Yesterday was the annual Ticket Takedown at Haven Gaming, the first prize being a ticket to Lock & Load 2016. I forsook Circle for this event and went back to Skorne; just can't stay away from the elephants. I'm just more excited about the Skorne lately than I have been about the Circle stuff, even if Circle is seen as a more powerful faction. The tournament was Master's format, so I was able to take advantage of ADR. Here's what I brought:
Master Tormentor Morghoul
* Aptimus Marketh
* Mammoth
* Titan Gladiator
* Titan Sentry
* Cyclops Brute
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Extoller Soulward
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
VANGUARD
Aradus Sentinel
Basilisk Krea
Cyclops Raider
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Objective: Effigy of Valor
Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate
* Tiberion
* Basilisk Krea
* Cyclops Shaman
Hakaar the Destroyer
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Cataphract Arcuarii (min)
Cataphract Incindiarii (min)
Nihilators (max)
VANGUARD
Basilisk Drake
Nihilators (max)
Immortals (max)
Objective: Arcane Wonder
Morghoul is one of my favorite casters, and I'm pretty happy with the Mammoth attached to him. Of course, for this event, I forgot the Mammoth at home as it's too big to fit in the bag and usually has to sit in the passenger's seat. Luckily, another player was kind enough to lend me his model...
Zaal 2 is the new hotness, or he would be if he hadn't gotten such a lukewarm reception from the Skorne community. Most people who haven't played him think he's crap; those who have played him think he's not that bad. I'm still on the fence, but he's definitely got some interesting facets. Most of the community, myself included, is disappointed that his playstyle is more of the same "ax to face" that Skorne has had throughout Mark II. We were hoping for a bit more variety.
Round 1
Scenario: Recon
Kommander Zoktavir, the Butcher Unleashed
* War Argus
* War Argus
* War Dog
* Ruin
Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan
Saxon Orrik
Iron Fang Kovnik
Kovnik Andrei Malakov
* Spriggan
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios
Ogrun Bokur
Iron Fang Pikemen (max)
* Black Dragon Officer and Standard
Widowmakers
Greylord Ternion
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| Game End: Ruin has just finished squishing a prone Morghoul. The big white disk is the Mammoth, model removed for ease of play. |
I took advantage of ADR and swapped the list around so that I had the ranged battlegroup instead of the melee-focused one, planning on trimming down his infantry and support with boosted blast damage from the Mammoth and the Sentinel before sending in the Mammoth to clean up and either dominating the zone or trying to kill Butcher with whatever was left - probably Morghoul, the Brute, and the Krea. In retrospect, the Zaal list might have been a better choice.
I won the roll and went first, and advanced about as aggressively as I could. Under Abuse and Rush, the Mammoth moved up quite far to set up for some round 2 shooting, while the rest of the army clustered around him. Doug advanced pretty far, but a little more cautiously.
Second round, I got very aggressive and was able to pick off some of his infantry with the Mammoth and the Sentinel - critically, a lucky shot managed to take Madelyn Corbeau off the table. I then ended the turn by pushing Morghoul up into the center of the zone under feat and Admonition, and camping three transfers. I figured he was pretty safe; without the ability to spend Focus and unable to target him with Combined Melee Attacks, the Khadoran forces were extremely unlikely to be able to kill him.
Unfortunately, I neglected to have the Brute put Safeguard on Morghoul, so he could be knocked down. And both Malakov's Spriggan and the Ogrun Bokur can Slam without needing Focus. So he was able to position a War Argus, lower its defense with the Greylord Ternion, and then use the Ogrun Bokur to slam it over Morghoul, knocking him down. After that, it was just a question of putting enough attacks into him, and that was game.
Aside from that mistake, I was pretty happy with how this game went; I felt like it was at least a 50/50 matchup, and if I'd played a bit more carefully, I could have won.
Round 2
Scenario: Destruction
Captain Victoria Haley
* Squire
* Stormwall
* Stormwall
Stormsmith Stormcaller
Journeyman Warcaster
The Black 13th
Tempest Blazers
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt
Tactical Arcanist Corps
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| End game: Mammoth in mid-swing on the Stormwall, Morghoul lurking at the bottom of the photo, and Haley hiding behind the wall in the upper left. |
With a Stormwall in one of my opponent's lists, I felt like I had to drop the Morghoul list. When James did, indeed drop the Stormwall list, I chose to do the same swap I did last round, mostly to pull the Krea in. Under the Krea bubble, the Mammoth and Sentinel are extremely resistant to shooting, and most of the shooting in his list was POW 10 - practically worthless in this matchup.
I lost this game on clock. Had I moved quicker on my second and third turns, I'd probably have won. The picture above, at game end, shows the Mammoth tearing into the Stormwall; I'm up two control points, and if I'd had time to clear the zone, all that he'd have had left would have been Haley herself. In return, he only killed four models - two Beast Handlers, a Willbreaker, and the Extoller, and that on his last turn of the game. He did manage to set Morghoul on fire with the Tactical Arcanist Corps on round three, though. That was a little exciting.
Aside from time management, this is the game I where I felt I played my best. But that's a pretty big caveat.
Round 3
Scenario: Close Quarters
Kromac, Champion of the Wurm
* Druid Wilder
* Warpwolf Stalker
* Ghetorix
* Riphorn Satyr
* Pureblood Warpwolf
* Gorax
* Winter Argus
Gallows Grove
Shifting Stones
* Stone Keeper
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| End game: Kromac, sans all his heavies, base to base with the Skorne flag. Morghoul has just used Admonition to back out of range of Kromac's ax. |
I dropped Morghoul again, but this time I stuck with the melee loadout. Becky's a newer player, and she lost on clock in this game. I made some rather bad mistakes, though; forgot to feat on the turn where it would have made the biggest difference, forgot to take the Agonizer's Gnawing Pain aura into account while she was killing the Mammoth, and should have boosted to hit rolls when I sent the Mammoth after Ghetorix and the Stalker. Dice didn't love me either; to get around Cricle's high DEF, I tried to head butt most of the beasts before buying attacks on them, and failed every attempt but one. Had Becky played a bit more aggressively, she could have taken the Mammoth off the table in exchange for Ghetorix or the Stalker, and used Kromac and the surviving beasts to assassinate Morghoul. So... not my greatest game.
Round 4
Scenario: Fire Support
Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
* Succubus
* Zuriel, Champion of Everblight
* Angelius
* Angelius
* Harrier
* Harrier
* Shredder
* Nephilim Bloodseer
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
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| End game: Saeryn dominating her friendly flag, with most of the Skorne army jammed out by the winged beasts. The lone Arcuarius in the upper center has run over to contest in order to deny one last control point before time. |
This was my last game, and I was getting pretty tired by this point. Since I was 1-2, I figured I might as well drop Zaal, regardless of what Scott was putting down. This resulted in a bad matchup; once again, the Morghoul list, with ranged battlegroup, would have been a better choice. Also, Scott's a pretty solid player. His list relies on a combination of Saeryn's feat preventing melee attacks against her battlegroup, and the Nyss Sorceresses preventing ranged attacks to jam out the scenario and dominate toward a victory. If I hadn't run out of time, this probably would have worked, too.
This was my first time to put Zaal 2 or the Arcuarii on the table. I chose not to swap anything in the list. It was a learning experience more than a serious game from my perspective, so here's a quick list of lessons:
- Nihilators should have been deployed close to the center instead of on the flank, so they could run up, jam, and get killed early for those sweet, sweet souls.
- Zaal 2 is shockingly durable, even at DEF 10. I don't think Scott made any serious attempts to assassinate him.
- The list really does depend on melee + Transference, so Saeryn's feat was a real problem. I also did not boost via Transference when I should have - mostly on to-hit
- Zaal himself is no great shakes in melee. He made a fair number of attacks this game out of necessity, but I probably should have kept him back and tried to do more work through Transference/Sunder Spirit.
- The Big One: For years I've been playing Ancestral Guardians as if they had Ghost Shield. They don't. Oops. Lesson: read the entire card...
Anyway, a good game in the sense of learning stuff, not so much in the sense of playing well. About what I expected. Scott's battle plan worked very well, though I did throw him off his stride a little by threatening with Tiberion and a Guardian on turn 2 and forcing him to turn back to deal with them. Wasn't enough to get me up on the attrition game.
Final Thoughts
Pretty good experience, though I do wish the local meta started events a little earlier. I dropped before round five as I had no desire to get home at midnight. Thanks to Lucas for running it and to Haven for hosting it, and to all my opponents for a set of fun games. As for the pairing... well, I'm actually happy with it. Morghoul's an old favorite, and Zaal 2 looks to be interesting to mess around with. They'll be seeing more table time together.
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