GenCon - Batreps and Afterthoughts on Skorne

Prologue~

In the beginning...

I kinda thought I wouldn't do so great at GenCon. I went into it hoping to dick around with new themes, however, and brought a bunch of models that I didn't end up using. Yes - the Skorne book release was disappointing. I did, however, write my lists at 8:30 am for the first tournament, which started at 9am. This may have been a mistake, but my initial poor showing was definitely not a list issue.

Note: I will be doing battle breakdowns, but I'm going to keep them short. I played 15 or so games, and while I don't have pictures for all of them even the ones I do make this a bit of a slog. I'll go into  afterthoughts on where we stand currently afterwards.

Day 1

This day started out with me writing new lists to try out the new theme. It did not go well.

Game 1

Zaadesh2 VS Vyros1

I go first and move up aggressively. My clouds are pointless, for the most part. I am relying on the forest to help keep me safe to some extent, or at least force him to get pathfinder up before coming in.

I move up and pop feat, battle charged is up, turtle has IR.

Andddd I died. Imperatus sidestep got me. Took most of his turn to tease out the defensive strikes and counter charges to let it happen, but he got there.

Game 2

Morghoul3 Winds vs... Skarre what does the defense buff thing.

I'm not entirely sure what happened this game. I know I got jammed pretty hard then Skarre feated.

Also lost most of that left unit of Venators to bestCaine. Still Skarre peaced out after her feat, and I managed to keep most of my venators and the turtle standing. The next turn Morghoul killed Barathrum in two hits, the second of which did 28 damage thanks to a crit and boost into a blind Cryx jack.

Game 3

Going into Cryx again with Morghoul3 vs Gaspy1. I'm just trying to get more reps in with him at this point since I know I"ll be running him again, while I don't have the experience in the last month to really field Zaadesh2 or run that theme.

His battlegroup is stealth, but the Extoller allows the turtle to break one of his heavies, scaring it to the back field. The rest of my shooting on the left devastates the banes over there.

But hey! More banez show up on the left and bog down the turtle and the zone, preventing scoring. He also sends a jack in to try and take out the turtle but fails. Shooting and the Archidon clear up the left, but Gaspy moves in and feats to push that side.

He's in kind of a precarious spot, though. Morghoul pops feat and him and his escort go in. He goes down with 1 attack to spare.

End the day feeling kinda bummed, but I just need to stick with the lists I have practice with. Kind of absurd to drop two entirely new lists and expect to do well (though had I not fucked up Game 1 I think this might have gone okayish). I don't have a ticket for masters tomorrow, so I need to be up bright and early!

Day 2

And I don't get into the Masters Heat B today, since it was sold out. Wait list just missed letting me in by 1 person. Oh well. Gonna grind some games and try and get practice in!

Game 1

Blurry Hexy vs Blurry Denny1

They're both in the themes you expect them to be in, imo.

Turn one she gets a little over zealous, and I put an archidon into two of her revenant crews, RFP'ing the unit leaders.

I camp 0, so make sure Hexy is as safe as houses....

Ghost pirates run in to crowd the zones and Denny feats defensively. Hexy is out of range of it, though.

Looking at the right zone, I realize that an A2A could potentially get me bestCaine and a pirate, if I land it on Caine. Shaman and Cannoneer can pop the other two.

But Hexy fails to kill Caine4 with a boosted 10 (pirate dies). I throw some paingivers at the other two. mehhhhh. Zaadesh kills a chicken and fails to be on the flag because he's a chump.

Turtle gets some more shooting and repos to toe the zone.

Oh fuck.

Scenario loss.

This is my first game into Fleet since the Battle Engine errata, and my first game into it not running Rasheth. I made some big mistakes, and whiffed a big roll to keep myself alive on scenario. Still, didn't seem quite so overwhelming as I'd expected (I really thought Rasheth was a solid crutch against it).

Game 2

Back to grinding Morghoul3 games now, since I know I'll run him Sunday...

Unfortunately my first opponent is running Legion. Screw it, Morghoul3 vs Thagrosh1.

I form up aggressively, throwing Occultation on the Swordsmen and Mirage on the turtle. Left side is a bunch of Nihilators and my beasts - to both Score and gum up his flag. I have a few solos run distance from my flag, hoping I can hold it through his bottom of 2 turn.

He rushes down the middle fairly aggressively, and likewise positions around his flag on the left. He has a few heavies coming in on the turtle and swordsmen, as well. Unfortunately they are way, way out threatened...

Turtle goes in and wrecks some face, knocking down Typhon and putting a bunch of boxes on him. My Archidon throws a sorceress into Thagrosh, doing good damage to her and knocking them both down. Swordsmen swarm forward and get ready to charge into whatever attacks the turtle, while the Willbreaker runs to the flag. Nihilators likewise run to gum up the right side and protect my zone. I score 2, 2-0.

Takes two Neraphs and Typhon to drop the turtle. Angelius kills the Archidon. He fails to contest my zone or flag or clear his fully. 4-0

Swordsmen go in on the three heavies that took out the turtle, dropping one Neraph and Typhon from the table. 

Morghoul3 pops feat and blinds Thagrosh, Nihilators charge deeper and put some damage into him for shits and giggles. I go up to 6. 

We play it out a bit further and Thagrosh kills Morghoul. My feat was unnecessary and left me in a bad spot, but I didn't want to just finish it on scenario since he seemed to have forgotten about it...

Game 3

Morghoul3 VS Mortenebra1

Alright, let's see how this goes. I feel like 90% of cryx lists are good matchups for Morghoul3, but this one only has a single unit. Leaves me a little on edge...

Again Archidon and Nihilators go on the right, prepping to gum up the flag. Left side is the swordsmen, and the turtle hangs out in the middle to help keep those damn stalkers off Morghoul (Along with a screening gladiator). 

Satyxis come in to try and deny me the flag on the left, with some jacks backing them up. Leviathan takes out a few Nihilators, and a derpy solo guy takes the flag on the right.

Anddd... Morghoul blinds the Satyxis and pops feat, then backs off. Paingivers gather round to keep the Stalker off him, and the TyComm gives +2 inches to the swordsmen. Swordsmen walk into the Satyxis, getting back arcs, and proceed to julienne them. Marketh blinds the Leviathan for reasons, and the Nihilators charge in, breaking it and killing the solo over there. I think the turtle also shot it a few times?

Malice and the Seether come in, killing a bunch of swordsmen. Satyxis that are still there walk forward, still blind. Bile thralls move up to threaten the Nihilators and another solo moves up to the flag. The 8" marking there? That's for Marketh to blind the bile thralls.

Biles get blinded, chicken takes a few charges, and a Nihilator contests the flag. Swordsmen finish off the Satyxis, and the Archidon and some other swords put damage into the jacks. (Throughout this, the turtle has been shooting stalkers. I think at this point they're both dead despite the best efforts of the Necrotech).

My opponent has a few landing zones if he tramples in with his heavies, and can put a few attacks into Morghoul. He'll take free strikes, but he goes for it.

He fails to kill. TyComm and Morghoul clean up his heavies and I score, taking the game on scenario.

Game 4

Morghoul3 VS Maddox

I've been hoping for a game into Cygnar, so I'll gladly take this one. Maddox is one of the ADR casters, and I think she's pretty solid in Champions solely for double armor 20 ponies. Morghoul has her number, though.

Swordsmen and Turtle move up on the left... again. Beasts are a bit to the right near the Nihilators, who again have Marketh coverage. He moves up and sets his lances so I can't engage without running (and the turtle doesn't have space to land on the far side of the wall). Fudge.

So I run to engage. YOU DON'T KNOW ME!

Turtle moves up to remove the Stormclad, starting the piece trading. Nihilators jam the Stormblades, and I move a Nihilator to his flag. Half the Swordsmen are there to bait out the lances, the other half to get retribution against whatever takes out the turtle.

Turtle goes down to a blue robot thing, and I lose more swordsmen than I expected. Oh well, things are in position for this to work. Morghoul blinds the stormlances then feats, and the escorts clear off a stormblade for Marketh, who then blinds them. Nihilators eat the Storm Blades despite their high armor (he did not mini-feat, was thinking he'd be able to get more work out of it later game and that armor 18 tough would stop the Nihilator train).

Swordsmen run around and jam up some blind ponies, hoping to keep my flag safe for another turn. I also take his flag, scoring 4-1.

He gets a bit of retribution in, and keeps me from winning on scenario outright, but I slam some stuff around, kill a few models, and run Morghoul3 into the rectangle. The deep field Extoller scores as well, putting me to 6-1.

Afterthoughts:

That was a long day, but I got 3 games in with Morghoul. I'm not really out of practice with him, but I still wanted to play him today just to get into the groove. I'm really looking forward to some infantry themes (Praetorians, Immortals) for him. Swordsmen are proving really solid, and Immortals + guardians seem like a really good package for him.

Oh god, Day 3... 2 to go?!

Well, I grinded Morghoul3 and since I don't want to play Xekaar I think Hexeris is in my pairing now for Champions. Gonna try and get a few games in with him. No tournaments for me, today, so I slept in and showed up in the afternoon.

Game 1

Hexeris2 Winds of Death vs Kallus2 somethingsomething

Well, let's do this shit! Ashen veil goes on the Reivers. 

Skornedog and Razor Worm position for spell slinging, and black spot lands on the swordsmen. Turtle puts a bunch of damage into Azrael on the right, but is looking mighty lonely out there.

Azrael moves up and tosses a spear at the turtle and... misses. Second one hits and does some damage. More importantly, I'm on fire. Kallus feats and the raptors come in hard on the turtle, but fail to kill.

Turtle, gladiator, and some paingivers pop raptors on the right. Reivers get a few and clear off swordsmen as well. Catapults shoot the objective and kill a raptor, fail to kill the CA for the swordsmen. 

Opponent preps for the assassination run. Overrun goes on the swordsmen solo, who charges and kills a reiver. Zuriel moves up. I'm on 4 camp, so not super worried. 

He comes in, fails to kill, and my opponent concedes. Should be trivial for me to mop up his army at this point and take scenario.

Afterthoughts:

Feels much better dropping Hexeris into Legion than Morghoul3 for some odd reason... but I always love Skorne shooting into Legion. Having raptors was just icing on the cake, though, for me.

Game 2

Hexy2 vs some more Cryx, this time into Agathia. Lots of stealth on her end, including Prowl from theme. She moves up pretty aggressively, but I use the razorworm to ignore the cloud and RFP the flag. Some ashes also go into the banes beforehand to remove them as take up targets.

He uses his feat to push up aggressively, and I don't get much work done (he kills my razorworm). Skorne dog runs near the scavenger so Hexy can blast it a few times, and I take out it's head. Eyeless sight goes on the turtle who takes out the objective and scores the left zone. Catapult just lobs shots and hopes for deviations.

The harpoon jack on the left takes out the turtle, and his stuff on the right jams up my reivers a bit. He scores the left and right zones after he takes out my objective.

Reivers help clear up the right zone, and do a CRA into the Scavenger hoping to break it... it loses the arc node and they repo to contest. Marketh helps clear things a bit himself, and the gladiator drops the scavenger. 

Banes come forward, and I'm realizing all I have left that can handle his armor 20 jack is the gladiator. I'm trying to not lose on scenario as well, and don't know that I can dedicate him to chasing it down while I need to score points. Harpoon guy kills a few reivers and clears the zone, and banes clog up the right zone to keep me from scoring.

Marketh drops a few banes to help clear a landing zone for the Gladiator behind Agathia. Reivers take out a few more. I'm looking at the board and realize I think just by number of contesting bodies I can probably take it down on scenario if I clear the banes. The gladiator tramples a bit and kills the two banes in his zone, and then Hexy finishes off the rest with Ashes.

Agathia has a chance at an assassination, and she goes for it. Vanish, charge, few attacks and Hexy is still alive and well. She goes down.

Afterthoughts

I haven't played Hexeris2 much since the Errata, mostly because he didn't gain anything personally. What he did gain was a much better force and a great theme that plays to his style well. He's a ton of fun, and I've been loving Winds since it came out, so this feels like the right choice. It is a little pillow fisted, especially if I toss the Archidon early as a node, but if I can play a little safer with the turtle that might not be as big an issue.

Day Four, Champions:

Ugh, I slept way the hell in, and had to drive to the convention center for the first time since I checked out of my room. Almost arrived too late to play, and forgot my phone. Good start.

Game 1:

Hexeris2 vs Grissel

Fin~

Game 2

Hexeris2 again vs Galvanizer spam. Kinda hoping I can ashes down his shield guards or just kill them with volume of fire before shit gets too grim.

So I go up the center and put up my sacrificial nodes. Turtle takes the left side and I put way too little on the right.

Turtle gets magnetic hold on him. I use the razorworm to arc banishing into him to clear it, then arc a bunch of shots into the corollary. This wasn't a great plan and I should have continued with my "kill the shield guards" plan. In particular I leave the servitor on the right flag alive, which was a mistake.

But hey, galvanizers come in and jam me and kill the archidon. I manage to drop a handful of them, but not nearly enough. I do score 2, as does my opponent.

Unfortunately I lose the turtle (was way too careless with him), and the gladiator. I'm starting to sweat on the clock as well and my opponent pushes up to 5 points. I don't really have enough pieces to contest, but I do manage to score a 3rd point.

He then proceeds to kill as much as he can for tie breakers (Top 3 will be undefeated in this tournament). Winds up scoring 4 on the last turn, winning 9-3. I made some big target prioritization mistakes, and really lost track of my win conditions this match.

Game 3

Right before this game I was talking to the guys sitting next to me about D&C, and how I didn't want to land into Khador or Legion, since I was list locked into Morghoul3. One of them was a Khador player. He was who I played the next round.

I screw up and throw my Archidon away early (or did I? Behemoth shot it instead of the turtle..), but I manage to take out a unit of eliminators with the turtle. His other unit gets blinded. The colossal in the middle is going to hang out there and keep shooting blasts at Morghoul, btw. On my feat turn I blind the colossal and the marauder on the right, and my Nihilator eats an entire unit of mechanics. Morghoul doesn't put any meaningful damage into the... Conquest? But the swordsmen and turtle wind up leaving it on 8 or so boxes.

This is the guy who killed the Mechanics. What a fucking champ

He goes to retaliate and has a widowmaker shoot a Nihilator. Doesn't remember to shake. It's kinda stupid, I should've just let him do it but he had just been discussing the focus math and then shot me, so I was a dick about it. He kills my contesting extoller so the Marauder will score the zone, and Behemoth lobs more shots out.

On my go the TyComm and Morghoul drop the colossal. Swordsmen charges out and fails to break armor on a widowmaker with his two attacks (first one missed). Marketh blinds the Marauder and the gladiator goes in, filling up on focus to break the cortex (I had him rush himself when I should have had Morghoul do it). Turtle flings out and knocks Behemoth down and shoots him some.

Anddd I died.

Kozlov charges the swordsmen, sidesteps towards Morghoul, and double boosts a razor wind into me, taking Morghoul out. I'd already been damage quite a bit from blast damage, and he had a widowmaker left to pop a shot as well.

It was a pretty impressive assassination run. I'd thought I'd been playing cagey most of the week after my first game (GAHHHH), but that was not something I had anticipated out of Kozlov. Good on him.

Final Thoughts

Playing Hexy in winds felt great every game. I was up 15 points and running a list that worked with my caster and got rewarded for playing the stuff I wanted to take anyway. Playing Morghoul I just kept thinking about how much better the list would be if I could take Praetorians in theme, running a few units of Swordsmen + UA and Karax. I feel like Morghoul3 is a big sleeper, here. On top of an almost abusive control spell and a feat that removes infantry he also has the ability to 1 round heavies on his own and brings a crazy good delivery kit and assassination threat. Berserk is nice, but sidestep+overtake + 2 initials tends to be solid against infantry, and having more of them would make the list less afraid of heavies.

Also looking forward to running him with the Immortal theme, because why shouldn't Ancestral Guardians have overtake and acrobatics? Overall that list builds for something that can heavily ignore both terrain and models for threat vectors, and takes AG's and cranks them to 11 on the feat. Add in stealth and a threat extender for the Immortals and it'll be sweeeet.

He'll be staying in my pair, but sadly I'm going to dump Hexy this weekend for Rasheth (also in Winds). Our current ADR only really has Xekaar for an armor cracker, and I really cannot in good conscience recommend anyone bring him. Rasheth, on the other hand, will fill out this pairing nicely, allowing me a ranged armor cracking list that can swing high accuracy, high volume, and high quality attacks as needed.

TL;DR

Skorne good. Morghoul3 Good. Our ADR Bad. Need themes badly.