Myantek had only played epic Kaya a few times so this seemed the perfect match up for my second game with epic Thagrosh. I took the exact same army as my previous game.
Legion
Thagrosh, the Messiah
Angelius
Angelius
Seraph
Seraph
Harrier
Harrier
Forsaken
Forsaken
Deacon + 4 Riders
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Circle
Kaya the Moonhunter + Laris
Warpwolf
Pureblood Warpwolf
Wold Wyrd
Argus
Huntress + 9 Bloodtrackers
Huntsman + 9 Wolves
Wolves of Oboros Officer and Totem Bearer
Blackclad Wayfarer
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Scenario
The scenario was Contested Ground. Divide the battlefield between deployment zones into four 12" wide Territories running north to south. A player controls a Territory if he has one or more models completely within the Territory and his oppononet has no models completely within the Territory. For a unit to control a Territory all models in the unit still in play must be completely within the Territory. A warrior model must have a CMD greater than 1 to control a Territory. Ignore wrecked or inert warjacks, wild warbeasts, and fleeing models when checking for control. A player scores one Control Point for each Terrirtory he controls at the end of each of his turns. Players cannot score Control Points during the first round of the game.
Set Up
I won the role and chose to go first. My set up from left to right wasRaptors, Harrier 1, Seraph 1 with Forsaken 1 behind it, Angelius 1, and Epic Thagrosh with the Swamp Gobbers just over 3 inches behind him. Next behind the forest were Seraph 2, Harrier 2 and Forsaken 2, with Angelius 2 on the far right.
Opposite me from left to right were the Blackclad and Warpwolf, epic Kaya and Laris in the centre, and then the Wold Wyrd, Argus, and Pureblood, with the Wolves on the far right. I had no advance deploy units so Myantek then placed her Sentry Stones about a third of the way in from each side of the board, her Shifting Stones in front of the Warpwolf, and the Bloddtrackers inside the woods. The Bloodtrackers choose Angelius 1 as their Prey.
Turn 1
Legion
Angelius 1 starts the turn simply by running forward. Thagrosh activates next and casts Unnatural Aggression on Angelius 1 and Slipstream. He walks forward, Slipstreams Seraph 2, and castsDragon's Blood on Angelius 2. Angelius 1 moves to put pressure on the Bloodtrackers and runs to the rock in front of them with Harrier 1 also moving there to help screen it. Seraph 1 runs up behind them to help with the counter attack and the Raptors move up beside them, unable to shoot due to the Bloodtrackers Stealth. Forsaken 1 advances and grabs the fury off of Seraph 1. Seraph 2 now Slipstreams and advances through the forest, dragging Thagrosh forward another 2 inches. Harrier 2 riles and runs, meaning I am now running hot but I expect ot loose fury to the Sentry Stones. Forsaken 2 runs after Harrier 2 while the Swamp Gobbers advance and put smoke on Thagrsoh, who is also partially in the trees, and Seraph 2.
Circle
The Sentry Stones begin the turn. Sentry Stone 1 steals a fury from Angelius 1. Its Manniken then attacks Angelius 1 with a boosted attack and Roots it. The same happens for Sentry Stone 2 on Angelius 2.The Wolves of Oboros run up the right flank while on the left flank the Blackclad advances and casts Wilding at the Raptor leader, but misses. The Warpwolf takes +2 ARM and runs into the centre of the Shifting Stones, which then activate and teleport it into the woods behind the Bloodtrackers. The Wold Wyrd then activates and puts Arcane Killer on the Argus before riling and advancing. The Argus walks up beside the Wold Wyrd and the Pureblood moves up behind the Argus. Kaya now activates. She advances, puts Forced Evolution on the Argus and casts Mistwalker. Laris moves up beside her and riles. The Bloodtrackers feel unsupported and decide to retreat deeper into the woods while the Swamp Gobbers put smoke on Kaya and Laris.
Turn 2
Legion
Thagrosh leeches everything and recieves a free fury from the Anthanc to make him full and both Dragon's Blood and Unnatural Aggression are upkeptHe then starts the turn by casting Slipstream and Glory of Everblight before advancing through the trees and Slipstreaming Seraph 2. Angelius 2 advances, Thrusts and boosts damage on Sentry Stone 2 to kill it, and retreats 3 inches via Ravenous. Angelius 1 does the same to Sentry Stone 1. Seraph 2 then advances to a rock in front of Angelius 2 and unloads on the Wold Wyrd and Argus. I don't assign quite enough shots to the Wold Wyrd and it ends up surviving with 2 points left on its Spirit. The Argus takes 6 points of damage.The Raptors charge the Shifting Stones, wounding one and destroying another, before moving back out of the way. Seraph 1 casts Slipstream, drags Harrier 1 up, and shhots at the Bloodtrackers, killing the front 2. Harrier 1 then casts True Strike and charges out of Thagrosh's control area into the Blackclad, killing him. Forsaken 1 just moves up behind the group, bit not too close because of the Raptors, while over on the far right Harrier one runs a bit while Forskaen 2 advances and grabs the fury off it. The Swamp Gobbers then edge forward some more to put the cloud on Thagrosh. I recieve a point at the end of my turn for the Harrier ontroling the far left Territory.
Circle
Kaya leeches for full and upkeeps Forced Evolution. The Wolves of Oboros start the turn out strong by popping their mini-feat Wild Hunt and charging Seraph 2, quickly killing it. Laris runs to the right while Kaya advances and casts Muzzle at Angelius 2, missing it. She then uses her feat Call of the Hunt and teleports to Laris. The Wold Wyrd casts Arcane killer on the Argus again before teleporting off behind Kaya. The Argus then charges Angelius 2 but the rolls don't come through and he only does 6 points of damage to the currently ARM 19 beast before teleporting to Kaya. The Pureblood Warpwolf then teleports in fornt of Kaya followed by the regular Wapr Wolf who takes +2 ARM and stands beside her. The Bloodtrckers then ambuscade Serpah 1, hurting it badly and destroying its mind, while the Shifting Stones position themselves to block Harrier. The Swamp Gobbers advance forward. Things are definately heating up. While the Warpwolves didn't do anything Myantek now has most of her army near Thagrosh while he is relatively alone.
Turn 3
Legion
Thagrosh leeches for full and upkeeps Dragon's Blood. Harrier 1 frenzies and does 2 points to a nearby Sentry Stone. Thagrosh heals Seraph 1 for a point, casts Slipstream and Glory of Everblight, and uses his feat Dragon Storm (coolest feat name ever). He then advances, moving Angelius 2 forward, and sprays Blight Fire over the Wolves and Pureblood. Unfortunately they were on a hill so only one Wolf was killed, but the Pureblood was hit taking six points of damage and was set on fire. Angelius 2 then charges the Pureblood and does 31 points of damage on its Thrust attack. The Pureblood spends a fury to transfer the damage to the Warpwolf. I had totally forgotten they could do that and get the feeling I am now in big trouble. The Angelius continues attacking and manages to do six more points to the Pureblood. Harrier 2 then casts True Strike, charges, and kills a Wolf thereby breaking their unit coherencey, while Forsaken 2 advances behind.
On the left side of the board the Raptors chrage the Bloodtrackers, killing 3 of them before retreating back out of the way. Seraph 1 then moves up and attacks, but even with Glory of Everblight fails to hit. Angelius 1 then moves up and pegs off the Bloodtracker Huntress, which causes them to run. The Swamp Gobbers then move into the trees and put a cloud on Thagrosh while Forsaken 1 runs right. With all the activations done Dragon Storm takes effect. Angelius 2 manages to put another 5 points on the Pureblood, but when Harrier 2 moves and attacks it as well fails to hit. Angelius 1 and Seraph 1 both move over to support Thagrosh and miss with their shooting attacks. I get a second point for holding the inner left Territory with Seraph 1.
Circle
Kaya drops Forced Evolution and leeches to full. The Bloodtrackers run through the woods but manage to rally, contesting both of the left hand Territories. To add to that the fire goes out on the Pureblood and Myantek is all set to counter attack. The Wolves in formation charge Harrier 2, but don't manage to kill it. It is left at one wound with no Mind or Spirit. The rest of the Wolves move to form coherency and one dies to a free strike as they move. The Argus runds forward while the Wold Wyrd puts Arcane Killer on the Pureblood. The Pureblood then spends a fury on Ferocity (re-roll missed melee attacks) and uses its 3 initial attacks and 5 fury to keep buying attacks on Angelius 1 until it dies a squishy death. Hemmed in by Harrier 2 Laris attacks it, but misses. Kaya heals the Warpwolf for 2 points and casts Mistwalker. The Warpwolf then regenerates a further point and the turn ends with the Swamp Gobbers moving over to put a smoke cloud on Kaya, Laris, and the Warpwolves.
Turn 4
Legion
Thagrosh leeches. Harrier 1 frenzies and destroys a Shifting Stone. Harrier 1 still has a fury but passes Threshold. The Raptors move forward and shoot at the Bloodtrackers, killing one. They then use their second move to engage them. Forsaken 2 now charges the single Wolf of Oboros engaging Thagrosh. It spends a fury point to boost the hit, but still misses. Now I have a problem. Forsaken 1 runs to the far right to contest the zone. I then do some precise measuring and find that Thagrosh can stay the same distance away from the Wolf but circle around him towards the Pureblood. Thagrosh's base size plus reach is enough to engage the Pureblood so Thagrosh casts Glory of Everblight and kills it, using his second attack to kill another Wolf.
Seraph 1 Slipstreams Angelius 1 and shoots up the Argus for 10 points, destroying its Body. Angelius 1 now charges the Warpwolf, killing it with a single Thrust attack, from which Kaya reaves the fury. The Angelius uses its Ravenous move to reach Kaya and whacks her for 9 points of damage. Harrier 2 moves to Kaya, casts True Strike, and does 3 more points to Kaya. Lastly the Swamp Gobber edge forward some more and put the 5 inch swamp cloud down over Thagrosh. I get no points because the Bloodtrackers are contesting both the left side zones.
Circle
It's do or die time for Kaya and she leeches herself full. The Wolves seize their moment and charge Thagrosh. The first CMA whacks him for 12 points, at which point I forget that Thagrosh can make a lesser beast. But I get lucky and the second CMA misses while the third only does 3 more points of damage. Laris activates next and takes 12 points from a free strike when walking away from the Angelius. Kaya then teleports to Laris and begins to pound away on Thagrosh, but can only reduce him to 1 wound. As the last thing in range to attack the Argus seizes its moment. Unfortunately it misses its first attack and the second one bounces due its lack of Body.
Turn 5
Legion
Thagrosh leeches for full. He is standing next to a Kaya who has no fury and there is a Harrier within his control area. Kaya explodes in an Erruption of Ash.
Afterword
Defenstrator
Tight game. I felt Myantek did a good job denying me scenario points while massing her force by my warlock. A better run of luck and the game would have been hers. This match Hubris turned out to be a much larger factor. Trapped by the Wolf it was impossible for Thagrosh to escape. All I could do was kill the largest threats and brace for the coming attack. I found the spells to be about as useful as my last match. Glory of Everblight was dead solid. It didn't give me super high rolls this game but I didn't suffer any runs of bad luck with my beasts. Dragon's Blood was solid for pushing the Angelius to ARM 19. Unnatural Aggerssion on the other hand didn't do anything because Myantek just chose to withdraw and then attack something else instead. And neither of the direct damage spells were even cast.
Thagrosh himself seems to be cementing a reputation of being mad, bad, and dangerous to know. He is not a warlock your opponent can expect to survive if they end their activation too near to him, and that engenders a certain healthy repsect in your opponent. They want to get close, but they worry about moving too close and getting insta-gibbed. The rest of the army seems to be working alright, but I could definately see trading a Harrier for a Shredder. The lack of defensive spells and animi is pretty nerve wracking at times. Aside from that it seems to be working alright, although I worry about fighting lists that have a larger ranged complement.
Myantek
One more point. If Defenstrator had remembered to pop Shredders as Thagrosh got hurt I don't really think it would have changed my strategy that much. I might have saved up a Fury to heal the Argus and maybe he might have done a little damage. As it was I really didn't have the choice. It was a do or die turn. I either killed Thagrosh and won or tried to hold him off a turn and lost to scenario when the Raptors killed the Bloodtrackers to get those two zones they were contesting. Killing the Swamp Gobbers would have given him the last point he needed.
I wish I'd had a War Wolf rather than the Swamp Gobbers. When I made the army I had exactly 15 points left so I threw the Gobbers in there for completeness. The War Wolf would have been more useful (if I owned one anyway). I would have had to drop a Wolf, but I've got 12 of them.
I'm still working on balancing aggression. I think I could have done more with the Bloodtrackers. It was only my second time playing with them and I haven't really figured out their tactics quite right. Same with the Blackclad. It was the first time I played with him. I almost teleported him right to one of the Forsaken but decided to wait a turn as Defenstrator turned his attention to destroying the Bloodtrackers. Then he was dead and I'd missed my chance.
