AoS Killer Angel's BatReps

THIRD ROUND

We roll and i win, so double turn.
Time to kill the game

SERAPHON turn

We collect the Command Points: i have 3+0 .
OB start with 8 command point.

Battle Tactic: I pick aggressive expansion, planning to take the objective on my right, in the OB's battlefield.

HERO PHASE

i pick the hunter's steed for +1 run
Spells:
Mystic shield on the Kroxi
stellar tempest does 2 damage to deathriders, I fail the rest of casting from the slann and the starpriest

the priest uses CA (+1 to hit) on the Bastiladon AND priest ability; the starpriests
(NOTE: during the battle, i failed all the priest's prayers, except this round, in which i healed the bastiladon's woujnd taking it at full health)

MOVE
Move with basti and my heroes, run with the knight, with the stegadon and, most of all, with the kroxigors, using a CP for At the Double.
With that run, my kroxigors land on the objective, thus accomplishing 3 things:
1 - i will score my battle tactic
2 - i will force the catapult to move away, as it couldn't shoot as I'm within 6" from it (or so my opponent said to me)
3 - i will force both katakros and the other hero to come back

SHOOTING + CHARGE
my sally and my bastiladon just kill a couple of riders; the handlers die and the sally is reduced to a couple of wounds.

i score 4 points!




OSSIARCH's Turn

Let's keep it simple.

as battle tactics he tries Bring it down

the 3 last deathriders kill the sally
the shooting of the catapult deals 8 damages to my stegadon (so no tactic scored)
The mighty power of katakros and the other hero manage to kill 2 kroxi and wound the third, which kills the Soulmason
The right obj is contested by katakros and the kroxi, so OB score only the one held by the deathriders



we are 12-6 for Seraphon.
My opponent concedes

FIRST 3.0 GAME, AND VICTORY FOR SERAPHON!!!​

 

Some brief considerations and analysis


that was a fun game, mostly because i finally play OB, that i didn't knew.
They are an impressive army, lots of CPs, sturdy units. i was helped by the fact that also my opponent wasn't aware of our capabilities and did a mistake in his army composition.

This game was IMO the proof that since the beginning you should have a sort of plan: in my case, it was to lure their fast hitting unit where i could control it, while i was dealing with the slower bulk of the army.

what did we learned?

1 - the new system is incredibly complex. SO many things to decide, various buffs in different phases... i suggest everyone, in your first games, to prepare a chart with some of the things to remember

2 - our heroes are fragile, so i'd say we must protect them as much as we can. cover, look out sir, keep a cp for all out defense

3 - my stegadon chief won me the game in the first turn. To obliterate the main unit of a flank frees your whole army. It was almost uneffective in the next turns... i could have used it against katakros in T2, but i would have risked too much

4 - tactics is all. At the Double is an immensely useful CA, especially with our hunter's steed. Which is a truly great constellation, but is it better than Sage's staff? i was afcing an army with no bonuses to cast, so it was a calculated "risk".

5 - the Priest is going to be on par with the Starpriest as utility. Ability, command ability and prayer. And the command ability lasts 'til you next hero phase, which is massive.

 

Something more detailed like this?:


Commander Leader
Stegadon Chief (305)

Leaders (sub-commanders):
Slann (265)
Skink priest (80)
Skink starpriest (130)

Behemoths (monsters):
Bastiladon w solar engine (235)

Battlelines (troops)
5 x Saurus Knights (110)
- Lances
5 x Saurus Knights (110)
- Lances
10 x Saurus Knights (220) - 1 reinforcement
- Lances

Other units (troops):
1 unit formed by 6 x Kroxigors (300) - 1 reinforcement
1 unit formed by 2 x Salamanders hunting pack (2 salamanders + 6 handlers) (240) - 1 reinforcement

Battalion: warlord - magnificent (extra relic)

there will be.
But i've got also 40k, and Nighthaunts.
plus, life / job / family / house.

 

Yep, battleline can be reinforced up to 3 times

 

My friend IS disappointed, indeed.
and no, he wasn't able to use all of them...

the Crawlers are weird. massive threat, as it deals massive damage and can easily shoot at 2+ rerolling 1s.
But no rend is rough.
Certain lists relied on 2-3 of them, but i would advice against it.
a single catapult can be handy, if you manage to find a sweet spot to land those shots, some soft target with save 4+ or 5+.

 

Very first battle against Kharadron Overlords.
Even for the guy who plays them it's the first time, since it's a new acquired and painted army. He's not used to them so this should certainly be an advantage. Surely, it's an army with much more move than me and the ability to deliver surgical strikes.

Seraphon Vs Kharadron Overlords
(2000 pts)​

Battleplan

POWER IN NUMBERS.
6 obj, you make VPs by destroying the ones you control, the greater the number of consecutively rounds you had them, the greater the number of VPs.
plus, the usual VPs for battle tactics.




Terrains

I am the defenders, i pick a ophidian archway for -1 to shoot, a baleful realmgate for teleport, a large forest and another large piece of terrain that i could use as LoS blocker with the use of shade mist spell


Army Lists

SERAPHON

-Coalesced +1 attack jaws, scaly skin
- Coatl's claw

LEADERS
Slann 265
- general: arcane might
- spells: (shield), comet's call, celestial apotheosis, ghost mist
Astrolith bearer 150
ScarVet on Carno w. warspear 215
- artefact: eviscerating blade
Starpriest 130
- spells: (shield), blazing starlight, hands of glory
Starseer 145
- artefact: cloak of feathers
- spells: (shield), control fate, hands of glory

TROOPS
10 x S. Knights 220
5 x S. Guards 115
10 x Skinks 75

OTHER
5 x chama skinks 115

BEHEMOTHS
Dread Saurian 545

ENDLESS SPELLS:
- burning head 20

total: 1995

Grand tactics: keep at least one behemoth alive


basically, i want to form 2 main groups:

1) Scarvet on Carno + 10 S. Knights + Starpriest
(the starpriest will use the staff on the knights and shield on the Carno, the Carno will buff the knights w saurian savagery for explodin 6s)

2) DS + Slann, Guards, Astrolith and Starseer
(magical battery to fuel the DS and 3d6 charges on the DS or the buffed knights, plus massive damage reduction tnx to coalesced and astrolith. slann and starseer will buff defense of the DS and / or attacks, subtracting 1 to saves to a enemy target)



KHARADRON OVERLORDS

skyport Barak Zilfin, reroll 1s vs flyers, once per battle thay can make a move in the hero phase
(my opponent informs me that by FAQ he can evn do a fly high move during the hero phase, so the ship can go in range for spells / disembark / move... apparently, it may be the first time he plays KO, but he did some research)

LEADERS
- Endrinmaster (general)
- Navigator
- Aether khemist

TROOPS
- Arkhanaut Frigate
- 10 Arkhanaut company
- 6 Endrinriggers

OTHER

- Arkhanaut Ironclad
- Gunhauler
- 10 thunderers

ARTEFACT / ENDLESS SPELL

- Spell in a bottle - the spell that can be automatically cast and cannot be nagated is the Skaven's "Warp Lighting Vortex". Apparently, my opponent did some research and picked one of the most powerful combos availabe to KO.

Suddenly, i feel less guilty by fielding my DS.




DEPLOYMENT.

My opponent fields:
at my left, Arkhanaut Ironclad with A. Company, Navigator and Khemist aboard + Endrinmaster and Endrinriggers attached to it
center: Gunhauler
right: Frigate with thunderers aboard

I field in a packed set-up, from left to right:
Dread Saurian on my left (will make a 2" move tnx to Alpha beast pack)
group of Slann+Starseer+astrolith bearer+S. Guards
10 knights + starpriest
ScarVet on Carno (4" free move)
10 skinks

Chama skinks in reserve

(everything but the skinks are in 12" range of Astrolith)




The priority is my opponent's

If he wants to go first, i will try to resist by absorbing his attacks with my FNP bubble

If he lets me go first to exploit a double turn later, i can try an alpha strike by teleporting the knights, followed by the running starseer /which has move 9") and Carno, to make a 9" charge with 3d6+1 rerollable with the fully buffed unit.
Or try a similar thing with my Dread Saurian.

 

FIRST ROUND

My opponent wants to alpha strike me, and my units are so packed that he cannot wait to exploit the spell in a bottle.


KO turn

We collect the Command Points: i have 6.

Battle Tactic: he picks broken ranks, planning to wipe my Guards.

HERO PHASE

the Ironclad flies high and lands in front of my center, followed by the general and the riggers
the spell covers basically my whole army
(for those who don't know, it's 3 models set at 7" from each other. you roll a d3 for each unit within 6" from one of the models. at 4+ takes d3 MW... the roll is 3+ or 2+ if within 6" from 2 or 3 models)
The spell starts chomping away some wounds, killing a guard and a knight, wounding the astrolith and the Starseer (not great rolls, and some lucky roll of 6+ from my astrolith)




MOVE PHASE

At the beginning of the move phase, the endless spell triggers again...
a couple of skinks die, the Starseer is reduced to 1 wound, the astrolith to 4, another knight falls, a wound to a guard, a wound to DS... not great rolls but hey.

the Frigate flies high and lands at my low left corner, the gunhauler moves forward in shooting range ; the Ironclad and the endinriggers + the generals moves as well, at 3" from my carno.
If this is not a full-scale assault, i don't know what it is...

At this point: SHOOTING PHASE

As shown below, the various fire wipes away the guards, the starpriest (the 1-wound starseer was forgotten!!!), a wound is chipped from the DS, the Carno (in all out defense) is reduced to 8 wounds

Scaly skin somehow saved the phase!




CHARGE + COMBAT

my carno is swarmed.
The first round of attacks plus the bomb from the ironclad takes it to 1 wound.
I counterattack using a cp to make it fight at full power, and i manage to inflict a single wound to the riggers, then i die.



2 pts for KO (battle tactic)

OK, i've lost the Starpriest, the guards, the carno, 2 of my buffers are on the verge of death, i need to use a spell to undo the vortex, my knights are reduced in strenght... but i am actually in a very strong position to deliver some real pain.
KO are a chisel army, they have been amployed as brutal hammer, and there will be a price to pay.


SERAPHON'S TURN

Battle tactic: kill the general!

Slann:
dispel the endless.
cast burning head... i end within 1" from everything: the general, the riggers, the ironclad and the 3 units embarked in it. d3 wounds to everyone.
Cast comet's call... 6 units affected! rinse and repeat.
Starseer:
curse of fate, -1 to saves to the Ironclad.

MOVE PHASE
i don't want to deal now with the frigate and those pesky thunderers, but at the same time i don't want to let my heroes in danger of being shot away, so i plan a "tactical withdraw"
the slann uses the portal and teleports into the wood, negating LoS.
the Starseer (with move 9"), runs and joins the Slann
The Astrolith runs 6" with a cp and does the same.

The chama skinks appear (hidden behind the ophidian archway) to take control of the obj on the left high)

The Dread Saurian moves to charge, the knights move to surround the ironclad in the following charge.




IN the following charge (already completed in the picture), the Dread Saurian impacts the ironclad, the general and the riggers, dealind d6 MWs on everyone and obliterates the riggers with MWs alone
Then the knights charge, surrounding the ships.
Their attacks alone kill the general and finishes the ironclad.

This is what remains when the dust settles:



Brutal stuff.
having achieved my battle tactic, we are 2-2
But at the end of the first turn, i'm in large control of the game (despite 2 knights dying due to lack of coherency)

 

SECOND ROUND

My opponent wins the roll.


KO turn

with move & fly hig, he takes the remaining ships on my right and shoots the Dread Saurian and skinks, that i have buffed with all out defense
5 wounds to DS, killed skinks.

he takes 2 pts for battle tactic (2 units in my deployment zone) and burns 2 of the obj he was in control in T1, for another 4 pts.

8-2 for KO




SERAPHON's TURN

Comet's call to soften the target, mystic shield and celestial apotheosis on the Dread Saurian, Fate on the knights.
Hunter's steed constellation.

THe DS and the knights move, it's 2 charges at 7+ and 8+, and both succeed with a reroll.



d6 MWs from DS impacts, then it's melee time and i wipe everything.

MAJOR VICTORY FOR SERAPHON with a TOTAL WIPEOUT in T2​

 

Nice report, thx!

 

I'm happy because up 'til now I've played against KO only once, and it was a 1000 pts game and i was using Nighthaunts.

KO is a strong army, with indipendent blocks of ships+ stransported crew that go wherever they want and wreck havoc to the desired target(s), usually putting themselves out of serious retaliation.
They are a scalpel, a sort of finesse army that needs to be employed in a tactical way.
Which was basically the opposite of what this game has been played, as they were used as blunt force.
My oppo knew some of the strongest combo availables (in this case, the barak zilfin port and the spell in a bottle - warp lighting), but was probably too confident and inexperienced.
And indeed, against a different army it could have worked, but when some of your main weapons deal 2 dmg and you're facing a scaly skin army with feel no pain... you're basically putting your big basket in full range of my hitting power.
And to forget that the starseer was standing with just 1 wound before your shooting phase was a rookie mistake (from my pov, it seems that to have packed units helps in some way! small guys goes unnoticed in the mass )

At least my opponent was satisfied by the fact that he saw the army has a great damage potential, it only needs to be employed in a different way.

Lessons to be learned, i suppose.

 

Nah, it's not a coalesced thing.
When you are the defender, you got to set the terrains and the attacker chooses the side.
Among the terrain i picked there was the Baleful Realmgate (that portal behind which i placed my knights).
The rules for the BR say that if a unit is wholly within 6" from it at the start of the move phase you can teleport said unit within 6" from another BR or 6" from an edge. (now that i'm reading again the rules, it says no distance limitations from other units!)
for any model that is teleported you roll a d6 and on a 1 that model is slain, however if near the gate there is a wizard or a priest, the model dies only on a double 1.

With the knights placed wholly within 6" from the gate, i would have been able to teleport them.

However, to do such a thing you must:
1 - being the defender
2 - have the baleful realmgate in your collection