zomg a Bakaryu BatRep!

Screenshot or it didn't happen :)

In all seriousness though, this year I will be playing Trollbloods as my competitive tournament faction and have already been getting a few games under my belt, but haven't posted up the first few battle reports largely due to playing like a chump and getting used to not overextending on the fury system again.  I have won two out of the three games, but this one here is the first one which I felt that I played well enough in to be considered for a battle report.

This match was Trollbloods against Mercenaries, my Gunnbjorn list had been doing pretty well but this opponent had at least one Galleon in all of his three lists, and so I had opted to go with eDoomshaper for threat range and ARM cracking, my opponent went for Bart so I felt like I had gone with the right matchup here.

Doomshaper2..................................Broadsides Bart
> Mulg the Ancient...........................> Galleon
> Rok..............................................> Galleon
> Mauler..........................................Max Forgeguard
> Axer.............................................Ragman
> Night Troll.....................................Gobber Tinkerer
> Runebearer....................................McDougall
Min Kriel Warriors...........................Aiyana and Holt
> Standard and Piper........................Piper of Ord
> 2 Caber Throwers
Min Krielstone and Scribes
> Elder

The scenario rolled up was Rally point, and the terrain saw a forest on each player's right flank just beyond deployment zones, a hill on the opposite flank and a few rocks as impassible terrain/cover in the dead centre of the board.

Deployment
My opponent won first turn, deploying both Galleons and Bart dead centre of the board, with Forgeguard either side of them, Ragman, Piper and McDougall behind the colossals and A+H just off to my left of the forgeguard, so quite central overall.

I also deployed pretty centrally, with (from left to right) Mauler, Rok, Axer, Mulg and Night Troll.  Kriel Warriors filled the gaps between them and the Krielstone was camped behind but centrally, with Doomie and the Runebearer just off centre to my right.

Turn 1
One each to the Galleons, Bart drops Hot Shot on the the Galleon to my left, his Forgeguard run to make a screen in front of the Galleons who run up behind them.  His various support solos and units hang out at the back ready to give support as soon as it is needed.

Runebearer gives Harmonious Exaltation to Doomshaper, who drops Wild Aggression onto Mulg and 5 into the Krielstone before advancing a few inches.  Mulg runs up, the Night Troll runs directly in front of him to protect him from drags, Axer runs up behind a rock for cover, Mauler and Rok both get Caber Throwers in front of them who are in turn surrounded by grunts for take up to again prevent any drag shenanigans.  Krielstone runs up and gives +2 ARM, focusing on the left side as Mulg is pretty safe.

Turn 2
Upkeep Hot Shot, 3 focus to the Hot Shotted Galleon.  Forgeguard advance up to keep up the screen and are given tough by the Piper.  McDougall gives Artillerist to the powered up Galleon and Aiyana just about manages to get close enough to hit a Kriel Warrior with Kiss.  Fortunately the left hand Galleon rolls terrible for his 2d3 shots, getting 3 of them which thanks to the spacing only kills two Kriel Warriors and a boosted attack roll with the Harpoon misses the Caber Thrower in front of Rok.  Bart switches Hot Shot onto the other Galleon and pops his feat.  The other Galleon only has a few guys in range and again rolls poorly, killing one Krielstone scribe with a scatter and another Kriel Warrior.

Bart's feat I knew would be coming this turn, it doesn't make it any less annoying but I see an opportunity to kill Aiyana and Holt and decide to go for it.  Mauler advances to toe the left zone and puts Rage onto the Caber Thrower, Kriel Warriors use Fervor and run/charge.  One Kriel Warrior runs into the two Forgeguard right in front of Aiyana and Holt and the Caber charges him, the other Kriel Warriors run up to gum up and block charge lanes with two more getting charges onto the right hand flank.  Thanks to Steady and Fervor they only have to put up with being MAT4, managing to kill one of the Forgeguard and then the all important one, he hits the Kriel Warrior and slams him 2 inches, enough to hit two Forgeguard, Aiyana and Holt but falling half an inch short of the Gobber Tinkerer.  One of the Forgeguard dies, Holt dies but Aiyana is left on 1hp, the brave Kriel Warrior sadly does not pass his tough check.  Aiyana needs to die, so Rock advances into Bart's control area and is consequently knocked down, but Doomie arcs a Primal Shock through him which auto kills her.  Doomie also drops Refuge onto the Night Troll, and ditches a fury point.  Other beasts advance, but otherwise remain out of charge range of the Forgeguard.

Turn 3
Upkeep Hotshot, 3 focus to the left hand Galleon.  The right side Galleon gets Artillerist and Powder Rations before rolling up 4 shots, fires them all at the Night Troll hoping for kind deviations and blast damage rolls.  Two of them manage to land on the Runebearer, but he rolls a triple one for the first damage roll and he passed a tough check on the second one.  The Night Troll comes out unscathed, the Forgeguard clean up most of the Kriel Warriors, with only the standard and Piper left but they pass their command check.  Bart cycles Hot Shot onto the left hand Galleon who opens fire at the knocked down Rok, getting the maximum 6 shots which do average damage, he then hits and drags him in with the Harpoon and he subsequently dies to the auto hitting melee attack.  The piper again gives the Forgeguard tough.

Leech all fury, upkeep both spells.  Time for my feat turn, losing Rok was a shame but it was important to kill one of his two damage buffers and I felt Rok to be more expendable than the Mauler.  Runebearer goes first, giving Harmonious Exaltation to Doomie who pops his feat, is annoying about 1/4 inch away from dropping Rage on Mulg, but also needs to advance closer to the Axer and Mauler, dropping Rage on 1 for 1 fury, and on the other for free.  He primal shocks a Forgeguard just to ditch some of the fury to leech back what I am feeling pretty safe to say will be a lot of fury on the board.  Krielstone uses +2 ARM and +1 STR and then the Mauler charges the Galleon, wrecking him with his last attack and saving the Axer from having to commit there.  He instead walks up to a bunch of Forgeguard and threshers all three of them, killing two out of the three, buying one more attack to kill that last one who had passed a tough check previously.  The Night Troll charges two Forgeguard, killing them both and using Allure and then advancing via Refuge behind them all.  Mulg charges into the other Galleon and proceeds to wreck him too, killing him with his final attack from his affinity.

Turn 4
That was a bad turn for Bart, he has 3 Forgeguard, Piper, Ragman, Tinkerer and Bart himself left and I have everything except Rok and most of my Kriel Warriors.  Bart is forced to charge into and kill the Night Troll so that the remaining forgeguard can actually charge at Mulg.  Ragman walks up and puts up Death Field and they charge Mulg, taking about half his boxes off him.  Piper walks up to try to block the Axer off and McDougall quad fires a Kriel Warrior, who passes the one tough check he had to make as all the other 3 shots failed to break ARM.

I take all the fury from Mulg and the Axer, the Mauler manages to roll a 3 and pass his threshold test.  An unexpected bonus but I will take it, I upkeep Wild Aggression and start with the Runebearer who walks up and uses Harmonious Exaltation on Doomie.  The Mauler walks up and eats the Piper, freeing up the way for the Axer to get into the support at the back.  He proceeds to do so, walking up and threshing Ragman, two of the three Forgeguard and McDougall.  Doomie puts Rage onto Mulg, primal shocks through him to kill the last Forgeguard member and heals Mulg's mind, and Mulg then charges across the wreck of the Galleon into Bart and eats his face off.

Summary
Bart can always be a challenge, and a double Galleon list can bring a lot of hurt if you aren't prepared to deal with the armour.  I still need to work on my unpacking of the list a little, a few guys got in each other's way turn 1 but that will come with practice.  The list worked very well and I am happy with how it plays and the different options it presents.

Doomshaper: 8/10
Kept the army ticking along, throwing out the occasional primal shock and passing around Animi like candy.  His feat as usual just gives so much speed to the list that it was game winning.

Mauler: 9/10
One rounded a colossal worth double his points, and his animus was useful all over the board.  Caber Throwers with Rage do a lot of direct damage, and POW10 collateral is enough to threaten most infantry.  Also ate the piper and passed a threshold check, so two thumbs up for that achievement.

Rok: 6/10
Didn't do anything this game, but was used as a sacrificial pawn to kill off Aiyana which by itself justified his sacrifice.  Would have been safely behind cover if I hadn't failed to roll a 6+ to kill her with the Caber bowling.

Mulg: 9/10
Murdered yet another colossal, tanked three Forgeguard charges and them proceeded to kill an ARM22 Bart without batting an eyelid.  Easily justified his inclusion for the caster that I think gives him more than any other caster in the faction.

Axer: 7/10
A steady performance from the Axer, he killed five Forgeguard, McDougall and Ragman and so earned his points back no problem.  Never needed rush in this game, but was always an option that the opponent needed to be wary of.

Night Troll: 8/10
Played two key roles in the game.  First of all he protected Mulg from being dragged by the second Galleon, and when my feat turn came around the Refuge Allure combo forced Bart to commit to killing him right in front of Mulg because otherwise the Forgeguard couldn't get to Mulg.  Major impact.

Runebearer: 7/10
Kept Doomshaper's fury efficiency ticking over, and actually passed a tough check for once.  Quiet but efficient.

Kriel Warriors: 8/10
Steady justified their inclusion over the likes of Warders or Fennblades, Kriel Warrior bowling should have killed Aiyana with below average dice but she survived only to be Primal Shocked to death.  Proved to be a pain for the entirety of the game as they usually do.

Krielstone: 8/10
The Mauler would not have killed the Galleon without the +1 STR aura, as he filled in its final box exactly with his final attack.  Other than that, the +2 ARM didn't really do much over the course of the game, but the utility always justifies its inclusion.

To Theme or not to Theme... Epic Doomshaper

To Theme or not to Theme; that is the question

Theme forces are an often maligned part of the game. Whilst some are considered good, and very few considered amazing, the majority are forgotten about. Whilst “Runes of War” (pDoomshaper) and “Family Reunion” (Borka) get a fair amount of exposure, the rest are dismissed for not being top tier tournament lists. Well, guess what? We don’t all play tournaments all the time! It’s good to experiment and have fun, take a break from everything the internet tells you to do!

This sporadic series will look at the Trollblood Theme forces and give a brief break down and a series of ratings…

Baka's Tournament List Building - Part 2

Welcome back for the second part of my Tournament List Building blog series, in the first part I discussed the weaknesses that Trollbloods had in the past, the reasons why I didn't take them to the UK Masters last year and what I think has changed with the release of Domination in regards to those weaknesses.  I also outlined what I felt were the key aspects that have to be taken into consideration with any competitive tournament list building strategy, especially as the competitive meta evolves and seems to increasingly lean towards Character Restrictions and a tri-list format.

This second part will look at the first of the three lists that (barring some minor tweaking based on playtest games) I intend to run for the competitive tournament scene throughout 2012.  Not only will I be outlining my first list, but also how it matches up to the three key aspects outlined last time out; namely Scenario Superiority, Denial and List Busting.

The List
The first of my three warlocks that I intend to take will be Doomshaper2, I have long avoided the "power casters" in our faction as they have been referred to in the form of Madrak2 and Doomshaper2 in the belief that working with our lower tiered casters will help give me a deeper insight into the strategic depths of our faction and hopefully help take my play level up a notch or two when the time comes to take my best and dirtiest lists.  Without further ado lets get down to the actual list:

Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia (*6pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
* Rok (11pts)
* Mulg the Ancient (12pts)
* Trollkin Runebearer (2pts)
Kriel Warriors (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* 3 Kriel Warrior Caber Thrower (3pts)
* Kriel Warrior Standard Bearer & Piper (2pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes (4pts)
* Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder (1pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)
Troll Whelps (2pts)

Reinforcements:
Dire Troll Mauler (9pts) 
Feralgeist (1pts)

Those of you who have read my Domination Reaction Corner series might well recognise this list, it is the sample list included in the Rok review plus the 10pts of reinforcements permitted for a 50pt list, and it is one that I look at and struggle to find a way to improve upon.  So how does it match up to the competitive play criteria?

Scenario Superiority
One area that could be looked at in this list with concern is the relatively small footprint that it occupies on the table, just two units, two solos, a warlock and three heavy warbeasts is not a particularly large force.  Admittedly one of those units is purely support however the other unit is a particularly meaty 15man unit that also packs Steady.  Overall this list I will be the first to admit is not designed to grind out scenario victories, it's strengths lie in the other two strategic areas, but does that mean that it is weak in scenarios?

No, because to score scenario points you still need to be able to take zones uncontested, and what eDoomshaper does is give you a lot of high ARM, high health killing machines that he can use as pseudo arcnodes and who are all capable of limited movement after destroying enemy models.  This is one thing that is absolutely massive in scenario play, if you are able to move after destroying enemies then this so often makes the difference between just killing an enemy that is contesting a flag and both killing the enemy and then moving to contest it yourself (or even better score).

Denial
While not as good as Doomshaper1, Doomshaper2 does possess some very powerful denial tools himself.  First of all you have the ever useful Agitation, so many times I have rolled badly and seen my warbeasts frenzy even when they had just the single fury point on them, especially at key points in the game which have sometimes cost me victories.  This spell just being on his card forces the opposing warlock into a catch 22 situation, if they are forcing just enough fury to be able to leech it all then they are potentially opening up multiple beasts to frenzy checks, if they force enough to leave themselves short on fury leeching then you can opt not to use Agitation forcing the opposition warlock to cut himself if he wants to have his full fury allowance.

Refuge is similarly great for denial, combined with Goad this could see some warbeasts (especially on feat turn) pull back far enough to avoid being countercharged next turn.  Alternatively refuge can also be used to ram one of your heavy warbeasts down the opposing caster's throat, the amount of casters out there capable of taking down a full health heavy (especially once a whelp pops out to push DEF to an effective 13) without any degree of risk are very small, potentially either diverting his own heavies to deal with the threat or forcing the caster to face the choice of a free strike or take the risk of being able to kill the warbeast.

Similarly to Agitation, Doomshaper2's feat also serves as a deterrent to enemy casters about getting too close to him simply by being on the card.  Many of the more experienced players out there will have seen the 15" trample and double goad Wild Aggression trick on his feat turn and will always do their best to make sure that they keep their casters well away from Doomshaper2's beasts until you have blown your feat.  The great thing about this feat is that against jack/beast heavy lists you can go to town and pop it for the alpha strike, or against infantry heavy forces you can save it as a counter punching tool after the opponent has had to commit the bulk of his infantry trying to kill the beasts.

As for assassination denial, this is predominantly taken care of courtesy of Janissa's wall, the KSB aura and the Earthborn's animus (that he always casts on himself for free except when going for the kill and fury is needed elsewhere) which all combine to push him to an extremely impressive DEF17 ARM19 against ranged and magic and typically DEF15 ARM19 versus melee.  On top of that the job of the Kriel Warriors is predominantly to tie up opposing infantry and maintain a Steady infantry screen in front of Doomshaper which cannot be trampled through, Cabers are certainly capable of inflincting heavy damage but are again there to force the opponent to make the decision to commit his heavies knowing they will likely die to the counter punch.

List Busting
Finally we come to the final aspect, how well does this list deal with massive ARM and DEF?  While admittedly the Mauler never really gets to come into play in half of the games, the lack of Rage is partially offset by Primal.  The main purpose of Primal is of course for the MAT buff, in most cases ensuring that Wild Aggression is only necessary when aiming for caster levels of DEF (Doomshaper2 himself not withstanding) and beyond, even then with the combination of Primal and Wild Aggression Mulg and Rok are capable of hitting a staggering DEF19 on averages and packing a POW of 20 or beyond leaving them more than capable of turning any heavy into scrap in record time.

Admittedly the list itself doesn't really synergise so much as every aspect compliments each other and covers for their own relative weaknesses.  There are no buffs for the Kriel Warriors outside of the Krielstone aura and in half the games the Mauler's Rage animus.  The use of Primal needs to be weighed carefully each turn, as you effectively take one of your own beasts out of the game for a turn by taking the chance on using it when the dice might mean you would have scrapped whatever you were attacking anyway.

As far as assassination potential goes however, Doomshaper2 is probably as good as it gets for Trollbloods, he is capable of slingshotting warbeasts an unfathomable distance, and if the assassination is on, the combination of Wild Aggression and Primal pretty much means the end of just about any caster in the game, especially when used on Mulg or Rok.

Overall Review
When you stop and look at every factor and all the conditions that I laid out in part 1, this Doomshaper2 list ranks as so-so on Scenario Superiority, very highly on Denial and very highly on List Busting.  On top of that, it has the advantage of having three heavies, meaning that you could easily afford to throw away one taking out a key piece, maybe even afford to throw away two and in half the scenarios you will even have the Mauler coming in as reinforcement as well as a Feralgeist to try to help keeping your warbeasts around for that precious final attack.

On top of that you have Kriel Warriors and their self sufficient awesomeness, simultaneously serving both a defensive role in the protection of Doomshaper2 and an offensive role in jamming up the midfield and helping to create openings for the warbeasts to punch through.