The Khador Army:
Zerkova1 +6
- Marauder 6
- Vanguard 4
- Vanguard 4 (Proxied by Talon; my friend forgot to bring the Vanguard he said he'd let me borrow)
Greylord Outriders 9
Kayazy Assassins 8
- Underboss 2
Kayazy Assassins 8
- Underboss 2
Kayazy Eliminators 3
Kayazy Eliminators 3
Kayazy Eliminators 3
Widowmaker Marksmen 2
Gorman Di Wolfe 2
The Circle Army:
Baldur2 +5
- Woldwrath 20
- Woldwatcher 5
- Woldwatcher 5
- Megalith 11
Shifting Stones 2
Shifting Stones 2
Blackclad Wayfarer 2
Blackclad Wayfarer 2
Una the Falconer 3
- Rotterhorn Griffon 3
The scenario: Two Fronts from the SR 2015 packet.
We decided to play accelerated deathclock (42) minutes because my opponent had 15 models and I was playing way too much infantry under a caster I'm not comfortable with. Read: I'm a glutton for punishment!
Khador Deployment:
Outriders, front and center! Zerkova and Gorman to the left next to a vanguard. The rest of her battlegroup ready to go around the other side of the large central forest. One unit of eliminators takes up postion behind Zerkova. Assassins and a unit of Eliminators to both sides.
Circle Deployment:
Woldwrath was predeployed in the center (didn't see that coming).
Baldur, a Blackclad, and Una in the center. On the hill: Megalith, and a Blackclad.
Khador A/D (Not pictured)
The Widowmaker Marksmen takes up a position in the large central forest
Circle A/D (Not pictured)
Both units of shifting stones clump up in a central position. The first in front of Baldur and Una. The second unit in front of Megalith and the Blackclad. The two Woldwatchers take up central positions, each one favoring one of the two zones.
Circle Deployment:
Woldwrath was predeployed in the center (didn't see that coming).
Baldur, a Blackclad, and Una in the center. On the hill: Megalith, and a Blackclad.
Khador A/D (Not pictured)
The Widowmaker Marksmen takes up a position in the large central forest
Circle A/D (Not pictured)
Both units of shifting stones clump up in a central position. The first in front of Baldur and Una. The second unit in front of Megalith and the Blackclad. The two Woldwatchers take up central positions, each one favoring one of the two zones.
Khador Turn 1
I moved everything up aggressively, relying on my stealth, and his slower that average (by Orboros standards) army to protect me from early retaliation. I'm planning on a turn 2 feat.
I forgot to allocate focus, like a dummy, but it didn't matter. With Kayazy flooding the field, my jacks had plenty of time to get into position.
I did cast Watcher, and Banishing Ward on the Outriders.
The marksman chances a shot at something but falls shot by an inch or two.
Spotlight on the Outriders: their first activation saw them advance, cast Winters Wind on themselves, and light cav further forward.
Here's what it looks like after turn 1:
Circle turn 1
The army wanders up. Blackclads take an aggressive position. One tries to throw a rock at my Outriders, but Banishing Ward protected him from am otherwise lethal spray.
The watchers move towards my opponent's zone. One connects with tree lasers and kills an Outrider.
Megalith backs them up.
Una and her bird stay back and stay safe.
The stones all stay clumped up near the beasts. Some in the zone, some not.
Baldur supports the army by placing a wall in his zone to deny the Kayazy any juicy targets.
The unbuilt wodwrath trundles forward.
Here's how the battlefield looks at the bottom of the first turn.
Khador Turn 2
Feat turn it is!
Zerkova hands out 1 focus to each Jack, and upkeep two spells.
The marksman pays for his points, by punishing that Blackclad for his insolence. Those who live in tree houses should not throw stones!
Outriders move up, hard, getting lots of sprays on his clump of stones. All totaled, 4 sprays may have killed one shifting stone. Light cavalry sees the Outriders jam hard. I'm hoping to keep my opponent out of the zones as long as possible. I know once he gets there, I won't be able to budge him.
Z walks up and throws aa spell at something to no effect.
***FEAT***
My Kayazy fan out, doing their best to keep Baldur, Una, and his remaining black class honest. I flood the right zone hoping to be able to claim his objective next turn. Three assassins do their best to block LoS to Z.
Pics or it didn't happen:
Circle turn 2
Megalith and Una kill most of my Outriders.
Wodwrath does some work on my Kayazy thanks to the AoE KD on its fists, but the positioning of the Kayazy did not allow it to push into the zone.
One of the Watchers wanders towards my zone in an attempt to contest, but Z's feat keeps him from charging / running to get the distance he needs. It does, however, manage to zap a Kayazy.
Baldur Activates
***FEAT***
One of the Watchers wanders towards my zone in an attempt to contest, but Z's feat keeps him from charging / running to get the distance he needs. It does, however, manage to zap a Kayazy.
Baldur Activates
***FEAT***
He ensures his placement within the right zone. He continues to summon those pain in the ass walls.
Not much else of consequence happens.
Zerkova successfully Dominates the zone. Khador 1; Circle 0
Things were getting hairy. I was getting short on time, and my cell phone battery was starting to die. I forgot to snap a photo at this point. I apologize for the lack of Visual aid.
---
Not much else happens. Z backs up, casts something useless (I think I attempted to blase a shifting stone with razor wind) and camps 1.
Zerkova successfully Dominates the zone. Khador 1; Circle 0
Things were getting hairy. I was getting short on time, and my cell phone battery was starting to die. I forgot to snap a photo at this point. I apologize for the lack of Visual aid.
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Khador Turn 3
Zerkova is feeling the heat. She upkeeps Watcher, hands out one focus to the Marauder and the Vanguard on the right, then Camps the rest.
Kayazy on the right flank do basically nothing this round because roots of earth on the objective is fair and balanced...
Eliminators on the right continue to flank hard getting behind his lines and onto the hill.
On the left, Assassins piddle around in the zone, not able to get much done. The left-flank Eliminators flank hard through the forest in an attempt to put more pressure on Baldur the following turn.
I lost one of the primed Eliminators in the left zone last turn to the Woldwrath and the remaining one failed a command check, so it just retreated to within 4" of my Effigy of Valor to rally this turn.
Eliminators on the right continue to flank hard getting behind his lines and onto the hill.
On the left, Assassins piddle around in the zone, not able to get much done. The left-flank Eliminators flank hard through the forest in an attempt to put more pressure on Baldur the following turn.
I lost one of the primed Eliminators in the left zone last turn to the Woldwrath and the remaining one failed a command check, so it just retreated to within 4" of my Effigy of Valor to rally this turn.
Not much else happens. Z backs up, casts something useless (I think I attempted to blase a shifting stone with razor wind) and camps 1.
The jacks on the right run into position for a follow up turn. The Vanguard on the left takes up a shield guard position to make sure Z can survive a shot from the Woldwrath if one comes her way.
Gorman moves up to Black Oil the Woldwrath, just to be a pain in the ass.
Zerkova Dominates again to bring the score to Khador 2, Circle 0
Here's what the battlefield looks like at this point:
Gorman moves up to Black Oil the Woldwrath, just to be a pain in the ass.
Zerkova Dominates again to bring the score to Khador 2, Circle 0
Here's what the battlefield looks like at this point:
Circle Turn 4
Baldur forces the Woldwrath to shake off Black Oil. I have a feeling that Gorman was much more worthwhile in this army before that errata!
The big events this turn are Baldur turning around to fight the eliminators in the forest. He moves over to Ground Zero, getting one, but missing the other, by the barest of margins.
Other things of importance are the WoldWrath attempting to trample into my zone, but clever positioning on the part of the kayazy deny him a landing spot, so the trample has to retreat to where he started!
Note: It was SUPER close. We used a proxy base to check any landing positions available. Even if I let him change the direction of the trample there would have been no place the Woldwrath could stand. He would have been stuck between the backs of my Kayazy, my objective, and the linear obstacle. He just couldn't stand anywhere. But it was only by the barest of margins. A quarter of an inch in some places. At this point, my opponent went on tilt pretty hard. He was so frustrated at the Woldwrath being unable to make it into the zone, and Baldur's Ground Zero falling just short of the second eliminator, that he was ready to quit. But as this was for a battle report, I simply paused the clock for a few minutes to let him cool off. When he was ready, we resumed his turn and kept playing.
Una finishes off the remaining painted Kayazy in the forest.
The remaining Blackclad sprays at some kayazy ineffectually.
Megalith polishes off my last Outrider.
Then one of the shifting stones, and a Woldwatcher nudge their way into the zone and contest. That signifies the beginning of the end for this fight!
Again, I forgot to take a picture here. What a terrible person I am!
Khador Turn 5.
Zerkova upkeeps watcher, loads up the Marauder, and camps the rest.
She starts the turn by moving to within 8" of the WoldWrath. She's behind my Effigy of Valor, and has a shield guard ready, so I believe her to be relatively safe. Using Ghost Stone, she casts Icy Grip on the Woldwrath. Something I should have done the turn before! But I learned my lesson. There was no way I was going to let it attempt another trample!
Baldur forces the Woldwrath to shake off Black Oil. I have a feeling that Gorman was much more worthwhile in this army before that errata!
The big events this turn are Baldur turning around to fight the eliminators in the forest. He moves over to Ground Zero, getting one, but missing the other, by the barest of margins.
Other things of importance are the WoldWrath attempting to trample into my zone, but clever positioning on the part of the kayazy deny him a landing spot, so the trample has to retreat to where he started!
Note: It was SUPER close. We used a proxy base to check any landing positions available. Even if I let him change the direction of the trample there would have been no place the Woldwrath could stand. He would have been stuck between the backs of my Kayazy, my objective, and the linear obstacle. He just couldn't stand anywhere. But it was only by the barest of margins. A quarter of an inch in some places. At this point, my opponent went on tilt pretty hard. He was so frustrated at the Woldwrath being unable to make it into the zone, and Baldur's Ground Zero falling just short of the second eliminator, that he was ready to quit. But as this was for a battle report, I simply paused the clock for a few minutes to let him cool off. When he was ready, we resumed his turn and kept playing.
Una finishes off the remaining painted Kayazy in the forest.
The remaining Blackclad sprays at some kayazy ineffectually.
Megalith polishes off my last Outrider.
Then one of the shifting stones, and a Woldwatcher nudge their way into the zone and contest. That signifies the beginning of the end for this fight!
Again, I forgot to take a picture here. What a terrible person I am!
Khador Turn 5.
Zerkova upkeeps watcher, loads up the Marauder, and camps the rest.
She starts the turn by moving to within 8" of the WoldWrath. She's behind my Effigy of Valor, and has a shield guard ready, so I believe her to be relatively safe. Using Ghost Stone, she casts Icy Grip on the Woldwrath. Something I should have done the turn before! But I learned my lesson. There was no way I was going to let it attempt another trample!
At this point, I think Una was getting too ballsy. The Marksmen shot her right in the head!
The star of the show is the Marauder. Charging, combo-slamming, megalith!
You go, Pusher-Robot! Make that pile of rocks remember you!
*Pusher-Robot is the league model. He's got follow up and finisher, so he puts out some extra hurt with bought attacks.
I'm unable to get the shifting stone and the wold out of my zone, so I can't dominate. The downward spiral continues.
The remaining Kayazy can't accomplish much in the zones. I'm burning time fast, so I forgo most of their attacks.
Pictures, yay!
The star of the show is the Marauder. Charging, combo-slamming, megalith!
You go, Pusher-Robot! Make that pile of rocks remember you!
*Pusher-Robot is the league model. He's got follow up and finisher, so he puts out some extra hurt with bought attacks.
I'm unable to get the shifting stone and the wold out of my zone, so I can't dominate. The downward spiral continues.
The remaining Kayazy can't accomplish much in the zones. I'm burning time fast, so I forgo most of their attacks.
Pictures, yay!
The rest of this battle report is going to be pretty quick. I can't dislodge him from the zone because of his immovable models. I can't kill him fast enough with the time left on my clock. I just don't have the time to roll all the dice.
The rest of the battle sees me trying ineffectually to dislodge him, while he pushes steadily further forward.
Zerkova begins to run away from the WoldWrath as the Kayazy Eliminators begin to chase Baldur from behind...
The rest of the battle sees me trying ineffectually to dislodge him, while he pushes steadily further forward.
Zerkova begins to run away from the WoldWrath as the Kayazy Eliminators begin to chase Baldur from behind...
But he does a good job of blocking charge lanes, while scrapping my leftmost Vanguard (eyeing up my objective for next turn)...
But he never gets the chance. I lose to deathclock that turn.
Circle Orboros Wins by Deathclock Assassination!
Control Points:
Khador 2
Circle 0
In closing, I'm not entirely sure that I would have come out on top of this if I had more time. I managed to take down megalith, and my jacks were all still basically at full health, but the Woldwrath was still very much in play. Even though it was Icy Gripped, (and you could be sure I'd never forget to upkeep that) it would still be a pain in the ass to take down. Baldur, or the Woldwrath would have been more than capable of scrapping any of my jacks, as well as the objective at this point (given the amount of wyrm tokens he was holding).
Neither of my assassin units ever had a chance to use Killstroke. There weren't enough enemy models to have to weave through, and there was never a time when my opponent left any good landing spots near his important, linchpin models that I couldn't already get to with a regular charge attack. I was holding the killstroke for the painted Kayazy unit until such time as an opportunity presented itself. Perhaps if I had more time, that could have been my path to victory, but that's not how this one played out.
I think his army was a bit of a 'hard counter' to mine. Z1 relies partially on being able to clear zones and objectives with her spells, and pushing models around. She can't do that to immovable models. But that's they way the cookie crumbles sometimes. No sense complaining about your matchup. I played the best game I could. I think the empress would be proud!
Final thoughts for Outrider November:
The Outriders did a great job of bringing early threat to the table. They accomplished what I wanted them to do. They were a pain in the ass in the early turns, and managed to keep Baldur, and Una honest long enough for me to bring my real threats to bear. In a different army, they may fulfill a different purpose. But in this army, that's what I wanted out of them and that's exactly what I got: A fast, flexible unit!
Circle Orboros Wins by Deathclock Assassination!
Control Points:
Khador 2
Circle 0
In closing, I'm not entirely sure that I would have come out on top of this if I had more time. I managed to take down megalith, and my jacks were all still basically at full health, but the Woldwrath was still very much in play. Even though it was Icy Gripped, (and you could be sure I'd never forget to upkeep that) it would still be a pain in the ass to take down. Baldur, or the Woldwrath would have been more than capable of scrapping any of my jacks, as well as the objective at this point (given the amount of wyrm tokens he was holding).
Neither of my assassin units ever had a chance to use Killstroke. There weren't enough enemy models to have to weave through, and there was never a time when my opponent left any good landing spots near his important, linchpin models that I couldn't already get to with a regular charge attack. I was holding the killstroke for the painted Kayazy unit until such time as an opportunity presented itself. Perhaps if I had more time, that could have been my path to victory, but that's not how this one played out.
I think his army was a bit of a 'hard counter' to mine. Z1 relies partially on being able to clear zones and objectives with her spells, and pushing models around. She can't do that to immovable models. But that's they way the cookie crumbles sometimes. No sense complaining about your matchup. I played the best game I could. I think the empress would be proud!
Final thoughts for Outrider November:
The Outriders did a great job of bringing early threat to the table. They accomplished what I wanted them to do. They were a pain in the ass in the early turns, and managed to keep Baldur, and Una honest long enough for me to bring my real threats to bear. In a different army, they may fulfill a different purpose. But in this army, that's what I wanted out of them and that's exactly what I got: A fast, flexible unit!
