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AoS Blood and Glory Overview Part 2

Discussion in 'Battle Reports' started by darren watson, Nov 9, 2017.

  1. darren watson
    Kroxigor

    darren watson Well-Known Member

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    Good grief, I am buzzing for the day and my mind hasn't switched off all night. Very little sleep, despite retiring around 10:30, my mind won't settle and has played out the first few turns of each of my possible match ups if I can make it past Les (current UK no1 SCE player) and his Stormcast Eternals. Plus, playing this game over and over.. Knackered but grateful to be up there after day 1.

    Game 4 Stormcast Duality of Death

    I arrive to find out we're on WarhammerTV again (such pressure!). You can check out the game here if you have a subscription https://go.twitch.tv/warhammer

    I am also playing Les, a regular tournament player, number 5 in the UK according to the Bad Dice Podcast rankings. Best go buy some Redbull

    Les ran:

    Stardrake-Mirror Shield and Staunch Defender
    Heralder
    Relictor
    Venator
    Castellant
    2 x 5 Judicators
    5 Liberators
    2 x 2 Fulminators
    3 Prosecutors-Javelins

    I am running:

    Allegiance: Seraphon
    Lord Kroak (450)
    - General
    Saurus Astrolith Bearer (160)
    - Artefact: Incandescent Rectrices
    Skink Starpriest (80)
    - Artefact: Light of Dracothion
    Celestant-Prime (340)
    - Allies
    10 x Skinks (60)
    - Boltspitters & Star Bucklers
    10 x Skinks (60)
    - Boltspitters & Star Bucklers
    10 x Skinks (60)
    - Boltspitters & Star Bucklers
    6 x Ripperdactyl Riders (280)
    Shadowstrike Starhost (170)
    Balewind Vortex (100)

    Reinforcement Points (240)

    Total: 2000 / 2000
    Allies: 340 / 400


    Les deploys with his Stardrake centrally, slightly to his left with the 2 units of Fulminators on his left flank. In the centre within terrain go the Libs, Castellant, Heralder and Relictor with the Venator deployed in the middle of his right flank as far forward as poss. Both units Judicators and Prosecutors are deployed off table.

    I deploy my Astrolith in my bottom right hand corner, 3 units of Skinks on my right flank as far forward as poss with the 2 units of Shadowstrike Skinks in front of the objective ready to make a pre-game move for it. The Starpriest also joins this party of sneaky Skinks with Kroak deployed in my right flank as well. I was hoping a heavy deployment on the right would leave my left one reasonably clear of Stormcast.

    After deployment a plan forms.. I'm particular happy to see both units of Fulminators on Les's left flank. I can now teleport Kroak over to the other side and he'll be safer early game. I hope to deny my left hand objective, forcing the Drake to make a move for the right one. Make it look as difficult to get to early by surrounding the my left objective with as much chaff as poss, so hopefully he'll commit his Fulminators as well. If they get anywhere near Kroak, combined with his shooting off board and the various other ways he can deal out mortal woundage with his characters, Kroak will kroak it.

    I opt to go first as an unbuffed Kroak is really vulnerable to those of the board Judicators.. My first turn is the worst turn Kroak has in the entire tournament..

    I plant my standard, Kroak rolls a 2 rerolls and I roll to get -1 to hit on Kroak from the Starpriest. At least I try to as the little bugger rolls a double 1! Crap balls.. The decision to use my reroll to reroll a 1 and get the spell off is probably the most important decision of the game. Those 10 Judicators can take out Kroak on their own, I need a fully buffed up Kroak if I want to do all I can to keep him alive and distract the Judicators from taking out the much easier to kill Astrolith. I teleport Kroak to my left hand objective a little forwards so he's within 3" of arcane terrain and 18" away from the Drake so there's no -1 to his spells. Vortex goes off without a hitch and I'm in a great position to hit all of Le's characters with Kroak's AOE spell.. Except I would have been had I not rolled another double 1 followed by a 1 with the remaining reroll. Double crap balls.. Now I'm very worried, with my remaining 3 spells I have to get mystic shield off on Kroak, raise the Rippers and Kill the Herald. Otherwise Kroak is likely dead and the Rippers in the sky's damage output is greatly reduced.. After I die a little inside and curse my luck for rolling 5 1's on the top table on TV I manage to get Comet off and cause 2 wounds on the Herald, get mystic shield off and summon the 3 Rippers around my objective to make it look more threatening and difficult to get to than it actually is, essentially bait for those Fulminators. With the their toad deployed next to the Liberators.

    Movement sees the Starpriest move onto the objective for a quick score and the Shadowstrike Skinks move to surround the Starpriest and the Rippers, though not enough to prevent the Fulminators getting some attacks on the Rippers. If I had rolled a little higher for their run move the Rippers would have been safe, can't have it all though, I'll settle for them not being able to shoot the Starpriest with their thunderbreath. I have a problem, the Herald is still alive and will be tooting at Kroak soon. Luckily I the Prime to bring down, he can guarantee 3 mortal wounds anywhere within 25" which is exactly why he is in the list. If I'd of had a decent Kroaknado I wouldn't of had to bring him down so early as he is great in this scenario, but the threat to Kroak was too great. He's deployed in the top left corner so he can hit the characters behind the Drake and Drake with a mini Primenado and get my left objective later in the game. Shooting sees the Herald's death and a few wounds amongst the Drake, Relictor and Castellant.
    BUGGER.. at this point I realise I have forgotten to bring down my Rippers. They were going to come down and kill the Venator and threaten the Liberators later.. I can see the conflict in Les's eyes as he starts off by offering to let me place them and then explains why he shouldn't (top table, not the done thing etc etc.) and then settles on letting me place them again. I opt not to place them, game has progressed too far and you can't make mistakes like that on the top tables, it's reminiscent of my game against Jack Armstrong at the Facehammer GT where I bugger up my deployment. I didn't expect mercy then and I shouldn't now. Les had been nothing but a perfect gent up to this point and his offer to let me deploy despite being on the top table at a top event, speaks volumes about him as a player.
    All in all it could have been worse and at least we are 1 up.

    Les starts his turn by charioting his Relictor within 12" of Kroak and then fails to cast his d3 mortal wound prayer (phew good start). Drake uses his command ability and the Castellant ups the Drakes save I think. Movement sees all of Les's reinforcements turn up with the Prosecutors coming down to shoot the Starpriest and the Judicators deployed in 2 huddles, one in front of the Liberators and another in the middle about 12 " from my table edge, ready to shoot Kroak. Fulminators head straight for the objective in front of them (happy days) with the Drake making a b-line for the objective also. Venator jumps up right in front of Kroak into scenery ready to line up that super shot of his.. eek. I hope -1 to hit and a 2 up save is enough to tank whats coming soon..
    Shooting sees the death of my Starpriest to the Prosecutors, some Skinks die to the Fulminators breath and Kroak doesn't take a single wound! the Drakes breath misses him but hits the Astrolith for 3 I think, the -1 to hit on him saves him from the Venators special arrow and he makes 11! yes 11 3 up saves form the Judicators. Marvellous. Now if we can just win priority we should be able to make him safe for the rest of the game.
    Combat sees the 2 Fulimators charge the Skinks and the Rippers die in 1 go to the Fulmiators glaives and a few Skinks die to the Dracoths before they retreat away from the second unit of Fulminators. 1-0

    We lose the priority roll.. Kroak has to face another battering and long story short he does. In total from all of Les's shooting, mortal wounds from the Relictor and Drake, he takes a total of 4. Not enough to even take a test and I relax a great deal. Drake has moved onto the objective and all my chaff surrounding it is pretty much dead after Prosecutor, Fulminator shooting and Fulminator/Drake charges. 1-1

    I like to imagine Kroak knew he was going to need his concentration to deflect all the shooting that was coming his way which was why he didn't put any effort into his first hero phase. No such distractions now and he goes nuts killing all the remaining foot characters and taking 6 odd wounds off the Drake with a few spread out on all the remaining infantry. Only the Fulminators are too far away to be hit. At the end of the hero phase I try and take Kroak off his vortex (how we've played in my little gaming group the Bruces forever..) turns out that isn't possible, he has to elect to come of it at the beginning of any hero phase. Great, I've been caught cheating on live TV. Lessons learnt and I should really read the rules myself rather than accepting the general consensus amongst mates.
    Prime moves up to take more wounds off the Drake and Prosecutors from his shooting and the Rippers deploy and charge the Liberators and Judicators taking them all off in one. With only 4 Judictors left to threaten Kroak he should be able to take out the Drake before he can score too much. 1-1

    It's our time for the double now and Kroak dismounts his vortex legally, I reckon he's done enough and if we can Kill the Drake in 2 turns we can't lose. Kroak takes some more wounds off the Drake and summons some Razordons to shoot the remaining Prosecutor. WarhammerTV Dan points out later I could have summoned back my Starpriest for an arcane bolt on the Drake. this would have been better but in the heat of a game (especially on TV and with the interruptions that come with it) it's easy to make a mistake like this. Plus I love Razordons.
    With the Prime and Kroak reducing the Drake to 2 wounds left and the Rippers charging the remaining Judicators near my deployment and scraping them off our turn ends 2-1 and the game is basically secured. Drake dies next turn to Kroak.

    This game really highlights the weakness of the List, Kroak has to have a decent showing early. Luckily I had the Prime to fall back on and recovered despite rolling 5 1's for my important spells in the first turn. It really is an all or nothing list, but that's what I like about it the most. So glad I made sure Kroak had -1 to hit on him and mystic shield to tank all those hits from the Stormcast and killed that Herald asap.
    Only thing I would have done differently though is raise the Starpriest over the Razordons, as I could have won the game a turn earlier.

    Next game I am playing Tzeentch and I completely forget the game plan I have when taking them on, fatigue, my old friend, is kicking in. I'll write up the last 2 games soon. Cheers for reading, hope it's been useful
     
    Solaris, Seraphage, Arawn and 3 others like this.
  2. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    It sure is useful! Thanks!
     
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  3. JimbobbyG
    Skink

    JimbobbyG New Member

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    Great stuff Darren, most enjoyable read
     
  4. Xasto
    Terradon

    Xasto Well-Known Member

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    Good stuff! Thanks for writing these!
     
  5. BlacKnight
    Skink

    BlacKnight New Member

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    Fantastic! Looking foward to reading more!
     
  6. Crowsfoot
    Slann

    Crowsfoot Guardian of Paints Staff Member

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  7. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    I wouldn't call it cheating, it was just a mistake. Happens to everyone. :)
     
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  8. darren watson
    Kroxigor

    darren watson Well-Known Member

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    I know right! What a time to realise..
     
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  9. Arawn
    Saurus

    Arawn Member

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    Thanks for the detailed report!! A pleasure to read it!
     
  10. Seraphage
    Stegadon

    Seraphage Well-Known Member

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    Man.. I am OVERenjoying your battlereports EVERY SINGLE time !
    Although I did have the time to watch most of this game live, I just loved reading your narrative and also laughed a lot.

    Your battlereports are presents for me all day, any day :D
     
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  11. Solaris
    Skink

    Solaris Member

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    At least this way, you will never ever make the same mistake again! :D
     
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