Battle Report 20, October 8 Steamroller Round 4: Tanith vs. Butcher 3

This opponent and I have played each-other in the semi finals or finals of many, many, many tournaments. Even in the short time I've been documenting these games, you can read 2 of our Butcher 3 vs. Wurmwood games (I think we've had 4 or 5) and basically it always ends up with him tableing me more or less and then me getting a seemingly miracle assassination.

I decided to buck the norm and play Tanith.

Tanith
-Wilder
-Stalker
-Pureblood
-Scarsfell x3
-Gorax

Wrong Eye
-Snapjaw
Lanyssa

Shifting Stones
Sentry Stones x2
Gobbers

Objective: Fuel Cache


And he dropped this whirling mass of insanity.


Butcher 3
-War Argus x2
-Kodiak
-Kodiak
-Ruin

Man O'War Drakhun x2
Alexia 2
Widowmaker Marksman
Ragman

Widowmakers
Kayazy Eliminators x2

We were playing Take and Hold (a big part of why I picked Tanith, this isn't a particularly live Scenario for Wurmwood). He won the roll off and slammed the side with the trees.

I deployed pretty centrally. I missed Una again. Sweet sweet Una.

He deployed with the clear intention of making a beeline for his flag.

Circle turn 1:

Stuff ran. I couldn't spray any of his models since he'd deployed them back 1.2 inches. Scything Touch on the Stalker and Admonition on the Pureblood. Notice a pattern? I put one Griffon way right to go and tie up his Drakhun for a turn or two.

Khador turn 1:

Lots of Mannikins died. His central Drakhun ran up pretty far, his battlegroup got Energized and Butcher thought pretty hard about Energizing himself before I pointed out that if he did and charged, Snapjaw could get to him. Suffice to say, he did not Energize the Butcher.

Circle turn 2:

I was in a unique position here of being able to actually kill Butcher's dogs since his positioning with Butcher won't let him Vengeance at all.

Tanith upkept her spells, I saluted my darling Una in my mind and pretended to upkeep Guardian Beast and Wrong Eye took Snapjaws Fury.

Wrong Eye put up Submerge and Star-Crossed before advancing.

Snapjaw charged and murdered the middle Drakhun.

The right Griffon charged and did....like 2 damage to the Drakhun.

Unpainted Mannikin missed 2 boosted nines on the middle Kayazy. These two Kayazy single-handedly almost lost me the game. Read on.

The other Mannikins killed the other two Kayazy and a few widowmakers.

The Pureblood moved up to the tip of the wall and sprayed both Argii, missing the first and killing the second.

The Grey Griffon moved up and killed the first Argus, and then cast Dodge.

The Blue Griffon went into the remaining Kayazy and missed....3 boosted 11s.

"No problem, I've got a Stalker in the stones, port him up, kill on, sprint out, easy!"

He missed 3 boosted 11s too.

I'm in panic mode here, 'till I realize that Butcher won't get pathfinder on the charge now that his pups are dead.

Tanith feats, casting Rift for the first time EVER and getting the right Kodiak and Butcher, boosting damage on the man himself and doing a couple.

Sweating profusely, I end my turn.

Khador turn 2:

The left Kodiak headbutts the Grey Griffon, and Ruin kills it. The red Kodiak hits both initials and then throws Snapjaw into the Stalker, killing one Kayazy and knocking the Stalker, the Bird, and Snapjaw down.

The Drakhun half kills the yellow Griffon.

Butcher feats and moves onto the flag.

Score 1-0

Advantage Khador

Circle turn 3:

Well...I have one chance at this. The Pureblood is within walking range of the Butcher. 

Tanith drops her spells, pulls fury from him and the Stalker. The blue Griffon Frenzies at the Kodiak and doesn't do much. Snapjaw passes his Frenzy check somehow, and Wrong Eye cuts for 4. 

After agonizing about the best way to do things for about ten minutes, I start with Tanith who moves up, shoots Butcher, boosting to hit. She hits, and does another couple of damage with a boosted damage roll. She puts Scything Touch and Primal on the Pureblood. 

I try like crazy to spray the War Dog down, but whiff the damage rolls and he lives. 

The Pureblood activates and walks up to Butcher. I need to do 18 damage with 6 attacks at dice -3 once his power shield is taken into account. 

I spike the first couple of dice rolls and kill him. 

A Lucky Victory for the Druids!

Post Game Thoughts:

I didn't really deserve this win I don't think. I did deliberately move the Pureblood over there to threaten Butcher should he choose to come to the flag, but I was expecting more of a spray than a walk and hit. The rough terrain forced him to charge in order to get to the flag and that was my only saving grace. 

Also, Tanith is the wrong drop, it should always be Wurmwood. 

At 4-0, I ended up taking first, and my round 4 opponent came second, with my round 3 opponent coming third! I had a real blast, some very interesting games were had, and the spread of factions was incredibly diverse outside the block of 3 Khador players.

The Western Washington PG's, of which I am a member, are hoping that we can get attendance up to 16-20 people by 2017, and I'm excited to see where the meta develops from here. We have a ton of new guys coming fresh out of a Journeyman League in about a month, and we're all pulling to have them keep playing once the league is over.

Thanks for reading!