My List:
Grissel Bloodsong, Fell Caller
Storm Troll
Pyre Troll
Troll Impaler
min Champs + Skaldi
min Champs
max Warders
min Stone + UA
2x Champ Hero
Fennblade Kithkar
S.S. Chronicler
2x Sorcerer
Swamp Gobbers
Opponent:
Damiano
Rocinante
Nomad
max Boomies
Gun Mages + UA
TAC
Rorsh & Brine
Alexia2
Ogrun Bokur
Rockbottom
(maybe something else? Don't have a way to calculate points right now)
Scenario:
Fire Support
Terrain:
Rock walls on my near left and on the far right, close to the destroyable objectives. Forest central-left on my side, largish obstacle near my opponents flag, hill on his side. Maybe something else I'm forgetting.
This battle was a giant slugfest, so I may be off or hazy on some details; I'll try to get the points that had the biggest effects. I won the roll and went first. Sorcerer's on the 2x Champs, Warders central, one champ unit and hero on the side of my objective and flag, the one with Skaldi on the other side. Grissel central, stone central, Kithkar to the right side, Pyre to the left, Storm to the right, impaler central.
He put the Boomhowlers mostly central, Gun Mages to my right, Alexia and other solos central to central right with Damiano. Both jacks were pretty much central, Rorsh and brine off to the left flank. All solo's were AD because Highborn.
I just rolled fast up the field. Warders ran, got Hoof It, went further. Champs ran up on each side, Grissel put 5 in the Stone, Stone popped for No Continous, and all that jazz.
His turn, he rolled forward, Rocinante rolled fire and blasted a Warder off the table - he was actually sad, he wanted Alexia to get a soul early. I knew that I'd lose a chunk of health on the warder, thought he'd still be up! But at least Righteous Vengeance was triggered. Boomies 4+ Tough, spread out to eat up room, Warpath and Death March out (DM on Boomies).
I normally like a turn 2 feat, but it wasn't happening here. So, instead, jam. Hoof It went on Warders, I deviated a Pyre shot into 2 of them and lit em up. Warders ran up to jam the area and occupy space. Stone got maxed out (9" aura), while I went for broke with the Kithkar. I put Lightning Fists on him and charged into the Gun Mages, but failed to hit either shot needing 8's. If I got lucky and hit 1, 2 dead mages; if I got really lucky and hit 2, then 4 dead Gun Mages. It was a risk I was willing to take.
His turn, he sent Brine into the objective on my side and put it down. Damiano feated, the Boomies came in and slapped around Warders, but ARM 21's quite a lot (after the first damage taken). I think he took out another Warder this turn, maybe 2 - I think one though. Kithkar got beat to hell and didn't Tough, but most importantly, the Gun Mages thunderbolted the Storm Troll, knocked him down... And out of control. Fuck. Skaldi got beat the hell down by Thralls after a Thunderbolt crit, when I placed him on the wrong side of the Champs formation - my bad. That was about it.
My Storm Troll didn't frenzy, but couldn't be forced to stand, so that sucked. I was going to use his shot to try and bounce around the Gun Mages, too, since taking 2-3 of them out is a big step up for me to take out his board manipulation. So he just had to walk up to get back in range and hope it'd be enough.
It was a good feat turn now, as everything was in range of good charge targets, so I opened fire with all cylinders. Grissel aiming knocked down a Boomie, who she then Calamatied (I really wanted to make sure I cleared their feat armor - 19 is annoying, and relies on Weaponmaster rolls. Average breaks, but still...) I threw down a lot of attacks that took out Big Pig, Boomhowler, a few Boomies, and plinked some damage elsewhere, but wasn't nearly as effective as I'd like. The army rearrangement was very nice, however, and kept the warders jammed up. I made a couple of bad decisions, though, including choosing poor charge targets - I should have cleared the objective on his side, while I had a fantastic lane at it.
On his turn, he cleared all but 1 or 2 Warders, knocked down all my Champs on the right side (where Skaldi was) and failed to bump the Storm Troll out of contesting (I think that was this turn). Brine came up and parked on my flag, and he rotated the Nomad around to the left side.
I finished off the Boomhowlers pretty much this turn, but the problem I ended up having was missing Brine on 1/3 champ attacks and getting him only Tough, not dead, so I failed to get CPs that would have been a huge help. Also, I made a bad charge decision and got a Champ toughed on a free strike, while the other champ crapped his pants on dice and only plinked damage into a nomad.
I think this turn is when he started controlling for CPs again; he got the Storm Troll back out, cleared the Warders, cleared my Champs, and started the CP train. Nomad cleared a Champ or two, and he killed a Sorcerer and damaged another Champ.
I killed Brine, started the domination train, contested the other side, and did some more damage in other places - nothing important. From there, we traded a few pieces, but I deathclocked out - I could maybe have won through scenario with a little luck, but I never had time to try and get there.
Biggest mistake: I should have played harder for scenario. I could have taken out his objective early, which would have set me up to dominate twice on the left flag and win, but I didn't. No matter what, I would've only been able to hit 4 CPs, not enough to win. I didn't play badly, just a few mistakes that were enough to hold me out. He played a very good game and deserved the win!
Monday, April 28, 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
Battle Report, Trolls vs Cygnar, 4-23-14
My list:
Grim Angus
2x Bombers
Impaler
Storm Troll
Fennblades + UA
Min Bushwhackers
Sons of Bragg
Bone Grinders
Swamp Gobbers
Whelps
Opponents List:
Siege Tier List (the new one)
-Triumph
Allison Jakes
-Charger
Journeyman Warcaster
-Hunter
Journeyman Warcaster
AT Gun Mages w/ UA
-Defender
Black 13th
Field Mechaniks (max)
Arlan Strangeways
Scenario: Destruction
I may be missing something on my opponents list - I'm not 100% sure. This is close, though, and if I'm missing something I'm having trouble figuring out what it might be.
Terrain: Hill on my close left, near my objective, forest on my near right, near the corner of my zone. Large obstruction on right side, a few inches away from his objective, and forest on the left side (opposite diagonal of the other forest).
I lost the roll, and my opponent picked a board edge, setting me to go first. I deployed my Fennblades mostly on the left side, relatively opposite the hill, one Bomber centrally, one Bomber to the right behind the forest, with Grim right behind him, Impaler and Storm just behind those, SoB off to the right to go to the right side of the forest, 3 Whelps on the board. Bushwhackers ended up on the right side in front of Grim (I really wanted to abuse the forest).
Opponent put the Gun Mages hard left from my view to go around his forest and flank with defender, the two Journeyman were just behind the forest, Hunter ended up in his forest, Siege central with Triumph so they could abuse a Trench, Jakes to the right with her Charge, Arlan somewhere near the Defender. B13th went into the forest. All these are from my perspective.
I did math really quick, and realize the only two things that should be able to reliably shoot my Fenns if I was careful were the Defender and Hunter because of the angles with the Fenns and Gun Mages, so I sent two of them max distance forward, the rest hanging back just an inch or two behind (ie, baiting out the Vengeance). SoB just busted up the field because the Charger and Triumph couldn't get them, Bushwhackers advanced (a little too far, oops), Grim put Cross Country on the Bomber going into the forest and charged a Fennblade (short!), both Bombers ran max.
He advanced up the Hunter, shot up a Fenn (tough), put out Arcane Shield on the Hunter and on Siege with the two J-Men. Arlan powered up the Defender, who walked forward, sniped, and removed another Fenn. Gun Mages walked up but couldn't get in range (math!), Triumph ran but couldn't quite get in a trench, Siege foxholed and charged to put himself in the middle. the Charger advanced to take shots, Jakes put on Sidekick. Charger removed 1 Bushwhacker that I put about 1/2" too far forward - I'm not always smart.
Vengeance! I moved my guys forward - nothing in range to attack, but my mini feat distance was now in play. I looked at the board, and concluded the Gun Mages were probably out of play for at least another turn, so I thought I'd take a couple of chances. Based on the board, I really didn't feel that Grim would be in good position to support the Fenns with Feat or Marked for Death, so I just resigned them to their fate - they could screen and buy shots, and let me work on the big boys. If I could weather Siege's feat (thought it might be coming soon), I felt good about my odds. Fennblades mini feated, two charged the Hunter, one charged Ryan (B13), and one ran to engage a Gun Mage. ATGM failed Terror (whoo!), Ryan passed. Missed 2/3 charges, plinked damage into the Hunter, while the rest of the Fenns just took a really spread position to cover board space.
Otherwise, I plowed a shit ton of damage into Triumph - left him on 4 boxes, but missed the cortex - with two Bomber sets, put some damage into the Charger with Grim and an assaulting Tor (SoBragg), and removed 5/6 mechaniks, including the leader. Sadly left one standing - dammit. I put out Girded to protect some Bushwhackers from an Explosivo charged round, and braced myself.
He feated (as expected), and laid out a Ground Pounder, but needing a lot of 6's and 7's (and a 10 on Grim), he didn't get a lot laid out on my Bomber, Grim, and some Whackers, so I made it out fairly safely. The Bomber lost about 10, and then got shot by Triump to take him down to 9 health or so. The Charger lit into an SoB who made his Tough, Gun Mages rallied, and one Fenn toughed out a B13 shot. Ryan lit up two of them herself, and the Defender removed the officer. I was down to about 4 Fenns (including Drummer) or so, maybe a little more, but most everything. Importantly, he had nothing in the zone.
I decided it still wasnt a good Feat turn yet, and decided to just lay out damage. Triumph got removed by one Bomber, the other Bomber and a Fenn took off the objective. the Storm Troll with Snipe shot my own knocked down Fenn, and I got two jumps - which coincided with the two B13th almost on top of my guy. I killed my own guy, but got 2 of 3 B13th, so I'll take that trade. Fenns just annoyed the Hunter more, while the SoBragg charged the Charger, using the Standup call to get off the ground. That was a mistake - I shouldve gone Fervor, just moved the gun on the ground out of the way, and charged, because Sidekicks is a really, really nice spell for making hitting a Charger very difficult. Lesson learned. After all was said and done, Triumph was gone, the Charger was banged up really badly but still alive, and I had 3 CPs, with my feat still up. Oh, and Grim actually got a shot on Jakes - but sadly, I needed a 5 to kill on dice, and rolled a 4. Oh, dice. Silly, silly boys.
His next turn, he removed the SoB with Jakes and the Charger, Siege lit up some more guys, the Gun Mages ran back somewhat into the action, the Defender killed something (don't remember what), and the Hunter moved into the zone.
I cleared the Hunter, and that was game. 5-0 on CPs.
Grim Angus
2x Bombers
Impaler
Storm Troll
Fennblades + UA
Min Bushwhackers
Sons of Bragg
Bone Grinders
Swamp Gobbers
Whelps
Opponents List:
Siege Tier List (the new one)
-Triumph
Allison Jakes
-Charger
Journeyman Warcaster
-Hunter
Journeyman Warcaster
AT Gun Mages w/ UA
-Defender
Black 13th
Field Mechaniks (max)
Arlan Strangeways
Scenario: Destruction
I may be missing something on my opponents list - I'm not 100% sure. This is close, though, and if I'm missing something I'm having trouble figuring out what it might be.
Terrain: Hill on my close left, near my objective, forest on my near right, near the corner of my zone. Large obstruction on right side, a few inches away from his objective, and forest on the left side (opposite diagonal of the other forest).
I lost the roll, and my opponent picked a board edge, setting me to go first. I deployed my Fennblades mostly on the left side, relatively opposite the hill, one Bomber centrally, one Bomber to the right behind the forest, with Grim right behind him, Impaler and Storm just behind those, SoB off to the right to go to the right side of the forest, 3 Whelps on the board. Bushwhackers ended up on the right side in front of Grim (I really wanted to abuse the forest).
Opponent put the Gun Mages hard left from my view to go around his forest and flank with defender, the two Journeyman were just behind the forest, Hunter ended up in his forest, Siege central with Triumph so they could abuse a Trench, Jakes to the right with her Charge, Arlan somewhere near the Defender. B13th went into the forest. All these are from my perspective.
I did math really quick, and realize the only two things that should be able to reliably shoot my Fenns if I was careful were the Defender and Hunter because of the angles with the Fenns and Gun Mages, so I sent two of them max distance forward, the rest hanging back just an inch or two behind (ie, baiting out the Vengeance). SoB just busted up the field because the Charger and Triumph couldn't get them, Bushwhackers advanced (a little too far, oops), Grim put Cross Country on the Bomber going into the forest and charged a Fennblade (short!), both Bombers ran max.
He advanced up the Hunter, shot up a Fenn (tough), put out Arcane Shield on the Hunter and on Siege with the two J-Men. Arlan powered up the Defender, who walked forward, sniped, and removed another Fenn. Gun Mages walked up but couldn't get in range (math!), Triumph ran but couldn't quite get in a trench, Siege foxholed and charged to put himself in the middle. the Charger advanced to take shots, Jakes put on Sidekick. Charger removed 1 Bushwhacker that I put about 1/2" too far forward - I'm not always smart.
Vengeance! I moved my guys forward - nothing in range to attack, but my mini feat distance was now in play. I looked at the board, and concluded the Gun Mages were probably out of play for at least another turn, so I thought I'd take a couple of chances. Based on the board, I really didn't feel that Grim would be in good position to support the Fenns with Feat or Marked for Death, so I just resigned them to their fate - they could screen and buy shots, and let me work on the big boys. If I could weather Siege's feat (thought it might be coming soon), I felt good about my odds. Fennblades mini feated, two charged the Hunter, one charged Ryan (B13), and one ran to engage a Gun Mage. ATGM failed Terror (whoo!), Ryan passed. Missed 2/3 charges, plinked damage into the Hunter, while the rest of the Fenns just took a really spread position to cover board space.
Otherwise, I plowed a shit ton of damage into Triumph - left him on 4 boxes, but missed the cortex - with two Bomber sets, put some damage into the Charger with Grim and an assaulting Tor (SoBragg), and removed 5/6 mechaniks, including the leader. Sadly left one standing - dammit. I put out Girded to protect some Bushwhackers from an Explosivo charged round, and braced myself.
He feated (as expected), and laid out a Ground Pounder, but needing a lot of 6's and 7's (and a 10 on Grim), he didn't get a lot laid out on my Bomber, Grim, and some Whackers, so I made it out fairly safely. The Bomber lost about 10, and then got shot by Triump to take him down to 9 health or so. The Charger lit into an SoB who made his Tough, Gun Mages rallied, and one Fenn toughed out a B13 shot. Ryan lit up two of them herself, and the Defender removed the officer. I was down to about 4 Fenns (including Drummer) or so, maybe a little more, but most everything. Importantly, he had nothing in the zone.
I decided it still wasnt a good Feat turn yet, and decided to just lay out damage. Triumph got removed by one Bomber, the other Bomber and a Fenn took off the objective. the Storm Troll with Snipe shot my own knocked down Fenn, and I got two jumps - which coincided with the two B13th almost on top of my guy. I killed my own guy, but got 2 of 3 B13th, so I'll take that trade. Fenns just annoyed the Hunter more, while the SoBragg charged the Charger, using the Standup call to get off the ground. That was a mistake - I shouldve gone Fervor, just moved the gun on the ground out of the way, and charged, because Sidekicks is a really, really nice spell for making hitting a Charger very difficult. Lesson learned. After all was said and done, Triumph was gone, the Charger was banged up really badly but still alive, and I had 3 CPs, with my feat still up. Oh, and Grim actually got a shot on Jakes - but sadly, I needed a 5 to kill on dice, and rolled a 4. Oh, dice. Silly, silly boys.
His next turn, he removed the SoB with Jakes and the Charger, Siege lit up some more guys, the Gun Mages ran back somewhat into the action, the Defender killed something (don't remember what), and the Hunter moved into the zone.
I cleared the Hunter, and that was game. 5-0 on CPs.
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Battle Report 4-16-14, Trolls vs. Circle
My list:
Grim Angus
2x Bombers
Impaler
Storm Troll
Fennblades + UA
Min Bushwhackers
Sons of Bragg
Bone Grinders
Swamp Gobbers
Whelps
Opponents List:
Grayle
Warpwolf Stalker
Feral Warpwolf
Gorax
Winter Argus
Stones + UA
Max Wolves of Orboros + UA
min Tharn Riders (light cav)
Lord of the Feast
Lord Morraig
Blackclad Wayfarer
Scenario: Outflank
So, first off - confession time. I tilted, badly, in this game. The dice were very swingy, lots of spikes in both directions, and I really got tilted early because of a big swing. I've worked hard on not having those moments, but it happened. Unfortunately, it colored a lot of my decision making the rest of the game, because I was still rather cheesed off.
So, my general thought was have the Fennblades screening around the middle of the board, with the Bushwhackers on one side shooting away at whatever was available. The Sons of Bragg and a Bomber would go other side, supported by the Impaler and possibly Grim, with the other Bomber and Impaler roaming to support whereever was needed.
I sent the SoB to the left zone, Bomber with them, Fennblades central, Bushwhackers to the right, a Bomber between the Fenns and Whackers, and the rest spread out in the second line to react. He placed the Wolves of Orboros on my right zone, the Feral central, Stalker left, riders left, Morraig right, Lord of the Feast central with the stones around for first turn teleport.
I pretty much knew Lord of the Feast was going to be getting into me Turn 1, so I spread to accomodate. The Bombers ran up, Fenns ran up with a side spread, the Whackers spread in a forest to the right, while I (stupidly) ran the SoB back across my back lines because they'd been Preyed by the Riders and I got really nervous about that. I should have kept them left, back behind the Bomber, but I got too preservationist and moved them, which took them mostly out of the game. I figured the Lord of the Feast would do damage, but I'd just cope, clear him, and move on.
Little did I know that he's really called Lord of the Dice, apparently. He got teleported, shot the Bomber and rolled in, threshered, killed a Fennblade, one Fenn toughed, and a Bushwhacker, all Terror's passed. And in the process, he managed to roll, with Storm Rager, at Dice - 3, 25 damage into the Bomber across 3 shots, sending me on tilt. Otherwise, the Wolves advanced with a huge spread, Grayle stayed central, the Stalker went left, Feral central, and the Riders hard left on the flank.
So now I had to try and clear the Lord. I had a backstriking Impaler, though, and at D-6, I figured I might max him out, but had a good shot at clearing. After the Impaler, Storm Troll, and Wrathor (SoB) I still was jammed. Crap.
So, the Bomber turned slightly, ate Lord (finally), ate a whelp, and forced to heal to get him back up to 8 boxes, so at least functional. The other Bomber and Grim shot at a Stalker, and my consolation prize was blowing the Stalker off the board - I didn't want to boost a second attack roll with the Bomber, so I just rolled a cold 10 on dice to hit a 15 (he's a 14), and boosted damage to smack him off the board. So... That's a thing I guess. It calmed me down a bit, and got me back into my game for the moment.
So the game kinda progressed, nothing else was really consequential on this turn. His next turn, he removed the Bomber that had just eaten a Stalker with a Feral - he almost failed to kill, I spawned a Whelp to take the Bomber to DEF 13, and he had to burn all the way to his last fury to kill the Bomber. So close. Grayle had popped his feat to pull it off, so now I was staring at all Stealthed models in his control.
So, Grim moved up, feated, shot the Feral to get charge distance for the Bomber (+2" charge from Bait the Line) and plinked some damage. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and put Marked for Death on the Wolves of Orboros, rather than the Feral - bad decision. The Bomber charged, and managed to miss 2 of 5 attacks needing 6's to hit on Grim's feat, with one of the attacks that did hit rolling snakes on damage at dice-1. That was when I started having some more tilting feelings. 2 more Fennblades charged in, but despite all the attacks combined (Grim, 2 Fenns, Bomber), he still had 5 boxes or so (assuming 10 is average charge value, if the Fenns and Grim hit, on them alone it should've been around 19 damage... Yowch. That kinda stung).
Basically, the rest of the game involved him just sweeping up. I basically had lost too much for no return, he'd dominated twice to go 4-0, and I just couldn't get bodies in the zone. The SoB being out of position really hurt me for most of the game, unfortunately, because they would've been good cleanup on the Feral at MAT 9, PS 12/14 Weaponmasters, but that was my mistake. I tilted, and I made some bad decisions, and that prevented me from actually getting decent analysis. Not happy with myself, not happy bout the game - so now I just have to blow off steam and wait til next week to try it again!
I do think, though, that it may not be my go-to list against Circle. It clears infantry pretty well, with a solid screen, but I think that Circle's shenanigans, including Stealth, may be a bit much, and I'm not sure if Marked for Death is sufficient to help me through that. More testing to come, I suppose!
Grim Angus
2x Bombers
Impaler
Storm Troll
Fennblades + UA
Min Bushwhackers
Sons of Bragg
Bone Grinders
Swamp Gobbers
Whelps
Opponents List:
Grayle
Warpwolf Stalker
Feral Warpwolf
Gorax
Winter Argus
Stones + UA
Max Wolves of Orboros + UA
min Tharn Riders (light cav)
Lord of the Feast
Lord Morraig
Blackclad Wayfarer
Scenario: Outflank
So, first off - confession time. I tilted, badly, in this game. The dice were very swingy, lots of spikes in both directions, and I really got tilted early because of a big swing. I've worked hard on not having those moments, but it happened. Unfortunately, it colored a lot of my decision making the rest of the game, because I was still rather cheesed off.
So, my general thought was have the Fennblades screening around the middle of the board, with the Bushwhackers on one side shooting away at whatever was available. The Sons of Bragg and a Bomber would go other side, supported by the Impaler and possibly Grim, with the other Bomber and Impaler roaming to support whereever was needed.
I sent the SoB to the left zone, Bomber with them, Fennblades central, Bushwhackers to the right, a Bomber between the Fenns and Whackers, and the rest spread out in the second line to react. He placed the Wolves of Orboros on my right zone, the Feral central, Stalker left, riders left, Morraig right, Lord of the Feast central with the stones around for first turn teleport.
I pretty much knew Lord of the Feast was going to be getting into me Turn 1, so I spread to accomodate. The Bombers ran up, Fenns ran up with a side spread, the Whackers spread in a forest to the right, while I (stupidly) ran the SoB back across my back lines because they'd been Preyed by the Riders and I got really nervous about that. I should have kept them left, back behind the Bomber, but I got too preservationist and moved them, which took them mostly out of the game. I figured the Lord of the Feast would do damage, but I'd just cope, clear him, and move on.
Little did I know that he's really called Lord of the Dice, apparently. He got teleported, shot the Bomber and rolled in, threshered, killed a Fennblade, one Fenn toughed, and a Bushwhacker, all Terror's passed. And in the process, he managed to roll, with Storm Rager, at Dice - 3, 25 damage into the Bomber across 3 shots, sending me on tilt. Otherwise, the Wolves advanced with a huge spread, Grayle stayed central, the Stalker went left, Feral central, and the Riders hard left on the flank.
So now I had to try and clear the Lord. I had a backstriking Impaler, though, and at D-6, I figured I might max him out, but had a good shot at clearing. After the Impaler, Storm Troll, and Wrathor (SoB) I still was jammed. Crap.
So, the Bomber turned slightly, ate Lord (finally), ate a whelp, and forced to heal to get him back up to 8 boxes, so at least functional. The other Bomber and Grim shot at a Stalker, and my consolation prize was blowing the Stalker off the board - I didn't want to boost a second attack roll with the Bomber, so I just rolled a cold 10 on dice to hit a 15 (he's a 14), and boosted damage to smack him off the board. So... That's a thing I guess. It calmed me down a bit, and got me back into my game for the moment.
So the game kinda progressed, nothing else was really consequential on this turn. His next turn, he removed the Bomber that had just eaten a Stalker with a Feral - he almost failed to kill, I spawned a Whelp to take the Bomber to DEF 13, and he had to burn all the way to his last fury to kill the Bomber. So close. Grayle had popped his feat to pull it off, so now I was staring at all Stealthed models in his control.
So, Grim moved up, feated, shot the Feral to get charge distance for the Bomber (+2" charge from Bait the Line) and plinked some damage. Unfortunately, I made a mistake and put Marked for Death on the Wolves of Orboros, rather than the Feral - bad decision. The Bomber charged, and managed to miss 2 of 5 attacks needing 6's to hit on Grim's feat, with one of the attacks that did hit rolling snakes on damage at dice-1. That was when I started having some more tilting feelings. 2 more Fennblades charged in, but despite all the attacks combined (Grim, 2 Fenns, Bomber), he still had 5 boxes or so (assuming 10 is average charge value, if the Fenns and Grim hit, on them alone it should've been around 19 damage... Yowch. That kinda stung).
Basically, the rest of the game involved him just sweeping up. I basically had lost too much for no return, he'd dominated twice to go 4-0, and I just couldn't get bodies in the zone. The SoB being out of position really hurt me for most of the game, unfortunately, because they would've been good cleanup on the Feral at MAT 9, PS 12/14 Weaponmasters, but that was my mistake. I tilted, and I made some bad decisions, and that prevented me from actually getting decent analysis. Not happy with myself, not happy bout the game - so now I just have to blow off steam and wait til next week to try it again!
I do think, though, that it may not be my go-to list against Circle. It clears infantry pretty well, with a solid screen, but I think that Circle's shenanigans, including Stealth, may be a bit much, and I'm not sure if Marked for Death is sufficient to help me through that. More testing to come, I suppose!
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
How to Troll From a Distance (aka Troll Shootin'), Part the Third
So, the first two parts of this were simply intended as a run-down to mention the more common elements of the Troll ranged game. This will likely be changing soon - Trollblood Bandits (Highwaymen?) have already been spoiled in pictures, but stats are unknown. Additionally, there are models like the Battle Engine and the Fell Caller Hero I didn't discuss intensively, but definitely deserve mention.
For this part, though, I'm going to talk about building a ranged game into a Troll list. In general, most lists I've seen (and probably most many players have seen) from Trolls bring in a ranged element, but play for a combined arms approach. For example, an eMadrak list I have run in the past featured the core units of Burrowers, Warders, and Fennblades, but with ranged beast support in the Bomber and Impaler, and an interesting twist in the form of Viktor Pendrake, who particularly supported the Burrowers well. This stemmed from a difficulty in facing Saeryn particularly, and by putting Pendrake in, the Burrowers could still shoot somewhat reliably at Legion beasts, and on a feat turn could potentially remove 2 Angelii from the board with support.
Other combined arms lists have been built using Scattergunners in combination with units like the Fennblades. A jamming/screening unit backed up by Scattergunners can quickly turn a fight, as Scattergunners (with UA) can clear enemies that are jamming the front lines, freeing them to dig deeper. The Nyss are also common in combined arms lists, particularly given their utility in both ranged and melee combat. At range, they can easily remove enemy infantry quickly, but if necessary their pow 9 weaponmaster swords still remove most single wound infantry, particularly on the charge, or remove a chunk from a beast.
Recently, I've seen more ranged lists from Trolls that have been highly successful. Jason Flanzer was highly successful with a Grim Angus list with a large amount of ranged damage, using shooting warbeasts with high value shots and sprays in combination with Grim's ability to slow down the opposing army on the way in. I would highly recommend watching this game to see his list, and how he was able to use a combination of powerful denial abilities to augment his ranged shooting.
Clifton Cline ran an interesting list (here) at Adepticon that performed very well, going 2-2 in Masters and surprising a number of opponents. He describes in a later post that he was using a hard skew to attempt to destroy "one big thing and lots of little things" per turn. His list is really a fairly technical list - he's using it very precisely with a lot of tools that answer specific problems that Trolls may face, and the list does it very effectively.
There are a number of Troll players who have experimented with a Calandra list with Double Bombers and Impaler that has gotten some attention as well. It runs a Runebearer and Bone Grinders with Calandra, and while it can attrition, its primary goal is to get a Calandra angle on a caster and put a Force Blow on him, knock him on the ground, and then chuck 4 Bomber shots with Calandra's feat to reroll 1's and 2's at the knocked down caster. Frequently, 2 shots are enough to end the game.
One of the biggest questions I tried to think about when writing this blog is why do these lists work? Primarily, they work because there is some core mechanic of each caster that augments our ranged game. Grim1 offers protection to ranged units that can prevent them from being jammed, allowing them to get enough shots to be effective, as well as more accurate shooting. Grim2 enhances ranged productivity through increased range on shots and better accuracy, as well as potentially harder hitting power (Mortality), but at the cost of the denial aspect. Calandra particularly can enhance accuracy, while Star Crossed offers some protection, although not in the same way as Grim1's denial.
Grim1 is one of my favorite casters for this, and it's because of 2 separate pieces: his feat, and his ability to deal with Stealth/Incorporeal himself. Marked for Death can allow our shooting units to hit targets they typically couldn't, which negates two of Trolls biggest problems. Trolls at range frequently struggle against these two traits, as we have few magic guns and only the Grim's get around Stealth without a Krielstone at range. Scattergunners can help solve the Stealth problem, but Incorporeal can be more difficult.
In building a ranged game with Trolls, some of these difficulties are very important to note and remember. We don't have magic guns ala the Arcane Tempest, nor a light cav unit such as the Greylord spray guys (although this is magic). We're not working from an inherently horribly handicapped spots, since we do have the Stone and Runeshapers, but these are weaknesses to remember.
In general, Trolls are going to approach their ranged game in a combined arms faction; they're still going to put some axe into some face, in general. Using Fennblades or Warders to screen and then Scattergunners or Bushwhackers to clear is a fairly effective tactic since the Scattergunners are really a very good unit for letting our front line guys dig deeper into enemy lines. Additionally, pure gunlines often suffer difficulties in dealing with melee combat once they're stuck in. Holding a scenario point can get increasingly difficult with more engagement.
However, if a player is interested in building a true Troll gunline, those are some pieces to keep in mind. It could probably work - maybe using Scattergunners as a front line unit/screen, since they can clear their own guys off with sprays, with something like Bushwhackers in behind and ranged beasts supporting. The Scattergunners would take the brunt of the "melee" role in this case, but it has potential to work, particularly with CMA and Quick Work. Jarl might also be able to make something along these lines work with his clouds; a well timed feat could protect his army enough that, while some lines will be jammed, he might be able to work an extra round of firing in.
Personally, I'm building more and more combined arms into my list, rather than gunline, so I admit to favoring that position. I feel it's well-rounded and a little stronger. However, with all Troll ranged shooting, be aware that there are specific traits that you should be looking to gain from our units/beasts. Our ranged pieces tend to be a little more focused and specific, and if you're adding the ranged pieces in, be aware of what function you would like them to serve. That goes both in list building, and in the changing table as the game progresses.
For this part, though, I'm going to talk about building a ranged game into a Troll list. In general, most lists I've seen (and probably most many players have seen) from Trolls bring in a ranged element, but play for a combined arms approach. For example, an eMadrak list I have run in the past featured the core units of Burrowers, Warders, and Fennblades, but with ranged beast support in the Bomber and Impaler, and an interesting twist in the form of Viktor Pendrake, who particularly supported the Burrowers well. This stemmed from a difficulty in facing Saeryn particularly, and by putting Pendrake in, the Burrowers could still shoot somewhat reliably at Legion beasts, and on a feat turn could potentially remove 2 Angelii from the board with support.
Other combined arms lists have been built using Scattergunners in combination with units like the Fennblades. A jamming/screening unit backed up by Scattergunners can quickly turn a fight, as Scattergunners (with UA) can clear enemies that are jamming the front lines, freeing them to dig deeper. The Nyss are also common in combined arms lists, particularly given their utility in both ranged and melee combat. At range, they can easily remove enemy infantry quickly, but if necessary their pow 9 weaponmaster swords still remove most single wound infantry, particularly on the charge, or remove a chunk from a beast.
Recently, I've seen more ranged lists from Trolls that have been highly successful. Jason Flanzer was highly successful with a Grim Angus list with a large amount of ranged damage, using shooting warbeasts with high value shots and sprays in combination with Grim's ability to slow down the opposing army on the way in. I would highly recommend watching this game to see his list, and how he was able to use a combination of powerful denial abilities to augment his ranged shooting.
Clifton Cline ran an interesting list (here) at Adepticon that performed very well, going 2-2 in Masters and surprising a number of opponents. He describes in a later post that he was using a hard skew to attempt to destroy "one big thing and lots of little things" per turn. His list is really a fairly technical list - he's using it very precisely with a lot of tools that answer specific problems that Trolls may face, and the list does it very effectively.
There are a number of Troll players who have experimented with a Calandra list with Double Bombers and Impaler that has gotten some attention as well. It runs a Runebearer and Bone Grinders with Calandra, and while it can attrition, its primary goal is to get a Calandra angle on a caster and put a Force Blow on him, knock him on the ground, and then chuck 4 Bomber shots with Calandra's feat to reroll 1's and 2's at the knocked down caster. Frequently, 2 shots are enough to end the game.
One of the biggest questions I tried to think about when writing this blog is why do these lists work? Primarily, they work because there is some core mechanic of each caster that augments our ranged game. Grim1 offers protection to ranged units that can prevent them from being jammed, allowing them to get enough shots to be effective, as well as more accurate shooting. Grim2 enhances ranged productivity through increased range on shots and better accuracy, as well as potentially harder hitting power (Mortality), but at the cost of the denial aspect. Calandra particularly can enhance accuracy, while Star Crossed offers some protection, although not in the same way as Grim1's denial.
Grim1 is one of my favorite casters for this, and it's because of 2 separate pieces: his feat, and his ability to deal with Stealth/Incorporeal himself. Marked for Death can allow our shooting units to hit targets they typically couldn't, which negates two of Trolls biggest problems. Trolls at range frequently struggle against these two traits, as we have few magic guns and only the Grim's get around Stealth without a Krielstone at range. Scattergunners can help solve the Stealth problem, but Incorporeal can be more difficult.
In building a ranged game with Trolls, some of these difficulties are very important to note and remember. We don't have magic guns ala the Arcane Tempest, nor a light cav unit such as the Greylord spray guys (although this is magic). We're not working from an inherently horribly handicapped spots, since we do have the Stone and Runeshapers, but these are weaknesses to remember.
In general, Trolls are going to approach their ranged game in a combined arms faction; they're still going to put some axe into some face, in general. Using Fennblades or Warders to screen and then Scattergunners or Bushwhackers to clear is a fairly effective tactic since the Scattergunners are really a very good unit for letting our front line guys dig deeper into enemy lines. Additionally, pure gunlines often suffer difficulties in dealing with melee combat once they're stuck in. Holding a scenario point can get increasingly difficult with more engagement.
However, if a player is interested in building a true Troll gunline, those are some pieces to keep in mind. It could probably work - maybe using Scattergunners as a front line unit/screen, since they can clear their own guys off with sprays, with something like Bushwhackers in behind and ranged beasts supporting. The Scattergunners would take the brunt of the "melee" role in this case, but it has potential to work, particularly with CMA and Quick Work. Jarl might also be able to make something along these lines work with his clouds; a well timed feat could protect his army enough that, while some lines will be jammed, he might be able to work an extra round of firing in.
Personally, I'm building more and more combined arms into my list, rather than gunline, so I admit to favoring that position. I feel it's well-rounded and a little stronger. However, with all Troll ranged shooting, be aware that there are specific traits that you should be looking to gain from our units/beasts. Our ranged pieces tend to be a little more focused and specific, and if you're adding the ranged pieces in, be aware of what function you would like them to serve. That goes both in list building, and in the changing table as the game progresses.
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
How to Troll From a Distance (aka Troll Shootin'), Part the Second
In Part 1 I talked some about the warlocks that can aid a Troll shooting game. I'm shooting for brevity here because honestly, most of the stats speak for themselves; you can look and see what our beasts do, and this is primarily a review. The next post will be more actual thinking over review of our options. I'm passing on the Solos and Battle Engine, because
Warbeasts
Troll Impaler: I was going to cover the heavies first, but I can't without mentioning this guy. People know him, both love and hate him - but he really makes our ranged game work. Far Strike is crucial to our best shots, and he has a great crit on his shot. Seriously - you can't look at ranged Troll game without this guy.
Dire Troll Bomber: Yes please. Arguably our best ranged heavy (to this point - Dozer and Smiggs may change that), with a great AE size, great pow, average RAT. This big boy can lay a good hurting from range to soften up before pillowfisting in melee. Beware the RAT, though; that's the constant downfall of all these ranged beasts.
Dire Troll Blitzer: So neat, so... Inconsistent. Great animus in Repulse, really interesting mechanic in the gun on the back, but d3 shots is really kind of a pain, especially at RAT 5. Some Warlocks can really turn him on, and I honestly don't think he's bad, just hard to use truly efficiently. The casters that CAN use him, however, are money with him.
Pyre/Slag Troll: These two fill a similar roll in their damage animi, but different in output. The Pyre is nice for getting that little AE tucked in, especially on clumped guys, but his output is mediocre. The Slag troll, against Warmachine, can be monstrous very quickly, and with a little help, on POW 13 fists, he honestly gets to a solid hitting stat for a light quickly.
Storm Troll: Once reviled, now beloved. This guy came in and people complained that he filled a roll Trolls already had (killing low ARM guys without bounces), but then the realization of how much more killing models could get done without exposing other models to harm, and how nice it is to bounce electric shots into models you can't hit otherwise. This guy is always on standby for me. Solid animus, and great for getting electroleaps into pesky support models.
Winter Troll: Oh, the potential. RAT 4 kinda makes him rough, but he's got a place; the animus is a little lacking, though. However, boostable RAT 4 can work with the right support - see Grim Angus or Hunters Grim - for clearing some swarms, and his animus can be great for clearing the jam by rendering models stationary. Also, you can paint him to look like the Macho Man Randy Savage.
Swamp Troll: Now this is an interesting little piece. I like him, although I only use him infrequently, because he has a really nifty crit effect, Drag can be really sweet, and his animus can actually be really kinda stupid good for pushing DEF values around. He's a situational piece - but one that I really think has some neat uses that shouldn't be overlooked.
Units
Burrowers: Surprisingly useful with the right support shooting. Not a dedicated shooting unit, but POW 14's hit hard if you can land them. Look at support from Grim or Viktor Pendrake particularly. Calandra does a lot for these guys, too.
Bushwhackers: These guys get crapped on HARD, but I'm coming to love them. They're too annoying to ignore, but not worth dedicating too much points too without going overboard. RNG 14 CRA is a thing, and these guys can take out key front line pieces or support models shockingly well. When you start getting Fennblades or Kriel Warriors into the enemy, they really start shining because the opponent is now kinda stuck trying to figure out what to do about them, but not able to react very well.
Scattergunners: With the UA, freaking sweet. Only RAT 5, but high volume of attacks, and great for clearing jams if you can bump RAT with aiming or abilities like a Grim feat. These guys have a lot of good places in armies.
Thumper: Never played it, unfortunately. Decent range shot, OK RAT, Momentum is cool... But no mobility is really tough to get around.
Sluggers: Never played them, mostly because they suffer from the Thumper problem to me of lacking mobility. Standing in place to get D3 really kinda stings. They're solid enough shots, but kinda lacking in staying power, and very jammable.
Minions:
Alten Ashley: Big ass honking gun, great for damage to warbeasts, or for solo removal. Not much to say about him - he's fairly self explanatory. Can benefit from Far Strike, though, which is kinda hot.
Dahlia and Skarath: Really, this is Skarath. Dahlia brings her own benefits, but Skarath is the shooting here. Boostable SP 10 with Corrosion is really pretty nice; it's great for supporting armies that have trouble dealing with low-mid DEF, high armor, or against Stealth models like Bane Thralls. However, Scattergunners may be better, unless you're specifically wanting what Dahlia and Skarath bring to the fight, in particular Dahlia's denial.
Nyss Hunters: Yummy. CRA, RNG 12, and they switch to melee well. Very nice. There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said.
Farrow Brigands: I was just theorycrafting these guys to figure out what I wanna say... And I think Trolls can use them, actually. I think someone like Grim Angus (see a trend here? RAT fixer extraordinaire!) or Calandra could work with them. The prayers give them versatility, and they're at least moderately cheap, plus POW 12 ranged shots more reliably kill ARM 15-16 models (Bane Knights) better than POW 10 shots. The catch is they're a little pricey when we have in-faction options, and the shooting range is only OK. Not inherently huge, but interesting all the same.
Warbeasts
Troll Impaler: I was going to cover the heavies first, but I can't without mentioning this guy. People know him, both love and hate him - but he really makes our ranged game work. Far Strike is crucial to our best shots, and he has a great crit on his shot. Seriously - you can't look at ranged Troll game without this guy.
Dire Troll Bomber: Yes please. Arguably our best ranged heavy (to this point - Dozer and Smiggs may change that), with a great AE size, great pow, average RAT. This big boy can lay a good hurting from range to soften up before pillowfisting in melee. Beware the RAT, though; that's the constant downfall of all these ranged beasts.
Dire Troll Blitzer: So neat, so... Inconsistent. Great animus in Repulse, really interesting mechanic in the gun on the back, but d3 shots is really kind of a pain, especially at RAT 5. Some Warlocks can really turn him on, and I honestly don't think he's bad, just hard to use truly efficiently. The casters that CAN use him, however, are money with him.
Pyre/Slag Troll: These two fill a similar roll in their damage animi, but different in output. The Pyre is nice for getting that little AE tucked in, especially on clumped guys, but his output is mediocre. The Slag troll, against Warmachine, can be monstrous very quickly, and with a little help, on POW 13 fists, he honestly gets to a solid hitting stat for a light quickly.
Storm Troll: Once reviled, now beloved. This guy came in and people complained that he filled a roll Trolls already had (killing low ARM guys without bounces), but then the realization of how much more killing models could get done without exposing other models to harm, and how nice it is to bounce electric shots into models you can't hit otherwise. This guy is always on standby for me. Solid animus, and great for getting electroleaps into pesky support models.
Winter Troll: Oh, the potential. RAT 4 kinda makes him rough, but he's got a place; the animus is a little lacking, though. However, boostable RAT 4 can work with the right support - see Grim Angus or Hunters Grim - for clearing some swarms, and his animus can be great for clearing the jam by rendering models stationary. Also, you can paint him to look like the Macho Man Randy Savage.
Swamp Troll: Now this is an interesting little piece. I like him, although I only use him infrequently, because he has a really nifty crit effect, Drag can be really sweet, and his animus can actually be really kinda stupid good for pushing DEF values around. He's a situational piece - but one that I really think has some neat uses that shouldn't be overlooked.
Units
Burrowers: Surprisingly useful with the right support shooting. Not a dedicated shooting unit, but POW 14's hit hard if you can land them. Look at support from Grim or Viktor Pendrake particularly. Calandra does a lot for these guys, too.
Bushwhackers: These guys get crapped on HARD, but I'm coming to love them. They're too annoying to ignore, but not worth dedicating too much points too without going overboard. RNG 14 CRA is a thing, and these guys can take out key front line pieces or support models shockingly well. When you start getting Fennblades or Kriel Warriors into the enemy, they really start shining because the opponent is now kinda stuck trying to figure out what to do about them, but not able to react very well.
Scattergunners: With the UA, freaking sweet. Only RAT 5, but high volume of attacks, and great for clearing jams if you can bump RAT with aiming or abilities like a Grim feat. These guys have a lot of good places in armies.
Thumper: Never played it, unfortunately. Decent range shot, OK RAT, Momentum is cool... But no mobility is really tough to get around.
Sluggers: Never played them, mostly because they suffer from the Thumper problem to me of lacking mobility. Standing in place to get D3 really kinda stings. They're solid enough shots, but kinda lacking in staying power, and very jammable.
Minions:
Alten Ashley: Big ass honking gun, great for damage to warbeasts, or for solo removal. Not much to say about him - he's fairly self explanatory. Can benefit from Far Strike, though, which is kinda hot.
Dahlia and Skarath: Really, this is Skarath. Dahlia brings her own benefits, but Skarath is the shooting here. Boostable SP 10 with Corrosion is really pretty nice; it's great for supporting armies that have trouble dealing with low-mid DEF, high armor, or against Stealth models like Bane Thralls. However, Scattergunners may be better, unless you're specifically wanting what Dahlia and Skarath bring to the fight, in particular Dahlia's denial.
Nyss Hunters: Yummy. CRA, RNG 12, and they switch to melee well. Very nice. There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said.
Farrow Brigands: I was just theorycrafting these guys to figure out what I wanna say... And I think Trolls can use them, actually. I think someone like Grim Angus (see a trend here? RAT fixer extraordinaire!) or Calandra could work with them. The prayers give them versatility, and they're at least moderately cheap, plus POW 12 ranged shots more reliably kill ARM 15-16 models (Bane Knights) better than POW 10 shots. The catch is they're a little pricey when we have in-faction options, and the shooting range is only OK. Not inherently huge, but interesting all the same.
Monday, April 14, 2014
How to Troll From a Distance (aka Troll Shootin'), Part the First
This post is written by request of a fellow Gunbunnies Troll player, who was interested in seeing what we can bring in the ranged department. Honestly, Trolls are not generally perceived as having an "intimidating" ranged game; as it's commonly put, we apply axe to face. And honestly, our most popular units are entirely based that way; they're intended to find a variety of ways to put a sword or axe in someones skull. Adding a new nasal passage from range is not generally thought of as a Troll strength.
This is somewhat at odds with our last caster release in the Hunters Grim, whose feat seems to call for a better ranged game in the form of Mark the Target + Snipe. This seems to cater to a higher number of guns, and has resulted in a bit of rethinking on my part of the way I treat Trolls shooting. This has coincided with excellent success with a mixed arms Hunters Grim list for myself, so this feels even more of a good time to do this.
This is going to be divided up by necessity; I want to approach this with a breakdown of a few different options. I'm going to focus on our warlocks and a brief synopsis of what they bring to the table firsts. In the second part, I'll get into unit and beast use, and in the third I'll either do some theorycrafting of blending the casters, beasts, and units, or I'll do some listbuilding theory. Maybe a bit of both. This may be altered along the way; I've plotted out how I want to write this, but it may change along the way.
Warlocks
Grim Angus: One of our most obvious options for a ranged game, Grim brings an excellent pair of options to the table: he brings DEF lowering and SPD reduction, particularly on his feat turn. In consideration of the frequently lackluster nature of Troll RAT values, this is invaluable. Additionally, if you run a heavy ranged game, slowing the opponent down on the way in is an excellent way to ensure a second volley, which can be enough to get you an early attrition advantage.
Hunters Grim: One of our other most obvious options for the ranged game. His feat is interesting, although it can be somewhat difficult to pull off optimally, but Mortality is a game changer for our heavy hitters. Mirage can disengage your shooters to allow another round if you need it, additionally.
Captain Gunnbjorn: Gunny clearly brings a ranged game, but not without controversy; there is debate as to the merit of Guided Fire, and whether it's a trap. However, he brings a non-animus Snipe, a portable Rock Wall, and a really nice crit on his Bazooka. Guided Fire, ideally, can really turn on our ranged beasts by aiding in their sub-par RAT values without the need to force, which is excellent with multi-shot beasts.
Calandra Truthsayer: Calandra is, perhaps, a little surprising to be on this list, but actually can run a very interesting ranged game. Her ability to reroll attack or damage rolls is very helpful for countering poor dice, and her spell Force Blow can bring someone to their knees when you want near-guaranteed hits. Star Crossed doesn't help offensively, but can keep pieces on the board, while her feat is just ice on the dicing cake.
Honorable Mentions:
Madrak Ironhide, World Ender: Madrak doesn't do much for our ranged game, but I wanted to mention a really nice piece he does bring: his feat. Madrak particularly can work well with shots that hit multiple models such as sprays; what he lacks in improving RAT, he can make up for in sheer volume sometimes.
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls: Doomy's original incarnation doesn't bring much, but Fortune can be a great piece. This works similarly to Madrak in some ways, but instead of extra attacks you can reroll the ones you missed. This doesn't help fix RAT, but on volume of rolls, you usually get some spikes.
Deceptive Warlock:
Jarl Skuld: This is not to say Jarl cannot play a ranged game - I actually favor one with him. However, Jarl is not inherently what I would call a "ranged list" caster. He doesn't fix RAT values, and doesn't provide extra boosts. However, he does provide speed, movement, and repositioning, which can be vital for keeping your ranged pieces far enough back to continue their shooting. I'm not discouraging shooting with Jarl, but I want to mention that the assumption that just because he has a pair of nice guns and magic bullet, it doesn't mean you should assume he's instantly a ranged caster.
So, next post will feature beast breakdown, probably unit and solos as well (those are fairly quick). This might expand to a fourth post, actually, to fit in Minions, since a few options should be mentioned.
This is somewhat at odds with our last caster release in the Hunters Grim, whose feat seems to call for a better ranged game in the form of Mark the Target + Snipe. This seems to cater to a higher number of guns, and has resulted in a bit of rethinking on my part of the way I treat Trolls shooting. This has coincided with excellent success with a mixed arms Hunters Grim list for myself, so this feels even more of a good time to do this.
This is going to be divided up by necessity; I want to approach this with a breakdown of a few different options. I'm going to focus on our warlocks and a brief synopsis of what they bring to the table firsts. In the second part, I'll get into unit and beast use, and in the third I'll either do some theorycrafting of blending the casters, beasts, and units, or I'll do some listbuilding theory. Maybe a bit of both. This may be altered along the way; I've plotted out how I want to write this, but it may change along the way.
Warlocks
Grim Angus: One of our most obvious options for a ranged game, Grim brings an excellent pair of options to the table: he brings DEF lowering and SPD reduction, particularly on his feat turn. In consideration of the frequently lackluster nature of Troll RAT values, this is invaluable. Additionally, if you run a heavy ranged game, slowing the opponent down on the way in is an excellent way to ensure a second volley, which can be enough to get you an early attrition advantage.
Hunters Grim: One of our other most obvious options for the ranged game. His feat is interesting, although it can be somewhat difficult to pull off optimally, but Mortality is a game changer for our heavy hitters. Mirage can disengage your shooters to allow another round if you need it, additionally.
Captain Gunnbjorn: Gunny clearly brings a ranged game, but not without controversy; there is debate as to the merit of Guided Fire, and whether it's a trap. However, he brings a non-animus Snipe, a portable Rock Wall, and a really nice crit on his Bazooka. Guided Fire, ideally, can really turn on our ranged beasts by aiding in their sub-par RAT values without the need to force, which is excellent with multi-shot beasts.
Calandra Truthsayer: Calandra is, perhaps, a little surprising to be on this list, but actually can run a very interesting ranged game. Her ability to reroll attack or damage rolls is very helpful for countering poor dice, and her spell Force Blow can bring someone to their knees when you want near-guaranteed hits. Star Crossed doesn't help offensively, but can keep pieces on the board, while her feat is just ice on the dicing cake.
Honorable Mentions:
Madrak Ironhide, World Ender: Madrak doesn't do much for our ranged game, but I wanted to mention a really nice piece he does bring: his feat. Madrak particularly can work well with shots that hit multiple models such as sprays; what he lacks in improving RAT, he can make up for in sheer volume sometimes.
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls: Doomy's original incarnation doesn't bring much, but Fortune can be a great piece. This works similarly to Madrak in some ways, but instead of extra attacks you can reroll the ones you missed. This doesn't help fix RAT, but on volume of rolls, you usually get some spikes.
Deceptive Warlock:
Jarl Skuld: This is not to say Jarl cannot play a ranged game - I actually favor one with him. However, Jarl is not inherently what I would call a "ranged list" caster. He doesn't fix RAT values, and doesn't provide extra boosts. However, he does provide speed, movement, and repositioning, which can be vital for keeping your ranged pieces far enough back to continue their shooting. I'm not discouraging shooting with Jarl, but I want to mention that the assumption that just because he has a pair of nice guns and magic bullet, it doesn't mean you should assume he's instantly a ranged caster.
So, next post will feature beast breakdown, probably unit and solos as well (those are fairly quick). This might expand to a fourth post, actually, to fit in Minions, since a few options should be mentioned.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Battle Report 4-12, Atomic Empire Tourney Game 2, Trolls vs. Khador
Scenario: Supply and Demand
My List:
Hunters Grim (*4pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Pyg Bushwackers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Fennblade Kithkar (2pts)
Professor Victor Pendrake (2pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)
Opponents List:
Forward Kommander Sorscha
* Conquest
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker
Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Tactical Arcanist Corps
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard
* 2 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Harlan Versh
Koldun Lord
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
Widowmaker Marksman
My opponent won the roll and chose to go second. The terrain featured a small linear obstacle in the middle of the board just in front of each players deployment, and forests on the close right side (opposite the objective) for each player.
He put conquest a little left of center from my view, where the linear obstacle wouldn't interfere with movement. I put the Hunters center, with Krump off to the left and Muggs to the right near the edge of command. The two Axers went to either side of Grim, and the Fennblades went 6 to either side (thank you giant command bubble). Mauler came in back with the support staff. After his deployment, I placed the Burrowers fairly central, and the Whackers off to the right to run into the forest.
His AD widowmaker went opposite the Whackers, while his winterguard deathstar went central and right, close to his objective. The Koldun Lord went to the left (from my view) of Conquest, while the various solos went center or right, with the Great Bears central. Sorscha herself was approximately in the middle.
The Burrowers went under (possibly unnecessary, but Conquest has a lot of AoE potential) first turn as is their wont, and the Fennblades ran up the field, spreading pretty substantially with the officer in the middle. Grim got Harmoniously Exalted and put out two Rushes on the Axers and Mirage on the Fennblades. Everything else ran and tried to take up good supporting positions, since I thought next turn was going to be my first big swing turn. Tale of Mists went on the Fennblades.
The Koldun Lord gave the Conquest a focus, and then I got a small surprise in the form of a series of Creeping Barrage templates across the middle of the board. The big gun fired, but I believe deviated harmlessly, or failed to break armor somewhere. The Winterguard came up on the right and center, spreading out all over and clogging up the board with Bob and Weave and Iron Flesh. The Widowmaker jacked a Bushwhacker who proceeded to Tough, the TAC came up near his objective, and the support staff and Great Bears moved up near the Conquest a bit back.
Due to the Creeping Barrage templates, the Dygmies didn't have great angles to cross the board, so my feat got nixed for a turn. I looked at my board position, didn't entirely like what I saw, and decided that I was going to be playing more cautiously than planned. The Dygmies advanced, with 2 going through the Creeping Barrages with no armor break, and 1 toughing out. Another one crept around the edge to take a shot at a TAC member, but sadly failed to hit, so they assumed clogging positions. I had placed fairly carefully so the Fennblades would have good charges, and with a Fell Called +2 sent 3-4 Fennblades clogging into the Winterguard (and the Widowmaker), taking out 1-2 Winterguard with a lucky big roll and getting the Widowmaker. The Whackers 6 manned a TAC member out, while Grim shot another and crapped out his damage to leave him on 1 box. The rest of the Fennblades and Dygmies stayed fairly safe, but the 3-4 Fenns I sent forward were in solid clogging positions to hold up his lines. Tale of Mists ended up on the Dygmies to try to get a reburrow.
As a result of my clogging, he wasn't able to get as far forward as he liked, so he advanced relatively carefully and used Sprays and shooting (with some misses that were lucky for me) to clear my jam. A couple of accidental bad positions left some Winterguard engaged that he wanted to use in other ways, but he was able to drop the Fennblades to about 6 men left approximately + the Drummer, and cleared 4 Dygmies. Stray AE damage left Muggs down three boxes. Conquest shot, but a Gobber cloud and Tale of Mists kept me out of a lot of too much trouble. My toughs started a trend of being a bit overkill, screwing up his plans more than either of us expected.
On my turn, I saw a good opportunity; he only had 3 Winterguard in the zone, and I felt I could clear them relatively well. I reburrowed my 6 remaining Dygmies (after Vengeance moves from the Fenns) and used my repositioning to get some good lanes with the Fennblades. After a little bit of shooting, I got a Winterguard knocked down with a Tough roll, and I laid a Mortality on him from Grim. However, my Fennblades betrayed me and missed needing 7's, so I still had one in the zone. However, I had a brief flash of foresight, and had run the Drummer up so that my Axer had a perfect slam angle to take the Drummer over 2 Winterguard and potentially clear them; with Mortality I had a near guaranteed kill. Thankfully, this worked, and the slam got 2 guys (and failed to break my armor!) and I killed both of them; Grim was toeing the zone, and I went up 2 CPs. Also, I had removed the rest of the TAC from the board with a 2-man from the Whackers followed by a 4-man to the unhurt guy. I made one key mistake, however, in a mispositioned Mauler who was within threat range of the Conquest with Boundless charge; if he got on him, I would have a VERY hard time salvaging this game out.
He put 3 on the conquest, and started shooting back into my guys with the Winterguard and others. After a number of attacks from Gorman, the Winterguard, and everyone else, I was down a Bushwhacker and down to 2 Fennblades, one of whom had ended up way out of position because I'm silly. Thankfully, a lot of Toughs held me out longer than anticipated, and he had to blow way more shots into me than he planned on. Sorscha moved up and popped feat, but then a mistake was realized: Sorscha was too far to get Boundless onto the Conquest, meaning he would be short no matter what based on my Mauler position, leaving me in a fantastic place. As a consolation, he charged the 3 Great Bears onto the Axer that slammed, putting him down with the 3rd swing (crap dice on the first two, I almost made it!), but Backswinging his own guy into the ground (although he did Tough). Conquest moved up, but missed most of his shots onto the Mauler, reducing me by only 6 boxes, leaving me in a very good spot. The Great Bears and a handful of Winterguard contested, but there was not much I needed to clear.
So, before I got anything else at all going... The Runebearer once per gamed Mortality onto the Conquest, hitting easily to drop him to 18 armor. Grim put Rage on the Mauler, shot the Conquest and boosted damage (to ensure a free charge), Muggs and Krump shot random things (missed, I think), and the Mauler was off. Charge in, not snakes to hit - hits the charge, and dice... 6-5-5 on the charge at dice + 1. Holy balls. The Mauler continues his way through, and with 1 Fury to spare scraps the Conquest. Granted, there was going to be a Fell Caller and an Axer that could still charge, so I wasn't in bad shape yet; that just made everything else much easier.
From there, I did some cleanup; the Fell Caller finished off one of the last Great Bears (I think one of the two Hunters Pygs actually finished another), the Dygmies and Bushwhackers cleared Gorman, Harlan, and some Winterguard, leaving Aiyana and Holt, some Winterguard, Mechanics, and that's about all. Here's the catch: I had long cleared the zone. I was going to be at 4-0 on CPs... WITH AN OBJECTIVE REMAINING. /facepalm. I completely forgot I could have 5-manned the objective with Whackers, shot it with every Dygmy and the Axer, and closed out the game 5-0. That was dumb. VERY dumb.
Thankfully, Grim was on 3 transfers, plenty of beef to transfer to, and not in good position for Sorscha to assassinate, so all my opponent did was just jam up as best as he could. I cleared the way after that, got Mortality on the objective, the Axer charge it at dice-2 with a free charge (Grim put like 5 on it or so), and I easily ended the game 5-0.
I really actually played as clean a game as I've played in quite some time, I think. The only two major mistakes were 1) Mauler placement and 2) not ending the game with the objective on that one turn, and because I had so much stuff left, that last one wasn't horrible. The Mauler placement could have gotten me, but I thankfully was able to get away with it, taking the 5-0 CP win.
I had to leave after this, however, leaving the unresolved game with Andy to finish off... So now I owe him one!
My List:
Hunters Grim (*4pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Pyg Burrowers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Pyg Bushwackers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Fell Caller Hero (3pts)
Fennblade Kithkar (2pts)
Professor Victor Pendrake (2pts)
Stone Scribe Chronicler (2pts)
Opponents List:
Forward Kommander Sorscha
* Conquest
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker
Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Tactical Arcanist Corps
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard
* 2 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Harlan Versh
Koldun Lord
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
Widowmaker Marksman
My opponent won the roll and chose to go second. The terrain featured a small linear obstacle in the middle of the board just in front of each players deployment, and forests on the close right side (opposite the objective) for each player.
He put conquest a little left of center from my view, where the linear obstacle wouldn't interfere with movement. I put the Hunters center, with Krump off to the left and Muggs to the right near the edge of command. The two Axers went to either side of Grim, and the Fennblades went 6 to either side (thank you giant command bubble). Mauler came in back with the support staff. After his deployment, I placed the Burrowers fairly central, and the Whackers off to the right to run into the forest.
His AD widowmaker went opposite the Whackers, while his winterguard deathstar went central and right, close to his objective. The Koldun Lord went to the left (from my view) of Conquest, while the various solos went center or right, with the Great Bears central. Sorscha herself was approximately in the middle.
The Burrowers went under (possibly unnecessary, but Conquest has a lot of AoE potential) first turn as is their wont, and the Fennblades ran up the field, spreading pretty substantially with the officer in the middle. Grim got Harmoniously Exalted and put out two Rushes on the Axers and Mirage on the Fennblades. Everything else ran and tried to take up good supporting positions, since I thought next turn was going to be my first big swing turn. Tale of Mists went on the Fennblades.
The Koldun Lord gave the Conquest a focus, and then I got a small surprise in the form of a series of Creeping Barrage templates across the middle of the board. The big gun fired, but I believe deviated harmlessly, or failed to break armor somewhere. The Winterguard came up on the right and center, spreading out all over and clogging up the board with Bob and Weave and Iron Flesh. The Widowmaker jacked a Bushwhacker who proceeded to Tough, the TAC came up near his objective, and the support staff and Great Bears moved up near the Conquest a bit back.
Due to the Creeping Barrage templates, the Dygmies didn't have great angles to cross the board, so my feat got nixed for a turn. I looked at my board position, didn't entirely like what I saw, and decided that I was going to be playing more cautiously than planned. The Dygmies advanced, with 2 going through the Creeping Barrages with no armor break, and 1 toughing out. Another one crept around the edge to take a shot at a TAC member, but sadly failed to hit, so they assumed clogging positions. I had placed fairly carefully so the Fennblades would have good charges, and with a Fell Called +2 sent 3-4 Fennblades clogging into the Winterguard (and the Widowmaker), taking out 1-2 Winterguard with a lucky big roll and getting the Widowmaker. The Whackers 6 manned a TAC member out, while Grim shot another and crapped out his damage to leave him on 1 box. The rest of the Fennblades and Dygmies stayed fairly safe, but the 3-4 Fenns I sent forward were in solid clogging positions to hold up his lines. Tale of Mists ended up on the Dygmies to try to get a reburrow.
As a result of my clogging, he wasn't able to get as far forward as he liked, so he advanced relatively carefully and used Sprays and shooting (with some misses that were lucky for me) to clear my jam. A couple of accidental bad positions left some Winterguard engaged that he wanted to use in other ways, but he was able to drop the Fennblades to about 6 men left approximately + the Drummer, and cleared 4 Dygmies. Stray AE damage left Muggs down three boxes. Conquest shot, but a Gobber cloud and Tale of Mists kept me out of a lot of too much trouble. My toughs started a trend of being a bit overkill, screwing up his plans more than either of us expected.
On my turn, I saw a good opportunity; he only had 3 Winterguard in the zone, and I felt I could clear them relatively well. I reburrowed my 6 remaining Dygmies (after Vengeance moves from the Fenns) and used my repositioning to get some good lanes with the Fennblades. After a little bit of shooting, I got a Winterguard knocked down with a Tough roll, and I laid a Mortality on him from Grim. However, my Fennblades betrayed me and missed needing 7's, so I still had one in the zone. However, I had a brief flash of foresight, and had run the Drummer up so that my Axer had a perfect slam angle to take the Drummer over 2 Winterguard and potentially clear them; with Mortality I had a near guaranteed kill. Thankfully, this worked, and the slam got 2 guys (and failed to break my armor!) and I killed both of them; Grim was toeing the zone, and I went up 2 CPs. Also, I had removed the rest of the TAC from the board with a 2-man from the Whackers followed by a 4-man to the unhurt guy. I made one key mistake, however, in a mispositioned Mauler who was within threat range of the Conquest with Boundless charge; if he got on him, I would have a VERY hard time salvaging this game out.
He put 3 on the conquest, and started shooting back into my guys with the Winterguard and others. After a number of attacks from Gorman, the Winterguard, and everyone else, I was down a Bushwhacker and down to 2 Fennblades, one of whom had ended up way out of position because I'm silly. Thankfully, a lot of Toughs held me out longer than anticipated, and he had to blow way more shots into me than he planned on. Sorscha moved up and popped feat, but then a mistake was realized: Sorscha was too far to get Boundless onto the Conquest, meaning he would be short no matter what based on my Mauler position, leaving me in a fantastic place. As a consolation, he charged the 3 Great Bears onto the Axer that slammed, putting him down with the 3rd swing (crap dice on the first two, I almost made it!), but Backswinging his own guy into the ground (although he did Tough). Conquest moved up, but missed most of his shots onto the Mauler, reducing me by only 6 boxes, leaving me in a very good spot. The Great Bears and a handful of Winterguard contested, but there was not much I needed to clear.
So, before I got anything else at all going... The Runebearer once per gamed Mortality onto the Conquest, hitting easily to drop him to 18 armor. Grim put Rage on the Mauler, shot the Conquest and boosted damage (to ensure a free charge), Muggs and Krump shot random things (missed, I think), and the Mauler was off. Charge in, not snakes to hit - hits the charge, and dice... 6-5-5 on the charge at dice + 1. Holy balls. The Mauler continues his way through, and with 1 Fury to spare scraps the Conquest. Granted, there was going to be a Fell Caller and an Axer that could still charge, so I wasn't in bad shape yet; that just made everything else much easier.
From there, I did some cleanup; the Fell Caller finished off one of the last Great Bears (I think one of the two Hunters Pygs actually finished another), the Dygmies and Bushwhackers cleared Gorman, Harlan, and some Winterguard, leaving Aiyana and Holt, some Winterguard, Mechanics, and that's about all. Here's the catch: I had long cleared the zone. I was going to be at 4-0 on CPs... WITH AN OBJECTIVE REMAINING. /facepalm. I completely forgot I could have 5-manned the objective with Whackers, shot it with every Dygmy and the Axer, and closed out the game 5-0. That was dumb. VERY dumb.
Thankfully, Grim was on 3 transfers, plenty of beef to transfer to, and not in good position for Sorscha to assassinate, so all my opponent did was just jam up as best as he could. I cleared the way after that, got Mortality on the objective, the Axer charge it at dice-2 with a free charge (Grim put like 5 on it or so), and I easily ended the game 5-0.
I really actually played as clean a game as I've played in quite some time, I think. The only two major mistakes were 1) Mauler placement and 2) not ending the game with the objective on that one turn, and because I had so much stuff left, that last one wasn't horrible. The Mauler placement could have gotten me, but I thankfully was able to get away with it, taking the 5-0 CP win.
I had to leave after this, however, leaving the unresolved game with Andy to finish off... So now I owe him one!
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