Lord of the Feast!!

I've been pretty lazy about writing here, probably because I realized that I don't need to type stuff out to be essentially talking to myself, but whatever.  This write up isn't going to take very long either, but I felt like it was needed to highlight one of the most awesome solos in Warmachine / Hordes!

So I decided I wanted to do a few things differently than I had been playing.  First, I wanted to play a game without a Gorax as I don't think its the ultimate in necessary for every list.  Also, I've been wanting to get some more time with a few other pieces in my collection.  So, I assembled this list

Grayle the Farstrider
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Winter Argus
- Woldwyrd
- Druid Wilder
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Lord of the Feast
Tharn Wolf Riders (max)
Reeve Hunter
Reeve Hunter
War Wolf
War Wolf

One thing of note with this list, is that it contains a lot of models with Hunter, which can always come in handy.  It also has access to a lot of movement shenanigans, a warlock who plays a bit of a different game for Circle, Wolf Riders that I've been wanting to play more with and Reeve Hunters that I've basically just wanted to get on the table more.  As far as the somewhat unique beast load out, first having access to Sprint for anything is always good for us, and the Stalker does a lot of good, so not much to explain there.  Without a Gorax in the list, I felt that the Pureblood was a good pick to hand out Blessed weapons.  Winter Argus is there because the sprays are decent, and Grayle likes having access to Winter Coat to give him +2 ARM.  Woldwyrd is another include because it can make some pretty solid use out of Awareness in some clutch situations, and is just good at being able to scalpel out some pieces.

Anyway, that's a lot of explanation for a night that turned out to be Lord of the Feast and the guys who help him do his job.

Game 1 vs Protectorate of Menoth - Reznik

I honestly don't remember the entire composition of the list.  It had choir, vassals, mechanics, 'jacks, covenant and some other stuff.  I opted to go 2nd I believe (or maybe I lost the roll and just had to go 2nd).  First, I was eye balling a situation where I thought that I could use the good Lord to cause a bunch of havok and put him up behind his choir and a few other things.  So Grayle Storm Rager'd him up (which was always the plan) and he tried to Raven, short by about an inch.  Do some other stuff, pass the turn.

On his turn, he failed to Perdition his Reckoner forward, so it had to settle on I think just killing one of my Shifting Stones and being a pain with where it was sitting.  He does some other stuff that was of very little consequence because I don't remember it, and passes the turn.

I upkeep Storm Rager.  Then I start to look, he's got the covenant in a spot that I can probably get Lord to, with some tricky moving and a good bird shot, and if i get behind there I have 2 choir and his 'caster that will take shots (and the book, but I'm not getting 5 attacks).  I figure, its going to kill some choir and be something he'll have to deal with.  So I do that, slip around, shoot the bird, hit the book, go behind it, do my thresher.  I have LOS to his 'caster because Reznik is on a medium base, otherwise I'd probably be blocked by his choir boy.  So at MAT 10, POW 15 i go ahead and thresher.  I kill the choir guys, 1 damage on the book, hit Reznik for like 6 (he's on either 1 or 0 focus).  I look, and figure I can hit, for some reason I decided to boost damage, I should have just bought 2 attacks, but my boosted damage exactly kills his 'caster.

Holy shit, that just happened.  Told me basically nothing about my list, and had his perdition gone off or my initial plan happened, none of this was likely to play out this way.  That said, it was pretty awesome that it worked like it did.

Game 2 vs Khador - Old Witch's Theme Force

My opponent and I will be the first to point out that her theme force is not the greatest in the world.  However, there is a theme force tournament coming up, so you have to try out a few things and see if they work.  This list had a bunch of Greylords, Kossites, Destroyers (I think), Man Hunters and so forth.  Kossites ambush, he gets to start with Old Witch's upkeeps out there.  Important to note is that Iron Flesh goes on the Old Witch.

I think he went first, but we both basically do the standard move up the board, only exception to this is that my Wolf Riders assault some Widowmakers that are in a trench, and I think killed 3 out of the 4 (which were the only shots I had).

On his turn 2, more moving up, Kossites jump out, I learned I needed to have been farther into the middle of the table.  He got charges with backstrikes on my Wolf Riders on my right, and 1 of the 2 Reeve Hunters and 1 of the 2 War Wolves that killed.  The rest of his army didn't do a whole lot that turn.

On my turn, first I want to highlight how Kossites being really bad allowed me to live out my dream with the Reeve Hunter.  Reeve Hunters can, in theory, kill 6 models in an activation.  Goes like this...
Melee initial attack #1, kill model, quick work generates a ranged attack, kill model #2, Swift Hunter allows a 2" move and Snap Fire goes off to take another shot, kill model #3, Swift Hunter into melee, kill model #4 with the 2nd melee initial attack, Quick Work triggers again shoot #5 kill, Swift Hunter another 2" Snap Fire model #6 and kill.  Mouth full.  Now, the reason its the "dream" is because Reeve Hunters are MAT 6 (MAT 8 on the charge) RAT 7, which is respectable, but a far cry from guaranteed hits and the melee weapons are POW 11 and 9, and the crossbow is POW 10, so again, chances of not breaking ARM can happen too.  Fortunately for me Kossites are DEF 12 ARM 10 ... so I did that entire sequence.  It was sexy.

Anyway, on pertinent matters, I'm looking at the table and I see that I can probably get to the Old Witch with Lord of the Feast, and probably blast her with the Woldwyrd.  The Pureblood puts Wraithbane on the already Storm Rager'd Lord and sprays some models.  Grayle goes, moves into a position, feats because I'm going to need more movement for the Wyrd and Lord maybe too (don't remember).  Winter Argus kills something to get which ever one needed to move to the right spot.  Problem here is that I had ALSO intended to get Wraithbane on the Wyrd, but I forgot to and then he got too far away. So it took some shots, but they didn't do anything.  Then I go ahead and move Lord up, he shoots I think a Greylord, gets behind it, putting him in melee with 2 Greylords and Old Witch.  He easily dispatches the Greylords, and needing only 5s to hit the old lady I put a pretty solid amount of damage on.  Buy another attack, some damage goes on, buy another attack, dead.

So, not sure how I feel about this list, but I at least do like Lord of the Feast and a Pureblood with the list.  I think I could do some manipulation with him and Sprint too.

Baldur2 vs Thyra

Finally getting some more 50 point games in, and that's been great.  I brought my fairly typical Baldur1 theme force build

Baldur the Stonecleaver
- Megalith
- Wold Guardian
- Woldwarden
Shifting Stones
- Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Druids of Orboros
- Druids of Orboros Overseer
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
Druid Stoneward & Woldstalkers
Blackclad Wayfarer
Sentry Stone & Mannikins

Here's the list that I think he brought

Thyra, Flame of Sorrow
- Revenger
- Crusader
Avatar of Menoth
Choir of Menoth (min)
Daughters of the Flame
Daughters of the Flame
Exemplar Errants (max)
- Exemplar Errants Officer and Standard
Wracks
Vassal Mechanik
Covenant of Menoth
Knight Exemplar Errant Seneschal
Saxon Orrik
Nicia, Tear of Vengeance

We rolled up a scenario, got Overrun again.  Big  control area in the middle of the table, virtually no chance that Baldur can lose that on scenario so that's good.  I won the roll, elected to go first.  I again forgot to take some pictures so sadly that'll be of no help.  The table was set up in basically a symmetrical setup, my right flank had a hill near me, and a trench near my opponent.  My left flank had a decent sized forest near me, and a medium-long wall on about a 45º near him.

Deployment

This gets a little ridiculous with Baldur1.  I deployed Baldur in the middle of the table, the Blackclad was deployed next to him, and to either side, not quite off to the flank, I deployed the Woldstalkers.  That's it for this list, the rest of it has advanced deployment.

He didn't do anything unexpected as deployment.  Daughters on either side, support pieces in the middle around Thyra.  Warjacks basically in the middle too.  Errants have AD, as do the Wracks.

I deploy the Druids in the middle of the table.  Megalith directly behind them, the Guardian to the left of them and the Warden to the right.  Sentry Stone up field about 20" since they can do that.  After his advance deploy I do an advance move with my woldstalkers basically straight ahead.

He put his Errants behind the wall that was near him more or less.  He put the Wracks in a massive triangle with one behind him and one on each side.

Round 1

Everything moves up more or less.  Druids drop clouds, counter magic and elemental immunity.  One Mannikin drops a forest for funzies.  Another Mannikin sprays over a wall at an Errant that is next to the wrack, I think it might have hit but dealt no damage.  My opponent said that the Wracks are missed with ranged attacks if they have a focus on them, but I did a little research out of curiosity here and discovered its only if they're DIRECTLY targeted, so that's a good bit of information for the future.  Baldur casts Solid Ground, puts a forest where he wants to go, and one underneath of him.  Teleports up.

He decided that he needed to do some harassment of my stuff, so he runs one of the units of Daughters B2B with my Druids, Warden, and some mannikins.  Errants move up, do some shooting at my woldstalkers and mannikins, kill a few.  Thyra puts Occultation on them, moves up towards the wall.  'Jacks move forward, so does the Seneschal and I think the Choir sings no spells and the book says no knockdown I believe.  Nicia runs towards the hill on my side.

Round 2

The druids do their best to try and take out the Daughters, they manage to kill a couple.  My Warden goes ahead and tramples over 3 of them, boosting to hit on them ... but I managed to roll a 6 on 3 dice with one of them.  My wold stalkers shoot into the errants, kill a couple.  The black clad and 2 shrimp try to kill the seneschal, and manage to put 4 damage on him.  Megalith can't move far, neither can the Guardian.  Stone Skin goes on the Warden.  Try to take some shots at Nicia, and some other stuff, doesn't do much. Baldur feats giving cover and rough terrain w/out pathfinder for enemies

Without much space to move, he advances only a little.  Errants do some more shooting.  Daughters try to put some damage out there.  Most of his stuff, caster included, gets near the wall.  Nicia kills a few things.  He moves up the arcnode to try to target one of my guys, but forgets about the Druids having counter magic up.  Think I had 4 druids left, maybe 5, dunno.

Round 3

I try first to do a little bit of shooting, that takes out a little here and there.  Daughters get dealt with by the Druids after Megalith puts his animus down.  Woldwarden charges the arcnode, puts up Stone Skin, and then I roll a 4 on 3 dice when I needed a 6 was all.  I hit with the 2nd attack, puts a decent amount of damage on him and then he's bumped out of melee which I hadn't expected.  Baldur drops some forests.  Druids have counter magic up.  Woldshrimp try to do some damage to Nicia with no luck.  Stone Skin cycles to the Woldguardian, who I teleport up into base with some of the errants, kill them and sit there to be a pain in the ass.

On his turn he throws a lot of stuff at the Woldguardian, leaving it at 1 health after a lot of stuff hit it and it had some good rolls.  Avatar took out the Warden without too much difficulty.  Thyra moved away from the wall to do a couple things.  Nicia killed some more stuff.  The other unit of daughters got back in my face to be a pain in the ass.

Round 4

I was looking at this like I might be able to just surprise kill his caster because of where he put her.  Additionally, my girlfriend notified me that she was quite hungry and I should speed things up, so seemed like it was worth it.  I gave the Druids a charge order, mostly so that I could run the Druid Overseer up so that Megalith would be in his command area for Beast Master.  Megalith was inside one triangle of shifting stones and the other triangle was far closer.  The first triangle teleported him into the other triangle so that only about a sliver of Megalith's base is inside the 2nd triangle.   The second triangle then moved Megalith a little over 9" which put him in base with Thyra.  Forced for his animus to get her defense down to 15.  Boosts to hit, which he does, giving her another -3 DEF to make her DEF 12 and putting 11 damage on her.  Makes another attack, hits, deals enough damage and that's it.

Analysis

Double teleporting a heavy remains to be such an AMAZING thing to do.  I don't frequently make it to round 4 with 2 full units of shifting stones, and its pretty easy to see why.  I'm glad that I've made myself play more with the double units of shifting stones, because it has definitely helped improve my play with them.  I also think that I need to learn to space out my Druids a bit more, they're CMD 9 with the Overseer, that should help.