pDeneghra Vs. pStryker

It was an interesting game because I got to meet my first Battle Engine but that's about it. I really like this new pDeneghra list but it makes for some seriously uninteresting games if the enemy isn't prepared for it, though the list I was facing had me seriously confused:

Commander Coleman Stryker

- Ol' Rowdy

- Stormclad

Storm Strider

Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard

Captain Arlan Strangewayes

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Journeyman Warcaster

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord

Squire

His deployment was standard and that Storm Strider really dominated the line, but I brought the Black Ogrun and those POW 10 leaps didn't scare me nearly as much as they would have with my old infantry spam list.

First turn running as usual (the Bloat Thrall on the bottom right had the "honor" of being Parasited because the Bloats would do fuck all this game anyway). The Bloodgorgers are Black Ogrun but I did receive the first three real models today so next week should feature less proxies (but damn they're ugly models)

Then he ran everything up and popped his feat. Arcane Shield on Rowdy and Juniors Arcane Shield on the Stormclad made the two front-line jacks damn near immortal (armor 28 and 27 respectively). His infantry was mostly armor 20 and even with the debuff queen that nut was hard to crack! I decided I didn't need to crack it and scenario was the way to go (Overrun).

Peanut butter jelly time!

Deneghra feats and catches almost the entire list since it's so small. Gorman Black Oils the Stormclad and the Sirens lock down a heavy each. The Stormclad was actually down to defense three at the time but I couldn't manage more than five damage total on that armored monstrosity. A Pistol Wraith managed Death Chill on the Storm Strider so it couldn't aim, and without tokens and with The Withering up it had little chance of hitting a barn door. A Crippling Grasp on the Storm Blades and they were out with SPD 1 and no run/charge.

Then I just ran up the remaining Black Ogrun (a couple of them were fried by the Storm Strider since it was impossible to avoid as the thing threatens 23" with Snipe) and made a wall of flesh. I positioned the WSC to make a new Seether when his turn was over (no running away with Shadow Bind on the heavies) but he pondered the setup for about fifteen minutes and declared the game unwinnable.

Warwitch Deneghra

- Deathripper

- Deathripper

Black Ogrun Boarding Party (Leader and 4 Grunts)

Black Ogrun Boarding Party (Leader and 4 Grunts)

The Withershadow Combine

Bloat Thrall

Bloat Thrall

Gorman di Wulfe

Orin Midwinter

Pistol Wraith

Pistol Wraith

Saxon Orrik

Skarlock Thrall

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

This list impresses me every time and even with stupid moves (I wanted to nuke the elf hooker but when I tried bouncing lightning through my own Saxon Orrik I was outside 5" and stealth works on my own models as well) it was never really a problem. Now I just need to convert my Black Ogrun and find a workable paint scheme for the Pistol Wraiths and I'm golden.

/Lamoron

Theory Machine: Bloat Thralls

I had a lot of time to think on the way home from Barcelona. Our original tickets were booked on an airline that went bankrupt and our new tickets had a stop over which took more time than anticipated so we missed the train. Then the next train was late so I had five hours with nothing but a sleeping wife, two drunks, and sugar to keep me company.

Sleep got me around 4. AM

At some point I got to thinking about the whole multiple wound model thing I have going on in the pDeneghra list with two full boarding parties, and I realized that a couple of Bloat Thralls would be a less obvious target in a list like that. Usually the POW 10-12 shots will target my single wound models and the POW 14+ shots will be free to one-hit Bloat Thralls but in a list where the majority of models have similar durability these guys might actually work.

 

They're horrible marksmen but pDeneghra solves a lot of problems in that department (Aiming + Withering + Crippling Grasp equals a RAT 10 shot with POW 18). POW 7 blast damage is alright but with the debuff queen it becomes very dangerous to bunch up. Arcing Fire enables me to deal a little better with second line models and blast damage gives me a threat against squishy stealth solos.

I've always wanted a list with dual Bloat Thralls and while I remain skeptical I'll be trying it out as soon as possible.

Tournament: What a mess

I drank a little last night, so when I turned up at the tournament I had... issues... but I brought the Warwitch Deneghra list I had a lot of success with a while back, and then forgot to bring a second list. That proved symptomatic for the day as a whole, but my first battle was against The Couch, as we were an uneven number of players due to a cancellation.

The second game was against a Menoth player and Harbinger took the field. Self sacrifice and that feat against a living infantry horde... blergh. I might do a battle report later but to be perfectly honest that feat cost me the game, and not because it did any damage. In retrospect I should have gone "these guys don't move" and "these guys don't move either", but I didn't and it took more than twenty minutes to measure, move, and re-measure my entire army. Then I rolled the worst dice I've had in fifteen years of miniature wargaming (The rest of the game was just crappy dice, but that round... Jesus)

Messed up deployment + damn annoying feat

The game is the closest game I've ever had, period, and I began my last turn with 1.47 left on the clock, then I killed Harbinger with feedback and looked at the clock maybe 5 seconds later (after getting my arms down): 00.00 and the alarm hadn't sounded. A spectator then told us I hadn't made it in time (missing by maybe 20 seconds) and I had no choice but to believe him.

I can't blame my opponent one bit but it was all a bit fishy and I felt a cheated by nobody in particular. He won his next game the exact same way, and the rules don't support making those measurements on his time, so I'll have to think up a way to avoid repeating that nightmare. Interestingly enough I was so focused on winning that my wife stood behind me for fifteen minutes with a hot sandwich and sodas, talking to the spectators without me ever noticing her (until some of the guys thought it was getting ridiculous and poked me).

I moved on to game three with a defeatist attitude and a hangover from hell, which was interesting because my opponent was looking as shitty as I was. It was a Gunnbjorn list, and my opponent kept entertaining himself (and me) by declaring random rules and happenings, since he enjoyed the look on my face every time my broken brain thought I had lost the game. It sounds really lame but it was pretty funny, especially since I took him down with a couple of available Raiders and won the game. We both went out to get some air, which cleared up my head for the final game against eNemo.

Game of the year!

Now this game was something else. I didn't get to take any pictures because I had enough to do with playing the game but wow... just... wow. I don't think I've ever had a game turn on me so many times, with fractions of an inch meaning life or death and the placement of every model having to be perfect. Dougal MacNaile rolled 8+ four times in a row and I was ahead, then eNemo rolled six leaps on a chain lightning and I was up shit creek.

Thunderhead couldn't pulse because of Crippling Grasp and I was back in the lead, then B13 wiped my Satyxis and I was screwed, and the game continued like that until we were both down to ten minutes on the clock in round six or so, and he finally made a mistake that allowed me to pop'n'drop him after removing his Arcane Shield.

I took fourth but the guy on third is automatically qualified since he took second in last years masters, so with a bit of luck I can put pDeneghra back in retirement and call it a day. If not I have some serious work to do on the list since I had way to many models to run in a Deathclock tournament with the speed I can manage.

Warwitch Deneghra

- Deathripper

- Deathripper

Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 9 Grunts)

Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts)

Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts)

- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch

The Withershadow Combine

Skarlock Thrall

Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

Satyxis Raider Captain

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

/Lamoron

Tournament: War Witch Deneghra

Saturday is the first Danish Masters qualifier and I've been doing a little thinking. I'm not nearly good enough with Circle to really stand a chance at qualifying, and I don't feel like running Terminus since I've got quite a few games lined up with him over the next couple of months, so I think Warwitch Deneghra might come out of retirement for the weekend.

Warwitch Deneghra

- Deathripper

- Deathripper

Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 9 Grunts)

Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts)

- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch
Gorman di Wulfe
Dougal MacNaile
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith
Rorsh
- Brine
Satyxis Raider Captain
Skarlock Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren

It's different from my old pDeneghra list and probably slightly less powerful. It has no access to Dark Shroud and relies completely on the Satyxis Raiders to push my opponent on turn one, and destroy him or his army on turn two with a massive feat round.

Two thirds of the list has Advanced Deploy, so if I go second my first turn could be very interesting indeed. It's been a while since I've had her on the table, and the list feels very vulnerable without Bane Thralls to make up for my mistakes by way of brutal violence, so it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

My spine, who took it!?

Every time I design tournament lists, I end up wishing for a ranged list, and every time I design one, I end up wishing I had pDenny running it. Just this morning I thought about running this list:

Warwitch Deneghra

- Nightwretch

- Nightwretch

Skarlock Thrall

Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 9 Grunts)

Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts)

Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts)

- Sea Witch

The Withershadow Combine

Gorman di Wulfe

Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

Satyxis Raider Captain

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

It's disgusting, includes just about every model I really like, but it's run by a caster I stupidly swore never to play again (outside tournaments). The thing is, that the last few games at my club, have been exceedingly hard (much harder than my last couple of tournament games), so maybe I could go back to pDenny, but I fear I'm just making up excuses to get a fix :(

Edit: I've been asked to explain why it's disgusting. While every list can be beaten, this list has so many tools to work with, and so many ways of locking down an opponent, that you need something special to survive.

• More than thirty ranged attacks in a round.
• More than thirty models with some form of additional damage dice.
• Run by a caster that can debuff an entire army.
• The list is almost entirely stealth or defense 15+

The list can throw out thirty ranged attacks during the Withering, and then charge in the Satyxis Raiders with Power Swell (targeting the two major threats that received Parasite/Crippling), leaving a completely devastated opponent, unable to effectively retaliate.

Spotlight: Warwitch Deneghra

I'm not entirely convinced this belongs in a spotlight article, since I'm considering contacting Privateer Press to have her removed from the game (obviously I've got the clout to make that happen), but unfortunately I'm a sucker for flattery so here goes.

How to lose your opponent in ten games

Even though I've been strong-armed into introduce you to Warwitch Deneghra, it was never agreed that I had to be entirely serious while doing it, but the information in the article remains valid, and I mean everything I say.

Warwitch Deneghra is the most powerful caster in the game. There I said it, and anyone who disagrees suck **** by choice. Warwitch Deneghra is so powerful, that she destroys games she's not even in, and I'm not making fun of you either.

I find the most common response to pDenny from all factions is the foetal position. It doesn't help, but it saves time. - CareyBear

If you choose this caster, you will be fleeing a mob of angry gamers with pitchforks, and you will lose whatever friends you had managed to make in your meta.

Warwitch Deneghra: Abilities

In clear contradiction with reality, Warwitch Deneghra actually died in the fluff. This is clearly a mistake, since nothing can kill her in the game. As always Battlecollege will answer most of your questions about abilities, but she cannot be locked down, cannot be shot, and she has one of the best spell lists in the game.

Warwitch Deneghra: The Withering

E.B. Farnum: God damned quagmire of piss and bull shit! Withering is defined as being capable of wreaking complete destruction, but also exhibiting a lack of respect, being rude, or being discourteous. It's like the person who named the feat prophesied the actual effect it would have on the game, because this feat is the death of armies and entertainment alike.

The first round we run, and the second round we win the game. It might take your opponent a couple of more rounds to quit or die, but the result is always the same. In most games we simply win, since his caster is taking a nap, and getting hit on anything above snake eyes, while taking five additional damage on every attack, but occasionally we have to settle for killing his entire army and making him cry.

Sometimes we have to charge our own guys in the back for extra range, but only when your opponent decides to lose later rather than sooner, and stays back where he thinks it's safe. Then you shoot his entire army, and he quits the game, burns his miniatures, and the mobbing starts. If the mobbing doesn't start immediately, it's because they're in the alley outside your house with torches.

Warwitch Deneghra: List construction

In the words of Dick Durkin: We need to get bigger guns, BIG FUCKING GUNS! and almost anything will do. Nyss Hunters, Croe's Cutthroats, Pistol Wraiths, Dougal MacNaile, and the Withershadow Combine are prime candidates, and the more guns you pack into a list, the more your opponent will hate you. I'd recommend Croe's Cutthroats, since it fits well with the second requirement, and most people don't know what to expect from them either. Nyss Hunters will usually do better, but since you're winning anyway, you might as well do it with a unit most people write of as worthless.

Things with stealth, because otherwise you might lose a model before you can win. In one game at the Danish Masters I made a horrible mistake, and I lost a Warwitch Siren (get two of those by the way, not debatable). It was terribly embarrassing, and I had to do it again the following game, so it would look like it was intentional.

Bane Thralls, because the turn you win, they swing with MAT 10, and inflict 32 damage on average dice, each. They can also run up to a napping caster, and inflict Dark Shroud without even giving him the added defense (since he can't engage or be engaged while napping).

Satyxis Raiders are also fun, and even though they don't actually have stealth, they're quite hard to hit so that's fine. They can charge a gazillion miles, and take down Khador heavies with all the debuffs we have, while being immune to blast damage and doing all sorts of crazy shit.

Skarlock is a given, and a couple of chickens for good measure, and then you're done. If you have points left over, bring more guns (Saxon Orrik is nice). If you still have points left over, it's because you didn't bring enough guns, so rectify that mistake. If you still have points left over, include a Lesser Warlock, because killing Karchev on full camp, with an angry piglet, on average dice, is just what you need to make him bring out the pitchfork.

Warwitch Deneghra: List examples

The list that brought out the pitchforks, had less guns than I would have liked, but that's just because I wanted to avoid winning, until I could win on attrition or scenario instead (incidentally, that makes people even angrier, who knew!). It didn't work though, and I kept winning in round two.

Warwitch Deneghra

- Nightwretch

- Nightwretch

Skarlock Thrall

Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Officer & Standard

Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 5 Grunts)

The Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus

Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

Pistol Wraith

Pistol Wraith

Rorsh & Brine

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Deneghra: How to win

In the words of Al Swearengen: Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair or fucking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. It's not really that hard, since most games will end with The Withering and a ranged assassination anyway.

If you're up against some heavy duty tanks, you simply destroy their army instead. If you're up against a tank caster with a beast/jack army, you lock him down and annihilate his army with Bane Thralls and angry piglets. If you're up against... ah what the hell, you get the point.

Warwitch Deneghra: Summary

Warwitch Deneghra is stupidly powerful, and designed in a way that will remove all joy from gaming (Yeah, yours as well). Even if an opponent should ever manage to win, it will be by using a Menoth list tailored specifically to taking on your list, and only if he knows the list in advance.

Warwitch Deneghra: I think I have it figured out!

I had a couple of hours in a train today, and I got to thinking about the last couple of games. I came to the conclusion, that I had to many ranged models, and not enough melee punch. This allowed me the option of nuking the enemy caster very early, but not the option of going attrition against a heavy opponent.

This forced my hand, and made me go in for the kill, instead of trying for the scenario. Keeping that in mind, I'll remove the temptation that is Nyss, and put in my beloved Croe's Cutthroats instead. I'll build in the Bane Thralls to allow me that attrition game against heavies, and with Withering, Parasite, and Dark Shroud available, I can munch a couple of heavies with Brine + Bane Thralls quite easily.

Warwitch Deneghra

- Nightwretch

- Nightwretch

Skarlock Thrall

Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Officer & Standard

Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 5 Grunts)

The Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus

Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

Pistol Wraith

Pistol Wraith

Rorsh & Brine

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

I'm not sure I have enough ranged now, but I think it might work due to The Withering. I should be able to hit an opponent hard with ranged during feat round, then hit him hard with melee the following round (or the same one, if he got to close), and if he runs I can hit him with ranged again, and absorb his hopefully feeble charge.

I still have the option of ranged assassination, as most Warcasters are living models, and Croe's can threaten 18" with poisoned attacks (you have to love that Dougal MacNaile), hitting on 3+ against a knocked down caster with -5 ARM. That's 3+ to inflict 25 damage on average, which will kill most casters easily (the trick is keeping them alive until the opening is made).

Brine can really do some damage in this list as well. I like the concept of a zombie hog rampaging through the lines, taking down opposing heavies on poor rolls, and against enemy warbeasts he can even demolish them outside Rorsh's control area with Pig Farm.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Rorsh & Brine + Gun Boar

I found some more Guns!

At the club this Monday, a friend of mine was painting some Thornfall models, and talking about Rorsh & Brine. It took me a couple of days to connect the dots, but I've been looking for a heavy with pDenny for a while, and while I keep failing with Wrong Eye & Snapjaw, these guys have guns! The following is ALL theory, as I've never actually had them on the table.

Rorsh can bring in a Gun Boar as well, which not only gives me another gun, but also another set of options. The way I see it, Rorsh is about three points, making Brine around six points. That means my Rorsh + Gun Boar combo is worth eight points, making it a very good deal on shooting, with Pig Iron, Dynamite, and the light cannon.

I can't really ignore the fact, that I've got Brine, a six point death-piggie, walking around with no Fury (since Rorsh is managing the Gun Boar), but at six points I can throw him away without loosing to much. With pDenny I can keep him back, shield Rorsh, and suicide an opposing heavy when needed.

With my access to debuffs (Crippling, Parasite, Withering, Rust, Dark Shroud, and Shadow Bind), Brine can reliably take down an opposing heavy. It will probably cost him his life, and if it doesn't he will probably frenzy, but having the ability to send in the death-piggie free of charge is quite valuable.

The real fun is found with the other two guys. Rorsh is a mercenary/minion, so Dougal MacNaile can give him extra powder rations, and make him more accurate with his Dynamite, if that ever becomes relevant. That means that Rorsh can threaten quite a bit of the table with his Pig Iron, and a knocked down caster with a Parasite on, will not like those two shots, with boosted damage, coming his way.

The Gun Boar also brings an interesting option: It's animus. Being able to react to incoming enemies is just to much fun, and if placed right a unit of infantry going for Brine, will find themselves taking fire before they get to strike. If that unit happened to be affected by Parasite, they will take some serious hurt. Rorsh can also use it, and while unlikely to be in range of his Dynamite (and using his Pig Iron might be dangerous), it will allow him a chance at taking down that solo assassin that just came for him.

While the Gun Boar won't get extra range from Dougal, it will become quite deadly with pDenny and her debuffs. It also has two open fists, and with Crippling/Withering up, it can throw rather large things around if needed. If nothing else, it's able to deal out a surprising amount of pain in melee, and it's almost as tough as a Cryx heavy to begin with.

So, I'm looking forward to see if this actually works, but sadly I don't own them yet, so it will be by proxy or after a lot of waiting.

Talk talk talk...

Didn't get a game tonight, since I got to talking and suddenly it was late. I did get to lay my worries to rest, and stop fretting about using eSkarre instead of pDenny, but I still waver a lot on the issue of heavies with pDenny. With the Focus cost for Scourge, I'll be relying on the Skarlock to apply debuffs, and that's a poor strategy. Instead I decided to see how many guns I could pack in a workable pDenny list:

Warwitch Deneghra

- Nightwretch

- Nightwretch

Skarlock Thrall

Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Officer & Standard

Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts)

The Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus

Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

Pistol Wraith

Pistol Wraith

Saxon Orrik

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

Should prove to be fun, and with a massive melee presence when the ranged has thinned the ranks. It's still manageable at just over thirty models, even if a lot of them are solo characters.

pDenny Vs. Hexeris

Couldn't get a 50 point game, so I settled for 35. That meant cutting a Leviathan, reducing the Nyss to minimum, and loosing a Pistol Wraith. I faced a Skorne list with Hexeris (AGAIN), but it was mostly warbeasts.

I quickly realized I had no chance at attrition with so many beasts, but he ran Hexeris dry on Fury in round one, and left an Paingiver to close. Three Focus to the Leviathan, Siren power boost on a node, and Scourge on the Paingiver & Hexeris. Then the Leviathan made two shots with boosted damage on him, and left him on two boxes (sadly he was outside Withering by 2-3 mm or he would have died). Dougal mini-feat + Nyss took care of the last two boxes, and the entire game took less than 30 minutes including setup.

The game itself was so short, that I didn't really learn anything, but I did notice some issues with deployment. The Nyss are very vulnerable to blast damage, and I need to deploy them on a flank instead of dead center. Either way, I'll have to wait until next Monday to get a real test done.

Warwitch Deneghra, ranged attrition?

I've been messing around with a list focused on ranged attrition and control points, but to be perfectly honest it's going to be really hard to make it work. I've more or less settled on Warwitch Deneghra as my caster, though eSkarre is making a serious bid for the position.

In order to achieve enough heavy firepower to make this work, I'll have to include some ranged Helljacks, and quite likely they'll need to be Leviathans. With The Withering and  Parasite involved, they will decimate enemy heavies, but I'm not sure it's enough.

Warwitch Deneghra

- Nightwretch

- Nightwretch

- Leviathan

- Leviathan

Skarlock Thrall

Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts)

The Withershadow Combine

Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile

Pistol Wraith

Pistol Wraith

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

This is what I've been thinking so far. It has an incredible amount of firepower on my feat turn, and it should do fine even if one turn of destruction doesn't break my opponent, as The Withering should keep retaliation to a minimum.

I am however, more than a little screwed if he reaches melee with an infantry unit. Heavies will be banged up when they arrive, if they arrive at all, and Leviathans with debuff help will rip almost anything apart. If he does get in with an infantry unit, I'm in trouble. I'll probably have to spend my Skarlock & Focus on pulling important models out of melee, and this will leave me with few options to take the actual problem down.

Nyss Hunters can't hit a brick wall without help (and The Withering should be long gone when this happens), and depending on my opponents positioning I'll be hard pressed to sweep with my Warwitch Sirens, since I didn't have a screen to help me line up his models.

I think I'll just have to take it out for a spin, and see what happens. Then hopefully I can locate the main issues, and perhaps a couple of solutions as well, and give it a little tune-up. I really find myself missing Gorman & Dark Shroud on paper, but let's see how bad it's going to be in an actual game.

Updates.

With the wedding out of the way, honeymoon done, apartment refurbished (the kitchen is from the early thirties, so while it's not actually antique, it's damn close), and me back at work, I can get some regular updates done again. Updates also require some actual games, and since I've had very few of those during the last two months, I've had very little to write about.

Look ma! I caught me one of them good ones!

In last nights game I had some time to think about the fate of my Satyxis Raiders, and how my entire squad was wiped out by Gudrun (assumption is the mother of all fuckups, and I assumed he was an inch slower). That little mistake left me with just the Captain and UA alive, and the captain promptly took some boosted blast damage and died.

The Sea Witch power swelled and took out Gudrun in return (and that got her killed as well due to being parked in front of an entire army), but that one model cost me nine points worth of army, and my entire first line of assault/pressure. That's when I realized how much my army relies on that unit, and that's something I'll have to keep in mind in a week.

I actually feel rather good about the list, though I would have liked another Arc Node in there. It's got a fair amount of short/medium range firepower (potentially six 8" sprays, two Pistol Wraiths, Withershadow Combine, and a Captain/Witch in theory), great flow with Pathfinder, Incorporeal, and Ghost Walk available, and it hit's very hard with weapon masters and power swell (combined with pDenny the debuff queen).

One of the things I've learned from my two games is, that this army actually likes going second. With Advance Deploy Satyxis Raiders threatening 30" from my table edge in turn one, I can staunch the flow of fast or AD units before my turn even begins. My stealth and incorporeal units need to deploy across from their prime targets anyway, and depending on the amount of terrain on the board, I can spread out more when I know where the threats are located.

When going second, my Arc Nodes can reach his units on turn one, and throw Crippling Grasp on a prime target. This allows my Satyxis Raiders to severely damage almost anything in the game. When I go first, I can't reach anything in turn one, which means my Satyxis will probably be engaging before that CG ever lands (and it's a lot harder to find an unengaged model to target, when a melee of reach models clog everything up).

Warwitch Deneghra
- Deathripper
- Deathripper
- Skarlock
Bane Thralls (Leader & 5 Grunts)
- Officer & Standard
Bane Lord Tartarus
Satyxis Raiders (Leader & 5 Grunts)
- Sea Witch
Satyxis Raider Captain
Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (Blackbane & 9 Grunts)
The Withershadow Combine
Pistol Wraith
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Warwitch Siren
______________________________________________________________

pDenny Vs. Damiano

Like a boss...

I took the list out for a spin, and since I've faced Skorne the last three games, I had a crisis of faith when I saw nothing but Skorne at the tables. In the end a Merc player found me, and we had us a game of infantry-machine. Damiano Vs. pDenny, with a combined total of one heavy jack, and two light jacks on the table.

I felt pretty confident about the game, and lined up my hordes of infantry, only to realize that I was outnumbered. I won the roll to go first, and advanced everything up the field. the Ghost Raiders and Pistol Wraiths had a nice building to hide behind, across from Nyss Hunters and Steelhead Riflemen, and the Satyxis Raiders found another building further up the field on the other flank. The Bane Thralls took the center, facing up against a unit of Halberdiers. Gorman & Eyriss took out a few of the Satyxis (I forgot his grenade wasn't blast damage and ran to close), but then my turn two came around and the slaughter began.

Gorman was slain by the Raider Captain, and while Eyriss did survive she was locked down by Satyxis, Captain, and a Warwitch. The Pistol Wraiths began gunning down Nyss Hunters, and after the first hit, the boosted shots took care of any Nyss Hunter in the open. Ghost Raiders ran through the buildings and engaged the Nyss Hunters, Riflemen, and Halberdiers, and then my Bane Thralls charged. This is where I should have been paying attention, because due to Hawk with Sure Foot, Set defense (I was close enough to walk in, but noooooo I had to charge), and a couple of other effects, my Bane Thralls were rolling against DEF 18 and failed miserably.

In order to survive I charged a Bane Thrall in the back with Deneghra, and locked his army down with The Withering (also, that's the only Tough check I made in that game). Since Admonia then took care of his Vengeance upkeep, the center was more or less intact after his retaliation (lost about half the Bane Thralls though), and while the Nyss Hunters was magicked up by A&H, the Ghost Raiders scraped by with around half their numbers intact.

Yeah that's right... we're nine points biaaaatch!

From there it was all down hill for him, and while it took me forever to grind through those Halberdiers, his flanks vanished to the Incorporeal horde on the left, and the Satyxis on the right. The Ghost Raiders were back up to eight members by turn four, but the Withershadow Combine sealed the deal. Disbinding from Admonia, Puppet Master on Maelovus, and since Damiano was within walking range (he came up to nuke Tartarus, to keep me from turning more Halberdiers), it was time to say goodbye.

I can reroll that "1", and keep the "5" you know...

Deneghra cast just one spell during the entire game, and it missed, so mostly she just hid behind as much terrain, and as many models as she could find, and allowed her army to demolish him. With the amount of stealth and Incorporeal on the table, A&H just couldn't keep up, and the Ghost Raiders had three units engaged the whole game. The Pistol Wraiths absolutely raped his Nyss Hunters, taking down all but two of them in three rounds of shooting. In the end they both died, when they had no more Nyss Hunters to hide behind, and Holt killed them both in one round, but engaging to make Nyss Hunters roll MAT 6 against DEF 14, and then leaving and gunning them down in the next round, was fun.

So, maybe some minor tweaks are in order, but in general I was happy with the way the army performed. I had more questions about the Ghost Raiders from my opponent, but the mobility they offer, and the chaos they cause, is just to good a thing to pass up. A&H gave the Nyss Hunters magical weapons, but since they were only engaged by three Ghost Raiders, the rest of them were annoying as hell, and safely hidden behind Riflemen and Halberdiers.
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Warwitch Deneghra...

So I had my stag party... and the day long argument with the wife about the stripper is over, but the pathetic remains of my brain is going to work tonight. I've decided to go with Warwitch Deneghra, and I have tonight, and possibly one other game, to tweak the list.

My foot hurts, my neck feels like shit from the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu choke holds (almost had him... well not really...), my legs are busted from holding on to the damn mechanical bull, and someone peed on my brain, but if I don't go tonight I'll be flying blind in September.

Warwitch Deneghra

- Deathripper

- Deathripper

- Skarlock Thrall

Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Officer & Standard

Blackbane's Ghost Raiders (Leader and 9 Grunts)

Satyxis Raiders (Leader and 5 Grunts)

- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch

The Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus

Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

Pistol Wraith

Pistol Wraith

Warwitch Siren

Warwitch Siren

I would have liked another Arc Node, but a guy at the forum convinced me to try out a unit of Satyxis Raiders instead, so they'll hopefully be tying up whatever would be gunning down my nodes. It has thirty-eight models, and a crapload of denial and debuffs. It relies on stealth, Incorporeal, and high defense to keep it safe, so it has some really nasty match-ups, but it only has to work once.

I am considering switching Gorman for the Raider Captain, and I packed both models so I can change my mind before the game. So, if I don't crash to hard tonight, I'll post a little update afterward.
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