Battle Report 87 - Spokane Team Championship Round 2: Baldur 2 (Bones of Orboros) vs. Kaya 3

Prologue:

I had not known specifically what the other team captains were playing ahead of time (we had to submit lists by a certain date), but I had had a pretty good idea, and I had deliberately teched for their play styles.

Unfortunately, this worked too well round 2, and the Captain of Team Friends United in the Chorus of Kaen and Menoth Everywhere chickened I mean whimped I mean strategically chose to match himself into something a little less hostile towards him.

That meant that I was paired into the other Circle player in the Meta playing Krueger 2 and Kaya 3.

Krueger 2 was a slam dunk loss for Tanith, and so Baldur 2 was coming out to play.

My list was:

Baldur 2 (Bones of Orboros)
- Woldwrath
- Woldwrath
- Megalith

Sentry Stone x2
Stoneshaper x3

Bunker


And my opponent dropped Kaya 3:

Kaya 3
- Feral Warpwolf
- Shadowhorn Satyr x2
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Scarsfell Griffon x3

Blackclad

Wolf Riders
Swamp Gobbers

Fuel Cache

I got to go first on Extraction. The plan was simple - march my Woldwraths up to the flags and sit there, putting a Rock Wall in front of whichever one is likely to get charged by more things.

Good Circle turn 1:

Baldur got his Wurm token, and everything ran up. He kept his Wurm token and took a damage. Turn 1 for this list is really boring usually. 

There was a bit of a problem with this table though, since the wall on the right was going to make placing that Woldwrath tricky. 

I've been playing too much Infinity, look at the right side Manikins

Baa-aaaad Circle turn 1:

My opponent used the Wolf Riders to jam me up. Goats ran up everywhere. 

A cloud was placed next to the one from the Fuel Cache.

Kaya cast Synergy and Soothing Song to figure out Fury problems and passed the turn.

Good Circle turn 2:

I basically just need to get the Wraths within 4 of the flags this turn and keep them out of the charge range of the Feral. I also need to keep Baldur way, way away from the Shadowhorns. 

Mannikins aim and kill a few Wolf Riders. Forests are placed again, and the Sentry Stones port behind them. 

The left Wrath moves up and blasts a Wolf Rider down, doing about 1/3 of the health on the two Griffons. 

The Right Woldwrath (that one is named Tiny by the way) moved up and finished off the remaining central Wolf Rider (and several Mannikins). 

Baldur activated, healed one from Megalith, Feated, and cast a rock wall next to him just in case I had not considered every threat range from the Shadowhorns. He took two more from his tokens and I passed the turn.

Baaa-aaad Circle turn 2:

Griffons charge in to start the Synergy train. 

The Wolf Rider moves up and shoots at a Stoneshaper, doing 1, and then backing up. 

The central Shadowhorn moves around the house, leaps in, and only kills one Sentry Stone thanks to my feat, and then repositions out of the way.

The Blackclad charges (!!!) Tiny and ACTUALLY HURTS HIM (!!!!!).

My opponent passes.

Good Circle turn 3:

I pour a lot of resources into killing the closest Griffon so that the Woldwrath (That one is called Smalls) can move up, take the flag, and kill the other one. 

Megalith kills the impertinent Shadowhorn, staying 10 inches from the Gnarlhorn. Tiny fails to kill the Blackclad. 

Baldur casts Druid's Wrath and also puts Rock Wall down between the Gnarlhorn and Smalls. 

I score 1 point.

Score 1-0

Advantage Good Circle

Baa-aad Circle turn 3:

Well...with the Blackclad not dying, I think I am about to lose Megalith. 

Kaya moves over and Feats. 

The Griffon starts the Synergy, the Feral moves over and puts Primal on the Gnarlhorn, and the Blackclad Hunters' Marks Megalith. 

The Gnarlhorn goes in, and cannot quite seal the deal, leaving Megalith on 8 boxes. 

Score 1-0

Advantage Good Circle

Good Circle turn 4:

I make a Mannikin and beasts Heal from the theme. 

The Mannikin sprays Smalls in the back, boosting to hit the contesting Gobber and succeeding. 

Smalls turns and punches the Mannikin, knocking the Griffon over and then killing it.

Tiny manages to kill the Blackclad after putting ALL of his attacks into it. 

Megalith barely kills the Gnarlhorn.

Baldur kills the Wolf Rider and I get two more points. 

Score 3-0

Advantage Good Circle

Baa-aad Circle turn 4:

My opponent wants to get a control point for his team, so Kaya charges Smalls. The Feral puts Primal on the Shadowhorn, which goes in and kills the objective. My opponent concedes, and I score two more points. 

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

This went basically as expected. Without multiple heavies starting out at PS 18 or higher and a Pureblood, Kaya 3 has very little game into an ARM skew this extreme. 

This team was the leading team after round 1. My team managed to split 2-2 with them, but they got 5 more control points than us, leading us by 7 control points overall. Round 3 we would have to win at least one more game than them or score at least 8 more control points than they did. A tall order. 

This game, I lost 7 30 mm, 1 40 mm, and 1 50 mm model as well as a win, for a total of 130 reps of push ups and sit ups. 

Battle Report 75: ATC Round 5 - Wurmwood vs. Kaya 2

Prologue:

Once again I ended up in the Circle mirror. It came down to ether giving me a 50% shot at winning against a Menoth pairing and my teammate a 5% chance against Circle, or giving us both 50% shots at winning our matchups ish.

Ah well. He had Kaya 2 and Wurmwood, and I knew he was dropping Kaya 2 and I didn't feel like playing Kaya 3 since he basically outthreats my list and can do it twice.


Wurmwood
- Cassius
- Loki
- Pureblood
- Gorax
- Woldwyrd x3

Shifting Stone x2
Sentry Stone x2
Min Bonegrinders
Bokur and Shamblers


vs.

Kaya 2
- Wilder
- Laris
- Ghetorix
- Loki
- Pureblood
- Feral
- Argus

Shifting Stones
Sentry Stone x2


We were playing Take and Hold, and I lost the roll off (darn) going second (darn).

This was going to be another rough matchup - Shadowpack shuts down half my list.


Bad Circle turn 1:

Everything moves up pretty much to max distance. Shadowpack on Kaya and Forced Evolution on Loki.

Circle turn 1:

I can get two Sentry Sprays on the left side Sentry Stone, so I go for it.

They roll fairly well and leave it on 1. Cassius runs up, and I put a boosted damage Stranglehold into it, killing it. Wild Growth goes up, and

Bone Grinders murder eachother, and stuff moves up.

Bad Circle turn 2:

My opponent retaliates by having his Pureblood spray my Stone to death. Everything moves up very cagily with Shadowpack up.

Circle turn 2:

I see a way to get Loki this turn, and I am just greedy enough to go for it. What I SHOULD have done is simply Strangleheld Ghetorix and Loki and moved up a little more.

Instead, I go for broke.

Hellmouth pulls Loki forward and does massive damage to him.

I walk my Pureblood up, warp Spell Ward, Wraithbane my Wyrd and spray Loki and....miss.

The Wyrd moves up and shoots, connecting and doing damaging, missing, and then hitting and...leaving Loki on 1.

My Loki moves up, chucks his hook at the bad Loki and kills him before casting Evasive.

I flood the area around Loki with dudes in an effort to keep him safe, kill his other Sentry Stone unit with my Woldwyrd, and call it good.

Bad Circle turn 3:

Stones port Laris up, Kaya activates, Feats, and Dogpiles my Wyrd.

Laris activates, does nothing, and goes back.

Ghetorix charges in, kills the Wyrd, mostly kills my Pureblood, and gets ported back.

The Pureblood warps Strength and misses my Woldwyrd a bunch, leaving it on ten.

My opponent can just barely get his Argus into Doppler Bark range of Loki, but he has to roll a hard 8 to hit my Wyrd and then a 10 on his damage roll to kill the Wyrd to clear the Ferals way.

He hits both, Barks, and gets back.

The Feral doesn't roll any double 1s, and Loki dies.

Circle turn 3:

The game is effectively over now, but it's time to try stupid things.

I flood him with models, try to kill a Shifting Stone, and put Wurmwood on the Flag, scoring 1.

Score 1-0

Advantage Circle

Bad Circle turn 4:

I've been really stupid and not checked my landing spots. He can get Ghetorix onto my Pureblood with a Stone port. 

His Pureblood tramples up, clearing a path. 

Ghetorix goes up and murders my Pureblood and the Bokur. 

I score another point. 

Score 2-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 4:

I finish off Laris, Stranglehold the Pureblood and fail to damage Ghetorix with a Stranglehold there. 

I flood the landing spaces in the forest with Shifting Stones and score again. Unfortunately, I play too cautiously with Cassius here, and that will cost me the game. 

Score 3-0

Advantage Circle

Bad Circle turn 5:

The Pureblood frenzies into Ghetorix, doing 10 damage somehow. 

Ghetorix kills Shifting Stones and contests. 

His Shifting Stone contests. 

Score 3-0 

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 5:

Here I discover my mistake. If Cassius had been 4 inches farther left, he would have been able to run base to base with the flag on the other side. This would have let me run my Shamblers away from his Argus, port a Shifting Stone 3 inches from the Argus, Dark Path Wurmwood to the enemy flag and Hellmouth his Argus out, getting my last two points. 

Sadly none of this happens and I prepare for death. I do send Cassius way the heck off to the side in case I live through this turn.

Bad Circle turn 6:

The Pureblood with Primal ends Wurmwood. 

Sadly, Defeat for the Druids

Post-Game Thoughts:

The dice gods giveth and taketh away. I won't belabor this point, but if my opponent had missed his Argus charge, I probably win. If my Woldwyrd had rolled a 9 on his last attack, I probably win again since Loki wouldn't be that close. 

Lots of missed opportunities here on my part, but a well played game by my opponent. 

Sadly, my team was relying on me to win, so we went 2-3 and lost this round. 

Overall ATC experience post and such coming in the next day or two. 

Thanks for reading!

Battle Report 74: ATC Round 4 - Wurmwood vs. Kaya 3

Prologue:

Rematch time! Bret had brought a Circle tooled Kaya 3 list that I was aware of ahead of time. I had honestly been hoping to dodge this matchup, but his team swooped in and made me take it anyway.

What can you do?


Me:

Wurmwood
- Cassius
- Loki
- Pureblood
- Gorax
- Woldwyrd x3

Sentry Stone x2
Shifting Stone x2
Min Bonegrinders
Bokur and Shamblers

Bret:

Kaya 3 in the Wild Hunt Theme
- Pureblood x3
- Argus x2
- Woldwyrd x2
- Gorax

Shifting Stones
- CA
Min Wolves of Orboros (ambushed)

So let's recap - he ignores forests for charges, his Wolves will be able to either A) seriously mess up my placement or B) come in and contest on a crucial turn, and he has accurate, powerful shooting at ranges that I can't retaliate from easily. Good times.

I DID win the roll off and decided to windmill slam first. Bret took the side with the wall, and we were off.

Apparently I didn't take a picture of my deployment, but it basically looked the same as usual.

Circle turn 1:

I do what I always do, kill some Bone Grinders and run up. Loki gets in some Shifting Stones and I get ready to threaten both flags.

Bad Circle turn 1:

Things move into the trench. The Stones spread really wide (the CA is interesting for sure), and Kaya doesn't cast anything at all (go Woldwyrds).

All the Purebloods are spell warded sadly.

Circle turn 2:

I can easily hook the Argus in the trench with Loki warping hunter, and kill it dead with Wyrds.

I should be able to kill the Stone Keeper with one of my Sentry Stone units and that will render the unit basically useless for a couple of turns, which I like.

Loki moves up and hooks the Argus and kills it by himself.

Sentry Stones miss the Stone Keeper, so I have a Wyrd blast the Stone in the trench.

I have to really move things in to prevent the Wolves from ambushing on my face, so everything goes central. I contest the left flag best I can, and put something on my flag to prevent Bret from ignoring that half of the table.

I pop my Feat to prevent sprays from seriously messing up my densely packed models.

Bad Circle turn 2:

Lots of Shamblers die. The Bokur dies. My flag gets contested by the Stone Keeper.

Bret gets a point.

Score 1-0

Advantage Bad Circle

Circle turn 3:

Goal for this turn is contest, control, and kill the objective, which is going to be hard because it is Bunker. 

Wurmwood gets a Curse of Shadows on it which helps, but it takes a lot of shooting and some charging Mannikins to kill it. 

Loki hooks the Pureblood, leaving it on half health. 

The Woldwyrd moves up and nearly kills it. My Pureblood sprays it, boosts and...misses. Uh oh, that's bad. 

I get two points. 

Score 2-1

Advantage Good Circle!

Bad Circle turn 3:

Bret decides it's go time. 

Kaya casts Synergy and kills some Shamblers before healing the battered Pureblood and repositioning back. 

The Argus kills another Shambler. The bottom Pureblood goes Ghostly after the Wyrd kills the Shambler in the way and charges the objective, killing it. 

He contests with his top Pureblood, which was Primaled and also kills Loki easily. 

Bad Circle Score 2. 

Score 2-3

Advantage Bad Circle

Circle turn 4:

I have a legit assassination run here because I can get all three Wyrds on Kaya if I Hellmouth her back, and that should kill her. 

Unfortunately, I make two crucially bad decisions here. I Primal the Pureblood, mistake number one, and then use it to kill his Pureblood. MASSIVE MISTAKE. 

I should have thrown it out of the way. Because I killed it, Kaya is camping six instead of two. 

I go for it anyway, and the damage rolls are so bad. At dice -4 on four dice, I did 2, 3, or 4 at least half the damage rolls. Even so, Kaya is on two transfers and 3 health after the barrage. If I'd just thrown the Pureblood, she would have been dead. 

I contest again and score once more.

Score 3-3

Tie!

Bad Circle turn 4:

Bret breathes a sigh of relief and packs Kaya with all the stuff he can. 

He contests my flag with Ambushed Wolves, and scores another point. 

I forgot to take a picture of this turn. 

Score 3-4

Advantage Bad Circle

Circle turn 5:

Because my Pureblood frenzied, I have no way to kill enough models to ride this out, so I go for another assassination attempt. This time, Kaya doesn't have an upkeep on her, so it really needs fire dice. I miss every shot, and Bret scores his fifth point. 

Sadly, Defeat for the Druids. 

Post-Game Thoughts:

I got tunnel vision wayyyy too hard this game. I should have realized that I was saving Kaya's life by killing that Pureblood. One simple change to my turn there and I win this game. 

Unfortunately, I realized this one turn too late, and by then it didn't matter. 

A well played game by Bret, looking forward to our next match!

My team lost 1-4 this round. 

Battle Report 63: Las Vegas Open Invitational Round 3 - Wurmwood vs. Baldur 2

Prologue:

Going into the Semi-Finals, there were three Circle players and a Convergence player. I really didn't feel great into any of the lists (or the players, the shark tank at LVO is real!), and looking back at it, I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink in about 8 hours at this point. 

Pro tip - stay hydrated and eat snacks at big events, it's important. 

Ready or not, I was paired with Tom Guan in the Semi-finals. He had a Wurmwood list that was similar to mine and a REALLY cool Baldur 2 list with the Storm Raptor on Una 1. 

He dropped Baldur, I dropped Wurmwood. 

Baldur 2:

- Megalith 

- Pureblood

Una 1

- Stormraptor

Ogrun Bokur x2 (clients to Sentry Stones)

Gobber Chef

Sentry Stone x2

Shifting Stones

Swamp Gobbers Bellow Crew

vs. 

Wurmwood

- Cassius

- Megalith

- Pureblood

- Woldwyrd x3

Gallows Grove

Blackclad Wayfarer

Sentry Stone x2

Shifting Stone x2

Min Bone Grinders

Gatormen Bokur

I won the roll off and chose second, taking the side with the big forest. 

Also I forgot that Una 1 gives her battlegroup Birds Eye - I haven't played her with anything but Scarsfells in so long that I just remember they have tracker. 

Baldur turn 1:

He runs at me turn 1. No spells up, nothing. Una snuggles into the Storm Raptor and stays in the trio of Shifting Stones.

Megalith tramples at the very end and puts Roots of the Earth on the Storm Raptor.

Wurmwood turn 1:

This turn kind of signals how the rest of the game is going to go, and it all starts so innocently.

The Bone Grinders craft Wurmwood a talisman and then try and ritualistically murder eachother like they do every game, but I miss two attack rolls.

Awkward.

I have a Woldwyrd shoot two of them, but miss once and then the second one toughs.

Basically I can't get to three souls on the tree to save my ilfe.

I port Wurmwood to exactly 12 inches from the Storm Raptor, and Tom kindly reminds me about Birds Eye, so I try, and fail, to Stranglehold the Raptor before camping four.

Megalith tramples up and also tries to Stranglehold the Raptor, but fails.

I brace for impact. Tom likes to go for assassinations I've been told, and Wurmwood is within charge range.

Unfortunately I really don't have a choice here. He's up a gargantuan to my three lights, and I need to bait it out in order to have a chance.

I flood the zone and pass the clock.

Baldur turn 2:

Tom's Sentry Mannikins go nuts and blow up everything the Storm Raptor needed dead.

Una gets ported up, casts Dog Pile at Wurmwood and misses somehow, and then casts it again and hits.

The Storm Raptor charges in but fails to kill Wurmwood. Phew.

Everything else he has toes the zone and he passes the turn. Una is camping nothing.

Wurmwood turn 2:

I place a Mannikin in melee with Una, and another in the zone.

Wurmwood gets nine fury.

Una dies to the first Mannikin attack, and I breath a sigh of relief. I was still playing in my head with Mark 2 wild beast rules, which meant that I thought the Raptor was stuck where he was. (Spoilers, I was wrong).

Lanyssa casts Hunters Mark at the Bokur in front of bad Megalith (she couldn't reach Megalith with it).

Wurmwood gets Curse of Shadows onto bad Megalith, and yanks Cassius back.

My Megalith charges and kills bad Megalith, but for some reason I don't buy my last attack on the knocked down Bokur.

One of my Woldwyrds kills his Central Sentry Stone, and I push into the zone with Shamblers.

I score 1 point, and Baldur does not thanks to a contesting Mannikin.

Score 1-0

Advantage Wurmwood

Baldur turn 3:

Tom spends a few minutes reading the Wild rules, and then has me look at them to confirm we both get it. Turns out, you can literally run a Wild warbeast anywhere now. Uh oh.

He clears a landing spot for the Storm Raptor.

His Pureblood warps Strength and kills Megalith (remember, I had to transfer to him).

The Raptor runs, taking one pretty good free strike. Baldur walks up and spends a fury to restart the engine, and I'm suddenly in big trouble again. Baldur Feats, and casts a Rock Wall as well.

I score again.

Score 2-0

Advantage Wurmwood

Wurmwood turn 3:

This is the turn where things started to go really wrong.

I get Curse of Shadows on the Storm Raptor and put Wraithbane on one Woldwyrd and the Pureblood.

And then I don't Feat because I want the Bokur to charge the Pureblood.

What I SHOULD have done is simply put Wraithbane on both Wyrds and Strangleheld the Storm Raptor before popping feat.

This would have let me shoot the Raptor down to about half health, protected Cassius, and let me get another point, all the while making his entire list basically useless.

Instead, I get greedy and charge the Storm Raptor.

I miss my charge and one bought attack, and my Woldwyrds whiff for damage rolls, leaving the thing on 17 boxes.

I jam the Pureblood with the Bokur (again, he should have been hanging out in the back of the zone under Wurmwoods feat here).

I get another point.

Score 3-0

Advantage Wurmwood

Baldur turn 4:

Turns out, Curse of Shadows lets any model move through the model.

The Gobber Chef and Bokur do some damage to the Pureblood, and then Baldur finishes it, putting Roots of the Earth on the Storm Raptor.

The Storm Raptor kills the Bokur, and the Pureblood assaults Cassius, killing him and the Sentry Stone next to him AND contesting.

Score 3-0

Advantage Wurmwood

Wurmwood turn 4:

I see an opening here. If I can kill the Raptor with two wyrds, a charging pair of Shamblers, and Lanyssa, I can use the other to kill the contesting Shifting Stone. I can port Wurmwood into the zone, Hellmouth the Pureblood OUT of the zone, and Hellmouth the two contesting models to death (if the Sentry Stones don't kill them first).

Long story short, it takes every single attack I have to kill the Raptor, and I don't kill the Chef.

I Hellmouth the Pureblood away from the flag, and then I just sit on four fury with no transfer targets instead of healing up to 10 boxes. I feat.

I surround the Pureblood with Shifting Stones and score again.

Score 4-0

Advantage Wurmwood

Baldur turn 5:

Tom has Baldur heal the Pureblood to full. The Pureblood Warps Ghostly and tramples to Wurmwood, killing him.

Victory for the (other) Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

This was such a grind. There were probably ten people watching this game just shaking their heads at the craziness as Tom and I traded advantages back and forth. I feel like I made a couple of critical mistakes in the later turns that cost me the game, although the only reason I've found them is by looking back at the game over and over and over again. ( I had a long plane ride home with not much else to do). 

If I'd gone with the plan of Feating a turn earlier and whittling the Storm Raptor down, my Pureblood would have lived, and the Raptor would have been dead after one more turn of shooting and having the Pureblood charge at the end of that. If I'd healed Wurmwood every turn after the first, I would have likely liver through the Pureblood assassination. 

Those two mistakes cost me the game. I'm incredibly impressed that Tom was able to salvage his situation after turn 2 - the guy is an incredible player. 

I'll be writing a "what now" article at some point in the next couple of days, but I was very happy with my performance at the LVO. Breaking into the semi-finals undefeated was a huge accomplishment for me, and I'm extremely excited to look ahead to the next set of tournaments in 2017. 

Thanks for reading!

Battle Report 61: Las Vegas Open Masters Invitational Round 1 - Wurmwood vs. Una 2

Oh boy oh boy oh boy!

The mythical day two.

Naturally this is a good time to panic right?

In consultation with Bret F. (chocobsessed) and a few other people, I made a quick pair of swaps in my Wurmwood list.


Out
- Brennos
- Blackclad

In
- Pureblood
- Lanyssa


The reason for these changes was simple - there was a lot of armor buffs in the top 16, and there was a LOT of Una 2. The Pureblood is better into both of these, and Lanyssa can randomly strip flight off a few birds, making them much less scary.


Of course, this meant that I was destined to play Bret round 1.

I was very nervous going into this game. Bret is one of the most respected players in the states, and he's also been playing Circle for a lot longer than I have.

He had Tanith and Una, and we had both agreed his Tanith list had next to no chance into my Wurmwood gunline, so I knew he was playing Una and he knew I was playing Wurmwood.


Bret:

Una 2
- Scarsfell x8
- Pureblood
- Gorax

Wrong Eye
- Snapjaw
Gobber Chef

Sentry Stone x1

Arcane Wonder

and me!

Wurmwood
- Cassius
- Pureblood
- Megalith
- Woldwyrd x3

Lanyssa
Gallows Grove

Shifting Stones x2
Sentry Stones x2
Min Bone Grinders
Gatormen Bokur

Fuel Cache

I won the roll off and windmill slammed going first, and Bret took the side with the trench for Una to hide in.

We were playing on the sweet, sweet table that Tyson had made for LVO. The Terrain for Bret's side is a trench and a forest and a huge obstacle.

On my side, it's a forest, a pond, and a hill.

I deployed nice and centrally. I needed to force him to come to me with his feat to run around my models or I didn't have a chance, and I actually present quite a significant shooting threat to his list. 

The birds...so many.

I should also point out that this game was played pre-Una 2 nerf, so her original feat was still here and so was the Scarsfells having Long Leash.


Good Circle turn 1:

I basically run like mad. I need to project as many threats as possible. I keep Megalith and the Pureblood central, there are so many griffons on my right side that I suspect he's going for Scenario here and I want to keep my options open.

The Bokur is great into the birds, he stops so many landing spots, and he keeps on coming.

Bad Circle turn 1:

He skews the Griffons hard to the right and puts Una into the trench. Mirage is on a Griffon, and he doesn't cast Hand of Fate, electing to shoot down Sentry Mannikins with Una instead.

Good Circle turn 2:

I see an opening. I can Hellmouth Una out of the trench with a Mannikin. She's only camping two, and I can get two Woldwyrds, Megalith's animus, and a Pureblood spray on her.

I run Shamblers around like crazy, keeping them in command. We premeasure it out, and Una gets Hellmouthed out of the trench. I boost damage and she transfers.

Megalith tramples up, pops his animus to make her DEF 13, and Strangleholds her for a few more.

The two Woldwyrds leave her on a few boxes, and the Pureblood sprays her to death.

Victory for the (good) Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

We had a decent laugh after this game because I'd talked about how this tended to happen and Bret told me what I already knew - put two heavies in front of your caster and this is basically impossible. 

If that hadn't have worked, I think I was going to be able to get a really, REALLY good Winter Storm of with Lanyssa by walking her over to the obstacle and making....all? of the Griffons lose flight the next turn. I don't think that he could have walked more than one over to her, and I could have stopped that by blocking her in with a Woldwyrd. 

I'm really glad I didn't have to play this out, since I don't think I am favored in this matchup. 

That being said, after consulting with various other Circle players since then, I think that a Wurmwood gunline can be built to have a very strong matchup into pre-nerf Una 2 (not that that matters anymore), and with the loss of long leash, I think Wurmwood is actually quite favored into the matchup now, since Una has to be constantly afraid of dying. 

Battle Report 26, High Reward Steamroller Round 2, Tanith vs. Tanith

Prologue:

As I mentioned in my previous post, there were 2 other Circle players in this event. One of them had lost round one to my Khador buddy, and the other had won round 1 vs. Issyria playing Wurmwood.

We also had the Skorne player winning his first round, so I was slated to get either Khador, Skorne, or Circle.

Out of the three, I really didn't want to play against Khador since 1) he's my good friend and we'd both commuted quite a ways to get to Mox and 2) his lists were the ones I felt I had the worst matchups into.

The stars shined on me and I was dropped into the Circle player who was running a Wurmwood list with 4 heavies and the exact same Tanith list as me!

Unsurprisingly, we both picked Tanith, and we both played:

Tanith
-Warpwolf Stalker
-Pureblood Warpwolf
-Scarsfell
-Gorax

Una
-Scarsfell x2

Wrong Eye
-Snapjaw

Lanyssa

Sentry Stones x2
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

He won the roll off and opted to go first on Incursion. I picked the side that would give me the best protection from his heavies thanks to a nicely placed forest and away we went.

He deployed skewed to the right because of the forest, with only Sentry Stone unit 1 and Wrong Eye/Snapjaw over there.

Looking at his deployment, I immediately decided this game was going to be a Scenario game. If he wants to keep contesting that far left flag, he's going to have to sacrifice something to keep contesting.

If that something is Wrong Eye and Snapjaw, then his army doesn't get Star-Crossed and I'll massively win that fight barring goofy dice. If he decides to move them central like he needs to for them to be a big impact on the game, then I get to kill one unit of Sentry Stones and run Lanyssa to control that flag for a few turns.

I deploy very centrally with that in mind.

Bad Guy Tanith Turn 1:

He does exactly what I normally do, Scything Touch on a Griffon and Admonition on the Pureblood.

Una casts Guardian Beast and everything runs up. He tries to bait me with a single Mannikin out of the left unit, but I'm not going to take it.

Good Guy Tanith Turn 1:

Well I do...pretty much the same thing! Except that I get to actually make attacks this turn.

I kill one of my own Mannikins on the right and get a spray into the Scarsfell he has with Scything Touch, cranking the damage a bit and doing 10.

I put my Griffons out of charge range of his Griffons by a sliver, except one which I'm happy to give him if he wants to heal the hurt Griffon and then commit his Scything touch model to somewhere it's not going to do much except maybe kill another Griffon. I'd also put Evasive on the one Griffon he could get to, so if he misses an attack, I get to capitalize.

I DO NOT take the bait, leaving his Mannikin on the left alive, and just generally make a beeline for the hill, staying out of his charge ranges with everything.

His Lanyssa is way off to the side, and I can already feel him shifting his momentum right and abandoning the left flag. He's going to have a hard time contesting meaningfully on the center next turn as well without giving me a really good charge target.

Wrong Eye has Star-Crossed up, but one transfer instead of Submerge. There are enough things around that he can target other stuff with sprays and still get to him.

An important note here - My Tanith stays central after casting Scything Touch on a Griffon and Admonition on the Pureblood, whereas his Tanith is already scooting off to the side.

Bad Guy Tanith Turn 2:

He upkeeps all of his spells and goes to work. Tanith heals the one Griffon and moves over again before it charges in, boosting hits and killing my Yellow Griffon. Darn.

He moves another Griffon up to the flag so that if I don't contest he gets to score.

His Pureblood warps Spell Ward and sprays my unpainted Sentry Stone, leaving it on one.

His Mannikins have a hard time hitting Star-Crossed 10s and kill one Mannikin of mine.

Good Guy Tanith Turn 2:

It's time to score!

I upkeep my spells and start my turn. Tanith moves first, advancing to 10 inches away from his Pureblood and boosting a shot at it, connects, and then whiffs damage and only does 1.

The Gorax moves up and Primals the Grey Scarsfell.

It charges into the Pureblood, who tries to trigger Admonition. I remind him he is Shadow Bound, and the Pureblood goes nowhere. The Griffon kills him handily.

Side note - this list is designed to trade Griffons for heavies, and this is the first time I've ever pulled it off thanks to other attempts getting diced, and it felt pretty awesome to have it work.

The Grey Sentry unit activates, gets more Fury, caps the flag and Sprays the left hand Sentry Stone itself down to 2 boxes. A forest is made for Tanith to hide behind.

The Pureblood moves up and finishes off the Sentry Stone with another Spray.

The Blue Griffon moves up and headbutts the bad Griffon, then buys an attack and does some damage.

Una moves up, shoots him a few times, and then gets ported back with the Shifting Stones.

The Painted Stone unit rolls 3 fury, places a Mannikin contesting the right flag and in the bad Griffons back arc. A forest is made to complete Tanith's wall, and the Mannikin boosts damage on a Spray, killing that Griffon dead.

I can't get anything over to the far left flag, but Lanyssa runs for next turn.

Star-Crossed goes up again with Wrong Eye right in the middle of the table.

I get one point.

Score 1-0

Advantage Good Guy Circle

Bad Guy Tanith turn 3:

The remaining Sentry Unit sprays down the Grey Stone on my side and kills the contesting Mannikin.

The Stalker gets Admonition put on him, and Tanith advances.

The Stalker charges in and murders the Sentry Stone.

He spends the activation of Una, a Griffon, and Snapjaw to kill the Grey Griffon.

The other Griffon charges but fails to kill my Blue Griffon.

Lanyssa caps his flag. Star-Crossed and Submerge go on Wrong Eye, but he's really far away from anything important.

His Shifting Stones go wayyy back, and the leader model is in the middle. I'm still not sure what the intent was here.

He gets one point.

Score 1-1

Tied Game

Good Guy Tanith turn 3:

My central placement of Tanith is about to pay off once more. She upkeeps Admonition and then moves around Wrong Eye to the hill. She shoots the Stalker, boosting hit and damage, and making him Shadow Bound. 

Wrong Eye moves up to cap the flag, casting both Submerge and Star-Crossed. Snapjaw charges in and murders the Stalker. 

Lanyssa runs to the far flag. The Pureblood advances and sprays at the Shifting Stone behind Wrong Eye, boosting hit and damage on him, doing enough to kill! And then he toughs. Darn!

Stalker runs up. 

Between Una and the Blue Griffon getting Primaled, the other Griffon dies. 

I get two more points and contest with the Shifting Stones. 

Score 3-1

Advantage Good Guy Circle

Bad Guy Tanith turn 4:

We measure it out and he can't contest the far flag with anything, but he wants to murder stuff so he charges in and kills Wrong Eye. Stuff runs futilely. 

I get another point.

Score 4-1

Advantage Good Guy Circle

Good Guy Tanith turn 4:

I'm not a fan of rubbing a win in, so I just activate everyone and do nothing, getting a fifth control point and the win. 

Score 5-1

Victory for the (good) Druids!

Post Game Thoughts:

So Tanith is really good, and this game basically came down to where we both placed our Tanith's. My central placement allowed me to get around Admonition and murder his relevant models without any retaliation of note.

The other thing that I did which he did not was place Wrong Eye in such a way that Star-Crossed actually mattered, and it did matter. 

Really interesting matchup, and a very good game. 

Skorne had won against Khador, so I was in for a rough time in the finals...