Rob and I played a game almost a month ago, and I figure I'd put a brief write-up on the interwebs.
First off, I didn't take any pictures. Rob did, and if he ever puts them online, I'll make sure to link to them.
We decided to run 35 points. I chose to run the Witch Coven (who I hadn't used in MkII), Rob chose regular Irusk.
My list:
The Witch Coven of Garlghast
- Deathripper
- Deathripper
- Defiler
- Reaper
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bile Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Bane Lord Tartarus
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith
I wasn't really sure how the Witch Coven worked under MkII, so I went for as generic a list as I could. Of course, now having some experience, I realize I really need more threats. The Reaper doesn't really fit, and the Pistol Wraiths aren't helpful enough. Regardless, not important for this game.
Rob's list:
Kommandant Irusk
- Devastator
- War dog
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
- Greylord Escort
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Man-o-war Kovnik
Rob's been getting smarter! First off, he is running Irusk, which means he needs a decent amount of infantry to take the most advantage of him. Well, there's plenty of infantry there. Knowing he was running against Cryx, he took two units of Doom Reavers- a fantastic choice that I definitely struggled with. The Great Bears are fantastic, of course. The Man-o-war choices are interesting as well, since they are very durable, and aren't as easy for my Cryx guys to quickly kill.
The Devastator as a jack choice was a little strange to me, but he seemed to intend it to go after arc nodes, or infantry. That's a good role for it.
Rob wanted extra forests on the board, so our terrain set-up was about five forests scattered around the board, with a single building on my right towards Rob's deployment zone.
I can't recall who deployed first, but the end deployment for me was by Bane Thralls + Tartarus on my left, Bile Thralls + Pistol Wraiths on my right, and my jacks in the middle. Rob has Doom Reavers on his left and right, and Irusk + the Man-o-War choices up the middle.
We both advanced cautiously towards the middle, and I used Ghost Walk on an arc node to get some early spells off at his advancing troops (the MoW). The Doom Reavers on my right shredded the Pistol Wraiths and a Defiler that got too close (knocking off its arc node), and in return were purged upon by the Bile Thralls, killing almost the entire unit.
On my left, I left the Bane Thralls and Tartarus too far forward, and the Doom Reavers on that side tore through them with limited casualties. Talk about scary for a Cryx player.
The Man-o-War troops used to advance up the middle slowed down upon entering the forest in the middle, and I used the added time they spent traversing it to pelt them with my offensive magic. That combined with my Reaper's shooting and dragging finally killed the unit.
Towards mid-game, our forces were battered, and things weren't looking well. I had lost both my Pistol Wraiths, all but maybe 1 of my Bile Thralls, and all my Bane units, as well as suffered damage to all of my jacks. Rob had a virtually untouched unit of Reavers and an undamaged Devastator (plus that War Dog).
I used my turn to the best effect possible. The Deathrippers and the Defiler went in and killed a few of the Doom Reavers, while I started taking shots at the Devastator, hoping to damage it enough to kill with magic. In response, the Devastator charged into the Reaper, dealing heavy damage. In the next turn, the Reaper would take enough swings to finally disable the arms on the thing, bringing it to ARM 17. The Doom Reavers took swings at the bonejacks in front of them, but failed to do much damage, and ended up finally being destroyed next turn.
The Devastator then moved forward and Rain of Death'd my Defiler, killing it, and the Coven used magic to kill it right afterwards. Down to only two bonejacks and the Coven vs. an angry Irusk, I was actually terrified. What if he camped his focus and kept marching straight at me? Stygian Abyss would buy me time, but I wasn't going to easily chip away at his damage.
Thankfully, Rob was determined to end me, and used focus to shoot at my bonejacks, generally not causing enough damage to matter, while leaving himself open for spell damage. Two turns of this, and the game was over.
Overall, this is the closest game Rob and I have had, by far. The Witch Coven don't feel quite the same as they did in the previous version of the game, which isn't a bad thing, but I'll definitely need more experience with them to figure out how to use them.
Rob seems to be learning quite well. I was actually quite concerned at some points, especially after the models on my left flank were utterly destroyed, and I had no means to retaliate immediately.
Next game, I'm unsure what I'll be using vs. Rob. It will either be Lich Lord Asphyxious, Wraith Witch Deneghra, or a Skorne army (my current love). We'll see ;).
By the way, I realized that my blog has been up and running for over a year (a year and a week, actually!). I didn't even notice, but that's awesome!
Thanks for reading guys!
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