Finally, some games!!!

Alright, so finally I get to play HORDES!! Ted came down from Abington with his Trollblood Boxed Set and Totem Hunter. Our first game was Madrak, 2 Impalers, & 1 Axer vs Kaya, 2 Argus, and 1 Warpwolf. The table was set up with a large hill on my left with 2 standing stones and a woods. There were 2 buildings near the trolls deployment zone on my right and some woods on my side. The first battle started badly in Turn 2 with both Impalers and Madrak hitting my Warpwolf and 1 Argus with ranged attacks. My Warpwolf got stuck in but was overmatched and taken out, leaving me with a weakened Argus, a 2nd Argus, and Kaya. Neither argus was able to do enough damage to finish off the trolls decisively and in a battle of attrition the trolls are likely to win. As the first argus went down Kaya was soon assaulted and surrounded. Alais, 1 loss already. The Trolls are pretty touch (more armor than my woodland beasts) and their ranged attacks got me flustered early on.

For the 2nd battle we switched table sides and added our respective Totem Hunters to the armies. This battle didn't really go much better. One of my Argus got critical slammed by a thrown spear early on and was severely injured. My Totem hunter and 2nd argus made a long journey around the central hill and woods to try to flank the Trolls but both Madrak and the Troll's totem hunter got the drop on the 2nd argus as he emerged from the woods and was chopped down. My Warpwolf got an early attack and charge in on the Axer as he moved ahead of the solid Troll line of Impalers and Madrak but sadly I was unable to finish him. My totem hunter then moved in behind the Axer and still couldn't finish the job! The troll Totem Hunter then got my totem hunter in the back and finished him off. Kaya teleported in to kill the Axer but at this point I'd lost both Argus and only killed the Axer! After the Warpwolf died I was again surrounded. 0 for 2.. ick..

So, just to prove the Trollbloods could die, we switched it up and I took 322 pts of Khador Iron Fury against the Trolls. The butcher, a Juggernaut, a Destroyer, and a Manhunter vs trolls and their totem hunter. Things started very well with my Destroyer actually landing a bombard on the Impaler on my right flank. But, the next turn the Destroyer was slammed back by a spear and fell of the edge of the hill (luckily too low to do more damage with the Khador armor). My Manhunter then got a great charge in against the other Impaler and needing only 7's to hit rolled 6's and a 2nd set of 6's to miss completely. The troll totem hunter then vaulted into combat with the Manhunter and killed him but I had cast retaliaton with The Butcher the turn before and my retaliatory attack killed the Totem Hunter. Fair trade. Would have been better if I'd at least wounded the Impaler!! So, now my Juggernaut gets speared a few times and loses his left arm - but he does get into combat with the Axer and through the next 3 turns manages to carve up the Axer while keeping his Axe Arm working. The Axer actually frenzies at one point but he is frozen by my Ice Axe for 2 turns in a row and never gets to use the frenzy. In the mean time the Butcher shows what he is made of and calls his feat, charges the 2 Impalers as the near the edge of the hill, and carves one up completely and almost finishes the 2nd one by himself! Of course, now he is without focus and is countercharged by Madrak!!! Fortunately for Khador, the Butcher survivies and even the injured Impaler's attacks go wide. The butcher then uses 5 of his focus and his axe Lola to carve Madrak.. even with Madrak's scroll to ignore one hit completely (he chooses a 33 point whopper of a hit) I kill Madrak.. but wait, he's tough.. and rolls a 6!! I have 1 last focus and am able to hit a downed model for free and this time he roll's a 2 for tough and is elimanted. Phew.... I'd forgotten about his scroll and almost didn't leave myself enough focus for the tough ability!!!

Now back to my Circle - 425 pts - Circle including Kaya, Warpwolf, 2 Argus, and a Totem Hunter with the addition of a WoldWarden vs a Cryx nightmare force - 6 Bane Thralls, 3 bonejacks, a Slayer helljack, a Necrotech, a Scrapthrall, a Pistol Wraith, and Skarre the Pirate Queen!!! A mixed start for Kaya - she pushes her force forward with her, the Warpwolf, and an argus in the woods on my right and the woldwarden and 2nd argus going up the middle and the totem hunter way out on the flank. I moved Kaya too far to her right and actually got outside the 12" control range after I'd activated the Warden, put up his animus, and moved the argus up next to him. So, cryx launched their attack with a bonejack way out front shooting at the Argus and then channelling spells from Skarre to wound both models. On my turn I couldn't leech focus from the woldwarden and he kept 2 on him. I did move Kaya closer to him and forced him to charge in after the Argus on the 1st Bonejack and combined they obliterated the critter but now were in range of most of the cryx return fire. On my right, I tried to Doppler Bark with my argus in the other flanking bonejack but missed. My Warpwolf pulled back through the woods to guard Kaya. In the following turn the Argus near the Wold Warden was killed by the Bane Thralls and the bonejack opposite my other argus was damaged severely and lost his spirit attribute. I moved the Warpwolf up to finish that lone bonejack and managed to miss completley with every attack, leaving myself out in the open and awaiting punishment. On the back of the table I had run away from the Pistol Wraith and actually mounted an attack on Skarre from her own table edge. I did wound her but of course her retaliation the next turn killed the hunter. Getting back to Kaya I decided to risk her getting into combat for a potential show stopper. I charged up and attack the Bane Thralls - with all my fury I was able to kill 3, and knock down the 4th - I then called my feat and replenished my 6 fury, used 1 to kill the knocked down thrall, and then teleported the Wold Warden into melee with the Helljack that was breathing down my neck (and set to charge me or the Warpwolf next turn). This would have been an amazing move in if the Wold Warden had then hit with his first two fist attack and done a Elemental Wrath attack to slam the Helljack away... instead, I missed one attack and had to settle for damaging the slayer and tying it up in combat. In the following turns my woldwarden was finally dispatched and my last argus was too. The warpwolf was hurting and Kaya was all alone facing a pistol wraith, skarre, scrapthrall, necrotech, helljack, and 3rd untouched bonejack! She Spirit Doored behind the Warpwolf and tried to regroup as the warpwolf finally killed the bonejack he's been fighting for 3 turns! So, now it was the remaining cryx closing in on an emaciated warpwolf and wounded Kaya. Trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat I charged the Pistol Wraith and killed it then cast Rager on the Warpwolf. He moved up into melee with both the bonejack and the helljack on the egde of the hill an inch from Kaya. He tried to use Rager to two-handed throw the bonejack because he could draw line of sight to Skarre and was going to drop the 'jack on her head! But, of course, he missed. So, with his remaining attacks he hit the helljack twice and then did a throat-ripper attack and tore off both arms and took out it's hull, wrecking the big boy. But, this was to be it as Skarre then pulled her feat, gave everbody +5 armor, and did a sacrificial strike with the scrap thrall doing a strength 17 hit to Kaya that when boosted killed her outright. With no fury on her and with only a few hits left on the warpwolf there was nothing she could do.

So, 0 for 3 with the circle... hmm... all 3 were good games and to be honest I made plenty of mistakes. I left guys exposed while casting Cloak of Mists on others. I left guys in range to be speared. I really got very few combo charges off and ended up using Spirit Gate to get myself out of trouble instead of using it to move more models into combat (except with the Wold Warden... that was a great move that would have paid off if I'd not misjudged the 12" control range on turn 1 and couldn't leech fury off him in turn 2!)... Anyway... the circle is very different than my Khador force and I am not used to having speed - I often times gave the Warpwolf +2 move to make sure he got into combat when I had plenty of room to spare and could have used the + armor or +2 strength to better effect. So, I think if I can get a few combos down, do more supporting of my own troops and then use my spirit door to push the tide of battle in my favor instead of using it to escape to lick my wounds, I'll have a better shot.

Alright, till next battles...
jahatch28
may 30th, 2006