Battle Report 107: Wurmwood vs. Butcher 3

Prologue:

You know something has gone screwy in your head when you're looking at 3 Khador heavies across the table and going "that looks way manageable".

My opponent this time had Vlad 2 with a Conquest and Butcher 3 with Ruin and double Kodiak.

I like Wurmwood into that Vlad list since Stranglehold is amazing against colossals, and I don't mind him into Butcher either since I can randomly kill Butcher a in a lot of situations.

He dropped Butcher, I dropped Wurmwood.

Butcher 3
- Argus x2
- Ruin
- Kodiak
- Kodiak

Drakhun
Orin
Ragman
Ogrun Bokur (cliented Butcher)

Kayazy Eliminator x2

Vs.


Wurmwood
- Cassius
- Pureblood
- Feral
- Wyrd
- Wyrdlyng
- Wyrdless

Gobber Chef

Sentry Stone x2
Shifting Stone x2
Gatorman Bokur and Shamblers
Bone Grinders (min)

I actually won the roll off this time, and I chose to go first.

Sorry for the blur ><

Circle turn 1:

Everything runs up. Bone Grinders slaughter each other....well actually not so much. All three hit, only two kill. Yayyy.

The Feral cleans up the two grievously wounded pigs, and the tree and Bokur take souls and corpses.

I screw up here and don't place Wurmwood within 8 inches of the flag.

Khador turn 1:

Everything runs at me. Everything. Butcher casts Energizer and starts shoving models in my face.

Circle turn 2:

I manage to kill off Orin and Ragman with Sentry Stone sprays. I commit two Wyrds to dismounting the Drakhun and fail.

I try four Strangleholds on his Kodiaks, but only one sticks.

The dice were unkind to the Circle this turn.

Wurmwood ports closer to a flag.

Khador turn 2:

Kodiak on the right goes into the Wyrds and nearly kills one. The Drakhun can't charge around it so he stays back a bit.

Ruin goes for my left side.

Kayazy jam me up like crazy.

Circle turn 3:

It's easily a feat turn here. I use the Wyrd on the far right to dismount the Drakhun (yay gunfighter rules) and consolidate models in the middle.

The Argus enables me to easily kill the three Kayazy there.

Wurmwood gets over to the flag, pops a Wild Growth to hide my heavies, and feats, netting me a point.

Score 1-0

Advantage Circle

Khador turn 3:

My exposed Wyrds die easily, as does my Argus. Ruin backs up, and I'm seeing something interesting going on before Butcher activates.

I'm going to 2 here, there's nothing he can do about it, and that means that if he leaves the space by the building alone, I can run a Wyrd all the way to his flag next turn and go to four. If I body block with my heavies and the house, I might be able to make it an uncontestable scenario win.

Instead, my opponent jams Butchers unit at the Sentry Stone on the right and pops his feat.

Score 2-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 4:

It's assassination time!

I place a Mannikin over by the Butcher unit and drop Wild Growth. 

Cassius runs, and I Hellmouth Butcher closer to me, boosting damage on his Argus and not quite killing it. I then cast Curse of Shadows on Butcher.

The Wyrd aims and misses the Argus with it's first two attacks, so I boost hit and damage on the last one and kill it.

The Bokur moves over and casts Hand of Glory on Butcher, boosting to hit and making him Stationary.

The Pureblood warps Strength and walks up, leaving the insane lunatic on a few boxes. The Feral gets ported up by the Shifting Stones after that and puts the Butcher down.

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

I've played this matchup a LOT, and it's a fairly close matchup assuming no mistakes on either players end, but the Butcher player has to be a lot more careful (I think) than the Wurmwood player does, especially against my particular build with so many assassination angles.

Battle Report 106: Baldur 2 (Bones of Orboros) vs. Harkevich (Jaws of the Wolf)

Game two, I was playing against Khador, and my opponent was pairing Butcher 3 with Harkevich. I think my Wurmwood list is quite okay into Butcher 3, and my opponent thought so too, but Wurmwood, at least my build, doesn't stand a chance into Harkevich's legion of jacks.

With that in mind, I put Baldur 2 down.


Baldur 2
- Wrath (Tiny)
- Wrath (Smalls)
- Megalith

Stoneshaper x2 (free)
Wayfarer (free)

Sentry Stone
Shifting Stones x2

Into:

Harkevich
- War Dog (which was forgotten in his bag)
- Kodiak x3
- Juggernaut x2
- Marauder x3

Kayazy Eliminators x2

Forge Seer x2 (free, proxied by Man O' War Shocktroopers)


We were on the same table, and I lost the roll off again. I took the side with the wall and the house, thinking to save at least one Woldwrath from getting charged. If I can prevent him from getting more than 1-2 heavies into me at a time, I might be able to heal up enough to keep all of my beasts alive through the game.

Also important note, Baldur is going to be a key beat stick late game, and I'm going to need him to take down damage jacks, so I was almost never going to get to ritual of purification the Wurm tokens off.

Khador turn 1:

Harkevich does what he does, casting Mobility and charging forward.

His 'jacks all run up the field, and the Eliminators and Forge Seers run as well.

Circle turn 1:

In kind, I run everything up as well, keeping the right hand Woldwrath out of the Marauders charge ranges. I put a Rock Wall down between the building and the other wall so that the Juggernaut can't charge the Woldwrath.

Roots of the Earth up on both the Woldwraths in case I missed something.

Khador turn 2:

I get jammed with Kodiaks. Harkevich pops Mobility and feats.

Circle turn 2:

Two priorities this turn - get Roots of the Earth everywhere (feat probably), bash up a couple jacks, and contest his zone.

I port up a Shifting Stone to accomplish the last one. Megalith plus the right hand Woldwrath kill off their Kodiak, and the left Woldwrath beats on the other.

Stoneshapers each pull a fury so Baldur can transfer.

I unsuccessfully flail at Kayazy with Mannikins.

Baldur moves up, casts Rock Wall to prevent the right hand Wrath from getting all the Marauders in his face and Feats, taking a couple damage from Wurm tokens.

Khador turn 3:

My opponent wails on Megs, but fluffs the hit roll a couple times thanks to the wall bonus.

He sends two Marauders into the objective and leaves it on one box (yesss).

The other Marauder flails at the Wrath, but at dice -7 isn't doing much.

He kills the contesting stone with a Juggy and goes to one.

Score: 0 - 1

Advantage Khador

Circle turn 3:

I pull as much Fury as possible with Stones and Baldur.

I kill off the left Kodiak with Baldur, but I crucially forget to Roots the right hand Wrath. Baldur does put it on himself though.

Megalith just falls short of killing center Juggy, and the left Wrath kills a Kodiak.

Right hand Wrath leaves that Marauder on life support.

I contest with another Shifting Stone.

Score: 0 -1 

Advantage Khador

Khador turn 4:

Not casting Roots of the Earth costs me here, as my Woldwrath goes down. It takes all three Marauders AND a lucky dice break on the part of the all crippled Juggy.

His Kayazy kill the objective and he scores 2 points here.

Score: 0 - 3

Advantage Khador

Circle turn 4:

Megalith kills the Juggy and nearly kills a Marauder before putting Roots of the Earth on himself.

I contest the zone with a few Shifting Stones and a Mannikin or two.

The left Juggy nearly dies to the Woldwrath, and Baldur moves up.

I port both Shifting Stones closer to the middle of the table.

Score: 0 - 3 

Advantage Khador

Khador turn 5:

Turns out, Marauders aren't great at killing non-colossals, and Megalith survives.

Harkevich runs to the zone.

Score: 0 - 3

Advantage Khador

Circle turn 5:

Megalith goes first, leaving yet another Marauder on life support and killing the other. 

The Juggy dies to the Woldwrath initials. 

Baldur, now with five Wurm tokens, two shots the objective and dominates that zone. 

I move both Shifting Stones over again, just touching the edge of the zone, and contest with everything I have left that can. 

Score: 3-3

Tie!

Khador turn 6:

Megalith finally dies, as do all of my other non-Woldwrath models on that side of the table. 

My opponent does a happy dance, and then I point out that I also get 2 points. 

He's blocked my Wrath out of the zone pretty hard. 

Score: 5-5

Tie!

Circle turn 6:

Fortunately for me, my Shifting Stone is less than 8 inches from the edge of his zone, and is able to port over and contest. 

My Woldwrath chucks his Marauder into his other Marauder for fun, and I score two points. 

Score: 7-5

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

Wow this is a hard matchup. Terrain really saved me here, as did my opponents dice when he went after the objective. 

I made a couple big mistakes (ALWAYS put Roots of the Earth up, it's better than making that last attack Megalith), and this is just....such a hard game. This Harkevich build is no joke, and I need a lot more practice into it. 

Battle Report 86 - Spokane Team Championship Round 1: Tanith (The Wild Hunt) vs. Vlad 1 (Winter Guard Command)

Prologue:

This event was the first (hopefully) annual Team Tournament for Eastern Washington. Four captains were chosen from among the meta, and those four captains drafted teams from among a pool of pre-registered participants.

I was chosen as Captain of Team Mom (long story, ask at your peril), and we had 12 other people sign up for the event, meaning teams of four.

My team consisted of myself (Tanith/Baldur 2), my roommate (Fyanna 2/Lylyth 3), a Khador player (Vlad 2/Irusk 2), and our lone trolls player (Doomie 3/Ragnor).

Scoring for the event was based on the number of wins per team as first tie breaker, total control points as second tie breaker, and army points destroyed as third tie breaker.

My strategy for this event was basically to force the other captains to play me if I could in the pairing stage and to get at least one good matchup for Khador or Trolls while trusting Fyanna 2 or Lylyth 3 to pose serious problems for basically any pairing in the game.

Round 1 this worked out, and I ended up across the table from my good friend Adam running Strakhov 2 with Legion of Steel and Vlad 1 in Winter Guard Kommand.

My lists were:

Tanith (The Wild Hunt)
- Loki
- Wyrd x3
- Moonhound x2

Reeves and CA x2
Wolves and CA

Fuel Cache

And:

Baldur 2
- Woldwrath
- Woldwrath
- Megalith

Sentry Stone x2
Stoneshaper x3

I knew my opponent could not drop Legion of Steel into Tanith. It's an all melee army based on single wound ARM spam with no less than three upkeeps. I also knew I could not drop Baldur 2 into his Vlad list easily since it had three Marauders in it.

This led to me picking Tanith and my opponent picking Vlad. I lost the roll, and my opponent opted to choose the side with the best defensive terrain.

Vlad 1
- Marauder x3
- Juggernaut x2

Rifle Corps (min) and 3 Rockeeteers x3
Field Gun
Mortar Crew

My opponent advanced moved his Jacks before I took a picture of his deployment, but they were basically all back 4 inches.

Circle turn 1:

I have to get up the table fast - those Jacks can run 16 inches on Vlad's feat turn, and I can only kill a couple of them per turn.

Fortunately, he is going to have to funnel all of his Winterguard into the middle or else risk losing half his army to ambushing Wolves.

Loki runs up, carefully staying just over fourteen inches away from his heavies (they're so fast!). Tanith puts Scything Touch on Loki and Admonition on herself, drops a fury, and advances.

Everything else runs up to just outside of shooting ranges on his Winterguard. I spread out the left side unit a LOT, carefully checking to make sure a 4 inch AOE from the Mortar can't clip more than a couple of them.

Khador turn 1:

Vlad casts Windwall, Feats, and charges into the trench. (Side note, I need a Pureblood in this list somewhere).

His Jacks all run at me. Greattt.

Winterguard move in, but the far left unit cannot get far enough away from the edge of the board...

That's a lot of Khador heavies in my face.

Circle turn 2:

I have to kill two heavies, preferably more, and all of the rockets this turn.

Time for an Ambush!

Wolves come in on the left side, and after Tanith leaches and upkeeps both spells, they charge in. Somehow, two of the Winterguard survive, but most die and I reposition to engage some of the other unit.

On the home front, the two Wyrds next to Loki's Marauder mostly kill it. Loki moves to the space between them, warps for no CRA's, and kills the mostly dead one before dinging up the second one.

Two big Reeve CRA's (they pop their mini feat) and a Wyrd nearly finish it, and the Moonhound walks up and puts him down.

Tanith moves up and out of killbox, pops her feat and channels Affliction onto the remaining Marauder.

She camps two, and the last unit of Reeves activate.

They move up, kill all six remaining rockets, and put 16 individual shots into the Marauder for 16 damage. That alone took nearly three minutes to roll out >< The Reeves on the right also pop their mini-feat. Lots of DEF 17 models.

Khador turn 2:

My opponent decides he needs to assassinate or lose here. He allocates two to his Juggernaut.

I'm a little curious as to how he is planning on making this work, since I have Admonition on Tanith (see the token on he picture above?), and then I remember that the Field Gun knocks down.

Then I also remember that it can only move four inches and I am pretty sure I am still safe.

My opponent has Vlad cast Signs and Portents. His right side Winterguard all CRA the Reeve in the way of his Juggernaut.

He moves up his other unit and take a pot shot at another Reeve, which I Shield Guard with Loki.

His Field Gun is indeed out of range, and he shoots at my Argus, missing.

At this point, I move the Admonition token and the Fury in front of Tanith to be sure it is visible.

My opponent activates his Marauder and kills a couple Reeves.

His right hand Juggernaut kills a couple more.

"Hey would you mind moving that token for me so I can put the Juggernaut in front of Tanith please?" (Side Note - he asked me to put this in the battle report, I would not do it to be mean, Adam and I are good buds)

I move the Admonition token out of the way for his Juggernaut to move up.

"Trigger Admonition, scoot three inches to the right".

The deflated Juggernaut kills a bunch of Reeves and the Woldwyrd.

Circle turn 3:

The Fury is pulled, the spells are upkept.

The Argus moves up and kills a Rifleman.

Loki warps Strength, rolls pretty hot, and kills the Juggernaut without assistance (I was counting on a couple of big CRAs to finish him off).

The right hand Reeves and the Wyrd kill the Marauder with a bunch more individual shots.

The other Wyrd kills a pair of Riflemen.

The left unit of Reeves kills off most of the remaining Riflemen.

The two living Winterguard from the Ambush annoyingly tie up half the unit of Wolves, but there are enough to charge over and kill the Field Gun and engage the Mortar.

Tanith moves up to the flag and re-casts Admonition.

I get one point.

Score 1-0

Advantage Circle

Khador turn 3:

The two remaining Winterguard run to contest. Joe kills a Wolf.

The Juggernaut kills the Argus and a Reeve, and then Vlad casts Blood of Kings on himself and charges Loki. He misses his charge attack and camps his three.

Score 1-0 

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 4:

I upkeep Scything Touch and Admonition.

First tie breaker is Wins, Second is Control Points, so even though I think Vlad is dead here, I decide to mop up the flags a bit.

Wolves kill Joe and Mortars and one Winterguard.

Wyrds kill the other Winterguard.

The right unit of Reeves run to form a lovely flower shaped clump around the flag.

Loki warps Strength and Headbutts Vlad, needing a boosted 11 to hit. He connects. His last two attacks barely scratch Vlad's paint.

Tanith activates, casts Affliction on Vlad, and my opponent concedes, scoring me three more control points for my team.

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

With my opponent remembering Admonition, this game gets much worse as I believe Loki just dies. I still think I can kill off two more heavies the next turn by upkeeping and then recasting Affliction, but without the heavy beast there it gets much harder.

The Reeves having Hunter made a BIG difference this game, as I was able to snipe out the rockets from the trench without worrying too much about it. 7s to hit and 6s to kill isn't too bad when you get to take 44 shots a turn.

Another interesting point - I had forgotten how strong a bunch of infantry can be on attrition. When your opponent gets down to lower and lower numbers of attacks, he just cannot kill enough fast enough to get ahead on Scenario. This was one of the main tenants of Mark 2, and it is something I had forgotten.

My team had done well, having had Fyanna take down Issyria, Vlad 2 scenario out Iron Mother, and Ragnor sadly killboxing himself against Haley 2, for a round 1 score of 3 wins and 12 control points, with about 300 army points (122 from my game).

I lost two 40 mm bases and 8 30 mm bases this game, as well as winning it for a grand total of 120 reps of push ups and sit ups for Warmachine Fight Club. Ouch.

On to round two!

Battle Report 71: ATC Round 1 - Wurmwood vs. Butcher 3

Prologue:

Team tournaments are very weird, but very cool. You bring lists that aren't necessarily Steamroller optimized, with the idea that you can get matchups you want and avoid those you don't (assuming your Captain isn't really dumb - which I can say because I was my team Captain).

ATC was a frustrating, exhilarating event, and I won't go into the non-game stuff in these battle reports very much. Suffice to say that models were forgotten, cold walks in the frigid Milwaukee nights were taken, and much fun was had.

Round 1, I was into Khador playing Vlad 1 and Butcher 3. I was 100% certain he was playing Butcher 3 here, and I went for Wurmwood because A) I've played this matchup a bunch and B) it was Outlast, which is a Wurmwood Scenario if there is one.



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

Sentry Stone x2
Shifting Stone x2
Min Bonegrinders
Gatormen Bokur and Shamblers


vs.

Butcher 3
- War Argii
- War Dog
- Ruin
- Kodiak x2
- Juggernaut
- Marauder

Widowmaker Marksman
Harlan Versh

Widowmakers
Kayazy Eliminators x2
Min Mechaniks

He won the roll off and decided to go first, and I chose the side with the most walls because Loki hates those on the opposite table edge.

He deployed pretty standard, and I put everything important back 1.1 inches so that the Widowmakers couldn't pop my AD line turn 1.

Khador turn 1:

My opponent moves the Widowmakers up cautiously. Kayazy run up the table.

Butcher casts Silence of Death on Ruin (and my ears perk up a bit) and his battlegroup moves up the table.

He's staying pretty far back, respecting Loki maybe a touch too much.

Circle turn 1:

Based off what my opponent has done here, I know I'm making a strong play for the left zone ASAP. There's only one heavy over there, and if he continues to commit only the Marauder, it's a simple matter to hook it and kill it with Loki, using the forest to keep the rest of his nonsense at bay.

The Bone Grinders murder eachother for souls and corpses, and my beasts all book it left to the trench, except Loki who stays central inside some Stones.

My right side Woldwyrd goes into the rubble with some Mannikins.

I cast Wild Growth on the left side of the table so I can move my Shamblers up, and put Curse of Shadows on the left hand Kodiak.

Khador turn 2:

He upkeeps Silence of Death, which isn't that big of a deal right now since Ruin is on the side of the table with only one Woldwyrd.

Widowmakers and Marksmen kill Mannikins galore. The Marauder toes the zone, and the Kayazy all stay out.

Ruin, in a surprise move, comes to the left side of the table, and there's a Kayazy in front of him to dissuade any drag attempts.

Both Kodiaks move up and Vent Steam, toeing the zone.

Circle turn 2:

I debate several plans here. I can easily hook and kill the Marauder, no problem there. Unfortunately, this requires either Curse of Shadows or Primal, and I don't want to do either of those things here.

Curse means activating Wurmwood first, and I need to feat and dominate the left zone this turn.

Primal means a frenzying beast, and I can't afford that yet.

I eventually decided that Loki is going to hook in the Cursed Kodiak, and then the Bokur is killing the Kodiak under feat.

I can  Hellmouth the Marauder out of the zone, blast Ruin halfway to death with Wyrds, and get two points, all while killing his Marksmen and a couple of Widowmakers.

First things first, both Woldwyrds blast Ruin, leaving him on five or six.

Loki moves up and hooks the Kodiak in, beating him a bit and then casting Evasive. 

The Bokur moves up and kills the Kodiak dead.

I miss Mannikin sprays on Versh (sad), but kill the Eliminator in front of Ruin with one.

Cassius moves up, and I port Wurmwood over.

Wurmwood Hellmouths the Marauder out of the zone, killing the Marksman, a Kayazy, and a Widowmaker, and then Feats.

I score two points.

Score 2-0

Advantage Circle

Khador turn 3:

My opponent drops Silence of Death like a hot potato. Unfortunately, I've pulled Ruin back into Mechanic range.

We measure out what he can and cannot see, and my opponent loads up the remaining Kodiak.

Butcher activates, casts Energizer, and gets in the zone.

The Kodiak charges a Shambler and Vents Steam before attacking, killing it. He boosts both initials and the throw into Loki, chucking him way away but not killing him.

His Marauder runs into the zone, and a Kayazy toes it in cover on the left.

His Juggernaut moves up behind the Kodiak to be a nice counterpunch, and Harlan moves up to shoot at the Sentry Stone, failing to kill it.

Score 2-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 3:

It's go time! Both the Gorax and Loki shake KD.

Versh has to die and the Argus needs to die. Once that happens, the right zone is mine.

In the left zone, Curse of Shadows plus Primal should equal a dead Marauder, and I can get an aiming Mannikin spray into the Kayazy.

Fingers crossed.

I can't kill Versh with any of my Sentry sprays on the right side.

The Woldwyrd moves up and blasts the Argus to death.

I run Cassius over, and run a Shambler to 3 inches from Versh.

Wurmwood activates and Hellmouth's the Shambler. Versh is dragged in, and a boosted damage roll kills him.

Curse of Shadows goes onto the Marauder.

The Gorax moves up and Primals the Pureblood, who warps Strength and kills the Marauder easily after the Wyrds soften it up a bit.

The Mannikin hits and kills the Kayazy, leaving both zones uncontested, so I score 3 more points.

Post-game Thoughts

Hurray for forests, that one was a big deal. Butcher also can't really brick up here, so Loki gets to prey on his army and get me free heavies, which is always good.

My team won the round 4-1, and we moved on.

Battle Report 59: Las Vegas Open Masters Qualifier Round 3 - Wurmwood vs. Zerkova 2

Prologue:

I have a bit of a curse when it comes to big events - if I lose, it's always round three. I haven't lost in round one or two in years, and whenever I make it to the finals, I nearly always win. Round three though....round three is my weakness.

I got paired with a very nice guy playing Khador. He had a Butcher 3 Jack Spam and a Zerkova 2 list with double Outriders and stuff. We were playing Incursion, and I figured he'd go with Zerkova, so I decided to play Wurmwood.

This may or may not have been out of a desire to trigger Witch Mark as many times as possible with the Woldwyrds.

Zerkova
- Bodyguards
- Sylyss
- Behemoth

Gun Carriage
Gobber Tinker

Greylord Outriders max
Greylord Outriders min
Ayanna and Holt
- Valachev

And my Wurmwood list again:

Wurmwood
- Cassius
- Brennos
- Megalith
- Woldwyrd x3

Blackclad
Gallows Grove

Shifting Stones x2
Sentry Stone x2
Min Bone Grinders
Gatorman Bokur


I lost the roll and got to choose sides, so I picked the one with the big forest.

My game plane was pretty simple. I was gonna use Brennos and Megalith to control Behemoth and the Gun Carriage. Woldwyrds and Sentry Stones would dual with Greylord Cav, and eventually I'd win a side really hard and pop my feat to get 2 points. 

Khador turn 1:

The Gun Carriage trampled up and....killed three Mannikins??? What?? okay then. 

Telegash Mark went up on a Greylord, and Banishing Ward went on the unit of outriders that was on my left. Curses. 

Zerkova and her buddies charged and ran. Behemoth ran. Valachev and friends advanced and Zephyred. 

Outriders on the left respected my Sentry Stone and stayed well back. 

Circle turn 1:

Huh...

The plan is to gum up the left side with a Wild Growth, put all three Woldwyrds into the cover on the right (it's not a hill, it's rubble) and Stranglehold and Ravaging Winds the Gun Carriage.

I place a Mannikin and move it up as a firing beacon for Brennos....but then he countercharges with a Doom Reaver. Whoops....

I get lucky and drift Brennos' AOE onto the Gun Carriage, and I do land the Stranglehold with Megalith after he tramples up.

Forest wall goes up in front of Wurmwood.

I swarm the middle with the Bokur. I also have the Bone Grinders kill each other to fuel the tree and the Gator.

Khador turn 2:

My opponent didn't realize what Brennos' spell did, so he allocated two to Behemoth, aimed, and shot some damage into the Wyrds.

Then he activated the Gun Carriage and found out what the spell does, so he just moved it off to the right to contest.

Zerkova had the arc node pony run up, and between a bunch of sprays, was able to kill a Sentry Stone and nearly kill the second one.

Unfortunately, she parked herself on the other side of the obstruction.

Circle turn 2:

Well, not much to do but try it I suppose. 

The Bokur makes Shamblers. 

One Wyrd kills the models in the way of the Shamblers running. 

Shamblers run to be within 3 of Zerkova and Megalith. 

Hellmouth on both Shamblers drags her out in the open (camping two) and Megalith to within Charge Range. 

Two Wyrds nearly kill Zerkova, and Megalith charges in to seal the deal. 

Victory for the Druids!

Post Game Thoughts:

I felt like I had this game pretty solidly under control. Even if Zerkova hadn't gone out front like that, I could have Strangleholded Behemoth, killed most of his cav on the left, and put Megalith into the Gun Carriage with Curse of Shadows. Once the Gun Carriage is gone and Behemoth can't do anything, I slowly grind down his models, since assassinating Wurmwood with POW 12s is never going to work unless I drop all fury and don't have any souls. 

On to round four!

Battle Report 54: Kromac 2 vs. Irusk 2

Alright guys, last battle report with Stormy for...at least one report. I'm getting in more games tonight, and I haven't decided if I'm taking him off the bench again. We shall see.

Another epic intro? Well...if I must.

Irusk scanned the battlefield from the top of a small hill. A small copse of trees and a deep pool of water offered some relief from the sweltering heat, but the ground was dry, an ever present reminder of the draught.

High above him, he could see two large birds fighting in the air, occasionally losing themselves in the sun.

Across from him, two more forests and a patch of extremely rocky ground hid untold dangers. Orsus had come this way recently, and no word had reached Irusk's ear of a safe arrival for the giant berserker.

Two huge wolves melted out of the shadows in the trees, both standing on their hind legs. One of the pair wielded a cruel sword, a giant slab of metal taller than any man.

Irusk glanced around, his keen eyes sweeping the area for any sign of their controlling warlock. A feral he would accept as a stray, but the Sword Wolves were never far from their masters.

He glanced up once more, noting the swirling Eagles drawing closer.

Starting, he looked again. The two massive things were growing impossibly fast, and fire and lightning split the air between them.

A flurry of violent activity brought sudden stillness to one of the pair.

"LOOK OUT!!" Irusk screamed to his men, willing Behemoth and his Kodiak to move away from the swiftly falling thing.

The monster flamed as it fell, igniting one of the forests with liquid fire. It burned quickly, the dry air and cruel sun having long since drained the trees of any moisture.

The beast slammed into the pool of water, submerging completely as a roiling mass of the stuff cascaded over the edge. As the ripples settled, the pond took on a deep, sickly green color and an acrid stench rolled off of it.

The other skyborne shape let out a defiant scream, a screech of pure wildness that clashed with Irusk's disciplined mind.

It circled low and landed, a gigantic Tharn climbing off of its back.


Kromac 2
- Stormy
- Stalker
- Feral

Blackclad x2
Ogrun Bokur x2, Cliented to...

Sentry Stone x2

Vs.

Irusk 2
- Sylys
- Behemoth
- Kodiak

Kovnik Joseph Gregorovich
Widowmaker Marksman

Widowmakers
Winter Guard Mortar Crew
Winter Guard Rifle Corps and 3 WA
Black Dragon Iron Fang Pikemen



We were playing Outlast and I won the roll, opting for first. My opponent looked at both sides and decided that they both sucked for him and he didn't want to move (Note: I did not set up this terrain).

The Green Circle is an Acid Vat, and the Red Circles are a Burning Forest.

I was okay with this, since the Storm Raptor is immune to Burning Terrain thanks to flight.

My opponent deployed pretty centrally, the Rifle Corps going to my left and the Iron Fangs to my right.

Behemoth is my main concern here - once he goes down, not much kills the Raptor without dying in return, and I'm okay with trading him for Behemoth plus half the unit of Iron Fangs.

Circle turn 1:

I do the normal turn one stuff with this list - Awakened Spirit on the Stalker and Vengeful on Stormy.

I make use of the little forest on my right to give things Stealth and move up aggressively. I keep all the Mannikins but one in places where his Widowmakers will have to seriously over extend in order to get at them.

The Blackclad on the left goes into the rubble.

Right

Left

Khador turn 1:

Pretty standard Irusk turn 1. Fire for Effect on the Mortar Crew, Solid Ground on Irusk, and things run.

The Widowmakers duck into the woods just barely and shoot half of Stormy's body off. The Kodiak tramples up and vents steam, and Behemoth hides behind the forest.

Circle turn 2:

Fire rolls off on the forest.

Well....I can get Stormy onto the Kodiak if I land the Hunters Mark, which also means that I can get him into Behemoth.

Time to pull a Stormy.

Kromac moves up, casts Primal on Stormy and pops his Feat.

I get the Hunters Mark off, and Stormy charges the Kodiak with his Talon, redirecting the rest of his attacks into Behemoth until he dies, and then a few more into the Kodiak.

All the Widowmakers die to eLeaps, the Kodiak is disrupted and 80% dead, and Behemoth is down.

I move the Stalker up to counter-punch when Stormy dies, and I spray at the Shield-Walled Iron Fangs with very limited success.

I contest the left zone with the Bokur and the Blackclad there.

Right

Left

Khador turn 2:

Irusk upkeeps his spells and stuff starts shooting at Stormy...and things go off the rails.

The boosted damage rolls from the Rockets and Mortar roll two sixes and a three or higher for their damage, the Kodiak rolls a ten for damage twice, and all it takes is one big CRA from the IFP to kill Stormy.

It does corrode all six of them though, and they have to charge to get distance.

No points are scored.

Circle turn 3:

I clear the right zone fairly trivially between sprays and Kromac, who goes in and casts Carnage. The Stalker warps berserk, charging into the Iron Fangs after one of them gets Hunters Marked and killing every single one of them, the Marksman, and knocking the Kodiak down to just his Cortex.

He Sprints to engage a bunch of Riflemen.

The left hand Blackclad sprays Rifle Corps down, and the Bokur runs to engage.

I score 2 points.

Score 2-0

Advantage Circle

Khador turn 3:

Everything on the table tries to take down the Stalker, but he survives handily.

Sylys runs to contest the right zone.

Score 2-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 4:

Kromac casts Carnage, and Sentry Stones kill off Sylys. 

The Stalker and Blackclad kill everything remaining in the left zone, and I score 3 more points after the Stalker Sprints cheekily up to engage Joe.

Score 5-0

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

This illustrates once again how incredibly fast this list is, and the true need to keep your heavies separated when you play against the Storm Raptor. If those weren't Khador heavies, both of them would have been dead. As it was, on crippled and disrupted jack shouldn't have a chance of killing it in return.

I'm curious now to run the math on the ranged damage the Raptor took. He'd taken 4 from Widowmakers the previous turn.

Each rocket should have done 2.5 damage at dice - 8, and there were two left. The Mortar should have done 7 damage. The CRA from the 9 winterguard should have done six at dice -1, for a total of 18 damage.

The Kodiak, needing fives to hit on one dice, should have hit 1/3 of his attacks and done 2 damage at max per attack.

The IFP with Battle Lust are coming in at dice -7, doing approx. 7 damage apiece, which means that the Raptor definitely would have died, but he should have taken a few pikemen with him.

Ah well.

The next report will be a break from our marathon of Stormy and Kromac, bringing you Una 2 into Sloan!