Skorne seems to be having an increased presence on the tables. This is nice, since they for a very long time has been missing. This, however means that I am not too familiar with them. This list is one of the many versions of "how many Immortals can we bring to the table?". In general that should not be too bad for Irusk and his happy Winter Guards (list described here). The Skorne list is as follows:
Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] The Exalted [Makeda 3] Makeda & the Exalted Court [+25] - Agonizer [6] - Cyclops Brute [8] - Molik Karn [19] - Aptimus Marketh [0(5)] Abidan the Keeper [5] Ancestral Guardian [5] Ancestral Guardian [5] Extoller Novitiate [2] Extoller Novitiate [2] Extoller Soulward [0(3)] Hakaar the Destroyer [0(6)] Immortals (max) [13] - Extoller Advocate [3] Immortals (max) [13] - Extoller Advocate [3] Supreme Guardian [16] | Khador Army - 75 / 75 points [Theme] Winter Guard Kommand [Irusk 2] Supreme Kommandant Irusk [+27] - Marauder [11] - Marauder [11] - Marauder [11] - Greylord Adjunct [4] 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 Infantry (max) [10] - Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard [4] - Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Mortar Crew [0(5)] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13] - Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] Winter Guard Rifle Corps (max) [13] - Winter Guard Rocketeer (3) [6] |
Initial thoughts
Hordes of Immortals seems to be the new black. I have only faced them a few times, without actually getting too much wiser. All I know is that I get confused by all the fiddling around with souls. This version is led by Makeda & the Exalted Court, who is apparently tough as a nail. She is running in The Exalted theme, which makes all Constructs imune to knockdown; so much for our knockdown on a stick artillery.
Makeda & the Exalted Court can do a lot of work on her own, in particular against Winter Guards. She can basically surf through an entire unit of Winter Guards through a combination of Overtake and her Feat. Besides that, she actually has a set of spells that makes Irusk and his WGK sad. Her battle group within 12" can gain Grievous Wounds (so no more tough) through Deathbringer; she can give models within 10" +2 to attack and damage rolls, through Incite, and she has Blood Boon allowing her to cast most of her spells if she kills an enemy. Her feat is not to be frown upon. She immediately casts Incite for free, and when one of her models kills one of Irusk's models she gain a fury. Presumedly, this could set her up for a very nice assassin run in the next turn.
Makeda brings an Agonizer ("Never leave home without an Agonizer" - old Skorne proverb); a Cyclops Brute, Molik Karn, and Aptimus Marketh as an attachment. The latter is probably there primarily for Harmonious Exaltation, which allows for a discount of 1 focus on the first spell Makeda casts. He can also shoot stuff and ignore LOS, concealment and cover 8" away. So no hiding behind stuff for e.g. Irusk. However, Sacrificial Pawn still works.
The Agonizer is apparently a required part of any Skorne list. Agains Khador it has two anytime abilities that matter (it can only use one at a time): Gnawing Pain, which gives -2 STR within 8"; and Spiritual Affliction, which hinders spell casting within 8". There former is obviously annoying, yet the latter is not too worrisome, as Irusk probably only wants to cast Battle Lust when there is a risk of being within 8" of this one.
A Cyclops Brute is one of the many different cyclops that Skorne can muster. It is probably in this list to primarily supply Makeda with a Shield Guard.
Molik Karn is another well known, and often seen model in a Skorne army. Molik Karn has a few build in abilities that are worth noticing: he has Future Sight, which allows him to boost after a dice roll; he can also force an enemy model to reroll attack rolls; Finally, he has Side Step when working with Makeda. In addition, he has two P+S 12 Weapon Master attacks with Reach 2". So, all in all he is a force to be reckoned with.
There is also a huge battle engine present, the Supreme Guardian. It can shoot Continuous Fire shots 10" away, Hit with a Thresher P+S 18 sword; both under something similar to Sign & Potents. It can also do weird stuff with soul, and has Defensive Strike. Luckily, it is huge-based and one fully loaded Marauder not charging it should take it out on average rolls.
The troops of this army are the two standard Immortal party packs, consisting of a max unit of Immortals with an Extoller Advocate, and an Ancestral Guardian and an Extoller Novitiate near by. Immortals on their own are just 2" reach P+S 14 one wound infantry with Vengeance (and immune to knockdown from the Theme). However, attaching an Extoller Advocate allows the unit to become Incorporeal (bad news for shooting Winter Guards); or give them +2 DEF, or when spending souls allowing a model to reroll. Now add an Extoller Novitiate and the Immortals become Tough. Add the Ancestral Guardian and add +2 movement. If Hakaar (see below) is nearby they also get a +1 to attack rolls. Finally, a Supreme Guardian nearby can resurrects up to three Immortals per turn (assuming it has souls).
This results in a unit of Tough Immortals that are immune to knockdown, with a base movement of 4+2, that are potentially Incorporeal; and can potentially be resurrected. So first order of the day is to kill the Extoller Advocate (who of course have Sacrificial Pawn) and the Extoller Novitiate.
The remaining army consists of a rowdy band of solos: Abidan the Keeper, Extoller Soulward, and Hakaar the Destroyer. The former is a medium hard hitting Shield Guard, who can be returned to play after he has been killed. An Extoller Soulward is yet another soul battery, who can shoot. Finally, Hakaar the Destroyer is another medium hard hitting solo that can fiddle around with souls.
Makeda & the Exalted Court can do a lot of work on her own, in particular against Winter Guards. She can basically surf through an entire unit of Winter Guards through a combination of Overtake and her Feat. Besides that, she actually has a set of spells that makes Irusk and his WGK sad. Her battle group within 12" can gain Grievous Wounds (so no more tough) through Deathbringer; she can give models within 10" +2 to attack and damage rolls, through Incite, and she has Blood Boon allowing her to cast most of her spells if she kills an enemy. Her feat is not to be frown upon. She immediately casts Incite for free, and when one of her models kills one of Irusk's models she gain a fury. Presumedly, this could set her up for a very nice assassin run in the next turn.
Makeda brings an Agonizer ("Never leave home without an Agonizer" - old Skorne proverb); a Cyclops Brute, Molik Karn, and Aptimus Marketh as an attachment. The latter is probably there primarily for Harmonious Exaltation, which allows for a discount of 1 focus on the first spell Makeda casts. He can also shoot stuff and ignore LOS, concealment and cover 8" away. So no hiding behind stuff for e.g. Irusk. However, Sacrificial Pawn still works.
The Agonizer is apparently a required part of any Skorne list. Agains Khador it has two anytime abilities that matter (it can only use one at a time): Gnawing Pain, which gives -2 STR within 8"; and Spiritual Affliction, which hinders spell casting within 8". There former is obviously annoying, yet the latter is not too worrisome, as Irusk probably only wants to cast Battle Lust when there is a risk of being within 8" of this one.
A Cyclops Brute is one of the many different cyclops that Skorne can muster. It is probably in this list to primarily supply Makeda with a Shield Guard.
Molik Karn is another well known, and often seen model in a Skorne army. Molik Karn has a few build in abilities that are worth noticing: he has Future Sight, which allows him to boost after a dice roll; he can also force an enemy model to reroll attack rolls; Finally, he has Side Step when working with Makeda. In addition, he has two P+S 12 Weapon Master attacks with Reach 2". So, all in all he is a force to be reckoned with.
There is also a huge battle engine present, the Supreme Guardian. It can shoot Continuous Fire shots 10" away, Hit with a Thresher P+S 18 sword; both under something similar to Sign & Potents. It can also do weird stuff with soul, and has Defensive Strike. Luckily, it is huge-based and one fully loaded Marauder not charging it should take it out on average rolls.
The troops of this army are the two standard Immortal party packs, consisting of a max unit of Immortals with an Extoller Advocate, and an Ancestral Guardian and an Extoller Novitiate near by. Immortals on their own are just 2" reach P+S 14 one wound infantry with Vengeance (and immune to knockdown from the Theme). However, attaching an Extoller Advocate allows the unit to become Incorporeal (bad news for shooting Winter Guards); or give them +2 DEF, or when spending souls allowing a model to reroll. Now add an Extoller Novitiate and the Immortals become Tough. Add the Ancestral Guardian and add +2 movement. If Hakaar (see below) is nearby they also get a +1 to attack rolls. Finally, a Supreme Guardian nearby can resurrects up to three Immortals per turn (assuming it has souls).
This results in a unit of Tough Immortals that are immune to knockdown, with a base movement of 4+2, that are potentially Incorporeal; and can potentially be resurrected. So first order of the day is to kill the Extoller Advocate (who of course have Sacrificial Pawn) and the Extoller Novitiate.
The remaining army consists of a rowdy band of solos: Abidan the Keeper, Extoller Soulward, and Hakaar the Destroyer. The former is a medium hard hitting Shield Guard, who can be returned to play after he has been killed. An Extoller Soulward is yet another soul battery, who can shoot. Finally, Hakaar the Destroyer is another medium hard hitting solo that can fiddle around with souls.
Deployment
We are playing Spread the Net, Skorne goes first.
Makeda deploys an Immortal party pack on each flank. On my left flank the Supreme Guardian is placed next to the party pack. It is scary looking, I have to admit. Makeda deploys in the middle with the beasts and places her two Exalted Guardians just on the edge of her command range.
Makeda deploys an Immortal party pack on each flank. On my left flank the Supreme Guardian is placed next to the party pack. It is scary looking, I have to admit. Makeda deploys in the middle with the beasts and places her two Exalted Guardians just on the edge of her command range.
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| End of deployment |
Irusk does his standard deployment, just a little wider than normal to have a Rifle Corps ready to contest each of the rectangular zones. Irusk takes the centre along with the Mortar, the Infantry, the solos, and one of the Field Guns. The Marauders advance move forward. Two to the left, scowling at the Supreme Guardian, and one slightly to the right looking at houses. Again, I manage to deploy in three minutes. It would appear as if it is impossible to do faster. The picture above depicts the end of deployment.
Turn 1
Every Skorne model moves forward, except for the Extoller Soulward who apparently was taking a nap. Makeda casts Bulwark. That was it. Nothing more to see here, move along.
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| End of turn 1 |
Irusk casts Solid Ground, drops Fire for Effect on the Field Gun on the left flank, and positions Artifice of deviation between the rough terrain on the left flank and the house in the middle (in has been pointed out to me that I should think heavily about dropping Fire for Effect on the Mortar instead. I agree and will try to remember it in the future). Joe moves towards the flag on the left. The two Marauders who have the Supreme Guarding in the sight moves closer, and the last one steps into the rectangular zone to the right. All the rest just moves forward. I manage to do this turn in three minuets as well. I'm pretty happy about that. The picture above shows the situation at the end of deployment.
Turn 2
This Skorne round looks scarily similar to the first one. Everything moves forward. An Ancestral Guardian is placed next to the flag on the right flank. That was it. Nothing more to see here, move along. The picture below shows the end of round 1.
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| End of round 1, turn 2 |
I know that the Immortal party packs have all sorts of weird issues. But Irusk needs to start chewing through them anyway. He drops Artifice of Destruction, but upkeeps Solid Ground and Fire fo Effect. He then casts Battle Lust on the Rifle Corps on the ruíght flank. This is perhaps not the best plan, but there is reason behind it. He then moves up behind the middle house and feats. Joe moves up to the flag to the left and inspires the Rifle Corps through For the Motherland. Most of the Rifle Corps aim and shoots as many Immortals as possible. On the right side, the Rifle Corps charge the Immortals. In hindsight they should probably just have shot them, but the plan was to bug them down, thus avoiding that they could contest that zone (I forgot or ignored Vengeance, either way it is a mistake). The rest of the army just shuffles forward.
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| End of turn 2 |
I spend 22 minutes on this round. This is far too much. I do however score two scenario points, Skorne scores zero, leaving the scenario score at 2-0 in Irusk's favour. The picture above depicts the end of turn 2.
Turn 3
So far Irusk is in control. However, this can change fast.
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| End of round 1, turn 3 |
The Immortal party packs retaliate. On the right flank they, all but completely remove the Rifle Corps and one of the Marauders, through a combination of Vengeance and normal attacks. I should probably have shot them instead. I might have avoided some of the Vengeance hits. The left flank is a different story. The Immortals chop a bit at the Marauder, but mostly they just move to get in the way; except for the fact that one of them manages to kill Joe. Molik Karn and the Cyclops move to the left to score in that zone. Makeda turns out to be not hard as a nail, rather scared as a chicken and hides behind a house. She does however score two scenario points, whilst Irusk scores none, leaving the Scenario score at 2-2. The picture above depicts the end of round 1.
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| End of turn 3 |
This is not good. I'm pretty sure that I made huge mistake by involving the Rifle Corps on the right in a fist fight with the Immortals. The only good thing now is that Skorne only has 15 minutes left on the clock, and I'm running out of models, which significantly speeds up my rounds.
Irusk upkeeps both spells, and allocates two focus to the nearest Marauder. My right flank is lost, so the only thing to do is to move some Infantry over there to block any attempts to roll up my flank. They also manage to remove the annoying Immortal blocking my Marauder. The artillery shoot at whatever they can see, and think they can harm. The left flank is currently the only sunshine story. The rifle Corps remove the remaining Immortals. Leaving room to breathe. The right most Marauder moves up and might participate in Immortal slaying. The last one charges the Cyclops, and manages to stay outside the Defensive Strike range of the Supreme Guardian. It does a remarkable nothing of importance.
Skorne scores one point, and Khador nothing, leaving the scenario score at 3-2 in Makeda's favour. The picture above shows the miserable state after turn 3.
Irusk upkeeps both spells, and allocates two focus to the nearest Marauder. My right flank is lost, so the only thing to do is to move some Infantry over there to block any attempts to roll up my flank. They also manage to remove the annoying Immortal blocking my Marauder. The artillery shoot at whatever they can see, and think they can harm. The left flank is currently the only sunshine story. The rifle Corps remove the remaining Immortals. Leaving room to breathe. The right most Marauder moves up and might participate in Immortal slaying. The last one charges the Cyclops, and manages to stay outside the Defensive Strike range of the Supreme Guardian. It does a remarkable nothing of importance.
Skorne scores one point, and Khador nothing, leaving the scenario score at 3-2 in Makeda's favour. The picture above shows the miserable state after turn 3.
Turn 4
The heat is on Irusk. Skorne should be able to bring the victory home.
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| End of round 1, turn 4 |
Makeda feast. She is thinking that she could charge the Infantry to the right and surf through them to get to Irusk. After a lot of thinking and measuring she chickens out, and just stands there in the round zone looking at the house hiding Irusk. On my right flank the Immortals continue the mopping up procedure. On the left the Cyclops moves further into the zone to make room for Molik Karn, who then changes the Infantry next to Irusk. I guess he is hoping to surf through them and get to Irusk. But when Winter Guards are tough, they are though, leaving Irusk just outside of Molik Karn's reach. Skorne does, however manage to score two more points, leaving the scenario score at 5-2 in Makeda's favour.
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| End of turn 4 |
OK, Irusk is in trouble. Molik Karn is staring at him from just slightly more than two inches away, he is about to lose on scenario, and he is quickly running out of army. He upkeeps his two spells, fills up the Marauder and casts Battle Lust on the remaining Rifle Corps. He then proceeds to move closer to Molik Karn in an attempt to kill him. He fails. The Rifle Corps proceeds to charge Molik Karn with as many troops as they can fit in. The rest runs into the Skorne rectangular zone. Obviously, they can't kill him, but they could give it a try. The Infantry also charges Molik Karn and a few Immortals. No a lot happens. The Marauder, on the other hand is more effective when it charges and kills the Cyclops. Artillery just shoots at whatever they can hit. This last stand actually results in scoring one point, and Skorne doing the same, leaving the scenario score at 6-3 in Makeda's favour. All hope is not lost. The picture above shows the hopeless situation and the end of turn 4.
Turn 5
I'm left with 45 seconds on the clock. Skorne could easily have settled the game here. However, my opponent has a pair and opt for assassination. My hat goes off to him.
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| End of turn 5 |
Molik Karn cannot have all of his fury removed, and in a moment of the Empress' intervention he fails his dice roll. Molik Karn goes berserk and Irusk draws a breath of relief. Karn kills a single Winter Guard. Next assassin attempt is to come from the Supreme Guarding. That just requires the disposal of a few Winter Guard purposely put in the way. A combination of all Skorne models that can either reach them in melee or shoot them they are killed. The Supreme Guardian then charges a Winter Guard and uses Thresher to remove the remaining Winter Guards, Molik Karn and puts a dent in Irusk. Makeda's clock is then out of time. Talk about being saved by the bell (or rather the beep, in this case). Irusk emerges "victorious"! At the end there is one more point to each of us, leaving the scenario score at 7-4 in Makeda's favour. The picture above shows the state of the game after we played out the Supreme Guardians remaining attacks. Everybody died.
Final thoughts
Ok, so Irusk won. He shouldn't have. It was purely down to my opponents, either greed or sizeable pair - depending on your perspective. There is a lot of respect from my side for choosing the assassination option, rather than just clocking me.
I'm a bit doubtful as to whether or not I stand by my initial thought that this is an OK matchup for Irusk and his WGK. I think I made one huge error in turn 2, when I charged with the Rifle Corps. I should probably just have shot the Immortals instead. This is what I did on my left flank with a far better result.
I also think that I did not use the Marauders to their fullest. The one on the right flank got killed by some Immortals. I should not have put it in a situation where that was possible. Loosing that one meant that I could no longer score on that flank. The two on the right could probably have been played a bit more aggressive with support from the Infantry to lure out som of the beasts earlier.
Finally, I should probably heed the advice of using Fire for Effect on the Mortar instead of on a Field Gun. It is purely down to reflex, rather than a well thought through tactic.
Nevertheless, despite being a bit hollow, I did win.
Until next time
For the Motherland!
I'm a bit doubtful as to whether or not I stand by my initial thought that this is an OK matchup for Irusk and his WGK. I think I made one huge error in turn 2, when I charged with the Rifle Corps. I should probably just have shot the Immortals instead. This is what I did on my left flank with a far better result.
I also think that I did not use the Marauders to their fullest. The one on the right flank got killed by some Immortals. I should not have put it in a situation where that was possible. Loosing that one meant that I could no longer score on that flank. The two on the right could probably have been played a bit more aggressive with support from the Infantry to lure out som of the beasts earlier.
Finally, I should probably heed the advice of using Fire for Effect on the Mortar instead of on a Field Gun. It is purely down to reflex, rather than a well thought through tactic.
Nevertheless, despite being a bit hollow, I did win.
Until next time
For the Motherland!
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