On Team Tournaments, pairings, and Scrub Life

Scrubland
noun: land consisting of scrub vegetation

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.

Champions Tournament, Morghoul3, GenCon Prep

My last post mentioned a list of tournaments I had coming up, and the first of those came to pass this Saturday. It was a ton of fun with a lot of great people, and the TO from Rochester, NY came down to run it to make sure I could play - so Thanks a ton to Gail for all of her help (those on the West Coast might know her from her role as TO at KingdomCon).

I brought Morghoul3, and of course Xekaar, as my pairing. I haven't gotten much practice in with M3, since he's a bit infuriating to play into unless you're ready for it, and as such I wanted to get as much practice in with him as possible....

So, the list!

https://conflictchamber.com/#c9201bhS6U4x4C6N6vcvfF6C5V6c6d6hhV

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points

(Morghoul 3) Dominar Morghoul & Escorts [+25]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Cyclops Shaman [8]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
Extoller Soulward [3]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]
Nihilators (max) [15]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]
Praetorian Swordsmen (max) [13]
 - Praetorian Swordsman Officer & Standard [4]
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [6]
Siege Animantarax [17]

Back from a hiatus, still kinda hate Xekaar

So, you've probably had no idea that I hadn't been updating. Seriously, who checks this with any regularity? But hey, I haven't! So today I've got some updates, and a little batrep where, spoilers, Xekaar dies.

Turns out I got married, and what with the wedding and some followup events I've been kinda swamped. To make up for it, though, and start my marriage off on a rocky footing I have one hell of a WM/H month planned coming up....

Thoughts on Disciples of Agony from one who has played too much Xekaar

Thoughts on Disciples of Agony

Perspectives from one who has played far too much Xekaar....

Initial views:

If you're reading this, I'm sure you've taken a look at the recent theme for Skorne entering CID, Disciples of Agony. This theme focuses on the extreme ends of the spectrum of pain as expressed by mortitheurgy, both internalized and externalized. The Disciples of Agony, if you will. What does that mean, though?

First off, the internalization: Naaresh and the Nihilators. Ascetics who subject themselves to the most extreme self-mutilation they can survive in order to enhance themselves. As much as I love this concept in the Skorne lore, we're incredibly limited in what we actually have from it. Really, just the one unit and caster. I had been really holding out hope that this theme would crop up as a sub-faction release, most likely alongside an expansion of mortitheurgy in general - think willbreaker units alongside nihilator solos and UA's (also, Genzoul plz).

Externalization, however, comes from the Paingivers - Morghoul, Xekaar, and the various units and solos. I had expected us to get a Paingiver/Minion/Beast theme, a la Hit Squad or Chain Gang. Unfortunately for those who loved Chain Gang, this theme does not allow Rasheth (I'll touch on this more in the next section). It does, however, permit access to Minion beasts - Yep, Rage and Primal in Skorne (as well as 5 point Spiny Growth, Elasticity, and a few other things of note). This seemed pretty absurdly good, at first glance, and really had potential to crack things wide open for some of our list options.

I Hate Myself: My Month of Xekaar - Final

Well, it is finally over - my month of Xekaar has come to an end. I'm not entirely sure of the total number of games played, I lost count around 18, and I'm sad to say I didn't manage to take pictures or do write ups for most of them. Herein I'll be discussing my afterthoughts given my poor showing at the WMW qualifier in Rochester; I went 2-2, though I don't think I can pin any of that on Xekaar, and one of them I feel like Xekaar would've pulled through if I had dropped him. But first, a quick rundown of my games...


The List!


Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points
(Xekaar 1) Beast Master Xekaar [+31]
 - Agonizer [6]
 - Basilisk Krea [7]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
 - Aptimus Marketh [5]
 Tyrant Zaadesh [4]
  - Cyclops Shaman [8]
  - Titan Gladiator [15]
 Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]
 Paingiver Bloodrunners [9]

 Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points