Butcher 1
War Dog
Devastator
Spriggan
Spriggan
Iron Fang Pikemen, Officer & Standard
Iron Fang Kovnik
Iron Fang Kovnik
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Kayazy Assassins, Underboss
Widowmaker Marksman
Kayazy Assassins, Underboss
Kayazy Eliminators
Manhunter
Yuri the Axe
Yuri the Axe
Tyrant xerxis (+5)
Archidon(7)
Canoneer (9)
Cetrati max (11)
Nihilators max (8)
Rhadeim (5)
Pgbh min (2)Hakaar (4)
Ancestral guardians (12)
Blurry iPad photos ahead.
Skorne is totally new for me - I really didn't know what to expect. What I got was a really bunched-up group of big, ugly, scary models. Placing second, and with the Skorne army lined put straight against my friendly flag, I put the Demolisher and Pikemen on the right flank, with the idea that they could protect my flag, and the Spriggan and Kayazi on the left, hoping to attack the red flag.
End of turn one (sorry, terrible pic). They moved up as one big block. I spread to defend. I was really worried about the mounted solo coming through the forrest. Really should've been more worried about the other 45 points steaming through the middle!
At the end of the next turn, a lot had happened. I'd killed off the right flanker, but at very high cost - My Spriggan, Manhunter and Kayazy were all well out of position. More worryingly, I'd blown my feat. That big block of models was just too tempting, and I dropped Obliteration in the middle of it. I figured a boosted Obliteration spell would do some serious work on that big clump. Not so much They had all kinds of defensive bonuses for their formation, and I did minimal damage. The Winterguard popped off a few of the front-running Nihilators, then mini-feated back into shield-wall.
Things were looking grim for me at this point. The horde came crunching in. The IronFang eld, but barely. The Kayazy and Spriggan were out of the fight.
Trying to fight back here, but it felt like I was making minimal impact. Seemed like a matter of time before I was ground down.
Then things got weird. He wen for an interesting assassination, Throwing one of his beasts at Butcher and knocking him down. Butcher had to hold, and would wipe the floor with his Warlock if he managed to survive. He was down to 2 points, and it looked like he'd managed to hang on. Then a model from way out on his left flank sprang in - they have some ability that lets them charge through models. Butch died.
Raj contacted me after the game to let me know he'd realised he'd got the charge distances wrong, and that that assassination really shouldn't have happened. So...a win? I dunno. A strange one really.
I've got to get better at quickly understanding the impact of Def/Armour stats. I hear them, but then just hit anyway at the moment. Also must not get too distracted by single flankers.
This is Raj here, just wanted to add on a couple of points:
ReplyDeletea) The victory should have gone to butcher. The nihilator had exactly one inch past the ancestral guardian at the end. Small bases are 30 mm, 5mm too big to fit. There is zero doubt butcher would've wiped the floor with xerxis the next turn!
b) The ability is called martial discipline - it allows small and medium based living warrior models to move through other warrior models and ignore them for Line of Sight purposes. This is what makes Xerxis a formidable brick caster. The hammer is always behind the anvil of the Cetrati; you cannot count on them blocking the guys behind from attacking your units even if it is through them.
Either way, it was a good match! Next time I will make sure to put down a proxy base where I want to go and THEN measure. That's honestly the best practice when there is even a shadow of a doubt on distances.