Supreme Kommandant Irusk (Irusk2) vs. The High Reclaimer (Reclaimer1)

Irusk is facing the High Reclaimer and his favourite pet - the Judicator. To tackle this, Irusk will bring his trusted Winter Guards. The battle is bloody and starts of pretty well. However, due to a few grave mistakes by the controlling player, Irusk is let down and must bite the dust. There are quite a few learning points, which I trust will make Irusk victorious in future skirmishes with the High Reclaimer.


The High Reclaimer with a Judicator has been wrecking havoc in our local meta for some time. Once again Irusk must step up to the situation. He brings the standard WGK liste, detailed here. The Protectorate liste is my opponents "standard list":

Protectorate Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Exemplar Interdiction [High Reclaimer 1] The High Reclaimer [+32]       - Judicator [34] High Exemplar Gravus [8] Scrutator Potentate Severius [0(6)] - Dervish [7] Vassal Mechanik [0(1)] Vassal Mechanik [1] Vassal Mechanik [1] Choir of Menoth (min) [4] Exemplar Cinerators (max) [13] Exemplar Errants (min) [10] - Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard [0(4)] Exemplar Vengers (max) [20] Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard [9]

Khador Army - 74 / 75 points [Theme] Winter Guard Kommand [Irusk 2] Supreme Kommandant Irusk [+27]  - Marauder [11]  - Spriggan [17] Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich [4] Winter Guard Artillery Kapitan [3] Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)] Winter Guard Field Gun Crew [0(4)] Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)] Winter Guard Infantry (max) [10]  - Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard [4]  - Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13]  - Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13]  - Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8]

Initial Analysis 

This analysis is what I probably should have done before the match. However, the time is rarely for that. So, it is a post-analysis; yet, ready for the next time I'll face the Protectorate.

The Judicator in combination with the High Reclaimer is mildly speaking annoying, in particular in the Exemplar Interdiction theme. It can have Hand of Fate (roll an extra die, drop the lowest); Reliquary, same as Hand of Fate; it is Blessed from the theme; and can even have a +2 damage from a Vassal Mechanik.

Average DEF hit by RAT 1 / RAT 5 under Hand of Fate and Reliquary

A brave winter guard has a standard DEF of 12. This means that the Rocket Pods, with their RAT 1 remain unimportant (given that our winter guard most likely are immune to blast). There is only a 32% chance of hitting a winter guard.

However, the 10" sprays becomes really obnoxious. With their RAT of 5 and all the bells and whistles actually have a 91% of hitting a winter guard. The table details the probability of hitting things under Hand of Fate and Reliquary.

To further hamper my plans, the Choir can put Hymn of Passage on the Judicator, which stops the winter guards' shooting for tageting it.

The Exemplar Errants are probably there to be the vanguard and pick off Winter Guards with their crossbows. They can easily hit and kill a Winter Guard, the only thing saving them are tough, from either Irusk og Joe (neither of which are spells, thus they are not affected by the Blessed crossbows).

Exemplar Cinerators are comparable to our own Shocktroopers. At ARM 21 (in Shield Wall), they will be hard to take down by Winter guards. They should probably also be shot at with some care, as their Vengeance move actually makes them fast.

High Exemplar Gravus and the Exemplar Vengers are somewhat hard hitting cavalry and Gravus has all sorts of soul-based tricks. 

The two latter Exemplars both have some annoying trick, if they are not killed in one wave (Vengeance and Battle-Driven)

I suspect that the combination of Scrutator Potentate Severius and the Dervish is primarily there to ensure som scenarios presence. I guess the Dervish also could be a potential assassin, with the combination of Side Step and Parry.

Except for the Shield Guards offered by this unit, it is unclear what Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard will do in this match.

To sum up, the Judicator is going to be hell on one flank, and presumedly on the other flank the Cinerators and Vengers are going to need blocking.

Deployment

We are playing Recon II, and I am using the Stockpile objective, which removes d3 damage points within 4".

I go first, opted for my "standard" deployment with a Rifle Corps and a Field Gun on each flank. In the middle, I have the Infantry, the Mortar, the Artillerist, Irusk, and Aiyana and Holt. The two 'jacks are also in the middle. There is an annoying rock in the middle. The only positive thing about that is that I can hide Irusk behind it.

The Protectorate deployed as expected. The Judicator and Errants on one flank; the rest of the Exemplars on the other flank; and the rest in the middle. He also selects the Stockpile objective.

I managed deployment and Advanced Moves in three minutes, which is pretty ok.

End of deployment

Turn 1

The two zones in Recon II can only be scored by 'jacks or Warcasters. My opponent can lock down my right zone with the Judicator, and have the Dervish for the other one. I really want to take down the Judicator (on principle). To that I need both of my 'jacks. So my only option is to make sure that my trusted Winter Guards contest every round. Thus I run the Rifle Corps on my left. 

There is very crowded in the middle, with all the troops and the big rock. A bit of a traffic jam is unavoidable. Irusk obviously brings up Solid Ground and Fire for Effect on the Mortar. Joe makes the Rifle Corps on my right flank tough.

End of turn one

The Protectorate basically just advances the lot, and places the Judicator just outside the threat range of my Spriggan. Besides that, not a lot happens.

First round is done in four minutes, which I am quite happy about.

Turn 2

I need to get up the field to, not only make sure that my opponent can't score (except for the flag, which is very difficult to contest). So, I basically advance everything. The Rifle Corps on my right flank takes a few pot shots at the Errants, with limited success. 

I also bring up the Marauder to threaten the Judicator. For some reason I move the Spriggan to the left of the second rock in the middle. The idea is to threaten the Dervish. However, this was probably a mistake, as I clearly need both 'jacks to have a chance on the Judicator. 

Irusk upkeeps both spells. He moves up close enough to the objective, and with enough sacrificial pawn targets around. 

End of turn two

The Protectorate moves his units further up the field. On my right flank he moves some of the Errants, a member of the Choir, and a Vengers up to block for my Marauder. His Errants kills off a few of the Rifle Corps on my right. The Judicator does a lot of shooting, without a lot of success. Somehow, he manages to get the Dervis far up my left flank and engage one of the Field Guns. This is kind of annoying. 

He manages to score one point on his flag. I forget to moved a solo up to score on my flag. One down on points. However, I am nine minutes ahead on the clock. 

Turn 3

This is the turn where is goes completely down hill. I'm in trouble on my left flank with all the Exemplar and the Dervish on my door step. Most of this turn is used shooting at Exemplars to thin out. Irusk empowers the Rifle Corp with Battle Lust to try to get rid of the Dervish. Unfortunately, they couldn't hit anything. So the Dervish stays, which is bad. 

On my right flank. the Rifle Corp attempts to clean up some of the Errants, and other suff that is in the way of the Marauder. I do manage to make a hole, so the Marauder can charge. It does make a significant dent in the Judicator, but not enough.  

End of turn three

On my right, the Judicator takes the Marauder of the table, and sprays the pants of quite a lot of the Winter Guards. The different Exemplars also manage to jam my Spriggan in the middle. 

On the positive side, I do manage to contest both zones and remember to score my own flag. 

Turn 4 till the end

I got carried away and forgot to take more pictures. So from here it is just a short summary of me having a certain bodypart handed to me. 

In general, the Protectorate can basically just mop up. I do get a small chance of an assassin-run, using the Spriggan. This fails, as expected. 

After two more rounds Irusk gets killed.

On the bright side, I do manage to keep a single trooper alive in every unit. So my opponents only manages to score 15 army points (so did I, by the way). I'm also good on control points, as the match ends 5-3 (in his favour). 

Final thoughts

Looking back at this match, I should probably not have played this list into it. Perhaps, my armored corps list would have been better. On the other hand, the whole blast immunity and tough is pretty good at neutralising a lot of the Judicator. I should perhaps have more arm cracking power, though. I need to think about this.

As always, Aiyana and Holt did nothing.

I could also have gotten out of the problem with the Dervish engaging my Field Gun, if I have thought about it (a friend of mine pointed out a simple and elegant solution to getting Field Guns out of trouble). That would have been nice, as I could have knocked it down, and the battled lusted Winter Guards would have done some serious damage to it.

It would probably have been a good idea to actually chose the other side of the table. There was a nice trench and fewer traffic jam problems.

However, my biggest mistake was probably getting confused in turn two, where I split my two 'jacks. I think I should just have focused both on the Judicator and just flooded the zone to the left with Winter Guards - or perhaps have ignored it, and gone for the left side...

So, Irusk lost to the High Reclaimer and his pet. This is not the first time, but it might be the last.

For the Motherland!