Battle Report 76: Baldur 2 vs. Xekaar

Prologue:

Ahhh post tournament tech is the sweetest, especially when you're changing format as well.

ATC took a massive amount of mental and physical prep, and I was locked in to two lists for nearly two months. Time for a breath of fresh air!

One of my teammates is thinking about getting into Circle, and over one of the nights at ATC we Dojo'd the following list.


Baldur 2
- Megalith
- Ghetorix
- Loki
- Pureblood
- Gorax

Gobber Chef
Ogrun Bokur

Sentry Stone x2
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew


The idea is simple - ARM 22 Warpwolves with a moveable wall sound awesome, and between Primal and Blessed, the list can actually crack armor pretty well.

I got to try it out this week against my local Skorne player, who is prepping for an event I'm running in a couple of weekends.

It's a three list event, and he is running Zaadesh 2, Mordikaar, and Xekaar. He opted to drop Xekaar into me, and after ADR, his list looked like this:

Xekaar
- Marketh
- Desert Hydra
- Marketh
- Krea
- Shaman
- Agonizer

Orin Midwinter

Tyrant Commander and Standard
Karax
Min Beast Handlers

We ended up on Take and Hold, and had one of our other local guys set up terrain. I rolled higher and slammed the choice of side, forcing my opponent to deal with a wall and a house in proximity to each-other.

I think I misdeployed here. The Bokur cliented Stone unit should have gone closer to Baldur. I needed an expendable shield guard for the Krea shot and didn't think about it until far too late. 

Skorne turn 1:

He ran everything up to just outside of Sentry Stone threat ranges. 

Xekaar actually dropped fury and did nothing else this turn. 

Circle turn 1:

I knew he was feating next turn, so I moved things up cautiously, except the Sentry Mannikins. I wanted him to spend the Hydra activation killing them. 

Megs handed out Roots of the Earth to Ghetorix after the wolf trampled up and cast Spiny Growth. 

Loki ran, warping no Combined attacks, and got Roots of the Earth from Baldur. The wall went down right where his front line of Karax would go if they charged. I forgot about Wurm tokens, but my opponent graciously let me purify myself. 

The Pureblood just ran, and I ported Shifting Stones to be able to Leach from multiple beasts if need be. 

Skorne turn 2:

Karax get the Shield Wall order. Marketh moves up on the hill. Xekaar moves behind his Titan and Feats, catching everything of importance. 

The Hydra gets Rush and moves over the wall, spraying down Mannikins. 

The Agonizer moves to my far left and uses it's -2 Strength ability. 

Circle turn 2:

I do some premeasuring, but apparently not well enough. I can get Loki onto two Karax and stay out of reach range of his Titan (turns out I was off by a millimeter, always verify with your opponents folks). 

Pureblood spray take care of several Karax, and Megalith casts Crevasse at Marketh, killing him and also a bunch of Karax in front of him with the resulting spray. 

Sentry Stones take shots at things, but miss horribly. The Stones both port way back.

Baldur moves up, checks killbox, and Feats after putting down his wall such that the Hydra can't actually get to anything of my stuff. He takes one from his Wurm token.

The Bokur backs up.

Skorne turn 3:

We recheck, and I've left Loki 0.01 inches inside the Titan's melee range for a charge. Seriously, verify with your opponents when you pre-measure. 

He starts things off by shooting Ghetorix with the Krea. I think long and hard here, but I know I have to shield guard it with Loki. If I don't, he'll just keep the Hydra away from me and Ghetorix won't be able to kill it. 

Loki gets Paralyzed. 

Xekaar gets onto the hill and Mortalities both Megalith and Loki. 

The Gladiator, with enrage, kills Loki with his initials. The dice were hot. 

They got hotter as the Hydra moved over and did 23 damage to Megalith with his sprays at dice -8. 

Yup...

The Agonizer walks over and does his Agony cry again. 

Circle turn 3:

I've got to kill that Agonizer. I can get two Sentry Sprays on it. 

The first one nearly kills it, the second needs a 7 on three dice for damage and rolls a six. 

I have to kill that Sentry Mannikin with Baldur and Crevasse so that the Pureblood can assault and maybe kill the Agonizer with the spray. 

Baldur does so, healing one from the turn before. I space the Wurm Token again and take 2.

Megalith kills the TyCom with his initials, but his Spirit is down, so no buying. 

The Gorax Primals the Pureblood, which assaults. I boost the Spray attack and hit the Agonizer, killing it. The Pureblood then proceeds to do 20 damage to the Hydra.

Ghetorix warps Strength and walks into it, killing it with one Fury to spare. 

I run the Gobber Chef over to the left, and put the Bellows between the Titan and Megalith.

The Bokur runs to be right next to Baldur.

I pass the turn. 

Skorne turn 4:

My opponent kills the Gobbers with electroleaps from Orin. 

My opponent moves the Karax engaging Ghetorix away, and he dies to a free strike. 

The Krea shoots Ghetorix, and then casts her animus. Xekaar Mortalities both Megalith and Ghetorix again, and then abuses the Krea for a fury. 

The Gladiator gets enraged and pummels Ghetorix into the dirt. 

I forgot to take a picture of this turn, apologies!

Circle turn 4:

The Pureblood frenzies into a Beast Handler. 

Megalith moves over, needing a three on one dice to hit the Titan. He gets it, and at dice -2 does 7 damage. He needs literally anything to hit now, and he hits again, doing another 5. 

Baldur activates, gets his third Wurm token, heals 2 from Megalith bond, and charges the Titan, killing it with three Fury to spare after some awful damage rolls. He takes 3. 

I run the Gobber Chef to the flag, and kill as many Beast Handlers as I can with sprays. 

The Bokur runs next to Baldur. I build a bunker with Shifting Stones for Baldur to hide behind.

I get a point. 

Score 1-0

Advantage Circle

Skorne turn 5:

His plan is to carve out a Shifting Stone and put the Shaman into Baldur. 

Xekaar charges in and kills the Stone, and then casts Mortality at Baldur. 

The Shaman dings him up, leaving him on six and a transfer. 

His Karax moves out of Megalith's front arc, but Megalith misses the free strike. The Karax doesn't hurt Baldur. 

I get another point. 

Score 2-1

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 5:

I just need to keep Baldur alive. 

Megalith finally gets to heal! He gets back both crippled systems. 

I put Primal on the Pureblood again, and he moves up, killing both the Shaman and the Beast Handler, and then sitting there with nothing left to kill. 

The Bokur misses the Karax in front of him, double ones. 

I spray the Karax and boost. Triple ones. 

Megalith casts Crevasse at the Standard Bearer in front of him, kills him, sprays the Karax in the back. 

Double ones. 

I then realize that Megalith can get to Xekaar without leaving the Karax's melee range and feel really dumb. Two hits into it, Xekaar is looking might upset, and is also speed 4. 

Baldur backs up to max melee with the Karax, heals nothing thanks to Mortality, and purifies off his Wurm tokens, camping 4. 

I score a third point. 

Score 3-0 

Advantage Circle

Skorne turn 6:

Orin charges Megalith, and deals a couple of damage. Xekaar whacks Megalith, Mortalities him, and then whacks him again. 

Megalith lives through the turn with 2 boxes left in body. 

I get another point. 

Score 4-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 6:

I activate everything, do nothing, and score a fifth point for the win. 

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

Well...having to use Baldur to finish off the Gladiator really neutered the amount of tanking up I got to do this game, since I was scared of him dying basically the entire game after that. Dice notwithstanding, I was really impressed with how hard this list tanked, and the damage output was actually just fine. 

The actual tech (Loki yanking things in to kill, then getting Roots of the Earth after Ghetorix murders it) never showed up because 1) Loki died really fast and 2) Megalith had a crippled Spirit after turn 2, meaning no free Roots of the Earth, which is a problem because Baldur was fury strapped the whole game trying to stay alive. 

Looking forward to trying it again, stay tuned :)