AoS Killer Angel's BatReps

Man you had some really bad luck there.
As the others said, we need a bit of luck against the newer armies, but you lacked it unfortunately.

 

Thanks, glad you appreciate it.

Not only that but yes. It's a reliable charger. With an astrolith nearby, he will likely wound a target, gaining +3 to charge. Add some further bonus (constellations, and so on), and you will hit at full health in the turn the Troglodon appears

Then, there's another big advantage: it costs 18 CCPs, instead of 24. Even a non-dedicated summoning list, can be sure to conjure the beast turn 2.

 

Sounds like you had the Grot players dice for this game

 

Seraphon Vs Khorne (1750 pts)​

Being this a part of a campaign, we already know the Battleplan

Battleplan

STARSTRIKE

You know it, at the beginning of the second turn an objective drops casually on the middle line, on the third turn 2 obj drop one in each part of the battlefield. Obj give a number of points which is equal to the number of the current turn, so their importance increases in the later turns.

We'll play in the Ream of AQSHY.
Special rule: terrains give total cover to shooting.



Army Lists

SERAPHON (mortal real: Ghur)
- Slann (general, Great Rememberer, Gryph-feather Charm)
Thunderquake Starhost
- EotG (incandescent rectrices)
- 2 x BASTILADONS (solar engine)
- 4 SALAMANDERS
- 3 HANDLERS
other
- ASTROLITH Bearer
- 10 SKINKS (shield, javelin)
- 10 SKINKS (shield, javelin)
- 5 SAURUS Knights
Endless spell: quicksilver swords 20



The reasoning behind the list.
With the battalion i hope to choose who will go first, and i would give it to my opponent, which i suppose it will be based on cc.
I expect big daemons that will move exploiting the cover granted by the rules of the scenario… but against daemons thunderquake is too strong to ignore it.

Knights and skinks are there mostly to shield my main force, so i really plan to build a layered castle, and I plan to move my castle toward the centre, shooting what i can.
When the first obj will drop, i will move toward it, and I'm confident i can seize it by turn 3, when the other objectives will fall.
I've got a double 1/3 chance that at least one obj will drop near the one where I'm already concentrating my force.... otherwise i will use summoning and teleport.

I plan to cast first turn the swords (excellent against chaos) and possibly also fireball (the lore spell of the realm, that deals d6 MWs to a unit with 10+ models)



KHORNE (mortal realm: Shysh)
- Bloodstoker (general, violent urgency, the Brazen Rune)
- Bloodsecrator
- Slaughterpriest (prayer: killing frenzy)
- Slaughterpriest (prayer: killing frenzy)
- 5 Bloodwarriors
- 6 x 10 Bloodreavers (!)
- 10 skullreapers
- 3 Khorgoraths
Battalion: Gore Pilgrims


Weird list.
My opponent declared that he was certain i was going to field bastiladons and possibly also other specific things against daemons (starpriest…), so he negated me the additional wounds granted by our special rules.
on paper it could create me some problems.
the units are simply too much to be wiped away, plus the bloodsecrators with double priest will avoid battleshock tests to khorne units within 30".
To remove a 10 men unit, i need to totally erase it, possibly wasting some shooting for overkill.
Plus, the priests have a double prayer, one buffs the infantry and one deals d6 MWs.
With the bloodsecrator, the 2 heavy hitter units (skullreapers and khorgorats) can jump at my throat, while the rest of Khorne's army occupies the entire battlefield… (the only positive thing is the fact that obj points will matter more in the later turns; this gives me a little more room to act).
The other additional problem is that with so many units that i need to kill, I'm going to give a friggin' lot of blood points to Khorne… which means that the summoning could be a significant threat.





Set-Up


As planned, I place my entire block in central position.
The whole army of my opponent spreads all across it's deploy zone, ready to move forward.
Curiously, both the skullreapers and khorgorats are kept behind the weak units, probably fearing my shooting if i take the first turn (i've got less drops so i will decide).




Without the worrysome things in the frontline, I'm happy to give the first turn to Khorne.

The constellation gives me +1 to cast

Let's go!

 

FIRST ROUND


KHORNE's turn

My opponent activates all the possible buffs, then runs with basically everything, expanding on my sides, but keeps the priests and the hitters slightly outside the range of my "magical shooting" in the hero phase



SERAPHON's turn

I teleport the Slann and the Eotg, both are good, so i place them to cast.
EotG shoots 4 MW to one of the priests.
Slann casts fireball on the front unit of reavers and proceeds with the swords, i move them and inflict 5 MW to the skullreapers, killing 1. Forego 1 spell.
I move the rest of my units, recreating the castle, and roll a 3 for the conjuration points granted by the astrolith.
7 Conj pts.
sallies are too far to shoot, but bastiladons are fine. One finishes the wounded unit of reavers, and the second one proceeds to erode a unit on my right.

Not bad, not bad at all.





SECOND ROUND



the first objective lands on my left.

Khorne wins the roll and goes first.
Being the second, i can immediately use the endless predatory spell. The wounded priest is killed by the swords!

KHORNE's turn

the various units of reavers move with a surrounding manoveur and take the obj.
the korgorath are kept on my right, maybe to have a strong unit to control that side?
a buffed unit of reavers charges the front line of my screen, killing only 3 knights (i save 6 on 12 potential damages), i kill 2 reavers in exchange, then i pile in with my skinks, killing another reaver.
A stupid move by me, I should have used wary fighter, but i was planning to teleport them the next turn.






SERAPHON's turn

EotG shoots at the skullreapers… only 1 wound, but enough to kill the second dude.
LoSaT on the skink unit on my left, that is blocking my move. I roll 1. LoSaT again, i roll 2.
Ouch, that hurts, now those skinks are blocking me…
But I've got an ace upon my sleeve. I use the command ability of the Slann, and give fly to nearby units.
Then i cast Fireball on the reavers on the left, killing 3.

Move
A basti and a couple of sallies bypass the stunned skinks.
the shooting by 2 basti and 2 sallies kills 3 units of reavers (2 of them were already weakened).
I collect 6+1+2 conj point, for a total of 16.
With 12, i summon 3 terradons.

Then a basti charges the reavers in melee with my knights and, given that it flies, I am able to hit those annoying reavers, wiping them away.
4 units wiped away!!!




POINTS: 2-0 for Khorne




THIRD ROUND



the obj in my opponent's terrtory lands on my far right, but the obj in my territory lands on my left, basically where I already am.

I win the roll, double turn for me!

SERAPHON's turn

The EotG fails to roll anything (1-1-2-2 !)
command point to run 6" with skinks, i move and take both the objectives.
Forego the spells and go to 15 conj pts

The concentrated shooting on the skullreapers; they are 18 wounds combined, but cannot resist to that concentration of full buffed fire.

i take 6 Pts.





KHORNE's turn

the Khorgorath, pushed by the Bloodstoker, runs toward the real battle, leaving only 10 reavers near the far objective.
with the blood points, the priest summons 20 bloodletters and they manage to charge the terradons.
One terradon is killed, the daemons take the obj, thus gaining 3+3 pts.

8-6 for Khorne, but things are not in its favor...





FOURTH ROUND


Maybe with a double turn, Khorne could be able to turn the tide, but i win

SERAPHON's turn

i start with double LoSaT:
3 for the sallies, and 6 for the handlers: i send both in the zone of the far rigth obj… the sallies can shoot tnx to the handlers, and the handlers can move, going within 6" of the obj. (The sallies will burn the reavers, so the obj is mine).



then i collect more conj pts, and i summon 3 other sallies with handlers;
between the shooting of the bastiladons, the Engine and the sallies, i kill the bloodletters, the slaughterpriest and one of the khorgorath.



I collect 12 pts, I'm in full control of the battlefield and I've lost 3 knights and 1 terradon.

My opponent concedes.



MAJOR VICTORY FOR SERAPHON!

 

OK, this was a solid victory but not a hard one.

My opponent did 2 things wrong:

the list was not suited for this scenario. to swarm the battlefield with disposable units is a valid tactic with another battleplan, one in which you accumulate VPs since the beginning to acquire a solid advantage, but in this case the real points come in the end

even so, he played too cautiously with the units that could have posed me problems.

At the end of the game, he told me these exact words:
"I was so worried by all the things you could do, that i forgot to play my army".

LET THAT SINK INTO YOU.

never forget that if you play Seraphon at their full potential (a thing that BTW it's mandatory, given that other armies are stronger), we are one of the armies with the greatest number of tactics and tricks.
If you do it, in your meta people will tend to fear you because of that, and they will be forced in errors (thus mitigating the consequences when YOU commit mistakes).



Other than that... well, you have seen that you must always keep in mind that in our arsenal, there is (almost) always something that let you bypass the problems. I'm prideful of the use of the command ability of the slann to let fly with (otherwise) blocked units… it's an ability that is used so few times, that one simply tend to forget that we have it. Small things can do a difference.

 

I was very fond of bastiladons, but lately not so much. Their save 3+ with no rend is exceptional, but: they're slow, 8 wounds is not so much if you start to fail some saves and their shooting is unreliable.
Still a strong unit, but 280 pts are not a joke.

On their own could be not the best choice, but with thunderstrike and an astrolith bearer, their full potential is truly impressive.

That's absolutely true. People see 2 battalions and the GHB abilities and their reaction is "Seraphon don't need update". But it's our units that need a new battletome.

 

It's a thing you can do ONLY with EotG (given that the engines activates during the hero phase, so it conjures unit in that phase), and ONLY in the first turn.

there is no limitation on "when" you set the bloat toad during your first hero phase.
So your Engine can conjure the rippers and "later", while you're still in the first hero phase, you set their bloat toad.

That's why the rippers are probably the best summonable unit by the engine in the first turn, while they decrease in utility from the second turn

 

Seraphon Vs Destruction (2000 pts)​

the second to last battle in this campaign

Battleplan
TOTAL CONQUEST



We'll play in the Ream of GHUR.
Special rule: none (but 2 aleguzzler gargants will be the random monsters that will attack us).



Army Lists

SERAPHON (mortal real: Ghur)
- Slann (general, Vast Intellect, incandescent rectrices)
Thunderquake Starhost
- EotG (Gryph-feather Charm)
- 1 x BASTILADONS (solar engine)
- 1 x STEGADON (bow)
- 3 SALAMANDERS
- 3 HANDLERS
other
- 10 SKINKS (Shield, Boltsplitters)
- 10 SKINKS (shield, javelin)
- 10 SKINKS (shield, javelin)
- SKINK STARPRIEST
- DREAD SAURIAN
Endless spell: Cogs 60



The reasoning behind the list.
With the battalion i hope to choose who will go first, and i would take the first round…. a thing that i normally don't like, but i cannot let my opponent use the free aleguzzler against me, plus i also expect at least a thundertusk, so i would like to weaken it to soften those 6 MWs


The cogs are ther to make sure I'll roll the charge with my fully buffed Dread Sauraian, and for that reason I'm also picking the Slann with vast intellect… i lose the double teleport, but I'll gain that sweet Curse of Fate.



DESTRUCTION (mortal realm: Shysh)
- Frostlord on stonehorn (general, wild fury, ethereal amulet)
- Butcher with cauldron
- Huskard on Thundertusk
- Thundertusk Beastrider
- Troggoth Hag
- 3 Ogors
- 3 Ogors
- 3 Ogors


Cool.
The Ogors will presumibly go for objective and the rest of the list will beat me as a hammer.
The frostlord on stonehorn is a beast, and obviously it got a save 3+ that doesn't suffer rend.
then we have 2 thundertusks, with a potential of 12 MW each round, and the Hag, a nasty monster directly from forgeworld.
If i concentrate on the thundertusks, the frostlord will shred me to pieces… unless i feed him with skinks.




Set-Up


As you will see, i named the obj in the picture, so it will be clearer.

3 ogors "near" the obj 4, then (from left to right), we have:
Huskard on thundertusk (Th1)
Stonehorn (SH), with the Hag behind
Thundertusk (Th2), with the butcher behind
the other 2 units of ogors threaten the obj n. 3, near my deployment zone.

I place the unit of boltsplitters skinks on my left, near the obj 1
The Dread Saurian is ready to attack the thundertusk 2, with a unit os skinks and the priest near it, and the obj 2
the rest of my army is placed to take the obj 3 immediately and slay those ogors

then there are the two giants, one near the Th1 and one near my Dread.





With 1 drop less, i decide to go first.

The constellation gives me reroll to 1 to hit

Let's go!

 

FIRST ROUND




SERAPHON's turn

I must exploit this one, to resist the Destruction's double turn…. when it will come.

HERO PHASE
Priest casts cogs and uses the staff on the Dread Saurian
Teleport the Stegadon (4) and move it by 1" with the Alpha, to deal with the giant
Engine: it's a 17, so i summon 3 rippers and place the toad near the 6 ogors
Slann: casts Curse of fate on DS, success. Casts Starlight on DS, success; fails to cast the spell of the realm for a +2 to charge… i was uncertain about the cogs, but i set them to gain +2 to charges, with so many i need it.

I pick just 1 Conjuring point

MOVE:
Boltsplitter skinks move to take obj 1 and shoot the giant
sallies move to shoot the ogors
Dread moves to charge the weaker (!) thundertusk (it's at 8" from me)
"my" giant move to charge the huskard on thundertusk

the plan is to wipe the giant with shooting and steggy, wipe the ogors with shooting and rippers, kill the thundertusk with the Dread and weaken the other thundertusk with the giant

SHOOTING
I deal 6 wound to the giant
Sallies and Basti are able to kill just one Ogor.





CHARGES!!!!!

I made all the charges: the giant was at 3", the rippers need a 7 but roll 10, the Dread needs a 5 (i can count also on CoF) and i roll 5, the Stegadon needs a 6", and i use a command point to reroll the failed first one


COMBAT

long story short: the rippers obliterate the Ogors
the giant wounds the thundertusk and it's taken to 2 wounds… it survives, which is what i need to force the thundertusk to shoot him next turn
the stegadon rolls HORRIBLY and the giant stays alive with 2 wounds, and it's able to inflict 6 wound on the steggy!
the Dread Saurian, buffed as much as Seraphon could, rolls EVEN MORE HORRIBLY and the thundertusk survives with 5 wound.




I collect 3 points



DESTRUCTION's turn

Let's keep it simple.
The Huskard kills the giant it was in melee with.
The giant upon the stegadon dies
The Hag and the Stonehorn move, the general charges my Dread Saurian. Between the Hag's shooting and the Frostlord, the Dread is killed.
I knew i was almost sacrificing it, but that thundertusk shouldn't be alive...




POINTS: 3-1 for Seraphon


SECOND ROUND

I win the roll

SERAPHON'S TURN

I know what i must do.
The starpriest casts starlight on the Frostlord
i teleport back the Stegadon to heal it
the Engine rolls exactly 5 MW and kills the Thundertusk. 5 juicy MWs that should have targeted the Frostlord. Oh well.
i forego all the 4 spells, to go to 14 conj points. I plan to spend 6 to summon screening skinks, so in the third turn, even if i cast CoF, i'll have 18 CPs to summon a troglodon or 3 razordons. Perfect.

i move what i need placing my rippers to charge the Hag, that i weaken a little with the shooting of the basti and the stegadon.

After the shooting, i realize i COMPLETELY FORGOT TO SUMMON THE SCREENING SKINKS.

...and in cc I'm not even able to kill the Hag, that luckily for me just wounds a ripper.




I collect 3 Victory points. (Obj 1, 2 and 3)


DESTRUCTION's Turn

This will be painfully short
The Hag heals itself for 6 wounds and kills the rippers
the Huskard moves and deals 2 MWs to the skinks
The Butcher buffs the Frostlord, which moves, runs and charges the Slann and the EotG, deals 6 MWs to the Slann tnx to the charge, then proceeds in the merciless butchering of both of them in a single turn!



Destruction collects only 1 point, but this is a disaster, I think i threw away the match.


VPs: 6-2 for Seraphon

 

THIRD ROUND

I win the roll.


SERAPHON's turn

Despite the staggering blow, I don't want to give up...
But I am still shocked, so I'm not able to think rationally.

The best course of action would be: defensive buffs by the Starpriest on the bastiladon, use the bastiladon to charge and lock in combat the Frostlord, concentrate all the fire (steggy, basti and sallies) and melee by the stegadon on a softer target (the Hag, which was still wounded) and kill it.

Instead, i threw averything i had against the Frostlord, including arcane bolt and another damage spell of the realm. Obviously, i was not able to kill it, but i took it down to 5 wounds, leaving untouched the rest of my opponent's forces.


The good part is that i take 3 VPs, going to 9


DESTRUCTION's turn.

The thundertusk moves and kills one sally with shooting.
The Hag moves and shoots the skinks, which are also charged by the Butcher (and butchered).
The wounded frostlord inflicts a couple of wounds to Basti and reduces to 2 wounds my steggy.

Destruction conquers Obj n. 3, that previously was mine, so takes 2 points for that one, plus 1 for obj 4 for a total of 3 in this turn




VPs: 9-5 for Seraphon



FOURTH ROUND

Sooner or later it had to happen. Double turn for Destruction.


DESTRUCTION's turn

The hag kills the survived sallies.
The thundertusks inflicts a couple of mortal wounds to my basti.
The Butcher charges the Basti and it's elected to attack first… my basti survives, and with 3 wonderful attacks kills the Butcher! AH!

Sadly, the Frostlord remembers how much strong it is and both my dinos are killed. Only the handlers remain.

2 pts for Destruction… still 9-7 for me




SERAPHONS's turn.

I try to teleport the skinks that are actually on obj 2.
I roll a 6, so they can also move…. perfect, i move them to take the obj n. 4, the one guarded by the 3 Ogors.
The survived handlers go again near obj n. 3, and take it under the nose of the hag.





I took 2 objectives previously in enemy's hand, so it's 5 points for me!
VPs 14-7 for Seraphon!



FIFTH ROUND

Destruction, realizing the game was lost, rolls a 1, giving me the double turn


Sadly, i fail to teleport away the skink starpriest, but i run away from obj 4 with the skinks and still collect 3 other points from obj 1, 2 and 3, going to 17

in its last turn, my opponent slays the handlers and the priest, taking 5 obj pts. I remains with 2 only units of skinks, but I've got 17 VPs, against the 12 of my opponent.



MAJOR VICTORY FOR SERAPHON!!!









__________________________________________________




A BRIEF COMMENTARY

What could i say?
this was an horrible game.
I prepared an exceptional first turn, which was (partially) doomed by some awful rolls.
Stupidly mourning myself for my bad luck and my poor Dread Saurian, i forgot to execute the (otherwise) solid defensive plan i've had in mind, that would have given me the edge for the rest of the game, saving my Slann and my EotG, then summoning 18 pts of something.

I would have won MUCH more easily, i was so angry with myself i was almost going to concede.
Luckily, that moment passed, and in the end I was lucky that my opponent played the "obj game" too late, while i was going for those points since the beginning.
In the final turns, when i remembered how we should play, i was able to keep the edge despite the lack of units on the battlefield, simply because my opponent was too far and with so few units.


So… this is certainly a victory that truly teaches many things.