Mabrothrax's LTC Fail.
Excuses
Well, first let’s get the shameful news out of the way…
the team I played for came last of 12. Both my team mates lost all 4 of their
games and I only won one. Overall I placed 28th of 36, which isn’t
amazing either. Actually, one of our team members got the day of the tournament
wrong and missed the first round, it was all downhill from there.
There is no substitute for a good night’s sleep. Going
into a long day of full on playing whilst exhausted and cranky is not the best
way to do things. Be prepared!
I did thoroughly enjoy the day and had some great games
and came away with some new ideas and more experience, so it wasn’t all that
bad…
Round 1 pMadrak vs
Cygnar (Siege Trial by Fired theme list tier 4)
Major Markus ‘Seige’ Brisbane
Triumph
Ironclad
Squire
Journeyman Warcaster
Hunter
Journeyman Warcaster
Charger
Captain Arlan Strangeways
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
Arcane Tempest Officer
10 Long Gunners
4
Field Mechaniks
The scenario was Close Quarters.
I didn’t know this new theme force, and the three
trenches setup in close proximity (touching) my opponent’s flag was a blatant
move to entice me to his corner.
Being the first game, being tired and rushed to get to
the venue and slightly disorientated had me making seriously stupid mistakes. I
set up one unit of warders to go for his flag and challenge siege, but with a
handy piece of rough terrain in the way… and on the second turn I didn’t
actually move pMadrak into contact with my own flag and failed to score. Yeah,
that bad.
To be frank, once I’d given away the missed CP it was
over. I somehow let a journeyman warcaster survive to contest as well. I lost
the game 5-2.
On the plus side the ARM 21 brick was virtually
unkillable and it took my opponent forever to take down one unit of Warders,
and even with Siege’s feat he still had a hard time inflicting any damage.
Round 2 pMadrak vs
Cryx (pSkarre)
Pirate Queen Skarre
Deathjack
Skarlock
10 Bane Thralls
Bane Thrall Officer & Standard
10 Mechanathralls
10 Mechanathralls
Necrosurgeon + Stitch Thralls
Necrosurgeon + Stitch Thralls
10 Blood Witches
Blood Hag
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren
Satyxis Raider Captain
3 Scrap Thralls
Saxon Orrik
Scenario: Into the Breach
Cryx are a pain, but they don’t scare me all that much.
To be honest I expected to be able to attrition this one like a charm, all it
would take is using a combination of Madrak’s feat and the careful use of the
bump animus to grab a juicy 2CP in the zone. At least, that was the plan.
You know how in some games you feel totally disconnected
from your opponent? He played his force, I played mine and the interaction was
minimal. Skarre ran for the flag and grabbed an early CP, I sat in the zone and
went about slowly trying to clear it. Things were going well until Skarre’s
feat turn where I lost a decent chunk of my force and went from being outnumbered
to overwhelmed. Ther was no way I was getting any CPs from the zone now.
However, Skarre had moved from the flag to the centre of the table and was in
clear range for Madrak to step up and have a go. Being 1-0 down and with very
little chance to win on control I went for the assassination.
Madrak charged Skarre with 5 fury and failed to hit with
all his attacks. He was then brutally murdered in return.
Balls.
Round 3 Calandra
vs Skorne (pMorghul)
Master Tormentor Morghoul
Basilisk Krea
Cyclops Brute
Bronzeback Titan
Molik Karn
Tiberion
Titan Gladiator
6 Paingiver Beast Handlers
6 Paingiver Beast Handlers
Extoler Soulward
Scenario: Supply and Demand
Now this was a fun
game. I’ve played Lewis before where he used a 35 point version of the same
list and was comfortable in knowing my opponent and his army. Admittedly the
Calandra list might not have been the best choice here, but I didn’t want to be
locked in for the fourth round.
Early on the Runeshapers took out my opponent’s objective
scoring me an early 1 CP. The rest of the game saw the ‘piece trade’ happen
smoothly with each of us throwing beasts at each other, but in the long run his
heavies out lasted my lights, and the bronzeback (just) managed to one round
the Mountain King., also, early on the Runeshapers and the Storm Troll put some
serious hurt on Morghul himself dropping him to two health.
Despite Star Crossed being up my opponent slowly wore me
down and I couldn’t quite capitalize on the 1 CP lead or Morghul being
practically dead. Then he managed to destroy my objective making it 1-1. Soon
after Dice Down was called and I lost on the third Tie breaker as he had more
points in the zone.
Round 4 pMadrak vs
Legion of Everblight (pVayl)
Vayl, Disciple of Everblight
Succubus
Seraph
Scythean
Naga Nightlurker
Typhon
Gatorman Witch Doctor
6 Blight Nyss Hex Hunters
10 Blighted Nyss Legionnaires
Captian Farilor & Standard
Spawning Vessel and 6 Acolytes
Scenario Chemical Reaction
I know full well what Vayl and her list is all about and
knew basically it would be a grind, which it was. Despite all his beasts and
spells and broken abilities I slowly weathered the losses of Mulg and Rok whilst Warders and Bouncers surrounded Vayl (and Typhon) and eventually splatted her.
Not much else to say here really. I won a game, at last.
Overall thoughts.
I played badly. There’s no getting around it, I needed
more sleep and time to relax beforehand. I had one of those epic dice fails in
the Cryx match, and mishandled a turn in the Skorne match that probably cost me
the game.
The pMadrak list is amazingly hard to deal with, it just
soaks up so much damage. Despite this, I found it hard to capitalise on my
opponent’s frustration and the Speed 4 Warders desperately wanted a buff.
pMadrak works perfectly well in the list and with his feat on a crucial turn
can work wonders, however, I am seriously considering keeping the list as is
but swapping pMadrak for eGrissel…
This is an early stage ‘test it in my head’ thing.
The pros of eGrissel:
·
One more point of Fury
·
Dash (SPD +1) for the Warders
·
Fell Blast adds some ranged threat, but not much
·
Feat takes the ARM 21 spam idea and turns it up
to 11 (well, 23) for one turn
The Cons:
·
Slightly less tough than pMadrak considering
lack of Sure foot etc
·
Without Crusher or Carnage there’s no melee
support going on
·
Feat is a bit ‘meh’
·
Erm… I don’t have her model yet?
Regarding the Calandra Theme list, I wish I’d had the balls
to put it on the table at least one more time. Funnily enough I found the
Warders in the list (in this game and others before) to be somewhat out of
place. They are amazingly good, but here… well I found myself wishing I had
more Runeshapers and another Storm Troll for some electro leap stuff. That’s a
straight swap that I’m going to try out. It has some obvious benefits: another
point of fury in the Kriel Stone to start with, more ranged threat, more
coverage for Janissa’s Force Lock ability, more electro leaps…
I know I’m losing hard as nails weapon masters, but
sometimes you have to go with your gut.
So there you have it. I’ll be trying the alternate
Calandra list at my local club soon, and perhaps the eGrissel/pMadrak swap
soon. Time to really get these lists to work in preparation for Smogcon in Feb
2014!
Keep rolling tough!
Sorry to hear about your losses man!
ReplyDeleteI personally like eGrissel. Her feat is actually pretty rad if timed well with warders. Hyper Agressive is amazing with them, it both solves some of their movement problems and also doesn't deprive them of armor (unless you walk out of the KSB aura or feat range) like it could/would with champs. Or if they are engaged the +2 ARM is pretty fantastic on an already tough unit.
Don't forget she has inhospitable ground! That spell can either be useless or amazing depending on enemy composition, but when it's amazing, it's really hard for people to deal with.
Also, even though she doesn't have sure foot, she has fantastic defensive stats. With surefoot pMadrak is 16/16. eGrissel is 15/17. The biggest loss is the steady though, and there's no discounting that.