50 point Steamroller - Game 3 - eVayl vs. eMakeda

eMakeda

Molik Karn

Titan Gladiator

Titan Gladiator

Archidon

Min Incendiarii

Max Nihilators

Min Beast Handlers

Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Extoller Soulward

Once again, down a point

Again, I am down a point on his list and I’m not sure where. Oh well! I won the roll off and chose first turn. My opponent chose the side with a forest in the center and a wall on my left just a little ways out of his deployment. I got the side with a hill in the middle and a house to the right side. I place two Angelius on the left side at the edge of Vayl’s control. The Ravagores and the last Angelius deploy to Vayl’s right. Vayl goes just right of center. The Hex Hunters go to the center left with their attachment, the Spawning Vessel. My opponent placed the Archidon and Molik Kharn to my left. Makeda goes in the middle with the Nihilators and the Incendiarii. The Titan Gladiators went to the right side. The support was spread around the back. On to Legion turn 1!

Turn 1 – Legion

I ran both Angelius up the left flank one behind the other, hoping to remain out of Kharn’s threat range. I activate Vayl and place Refuge on the nearby Anglius and Admonition on one of the Ravagores. She puts Occultation on herself and charges forward onto the hill. My Hex Hunters activate and run forward and spread out. The Spawning Vessel gets carried up behind them. The Refuge Angel flies up on the right. The two Ravagores run and place themselves in front of Vayl. The Shepherds run up behind. The Spell Martyr runs forward.

Turn 1 – Skorne

My opponent thinks Kharn has range on my Angelius. I’m surprised because I am quite a ways out. Makeda goes and casts Leash on Kharn and the spell for +2 movement for everything. She then walks forward into the forest. The Nihilators run straight forward and spread out. The Incendiarii run and spread out, and a key thing is that one goes in front of Makeda to block line of sight. One of the Gladiators goes and walks over to Kharn, putting Rush on him. The other Gladiator moves close to Makeda. The Beast Handlers move forward, removing some Fury and giving the +2 strength and free charge buff to Kharn. The other solo’s move up. Kharn goes and gets a charge on my front Angelius in my line. He only hits with one initial, and after 3 bought attacks puts the Angel down. He then decides to Fatewalker rather than attack the other Angelius, and uses it to walk over the nearby wall.

Turn 2 – Legion

I leach Fury and upkeep all spells. I start with the Refuge Angelius. It kills some Nihilators and Refuges into the right zone. I then activate the Hex Hunters, doing a run charge on the Nihilators, killing a large portion of the unit. The Spawning Vessel then moves up and pops out a Shredder. The Shredder walks over near the left Angelius. Vayl goes and shoots the Shredder in the back and arcs a Refuge onto the Angelius. One of the Ravagores goes left, boosting a fiery shot into Molik Kharn for some nice damage and lighting him on fire. The Angelius goes next, and after an Armor Pierce and some bought attacks, Kharn goes down. The other Ravagore walks forward and boosts a fiery shot into the Incendiarii right in front of Makeda. It kills the Incendiarii and lights a Beast Handler, Makeda, and the Archidon on fire. I boost blast damage on Makeda and do about 5 points. The Spell Martyr was actually used for an Icy Grip into the Nihilators from Vayl I think. That’s how my Hex Hunters were able to hit them relatively easily. Shepherds wipe some fury. Over to Skorne!

Turn 2 – Skorne

My opponent is on his back foot now, with Kharn being dead and my beasts in position to score some points. To make matters worse, the fire does not go out on Makeda and does another 6 points of damage. The Beast Handler burns and the fire on the Archidon goes out. His turn basically revolves around boosting the speed of the Archidon to crazy levels and getting into Vayl. He misses most all his attacks, needing hard 9’s. With that, my opponent concedes, as I score two control points in his turn and would gain another 2 and very likely 3 as Vayl could easily dominate if I can kill off the Archidon. Legion victory!

Post game thoughts

  I think my opponent made a few mistakes this game. He really should have held Molik back until the later game, as it was unlikely he would kill to Angelius in one round (but far from impossible!). It is crazy how far eMakeda can throw her beasts though! Man I was not ready for that first charge from Molik! I think I played against these crazy threat ranges well though. I made my opponent pay for throwing Molik out there, and that set the tone for the whole of the game. With that victory, I am off to final table! My next opponent: Mercenaries!

50 point Steamroller tournament - Game 1 - Legion vs. Mercenaries

eAbsylonia vs. Damiano

So for my first game I faced Mercenaries. My opponent was running a Gorten list with the Earthbreaker and all the fixin's and a Damiano list shown below. I decided to start off with eAbby as I think she has a lot of game against many Mercenary armies. Her list has the tools to ignore tough, prevent knockdown and pushes, and always threatens some crazy assassinations.

Damiano

Rocinante

eAlexia

eEiryss

Rhupert Carvolo

Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters Max

Greygore Boomhowler and Co. Max

Kayazy Assassins Max w/ UA

Kayazy Eliminators

Press Gangers Max

I lose the roll off and choose the side with a nicely placed hill about a charge distance out of my deployment zone. There is a forest just outside his deployment on my right. There is a hill about 8 inches from my deployment zone right in the center. There is a house on the right. There is a forest just outside my deployment on the left. I deploy Abby right in front of the hill. I put the Scythean to her left, followed by a Raek, the Shredder, the Shepherd, the Succubus, and finally the Naga. To her right are the two Ravagores followed by the other Raek and the two Forsaken. My opponent deploys Damiano dead center across from Abby. Rocinante goes to his left (all from my point of view). The Kayazy deploy on the right side of the line with the eliminators on the outside of that. Rhupert deploys behind the Kayazy. Cylena and the Hunters deploy to the far left with the Boomhowlers deployed right next to Rocinante. I advance deploy my two Strider Deathstalkers in front of my right lines across from the Kayazy. My opponent advance deploys his Press Gangers just in front of the Kayazy. 

Turn 1 – Mercenaries

Basically everything runs straight forward. Damiano casts Sure Foot on Alexia and Death March goes on the Kayazy. The Kayazy are by the right zone and the Press Gangers fill up the right zone. The Nyss are pressing forward on the left with eEiryss. Damiano only walks forward. Boomhowlers are at the edge of the left zone. The Eliminators are on the far right pretty far forward. Oh and Rhupert gave the Kayazy tough and fearless. Wise.

Turn 1 - Legion

I start with Deathstalkers. They both walk forward and toe the right zone.  The first one pops the Lass and a Ganger. The other pings a Ganger but it toughs so no snap fire. Boo. I activate Abby and she puts Tenacity on both Raeks, Fortify on the Scythean, then charges Damiano. Fail the charge. So its going to be this kind of game.. ;) My two Raek’s go running up, one into the right zone, and one on the hill in front of Abby. The Scythean goes and runs in front of Abby. The Ravagores both go running up and rile for 4 fury each. The Naga goes and runs into the left forest. Both Forsaken go and take the fury from the Ravagores. Shredder walks up and puts Tenacity on the Scythean. Succubus moves up and puts Tenacity on Abby.  The Shepherd just walks forward.

Turn 2 – Mercenaries

All spells are upkept by Damiano. He forgets to allocate to Rocinante. The Press Gangers get a charge run, with a few charging the Raek and the rest running to engage the Deathstalker’s. The Kayazy get tough and run into the right zone, with many engaging Raek’s, my Scythean, and my Deathstalker’s. The Eliminator’s move up further on the right. The Boomhowlers call 4+ tough and run up in the left zone and in front of the wall in front of Damiano. Damiano charges forward to avoid Kill Boxing himself, and ends right behind the central wall. The Nyss run up further on my left, along with eEiryss.

Turn 2 – Legion

So I leach fury up to full and free upkeep Fortify with the Succubus. I think this is feat turn, as well as game. I start with each Forsaken moving up and Blight Bombing the huge clumps of Kayazy and Press Gangers surrounding all my stuff. I kill all the ones engaging Ravagores, Raeks, and Deathstalkers. I activate the Deathstalkers and pop a few inconsequential Kayazy and Press Gangers. Next I activate Abby, pop feat, cast Slaughterhouse on myself, and charge one of the three Boomhowlers between my beasts and Damiano. She has to buy one attack in the end, but kills all three. She then Teleports back onto her hill, making sure she is far enough forward that I can force beasts near Damiano. I activate my Raek on the hill. It casts its animus on itself and flies over the last Kayazy over there and a Boomhowler behind the wall. I boost a headbutt and knock Damiano down. I activate each Ravagore, boosting shots into the now knocked down caster. He is on like 4 boxes. I activate the Scythean and charge and put him in the dirt.

Victory for Legion!

50 point Steamroller tournament tomorrow

Hello all!

Tomorrow I have a big 50 point steamroller tournament in preparation for Warmachine Weekend (Which I will not be able to attend). It will be timed turns, which is going to certainly be interesting. I think it is the least disadvantageous to Legion of all factions, as we tend to have fewer models than most any other opponent. It is a two list format, and I will be bringing epic Absylonia and epic Vayl. I think they make for a solid combination. Abby can skew for extreme speed versus slower lists, picking them apart before they can retaliate. Vayl pairs well as the all-comers warlock, able to overcome even poor match-ups that Abby just doesn't want any part of. Here are the two lists I plan on bringing:

eAbby - 50+5 pts
Scythean
Ravagore
Ravagore
Shredder
Raek
Raek
Naga Nightlurker
Succubus
Forsaken
Forsaken
Shepherd
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker

eVayl - 50+6 pts - Tier 4 Machinations of Shadow
Ravagore
Ravagore
Angelius
Angelius
Angelius
Max Nyss Hex Hunters
Max Spawning Vessel
Spell Martyr
Shepherd
Shepherd

The Vayl list is pretty typical tier 4 list. I like the triple Angel's with her, as it allows me to trade one and still have enough armor pierce's remaining to threaten any heavy.

As for the Abby list, I've tried the melee centric list built around a Carnivean and a few Scythean, and even with Typhon, and I just haven't been a fan. They have some tremendous killing power, but I have little in the way of ranged attacks to pressure my opponent into my claws/teeth. This list also kind of remains in one big clump, with very little board presence.

I've found I really enjoy a mixed list with Abby. The ranged firepower of the Ravagore's add a lot in the early game. They can mess up charge lanes for single wound infantry and light swathes of infantry on fire if my opponent isn't careful. Plus they are always great at sniping important solo's or higher value infantry, such as Cavalry. Then as the game progesses, I can really crank up the power of the Ravagore's on Abby's feat turn. They are in effect, able to contribute what many other heavies are able to at a higher volume of attacks and much higher threat ranges. Plus, they may not seem to get much benefit from conferred rage on non-feat turns, but that extra 2" of movement lets them threaten 22" up the board. That is really quite scary.

So hopefully my games go well! I will post up results and battle reports sometime this weekend! And Happy Halloween!

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight

Hello all, Andy here with my first Legion of Everblight warlock article! Today I am going to talk about my early experiences with Hordes and my boy Thagrosh1. Although I technically started with the Legion battlebox and pLylyth, I consider pThagrosh as my true first warlock. I used him throughout my first month-long Journeyman League with the alternate battlebox, followed by a local 35-point steamroller tournament. I have had a lot of success with Legion’s main man at a variety of point levels. Here are a few of the lists I’ve used.

pThagrosh +5

Ravagore – 10

Nephilim Soldier – 5

Harrier – 2

Shepherd – 1

Forsaken – 2

This was my 15-point list I used for the early portion of the Journeyman League and experience with Hordes as a whole. There was very little creativity to this list, as the alternate battle box required a Ravagore, Harrier, and Soldier. I knew little of the benefits of many solos in Legion, but was advised to add some fury management. Enter the Forsaken and Shepherd. Looking back now, there was no reason to include both a Forsaken and Shepherd as pThags can easily handle 3 little beasties on his own. However, these two models are great and should be some of the first purchases for any Legion player.

As for how the list plays, it did well in most match-ups as pThags feat is crazy at low point levels. A potential 10-point swing is huge when playing with only 15 points. The Ravagore won many games just by its assassination threat with its Dragon Fire animus. With few models, most opponents struggled to hide their casters. The list struggled when facing armies with high ARM. pStryker and pSorcha battle boxes were tough matchups. The list lacks greatly for armor cracking ability. But that is the nature of battlebox games.

pThagrosh +5

Carnivean – 11

Ravagore – 10

Nephilim Soldier – 5

Harrier – 2

Shepherd – 1

Feralgiest – 1

Next up is the 25 point list I used. I needed to add some armor cracking ability to my list so I added a Carnivean. It is a versatile beast that can trash a heavy in one round with little effort. I also enjoy having spiny growth the throw around on key models. With Death Shroud from pThags and spiny growth, legion heavies can reach a respectable armor 22 in melee. It made my army going from having difficulty cracking high armor, to being that high armor force that others had difficulty cracking. I also added a Feralgiest, because it has a neat ability that I have not once remembered to use. But mostly I added it because it was the only other 1 point model I owned at the time.

The list dealt with most foes quite well and I never came across an opponent I really struggled with at this point in the league.

pThagrosh +5

Carnivean – 11

Ravagore – 10

Scythean – 9

Max Hex Hunters – 8

Shepherd – 1

Feralgiest – 1

So here we are at 35 points (I was unable to play the second to last week, so I now have no model restrictions). I can finally drop some of the models I didn’t care for (Nephilim Soldier) and include more of the awesome heavies Legion has to offer. I chose to include one of each of the “normal” heavies for Legion. They each have something different to offer from their brothers, so I like having one of each. The Carnivean for its animus and a 10” spray, the Scythean for reach and no tough, and the Ravagore for long ranged firepower. I also added my first unit I owned and played, the Hex Hunters. These guys just looked awesome to me and at the time their rules seemed sweet so I picked up a box. Although pThags doesn’t really bring much to them in the way of buffs, they are a nice little jamming unit that can be quite irritating to deal with. With stealth, spd 7, and pathfinder, they can easily find their way across the board and into the enemies units. From there they try to get a kill and hex bolt a nearby heavy, preventing tramples or special attacks. Even if they didn’t kill anything, they often took opponents several turns just to remove.

While playing this list, I only ever struggled with some scenarios, as my army mostly moved in a tight clump around pThags. The Feralgiest is actually very helpful for this as a flag capturer or contester as an incorporeal model. A lot of armies don’t have any way of dealing with that.

Well there you have it, my relatively noobie opinions of Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight. Keep your eyes out for a write up of my first Warmahordes tournament and further warlock articles!

-Andy