When I fight Ret...

This will happen.

League Game 1 - Result, Win by Scenario

My first league game went well last night, versus Emma's Circle. Won by Scenario with 3 CP to 0, with only a couple of mistakes made during the game from my side, I felt it went really well.

I only had my cellphone camera on me, so the pics are sub par, but I will add them to the end. (Note: The crappy terrain and lack of mat was because we didnt bring any with us, and Mike wasnt there that night - who usually has the terrain :D The lego trees and Wooden castle bits were all good though)

Guidons, the scenario, basically involved moving forward, grabbing an objective, protecting it and getting it to a zone, in order to score a point. If you killed the opposing Objective, you get 2 points.

I won the roll to go first, which was crucial in this particular scenario. My army advanced forwards, out of range of most of Emma's models even if they moved forward, and immeadiately got eDenny in range of control for the objective.

On Emmas turn, she basically did the same thing, moving Woldwardens to hold chokepoints. If she could hang on to them, she could essentially attrition my army down.

My second turn, I manage to get the objective half-way to my zone, no points this round for either of us. First turn its possible to score I believe is 3-1. (Turn 3, Player 1) This is really important, since it gives Player 1 a 1 CP advantage. This turn, I warily advanced most of my troops, and ran Nightmare up right behind a large obstruction in the center of the map.

My plan, of course, was to Ghostly through and take out either Baldur or the Objective. Preferably the Objective, since I would get 3 LP for it. (League Points).

Emmas second turn, she had not yet realised the danger Baldur was in (he was also Nightmares Prey) so she advanced forwards, securing her Objective halfway as well. Woldwardens were in defensive positions, and she had moved forwards a lot of potential blockers, but luckily for me there was still room for a large base. End of second players second turn, and no-one got any points.

My turn three - and I felt I had it in the bag. I actually had already won in my first move this turn, without realising it at the time. eDenny loads Nightmare up with focus, advances, pops her feat, and drops the objective into the zone. Her feat catches all enemy models except for the Druids at the back, essentially trapping Baldur. Nightmare recieves Puppet Master, Imprints for Ghostly, and since he was within 10" of Baldur he just walks forwards 8" and the Objective was in Reach range.

5 attacks later, and I have only taken off half the Objectives life :( I seriously underestimated how tough those little buggers are. I also forgot to do Puppet Master, while this may not have won it for me then, it could have helped. Thinking about it later, I dont know if Nightmare can really kill an Objective without buffs.

POW16 fists do 3 damage on average, Tusks do no damage on average (although I did actually hit for a couple of points with it) which means on average 12 damage - not enough to kill it.

Boosted POW16s do 6.5 damage on average, but Id only get two of them - 13 damage - not enough to kill it.

I dont think you can put Prey on the Objective, but if anyone knows please let me know :D

What I really should have done, was drop "Marked for Death" on the Objective, to get me equivalent POW18s. (Total unboosted: 21 damage, Boosted: 18 damage) Which on average rolls would *just* kill the Objective.

Anyway, I digress. My heart sunk after that fail, especially since I should have moved some different vectors up (all my Arc Nodes were too far away, and I had already activated Deneghra)
What I didnt realise, was that next turn, Emma couldnt move and I would get my second CP. Then it would be my turn, and if I did nothing, I would recieve a third CP and win the game.

At that point, Emma tried desperately to kill something, but because of my feat almost all the attacks Vs Nightmare were ranged and really just did nothing.

Then, her turn ended, and I skipped my turn (since it would accomplish nothing) and won the game on Scenario.

Now, if your paying attention, youll realise that I failed to maximise my CP from this game, which could actually cost me the league in the event of a tiebreaker!! If I had activated Nightmare, and killed the Objective (easy with 3 more Focus) I would have still won the game, but received 2 CP for killing the Objective, leaving me with 4 CP.

Of course, I realised that this morning when I woke up, but at least Ive learnt my lesson - always maximise CP if you can!

Here are the pics I promised earlier:

Emmas army moves up, one Woldwarden in the close forest, the other heading to the Zone. Druids supporting at the back, and Baldur tries to claim the Objective.

The Cryx army advances, Nightmare hiding behind his terrain piece. eDenny claims her Objective, while the rest of the army warily moves forwards.

The Scenario win. eDenny has her flag (the red one) in the zone, while Baldur never made it to his control zone. Nightmare is right in melee, and at this point had only lost one column - to full attacks from Baldur, two Earth Spikes, and the Devouring. Due to my feat, the majority of her army was stationary for the turn that counted, and at the end of the day because of the feat on the turn I used it on, it guaranteed my win on Scenario - making eDenny one of the most dangerous casters I have ever used!

Toad Hall League Game 2

Toshi vs Luke

Continuing on with my post about which armies im coming up against, my second game for the league is vs Luke and his Khador army.

His list is:

Supreme Kommandant Irusk
>Spriggan
Man-O-War Bombardiers
Man-O-War Demolition Squad
Winterguard Infantry + Winterguard Officer and Standard

While this is a formidable list to come up against, it is also an excellent example of how my list can defeat such difficult things as the Winterguard Deathstar, and a Superioritied Spriggan.

Also note the lack of Magic Weapons, not counting Irusk there is a total lack of them, and a lack of a way to "give" them some also. Remember that Irusk does have a lethal, accurate long range magic attack (Airburst, something that is perfect for killing Pistol Wraiths) with an average boosted damage roll of 18. However, he must target a model for this attack, unfortunately it ignores stealth and also some defence against avoiding the hits.

18, of course, kills almost every trooper in my army on average rolls. In fact, the only people who survive it, other than eDenny and Nightmare (still does 4 damage to eDenny), are Bane Lord Tartarus and Withershadows. This also means that these two should be trying to tank Irusk's Airbursts as well, saving the other troops like Sirens, and the Wraiths.

If he tries to cast Airburst in melee, he wont hurt his own Man Of Wars, but he will kill off his Winterguard. Especially since they wont have tough (except on his feat turn) from Joe, an errant Airburst will take out Winterguard easily.

My plan for those Winterguard is equally nasty. Some sacrifices must be made, of course, but thats always the case. A Machine Wraith will run 14" Incorporeally into what I hope will be the centre of the Winterguard Deathstar (they all have Iron Flesh and DEF18, I assume) and then a Deathripper will run up to 14" in order to get within 8" of the Machine Wraith, and then eDenny casts Hellmouth at the butt-end of the Machine Wraith, catching every last Winterguard into its trap. Then the Deathripper will probably die next turn, but if he charges it with, say Demo Corp I will be able to retaliate and take out even more of his army!

Something I will need to keep in mind, on any turn eDenny is not Incorporeal I have a real danger of being spiked by the Superiority-driven Spriggan. Otherwise the battle will be a war of attrition that I have a good chance of winning, with two sacrificial Arc-Nodes I can cause significant damage to his army before popping my feat, at which time I would clear the objective markers with Venom, WSC, Tartarus (if they are still alive) and any remaining Wraiths.

It is also good to note that if he sends his spriggan too far forward, I could steal it with a Machine Wraith. This is a good advantage! If I can then walk it far enough away, I could kill it with WSC and make a Harrower! Dont know if that will quite happen, but it would be very cool!

Which brings me on to my next concern, the Scenario ill be playing vs him. Incursion, #7 in SR2012.

See my next post for ideas on both Incursion, and Guidons vs Emma.

Toad Hall League Begins!

The Toad Hall League started on Thursday, a 15 round SR2012 league, which should be good fun :)

We got the lists today, and while my list is no suprise, being a slight change to the previous list I had played, there are a lot of decent lists out there which will require some difficult games to beat. Especially considering the amount of new and crazy rules in SR2012 will be hard to get my mind around.

To recap, my list was:

Wraith Witch Deneghra
>Deathripper (x2)
>Nightmare
Blackbanes Ghost Raiders
The Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Machine Wraith (x3)
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren

Which I thought had the best parts of my test list, and added some even more powerful abilities. The old list was T4 of course, so I lose the benefit of 2" deployment and 2 SPD on the wraiths, which were not very useful - compared to the benefit of a free upkeep, upkeep hate, puppet master and dark shroud - only having to sacrifice the second pistol wraith and swap out Bane Knights (who did not work well in the previous lists, being non-stealth and corporeal.)

The draw has come up, and funnily enough I have Emma's Circle as my first opponent. Im confident that Ill win the game, since I know Emma's playstyle inside out. Her army will be:

Baldur the Stonecleaver
>Woldwatcher
>Woldwyrd
>Woldwarden
>Woldwarden
Druids of Orboros and Overseer
Shifting Stones
Blackclad Wayfarer

I have played this army a few times before, so I have a good idea of how it works.

My basic plan will of course, be: Prey on Baldur, use Nightmare to sneak up and hopefully take out Baldur in case I am losing the scenario. Avoid Woldwardens, and use Arc-Nodes to take out the Druids and hopefully ill be able to slow down the Woldwardens enough that I can take the win by scenario.

Ill go further in detail in another post, which will also have my second opponents list!

Emmas Game, and thoughts on the Second Game.

Emmas games vs Mike and Josh are hard for me to remember, since I was busy while they were happening, but I got the general gist.

Emma won her first game vs Josh with a barrage of Earth Spikes on his Warcaster, but lost her second game vs Mike on scenario, when she couldnt get rid of the Spriggan on one zone, and the Behemoth on the other.


Druids advance, providing support. The number of troops in the middle suggests an attrition game at this point.

Emmas Warlock Baldur just about died the turn before this picture, he ended up on half life after a transfer, as well as on fire, but he manages to escape. Dropped, but not popped.

Baldur licks his wounds, still reeling from the assassination attempt earlier. Woldwardens are sturdy as ever and take an increasingly large amount of hits.

Emmas Constructs and Geomancy turn the tide and force Menoth back, and managed to set off multiple Earth Spikes right on top of pKreoss, killing him.

My second game vs Josh took longer, as he did not commit his forces as early as Mike did. I managed to mangle the Exemplars unit (the ones that get tougher and tougher) in one Hellmouth, but by that point the Bane Knights had been wiped out from the deadly Skyhammer attacks, and a final suicidal sprint to get a kill or two.

We tended to keep our armies apart, he was picking apart my units and solos with Skyhammer rockets, doing serious damage and threatening Wraith Witch Deneghra as well.

After some attrition, I had managed to take out almost all of his Exemplars, as well as almost all of his Rhulic Forgeguard (ARM18 with defensive line guys) but in return had lost all my Bane Knights, all my Blackbanes, and most of my solos. Crucially, I still had two arc nodes left. I had managed to score a control point, because my Machine Wraith stole his Repenter. I had also popped my feat that turn, freezing most of the enemy army in place, including pKreoss (a sliver of an inch in range, hotly contested. [mike objectively judged it])

Because of this, the only thing he could get into the control zone on his next turn, and prevent loss by scenario, was a single un-defended Paladin, with Tough. With a huge effort, including the last Pistol Wraiths guns, with my Repenter that he had failed to remove the Wraith from, killed the Paladin and I won on Scenario.

New Board, 4 player mini-tournament.

We had some good games today, 4 all up, they were:

Toshi - Cryx, 35pt T4 eDeneghra
Emma - Circle Orboros, 35 pt pBaldur
Josh - Menoth, 35pt pKreoss (ouch, feat)
Mike - Khador, 35pt Karchev!

We had 2 games each, Toshi vs Mike + Emma vs Josh, and then Toshi vs Josh + Emma vs Mike, using the same armies.

We had a good mix of units and warjacks, with no list being a clear counter to any other list - Movement and Denial shenanigans abound, and because we are playing scenarios the pressure is on.

The scenario we picked was "Close Quarters", #3 for Steamroller 2011. Controlling a point on the other side of the board is tricky, since that is basically where the opponent deployed. In turn one, most armies had a lot of troops already in the opposite players control zone. (Unless your Karchev, and can Tow all your warjacks into place, lol)

Deployment Pics, and also army builds: (click to enlarge)

Cryx vs Khador - Khador Army

Cryx vs Khador - Cryx Army

Circle vs Menoth - Circle Army

Circle vs Menoth - Menoth Army

Circle vs Khador

Cryx vs Menoth

As I was getting tired during the day, I forgot to take any more photos after the games of Cryx vs Menoth and Circle vs Khador, but I will sum them up quickly in a second post.

Game One: Cryx vs Khador

This one was an interesting battle, having played Karchev a lot myself, I know what he can do - and just how dangerous he is. I figured this would be difficult to win by scenario, since Karchev would position his Jacks as quickly as I could with solos, and his Jacks win easily. (Especially since Unearthly Rage grants Magic Weapons, ruining all Incorporeal's day.) Nightmare made Karchev his prey, and that did not bode well for him.

I had Bane Knights running up the left flank, and Blackbanes running up the right flank, with most of my solos helping out the Bane Knights. I used my Arcnodes a bit aggresively, and managed a fantastic Hellmouth attack - that cleared out all but one Doom Reaver. Unfortunately, my Machine Wraith served as a target and was also killed. As predicted, Karchev the Behemoth and a Spriggan were firmly entrenched in their home zone, and would prove to be difficult to remove. Kovnik Markov, who I did not consider a threat, moved up to the right flank and threatened the Deathripper.

Turns out Kovnik Markov is a badass, who not only had MAT10 on the charge but also hit eDenny with blast damage! Luckily not knocking her down. Fenris proves too much for Blackbanes raiders, who, after multiple charges still could not even take him off his horse. eDenny walks up, realising the bad situation she is in and goes Incorporeal and pops her feat, catching everyone but the Behemoth in it - including the Spriggan that the Machine Wraith is eyeing up.

On the left flank however, things were not going so well. The Behemoth had suddenly become super accurate and wrote off a Deathripper in one turn. The Pistol Wraiths are not firing yet, wary of Karchev and his strong magic. If you look closely, youll see a Machine Wraith standing right behind Karchev. I was just baiting him really, as a Machine Wraith cannot do anything to Karchev... ever. Except stand in his control zone, I guess.

Not pictured, unfortunately, is Nightmare - waiting behind the rock he had Ghostlied through it, and just inside 10" of Karchev, as it turned out.



The attack happens - Fenris is dismounted, but will slaughter the Blackbanes next turn. Deneghra walks into her most vulnerable position yet, and is not even Incorporeal. She successfully casts "Marked For Death" for a handy -2 ARM. Pistol Wraiths launch themselves forward, each one firing two shots from their Wraithlock pistols, causing minor damage to Karchevs hull and Chilling him from the grave. As it turns out, this was very handy. Nightmare gains +2 SPD from being close enough to Karchev, and then charges, straight passed the Spriggan. (Which was now my Spriggan, since a Machine Wraith had squirmed its way into its cortex)

With 3 Focus and on his prey target - (who wasnt camping any focus - he had spent it on a mighty eruption to kill the Machine Wraith in his turn just earlier) Nightmare tore Karchev to shreds with a mighty Combo-Strike - doing over 20 damage. I look at Karchev's remaining boxes and sigh. After more bought attacks, Nightmare overkills him by 1 point on his last hit.

All in all, a close game and well fought by Mike, who is going to become very good with Karchev soon... I was lucky taking out all the Doom Reavers, since they are a real threat and have a solid punch. The Behemoth never really got stuck in, since Nightmare never went near him, but his Bombards quickly annihilated the non-stealth portions of my army. Karchev himself played it safe - and it was this playing it safe that got him killed. After I managed to cripple his movement with my feat, I was then able to capatilize on it the next turn by going forward into his objective. He never really got to use his good attacks, except on 1 point ghosts.

Which Solos are the hardest to kill?

This is a question that pesters me, I like squishy, powerful solos, but it is always annoying when a single AOE or a lucky charge takes them out in one hit. So lets look at Cryx's solos, and see which ones are the most powerful in surviving those hits.

For the purposes of this 'thought experiment', Ive decided to allocate various points to each model.
We are not including any buffs except ones that they give themselves.
The points are as follows:

1 point for each DEF up to 14, and 2 points for each DEF 15+. (Average MAT being 7, models will miss half the time against DEF14 - making DEF15 very valuable.)

1 point for each ARM up to 17, and 2 points for each ARM 18+. (Average POW being about 10, a model will take no damage from an average roll at ARM17, making ARM18 very valuable.)

Base Size: +1 point for Small base, 0 points for Medium base, -1 point for Large Base.

3 points for Tough, Incorporeal and Stealth, 2 points for "Unknockdownable" and Terror, 1 point for each additional Health after the first, and a judged benefit from any other defense ability. (Ghostly, Dragoon, Parry = 1 point) Fearless and Undead are a given in this army, if they do not have either of these abilities they lose one point.

Cryx Solos:

Bane Lord Tartarus:

At DEF13 and ARM17, he falls into the category of "Average rolls will hurt him". This gives him 30 Survival points so far. Sitting on 8 HP, this gives him 7 more points. He also has Stealth, +3 points, Ghostly (avoid free strikes), +1 point, and Terror. (+2 points)

This gives Tartarus a survival points score of 43.

Bloat Thrall:

At DEF10 and ARM14 with 8 health, the Bloat Thrall is easy to hit and easy to kill, giving him a subtotal of 31 points. He is unknockdownable for 2 points, but -1 for a Large base.

This gives the Bloat Thrall a survival points score of 32.

Darragh Wrathe:

Solidly built, at DEF14 and an average armor of 16, and total health boxes being 15, he gets a subtotal of 44. Dragpon can be used to save his life, thus giving a 1 point benefit. He could also use Beyond Death to effectively raise his defence, but is then not attacking anyone. This gives +1 point also. Being a large base is risky, so loses on point.

This gives Darragh Wrathe a survival points score of 45.

Gerlak Slaughterborn:

With a statline of DEF12 and ARM17 with 8 boxes, Gerlak is almost as tough as Tartarus. Still not in the optimal stat areas, this gives him a current total of 37 points. Add in Tough and Terror for 5 points, and add "Unknockdownable" for 2 points and you have a solid defensive solo.

This gives Gerlak a survival points score of 44.

Machine Wraith:

With a substandard statline of DEF14 and ARM12, with one health, it gives him a survival score of 26. Luckily Incorporeal helps out his chances. (+3 points).

This gives the Machine Wraith a survival points score of 29.

Necrotech:

Necrotechs arent designed to be front line fighters, at DEF12 and ARM13 with 5 boxes. This gives a subtotal of 29. Unknockdownable gives an additional 2 points.

This gives the Necrotech a survival points score of 31.

Pistol Wraith:

Pistol Wraiths have that same weak statline, DEF14 and ARM12 with 5 boxes, giving a total of 30 points. Their saving grace is Incorporeal, for 3 points. Small base for +1. This is really the limit of their defenses however.

This gives a Pistol Wraith a survival points score of 34.

Skarlock Thrall:

The Skarlock Thrall sits on DEF 14 and ARM 12, making him hit on average rolls and most things will kill him. This gives him 26 points so far. With 5 HP, he gets an additional 4 points. Small base for +1. This is really the limits to his defensive qualities.

This gives the Skarlock a survival points score of 31.

Warwitch Siren:

The Warwitch Siren has an excellent DEF at 15, but bad armour at 13. With 5 health, this puts her sub total on 34. Adding in Stealth and Small base bonus is another 4 points. Parry is another useful move at +1 point. Shadowbind and Seduction are both survival moves, giving her another point for both of them.

This gives a Warwitch Siren a survival points score of 40.

Conclusion:

As we can see, there are equal amounts of Squishy and Hardy solos.
The Hardy solos, (Survival points of 40+) are:

Warwitch Siren, Gerlak, Darragh Wrathe, and Bane Lord Tartarus.

This makes sense as these are the most common solos that I see as well. Since Wrathe and Tartarus are both 4 points, they really should be on this list. Gerlak is nice to see here, he is known to be hard to put away and can really work on the offensive as well. The Warwitch Siren, at 2 points, seems to be the cheapest and hardiest of all Cryx solos - given its popularity, its no wonder why. (Also, the only solo to have DEF15 base).

Solos that I didnt write up: (Dont have the model or stats)

Satyxis Raider Captain, Scrap Thrall, Iron Lich Overseer, Captain Rengrave,

Test Army - Toad Hall Leagues

A testing game of my potential league army is coming up this weekend, the current thoughts for it, without giving away the tactics behind the army, is looking like this:

Wraith Witch Deneghra

>Deathripper

>Nightmare

>Skarlock Thrall

Bane Knights (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Machine Wraith

Machine Wraith

Machine Wraith

Pistol Wraith

Pistol Wraith

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

There are a few alternatives im thinking about as well, but it will depend on wether 1 arcnode is sufficient, or if I should really bring two. I could also drop the Skarlock and Warwitch Siren (one of them) for full Bane Knights, which would increase their effectiveness - but since we are playing scenarios, killing enemy heavies is not the highest priority... or is it?