40pc Tournament Army

This is going to be the first "proper" post for a while - an epic 3 person battle we had this week.

The armies were all MK2 armies, due to the release of Hordes MK2.

I brought my 40pc eSorcha Tournament army (see below for pics and details) and my 2 opponents were Richard and 20pc of Circle of Orboros and Raymond with 20pc of Legion of Everblight.

Richard brought Baldur and a small retinue of light Warbeasts - including the buffed up Argus, Woldwatcher and Woldwyrd. He also brought in the Druids, Lord of the Pwnage, and a Sentry Stone.

Raymond brought Thagrosh - with his usual assortment of greebles - a Carnivean, a couple of Harriers, a couple of Shredders, a couple of Forsaken and a Strider Deathstalker.

I was a little worried to begin with fighting off two Warlocks with no extra points to make up for it, but I thought id give it a go anyway - I had a few tricks up my sleeve that I was waiting to pull out.

Deployment:

The armies stand ready for combat...

Our armies were placed on the field - with a couple of large rocks, some cover and three forests spread around we had a pretty even area to fight on. My Winterguard were positioned on the right of Sorcha, with Beast on the left and Mortars in the middle. Note Yuri the Axe hiding in a forest off to the left as well...

Richard had thrown his advance deployment far forward and lined up against Yuri (poor guy) while the rest of his army hunkered in a forest. One important note was the Druids are not fearless - and half of the Everblight army are Abominations!

Raymond hid most of his support units behind the large rock - safe from an early ambush of Kossites. The Deathstalker was hiding in a forest, but I wasnt too worried about it. The Carnivean was positioned to kill the Winterguard, and this was one thing I WAS worried about - Carniveans are just nasty. I wanted Beast 09 to engage and destroy it as soon as possible.

Turn 1:

The loyal Winterguard bob and weave forwards.

I advanced my Winterguard forwards, Iron Fleshing and Bob and Weaving to hit DEF17, while Kovnik Joe gave them Tough and Fearless. The Mortars advanced 4, to get in range for the rest of the game. Beast ran up the left flank, wanting to tempt the Carnivean into charge range. Yuri was hanging out in the trees.

The Hordes advance - causing Chaos in their own lines!

The enemy forces advanced, under cover of Fog of War (Thaggy) and some quick growing trees (Baldur). They spent the turn buffing up their own troops - until the Druids advanced within 3" of the Forsaken, failing their Leadership test and running off. Ha, ha! The Deathstalker advanced and popped a shot off at the Winterguard, failing to hit them as they duck and dodge all over the place. The Woldwatcher Stoneformed - getting to ARM21. /sigh.

Turn 2:

The Winterguard show their effectiveness!

The Winterguard advance forwards, and fire a concentrated volley of Blunderbuss fire - taking out the Deathstalker (even DEF17 in concealment can be shot by these Winterguard!) while remaining Tough and Fearless thanks for Joe. Beast 09 advanced slightly, trying to stay out of threat ranges. The Mortars shoot - and hit nothing. Yuri grimaces at the ARM21 Woldwatcher, and doesnt advance. The Kossites are biding their time...

Argh! Alpha Strike by the Woldwatcher and Carnivean!

On their turn, the Woldwatcher comes out of Stoneform to charge and murder Yuri the Axe. Oh well, he tried. (There goes 3 points) The Carnivean assaulted, but missed with his 10" spray against the DEF17 Winterguard. Thagrosh moves up, and fires a massive 4" AOE - called Super Rock Bomb Attack or something, and kills 3 or so Winterguard. They are really not happy with Thagrosh. A Harrier cleverly runs 14" into Beast 09, while Baldur pops a forest in front of him in an attempt to slow him down. Unfortunately for the Harrier, eSorchas bond freezes it solid.

Turn 3, or Incoming Kossites!:

Thaggy goes down to a feat and concentrated Winterguard firepower.

In come the Kossite Woodsmen! I decide to deploy 2 of my 3 units of Kossites, the 6 man groups. One comes in at the back on the left, and one in the middle on the right. eSorcha advances, and pops her feat - catching practically everything except Baldur and a few of his beasts on the far left. She then attempts to shoot the Carnivean - to no effect, and camps her remaining focus. Beast 09 activates, and even though he rolls double 1's on his damage roll, one-shots the Harrier in his way. The back Kossites kill 4 out of 6 of the Druids of Orboros - who had run away from the Forsaken in the previous turn. The front Kossites fire multiple shots at the Harrier, Forsaken and Thagrosh, but their pitiful RAT (even when aiming) means I only land 2 shots - one of those shots outright killing the Forsaken due to Sorchas feat. The Harrier survives however, and Thagrosh is untouched. Mortar fire does nothing this turn. At this point im feeling desperate - I only have Joe and the Winterguard left to activate, and eSorcha is facing attacks from a Carnivean, Thagrosh, Baldur, Lord of the Feast, Shredders, Forsaken, plus whatever else.

Joe shouts his auto-boost to hit speech - and the Winterguard let loose. Two rockets fly overhead, directly hitting Thagrosh and doing some high damage rolls (doubled with eSorchas feat) - and then the rest of the Winterguard (a good 8 or 9 of them) all get LOS and fire their Blunderbusses. Under a hail of fire, Thagrosh transfers twice and then goes down!!

Final Turns:

The Kossites advance in, and close around Baldur - who tried valiantly to take out Sorcha

In the last stages of the game, we decide to keep the Legion Warbeasts in (since we werent sure what would happen to them), class them as enemy models and the all frenzy. The Carniveans munches out on some Winterguard while the Shredders cause havoc in the backrow of the Hordes forces - killing a Forsaken, damaging Lord of the Feast, and other stuff. An Argus peels off towards the other Kossites, killing them easily, and the Druids take their revenge, almost wiping out the unit. Baldur fires an Earthspikes and knocks down Sorcha, and the Woldwatcher pummels her with an elemental blast - doing 3 damage. Lord of the Feast is unsure of what to do, and attempts to pull off a crazy chain move - and ends up killing a Harrier and thats about it. He is shot by the Winterguard next turn and finished. The Carnivean eats some more Winterguard, and Baldur attempts to kill eSorcha. Beast 09 doesnt appreciate this - and annihilates him with a few choice axe swings.

End Game:

Beast 09 delivers the killing blow, and the field is *almost* clear of enemy models. Damn Carniveans.

So - thoughts on this battle. MVP - definitely the Winterguard. This unit really shines in MK2, much better than their MK1 counterparts in terms of efficiency, damage, and cost. The Winterguard are capable of taking down Warlocks and Warcasters, Warbeasts, Units and Solos with the same amount of efficiency. DEF17 + Tough is great for survivability, and being able to boost to hit easily with Joe means an Aiming Winterguard will hit on average DEF17.

Kossites are fantastic - when taken in huge bunches. I might be able to do just as well with the two 6 man units as i did with all three - since the third unit didnt do alot, plus, maxed out units are hard to deploy :S I like them in MK2 because they are damn cheap and keep your opponent honest. I found out the hard way - they cant do squat to Warlocks or Warbeasts, but they rip apart weak units like Druids and support solos like Forsaken.

Beast 09 + Sorcha = Win. I even forgot about the Affinity, not that I ever needed it. eSorcha is good - but she is very very much a support caster. No where near the killing potential of most of Khadors other Warcasters.

Overall I love this list, but I can never take it to a Steamroller 4 tourny. Why, you may ask? There is no way in hell that I can get 12 minute turns when activating 37 Infantry models. Its just not feasible.

So - I will test Karchev out next time I do a 40pc tourny list, and this one will remain a staple 40pt list next time I need to whip one out... with perhaps a slight change. (I might drop the full unit of Kossites for some utility solos - a Bokur, War Dog, etc.)