Baldur vs Thagrosh Battle of Assassination

Legion vs Circle 500 points

Description

This is a straightforward 500 point game with caster kill as the only objective.

Set Up

Readers of our other reports will notice that the table and terrain have changed. This is my new table which I have built so we can have two games going at a time. On it is terrain all from the new GW terrain package, as at the moment I have more money than time.


The table was set up in essentialy a mirror fashion. A large hill down (my) left side, a forest a third of the way up from each table edge, and then a hill with some ruins on top of it.


Forces

Legion:

• Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
• Seraph
• Seraph
• Harrier
• Harrier
• Shredder
• Shredder
• Apostle + 4 Warmongers
• Forsaken
• Forsaken

500 points.

Circle:

• Baldur the Stonecleaver
• Woldwarden
• Woldwarden
• Woldwatcher
• Beastlord + 5 Tharn Ravagers
• Shifting Stones

500 points.

Deployment

Myantek (Circle) won the roll off and decided to go first. Baldur was placed in the centre of the table with the woods on his left. The two Woldwardens flanked him with Woldwarden 2 facing the ruined hill and Woldwarden 1 behind the forest. The Ravagers were placed behind the forest to its right.

I responded by putting Thagrosh down nearly opposite Baldur. Seraph 2 and Harrier 2 were placed to his right facing the ruined hill. Progressing left I placed the Warmongers in the gap between the ruined hill and the forest with Forsken 2 behind them. Continuing left came Shredder 2, Shredder 1, and Seraph 1, all set up beside the forest. Forsken 1 was at the forest edge, ready to move up around it.

Myantek then advance deployed the Shifting Stones in front of Woldwarden 2 and the Woldwatcher into the forest.

The Battle

Turn 1, Circle

Circle opens with the Woldwardens. Number 1 moved into the forest and used its animus Undergrowth while number 2 moved forward into the Shifting Stones and did the same. The Ravagers then crowded into the forest. Baldur moved up to join them and cast Stoneskin on himself and Rapid Growth in the open space in front of the Warmongers, then sits on 2 fury. The Woldwatcher hunkered down and went into Stone Form while the Shifting Stones just sat there.

Turn 1, Legion

The Warmongers run forward as fast as their stubby legs can carry them. Shredders 1 and 2 then each go Rabid, walk forward through the forest, and use Tenacity on a Warmonger. Seraph 2 then Slpistreams Thagrosh forward 2 inches while advancing up behind the ruined hill. Harrier 2 dashes forward to lurk amongst the ruins on the hill. Thagrosh then walks forward to stand behind the Warmongers and casts Death Shroud and Tenacity on the remaining 3, holding one fury for himself.Harrier 1 riles for 2 and walks into the forest beside the Shredders with Seraph 1 moving up beside it. Forsaken 1 then moves up beside the forest using it as cover.

Turn 2, Circle

Baldur leeches 4, drops Stoneskin, and upkeeps Rapid Growth. Woldwarden 2 in the Shifting Stones decides to Earth Spikes Harrier 2. I have elevation and cover. Oh wait, it ignores those so I have nothing. Looks like it isn't just Legion that ignores stuff. Boosted hit and damage rolls mean Harrier 2 gets knocked down by the critical and loses its Body aspect. The Woldwatcher then moves forward out of the trees and shoots at Harrier 1, but misses. Woldwarden 1 then moves up and Earth Spikes at Harrier 1. It is short and so misses but the template deviates onto it anyway and Seraph 1. Both take 4 points of damage from boosted rolls. The Ravagers move up partially out of the trees. Baldur then walks through the trees to beside Woldwarden 1 and puts Stone Skin on himself.

Turn 2, Legion

Thagrosh leeches 6 fury. Harrier 2 gets up and moves forward to flank Woldwarden 2. Seraph 2 Slipstreams Thagrosh over and moves up. Unfortunately it can't quite clear the bases of the Warmongers and so lands behind them. This puts it just out of range of Woldwarden 2. Thagrosh then walks past the Warmongers and casts Obliterate at Woldwarden 1. He does 8 points to it and a point to Baldur with boosted damage rolls, before ending his activation with 1 fury. Forsaken 2 moves up and grabs the 2 fury on Seraph 2. The Warmongers, desperate to get stuck in before Baldur feats, chrage Woldwarden 1. Two manage to squeeae past the Rapid Growth template to make the charge and do 14 points to Woldwarden 1, knocking off its Body aspect. Seraph 1 moves out of the trees and unloads a devastaing Blight Strike on the Woldwatcher. With 5 extra shots the construct is destroyed in one hail of fire. Forsaken 1 them moves behind Seraph 1 and grabs the 3 fury. Shredder 1 goes Rabid, moves up, and puts Tenacity on Serpah 1. Shredder 2 does the same except to Thagrosh. Lastly, Harrier 1 tries to screw up the Ravager chrage by flying straight across the field and engaging the first two Ravagers.

Turn 3, Circle

Baldur leeches 4 and upkeeps nothing. Woldwarden 2 begins the turn by charging the Warmongers. His charge attack kills one and second attack kills another. Baldur then activates and heals Woldwarden 1 for a point of Body, restoring that aspect. He then Forest Walks over to Harrier 1 which he promptly beats to death, freeing the Ravagers. He then casts Rapid Growth in front of the Warmongers and uses his feat Broken Earth. The Ravagers, their line of sight not blocked by forests, charge through the Rapid growth into the Warmongers, killing 2 more. Woldwarden 1 then Earth Spikes the Warmonger Apostle, criticaly hitting him and knocking down both him and Shredder 1. Happy at how things are going Myantek then forgets to move her Shifting Stones.

Turn 3, Legion

Thagrosh leeches. Seraph 2 aims and unloads on Woldwarden 2, but only gets 1 extra shot and does minimal damage. Shredder 1 stands up, shuffles left around Baldurs control zone, and puts Tenacity on Seraph 1. Seraph 1 slides right and shoots at Woldwarden 1 but does mediocre damage with some rolls missing and others bouncing off. Forsaken 1 walks up and Blight Shrouds Woldwarden 2 for 23 points of damage while Forsaken 2 moves up and grabs 2 fury off Serpah 2. The Warmonger Apostle then stands up a pokes Woldwarden 2 for a couple of points. Desperate to make one of these constructs die Thagrosh Obliterates Woldwarden 1 again and kills him, and does a couple of points of damage to a Ravager as a bonus. As an insult to injury he then casts Twisted Form on Woldwarden 2, reducing it to 1 fury. Baldur reaves the fury produced. Harrier 2 finishes the turn by skirting back closer to the action.

Turn 4, Circle


Baldur leeches the 1 fury remaining, putting him at five. Baldur casts Earth Spikes at Seraph 1, gets the critical yet again, and knocks it down along with the Apostle. The Shifting Stones move up closer to Woldwarden 2. Woldwarden 2 tries to Earth Spike Thagrosh but misses, and the scatter hits nothing. The Ravagers then charge, killing the knocked down Seraph 1 and Apostle, as well as Shredder 1 from which Thagrosh reaves 2 fury.

Turn 4, Legion

Thagrosh leeches and combined with the Anthanc is at full fury. Seraph 2 moves over and Slipstreams Thagroahs clear of the forest before shooting up Woldwarden 2. Forsaken 1 moves up and grabs the Seraph's 3 fury. Forsken 1 then Blight Shrouds, but does little, just plinking the Woldwarden and Ravagers. Harrier 2 charges the Woldwarden and manages to inflict a couple of points of damage. Shredder 2 then shows how it's done. He goes Rabid, walks up, kills Woldwarden 2, and then a Ravager with his second attack. Baldur reaves the 1 fury off the Woldwarden. Thagrosh hefts Rapture and charges the Ravagers. He kills two with blows and two more from Eruption of Ash. He tries to finish the unit with a Mutagenisis at the Beastlord but only wounds him. He then uses his feat Dark Revival to bring back Seraph 1 beside him.

Turn 5, Circle

It's the do or die turn for Circle. Baldur cuts himself for five fury. The Beastlord charges Thagrosh to avenge his pack but misses. He buys a second attack with the heart token he had remaining and this time connects heavily. Thagrosh spends his fury and transfers the damage to Seraph 2. Baldur then Forest Walks into the woods Thagrosh is standing beside. He savagely beats Thagrosh until he is dead, dead, dead.

Afterward

Defenstrator

This was a good game. Lots of killing and a close finish. My man of the match was Seraph 1 who vaporised the Woldwatcher and put down a pretty solid hail of fire throughout the game. My other Seraph did well, using Slipstream to get Thagrosh into position time and time again while adding his own firepower to the fray. I'm still getting a sense of this army but it is definately a kind of brick. I actually think of it as a mobile fortress. The Warmongers and Thagrosh form a keep while the Serpahs act as the defenses guns, pounding the approaching foe. The Harriers and Shredders can sally forth and attack as needed.

My biggest mistake was not keeping the main plan going. My first turn I had the brick in solid shape with Death Shroud and Tenacity. Then I dropped it all to dash forward, which left the Warmongers hanging in the open ready to be savaged by Myantek's counter attack. I think I felt rushed because of Baldur's feat. Those Earth Spikes were chewing me up and I was worried that the army would be destroyed at range while my Warmongers were unable to close. Instead I rushed up to engage and got them slaughtered. Fortunately they bought me enough time for my own shooting to soften up the Circle.

I also didn't see coming Baldur's last ditch Forest Walk beside Thagrosh. I had been watching out for that move all game but Baldur had always been too far away to accomplish it. In my rush to charge the Ravagers I didn't realise I had put myself that much closer to Baldur, a fact which Myantek capitalsed on to end the game when I had been counting on the Eruption of Ash templates to block LOS and keep him safe. Unfortunately my beasts either had full fury or no fury so I had no way to kill one and keep the transfer process going. Something else to watch for next time, especially as I could have prevented it just by putting my revived Seraph in that spot.

Myantek

I was really happy with the way the Ravagers worked out for me this game. I'm getting a bit better at keeping thme out of danger until they can make that charge. Maybe I'll learn how to do that with the Woldwatcher someday.

I felt like a lot of the battle I was just a little bit further away than I'm used to. I've gotten pretty used to Kaya's mobility, and Baldur's just a bit... slower. My plan was to ignore his hard wall and try to pick off some of the smaller beasts (the Harriers and the Shredders) before having to deal with the harder , tougher things. That didn't quite work as Defenstrator's force was just that much faster than mine. On the positive side, Baldur's army is so compact that it's easy to throw support to either side. I never really feel in danger of being flanked.

I had planned to pop the feat on the second turn but I'm glad that I waited until the third. In the end it worked out a lot better for me. I probably should have used the Beastlord's heart token to boost the charge attack but I didn't think he'd have a problem with his +2 to hit bonus and was trying to use up the Fury before Baldur walked in. To my great surprise, the assassination run with Baldur actually presented itself. It was tight but there was just enough room to put Baldur both completely within the forest and completely within his control range while being close enough to Thagrosh to hit him. I didn't feel like the game was really ever out of control but I knew that last turn was do or die. I knew that if Baldur had to cut himself for Fury that he only had one turn to get it done.

No, we can't believe it happened either.