While the Michigan GT was approaching I thought it would be a good idea to get some practice games in with my Nighthaunt army. Al, a local club mate, was looking to do the same with his Seraphon he planned on taking. With that in mind it was set, the dream lizards were taking on the living nightmares in the latest Battle Report on Mengel Miniatures!
We didn't have much of a plan beforehand besides knowing we were meeting up for a matched play game and that we both wanted to put our armies through a grueling test and work our any kinks in the lists. When I arrived at our local store we randomly selected a battleplan and a realm and threw down on the tabletop.
Nighthaunt Army:
Realm - Shyish
Lady Olynder - Shademist
Spirit Torment - Midnight Tome, Spectral Tether
Dreadblade Harrow - General, Ruler of the Spirit Hosts, Wraithbow
x5 Hexwraiths
x5 Hexwraiths
x6 Spirit Hosts
x10 Chainrasps
x10 Chainrasps
x2 Chainghasts
Black Coach
Mourngul
Deathriders Battalion
Seraphon Army:
Realm - Aqshy
Engine of the Gods - Onyx blade
Engine of the Gods - Ignaxs scales
Lord kroak - general
Astolith bearer
Skink Starpriest
Lord Ordinator
x10 skinks
x10 skinks
x10 skinks
x3 rippers
Ballista
Chonomantic Cogs
Balewind Vortex
Battleplan: Scorched Earth - Aqshy
Deployment:
I deployed my army mostly clustered around the right hand side of the board, hoping to sweep across in a more concentrated force. I also kept one of my units of Chainrasps and the Mourngul in the underworlds to bring on later. The plan for the Chainrasps was to bring them onto an objective when needed and the Mourngul would just go where he was most needed. I also had the Dreadblade Harrow which can teleport and bring a unit with him, making it pretty easy to redeploy my forces to deal with any new threats.
Al put some Skinks on all of his objectives with the majority of his force in the center and left hand side of the board. He kept his one unit of Rippers off the board to come in later per his battalion's special rules. With the amount of summoning he was able to call on, he would be able to react to my army where and when he needed.
Al Turn 1:
Al got the first turn and promptly got to work in the hero phase. Kroak summoned a Balewind Vortex under him, as Kroak does, and then summoned on a unit of Ripperdactyls close to the center of the board. The Engine of the Gods also summoned on a unit of Ripperdactyls behind the tower on my left hand side, ready to pounce on the objective over there. In the movement phase he shuffled a few things forward including most of his center line and one of the Engine of the Gods. He didn't have a lot of shooting, but the Ballista managed to knock two wounds off of my Spirit Torment. He wasn't in range to charge anything, so it went to my turn.
Tyler Turn 1:
In my turn I healed my Spirit Torment using his own Spectral Tether spell, negating the two wounds he had taken. I wasn't able to do anything else in the hero phase with Olynder failing to cast any spells, so I moved into the movement phase. First things first I teleported the Dreadblade as close to the Skinks on the right objective as I could. Using a command point I also teleported the unit of Hexwraiths up to him to really threaten that side. During the rest of my movement phase everything else went up as far as it could, with Olynder and the Spirit Hosts running a whole extra inch. At the end of the phase I decided to bring on my underworld units, with the Mourngul joining the push on the right side, and the Chainrasps surrounding the central objective for protection and to claim it. The Wraithbow managed to roll two sixes in the shooting phase and picked off two of his Skinks. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make any of my charges even with the bonus from the Deathriders battalion so the battle round ended.
Turn 1 Score: Al - 3 Tyler - 3
Tyler Turn 2:
I won the roll off for the turn and sprung into action. Olynder cast Mystic Shield on the Black Coach and also threw an Arcane Bolt at the Skinks in front of her, killing one. In the movement phase I teleported the Dreadblade over to the left hand side of the board in hopes of stalling the Rippers over there. He also brought the Mourngul over with him to take on the Engine of the Gods. My Black Coach, now able to run and charge due to powering up in the hero phase, ran as far forward as he could to get into a good position for a charge. The Hexwraiths near him went forward as well, while the right flank continued its slow advance. In the shooting phase my Dreadblade managed to put a few wounds onto the Rippers with his Wraithbow before moving onto the charge phase.
The Black Coach easily made its charge rolling a 9 meaning I got to attack right away due to the Deathriders battalion where it put a few wounds onto the Engine of the Gods. The Dreadblade also managed to roll a 10 for his charge, meaning he got to attack right away, but also took D3 mortal wounds due to realmscape feature, which he took the full three of. He also started to put a dent into the Rippers. Both units of Hexwraiths also made their charges into their respective units of Skinks, but no extra attacks for them. In the combat phase the Coach managed to finish off the Engine of the Gods with no wounds in return, while the Dreadblade took the unit of Rippers down to one model with only one wound left. He suffered a wound in return, also leaving him on only one wound. The Hexwraiths on the right managed to bring the unit of Skinks down to one model after battleshock, grabbing that objective for myself, while in the center the Skinks retreated using their special ability, leaving me high and dry.
Al Turn 2:
In the hero phase Al flexed his magical muscles, killing the Spirit Torment, putting seven wounds onto the Black Coach, taking out a Hexwraith, and summoning on another Engine of the Gods to replenish his ranks. That was a lot to deal with. He also brought on his unit of Rippers that were in reserve right behind my central objective and teleported the left hand unit of Skinks over to my now undefended right objective. In the movement phase his central Rippers moved up to support his freshly arrived unit and his Astrolith Bearer shuffled over towards the middle. In the shooting phase I lost another Hexwraith to shooting. After charging my poor, helpless Chainrasps with both units of Rippers he unsurprisingly wiped them out, while on the right my Hexwraiths killed the last Skink, and on the left the Dreadblade finished off the unit of Rippers, hanging onto unlife himself. Having taken control of two of my objectives this turn, Al wisely chose to burn them both for a total of 4 victory points across the two.
Turn 2 Score: Al - 9 Tyler - 7
Tyler Turn 3:
I won the roll off yet again and didn't have much to do in the hero phase. In my movement phase though I teleported the Dreadblade over to his left objective along with the Spirit Hosts and camped out there, making sure I had more models to claim it. The Mourngul moved towards the Rippers and Olynder moved towards the Skinks in my backline while the rest of my army started towards the fight in the middle. In the shooting phase the Dreadblade plucked a wound off of Kroak, getting him ready for the charge of the Black Coach, which rolled over a 10 meaning it got to attack right away.
Elsewhere both the Mourngul and Olynder made their charges as well. Between the Coach getting to attack in the charge phase, then electing to fight first with it in the combat phase I was able to put enough wounds on Kroak to ensure he would die. The Mourngul killed two of the Rippers and only took one wound in return. His main goal was really just to tie the birds up long enough to try and keep my remaining objective safe. Olynder smashed through half the Skink unit, then battleshocked the rest off the board. At the end of my turn I controlled both of his side objectives and burned them for a total of 5 points.
Al Turn 3:
In Al's hero phase he killed the Black Coach with his Engine of the Gods ability and also took out a nearby Hexwraith. He then summoned on 10 Skinks to act as a shield from my nearby Spirit Hosts. In his shooting phase the Engines manage to kill another Hexwraith, and in the combat phase the last one died as well. Up against the ridiculous number of attacks the Rippers can put out, the poor Mourngul didn't stand a chance and was taken out.
Turn 3 Score: Al - 10 Tyler - 13
Tyler Turn 4:
Winning the roll off I teleported my Dreadblade and Spirit Hosts over to my last objective and created a bubble around it, trying to ensure he couldn't get enough models close enough to it to capture it without killing everything around it first. The Dreadblade took down the last Ripper from the diminished unit with a cheeky Wraithbow shot and then it was onto charges and combat. In the middle the second unit of Hexwraiths charged in and killed off the Ballista, while the Skinks merely retreated from the Chainghasts, denying me my retribution yet again!
Al Turn 4:
Knowing that he had to try and get my objective from me to have any chance of winning he teleported one of his Engines over towards me and used its ability to kill three Chainrasps and one of my Spirit Hosts. He also moved his remaining unit of Rippers towards the Spirit Hosts. The Rippers made their charge easily, but he had to use a command point to re-roll his charge for the Engine in order to make it in. The Chainrasps were easily wiped out though, while most of the Spirit Hosts were killed as well. The objective stayed in my hands for now.
Turn 4 Score: Al - 11 Tyler - 14
Tyler Turn 5:
Knowing that only the bottom corner mattered we pretty much just focused on that during turn five. Using the Ruler of the Spirit Hosts command trait I brought back two of my Spirit Hosts, and then lost one in combat. All I needed to do next turn was not die.
Al Turn 5:
In his turn he promptly killed all of my Spirit Hosts and the Dreadblade and burned the objective for 3 points, meaning we were tied. When we looked at kill points though he had clearly killed more of my army then I had of his, so he snuck through with a Minor Victory!
Final Score: Al - 15 Tyler - 15
Minor Victory to Al!
That was a super close and tough game. It literally came down to the last dice roll and if he had rolled anything besides a five or a six it would have been a major victory to me. I love when games are that tense all the way up to the end, it really makes it feel like a game well played. I was fairly happy with my list, and only swapped out the Mourngul for a Knight of Shrouds and Bladegheists because I managed to finish painting the Bladegheists in time. I think the Mourngul still has a place in the Nighthaunt army though, especially with his -1 to hit aura. It was really hard for me to deal with all of the summoning, plus the teleporting. I did have a ton of fun teleporting the Dreadblade around though, and without him I don't think I would have had the mobility to respond to Al's army considering how quick he can be. Though I may have lost I claim a moral victory for taking out Kroak with the Black Coach.
Until next time,
Tyler M.
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