Vs: Mark Howard
Scenario: Recon II
Mark and I got in a pickup game. He is practicing with his new Convergence pairing and I am going back to my main pairing of Denny2 in dark host and Skarre3 in slaughter fleet. I am still not sure which list I really want to drop into Convergence, especially if I see the Iron Mother list. I know that Iron Mother is the drop into most Warmachine matchups, but I also know that Skarre3 is one of the few casters in the game that Iron Mother cannot casually backlash to death. I decided to play my Skarre3 list to see how the matchup would go, especially with the concern that Denny2 could be assassination via backlash if I messed up positioning on any of my jacks. Here are the lists we brought.
Me:
[Skarre 3] Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet [+27] - Slaughter Fleet Raiders
- Kraken [36]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess [0(4)]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
General Gerlak Slaughterborn [0(6)]
Ragman [4]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Blighted Trollkin Marauders (max) [15]
Bloodgorgers (max) [15]
- Jussika Bloodtongue [5]
Bloodgorgers (max) [15]
Scharde Dirge Seers [6]
Mark:
[Directrix 1] Iron Mother Directrix [+27] - Destruction Initiative
- Corollary [6]
- Mitigator [7]
- Mitigator [7]
- Prime Axiom [38]
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2]
Attunement Servitors [0(4)]
Elimination Servitors [0(3)]
Elimination Servitors [0(3)]
Elimination Servitors [0(3)]
Optifex Directive [4]
Transfinite Emergence Projector [19]
Transfinite Emergence Projector [19]
I was definitely concerned about how this matchup would play out. Generally, this list wants to fight living enemies so the blood gorgers can get the bonus to their threat range. There is a huge difference between a 10 inch threat and a 12 inch threat. I figured he wouldn't go for the assassination, but between the elimination servitors, TEPs and the prime axiom he had such a huge volume of shots I didn't know if my force could survive just getting across the board. Leading up to the start of the game I started doing some mental math on trying to shoot the TEPs down and the math actually worked out. Except I forgot that every servitor in his army has shield guard, so none of the shots that matter are actually going to connect. My kraken would out threat the prime axiom, and I hoped to use that to keep the prime axiom back. With draconic blessing and gang fighter, the kraken might have a chance of one rounding the prime axiom if I got a couple spikes on my damage rolls. The math looks a lot better if I can also manage to position Ragman for dark shroud, but I tend to have problems with getting him in the right place at the right time.
Mark won the die roll and chose to go first. I debated which side of the board I wanted. The trench and wall were not a concern as neither would protect Skarre. Since Mark was going first, I wanted to figure out which side would be the best for my force considering rough terrain is an issue for my army. I took the side with the rubble and fire cloud, figuring I could mostly run past those on turn one and outside of the center forest the rest of the board was fairly open.
Deployment: Mark deployed the prime axiom in the center with a mitigator to each side. Iron Mother was to the right of this cluster with the corollary to her right. One of his TEPs stood to the corollary's right. To the left of the center cluster stood the other TEP. The optifex directive (mechanics) were behind the prime axiom. His servitors were spread out across the formation. I don't recall completely which ones were where and it's difficult for me to tell in the pictures which servitors are which. There was a cluster of six on his far left flank. I believe five were elimination servitors and one was an attunement servitor. Four more elimination servitors were around the right TEP with another attunement servitor. The last attunement servitor was between the prime axiom and the left TEP. The algorithmic dispersion optifex (ado) was with the mechanics behind the axiom.
I went with my standard deployment for this list. The marauders were deployed in the center, some back an inch to keep behind the fire cloud. Axiara, Gerlack and two iron mongers were behind the marauders and near Skarre's base. Skarre was deployed to the right of the marauders with one unit of blood gorgers to her right. The dirge seers were behind the blood gorgers, next to Skarre's base. To the left of the marauders stood the kraken. The third iron monger stood behind the kraken and Ragman was to the kraken's left. On the left flank was the unit of blood gorgers with Jussika.
The terrain that looks like a partially broken house was played as rubble for this game.
Top 1: Mark's turns are going to be fairly quick write ups, as there is no way I can possibly remember what each servitor did. I will probably just group them together for the net effect. This turn, Iron Mother put tactical supremacy on the left TEP and walked forward. The two TEPs ran forward, with the right one swinging a little further out on the flank. The prime axiom ran forward and stayed relatively central in the board. The left mitigator ran onto Mark's flag and the right mitigator ran to be base to base with his objective. The servitors ran and swarmed all around and behind the rest of the army. Mark's turn ended with 51 minutes on the clock.
Bottom 1: Skarre activated first. She spent her full stack to cast dash, decel and put draconic blessing on the marauders. She then moved forward a few inches. The marauders, now immune to fire thanks to draconic blessing, ran through the fire clouds and spread out behind the forest and between the two zones. The kraken ran forward to be just behind the left zone. The left blood gorgers ran and spread out, swinging around the left side of the rubble and keeping Jussika in the back. The right blood gorgers spread out in a wide formation. My goal with all the blighted trollkin was to keep Mark from getting easy AOE attacks to clear large numbers of them. Positioning to prevent lots of losses from sprays is going to be much harder during this game, although on this turn I was hoping that distance would be a help. The dirge seers ran forward and stood around the right side of Skarre's base. They don't really contribute much of anything to this particular matchup. Two of the iron mongers stood near Skarre and the third was behind Ragman, standing behind the fire cloud. Gerlack and Axiara stood between Skarre and the fire cloud. Axiara gave the marauders dodge. Finally, the blood priestess stood behind Skarre. My turn ended with 51 minutes on the clock.
Top 2: I apologize that I cannot recall how Mark allocated focus on his turn. That said, he is a practiced CoC player, so it's safe to assume all his jacks will somehow manage to have max focus when they activate. Iron Mother upkept tactical supremacy on the left TEP. The left TEP moved forward slightly and got several sprays off, just hitting the front few bloodgorgers on that side. It then repositioned back to just toe into the zone. The elimination servitors swarmed around on that side and took out one more bloodgorger, putting the unit down four models on the turn. The two mitigators each moved forward and killed a marauder each. Iron Mother walked up into the trench and shot one of the right blood gorgers, however she forgot to cycle tactical supremacy over to the right TEP. She did, however, cast shrapnel swarm which cleared out several marauders. One of her servitors hit a blood gorger to apply imperil. The prime axiom took some shots at the right blood gorgers. The right TEP moved forward and used four sprays to clear out multiple bloodgorgers on that side. The elimination servitors killed a few more bloodgorgers. The turn ended with 42 minutes on Mark's clock. I will note that this turn is the first time I failed to restart the clock after pausing for a picture. Mark realized it after he was a ways into his turn and we turned the clock on. On my next turn, Mark flipped the clock over to his time for about 7 minutes to make up for the mistake, so you will see 7 minutes disappear from his clock in the picture for bottom 2.
Bottom 2: Skarre rolled three for her reinforcements and returned three marauders to the unit. The left blood gorgers used vengeance to move forward a little bit. Skarre upkept draconic blessing for free and allocated two to the kraken. The marauders moved up and around the forest. I was keeping a couple members of the unit behind the forest so I could keep reinforcing the unit. The right marauders threw at the right mitigator and the left ones attacked the left mitigator. Both jacks took some damage. The dirge seers ran forward to just get into the right zone. Skarre moved up behind the right side of the wall and popped feat. She cut to cast dash, decel and guided fire. She then took her shots at the right mitigator, boosting all her damage rolls and killing it. The right blood gorgers received the press forward order. The killed a few servitors and got a couple attacks on the TEP, but did negligible damage because they had to overtake to get to it. Two of the iron mongers moved base to base with Skarre and repaired her, while the last stayed a little to their left. Gerlack and Axiara stood behind the center marauders, also behind the forest.
On the left, the kraken stood still and aimed. It put some damage on the left mitigator and killed a couple servitors. The blood gorgers on the left recieved the press forward order. One charged the left TEP, another charged the left mitigator and two more charged servitors. Jussika and one last blood gorger positioned as another wave, if they should survive. The mitigator died, along with several servitors. The blood gorger that charged the TEP spiked his damage roll and put 9 damage on it. Ragman moved to stand behind the kraken. My turn ended with 40 minutes on the clock. No points were scored.
Top 3: Iron Mother again upkept tactical supremacy. With only the prime axiom left, she had no need to allocate focus, since the corollary was going to handle that for the remainder of the game. The left TEP moved forward a little and got some more sprays off, clearing a bunch of blood gorgers and marauders. It then moved back to its original position. The mechanics moved up and repaired it a bit. The servitors swarmed around, also killing some stuff. The prime axiom turned and attempted to shoot Jussika off the table, but between some poor rolling and tough rolls, she remained alive and contesting the left zone. Iron Mother took a shot at a marauder and cycled tactical supremacy to the right TEP. The right TEP promptly sprayed down all the blood gorgers on the right, except for one that made its tough check. The servitors swarmed and killed some marauders. The turn ended with 15 minutes on Mark's clock and a servitor controlled the left flag, putting me down 0-1.
Bottom 3: I wasn't terribly concerned about scenario at this point, but knew I needed to start playing a little smarter to make sure the game didn't slip away quickly. I knew his prime axiom had a fixed 10 inch threat range, so as long as my kraken stayed out of that I should be able to contest the left zone and still keep the kraken alive. This turn only one reinforement returned to the marauders. Skarre upkept draconic blessing for free again and allocated full focus to the kraken. Skarre killed the servitor in the middle of the right zone and cast guided fire and deceleration. The dirge seers ran forward to "tie up" the right TEP and the corollary. The quotes are there because people who really know the dirge seer's rules know that their weapons can only damage living enemies. I was hoping Mark wouldn't know that. Gerlack and Axiara both moved over to stand on my flag in the hopes that one would survive to control it on Mark's turn. The last right blood gorger charged the right TEP and did negligible damage.
The marauders moved around the forest again and took a shot at the group of servitors on Mark's flag, but missed. The kraken moved forward into the zone and started shooting. The number of servitors near the TEP meant I couldn't finish it off with shooting. Instead, the kraken ended up killing a couple of mechanics and servitors between the little cannon and the big gun. Ragman moved up to stand behind the kraken again. The last two bloodgorgers charged the TEP, putting a little damage on it, but failing to kill. The turn ended with 27 minutes on my clock. I scored my flag, tying the score at 1-1.
Top 4: Iron mother upkept tactical supremacy. The left TEP, servitors and prime axiom combined to finish off the last bloodgorgers and the marauder in the left zone. The right servitors helped kill the dirge seers, freeing up the TEP to move up and spray. The spray killed Axiara and a marauder. Iron Mother took a shot that also killed a marauder, just leaving the one behind the forest alive. The turn ended with 4:02 on Mark's clock. Gerlack still controlled my flag, while Mark controlled the right zone and his flag. This put me down 2-3.
Bottom 4: At this point, I felt I probably just needed to keep Skarre alive and not lose on scenario in order for Mark to clock. Three marauders reinforced back into the unit. Gerlack moved off the flag to try and prevent the TEP from getting close enough to kill Skarre. The last blood gorger charged the TEP and did a little damage. The marauders moved around a bit, but couldn't get any relevant shots off. One made it into the right zone to contest. Skarre moved forward around the wall to get more shots off. She cast deceleration and guided fire. Most of the servitors ended up dead on the right side of the board. The kraken stood still and aimed, though its shots were still shield guarded around to keep the TEP from getting killed. Ragman continued to stand behind the kraken. One iron monger ran into the right zone to help contest while the other two stayed behind the wall. The turn ended with 16 minutes on my clock. No points were scored, keeping the score at 2-3.
Top 5: The left TEP killed a marauder and stayed just inside the left zone. The prime axiom helped the right TEP clear out the right zone. No servitor could run far enough to actually control my flag, but the zone was controlled by the right TEP. The turn ended with 13 seconds on Mark's clock. He scored his flag and the right zone, putting me down 2-5.
Bottom 5: Two marauders were reinforced into the unit. Skarre loaded up the kraken with focus. The kraken charged the left TEP on an angle where is stayed outside the prime axiom's 10 inch charge threat. The TEP finally died and Ragman ran to stand behind the kraken again. The marauders ran around the left side of the forest, getting into the left zone. Skarre moved onto my flag and took some shots that were shield guarded to servitors again. She failed to damage the right TEP. She cast deceleration before ending her turn. The iron mongers stayed behind her, along with the blood priestess. The turn ended with 11 minutes on my clock. I scored the left zone and my flag, while Mark still scored the right zone bringing the score to 4-6.
Top 6: With only 11 seconds on his clock, Mark just let his time run out and the game ended with me winning by death clock. He again scored the right zone and I scored the left plus my flag. The final scenario score was 6-7. He could have ended his turn before the 11 seconds, since SR18 has done away with the 15 second minimum turn rule, but the scoring would have continued to swing in my favor.
Analysis: I ended up being very pleased with my spacing. The number of sprays and AOEs on the other side of the board had me very concerned, but I managed to make it so he could only get a minimum number of kills per attack. I am also happy that I remembered Skarre's reinforcement ability every turn this game. I would have to go back and count, but Mark probably killed 15-18 marauders through the course of this game. Bringing those guys back every turn really helps with scenario presence.
Speaking of scenario presence, this was one area where I was really bad. I could have had a solo on my flag a turn earlier than I did and there was no reason for me to not contest the right zone so Mark didn't pick up the extra points he did. There were plenty of opportunities for me to score more and prevent him from scoring. I need to be more cognizant of that during the game.
Additionally, Skarre and the kraken didn't get nearly enough work done between them. Skarre had several rounds where she simply stayed back and took no shots of real consequence. She is tough to kill and in this game, she could have played more aggressively. She could have moved forward to threaten the right TEP one turn and then charge it the next. Potentially, she could have killed it with all the attacks she can bring to bear. Similarly, the kraken was a glorified gun platform on the left side of the board. Shooting is not the way to bring down a TEP in the destruction initiative theme. The kraken stood still and aimed outside the zone for several turns. There was no reason for it not to move forward into the zone and set up the charge that ended up killing the left TEP much earlier than it did. I was super concerned about the prime axiom killing it, but its usually tough for one colossal to kill another in just one round of attacks.
Mark also pointed out that Skarre could have played more centrally that I had her. This would enable her deceleration and dash to reach more of the army. The more I think about it, the more this really makes sense. I have always played this list where one huge base is committed to each side of the table, but Skarre is fast enough that I shouldn't need to do that.
This was another great game against Mark. I feel like we always have really good games against each other, and I try to learn more from each one. Here, the lesson is in correctly evaluating how to commit the kraken. The theory of this list is to take one round of shooting and then get it into melee. I didn't do that, which meant the game dragged out much more than it should have. Mark made a similar conclusion about his play with the prime axiom. It just sat back and shot, but if he committed it to the side of the board where I had Skarre, I probably wouldn't have been able to deal with it. I look forward to my next game with Mark, as well as my next chance to play this list so I can try to apply the lessons learned. I already got in two more games, which I have pictures for. I don't know if every game is going to get written up, but I am going to try. Thanks for reading!
Scenario: Recon II
Mark and I got in a pickup game. He is practicing with his new Convergence pairing and I am going back to my main pairing of Denny2 in dark host and Skarre3 in slaughter fleet. I am still not sure which list I really want to drop into Convergence, especially if I see the Iron Mother list. I know that Iron Mother is the drop into most Warmachine matchups, but I also know that Skarre3 is one of the few casters in the game that Iron Mother cannot casually backlash to death. I decided to play my Skarre3 list to see how the matchup would go, especially with the concern that Denny2 could be assassination via backlash if I messed up positioning on any of my jacks. Here are the lists we brought.
Me:
[Skarre 3] Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet [+27] - Slaughter Fleet Raiders
- Kraken [36]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess [0(4)]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
General Gerlak Slaughterborn [0(6)]
Ragman [4]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Blighted Trollkin Marauders (max) [15]
Bloodgorgers (max) [15]
- Jussika Bloodtongue [5]
Bloodgorgers (max) [15]
Scharde Dirge Seers [6]
Mark:
[Directrix 1] Iron Mother Directrix [+27] - Destruction Initiative
- Corollary [6]
- Mitigator [7]
- Mitigator [7]
- Prime Axiom [38]
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex [2]
Attunement Servitors [0(4)]
Elimination Servitors [0(3)]
Elimination Servitors [0(3)]
Elimination Servitors [0(3)]
Optifex Directive [4]
Transfinite Emergence Projector [19]
Transfinite Emergence Projector [19]
I was definitely concerned about how this matchup would play out. Generally, this list wants to fight living enemies so the blood gorgers can get the bonus to their threat range. There is a huge difference between a 10 inch threat and a 12 inch threat. I figured he wouldn't go for the assassination, but between the elimination servitors, TEPs and the prime axiom he had such a huge volume of shots I didn't know if my force could survive just getting across the board. Leading up to the start of the game I started doing some mental math on trying to shoot the TEPs down and the math actually worked out. Except I forgot that every servitor in his army has shield guard, so none of the shots that matter are actually going to connect. My kraken would out threat the prime axiom, and I hoped to use that to keep the prime axiom back. With draconic blessing and gang fighter, the kraken might have a chance of one rounding the prime axiom if I got a couple spikes on my damage rolls. The math looks a lot better if I can also manage to position Ragman for dark shroud, but I tend to have problems with getting him in the right place at the right time.
Mark won the die roll and chose to go first. I debated which side of the board I wanted. The trench and wall were not a concern as neither would protect Skarre. Since Mark was going first, I wanted to figure out which side would be the best for my force considering rough terrain is an issue for my army. I took the side with the rubble and fire cloud, figuring I could mostly run past those on turn one and outside of the center forest the rest of the board was fairly open.
Deployment: Mark deployed the prime axiom in the center with a mitigator to each side. Iron Mother was to the right of this cluster with the corollary to her right. One of his TEPs stood to the corollary's right. To the left of the center cluster stood the other TEP. The optifex directive (mechanics) were behind the prime axiom. His servitors were spread out across the formation. I don't recall completely which ones were where and it's difficult for me to tell in the pictures which servitors are which. There was a cluster of six on his far left flank. I believe five were elimination servitors and one was an attunement servitor. Four more elimination servitors were around the right TEP with another attunement servitor. The last attunement servitor was between the prime axiom and the left TEP. The algorithmic dispersion optifex (ado) was with the mechanics behind the axiom.
I went with my standard deployment for this list. The marauders were deployed in the center, some back an inch to keep behind the fire cloud. Axiara, Gerlack and two iron mongers were behind the marauders and near Skarre's base. Skarre was deployed to the right of the marauders with one unit of blood gorgers to her right. The dirge seers were behind the blood gorgers, next to Skarre's base. To the left of the marauders stood the kraken. The third iron monger stood behind the kraken and Ragman was to the kraken's left. On the left flank was the unit of blood gorgers with Jussika.
The terrain that looks like a partially broken house was played as rubble for this game.
Top 1: Mark's turns are going to be fairly quick write ups, as there is no way I can possibly remember what each servitor did. I will probably just group them together for the net effect. This turn, Iron Mother put tactical supremacy on the left TEP and walked forward. The two TEPs ran forward, with the right one swinging a little further out on the flank. The prime axiom ran forward and stayed relatively central in the board. The left mitigator ran onto Mark's flag and the right mitigator ran to be base to base with his objective. The servitors ran and swarmed all around and behind the rest of the army. Mark's turn ended with 51 minutes on the clock.
Bottom 1: Skarre activated first. She spent her full stack to cast dash, decel and put draconic blessing on the marauders. She then moved forward a few inches. The marauders, now immune to fire thanks to draconic blessing, ran through the fire clouds and spread out behind the forest and between the two zones. The kraken ran forward to be just behind the left zone. The left blood gorgers ran and spread out, swinging around the left side of the rubble and keeping Jussika in the back. The right blood gorgers spread out in a wide formation. My goal with all the blighted trollkin was to keep Mark from getting easy AOE attacks to clear large numbers of them. Positioning to prevent lots of losses from sprays is going to be much harder during this game, although on this turn I was hoping that distance would be a help. The dirge seers ran forward and stood around the right side of Skarre's base. They don't really contribute much of anything to this particular matchup. Two of the iron mongers stood near Skarre and the third was behind Ragman, standing behind the fire cloud. Gerlack and Axiara stood between Skarre and the fire cloud. Axiara gave the marauders dodge. Finally, the blood priestess stood behind Skarre. My turn ended with 51 minutes on the clock.
Top 2: I apologize that I cannot recall how Mark allocated focus on his turn. That said, he is a practiced CoC player, so it's safe to assume all his jacks will somehow manage to have max focus when they activate. Iron Mother upkept tactical supremacy on the left TEP. The left TEP moved forward slightly and got several sprays off, just hitting the front few bloodgorgers on that side. It then repositioned back to just toe into the zone. The elimination servitors swarmed around on that side and took out one more bloodgorger, putting the unit down four models on the turn. The two mitigators each moved forward and killed a marauder each. Iron Mother walked up into the trench and shot one of the right blood gorgers, however she forgot to cycle tactical supremacy over to the right TEP. She did, however, cast shrapnel swarm which cleared out several marauders. One of her servitors hit a blood gorger to apply imperil. The prime axiom took some shots at the right blood gorgers. The right TEP moved forward and used four sprays to clear out multiple bloodgorgers on that side. The elimination servitors killed a few more bloodgorgers. The turn ended with 42 minutes on Mark's clock. I will note that this turn is the first time I failed to restart the clock after pausing for a picture. Mark realized it after he was a ways into his turn and we turned the clock on. On my next turn, Mark flipped the clock over to his time for about 7 minutes to make up for the mistake, so you will see 7 minutes disappear from his clock in the picture for bottom 2.
Bottom 2: Skarre rolled three for her reinforcements and returned three marauders to the unit. The left blood gorgers used vengeance to move forward a little bit. Skarre upkept draconic blessing for free and allocated two to the kraken. The marauders moved up and around the forest. I was keeping a couple members of the unit behind the forest so I could keep reinforcing the unit. The right marauders threw at the right mitigator and the left ones attacked the left mitigator. Both jacks took some damage. The dirge seers ran forward to just get into the right zone. Skarre moved up behind the right side of the wall and popped feat. She cut to cast dash, decel and guided fire. She then took her shots at the right mitigator, boosting all her damage rolls and killing it. The right blood gorgers received the press forward order. The killed a few servitors and got a couple attacks on the TEP, but did negligible damage because they had to overtake to get to it. Two of the iron mongers moved base to base with Skarre and repaired her, while the last stayed a little to their left. Gerlack and Axiara stood behind the center marauders, also behind the forest.
On the left, the kraken stood still and aimed. It put some damage on the left mitigator and killed a couple servitors. The blood gorgers on the left recieved the press forward order. One charged the left TEP, another charged the left mitigator and two more charged servitors. Jussika and one last blood gorger positioned as another wave, if they should survive. The mitigator died, along with several servitors. The blood gorger that charged the TEP spiked his damage roll and put 9 damage on it. Ragman moved to stand behind the kraken. My turn ended with 40 minutes on the clock. No points were scored.
Top 3: Iron Mother again upkept tactical supremacy. With only the prime axiom left, she had no need to allocate focus, since the corollary was going to handle that for the remainder of the game. The left TEP moved forward a little and got some more sprays off, clearing a bunch of blood gorgers and marauders. It then moved back to its original position. The mechanics moved up and repaired it a bit. The servitors swarmed around, also killing some stuff. The prime axiom turned and attempted to shoot Jussika off the table, but between some poor rolling and tough rolls, she remained alive and contesting the left zone. Iron Mother took a shot at a marauder and cycled tactical supremacy to the right TEP. The right TEP promptly sprayed down all the blood gorgers on the right, except for one that made its tough check. The servitors swarmed and killed some marauders. The turn ended with 15 minutes on Mark's clock and a servitor controlled the left flag, putting me down 0-1.
Bottom 3: I wasn't terribly concerned about scenario at this point, but knew I needed to start playing a little smarter to make sure the game didn't slip away quickly. I knew his prime axiom had a fixed 10 inch threat range, so as long as my kraken stayed out of that I should be able to contest the left zone and still keep the kraken alive. This turn only one reinforement returned to the marauders. Skarre upkept draconic blessing for free again and allocated full focus to the kraken. Skarre killed the servitor in the middle of the right zone and cast guided fire and deceleration. The dirge seers ran forward to "tie up" the right TEP and the corollary. The quotes are there because people who really know the dirge seer's rules know that their weapons can only damage living enemies. I was hoping Mark wouldn't know that. Gerlack and Axiara both moved over to stand on my flag in the hopes that one would survive to control it on Mark's turn. The last right blood gorger charged the right TEP and did negligible damage.
The marauders moved around the forest again and took a shot at the group of servitors on Mark's flag, but missed. The kraken moved forward into the zone and started shooting. The number of servitors near the TEP meant I couldn't finish it off with shooting. Instead, the kraken ended up killing a couple of mechanics and servitors between the little cannon and the big gun. Ragman moved up to stand behind the kraken again. The last two bloodgorgers charged the TEP, putting a little damage on it, but failing to kill. The turn ended with 27 minutes on my clock. I scored my flag, tying the score at 1-1.
Top 4: Iron mother upkept tactical supremacy. The left TEP, servitors and prime axiom combined to finish off the last bloodgorgers and the marauder in the left zone. The right servitors helped kill the dirge seers, freeing up the TEP to move up and spray. The spray killed Axiara and a marauder. Iron Mother took a shot that also killed a marauder, just leaving the one behind the forest alive. The turn ended with 4:02 on Mark's clock. Gerlack still controlled my flag, while Mark controlled the right zone and his flag. This put me down 2-3.
Bottom 4: At this point, I felt I probably just needed to keep Skarre alive and not lose on scenario in order for Mark to clock. Three marauders reinforced back into the unit. Gerlack moved off the flag to try and prevent the TEP from getting close enough to kill Skarre. The last blood gorger charged the TEP and did a little damage. The marauders moved around a bit, but couldn't get any relevant shots off. One made it into the right zone to contest. Skarre moved forward around the wall to get more shots off. She cast deceleration and guided fire. Most of the servitors ended up dead on the right side of the board. The kraken stood still and aimed, though its shots were still shield guarded around to keep the TEP from getting killed. Ragman continued to stand behind the kraken. One iron monger ran into the right zone to help contest while the other two stayed behind the wall. The turn ended with 16 minutes on my clock. No points were scored, keeping the score at 2-3.
Top 5: The left TEP killed a marauder and stayed just inside the left zone. The prime axiom helped the right TEP clear out the right zone. No servitor could run far enough to actually control my flag, but the zone was controlled by the right TEP. The turn ended with 13 seconds on Mark's clock. He scored his flag and the right zone, putting me down 2-5.
Bottom 5: Two marauders were reinforced into the unit. Skarre loaded up the kraken with focus. The kraken charged the left TEP on an angle where is stayed outside the prime axiom's 10 inch charge threat. The TEP finally died and Ragman ran to stand behind the kraken again. The marauders ran around the left side of the forest, getting into the left zone. Skarre moved onto my flag and took some shots that were shield guarded to servitors again. She failed to damage the right TEP. She cast deceleration before ending her turn. The iron mongers stayed behind her, along with the blood priestess. The turn ended with 11 minutes on my clock. I scored the left zone and my flag, while Mark still scored the right zone bringing the score to 4-6.
Top 6: With only 11 seconds on his clock, Mark just let his time run out and the game ended with me winning by death clock. He again scored the right zone and I scored the left plus my flag. The final scenario score was 6-7. He could have ended his turn before the 11 seconds, since SR18 has done away with the 15 second minimum turn rule, but the scoring would have continued to swing in my favor.
Analysis: I ended up being very pleased with my spacing. The number of sprays and AOEs on the other side of the board had me very concerned, but I managed to make it so he could only get a minimum number of kills per attack. I am also happy that I remembered Skarre's reinforcement ability every turn this game. I would have to go back and count, but Mark probably killed 15-18 marauders through the course of this game. Bringing those guys back every turn really helps with scenario presence.
Speaking of scenario presence, this was one area where I was really bad. I could have had a solo on my flag a turn earlier than I did and there was no reason for me to not contest the right zone so Mark didn't pick up the extra points he did. There were plenty of opportunities for me to score more and prevent him from scoring. I need to be more cognizant of that during the game.
Additionally, Skarre and the kraken didn't get nearly enough work done between them. Skarre had several rounds where she simply stayed back and took no shots of real consequence. She is tough to kill and in this game, she could have played more aggressively. She could have moved forward to threaten the right TEP one turn and then charge it the next. Potentially, she could have killed it with all the attacks she can bring to bear. Similarly, the kraken was a glorified gun platform on the left side of the board. Shooting is not the way to bring down a TEP in the destruction initiative theme. The kraken stood still and aimed outside the zone for several turns. There was no reason for it not to move forward into the zone and set up the charge that ended up killing the left TEP much earlier than it did. I was super concerned about the prime axiom killing it, but its usually tough for one colossal to kill another in just one round of attacks.
Mark also pointed out that Skarre could have played more centrally that I had her. This would enable her deceleration and dash to reach more of the army. The more I think about it, the more this really makes sense. I have always played this list where one huge base is committed to each side of the table, but Skarre is fast enough that I shouldn't need to do that.
This was another great game against Mark. I feel like we always have really good games against each other, and I try to learn more from each one. Here, the lesson is in correctly evaluating how to commit the kraken. The theory of this list is to take one round of shooting and then get it into melee. I didn't do that, which meant the game dragged out much more than it should have. Mark made a similar conclusion about his play with the prime axiom. It just sat back and shot, but if he committed it to the side of the board where I had Skarre, I probably wouldn't have been able to deal with it. I look forward to my next game with Mark, as well as my next chance to play this list so I can try to apply the lessons learned. I already got in two more games, which I have pictures for. I don't know if every game is going to get written up, but I am going to try. Thanks for reading!
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