pKrueger Vs. Siege & eMadrak

We had a lot of people cancel due to illness, and it turned into an organized game day instead of a tournament. Half my models haven't arrived, so it was another list of things I actually own. I think I'm closing in on what works with pKrueger, and a lot of these models aren't on that list.

Krueger the Stormwrath

. Gorax

. Feral Warpwolf

. Gnarlhorn Satyr

. Shadowhorn Satyr

Druids of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Druid of Orboros Overseer

Shifting Stones

- Stone keeper

Tharn Bloodweavers (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Blackclad Wayfarer

Druid Wilder

Lanyssa Ryssyll

Lord of the Feast

Let me first take the time to say, that while the Gnarlhorn is a frigging disaster in a pKrueger list the Shadowhorn is a dream come true. I got him last night and stayed up late to work on his pose, which was very rewarding and drew some attention. I've got a crappy picture, but he's had his arms, legs, and horns reposed.

Ninja-goat!

The first game was against the guy who spanked me with siege, but this time I had mostly useful models, though it's still a mile from being tuned. We had reinforcements and a scenario, but we never really got around to going for it.

Cygnar deployment

I won the roll and forced him to begin. After looking at the deployment types, scoring, distances, and special rules, I'm beginning to think it's an advantage to go second, but this time I just wanted to see where his Nyss Hunters would be. They took the right flank, and I was pretty sure they'd be coming through the area between the gate thingy and the rocks on the right: perfect.

Circle Deployment

All my beasts deployed across from Siege himself with the Druids out front to avoid the disaster from last time. I really have to find some way to make that cloud cover easier to handle, because it's a royal pain in the ass to set up and remove.

pKrueger, bastard...

He ran up exactly as I hoped he would, and I popped my feat to stop his entire advance. Nyss Hunters can't go through those lightning storms, and there was no going around them either. It was like removing ten points from his list and I got a few Rangers as well (there are a few proxy models in there in case you're wondering, and the Gun Mages are really Nyss Hunters).

Cloud cover engaged.

I felt confident, but as we all know confidence is something you have when you fail to comprehend every aspect of a situation, and I somehow missed Mage Sight. I know it will be better when I know what my own models can do, so I have time to consider his, but the defense wasn't entirely ineffective.

I will surviiiiiive!

Funny fact: Rangers require LoS to provide +2 to hit. Siege came out in front to catch me in his feat, which I think was game right there, but if he could take out all my Warbeasts I was screwed, but otherwise he would lose. If I were him I would have cut my losses and redeployed, giving me the initiative but keeping most of list intact, but he's a new player and got carried away with the major firepower he could bring to bear. 

Druids... well at least they did something right.

All three Warbeasts survived, mainly due to the fact that he wasn't getting his +2 to hit from the Rangers which caused some critical shots to miss, and Siege was alone with nothing but range and armor to keep him safe. The Junior Warcaster had thrown Arcane Shield on him, but the Druids pulled him forward, the Bloodweavers stripped it from him (I'm never leaving home without upkeep removal again), and the Feral slept with a full belly that night.

I messed up everything again, bunched up, blocked my own lanes, and while the Druids won me the game I think I'll try a few games without them and see how it goes. pKrueger is just some guy that puts up Lightning Tendrils and drop his feat on something, which is a little disappointing, so I swore I'd do something more with him next game, and throw some lightning on people.

Game 2

Trollbloods run by eMadrak: trouble. I've been up against eMadrak a couple of times and it rarely ends well. It was also an incredibly scary list to face with Circle, though I'd love a rematch with Terminus sometime in the future.

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender

- Troll Axer

- Mulg the Ancient

Kriel Warriors (Leader and 9 Grunts)

- 3 Kriel Warrior Caber Thrower

- Kriel Warrior Standard Bearer & Piper

Krielstone Bearer and 5 Stone Scribes

- Krielstone Stone Scribe Elder

Trollkin Long Riders (Leader and 4 Grunts)

Fell Caller Hero

Horthol, Long Rider Hero

Stone Scribe Chronicler

The Long Riders are such an amazing unit, and I knew I was up shit creek on this one. Again I got to go second, which in this case was a bad thing but mostly because of that cavalry. It was the "Incoming" scenario, but again we never really got around to it.

Brace for impact!

The Long Riders ran up 14" with Horthol right behind them, and his army followed wherever it could. I pushed up my defense, and hoped a screen of high defense druids would stop his assault short, but sadly I'd missed another little detail: boosted impact hits. I did stop his entire flank with Kruegers feat, and I must say it's a really powerful ability, but it didn't help me much.

I had so much to do that I didn't get a picture, but the Long Riders came in with boosted MAT 9 impact hits rolling my druid screen nicely, and more than a few of them managed to swing at the second line which sadly included a Shifting Stone (sigh). It wasn't as much of an disaster as I thought it would be, but Madrak charged forward after putting up Mulgs animus, forcing me to retreat with several models and making it harder to retaliate (without that move I probably would have won with some throwing action from the Shadowhorn).

I want my Gallows Groves you bastards!

I thought the Feral was in range of Madrak, and while it was unlikely to kill him it might clean up his shield, and with good dice I could do it since electro leap could take down his shield with some luck. I cleaned out the Cavalry that made it to my second line with the Bloodweavers (I love those girls so much), but I needed to pacify Mulg before going in or I'd be pulped. Looking around I noticed Lanyssa, and one critical freeze Ice Bolt later Mulg was looking mighty surprised in his little cage of ice (very funny, though I did have some backup plans).

I pulled the Gorax back to get Primal back, threw Primal (I had Tendrils from the round before) on the Feral and moved it up to kill Madrak... and was a cunt hair out of range (FUUUUCK!). I was in range of Mulg if I could take down a Long Rider blocking my LoS, so it wasn't a complete loss, but it took two hits to bring the Long Rider down, and then he made a tough check as well (I want my Gallows now!), which meant Mulg was left standing with half his boxes left. 

I had to finish Mulg or my army would be a smudge when he was done, so the Shadowhorn got Primal from the Wilder and Tendrils from Krueger, and jumped on Mulg. I love that guy, and I'm really tempted to get a second one for the list. It pulped Mulg, and got a few kills from the electro leaps as well (something the Feral also failed to do because of Tough!), and I ran up the Gnarlhorn to block the remaining Long Riders from moving down into my support, and hoped for the best.

Ouch!

I get a face full of aggressive army, and with Madraks own attacks, his feat, and the list in general my Feral died and the Shadowhorn was left with 1 box and was going to Frenzy anyway. Half the Bloodweavers die, my Shadowhorn and Gnarlhorn are knocked down, but I'm left with one chance. The Druids, Stonekeeper, and Lanyssa, tries to fry his shield but tough saves him (GALLOWS!) , and then I move up Krueger to use his famous infantry clearing abilities (and I did promise myself I'd do just that).

Chain Lightning, 1 leap, one kill. Chain Lightning, 1 leap, 1 kill. Yeah that was really impressive, and I had to use my last Fury to heal the Gnarlhorn so he could try for the assassination, which meant an all or nothing Gnarlhorn assassination run. Then I noticed that his Axer was full on Fury, which means no transfers, and I had managed to take him down to two models in his shield. The Gnarlhorn moves up, needs 6+ to hit and rolls at -2/-3 damage. He leaves Madrak at 8 hp after some really appalling dice, and Krueger dies.

Conclusion

I still have some packing to do, so I called it a day since it wasn't really a tournament and it had gotten late without time limits. I hate the Gnarlhorn. I learned quite a bit about my list, and the Shadowhorn Satyr is just the type of model I love to play. I hate the Gnarlhorn. I love the Bloodweavers and they're staying in my list. I hate the Gnarlhorn. I also believe that pKrueger is supposed to do nothing in his lists, except Cycle Lightning Tendrils and keeping safe. I hate the Gnarlhorn. The Blackclad is alright but I don't think I need him. I hate the Gnarlhorn.

I also hate the Gnarlhorn in case you missed that. I think he'll do well in my eKaya list when I get around to that, but he has no place in a pKrueger list. I messed up positioning with my Druids again, and I think I'll try something else next time. The Feral is still pretty good, but without Geomancy to cycle tendrils he takes up to many resources, and bringing a Geomancer takes up a lot of points as well.

/Lamoron