From thinking, a little table time, and talking with others, I've decided that I think Doomy3 has quite a variety of possibilities to unlock. I don't think he's list locked into a certain particular list, the way Runes of War essentially is, but I do think he wants to build the vast majority of his army for beasts. Beasts feel like they tend to synergize best with his set of abilities, particularly the feat, but also his free animus scroll, Admonition, and Implacability. Additionally, Goad is always useful with Doomshaper.
So here are a few list builds that I've thought up, tried out, talked about or seen. Some of them I'll leave free points, because I think they'll be "season to taste" lists. Others I think build pretty tightly. For a quick reference, tier benefits are as listed:
Tier 1: Army has +2 Armor first round of game
Tier 2: +2 Battlegroup Speed first round
Tier 3: +1 to Starting
Tier 4: -2 points to Gargantuans
I might do more list builds in the future; each one takes up a good bit of space, so I don't want to go beyond 3-4.
Runes of War Doomy3:
Doomshaper + Scroll, Mulg, Earthborn, Mauler, Axer, Janissa, Krielstone, flavor to taste (Runeshapers, Fire Eaters, etc.)
This is the classic Troll beast brick. It hinges on Janissa, but it's a solid hitting, powerful brick with a lot of armor. It synergizes well with Doomshapers feat, and it can remove pretty much any piece from the board in one round.
It does suffer from lack of activations, particularly short 2 units of Runeshapers, so every attack has to be valuable. However, this Mulg is as close to as invincible as this game can introduce, especially on feat turn. Not much else to say about this; the list speaks for its own style.
Tier 4 Doomshaper: Hail to the (Ice) King Baby
Note: I'm assuming most people will go double Glacier King here. I'm not 100% certain on whether I like this or Glacier and Mountain; the problem with the Mountain is you're highly reliant on the spray. And it's 2 points more, but not really better.
Anyway, it's Doomshaper Unit, 2x Ice King, Whelps, max Stone + UA, probably 2x Fire Eaters, and 6 to play with (Axer maybe?). The unit and last six can be variable, depending on list goals. But this is likely approximately the list you'll see.
This list has the benefit of 16 point GK's, which are pretty much a steal. However, it's all-in on the Gargantuans and assuming they'll be able to stick around long enough. Frequently this is true, since it's a lot of boxes at good ARM and the feat, but still worth noting. With this list, if you don't pick your targets 100% perfectly, you could end up swamped early. I don't believe it's bad, necessarily, but it will take a very careful amount of testing to make sure this works the way you want.
I can't say much about this, since I've never gone 2x Gargantuan before. I think it's highly viable, but might suffer in scenario in some cases, and lack of attack volume might result in it being swamped sometimes.
Tier 3 Doomshaper: Movin' On From Runes (My current build)
Doomy Unit, Mulg, Mauler, Axer, Bouncer, either 1 Pyre 1 Storm or 2x Storm, max Stone, 1 unit of Fire Eaters, Whelps
This list still uses some of the Runes of War core, but moves away a little into other beast packages. It takes advantage of the tier benefits to get board position and claim space, and brings a bit higher volume of attacks, plus the electro leaps from the Storm to help deal with infantry more than other list styles.
It's still reliant on good attack choices being made, but it's not quite as restrictive; it relies heavily on the Storm Troll to get volume out with his shots. Bouncer could be subbed out for Impaler here and be quite viable, but I went with the Bouncer for protection value and because Bump + Admonition can introduce weird attack angles.
This list doesn't hit as hard as the other two lists, but I think it plays into more matchups, thus far. The Storms, Axer with Thresher, and Electroleaps can remove a fairly large chunk of models from the board, helping deal with infantry swarming. I've given some consideration to finding a way to rework the points and possibly try to give Bushwhackers + UA a shot. It's really weird, but I think it might be able to do a lot of work infantry clearing, or (when needed) flanking hard and shooting support in the back. I've had good luck with Bushwhackers in this before, so it's under consideration. The problem is thus far, the points don't add up well.
More to come!
Thursday, October 22, 2015
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Doomshaper 3: Game Experience
Well, it's been a couple of weeks of theorycrafting and one round of game experience, but I'm back with more thoughts. So here's a little bit of impression about Doomy3. I'll probably follow up in a later post with more in depth list thoughts!
Thoughts: Doomshaper is really the biggest weakness of his own list. I was significantly up in a game versus an Axis tier list, controlling the scenario with all of his heavies dead, and still he was able to pull up a good shot at an assassination run. Granted, I'd flubbed mine the turn before and made a maneuver that left me open, but I realized very quickly after my opponent started that I could die. Luckily, free strikes from Mulg, an Axer, and a Mauler were a bit too much for him to overcome (Rage on Mulg and the Mauler, too!)
So this leads to my next thought: Implacability will win games for Doomshaper. My opponent wanted to set up an Axis assassination run, but the inability to push my warbeasts backwards meant he had to go for a much jankier move around that put him down to his very last attack in our simulated run. Additionally, Implacability stopped Axis from moving my beasts around with battering ram, AND stopped the Inverter's counter charge. So... It's huge, at certain times. Some games it won't matter, but I think it will flat out win some games.
However, there was a notable problem: The only thing that forced my opponent into me in my games was a central scenario. Had my opponent been in a slower scenario, he could have drawn back and bought time. The scenario and terrain really set me up for an ideal situation, which was nice, but unreliable at best.
So my next thought: Doomy lacks a way to force an opponent into him. As much as I enjoyed my Fire Eaters, I think they're not necessarily where I want to go, AND I don't know that I want to stay with the normal "Beast Brick" style that has been heralded via Runes. While I think this beast brick is effective, I think - from early, snap judgements that I may rethink - Runes does it better due to walls and 8 more points (tier and beast points).
From bouncing ideas off of other players and some suggestions for what else to throw in (Thanks Liam!), I think bringing in a longer ranged game to force the opponent to come meet me is a highly advantageous game plan. I actually think I want to try Bushwhackers and maybe 1-2 ranged beasts that can get into my opponent to feel as if they have to move in somewhat, and I think it might - in some game situations - allow me to delay my feat one turn. I think, if you can force a Turn 3 feat from Doomshaper, it will be way more devastating. I think there are some exceptions, but being able to wait and really put the offensive feat portion to use feels huge.
Finally, and this may shift as I try different list builds and ideas, but I think that Tier - for now - is the way to go. I don't have double Garg's to try Tier 4, but I think that the +1 to starting and +2 speed are huge. Going first enables Doomshapers army to get incredibly forward - 21"+ even going first - and to allow zone control. If the opponent comes in too fast, a feat turn 2 can be devastating. Not fast enough, and a Turn 3 feat might occur, which has a much higher potential for the offensive portion of the feat to be used.
Once I have a Glacier King, I'll probably try a single GK list; it won't be Tier4, so no point reduction, but I think that the GK plus other beasts to allow zone control and sheer power has a lot of merit. Post-WMW, I'll probably proxy and try it, but for now I'm just going with what's out (beyond proxying Doomshaper himself!)
Thoughts: Doomshaper is really the biggest weakness of his own list. I was significantly up in a game versus an Axis tier list, controlling the scenario with all of his heavies dead, and still he was able to pull up a good shot at an assassination run. Granted, I'd flubbed mine the turn before and made a maneuver that left me open, but I realized very quickly after my opponent started that I could die. Luckily, free strikes from Mulg, an Axer, and a Mauler were a bit too much for him to overcome (Rage on Mulg and the Mauler, too!)
So this leads to my next thought: Implacability will win games for Doomshaper. My opponent wanted to set up an Axis assassination run, but the inability to push my warbeasts backwards meant he had to go for a much jankier move around that put him down to his very last attack in our simulated run. Additionally, Implacability stopped Axis from moving my beasts around with battering ram, AND stopped the Inverter's counter charge. So... It's huge, at certain times. Some games it won't matter, but I think it will flat out win some games.
However, there was a notable problem: The only thing that forced my opponent into me in my games was a central scenario. Had my opponent been in a slower scenario, he could have drawn back and bought time. The scenario and terrain really set me up for an ideal situation, which was nice, but unreliable at best.
So my next thought: Doomy lacks a way to force an opponent into him. As much as I enjoyed my Fire Eaters, I think they're not necessarily where I want to go, AND I don't know that I want to stay with the normal "Beast Brick" style that has been heralded via Runes. While I think this beast brick is effective, I think - from early, snap judgements that I may rethink - Runes does it better due to walls and 8 more points (tier and beast points).
From bouncing ideas off of other players and some suggestions for what else to throw in (Thanks Liam!), I think bringing in a longer ranged game to force the opponent to come meet me is a highly advantageous game plan. I actually think I want to try Bushwhackers and maybe 1-2 ranged beasts that can get into my opponent to feel as if they have to move in somewhat, and I think it might - in some game situations - allow me to delay my feat one turn. I think, if you can force a Turn 3 feat from Doomshaper, it will be way more devastating. I think there are some exceptions, but being able to wait and really put the offensive feat portion to use feels huge.
Finally, and this may shift as I try different list builds and ideas, but I think that Tier - for now - is the way to go. I don't have double Garg's to try Tier 4, but I think that the +1 to starting and +2 speed are huge. Going first enables Doomshapers army to get incredibly forward - 21"+ even going first - and to allow zone control. If the opponent comes in too fast, a feat turn 2 can be devastating. Not fast enough, and a Turn 3 feat might occur, which has a much higher potential for the offensive portion of the feat to be used.
Once I have a Glacier King, I'll probably try a single GK list; it won't be Tier4, so no point reduction, but I think that the GK plus other beasts to allow zone control and sheer power has a lot of merit. Post-WMW, I'll probably proxy and try it, but for now I'm just going with what's out (beyond proxying Doomshaper himself!)
Sunday, October 4, 2015
Doomshaper 3: Spells, Scrolls, Whelps and Pygs
Continuing with Doomshaper3, I'll provide my thoughts on his spells, his once-per-games (because we needed 3 mini-feats that rivalled top quality spells!), and why the Scroll Bearer looks better than you and your army.
Spell List of Doom: Giving a Troll warbeast Admonition, alone, would have made me ecstatic. Just imagine killing Mulg when he can bounce away from your location and get into a more awkward spot. Or moving Doomshaper out of the assassination run, or closer to Mulg so he can get those Protective Fit swings. All I have to say is: Giggity.
The cherry on top? Implacability. A brand new spell that basically means that Troll beast line you see is not moving. So g'luck with that one, buddy. No knocking Mulg or Doomy down to prevent the Admonition or Protective Fit, now. Kreoss1? Aww, you're cute, buddy. Gimme a hug. Doomy ain't going down that easy.
In all honesty, Implacability would only be an OK spell, except one critical fact: It's NOT an upkeep, so all those Purification casters are stuck with it. Eiryss2 can't clear it for Haley TK's. Sure, you have to cast it every turn, but there is almost no reason not to in a matchup where it's useful. Some games it will never come up, obviously; it may only be a 30-40% use. But certain matchups that give Trolls problems - Krueger2, for example - are now brutally harder on the Krueger player, in combination with the feat particularly.
The rest of the spells are interesting supplements. Stranglehold makes its return as one of the best "shitty nukes"; any time you can force half of an action to be forfeited is pretty sexy. Repudiate is what Purification probably should be - or at least many of the casters with Purification should probably have this instead.
The spell with probably the highest highs and lowest lows is Unminding. Unminding is probably a 15-20% spell, at best. Probably even less a lot of the time. But it may be a game winner sometimes, for the sheer combination of abilities it contains. Reducing a beast by 2 fury is already outstanding; stealing their animus is just a cherry on top. Against Hordes, it means that Doomshaper's capabilities get strangely unpredictable; he may be stealing that Rush to deny it to the opponent, or Sprint to send Mulg to strange places. Repulse could be a surprising benefit sometimes, for surprise scenario wins. It gives a strange amount of flexibility for Doomy into Hordes, which I find highly fascinating and fun-sounding to play.
Scroll Bearer: First off, this may be one of my favorite models, visually. It screams out everything I love about Trolls - the goofy sense of humor, the scroll/pseudo-tribal aesthetic, and the fact that even our whelps stand up and scream at you. I love this little guy.
From a control standpoint, his set of abilities are quite excellent. Hand of Yolandi, in particular, feels like it can be used to control the field at a pivotal moment; for example, if you need to overextend or put Doomshaper a little further forward against a caster like Sorscha2 or Butcher3. Hand ensures that he's burning nearly his entire stack just to move himself or other models (Energizer/Impending), and removes much of the fury efficiency of Flashing Blade, or can be used to exert heavy control over low fury casters particularly.
The other two scrolls both have an, "Expend this to up the brutality of your alpha" feeling. They don't provide the direct control characteristic of the rest of Doom3, but instead help keep fury costs lower for a turn, or ensure that you do maximum damage on turns when you need it. Any model with sprays or multiple attacks feels likely to benefit particularly; Champions also come to mind and fit well with his tanky theme, although benefitting less from his other abilities.
These scrolls, in a fashion, feel as if they give Doomshaper 3 a similar feel to Grissel, but tailored to a different set of conditions and matchups. The 3 minifeats combined feel somewhat less than Grissels feat - but they're not even the full feat, just additional "use as needed" abilities! Doomshaper feels as if he has roughly 2-2.5 feats across the game based on these scrolls, which I think help him deal with the fact that his spell list has a few spells that are highly situational.
Up next, thoughts on matchups and army compositions!
Spell List of Doom: Giving a Troll warbeast Admonition, alone, would have made me ecstatic. Just imagine killing Mulg when he can bounce away from your location and get into a more awkward spot. Or moving Doomshaper out of the assassination run, or closer to Mulg so he can get those Protective Fit swings. All I have to say is: Giggity.
The cherry on top? Implacability. A brand new spell that basically means that Troll beast line you see is not moving. So g'luck with that one, buddy. No knocking Mulg or Doomy down to prevent the Admonition or Protective Fit, now. Kreoss1? Aww, you're cute, buddy. Gimme a hug. Doomy ain't going down that easy.
In all honesty, Implacability would only be an OK spell, except one critical fact: It's NOT an upkeep, so all those Purification casters are stuck with it. Eiryss2 can't clear it for Haley TK's. Sure, you have to cast it every turn, but there is almost no reason not to in a matchup where it's useful. Some games it will never come up, obviously; it may only be a 30-40% use. But certain matchups that give Trolls problems - Krueger2, for example - are now brutally harder on the Krueger player, in combination with the feat particularly.
The rest of the spells are interesting supplements. Stranglehold makes its return as one of the best "shitty nukes"; any time you can force half of an action to be forfeited is pretty sexy. Repudiate is what Purification probably should be - or at least many of the casters with Purification should probably have this instead.
The spell with probably the highest highs and lowest lows is Unminding. Unminding is probably a 15-20% spell, at best. Probably even less a lot of the time. But it may be a game winner sometimes, for the sheer combination of abilities it contains. Reducing a beast by 2 fury is already outstanding; stealing their animus is just a cherry on top. Against Hordes, it means that Doomshaper's capabilities get strangely unpredictable; he may be stealing that Rush to deny it to the opponent, or Sprint to send Mulg to strange places. Repulse could be a surprising benefit sometimes, for surprise scenario wins. It gives a strange amount of flexibility for Doomy into Hordes, which I find highly fascinating and fun-sounding to play.
Scroll Bearer: First off, this may be one of my favorite models, visually. It screams out everything I love about Trolls - the goofy sense of humor, the scroll/pseudo-tribal aesthetic, and the fact that even our whelps stand up and scream at you. I love this little guy.
From a control standpoint, his set of abilities are quite excellent. Hand of Yolandi, in particular, feels like it can be used to control the field at a pivotal moment; for example, if you need to overextend or put Doomshaper a little further forward against a caster like Sorscha2 or Butcher3. Hand ensures that he's burning nearly his entire stack just to move himself or other models (Energizer/Impending), and removes much of the fury efficiency of Flashing Blade, or can be used to exert heavy control over low fury casters particularly.
The other two scrolls both have an, "Expend this to up the brutality of your alpha" feeling. They don't provide the direct control characteristic of the rest of Doom3, but instead help keep fury costs lower for a turn, or ensure that you do maximum damage on turns when you need it. Any model with sprays or multiple attacks feels likely to benefit particularly; Champions also come to mind and fit well with his tanky theme, although benefitting less from his other abilities.
These scrolls, in a fashion, feel as if they give Doomshaper 3 a similar feel to Grissel, but tailored to a different set of conditions and matchups. The 3 minifeats combined feel somewhat less than Grissels feat - but they're not even the full feat, just additional "use as needed" abilities! Doomshaper feels as if he has roughly 2-2.5 feats across the game based on these scrolls, which I think help him deal with the fact that his spell list has a few spells that are highly situational.
Up next, thoughts on matchups and army compositions!
Doomshaper 3 Spoilers: First Thoughts and Feat
Caveat: This post may need to be updated to reflect any possible changes/incorrect spoilers. Not expected, but just in case :) This series will be in multiple parts to break it into slightly more manageable chunks. I am combining the Feat with the First Thoughts, because quite frankly, my first thoughts came from this feat, before I ever saw the spell list, and I was already drooling.
So... The angry, human-hating shaman returns in all his battlegroup-supporting glory. And it's one hell of a return.
I'll avoid precise spoilers, because they're easily available a number of other places, so I'll simply assume that readers can go elsewhere. Instead, I'll attempt to concentrate on impressions, and a bit of theorycrafting, for our upcoming Troll overlord. From my initial thoughts and views, I feel that Doomshaper has some very obvious ways he can be played, including the traditional beast brick, but I feel like this might miss viable alternatives.
First Thoughts: PP wants Trolls to play more beasts. Hands down, I cannot draw any other conclusion from this. It seems clear that Privateer Press wants to emphasize beasts more within the faction, especially when taken in consideration with epic Borka. My guess would be that the designers have looked at the Troll lists/lineup, and felt there was an overreliance on Runes of War and infantry swarms, and sought to correct this.
I know that the design of characters occurs long before public playing, but I can't help but see Doomshaper as, in some ways, an evolution/improvement on Borka2. His feat doesn't stop opposing armies cold (rimshot) in the same manner, but I think his play initially seems more dynamic from my first impressions, largely because of the sheer power of his spell list, and the brutal nature of his feat.
His Field Marshal feels like a nice, supplementary set of healing in addition to normal Troll healing. If you don't get our beasts off the table, between natural Regen and Hyper Regen, given a couple of a turns a beast could be back up to half health from being nearly dead. And that should frighten a lot of opponents.
As always with Doomshaper, Goad is wonderful. It gives an unpredictable edge to otherwise frequently static Troll threats and angles, which often sets up assassinations or helps preserve our beasts.
Feat: How did we get a 3 for 1 feat? I don't know, but I love it. Boosting our melee attacks was already a huge boon to fury efficiency, mitigating very average attack values (5-6 is our average outside of Mulg and Rok). Now, we can focus more heavily on inflicting maximum damage, providing us with more high-value attacks.
Additionally, we take the already hardy Troll beast package, and it takes LESS DAMAGE? Holy. Crap. Quite frankly, this seemed unbelievable when I saw it. And then - the beasts heal when damaged? That seemed beyond insane. This feat - with some help from Implacable, particularly - screams at me they they want beasts on the table. Some of our lights are essentially unkillable by heavies now, which blows me away. Mulg, Clyde (EBDT), or our Gargantuans? Nigh immortal, short of Silence of Death or the very highest Synergy chains.
Doomshaper brought the Dire Trolls to the Kriels. Now, I think PP wants Trollblood players to unleash the beasts of war onto Immoren with Doomshaper3.
Next: Spell List and Scrolls (Or: How Whelps Look More Awesome Than Your Army)
So... The angry, human-hating shaman returns in all his battlegroup-supporting glory. And it's one hell of a return.
I'll avoid precise spoilers, because they're easily available a number of other places, so I'll simply assume that readers can go elsewhere. Instead, I'll attempt to concentrate on impressions, and a bit of theorycrafting, for our upcoming Troll overlord. From my initial thoughts and views, I feel that Doomshaper has some very obvious ways he can be played, including the traditional beast brick, but I feel like this might miss viable alternatives.
First Thoughts: PP wants Trolls to play more beasts. Hands down, I cannot draw any other conclusion from this. It seems clear that Privateer Press wants to emphasize beasts more within the faction, especially when taken in consideration with epic Borka. My guess would be that the designers have looked at the Troll lists/lineup, and felt there was an overreliance on Runes of War and infantry swarms, and sought to correct this.
I know that the design of characters occurs long before public playing, but I can't help but see Doomshaper as, in some ways, an evolution/improvement on Borka2. His feat doesn't stop opposing armies cold (rimshot) in the same manner, but I think his play initially seems more dynamic from my first impressions, largely because of the sheer power of his spell list, and the brutal nature of his feat.
His Field Marshal feels like a nice, supplementary set of healing in addition to normal Troll healing. If you don't get our beasts off the table, between natural Regen and Hyper Regen, given a couple of a turns a beast could be back up to half health from being nearly dead. And that should frighten a lot of opponents.
As always with Doomshaper, Goad is wonderful. It gives an unpredictable edge to otherwise frequently static Troll threats and angles, which often sets up assassinations or helps preserve our beasts.
Feat: How did we get a 3 for 1 feat? I don't know, but I love it. Boosting our melee attacks was already a huge boon to fury efficiency, mitigating very average attack values (5-6 is our average outside of Mulg and Rok). Now, we can focus more heavily on inflicting maximum damage, providing us with more high-value attacks.
Additionally, we take the already hardy Troll beast package, and it takes LESS DAMAGE? Holy. Crap. Quite frankly, this seemed unbelievable when I saw it. And then - the beasts heal when damaged? That seemed beyond insane. This feat - with some help from Implacable, particularly - screams at me they they want beasts on the table. Some of our lights are essentially unkillable by heavies now, which blows me away. Mulg, Clyde (EBDT), or our Gargantuans? Nigh immortal, short of Silence of Death or the very highest Synergy chains.
Doomshaper brought the Dire Trolls to the Kriels. Now, I think PP wants Trollblood players to unleash the beasts of war onto Immoren with Doomshaper3.
Next: Spell List and Scrolls (Or: How Whelps Look More Awesome Than Your Army)
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Trolls vs. Cygnar, 12-18-2014
I'm back! Going to try (again) to be more brief; writing long posts was part of what wore me out I think, and got me a little less likely to post. So here goes!
My List:
Jarl
-Rune
-Impaler
-Bomber
Horgle
-Slag Troll
Highwaymen + Braylen
Warders
SoBragg
Swamp Gobbers
Chronicler
Totem Hunter
His List:
Stryker2
-Squire
-Stormclad
-2x Sentinel
2x max Stormlances
Stormblades
-UA + 1 WA
Stormblades
2x Stormblade Captain
Scenario: Close Quarters
Terrain: Forest touching my flag, forest just on the other side of his. Hill on his side opposite my flag, hill on my side opposite his flag. Random obstruction in the middle.
Quick Assessment: Lots of infantry for me to kill! Not so fond of the Deflection, though, since that'll put especially the Stormlances in an awkward spot to kill. 19 ARM + 5 boxes leaves only the Bomber as reliable at ranged, really. And he's got a lot of heavy hitting, so my Warders are probably forfeit.
Deployment: I put the Highwaymen to the left with Braylen and Horgle & co. Bomber, Jarl, and Rune went right, Warders central, SoBragg far right (near the forest) with the Totem Hunter. Chronicler behind the Warders and Highwaymen.
All his Stormblades were in 2 clumps centrally with Stryker. The Stormclad was line up with his flag, Sentinels to either side, Stryker with the Stormclad, and the Stormlances hard to either flank.
Game Time: This section will be a little different than previous writings. I'm going to be a little more succinct about the happenings.
We both ran up, mostly, in Round 1. I'd preyed one unit of Stormblades, and he kept them back to deny the Prey bonus. On Turn 2, I decided my priority was finishing off the Stormclad; I wanted his heavy out of the way, because most everything else could be killed by normal PS 12 shots or CRA's from the Highwaymen. He shield guarded a Slag shot, but the other shot + 2 Bomber shots (I rolled the 7 to hit like a boss, unboosted) + 2 Warders got the 'Clad, and half-crippled a Sentinel (I blew out the damage). A Highwaymen CRA took down 1 lance, while the Assaulting SoBragg crapped out to do minimal damage.
He feated, and he took out a ton of guys. He took down about 6-7 Highwaymen, at the cost of 3 of the 4 Lances knocked down (Chronicler w/ Hero's Tragedy), all but 1 Warder, all but the 2 swords guy of SoBragg. He also got a few damage into either the Bomber or Impaler, I forget which.
My retaliation involved killing as much shit as I could manage. I managed to take him down to about ~6 Stormblades + 2 Stormlances on one side, and about 2 Lances on the other, plus the Captains on either side. The Slag Troll finished a Sentinel, while the Impaler slapped down the other.
He did what he could to retaliate; he removed another Highwayman or two, and put some damage into the Slag and Bomber, but he was running out of guys at this point. The one Stormlance got the last SoBragg, but he toughed.
On my turn, I wiped up the remaining Blades, cleared the Captain on my flag side, and took out the Sentinel, along with a Lance or two. I made one big error, though, and left Jarl in range for a Velocity + charge from Stryker on my Tactical Supremacy move... Shit. I should've just kept him back and fed contesting models into his flag repeatedly, since he was nearly out of models that could contest and won the long game. So, crap.
On his turn, he velocity'd for 2 into Jarl, who was on a 2 camp, leaving him on 5. His overboost put him at PS 26, or Dice +11 into a 16 box Jarl. his first two hit, and blasted me hard, leaving both the Impaler and Bomber on a single box each, with no transfers. His third shot hit... and snake eyes, leaving me on 3 HP. So then Horgle got a Slag bonus, walked up behind Stryker, and gave him a hammer to the back of the head.
Post-Match: We both made a lot of mistakes, playing with unfamiliar lists. We forgot abilities, or placed in bad spots; I left Jarl way too far forward a couple of times, trying to do too much. That said, I was incredibly happy with my infantry shredding on my guys, as well as general mobility. The Totem Hunter, Jarl, and Braylen all dashed in and out with ease, giving me a lot of board movement. If I'd played the game the way I intended to early, then Swift Hunter + Tac Supremacy would've moved the Highwaymen all over the board, but I screwed up and failed at that, and made it way easier for him to kill the Highwaymen.
The Warders will become Gators, too, after I move some points around. I felt like I had to pull the Warders along, somewhat, and I like the volume of attacks as well as potentially higher DEF better from the Gators, particularly in synergizing with the feat (-2 to attack rolls). I have other changes I'd like to make that I've discussed with another local player, so I'll be probably maneuvering a couple more things around and trying a couple of new ideas.
My List:
Jarl
-Rune
-Impaler
-Bomber
Horgle
-Slag Troll
Highwaymen + Braylen
Warders
SoBragg
Swamp Gobbers
Chronicler
Totem Hunter
His List:
Stryker2
-Squire
-Stormclad
-2x Sentinel
2x max Stormlances
Stormblades
-UA + 1 WA
Stormblades
2x Stormblade Captain
Scenario: Close Quarters
Terrain: Forest touching my flag, forest just on the other side of his. Hill on his side opposite my flag, hill on my side opposite his flag. Random obstruction in the middle.
Quick Assessment: Lots of infantry for me to kill! Not so fond of the Deflection, though, since that'll put especially the Stormlances in an awkward spot to kill. 19 ARM + 5 boxes leaves only the Bomber as reliable at ranged, really. And he's got a lot of heavy hitting, so my Warders are probably forfeit.
Deployment: I put the Highwaymen to the left with Braylen and Horgle & co. Bomber, Jarl, and Rune went right, Warders central, SoBragg far right (near the forest) with the Totem Hunter. Chronicler behind the Warders and Highwaymen.
All his Stormblades were in 2 clumps centrally with Stryker. The Stormclad was line up with his flag, Sentinels to either side, Stryker with the Stormclad, and the Stormlances hard to either flank.
Game Time: This section will be a little different than previous writings. I'm going to be a little more succinct about the happenings.
We both ran up, mostly, in Round 1. I'd preyed one unit of Stormblades, and he kept them back to deny the Prey bonus. On Turn 2, I decided my priority was finishing off the Stormclad; I wanted his heavy out of the way, because most everything else could be killed by normal PS 12 shots or CRA's from the Highwaymen. He shield guarded a Slag shot, but the other shot + 2 Bomber shots (I rolled the 7 to hit like a boss, unboosted) + 2 Warders got the 'Clad, and half-crippled a Sentinel (I blew out the damage). A Highwaymen CRA took down 1 lance, while the Assaulting SoBragg crapped out to do minimal damage.
He feated, and he took out a ton of guys. He took down about 6-7 Highwaymen, at the cost of 3 of the 4 Lances knocked down (Chronicler w/ Hero's Tragedy), all but 1 Warder, all but the 2 swords guy of SoBragg. He also got a few damage into either the Bomber or Impaler, I forget which.
My retaliation involved killing as much shit as I could manage. I managed to take him down to about ~6 Stormblades + 2 Stormlances on one side, and about 2 Lances on the other, plus the Captains on either side. The Slag Troll finished a Sentinel, while the Impaler slapped down the other.
He did what he could to retaliate; he removed another Highwayman or two, and put some damage into the Slag and Bomber, but he was running out of guys at this point. The one Stormlance got the last SoBragg, but he toughed.
On my turn, I wiped up the remaining Blades, cleared the Captain on my flag side, and took out the Sentinel, along with a Lance or two. I made one big error, though, and left Jarl in range for a Velocity + charge from Stryker on my Tactical Supremacy move... Shit. I should've just kept him back and fed contesting models into his flag repeatedly, since he was nearly out of models that could contest and won the long game. So, crap.
On his turn, he velocity'd for 2 into Jarl, who was on a 2 camp, leaving him on 5. His overboost put him at PS 26, or Dice +11 into a 16 box Jarl. his first two hit, and blasted me hard, leaving both the Impaler and Bomber on a single box each, with no transfers. His third shot hit... and snake eyes, leaving me on 3 HP. So then Horgle got a Slag bonus, walked up behind Stryker, and gave him a hammer to the back of the head.
Post-Match: We both made a lot of mistakes, playing with unfamiliar lists. We forgot abilities, or placed in bad spots; I left Jarl way too far forward a couple of times, trying to do too much. That said, I was incredibly happy with my infantry shredding on my guys, as well as general mobility. The Totem Hunter, Jarl, and Braylen all dashed in and out with ease, giving me a lot of board movement. If I'd played the game the way I intended to early, then Swift Hunter + Tac Supremacy would've moved the Highwaymen all over the board, but I screwed up and failed at that, and made it way easier for him to kill the Highwaymen.
The Warders will become Gators, too, after I move some points around. I felt like I had to pull the Warders along, somewhat, and I like the volume of attacks as well as potentially higher DEF better from the Gators, particularly in synergizing with the feat (-2 to attack rolls). I have other changes I'd like to make that I've discussed with another local player, so I'll be probably maneuvering a couple more things around and trying a couple of new ideas.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Battle Report, Trolls vs. Khador, 10/8/2014
Lots of games against Khador lately, because that's who I've been able to get a game with regularly!
My List:
pDoomshaper, Runes of War (Tier 4)
-Runebearer
-Mountain King
-Earthborn
-Mauler
max Stone (no UA)
3x Runeshapers
Janissa
His List:
pSorscha
-Sylas
-Zerker
Junior Malakov
-Decimator
max Winterguard + UA + weapon attachments (1 or 2)
2x Doom Reavers
Assault Kommandos with 2 Weapon Attachments
Reinholdt
Kovnik Joe
Aiyana and Holt
Scenario:
Close Quarters
Terrain:
Forest on my near right, hill on my near left, a couple of central walls, one going parallel to my deployment and one perpendicular. Hills on his side, forest on his side (never mattered really).
Match Assessment:
The Doom Reavers present an interesting problem. They're the majority of his hitting power for armor (he has the one Malakov jack too), but they need charges to do it. However, they also can't be targeted by the Runeshapers. So this'll be weird.
I think if I can keep him from getting all the Reavers and the jack to me, I should be able to hold my Mountain King up and keep healing him. He has a lot of hitting power, but if I can force him to plink, I don't think it'll be enough. Between snacking the guys hitting and the Whelps, it's a lot of healing potential.
I don't really have an assassination run in this list, so instead it'll probably be mostly attrition. Just grind him out and make him work his way through the King and the two accompanying beasts. The Runeshapers can make a solid jam.
Deployment:
I put the MK central, stupidly about half an inch outside of the 2 speed for a forest. Doh. 2 units of Runeshapers went left to challenge his flag, one unit went right. Earthborn left, Mauler right.
He put the Winterguard to come in left, one unit of Reavers left, one unit right, and the Kommandos coming up my right (at my flag). Malakov with 'jack were there also. All else was fairly central.
Game Time:
He ran the masses forward! The Doomies ran up to the front, with a couple way forward and the rest behind. The Winterguard made a giant blob, while the models on my right side scattered in a wide area to watch out for Rock Hammers.
I just moved the King up 5" (should've been 7 had I not placed him away from the forest) and sprayed down a Doomy. I transmuted him, and drifted a ton of AE's into the Doomies needing 8's to kill. Never got one :( Everything else advanced up, Transmute on the King and Mauler with a wall covering parts of them.
He charged 1 or 2 Doomies into my Mauler, some into my Runeshapers. 2 units broke, one passed, and I ended up with about 4-5 of them dead. The Mauler took a few points. The Berserker took up a central position across from the MK MK, and his Decimator shot into the Mauler (before the Doomy) to get a few more points, taking about 15 points off the Mauler (I think. Either this turn or the next one).
I charged the King in and took a handful of guys off the board - I think it was some Doomies and a couple of WG, including the officer maybe? My 2 Shapers rallied, while one killed a Doomy in melee. I threw one Shaper at another Doomy with the Earthborn, and rolled 1-2 for damage on my Shaper! So no damage me, killed his guy, and I'm steady. Excellent. Doomy stayed behind a wall, transmute on the Mauler, and so on.
He came back into me, charging a Doomy at the EBDT but ending out of command. He left 1 Runeshaper alive on the left, and took out one on the right. the Berserker plinked 1 into the MK, triggering a whelp. Not much else.
The MK failed to kill the Zerker even with fortune (6 to hit, I missed 3 attacks on him. ugh), but got a few other guys, healing back up to full. I cleared my side and decided to play aggressive, moving Doomy to the flag to start getting cps with 2 transfers at 13/19 or 17/19. I also strangleheld Malakov's jack for good measure.
Turns out I forgot Sorscha's feat. Oops. Doomy got blasted off the board after being frozen, and that was that. Didn't help that I forgot my feat last turn :(
Post-Game:
Oops. Mostly felt good about the game, but I played too aggressive with Doomy when I was pretty much in command, and I paid for it. I was down to 4 Runeshapers left, but the Zerker was likely to be dead, I had Stranglehold on his jack so he couldn't get in... I was in a good spot, and his cracking potential on the MK was dropping extremely quickly. All I had to do was ride it out, and I didn't; I played aggressive and made a bad move.
He realized quickly that he could only win by assassination really, and he went for it and got it. I actually kept good positioning to limit the Doom Reavers ability to get to the MK with more than 2-3 guys at a time, but Doomy was the weak link to the army.
Not much else to learn except to play Doomy a little more safely :-/
My List:
pDoomshaper, Runes of War (Tier 4)
-Runebearer
-Mountain King
-Earthborn
-Mauler
max Stone (no UA)
3x Runeshapers
Janissa
His List:
pSorscha
-Sylas
-Zerker
Junior Malakov
-Decimator
max Winterguard + UA + weapon attachments (1 or 2)
2x Doom Reavers
Assault Kommandos with 2 Weapon Attachments
Reinholdt
Kovnik Joe
Aiyana and Holt
Scenario:
Close Quarters
Terrain:
Forest on my near right, hill on my near left, a couple of central walls, one going parallel to my deployment and one perpendicular. Hills on his side, forest on his side (never mattered really).
Match Assessment:
The Doom Reavers present an interesting problem. They're the majority of his hitting power for armor (he has the one Malakov jack too), but they need charges to do it. However, they also can't be targeted by the Runeshapers. So this'll be weird.
I think if I can keep him from getting all the Reavers and the jack to me, I should be able to hold my Mountain King up and keep healing him. He has a lot of hitting power, but if I can force him to plink, I don't think it'll be enough. Between snacking the guys hitting and the Whelps, it's a lot of healing potential.
I don't really have an assassination run in this list, so instead it'll probably be mostly attrition. Just grind him out and make him work his way through the King and the two accompanying beasts. The Runeshapers can make a solid jam.
Deployment:
I put the MK central, stupidly about half an inch outside of the 2 speed for a forest. Doh. 2 units of Runeshapers went left to challenge his flag, one unit went right. Earthborn left, Mauler right.
He put the Winterguard to come in left, one unit of Reavers left, one unit right, and the Kommandos coming up my right (at my flag). Malakov with 'jack were there also. All else was fairly central.
Game Time:
He ran the masses forward! The Doomies ran up to the front, with a couple way forward and the rest behind. The Winterguard made a giant blob, while the models on my right side scattered in a wide area to watch out for Rock Hammers.
I just moved the King up 5" (should've been 7 had I not placed him away from the forest) and sprayed down a Doomy. I transmuted him, and drifted a ton of AE's into the Doomies needing 8's to kill. Never got one :( Everything else advanced up, Transmute on the King and Mauler with a wall covering parts of them.
He charged 1 or 2 Doomies into my Mauler, some into my Runeshapers. 2 units broke, one passed, and I ended up with about 4-5 of them dead. The Mauler took a few points. The Berserker took up a central position across from the MK MK, and his Decimator shot into the Mauler (before the Doomy) to get a few more points, taking about 15 points off the Mauler (I think. Either this turn or the next one).
I charged the King in and took a handful of guys off the board - I think it was some Doomies and a couple of WG, including the officer maybe? My 2 Shapers rallied, while one killed a Doomy in melee. I threw one Shaper at another Doomy with the Earthborn, and rolled 1-2 for damage on my Shaper! So no damage me, killed his guy, and I'm steady. Excellent. Doomy stayed behind a wall, transmute on the Mauler, and so on.
He came back into me, charging a Doomy at the EBDT but ending out of command. He left 1 Runeshaper alive on the left, and took out one on the right. the Berserker plinked 1 into the MK, triggering a whelp. Not much else.
The MK failed to kill the Zerker even with fortune (6 to hit, I missed 3 attacks on him. ugh), but got a few other guys, healing back up to full. I cleared my side and decided to play aggressive, moving Doomy to the flag to start getting cps with 2 transfers at 13/19 or 17/19. I also strangleheld Malakov's jack for good measure.
Turns out I forgot Sorscha's feat. Oops. Doomy got blasted off the board after being frozen, and that was that. Didn't help that I forgot my feat last turn :(
Post-Game:
Oops. Mostly felt good about the game, but I played too aggressive with Doomy when I was pretty much in command, and I paid for it. I was down to 4 Runeshapers left, but the Zerker was likely to be dead, I had Stranglehold on his jack so he couldn't get in... I was in a good spot, and his cracking potential on the MK was dropping extremely quickly. All I had to do was ride it out, and I didn't; I played aggressive and made a bad move.
He realized quickly that he could only win by assassination really, and he went for it and got it. I actually kept good positioning to limit the Doom Reavers ability to get to the MK with more than 2-3 guys at a time, but Doomy was the weak link to the army.
Not much else to learn except to play Doomy a little more safely :-/
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Battle Report, Trolls vs. Khador, 10/2/2014
My List:
pGrissel
-Pyre
-Storm
max Long Riders
max Fennblades + UA
max Warders
max Stone + UA
Horthol
Fell Caller
Saxon
Sorcerer (on Riders)
His List:
pSorscha
-Sylas
-Zerker
Junior Malakov
-Decimator
max Winterguard + UA + weapon attachments (1 or 2)
2x Doom Reavers
Assault Kommandos with 2 Weapon Attachments
Reinholdt
Kovnik Joe
Aiyana and Holt
I think that's all.
Scenario:
Fire Support
Terrain:
Forest right side between my deployment and his objective/flag, forest left side between his deployment and my objective/flag. Hills on the near left and far right from me, obstacle left, obstacle far right.
Match Assessment:
So, round 2. I've thought about this in my head since the loss 2 weeks ago, and I came to a couple of conclusions:
1) Leverage the Storm Troll. Dat Animus. I did (mostly) last time, but played stupid late out of frustration. Don't get frustrated, protect the Storm and ride it out.
2) Do my best to set up so that no matter what is frozen, lanes can be opened. That's not easy - lots of medium bases get in the way - but if I can keep it so that some of my guys can still activate, it'll help.
He brought more beef this time, but I really don't feel horrible about breaking it with Calamity, Flaming Fists, and Stone Strength. That's a pretty big swing. The 2x Doomies is still saddening, though. I also feel like I have a strong scenario play here; Grissel can swing her entire army to a weak side really quickly and start working on CPs.
Deployment:
I kept up my fairly standard deployment. Fennblades with Long Riders scattered between them, Warders went all right side (I thought I might need to pressure this side hard). Support was central, Horthol went to the side with my objective. Grissel was central to respond anywhere.
He put the Assault Kommandos to oppose my left side with the Zerker, Winterguard right side, the support package central with Malakov and Decimator central. One unit of Doomies went hard left, one hard right.
Game Time!
So, looking at the board, I felt like he was very weak on my left side, giving me the chance to dominate the flag on my left fairly quickly. My Long Riders went up first, then my Fennblades, scattered across the board but (crucially) NOT in such a position that he could get a first turn Icy Grip (on any unit). Everything else came in behind, with the Storm Troll running across the board in such a way as to bring him behind Grissel on the left side, since I wanted him tossing leaps around and clearing Doomies/Kommandos. The support came in behind, with the Warders getting Hoof It to slog through the forest (no pathfinder - I put it on everyone else that needed it).
He came up with a couple of Winter Guard getting aggressively up the board, but the Doomies on either side being fairly safe. The left side Doom Reavers made a large arc to that side, with one or two using the obstacle to hide them. The right side Doomies did similarly, but a little further upl. The Winter Guard clogged most of the middle right. The Zerker ran to a position to threaten my flag, while the Demolisher positioned similarly on the right side.
I thought for about 2 minutes, and decided to go ahead and pop the feat. The number of attacks was lower than I like for Grissel, but I thought that I wouldn't have another particularly good feat turn, and this would shut down Doom Reaver charges from the left side. Unfortunately, I placed just wrong to have any good charges to get some clearing models out of Horthol's way, or he would've gone into the Zerker hard. Instead, I cleared a couple of Kommandos with Horthol and moved him out of the way. Some Lightning Fisted Fennblades killed 2 Kommandos and a couple of Winterguard, using the 'jacks for easy hits to bounce electroleaps into his models (DAT ANIMUS).
All told, I got about 4 or so Winterguard approximately, and about 5 of the 8 Assault Kommandos. My biggest win, however, was that I managed to do exactly 12 damage to the Decimator, which went into the 4 and 5, PERFECTLY blowing out the cortex. Hellllllz yeah. He has a Ripsaw with Sustained, but only a single attack, and now ROF 1. I would've liked to do more damage, but quite frankly it wasn't happening, because he positioned too well, but I really needed the army to be able to reposition. After repositioning, I put Horthol on my flag in case he couldn't contest, several screening models, and held my ground in the board middle. 7 on the Stone for a maximum aura.
So, feat. Yup. Sorscha moved around to an ideal position and froze most of my army, but left me a few activations. He pulled a bit of unexpected cleverness, however, and Icy Gripped a frozen Fennblade in order to freeze the ones she could not see. Ugh. That made it much harder for my screening models to survive. She went to work clearing, but my Tough rolls went stupid hot. All told, on my feat he killed about 9 Fenns (who had mini feated, so they were fine on command), put a Warder to 1 with 2 passed Toughs, and Horthol on 9 damage to his mounted form. The Zerker got to him after his last gunshot killed a Fennblade that toughed 2-3 times, but he went low on the 50/50 point to dismount Horthol, leaving him up, but knocked down (Brutality -> Headbutt).
So, I was frozen, but had a few options. First, I did some Long Rider ride bys and cleared the Zerker, and went for an unboosted Calamity. I wanted to boost, but I also wanted to boost a spray on a Doomy, so I just went for the 5... And got a 4. Doh. Hoof It went on the Sorcerer, who picked off a Kommando with his spell. So the Fell Caller charged the Zerker, stood up Horthol, and laid a good bit into the Zerker. Horthol then beat on him too, leaving him on a few boxes, but with Right Arm still up. The Storm Troll managed to get a Doomy in range, and got a 3 for leaps after hitting! I plinked damage on one Doom, but managed to kill 3 Doomies (initial + 2 on leaps) and a Kommando. Sadly, due to the Zerker's remaining few boxes, I didn't get to dominate for 2. :( The missed Calamity hurt.
He just tried to do what he could, laying some damage into the Riders and Warders, but he even stated he was fighting uphill. He didn't think I could clear that side so easily, and was going to have more and more trouble contesting. He took out one Rider on the left side but failed to hit my Fell with a Reaver. He plowed damage into the Warders and Long Riders he could, but failed to kill much (a few guys) and couldn't clear his side to get points. Oh, and he froze my Warders.
From there, I just cleared my side, dominated for 2, and tried to jam. It was less successful than hoped because the Pyre frenzied on one (ugh) and killed the Fennblade I was counting on using. Oh well.
This turn, he charged a Rider with Sorscha, then tried an Arcane Secrets Icy Grip needing 6, and... 1-2-1. Fail. She also missed her charge, first bought, and finally hit on the last attack. He plowed around some damage, but was in charge range of 2 Long Riders, which ended predictably on my turn.
Post-Game:
So, this went much, much more nicely. My positionings were mostly good, other than one misplacement that meant Horthol had to Ride By instead of charging/slamming his Berserker, but he also placed in response to my own. The Storm Troll did end up clogged up, though, on the first 2 turns, which I need to improve against infantry swarms.
I got a bit lucky on his dice crapping out in odd places, but mostly I don't think it was a huge problem; it just put him in some odd situations. He had a really slick play on using Freezing Grip on the Fenns to freeze all of them (on a feated one), which I thought was really smart. It let him autohit my screening models that were otherwise unfrozen.
Mostly, I felt much better about this game. I kept Grissel easily safe and didn't put her in stupid places, and I was able to follow out my game plan. A scenario that let me spread really let me take advantage of my armies ability to cover a lot of board, and Sorscha has a feat that just simply makes my life very difficult; most drops I hope to play this against won't. I had some bad luck on my Calamity and it failed to hit needing a 5, but that happens, so oh well. Otherwise I would've dominated for 2 a turn earlier. I probably could have taken Grissel to 1 fury, and I honestly don't think he could've done much about it, but I was trying to play on the safe side.
Overall, this game was much, much nicer. I played all my strengths the way I should, and I was able to easily chew through his infantry over the course of the game. The extra beef was obnoxious, but still was something I could deal with.
pGrissel
-Pyre
-Storm
max Long Riders
max Fennblades + UA
max Warders
max Stone + UA
Horthol
Fell Caller
Saxon
Sorcerer (on Riders)
His List:
pSorscha
-Sylas
-Zerker
Junior Malakov
-Decimator
max Winterguard + UA + weapon attachments (1 or 2)
2x Doom Reavers
Assault Kommandos with 2 Weapon Attachments
Reinholdt
Kovnik Joe
Aiyana and Holt
I think that's all.
Scenario:
Fire Support
Terrain:
Forest right side between my deployment and his objective/flag, forest left side between his deployment and my objective/flag. Hills on the near left and far right from me, obstacle left, obstacle far right.
Match Assessment:
So, round 2. I've thought about this in my head since the loss 2 weeks ago, and I came to a couple of conclusions:
1) Leverage the Storm Troll. Dat Animus. I did (mostly) last time, but played stupid late out of frustration. Don't get frustrated, protect the Storm and ride it out.
2) Do my best to set up so that no matter what is frozen, lanes can be opened. That's not easy - lots of medium bases get in the way - but if I can keep it so that some of my guys can still activate, it'll help.
He brought more beef this time, but I really don't feel horrible about breaking it with Calamity, Flaming Fists, and Stone Strength. That's a pretty big swing. The 2x Doomies is still saddening, though. I also feel like I have a strong scenario play here; Grissel can swing her entire army to a weak side really quickly and start working on CPs.
Deployment:
I kept up my fairly standard deployment. Fennblades with Long Riders scattered between them, Warders went all right side (I thought I might need to pressure this side hard). Support was central, Horthol went to the side with my objective. Grissel was central to respond anywhere.
He put the Assault Kommandos to oppose my left side with the Zerker, Winterguard right side, the support package central with Malakov and Decimator central. One unit of Doomies went hard left, one hard right.
Game Time!
So, looking at the board, I felt like he was very weak on my left side, giving me the chance to dominate the flag on my left fairly quickly. My Long Riders went up first, then my Fennblades, scattered across the board but (crucially) NOT in such a position that he could get a first turn Icy Grip (on any unit). Everything else came in behind, with the Storm Troll running across the board in such a way as to bring him behind Grissel on the left side, since I wanted him tossing leaps around and clearing Doomies/Kommandos. The support came in behind, with the Warders getting Hoof It to slog through the forest (no pathfinder - I put it on everyone else that needed it).
He came up with a couple of Winter Guard getting aggressively up the board, but the Doomies on either side being fairly safe. The left side Doom Reavers made a large arc to that side, with one or two using the obstacle to hide them. The right side Doomies did similarly, but a little further upl. The Winter Guard clogged most of the middle right. The Zerker ran to a position to threaten my flag, while the Demolisher positioned similarly on the right side.
I thought for about 2 minutes, and decided to go ahead and pop the feat. The number of attacks was lower than I like for Grissel, but I thought that I wouldn't have another particularly good feat turn, and this would shut down Doom Reaver charges from the left side. Unfortunately, I placed just wrong to have any good charges to get some clearing models out of Horthol's way, or he would've gone into the Zerker hard. Instead, I cleared a couple of Kommandos with Horthol and moved him out of the way. Some Lightning Fisted Fennblades killed 2 Kommandos and a couple of Winterguard, using the 'jacks for easy hits to bounce electroleaps into his models (DAT ANIMUS).
All told, I got about 4 or so Winterguard approximately, and about 5 of the 8 Assault Kommandos. My biggest win, however, was that I managed to do exactly 12 damage to the Decimator, which went into the 4 and 5, PERFECTLY blowing out the cortex. Hellllllz yeah. He has a Ripsaw with Sustained, but only a single attack, and now ROF 1. I would've liked to do more damage, but quite frankly it wasn't happening, because he positioned too well, but I really needed the army to be able to reposition. After repositioning, I put Horthol on my flag in case he couldn't contest, several screening models, and held my ground in the board middle. 7 on the Stone for a maximum aura.
So, feat. Yup. Sorscha moved around to an ideal position and froze most of my army, but left me a few activations. He pulled a bit of unexpected cleverness, however, and Icy Gripped a frozen Fennblade in order to freeze the ones she could not see. Ugh. That made it much harder for my screening models to survive. She went to work clearing, but my Tough rolls went stupid hot. All told, on my feat he killed about 9 Fenns (who had mini feated, so they were fine on command), put a Warder to 1 with 2 passed Toughs, and Horthol on 9 damage to his mounted form. The Zerker got to him after his last gunshot killed a Fennblade that toughed 2-3 times, but he went low on the 50/50 point to dismount Horthol, leaving him up, but knocked down (Brutality -> Headbutt).
So, I was frozen, but had a few options. First, I did some Long Rider ride bys and cleared the Zerker, and went for an unboosted Calamity. I wanted to boost, but I also wanted to boost a spray on a Doomy, so I just went for the 5... And got a 4. Doh. Hoof It went on the Sorcerer, who picked off a Kommando with his spell. So the Fell Caller charged the Zerker, stood up Horthol, and laid a good bit into the Zerker. Horthol then beat on him too, leaving him on a few boxes, but with Right Arm still up. The Storm Troll managed to get a Doomy in range, and got a 3 for leaps after hitting! I plinked damage on one Doom, but managed to kill 3 Doomies (initial + 2 on leaps) and a Kommando. Sadly, due to the Zerker's remaining few boxes, I didn't get to dominate for 2. :( The missed Calamity hurt.
He just tried to do what he could, laying some damage into the Riders and Warders, but he even stated he was fighting uphill. He didn't think I could clear that side so easily, and was going to have more and more trouble contesting. He took out one Rider on the left side but failed to hit my Fell with a Reaver. He plowed damage into the Warders and Long Riders he could, but failed to kill much (a few guys) and couldn't clear his side to get points. Oh, and he froze my Warders.
From there, I just cleared my side, dominated for 2, and tried to jam. It was less successful than hoped because the Pyre frenzied on one (ugh) and killed the Fennblade I was counting on using. Oh well.
This turn, he charged a Rider with Sorscha, then tried an Arcane Secrets Icy Grip needing 6, and... 1-2-1. Fail. She also missed her charge, first bought, and finally hit on the last attack. He plowed around some damage, but was in charge range of 2 Long Riders, which ended predictably on my turn.
Post-Game:
So, this went much, much more nicely. My positionings were mostly good, other than one misplacement that meant Horthol had to Ride By instead of charging/slamming his Berserker, but he also placed in response to my own. The Storm Troll did end up clogged up, though, on the first 2 turns, which I need to improve against infantry swarms.
I got a bit lucky on his dice crapping out in odd places, but mostly I don't think it was a huge problem; it just put him in some odd situations. He had a really slick play on using Freezing Grip on the Fenns to freeze all of them (on a feated one), which I thought was really smart. It let him autohit my screening models that were otherwise unfrozen.
Mostly, I felt much better about this game. I kept Grissel easily safe and didn't put her in stupid places, and I was able to follow out my game plan. A scenario that let me spread really let me take advantage of my armies ability to cover a lot of board, and Sorscha has a feat that just simply makes my life very difficult; most drops I hope to play this against won't. I had some bad luck on my Calamity and it failed to hit needing a 5, but that happens, so oh well. Otherwise I would've dominated for 2 a turn earlier. I probably could have taken Grissel to 1 fury, and I honestly don't think he could've done much about it, but I was trying to play on the safe side.
Overall, this game was much, much nicer. I played all my strengths the way I should, and I was able to easily chew through his infantry over the course of the game. The extra beef was obnoxious, but still was something I could deal with.
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