Lists and Prep
I have a habit of wanting to run lists that I have created rather than lists that are proven and known as competitive. For this scrum, I wanted to bring one list that is a known, solid list and one that I created. The proven list was going to be Coven running the dark host theme. I was fairly committed to this until I saw a Skarre1 list for dark host on the Cryx Facebook page that I thought looked both strong and fun to play. I ended up using this as my dark host list.
Theme: Dark Host
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Pirate Queen Skarre - WJ: +28
- Skarlock Thrall - PC: 0
- Kraken - PC: 36 (Battlegroup Points Used: 28)
Wraith Engine - PC: 15
Bane Lord Tartarus - PC: 0
Soul Trapper - PC: 1
Bane Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 15
Bane Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Bane Warriors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 0
I enjoyed the idea of being able to use feat to have an ARM 24, P+S 24 Kraken. If my opponent could somehow have destroyed the colossal, I would have banes and a wraith engine ready to come in and take out whatever took out the kraken. It seems like a straightforward list to play, and I already had experience with dark host using the three different units of banes.
I paired this with a Venethrax list that I had been working on for some time. Since the start of MK3, I have loved the new Venethrax and keep wanting to figure out the best way to run him. Before the Themepocalypse, I was running him out of theme with lots of jacks and a handful of solos. When black industries was revealed, I started retooling my Venethrax list to fit into that theme. My first pass at this is what I ran in the scrum.
Theme: Black Industries
2 / 2 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Lich Lord Venethrax - WJ: +26
- The Withershadow Combine - Maelovus, Admonia & Tremulus: 9
- Deathjack - PC: 23 (Battlegroup Points Used: 23)
- Harrower - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 3)
- Malice - PC: 15
- Ripjaw - PC: 0
- Ripjaw - PC: 0
- Slayer - PC: 10
Warwitch Siren - PC: 4
Warwitch Siren - PC: 4
Soul Trapper - PC: 1
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 19
Typically, a Cryx list featuring lots of jacks would be doing some form of slayer or stalker spam. My version is different because the jacks I actually own don’t allow for much other configuration. I figure with terminal velocity, ripjaws can go fishing for crits for the armor pierce. The final piece came together when I dropped a couple other solos and a seether for the nyss hunters. They give the army a ranged presence that I think works well with mortality. My hope was to run this into any Hordes matchups I would get, as Venethrax's abilities are good overall, but quite devastating against Hordes.
With my lists submitted to the scrum overlord, I was ready to go! At this point, I would like to start going into detailed battle reports, but I had not yet decided to start this blog, so I did not take great notes. I remember the last two rounds fairly well, so they will get full battle reports, but I am going to go ahead and toss quick write ups together for the first three rounds, along with my own thoughts.
Round 1 - vs Attilio Ceretti (Grymkin)
Scenario: Stand Off
When I looked over Attilio’s lists, I quickly decided to drop Skarre. I saw the armor stacking his Child list could do and was concerned that Venethrax’s mortality would not be enough to break through. In retrospect, this may have been a mistake, as Venethrax has many tools that would have helped counter what the Child does. I was put at a big disadvantage early on when I thought the wraith engine was safe, but he was able to kill it before it contributed anything to the fight. My feat turn was less than stellar, as my opponent had wonderful spacing and placement that prevented me from killing too many of his heavies.
I ended up losing on scenario in part because I failed to take the objective that can grant magic weapons and Skarre herself was the only thing I had that could have dealt with his gremlin swarms. Attilio was a great opponent who took advantage of all my mistakes and pressed me on scenario when he knew I could not effectively fight back.
Round 2 - vs Nick Shade (Circle Orboros)
Scenario: The Pit 2
This round was against Nick who was running two Circle lists that both were using the stones theme. I dropped Skarre, as I thought I would need her feat and dark shroud in order to get through the armor that his stone beasts would bring.
I won the roll and decided to choose side. We both ran on turn one. Top of two he had difficulty killing any bane warriors, but did decent work against the bane knights. On the bottom of two, I feated and killed both his woldwrath and the celestial fulcrum. This gave me a large attrition advantage early. The game ended with me assassinating Baldur1. My feat turn was huge, but despite that my opponent played a great game and used great positioning to prevent me from getting too much done on any given turn. I need to remember to keep focused after getting that kind of a lead in attrition.
Round 3 - vs Jordan Bollin (Skorne)
Scenario: Spread the Net
I thought Jordan would play his Zaal2 Immortals list into me, but he dropped Rasheth. Because I thought he was going to drop Zaal2, I played Skarre again. I thought I would need an army with lots of bodies in order to fight back against his immortals. He won the roll and decided to go first.
This game was largely about his battle engines. He was careful about keeping them back so he could take his shots and then back out of my threat range. Starting at the bottom of 2, I realized that his strategy was leaving scenario open to me and I started playing to win with control points. I was able to use my kraken to hold his siege animantarax out of the left zone and this was one of the big keys for me. On his last turn, he went for a hail mary assassination and failed, which gave me my final control point. I think I played this one really well, once I realized his strategy would leave scenario open to me. If he had been more aggressive with his battle engines, it would have made the game much more difficult for me.
For those keeping score, after three rounds of this scrum I have played Hordes factions three times. Yet, I ended up dropping Skarre instead of my specifically anti-Hordes list in each round. I am honestly not sure if that says more about the strength of the Skarre list or that the Venethrax list might need some more work. Next time I will have a detailed battle report from my round four game.
I have a habit of wanting to run lists that I have created rather than lists that are proven and known as competitive. For this scrum, I wanted to bring one list that is a known, solid list and one that I created. The proven list was going to be Coven running the dark host theme. I was fairly committed to this until I saw a Skarre1 list for dark host on the Cryx Facebook page that I thought looked both strong and fun to play. I ended up using this as my dark host list.
Theme: Dark Host
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Pirate Queen Skarre - WJ: +28
- Skarlock Thrall - PC: 0
- Kraken - PC: 36 (Battlegroup Points Used: 28)
Wraith Engine - PC: 15
Bane Lord Tartarus - PC: 0
Soul Trapper - PC: 1
Bane Knights - Leader & 9 Grunts: 15
Bane Riders - Leader & 4 Grunts: 20
Bane Warriors - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard - Officer & Standard: 0
I enjoyed the idea of being able to use feat to have an ARM 24, P+S 24 Kraken. If my opponent could somehow have destroyed the colossal, I would have banes and a wraith engine ready to come in and take out whatever took out the kraken. It seems like a straightforward list to play, and I already had experience with dark host using the three different units of banes.
I paired this with a Venethrax list that I had been working on for some time. Since the start of MK3, I have loved the new Venethrax and keep wanting to figure out the best way to run him. Before the Themepocalypse, I was running him out of theme with lots of jacks and a handful of solos. When black industries was revealed, I started retooling my Venethrax list to fit into that theme. My first pass at this is what I ran in the scrum.
Theme: Black Industries
2 / 2 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army
Lich Lord Venethrax - WJ: +26
- The Withershadow Combine - Maelovus, Admonia & Tremulus: 9
- Deathjack - PC: 23 (Battlegroup Points Used: 23)
- Harrower - PC: 16 (Battlegroup Points Used: 3)
- Malice - PC: 15
- Ripjaw - PC: 0
- Ripjaw - PC: 0
- Slayer - PC: 10
Warwitch Siren - PC: 4
Warwitch Siren - PC: 4
Soul Trapper - PC: 1
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena & 9 Grunts: 19
Typically, a Cryx list featuring lots of jacks would be doing some form of slayer or stalker spam. My version is different because the jacks I actually own don’t allow for much other configuration. I figure with terminal velocity, ripjaws can go fishing for crits for the armor pierce. The final piece came together when I dropped a couple other solos and a seether for the nyss hunters. They give the army a ranged presence that I think works well with mortality. My hope was to run this into any Hordes matchups I would get, as Venethrax's abilities are good overall, but quite devastating against Hordes.
With my lists submitted to the scrum overlord, I was ready to go! At this point, I would like to start going into detailed battle reports, but I had not yet decided to start this blog, so I did not take great notes. I remember the last two rounds fairly well, so they will get full battle reports, but I am going to go ahead and toss quick write ups together for the first three rounds, along with my own thoughts.
Round 1 - vs Attilio Ceretti (Grymkin)
Scenario: Stand Off
When I looked over Attilio’s lists, I quickly decided to drop Skarre. I saw the armor stacking his Child list could do and was concerned that Venethrax’s mortality would not be enough to break through. In retrospect, this may have been a mistake, as Venethrax has many tools that would have helped counter what the Child does. I was put at a big disadvantage early on when I thought the wraith engine was safe, but he was able to kill it before it contributed anything to the fight. My feat turn was less than stellar, as my opponent had wonderful spacing and placement that prevented me from killing too many of his heavies.
I ended up losing on scenario in part because I failed to take the objective that can grant magic weapons and Skarre herself was the only thing I had that could have dealt with his gremlin swarms. Attilio was a great opponent who took advantage of all my mistakes and pressed me on scenario when he knew I could not effectively fight back.
Round 2 - vs Nick Shade (Circle Orboros)
Scenario: The Pit 2
This round was against Nick who was running two Circle lists that both were using the stones theme. I dropped Skarre, as I thought I would need her feat and dark shroud in order to get through the armor that his stone beasts would bring.
I won the roll and decided to choose side. We both ran on turn one. Top of two he had difficulty killing any bane warriors, but did decent work against the bane knights. On the bottom of two, I feated and killed both his woldwrath and the celestial fulcrum. This gave me a large attrition advantage early. The game ended with me assassinating Baldur1. My feat turn was huge, but despite that my opponent played a great game and used great positioning to prevent me from getting too much done on any given turn. I need to remember to keep focused after getting that kind of a lead in attrition.
Round 3 - vs Jordan Bollin (Skorne)
Scenario: Spread the Net
I thought Jordan would play his Zaal2 Immortals list into me, but he dropped Rasheth. Because I thought he was going to drop Zaal2, I played Skarre again. I thought I would need an army with lots of bodies in order to fight back against his immortals. He won the roll and decided to go first.
This game was largely about his battle engines. He was careful about keeping them back so he could take his shots and then back out of my threat range. Starting at the bottom of 2, I realized that his strategy was leaving scenario open to me and I started playing to win with control points. I was able to use my kraken to hold his siege animantarax out of the left zone and this was one of the big keys for me. On his last turn, he went for a hail mary assassination and failed, which gave me my final control point. I think I played this one really well, once I realized his strategy would leave scenario open to me. If he had been more aggressive with his battle engines, it would have made the game much more difficult for me.
For those keeping score, after three rounds of this scrum I have played Hordes factions three times. Yet, I ended up dropping Skarre instead of my specifically anti-Hordes list in each round. I am honestly not sure if that says more about the strength of the Skarre list or that the Venethrax list might need some more work. Next time I will have a detailed battle report from my round four game.
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