Battle Report 105: Wurmwod vs. Vindictus (Exemplar Interdiction)

Prologue:

In practice for the team event coming up, my teammates and a friend drove out from Spokane to play some games (my car is on the fritz, so I couldn't get out there myself).

We got three games each in, which is a lot more than I'm used to getting in a day, and it was definitely good to play my lists a few times into scary matchups. I learned a lot about how to play them and made both really cool, game winning plays and really stupid, nearly lost me the game kinds of plays.

Round 1 we all rolled off and I got dropped into Menoth. He was playing Reznik 2 and Vindictus, which instantly meant I wasn't playing Baldur 2. That is way, way too many blessed, hard hitting weapons for him to handle well.

I played Wurmwood, he dropped Vindictus, playing the same list I used at the last Mox Masters Event.


Wurmwood
- Cassius
- Pureblood
- Feral
- Argus
- Wyrd
- Wyrdly
- Wyrdness

Gobber Chef

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

Fuel Cache

Against:

Vindictus (Interdiction theme)
- Reckoner
- Reckoner

Gravus
Knight Exemplar Seneschal (free)

Vengers
Vengers
Knights Exemplar x2
- CA x2 (free)

We were playing Extraction. I lost the roll off, and so I went second, taking the side that I could easily hold down a forest wall between an existing forest and the central house.

So this is what it feels like to stare down that many horses. Eek. I deployed the Wyrds opposite one unit of Vengers, since I knew I'd need all three of them to make an appreciable dent in the unit. 

Menoth turn 1:

Vindictus went first, allocating nothing. He put up True Path and Defenders Ward and then proxied out a six inch advance. 

I then got to witness the joy on his face as I informed him that True Path is a model/unit spell, and Vindictus advanced his full 8 before popping his feat. 

Models got shoved into my half of the board with reckless abandon. Soooo many horses. 

Circle turn 1:

I'm definitely counter-feating here, but I need to kill as much as I can. Because of Battle Driven, I want to restrict it to one unit, so all three Wyrds go into the Vengers on the right, leaving them down to one model. Gravus gets fully fueled by the carnage.

Bone Grinders kill each other for souls and corpse tokens, and Wurmwood gets ported back behind the forest.

Shamblers and Sentry Stone Mannikins derp around, getting nothing really done. Wurmwood activates, casting a Wild Growth off to the side and then feating to prevent most of my army from getting charged.

Menoth turn 2:

My feat is about as good a time walk as it gets, and he's only able to get a charge into one Sentry Stone, doing most of its boxes. 

His Knights move up into cover and to threaten the right zone should I move into it. Vindictus moves to his zone to dominate if I don't contest. 

Time walk feats are so incredibly fascinating to me. When you set up to use one of your own, how do you force your opponent do what you want them to do? How do you prevent them from getting any counter-play? 

Positioning is extremely important, and so is understanding the dice math. I absolutely love trying to unravel time-walk feats as a mental exercise, they're extremely interesting.

Circle turn 2:

Alright, I've got two man goals for this turn - kill Gravus, and safely dominate my zone while contesting my opponents. I need to kill quite a few Knights on the left in order to get into that zone, and on the right I need to kill off all of the Knights that can threaten Wurmwood. 

I start things off by killing both of his Vengers with charging Mannikins. I also run a Mannikin into the middle of his Knights on the left. 

Wurmwood activates, Hellmouths the Mannikin, killing 2/3 of the Knights, and then Strangleholds another Knight on the right hand side. 

Shamblers run up, and the one on the left actually does 5 damage to the Reckoner on a charge - dang!

Wyrds and Pureblood clear off Knights on the right, and then Wurmwood gets ported in by the Shifting Stones. The Feral stays back to be a second wave beater of sorts, and I score a point. 

Score 1-0

Advantage Circle

Menoth turn 3:

True Path goes up, and Choir members sing Battle and kill off the Shambler.

The right hand Reckoner boosts a shot into the Objective.

Knights on the right hand side charge in, doing damage to some Wyrds and bringing the objective down.

Vengers kill some dudes, and the Seneschal charges the Feral, missing his charge attack and not getting his Combo Smite.

My opponent scores 2.

The Large base in the right zone isn't actually a model

Score 1-2

Advantage Menoth

Circle turn 3:

Knight Exemplar Seneschals....suck.

I spend a long time planning out my activations. I'm able to kill off all the Knights on the right side, and Hellmouth the Reckoner out (Bone Grinders are SUPER good here, giving out Craft Talisman is money), and the Shamblers contest again with a placed guy, also making the left hand Reckoner Stationary.

The Pureblood assaults the Reckoner and whiffs its hit rolls. I had to warp Ghostly to get there, so the hits I do connect with are super whimpy, doing about 10 damage to it.

The Argus kills a Venger, and then I finally get around to disabling the Seneschal. Cassius gets ported over and puts the Seneschal in the ground. The Feral walks away from the now KD Knight and I score again.

Score 2-2

Tie!

Menoth turn 4:

Right hand Reckoner gets loaded up, left hand one shakes Stationary, and the Seneschal dies.

Vindictus puts up True Path and stays safe in the zone. The Choir, once again, sing Battle and kill the Shambler.

My opponent has a very clever play where he charges his Knights in, one going into the Shifting Stone in the zone (since he can't make it into the zone quite with his charge), killing it and overtaking in.

Cassius and the Chef die horribly, and the Argus loses about half of its boxes. My opponent scores once again.

Score 2-3

Advantage Menoth

Circle turn 4:

That Shifting Stone was super important, and without it I have to take a Frenzy check on the Pureblood. He passes, as does the Argus. 

A Woldwyrd moves over, kills the Knight in the zone, kills the other Knight, and kills a Venger. Mmmmm....Wyrds.

The Pureblood moves around the Reckoner, engaging the Choir member and bashing on the Reckoner. 

The Feral also moves up and bashes down the jack. 

I run a Wyrd all the way to the enemy zone to contest. 

Wurmwood gets a Talisman, and then Strangleholds the remaining Reckoner. 

Stones port around the remaining Venger and Knight. 

I score again, and my opponent thinks for a couple of seconds before conceding. He can't control my zone with literally anything since the Reckoner is Strangleheld, and I'm starting to contest his zone with models that he can't kill in one activation easily. Next turn, I can easily clear my zone and gun down his objective. 

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

This is a brutally hard matchup, and terrain and my unusual Wurmwood build with all three Wyrds is really the only reason I was able to pull this out. Any less than that, and I can't kill enough on Vindictus' feat turn. 

Definitely something to be on the look out fellow Druids, this Vindictus list is a monster. 

Battle Report 104: Wurmwood vs. Servath Reznik, WRATH OF AGES

Prologue: 

Why do Menoth casters all get such epic sounding names *grumble grumble*.

Anyway, after my probably-should-have-been-a-loss against Absylonia 2, I got to practice Wurmwood into a much more balanced (read, some balance at all in there) list.

My opponent had Reznik 2 and Kreoss 2, and I just couldn't drop Baldur into that since both lists have bokuda amounts of blessed and high damage models.

We were on the Pit, and this time I won the roll and deliberately chose to go second.

Reznik 2
- Madelyn Corbeau
- Scourge of Heresy
- Reckoner
- Revenger

Wrack
Wrack
Wrack
Mechanik
Mechanik

Idrians
- CA
Knights Exemplar
- CA
Choir (min)
Rhoven and Co.

And I was still playing:

Wurmwood
- Cassius
- Pureblood
- Feral
- Wyrd
- Wyrdly
- Wyrdlike

Gobber Chef

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

My opponent refused my generous offer to borrow a Devout (I know what you're getting for Father's Day pal), and we were off to the races (Chariot, get it?).

Some of the pictures might be a bit blurry in this one, my six month old was being a Punk Monkey and his mom needed a break, so I played a lot of this game with one hand (thanks Jason for helping me measure out my nefarious plans against you!)

I can still premeasure out my forest wall when I deploy, so I'm going to till I can't :P

Prey went onto the Argus.


Menoth turn 1:

Stuff moves up! I think Idrians advanced and Dug In.

Punch Monks move up and Shifting Sands Stance.

Jacks run, too far! The Choir cannot keep pace with the mechanical sprinters.

Reznik puts Death March (hmmmmm say the Wyrds) on the Idrians and moves up after yanking a focus. The Knights Exemplar crowd the Idrians, making fun of their poor shovel technique.

Circle turn 1:

I run up Shamblers (man I love it when Amphibious matters) and Cassius punches a couple in the back to make some forests.

Mannikins kill one hapless Idrian, triggering Vengeance (whoops, definitely had a baby chewing on my arm when that happened) and both units make me a beautiful forest wall.

Stuff moves up and hides behind said forest wall. Bone Grinders craft Wurmwood a talisman out of something unmentionable because I SEE AN OPENING TO KILL A PUNCH MONK AND MY VISION WENT ALL RED AND HAZY.

I mean, what?

Wurmwood gets ported up, casts Hellmouth at the Reckoner, and drags in both shield guards, the Revenger, and the Punch Monk AND FAILS TO KILL THE PUNCH MONK.

Crying, Wurmwood teleports back behind Cassius with a Dark Path. 

Everything else moves up and Wurmwood gets an escort of Shifting Stones.

Everything, that is, except the poor Argus who runs VERY far away from the Idrians.

Menoth turn 2:

Idrians get their vengeance movement. Reznik allocates a couple to Scourge (curse you Arcane Vortex!) and upkeeps Death March.

The Choir sings Battle on everything, and Rhoven gives the Reckoner Eyeless sight.

It moves up and pops a shot into the closest Sentry Stone, dealing 7 damage to it and Flaring it.

The Idrians get a CRA into that stone and finish it off, and then kill two of three Mannikins from the remaining one. They Reposition to spread out.

Scourge moves into the zone a bit, and the Knights Exemplar scoot up onto the recently vacated hill.

Both Punch Monks move up some more and put themselves in Shifting Sands Stance.

A drifted Flesh is Weak kills a random Shambler and makes another unable to run.

Circle turn 2:

Wormwood gets his ten fury and the forests all vanish. I get a Mannikin, some fury, and three Shamblers.

Things start off with the Woldwyrds blasting all but one or two Idrians off the table (Thanks Purgation).

The Pureblood moves up and shoots Scourge, doing 6 damage.

I run a Shambler between the Punch Monks.

I scoot Cassius up a bit, and Stranglehold the Reckoner, cranking damage and doing 6 to it as well. Wurmwood chucks a Hellmouth at the Shambler, dragging both Punch Monks in. The unhurt one dies, but the one I'd already failed to kill toughs ><

I feat, and the Feral runs up into the zone a little bit to be relevant.

Menoth turn 3:

My opponent spends a long time in the tank, which allows my son to drool all over my shirt and arm. Eventually, he starts things off, no allocation.

The Reckoner gets repaired by a Mechanik, and the Choir sing Battle.

Reznik moves up and Feats, and then my opponent premeasures and realizes that he can get Scourge onto my Sentry Stone, and therefore onto my Pureblood. Fortunately for me, he hadn't allocated anything to Scourge, so when Scourge goes in, he kills the Stone (BOOM goes the feat, doing seven damage to the Pureblood) and then only connects with one of his two attacks, so the Wolf survives.

The Knights all run up at me.

Circle turn 3:

The Woldwyrds kill off all but a few Knights, and then Wurmwood activates and casts Curse of Shadows on Scourge, then Hellmouthing all but one Knight off the table, killing the Punch Monk in the process.

The Pureblood warps Strength and kills Scourge.

The Feral backs up, Wurmwood gets out of Reznik's threat range thanks to a Stone unit.

Shamblers jam up, and the Bokur makes the Reckoner stationary for fun.

I'm amazed this picture is even slightly clear, I was juggling a baby here.

Menoth turn 4:

There's not a lot of good choices left. The Reckoner shakes his stationary and gets a few focus.

The two Jacks clear off the Bokur and contesting Shambler.

The Knight Exemplar charges the Pureblood and does a few damage.

Reznik goes man mode and charges in, cursing the Pureblood and killing him and the Shifting Stone in the zone. He Repositions back and gets surrounded by his lovers friends army.

Menoth gets two points!

Score 0-2

Advantage Menoth

Circle turn 4:

Well I can charge him with a Feral and I can get Curse of Shadows into him and some shots.

Wurmwood lands the Curse of Shadows, Primals the Feral and passes.

I soften Reznik up with a Wyrd and then send in the Pureblood. It's 4s to hit and dice +3 before Focus reduction, and the mighty Chariot goes down.

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

Before Woldwyrds, Reznik was one of the hardest matchups Circle had. Lamentation is such an awful spell to have to deal with when it affects not only your caster, but also your warbeasts. Paying 4 for Wraithbane sucks, let me tell you. 

But thanks to Woldwyrds, Reznik can't afford to keep it out into the mid-game or else he pretty much instantly dies to the onslaught of Woldwyrds. I played this matchup quite a few times before the advent of the Wyrd, and I deliberately teched this Wurmwood list to handle Reznik 2, and I'm glad to see that the tech still works. 

Video Battle Report 1: Malekus, the Burning Truth vs. Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight (Ravens of War)

Prologue:

This is a pretty exciting and new step in my Warmachine journey - I haven't ever tried to produce something like this before, and it was a very interesting process, one that I fully expect will get easier and create better results on each subsequent report.

A couple of points - yes, not we are not playing fully painted. This footage was originally just intended to be test footage to see if the set up worked (hence the goofy lists).

Furthermore, only two of my regular opponents have fully painted armies, and I can only play Circle fully painted (and even then, not always), so there will be unpainted models in these reports - sorry :(

I realized after I had uploaded the report that I had neglected to include the army lists, so here they are:

Malekus
- Heirophant
- Reckoner
- Reckoner
- Eye of Truth

Wrack x2

Cleansers and CA
Zealots and CA

vs.

Lylyth 3
- Neraph
- Seraph
- Bolt Thrower
- Protector

Anyssa Ryssyl
Spell Martyer
Deathstalker x2

Raptors x2


I had commented to my opponent that I didn't think a Lylyth 3 gunline was likely to kill Malekus since most Legion warbeasts have fire typed ranged weapons. In typical fashion, he decided to try and prove me wrong.

Hopefully you enjoy this report, I certainly had fun making it. I'd love constructive feedback on the format if there is any to be had.

Enjoy!

Battle Report 102: Una 2 (Devourer's Host) vs. Kreoss 2 (Exemplar Interdiction)

Prologue:

Following the recent discussion on Facebook regarding my assessment of the faction, I decided to break my longstanding "play it painted" rule for Circle and test out a list that I had formerly written off as sub-optimal.

I've been hearing talk of double Tharn Ravagers in Devourer's Host being good enough to play, and DGI even had a top 3 place with it as a third list, so I copied it model for model and decided to put it onto the table.

My opponent had chosen, unbeknownst to me, a very infantry heavy Kreoss 2 list, a list which I believe gives the Tharn a great opportunity to show off what they can do.


Una 2
- Gorax
- Scarsfell x5

The Death Wolves
Tharn Ravagers (max) x2
- CA x2 (free)
Tharn Bloodtrackers

vs.

Kreoss 2
- Vanquisher
- Fire of Salvation

Bastion Seneschal (free)
- Crusader
Wrack x2

Knights Exemplar
- CA
Errants
- CA
Bastions
Rhoven and Co.


We rolled up Extraction, and I was able to go first - again, optimal conditions for my list.

Blood Pack on the right are Ravagers #2, and the Whiteman is their CA.

I put prey on the Errants, distribute my corpse tokens to the Death Wolves, and off we went.

Circle turn 1:

Una goes first and puts Mirage on the right unit of Ravagers, Hand of Fate on the Bloodtrackers, and advances.

Side note - I just got the Circle upgrade pack from Broken Egg Games, and it is SO nice to finally have the Hand of Fate token.

The Bloodtrackers ran up to 10.1 inches away from the Errants, with Ravagers behind them. On the right, the Tharn run up and the Birds all fly into spaces where they can land.

Menoth turn 1:

Kreoss puts out some spells, Sacrosanct on the Errants (ewww), Inviolable Resolve on the Knights Exemplar, and then charges forward.

Errants assault a couple of targets, picking off a Bloodtracker and dinging up a Ravager on the right hand side, triggering Vengeance.

The Bastions run up behind the wall, and the Knights do as well.

On the right, Crusader and Seneschal move up.

Circle turn 2:

Una pulls Fury, upkeeps both spells, and Vengeance and Apparition extend the Ravagers threat range by 5 inches.

Una moves up first, shooting down two Errants.

With her up so far, I am able to move Griffons around, kill a couple Errants each, and then Sprint back.

By the time I get around to activating my Ravagers, there are only four Errants left, three behind the wall and then one on the flag.

My Ravagers activate, and the comedy of errors ensues. First of all, I screw up placement and let my opponent freestrike one as I charge the KE behind the right hand Errant (mark your arcs guys, it saves so many headaches).

Then I forget that the Bastion Seneschal has defensive strike and lose another one that way.

THEN I miss four attacks in a row needing 5s and 7s. I was laughing my head off by the end of that activation.

Tharn: 0, Exemplars: 2

The Bloodtrackers murder the remaining Errant over there, getting a knocked down guy thanks to Sacrosanct. 

I toss a random spear into a Bastion and hit, doing 6 damage thanks to Hand of Fate.

Ravagers and Death Wolves move up.

Menoth turn 2:

Ravagers die en masse on the right side, leaving two alive at the end.

Kreoss puts Sacrosanct on the Bastions and moves up.

The Bastions jam me, and Fire runs up over the wall rather than risk being trapped behind it for the rest of the game.

The Vanquisher gets Eyeless Sight from Rhoven and blasts my clump of Griffons, doing over half their health each and lighting them all on fire.

Circle turn 3:

I upkeep both spells, and somehow all but one griffon loses fire.

Apparition plus Vengeance = two dead Knights Exemplar and a Corpse Token on both my remaining Ravagers.

Bloodtrackers with Hand of Fate gun down the Bastions and get knocked down all over the place. Silly girls, don't go falling for Exemplars, they'll just die on you. I run the back Griffon to engage Fire, use Una to heal a damage off each Griffon that was hurt, and pop Feat.

Gorax puts Primal up, and that Griffon walks into Melee with Fire, killing him.

Two more Griffons go in and only do about half the health on the Crusader.

I get one point after running the Ravagers into the flag.

I forgot to photograph this turn, but Circle moves to 1-0.



Menoth turn 3:



He's got about 8 models left, but with Kreoss' feat, I still lose nearly half my army, including two Griffons and a bunch of Tharn.

He contests my flag with Choir and gets a point.

Score 1-1

Tie!

Circle turn 4:

With Knocked down Bloodtrackers, I can't do a whole lot. 

Tharn go in and kill Rhoven, but not his buddies. 

Una kills off the last two Knights Exemplar. 

The two usable Griffons kill off the Crusader, and one sprints out. Prey swaps to Rhoven and buddies. 

I take my flag again and go to 2. 

By this point, my opponent and I have combined 8 minutes left on our clock. 

Score 2-1

Advantage Circle

Menoth turn 4:

Kreoss charges in and kills off four Tharn. The Vanquisher and Seneschal leave the right hand Griffon on 1 box and on fire.

Gaius and Cassian charge in and kill a Tharn and a Griffon and contest. My opponent clocks himself in here somewhere but we keep going.

I didn't take a picture here, but look at the next turn picture and imagine Gaius and Cassian in there somewhere.


Circle turn 5:

Fire on the Griffon goes out!

The remaining Male Tharn kill off Gaius and Cassian, and Prey swaps to Kreoss.

Bloodtrackers with Prey and Hand of Fate need sixes to hit Kreoss at dice -6, and the Warcaster dies under a hail of spears.

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

So....an infantry list for my POW 13 weapons to handle, Bastions (which are insanely squishy and ineffective outside of Harbinger it turns out), and terrain that heavily favored me, and I still felt like I had serious options to lose the game despite these advantages. 

The only thing that was exceptional about this list, I felt, was Hand of Fate on Bloodtrackers, and let's be honest - Hand of Fate on weaponmasters has never been disputed as strong.

First impression of the list - I'm not particularly impressed so far. Had this been a bunch of Menoth heavies under Kreoss, I would have basically bounced off them with my Ravagers, killed a couple with Griffons (like I did) and then lost most of/all of my Griffons to the ensuing counter-feat. I'd kill another heavy with Bloodtrackers probably, and then run out of steam.

I don't think it's going to be very common to bring this many dudes without threat extensions, so next time I play this list I'm going to ask my opponent to bring a bunch of warjacks and see how it goes.

Thanks for reading!

Battle Report 100 - Vindictus (Exemplar Interdiction) vs. Nemo 1 (Heavy Metal)

Prologue:

It's kind of neat that the finals of an event is the one hundredth battle report for this blog.

I'd spoken about my pairing philosophy with the other players at the event, and how Severius was my Cygnar drop.

That was, at least, until I saw that my opponent was running Nemo 1 as his pairing with Haley 2, and I knew I had to take my chances with Vindictus into this particular Cygnar pairing.

Nemo 1 completely neuters Severius' game, disrupting his entire army, charging from farther away, and doing massive damage in both melee and range.

Fortunately for me, my opponent dropped Nemo 1, and I won the roll off, allowing me to go first.

Nemo 1
- Squire
- Stormclad
- Centurion
- Dynamo
- Firefly
- Firefly

Arlan
Jr.
- Firefly
Jakes
- Stormclad

We were playing Outlast, and we were both aware of how bad a matchup this was for him.

Menoth turn 1:

True Path up, run everything up to outside of charge ranges. Very simple, but threatening his deployment zone.

Same plan as normal, Vengers charge in first and then Knights clean up afterward.

Defenders Ward on the left Vengers.

Cygnar turn 1:

Things move up. A Firefly zaps a close Venger on the right, leaping three times and killing a KE, a choir dude, and doing nothing to the Reckoner.

Dynamo doesn't do much on the right, DEF 14 really saving these guys.

His Centurion gets Arcane Shield, pops Polarity Field, and runs at me after Nemo Locomotions it up.

Menoth turn 2:

Feat turn! Also time to kill a couple of lights, if possible.

Reckoner shot into the middle Firefly half kills it. Knight Seneschal charges into the Firefly and whiffs hard.

Vengers charge in, the one on the left half killing the blue Firefly, the other few killing off the middle Firefly.

Vengers on the right get into the Firefly there and kill it, repositioning back.

Vindictus pops Feat and sits safely behind the Reckoner.

I have the Knights Exemplar on the right as a counterpunch for the Stormclad should it come in, and on the left to go into the Centurion once Gravus removes Arcane Shield. 

Cygnar turn 2:

My opponent gives out a lot of focus.

Nemo extends his control and feats, only disrupting the right Reckoner.

Nemo blasts the Seneschal, disabling but not knocking him down thanks to Gravus.

Dynamo fails to kill either of the unengaged Vengers, but does trigger Battle Driven.

The Centurion moves around, dismounts Gravus, and kills the Venger leader. The Seneschal heals a point.

He moves the Stormclad up to contest on the right.

Menoth turn 3:

I have an assassination angle here, and I decide to go for it.

The Knight Exemplar Seneschal charges and slams the Lancer out of the way from the Vengers charge path.

Vindictus moves to the right, casts True Path, and camps a bunch.

Two charging, Battle Driven Vengers put Nemo down.

Post-Game Thoughts:

Okay yeah...this list is pretty amazing into a LOT of matchups.

The threat ranges are huge, the damage output is extremely high, and it is extremely hard to alpha.

Bad matchups - Fiona, probably Haley 2, I expect Nemo 3 also poses some problems, but these are all holes that can be filled or at least patched over by I believe Sevy 2.

I'll write up a bit more of a tactica in the next few days, but suffice to say that I think I will be playing this list quite a lot.

Thanks for reading!

Battle Report 99 - May Masters Round 2: Vindictus (Exemplar Interdiction) vs. Fiona the Black

Prologue:

My opponent had Ossrum and Fiona, and I felt like Sevy was probably the right drop here. He has a great play into Ossrum since he basically has no magical guns, and he has a ton of infantry clear for Fiona.

But...I came to play Vindictus, so Vindictus I played. Spoiler alert, this was a terrible idea.

Fiona the Black
- Sylyss
- Nomad x2
- Freeboater

Wrong Eye
- Snapjaw
Dahlia
- Skareth

Idrians
- CA
Commodore Cannon Crew
Alexia and the Risen

And I played Vindictus:

Vindictus
- Reckoner x2

Gravus
Knight Exemplar Seneschal
Wrack

Vengers x2
Exemplars x2
- CA x2
Choir (min)

I won the roll off and decided to go first.

Prey went onto Vindictus, and away we went. 

Menoth turn 1:

I already felt pretty far on the back foot here. Fiona has a spell to give a unit a better version of the Errants Self-Sac, she can give something magical guns to get through my Feat, and she has a ball-busting feat.

Add to that Star-Crossed and I was in for some serious trouble.

I put Defenders Ward on the left unit of Vengers and put True Path up, hiding Vindictus behind the cloud from Fuel Cache.

Everything ran, staying outside of Idrian charge ranges.

Mercenaries turn 1:

Broad strokes, this was a complicated turn.

Idrians put a big CRA into a Venger and leave it on one box. The Commodore cannon finishes it off.

Everything runs up, and the Idrians get the self-sac spell.

I was expecting a Feat here, but he has not and suddenly I'm on the back foot.

Star-Crossed is up.

Menoth turn 2:

Star-Crossed seriously messes with me here, as Vengers need sixes to hit the impact attacks on Idrians.

Gravus goes in and gets the hit off on an Idrian, dispelling the upkeep self-sac.

As a result, I only get one charge into Snapjaw and a couple of charges into the Freeboater.

On the right, I get four charges into the Nomad, but I roll trip 1's on a charge and leave it on 7 boxes.

I move up models to control flags in case he decides not to contest.

I popped my Feat here.

Mercenaries turn 2:

Through a complicated series of killing his own Idrian leader model to promote to a new leader, he is able to contest the right flag.

All of my right hand Vengers die, and the left flag is narrowly contested by a Risen.

Fiona moves out of killbox and pops her feat.

Menoth turn 3:

I spend a ridiculous amount of effort killing the two contesting models, control both flags, and prepare to lose most of my models.

Star-Crossed and Fiona's feat mean that I can't get anything done at all.

Score 2-0

Advantage Menoth 

Mercenaries turn 3:

He creates a Risen, which charges the left Reckoner and does 12 damage. Skareth sprays down four KE's on the right, including the CA.

His Nomad easily kills the left hand Reckoner, and the Freeboater finishes off Gravus and a Venger.

By this point, my opponent is down to about three minutes on his clock.

Menoth turn 4:

I pop mini feat with the left unit of KE, charge in and...do almost nothing. The Nomad takes about 1/3 damage, the Freeboater even less.

I can't clear the right flag either, and I begin to start playing for clock by spacing out contesting models everywhere.

The Rest of the Game:

Several turns go by in quick succession here, and I didn't have time to take pictures.

I send contesting models in every turn, running Vindictus away with Defenders Ward up, and eventually my opponent clocks himself with only a Reckoner and Vindictus left on my side.

Post-Game thoughts:

Wow. This was a horrible matchup, just absolutely atrocious. The list doesn't really have straight up MAT buffs, and Star-Crossed and dice manipulation just wrecked my ability to do anything.

Also, Dahlia is a big, big problem for this list, as she straight up prevents my threat ranges from being absurd, and that's kind of the point.

I always feel a little scummy playing for time, but this game literally came down to me forcing my opponent to make a bunch of attacks in order to have a chance at winning the game on Scenario.

Also, I kept Vindictus really, paranoidly safe, and that was more or less the key.

Battle Report 96: Vindictus (Exemplar Interdiction, 2017 Standoff) vs. Malekus (The Creator's Might)

Prologue:

I really like Vindictus. He, Severius, and Harbinger are 99% of the reason I got into Menoth, and the new Exemplar theme force, I feel, really gives him some neat tools. 

If you haven't seen it yet, the new theme force gives you:

+2 inches of deployment

A small or Medium based solo or CA for free for every 20 points of Exemplar models

Blessed Weapons on your Warjacks

I cooked this little number up just before heading out for games tonight, and I have to say it's a nasty looking list. 

Vindictus

- Indictor

- Indictor

Knight Exemplar Seneschal (free and proxied by an Errant)

Knight Exemplar Seneschal (free and proxied by an Errant)

Vassal of Menoth

Vassal of Menoth

Wrack

Vengers

Vengers

Knights Exemplar

- CA

Knights Exemplar

- CA (free)

Min Choir

The list is fast, accurate (MAT 7 is as low as we go here), and hits like a train. It cares not for terrain, and with Vindictus' feat you are almost guaranteed the alpha strike. The only thing I am not quite sold on is the battlegroup and the Vassals. I'm really not sure what I want there yet. 

I paired this with Chandler's Severius 1 list, which I would like to claim more credit for collaborating with him on then I probably deserve, but it's a nasty list and he took it all the way to top sixteen at LVO this year. You can read his analysis and theory behind the list here. (also check out his blog, it's excellent for Protectorate stuff).

Severius 1

- Heirophant

- Blessing of Vengeance 

- Eye of Truth

- Hand of Judgement

Avatar of Menoth

Vassal

Vassal

Vassal Mechanik

Vassal Mechanik

Wrack 

Wrack

Punch Monk

Punch Monk

Rhoven and Co. 

Min Choir. 

It hits hard, it's resilient, and it's weird. It's super hard to play, and it has game into nearly everything. 

My first game of the day was against my regular Menoth opponent, who had a neat Malekus list featuring the new Vessel of Judgement. We rolled up Standoff from the 2017 SR packet, and I won the roll off. With a list this quick, it's just hamstringing yourself to go second, so I chose to go first. 

Malekus (Creator's Might)

- Heirophant

- Reckoner 

- Reckoner

- Eye of Truth

- Repenter

- Repenter

Vessel of Judgement

Mechanik x2

Wrack x3

Vassal 

Rhoven and Co. 

Choir

I can't help but hear the Rohirrim theme from The Lord of the Rings whenever I line two units of Vengers up to play a game. It's such a cool looking deployment. 

Vindictus turn 1:

Vindictus goes first, casting Defenders Ward on a unit of Exemplar's to his left, True Path on himself, and advancing 8 inches. 

Indictors run up next to him, and then everything runs. 

It occurs to me that I actually have to worry about getting shot at turn 1, so I carefully check 17 inches from his Reckoners and 16 from the Vessel before committing my Cavalry models to their final location. 

The Cavalry units get into the circular zones, threatening to murder anything that comes near them. 

The Knights come up the middle and get ready to bruise things. 11 inch threat on them is pretty spectacular. 

I deliberately give my opponent a Venger on the left to shoot at in the trench, hoping he'll proc battle driven. 

Malekus turn 1:

In a surprisingly aggressive move, my opponent runs his jacks up. Malekus uses Open Fire a couple of times after Battle is sung, and he successfully clears off a Venger on the right. (30 push ups or sit ups), triggering Righteous Fury on the Seneschal and Battle Driven on the Vengers. 

He runs the Vessel up max distance - a move which I believe was his only major mistake this turn as it would allow me to charge it with multiple units. 

Enliven goes on the Repenter on the right before it heads into my zone. 

Vindictus turn 2:

I premeasure out a couple of threat ranges, and with True Path I can get two Knights Exemplar onto the Battle Engine, and I can also get all of the Vengers onto it with good placement. 

I upkeep Defenders Ward, allocate nothing, and get to work. 

Vindictus moves up a little bit, casts True Path and Feats. 

The Seneschal on the right goes up and hits the Repenter, triggering Enliven. The jack moves closer to me to Jam, and the free strike and charge attack combined do around half damage to it (pretty mediocre dice there, should have brought it down to one or two). 

The Knights Exemplar activate, pop their mini-feat for mini Hand of Fate and charge. Two go into the Vessel, bringing it down to 2/3 health, the other three that can get there charge the Repenter. 

The first attack leaves it on one, and the officer finishes it off before overtaking out of the way. 

This leaves the Vengers clear to charge into the Vessel, taking it down on the last attack before Repositioning mostly back into my Feat. 

On the right, charging Vengers kill the Repenter and Reposition back into Feat range. 

I move both Indictors in front of Vindictus, and move up the middle unit of Knights cautiously. 

The Choir sings no shooting on the jacks, and I end my turn. 

Malekus turn 2:

My opponent has nothing but bad options here. If he commits, he loses his army, if he doesn't I instantly win on Scenario. 

His Reckoners move up and bash stuff, Eye aims and misses a shot at a Venger. Malekus uses Open Fire to nearly kill the right hand Venger that's outside of the Feat. 

He contests both Circular zones, and I had moved my jacks not quite far enough to hit the Rectangular one, so no points are scored. 

Vindictus turn 3:

The turn starts off with Righteouss Furied Seneschals moving up and half killing AND smiting down both Reckoners. 

Charging Knights and Vengers finish off the downed Jacks, Rhoven, and basically everything of scariness left but Eye and Malekus. 

I score three points as I move my Jacks into the zone, and my opponent concedes with no way to kill enough models to matter and no way to keep contesting in the face of that many weaponmasters and cavalry. 

Post Game Thoughts:

This list is very impressive. It's got excellent damage output, it's incredibly fast, and it delivers itself pretty well. Into most gunlines, this list is going to get in their face too quickly for most of them to shoot their way out before Scenario collapses on them. 

My opponent commented that it was exactly zero fun to play against, and for a list like his, I definitely agree. It punishes most battlegroup heavy builds and lists built to fight battlegroups by being faster than them and being so resilient to a lot of the anti-infantry tech out there by nature of high ARM values and Vindictus' feat. 

Definitely intrigued, looking forward to trying it again.