Epic Test. Lylyth and Madrak go at it.

750 Points Legion vs Trollbloods

Regular readers will note that the only games that normaly appear in this blog are the ones between Myantek and myself. I thought it was time to change that because we do play other people, and in fact do so more often than we play each other.

Everyone wanted to try out the new epic warlocks so my friend (known as Indy on the PP forums) and I went at it with Legion vs Trollbloods in a straight up Mosh Pit scenario.

Legion

Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight

Carnivean

Seraph

Teraph

Shredder

Striders

Vassal + 9 Archers

Deacon & Ammo Porter Unit Attachment

Vassal + 7 Swordsmen

Incubi

Shepherd

Forsaken

Trollbloods

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender

Earthborn Dire Troll

Axer

Impaler

Bouncer

Champions

War Shaman + 7 Warriors

Kithkar + 2 Long Riders

Krielstone Bearer + 4 Scribes

Fell Caller

Set up

The table was the standard 4x4 with a mirror set up. Each side had a small hill coming out from the side, some trees and some pillars in the middle. This made for a field with open flanks, some concealment and cover nrear the centre, and an open area in the centre of the board to fight in. Right in the middle was a small platform but we counted that as decorative open terrain, an ideal marker for the scenario.

The scenario itslef was Mosh Pit, which meant that by the top of turn three both sides always had to have a model within 8 inches of the centre. Indy won the roll and decided to go first.

He began by putting the Long Riders on the flank, my far left. Going across were the Impaler, Champions, Bouncer, Earthborn and Axer.Madrak was set up behind and touching the Bouncer, and then surrounded by Kriel Warriors. The Fell Caller stood behind the Champions. At the very back of everyone was the Krielstone Bearer.

I set up my Swordsmen on my left flank opposite the Long Riders with the idea of trying to stall, if not kill them. Going across I set up the Seraph, Forsaken, Lylyth, and Shredder behind the trees. The Carnivean was set up next with an eye on holding the centre with the Teraph beside him and the Shepherd behind. Covering the open section of the field the Archers + UA were placed beside the Teraph. Indy had no advance deploy units so I then put the Sriders as far forward as I could on the far right to try get them into the trees on the opposite side.

Turn 1

Trollbloods

This was a redeployment turn for Indy. The Long Riders ran to the centre while the Earthborn, Bouncer, and Axer ran straight forward. The Champions then ran up behind the Long Riders followed by Madrak, who began the activation by dumping all his fury into the Kriel Stone. The Kriel Warriors followed at +2 movement with the Fell Caller beside them while the Impaler ran to take the hill. Lastly, the Kriel Stone unit walked and put up Protective Aura (+2 ARM to nearby models).

Legion

I began with the Striders, who moved towards the trees and took cover behind the stone arc, before putting a CRA into the Axer for 3 points of damage. The Axer could only reach one Strider on the charge and I was trying to lure him out of position and into an Incubi to the face.

After that I did alot of running myself. The Swordsmen moved up and spaced out, the Archers ran to the opposite hill to cover the centre, the Seraph moved into the trees, and the Forsaken moved around the trees to support it. The Carnivean and Teraph moved up to the stone pillars to cover the centre, with the Shepherd beside them behind another pillar. The Shredder then moved up and put Tenacity on the Shepherd. Last of all Lylyth moved up, but not into the trees because I didn't want to get too far from the Archers, and put Shadowpack on the Carnivean, giving both it and the Teraph Stealth.

Turn 2

Trollbloods

Madrak leeches for full and Indy gets a cunning plan. It starts with the Bouncer who Castles with Madrak. The Long Riders then run across the centre to threaten the Archers. Next, the Impaler moved towards the centre and cast Far Strike (+4 range) on Madrak. He also threw at the Seraph but was well out of range. The Fell call moved over and put War Cry (+2 to attack rolls)on Madrak.

Madrak then moved up onto the platform and took advantage of the fact that he couldn't see the Carnivean (due to Stealth) to huck his axe right into Lylyth's face. While he hit her there was no critical, so she transferd 9 points to the Shredder, destroying its Mind and Spirit. The axe Richochets and lopped the head clean off of the Shepherd before returning to Madrak.

After that is more running, as the Champions ran up beside Madrak, the Earthborn ran in front of Madrak, the Kriel Warriors ran up to surround Madrak, and lastly the Kriel Stone Bearer moves and puts up Protective Aura again.

Legion

Lylyth leeches and cuts herself for a point to get the fury she lost to transfer. The Striders moved into the trees and started shooting up Scribes to try and shrink the area of Protective Aura. They hit alright, but kept rolling low for damage and only two Scribes fall. They also whacked a Kriel Warrior beside Madrak but it means nothing as he made his Tough roll.

Next went the Carnivean. He went stomping forward and Slammed the Earthborn straight into Madrak. I had been hoping for a big distance roll to shove it straight through and kill off the nearby warriors, but instead it was just knocked down and took Madrak with it. Or so I thought. I then found out that part of Madrak's Grim Salvation is that not only does he use it to avoid damage, he also ignores the effects. At this point I was in the weird position of desperately hoping my collateral damage roll didn't hurt Madrak just so he would fall down. I did and he didn't. The Carnivean took a bite out of the Earthborn in frustration but between the Slam and bite the Earthborn has only taken 5 points of damage.

Lylyth now moved up to get the angle on Madrak. She started with a boosted Pincushion attack and tagged him with it. She feats and unloads, getting all six shots and killing all the Kriel Warriors while doing three points of damage to Madrak in the process. This left her empty of fury, but I figured that she was so exposed that next turn Madrak was going to kill her regardless, along with most of my army.

The Serpah now stepped up to the plate. Taking advantage of the + 4 inches of range from the feat it was able to aim before boosting to hit Madrak. Between the aiming, boosting, and Pincushion it was able to rip off about half Madraks life. The Teraph followed next and ground Madrak down some more with two ranged attacks, although only the first hit while the second deviated to bounce off the Axer and a Long Rider.

Now it was the Archers turn. Two were out of range but the remaining ones were more than sufficient to drag off Madraks final three damage points. Madrak made his tough roll but there was still enough firepower left to hit him until he stayed down.

Afterward

Defenstrator

Well I hung it out there but it all worked out. Which is good because if it hadn't then the Long Riders would have smashed my Archers, the Champions would have been given Open Road by the Fell Caller and charged my Seraph, the Earthborn would have killed the Carnivean, and Lylyth would have been trying to negotiate her surrender to an angry Axer and Madrak. As it was nervousness was taking hold toward the end. Madrak had sucked up being slammed, Pincushioned, shot up by my warlock, and shot by two beasts. It finaly took the unit of Archers using its mini-feat to take him down. In a more attrition based game finishing him off could cause real problems, especially when trying to simoltaneously deal with tough things like Long Riders and Champions.

Fortunately her feat paid off in spades. Epic Lylyth is all about the setup I noticed. You are trying to put your army in that sweet spot where the enemy is too far away to just run up to you but too close to stay out of range. Then you feat and mess them up. I went for the assassination this game but I can see others where you just tear up a chunk of the opponents force and then fight it out with a points advantage.

That said, this is a very squishy army. The Carnivean was the only tough guy in the bunch and things like Chain Lightening or big AOE attacks are going to really hurt you. You are also forced to dance around playing the run and gun game, and against very quick and tough opponents like cavalry you may find yourself in trouble quite quickly. Overall though I was happy with epic Lylyth. She brings shooty to the table in a non Serpah form that makes a nice change from my more typical beast heavy lists.

Crossed Lines: Kaya vs Vayl

500 points - Circle vs Legion

I like Kaya, she's the first 'lock I used and she's the one I always go back to. I've been slowly painting a Circle army for a long time now and it's nice to actually get some of the painted models on the table. I've been working on refining my Kaya list so now with some of the Evolution models actually assembled I thought I'd try fielding some of them.

Circle:

Kaya the Wildborne

Warpwolf
Warpwolf

Argus

10 Wolves of Orboros plus the Officer and Totem Bearer

Sentry Stone

Totem Hunter

Legion:

Vayl, Disciple of Everblight

Angelius

Teraph

Seraph

Harrier

Shredder

5 Warmongers

Forsaken

Set Up

In each corner of the table a low barricade was placed. On both the left and right sides was a stand of trees, the stand on the right being on a hill. An obelisk was placed in the dead centre of the table with stone arches facing it on each side. Small stones were placed on either side of the arches.

Since we were playing Crossed Lines (from Primal) we had to choose three deployments points and then place out our forces model by model at each of these points. Defenstrator won that roll and placed the first of his points on the hill, followed by in front of the near arch and finally in front of the far arch when he turns allowed. My first point was placed near the stand of trees on the left, followed by the far barricade on the left and then the near barricade on the left.

Once the points were placed we then alternated placing models. Defenstrator started by placing the Harrier on the hill and I placed my Sentry Stone as close to the centre of the table as I was allowed. The Teraph Dug In in front of the near arch and my Wolves were set up behind the far barricade. The Warmongers were placed opposite them near the far arch and the Argus was set up on the other side of the table in front of the near barricade.

For the second round of deployment points the Seraph was set up in front of the hill, Warpwolf 1 in front of the trees, Vayl was placed in front of the near arch, the Totem Hunter joined the Wolves in front of the barricade and the Shredder joined the War Mongers. Warpwolf 2 was placed near the Argus and the Forsaken was placed behind the Seraph. Finally, Kaya joined Warpwolf 1 and the Angelius joined Vayl.


Legion Turn 1

Defenstrator won this all important roll so he got to start moving models first. The Shredder began by going Rabid and then charging the Sentry Stone, but the little beasts sharp teeth were unable to find a purchase on the tough rock. Vayl cast Slipstream and then moved around the arch (dragging the Angelius forward). She cast Chiller on the Angelius and then decided to sit on 2 Fury and put up Cat and Mouse.

The Seraph moved between the Teraph and the Shredder and shot at Warpwolf 1 with 3 extra shots doing a total of 15 points of damage. The Teraph moved up in front of the Angelius and shot at the Warpwolf. His blast missed and deviated off to do no damage. The Angelius charged Kaya missed with it's Thrust attack and did 13 points of damage that were transferred to the Argus.

The Forsaken moved to the obelisk and took 1 Fury off the Seraph leaving the War Mongers to simply run to the Sentry Stone and the Harrier to run behind the arch.

Circle Turn 1


The Sentry Stone produced its first Mannikin in front of the Seraph and then started Devouring Magic. It got 1 Fury from the Shredder, the Forsaken, the Seraph, the Teraph and the Angelius. It only failed stealing from Vayl. The Mannikin put the Fury to use by Splinter Blasting Vayl for 3 points.

The Totem Hunter charged the War Mongers with Flying Steel and managed to kill one of them. As he did that the Teraph reacted to Cat and Mouse and moved to engage Warpwolf 2 and the Argus. The Wolves ran up to support the Totem Hunter so the Harrier moved in front of Vayl and the Angelius moved away from Kaya to engage Warpwolf 1.

To attack the Teraph the Argus had to move around a bit and that let the Seraph move to the Angelius. It was largely fruitless as the Argus managed to miss with both attacks. Warping to add 2" to his move Warpwolf 2 made a run towards the group around Vayl. The Teraph threw in a free attack for 8 points and the Seraph moved back to Warpwolf 2. That move put it close enough to reach the Warpwolf once Vayl's Dark Sentinel abilityactivated. It attacked in melee and with a critical hit the warpwolf was hurting after taking another 14 points of damage.

Luckily that didn't kill the beast and Kaya could use him as the point for her Spirit Door. She was placed just beside the arch and within reach of Vayl. She started flailing at the other warlock with Splinter. She did 8 points of damage and managed to get a critical hit to knock down Vayl then did 4 points, then 2 points damaging the warlock but not doing enough to risk transfer to a beast killing it and allowing Vayl to reeve the Fury. She let loose with Wild Mastery and the last two hits did... Nothing! Uh oh.

Warpwolf 1 riled to full Fury... Just in case.

Legion Turn 2

Vayl leached back the 6 Fury available to her and chose to upkeep Chiller.

Defenstrator has some sort of compulsion that doesn't allow him to finish the game in the most expedient manner possible, so rather than just make the move that will most likely win him the game (I mean, Kaya, no Fury, pretty much in the open), he moved the Harrier to the Sentry Stone where it was bounced off like the Shredder. The Seraph moved to the obelisk and allowed Vayl to Slipstream out of "danger" and it shot and missed Warpwolf 2.

He loves his Teraph so he tried to let it get the killing blow by moving it towards Waprwolf 2. The Argus managed to do 5 points to it with the free strike on its way by. The Teraph attacked Kaya and managed to do 8 points of damage with the one attack that hit. Vayl moved past Warpwolf 2 and cast Hoarfrost on the Teraph, which did 6 points to Kaya. Then, finally, the Angelius moved to the arch and brutally took her down.

Afterword

Myantek

I liked the tweaks to my army. I think this one works pretty well. I can't decide if being more or less aggressive with this game during Vayl's feat turn would have been better or worse for me. We were so close at the beginning that I think it really was a matter of the person going first had the better chance of a win but I probably could have kept the Totem Hunter and the Wolves out of Vayl's command range without changing things too much.

I wish I had gotten a bit luckier with some of the hits on Vayl. After Kaya managed to survive the Angelius on the first turn I thought she'd have enough luck to take down Vayl as well. All in all it was an interesting game. It's the first time I've had to deal with Cat and Mouse and I probably could have done it better but felt that we were so close that I needed to go all in to have half a chance.

Defenstrator

First off I have to say that I don't like the Crossed Lines scenario. The armies invariably start on top of each other and whoever goes first has a huge advantage. That said, I managed to lose this scenario with Haley against Kreoss with a little sloppy play, but I'd still managed to kill almost half his army before he assassinated her.

It was because of that experience I played a bit more conservatively with Vayl. Sure I got in Kaya's face right away, but I made sure to keep some fury and transfer options open. I was all too aware how easy it is to over extend when going first in this scenario. My prudence paid off when the Angelius whiffed its hit on Kaya. Not that I was expecting to kill her, (since she was full of fury), but I had hoped to force her to badly injure multiple beasts and spend a bunch of her fury before she could use it to hurt me.

As it was she still managed to get off a half decent assassination run, but the dice weren't with her and the final attacks did nothing. And while I might have done other stuff first, it's because scarring experiance has shown me that taking it for granted that you're going to win is a good way to lose when the dice don't go your way.