74- 42 - 1
35 Point Deathclock Tournament, two lists optional.
Zerkova Hunting Wolves Tier 4 - 2x Vanguard, Spriggan, Greylord Ternion, Kayazy Assassins (Max) + UA, Eliminators, Widowmakers, Gorman
Karchev- Behemoth, Demolisher , Devastator, War dog, Mechaniks, 2x Eliminators
Game 1 - Xerxis only opposing list, Haruk's Fist Tier.
Scenario: Process of Elimination (Two neutral zones and objectives)
Xerxis - Titan Gladiator, Archidon, Incindiarii (Min), 3x Arcuarii (Min), Paingivers (Min), Pair of solos?
Skorne Deploy - Lost the die roll, Skorne picks first turn. The Incindiarii are the centre unit in the front rank.
Khador Deploy - Initially I was going to plonk the Kayazy in front of the Jacks, which I didn't do. I forgot to adjust them, hence the Jacks an unnecessary inch back.
Doomreaver stand in for Zerkova, forgot Warcaster model!
List Error - Used to my 50 point list, the left most Eliminators shouldn't be on the field. Thankfully I forgot to use them for anything relevant.
Skorne and Khador turn 1 - Both armies run. Xerxis puts up Defenders Ward on the centre unit of Arcuarii, Zerkova puts up Watcher. No enemy offensive spells made Banishing Ward irrelevant.
Skorne 2 - Pic missed. Skorne advance slowly, Incindiarii get a Kayazy and an Eliminator while toeing into the zone. Right most Arcuarii charge and fail to hit the Eliminator.
Khador turn 2 - Watcher upkept, Spriggan gets loaded with Focus, right Vanguard gets one focus. Spriggan charges and kills objective. Vanguard runs up to the top of the zone. Zerkova moves up, Feats, only misses right most Arcuarii. Force Blast is cast, forcing the Incindiarii out of the Zone. Kayazy mini-feat, Charge through other Objective, fill out the zone. Gorman and Ternions cloud, remaining Vanguard moves up. Eliminator charge Arcuarii, does small amount of damage.
Objective, Dominate and Control gets me to 4 CP.
Rule Error - Can't Dominate/Control same Zone, and left one can't be claimed until Objective killed.
Mid Skorne 3 - Watcher activates from Incindiarii moving in, used to move Vanguard to the left.
Skorne turn 3 -Archidon toes left zone, Cetrati variously move in. Vanguard takes some damage, some Kayazy die. One of the Arcuarii on the right moves up and engages the Widowmakers.
Khador turn 3 - Vanguard on left gets three Focus. Kayazy charge and kill Objective, game called.
Obviously game should have continued, as I should have still needed one more CP. Would have still won I think, as Kayazy kill Objective, left Vanguard runs to top of zone, Zerkova Force Blasts Skorne stuff out from said Vanguard, Control point done.
Summation - 8.5 Unfortunate errors rather than tactical mistakes. Happy with, had Skorne run both opening turns would have been a different affair, as the list would struggle to remove that many decently armoured 8 hit box infantry.Right list drop, Karchev would have been shredded by that many high POW Weapon Master with Fury infantry.
Game 2
Scenario: Balance of Power: One zone, aligned flags. Dominating friendly flag reduces opponents CP's.
Legion, again only a single opposing list.
pThagrosh - Carnivean, Naga, Shredder, Ravagore, Warspears + UA, Succubus
Legion deploy - Pic missed. Warspears put Prey on the Demolisher.
Khador deploy - Lost die roll, given second.
Legion turn 1 - Everything runs up, Spiny Growth goes on a few models. Ravagore shoots out a template, scatters backwards to no where meaningful.
Khador turn 1 - Karchev casts Tows, tramples up. Demolisher moves a bit to get the Eliminators around it. Behemoth, with three focus on Subcortex, sacs move, fires bombards, kills an Ogrun.
Legion turn 2 - Ravagore fires at Behemoth, misses! Scatters onto Karchev, sets him and Behemoth on fire. Minimal damage. Spiny goes on Carnivean and Thagrosh.
Khador turn 2 - Karchev moves up, Towing away. Sprays the Carnivean, Thagrosh and one of the Ogrun. Feats, casts Unearthly Rage. Behemoth, placed leftmost, moves up and kills the pair of blocking Ogrun. other jacks move out, Kayazy run around the Demolisher. Wardog runs up behind Karchev, Mechaniks hang around.
Tactical Error: Screwed up placement and thus wasted feat. Should have placed Demolisher at the top of Karchev Tow Arc and Behemoth behind. Demolisher then Slams at left most Ogrun, on the way hitting the right one, bulldozing both out of the way and moving the Demolisher as far as up as possible, which would leave enough room for Behemoth to charge Carnivean. Would have taken some Spiny damage, but whatever.
Legion turn 3 - Ravagore and remaining Ogrun charge the Destroyer, do little. Ravagore actually misses multiple attacks. Thagrosh charges, kills most of the Eliminators, last one passes command check. Carnivean goes all out on Behemoth, leaves it with one Cortex box left.
Khador turn 3 - Karchev keeps Tow. Last Eliminator activates, charges Shredder to get out of the way, initial attack puts it on a couple health, second attack misses. Karchev activates, moves to get all the Jacks, flips Behemoth out, casts Unearthly Rage, sprays and knocks down Thagrosh. Demolisher moves over to Thagrosh, punches him to death.
Summation: 9. Happy with how it turned out, could have been smoother but worked out in the end.
Game 3
Scenario: Good old Incursion.
Circle had eKrueger and eMorvhana. Karchev picked for the armour skew, eMorvhana gives sufficient to hit boosts that Kayazy would have been slaughtered.
eMorvhana Season of Fate Tier 4 - Warpwolf Stalker, Gorax, 2x Gallows Grove, Blood Trackers + Nualla, Blood Pack, Blackclad, Druid Wilder
Circle Deployment - Opponent won die roll, as they do. Went first. As a tier benefit, upkeeps are up for turn one for free, Fog of War on the caster and Carnivore on the Blood Trackers. Blood Trackers pick a unit of Eliminators as Prey target.
Khador Deployment.
Circle and Khador turn 1 - Both armies run at each other. Standard tow move up used, Behemoth had no worthwhile targets and scattered poorly.
Left flag disappeared.
Circle turn 2 - Missed Pic. Things in general moved up, multiple shots went off at the Clams for minimal damage.
Khador turn 2 - Karchev towed up, sprayed and killed Nualla. Preyed Eliminator unit hung back. Everything else just moves up.
Preyed Eliminators set up one or two of the Tracker's boosts, but wasn't really an issue.
Circle turn 3 - Pic missed. I'm not good at getting my opponents turns on camera apparently....everything moves up, more scratching at Khador jack paint. Blackclad runs over to the flank flag to get a control point. Stalker, Gorax and eMorvhana all decide to around the forest on the right. Three of the four Eliminators get killed, the last one left is from the Preyed unit.
Khador turn 3 - Karchev keeps tow. Much shock and horror is had. Karchev Turbines for a focus, Feats, charges a Blood Tracker, flips the Behemoth to his back, casts Unearthly Rage and as a side note makes the Blood Tracker a smear on the ground. Destroyer moves next to the centre flag because it is a jerk. Behemoth charges Stalker, hits with one attack for a decent amount, misses second attack, has no bombard target. The one remaining Eliminator, still a Prey Target, ran her full distance to the back right corner.
Tactical Error: Karchev charging was a mistake. I was keen to have a small Focus camp, but charging stopped the knockdown spray. I was so muddled here in game I did do the spray and six points to the Stalker, then my case of dumb was pointed out and the Blood Tracker got smeared instead.
Tactical Error: When Karchev did his Tow movement, there was a Blood Tracker in his rear arc, sufficiently placed that the Demolisher could not be placed to used as a blocking piece to stop the Stalker or Goat Lady getting to Karchev as planned.
Proper Moveset: Karchev turbines for speed, moves up, spins around to allow double placement. No spray, but Demolisher is then available and can in fact charge the Stalker when the Behemoth screws it up, bulldozing the blocking Blood Tracker. Next turn Circle would kill the Demolisher in all likely hood, but given the amount of heavies in comparison that works for me.
Circle turn 4 - Goatlady hits Behemoth, knocks it down and back. BLoodtracker charges Wardog, who toughs but is no longer giving Karchev the defence boost. Stalker warps for Strength, charges and kills Karchev.
Summation: 7. The overall idea was to remove the Stalker and Gorax with Behemoth, leave a Clam at the centre flag to contest, then go Goat hunting if she stuck around or Dominate the side flag otherwise. The plan was workable, but I messed up Karchev activation to badly to fix it. Had the Behemoth second attack hit and killed the Stalker it would have been okay, but alas (Odds of a hit being about 5 in 6, or 83%)
Game 4
Scenario: Supply and Demand. Neutral Zone, aligned objectives that stop enemy from Dominating while alive.
Cryx alas. Single list.
pSkarre - 2x Helldivers, Bane Thralls, Bane Knights, Tartarus, Satryx + UA, Darragh, Scrap Thralls, Skarlock
Had to be Zerkova. pSkarre is still bad, but Karchev wasn't even a contest. I need greater consideration of Cryx match ups in future tournament list designs.
Khador deployment - Pic missed. I won the die roll and went first.
Tactical Error: I was always going to have to play for scenario, between Force Blast and Bulldoze I can clear a very broad area. The odds were never good here, but Scenario wins are aided immensely by having the first chance to score.
Cryx Deployment. The Bane thralls are on my left, Knights are on the right.
Khador turn 1 -Everything runs! Watcher and Banishing Ward go up.
Note: Wasn't detrimental at all, but Banishing Ward was a waste of time, no offensive magic attacks on the opposing side.
Cryx turn 1 -Everything runs up, Helldivers burrow. Satyrx use mini-feat to go incorporeal for the round.
Note: Helldivers are hilarious. When I get around to a small Cryx army, it will be Mortenebra with three Helldivers.
Khador turn 2 - Widowmakers run the hell away, as it is just as good if they live or drag a unit over to deal with them. Kayazy jam in. Vanguards run full pelt up, Spriggan walks up, Zerkova feats, charges a Kayazy for distance. Gorman moves up and clouds. Ternions move up, one sprays at the Satyrix, getting one out of two, another clouds Zerkova.
Cryx turn 2 - Helldivers pop up. pSkarre feats, cutting herself for five damage to give the same amount of strength and amour to everything, casts mini-feat spell to give boosted attack rolls to all Faction models. Thralls move in, take out left Vanguard. Satyxis clean up the Kayazy, who fail their command check. Knights take out right Vanguards movement. Helldivers cannot burrow because of Zerkova's feat.
Khador turn 3 -Desperate scenario grab time. Vanguard gets three focus, Spriggan gets one, Watcher upkept and two left on Zerkova. Vanguard moves a quarter of an inch forward, gets in range of the Objective. Boost the initial damage roll. Does nothing. Buy two attacks, do about five damage all up. Shield also takes out a Knight. Spriggan moves up, bombards Objective, hits and rolls middling damage, leaving it on about eight health. Widows kill some Satyxis. Ternions spray, do little. Zerkova uses Influence to have a Knight hit Tartarus, does three points. Kayazy fail to rally.
Strategic Error: pSkarre's fat is sufficiently brutal that I needed to change my overall plans for the turn. Any thing relying on a damage roll should have been secondary. Thing to look at:
- Should have started going for slams, even of my models if necessary.
- Ternions should have looked for an Ice Cage target, Darragh for instance. Hit three times would have made him stationary and stopped his abilities for a round.
- Running the Spriggan for Bulldozes to start clear the zone.
- Using the Widows to get rid of the damn Satyrix.
Cryx turn 3 - Bane Thrall charges objective, puts it to eight health. Vanguard gets killed by Knights, everything else moves in, Spriggan lightly damaged, Ternions missed!
Note: Normally Zerkova would be assassinated this turn, but Marty needed CP's to climb the tournament rank. It does work out for him, he ends up with three CP's and got second place though I don't know if he needed the points from this game for that.
Khador turn 4 - Note that the Spriggan is alive, represented by the green base. Spriggan gets full focus load. pSkarre is Defence 16 Armour 23 at this point, down five health from feat. Watcher dropped for focus. Zerkova moves forward, uses Orgoth Seal to gain Line Of Sight immunity, casts Freezing Grip at pSkarre, needs a nine and misses. Ternions try to clear some models with sprays, do nothing. Casts Force Blast to Push models away from Spriggan. Spriggan charges pSkarre, gets the Lance to her. Charge attack at MAT 8 hits and damages, puts her at six health remaining. Shield kills a Thrall. Two focus on Spriggan, needing 10's to hit and an 11 to kill. Buy an attack, miss. Buy an attack, miss. Widowmakers do some plinking.
Tactical Error: Gerylords spent their actions trying to clear models with Sprays to get the Spriggans shields to pSkarre without free strikes. As the Spear was the only weapon with a high enough relevant power, I should have used them before Zerkova, moved the right two around to the right of the Thrall enganging them, used the left one to spray the LOS blocking Thrall, then tried to Ice Cage pSkarre twice. 27% chance of an Ice cage landing, done twice, plus a potentially improved chance of the Freezing grip hitting would have been great.
Dice Math Note: Spriggan charges pSkarre, shield not in range. MAT 8 on the charge, I elected not to boost as I needed the focus for the next attacks. Makes the attempt a full Hail Mary, but attack hits and did some damage, about lowish end of average from memory.
Two focus left. 10's to hit then 11's to kill. Simple math here, I buy an attack and leave a focus to boost the damage roll, as I need a higher number of the dice there. I think the maths hold, but the odds of success were always low. Skarlock casting Ritual Sacrifice for Focus is evil.
Weird Habit Note: Every time the Spriggan charges, I remember the spear attack adds plus two on the to hit dice. Every time my brain thinks this makes it MAT 10, no matter how many times I can add up 6 + 2 outside of that situation.
Cryx turn 4 - Thralls kill objective, remaining Cryx models in Zone kill Ternions then Zerkova.
Summation: 7. I don't think the lists I brought can handle this style of Cryx, but that is on my list design choices. Widowmakers camping on the extreme right with impunity was funny.
Event Summary: Definite improvement from previous tournament attempts. Accepting that Deathclock allows plenty of time for my play style as a general rule helped a lot, as well as not expecting opponents to be pressured for time. Probably least happy with my choices in the Circle match, several simple ways I could have not screwed it up.
Note for optional second lists: Always worth bringing a second list, definite advantage over anyone who brought just one match up.