Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Battle Report #1, Una1 vs Child1



Una the Skyhunter vs The Child

... a week ago there were some groundbreaking news for the Circle Orboros community around the world. The same time I was lucky to win the Steamhorn Wars 2 Masters in Poland a guy named Gord Weppler, also a Circle Orboros player, was able to win Blood and Gears Master in Canada. Definitely a successful weekend for our faction, the stars were right! 

   I've checked his lists and one especially brought my attention - Una2 with two max unit of Mist Riders, built in The Secret Masters. This was a 3-lists event which makes you create more "specialized" armies, so, it could not translate well into a regular 2-lists format where you need to cover more with less... but heck, I really wanted to try it out, it looks sooo fun!

   I realize the list was meant to play on wide scenarios with circular zones on the sides (think Outlast, Breakdown or Standoff). It helps Una to play wider and flank your opponent with an anti-infantry unit. Scarsfell Griffon are not very good at clearing infantry themselves due to 0,5" reach, so it makes a lot of sense to combine them together. Secret Masters let's you start the game with your upkeeps which is neat for them. You can take advantage of the apparition move and flip Hand of Fate from turn one! 

That day I was playing against Grymkin in Dark Menagerie on a Recon II scenario which makes for a very sub-optimal circumstances for this particular built. Nonetheless, I was so hyped for it I decided to give it a try. Without further ado, lets move on to the lists:

Circle Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Secret Masters
(Una 2) Una the Skyhunter [+29]
 - Gorax Rager [7]
 - Scarsfell Griffon [8]
 - Scarsfell Griffon [8] 
 - Scarsfell Griffon [8]
 - Scarsfell Griffon [8]
 - Scarsfell Griffon [8] 
 - Scarsfell Griffon [8]
 - Druid Wilder [0(4)]
Blackclad Wayfarer [0(4)]
Blackclad Wayfarer [4]
Druid Mist Riders (max) [20]
Druid Mist Riders (max) [20] - proxy, 50mm bases and Morvhana2 as a leader
Shifting Stones [3]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]

Grymkin Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Dark Menagerie
(Child 1) The Child [+29]
- Cage Rager [14]
- Cage Rager [14]
- Crabbit [0(n/a)]
- Crabbit [0(n/a)]
- Crabbits (2) [7]
- Gorehound [6]
- Gorehound [6]
- Skin & Moans [15]
- Skin & Moans [15]
Gremlin Swarm [0(3)] - proxy, 40mm base
Gremlin Swarm [0(3)] - proxy, 40mm base
Gremlin Swarm [0(3)] - proxy, 40mm base
Gremlin Swarm [3] - proxy, 40mm base
Lady Karianna Rose [4]
Dread Rots (min) [7]
Death Knell [13]
Arcanas: Wrath, Labirynth and Sacrifice


pre-game thougths:
I have crazy long threat ranges and I wanted to take advantage of that to push my opponent out of the scenario. I need to kill his support pieces as quickly as I can so he won't trigger Sacrifice out of the Crabbit late game which always sucks. Also, those support pieces can contest zones and flags later in the game and we don't want that.


starting roll:
I won the roll and decided to go first.

scenario, Recon II:

deployment:



Una2, turn I:
The left unit starts the game with Mirrage, second one with Hand of Fate. I pretty much run everything up the board to take as much space as possible.



Child1, turn I:
He position everything up outside of Griffons threat range. He puts up Tantrum on The Child and channel Force Hammer from the Cage Rager onto the left bird to slam it into the Blacklad Wayfarer. He hits it taking out the bird's body with the damage but he fails on the slam distance roll (he needed a 4). Sneaky move there!



Una2, turn II:
I upkeep my spells and proceed with the game. I charge his Dread Rots and the Skin and Moans with my HoF'd right Mist Riders. It triggers the Labirynth arcana. I kill some dudes and use Battle Wizard to kill some more and reposition to make it difficult for my opponent to enter the right zone. Una goes up the board but into the stones to project her command range up the board. She flip Hand of Fate onto the second unit, puts a Mirrage on the bird and kill a Gremlin Swarm with her gun. Left Mist Riders move a bit up and shoot a Cage Rager to leap into some more support pieces. I do very little except for almost killing a Gorehound and reposition back into the forest. At this point Death Kneel is full of corpses. Griffin charge a Dread Rot and sprints back, others just position on the board and put up Elusive. Stones port Una a bit back, Gobbers put up the Cloud, Druid Wilder go for the flag. Blacklad Wayfarers position where they are safe (at least they thing so) but relevant for the future turn.



Child1, turn II:
He upkeeps Tantrum and makes an attack with the Skin and Moans, killing a Mist Rider. Because of Tantrum Skin and Moans had the distance to the Griffon near my flag. The Child puts another Force Hammer to a Mist Rider in the forrest. He hits on a 10 and rolls a 6 for the slam distance which was the minimum distance that could reach the Blacklad (because of the push rules forest halves the distance). Later he gather all his forces around the Death Kneel like Grymkins like to do. Battle Engine fills up Skinny with corpses to make it more survivable before his trip into the griffin's kingdom. Second Cage Rager with a little help from others easily kill all the Mist Riders there to make room for Skinny to charge my bird. He did it and luckily killed the Griffon with his second initial (one missed attack and the bird could got out off melee with Dodge). Half-dead Gorehound go into the left zone to contest. No points.

0:0


Una2, turn III:
I upkeep Hand of Fate on Mist Riders and they start the turn by advancing and killing the Gorehound, one left a cloud. Blacklad Wayfarer moves in the flag direction close to the stones and use Phase Jump to get on the left flag. Gorax puts Primal on the gray Scarsfell than he charges Skin and Moans. Next is Una - she FEATs, puts a Mirrage on the left bird, HoF on the ginger bird, Primal on another and she kills a Gremlin Swarm with her gun. The ginger bird joins the gray one, kills Skin and Moans and sprints into melee with Cage Rager to give a flank bonus to the next one. Another Griffon charges the Cage Rager but fails to kill it so I commit one more. It should keep my opponent busy where he is while I score. Cage Rager death triggers the Wrath arcana. The last bird with Mirrage is left in the zone alone for a later use. Stones ports to the right zone. Druid Wilder stay on a flag and that's a turn I score two flags and the left zone.

3:0


Child1, turn III:
He drops the Tantrum. The Child starts by advancing into melee with my birds killing all of them (gosh, I miss a free Elusive from CotW). He puts Abuse on a Gorehound and uses his last fury to sprint a bit back. Cage Rager charges the gray bird and he easily kills it. Crabbit jumps and kills a stone. Gorehound advances thru the burning earth (putting himself on fire), kills a stone and sprints into the back of a Druid Wilder. Death Kneel goes up a bit and fill Skin and Moans with corpses. Crabbit is sent to the left zone to contest and Skin and Moans is used as a bodyguard for The Child to take out assassination hopes away. He scores the right zone.

3:1


Una2, turn IV:
I upkeep Mirrage and do the apparition. I see my opponents clock and decide to throw my models away to contest and burn his clock killing them. Blacklad kills the Crabbit and stay on the flag. Una walks up and give Hand of Fate to the cavalry and casts Mirrage on the Gorax. Mist Riders charge the Skin and Moans to make his life difficult getting out of there. The last bird runs into the right zone to contest. Gorax runs into the left zone to score a point there. Wilder moves a bit, Gobbers enter the right zone and spread. I score the left zone and the left flag. 

5:1



Child1, turn IV:
The Child puts Abuse on a Skin and Moans to give him the speed needed to get to the left zone. He also murder a Mist Rider and a Bird and sprints. Death Kneel walks up and tries to kill a Mist Rider. Skin and Moans runs into the left zone but dies out of free strikes. Gorehound kills the Wilder and a Gobber. Gremlin Swarm walks up to the flag to score. Crabbit kills another Gobber and Cage Rager kills a stone. We both score 2 points. At this point my opponent is not able to win. He has few seconds on the clock and if I can contest his zone and flag the next turn (easily with a Mist Rider) I go to 9:3


scenario victory for the Circle Orboros!


post-game thougths:
I really like that list but it was definitely not an optimal setup nor an easy win. If my opponent manage his clock better and made sure he has something to contest the left zone, he would attrition me down the next turn and start making up on control points. I wish to explore the list further, it's really fun to play. Hopefully I will put together the second unit of Mist Riders by the time I do another battle report, I don't like to proxy things. Thanks for reading and see you next time!

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