Battle Report #76: Kraye vs Jarl

:: Prologue ::

The second game of the day was vs Trollbloods. A kind of peculiar list with Jarl at the helm. Definitely not something to take lightly despite its odd looks! I was running Kraye with a variant I've been toying around with in my head lately.

:: Lists ::
Cygnar:

Captain Jeremiah Kraye - WJ: +6
- Squire
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Lightning Pod
- Stormwall - PC: 19
- Lightning Pod
- Lightning Pod
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 3
Anastasia di Bray - PC: 2
Savio Montero Acosta - PC: 3
Ragman - PC: 2
Sword Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 6

Opponent:

Jarl Skuld, Devil of the Thornwood - WB: +6
- Trollkin Runebearer
- Troll Impaler - PC: 5
- Pyre Troll - PC: 5
Fell Caller Hero - PC: 3
Stone Scribe Chronicler - PC: 2
Gatorman Witch Doctor - PC: 3
Croak Raiders - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
Croak Raiders - Leader & 9 Grunts: 8
Sons of Bragg - Wrathar, Tor & Rhudd: 6
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 3 Grunts: 3
- Stone Scribe Elder - Elder 1
Trollkin Fennblades - Leader & 9 grunts: 8
- Fennblade Officer and Drummer - Officer & Drummer 2 

:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::

The idea behind the Kraye list is to get T1 (hence Anastasia), swarm the table and establish control T2 with either shooting or melee, depending on the situation. Acosta is there to take advantage of Sword Knights, obviously. I got T1, thanks to Anastasia, and we played Incursion.

:: Game ::

I got too "scared" of Croaks and decided to stay out of their threat range. I reckoned I'd need to go for attrition here, meaning I wouldn't necessarily care if he got a decent start points-wise.

One set of Croaks on a hill, another in a wood. Fennblades centrally with the character unit and Kriel Stone nearby.

I put up Arcane on the right Stormwall, jam up with Sword Knights (Acosta behind) and start shooting Croaks on the right and Fennblades in the middle with guided fire.

Fennblades with Vengeance move into the non-shielded Stormwall and Croaks start shooting me down. They hurt so much with oil, especially on the poor 'wall without Shield. 0-2.

I have to start contesting and clear a ton of models to avoid losing on scenario, even if I can attrition sufficiently. I put up Guided Fire again and start clearing the right part first. Kraye even helps out with his 2 shots on the Kriel Stone unit centrally. I kill some Croaks and Fennblades and Acosta + a single SK contest left.

The Croaks keep shooting and I'm taking some serious damage now. Acosta dies to the character unit and the Stormwall dies to Fennblades. 3-0.

I try to clear out the right and the middle but there are too many models left and I don't have the tools to deal with them all. I also forget to pod ahead (I kill a couple of models instead) so technically I auto-lose, but even if I had contested for a single turn he could've simply jammed me up with medium-based models to force me to a loss on scenario.

The attrition scenario thus failed and to be honest I believe the Stormwall would've died anyway. There are too many models around with too much damage for me to handle.

:: Evaluation ::

This Kraye list is interesting because I believe it's capable of solving a lot of problems. Croaks however are a real pain, doubly so when backed up by medium-based tough models. In many ways it's the perfect recipe and while this is far from a standard Troll list (I believe Doomie-variants would be easier for me, for example) it highlights the fact that if Kraye cannot play to his strengths (which is basically to allow his jacks to hit hard and long where they need to, kind of useless when you get swarmed) he is a sub-par caster. While Guided Fire and Mage Sight allow him to bring a solid shooting game, the grind and swarm is something he struggles with.

Haley1 can effectively deal with these variants I believe because of ADR. If she's locked down list-wise it's harder for her as well since she must choose between e.g. shooty and anti-arm, but overall I believe her flexibility is better (at least while she's in ADR and Kraye isn't).

Interesting game and well played by my opponent, a deserved win to the Trollbloods!