Battle Report 90: Feora 3 vs. Mordikaar

Prologue:

Still one day to go until the battle engine CID comes out, and so once more I donned the robes of a grand inquisitor.

I decided to play the new hotness and see just how good Incite really is.


Feora 3
- Heirophant
- Eye of Truth
- Hand of Judgment
- Devout

Punch Monk x2
Vassal x2
Wrack
Nicia

Daughters of the Flame
Idrians and CA
Choir (min)

vs.

Mordikaar
- Tiberion
- Despoiler
- Cannoneer
- Gladiator

Paingiver Master Tormenter x2
Void Spirit
Feralgeist
Soulward

Bloodrunners
Beast Handlers (min)

I have played against this list more than I think I have played against any other list in the entire game, but never with anything except Circle, so this was going to be interesting.

We were playing the Pit, and my other buddy had put a big old house in front of one of the flags, so the second I won the roll off I windmill slammed second, taking that (house) side.

My opponent has a lot more heavies than I do, and he can easily tie up my Idrians with Bloodrunners, so I have to force him to come to me by getting ahead on Scenario right off the bat.

With the house in the way, he would eventually have to commit heavies since I have so many sprays, and it would go from there. I felt fairly confident that Eye of Truth wasn't dying to anything but Tiberion in one go, and even then maybe not.

Prey goes on the Cannoneer.

Skorne turn 1:

Bloodrunners and Master Tormenters all Apparate up. Mordikaar goes first, casts Host of Shadows to give his battlegroup ghostly, advances and casts Hollow on the Bloodrunners.

The Bloodrunners all run up and hide behind the house, with a Master Tormenter on either flank.

His beasts run up fairly centrally, except the Gladiator who puts Rush on the Cannoneer. The Cannoneer advances, casts Far Strike on itself and deviates a shot perfectly into three Idrians, killing all three.

Menoth turn 1:

I make ALL KINDS of positioning errors this turn.

Daughters run up and flood the zone, one charging a Bloodrunner and killing it.

The right Punch Monk moves up and goes into Shifting Sands Stance, and the left goes base to base with the house, also in Stance.

Feora moves up to the flag after casting Redline on Hand and sprays the Bloodrunner, missing.

Hand moves up, sprays the OTHER Master Tormenter and I somehow blank and give it the cover bonus in my head, so I have no idea if it actually hit or not. I did fry two Daughters though. *Facepalm*

Idrians just sort of advance and try not to die.

I position Eye so that if he puts anything into the zone, I can probably kill it.

Skorne turn 2:

My opponent upkeeps Hollow. 

Things Apparate.

The right Tormenter charges and kills two Daughters.

Despoiler moves up and within five of the closest Daughter to me remaining.

The Void Spirit charges that Daughter, kills it, a new Void Spirit is formed, and then ports into the Punch Monk, killing it and then killing sprees into Feora and whacks her.

The other Void Spirit walks up to the right.

Mordikaar casts Host of Shadows again, moves up, Revives a Bloodrunner, casts Far Strike, and boosts into the Punch Monk with his last Fury, hitting and killing it. He pops his Feat.

His left Bloodrunner kills my Wrack and Sprints out.

Beasts run up and Screen Mordikaar, and the Cannoneer misses a shot and kills some dudes with blast damage.

Critically, my opponent has not contested my flag with anything, and Mordikaar was unable to make it onto his flag.

Menoth turn 2:

Time to kill as much as I can and score 1 I suppose.

I spend about ten minutes thinking about slamming Eye of Truth into his Despoiler, but I ultimately decide to play the long game.

Nicia walks up and kills the Void Spirit in front of Feora before Sprinting away.

Feora gets Harmonious, walks over, Feats, casts Fire Step to kill a couple of guys and moves back to spray some more. She then Repositions onto the flag.

I kill a few more Bloodrunners and the Void Spirit with Hand of Judgment, and then the Devout charges and kills the Tormenter on the hill.

The Idrians move up and put a 3 man CRA into the Cannoneer, doing 5.

I score 1 point.

Score 1-0

Advantage Menoth 

Skorne turn 3:

I've given my opponent a couple of interesting choices. Tiberion cannot reach Eye, and the Despoiler is too far away from the Beast Handlers to get a free charge. Furthermore, Eye will get the house bonus and be DEF 14 against melee attacks thanks to Ashen Veil.

My opponent runs the Feralgeist to base with Nicia, and then shoots it with the Cannoneer, missing and deviating.

The Despoiler runs to the spot where the Feralgeist was, and Mordikaar moves over, casting Revive a bunch of times.

Tiberion scoots into the zone.

I score another point and my opponent scores 1.

I apparently failed to take a picture of this turn. Don't worry, next turn not much happens placement wise.

Score 2-1

Advantage Menoth

Menoth turn 3:

I check, and Despoiler is outside of Mordikaar's control area. I toss a focus on the Devout for fun and upkeep Redline.

Harmonious goes up and Feora casts Incite. 

Nicia and the Devout charge in, and leave Despoiler on one box. Ouch!

My Idrians literally miss every attack they make on the Bloodrunners, which is even more embarrassing when Hand casually flames a couple of the blasted Paingivers off the table. 

Eye gets Enliven on him and baits for Tiberion. 

I score a third point, and my opponent a second. 

Score 3-2

Advantage Menoth

Skorne turn 4:

My opponent Enrages Tiberion. The Cannoneer gets Magical Weapons from the Soulward and shoots Eye for a few. 

Gladiator Rushes Tiberion, and the elephant goes in. Eye tanks the charge, Enlivens out, and uses Oracular to ignore the free strike. 

Mordikaar moves over and heals Despoiler for two. 

Despoiler rotates to see Nicia and the Devout hits him with a Defensive Strike, knocking out Spirit. Despoiler fails to hit Nicia, which means he cannot spawn a Void Spirit to contest. 

With me going to four and then instantly to five, my opponent concedes. 

Victory for Menoth!

Post-Game Thoughts:

I think I played the game about as well as I could have here - I force my opponent to commit to me where I would be able to kill him off without losing massive things in exchange. 

Even if Despoiler had created a Void Spirit and we had tied up at 3-3 in the final turn, I would have been able to upkeep Redline, have Eye go in at PS 22 and kill the Cannoneer, cast Incite and kill the contesting Void Spirit with Feora and Fire Step before flaming Tiberion and sending Hand in at PS 22 and a free charge, most likely killing him to clear the zone and go to five. 

The critical thing here was really forcing my opponent to come to me with the Scenario pressure, without that, I 100% think I lose this game as he has more heavies and higher damage output than I do. 

Battle Report 79: Reznik 2 vs Xerxis 2

I'm running a three list, 8 person cap event this weekend, and my local Skorne player wanted to practice into the three list pairing being brought by one of the Menoth players, so instead of playing Circle like a good Druid I strapped on some Menofixes and brought out the Popes of Nopes.

My opponent's three list pairing is Zaadesh 2 with triple shield titans, Xerxis 2 with Hydra and Tiberion, and Rasheth in the shooting theme.

I was pretty sure Rasheth was never seeing the table against Menoth (thanks Passage!), and I felt like my three list pairing of Amon, Kreoss 1, and Reznik 2 was really bad for Zaadesh.

That being the thought process, I was torn between Reznik and Amon. I ended up dropping Reznik because I've seen him played more and am more comfortable with his list. It also only has two warjacks, so I don't have to remember focus allocation as much!

I dropped Reznik, he dropped Xerxis.


Reznik 2
- Madelyn Corbeau
- Scourge of Heresy
- Eye of Truth
- Devout

Wrack x2
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist
Vassal of Menoth
Alten Ashley

Idrians and CA
Flamebringers
Choir (min)

Against:

Xerxis 2
- Desert Hydra
- Tiberion
- Gladiator
- Shaman

Orin Midwinter
Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Beast Handlers (min) x2

My opponent won the roll off and opted to go first. Baddddddd. The Scenario was incursion.

Idrians chose the Hydra as prey.

Skorne turn 1:

Full speed ahead with basically everything. Ignite goes on Tiberion, and the Shaman casts Desert Storm to keep his models safe from the Idrians.

Druidic Menites turn 1:

Idrians spread out wide. Lamentation goes up, but I was a derp and forgot to allocate a bunch of focus to Scourge, so I have to sing no spells with the choir.

I put Eye of Truth in the Hydra's charge range since I can't really not - that thing threatens 14 inches with Xerxis. I keep Reznik and Scourge away from the Hydra.

The Flamebringers go way left, since I think I can get a solid Scenario push there.

Alten does 5 damage to Tiberion's Spirit and backs the crap up.

Skorne turn 2:

He needs to kill two Idrians to really make room for the Hydra, and this is done by the Shaman zapping one, and then rewinding so my opponent casts Rush first (Lamentation folks, it's a spell) and then moves up and shoots.

Tiberion charges in at two others and murders them dead.

Xerxis puts Ignite on the Hydra and pops his Feat.

Beast Handlers Enrage and Prod the Hydra, which charges in and kills Eye of Truth and three more Idrians.

Druidic Menites turn 2:

Well....the bait worked, so time to see if I can do anything with it. Two to Scourge.

Alten aims and blasts Tiberion, leaving his Spirit on one box.

The Punch Monk charges in his back, but misses the important columns.

Scourge gets Battled, Boundless Charged, and goes to town, killing the Hydra dead. Prey switches to Tiberion, and I get two charges on him. Once again, I forget to use the mini feat.

The two charging Idrians leave Tiberion on six boxes, and a crippled Spirit.

Flamebringers charge and kill a couple of Beast Handlers before repositioning back to control the left flag.

I get one point.

Score 1-0

Advantage Druids! 

Skorne turn 3:

My opponent kills some Idrians with Xerxis, and he Sprints over to the right hand flag after putting Ignite on Tiberion. 

Tiberion lays into Scourge HARD, leaving him on nine boxes after his three initials and crit smiting him away. 

The Shaman moves over and zaps the Daughter Cav on the flag. 

The Gladiator has to Rush himself and charge to kill the last contesting Idrian, and my opponent scores two points. 

Score 1-2

Advantage Skorne

Druidice Menites turn 3:

Well I have a couple of options here. The (probably correct) play is to shake KD, Battle Scourge, Boundless charge him, move Reznik up to curse Xerxis, and then try and kill him. Mat 9, 3 attacks at dice +1 and one at dice -1 should kill him since he's only camping one.

Oddsmachine puts this at 57%.

Instead, I decide to get cheeky and test the limits of the Madelyn/Devout combo.

Scourge gets full focus and shakes KD.

Alten aims and kills Tiberion. Prey Switches to Gladiator.

The Daughters kill the Shaman and reposition back to the flag.

Reznik moves up, pulls from a Wrack, casts Boundless Charge on Scourge, and curses the Gladiator.

Madelyn parlays, and a HUGE mistake here I run my Devout to Reznik's left side.

Scourge murders the Gladiator, and Prey switches to Xerxis.

The Guide charges him and does ten damage O.o

I get another point.

Score 2-2

Tie!

Skorne turn 4:

My opponent has one chance here, and it's my own fault. He can get Orin into range to zap the Devout, and then potentially get two leaps into Madelyn.

He gets his Beast Handlers out of the way and contesting both flags, and Orin moves up after getting Puppet Master.

He misses his shot, re-rolls, and then only gets one leap.

Xerxis kills Scourge and sprints back, getting one point.

Score 2-3

Advantage Skorne

Druidic Menites turn 4:

Alten aims and kills Orin. The Daughter Cav kill all three middle models and control the left flag.

Reznik charges, curses, and kills the three Beast Handlers on the right side before Repositioning into the flag.

The Devout runs to control the middle, and I score three more.

Score 5-3

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game:

This is a terrifically hard matchup. I made two major errors this game. The first is not going for the assassination run when I had it since I could have gotten Scourge plus a The Flesh is Weak into Xerxis, which probably kills him. 

Secondly, the Devout should have been on the other side of Reznik, and then Orin never has a chance to kill Madelyn. We rolled it out after and Xerxis would have left Reznik on 3 boxes, but still. 

Alten was a BEAST this game, doing 15 damage to Tiberion over three turns and preventing him from killing Scourge. MVP for sure. 

Battle Report 76: Baldur 2 vs. Xekaar

Prologue:

Ahhh post tournament tech is the sweetest, especially when you're changing format as well.

ATC took a massive amount of mental and physical prep, and I was locked in to two lists for nearly two months. Time for a breath of fresh air!

One of my teammates is thinking about getting into Circle, and over one of the nights at ATC we Dojo'd the following list.


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

Gobber Chef
Ogrun Bokur

Sentry Stone x2
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew


The idea is simple - ARM 22 Warpwolves with a moveable wall sound awesome, and between Primal and Blessed, the list can actually crack armor pretty well.

I got to try it out this week against my local Skorne player, who is prepping for an event I'm running in a couple of weekends.

It's a three list event, and he is running Zaadesh 2, Mordikaar, and Xekaar. He opted to drop Xekaar into me, and after ADR, his list looked like this:

Xekaar
- Marketh
- Desert Hydra
- Marketh
- Krea
- Shaman
- Agonizer

Orin Midwinter

Tyrant Commander and Standard
Karax
Min Beast Handlers

We ended up on Take and Hold, and had one of our other local guys set up terrain. I rolled higher and slammed the choice of side, forcing my opponent to deal with a wall and a house in proximity to each-other.

I think I misdeployed here. The Bokur cliented Stone unit should have gone closer to Baldur. I needed an expendable shield guard for the Krea shot and didn't think about it until far too late. 

Skorne turn 1:

He ran everything up to just outside of Sentry Stone threat ranges. 

Xekaar actually dropped fury and did nothing else this turn. 

Circle turn 1:

I knew he was feating next turn, so I moved things up cautiously, except the Sentry Mannikins. I wanted him to spend the Hydra activation killing them. 

Megs handed out Roots of the Earth to Ghetorix after the wolf trampled up and cast Spiny Growth. 

Loki ran, warping no Combined attacks, and got Roots of the Earth from Baldur. The wall went down right where his front line of Karax would go if they charged. I forgot about Wurm tokens, but my opponent graciously let me purify myself. 

The Pureblood just ran, and I ported Shifting Stones to be able to Leach from multiple beasts if need be. 

Skorne turn 2:

Karax get the Shield Wall order. Marketh moves up on the hill. Xekaar moves behind his Titan and Feats, catching everything of importance. 

The Hydra gets Rush and moves over the wall, spraying down Mannikins. 

The Agonizer moves to my far left and uses it's -2 Strength ability. 

Circle turn 2:

I do some premeasuring, but apparently not well enough. I can get Loki onto two Karax and stay out of reach range of his Titan (turns out I was off by a millimeter, always verify with your opponents folks). 

Pureblood spray take care of several Karax, and Megalith casts Crevasse at Marketh, killing him and also a bunch of Karax in front of him with the resulting spray. 

Sentry Stones take shots at things, but miss horribly. The Stones both port way back.

Baldur moves up, checks killbox, and Feats after putting down his wall such that the Hydra can't actually get to anything of my stuff. He takes one from his Wurm token.

The Bokur backs up.

Skorne turn 3:

We recheck, and I've left Loki 0.01 inches inside the Titan's melee range for a charge. Seriously, verify with your opponents when you pre-measure. 

He starts things off by shooting Ghetorix with the Krea. I think long and hard here, but I know I have to shield guard it with Loki. If I don't, he'll just keep the Hydra away from me and Ghetorix won't be able to kill it. 

Loki gets Paralyzed. 

Xekaar gets onto the hill and Mortalities both Megalith and Loki. 

The Gladiator, with enrage, kills Loki with his initials. The dice were hot. 

They got hotter as the Hydra moved over and did 23 damage to Megalith with his sprays at dice -8. 

Yup...

The Agonizer walks over and does his Agony cry again. 

Circle turn 3:

I've got to kill that Agonizer. I can get two Sentry Sprays on it. 

The first one nearly kills it, the second needs a 7 on three dice for damage and rolls a six. 

I have to kill that Sentry Mannikin with Baldur and Crevasse so that the Pureblood can assault and maybe kill the Agonizer with the spray. 

Baldur does so, healing one from the turn before. I space the Wurm Token again and take 2.

Megalith kills the TyCom with his initials, but his Spirit is down, so no buying. 

The Gorax Primals the Pureblood, which assaults. I boost the Spray attack and hit the Agonizer, killing it. The Pureblood then proceeds to do 20 damage to the Hydra.

Ghetorix warps Strength and walks into it, killing it with one Fury to spare. 

I run the Gobber Chef over to the left, and put the Bellows between the Titan and Megalith.

The Bokur runs to be right next to Baldur.

I pass the turn. 

Skorne turn 4:

My opponent kills the Gobbers with electroleaps from Orin. 

My opponent moves the Karax engaging Ghetorix away, and he dies to a free strike. 

The Krea shoots Ghetorix, and then casts her animus. Xekaar Mortalities both Megalith and Ghetorix again, and then abuses the Krea for a fury. 

The Gladiator gets enraged and pummels Ghetorix into the dirt. 

I forgot to take a picture of this turn, apologies!

Circle turn 4:

The Pureblood frenzies into a Beast Handler. 

Megalith moves over, needing a three on one dice to hit the Titan. He gets it, and at dice -2 does 7 damage. He needs literally anything to hit now, and he hits again, doing another 5. 

Baldur activates, gets his third Wurm token, heals 2 from Megalith bond, and charges the Titan, killing it with three Fury to spare after some awful damage rolls. He takes 3. 

I run the Gobber Chef to the flag, and kill as many Beast Handlers as I can with sprays. 

The Bokur runs next to Baldur. I build a bunker with Shifting Stones for Baldur to hide behind.

I get a point. 

Score 1-0

Advantage Circle

Skorne turn 5:

His plan is to carve out a Shifting Stone and put the Shaman into Baldur. 

Xekaar charges in and kills the Stone, and then casts Mortality at Baldur. 

The Shaman dings him up, leaving him on six and a transfer. 

His Karax moves out of Megalith's front arc, but Megalith misses the free strike. The Karax doesn't hurt Baldur. 

I get another point. 

Score 2-1

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 5:

I just need to keep Baldur alive. 

Megalith finally gets to heal! He gets back both crippled systems. 

I put Primal on the Pureblood again, and he moves up, killing both the Shaman and the Beast Handler, and then sitting there with nothing left to kill. 

The Bokur misses the Karax in front of him, double ones. 

I spray the Karax and boost. Triple ones. 

Megalith casts Crevasse at the Standard Bearer in front of him, kills him, sprays the Karax in the back. 

Double ones. 

I then realize that Megalith can get to Xekaar without leaving the Karax's melee range and feel really dumb. Two hits into it, Xekaar is looking might upset, and is also speed 4. 

Baldur backs up to max melee with the Karax, heals nothing thanks to Mortality, and purifies off his Wurm tokens, camping 4. 

I score a third point. 

Score 3-0 

Advantage Circle

Skorne turn 6:

Orin charges Megalith, and deals a couple of damage. Xekaar whacks Megalith, Mortalities him, and then whacks him again. 

Megalith lives through the turn with 2 boxes left in body. 

I get another point. 

Score 4-0

Advantage Circle

Circle turn 6:

I activate everything, do nothing, and score a fifth point for the win. 

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

Well...having to use Baldur to finish off the Gladiator really neutered the amount of tanking up I got to do this game, since I was scared of him dying basically the entire game after that. Dice notwithstanding, I was really impressed with how hard this list tanked, and the damage output was actually just fine. 

The actual tech (Loki yanking things in to kill, then getting Roots of the Earth after Ghetorix murders it) never showed up because 1) Loki died really fast and 2) Megalith had a crippled Spirit after turn 2, meaning no free Roots of the Earth, which is a problem because Baldur was fury strapped the whole game trying to stay alive. 

Looking forward to trying it again, stay tuned :) 

Battle Report 73: ATC Round 3 - Kaya 3 vs. Zaal 2

Prologue:

We had taken a solid beating the round before, and my team was getting pretty frustrated going into round 3. We needed a win here.

I ended up against Skorne with Zaal 2 being his most likely drop since he denies Wurmwood souls.

I decided to drop Kaya in a fit of "screw it", and off we went.


Kaya 3
- Loki
- Stalker
- Pureblood
- Feral
- Argus

Blackclad x2
Gobber Chef

Sentry Stones x2
Shifting Stones

vs.

Zaal 2
- Agonizer
- Shaman
- Raider
- Drake

Hakaar
Ancestral

Tyrant Commander and Standard
Immortals and CA
Karax
Arcuarri
Min Slingers

The Scenario was Recon, and I won the roll, choosing to go first.

My opponent took the side of the table with the forest to hide Zaal behind.

Circle turn 1:

Full speed ahead!

Fog of War goes up, and everything runs. The Feral even warps speed and runs sixteen inches.

Loki gets in his nice Shifting Stone palace.

Skorne turn 1:

Zaal moves up, casts Aura of Power on himself and Vision on Hakaar.

Everything else runs at me, the TyCom giving the Karax pathfinder.

Circle turn 2:

I see two avenues here. I can kill...almost literally everything in his entire army, or I can kill two models, port Loki up, hook Zaal and call it a game.

I opt for the latter.

Kaya casts Synergy and Feats.

Argus and Pureblood go in and build up the chain, repositioning back.

Blackclad #1 sprays down the two Immortals blocking my drag path.

Loki gets ported up, warps Strength and boosts to hit Zaal, needing not triple 1s. I hit, dice -1, and yank him in. I bash him a bit more before repositioning out of melee.

Blackclad #2 casts Hunters Mark at Zaal.

The Feral warps Strength and charges Zaal for free. Zaal is at 6 boxes with one transfer left at this point, and the Feral kills him on his third initial.

Post-Game Thoughts:

Ah Loki. I love you so much.

If I hadn't gone for that, the plan was for both Blackclads to charge Immortals and then get Battle Wizard Sprays to clear nigh unto all of the unit.

Sentry Stones kill Karax easily when not in Shield wall, and Slingers die to everything. I think at the end of my turn, my opponent would have had his Arcuarri, a few Karax, and an immortal or two, plus his rather pillowfisted battlegroup.

Kaya at DEF 21 in the rubble and under feat isn't dying to spell assassinations, and I proceed to win on Scenario over a couple of turns.

My team went 4-1 this round, with two games ending in assassination and 5 control points and nigh unto max army points. A good end to Day 1.


Day 2 games coming shortly!

Battle Report 67: Kaya 3 vs. Naaresh

The American Team Championship is basically right around the corner (eek!), and thanks to the recent Una "balancing", I was scrambling for a replacement second list with just days to think about it before list submission. 

My team really needed another ARM smasher, and so it was that Circle's newest Warlock made her way into my roster. 

Oh boy do I need practice. 

For our game night yesterday, I rolled off to play my Skorne buddy who had Naaresh and Mordikaar with him. I dropped Kaya (Wurmwood seemed like a bad choice) and he dropped Naaresh. 

I won the roll off and slammed going first on Recon. 

Kaya 3

- Loki

- Stalker

- Feral

- Pureblood

- Argus

Blackclad x2

Gobber Chef

Sentry Stone x2

Shifting Stones

Naaresh

- Tiberion

- Despoiler

- Sentry

- Bronzeback

- Gladiator

Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer

Min Beast Handlers x2

I put my pathfinder heavies on the side of the table with rubble. Loki really threatens the whole table with Shifting Stones, so I also made sure that he was on the same side as they were. 

In post game discussion, my opponent and I both agreed that Tiberion should have been opposite Loki rather than the Sentry. Tiberion can't be dragged, which is a bit of a problem for a wolf with a drag hook. 

Circle turn 1:

He has no shooting, so...time to run? For the first time in a very long time, my Sentry Stones both roll max Fury. 

Stones run aggressively forward. Loki warps Preternatural Reflexes because it sounds cool and runs. The Stalker warps Prowl and runs. 

I get to warp Speed on the Feral and fling him up the table. The Pureblood warps no spells and runs, and the Argus runs. 

Kaya puts up Synergy and charges Tiberion. The left Blackclad runs, the other uses Phase Jump to buddy up with a Shifting Stone. 

Skorne turn 1:

My Feral is nearly threatening his deployment zone, so Naaresh is going to have to Feat Defensively. 

Beasts run up, with the Sentry leading the pack on the right side. Tiberion runs as well, but isn't quite able to get into Shield Guard range of the Sentry thanks to the objective. 

Naaresh gets whipped a few times, then hyper regens the health back. He moves up, puts Blur on a unit of Beast Handlers, Lamentation on himself, and pops his Feat. 

Circle turn 2:

I have an interesting thought that involves Kaya popping her Feat and the Feral trampling through Tiberion and the objective to land next to Naaresh at MAT 12 PS 20, but I don't know how her Feat interacts with tramples and I don't want to take the time to look it up (I need to do that today). Instead, as you can see in the picture above, I think I'm going to yank the Sentry at me and eat it. 

Kaya upkeeps Synergy. I deploy my Gobber Chef, who I had forgotten about somehow.

Firstly, the Mannikins on the right move over and spray the Tyrant Commander to death. 

Loki warps Strength, moves to within 8 of the Sentry, and boosts hit and damage on it, doing an impressive 8 damage and dragging it in. His free attack contributes another 3-4 damage, leaving the Titan on half health and Synergy at 1. He Repositions back between the two left Shifting Stones, staying in the Sentry's melee range. 

The Stones port the Stalker behind the Sentry to ignore the shield, and he finishes him off before paying two for Lightning Strike and moving back outside of the Bronzeback's charge range. 

Synergy is at two. If I could get it to three, I'm thinking pretty seriously about Feating and throwing the Feral at Tiberion with Primal. I can almost certainly get a Hunters Mark on him, and a free charge at dice -2, followed by 5 more dice -2 and one dice -3 averages out to a dead Tiberion by about 4 damage. 

Unfortunately, I can't, so to prevent myself from even thinking about it, I move Mannikins in the way and spray the Standard Bearer down. 

The Feral backs up to 11.1 inches from Tiberion, and the Argus backs up and toes the zone. 

The Pureblood goes on the hill to the left and also stays 11.1 inches from Tiberion. 

Kaya dumps down to two Fury and gets 16.1 inches away from Naaresh, and I pass the turn. I really like my position here. He can apparently get Despoiler onto Loki (I forgot he got errata'd to have a reach weapon), but Oddsmachine says that has a 7% chance of killing him, and he can't get anything else into my army. 

Skorne turn 2:

His objective heals both Despoiler and Tiberion to counteract the Feat. Naaresh upkeeps Lamentation, but drops Blur.

Despoiler gets enraged and has Rush cast on it by the Gladiator. 

He charges in and kills the Sentry Stone and does about 1/3 of Loki's health to him. 

Bronzeback moves into the zone as a counterpunch, and Tiberion moves behind the wall on the left. 

Naaresh stays far, far away from the Feral. 

Circle turn 3:

I leach three Fury with Shifting Stones, and then pull the rest with Kaya, who upkeeps Synergy. 

I start things off with Sentry Mannikins, which was a mistake, and they charge/run to engage both Tiberion and the Gladiator to prevent countercharge. 

I should have cast Hunters Mark at both of them first, but oh well. 

The Argus moves in and Doppler Barks at Despoiler, combo strikes, and boosts damage, doing an impressive 10 damage at dice -2. 

Kaya premeasures to make sure her beasts will all be in control where I want them, heals Loki for a few, and pops her Feat. 

Loki gets ported behind Despoiler, and then warps Strength, dragging him in. He easily finishes the beast with Synergy buffing his melee output, and the Repositions back. 

I spend both Blackclad activations getting Hunters Mark on the Bronzeback, and the Stalker warps Strength, charges in, and kills it. 

The Feral charges Tiberion, rolling 5,5,6 for charge damage, and my opponent concedes as he will be left with one Gladiator facing down four Warpwolves the next turn. 

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

This list is a lot of fun, and the threat ranges and damage output are fairly absurd. Synergy plus Loki plus Reposition on everything means that I can usually spend a turn or two thinning out the herd before I really commit with my feat, after which not many things are going to be able to handle 3-4 DEF 16 heavies. 

Loki is absolutely amazing here, giving the list a seriously potent threat extender, who can often hang out 10 inches back from where his target was after yanking it in thanks to Reposition. 

Further testing is required, but Kaya seems very strong too. It's incredibly nice to be able to say that without also adding "and she's probably busted as well" as I had to with my Una 2 batreps. Kaya seems quite balanced and very tricky to play, definitely not an auto win button by any stretch. 

My dice ran a couple points hot this game, with two very sub average rolls the whole game and a couple of very above average rolls. My opponent and I agreed that mostly what that would have changed is the amount of fury sitting on Loki and the Stalker on the last turn though, as the threat ranges and damage output of the list really are just that good. I'm definitely excited to play more with Kaya, she gives Circle the hardest hitting list it can bring, and that's a very cool feeling. 

Thanks for reading!

Battle Report 58: Las Vegas Open Masters Qualifier Round 2 - Una 2 vs. Makeda 1

Prologue:

In case you hadn't heard, Skorne is a strong faction now, and Makeda 1 is one of their Warlocks that I really don't want to play against unless the Scenario massively favors me. 

Unfortunately, that's what I ended up playing against. My opponent had a shooting heavy Morghoul 2 list with no Soulward, and that ultimately meant he would be playing Makeda 1 against my massively Stealth heavy lists. 

Makeda 1

- Marketh

- Molik Karn

- Gladiator

- Krea

Radheim

Keltarri 

Ferox

Legends of Halaak

Min Beast Handlers

I dropped Una:

Una 2

- Pureblood

- Gorax

- Scarsfell x7

Shifting Stone x2

Sentry Stone x2

Blackclad x2

I won the roll off and windmill slammed going first. The Scenario was Extraction. 

My opponent deployed pretty central, just like me. Side note - beautiful paint jobs man.

And we were off!

Circle turn 1:

Time to run at him and force out his feat turn 1. 

Mirage on the Pureblood, Hand of Fate on a Sentry unit, and everything runs. Una gets into the little pocket of clouds and forests where she will stay the entire game. 

Skorne turn 1:

He does something similar. Quicken on the Keltarri, Ferox runs. 

He spends about five minutes carefully arranging the models around Makeda so that no small bases can fit next to her, and he does an amazing job of screening off his beasts from charges. 

Unfortunately for him, his placement in the back wasn't quite so perfect, and I was about to capitalize on that. 

Circle turn 2:

This turn began the long hilarity of both players' dice. I couldn't hit fives for anything, and he got to dodge his Ferox around no less than six times. 

Una kept her spells, and she went first and popped Feat. 

Griffons ran, three engaging Karn in the backfield, and a few more getting in around Radheim. 

I killed a few Keltarri with Hand of Fate and back arcs getting me the odd hit here and there, but that was basically my turn. 

Skorne turn 2:

He was in a bit of a mess and he knew it. His Keltarri attacked Mannikins, Shifting Stones, and a Blackclad. I'd made the Stones sacrificial lambs to stop his Legends from doing much. 

He got one or two Ferox onto the Pureblood, but he also couldn't roll to hit and so the beast took a few points. 

Circle turn 3:

I leached Fury, and the first Griffon went to work on Karn, doing....five. 

I was able to kill Karn with a second Griffon, headbutt Makeda with a third, and wail on her with a fourth, but because I was a moron and didn't kill the Gladiator like I should have before going in on her (Hand of Fate on the Pureblood would have done it I think), she survived on...one box? I did kill the Gladiator, all the Ferox, a few more Keltarri, and most of the Krea though. 

Skorne turn 3:

He gets to do things, and birds start dying. 

One of the legends smites a griffon into another griffon, rolling all sixes for damage and one shotting the bird. Various other griffons get massively wounded, but Makeda is still engaged by two Griffons at the end of the turn. 

Circle turn 4:

I try for Scenario, but I can't kill the Keltarri worth anything, and settle for getting one point. 

Makeda dies to beaks and claws. 

Score 1-0

Victory for the Druids!

Post Game Thoughts:

My opponent played such a tight game here. He gave me exactly one opening and man did I go after it hard. I was super impressed with his play and with his list AND with his painting ANDDDD with his manner. He was super friendly and extremely enjoyable to play with. 

On to round three.