillip, who drove all the way down from Baltimore and joined us to game and visit family in the same trip. It was great having you here, wish I'd gotten to play against you, but hopefully sometime soon!
Battle reports will be spaced out into three separate posts to keep them a little more readable, so results from the first game below. Sorry about the lengthy post, but this was a bit more complicated game than the others in places!
My first game was against a local Circle player, who I hadn't had the pleasure of playing against until today. The scenario was Close Quarters. After we chose our lists, we diced off and he won, electing to go second.
My list:
Calandra Truthsayer, Oracle of the Glimmerwood (*5pts)
* Pyre Troll (5pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew) (4pts)
Feralgeist (1pts)
Lawson's List (as closely as I can rebuild it):
Krueger the Stormwrath (*5pts)
* Feral Warpwolf (9pts)
* Megalith (11pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Tharn Bloodtrackers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Nuala the Huntress (2pts)
Tharn Bloodweavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Wolves of Orboros (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Wolf of Orboros Officer & Standard (2pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Gallows Grove (1pts)
Wolflord Morraig (5pts)
My list was basically simply designed to abuse Star Crossed and take advantage of three powerful Minion units. Terror checks from the Gators and Rage Howler could abound, while the Runeshaper and Pyre Troll AE's could scatter into low armor guys theoretically. Mulg provided a solid beater and protection, with the Swamp Gobbers blocking LOS to Calandra and the Feralgeist to fill things out.
For deployment, the Runeshapers went on the left flank behind a forest, supporting a portion of the Gatorman Posse split behind the Boomhowlers in the center. Calandra was fairly central, with her protection staff brought along, and the Nyss Hunters to the right closest to my scenario
My opponent countered the Hunters with the Weavers and Trackers, taking Lord Morraig against some of my Gatormen and Runeshapers, the Wolves central with Megalith and the Feral, and one Grove on either flank.
I advanced the Boomhowlers aggressively to claim the center, while the Gatormen advanced spread behind them, the Runeshapers ran full speed into the forest, and Calandra's crew (beasts + protection) went a little right of central for potential friendly domination points, with Bullet Dodger on Calandra and Star Crossed up. The Nyss Hunters advanced very cautiously, trying to protect against the Bloodtrackers and not lose anything early, but hoping I could bait the Bloodtrackers into trying for shots, aiding my board position a bit.
The Circle countered by running the Bloodtrackers up the board, with three advancing well ahead with Lightning Tendrils to jam my Nyss, while the Bloodweavers came in behind. The Wolves advanced with a good amount of spread to claim a major chunk of the center of the board, while Megalith came in with the Weavers. The Feral stayed fairly central, with the Shifting Stones placed to allow some double teleport action. Morraig advanced towards the Runeshapers, taking advantage of the forest for Stealth via Prowl.
For my second turn, Mulg advanced, and with a well timed Crit Slam removed the three jamming Bloodtrackers, followed by Calandra activating and feating to start the carnage, and putting up Star Crossed, since I needed a lot of 7's and 8's, and even a few 9's, to hit. A lot of death occurred, but the sum total was the Boomies and Gators advanced further into the center after removing several Wolves and a couple of Tharn (can't remember which kind). The Nyss advanced up and put a serious hurting into the Bloodtrackers and Weavers, and a flat double 5 roll on Morraig from a Runeshaper's Rock Hammer dropped him on the ground. A little more than half the Wolves were dead, about 7 of 11 Trackers, and 2 Bloodweavers were gone, with solid board positioning resulting.
Unfortunately, a misunderstanding about rules of Protective Fit from Mulg and the movement from Bullet Dodger highlighted the next turn and my survival. The Trackers activated and managed to off 4 of the Nyss despite Star Crossed due to Lightning Tendrils, but the Bloodweavers failed a command check from Dirged Gators to take them out of the game for the moment. The Wolves put some damage into the Boomies, but my Tough rolls blew up, and Morraig advanced around to engage two Runeshapers. Krueger feated, putting lightning circles down in several places, killing more Nyss but Tough kept up the Boomies. This also put a single damage onto Calandra, triggering Protective Fit from Mulg to move him a little further up the board and out from in front of Calandra. He tried for an assassination run, not realizing Bullet Dodger allowed me to move away on any missed attack, by double teleporting the Feral with Tendrils in front of Calandra, but missed the first attack, so he killed the Pyre Troll as a consolation prize.
I followed this turn with a severe set of derps. I managed to get the Gators and Calandra onto the Feral to kill it, and killed a few more bits and pieces across the board. However, this set Krueger on 4 transfers rather than the 1 he should have had. I still charged Mulg into Krueger, rather than simply charging Megalith and removing his last heavy from the board, and only hit Krueger once due to Skyborne, with approximately 19 damage transferred into Megalith. At Dice +2 (due to the Pyre animus from Bone Grinders) I should have simply finished Megalith, but instead failed to finish the kill on Krueger.
He tried for one last Calandra kill, teleporting Megalith on Calandra, and I forgot to move Calandra out when Megalith 1-2-1'd the attack roll, but the second shot hit Calandra with a low damage dice roll, and Mulg's protective fit blew out Mind and Body on Megalith. I closed out the game by simply going and beating Krueger into the ground.
So, despite a series of severe derps on my part in protecting Calandra and not prioritizing targets well, I got a little luck from Star Crossed to get out of game 1 with a win!
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