Battle Report 16: Krueger and the Raptor vs. Reznik 1

I've long held off proxying this model for fear that it's never going to be released. With the recent official model pictures coming in the last month, the upcoming December release date, and the near certainty that it's going to be at Warmachine Weekend in November (anyone want to get me one of these while you're there??), I've decided to start fitting it into my lists. I got into this game to paint cool looking models, and holy crap if this isn't the most beautiful thing Privateer Press has ever come out with.

Unfortunately, today it's being proxied by my Woldwrath. Le sigh.

I've also been waiting to play Kreuger 1 until the Raptor came out, since I don't really like him in the current meta. After today, that might be changing.

Krueger 1
-Storm Raptor
-Ghetorix
-Feral

Alten Ashley
Hutchuk
Lanyssa Ryssyl

Sentry Stone x2
Swamp Gobbers Bellow Crew

My opponent was running the same Reznik list, which was:


Reznik
-Scourge of Heresy
-Repenter
-Revenger
-Crusader

Avatar of Menoth

Choir (min)
Daughters of the Flame
Exemplar Errants and CA


We rolled a random Scenario and got Outflank. I once again rolled higher and chose to go first. With a Speed SEVEN Gargantuan, why would you not want to get up the field quickly?

I deployed pretty centrally, with the idea that everything in this list is really fast and can get to either zone if it starts to collapse. Eventually, my opponent is going to have to bunch up his Errants to get into one of the zones, and Krueger will murder them with his feat.

My opponent deploys similarly to last game, which is a much better play on this Scenario. I don't really have the resources to go out to the edges hunting his models until the game is pretty far advanced, and then only if I'm up significantly.

Circle turn 1:

Stuff runs. Krueger casts Skyward on himself to get faster, and Lightning Tendrils on the Feral since he's the only beast I have without 2" reach on his weapons.

Not that it mattered against this particular matchup, but being able to screen off half my army with a piece of terrain and a speed 7 huge base felt pretty awesome.

Menoth turn 1:

He spreads his Daughters out in the left zone, and Nicia goes really deep into it as well. His Zealots move up aggressively, and in a surprise move he runs full speed ahead with the Avatar, intending to bait out the Raptor with Gaze of Menoth.

Ignite goes onto Scourge of Heresy, and the rest of his battlegroup runs up behind. Choir gives them all the "can't target me with non-magic attacks" song.

Circle turn 2:

I do some pre-measuring and realize that the Avatar is within 11 inches of my Feral.

First thing that happens is the Raptor moves over into the zone, getting half an inch closer to the Avatar to satisfy Gaze. He puts a boosted shot into a Daughter, frying one with an eLeap. He then buys and boosts a shot into another one, frying the other 3 with eLeaps.

The Mannikins in the painted unit charge the Avatar (really dumb in hindsight) and do 2 points.

Lanyssa forces a self-sac with an Ice Bolt on an Errant, and the right unit of Sentry Stones sprays a few more down.

Krueger puts Primal on the Feral, casts Skyward, and walks over to the wall.

The Feral warps Strength, charges the Avatar, and puts him down.

Ghetorix moves up behind him for the inevitable counter-punch.

I forgot to run Hutchuk before I took the picture, he ended up behind Ghetorix.

Menoth turn 2:

My opponent rolls some pretty hot dice this turn.

The choir sings Battle on all the jacks. Reznik gets Brand of Heresy onto the Storm Raptor.

His Flamethrower jack aims, sprays, and does about 6 damage.

His Revenger charges in and does another 25 between 2 attacks. Some of the most amazing damage rolls I've ever seen in a row. Nicia charges in, does 6 on her charge attack, and then dies on her second attack from plasma nimbus.

Scourge charges in with Ignite and Battle, killing the Feral in 2 hits.

The Errants bunch into the zone, murdering Mannikins everwhere.

Circle turn 3:

I have a great plan this turn, but I do things slightly out of order.

Gobbers get out of the way. Hutchuk Rusts the Sentry Stone in front of Scourge, catching both, and then charges Scourge in the back arc, doing 8 damage.

Each Sentry Stone spawns a Mannikin, which charges Scourge and do another 5 or so each. (Rust is awesome).

The Storm Raptor throws the Revenger at Scourge, knocking him down. I should have done this first so I could get Rust on both of them.

Krueger walks into the right zone with Skyward up, casts Sky Fire, and pops his feat, vaporizing all but two Errants. He then shoots one of the two remaining, and kills both thanks to an eLeap.

Ghetorix walks up behind he Revenger and murders Scourge, but fails to kill the Revenger by 2 boxes.

I get 3 points.

Score 3-0

Advantage Circle

Menoth turn 3:

My opponent goes into the tank for a bit, checks the distance from his jack to Kreuger, and then says something like "I think I can kill you this turn."

He proceeds to explain that he has Perdition and can get the Crusador onto Krueger, whose only transfer target is the Storm Raptor sitting on 20 boxes. 

The Choir sings Battle, and the spray jack moves into the zone and does 9 more damage to the Raptor. 

Reznik moves up, boosts the Perdition at a Mannikin, hits, and then rolls snake eyes for damage, not damaging the little stick guy. We rolled it out if that had worked, and Krueger survives thanks to his DEF 17 under Skyward but I was seriously worried there for a sec. 

The Crusader charges Hutchuk and kills both him and the Mannikin that Reznik tried to Perdition. 

Circle turn 4:

Krueger aims, heals the Raptor for 1, and puts up Sky Fire. He shoots the Crusador and does 7 or 8 damage to it. 

The Raptor aims, and puts two fully boosted POW 16 shots into the jack thanks to Sky Fire, doing enough damage to cripple its movement and leave it on less than ten boxes. 

The painted Sentry Stone unit kills the Revenger so Ghetorix can move unimpeded, and he walks up to the Crusador and puts him down. 

I get two more points for dominating the zone, giving me the win. 

Victory for the Druids!

Post Game Thoughts:

I really like the Storm Raptor. Admittedly, this is the first date, so everything seems great, but the fact that everything seems great is a very promising sign.

His animus, Sky Fire, is just nutty with Kreuger 1's feat, and all the eLeaps flying around make me feel like I'm playing Cygnar again. Further testing is required, but I'm definitely picking up that model as soon as I can (seriously, anyone going to Warmachine Weekend want to give me one??)

That was an incredibly close game at the end, I didn't see that assassination opening, and it could very realistically have worked. It wasn't great odds, but it was somewhere in the 30% range, which is pretty awesome given the circumstances. Props to my opponent for sucking every last drop out of this game.