Thexus1 (Operating Theatre) - 2x Wrecker, 2x Agitator, 3x Mind Slavers + Drudges, 2x Mind Benders + Drudges, Alexia1 + I can't believe it's not Krang, 2x Overlords
Objective: Bunker
Continuing my masterful trend of playing into maximum fluffy:
Goreshade3 (Ghost Fleet) - Kraken, Blackbanes (Max), Rengrace, 3x Min Revenant Crew w/8 Riflemen, 3x Machine Spirit, Pistol Wraith, Hellfire Wraith (Caine, what have you done?!)
Recon once more, opposite corners of the zone have a largish forest with a string of clouds between them. I end up on the side with a hill and a trench, with water on the far right flank. Otherwise there's a wall on the Cryx side of the left flag. There's also a trench in the back of the Cryx that I don't think comes up in any way.
For once I win the roll and go first, the forests on either side means I have a place for Thexus to potentially hide behind. Have to leverage my sprays effectively, as my recursion doesn't have living warrior triggers and the opposing force has a bunch of RFP and Corpse stealing.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcAUie4_WOzX9UKvrz9MZTPfyu0hh5Xzc2bp77AdLa5teuKxSsLjZ-oydTq-pf0T1t7Rn2Ja_YjrTy0g8JzMopz8EsRcCv1zx1wHQcFpszsalCPhmQW_6X5wMnjctnubF_ITpvwXMeSsqu/s1600/002+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Round 1:Thexus and battlegroup go up behind the forest for my side, because I live in fear of blast and spell death. I then have a big blob in the centre with a lean toward the left, Slavers and some Risen up front, Benders behind. Overlords on either flank extremely, the right lot represented by Ternions.
Opposing is Revenant proxies. ALL THE REVENANT PROXIES. Two units are toward the left, ready to find Drudges upon Drudges. Blackbanes are in the forest, Goreshade hides behind the Cryx Objective, Kraken is across from Thexus (Keep away! Awaaaaay!), third Revenant unit on the right.
Infernal Machine is on the Kraken, Shroud on the Blackbanes. Decel is up.
I've approached this opening turn poorly, right from deployment. The most important tools to get up the board are the Bender grunts, using the same layered approach is a mistake, a column style would be vastly better. The spreading out weirdness is also unnecessary, by dint of the distances and clouds the Kraken couldn't even do drifting shots this round.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOeVRcWwwytgElpvavc0Zdqzvo9D8aGkiLInjmyGnlt8732pKpiQwK5iXlT5kVuFywiGzKI8b7ncHJr_tDIBHLwrBwG5E0qjwhgNCZ-a_cryBhlJtMJAJQX3kn7tLS7J4OHHT2MCYeuoVI/s1600/003+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Merc 2: At the end of the Cryx turn the clouds go away in a shocking turn of events.
Have three plans going in, to wipe out the left forward most unit of Revenants, keep Alexia safe and use a Wrecker to draw in the Kraken.
Plan 1: Wipe out the Revenant crew on the left. Drudges ambush in from the table edge.
Unit of Overlords go in, they spray reasonably well, unfortunately I prioritise poorly and fail to get a back member of the unit for which I have no other attacks to get to with. Ambush Drudges charge in anyway, once committed might as well hope for a low Deathbound roll at this point.
Plan 2: Keep Alexia safe. Easy enough, she hangs back in the trench under Decel, with four Risen as back up in the event of blast damage, outside of Apparition Blackbane charges. Drudges run up and around, hanging in collection and Decel range. She also spawns a Thrall that charges the Kraken, as it doesn't die to a single Wrecker going in. The Thrall does a single point, that's.....a start......technically....
Plan 3: Draw the Kraken in. Based on the opposing force composition, I reason that if I advance a Wrecker, the Kraken is the only thing that can meaningfully do something about it. Unless Goreshade wants to get out of his comfort zone. I put a Wrecker into the forest, just shy of the 3 inch mark so it'll take a walk or trample for the Colossal to get in. I arc a Hexblast onto the Kraken, knocking off Infernal Machine and doing more damage than the Thrall. It's something!
Mid next Cryx turn I realise the right Ternion unit didn't activate at all. Competence....
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitXxO1S3hcaW-dC991spBxHAqEk0fO1TPHi3r8H787EFXT_Yla0nB9Zrw352v74Haj6jZ7t9XaqsrR9B_jZsNOhjbM6gpOpH4RFBsJeqPLcgX1djDgqSP31Cy4xrufFRKJXCPEdnhXwM58/s1600/004+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Cryx 2: Max Revenants return. Sigh.
The left units of Revenants essentially get distracted killing off the ambushing Drudges, leaving a couple Grunts and the Cephalyx trudging on.
The Blackbanes come charging in, they eat an Overlord and a pair of Drudges, stifled by poor attack rolls and a spike in tough rolls.
The Hellfire Wraith aims and kills the Thrall blocking the Kraken.
Goreshade puts up Infernal Machine, a free cast by dint of one of the left Overlords being just in his control. Dangit.
One of the Machine Wraiths gets Dark Shroud and runs up to engage the forest Wrecker.
The Kraken then stomps forward into the forest, misses the Wrecker with his first attack. The second hits, I Hyper Aggresive to get out of the Dark Shroud aura. Sadly the Kraken manages to punch through and kill the Monstrosity, hardly unexpected.
Lastly the right unit of Revenants charge and kill a Ternion/Overlord that I gave away for free.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHF74SR30g8QT_LkC-LR9KO0NGZPs21nEklYl60Ax4_rWfbUpE3ed3Lu6iDT5xJwuiB9NIe226WFa-PsV57r8jG4T2pcSzIteWp-PX0k2A-e5zCWss-w4tWwMTtjkro0UJ77o7xFTU3tfD/s1600/005+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Merc 3: I want to send some Adrenalled Drudges into the Kraken plus the Wrecker and hopefully trash him.
Around the infantry front line, I realise at this point how my deployment and unpack has made my order of activation's straight up awful. The Green Slavers go first to clear off the Blackbanes on the Overlords, they do that pretty well. The purple Benders then send up three Grunts to do Sprays, they roll poorly, in particular failing to hit Blackbane. Hmph. Needing more sprays, the Pink Slavers forgo Adrenal Kraken punching to clear out a few more Blackbanes, freeing up room for the Blue Benders to move up and also fail in their sprays.
The pair of Overlords have a chance to wipe out the previous turns Revenant crew, they kill several but leave one alive behind the wall.
This was so much easier against the Winterguard, the one point Defence jump is having an awful effect on my plans.
The Wrecker gets an Instigate bubble put up, advances and takes out the right side of the Kraken. It's something.
Thexus gets as far away as he can from the Kraken, pops Decel and TK's himself even further back.
Alexia's Risen shuffle around, don't do much. She should have spawned a Thrall to charge the Kraken, I opt to do a hand cannon instead and miss. Alexia is apparently sending her resume to the 501st.
I ahd a theoretical chance to wipe out the right Revenants, the Ternion Overlords miss four of their six spray attacks to not even get close.
That......was a disaster. Plans kneecapped by earlier mistakes, compounded by attempting to achieve to much and relying on rolling averages. My saving grace is that the Revenant list is weird, I'm down to 22 minutes but feel I'll quite reliably win on clock.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgLqubGUFkjMLFtQlFV3ytr66BkSOiprcH3Ots3oXnl4_wxhMTSBBRcHohDUARkUWj0Xa6_QKxm9HJBh35UdNAPHCQPdKbHWAIa-v7lsbFwIKjLn9GTMNRO8HLuWZTqjdofS-kvFa97JtS/s1600/006+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Cryx 3: Revenants respawn. Hypocritical whine about recursive infantry list here.
The Kraken spins to get its not crippled arm around, Sweeps down some Drudges, buys attacks to kill my Wrecker with the Machine Wraith Dark Shroud assisting, does a killshot at Alexia that scatters and kills some Risen in front of Thexus.
The various incorporeal solos move around or chew on my infantry. The Blackbanes charges the Objective and roll very poorly, leaving it still going on 6 boxes.
The Right Revenant crew charge in on the Ternion Overlords, kill one, clock runs.
Do some playthrough after the clock out, Revenants finish off the right Overlords, left Revenant blob kills the White Drudge unit, an Overlord and some Green Slavers.
The Cryx plan had been to clear the zone, Dominate, then start scoring off the right flag. That's a good plan that I had poor answers to (Basically send a Thrall each turn to contest and scramble to recover). Fortunately I had enough chaff in the zone and a surprisingly resistance objective to stop that.
I halfheartedly started planning my turn, upon which I discover without the struggle of winning on clock the list is boring as hell to me and I call it. The play should be Adrenal 6 Slaver Drudges, clear off some stuff and kill the Kraken with said coked up fiends, then push through the zone for scoring.
Not a great performance for me, with the failure to adapt to going first, not prioritising the sprays properly and, I think most damningly, not even attempt to push the win condition from the get go, relying on a slow attrition deal when that is eminently not a good plan in the matchup. I should have aggressively pushed the zone in turn 2, essentially creating a buffer of bodies to get teh Wrecker up in the open and threatening the Kraken. If it stands still or comes forward, I likely kill it, if it backs up I pop the Objective and threaten the Scenario.Good stuff to know, painful way to learn it.
