Hardcore First Test

Today I managed to get in my first playtest match in the buildup to the Hardcore Tournament last weekend of November, Madrak1 (gotta get used to using that system) versus Kraye.

Madrak Ironhide................Kraye

> Mauler............................> Centurion

> Earthborn........................> Hammersmith

> Mulg...............................> Defender

> Runebearer......................> Cyclone

Min Fennblades..................> Hunter
> Officer and Drummer.......> Hunter

Min KSB and Scribes.........> Charger

> Elder...............................> Sentinel

Min Burrowers

Min Bog Trog Ambushers

Fell Caller

With a generic table setup featuring hills to both our left corners, forests opposite those and a small lake in the centre of the board, my opponent won the roll but opted to go second.  I deployed the Fennblades and Fell Caller on the right next to the hill, the line of beasts in the middle with the KSB behind them and the Burrowers advance deployed on my left.

Kraye deployed in the middle with the Hammersmith on the hill to my left, the Centurion near him, then the Defender and Cyclone with the Sentinel and Charger chilling out just behind them.  The two Hunters advance deployed on my right opposite the Fennblades.

Turn 1
Pretty simple turn for me, burrowers went underground and the beast brick ran forwards.  Madrak dropped all his fury into the KSB and ran up behind them before the Runebearer used his mini feat to cast Sure Foot on Madrak.  The KSB popped the aura and ran up behind Madrak and the Fennblades ran up in a position to threaten the ranged jacks next turn if they ventured too close.

Kraye cast guided fire and stayed back, the Defender tried to shoot the DEF16 (water and Sure Foot) Earthborn but missed, the two Hunters both managed to hit though and plinked off about 8 damage in total.  Cyclone dumped some suppression fire templates in front of the Fennblades and other than that nothing else really happened on Kraye's turn.

Turn 2
 Madrak leached his fury from his beasts and upkept Sure Foot.  Earthborn regenerated 3 damage and trampled to the edge of the water, Mulg ran up alongside the Earthborn and the Mauler ran up alongside him.  KSB popped aura once again and ran up behind the beasts, Madrak healed another 3 damage points from the Earthborn and camped his remaining fury point just in case.  Fennblades ran around the templates within charge range of the ranged jacks next turn and five of the Burrowers charged the hammersmith, doing about 6 damage or so altogether, but I didn't expect much as they were missing Carnage and War Cry, but it did tie him up in melee combat, the other ran to engage the Defender.

Kraye allocated 2 focus to the Centurion and 1 focus to the Defender.  Kraye went first and popped his feat, walking up to the Burrower engaging the Defender but misses him.  Hammersmith only manages to hit and kill one of the Burrowers, the Defender decides to eat a free strike from the Burrower as he attempts to slam the Earthborn to clear a firing angle for his other ranged jacks, taking a whopping 11 damage from the free strike (tearing off the gun) for his trouble and missing the slam attack.  Centurion slams the Mauler from the other side of the V, pushing him 4 inches but doing no damage to him, two KSB scribes pass their tough rolls from the collateral damage and the Centurion then stabs Mulg for 3 damage.  Hunter moves to sit between Mulg and Kraye and shoots Mulg but without focus to boost his damage only does a single damage point.  The other Hunter gets an angle to Madrak and shoots him but I choose to pop the scroll to ignore the damage before the Hunter moves to engage the Fell Caller.  Sentinel, Cyclone and Charger combine to kill the Fenn officer, drummer and 3 grunts with the other three all knocked down from tough rolls.

Turn 3

I bring on the Bog Trogs on my left flank who all charge the Hammersmith, splitting into paired combined melee attacks doing about 9 damage, the four remaining burrowers take another 10 or so off leaving him almost scrapped with both arms and cortex disabled.  Runebearer discounts a spell and Madrak casts Carnage and then uses his feat before charging the Centurion doing a few damage points and decides to drop Rage on Mulg.  Fell Caller moves to the edge of the engagement range of the Hunter and stands up the knocked down Fenns before swinging twice at the Hunter, hitting once for 5 damage.  Mulg now takes centre stage, maxing his fury to destroy the Centurion, Defender and leave the Hunter on five damage boxes.  Earthborn takes a free strike as he passes the Hunter who does a measly 1 damage on the way to charging Kraye, two boosted attack rolls later and Kraye is toast.

Ratings

Madrak

Never really threatened, even though I was very conscious of his nasty nasty Hunters.  Kept him hidden behind the V of heavy warbeasts until I went for the endgame.  Ran his beast brick well and never had fury issues. 8/10

Mauler
Only contribution to the game was his animus and getting slammed, but in another game he was there as an option if I needed him, just in this particular match Mulg and the Earthborn were all I needed to seal the deal.  7/10

Earthborn
Got shot a lot but kepts on ticking thanks to his mega DEF near the water.  Ultimately got the kill on Kraye and did everything I could have asked of him in this match up.  9/10

Mulg
What can I say?  Under Rage and Stone Strength he is a force of destruction.  By himself he tore through a Centurion (even missing once with double 1), a Defender and almost scrapped a Hunter in one hit. 10/10

Fennblades and UA
Ultimately in the list to be a distraction that the opponent cannot afford to ignore, all they did for the game was get shot up but were in a position to charge and tie up the remaining ranged light jacks.  7/10

Krielstone and Elder
Just another layer of protection to the beast brick, they refused to die to collateral which was an added bonus.  Stone Strength probably didn't help much but it was there.  7/10

Burrowers
Four points worth kept twice their point's worth of Hammersmith tied up and effectively out of the game as well as tearing off the Defender's gun on a free strike.  Also added to the list purely as a tool to shepherd the enemy where I want them to be, they did their job well.  8/10

Bog Trog Ambushers

Just like the Fennblades and Burrowers, their job was to help guide the caster where I wanted him to be.  Just by keeping them off the table until my third turn it meant Kraye couldn't run off toward the corners to outrun the beast brick.  Helped to cripple the Hammersmith.  8/10

Fell Caller
Didn't get to do much in this match, but he stood up the Fennblades ready to tie up his ranged jacks if the assassination run failed as well as doing a little bit of damage to one of the Hunters.  7/10

Runebearer
Pretty much his only purpose in the list is to get Sure Foot up turn 1 and help reduce cost of Carnage after that.  Did his job, allowing the Krielstone to protect Madrak and his beasts throughout the match.  7/10

Overall
The list ran well, did what I wanted to and most importantly was quick to run.   Few lists will have the amount of boosted ranged attacks, armour piercing and high POW guns that this list had and even if I think that it was a below optimal Kraye list it still presented some unique challenges to deal with in terms of accuracy, mobility and damage output.  I am happy with the first test, and look forward to getting more test matches in over the coming weeks.