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

League Complete!

So the League has one week left in it, but as of last night I had played two team games and three other games, each with a different painted Warcaster (Jarl, eMadrak, pMadrak, Borka, Calandra).  This got me all four commendation patches for the league:

Duos with Legion

My second game was a team game; I (Calandra) was paired with Legion (Saryn) against Trolls (pMadrak) and Cryx (eSkarre played by the same guy who just beat me down with eGaspy).

The game went fairly quickly, the Cryx player managed to kill both of my beasts, but between the 5 damage from eSkarre's feat turn and two Force Blows, eSkarre was dropped down to dead.  My partner lost both his Warbeasts as well, but pulled off the assassination on pMadrak.

So to recap this fairly quick game, myself and my partner had no Beasts left, and the other team had all their Beasts/Jacks in play when their Warnouns got popped.

eMadrak gets stomped, pMadrak goes stomping

So I devised what I considered a solid eMadrak list based on what I own.  Showed up at the FLGS last night and first game was a 15 point Team Game.  As I wasn't sure I would get more than 5 games in for the league, I wanted to make sure I played every game with a new, painted Warlock, so I brought eMadrak (though I probably should have brought out Calandra).

Game 1:

I was paired with a Cygnar player vs. my Arch-Nemesis playing Circle and his Cryx partner.

My list was eMadrak, Axer, Impaler, Mauler.  My idea here was to hopefully make some people unhappy with Madrak throwing his Axe, while the Axer and Mauler had fun.  My partner ran pNemo and 3 Ironclads.

Our Circle opponent brought eBaldur with Megalith and the Woldguardian, his partner played eSkarre, with Deathjack and a Leviathan.

The Cryx and Circle team played fairly aggressively, and myself and the Cygnar player were a bit more cautious in meeting their approach.  eSkarre's feat ruined our best turn to really do any damage, but I did trample my Mauler close enough to put pressure on eSkarre and eBaldur.  Baldur's beasts beat down my Impaler, so my Axer moved to about 1.5" from them so he was threatening both, trying to tie them up for a turn, as I could see that Deathjack was in an eBaldur forest, so there was no way he could charge eMadrak.

Unfortunately I didn't realize that rough terrain was only in play as long as eBaldur wanted it to be (for some reason I thought it stayed in play for 2 turns?), he removed the forest and Deathjack charged eMadrak, hit, and at Dice + 1 rolled a 17, doing 18; which forced a tough roll... that eMadrak failed.  The Cygnar player tried to mop up, but two one one was too much and he fell soon after.

Game 2:

Because I wanted more league points so I could FINALLY get my first upgrade, I convinced my Arch-Nemesis to play a quick 15pt game against me.

My list:

Chief Madrak Ironhide
* Pyre Troll
* Troll Impaler
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Trollkin Scouts (Leader and 5 Grunts)

I ran 1 point down, but I thought the Pyre Troll would be a nice addition in such a small point game.

Arch-Nemesis' list:

Kromac the Ravenous
* Warpwolf Stalker
Stoneward and 5 Woldstalkers
Blackclad Wayfarer
Druid Wilder


Deployment:

I set up my Fennblades centrally, with Madrak right in the middle of them, the Impaler and Pyre to their right.

He deployed Stalker centrally, Kromac behind him, and the Wilder nearby; he then put the Wayfarer and Woldstalkers to the left of the Madrak mini-brick.

I advance deployed the Scouts into a forest directly across from the Woldstalkers.

My turn 1:

Fennblades move up, Madrak moves up behind them and casts Sure Foot.  The Impaler and Pyre Troll move up.  The Scouts move up.

His turn 1:

Stalker warps for Prowl and runs into a Forest to the right of the mini-brick.  Everything else moves forward.

My turn 2:

Fennblades move up, Madrak upkeeps Sure Foot and walks forward, not yet in range of Kromac.  Scouts charge the Woldstalkers and Wayfarer, they don't get into melee range, but get their axe throw because of Assault.  They manage to kill one of the Woldstalkers and the Blackclad Wayfarer.

I was feeling pretty confident I could get the alpha strike on Kromac next turn, I would have the Fennblades pop their mini-feat and... oh, they don't have the UA, no mini-feat, I may need to re-examine my plans...

His turn 2:

His Woldstalkers Zephyr, and take some shots at the Scouts, they kill three, with the last Scout unharmed.  Warpwolf Stalker moves over directly in front of the Fennblades, but doesn't do anything else, Kromac moves forward a bit more, but plays it s a bit safe, keeping the Stalker between my Fennblades/Madrak and him, then casts Inviolable Resolve on the Woldstalkers and Wild Agression on the Stalker.  The Wayfarer moves up.  Woldstalkers Zephyr away and then start shooting the Scouts.  They end up getting 3 kills and 2 knocked down from successful Tough checks.

My turn 3:

Scouts make their morale check, Fennblades move up and fan out just enough to give Madrak LoS to the Stalker, Madrak upkeeps Sure Foot, walks forward and pops feat, then spends 3 Fury, 2 for Stranglehold and 1 to boost the Attack roll, but misses the Stalker, leaving Madrak with 1 Fury.  Under feat, the two knocked down scouts sacrifice their action and the unit advances, my hope here was that with Overtake & Gang I could get through a number of the Woldstalkers, unfortunately I don't kill any, as I roll a 3 for damage, 2 less than I needed to kill the Woldstalker and activate Overtake.

His turn 3:

Kromac upkeeps Wild Aggression, Woldstalkers Zephyr and kill 2 of the Scouts, leaving the last one knocked down on a successful Tough check.  Wilder uses Sprint on the Stalker, and the Stalker warps for Berserk and charges one of the Fennblade flanks.  He hits the first one, he Toughs, buys an attack, hits him again, kills him, Berserk attack the second one, and is then out of range of the rest, so he Sprints away.

The battle music plays as Kromac walks forward and Jumps into Melee range with Madrak.  Kromac has 6 Fury on him, is MAT 8 and gets two initial attacks.  He hits with the first attack, Madrak uses Scroll of Grindar's Perseverance to ignore it, missed his second attack, bought an attack, hit with it for 10 damage (which Madrak then transferred to the Pyre Troll) and then gets a string of misses and a single low damage hit.  By the time he is out of Fury, Madrak has taken three damage.  Kromac then feats, cuts himself for 7 and gets 7 Fury back, which he then proceeds to unleash against Madrak, however Dhunia smiled upon the Chieftain, and when Kromac had exhausted all of his attacks, Madrak stood defiantly with 2 Boxes left and 0 Fury.

My turn 4:

Madrak pulls 4 from his beasts, then cuts himself for 1; bringing him back to 5 Fury.  He boosts his first attack and lands Critical Grievous Wounds (though at this point it wasn't a big deal, Kromac had no Fury) and does some damage.  Buys another attack, boosts to hit, does some damage.  Buys a third attack, hits, boosts damage, and Kromac falls with his tail between his legs.

Wrap-Up:

Madrak should not have survived that assault, at DEF/ARM 16/16 with 18 boxes, ~42% of Kromac's unboosted attacks should have hit, doing ~5 damage per hit.  That means had the dice been average for my opponent, he would have need 4 unbooted attacks to hit for average damage.  Considering that 13 Fury was thrown into the assassination attempt, Kromac's player (Arch-Nemesis) got hosed by bad dice.