The scenario is Gaining Ground (control center zone for 1pt or opponent's zone for 2pts, first to 4pts wins). Here's the lists and some listbuilding thoughts.
Round 1 match 1 thornwood prim(al) rumble
Army Name: Pstryker armorbuffs
Cygnar
25+6 points, 18 models
Commander Coleman Stryker +6 points
* Centurion 9 points (Arcane Shield from Journeyman or Stryker puts the cent at Armor 24. Stryker's feat adds 5 to that)
Journeyman Warcaster 3 points
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages 6 points
* Gun Mage Officer 2 points
** Charger 4 points
Captain Arlan Strangewayes 2 points (I've been running this 14pt module a bit. Many folks run a Hunter 'jack on the Dude; this is the same amount of points, but if Arlan powerboosts the Charger it gets a fully boosted shot and then a second unboosted shot from the 'jack marshal bonus. And they're both Rune Shots from the Dude)
Stormblades 5 points (hardhitting infantry)
Army Name: Doomshaper's Irregulars
Trollbloods
25+7 points, 14 models
Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls +7 points
* Earthborn Dire Troll 10 points
* Troll Axer 6 points (with these beasts Doomy can deliver the earthborn a good distance away. If the EDT is near a forest it gets +2" move, and the Axer animus can add two to that. Doomy can also force the EDT to Goad it another 2" if it kills a model)
Janissa Stonetide 3 points (Janissa w/ EDT animus on Doomy is a must, as with her Rock Wall ability he goes from defense [laughable] 13 armor 15 to 17/17 with cover from the wall and the animus armor boost near an obstacle)
6 Nyss Hunters 7 points (Doomy's Hookups aren't faction specific, so enter the Nyss, a great merc choice, if expensive)
Trollkin Runeshapers 4 points (area-of-effect spellblasters that also gain Force lock with Janissa nearby; Force lock keeps a model in their melee range from advancing. Also tough and steady, which is dope)
Viktor Pendrake 2 points (two points left over and this is my only choice for Trollbloods at 2pts)
Stryker won the roll to choose sides and took the hill instead of the forest half of the board. Also kept Doomy away from the water (water grants another 2 defense under EDT animus). Cast Arcane Shield (AS) on himself and Blur on the 'blades to keep them safe from Nyss bows. Moved up.
Centy ran onto the central hill. 'blades ran across from forest and next to hill. Gun mages ran up on other side of hill past water. Charger and arlan ran to hill as well. Junior cast AS on Centy and advanced in the back of the force.
Doomy cast Banishing Ward on the Nyss to keep them safe from Earthquake shenanigans. He moved up a bit. EDT cast animus on Doomy and failed a charge. Axer riled and ran. Janissa put a rockwall up near Doomy and EDT. Nyss ran into woods. Runeshapers and Pendrake advance.
Stryker had to feat this turn, so he needed to engage a bunch of stuff and try to push other threats out of the way with Thunderbolt shots. The Nyss in the woods were going to be a problem. The Stormblades ran to engage 3 of them, leaving 3 to counterattack next turn. The Centy advanced a bit and polarity shielded (can't be charged). Stryker moved up but camped 3 focus. The charger got the powerboost from arlan and fired a crit thunderbolt at the EDT, knocking it down and pushing it 3". Then it missed the second shot (too many linear obstacles in play). Gun mages fired some Thunderbolt shots at the Axer to push it back but the Runeshapers and a building were behind him and he could only go back so far. Gunmages moved up to contest central zone with Stormblades.
Doomy stood up the EDT with fury. He then advanced forward to catch the enemy entirely in his control area and feated himself. He then cast purification to wipe the upkeeps and animi off the table, and EDT animus on himself for protection.
The Runeshapers moved up and tossed aoes at the gunmages but didn't do much. The Axer used his animus and then engaged the gunmages and threshered them. He needed 9s to hit, and missed all of the attacks except for the last one, which was boosted. One dead gunmage.
The Nyss moved out of the woods and killed two Stormblades with good damage rolls. Cylena and two spare Nyss tried to shoot the unengaged 'blades but missed with a 3 and snake eyes.
Doomy was way up to capitalize on feat, but with only two fury left for transfers and a Centurion near enough to charge, things could get ugly. Janissa put her rock wall behind Doomy to box him in and make sure he kept his armor bonus from Transmute, the EDT animus. The Earthborn moved up to block a charge lane but fell short on distance. For good measure Pendrake advanced and threw his bola at the Centurion, knocking it down.
For getting the alpha strike the trolls didn't do well. Poor rolling and Stryker's feat kept Cygnar rolling.
Stryker saw Doomy flapping in the wind and went for an assassination. It was a good idea. The Charger on the hill only needed a 9 on his boosted Thunderbolt shot to hit, and he managed to crit knockdown Doomy as well. So after activating two models Doomy was on his ass and had taken 5 damage. Not good.
Worse, the Centurion had shaken the knockdown with a focus and charged Doomshaper's prone form. His two reach spear attacks autohit the warlock and did massive amounts of damage, which Doomshaper transfered to his earthborn Dire Troll. After those two hits Doomy was out of fury and the EDT was down to about 10 hits left. The stormblades finished off the earthborn, but if Stryker had done that first Doomy might have been more hurt by the Centurion.
Still, losing his only heavy with a Centurion on the board really hurt Doomshaper.
The gunmages and Junior fired shots into the prone Doomshaper, but only managed a few more damage. The Charger and Centurion actually took some serious damage from Doomshaper's feat (d6 per focus spent). Stryker backed up to weather out the counterstike, hoping to outlast the Trolls.
Them trolls rallied, however. Doomshaper had to cut for two Fury and shook his knockdown. Pendrake managed to aim and hit the Centurion with another knockdown bola, disengaging Doomshaper. The Nyss killed 3 of the 4 remaining Stormblades and the last failed his morale check. Cylena led a Combined Ranged Attack on the Journeyman but failed to dent his armor with a poor damage roll.
Doomshaper moved away from the action and cast Stranglehold on the Centurion, hoping to force it to forfeit an action next turn, but he didn't penetrate the armor. The Runeshapers moved up in hopes of disentangling the Axer, but again their aoes deviated poorly, and those that connected got woeful damage rolls. The last Runeshaper engaged the centurion, which force locked it in place until it was dealt with, and tossed an aoe at the Charger, mugging it severely. The Axer needed to thresh four gunmages, needing 9s to hit. He boosted the first two attacks and killed two gunmages, and then rolled two 9s on regular attack rolls to get the others.
Janissa activated and dropped another aoe on the Charger.
Suddenly Stryker was down to one gun mage and one fleeing Stormblade for infantry, and his Charger had crippled movement, cortex, and hammer. He allocated three to the Centurion and shook the knockdown. He then spent the entire turn trying to kill the Runeshaper forcelocking the Centurion in place. Scrambling, he put AS back on himself and put a disrupted pistol shot into the Runeshaper engaging the Centurion, but failed to hurt it.
The last gunmage tried as well, but missed both the Runeshaper and the Centurion. The charger took a boosted shot and managed to hit the Centy instead. Junior missed them both.
So the Centy had to spear the Runeshaper himself. He missed his first attack as well. Then he bought another and speared it to death, but it made its Tough check to stay alive. Ridiculous.
Doomshaper took a commanding lead, with the Axer and Runeshapers finishing off the Charger. Janissa put 10 wounds on the Centy, crippling the shield with her armor-piercing pickaxe. Doomy himself re-emerged from cover to kill Arlan with a spell, and the Nyss Hunters killed the Journeyman and Stryker's remaining infantry.
Stryker began his turn with only a knocked down Centurion on his side, and conceded defeat to the old troll.
Models of the game:
Stryker: the Charger. It almost enabled a turn three assassination.
Doomshaper: Viktor Pendrake. Dude knocked the Centurion down twice, forcing Stryker and the Centy to spend a focus standing up two turns in a row.
Lessons learned: all the armor in the world isn't helpful if the enemy can sidestep the tank and get to the rest of the force. Stormblades with Stryker are good (Blur ftw). Nyss Hunters are off the chain, tho. Huge, pathfinder threat, capable in both melee and ranged. The total package. Doomy is fragile, but was a lot of fun to play.
-Merlin out
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone y'allzs
No comments:
Post a Comment