NETT Recap

So, like a chump I showed up at NETT completely unprepared; I also neglected to take pictures or notes.  One list was with a familiar 'lock who I stuck onto a Borka list I liked hoping to see similar results with better flexability; another was a brand new 'lock who I had barely finished painting and had yet to play a game with.

Here were my lists:

Grim Angus
* Pyre Troll
* Troll Impaler
* Dire Troll Bomber
* Earthborn Dire Troll
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder
Trollkin Champions (Leader and 4 Grunts)
* Skaldi Bonehammer
Fell Caller Hero
Janissa Stonetide
Trollkin Champion Hero

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia
* Pyre Troll
* Troll Axer
* Dire Troll Mauler
* Earthborn Dire Troll
* Mulg the Ancient
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer

My idea here was that Doomshaper was going to handle Gargossals, while Grim was more of an all comers based on an old Borka list I had a lot of fun with.  Point in case, Grim is not Borka, and practice is an important thing.

Round 1

eDoomshaper vs. Darius

I got matched up against a Cygnar player.  He played Darius with a Stormwall, Jr., a number of light ranged jacks, Rangers and another tarpit unit (Sword Knights maybe).  In a lucky strike, he brought the Stormwall into the zone, and I knew I had to commit to taking it down in a single turn, else Darius would just undo my hard work.

When you absolutely, positively need to put something in the dirt, few things get the job done like Wild Aggression + Rage Mulg under eDoomy's feat.  Charged for free, and after 2 initials and 5 bought attacks, the Fortification buffed Stormwall was sitting at 3 hit points.  My opponent sighed in relief, but it was Mulg with eDoom, the free attack ended the Stormwall.  I was pretty happy with the outcome, it took my feat, and I had offered Mulg up on a silver platter but I was now significantly ahead of my opponent in points on the board.

My opponent, for better or worse, was concerned with Mulg being within charge range of Darius so he opted to commit to making roadblocks for Mulg, rather than putting dents in him; which I imagine was probably the best idea, as his chances of chewing through 35 boxes at Arm 21 without the Stormwall was a problem for his list.

We went back and forth a bit, with Mulg wrecking some troops before the Earthborn got to Darius and left him on 1 health.  Darius decided to try and make a run for eDoomshaper in an attempt to sneak out an assassination, but forgot Mulg had reach, and a Free Strike that would have been hard to miss (Mat 7 +2 +Wild Aggression) ended things handily.

My two teammates, playing Circle and Cygnar both won their games.

And then it went downhill...

Round 2

pGrim vs. Ossyan

In my defense, the team that we played here ended up taking second place.

My opponent decimated me.  Between the Mage Hunter Assassins and just general craziness he made me look like exactly what I was, a chump who got lucky with his first match and trampolined up against other teams who went 3-0.  I had an outside chance of assassination on my last turn as the Bomber launched two barrels at Ossyan, but needing 14s to hit on three dice didn't go my way.

Ossyan won on scenario.

My Circle teammate lost his game and our Cygnar player tied his.

Round 3

eDoomshaper vs. eCaine

eCaine, Stormblades, and... stuff?  I want to forget this game, not because I lost, but because I was such an idiot.  Remember that foreshadowing about practice is good and playing casters you have never played before can lead to issues?  Yeah.

So the Stormwall came into the zone, and Mulg was looking to go for 2 for 2 on putting Colossals into the dirt; but he was going to need feat and the Axer animus to get there.  Unfortunately, while I was remembering my previous Stormwall dirtnapping, I ran on autopilot.  eDoom feated and put the Mauler animus on Mulg while the Axer charged off to Thresher some troops.  Axer killed half a unit.

Mulg charges!... 10"... wait, didn't I need 13"?  CRAP!  I put the wrong Animus on him.

So Mulg makes his offering to the Stormwall gods, and none of my other beasts can capitalize on eDoom's feat turn.

A wasted feat turn and being now within striking distance of pretty much everything in his army was a bad thing.  After one turn of pouring shots into my army it was looking very sparse.  eDoomshaper had 3 health left.  I tried to maneuver a bit, but eCaine is a little tough to hide from!

On his next turn he did exactly three damage to eDoomshaper after transfers and I didn't roll Tough.  As I was walking away from the table I remembered a little something... eDoomshaper has Regeneration, which I didn't use.

Chalk one up to being an idiot.

My teammates both lost their games.

Final Round

Grim vs. Harbinger

This was probably my favorite game of the day, my opponent brought Harby, the full Errants package minus the Seneschal, the Book, Rhoven & Co., a Revenger, Repenter, and Reckoner along with a Vassal of Menoth, but no Choir.

We played a pretty good game of cat and mouse here, with what he had having trouble damaging the Champions reliably, but working as a wonderful tarpit to prevent me from getting to Harbinger who was dominating the zone.  I did lost most of my Krielstone Bearer unit on her feat turn as, for whatever reason, I thought her feat cause Continuous Effect Fire, not a Fire damage roll.

My opponent won on control points, but it was hard fought and well won, it was an awesome game to end a great event on.

My teammates both lost their last games as well.

Current W/L for Trollbloods

Just a quick tally as of today, I do not claim to be a good player, this is more of a note for myself!

pMadrak 2-1
eMadrak 1-1
Grim Angus 2-7
eGrissel  3-0
Jarl Skuld 0-1
Calandra 5-2
Borka  0-1

That puts me at a total of 26 games with my Trolls, and an overall record of 13 Wins to 13 Losses.  I am okay with that ratio!

The 29 point match!

Last night was the last night of the League, and while I had accomplished my goal (all four patches), I still definitely wanted to throw down.  I got a chance to play someone I hadn't played before, which is always awesome.  We decided on 35pts, and put our junk on the table.

I took a note of the models in my opponent's list, but being unfamiliar with a few I assumed he was at 35 points.  He actually was at 29, he is pretty new, so I am thinking he may not know what Warcaster 'jack points are.

Of course, probably the reason I didn't notice he was playing 29 points and forgot about Warjack points is because I did the SAME THING.

His list, for reference:

Harbinger of Menoth

* Repenter

* Crusader

* Vanquisher

Choir of Menoth (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Exemplar Cinerators (Leader and 4 Grunts)

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord

My list:

Grim Angus

* Troll Impaler

* Rök

Dannon Blythe & Bull

Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts)

* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer

Fell Caller Hero

Stone Scribe Chronicler

So the battle of the "people who forgot about 'jack/'beast points" began.

My turn 1:

I won the roll and opted to go first, nominating the Choir as Blythe's prey.  I knew he wasn't moving anywhere quickly with that list, so I opted to simply advance my first turn, with the exception of Dannon Blythe & Bull, who ran up a flank.  Between Grim w/ Farstrike and the Fennblade minifeat, I knew I had a significant threat range advantage on him.

His turn 1:

Choir moved up and sang no normal shooting; the Cinerators and Warjacks all ran, the Cincerators, Crusader and Vanquisher toward my Fennblades/Grim, the Repenter toward Blythe & Bull.  Everything else made a full advance.

My turn 2:

Blythe & Bull played a little cat and mouse with the Repenter, trying to draw him away from the main conflict.  Fell Caller moved forward and gave the Fennblades Pathfinder, Fennblades moved forward, with some in cover, Chronicler moved forward and used Tale of Mist, Impaler moved forward and put Far Strike on Grim, Grim advanced and killed a Cinerator (which the Harby martyr'd) then he gave Rök Cross-Country who ran forward, ending his movement at the very edge of the forest.

His turn 2:

Everything moves up again, Eiryss tried to shoot a Fennblade and misses, Vanquisher throws out a shot, kills a Fennblade, knocks another down, and puts 3 damage on Grim himself.  Things were looking good for mini-feating next turn (with the extra movement from Vengeance) and killing off those Cinerators, and I think my opponent realized that, as Harbinger walked forward and popped feat.

My turn 3:

Fennblades took their Vengeance move to reform (without moving closer to Harby), Impaler put Far Strike on Grim, who hit the Harbinger for some reasonable damage.  Rök charged the Cinerators and... fell an inch and half short - those who are paying attention will see that I should have shot a Cinerator, then Rök would have been in melee range for at least 3 attacks.  Rök does have assault though, so he sprayed and caught two of the Cinerators in the template, he missed the attack on the first one, so I boosted my second roll and got Crit Freeze off on the second Cinerator, unfortunately I didn't do any damage.  Chronicler uses Tale of Mist again, and Blythe & Bull continue their threat range shenanigans with the Repenter.

His turn 3:

Harbinger moves back and heals herself with Focus, Vanquisher tries to shoot Grim, but even with the Choir bonus he can't hit Def 16, scatter kills some more Fennblades though.  Repenter moves forward and tries to spray Blythe & Bull but falls short.  Cinerators scrap Rök.  Crusader walks forward and will be in Melee next turn.

My turn 4:

I have been playing fairly Fury efficient, so I am not super concerned about losing Rök from a Fury standpoint, but he was my only Heavy, so now I am in a little bit of trouble once that Crusader and Vanquisher get into Melee.

Impaler gives Grim Far Strike, I walk Grim up, Feat, have Grim cast Far Strike on himself and then shoot Harbinger some more, she has 7 boxes left at this point.  The Fennblades Mini-Feat, kill three Cinerators pluys Eiryss and tie up the Vanquisher and the Crusader.  Impaler walks forward, decides the Vanquisher (who is effectively Def 11 with Grim's feat plus firing into Melee penalty) is the bigger threat, and tries to put some damage on it, roll to hit, double 5s, also known as "to Crit Slam or not to Crit Slam", I check the line, and I think if I get a 6 I can put some serious collateral damage on the Harby; unfortunately I roll a 2, just enough to disengage him from my Fennblade.  Blythe & Bull make a cautious advance, hopefully I can land Marked for Death on the Harbinger next turn and they can put some boxes on her.

His turn 5:

He allocates two to the Crusader and holds eight, I have a feeling I know what is coming.  The Vanquisher sacrifices it's movement to stand up, lobs a shot at Grim, misses again, but kills two more Fennblades, Crusader moves an inch to it's right, kills one Fennblade, boosts his attack on the second Fennblade, and then decided to boost damage as well (he was already at Dice + 4 against him), I imagine he figured he had nothing else to do as no other Fennblades were in range.  That Fennblade (who he hit with an impressive 31 Damage) made his Tough roll though.  The last few Cinerators made their combat actions, one turned a Fennblade into a fine red mist, the other made his Tough check.  The Harbinger was out of Grim's feat range, so she got her full movement and ended 6" away from Grim and cast Cataclysm twice.

The first one did something like 8 damage which left Grim at 2 boxes, the second one hit for a mighty 4 damage... which Grim transferred to the Impaler.  The Harbinger was forward, and out of focus.

My turn 5:

Impaler tosses at the Cinerator that would get a free strike if Grim charges the Harbinger, boost hit, boost damage, no crit but he kills him.  Harby did not matyr (which might have saved her), Grim charges, hits, and kills.

Afterthoughts:

I can't believe I forgot Beast points, once I found out that he forgot Warjack points though, I felt better as it was no longer a 35pt list beating on a 29 point, it was 29 on 29.  Still, I should know better.  Rök died because I wasn't thinking, and to be fair, haven't played Grim enough.  I will definitely remember Bait the Line for next time.

As an aside, my charge on Harby was with the thought that while I probably could have killed her from range, I didn't want to take that chance, rather to have to run in and buy two extra boosted attacks (hit and damage) than to shoot once and miss/not damage her enough.  I could have gotten her MAYBE with Blythe & Bull if I had put a bit of damage on her with Grim, but again, not worth the risk.

So ends the Thornwood League, I earned 11 League Points and ended with an overall W-L of 3-4.

Breakdown:

Borka 0-1

Calandra 1-0

pMadrak 1-0

eMadrka 0-1

Grim 1-1

Jarl 0-1

Grim T4 25pts

I am going to a 25pt/single-list tournament on the 23rd that uses an "achievement" system, one of said achievements is bringing a T4 list.  So here is the T4 Grim list I will be playing:

Grim Angus

* Pyre Troll

* Troll Impaler

* Dire Troll Bomber

Dannon Blythe & Bull

Trollkin Scouts (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Alten Ashley, Monster Hunter

I think my beasts should handle infantry swarms well, and hopefully the Bomber and Alten can lay some damage down on any beast heavy lists.  I think the list is fairly well rounded; the Scouts are a bit lacking in defenses outside of concealment for me, but they are a Tier requirement, and at such low points I couldn't fit another unit in that I thought would actually be worth dropping something for.

Hobby Update 7/5/12

Two quick updates:

Trollkin Champions

Grim Angus

League night is tonight, so no painting tonight; next thing on the table is Rök