You can't have competitive ambitions these days and not practice being a lumberjack. While I am confident in Haley3's ability to give the old Tree a good game, I am not confident in my ability to ensure that she does do. Yesterday I played a few games and the first one was against Wurmwood!
:: Lists ::
Cygnar:
Major Prime Victoria Haley - WJ: +25
- Haley Past
- Haley Future
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Grenadier - PC: 9 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Thorn - PC: 13 (Battlegroup Points Used: 7)
- Ironclad - PC: 12
Journeyman Warcaster - PC: 4
- Charger - PC: 9
Ragman - PC: 4
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord - PC: 4
Storm Lances - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Trencher Infantry - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
Opponent:
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
The scenario is extraction and I move first. My plan for this game is to move up aggressively as Wurmwood can rarely afford to get a lot of work done early on and work my way from there, gradually establishing control with the clouds and ranged superiority. Getting echoes in position is crucial as they threaten Sentry Stones early on and I also need my jacks up center.
:: Game ::
Lances swing right, jacks go center and Haley slightly to the left. Distortion and Supremacy are up.
Deliberating for some time, my opponent decides to go hyper-aggressive himself by feating bottom of 1 to claim table space. Considering his Reeves are kind of in a shitty spot because of my Storm Lances I think this is an ok move, but I fear for Wurmwood's ability to attrition well given that he blows his feat this early. In any case it is what it is. Curse of Shadows is cast on Lances.
There's no scenario pressure yet and no exposed high value models so I simply shuffle my lines. I make a big mistake on the left flank as Past moves up to be 7.1" away from the Feral, forgetting he could warp strength. I was hoping he would have to trample, and although he can likely kill Past while doing so that's a good trade for me as it pretty much costs him the flank.
Circle strikes! The Feral kills Past but doesn't manage to deal enough damage to the Grenadier there. In the center, Megalith is ported up to cast Undergrowth and bash the other Grenadier and some Trenchers. The Mannikins struggle with the Trenchers in the middle because of solid DEF-bonuses and too many targets and the Reeves decide to go for the Lances instead, leaving but a single one alive. In the middle of it all I end up having a Trencher contesting the right flag -and- another one contesting the left flag. Perfect!
I can place Thorn so that he can apply Death Field to both the Feral and Megalith. I look for openings to kill Megalith because my Ironclad is just within 9" of the Pureblood. I decide to go for the safer play and simply kill Feral + Megalith instead, leaving the Pureblood alone. I have to feat this turn to get the focus up all around, which is kind of sad seeing as Past isn't up but hey, sometimes that happens. Megalith is significantly overkilled and I regret not looking for openings to kill him without the Ironclad. The Cloudwall is still up, making life rough for Reeves.
The situation is rather desperate for my opponent. I am significantly up on attrition here, he has no good angles for echoes and even if the Pureblood gets the Ironclad it's likely not enough. He is also short on time so instead the choice is made to go for assassination: The Pureblood can throw Thorn onto Prime without declaring a target (my mistake for not blocking the gap, excellent spot from him!). He does do so and Mannikins + Wurmwood follow up with all their hurt. Luckily for me ARM17 and 2 camp is enough to keep her alive on 7 or so boxes!
:: Evaluation ::
I feel like I played a solid game here. I managed to do what Haley3 does so well: Draw out inefficient alphas which force trades that are favourable to me. From the early aggression to the cloudwall keeping Reeves from doing much at all, Wurmwood just couldn't find openings.
Giving up Past so easily was a mistake. I can't remember what damage was done to the Grenadier but I think he lost his cortex, which was unnecessary. The correct play here is probably to contest with the Grenadier and possibly another model, spaced out so that the Feral couldn't have killed both. Going to 2-0 might be a solid play from Wurmwood here.
The assassination angle was very well spotted. As those of you who read this blog frequently know, I'm a sucker for throws. I need to spot the angles against me as well and this one would've been fairly easy to protect against.
Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper - WB: +27
- Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper (Cont.)
- Feral Warpwolf - PC: 18 (Battlegroup Points Used: 18)
- Megalith - PC: 20 (Battlegroup Points Used: 9)
- Pureblood Warpwolf - PC: 17
Gallows Grove - PC: 2
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress - PC: 3
War Wolf - PC: 2
War Wolf - PC: 2
Reeves of Orboros - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
- Reeve of Orboros Chieftain & Standard - Chieftain & Standard: 4
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Sentry Stone & Mannikins - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
Shifting Stones - Leader & 2 Grunts: 3
Farrow Bone Grinders - Leader & 3 Grunts: 5
:: Pre-Battle Thoughts & Deployment ::
The scenario is extraction and I move first. My plan for this game is to move up aggressively as Wurmwood can rarely afford to get a lot of work done early on and work my way from there, gradually establishing control with the clouds and ranged superiority. Getting echoes in position is crucial as they threaten Sentry Stones early on and I also need my jacks up center.
:: Game ::
Lances swing right, jacks go center and Haley slightly to the left. Distortion and Supremacy are up.
Deliberating for some time, my opponent decides to go hyper-aggressive himself by feating bottom of 1 to claim table space. Considering his Reeves are kind of in a shitty spot because of my Storm Lances I think this is an ok move, but I fear for Wurmwood's ability to attrition well given that he blows his feat this early. In any case it is what it is. Curse of Shadows is cast on Lances.
There's no scenario pressure yet and no exposed high value models so I simply shuffle my lines. I make a big mistake on the left flank as Past moves up to be 7.1" away from the Feral, forgetting he could warp strength. I was hoping he would have to trample, and although he can likely kill Past while doing so that's a good trade for me as it pretty much costs him the flank.
Circle strikes! The Feral kills Past but doesn't manage to deal enough damage to the Grenadier there. In the center, Megalith is ported up to cast Undergrowth and bash the other Grenadier and some Trenchers. The Mannikins struggle with the Trenchers in the middle because of solid DEF-bonuses and too many targets and the Reeves decide to go for the Lances instead, leaving but a single one alive. In the middle of it all I end up having a Trencher contesting the right flag -and- another one contesting the left flag. Perfect!
I can place Thorn so that he can apply Death Field to both the Feral and Megalith. I look for openings to kill Megalith because my Ironclad is just within 9" of the Pureblood. I decide to go for the safer play and simply kill Feral + Megalith instead, leaving the Pureblood alone. I have to feat this turn to get the focus up all around, which is kind of sad seeing as Past isn't up but hey, sometimes that happens. Megalith is significantly overkilled and I regret not looking for openings to kill him without the Ironclad. The Cloudwall is still up, making life rough for Reeves.
The situation is rather desperate for my opponent. I am significantly up on attrition here, he has no good angles for echoes and even if the Pureblood gets the Ironclad it's likely not enough. He is also short on time so instead the choice is made to go for assassination: The Pureblood can throw Thorn onto Prime without declaring a target (my mistake for not blocking the gap, excellent spot from him!). He does do so and Mannikins + Wurmwood follow up with all their hurt. Luckily for me ARM17 and 2 camp is enough to keep her alive on 7 or so boxes!
Victory to the Swans!
:: Evaluation ::
I feel like I played a solid game here. I managed to do what Haley3 does so well: Draw out inefficient alphas which force trades that are favourable to me. From the early aggression to the cloudwall keeping Reeves from doing much at all, Wurmwood just couldn't find openings.
Giving up Past so easily was a mistake. I can't remember what damage was done to the Grenadier but I think he lost his cortex, which was unnecessary. The correct play here is probably to contest with the Grenadier and possibly another model, spaced out so that the Feral couldn't have killed both. Going to 2-0 might be a solid play from Wurmwood here.
The assassination angle was very well spotted. As those of you who read this blog frequently know, I'm a sucker for throws. I need to spot the angles against me as well and this one would've been fairly easy to protect against.
Sorry that i didn't get it (even from the pics). With what did you kill Feral and Megalith in one round? Ironclad for sure. But the other one? Was it the Grendadier with POW 15 (because of Death Field)?
SvarSlettCharger PS15, Thorn PS16, Grenadiers both PS15 and Ironclad PS20. I was very close to killing Megalith without the help of the Ironclad so with better planning I might have been able to take out the Pureblood as well.
Slett