As expected eThagrosh was little challenge, but he did have some surprising things up his sleeve. I faced the list I posted before, though with one less Shepherd and the soldier upgraded to a Bolt Thrower. We decided on the bunker scenario, since he was new to the SR 2012 scenarios as well.
I decided on bringing a Machine Wraith and a minimum unit of Satyxis Raiders with UA as my reinforcements, and he had a Ravagore waiting on the side. He decided to go first, and deployed in something that can only be called a brick.
As in most games we began by running. He ran Typhon on the flank, and everything else up the middle. I built my castle. This time I kept Darragh Wrathe back, popped Beyond Death, and made sure the assault wouldn't take to much out of me. I learned my lesson well from last time, though this time I underestimated the Ravagore, having never faced one before.
I ran both Machine Wraiths to his zone, hoping to force Thagrosh over there to handle them. If he did I could rampage towards my zone, and if he didn't I was safe from losing on scenario. His list also had quite a few ranged beasts, so I felt I needed to push up as far as I could, because of his ability to fire on me and retreat with his feat.
I've never noticed that eThagrosh carries around a sword that can make a cloud out of any model. It has no enemy limitation, and not even a living limitation, so I discovered what those Legionnaires were in the list to do. After turning a couple of them into clouds by way of hitting them with his sword, Thagrosh popped his feat and my opponent rushed to the next model, forgetting to cast any spells.
You could argue that this was a bad thing, but in fact I think it saved his life, because he left one of the Legionnaires inside the cloud in front of Thagrosh, and I had the range on Terminus to come for him, so while I might have wasted an attack on the Legionnaire, I could have taken him down if he had two or less Fury left.
The Ravagore had come on as reinforcements and that thing has some serious range, so Tartarus caught the blast with his teeth and croaked, followed quickly by Tremulus when my opponent rolled triple sixes on the boosted damage roll. Typhon managed to miss the single Bane Thrall three times, and his dice generally did not agree with the plans he had made.
Brine took enough damage to remove his Body aspect, and Darragh Wrathe remained on his horse with a single box left. A Bile Thrall died to strafe, but I came out of it with this mighty list of casualties: Tartarus, Tremulus, and one Bile Thrall. He used his feat to retreat and regroup, though by doing so he left my zone undefended. I think he was planning on coming back with a second full assault, and vastly underestimated the amount of speed and damage this list can manage.
The Ravagore had inched forward during his feat, and received a generous amount of "Bane Thrall to face" for it's trouble (I'm not sure why he went up there). Brine was healed and launched at the Seraph, popping Pig Farm and boosting to hit in the hopes of causing a knockdown, which I did, and then realized that flying snake thingies are immune to knockdown. Amazingly Brine just decided to ignore the whole 8+ to hit issue, and pulped the Seraph with Fury to spare.
The Cankerworm managed 11 damage on the Angelius without a single Focus, and Terminus moved up an inch to feat. A Bile Thrall managed to grab a single Legionnaire soul for Terminus, and the Gun Boar grabbed two more souls with the cannon. The Machine Wraith from my reinforcements scored a point, and the Satyxis Raiders ran to engage whatever was left on the flank.
With the Seraph and the Ravagore down, he was fighting an uphill battle. This was mostly his own fault, since he had given me an easy control point, and that allowed me to force his hand wherever I wanted it. So I expected him to go crazy on my Satyxis and R&B, which he did. What I did not anticipate was that Brine simply refused to go down, and decided the game by parking his big fat ass in the middle of everything and staying there.
Typhon wiped a great big chunk of the Bane Thralls, the Angelius failed miserably against the Cankerworm, and then they came for Brine. A forsaken blew him and Rorsh up, which meant that with a transfer Brine got hit for 5d6-9 and 4d6-8, then the other forsaken charged him with a couple of boosted PS 12 hits, and the Raek put more boosted attacks on him as well. He had already taken 11 damage to his body aspect, but it still required Thagrosh to handle him personally before he died (to a RFP spell).
I didn't want to drag the game out, and I just had to remove the Sorceress and a Shepherd to win, but I did take the time to clear my guys out of his zone, expect for the Machine Wraith, and place the other Machine Wraith to score. Then I took down the Sorceress with Rorsh and killed the Shepherd with the Satyxis. It made a pretty picture, and gave me my first ever scenario win with Terminus.
The Gun Boar did well, but again was not fantastic. I can't get the Fury management issue resolved, because putting up Counter-blast requires Rorsh to be without transfers, and it says on the back of my base to never be without transfers. I might need to look into other ranged options, but on the other hand the Gun Boar didn't exactly fail, and never has.
Including the third Machine Wraith as reinforcements is brilliant, as it allows me to dedicate the Satyxis Raiders to fighting without having to worry about scoring. I still think Cryx has a load of crap choices, but I'm beginning to warm up the reinforcements as a whole.
/Lamoron
I decided on bringing a Machine Wraith and a minimum unit of Satyxis Raiders with UA as my reinforcements, and he had a Ravagore waiting on the side. He decided to go first, and deployed in something that can only be called a brick.
As in most games we began by running. He ran Typhon on the flank, and everything else up the middle. I built my castle. This time I kept Darragh Wrathe back, popped Beyond Death, and made sure the assault wouldn't take to much out of me. I learned my lesson well from last time, though this time I underestimated the Ravagore, having never faced one before.
I ran both Machine Wraiths to his zone, hoping to force Thagrosh over there to handle them. If he did I could rampage towards my zone, and if he didn't I was safe from losing on scenario. His list also had quite a few ranged beasts, so I felt I needed to push up as far as I could, because of his ability to fire on me and retreat with his feat.
I've never noticed that eThagrosh carries around a sword that can make a cloud out of any model. It has no enemy limitation, and not even a living limitation, so I discovered what those Legionnaires were in the list to do. After turning a couple of them into clouds by way of hitting them with his sword, Thagrosh popped his feat and my opponent rushed to the next model, forgetting to cast any spells.
You could argue that this was a bad thing, but in fact I think it saved his life, because he left one of the Legionnaires inside the cloud in front of Thagrosh, and I had the range on Terminus to come for him, so while I might have wasted an attack on the Legionnaire, I could have taken him down if he had two or less Fury left.
The Ravagore had come on as reinforcements and that thing has some serious range, so Tartarus caught the blast with his teeth and croaked, followed quickly by Tremulus when my opponent rolled triple sixes on the boosted damage roll. Typhon managed to miss the single Bane Thrall three times, and his dice generally did not agree with the plans he had made.
Brine took enough damage to remove his Body aspect, and Darragh Wrathe remained on his horse with a single box left. A Bile Thrall died to strafe, but I came out of it with this mighty list of casualties: Tartarus, Tremulus, and one Bile Thrall. He used his feat to retreat and regroup, though by doing so he left my zone undefended. I think he was planning on coming back with a second full assault, and vastly underestimated the amount of speed and damage this list can manage.
The Ravagore had inched forward during his feat, and received a generous amount of "Bane Thrall to face" for it's trouble (I'm not sure why he went up there). Brine was healed and launched at the Seraph, popping Pig Farm and boosting to hit in the hopes of causing a knockdown, which I did, and then realized that flying snake thingies are immune to knockdown. Amazingly Brine just decided to ignore the whole 8+ to hit issue, and pulped the Seraph with Fury to spare.
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| The infamous "back of the base" reminders. |
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| Beyond Death and ARM 27 Terminus... not going to happen mate. |
Typhon wiped a great big chunk of the Bane Thralls, the Angelius failed miserably against the Cankerworm, and then they came for Brine. A forsaken blew him and Rorsh up, which meant that with a transfer Brine got hit for 5d6-9 and 4d6-8, then the other forsaken charged him with a couple of boosted PS 12 hits, and the Raek put more boosted attacks on him as well. He had already taken 11 damage to his body aspect, but it still required Thagrosh to handle him personally before he died (to a RFP spell).
I didn't want to drag the game out, and I just had to remove the Sorceress and a Shepherd to win, but I did take the time to clear my guys out of his zone, expect for the Machine Wraith, and place the other Machine Wraith to score. Then I took down the Sorceress with Rorsh and killed the Shepherd with the Satyxis. It made a pretty picture, and gave me my first ever scenario win with Terminus.
Learning thingsI learned a bit more about Legion. I really don't like how their ranged beasts ignore my main defense against shooting, while being able to boost the damage high enough to one-shot my important solo characters. I learned that Forsaken aren't as powerful as I thought against Brine, and I once again found myself in need of a better ranged game.
The Gun Boar did well, but again was not fantastic. I can't get the Fury management issue resolved, because putting up Counter-blast requires Rorsh to be without transfers, and it says on the back of my base to never be without transfers. I might need to look into other ranged options, but on the other hand the Gun Boar didn't exactly fail, and never has.
Including the third Machine Wraith as reinforcements is brilliant, as it allows me to dedicate the Satyxis Raiders to fighting without having to worry about scoring. I still think Cryx has a load of crap choices, but I'm beginning to warm up the reinforcements as a whole.
Funny momentsThere weren't many of these, but the final round of the game did see the gun Boar frenzy and completely annihilate a nearby Bane Thrall, rolling 22 to hit, and inflicting 24 damage on him (SPLAT!).
/Lamoron
My freind runs ethag with 2 or 3 heavies and 6 shredders. Runs them first turn typically most people would also run things first turn. His 6 shredders rabid making them speed 8 they run 16 inches. he moves ethag up pops feat, after everyone is done activating they can all make a full advance and one mellee attack. Those shredders move 24" and have a fully boosted attack. Thats not to mention is heavies get to move and make an extra attack after thier done too. Dont think ethag is a push over cause, there are lists out there that will punish terminus in a hurry.
ReplyDeleteHe's a brute, relying on destroying an opponent in one big round of brutality, and I've yet to see an eThagrosh list I'm the least bit uneasy about facing.
ReplyDeleteHe has no ranged game, which means that my support is safe. The Lawnmower Shredders will eat a chunk of my army, then they'll all die to Bile Thrall purges. Brine will cost him a low defense heavy, and I'm confident I can keep enough Bane Thralls alive to rip everything else apart after he engages.
eThagrosh is not an automatic win, not by along shot, but if I lose it will be because my opponent was better, not his caster/list :)
i believe my freind has an angelius and a seraph in his list both have shooting if i remember correctly, and the one is d3+1 shots. So while you might not see ethag with ranged i certainly do.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly what I was up against here, and it was like standing in a mild summer rain :)
ReplyDelete