Sorry, but no pictures for this one. I wasn't planning on writing this, so I didn't snap any photos.
Vlad2 Wolves of Winter vs Zaadesh2 Imperial War Host on Steamroller 2017 Scenario 2: Standoff (All the Zones + Objectives).
Army Lists:
Khador Army - 74 / 75 points[Theme] Wolves of Winter
(Vladimir 2) Vladimir Tzepesci, The Dark Champion [+27]
- Devastator [14]
- Kodiak [13]
Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [5]
Greylord Forge Seer [0(4)]
Koldun Lord [0(4)]
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19]
- Koldun Kapitan Valachev [4]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [13]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [13]
Greylord Outriders (max) [20]
Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Imperial Warhost
Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Imperial Warhost
(Zaadesh 2) Lord Tyrant Zaadesh [+28]
- Agonizer [0(6)]
- Agonizer [0(6)]
- Archidon [10]
- Basilisk Krea [0(7)]
- Bronzeback Titan [18]
- Titan Gladiator [15]
- Titan Sentry [15]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Siege Animantarax [17]
Siege Animantarax [17]
Some Background Info:
My opponent is the best Skorne player in our meta, in my opinion. I've never beaten him when he plays Zaal2.I won the roll and decided to go first. Decision because the last time I played him he went first and jammed both of his battle engines so far down my throat I nearly choked. In that previous game, even Karchev's damage output couldn't handle the battle engines, so I thought it would be best if I brought the fight to him.
Scatter Terrain Method Fog Bank in the middle closer to my side than his side, and slightly to the left of center.
He chose the side of the board with rubble, a forest, and an Acid Pool a little further forward. My side had a house on the right, with a wall in front of it bisecting the right zone, and a Water Feature on the left side of the board.
Deployment:
Khador: I deploy the Outriders hard flanking to the right as far out as possible (they begin the game affected by Hand of Fate). The Devastator (With Assail) is Centrally deployed, and the Kodaik is to the left ready to run through the water. Vlad (With Arcane Might) is next to the kodiak so it can vent steam and get his Might of Kings going. The Nyss take up the center along with the solos.Skorne: Turtles on either side to get through the forest and rough terrain. The Beast Handlers were just inside the battle engines. Zaadesh2 and his battlegroup deployed centrally.
Khador AD: Both Doom Reaver units deployed centrally.
The Game:
Khador Turn 1: Vlad allocates 1 to Kodiak. Doom Reavers both run. One unit stays behind the cloud wall, and take up position on the fence in the right circle zone so I can apparate either one of them and charge the following turn. Outriders run up the flank, but because the Battle Engine can threat so far, I choose to try to bait it forward with 1 Outrider while the others stayed back behind the doom reavers and spread out a bit. Kodak Vents steam on Vlad, boosting damage to make sure it sticks, dealing 4 points; then Kodiak runs with the remaining focus 10". Vlad Activates heals himself for 3 points with focus and wanders up a bit to stay just behind my zone.Skorne Turn 1: Beast Handlers whip up the Battle Engines. Battle Engines move forward. The one on the right kills two Greylords, hard rolling the 8s each time. I'm sad. The other BE takes a good sized chunk out of the Kodak. Zaadesh and the battlegroup move forward to flank his objective. The Titan Sentry and Bronzeback are the furthest forward to either side of the objective. The Archidonand the rest are not far behind ready to counter charge anything that engages his front line. Zaadesh casts Battle Charge and puts up a cloud between the fog bank terrain and his objective, effectively blocking much of the central doom reaver's LoS to many of his models (even with Apparition).
Khador Turn 2: Here's where things go south. The central Doom Reavers apparate into the fog bank so they can charge out of it. Vlad pays for all his upkeeps, and hogs the rest of his focus. The remaining Outriders advance and try to spray the battle engine (Only thing in reach). They deal no damage and reposition a bit. Vlad activates, swaps HoF to the Nyss, walks into my zone and feats. I get the minimum 4 models, and go all in on the central doom reaver unit. Doom Reavers charge the battlegroup mostly. One on the left charges the unit of beast handlers hoping to remove them all, but Zaadesh counter charges himself and kills the feated doom reaver before he can do anything. One on the right charges the Sentry and dies to a counter charge from the Archidon (but makes a tough roll). The remaining doome reavers charge the Sentry, and the Bronzeback. Once the dust settles, I've dealt no damage with the entire unit of Doom Reavers. It was a combination of dice, debuffs from the screaming baby titans, and great positioning on his part forcing me into bad charge lanes, and where I couldn't get that much work done, or just got countercharged. One feated Doom Reaver even rolls snake eyes on his charge to add insult to injury. Nyss move into the fog bank, shoot some things, then Zephyr back behind it. Ternion advances to behind the fog bank and uses Wind Ravager to try and deter the left BE. Right unit of Doom Reavers try some charges, or run to bog down the battlegroup and the right battle engine, or set up for a later turn. Devastator runs forward, Kodiak Runs but can't get to the Battle Engine, just trying to zone it out.
Skorne Turn 2: Zaadesh's Feat turn. Between his own flashing blades, and the battlegroup, he's able to remove all my doom revers contesting his zone. The Siege Animatarax on the right side kills three doom reavers and two more Outriders(!!!). The Siege Animatarax on the left kills the Kodiak. The rest is all just positioning. He doesn't bother contesting my zone. We both score 1 point.
At that point, I forfeit. The feat was spent. I had two Doom Reavers, one Outrider, and my only remaining Jack was a Devastator. Facing down an unscratched Skorne Heavy Battlegroup and two Battle Engines with full health, I didn't see the point in rolling it out.
Things I learned / Afterthoughts:
This is my third game with Wolves of Winter. Two previous games were played under Old Witch 2 with a different army comp. In previous games, I went HAM on Doom Reavers taking 3 to 4 units. This game, I cut back on that to include a more combined arms element: The Nyss.In each game, I felt that the army is a bit anemic, or as people have been saying online: "It has a bit of a glass jaw". My experiences so far back that up: You're already starting with a low model count because of the premium you're paying for your specialist infantry/mercs. There's usually a point in the game where you end up losing a few too many models and you can't punch back hard enough to see the game through.
Gone are the days of the Mad Dogs of War when you had a seemingly endless amount of Weaponmasters which could be dumped in waves on your opponents. Without several waves of Doom Reavers, the few units you can bring typically don't last long enough to have the impact they need to carry you to victory. These days, Butcher2 is not highly regarded, but you can run all the Doom Reavers you want with a different 'caster. Though, being able to bring a power hitter of a caster doesn't quite make up for the 50% reduction of Fell Blades in the army.
For this specific game, my opponent remarks that I spent my feat too early. However, previous games against his double battle engine setup have shown me that if I were to wait any longer, I wouldn't have much board space to fight for. Perhaps he's right, but it just wouldn't have felt very good if I had done nothing with my two units of Doom Reavers for another whole turn.
I'm going to keep testing and do some more iterations on this army because I still think that it has some game into certain armies and factions (Cryx, Grymkin, maybe others). I don't think this match was a favorable one, but it's a good indication of exactly how wrong things can go with this army.
Next up:
I make some changes to the army on the fly with what's in my bag and rerack against The Wanderer (Grymkin)!
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