Trollbloods/Circle vs. Legion of Everblight – A Family Affair

A Family Affair, 1000 pts.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The gauntlet was thrown Sunday – a team game where Prorpger and Saultydog would each bring 500 points against a 1000-point Legion army. We had to make sure to arrive at the store early so we’d have time to get everything set up and get started quickly, and it’s a good thing we did. There were quite a few models on the table and a lot of strategic decisions to be made each turn.

The table was set up as pictured here and Saultydog and Prorpger won the initiative roll and elected to go first.

Circle Orboros (Saultydog)

Kaya the Wildborne
Warpwolf
Warpwolf
Woldwatchers
Woldwyrd
Shifting Stones
Shifting Stones
Alten Ashley, Monster Hunter

474 Points, 20 VPs

Saultydog’s force was pretty compact for 500 points. On one hand I was surprised Kaya didn’t have more light beasts, but on the other Warpwolfs are fast enough that they can get her where she needs to be almost as easily as an Argus with the added benefit of being terrors on their own.

Kaya, the Warpwolves, and the Wyrd deployed to my left flank in a tight group. After my deployment he set Alten Ashley, the Watcher, and his two units of shifting stones out in front of the rest of his army. Alten was positioned behind one of the low walls on the table which I was rather displeased to see; cover is one of the few benefits Eyeless Sight doesn’t ignore.

Trollbloods (Prorpger)

Grissel Bloodsong (Proxied by Madrak)
Dire Troll Mauler
Winter Troll
Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes x6
Trollkin Champions
Trollkin Champions

518 Points, 18 VPs

At least I didn’t have to face two Altens. Smile Two units of Champions and a Krielstone is enough right there. Adding the beasts and Grissel did nothing to make it more palpable. And with AK and Saultydog explaining the Troll Block to Prorpger before the game I figured I was going to have one hell of a time getting through all those models.

Prorpger set up his forces to my right in a pretty solid block with the Winter Troll deployed to the side as a flanker. Both units of Champions were set in a V in front of the rest of his forces. The Mauler was a the front of the inside of the V, with the Krielstone just behind him. Grissel brought up the rear.

Legion of Everblight (Myself)

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight
Saeryn, Omen of Everblight
Angelius
Carnivean
Nephilim Soldier
Seraph
Harrier
Shredder
Shredder
The Forsaken
Blighted Archers x9
Blighted Swordsmen x6
Raptors x5
Warmongers x5
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

999 Points, 35 VPs

I put together a list for this game guessing I was going to be facing Grim Angus and Kromac the Ravenous. Kaya instead of Kromac didn’t bother me, but I’ve got a pretty strong dislike for the Troll block that Grissel and Madrak run so well. Champions trump all of my infantry (even more so with the Krielstone) so I was going to have to try and keep from getting bogged down. Luckily I had brought Raptors (well, the Ulk parts anyway Smile ) and winged beasts to try to out maneuver the trolls. I just had to keep Kaya at bay while I did it.

I decided to keep most of my forces more towards the left of the table to force Prorpger’s trolls to cross more open ground to get to me. So I started by deploying my flanking forces to my right – the Archers and Raptors. I anchored the center of my army with my Warmongers, who were put up on the front line. Space was made between them for Rhyas so she could Dash and move first thing and everyone could swarm around her. I also filled in my Swordsmen, Nephilim, and Carnivean behind the Warmongers. Saeryn and the winged beasts went to the left behind the forest. Finally I tossed the light beasts, Forsaken, and Gobbers in the back behind everything else.

Turn 1

Circle and Trollbloods
And so the battle begins.

The Circle half of Turn 1 was pretty strait forward. The Warpwolfs were riled and ran (the front one warping for speed), the Kaya shed fury and ran behind Alten’s wall, where the monster hunter stayed for his turn. The Wyrd advanced behind Kaya and the Watched advanced up behind the right group of shifting stones.

The Trolls followed by advancing their block up field. Both units of Champions walked, followed by the Mauler who was riled for five. The Winter Troll advanced outside the wall and was riled for one. The Kreilstone advanced back into the middle of the mass of trolls and Grissel brought up the rear, dumping all 6 of her Fury into the stone for use starting next turn.

Legion
For two games in a row now I’ve made the mistake of being careful not to put the swamp gobbers within 3″ of the Forsaken but then putting non-fearless units right next to them. So the first thing I got to do on my turn was make some command checks. :/

After that I activated Rhyas first. She cast Dash, put Rapport on the Angelius, then advanced about 7″ up field. The Archers then ran forward to get in Volley position for the following turn. The Raptors ran up the right flank, ready to come around the forest from the trolls next turn. After filling in the Swordsmen behind the Warmongers Saeryn activated. She put Blight Bringer on the two outside lead Warmongers, overlapping the middle one, then advanced.

The beasts advanced and uses animi enough to generate enough Fury for the twins to leech next turn (both had ended their activations with 1 Fury each) plus 3. The Nephilim ran up to the hill behind the Archers to threaten with his ability go glide over them SPD+5″. The Carnivean anchored the space between the Archers and Warmongers with its animus up. The Shredders each put Tenacity on a twin and the Seraph and Angelius headed up into the woods.

The Forsaken moved up and leeched the 3 extra fury off of the Seraph and the Swamp Gobbers put a smoke template down in the middle of my central forces, ending my turn.

Turn 2

Circle and Trollbloods
Circle starts off to make room for the Troll block to continue forward. The Standing Stones start off by moving to the side out of the way. Then Alten steps up and shoots at a Warmonger but misses. The near Warpwolf warps for speed, charges the nearest Warmonger and winds up engaging two. After taking a point of damage for Blight Bringer the beast ripped in to both Warmongers, killing them.

Before the Circle finished the Trolls brought their block in much in the same manner as last round – the Champion V surrounding the Mauler and Krielstone (which put up its aura). The Winter Troll stepped into the woods and put Freezer on one of the Champion Kithkar. Grissel put a fury back on the stone and shed a second one then advanced.

Back to the Circle: the Woldwatcher advanced and put Vigilance up on himself. The trailing Warpwolf warped for armor and stepped over near the Troll block. Kaya then Spirit Doored the Warpwolf that had charged back near her and shed her Fury. Finally The Woldwyrd moved up and took a boosted shot at a Warmonger, hitting and doing 3 points of damage.

Legion
Rhyas upkept Rapport on the Angelius. The Archers start the turn by bravely advancing towards the Trollblood line, staying about 3″ back. The front eight (I didn’t think the leader was close enough) then drop a Concentrated Volley template into the back of the trollblood line, covering the Krielstone and three scribes. Although all the attacks hit I only rolled well enough to kill the Stone and one Scribe, and Prorpger sac’ed a second nearby Scribe to save the stone. The Raptors went next, advancing 9″ up around and through the forest before shooting at the trailing Scribes. Only 3 Raptors got in range; the first killed a scribe that made its Tough roll, the hit and killed that scribe, and the third failed to break armor on the second trailing scribe. The Raptors then used their free post-action move to fall back out of retaliation range.

That was a pretty weak showing, but then things got a bit nastier. Saeryn feated, full on fury at this point, affecting 12 models. She chose:

Saeryn
Rhyas
Angelius
Carnivean
Warmonger x3
Swordsmen x4

Somewhere I forgot to allocate the twelfth token. Saeryn then cast Tenacty on herself and Rhyas, stepped forward a bit, and hit the front Warpwolf with a boosted Breath Stealer. The Seraph advanced and Slipstreamed the Angelius forward for range but didn’t have any good shots. The Angelius then advanced on the standing stones. His thrust killed one, then he shifted 3″ to the left, bought an attack, didn’t kill, then bought another attack on a stone in the other unit, finally killing it (that made 1 in each unit gone). The beast then shifted 3″ to engage Alten and the Warpwolf. He bought an attack against Alten but missed.

The Warmongers charged the Woldwatcher but only one could reach. The Watcher attacked but only did a couple points to the monger. Then the monger attacked and did about 6 points back to the Watcher. Next the Swordsmen charged the Warpwolf that had Breath Stealer on it. Three engaged it while the others spread out – the ones affected by Saeryn’s feat acting blocking what lanes they could. All three that charged the Warpwolf were able to hit and the last one finally finished the beast off.

The Carnivean advanced and put his animus on himself. The Harrier and Forsaken advanced to the middle of my backfield and the left Shredder ran to catch up to them. The right Shredder advanced to the hill by the Archers then Rhyas followed, dropping Tenacity on that Shredder and the Nephilim before ending her turn. The Gobbers stepped up and put concealment on the Archers and the Nephilim ran out to the right flank behind the Archers to put a charge thread on that side of the table.

I didn’t kill a whole lot (though I got a Warpwolf) but now I had melee-immune models up in the fray.

Turn 3

Circle and Trollbloods
After the warlocks finished leeching the Woldwyrd stepped to the side and took some boosted shots the closest unengaged Warmonger, doing 3 damage. Alten tried to break combat with the Angelius so he could shoot (no melee because of Foreboding) but died to a free strike. Upon killing Alten, The Angelius a bit forward to engage the Woldwyrd and Woldwatcher. The Watcher used its animus and went into stone form and the surviving Shifting Stones moved behind the swordsmen that had charged to block further charge lanes.

Grissel swung back to the center of the backfield and cast Uproar at the middle of the feat-protected Swordsmen and missed but the AOE drifted only 1″ back, still catching two of them and killing one with the blast damage. The Winter Troll stepped up and unleashed its ice breath on the archers, killing one in the back but missing the leader even though he boosted. It then put Freezer on the leader of the unprimed Champions who then engaged my Archers and killed the front three. The other unit spread out and engaged my Feated swordsmen, killing the one in back that wasn’t protected. The Mauler advanced and was riled for three and the Krielstone put up its Aura. Kaya stepped over the low wall closer to the troll lines and Spirit Doored the surviving Warpwolf to her and out of melee with the Angelius, then camped on her remaining three Fury.

Legion
Saeryn took all four Fury off the Angelius and one from the Seraph to fill up. Rhyas took two from the Carnivean and one from the Nephilim. That left a Shredder on the table with a lone Fury point, but he passed his Threshhold check. Rhyas then upkept Rapport.

Rhyas went first and cast Tenacity on herself before charged one of the shifting stones that had come back to get in the way. I wanted a Critical Decapitation to boost my army so rolled to hit and didn’t get it, but did kill the stone. Rhyas then feated, catching most of my army. She then shed the last two fury and ended her turn. The Carnivean advanced and try to get to the Champions but Rhyas’ base was blocking the way so he put up his Animus and was riled for 1. The Seraph activated and Slipstreamed Rhyas back two inches. With no good shots it then ended its activation. The Angelius went next and flew back to engage both Warlocks and the Warpwolf. It took all its fury and the extra attack from Rhyas’ feat but it finally killed the Warpwolf.

The Warmongers charged the Woldwatcher, who Vigilanced and put another three damage on a Warmonger. Only one monger went far enough to get boosted damage rolls, and after his first hit he teleported up on the other side of the Watcher to engage the Wyrd and a Champion. All three mongers spent their attacks flailing on the Watcher but couldn’t bring it down. I don’t think they even took out an aspect.

The swordsmens started swinging on the Champions to no effect. The Nephilim was forced to charge one of the central champions in an effort to break up their lines. It took him all his fury to finally kill it, then he went stationary due to Freezer on the Champion leader. The Archers shifted to the left and put another Concentrated Volley down and left the Kreilstone unit with the stone and one scribe. The Raptors then charged the Champions (I wanted to see how they’d do) and even with the extra attack from Rhyas’ feat, three of them succeeded in doing 4 points of damage to one Champion and one did 2 whole points to another. ::sigh:: They then retreated back away so as to not become stationary.

My lesser beasts came in tighter in the center of my army to block access to my warlocks before Saeryn went. She started by putting Breath Stealer on the pewter Champions (which would have been tons cooler if I had done that BEFORE the Raptors went) and put Tenacity on herself. She then moved up a bit and ended her activation. The Forsaken moved up next to her and the Gobbers put concealment on the Raptors since they couldn’t get close enough to help anyone who needed it.

Turn 4

Circle and Trollbloods
After leeching fury the surviving Shifting Stones shifted off to the left to clear up space. Prorpger tried to clear room for Kaya to Spirit Door in and attack Rhyas, starting by having Grissel feat. He then moved on without having her do anything else, leaving her with all six fury instead of pounding on the Angelius and most likely killing it. He sent the left Champions against my swordsmen. He killed all he could reach but couldn’t quite reach the leader who was further back. The Winter Troll put Freezer on the central Champion of that group, then the other group came around and decimated the Nephilim.

The Woldwyrd backed out of melee with the Warmonger, surviving the free strike. He shot the wounded warmonger and killed it. Then the Woldwatcher circled around and pounded on my lead monger but only did a few points. Kaya then cast Spirit Door and moved in as close as she could but couldn’t reach Rhyas so she started attacking the Seraph. Even though she Feated and refilled her focus as she attacked she missed a few times before she finally critted and knocked the beast down. Unfortunately she didn’t have enough fury left to finish it off before running herself dry.

The Dire Troll turned around and engaged the Angelius, beating on it and taking out its body but he couldn’t kill it – the beast’s high defense meant boosting was a must, which meant fewer attacks. The Krielstone advanced to the middle of the champion line and used the aura, protecting them as much as possible.

Legion
I leeched all the Fury off my beasts, leaving three on the Carnivean and one on the Seraph. The Carnivean passed his threshold check but the Seraph failed, so it stood up and advanced on the Swordsman leader (the only surviving member of the unit). Rhyas upkept Rapport and then switched places with Saeryn.

Now further back, Rhyas declared a charge on Kaya. MAT 7, DEF 16; 9 to hit. I boosted the first to hit, hoping for a Crit, and rolled 1-2-2. Ok, swordsmaster attack, 2-2-4 it’s a crit, but not enough to hit. Three fury down (including the upkeep), spent one for another attack, rolled 4-4. ::sigh:: At that point I stopped with her with 1 Fury left.

Saeryn went next and but Blight Bringer on Rhyas, doing an auto POW 12 on Kaya (who has ARM 13). She boosts and proceeds to roll 6-6-5, killing the druid outright. Saeryn then casts equilibrium on the Carnivean and moves one fury from it to the Winter Troll, filling it up and leaving Grissel no one to transfer to. The Angelius then Thrust the troll warlock and boosted, killing her in one roll (she failed her Tough roll).

I then realized I forgot to heal the Angelius’ body and would have done one damage die less, but it was late and we decided to wind up there anyway. The Angelius still could be forced two more times and even with -1d6 damage could have easily finished Grissel off on the next attack. Given that it was past the mall’s closing time we called the game there.

Summation

Circle
One thing I think can be said is that Josh is doing a great job with painting his Circle. He’s flying through them far faster than his trolls and they look good, too. As far as this game goes I think he just fielded a lot of what he had painted, which left him with a compact list. I went with more infantry expecting to be dealing with more Tharn so was able to provide his heavies with too many targets to effectively deal with. Keeping my warlocks back left the Wyrd as a mobile attack platform and not a lamentation engine. Vigilance did prove to be a problem, though. I had to be careful with where I moved so as to not loose anything important to those free attacks.

Trollbloods
Stupid troll block. I think now that Prorpger’s been exposed to it he’ll use it a little more. At first it didn’t seem like it did much but when you look at all the options I didn’t have and how feeble most of my melee attacks are against it, then it’s pretty clear how well the block works. Prorpger’s only mistake was not doing anything with Grissel after he Feated. He would have likely killed the Angelius and been in a much better spot had he done so. He still would have had to deal with both twins on the following turn but it would have been without that amazing beast.

Everblight
Both of the twins are really nice warlocks, but I’m not convinced what they get by playing together is really that great. I think I used them to arc spells all of once and when they switched places it really wasn’t necessary. Had Saeryn been in a place to get attacked in melee, then maybe getting Riposte from Rhyas would have been valuable but as is it really didn’t do anything.

Not to take away from the twins individually, though. Rhyas didn’t so much this game but I’ve had success with her in the past so I know how well she can work. Saeryn is just proving to be vicious when I use here. I don’t know what else can say, but her feat and spell selection is awesome and the abilities on her knives give her yet another tool to mess with warlocks on the assassination run.

Oh, and the Angelius rocks.