Battle Report 82: Baldur 2 vs. Captain Shae

Prologue:

I had an opportunity to go to a summer kick off event for the gaming group in Ellensburg this weekend, and I took ALL of my lists with me.

I was able to play against Mercs, which is something I do not get to do very often.

My opponent had Damiano and Shae, and I took one look at all of the heavy warjacks and dropped Baldur.

I'm experimenting again with the four heavy build while I begin the long process of converting and painting my second Woldwrath, so I had:


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

Gobber Chef

Sentry Stone
- Bokur
Sentry Stone
Shifting Stones
Gobbers Bellow Crew

Against:

Shae
- Sylyss
- Freeboater x4
- Buccaneer

Gastonne Cross
- Freeboater
- Buccaneer

Lady Hawk
Lord Rockbottom

Ayanna and Holt
Commodore Cannon Crew
Sea Dogs
- Mr. Walls


We were playing Extraction. I won the roll off and opted to go first. I really prefer to be up the table with this list - Loki makes my threat ranges absurdly good, and since I learned that Freeboaters do not have and cannot get pathfinder in my opponents list, I felt like I could kill a couple heavies a turn and keep my models safe with Rock Wall.

Circle turn 1:

Pretty standard first turn. 

I skew my battlegroup right since that's where his heavies are, and I set my Sentry Stones up to spray down Sea Dogs since that's their natural prey. I'm just going to have to eat Commodore Cannon shots since it's range 20, but with Roots of the Earth at least I can't be slammed around. 

Sentry Stones move up and make forests. 

Ghetorix runs to the right. Megalith tramples up and puts Roots of the Earth on him. 

Loki runs as far as he can and still have Baldur cast Roots on him. Stones port around him for that sweet 16 inch hook threat. 

Baldur walks up, purifies off the Wurm token (I'm learning!) and casts Roots of the Earth on both Loki and himself. 

Solos run around and I make a cloud with the Gobbers. 

Mercs turn 1:

So I didn't realize that the Sea Dogs had the No Quarter mini-feat, which meant that a lot more Mannikins died here than I was expecting. 

Between Coup d'Maine and No Quarter, the Sea Dogs threat something like 13.5 inches, which is amazing. 

Shae moves up, casts Coup d'Maine, and sits on some focus. 

Sea Dogs charge in after Rockbottom makes them tough. 

Ayanna, Holt, and Hawke all move up after the unit. 

Freeboaters run up the table. My opponent realizes that in order for them to be relevant in the next turns, he needs to sacrifice one to the Loki hook. 

Circle turn 2:

It's go time!

Mannikins are placed, Baldur gets a Wurm token, fury is generated and leached. 

Mannikin sprays take down all but 4 of the Sea Dog unit after my opponent strings....5 tough rolls in a row? Most every dude in the unit had to be hit twice, it was pretty hilarious.

The Stones port Loki to within 8 of the Freeboater on the hill. 

Loki hooks the poor jack and yanks him in. 

Megalith charges him (for free, because Badur) and wrecks him. He then casts a Crevasse at the knocked down Sea Dog, spraying down yet another Sea Dog with the resulting spray. 

Ghetorix moves up base to base with the other heavies and casts Spiny Growth. 

The Pureblood warps Spell Ward and moves up. 

Baldur places a Rock wall in front of most of the battlegroup, drops a fury, purifies, and then Feats. 

Mercs turn 2:

My opponent is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He can only get a couple of warjacks on me, and they're not doing a ton. 

I goofed hard and moved my Bokur before making a forest with the second Sentry Stone, so I'm pretty sure that's going to die. 

Shae moves up, casts Coup d'Maine, and Feats. Suddenly everything is wayyy closer than I want it to be. 

Sea Dogs murder Mannikins. 

Holt and Ayanna take the Flag. 

A Freeboater charges the Pureblood and does about 1/3 of its boxes. A Buccaneer charges Loki but fails to hurt him. 

My opponent scores 1 point. 

Circle turn 3:

I could keep playing for attrition here, but Shae is sitting right there. 

I premeasure things out, and I have to kill Sylyss with a Mannikin spray in order to place Loki where I want him. 

Mannikins are placed, Fury is leached, and things start off strong with the Mannikin spraying Sylyss down. 

The Stones port Loki up, and then Megalith tramples (Although I suppose he could have charged as well) and casts Undergrowth to lower Shae's impressive Defense. 

Loki hooks Shae in. 

The Gorax Primals the Pureblood, who scraps his Freeboater, and then Baldur moves up, Primals Ghetorix, and sits on some Fury and Roots of the Earth.

Ghetorix warps Murderous and Murderously Murderizes Shae (Randomly scoring me a point in the process since all the contesting models are inert jacks).

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

Man this Merc list would be a nightmare to tackle if I wasn't playing Baldur 2. 

The combination of absurd threat ranges and extreme amounts of KD tech means that basically any Circle caster other than Baldur is going to have a hard time here. Coup d'Maine is such a good spell. 

Side bar - I played in a Who's the Boss event a year ago and got Shae playing Trolls. Mulg with Coup d'Maine and a three inch move from the Feat is a sight to behold. 

Very interesting game, the desire to pick Mercs up intensified a lot after this - those jacks are really cool!