Note: This is the final report for my LGS’s 50-point
journeyman league. See previous entries
for the dirty details regarding how I got here.
I spent
the preceding month reading up on rules and ordering adjustable measuring
sticks from:
http://www.productsforwargamers.com/screw_measuring_sticks.html
I hoped that the sticks would cut my turns down since I
would not be counting notches on the red plastic any more. Thanks to JDAntoine for the suggestion. I was as ready as I was going to be without
additional playtime.
This was
the day. I got to put on my big
commandant pants and play a 50-point list.
After the last session, I knew I needed some hitting power. Malakov running a juggernaut was my answer to
Josh’s hope breaker ™ formation. Two axe
wielding robots, one of which would benefit from red line, would deal with just
about anything (or so I hoped.) The
angel of retribution was sitting on my unpainted pile. I figured this was as good a time as any to
put her on the table; so, I had my painting guy (he insists on being called a
painting goddess after my pet name for my other painter got out) prepare the
epic mage hunter and Malakov. The
widowmaker marksman needs no introduction.
He is the bringer of most precise ranged damage, the breaker of
cortexes, the bane of tough-guys everywhere.
I figured the sniper boat could disable jacks, beasts, and
infantry. Eiryss is disruption on a
stick. I like her ability to counter
magic and spell defense. Malakov is
focus efficiency and threat extension all in one.
My list, Kozlov gets some competent help:
As with the previous session, the tournament
organizer let me camp on one table to minimize movement issues. We played the same scenario both games. Each player placed an objective on the center
line of their deployment zone 10 inches out.
Each objective counted as a large base, had 5/18 defense/armor, and
massed 30 boxes. We won by caster kill
or taking out the opposing objective.
I
played the same table side both games.
From that perspective, there was an 8 inch high building on my left
within easy reach of my advance deployers first turn. A small hedge sat a couple inches forward of
the building making a decent charge-stopper.
There was a hill with scattered rocks on my right that funneled me down
the center line. The center of the board
featured a large forest which blocked line of sight from both our deployment
zones unless I climbed to the top of that building. If I swung a little to the right of the
forest, there was a section of clear terrain that lead straight to the opposing
objective.
My first
challenger was Josh, he of last month’s Menoth fame.
Josh’s list, the hope breaker
MKII or a persuasive argument for fire insurance:
·
Vanquisher
Josh and I were the only participants to embraced the new
all-heavies-all-the-time environment.
His repenters and vanquisher gave him a better ranged presence but my
three heavies out-classed him in terms of raw melee output. I think he had a more challenging task
building up to 50 points than I did.
Kozlov is a bare bones caster—pick a unit, add buff, apply to enemy’s
dome. Malekus forces you to pick between
fire generating ranged models and utility brawlers like the crusader. If you fall too far on the ranged side, you
will have problems dealing with a dedicated armor cracking list. If you go too far on the melee side, you will
not have enough models to take full advantage of Malekus’s feat.
I
won the roll-off and picked second. I
set up with Malakov behind his juggernaut anchoring my right flank. The decimator took up station behind the
objective to malakov’s left with Kozlov behind the second juggernaut bracketing
the decimator. The demolition corps
crammed in to the gap between Kozlov’s juggernaut and the base of the elevated
building—anchoring my left flank with a couple tons of red steel. I debated putting the snipers and mage hunter
off on a far flank to sweep in and/or bate some of the protectorate away from
their objective. Then I remembered we
were playing a 50-point game and we would be lucky to get 4 turns. I decided to dump them in the building where
they could give my crimson wedge some covering fire.
I
think Josh had a similar plan which is to say charge the field, try and
overwhelm the defenders with positive piece trading, pick off an assassination
or objective win, but aim to win on points.
From my right to left, he deployed the crusader, vanquisher, castigator,
repenter, cinerators, and the second repenter.
The choir, mechanic, and casters set up behind his iron wall.
1.
We do the standard bum’s rush toward the
opposing side. Tristan fortifies his
vanquisher. Malekus ignites the
castigator. The choir sang something irrelevant
to my plans. The left hand repenter
breaks formation to get a shot on my left flank next turn. Malakov redlines his juggernaut and advances
to keep his jack in his puny control range.
Kozlov puts fury on the demolition corps, reposition on the decimator,
and walks up and a little to the left to catch some cover while keeping his force
in control range. The snipers take up
overwatch on the top of the building covering the entire left midfield. Eiryss zips through the building like a boss
and tags the recently ignited castigator with a disruption bolt. Josh opts to keep the upkeep so the mage
hunter draws first blood with one point on Malekus and a couple points on the
castigator. Eiryss repositions back into
the building to grab some cover but cannot completely make it out of sight of
the repenter.
2.
Josh adopts his patented wedge of sadness™. The vanquisher walks forward with the
crusader behind and right while the castigator goes left into the forest for an
angle on the objective. The left hand
repenter moves up and attempts to fry the angel of retribution but her high
defense saves her in spite of a boosted roll.
The vanquisher’s flame belcher hits the Men-o-War dead center, killing 1
and wounding 2—plus setting stuff on fire.
The other repenter sets one of my jacks on fire and does trivial damage. Malekus—clearly unsatisfied with the amount
of fire present—moves up and casts open fire on the left repenter—missing
Eiryss again. He does something else and
scratches my jacks. The choir sings
no-shooty on the castigator. The vassal
continues to be unremarkable.
I check Kozlov’s control range, and several
charge distances. These measuring sticks
are amazing—they cut at least ten minutes off my turns. Fire continues on all counts but does no damage. Redline does 1 to Malakov’s juggernaut. Lord goat upkeeps fury and gives 2 focus to
the decimator. Malakov upkeeps redline
and gives 2 to his juggernaut. Kozlov
pops feat catching the entire army. He
moves up in anticipation of battlegroup advancement and casts chosen ground
putting him on 0 camp. The sniper corps hit
every shot and rip the flame thrower off the left repenter. Eiryss hits the repenter with a disruptor
bolt just to be careful. The decimator
checks range, keeps the aiming bonus, and does 12ish damage to the
vanquisher. Malakov’s juggy makes an
easy charge to the crusader while ending in base with the vanquisher as
well. What is this 12-inch threat
range? It feels like Christmas. The juggy uses his initials and 2 of his
focus to remove the crusader. His final
focus buys an attack on the vanquisher. The
demolition corps charge forward and finish off the vanquisher. Kozlov’s juggernaut runs into the forest and engages
the castigator.
3.
We are running short on time. I talk through order of activation
re-Malekus. The cinerators charge
Malakov’s juggernaut doing decent damage but leaving him mostly
functional. The castigator does an ok
job on the second juggernaut but cannot get through that armor 22 to finish him
off. Malekus and the fully functional
repenter cut loose, popping feat and killing off the demolition corps while spreading
more fire around. During this activation
Josh gets half way through damaging one of the juggernauts before I remember
the +2 armor from Kozlov’s feat. We
agree to take one box off the systems he has damaged as a compromise rather
than reworking the entire turn. Saving
the best for last, it turns out that I was a little too aggressive with
Kozlov’s movement. He is just in range
for Malekus to light him up. The roll is
boosted and Kozlov barely escapes thanks to his defense. We do the math and call the game as I have
him on points and my final turn would just be making the situation worse. Kozlov takes protectorate concession.
This was my favorite game of the league. I faced Josh every-single-time. He was a great sport playing hard while not
taking setbacks and serendipity too seriously.
It turns out I accidentally trolled the poor guy. I grabbed a shirt at random that
morning. It said “inflammable? Challenge
accepted.” Regardless of the outcome, I
wish every game played like this.
Game II, Khador faces Skorn—Fight!
Peter’s list, the elephant in the
room:
Peter is convinced his list is
broken. I am convinced it isn’t. I suppose the best way to test our theories
is to fight it out. Peter wins the roll
and opts to go second. I deploy exactly
the same as before except a little farther back due to the 7-inch starting
zone. Peter puts the mammoth just behind
the objective, drops the blood runners ahead and to the left, drops the
incindiarii opposite the forest, and leaves the archidon to anchor his left
flank. Morghoul and the agonizer back up
the assassins.
1.
I send everyone forward. Kozlov puts fury on the demolition corps and
tactical supremacy on the widowmaker scouts.
He holds a little left to keep everyone in control range. Malakov redlines on his juggernaut and moves
up in anticipation of an upcoming charge target. I feel like rubbing my hands together in
gleeful expectation. The sniper corps
runs further into the building. Half of
them make it to the elevation, the other half are stuck climbing next
turn. Eiryss sets up to bate Peter’s
left flank. Peter rushes everything
forward.
2.
Redline
does 1 to Malakov’s juggernaut. Despite
half the scouts not qualifying for the aiming bonus, the sniper corps snipes
out the archidon’s spirit—that thing that keeps them from forcing. Eiryss hits an incindiarii for 4 points and
retreats to the board edge. Peter moves
up, shoots Malakov’s juggernaut for nontrivial damage but leaves all systems
functional. The wounded incindiarii hits
Eiryss with its spray attack leaving her on one box and on fire. Morghoul takes one look at my three heavies
and waves the mammoth forward. The
agonizer drops Kozlov’s juggernaut’s axe by 2 p+s. Blood runners charge the demolition corps,
killing the leader and injuring two more.
3.
Eiryss burns to death. Redline does 2 to Malakov’s juggernaut. Kozlov allocates 2 focus to the decimator and
upkeeps his spells. Malakov upkeeps
redline and allocates 2 focus to his juggernaut. The Men-o-War consolidate and kill 3 blood
runners. I could have probably killed
another but the field promotion lost me a combat action. Kozlov pops feat and moves up and to the
right still wary of last game’s barely avoided assassination. Malakov’s juggernaut charges the mammoth—mostly
killing it. The decimator shoots the
mammoth twice leaving it with 8 boxes of body.
The other juggernaut picks his way ahead hoping for a shot at something
juicy. I think we both had lost track of
time at this point. There were a bunch
of rules clarifications and strategic takebacks—especially as Peter realized
that the agonizer was the only beast left he could use for fury. The mammoth clubs Malakov’s juggernaut with
his initials doing significant damage.
The archidon walks over and dings up the juggernaut a bit more leaving
him with his axe and movement crippled. The
blood runners walk out and back into combat by virtue of apparition. They kill one more Man-o-War. Time is called and I lose on points since
Eiryss is the only complete unit selection killed. Next turn I am pretty sure I could have
cleared out most of his board but the clock is an unforgiving mistress.
I left this game with mixed
feelings. There were a lot of
miscommunications and false rules assumptions at play. I checked battle college later and found that
unless they have changed, incindiarii do not have 10 inch sprays. Eiryss still might have died to blast damage
but the incindiarii was definitely outside 5 inches when he took the deciding
shot so who knows. Mistakes were made on
both sides so I’m going to call this one a wash. The lesson I took from this match was learn
your models. I will be making a spread
sheet with all my army stats and leaving it in drop box on my phone. In spite of some rules-fuzzy-plays, I felt on
solid ground with the rules for the first time since the end of MKI. The portable PDF makes everything accessible
for the first time in my PP experience.
General thoughts before I write
up a review of Kozlov from battle box to killbox:
1.
Demolition corps just did not do it for me this
league. There was never a situation
where I would have rather had them over shock troopers. This is not to say they are useless but they
offer nothing substantive besides a single point reduction over a full unit of
shockies. I’ll be playing shock troopers
in the upcoming narrative league so maybe my opinion will change. Until then though, hammer boys are firmly on
the casual side of the bag.
2.
Malakov is an absolute monster under Kozlov’s
feat. Screw the d3 damage, the free
charge leaves that third focus available to get serious work done. Add 2 extra inches of threat on top of red
line and very few heavies are going to survive or out-threat your alpha. I felt like I was cheating—he was that good.
3.
This was my first time out with all the
widowmakers. With elevation and aiming bonus,
there was not much my opponents could do.
They rendered multiple models combat ineffective. I felt like they shined best when I gave my
opponent bigger problems to deal with—letting them survive long enough to cripple
key components. They fit my play style
well. Reposition or tactical supremacy
combines with premeasuring to make them a serious problem…if your opponent can
spare enough resources to seriously threaten them. In my testing, my heavy hitters are so
attention getting that the snipers get a free hand.
4.
Ok, so I was wrong about the decimator—I can
admit it. I used to think it was a
pretty crappy jack for the points. He
got work done in every single game. I
don’t know if he did 16 points of work but those 2 pow 15 shots set up other
models to decisively finish off other heavies.
His melee capacity is rubbish.
After you spend 1 focus to charge, he does not have enough juice to
finish the job. If he could fire his gun
twice on the charge I would take him every game. Still, he is a vast improvement over the
destroyer.
5.
Juggernauts, juggernauts, say it with me,
juggernauts. Just so sweet. They require resources to shine but man are
they a great value for the points. I am
looking forward to playing my marauders and seeing how they stack up. The difference between MKII juggernauts and
MKIII is beyond words.
6.
Eiryss was a solid player for the points. I like her toolbox more than version I even
though it is less intimidating. She
always had a target. I put her on the
ground in front of the widow makers to split my opponent’s forces. She succeeded in both games. She pesters your opponent until they cannot
help but send something to deal with her.
I am not sure I would take her at less than 50 points but at this level
she did a great job.
7.
Kozlov is so close to being a really great
caster. Right now, he feels like a feat
on legs. He is durable, he just does not
have the offensive capacity to spearhead attacks single-handed. I just wanted him to be close enough to the
rest of his army to feat and upkeep fury.
Everything else was situational.
Outside his feat, Malakov had a bigger impact than the “warcaster.”
8.
The marksman feels odd. He unquestionably gets work done. Still, his status as a solo feels “off.” I wish they made him a command attachment that
granted prowl and tactics swift hunter rather than the poor man’s Kell. There is something about his entry that just feels
unsymmetrical.
9.
Honorable mention goes to the Man-o-War Kovnik
or sir not appearing in this battle report.
I gave serious thought to whether I wanted Malakov or the Kovnik—I had
the points for one or the other, not both.
I figured desperate pace was useful for shock troopers in that it boosts
their movement while they get to shield wall.
He makes them one inch short of a charge for their threat range while
keeping their defenses at maximum.
Demolition corps have no such reason to avoid running/charging. In fact, they have no special actions at
all. I ended up playing at least one
point down both of the last 2 games.
Even if I took shock troopers, I think Malakov was the better choice
between the two given the point restrictions.
10.
Next month we start the current narrative campaign
at 15 points. I am torn between fielding
Kozlov for more data and Zerkova I to broaden my experience base. Kozlov has the advantage of stupidly simple strategy. However, I have wanted to try MKIII lady Z
ever since I read her updated card.
Either way, Malakov is probably coming along for the ride—he is that
good.
I took second overall for the league. Josh took first place and best sport and
rightfully so. Lessons were learned,
foes were vanquished, and fun was had by all.
Now to prepare for my starter box review and next month’s shenanigans.
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