Trollbloods vs. Legion of Everblight – Not America Hill!

Trollbloods vs. Legion of Everblight, 500 pts.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007

After last week’s massive multiplayer brawl Prorpger and I set up to play some 500-point Hordes games to help him get back into the fury-management frame of mind before he started purchasing Trollbloods in earnest. We were able to squeeze in two games, and after the first one Prorpger decided to swap out his unit of Scattergunners for a unit of Champions and we replayed the game (same terrain, otherwise same forces) to see how the change would effect the game. This second game turned out much closer and more exciting, so it’s the one I’m writing up.

The game store is in the process of building some new tables and the plywood isn’t covered in felt yet. So just ignore the bare wood look. 😉

Trollbloods (Prorpger)

Grissel
Dire Troll Mauler
Impaler
Fell Caller
Krielstone Bearer
Champions
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew
Alten Ashley

Legion of Everblight (Myself)

Thagrosh
Carnivean
Nephilim Soldier
Seraph
Warmongers x3
Striders

I gave Prorpger first turn. He set up with his Champions and Fell Caller as his central block with his Krielstone unit off to one side. Grissel set up in the middle behind the Champions and split her beasts – Impaler to the Kreilstone’s side and Mauler to the opposite. Alten Ashley set up behind a low wall in the center of the table.

With an odd rock central on my side of the table, I split my forces a bit. To my right was the Warmongers, Thagrosh, and the Carnivean while the Nephilim and Seraph deployed to run around the other side of the rock. The Striders set up behind a wall on my side of the table, ready to hunt some trolls.

Turn 1

Trollbloods
The Champions ran first turn to get into engagement range. Grissel followed behind and dumped her fury onto the Krielstone. The Impaler snuck up behind the Kreilstone and the Mauler ran up its flank. The Fellcaller ran up behind the Champions where he could support them on his turn. Alten stayed behind the cover of the low wall and waited for my beasts to get into range.

Legion
I didn’t want Alten shoot up my beasts again after he did so the first game so I decided to sack my Striders to take care of him early. After breaking from cover, the front five Striders put a CRA into him, getting him off the table right away.

The Warmongers ran up behind the Striders, careful to stay more than 3″ away. Thagrosh followed behind them, slipstreaming the Carnivean forward, putting Draconic Blessing on the Warmongers, and casting Death Shroud. C-Rex then ran up beside the Striders, using the wall to make sure that he wouldn’t be charged. The Seraph and Nephilim ran up their flank, the Seraph getting into forest and the Nephilim stepping just behind the Striders.

Turn 2

Trollbloods
The turn began with the Fell Caller give the Champions Pathfinder so they can charge over the obstacle and at the Striders. They make quick work of half the unit while simultaneously staying in base-to-base for their defensive bonus in melee. The Kreilstone follows forward and puts up its aura, adding to the Champions’ annoyance factor.

The Mauler swings into the middle of the backfield while the Impaler throws at and misses the Seraph. Grissel uses the Impaler’s animus and shoots the Seraph but doesn’t remove a system.

Legion
With Alten down, I turned to the next threat I had to deal with – the Kreilstone. If I would be able to get that off the table, the Champions might be manageable. I started with the Seraph, who rolled well on Strafes and killed four stone scribes and the krielstone itself — which made its tough roll. The Striders the skirted around the Champions and started firing at the knocked down stone bearer. All three hit but only one rolled high enough to kill the bearer, who failed its tough roll and sacrificed the last scribe. Finally the Nephilim charged past the Champions and pounded on the stone bearer a couple times, finishing him off.

With the stone gone I sent in the Warmongers to tie up the Champions. All three charged in but only one hit and killed its targets. Thagrosh advanced up on a nearby hill and put up Death Shroud, hoping it would help protect the Warmongers. He also cast Draconic Blessing on them. The Carnivean stepped over the wall but behind the Striders, ready to try to deal with the Mauler next turn.

Turn 3

Trollbloods
Prorpger started putting the beat down on my Warmongers quickly. With Death Shroud their P+S 10 made it hard to get through my ARM 17, but after a few attacks to build up Concert the Champions took down my Warmonger Apostle. The Impaler charged the Nephilim and tied it up. The Fell Caller engaged a Strider but missed twice before the Mauler came in and helped out. Grissel cast Uproar on the Carnivean, killing another Strider with the blast, leaving me only my leader. The Swamp Gobbers through down their smoke template, but didn’t place it on the Warmongers, sparing them the -2 MAT penalty.

Legion
After having Draconic Blessing upkept, the Warmongers whiffed on the Champions. With no space on that side of the table to get a clean shot, the Seraph ran to the middle of the field to line up better shots in future rounds. The brave Strider leader stood and aimed, killing the Fell Caller. Thagrosh advanced, throwing up Death Shroud and switching Draconic Blessing to the Carnivean (and accidentally getting the Nephilim out of my Control Area). The Carnivean then killed the Mauler. The Nephilim missed the Impaler.

At this point I was doing ok — keeping the Champions tied up while my beasts went to work on the rest of Prorpger’s forces. That wasn’t going to last, though.

Turn 4

Trollbloods
Grissel lead off the turn by feating, then walking up to my Nephilim and pounding into it, killing it. The Impaler went next and slammed the Carnivean back into the forest. The Swamp Gobbers engaged the Strider and the Champions teamed up to take another Warmonger down and leave the last one with just a couple wounds.

With her Hoof It movement, Grissel headed down behind the Impaler to keep away from the Carnivean. The Champions swarmed around the last warmonger, staying in base to base and guaranteeing its last turn in play would be futile.

Legion
I was starting to worry. There were still four Champions on the table and I hadn’t gotten any hits in on Grissel yet. I decided to send the Seraph over the Champions to Strafe Grissel. I was able to find a place to land it where it wasn’t engaged and it proceeded to do 8 damage to Grissel before missing its remaining attacks.

Thagrosh stepped up (recast Death Shroud) and killed off the Swamp Gobbers, making room for the Carnivean to stand up and advance out of the forest. He then Feated and brought the Nephilim back – I needed another good sword to deal with the Champions. The Warmonger did what he does best – swing and miss – and the Strider moved up and around and took a pot shot at the Impaler, failing to do any damage.

Turn 5

Trollbloods
Prorpger quickly jumped on some poor model placement on my part by sending his Impaler up and scoring a Crit Slam on the Carnivean, sending it back into Thagrosh AND the Nephilim. The resulting knockdown guaranteed to slow down my advance for the turn. Grissel spent two of her three Fury to pound on the Seraph but Death Shroud helped insure she left him with just a few boxes left. After getting the +1 Attack Fell Call, the Champions laid into the Warmonger and Death Shroud wasn’t enough to save it.

Legion
The Carnivean stood up and breathed on the Champions, catching three. He only killed one, but it made its tough roll. The Nephilim advanced and engaged the Champions to slow them down while Thagrosh put up Death Shroud and healed the Seraph’s systems back into existence. The Seraph went for a slam on the Impaler but missed. At least it was tied up, though. The lone Strider fired a single shot at Grissel’s back but failed to breach armor.

Turn 6

Trollbloods
Grissel gave the Champions +1 attack and moved to engage the Nephilim, but with Death Shroud up she and her two cohorts were unable to finish it off. Another Champion went for the Seraph but missed on its attacks, as did the Impaler.

Legion
The Nephilim stepped back a hair so Thagrosh could reach between him and the Champions to hit Grissel if necessary and boosted and attack and damage roll against the trollblood warlock, killing her before the blighted ogrun had to make things personal.

Summation

Trollbloods
I think Prorpger fell in love with the Champions, and I don’t blame them – they’re vile bastards. He also got to see Advance Deployement being a detriment and will probably be more conservative with Alten in the future. Unfortunately he doesn’t always do much on Turn 1 if he goes first since all the enemy’s beasts are still in their deployment zone, so starting a bit further back won’t slow him down too much.

I think the next thing Prorpger will work on will be the use of the Mauler. He really didn’t get much use out of it in either game – the speed and All Terrain of the Carnivean allowed me to get the jump on it both times before it could do much damage. With a little bit of practice I’m sure Prorpger will be cramming it down my throat with the rest of his Menoth-forsaken Tough models in the near future. Smile

Legion
Death Shroud was amazing this game – it kept the trollblood damage output to a managable level while I worked on trying to get to targets of opportunity. And the last remaining Strider was a brave tribute to his fellow nyss, making his command checks and killing the Fell Caller and getting a shot on Grissel before the game was all over.

I was able to go at Prorpger’s forces pretty surgically the first few turns – with Alten and the Kreilstone out of the way I felt a little more comfortable. Not that I could actually hit the Champions, though… that 14 DEF against the Warmonger MAT 6 is horrible. At least I was able to tie them up, though… Their P+S 10 (with Death Shroud) against the Warmonger ARM 17 and 8 Wounds wasn’t too easy for Prorpger to deal with either.

Shortly before Grissel’s demise, Thagrosh was heard to say…

“Woman, come meet the pimp hand of justice!”