eGorman: The filthy traitor

I had two games tonight, against a new player at the club. We were doing eighteen point games, so I could learn about managing Fury, and he could get some games under his belt.

Lord Exhumator Scaverous
- Ripjaw
Rorsh & Brine
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Vs.

Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Deathripper
- Deathripper
- Leviathan
Skarlock
Pistol Wraith
Gorman

His army is part of a Journeyman league type project, or he probably wouldn't have brought the Leviathan, but I still thought I was the one in trouble.

The first game saw him overextend his two Deathrippers, and Brine/Snapjaw with Ghost Walk and TK took one down each. I probably would have lost after the Leviathan took down Brine in return, but Gorman got to close to Snapjaw and got himself engaged instead of locking it down with Black Oil. This allowed a Feat + Icy Grip + TK + Snapjaw in the back, and... chomp. We had a good talk about engaging models and activation sequences (the Pistol Wraith could have locked down Snapjaw as well, if he had gone before Gorman)

The second game featured a change in strategy, and the armies danced around each other. I wasn't really sure how to crack the line, but before any real harm was done, Gorman intervened again and placed himself near pGaspy. While I couldn't get to pGaspy, I could get to Gorman with the extra inches of range on Snapjaw, and THEN I could get to pGaspy with the tail.

I'm not sure I learned a lot, but I did get a bit more comfortable with managing two lesser warlocks and a warcaster at once. It's a lot of Focus/Fury being leeched and allocated each round, but I think I've got it covered for the first round, and TK/Ghost Walk really helps to keep the locks in range of their pets.

I was really lucky with the critical knockdowns as well, but I have to admit that having two heavies with the ability makes for some interesting plays. With boosted charge attacks I get the benefit of hitting on average dice against most casters, with boosted damage, and increasing the chances of a knockdown at the same time.

Wrong Eye & Snapjaw: Theories

Naturally I've been doing a bit of thinking on how to run this little team. I've brought them two or three times before, but always failed and lost them. At the time I had plenty of other models, and no real experience, so they were shelved, but now I think I can dream up some solutions.

The first round of movement is always crucial, and until recently I couldn't think up a way of keeping them safe, while getting them far up the field. Luckily I stumbled upon a post in my research, explaining the charge possibility. I'm used to abusing the charge option with Terminus, so I don't know why I never considered it with these guys, but it really makes a lot of sense.

Snapjaw activates, uses his Animus (2 Fury) and charges a living warrior model across from it. Since it has Man-Eater & Blood Thirst, it will charge without being forced, and advance just as far up the field as it would have done running. Wrong Eye then does the same, ending up eight inches up the field, and with two Fury left. This allows them both to advance almost as far as they could have done while running, while getting the Animus up on both of them.

It also allows Wrong Eye to leech Snapjaw dry, and the team is ready to engage. The second problem I encountered was keeping Snapjaw in Wrong Eye's control area when engaging, since it leaves him open to attacks, and he's a lot easier to kill that Snapjaw. I thought quite hard about that, and finally arrived at Madelyn Corbeau.

Madelyn moves up Wrong Eye three inches with Intrigue. That means that Snapjaw can charge his full ten inches, without getting outside of Wrong Eye's eight in control area (like he usually would with Wrong Eye being slower than Snapjaw on the charge), which is groovy. Then we activate Wrong Eye, pop the Animus, and toddle away to a safe position. If Snapjaw is clearly going to die, we can just go hide somewhere completely safe, and if there's a chance he'll make it, you can still move to a favorable position, while keeping Snapjaw in your control area.

Finally there's the question of offense. Snapjaw can potentially manage five PS 17 attacks, and one PS 14 attack, which should be enough to severely damage most heavies, but not enough to kill them in one go. That's a problem, and it's a big one, since Snapjaw probably won't live to take another shot at it. Adding a -2 ARM debuff from any source, takes him to Juggernaut kill on average dice territory, which is where he likes to be. That's what I've got so far. Include Madelyn Corbeau, and include some way of applying a -2 ARM debuff.

I know I was meant to run them with a caster that did nothing for them, but I was really sad when I had to put Scaverous on the shelf for the Masters, and I did buy him to run all the crazy lists with. He's also the caster I've lost most with so far (tied with Mortenebra), so why not.