Cryx is at it again. After their loss by Skarre, Scaverous is send to the shores of Khador to wreck havoc. The Empress dispatches Kommander Sikor and her Man-O-Wars once againg to deal with the Cryx menace. This Cryx detachment consists of all lot of ghostwalking banes. It is a close one. Yet, all of this ghostwalking becomes troublesome for Tatiana.
This is the second time within a short period of time that I encounter Cryx. The last time was quite a success (see here for details). This list is quite different, except that it in a sense also is dude-spam. I actually think that the Man-O-Wars and Tatiana can make the cut. However, this is still one of my first trial runs with Tatiana and the new Man-O-Wars. So, I'm still learning how to pilot this list. The two lists facing off are:
| Khador - Winter Korps Kommander Tatiana Sikora - Iron Flesh - Puissance - Dire Wolf [9] HEAD - Shield Guard RIGHT ARM - Ice Hammer LEFT ARM - Plow-Shield - Dire Wolf [9] HEAD - Shield Guard RIGHT ARM - Ice Hammer LEFT ARM - Plow-Shield - Dire Wolf [10] HEAD - Shield Guard RIGHT ARM - Long Axe LEFT ARM - Plow-Shield Koldun Lord Damien Korovnik [3] Sergeant Sergei Krol [5] Winter Korps Officer [2] Winter Korps Officer [2] Arkanists [4] Arkanists [4] Man-O-War Suppressors [11] Man-O-War Suppressors [11] Man-O-War Wrecking Crew [10] Man-O-War Wrecking Crew [10] Winter Korps Snipers [4] - Winter Korps Hunting Dog [1] Winter Korps Snipers [4] - Winter Korps Hunting Dog [1] Command cards - Careful Reconnaissance - Hit & Run - Old Faithful - Power Swell - Put the Fires Out Total Points 100/100 | Cryx - Dark Host Lord Exhumator Scaverous - Deathripper [4] - Deathripper [4] - Erebus [14] Wraith Engine [11] Bane Lord Tartarus [5] Machine Wraith [2] Necrotech [1] Necrotech [1] Necrotech [1] Pistol Wraith [4] Pistol Wraith [4] Soul Trapper [1] Bane Knights [7] - Bane Knight Officer [2] Bane Knights [7] - Bane Knight Officer [2] Bane Riders [9] Bane Warriors [7] Bane Warriors [7] The Winthershadow Cobine [6] Command Cards - Break Through - Duck and Cover! [1] - Infiltration - Grave Robbing - Power Swell Total Points 100/100 |
A note to the reader: I'm proxying two units: One of the Wrecking Crews is Shock Trooper Pikemen on large bases. The other one, is one of the Suppressor units that are Shock Trooper Gunners on large bases.
Initial Thoughts
Cryx are back. This time it is in a completely different configuration than the last time (see here for details). There is a whole lot of Banes and a bunch of solos; yet, not many 'jacks. Quite a lot of Stealth, which is annoying as Tatiana's list relies on quite a lot of shooting (in particular against larger bases).
The Banes are really mobile. They are all Ghostly. So, except for line of sight, Ghostly basically ignore all obstacles and models. So, hiding and board control is difficult. They can hit pretty hard, in particularly on the charge. The Knights and Riders have Brutal Charge (24 or 25 points of damage on average) and the Warriors are Weapon Masters (25 points of damage on the average). There are many of them and Tartarus can bring Banes back when he kills stuff, so can Scaverous when casting Excarnate.
Scaverous, himself is no slouch in close combat. He is effectively MAT 8 and has a Thresher attack. Luckily it is "only" POW 14. So, the Man-O-Wars are comparatively safe. His feat reduces his cost of spell casting by one and increases Tatiana's with one (assuming she is wihtin 14" of him). The latter is not too important as Tatiana is not the big spell caster.
He brings four spells, where Telekinesis is probably the main attraction. Under feat he can cast it 7 times, potentially through his two Arc Nodes. Feast of Worms makes a hazadarous could. I'm guessing that is no the most prominent spell in his arsenal. Excarnate can add grunts to most of the Banes if it kill a dude. Finally, Death Ward gives +2 ARM to a model or unit. This could bring Knights to ARM 20 or Warriors to ARM 17.
There are only three 'jacks. Two Deathrippers, which probably are there primarily as Arc Nodes. Erebus is the main beatstick. Since it is bonded to Scaverous he is also an Arc Node. He has Overtake and Poltergeist, which doesn't really matter a lot as the Man-O-Wars are Sturdy. The Dire Wolfs are obviously affect. Erebus is quite dangerous in close combat. He is POW 17, yet he has Freeze on his attack. So, stationary on a stick.
Finally, there is the big guy. The Wraith Engine, which honestly looks a bit scary. It has Dark Shroud (enemies suffers -2 ARM within 2"), which is highly annoying with such a larg footprint. It also has Unhallowed giving +2 ARM within 10" against ranged and arcane attacks; also annoying.
Deployment
We are playing the Steamroller 2024 scenario Payload. Tatiana wins the roll-off and goes first. Scaverous picks the side with the extra objective (Payload is asymmetrical) .
Tatiana deploys with a 'jack on each flank. There is a Man-O-War module adjacent to each 'jack towards the middle. Everything else goes in the middle. She deploys quite a lot to the right. This might be a wrong move as the extra objective is in the diagonal corner. However, there is kind of a plan of escorting the moveable objective forward whilst protecting the house from the opponents moveable objective.
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| End of Deployment |
Scaverous deploys a kind of sub-group on the left flank, consisting of a unit of Bane Knights, the Machine Wraith, a Necrotech, a Deathripper, the Soul Trapper, and a Pistol Wraith. That is quite a good group to capture both objectivs and escort the 50 mm one.
On the right side, the Bane Riders on the far flank. There is also a Pistol Wraith and the seond Deathripper. Everything elses goes more or less in the middle. Also the Wraith Engine.
The picture above depicts the situation after deployment.
Round 1
Of we go for round 1. I'll try to execute my plan and secure the right half of the table whilst having some annoyance ready for the left side.
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| End of turn 1 |
On the righ side the Dire Wolf moves up and prepares to hug the obejctive. The Snipers move into the forest of benefit from concealment. The Suppressors moves as far ahead as possible to be ready to shoot stuf, and the Wrecking Crew tags along behind them. Behind it all, the Arkanists prepare themselves for Empowering in the coming turn.
Tatiana casts Avenging Force on herself. Iron Flesh on the Suppressors on the left and Puissanceon the Wrecking Crew on the right. She shouts Desperate Pace to the Suppressors with Iron Flesh and moves up behind the wall.
On the left side, the Dire Wolf moves side ways behind the house to be ready to defend the objective against the moving 50 mm and perhaps at some point harass Scaverous' left sub-army. The Snipers moves fra ahead behind a big rock to be ready to pick out models. The Suppressors run forward, followed by the Wrecking Crew. The final Dire Wolf moves to Tatiana along with Sergei. The rest just distrubute behind the front line.
The picture above displays the result of Tatiana's advancement.
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| End of round 1 |
Scaverous starts of as expected. The gruop on the left flank moves forward and secures the two objectives.
On the right side, the Bane Riders push very far ahead to harass the flank. The Pistol Wraith also runs wide. Finally, the Deathripper tags along behind teh Bane Riders.
In the middel, the Wraith Engine moves up in the middle as an anker. Banes spread out on both side of it. Tartarus tags along on the right side. Scaverous decides to hang back behind The Winthershadow Cobine. That was it. A whole lot of Banes quite far up the table.
The picture above shows the battlefield after the extended deployment phase.
Round 2
Round 2 — the party can begin. There is a lot of small Banes in the middle of the battlefield. Let's see if it is possible to get rid of them.
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| End of turn 1 |
Tatiana kicks off the party. She upkeeps her spells; moves in behind the well to make sure that her feat can cover enugh area, without getting too much into harms way; and feats.
On the right side, the Suppressors move forward and peppers the Bane Riders until the disappear. A few remaining shots go into the Bane Warriors in the middle. The Snipers can now move forward mostly into the field and take out three Bane Warriors. So far, so good.
In the middle, the Officer shouts Press the Advantage to the Suppressors giving them Swift Hunter. They then aim and starts shooting. Unfortunately, they are shooting a small bases; and despite rerolls they can't really hit anything. A few Banes die, but nothing amazing. They do, however spread out making room for the Wrecking Crew that charges Banes, after the other Officer have shouted Pathfinder to them.
On the left side, the Dire Wolf runs forward along the wall of the house. It is now ready for the next round. The Snipers move out from behind the rock and pick out some Banes and kill two. They then Reposition to fill up some area.
Back to the right side. There is now room for the second Wrecking Crew to enter the fray. This also opens up the possibility for the Dire Wolf on the rigth to move in front of the Objective and for the Arkanist to follow behind. The few remaining models just move up behind the frontline.
All in all, an OK turn. Not impressive in killing power, but OK. The picture above shows the disarray after Tatiana's turn.
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| End of round 2 |
Scaverous' troops ready them selfs to hit back. He feats and probably cast some spells. For some reason that is beyond me, I managed to make a very nice Wraith Engine size hole behind my front line. There is just a single Wrecking Crew standing in the way. However, being moved 2" forward by Telekinese and charging, and with the help of being Incorporeal, it is now in the middle of Tatiana's army. Luckily, it doesn't really manage to do any significant damage against Man-O-Wars under feat.
On the right side, the Pistol Wraith runs forward to contest the Objective. Tartarus moves in and kills the dog (why is it always the dog....) and a single Sniper. This means two additional Banes in the unit next to him. The Deathripper kills the Sniper near the forest on Scaverous' half.
The left flank is plauged the whold group of Banes and a Pitol Wraith, who manage to remove the entire Sniper unit (including the dog!).
The Bane Warriors in the middle removes a Wrecking Crew and cluttes up the centre. This leaves room for Erebus who charges and kill another Wrecking Crew in the same unit. Also a Wrecking Crew from the other unit.
That was it. Except the small and insignificant Wraith Engine that appeared smack in the middle of Tatian's army, it was actually a pretty good turn for her. I'm pretty sure it could have been much more bloody.
The picture abow shows the chaos at the end of the second round.
Round 3
OK. There is a Wraith Engine in our midst. But besides that, Tatiana and her loyal army is actually in a pretty good state. Let's see if she can press the advantage.
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| End of turn 1 |
First of all, there is the roar of Vengeance from the two Wrecking Crews. One whacks the Wraith Engine, the other one a random Bane. Tatiana uses her move from Avenging force and also hits the Wraith Engine. But it is a hard target. A base ARM of 18 + Death Ward from Scaverous gives it ARM 20. That is rough.
The turn can now begin for real. Tatiana moves back to her well. Hitting Wraith Engines makes you thirsty. She drops Avenging Force, upkeeps the other two and cast Positive Charge on the Dire Wolf to her right. The Supperssors to the left moves around a bit and starts shooting at the Wraith Engine. Despite the effective POW of 14, damaging ARM 20 is difficult. So, one of the Suppressors change target to the unit of Bane Warriors, which improves it's self esteem a bit. Anyway, it is clear that help is required.
Help arrives from the Dire Wolf to the left. The Arkanists fills it up with focus; and finally, Damien remembers that he can cast Positive Charge. The Dire Wolf walks leisurely up to the Wraith Engine. Being POW 19 helps. The Wraith Engine disappears.
The Wrecking Crew from the right moves in, kills a Bane and Smites Erebus. This makes it easy picking for the Dire Wolf equiped with a Long Axe and Positive Charge. POW 18 against ARM 18 is straight dice. 28 boxes is not a lot; in partiuclar when it has already been damaged. It dissapears.
The field is slowly opening up. The right most Suppressors can now move behind enemy lines. They kill a Necrotech and put a few pot shots into Scaverous. It does not damage him a lot. By the effect of having three Man-O-Wars at your door step has aome effect.
Finally, the Arkanists on the right sprays the Pistol Wraith off the board. The Dire Wolf shuffles left to cover a bit for Tatiana and the two Officers runs in front of her to screen her. The picture above shows how a Cryx army under pressure looks.
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| End of round 3, end of game |
Scaverous is on his heels. He needs to come up with something. He activates first, charges the Suppressors and take out two Suppressors and the contesting Sniper. Tartarus the charges the Officers, take them out and returns two Banes. This now leaves room for the Bane Warriors on the right. After a lot of measuring and measuring and measuring they make the charge on Tatiana. Four Banes arrive. Despite a heoric defence by Tatiana, and some shouting of obscure remarks, she goes down.
The picture above shows the result of a Cryx hail Mary (or whatever the hail). Scenario is at 4 to 3 in Scaverous' favour and the game is done.
Final Thoughts
Once again I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of vitory. It was very much like the battle against Sparkhamme (see here for details). Screening is quite difficult in MK IV. Nevertheless, this was yet another game where we both had fun.
I'm clearly getting better at piloting this list. I still think that Snipers are a bit lacklusting. The Man-O-Wars are peforming. Suppressors are not good against small bases. Perhaps I should thing about exchanging Snipers for Shock Trooper Gunners. There is an extra RAT, yet worse range and they do have a larger footprint.
On the positive side, Damien remebered that he can cast a spell — hurrah!
Until next time.
For the Motherland!
For the Motherland!
Moar Banez!
ReplyDeleteGreat game!
ReplyDelete