WTC Practice Event - July 2016

Sooo, it's been a fair while!

Lots of exciting stuff happened since April 2015:

I went 3-3 at the WTC, our Team went 4-2 and we placed nicely.
I got voted as captain for the WTC team this year.
Mk3 came out.

Mk3 thoughts might follow later, suffice to say I'm reasonably ok with most things, but some of the same problems that WM/H suffered from in Mk2 still exist, and it's disappointing that they weren't fixed with the changeover. Additionally, the number of glaring rules oversights is a little disheartening, but I'm still having fun playing toys!

On to the interesting stuff! We had a practice event this weekend in Dublin. Five teams showed up including both Irish WTC teams, 2 teams from a local club called "The Leinster Brigands" and a team made up of superstars from around the Irish meta.

Sadly I didn't get any photos, because all my battery had to be saved for catching LICKITUNG but here's some words.

Here are my lists from the Team Event on Saturday:

Absylonia, Daughter of Everblight
 - Carnivean
 - Proteus
 - Seraph
 - Typhon
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker
The Forsaken
The Forsaken
Blackfrost Shard
Spell Martyr
Spell Martyr

Aby2 just kills everything. There's so much hitting power and threat that you can take a devastating alpha turn and really just put your opponent out of the game with one blow. Aby's Feat and the BFS let me power through buffs I'd normally need a Naga to deal with, though they're pretty interchangeable. You could swap the BFS for a Naga and it'd be fine - the extra point can go on a Shepherd.

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight
 - Nephilim Bolt Thrower
 - Naga Nightlurker
 - Ravagore
Blighted Nyss Raptors (max)
Grotesque Banshees (max)
Grotesque Assassin
Grotesque Assassin
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Wrong Eye
 - Snapjaw
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

 This list is really cool, super fun to play, and looks amazing. I'm continually impressed by the Banshees, who are a superb screen of Stealthed and Force Barriered models who kill their fair share on Feat Turn, especially because they're so cheap. The Assassins can tear it up in Melee and are exceptional solo hunters, with 10.5" of threat and Grevious Wounds. The inclusion of Wrong Eye and Snapjaw gives you a second heavy without needing to bring any Fury support, and he benefits massively from Parasite. The rest of the Army benefits from Star Crossed. Some changes were made after the Team Event, and I'm even happier with its latest incarnation.

Round 1 - Brigands Prime

Double Skorne
Double Khador
Legion

I do the pairing process for the first time ever. It's a bit confusing, but I think I have a handle on it. I end up putting myself into the Legion mirror - my opponent, Aaron, has eThagrosh and pAbsylonia.

I pick Aby2, simply because I can outhreat him and take heavies off the table first, which is so important in the Legion mirror match. I think he picks eThags because pAby would just get one-rounded.

When picking tables, I take the table with the huge patch of difficult terrain in the zone, as I don't care about it.

Scenario is The Pit.


Opponent: Aaron

Thagrosh, the Messiah
 - Typhon
 - Angelius
 - Seraph
 - Raek
Strider Deathstalker
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (max)
 - Captain Farilor & Standard
Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
The Forsaken
Spell Martyr


Turns out Aaron deployed a model from his other list here, a Scythean, and was playing 18 points up, but it's an easy mistake to make! We didn't notice until now :)


eThagrosh vs eAbsylonia - Deployment

I set up my 14 Models in a line across the middle of the board. Exciting stuff. My opponent put his Battlegroup opposite mine, and Legionnaires opposite my flag.
Round 1 - Positioning

Me:

I spread forward, making sure to protect my Spell Martyr on the flank opposite the Legionnaires. Most of my toys went behind the patch of rough terrain. Fortify goes on Proteus.

Aaron:

Aaron advanced his Legionnaires onto a hill, put his Battlegroup on the edge of the zone, used his Deathstalker to kill my Spell Martyr on the opposite flank (the unimportant one) and passed turn.

Round 2 - Alpha Time!

Me:

Aaron's left 3 Legionnaires in a triangle, and not on the hill. My Deathstalker walks up and snipes two out, leaving a sad standard bearer flapping in the breeze. The Spell Martyr runs up. Aby casts Slipstream, pulls Proteus 2" forward, then advances a bit, Hex Bolts the Legionnaire boosting hit and damage and trigering Alpha Hunter, then Repositions back behind the rough terrain. She pops her Feat.

(If you're ever playing against Aby2 and you're using infantry that gains benefits from being Base-to-Base, go in clumps of 4 - it makes it harder for Aby to Hex Bolt something after the Deathstalker snipes out two.)

Proteus goes charging. Thanks to the wonders of Mk3, I'm able to position him perfectly within 4" of an Angelius, a Scythean and a Seraph. He pulls in the Angelius and his two initials cripple it badly, two bought Facetentacle attacks bring the Seraph and Scythean in. He then finishes the Angelius and hurts the Scythean.

The Carnivean assaults in, easily finishes the Seraph and puts up Spiny Growth. Typhon sprays the Scythean a bit, but dice are poor and he's pretty healthy.

Aaron:

Thags feats and puts up Manifest Destiny, the Scythean fails to kill ARM 22 Proteus (so good!) and leaves him on 2-3 boxes, but he'll probably die to the feat. Aaron's Typhon sprays my Typhon, and dice explode, leaving him on 3 boxes. Luckily, he's out of range for the feat move and attack.

The Raek heads towards my flag and gets onto Aby, but can't hit her. The Legionnaires trudge forward towards my flag.

The Feat moves result in a dead Proteus, Typhon taking a walk backwards, and the Raek missing.

Round 3 - Fight!

Me:

Aby moves onto my flag, clears it of Legionnaires but not the Raek, Spiny Growths herself, casts Psycho Surgery and camps 3. The Carnivean walks through 3 Legionnaire free strikes and chomps down on the Scythean. Typhon goes into Typhon and Typhon wins. The Deathstalkers continue murdering Legionnaires.

Aaron has no beasts left except the Raek now and I've still got 3 heavies, so I'm well up. The only way to lose is by assassination.

Aaron:

Aaron's spell martyr runs into range of Aby, and she gets knocked down by a Scourge. A few legionnaires can get in but ARM 18 is too much for them. The Raek does very little. The Sorceress on Hellion goes to jam the Carnivean.

Round 4 - End

The Carnivean throws the Sorceress into Thagrosh, knocking him down and dealing damage to trigger the spawning of a lesser. Aby charges and kills the Lesser. The Blackfrost Shard, who have been pretty quiet up to now, walk to within 10 of a knocked down Thagrosh, hit him with a Kiss and an Ice Bolt, which crits and makes him stationary.

The Seraph finally kills the Raek, leaving Thags with 0 transfers, knocked down, stationary, and 14" away from Typhon.

Typhon walks up and finishes the game with his 2nd spray.

Results:

I completely tabled Aaron, ending on 110 Army Points, and 2 CP.

Our team went 5-0 in the round. A good start to the day!

The Aby list did exactly what it was supposed to, a crushing alpha strike that left my opponent down on attrition early on and allowed me to choose whether to win by Scenario or Assassination.

Up next, we're against Brigands Epic!