Kovnik Komuniqué - The Iron Fist of Khador

Hello again, Komrades! Last time, I head a good deal of calling for a battle report featuring Strakhov. He's the leader of Khador's Black Ops squad, a total badass, and probably one of my favorite warcasters. He's a ton of fun to play, and hopefully this battle report will show you that he means business when he takes on the Circle Orboros.

Kovnik Komuniqué: Battle Report

Khador: Kommander Strakhov vs. Circle Orboros: Baldur the Stonecleaver

This battle report was a scenario battle against a friend of mine at our FLGS. We played a Steamroller 2014: Balance of Power. The map is pictured below, and it's first to five wins as usual with the following scoring opportunities:

• Friendly Flag: Dominate = Opponent loses 1 CP before players score CPs this turn (minimum = 0)

• Zone: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP

• Enemy Flag: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP

(No death clock this game; we were keeping things casual)

The Army lists were as follows:

Khador (Played by Dan):

Kommander Strakhov (*6pts)
* Beast-09 (11pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Fenris (5pts)
Goblin Tinker (1pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Kovnik Andrei Malakov (3pts)
* Spriggan (10pts)
Man-o-war Drakhun (without dismount) (4pts)
Manhunter (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

Circle (Led by Paul):

Baldur the Stonecleaver (*6pts)
* Megalith (11pts)
* Pureblood Warpwolf (9pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
Druids of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
* Druid of Orboros Overseer (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Tharn Bloodtrackers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Nuala the Huntress (2pts)
Lord of the Feast (4pts)

The Battlefield:

We set up a rather balanced scenario bord. The flags were near forests, but not so close they could be abused. There were also hills in the opposite corners, and linear walls just outside the zone. Again, so they couldn't be abused by toeing the zone and getting cover.

Setup:

Circle won the go ahead roll (bad news for Strakhov), and decided to go first. This is always something to watch out for when playing against circle. Many of their models and units get advance deploy. So, not only is it easy for them to counter-deploy against you, but it also means giving up the first turn will see Circle swarming the scenario zones before you can do much of anything about it. During regular deployment, my oponent deploys a whopping four models including his Warlock:

I used to own a circle army, and I don't like his deployment because I know the druids and bloodtrackers are going to be in my face faster than you can say, "Damn Treehuggers!" :P

In almost complete contradiction, most of my troops go down on the regular deployment step:

This was meant to highlight Strakhov, so I'll be a little more descriptive about the early steps: Strakhov goes down right behind the flag. And all his viable upkeep targets go near him: Beast-09, Great Bears. The Caster support goes directly behind: Sylys, Reinholdt. My Dragoons deploy on very wide flanks. The pikemen and the Iron Fang Kovnik take up the vanguard position as I plan to jam the zone with them early on and use them to clear charge lanes in later turns. Malakov and 'Rustputin' (My rusty, old, Spriggan model. One of the first in my collection) take up the other flank, and the Gobber Tinker is right behind.

Now comes Circle's AD, and I'm already sweating:

My AD was a single Manhunter on the left side in front of Fenris. I didn't bother with a Picture because the placement was simple. The Bloodtrackers declare Prey on the Great Bears and off we go! 

Circle Orboros: Turn 1:

The Bloodtrackers run to jam the zone good and hard. The druids run to the wall. The Stalker, and Pureblood run to take up position just outside the zone. Measuring control, Paul determines that Megalith would be too far away from the BloodTrackers to give them Stoneskin via Geomancy, so he just runs. The stones teleport into place, threatening to tele-drop any one of his heavies into the zone if I put anything valuable too far up front.

Baldur activates, and my Paul informs me he'd made a mistake waiting so long. If he'd activated Baldur (Or even Megalith) before the Blood Trackers, he'd have been able to put Stoneskin on them this turn in preparation for dishing out some nasty damage next turn. Now, however, he was too far away. Baldur simply advances, and places Stoneskin on the Stalker. The lord of the feast runs into the forest and looks quite menacing.

If you didn't believe me before about Circle's ability to really threaten a scenario jam if they get the first turn, maybe this visual aid will help. This is why I wanted to go first!

Khador: Turn 1:

Paul's put me in a bad spot. I consider my options and actually discuss a turn 1 feat. Ultimately, I decide that's a bad idea. His heavies are well protected. A turn 1 feat just wouldn't quite get me the damage that I was looking for. I decide to bide my time and begin making other plans.

It's apparent that if I don't get something into that zone right now, I may not be able to do it at all. So, I decide to give up the Iron Fangs. That's what infantry's for isn't it? No need to Shield March, so I save the Kovnik's activation for later. The Brave Black Dragons declare Iron Zeal and make a run for it! They manage to engage the first few Bloodtrackers. Just what I wanted. This would make them a pain to dislodge!

Their Kovnik follows up behind them and makes it to the wall. The Great Bears run to the treeline near the flag. The Drakhun hugs the table edge and threatens to charge the druids next turn if they don't do something about him. Fenris takes up a vantage point on the hill. The manhunter makes a mad dash for the Lord of Feast's forest, declaring it to be Khadoran land. Orboros be damned!

Malakov casts Redline on Spriggan and moves off to the side. The spriggan runs for free and gets his toes behind the wall. The Tinker gives him a hug!

Strakhov finally activates. He casts Superiority on Beast-09 and Occultation on the great bears. Then advances to the flag. Reinholdt gives him a hug and sylys dances a jig.

The board after the first turn:

Circle: Turn 2

Paul, ever the optimist, tells me that he thinks his Bloodtrackers are screwed. He takes a few minutes to look over the board and decides he has a plan, and upkeeps Stoneskin on the Warpwolf Stalker.

The druids activate. A few use clouds, the leader puts up anti-magic, and the UA decides to cast the devouring on an Iron Fang Pikemen, who Paul woefully discovered was engaged, making him DEF 17.

The devouring missed, scattering back into the lines of the IFP, claiming only one life instead of three. The final few Druids tossed out a few force bolts to minimal effect. All of them maintained their defensive position behind the wall.

The lord of the feast activated. He walked through the forest to just outside reach distance of my Manhunter and let loose his crow. It missed. Things weren't going well for Paul's plan!

And then, this happened:

With some of the best shifting stones placement I've ever seen, he gets the stalker in between two of his blood trackers. It looks like he was REAL close to nudging models from the picture, but trust me, I checked. Twice. His Warpwolf entered the fray with barely millimeters to spare. I had to applaud him there. It looked like my jam tactic was about to come apart at the seams!

The stalker unloaded on my Pikemen. He claimed the lives of Four Khadoran troops (using his animus for sprint somewhere along the line) before turning on the two brave Bloodtrackers he'd teleported next to. Sprint saw him shuffle to one side to engage what was left of the Black Dragon's front ranks.

Later, Paul admitted this was another mistake. He determined the better play would have been to use sprint to push the Stalker forward so that it engaged with my Spriggan and the Black Dragons hanging behind the wall.

Next up was Megalith, taking a hop skip and a jump around one of the shifting stones as if it were a maypole, the druidic monolith spread peace, love, and Stoneskin among the Bloodtrackers. He'd managed to disengage the majority of the unit. However, he didn't like their chances of hitting the BDP behind the wall (even aiming, they'd need 9's to hit for an above average chance to kill at P+S 11 weaponmaster against Arm 18). He opted, instead, to devote half the remaining Bloodtrackers to take out the Black Dragons remaining mid field. The remaining 8 Bloodtrackers and Nuala managed to kill a grand total of two pikeman which the Stalker had left behind. The pureblood advanced, and sprayed through the gaps at the ones behind the wall, catching just 1 BDP in his 10" spray (but no friendly models either). The fury mechanic sealed his fate.

Baldur activated, advanced, and placed a forest in front of him as a LoS blocker. Then, Baldur ended his activation. Remember this moment. We'll come back to it later.

Here's the board at the end of the turn:

Khador: Turn 2

It's turn two, so we'll begin calculating Control Points at the end of the turn.

It was now, or never. The all important Strakhov feat turn.

Control phase: Strakhov drops Occultation, and upkeeps Superiority for free thanks to Sylys Wyshshhshnlllhhllyyyylrrr and his goofy socks. Malakov upkeeps Redline. Both warcasters load up their respective warjacks to the max.

I always like to get the easy things out of the way early when it's my feat turn. The Manhunter, who wouldn't need the speed boos from the feat charges, and kills the Lord of the Feast. "My Forest!" he says.

The Gobber Tinker sat and repaired last turn's damage from Redline on the Spriggan bringing it back to full.

Now the difficult part. I wanted to activate Strakhov. But I couldn't. The trick to playing him is to hold the feat as long as possible during your turn until your important charge targets become clear, and you've identified beyond all doubt, what specific model will be your warjack's Overrun Trigger. That means, I had to clear some charge lanes before he could activate.

The Iron Fang Kovnik sits behind the wall and declares that the Black Dragons Shield March. The Black Dragons activate, and damn if they don't get work done! Ordering for Shield Wall, the three in the center press as far forward as possible while remaining in the melee range, and LoS of the Stalker. The ones on the left traipse toward the left side of the zone to engage the Blood Trackers on the left. And the Iron Fang officer follows up the ones in the center flank. 

This very specific movement wasn't without forethought mind you. Let's take a moment to talk about why I'm doing this. It's a Strakhov battle report, after all and this activation was likely the most important one of the game for me. Take another look at the board:

To the left of the stalker are five Bloodtrackers in a triangle formation. The two at the back I don't care about. The three that make up the front of the triangle (the ones circled in the picture) absolutely have to die right now. Only then, will Spriggan have a charge lane to Megalith. But perhaps even more importantly, I have to eliminate those models while keeping that future charge lane clear of my own models.

The Black Dragons make fantastic use of their CMA ability. On the right, there are two CMA's (the second one originating from the Unit's Officer) where the Black Dragons need 6, and 5 to hit respectively. I roll a six. P+S 15 kills automatically. I roll a five. P+S 15 kills automatically. Then on the other side, the pikemen ignore the far left Bloodtracker and CMA the remaining lane blocker. I need 6 to hit the last all important attack roll. The dice come up 3, and 3 causing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

One last piece of bookkeeping: Reinholdt activates, uses Spyglass on Strakhov and he measure's the distance between the Spriggan and the Pureblood (I can't quite see Megalith, otherwise I would have used him). I know that Spriggan will have a 15" threat range after the factoring in Strakhov's feat and Redline. The Pureblood is about 12" away, and using that educated guess I am sure that I'll have the distance I need to charge Megalith.

Now, it's time.

Strakhov activates and declares that it's time to show the enemy the Iron Fist of Khador! But again, the trick to playing Strakhov is identifying the key targets before you pop your feat. First and Foremost, I know that Beast-09 is going to be my Overrun trigger, killing the Stalker to make Strakhov back peddal at the end of the turn. That means Beast-09 needs to activate last, and I need to leave the Stalker alive until he does. Measuring control, I know that the Great Bears will have the distance they need to charge the Pureblood, but I need to clear that lane still. Spriggan will have Megalith, of course. And Strakhov? He's eyeing that Bloodtracker in front to trigger his Sprint ability. If everything goes my way, Paul won't have any beasts left at the start of his next turn! Now the hard part: Actually pulling all that off.

Strakhov starts his activation with 3 focus. Two of it immediately goes to casting Overrun on Beast-09. Then, Strakhov charges the Bloodtracker, staying on the right side of it to avoid the Stalker's reach threat. He boosts to hit, and connects, giving the Bloodtracker it's well deserved comeuppance. Strakhov pops his feat, and ends his activation. He retreats just enough so that he doesn't block the lane for either the Great Bears, or Beast, and yet can still tag Megalith with his Feat. He ends up about midway between my flag and the Stalker. But we're not out of the woods yet.

Spriggan takes off like he's shot out of a gun. Poor Rustputin's gears begin screeching and grinding under that strain of Redline. He barreling across the field shrugging off a free strike from the Bloodtracker on the left. Skewering Megalith with the charge, he pauses to bash another Bloodtracker with his shield. Then, I buy an attack on the shifting stone. Because in the off chance that I can't quite kill Megalith with a few more P+S 20 hits, I want to make absolutely sure that Paul can't send him halfway across the battlefield with his damn hippy magic. The stone dies, and Rustputin delivers two more punishing blows to Megalith after that. I botch the damage roll on my first bought attack, rolling only a four. The last attack puts another decent wad of points on the construct, but leaves him at one single box! No!

Malakov saunters up the the wall, but can't quite reach Megalith with his gun, so he takes a pot-shot at the Pureblood and misses.

The Great Bears activate. I quickly notice that even though I cleared the Bloodtracker out out of the way, the Stalker's line of sight is going to be a problem. Yarovich takes one for the team an charges the Stalker such that the back half of his LoS gets blocked, and the lane becomes freed up for his brothers in arms. Volkov and Kolsk both take the initiative and move 13" downfield to give the Pureblood the business end of their sharp pointy objects. Yarovich nearly gives me a heart attack, rolling almost max damage against the Stalker almost killing it on the charge attack. If he had, Beast-09 would have not had anything to attack, and Strakhov would have been left hanging in the winds. The other two make short work of the Pureblood.

The Drakhun crashes into the druids. The clouds prove effective causing both of his impact attacks to miss, but the charge attack lands, taking of their leader's head. Fenris activates, and charges the one Bloodtracker remaining on the left that had taken a free strike at Rustputin.

Beast-09 finally activates, charging the Stalker, and taking it apart with the first swing. That's three wasted focus on him, but you can never be too careful when you absolutely have to trigger Overrun. The spell goes off, and Strakhov backpeddals to just behind the friendly flag, dominating it (just in case).

Unfortunately, my last activation: Sylys isn't enough to dispatch the last few Bloodtrackers in the zone, for Control points, so I just keep him safe behind me and end my turn.

Circle: Turn 3

Paul, gracious as he is, decides to call the game. He's down, but not out, but doesn't feel the need to let the game drag on. He didn't expect Strakhov's threat ranges to be quite so long as they were! We shake hands, clean up our models, and part as friends.

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Now, remember that moment I said I'd come back to later on?

The next day, I received a text message from Paul: "I forgot to feat! I just realized it! God damn!"

Sounds like Paul should be listening to more of a certain podcast! But yes, if Paul had used Baldur's feat during turn 2, it certainly would have been a game changer. The stalker probably still would have died. But Megalith would certainly be right as rain, and I might not have killed the Pureblood either!

Lesson learned, Paul, don't forget to feat!

Until next time, Komrades!