Fear the Boot and the Fight For America Hill, Round 2

Fear the Boot and the Fight For America Hill, Round 2 (350 pts.)
Wednesday, January 3, 2007

After the fun we had with the first attempt at the Fight for America Hill we decided to try to tweak the rules to encourage people to take and hold the hill instead of hiding on the edges and sniping adjacent opponents. Our first try was to add VP rewards for claiming the hill.

Scoring:

• Having the most models on the hill at the end of your turn scores 1 VP
• Having the most models on the hill at the end of the turn of the player across from you scores you 1 VP

With those changes we rolled for initiatve and picked starting locations for the second try at taking America Hill.

Circle (Eye Tyrant)

• Baldur
• Warpwolf
• Woldwarden
• Argus

This had become a fairly standard list for Eye Tyrant at this point. The Woldwarden was a giant hard to kill beatstick while the Warpwolf had the speed and maneuverability to get the charge in. The Argus was a point filler but it’s higher speed and Doppler Bark can come in handy, especially if a knocked down enemy beast is nearby to use the bark on.

Trollbloods (Prorpger)

• Horluk
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Pyre Troll
• Fell Caller
• Kriel Warriors (Proxied by Scattergunners)

Prorpger decided to try out some Kriel Warriors, so tossed them into a Horluk list. I wasn’t overly worried about their damage output as much as I was from the Mauler, though the Kriel Warriors did have CMA to help combat my Dervishes’ higher DEF. It looked like his plan was going to be to use the smaller models to tie up the rest of us and try to hold the hill.

Protectorate (Myself)

• Amon Ad-Raza
• Guardian
• Dervish (Proxied by two Revengers)
• Choir

Upon request I brought out Amon, and decided to field him with a pair of Dervishes to try them out. I needed an Arc Node and wanted a heavy so I added a Guardian and a choir and called it done. My hope was between the Guardian’s Ward of Retribution, the Dervish’s Riposte ability, and choir chants I’d dissuade attention for a round or two, instead I think that worked against me, and people seemed to rush toward me instead. D’oh!

Everblight (Nick)

• Lylyth
• Carnivean
• Forsaken
• Shredder x6

Nick’s list boiled down to a Shredder swarm with a Carnivean backup. It was ugly to see adjacent to me, but my hope was that he’d go towards Eye Tyrant’s Circle instead where the Forsaken could do more damage.

Once again the plastic American Flag was placed atop the hill that dominated the table. Then to separate each army we placed either ruins or a forest between the deployment zones to help funnel everyone into the middle of the table.

Turn 1

Circle
Eye Tyrant started this game the same way he did the last one – the Argus ran to toe the hill, then the other beasts advanced with the Woldwarden using its animus to help defend them both. Baldur brought up the rear.

Trollbloods
The Mauler ran and took the hill (and flag). The kreil warriors followed suit to swarm around him. The Pyre troll got on one edge and shot at the Woldwarden, hitting and doing some fair damage to it after boosting. The Fell Caller brought up the rear but got on the hill as well. Horluk walked up and threw Fortune on the Kreil warriors, leaving him in the back and off the hill.

Protectorate
With the trolls already positioned atop the hill and Everblight following me to swoop in, I decided try a little more cautious of an advance. The turn started with the Choir moving up and circling Amon before Infusing (not much range could affect me so I decided to buff any Riposte attacks that might be generated). I gave the Guardian one focus to run and had him move up about seven inches. The Dervishes then advanced to either side of him, staggered a little further back. Amon dropped into Meditative Stance, threw up Synergy, and arced Sandblast at the Dire Troll on the hill. Two champions were killed but I rolled 1-1-2 on the attack roll against the Dire Troll, denying me a hit let alone the crit I really wanted. I had made a little mistake – I ended the turn with one focus on Amon instead of the Guardian to trigger its Ward of Retribution.

Everblight
Nick decide to shift towards my lines, though I don’t know if it was because of the only woods on the table he could take refuge in or a decision based on my army composition. Either way a majority of his Shredders either ran or went rabid to get to the woods and everything else moved forward. Lylyth took two fully boosted shots at the Dire Troll Mauler up on the hill doing a little damage but leaving her without any fury to transfer damage with.

Score:

• Circle: 0
• Trollbloods: 0
• Protectorate: 0
• Everblight: 0

Turn 2

Circle
Eye Tyrant shifts off the hill in an early bid for a warlock kill. The Woldwarden moves up and throws a Earth Spikes at Lylyth, missing but catching her on the deviation. Baldur then shifts over and tries as well but she’s out of range and the deviation drifts in the middle of nowhere. The Warpwolf runs over go get in the way and the Argus charges Lylyth from its spot atop the hill. Lylyth survives with 7 wounds left, but she’s still hurting.

Trollbloods
Prorpger decides to turn his attention on my Protectorate forces early in an attempt to stop the mad monk. Horluk puts Fortune on the Dire Troll Mauler and hangs out in the back off the hill. The Pyre Troll moves onto the hill and launches an AOE at the Woldwarden, doing some more damage to it. Then the Mauler activates and puts his own Animus on himself and charges the Guardian. Doing even dice damage to it’s ARM 19, the Mauler rips off its Flame Pike and gets one point away from taking the open fist as well. Although he didn’t destroy the jack, he took my biggest POW weapon away and engaged my arc node at the same time. The Fell Caller and Kriel Warriors moved entirely up on the hill and Prorpger ended his turn with the most models on the hill.

Protectorate
Having the Guardian’s spear ripped off didn’t make me too happy. Looking at the table my right Dervish had a clear line at Horluk, but was about a foot away – to far to charge. The warlock also had a couple of fury on him to transfer damage. The Dire Troll was full, but the Pyre Troll was unwounded and could probably soak two attacks without much overflow back on to Horluk. Still, I decided to try and take the shot.

I stared by putting one focus on my left Dervish and upkeeping Synergy. The choir started the turn and circled to the right a bit before Infusing all my jacks. Amon went second and feated, casting Mobility and then throwing those focus on the right Dervish. He then walked up and used the Crack the Whip ability on his weapon to slam the right Dervish forward, doing a whole 2 damage to it. Next the left Dervish activated and walked up to the Dire Troll and spent its focus to boost the to-hit roll on a combo strike. That hit, then my Chain Attack Sidestep hit and I moved the Dervish back away from the Dire Troll to keep it out of retaliation range and block any charge lanes Everblight might have at Amon. The Guardian went next and punched the Dire Troll for minimal damage.

Lastly I activated the right Dervish. With Infuse and Synergy going, he was set up to be +4/+5 on the first attack and +5/+5 on all additional attacks. The Dervish was knocked down but thanks to Mobility the jack stood up, dusted himself off, and walked right up to Horluk and proceeded to lay into him with his now MAT 9/10 POW 18 swords. He killed Horluk with one focus left, but luckily the trollkin failed his tough roll and it wasn’t needed.

It wasn’t until after the game I realized I forgot that if you’re knocked down on your own turn, you can’t stand up that turn. Without the extra movement I wouldn’t have been able to reach Horluk that turn. Fortunately the players are all good guys and didn’t mind – they got to see how nasty Synergy and Infuse can stack together, even if it was on an illegal target.

Everblight
Nick decides not to try and pounce on my somewhat extended lines and instead turns to face the Circle that was suddenly in his face. The Carnivean charged and took care of the Argus before the Forsaken came and consumed its fury. One shredder charged the Warpwolf but wound up just out of range. Lylyth backed away and shot at Baldur, then sat on a couple fury points. The rest of the shredders went rabid or ran to get over into position for next turn.

At the end of this turn Prorpger still had the most models no the hill, scoring him another VP.

Score:

• Circle: 0
• Trollbloods: 2 (+2 Hill)
• Protectorate: 10 (+5 Horluk, +3 Dire Troll, +2 Pyre Troll)
• Everblight: 2 (+2 Argus)

Turn 3

Circle
Baldur charges the Shredder near the Warpwolf and kills it, then feats to prevent all the nearby Shredders from eating him alive the following turn. The Woldwarden moves up and throws out its animus to debuff Everblight’s defense. Then the Warpwolf charges the Carnivean and tears into it. Unfortunately he comes up just a couple boxes short before running out of fury and can’t finish it off. (Edit: as an afterthought, two-handed throwing the Carnivean at Lylyth [and thus over all the Shredders] would have been beautiful here.)

Trollbloods
The Dire Troll, now Wild, runs for the Trollblood table edge. After that Prorpger decides to try and get some vengeance on the Protectorate. The Fell Caller uses War Cry on itself and it walks up to the Dervish and lays into it. Then the Kriel Warriors follow and the few that can reach CMA it as well. At the end of the round the Dervish as lost it’s left sword and its movement systems.

Sigh. That’s right; you can’t use War Cry and attack in the same round. We sure were off our game 🙂

Protectorate
Amon’s jacks are nasty, but I wanted to get some action with the monk himself. Amon let Synergy drop (I wasn’t going to attack with Jacks and planned on ending the turn engaged so wanted the armor), then charged the nearest Kreil Warrior. Special Attack: Circular Strike. Unfortunately one Kreil Warrior made its tough roll and the Fell Caller survived with one damage point (even with boosted damage roll). The untouched Dervish and the Guardian walked onto the hill, claming a point for most models on the hill. Then the Choir gets the run order and acolytes run up around Amon to prevent him from being swarmed. The Kreil Warriors couldn’t CMA him, but with enough attacks there’s always the chance for the lucky roll to get through.

Everblight
The turns starts with the Forsaken edging around to keep from violating Baldur’s feat and moving right next to all the beasties then unloading a four-fury Blight Shroud. The Warpwolf had four fury, the Woldwarden two, and Baldur four. Many things were critically injured. Lylyth shot Baldur twice, killing the Woldwarden with damage transfers then healed herself, leaving her without fury again. Then the Carnivean stood up and finished off the Warpwolf, leaving Baldur full on fury from reaving but without any beasts.

At this point Nick had to leave so had started packing up, but gave Eye Tyrant the chance to retaliate on his round before heading out.

I stopped taking pictures here as I didn’t expect anything else to happen in the game and one of the players was leaving.

Score:

• Circle: 2 (+1 Shredder, +1 Hill)
• Trollbloods: 2
• Protectorate: 11 (+1 hill)
• Everblight: 8 (+3 Warpwolf, +3 Woldwarden)

Turn 4

Circle
Eye Tyrant’s turn was pretty strait forward. Lylyth was too far to charge, so Earth Spikes it was. He got a critical on the attack roll that proved meaningless when the boosted damage roll finished her off. That little shot took down all the remaining Everblight beasts as well, scoring him 12 VPs in one turn.

Trollbloods
The Kriel warriors circle the Dervish, with one moving around to kill the choirboy blocking the Fell Caller from getting to Amon. A CMA finishes off the Dervish and the choirboy dies, leaving the Fell Caller to walk to Amon and attack him twice, dealing a total of 10 damage.

We ended the game here, not going through my turn. Between a meditative stance, a circular strike, and a couple sandblasts it was pretty likely that there weren’t going to be any trolls left at the end of the round. And Everblight only had a fury-less forsaken sitting around. The mall was closing soon and we wanted dinner so we broke up and called the game here.

Score:

• Circle: 14 (+5 Lylyth, +2 Carnivean, +5 Shredderx5)
• Trollbloods: 0 (+2 Dervish)
• Protectorate: 11 (+1 Hill)
• Everblight: 0

Eye Tyrant had the lead on VPs, but I would have liked to have had one more turn. I still had Amon, a pristing Dervish, and an arc node that I could have used.

My Thoughts

Circle
I know Eye Tyrant’s loosing some love for Baldur and the Woldwarden, but I think that might be at least partly due to the fact that we haven’t had many forests on the table when we play. And he’s been using the Woldwarden relatively defensively, relying primarily on Spell Strike and Undergrowth. I wonder how it would do when used more aggressively to throw and Chain Attack Druid’s Wrath beasts and jacks around the board.

Trollbloods
With so many models all on medium or large bases, I wouldn’t have looked forward to trying to dislodge Prorpger from the hill had Horluk survived. And watching the Mauler do even dice in damage to my Guardian I couldn’t help but think how mangled a warbeast that suffered that would have been in the end. From what Prorpger said he enjoyed the faction though and I agree with his assessment 100% – that faction has Protectorate-style synergy but are much more durable. It’s like the Protectorate of Khador.

Protectorate
Amon Ad-Raza is a bad bad man. He doesn’t quite have the focus to fully feed to his warjacks but between Infuse and Synergy he doesn’t necessarily need it. After feeding one jack to kick start Synergy everything just builds up from there. I wish I had remembered about the knockdown rule during the game, but no one minded in the end. It’s good to have great players in the area who are forgiving of little mistakes.

I didn’t really get to use the Dervishes’ Riposte ability this game but they worked out fairly well regardless and are a great value at 65 points each. Especially with Amon and a Choir boosting them up. Had I remembered to give the Guardian my extra focus the first turn he might have been a little meaner (and had a chance to take out an aspect on the Mauler’s first hit), but he was able to hold on long enough to do his part and slap the Dire Troll to help build Synergy.

Everblight
Nick is a new player in our group, but he did ok all things considered. He really pounced on Eye Tyrant with his superior numbers, but unfortunately left Lylyth in the open with no fury on her twice and Eye Tyrant took advantage of it. Still, he did pretty well against the Circle up until that point and will probably get better as he learns how to avoid big mistakes.