Battle Report 80: Baldur 1 (Bones of Orboros) vs. Thagrosh 1

Prologue:

I've been really thinking about Bones of Orboros as an effective gunline for the last couple weeks, and there are a few casters that really piqued my interest.

Baldur 1 sticks out for a couple of reasons. First of all, he's got a great feat to let you get 2-3 rounds of shooting in. He also has a great ARM buff for the Woldwrath, and he can heal Woldwyrds (a big plus). Add to that a great spell for Geomancy (Earth Spikes is amazing), and you've got a gunline that can reasonably kill a heavy a turn and also has a PS 21 ARM 22 Colossal running around at the back.

I tossed together a Bones of Orboros tier list to play since I was already playing mostly Wolds, and I discovered that I was DRASTICALLY under points in terms of painted models available. My ideal list would drop the second Shifting Stone unit and both Gallows Groves for another Wyrd (since I'm playing two points down) OR for two Stoneshapers and keep the second Stone unit.

Either way, I need to paint a Wyrd or two Stoneshapers before I can try it. Sometimes playing painted is hard.


My pair for this list was a Kromac 1 list with a billion beasts and a couple Wyrds. I can't not put Wyrds in lists guys, they're fantastic.

My opponent had for me Thagrosh 1 beast brick and Lylyth 3 with double Archangel.

No way on Earth am I dropping Kromac into a gunline that strong, so Baldur it was. My opponent decided on Thagrosh.

Baldur 1
- Druid Wilder (Free!)
- Woldwrath
- Megalith
- Woldwyrd x3

Blackclad x2 (Free!)
Gallows Grove x2

Sentry Stone x2
Shifting Stone x2


vs.

Thagrosh 1
- Proteus
- Carnivean
- Scythean
- Seraph
- Protector
- Naga

Shepherd x2
Forsaken x2


We were playing Outlast, and my opponent won the die roll, taking the side he liked better.

Gotta say, I love two extra inches of deployment.

Circle turn 1:

Full speed ahead! Wanna know what's great? Running without forcing.

Both Sentry Stones rolled max fury and ported up, making forests.

Megalith riled and ran into Stones, which ported him up as well.

Everything else ran full speed, except Baldur. He advanced, cast Stone Skin on the Woldwrath and put up Solid Ground. 

Legion turn 1:

I'm pretty far up the table already, and he can't really put up defensive animi or the Woldwyrds melt his heavies.

He Slipstreams Typhon forward, and puts the sprays into Megalith, doing 26 damage at dice -6 over three attacks. That means 41 pips on 9 dice, which for those counting at home is 10 over average. Oucchhhh.

Fortunately, he's just out of range of every other ranged attack in his list.

Both Forsaken get loaded up after beasts rile and run.

Circle turn 2:

Well Megalith wasn't supposed to be nearly so close to dead, but he lived and heals 4 (d3 from himself, 1 from the theme).

I measure it out, and the Woldwrath can get onto the Scythean if I Hunters Mark him, even with Stone Skin, so I upkeep both spells.

I do some quick math, and I think there's a reasonable chance of killing Typhon with shooting. I can get two Wyrds into him, a Blackclad spray, two fully boosted Earth Spikes, and some boosted Mannikin sprays. It's better to spray him here since Thagrosh's Strength Sapping aura makes the Mannikins PS 9.

I get that ball rolling first, and am able to kill Typhon without committing Baldur's Earth Spikes.

The Blackclad on the righ lands his Hunters Mark on the Scythean, and at dice +3, Tiny puts him down quite easily. (Max reach kept me just outside of Thagrosh's aura).

With that, I move Baldur up and Feat, healing Megalith for two and standing on the hill. Cover plus elevation means I'm DEF 19 against non-sprays, and DEF 15 against sprays.

Finally, my far right Wyrd moves up and shoots his Forsaken down.

Legion turn 2:

Since I've moved Megalith back, his only real target is the Woldwrath.

He puts Draconic Blessing on the Carnivean, and Wraithbane on both the Carnivean and the Seraph, and the beasts go in, doing about half the Wrath's health between them.

He Feats Typhon back, and keeps him in front of Thagrosh. His Protector charges the tree since he was going to contest anyway, and one Gallows Grove dies. The right zone gets both of the Shepherds in it, and the left has a Forsaken in the corner.

Circle turn 3:

Models heal (man I love that) and Baldur drops Solid Ground. Shifting Stones leach four Fury, letting me pull most of it back.

I start things off by shooting Typhon down again with roughly the same amount of models.

The Woldwrath punches the Carnivean to death, and then kills the Naga in two attacks. He buys a last one at the Seraph, actually hits it, and leaves it on six. (Dice +5 baby!)

The middle Woldwyrd moves around the Seraph to it's back arc and shoots it, hitting, boosting damage, and killing it.

I can't move Baldur into either zone without being in range of a Mutagenesis assassination, so he stays on the hill and I get one point.

Score 1-0

Advantage Circle

Legion turn 3:

The writing is on the wall as he literally cannot contest, but my opponent wants blood. He puts every attack he has into Megalith, and the mighty Wold goes down.

I get another point.

Score 2-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 4:

The Blackclad starts things off by moving to the Forsaken's back arc and spraying her to death, dinging up the Protector a bit, critically knocking him down. 

After that, Wyrds aim and shoot, and the Wrath fires his big gun in to finish off the poor Nephilim. 

I walk Baldur into the right zone and go to 5. 

Score 5-0

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

I tossed this together as sort of a trolly, fluffy gunline and...it works really well? I really want to play with a fourth Wyrd in this list, I think that pushes the potential damage output up to silly levels. 

Excited to keep messing around with this build (and others like it). I think Circle is probably best as a gunline right now, which is a really strange feeling. 

Thanks for reading :)