Gorten versus Zaadesh!
What? That's what happens when practicing your tourney casters is a thing!
Once more into a Slam (yadayada, single list two rounder done when we adhoc enough people together).
Based on real life constraints, I actually expected to get one game then volunteer to be the odd man out, if I'm going to have one game it'll be with what I enjoy the most (Slams void the tap out of Gorten option).
Gorten1 - 2x Driller, 2x Blaster, 2x Gunner, Wrongeye w/Snapjaw, Rorsh w/Brine, Tinker, Ragman, Aiyanna + Holt, 2x Eliminators, Acosta
Objective: Bunker
Into Humbleman, his list at least having the grace to modify somewhat.
Zaadesh2 - Despoiler, Tiberion, Gladiator, Nihilator, Swamp Gobbers, Gobber Chef, Pain Givers, Cetrati w/Vorkesh
Objective: Bunker
Entrenched pops up, our table is......blessed......with shallow water either side, a central cloud, one side gets a wall, the other an obstruction. Hill out in Woopwoop unlikely to do much.
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Merc 1: I win the roll, taking the scenario into account (2nd worst for Gorten, but leagues ahead of Incursion) and being under some kind of stupid juice (No, I hadn't that much alcohol yet) for some reason I was convinced the Nihilators have Advance Deploy. They don't. Yet. Maybe Haley gave me some glimpse of January Errata Madness?
Gorten's going up the guts, but with a leaning toward the friendly zone. Zaadesh, as stated before, probably has the best game into Gorten of all Skorne when he also brings along Tibbers.
That means it's battlegroup central, with Lesser Locks and Eliminators going for the Skorne zone.
Acosta goes out to the left, my thinking being that he'll do enough damage to finish off a non-Tibbers heavy when they inevitably contest my zone.
The Skorne list also has no guns or offensive magic. Running Wrongeye felt weird and strange, in a creepy sort of what-is-Nyarlathotep-doing way rather than by-gods-what-are-your-parents-doing-to-stay-interested-in-the-bedroom weirdness.
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Skorne 1: The Nihilators flood the Skorne zone, with the ready acceptance that they'll be mauled. Cetrati get Inviolable Resolve, go dead centre with Tibbers behind, Despoiler is the right most piece though still primarily central. Clouds go up in front of the Cetrati in case the natural fog goes away.
Probably can't be seen, but there's Green/Black Swamp Shamblers repping the Swamp Gobbers/Chef respectively.
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Merc 2: I'm not sure what the Nihilators are about, but by the same token keeping them in the backline would probably feel weird.
Regardless, I see little value in feating this turn. I'm going to get work done, I can afford to wait it out.
Between a Spray Bunny, both Elimiantors, Rorsh' gun, Ragman's deathbolt and such the Nihilators get reduced to a single chump. The Lesser Warlocks then hang back out of Cetrati threat range, don't want them to charge important stuff on Zaadesh' feat turn.
Gorten and Gunners wing Despoiler for a bit, the last Spray Bunny has nothing to do with its life so goes forward in my zone to get in the way. Drillers run up the board, stop just shy of Cetrati threat range.
Acosta continues his steady advance on the right, placed to threaten the end of my zone for next round clearance.
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Skorne 2: Zaadesh stays hiding out in the back, gets a Gobber cloud. pops feat, puts down two clouds and throws up Countercharge.
Tibbers and Despoiler move up behind those clouds, Arcane Suppression goes up which is annoying. Despoiler also crushes the suicide Spray Bunny like a disposable can mad of lower quality aluminium than normal.
The Cetrati Shield Wall and toe the Skorne zone, miss an Eliminator and maul the remaining Spray Bunny, plus miss an Eliminator loads of times.
The last Nihilator goes full Ninja trope (Stronger the less there are of them), kills the Green Kayazy unit and does five damage to the Skorne objective.
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Merc 3: The terrain cloud goes away at the end of the Skorne turn, Zaadesh left clouds in an apropos fashion though.
I keep both Strength of Granite and Solid Ground, though double upkeeps on Focus 5 casters is less than pleasant. Stupid Skeksi.
This was a potential feat turn, but ultimately I still felt like I was attritioning well enough. The Cetrati and Tibbers were untouchable, but Despoiler was eminently killable.
Aiyanna Harms Despoiler, Holt and the Gun Bunnies shoot him for a bit.
Gorten runs to the right in my zone, once Despoiler pops I also get the scoring train going.
Acosta then charges Despoiler in the back, easily kills him with his charge attack.
I then line up my Drillers, one just behind the clouds, the other behind him. Tibbers can probably only get to one, if the Cetrati charge across then the Skorne zone is my in future rounds. If they don't, I can kill Tibbers and Dominate my own zone contentedly. Coming and going is the intent.
Brine pops the Skorne objective, then Souie's back toward the left. The Crocs join them on the extreme left, again forcing the Cetrati into a bad spot of being needed multiple locations.
The Red Eliminators kill the last Nihilator and bounce off the back of a Cetrati pretty hard.
Ragman migrates to the centre of the board, ready to assist in operation overkill Tibbers.
Mercs go to 2 CP.
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Skorne 3: The Green base in the centre is a Proxy for the Tibbers-don't-want-to-stay-upright-today.
The Cetrati don't commit to either side particularly, they stay safely contesting the centre zone missing an Eliminator and popping the final Spray Bunny.
The Gladiator Rushes himself, Slams Acosta and absolutely pulps him. Alas.
Zaadesh moves forward behind the Gobber cloud, puts down a cloud and Rushes Tibbers.
There'd been a plan, revealed halfway through the turn, for Tibbers to cast Bump and push back a Driller to get into both and kill them. Foiled by good old (i.e extremely new) Sturdy.
Instead Tibbers settles for killing the forward Driller and mauling one of the Gunners.
At some point the Gobber Chef also kills a Kayazy, so there you go. 1 point model dreams.
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Merc 4: The planning mix up means Zaadesh is way further up the field than he should be, with no camp and not placed to prevent drags.
The last Kayazy goes in, kills a Swamp Gobber to clean the drag line.
Gorten walks up, pulls in Zaadesh.
A couple Gun Shots get wasted, pinging straight to Tibbers. Woops.
Max Focus Strength of Granite Dark Shrouded Driller goes in, hits, boost damage to one shot. Glorious.
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Me on the right.
Happy with that. Got this hard Skorne matchup downpat I guess? Had a slight screw up with Counter charge, wherein I didn't realise it had that same engaging/engaged relationship as Arc Nodes. Oh well.
