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First time attending a tournament, so not really expecting much. The event is 1 list, 40pts. My Ravyn list has recently undergone a slight shuffling. The Phoenix wasn’t really pulling it’s weight, so I auditioned a few candidates for the job. The best performers for the points were 2 units of Stormfall archers, so I picked up the units and assembled them for the event. I also had to find something to do with 5 extra points, so I shuffled in eEiryss and Narn and dropped the Arcanist. The final list was:
Ravyn
-Manticore
Mage Hunter Strike Force (max + UA)
2x Stormfall Archer units
2x Ghost Snipers
2x Mage Hunter Assassins
Narn
eEiryss
Aiyana & Holt
Round 1
eMadrak
-Impaler
-Earthborn
-Bomber
Kriel Warriors (max + UA + Caber Throwers)
Krielstone bearer and scribes (max)
Pyg Burrowers (min)
Whelps (a lot I think he said he had 10 total)
Scenario: Mosh Pit/Assassination
Assessment going in: I know very little about trolls…that’s about it.
The Game:
I got first turn, it was just a positioning round as both armies set up on opposite sides of the mosh pit.
Second turn was a good bit more eventful as the MHSF dropped 6 Kriel Warriors to some good damage rolls and the stormfalls contributed as well setting 4 on fire and killing another, I also used the manticore to put a covering fire template over the pyg burrowers little marker thing as I wasn’t fully aware at the time how little that unit would actually do. After losing 2 more to fire, the kriels are pretty much spent, but they and the Krielstone unit advance into the pit. The Bomber throws some AoEs and gets kills, but nothing devastating and the Earthborne tramples a good 12-14” toward the manticore, Looking back, I’m not actually sure how he did this, he claimed to have a speed boost from a hill or something. Meanwhile the pygs stayed burrowed to avoid jumping into the covering fire AoE and advanced.
Third turn is where the serious problem occurred. I used the Manticore to headbutt the Earthborn and moved Ravyn to within Melee and had her kills some trolls while she was there. Then opened fire with the 5 remaining stormfalls using brutal shot against the now knocked-down Earthborn. I foolishly figure that needing 3’s to hit with 4D6 for damage would do the thing in, but 2 of the models missed completely and a third rolled stupidly low for damage. Even after throwing Narn’s pair of weapon master attacks and a MHA the thing was still alive. The only saving grace of this affair was that he dramatically overextended the beast, so his ability to caster assassinate was limited, but this still left a good chuck of my army dealing with something that should’ve been dead. The MHSF charged the Bomber to tie it up and do a little damage in the process. His units advanced and surrounded my caster, but did little in the way of damage. The Earthborn ate Narn, and the bomber killed a Mage hunter or two.
Turn Four is where the game is basically over, the only model/unit I can get completely within the Mosh pit is my caster. The manticore head butts the earthborne for a second time and this time only one stormfall misses while another pops a 16 for damage ending my headache. Remaning ranged units thin out the trolls a bit and the MHSF fights the bomber. Now it’s time for Ravyn to make a showing. Thanks to Vortex she polishes off almost all of the remaining trolls in the mosh pit, but the enemy caster. I had a swift hunter move while whe had 3 focus remaining and had a choice to make. I could either save the focus and pray I would wheather Madrak’s attacks or go for the kill. Madrak had no other trolls nearby and all of his beasts were full of fury, so I figured what the hey and went for it. My bad dice rolls followed me here as well though and Madrak took off her head in his next turn.
Final Assessment: It’s more frustrating to know you can do something and see the dice tell you otherwise than to just roll badly. If the earthborn died when it should have it would’ve freed up the Manticore and stormfalls to contribute to the fight in the middle and may have even allowed them to contribute to an assassination run.
Final Note: If my opponent actually knew the rules well enough I might’ve accused him of cheating. He didn’t have any counters for fury and spells/animus other than the dice he was rolling which caused fury to occasionally appear and disappear. He also had some odd notions about how simple things like knock down worked claiming that the earthborn actually got a DEF bonus for being knocked down. I’d almost wager money he played certain things wrong as the model in the Kriel unit that kept them from being knocked down kept changing from turn to turn. Even with some really limited experience against trolls this didn’t feel like he was getting the most from these units, so this entire game felt like my bad dice were buoying his bad decisions which just feels like a healthy dose of salt on the wound.
Round 2
Karchev
-Beast 09
-Juggernaught
-Kodiak (The blasted heath one)
Widowmakers
Winterguard Rifles (max)
Kovnik Joe
Another Solo (can’t recall which one)
Scenario: Kill all beasts or Jacks/Assassination
Assessment going in: I’ve seen this movie before, I know how it ends. Just to be safe, the Manticore goes into a far corner of the table to have a beer, but I severely doubt it will matter.
The Game:
I got first turn and advanced into position, I did a good bit of running because I usually only get one shot at Karchev and I want everything to be within range. He starts towing and has the rest of his army run or advance.
For turn 2 I start things off with the MHSF shooting at Karchev without the buff of Ravyn’s feat because 1-Karchev isn’t exactly dodgy and 2-I need to shuffle snipe to stormfalls. I then activated Ravyn, shuffled snipe to a stormfall unit and feated. Next I stole Karchev’s remaining focus and did a point of damage with Eiryss. Then followed up with some brutal shots from the stormfalls. Karchev drops 7 minutes into the round for the fastest caster kill of the day.
Final Assessment: If Karchev had played back instead of trying to Tow slingshot the game would’ve been rougher especially since I was basically down a jack to avoid losing by scenario. Conversely though, if he just wants just to say “look I’m jack with a lot of boxes try to kill me” my army responds “can do”
Round 3
Rahn (tier list)
-Phoenix
-Hydra
-Griffon
-Griffon
-Chimera
Battle Mages
3x Magisters
3x Arcanists
Scenario: Killbox/Assassination
Assessment going in: That’s a lot of jacks, and he doesn’t seem to have any cunning plan to operate them all at the same time. As far as potential uses for Rahn, I’d put this list on the low end of the spectrum, but it’s still Rahn and he still has Arc Nodes, so spell assassination will be a problem.
The Game:
I get first turn again (the one dice roll I can’t seem to fail) and advance, but he has chosen to use either advance deploy or advance move for the battle mages, so the MHSF gets a few shots in downing 3. My opponent is unjustifiably fatalistic at this point and he uses Rahn’s feat to kill Narn by way of a Chimera. None of the magisters or battle mages can get through stealth. He’s basically holding the Hydra and Phoenix back with Rahn at the edge of the killbox. And a trio of arcanists.
Turn 2 is a slaughter. By the time all is said and done he has only the two heavy jacks, two arcanists and a disrupted griffon. My losses are at a solo or two. My opponent goes for the assassination effectively only having two shots to kill my caster. A single shot from the Hydra and a Force Hammer from Rahn through the Phoenix. I do the math as he’s rolling his first hit and given Ravyn’s focus it’s about a 50/50 of working. Unfortunate, but there wasn’t much to do to prevent either from having range without leaving the killbox. If he fails, he’s going to be tabled. Survey says…he rolls high for damage, Ravyn gets assassinated.
Final Assessment: The only minor adjustment I maybe could’ve done to stop the assassination would’ve been disruption the Hyrda with Eiryss, but I wasn’t confident she even had range. I can’t fault my opponent for going for and simply rolling high although it is somewhat annoying and there really isn’t a solution to it either, it’s just a part of any wargame.
Round 4
Karchev (tier list I think)
-Berzerker
-Berzerker
-Behemoth
MoW Demolitions (min)
MoW Shocktroopers (min)
Mechaniks (max)
Greylord Ternion
I think there was something else, but I can’t recall what
Scenario: Just Assassination
Assessment going in: Not only have I seen this movie before, but I still have my ticket stub from the last showing. Again, if he tries something other than just Towing this could be an interesting game, otherwise…
The Game:
I get first turn (can I roll this well for things that matter more? Please?) and because he’s pulled the same gambit the Rahn player pulled this time using MoW, the MHSF gets in some early shots downing a MoW Demolition Corpse model and damaging a second. My opponent wavers back and for for a few moments before trying a ranged assassination with Behemoth that fails and advancing with the rast of the army.
The damage rolls aren’t as good this time around and I was starting to get worried as the last four stormfalls open fire, but sure enough they get Karchev again.
Final Assessment: See previous.
Overall pleased with the performance of the army. I never really encountered a threat that it felt like the army couldn’t handle and other than the dice atrocity of game one have no real complaints. First place was taken by a different trollblood army (using eMadrak as well) and second by a friend of mine playing legion. It was a bad day for the two Karchevs as the only win either scored was against the other.
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