Got Game? Part 3

It's been a couple of days since my last two posts discussing the lists that I feel comfortable playing, and deconstructing the components of those experiences. Since then I've had a couple of games where I've tried to implement the points I've made of considering how an army list should inform how you deploy your force, which then dictates a certain sequence of events on the first turn(s).

No more just wandering aimlessly into the middle of the board any more.

The first game was against Nikola. He'd been bugging the night before to suck it up and run a Fist of Halaak list, so I cobbled together the models that I had to build this:

Tyrant Xerxis 
- Molik Karn
- Tiberion
Max Cataphract Cetrati 
Max Cataphract Incindiarii 
Min Cataphract Arcuarii
Min Cataphract Arcuarii
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer - Tyrant and Standard: 3
Min Paingiver Beast Handlers - Leader & 3 Grunts: 2

Nikola dropped Kreoss 3, with a Devout, Max Venga boys1, Max Zealots with UA, Max Errants with UA, Max Temple Guard with UA, Nicia, Aiyana and Holt, action Saxon and eEiryss.

To describe the deployment of my list is probably stating the obvious. But I want to detail it some what here to be able to break things down and see what worked; Xerxis centrally with his beasts and the Cetratii, Incindiarii on his left (deployed some what centrally), and the Acuarii units plonked on either flank. I had to work with what I got, so this is a some what suboptimal FoH list. Skorne's two heavy hitters are in there because YOLO. The first turn plan? Well I went second, so move Xerxis up in a shield-walled Cetratii brick that has Defenders Ward on them, beasts hang back in counter-charging positions, and the other units saunter up the sides, take pop shots, and start toe-ing the zones (we were playing Outflank).

So all this is very straight forward - in the last posts I talked about how forgiving my Terminus and Mordikaar lists are, and so was this. Having all that beef on the table allowed me to soak charges, and then grind down all the dudes sent to engage me. Nikola was able to gain 3 control points on one turn, clearing out the few Acuarii I sent in to contest, but the required him to commit Kreoss who then got whack-a-moled by Tiberion. I guess I can say the plan worked, and played to the strengths of the list, and that this match up was a favourable one due to a lack of heavy hitters in Nikola's list. If he did play Kreoss 3 in tier and had more Vengas I think we'd be singing a pretty different tune.

Just fucking do it Nikola

But for myself and this list? Looks like I'm going to run Fist of Halaak at Valleycon. With that in mind, would I change anything? Heck yeah, first of all I'll be getting more Incindiarii, to at least get another min unit in there. There's a reason why there's doubles of them in people's lists and that they deploy on the flanks - having those AOEs bullying people's troops and having them cover the board is pretty damn special. I also don't think I need beasts as ruthless as Molik Karn AND Tiberion, so I'm playing around with using maybe a Gladiator + Archidon or Gladiator + Molik package instead. The battle plan will change too; I wasn't playing to the scenario very well, and I'm thinking that committing to one zone may have made for a different game, instead of what I did which was to move up the middle and try and contest both. Starting second would give me the freedom to decide which one of Nikola's flanks needed to go first, and I should remember that these are options I need to consider.

In order to further analyse my play I also had a game yesterday morning against Greg Fitchew, an old gaming opponent, and one of the guys responsible for dragging my sorry ass to WM/H from the doldrums of GW games. I thought I'd take the Xerxis 2 list that I wrote about here and utilise the game plan of working a flank to setup favourable trades for X2 and his beasts.

Well Greg put down a list that does a good job of shutting down mine; eMorvhanna with double Stalkers, and a bunch of dudes. THANKS FITCHEW -_-

Don't even trust them for a second

Nah, I enjoyed myself and the game gave me a chance to see if I really could break things down the game into a smaller engagement on my terms. I started to do this in the game but really should have committed to a more drastic flanking maneuver. Instead I gave up Tiberion when I forget about the Hunter's Mark from the Blackclad, and things kind of spiraled down from there when I changed tack and moved back into the middle of the board with a series of failed charges and what not. It was still a fun game where I learnt a bit more about threat ranges, and had the time to work through the variety of stunts you can pull with a Warlock like Xerxis2. I now know that his tier 2 benefit actually DOES allow battle engines to redeploy, so moving big X from the middle to a flank is just magic. I'll making sure I use this next time, I really think this is a powerful tool, especially due to trickiness I've had lately moving around Xerxis' base.

It's also Thursday night, so that means gaming night in our little neck of the woods. I'm considering giving the Skorne a wee rest and maybe bringing a Scaverous tier list out for a spin. Or maybe that Rasheth Chain-gang list I really should get around to practicing. Bah


1 I mean Vengers, if anyone doesn't get it.