Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls vs Goreshade the Bastard

Hoarluk Doomshaper buzzed through his small army like an angry wasp.  "Human's only get worse when they die," he muttered to himself drawing a guffaw from Skaldi.  Skaldi irritated him but Doomshaper let the irritation slide, he owed Borka and Skaldi made even his Champions look like greenhorns.  Hoarluk never had any problems getting the respect owed him by his station but Skaldi possessed the same ability that Borka posses that seemed to elude himself.  The Kriel all liked Skaldi and wanted to fight with him not for him.  It suited Doomshaper's needs to have him anyway.  Janissa was a new addition to his current force, she neither did what Hoarluk said nor did she defy him in any way.  Almost as irritating as Grissel in her ability to think herself always correct.  Again he let the irritation slide as he looked at his undead foe's across the field, he would need her abilities... Dhunia help him, because she had clearly blessed her.  Now to the task at hand as he turned to Skaldi and Janissa he said, "cush their bones to dust and make it so they lie there permanently."  Janissa nodded curtly ready to go.  Skaldi put down his keg and each of the Champions with him quietly put in a large mug.  They each drank silently and on cue began a ear splitting warcry as the undead army advanced toward them.


Goreshade was always relished the chance to kill Trolls, as in the past they would be tougher than most opponents and worth the excercise from himself and his troops.  That the Deatjack wandered with him at the moment gave him confidence that these foolish Trolls would easily fall.  He hoped for a surprise attack on them but to the Old Troll shaman's credit he had been found out.  Even confident in their abilities Hoarluk gave him pause.  That old Troll was going to give him a fight, he would lose, but he would fight to the end.
  


 Trollbloods PCs: 25 / 25
9 models

[00] Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls (0 / 7 WB)
[10]  >> Earthborn Dire Troll
[04]  >> Swamp Troll
[06]  >> Troll Axer
[03] Janissa Stonetide
[06] Trollkin Champions (2 grunts)
[03]  >> Skaldi Bonehammer

Cryx PCs: 25 / 25
18 models

[00] Goreshade the Bastard (0 / 6 WJ remaining)
[00]  >> Deathwalker (Companion)
[12]  >> Deathjack
[04] Bane Lord Tartarus
[01] Necrotech & 1 Scrap Thrall
[02] Warwitch Siren
[02] Warwitch Siren
[10] Bane Knights (9 grunts)

Setup
5" forest in the middle, big tree 4" up on my middle right side.  Elevation on my left on my side and the same diagonally across the table on his side.

Deployment
Cryx ~ Bane Knights Across the front line in the middle with the Deathwalker on their left end.   Goreshade and Tartarus behind them.  Necrotech hiding in back and Scrap Thrall on my left side.  Deathjack AD's on the hill on his side of the table (my right).
Trolls ~ My Earthborn setup on my left so he could run up to the tree for terrain Doomhsaper on his right with the Champs on his right with Skaldi on the end.  Axer Deployed across from where the Deathjack would end up.  Swamp Troll Deploys a little in back so doomy can use him for transfers and his animus.

Turn 1 
Cryx ~  Scrap Thrall runs up my left of the table trying to take back the flank I tried to deny him in deployment.  Knights run forward Deatwalker follows suit.  Sirens run up into the Trees.  Deathjack moves up towards the Axer and ends up near the Deathwalker.   Goreshade ends up behind and near her with Tartarus taking up position in the middle of the table.  Necrotech lurks in the background to assist the Deathjack when/if needed.

As the Cryxians advanced on him Hoarluk knew he and Janissa might be in trouble.  He had been around a long time, but the Warcaster Goreshade had been around longer and was formidable indeed.  Deciding not to give him the chance he reached deep inside himself finding the lines of magic running from the Warcaster and the Deathjack.   Finding them he smiled and pushed the power of Dhunia in to make sure Goreshade and his magic users would pay dearly for trying anything magical for a while. 

Trolls ~ Doomshaper hits himself with the Swamp Animus, hits the Axer with Rush, and moves forward 5" towards the Trees then feats.  Earthborn runs up to within 2" of the Trees hoping to contain the flank on my left side.  Janessa moves up dropping a wall in front of Doomshaper and the Champs split into pairs on either side of Doomy Skaldi on the right side. Swamp shuffles to the right trying to stay unobtrusive but in a countercharge position if needed.  Axer charges the Deathjack, getting him for a small handful of damage and threshering the Deathwalker and a Bane Knight.

Turn 2
Cryx ~ Bane Knights vengeance up a few of them getting in range of the Axer doing minimal damage.  Deathjack uses his initial attacks on the Axer taking him to about half.  Goreshade casts Shadowmancer giving him and his battlegroup stealth and deathshroud (-2 Def and Str to me) He takes 15 damage for his trouble then takes a swing at the Axer taking out a good chunk on him but the Axer is still doing fine so he feats and the Bane Thralls finish him off.  One Siren moves up grabs a Champ who then hits Doomy for 2.  Bane Knights Charge... this is where I find out the wall was too close to Doomy, five of them got into range to attack him over the wall three get on the Earthborn and a few get on Skaldi and the Champ by him.  Three on Doomy miss but two connect he took the damage from one bringing him down to four health and transferring thirteen to the Swamp Troll.  Scrap  Thrall takes the flank getting in charge range of Doomy for his next turn. and he is done.

It had hurt him more than he realized it would.  He felt the disturbance in the magic lines the moment Hoarluk had touched them.  The Dhunian Shaman had gotten stronger than he had realized and he paid for it severely.  It had cost him yet another advantage in a fight that should have been over by now.   Deciding to take back the initiative he summoned his own will and found what he was looking for in the ground around him, bones of the dead rose from the ground and put an end to Doomshaper's Troll beast with the big axe.

Trolls ~ Earthborn goes first Trampling his way up to Tatarus killing himself a handful of Bane Knights and buys attacks on Tartarus to finish him as well.  Champs Spread out and take out the Siren the Earthborn missed as well as all but one of the Knights.  Doomshaper hits the Champs with Banishing Ward and puts Swampy's animus on himself.  Janessa moves up and puts the wall in between Skaldi and the Earthborn.

Turn 3
Cryx ~ Bane Knights take out their anger on the Earthborn reduing him to one health.  A Siren moves in on Skaldi who then proceeds to turn on Janissa one shotting her.  The Deathjack moves in on Swampy and Skaldi killing them both with ease then zipping a Bleed at Doomy doing no damage.  Scrap Thrall tries to charge Doomy but dies to a freestrike from a Champion.  Goreshade moves up and finishes the Earthborn and then casts Shadowmancer. Feeling safe behind a wall of Thralls he realizes that his medium base makes him vulnerable to Thralls who are not base to base in front of him he decides to cast Soulgate to put the Deathjack in the way to prevent Doomy from a last ditch charge.
 
Trolls ~ Champs charge into the Deathjack doing taking out its Cortex and getting out of Doomshaper's way.  Doomy moves to his left towards Bane Thralls to get within 5" of Goreshade and then Strangleholds the last few health off of Goreshade ending the game.

 The Champions showed their mettle for charging right into the Deathjack knowing they couldn't kill it, they could buy time for Hoarluk to get away.  Seeing his Earthborn fall after killing so many of the undead put Hoarluk into a rage, instead of taking the opportunity to escape he summoned the last of his energy using the power of the earth to strangle the power out of Goreshade.  As the body of the Cryxian caster fell to the ground so did the remaining Thralls.  Hoarluk checking his beasts to see if he could do anything barked at the Champions, "If this Earthborn dies and that drunken pig Skaldi lives I will personally make a book out of his hide..."

Wrap Up ~ My opponent was gracious on more than one error I made and we usually hash out some of the more obscure rules on purpose while we play.  I am always amazed at Primal Doomy's feat.  Even though people know it will hurt them they almost always go for it anyway, just two nights ago Bethayne died from using too much fury.  Goreshade the Bastard is good, like Grissel he isn't as fun to play probably, but he is powerful big time.  I am torn between the Swamp Trolls animus and the Earthborns animus for protecting Doomy.  I learn towards the Earthborn using him animus on Doomy so Doomy has the option to spell himself but Swampy's animus is better in some cases, i.e lack of terrain or living models.