Battle Report: Skorne (Rasheth) vs Crucible Guard (Syvestro)

 

Dominar Rasheth (Masters of War)

• Dominar Rasheth
• Aptimus Marketh
• Desert Hydra
• Basilisk Krea
• Agonizer
• Extoller Soulward
• Extoller Soulward
• The Wastelander
• Croak Raiders (min)
• Cataphract Incindiarii (max)
• Praetorian Keltarii (min)

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Crucible Guard (Prima Materia)

• Aurum Adeptus Syvestro
• Toro
• Vindicator
• Trancer
• Trancer
• Trancer
• Prospero
• Suppressor
• Crucible Guard Rocketmen
• Rocketman Gunner
• Rocketman Gunner
• Rocketman Gunner
• Crucible Guard Rocketmen Captain
• Containment Operatives

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Deployment

This was a casual evening game at my place. We broke after turn 2 to grill dinner. The scenario was Bunkers 2021.

We used mostly terrain I'd created, including the new crucible guard petrochemical factory, which was placed centrally. On one side of the zones, we had a forest, quicksand, a wall, and four open graves. On the other side, a ruins obstruction, a pond, and a docks terrain piece.

I won the roll and chose the side with no quicksand, since this allowed better potential positioning for the hydra. My opponent went first.

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Crucible Guard Turn 1

Crucible Guard runs forward. Trancers stop in the open graves, rocketmen fly over the docks and the water, and the jacks stop at the edge of their zone.

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Skorne Turn 1

Skorne runs forward. The krea puts up a force aura, but the agonizer doesn't put up his strength debuff because melee threat seems unlikely so soon. Rasheth casts two breath of corruptions onto the corrosion-immune croaks to create a cloud wall protecting the incindiarii, but one rolls very poorly and misses, leading to the AoE drifting. Two incindiarii end up with their toes in the acid clouds. The keltari hide behind the burned out building.

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Crucible Guard Turn 2

Syvestro feats, and rocketmen move forward and kill the two incindiarii with their toes in the clouds.

The vindicator fires a withering humor shot at the hydra, but the wastelander makes himself the target and is hit, killing him. Rasheth, the krea, and Aptimus Marketh are hit with withering humor, but the hydra is spared.

The Toro gets a speed buff and a strength buff and charges the desert hydra, which I'd failed to consider as a possibility so early in the game. The Toro leaves the hydra with only a single hit point. A suppressor steps up into the quicksand and sprays through the Toro but doesn't damage the hydra. A trancer charges the hydra and kills it.

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Skorne Turn 2

Rasheth feats, casts blood mark on the Toro, and casts a breath of corruption at him, creating a cloud. A croak raider oils the Toro, and two incindiarii throw fire at him, taking out its sword and its cortex. The other two incindiarii throw fire at rocketmen. The keltari come around the corner, and the two who can reach kill some rocketmen, using the +2 to hit from carnivore.

A soulward uses gunfighter and shoots the trancer he's engaged with, nearly dying from the resulting explosion.

(Crucible Guard 1, Skorne 1)

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Crucible Guard Turn 3

Syvestro casts purification and gets rid of the blood mark on the Toro. The containment operative launch hull tinctures at the Toro and repair it. Now that it has a cortex, Prospero moves up onto the flag and casts instability equation on the Toro, giving it three focus. The Toro then comes forward and kills the agonizer and the krea, leaving Rasheth with no beasts. Then the Toro explodes.

Rocketmen kill a keltarus and an incindiarus.

(Crucible Guard 3, Skorne 2)

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Skorne Turn 3

Both extoller soulwards boost shots at Prospero, killing him and leaving the suppressor inert. Neither soulward can reach the flag, but one is sure to be exactly six inches away so that she can get there next turn. The two croaks run around the other side of the suppressor, trying to block Syvestro from reactivating it.

Rasheth channels three boosted Sunder Spirits at Syvestro, doing some damage but not killing him.

Incindiarii set lots of rocketmen on fire, and keltari take out a few more.

(Crucible Guard 4, Skorne 3)

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Crucible Guard Turn 4

Syvestro reactivates the suppressor, despite the croak raiders' protests. The suppressor has no combat action this turn, but steps forward, placing its arc such that the extoller soulward can't move around it to attack Syvestro without taking a free strike.

Containment operatives and the vindicator kill all the remaining incindiarii and keltari.

(Crucible Guard 5, Skorne 4)

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Skorne Turn 4

Rasheth cuts himself to get up to eight fury, leaving him on five boxes. The soulward moves and takes a free strike, which misses. Both soulwards boost shots at Syvestro, but fail to kill him. Rasheth channels more boosted Sunder Spirits at Syvestro, but Syvestro burns most of the damage with focus.

(Crucible Guard 6, Skorne 5)

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Crucible Guard Turn 5

The vindicator boosts a shot at Rasheth, killing him.

(Crucible Guard Victory!)

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Final Thoughts

• Losing that hydra at the top of two was definitely the biggest swing of the game. Had I forced the agonizer to screech gnawing pain, the hydra would have lived. Had I kept the hydra back a few inches, it would have been out of range.
• In the end, I had a fairly good comeback given the loss of a gargantuan so early.

Battle Report: Skorne (Rasheth) vs Trollbloods (Ragnor)

 

Skorne (Masters of War)

• Dominar Rasheth
• Aptimus Marketh
• Desert Hydra 
• Basilisk Krea
• Agonizer
• Extoller Soulward
• Extoller Soulward
• The Wastelander
• Croak Raiders (min)
• Cataphract Incendiari (max)
• Praetorian Keltarii (min)

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Trollbloods (Power of Dhunia)

• Ragnor Skysplitter, the Runemaster
• Trollkin Runebearer
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Pyre Troll
• Storm Troll
• Troll Axer
• Winter Troll
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes
• Stone Scribe Elder

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Deployment 

We played this game at my house, and I got to use the custom minefield terrain for the first time. The beta rules on the terrain stated that any model that moved within its area would have to roll a 1d6, and on a 1 the model takes a POW10 damage roll.

The scenario was Spread the Net 2021.

We deployed terrain using a template method of my own device, and after the terrain ended up including only a single obstruction, I revised it to require at least two. But this game included only a single obstruction: the gallows. That gallows was central and directly adjacent to a zone. One side had two forests, and the other side had a hill, a wall, and a pond.

My opponent won the roll and chose to go first. I picked the side without an obstacle that would obstruct my desert hydra. The area next to the minefield looked like a perfect place for my gargantuan to sit partially in the zone while attacking centrally placed enemies and blocking my warlock.

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Troll Turn 1 

Trollbloods run forward. The impalers line up behind the gallows.

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Skorne Turn 1 

The hydra runs into its spot in the zone, removing a piece of scatter terrain from the game. Keltarii sprint around the left flank. Incendiari head for the wall. Croaks run into the central zone. Rasheth arcs two Breath of Corruptions through a single Incendiari onto the corrosion-immune croaks, creating two acid clouds, but nearly killing the incendiari.

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Trollblood Turn 2

The axer moves up and threshes the two croaks in the acid to death. The pyre troll steps into the acid and torches two incendiari to death. Then an impaler moves forward and somehow misses a boosted shot against an extoller soulward. Another impaler crit slams a keltari into another keltari, killing the target and leaving the other knocked down.

A whelp moves up onto the flag, and on the other side, one hides behind a wall, eyeing the other flag.

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Skorne Turn 2 

The croaks oil the lead impaler, and the three remaining incendiari burn him to death. Rasheth arcs Blood Mark from one of the incendiari onto the axer. The desert hydra moves forward, setting off a mine and taking its POW10, which does no damage. He then spits acid and kills the axer. The keltari charge the whelp on the flag and kill him.

An extoller soulward takes the flag, hiding behind two incendiari. Skorne scores a flag, and each side scores their zone.

(Trollbloods 1, Skorne 2)

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Trollblood Turn 3 

The impaler with pulverizer charges a keltari, killing him, and rolls terribly, missing the other keltari within melee range.

The pyre troll, storm troll, and winter troll take out the rest of the incendiari, but poor rolls mean that the soulward on the flag lives.

Ragnor feats.

(Trollbloods 2, Skorne 4)

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Skorne Turn 3

The soulward on the flag takes a shot at the winter troll, doing some damage. The croak raiders charge. One hits a whelp and fails to damage it, and the two on the winter troll do a couple points of damage each before going stationary from the cold.

The hydra spits acid all over the pyre troll, but fails to kill it due to Ragnor's feat.

The keltari run, and then Rasheth channels Blood Mark through one onto the Dire Troll Mauler.

(Trollbloods 3, Skorne 6)

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Trollblood Turn 4 

The winter troll walks away from the stationary croak raiders and sprays the soulward on the flag to death.

Ragnor Hex Blasts his own winter troll to remove blood mark, and rolls good damage for the first time in the game. He gives the pyre troll pulverizer, the Mauler gives the pyre troll rage, and the storm troll gives him lightning fists. The buffed-up pyre troll charges the hydra, but his real target is the Wastelander. The first electroleap hits the agonizer and half-kills it, and that second leap hits the wastelander, who takes 3 boxes of damage but survives. The pyre troll finishes doing damage to the hydra in prep for the mauler to finish the job next turn.

The impaler contesting the flag kills a keltari.

(Trollbloods 4, Skorne 7)

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Skorne Turn 4 

Keltari charge and kill a few krielstone members. The remaining soulward and Aptimus Marketh take shots at the impaler, and the soulward takes the flag. A croak moves to contest the troll zone.

The desert hydra spits acid at the impaler, melting it.

Skorne scores the zone and flag, going to nine points, and securing a scenario win.

(Trollbloods 4, Skorne 9)

(Skorne victory!)

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Final Thoughts

• The desert hydra/wastelander combination has been performing very well. We're all expecting the wastelander's rules to be nerfed in the future.
• Rich's dice were really bad this game.
• I could easily have prevented the trolls from scoring their zone on turn two and three had I thought of it.
• Rasheth actually never feated. I'd been saving it for when I went up against that Dire Troll Mauler and committed the hydra.

Battle Report: Skorne (Rasheth) vs Trollbloods (Ragnor)

Skorne(Masters of War)

• Dominar Rasheth
• Aptimus Marketh
• Desert Hydra
• Basilisk Krea
• Agonizer
• Extoller Soulward
• Extoller Soulward
• The Wastelander
• Croak Raiders (min)
• Cataphract Incendiari (max)
• Praetorian Keltarii (min)
  

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Trollbloods (Power of Dhunia)

• Ragnor Skysplitter, the Runemaster
• Trollkin Runebearer
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Impaler
• Pyre Troll
• Slag Troll
• Troll Axer
• Mulg the Ancient
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes
• Stone Scribe Elder

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Deployment

This was a game we played at the FLGS. The scenario was Split Decision.

We deployed terrain using the Cluster method, and boy - was the terrain ever a cluster. A friend named this layout “The Two Towers”, due to the two central terrain pieces - tower obstructions. A wall and a forest lay between them on either side, and two pools of water lay on a table edge.

My opponent won the roll and chose to go first. I picked the side with more cover and water which the croak raiders could use to advantage.

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Troll Turn 1

Trollbloods run forward. Ragnor puts up chosen ground.

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Skorne Turn 1

Skorne moves up, the desert hydra putting up a sandstorm. The krea and agonizer hide behind it with a force aura and gnawing pain respectively.

Rasheth puts up castigation. The incendiari work to move around the muddy field, and don't get that far. The croak raiders get scared of the pyre troll and hide in the pond.

Keltarii run behind the far tower, trying to flank.

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Trollblood Turn 2

The sandstorm/wastelander combination poses quite an issue for troll shooting. In the end, an impaler charges, putting some minor damage onto the hydra. Ragnor feats.

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Skorne Turn 2

The keltarii continue their journey into the back lines. The hydra eats the impaler, snacking up to full health.

The wastelander steps over the wall to attack a whelp, planning to sprint back to safety. He needs a 5 to hit and misses, remaining exposed on the other side of the wall.

The incendiari throw fire around and the croak raiders continue to hide in the pond.

(Trollbloods 1, Skorne 1)

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Trollblood Turn 3

An impaler charges the hydra and kills the exposed wastelander. The pyre troll sets Rasheth and the desert hydra on fire and kills Aptimus Marketh. The axer kills a keltarii advance scout.

(Trollbloods 2, Skorne 2)

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Skorne Turn 3

Rasheth feats. Incendiari nearly kill the engaged pyre troll, and the krea comes forward to finish it off in melee.

The desert hydra walks over and sprays the pyre troll, hitting Mulg and triggering his primal rage. Mulg comes forward and smacks the hydra, and the hydra eats Mulg, then eats the pyre troll.

An Extoller soulward takes the flag. Keltarii position directly behind the krielstone for a turn four rear ambush.

(Trollbloods 3, Skorne 4)

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Trollblood Turn 4

The slag troll melts the soulward on the flag.

(Trollbloods 4, Skorne 5)

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Skorne Turn 4

The keltari make their rear assault at last, killing four members of the krielstone. If I had remembered that the Masters of War theme allows infantry to bypass tough, the 3 or 4 successful tough rolls wouldn't have applied. If I had remembered to add the additional +2 to hit from carnivore, that would have helped as well.

A croak warrior lands oil on Ragnor with boxcars, but no fire hits. The incendiari throw fire, failing to get more krielstone members.

The hydra, hampered by weight of stone, moves a bit and puts up a sandstorm.

(Trollbloods 5, Skorne 6)

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Trollblood Turn 5

Ragnor gets pulverizer and rush, and walks around the tower, soloing the hydra.

(Trollbloods 6, Skorne 7)

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Skorne Turn 5

The krea boosts and hits Ragnor with spiritual paralysis, lowering hit defense to 5. Then Rasheth puts blood mark on him and hits with two sunder spirit spells. The extoller soulward finishes Ragnor off with a spirit eye shot.

(Skorne Victory!)

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Final Thoughts

• This was my first time playing Rasheth, and my first time with the Desert Hydra. I forgot a number of rules, and probably took far longer than I needed with a number of things. I can only hope that the speed improves in time.
• The desert hydra's sandstorm animus is better than I'd expected it to be, and the Wastelander continues to pay off his five points easily.
• My opponent's biggest mistake was on my turn 3 when he brought Mulg into the Hydra's melee range and I was able to take it out.
• Running the Keltarii behind the troll army was almost more about keeping the slag troll and axer occupied than anything else, but getting the late-game big hit on the krielstone was nice.

Battle Report: Skorne (Xerxes1) vs Crucible Guard (Syvestro)

 

Tyrant Xerxes (Masters of War)

• Tyrant Xerxes
• Titan Gladiator
• Basilisk Krea
• Razor Wurm
• Extoller Soulward
• Extoller Soulward
• The Wastelander
• Praetorian Swordsmen (max)
• Praetorian Swordsmen Officer & Standard
• Praetorian Keltarii (max) (unpainted)
• Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

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Crucible Guard (Prima Materia)

• Aurum Adeptus Syvestro
• Vindicator
• Vindicator
• Liberator
• Prospero
• Suppressor
• Trancer
• Trancer
• Trancer

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Deployment

The scenario was Invasion, which introduced an imbalance given that Skorne had Xerxes's unit-heavy army and Crucible Guard had a unit-less list.

I won the roll and chose to go first. My opponent picked the side with the wrecked train to hide behind.

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Skorne Turn 1

Skorne runs forward, toeing all the zones. Keltari get defenders' ward, the bellows crew gets tactical supremacy, and the battlegroup energizers forward.

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Crucible Guard Turn 1 

 Crucible Guard runs forward. A trancer flanks around the hill, and Syvestro hides behind the train.

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Skorne Turn 2

A soulward takes a shot and rolls very well, taking out a trancer. The bellows crew blows smoke. The keltari run to jam, engaging the liberator and vindicator at the far zone. The Praetorian swordsmen toe the zone, afraid to go further forward. The razor wurm runs across the center into the smoke, heading to attack the trancers.

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Crucible Guard Turn 2

Syvestro feats and casts purification, removing the keltaris' defenders ward, the krea's force aura, and the bellows crew's tactical supremacy. The liberator and vindicator destroy half the unit of keltari. The suppressor sprays, killing the razor wurm with an amazing damage roll, and also taking out and both members of the bellows crew, and damaging the gladiator. A vindicator shot kills a few swordsmen.

No points are scored because the two Skorne units aren't completely in their zones.

(Crucible Guard 0, Skorne 0)

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Skorne Turn 3

Skorne sees an opportunity to score a lot of points this turn. The two contesting trancers are the biggest problem. Xerxes activates and gives the swordsmen defenders ward and energizers the titan forward. Then, the swordsmen go to work removing the trancers. One hits the trancer in the center, not killing it, then sidesteps away. Then the officer kills that trancer and it blows up. Whoops. This takes out four of the officer's five boxes and kills the soulward who'd been hiding behind the house. Other swordsmen kill the other trancer, but the resulting explosion kills two of them.

The keltari use parry to back up into their zone, spreading themselves thin. Now the two circle zones are all Skorne's.

The gladiator charges the objective, killing it, and also puts some damage on the suppressor. The krea positions to give his force aura to the titan, the wastelander, and also Xerxes.

Skorne scores one point for the objective, and one each for the three zones, going up to four.

(Crucible Guard 0, Skorne 4)

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Crucible Guard Turn 3 

Syvestro needs to go for an assassination. The biggest obstacle is the titan that still has 20 health left standing in the way. In the end, the suppressor is able to take out the titan and heavily damage the krea with sprays, and the vindicator charges in. The charge damage is partially transferred to the krea, killing it, and the remaining attacks injure but do not kill Xerxes.

Prospero and the liberator run into the circle zone to contest, staving off a skorne victory.

(Crucible Guard 0, Skorne 4)

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Skorne Turn 4 

Xerxes goes first, gives the swordsmen +2 damage, and feats. He then beats on the ARM 19 liberator with every last point of fury, but does not kill it.

The four remaining swordsmen charge. Two go to the liberator, one onto Syvestro, and the Praetorian Swordsmen leader, whom I call Hangy McFlag, spends roughly a minute trying to decide which of the two to charge. In the end, he charges the liberator. The first two swordsmen kill the liberator, leaving Hangy hanging. Now it's all up to the single swordsmen who charged an undamaged Prospero. His charge hits, but the POW11 five dice attack does not kill Prospero. It takes that second sword to do the job. Zone cleared.

(Skorne Victory!)

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Final Thoughts

• The scenario was a big deal - my opponent had no units at all. And I was playing an infantry-heavy caster.
• I feel that my turn 2 had a lot of mistakes. I kept the swordsmen way back, and they likely would have taken losses no worse had I run them forward and actually spaced out. Also, after carefully positioning my models behind the cloud, I ran the razor wurm right into it, giving the suppressor a beautiful spray target to spray all the models behind the cloud. Lastly, If I'd finished my turn with all the swordsmen or all the keltari in their zones, that could have been an additional point or two, granting victory a turn sooner.
• I really don't know whether holding Xerxes feat for as long as I did was a good decision or not. It ended up working, but if I'd been able to apply the feat when I had more than four models to do it with, it may have been better.
• The biggest inflection point was that decision on turn 3 to go for points rather than try to take out two Crucible Guard heavies.