eGrissel, same list, one more time!
Opponents List:
eThagrosh
-2x Scythean
-Seraph
-Angelius
-Afflictor
-Raek
2x Shredder
2 Shepherds
2 Forsaken
I think that's the entire list, IIRC.
Scenario: Outflank
Terrain: Hill on my side, middle, linear obstacle on the far side of the left zone (just out of the zone on his side)
So, at this point, my brain was pretty shot. I haven't played that many multi-game days recently, so I was a little worn; I have to work myself up to that level of concentration. We almost got the PG to just let us Ship, Captain, Crew it, but no dice (ha ha!). Rather than go home and sleep, I was now playing against Legion.
My opponent had qualified for MACE some time back, so he was trying out different lists to fill out his 3rd slot, to accompany his Saeryn-Vayl combo. We rolled off, I think he won and elected to go second rather than first. I went through the same deployment (described it four times already!), and he faced off with Angelius and Scythean left with the Afflictor, Thags central with the Seraph, and Scythean-Raek right.
I just did the standard Dash-Dump-Run combo to get my stone loaded, keeping my Champs central to respond where needed. He ran up, using the Seraph to bounce Thags around a little on the way, and took good zone-threatening positions, trying to put his beasts in points in the zone where I had no good way to get to them easily.
I can't remember whether we jockeyed for one turn or two, but ultimately it came to me popping my feat with the two units of warders each occupying space in the two zonesand No Continuous on the Stone. Champs were central, Mulg just behind the right side Warders (which I spread better than the left) with Runebreaker up, while Grissel was on the left side with it up also.
He put up Manifest Destiny, popped his feat, and came in. He was going to use the Scytheans Take Down animus, but forgot Runebreaker until he was in range, so he just whaled on my Warders. Some hot dice took me down to 3 Warders on the left dead (seriously, he had multiple rolls where he had nothing less than 4 on dice. He didn't need Manifest Destiny!). The Angelius forced a Tough on another, while the Scythean on the right and the Raek went to work. Because of his positioning (and me playing less dumb on the right side), he could only get one Warder with the Scythean, while the Raek plinked a few. The Seraph came into the Warders and plinked some, too, but I only lost maybe 1 Warder on the right, leaving me in good shape. He just used his feat to dig further in, playing as aggressively as possible to see how much damage he could do. I don't think that's what he typically would have done, but he had little to lose in this game. Oh, and the right side Scythean Bloodbathed his own Shredder, which was kinda hilarious, one shotting it due to Manifest. I laughed a good bit at that.
I responded by seeing if I could remove 3 heavies in a turn, because it would amuse me. The Axer and Warders plinked some damage on the Raek, but his DEF was brutally hard to get through, so he was fine. Mulg took down the Scythean with ease, while Grissel put the other Scythean's ass on the ground with a knockdown shot. The two warders on that side plugged some damage, and the champs spread to come help out, finishing off the Seraph and other Scythean, leaving him on an Afflictor, Raek, and Angel. Oh, and a random Incubus from a dead Warder and Afflictor.
He went for an assassination run on Grissel, thinking if he killed Mulg that I had no transfer targets, so he took Thags into Mulg, but failed to kill (dice crapped out horribly - probably should've had it!). He also didn't realize the Axer was only on 2 Fury, not 3, so I had two targets, with the Axer unwounded. Mulg didn't die, though, and there wasn't enough firepower to take down Grissel, so Mulg ended it by slapping a no-transfer Thags repeatedly until he went down for a long nap.
After that, I was 5-0, and had managed to win myself a MACE Invitational qualifier spot!
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
GA Tourney Battle Report, 6/7/2014, Trolls vs. Trolls
Same List!
Opponents List:
Almost the same list!
eGrissel
-Runebearer
-Pyre
-Impaler
2x max Warders
max Champs + Skaldi
max Stone
Fell Caller Hero
Champ Hero
Janissa Stonetide
Feralgeist
Scenario: Process of Elimination
Terrain: Forest partially intruding on the right zone on my side of the board. Not much else that mattered (random hills, obstructions that never mattered).
Holy crap, this looked (listwise) to feature the two most attritiony lists this faction could provide, practically.
Looking at our lists, I decided I wanted to do two things: make sure I got more charges off than he did, and try to use my beasts for a strong push. I felt like Mulg and the Axer's hitting power could give me the stronger push.
I won the roll and went first so I could assume standard "Dump fury into stone" protocol. I deployed pretty much the same as prior. Warders far left flank, Champs center, Mulg and Grissel, warders right flank, others behind.
He nearly mirrored me, I think. It was very similar.
I just ran forward Turn 1, getting into positions for contesting and charging potentially. 5 on the stone, Mulg sticking with Grissel. Opponent ran forward, keeping a close mirror, Pyre and Impaler on the left side pretty much across from Mulg.
First, Grissel put up Dash, one in the stone, and 3 for Inhospitable, leaving her on one (after the Runebearer). The stone went and popped for strength. I decided I didn't want to go full out and run straight into him, so I gave a Charge order on my left side, sending two Warders into the opponent, but most importantly, I positioned them so it was nigh impossible for him to just charge his warders and get them onto all my guys. Based on our positioning, I didn't think he'd be able to get many full charges off, and then what he did would be coming into range for Mulg to come over to help clean up. Two warders both made it, with one missing and one doing 7 damage (so close to a Tough!)
My champs just jockeyed for position, with Mulg and my Champs staying just barely outside of the opponents champs threat range, but in Mulgs. With Inhospitable up, it meant he could either Charge and short it, or he could just run, but Mulg was going to be eating faces shortly regardly. This left me in a fairly comfortable position, while my other warders simply jockeyed with his.
He tried to swing back into my warders, but due to missing 3 or 4 of 5 attacks needing 5's (Seriously dude, I'm sorry. That sucked) I only took some relatively superficial damage, and I was going to have 3 more charges coming in next turn. His Champs advanced some up, while our Warders kept jockeying, and he popped his feat.
So, now I needed to figure out how to break ARM 22 and 23. This oughta be fun. Luckily, all his Champs were clustered, so I could knock down 5 in one shot with Grissel. I Dashed, put one or two in the stone, and boosted to hit and damage, knocking down 5 Champs, and feated. Because I'm a donkey, I placed my guys badly, and I only got the Champs into their Champs, but I left him 3 Champions lighter after the turn. Both sets of Warders charged, but neither of these mattered in any meaningful way; it just turned into the plinkfest against each other. Plus almost all my left side warders missed - slapfights galore!
So now he had to break my feat, but minus the charge. He tried to plow damage into me where he could, but it was quickly becoming a bit more one sided. Some Champs took some damage, I think one died, but he couldn't do a ton. I know Grissel knocked them down, though; he wanted to cut out my feat with them like I did his (smart move).
Next turn, Mulg got in, and continued his string of crappy rolling from earlier. He knocked out 2 Champs, including Skaldi, to snack back up (he'd been shot at by the Impaler and others a bit, so he was a bit wounded, including being knocked down I think by Grissel's shot). He had about 7-8 damage at the end of the turn; I'd been hoping to have enough extra Fury to regen, but a couple of Tough rolls knocked that out. The Axer got in and helped finish off some Warders, too, and triggering some Charge of the Trolls to help work them off the board.
His next turn, he kept trying to get some damage in, but his dice rolls really just weren't helping. By the end of the turn, he'd removed one or two guys, and hit some good damage into the Axer with a charging Champ Hero, but not much more. I was down a few Warders and Champs, but no unit was below half strength, and I only had about 10-12 damage points between my beasts.
The Axer decided to frenzy from his 1 Fury I couldn't pull, and obliterated the Champ Hero heroically (I think it was like 6-5-4 on damage). At this point, we'd each removed a objective to sit at 1-1, but he was losing the attrition fight rapidly; my dead pile wasn't nearly as high as his. I sent Mulg into Grissel to plow some damage around where I could, and my opponent ultimately conceded; he felt he couldn't break Mulg, we were all pretty tired, and he didn't believe he had much of a chance of winning at this point.
This game pretty much hinged around a few bad dice rolls (his, almost entirely), and the difference Mulg makes. Mulg was a game changer - his presence quite frankly just changed the entire tenor of the game. Once I started working out the Champions, his main armor breakers disappeared, while his Warders dueled with mine, and I could simply start cleaning up the pile piece by piece.
So, my reward for going 4-0 so far? My friend winning the play-down game to make sure there was a round 5 so I could face Legion. Lucky me!
Opponents List:
Almost the same list!
eGrissel
-Runebearer
-Pyre
-Impaler
2x max Warders
max Champs + Skaldi
max Stone
Fell Caller Hero
Champ Hero
Janissa Stonetide
Feralgeist
Scenario: Process of Elimination
Terrain: Forest partially intruding on the right zone on my side of the board. Not much else that mattered (random hills, obstructions that never mattered).
Holy crap, this looked (listwise) to feature the two most attritiony lists this faction could provide, practically.
Looking at our lists, I decided I wanted to do two things: make sure I got more charges off than he did, and try to use my beasts for a strong push. I felt like Mulg and the Axer's hitting power could give me the stronger push.
I won the roll and went first so I could assume standard "Dump fury into stone" protocol. I deployed pretty much the same as prior. Warders far left flank, Champs center, Mulg and Grissel, warders right flank, others behind.
He nearly mirrored me, I think. It was very similar.
I just ran forward Turn 1, getting into positions for contesting and charging potentially. 5 on the stone, Mulg sticking with Grissel. Opponent ran forward, keeping a close mirror, Pyre and Impaler on the left side pretty much across from Mulg.
First, Grissel put up Dash, one in the stone, and 3 for Inhospitable, leaving her on one (after the Runebearer). The stone went and popped for strength. I decided I didn't want to go full out and run straight into him, so I gave a Charge order on my left side, sending two Warders into the opponent, but most importantly, I positioned them so it was nigh impossible for him to just charge his warders and get them onto all my guys. Based on our positioning, I didn't think he'd be able to get many full charges off, and then what he did would be coming into range for Mulg to come over to help clean up. Two warders both made it, with one missing and one doing 7 damage (so close to a Tough!)
My champs just jockeyed for position, with Mulg and my Champs staying just barely outside of the opponents champs threat range, but in Mulgs. With Inhospitable up, it meant he could either Charge and short it, or he could just run, but Mulg was going to be eating faces shortly regardly. This left me in a fairly comfortable position, while my other warders simply jockeyed with his.
He tried to swing back into my warders, but due to missing 3 or 4 of 5 attacks needing 5's (Seriously dude, I'm sorry. That sucked) I only took some relatively superficial damage, and I was going to have 3 more charges coming in next turn. His Champs advanced some up, while our Warders kept jockeying, and he popped his feat.
So, now I needed to figure out how to break ARM 22 and 23. This oughta be fun. Luckily, all his Champs were clustered, so I could knock down 5 in one shot with Grissel. I Dashed, put one or two in the stone, and boosted to hit and damage, knocking down 5 Champs, and feated. Because I'm a donkey, I placed my guys badly, and I only got the Champs into their Champs, but I left him 3 Champions lighter after the turn. Both sets of Warders charged, but neither of these mattered in any meaningful way; it just turned into the plinkfest against each other. Plus almost all my left side warders missed - slapfights galore!
So now he had to break my feat, but minus the charge. He tried to plow damage into me where he could, but it was quickly becoming a bit more one sided. Some Champs took some damage, I think one died, but he couldn't do a ton. I know Grissel knocked them down, though; he wanted to cut out my feat with them like I did his (smart move).
Next turn, Mulg got in, and continued his string of crappy rolling from earlier. He knocked out 2 Champs, including Skaldi, to snack back up (he'd been shot at by the Impaler and others a bit, so he was a bit wounded, including being knocked down I think by Grissel's shot). He had about 7-8 damage at the end of the turn; I'd been hoping to have enough extra Fury to regen, but a couple of Tough rolls knocked that out. The Axer got in and helped finish off some Warders, too, and triggering some Charge of the Trolls to help work them off the board.
His next turn, he kept trying to get some damage in, but his dice rolls really just weren't helping. By the end of the turn, he'd removed one or two guys, and hit some good damage into the Axer with a charging Champ Hero, but not much more. I was down a few Warders and Champs, but no unit was below half strength, and I only had about 10-12 damage points between my beasts.
The Axer decided to frenzy from his 1 Fury I couldn't pull, and obliterated the Champ Hero heroically (I think it was like 6-5-4 on damage). At this point, we'd each removed a objective to sit at 1-1, but he was losing the attrition fight rapidly; my dead pile wasn't nearly as high as his. I sent Mulg into Grissel to plow some damage around where I could, and my opponent ultimately conceded; he felt he couldn't break Mulg, we were all pretty tired, and he didn't believe he had much of a chance of winning at this point.
This game pretty much hinged around a few bad dice rolls (his, almost entirely), and the difference Mulg makes. Mulg was a game changer - his presence quite frankly just changed the entire tenor of the game. Once I started working out the Champions, his main armor breakers disappeared, while his Warders dueled with mine, and I could simply start cleaning up the pile piece by piece.
So, my reward for going 4-0 so far? My friend winning the play-down game to make sure there was a round 5 so I could face Legion. Lucky me!
Monday, June 9, 2014
GA Tourney Battle Report, 6/7/2014, Trolls vs. Mercs
Same List for Me.
Opponents List:
Durgen Madhammer
* Ghordson Earthbreaker
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Press Gangers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
First Mate Hawk
Goblin Tinker
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
Taryn di la Rovissi
Thor Steinhammer
Scenario: Destruction
Terrain: Wall on his side central, forest in the center, nothing else really of consequence.
Having played against this list before, I knew what was likely: a really, really nasty assassination run with the EB and Durgen. I'd been almost killed by it just a little before, so I wanted to be extremely careful. This game is also one of the haziest, so the details may have slipped some.
I won the roll to go first. He swapped sides to achieve the terrain lineup above - mostly to get Durgen right behind the wall. I put up a similar lineup to previously; I put Grissel in position to get behind the forest, Champs central, some warders left, some warders right, Mulg with Grissel, the rest behind.
The Earthbreaker was central, Nyss left, Press Gang right, Hawk with the Press Gang, and the other solos scattered around.
I ran forward, dumping 5 into the stone and dashing. Pretty much everything went straight forward from where it started.
He mostly advanced pretty much straight forward, also, as best as I can remember. He spaced the Nyss and Gangers out heavily, EB took a central position just running (no Redline), while Durgen tucked behind the wall.
I can't remember specifically whether it all started on his turn 2 or his turn 3, but everything prior to that was skirmishes; putting random damage into random places. Whichever round this was, I had moved Grissel up, 3 camped after Dash, and had shot a pirate or two off. I had screened Grissel with the forest and a couple of Warders - and I believe the feat - but I forgot that the Earthbreaker had an AE 4 knockdown, not AE 3. Crap. Guess where this goes.
After clearing some space, Durgen popped feat and started pounding away at Grissel, who he could get due to Arcing Fire. I can't remember if I transferred both shots or not, but there was at least one. Then the Earthbreaker opened up (after a Thor tuneup), rolling 2 shots on one gun and 3 on the other. One shot knocked the Warder in front of Grissel down, catching her too, and then he blew her halfway to hell. The only reason it was halfway? Two passed Toughs by Grissel. Holy crap.
My two big mistakes here: I boxed Mulg in so he couldn't Protective Fit up to try and help out and block LOS, and the Warder placement. That really, really sucked.
He tried to get some Nyss 2 and 3 mans on Grissel, but the dice crapped out and he failed to break armor each time, leaving me with 4 Fury to pull in, Grissel seriously damaged, but still alive, and Mulg was now in Rushed walking range of the Earthbreaker. I wasn't dead, although I was making a good show of it.
I leached the 4 I could get, and the Fell Caller walked up to stand everyone up. Grissel Dashed and walked to hide in the very back of the forest, I put up the Krielstone for Strength, and cleared some roads. Some Champs activated first, clearing out models (although I forgot to use one of them on the Earthbreaker - should've only been a few damage at D-8, but every bit helps). The Chronicler was still up, so I could at least get Charge of the Trolls off. Mulg got Rushed and went to work, and between him and 3 Warder charges, the EB went down.
From here on out the game was a pure slogfest, simply beating each other up and attritioning out. I won only because of the clock; a lot of time was burned on the one turn Grissel got shot up. He clocked out, sending me to the next round.
Now, in full disclosure: I made the bigger mistakes, and left myself open for a reliable kill, but made the Tough rolls. He deserved the win; he generally outplayed me, and I held in purely because the dice came up for me to keep Grissel alive.
Also, I had previously marked my guys damage boxes with dice, then moved to only marking on cards because dice kept getting left behind; I'm now going to try to do both. Because of the number of Warders and Champs on the board, there was a constant back and forth about the number of HP on each unit, burning some of my opponents time. I want to start using cards as a backup, but dice to make it more obvious where possible for them.
This was one of the least satisfying wins I have had in some time, I'll fully admit; I just didn't feel good about it. I'll take it, but winning by clock out and some dice help felt very unsatisfying. I left Grissel a little too far out for too little gain, and I should've lost for it.
Opponents List:
Durgen Madhammer
* Ghordson Earthbreaker
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Press Gangers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
First Mate Hawk
Goblin Tinker
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
Taryn di la Rovissi
Thor Steinhammer
Scenario: Destruction
Terrain: Wall on his side central, forest in the center, nothing else really of consequence.
Having played against this list before, I knew what was likely: a really, really nasty assassination run with the EB and Durgen. I'd been almost killed by it just a little before, so I wanted to be extremely careful. This game is also one of the haziest, so the details may have slipped some.
I won the roll to go first. He swapped sides to achieve the terrain lineup above - mostly to get Durgen right behind the wall. I put up a similar lineup to previously; I put Grissel in position to get behind the forest, Champs central, some warders left, some warders right, Mulg with Grissel, the rest behind.
The Earthbreaker was central, Nyss left, Press Gang right, Hawk with the Press Gang, and the other solos scattered around.
I ran forward, dumping 5 into the stone and dashing. Pretty much everything went straight forward from where it started.
He mostly advanced pretty much straight forward, also, as best as I can remember. He spaced the Nyss and Gangers out heavily, EB took a central position just running (no Redline), while Durgen tucked behind the wall.
I can't remember specifically whether it all started on his turn 2 or his turn 3, but everything prior to that was skirmishes; putting random damage into random places. Whichever round this was, I had moved Grissel up, 3 camped after Dash, and had shot a pirate or two off. I had screened Grissel with the forest and a couple of Warders - and I believe the feat - but I forgot that the Earthbreaker had an AE 4 knockdown, not AE 3. Crap. Guess where this goes.
After clearing some space, Durgen popped feat and started pounding away at Grissel, who he could get due to Arcing Fire. I can't remember if I transferred both shots or not, but there was at least one. Then the Earthbreaker opened up (after a Thor tuneup), rolling 2 shots on one gun and 3 on the other. One shot knocked the Warder in front of Grissel down, catching her too, and then he blew her halfway to hell. The only reason it was halfway? Two passed Toughs by Grissel. Holy crap.
My two big mistakes here: I boxed Mulg in so he couldn't Protective Fit up to try and help out and block LOS, and the Warder placement. That really, really sucked.
He tried to get some Nyss 2 and 3 mans on Grissel, but the dice crapped out and he failed to break armor each time, leaving me with 4 Fury to pull in, Grissel seriously damaged, but still alive, and Mulg was now in Rushed walking range of the Earthbreaker. I wasn't dead, although I was making a good show of it.
I leached the 4 I could get, and the Fell Caller walked up to stand everyone up. Grissel Dashed and walked to hide in the very back of the forest, I put up the Krielstone for Strength, and cleared some roads. Some Champs activated first, clearing out models (although I forgot to use one of them on the Earthbreaker - should've only been a few damage at D-8, but every bit helps). The Chronicler was still up, so I could at least get Charge of the Trolls off. Mulg got Rushed and went to work, and between him and 3 Warder charges, the EB went down.
From here on out the game was a pure slogfest, simply beating each other up and attritioning out. I won only because of the clock; a lot of time was burned on the one turn Grissel got shot up. He clocked out, sending me to the next round.
Now, in full disclosure: I made the bigger mistakes, and left myself open for a reliable kill, but made the Tough rolls. He deserved the win; he generally outplayed me, and I held in purely because the dice came up for me to keep Grissel alive.
Also, I had previously marked my guys damage boxes with dice, then moved to only marking on cards because dice kept getting left behind; I'm now going to try to do both. Because of the number of Warders and Champs on the board, there was a constant back and forth about the number of HP on each unit, burning some of my opponents time. I want to start using cards as a backup, but dice to make it more obvious where possible for them.
This was one of the least satisfying wins I have had in some time, I'll fully admit; I just didn't feel good about it. I'll take it, but winning by clock out and some dice help felt very unsatisfying. I left Grissel a little too far out for too little gain, and I should've lost for it.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
GA Tourney Battle Report, 6/7/2014, Trolls vs. Cryx
My List:
eGrissel Meat Mountain
Opponents List:
Scaverous
Deathjack
Deathripper
Croe's Cutthroats
Bane Knights
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders
Gorman
Dougal
Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
Scenario: Fire Support
Terrain: Didn't matter horribly, but shallow "river" near my flag and objective, water near his objective, forest in center, wall on the right side a few inches closer to me than his flag. Maybe more, none else mattered much.
Initial Reaction: Crap. Two regular/semi-regular Cryxians in the area, and I pull one of them. At least it's not Gaspy2. Not to mention that it's the guy who won MACE 2013. Even better.
He won roll and went first. The Banes went on the right side near his objective, the Blackbane's and Croe's on the left side threatening mine. Scaverous was left of center threatening my side, DJ went ahead of him after AD, and the Ripper was central. Gorman was with Scaverous along with Dougal, while the Siren tailed the Deathripper.
I put one set of Warders to the left near his Croe's and Blackbane's, while Grissel went central with Mulg, Champs to her right, one set of warders to the right, and settled the rest behind to support.
He bolted the hell up the board first turn. TK himself, TK DJ, Death Ward on DJ, and a crap ton of running. The Banes were in a forest on his side (forgot that, sorry! It never mattered really because they were Ghostly), Blackbane's and Croe's ran forward as fast as they could, and Scaverous and DJ ended up centrally threatening my flag/objective. Arc Node ran hard to the right side with the Siren in tow.
I went up somewhat cautiously - Grissel Dashed and dumped all but one into the Stone (just in case), the right side Warders went up cautiously to have range to contest his flag if need be, but not so close the Banes could get into them. Champs went central into the forest after Pathfinder from the Hero, and Mulg ran to get into good Protective Fit range just in case. Left side warders saw two advance more aggressively, with the others trailing. Krielstone went up for no Continuous just in case. Tale of Mists went on the Warders near the Croe's.
I worried I should've feated, but he decided he couldn't do that much, so he didn't overcommit. DJ actually backed up because of Mulg, and Scaverous parked near him. The Bane Knights moved up to threaten more but didn't overcommit, staying out of charge range. The Arc Node moved back to the center of the board, while the Blackbane's ran all the way to near my deployment and the Croe's tried to shoot the 2 forward Warder's. Needing 8's, only 1 hit, and failed to break.
Looking at the Blackbane's, I decided that just couldn't fly. Grissel needed to lay into them. He had clumped up about 5-6 of them, so I decided to see what I could do to get rid of them. The Stone ran over and put up the aura for no Incorp, and Grissel Dashed, put 2 into the stone, and shot, needing 7's, for the AE 3 Quake shot. I hit and caught 6; needing 6's on blast, I killed all but 1, which was knocked down. I shot once more for the AE 4 POW 12 in play, missed but got a good deviation which clogged the area, and then Feated. The left side Warders saw one charge into the Croe's, one into the Bane's, and the 3 others moved to cover ground for whatever came next, with 1 or 2 between him and Grissel. 2 Warders on the right advanced to present obvious charge targets (sacrificial lambs), while the others stayed far enough back that they should be safe even with Tartarus threatening. The Champs just went a little farther. Mulg got Rushed, moved far enough to be in good Protective range, and put up Runebreaker in case.
He decided to go for the kill this turn. DJ got maxed out, leaving 4 on Scav. The Banes charged in after a Tartarus curse into some Champs and Warders, doing some Champ damage, killing 1 Warder, and his dice kinda crapped out to leave everything else up, although he was at D-11 or so due to the feat on a lot of targets. The Blackbanes killed the Chronicler (he had moved into them to clog), and nothing else occurred there. He then started TKing models to get the threat ranges he needed, but realized that he was going to be a little short of what he needed; he really needed the Croe's to help him out, because DJ would take a weaponmaster strike on the way through with a previous column already out (Warder charge I forgot), plus Mulg would protective fit. Additionally, he needed Grissel and Mulg to be near each other so he could Blind both, but only Blinded Grissel this turn.
As a result, DJ had to Ghost Walk and charge into Grissel, so he only had one extra attack. He beat up Grissel a good bit, but couldn't kill, although Mulg missed both his Protective's (thanks, Mulg). His dice did crap out a bit, in fairness.
At this point, he knew it was probably game. Mulg scrapped DJ, and some Warders and a Champ got a empty Scaverous down. No CPs, not much killed, but I got to 2-0!
eGrissel Meat Mountain
Opponents List:
Scaverous
Deathjack
Deathripper
Croe's Cutthroats
Bane Knights
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders
Gorman
Dougal
Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
Scenario: Fire Support
Terrain: Didn't matter horribly, but shallow "river" near my flag and objective, water near his objective, forest in center, wall on the right side a few inches closer to me than his flag. Maybe more, none else mattered much.
Initial Reaction: Crap. Two regular/semi-regular Cryxians in the area, and I pull one of them. At least it's not Gaspy2. Not to mention that it's the guy who won MACE 2013. Even better.
He won roll and went first. The Banes went on the right side near his objective, the Blackbane's and Croe's on the left side threatening mine. Scaverous was left of center threatening my side, DJ went ahead of him after AD, and the Ripper was central. Gorman was with Scaverous along with Dougal, while the Siren tailed the Deathripper.
I put one set of Warders to the left near his Croe's and Blackbane's, while Grissel went central with Mulg, Champs to her right, one set of warders to the right, and settled the rest behind to support.
He bolted the hell up the board first turn. TK himself, TK DJ, Death Ward on DJ, and a crap ton of running. The Banes were in a forest on his side (forgot that, sorry! It never mattered really because they were Ghostly), Blackbane's and Croe's ran forward as fast as they could, and Scaverous and DJ ended up centrally threatening my flag/objective. Arc Node ran hard to the right side with the Siren in tow.
I went up somewhat cautiously - Grissel Dashed and dumped all but one into the Stone (just in case), the right side Warders went up cautiously to have range to contest his flag if need be, but not so close the Banes could get into them. Champs went central into the forest after Pathfinder from the Hero, and Mulg ran to get into good Protective Fit range just in case. Left side warders saw two advance more aggressively, with the others trailing. Krielstone went up for no Continuous just in case. Tale of Mists went on the Warders near the Croe's.
I worried I should've feated, but he decided he couldn't do that much, so he didn't overcommit. DJ actually backed up because of Mulg, and Scaverous parked near him. The Bane Knights moved up to threaten more but didn't overcommit, staying out of charge range. The Arc Node moved back to the center of the board, while the Blackbane's ran all the way to near my deployment and the Croe's tried to shoot the 2 forward Warder's. Needing 8's, only 1 hit, and failed to break.
Looking at the Blackbane's, I decided that just couldn't fly. Grissel needed to lay into them. He had clumped up about 5-6 of them, so I decided to see what I could do to get rid of them. The Stone ran over and put up the aura for no Incorp, and Grissel Dashed, put 2 into the stone, and shot, needing 7's, for the AE 3 Quake shot. I hit and caught 6; needing 6's on blast, I killed all but 1, which was knocked down. I shot once more for the AE 4 POW 12 in play, missed but got a good deviation which clogged the area, and then Feated. The left side Warders saw one charge into the Croe's, one into the Bane's, and the 3 others moved to cover ground for whatever came next, with 1 or 2 between him and Grissel. 2 Warders on the right advanced to present obvious charge targets (sacrificial lambs), while the others stayed far enough back that they should be safe even with Tartarus threatening. The Champs just went a little farther. Mulg got Rushed, moved far enough to be in good Protective range, and put up Runebreaker in case.
He decided to go for the kill this turn. DJ got maxed out, leaving 4 on Scav. The Banes charged in after a Tartarus curse into some Champs and Warders, doing some Champ damage, killing 1 Warder, and his dice kinda crapped out to leave everything else up, although he was at D-11 or so due to the feat on a lot of targets. The Blackbanes killed the Chronicler (he had moved into them to clog), and nothing else occurred there. He then started TKing models to get the threat ranges he needed, but realized that he was going to be a little short of what he needed; he really needed the Croe's to help him out, because DJ would take a weaponmaster strike on the way through with a previous column already out (Warder charge I forgot), plus Mulg would protective fit. Additionally, he needed Grissel and Mulg to be near each other so he could Blind both, but only Blinded Grissel this turn.
As a result, DJ had to Ghost Walk and charge into Grissel, so he only had one extra attack. He beat up Grissel a good bit, but couldn't kill, although Mulg missed both his Protective's (thanks, Mulg). His dice did crap out a bit, in fairness.
At this point, he knew it was probably game. Mulg scrapped DJ, and some Warders and a Champ got a empty Scaverous down. No CPs, not much killed, but I got to 2-0!
GA Tourney Battle Report, 6/7/2014, Trolls vs. Retribution
My List:
Chad Shonkwiler's eGrissel Meat Mountain (see intro to GA tourney post)
Opponents List:
Lord Arcanist Ossyan
* Banshee
Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard
Houseguard Riflemen (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Houseguard Riflemen Officer & Standard
Arcantrik Force Generator
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Arcanist
Houseguard Thane
Scenario: Close Quarters
Terrain:
Linear Obstacle a few inches closer to me than my flag and more central, water to the right of my flag, forest to partially on his flag, hill several inches closer to him than my flag.
Terrain only mildly came into play in this matchup, outside of some slight positioning issues.
I won the roll and deployed first. Grissel went mostly central, setting up to get behind the wall. One unit of Warders went far left, one unit far right, Mulg to the right of Grissel, Champs just left between her and the Warders. Krielstone and support behind, Axer where he could Rush Mulg handily.
He deployed the Halbs front line, AFG close to his flag, Ossyan next to AFG, Rifleman right behind the Halbs and Stormfall in the back. Banshee went far right with Arcanist and Thane, while A&H were with Ossyan.
I assumed standard Grissel turn 1, Runebearer on Grissel, Dash and drop 5 into the stone. Charged Grissel up to get her behind the wall, everything else ran up. 2 Warders were badly placed and ended up out of Dash, so they became the second line of Warders on the left. Everything else was fine and ran, Mulg got into a position to threaten the Banshee if he played it too aggressively. The right side Warders got Pathfindered and went towards the water, and I passed.
I got a brief scare as he contemplated a 11 man on Grissel, although I think the ranges were a little funky, but he decided not to, as even if everyone was in it a spiked dice roll would hurt, but he had no way to finish, with Grissel at DEF 19 behind a wall so the Stormfalls needed boxcars to hit and Ossyan out of range. He move up the Halbs in a long line after Desperate Pace, Riflemen behind, Stormfalls in back, and the Banshee moved up a bit to threaten my right flank.
This was a pretty obvious feat turn, so Grissel dashed, shot the AE 4 at the other guy (it was short and deviated back just a hair, so it was pretty useless), put up Inhospitable, and parked on 2, still behind the wall but in range of dominating my flag on my next turn, and feated. Everything else ran up and jammed; I went out of order on activations slightly and messed up my right flank Warders, but all else was fine. 2 Champs could get all the way into his face on a run, the other 3 hanging back. The Warders were all a little short of engaging, but under feat they could Hyper Aggressive in. Stone went up, had most everyone except the 2 Champs, and no Continuous. I shouldn't have Inhospitable Grounded; it simply didn't matter.
He similarly popped his feat in response, shooting a Champ with Ossyan and laying out several. The Halbs activated, plopped some damage down and triggered Battle Drive on one side, and took chunks out of my two front Champs. All told, after all the shooting, I had 2 Champs left, and was missing chunks out of most of my right side Warders (I think 1 died, maybe). The Banshee was up and threatening, but not in range of Mulg. My left side Warders were unharmed; he was intentionally ignoring them to avoid letting them in. So, I weathered Ossyan's feat turn better than expected, thankfully.
The next turn was simply attrition grind; the Warders and Champs worked on the Halbs, clearing most of them (down to 4 I think?) and jammed into the AFG with a run. Banshee took a few damage, while Mulg set up for an angle to get to the Banshee if he got it in. Grissel dominated to start getting CPs.
From here on out it was mostly just beating each other along; he took out some Warders and finished the Champs, and I think he worked out the Krielstone this turn also. It either died this turn or next. The Halbs plinked where they could, but lacked the numbers to do much. He couldn't contest, so 2-0 me.
Mulg got to the Banshee, but missed 3 or 4 of 6 attacks needing 5's. Nice, Mulg. Really nice. The Warders with a Chronicler Buff finished him off, though, while the rest of my Warders on the left side spread, one of the cracking Ossyan across the head and the rest engaging his shooters. 3-0 me.
He shot the Axer off the board this turn with some very nice dice, but not much else he could do; I think he damaged Grissel slightly with a shot, triggering a protective fit move from Mulg, also, but no real damage was done. Still couldn't contest, 4-0 me, so I just cleared a few things for AP and won 5-0. Additionally, he had less than 10 seconds left on the clock when he passed turn, to my 20something, so the game was nearly finished.
Chad Shonkwiler's eGrissel Meat Mountain (see intro to GA tourney post)
Opponents List:
Lord Arcanist Ossyan
* Banshee
Houseguard Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Houseguard Halberdiers Officer & Standard
Houseguard Riflemen (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Houseguard Riflemen Officer & Standard
Arcantrik Force Generator
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Arcanist
Houseguard Thane
Scenario: Close Quarters
Terrain:
Linear Obstacle a few inches closer to me than my flag and more central, water to the right of my flag, forest to partially on his flag, hill several inches closer to him than my flag.
Terrain only mildly came into play in this matchup, outside of some slight positioning issues.
I won the roll and deployed first. Grissel went mostly central, setting up to get behind the wall. One unit of Warders went far left, one unit far right, Mulg to the right of Grissel, Champs just left between her and the Warders. Krielstone and support behind, Axer where he could Rush Mulg handily.
He deployed the Halbs front line, AFG close to his flag, Ossyan next to AFG, Rifleman right behind the Halbs and Stormfall in the back. Banshee went far right with Arcanist and Thane, while A&H were with Ossyan.
I assumed standard Grissel turn 1, Runebearer on Grissel, Dash and drop 5 into the stone. Charged Grissel up to get her behind the wall, everything else ran up. 2 Warders were badly placed and ended up out of Dash, so they became the second line of Warders on the left. Everything else was fine and ran, Mulg got into a position to threaten the Banshee if he played it too aggressively. The right side Warders got Pathfindered and went towards the water, and I passed.
I got a brief scare as he contemplated a 11 man on Grissel, although I think the ranges were a little funky, but he decided not to, as even if everyone was in it a spiked dice roll would hurt, but he had no way to finish, with Grissel at DEF 19 behind a wall so the Stormfalls needed boxcars to hit and Ossyan out of range. He move up the Halbs in a long line after Desperate Pace, Riflemen behind, Stormfalls in back, and the Banshee moved up a bit to threaten my right flank.
This was a pretty obvious feat turn, so Grissel dashed, shot the AE 4 at the other guy (it was short and deviated back just a hair, so it was pretty useless), put up Inhospitable, and parked on 2, still behind the wall but in range of dominating my flag on my next turn, and feated. Everything else ran up and jammed; I went out of order on activations slightly and messed up my right flank Warders, but all else was fine. 2 Champs could get all the way into his face on a run, the other 3 hanging back. The Warders were all a little short of engaging, but under feat they could Hyper Aggressive in. Stone went up, had most everyone except the 2 Champs, and no Continuous. I shouldn't have Inhospitable Grounded; it simply didn't matter.
He similarly popped his feat in response, shooting a Champ with Ossyan and laying out several. The Halbs activated, plopped some damage down and triggered Battle Drive on one side, and took chunks out of my two front Champs. All told, after all the shooting, I had 2 Champs left, and was missing chunks out of most of my right side Warders (I think 1 died, maybe). The Banshee was up and threatening, but not in range of Mulg. My left side Warders were unharmed; he was intentionally ignoring them to avoid letting them in. So, I weathered Ossyan's feat turn better than expected, thankfully.
The next turn was simply attrition grind; the Warders and Champs worked on the Halbs, clearing most of them (down to 4 I think?) and jammed into the AFG with a run. Banshee took a few damage, while Mulg set up for an angle to get to the Banshee if he got it in. Grissel dominated to start getting CPs.
From here on out it was mostly just beating each other along; he took out some Warders and finished the Champs, and I think he worked out the Krielstone this turn also. It either died this turn or next. The Halbs plinked where they could, but lacked the numbers to do much. He couldn't contest, so 2-0 me.
Mulg got to the Banshee, but missed 3 or 4 of 6 attacks needing 5's. Nice, Mulg. Really nice. The Warders with a Chronicler Buff finished him off, though, while the rest of my Warders on the left side spread, one of the cracking Ossyan across the head and the rest engaging his shooters. 3-0 me.
He shot the Axer off the board this turn with some very nice dice, but not much else he could do; I think he damaged Grissel slightly with a shot, triggering a protective fit move from Mulg, also, but no real damage was done. Still couldn't contest, 4-0 me, so I just cleared a few things for AP and won 5-0. Additionally, he had less than 10 seconds left on the clock when he passed turn, to my 20something, so the game was nearly finished.
Gamer's Armory Tournament - MACE Invitational Qualifier, 6/8/2014
Quick post, which will be followed by a few battle reports.
For those who read this and don't know, the MACE Invitational is the tourney organized by the Gunbunny Press Gangers to give a chance for players across the southeast to test their skill against each other. The tourney includes the winners of a number of specific invitational tournaments across the southeastern US, as well as the winner of a Last Chance qualifier at MACE the night before.
The Raleigh area invitationals (my meta) have been steadily improving to larger numbers; we've been consistently breaking our own attendance records. For this invitational, we started off with a 19 person crew; several people dropped as the day progressed to get us to having about 10 left at the end, particularly because a number of people came up from Wilmington and had a 2 hour drive back.
So, I'll have several battle reports to post; they'll be hazy in places, because we went 5 rounds and it wore on me. The last couple of games were a bit of a blur, with most of my concentration going to try and stop sloppy play.
Final note: This was a single list tourney with specialists; 50 point armies with 10 to move in and out. As a result, I only played one list the entire day, which I'll mention here:
eGrissel
-Runebearer
-Mulg
-Axer
2x max Warders
max Champs
Krielstone max with UA
Fell Caller Hero
Chronicler
This is a direct netlist - I don't do this often, but I simply felt that Chad Shonkwiler of Muse on Minis has the best single list that I could take, lacking 4 units of Runeshapers (Runes of War). I had not won an Invitational slot, and I had gone to the first two MACE invitationals, so I didn't want to break the streak. So I went with Chad's list, having playtested it twice, and let the dice roll!
So, without further ado, here's the reports!
For those who read this and don't know, the MACE Invitational is the tourney organized by the Gunbunny Press Gangers to give a chance for players across the southeast to test their skill against each other. The tourney includes the winners of a number of specific invitational tournaments across the southeastern US, as well as the winner of a Last Chance qualifier at MACE the night before.
The Raleigh area invitationals (my meta) have been steadily improving to larger numbers; we've been consistently breaking our own attendance records. For this invitational, we started off with a 19 person crew; several people dropped as the day progressed to get us to having about 10 left at the end, particularly because a number of people came up from Wilmington and had a 2 hour drive back.
So, I'll have several battle reports to post; they'll be hazy in places, because we went 5 rounds and it wore on me. The last couple of games were a bit of a blur, with most of my concentration going to try and stop sloppy play.
Final note: This was a single list tourney with specialists; 50 point armies with 10 to move in and out. As a result, I only played one list the entire day, which I'll mention here:
eGrissel
-Runebearer
-Mulg
-Axer
2x max Warders
max Champs
Krielstone max with UA
Fell Caller Hero
Chronicler
This is a direct netlist - I don't do this often, but I simply felt that Chad Shonkwiler of Muse on Minis has the best single list that I could take, lacking 4 units of Runeshapers (Runes of War). I had not won an Invitational slot, and I had gone to the first two MACE invitationals, so I didn't want to break the streak. So I went with Chad's list, having playtested it twice, and let the dice roll!
So, without further ado, here's the reports!
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Battle Report, Trolls vs Circle, 6-4-14
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
Opponents List:
eKrueger
-Megalith
-Stalker
-Gorax
-Wilder
2x Stones, one with UA
2x Woldstalkers
Druid Wilder
3x Gallows Grove
I think this was roughly the list that my opponent ran; I may be a little off. There were a lot of small based models, so it blurred together a bit. It may have been 2x Gallows Groves, possibly.
Scenario: Close Quarters
I won the roll and deployed first - a huge help for this list. I put a unit of warders to the right, a unit of warders the left, Champs central left of Grissel, Mulg to the right of Grissel, the support staff right in behind.
His deployments a little hazy, but the two sets of stones were set right and left so that he could move his beasts around quickly. Megalith was centralish, Stalker to the left, Druids were central to center right from my view, and the Woldstalkers center through the right side. Gorax was trailing to support the Stalker.
I did the typical start for this list - Dash, Pathfinder where needed, and run. I sent my guys as far up the board as I could, since I knew Krueger's feat would really suck for me to deal with. I didn't put up the stone aura, though.
He moved everyone up, putting the Stalker in range for a double teleport to switch sides if need be, while the Woldstalkers moved to threaten the center pretty solidly. The Druids advanced up and smoked up the front, while Krueger got double ported into the front and feated to shove my guys back. He got most everyone - all but one Warder of the two units, and he missed the Axer and support staff, including my solos.
My turn was mostly more running. Put up Dash, topped off the stone, shot with Grissel's spray and put up Runebreaker, leaving me on one, and I popped feat - I wasn't sure if it was too early or not, and I still think it may have been, but I decided to take a chance. I ran everything as far up as I could to get it into his face, and to try to threaten the flag he'd be trying to dominate.
He tried to yank Grissel around a little with his Druids, staying just out of edge of Runebreaker, but missed needing 10's. After that, he just mostly rearranged my guys, tried to jam up the area with a lot of his guys, knocked off 1 Warder, and TKed stuff to get me out of contesting. One unit of Woldstalkers tried to make a nice wall between my Champs and Megalith.
Again, I repeated - Dash, but this time I used 2 shots, with one spray knocking off 2 Wolds and a Druid, while the AE 4 that stays in play knocked off a couple more stalkers, and I freed up a Champion charge to Megalith, leaving Grissel on 2. Warders went in and plinked some damage around, the Stone put up Strength, and the Champs charged Megalith and pooped their pants on the damage. At Dice-7, I did about 12 or so damage to Megalith total with 2 Champs landing the charge, leaving me about 8-9 short of average. I didn't expect to kill, I just wanted to maim him a bit and maybe get a lucky aspect out. I got 3-4 Warders all contesting the flag he was dominating though, at which point he decided to go for assassination. All told, I had removed most/all of the Druids, most of the Woldstalkers (all of one unit, part of the other), 2 Gallows Groves, and landed damage into Megalith. I also hit Krueger with a Warder, sending 15 damage to the Gorax.
He went for the classic double Teleport. He zapped Grissel once with Krueger, triggering a protective fit move that Mulg missed, then put up Megalith's animus to slow Mulg down, ending his turn on 1 Fury. He primaled a Stalker with the Gorax, double TPd, and started swinging needing 7's. He hit the first two, but I avoided transferring - leaving me at 1 HP exactly - and Mulg got in on the second hit, laying hard into him for about 13 damage. No aspects, though. He missed one or two more, hit again that got transferred, and Mulg missed. However, he ended with Grissel alive on 1 transfer and nothing else to do, and conceded shortly thereafter.
Grissel Bloodsong, Marshal of the Kriels
Mulg
Axer
Runebearer
2x max Warders
max Champs
max Krielstone with UA
Fell Caller Hero
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Opponents List:
eKrueger
-Megalith
-Stalker
-Gorax
-Wilder
2x Stones, one with UA
2x Woldstalkers
Druid Wilder
3x Gallows Grove
I think this was roughly the list that my opponent ran; I may be a little off. There were a lot of small based models, so it blurred together a bit. It may have been 2x Gallows Groves, possibly.
Scenario: Close Quarters
I won the roll and deployed first - a huge help for this list. I put a unit of warders to the right, a unit of warders the left, Champs central left of Grissel, Mulg to the right of Grissel, the support staff right in behind.
His deployments a little hazy, but the two sets of stones were set right and left so that he could move his beasts around quickly. Megalith was centralish, Stalker to the left, Druids were central to center right from my view, and the Woldstalkers center through the right side. Gorax was trailing to support the Stalker.
I did the typical start for this list - Dash, Pathfinder where needed, and run. I sent my guys as far up the board as I could, since I knew Krueger's feat would really suck for me to deal with. I didn't put up the stone aura, though.
He moved everyone up, putting the Stalker in range for a double teleport to switch sides if need be, while the Woldstalkers moved to threaten the center pretty solidly. The Druids advanced up and smoked up the front, while Krueger got double ported into the front and feated to shove my guys back. He got most everyone - all but one Warder of the two units, and he missed the Axer and support staff, including my solos.
My turn was mostly more running. Put up Dash, topped off the stone, shot with Grissel's spray and put up Runebreaker, leaving me on one, and I popped feat - I wasn't sure if it was too early or not, and I still think it may have been, but I decided to take a chance. I ran everything as far up as I could to get it into his face, and to try to threaten the flag he'd be trying to dominate.
He tried to yank Grissel around a little with his Druids, staying just out of edge of Runebreaker, but missed needing 10's. After that, he just mostly rearranged my guys, tried to jam up the area with a lot of his guys, knocked off 1 Warder, and TKed stuff to get me out of contesting. One unit of Woldstalkers tried to make a nice wall between my Champs and Megalith.
Again, I repeated - Dash, but this time I used 2 shots, with one spray knocking off 2 Wolds and a Druid, while the AE 4 that stays in play knocked off a couple more stalkers, and I freed up a Champion charge to Megalith, leaving Grissel on 2. Warders went in and plinked some damage around, the Stone put up Strength, and the Champs charged Megalith and pooped their pants on the damage. At Dice-7, I did about 12 or so damage to Megalith total with 2 Champs landing the charge, leaving me about 8-9 short of average. I didn't expect to kill, I just wanted to maim him a bit and maybe get a lucky aspect out. I got 3-4 Warders all contesting the flag he was dominating though, at which point he decided to go for assassination. All told, I had removed most/all of the Druids, most of the Woldstalkers (all of one unit, part of the other), 2 Gallows Groves, and landed damage into Megalith. I also hit Krueger with a Warder, sending 15 damage to the Gorax.
He went for the classic double Teleport. He zapped Grissel once with Krueger, triggering a protective fit move that Mulg missed, then put up Megalith's animus to slow Mulg down, ending his turn on 1 Fury. He primaled a Stalker with the Gorax, double TPd, and started swinging needing 7's. He hit the first two, but I avoided transferring - leaving me at 1 HP exactly - and Mulg got in on the second hit, laying hard into him for about 13 damage. No aspects, though. He missed one or two more, hit again that got transferred, and Mulg missed. However, he ended with Grissel alive on 1 transfer and nothing else to do, and conceded shortly thereafter.
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