The scenario was Starstrike.
Here's what I was staring down the barrel of for Game One...
Lord-Aquilor (General, Staunch Defender, Mirrorshield, Keen-clawed)
Knight-Azyros
Knight-Venator (Luckstone)
Lord-Relictor (Lightning Chariot)
Lord-Relictor (Lightning Chariot)
5 Judicators (Battleline)
5 Judicators (Battleline)
5 Liberators (Battleline)
3 Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows
9 Vanguard-Raptors with Longstrike Crossbows
3 Aetherwings
3 Aetherwings
Aetherstrike Force (Warscroll Battalion)
Now, if you're unaware of how this army works, it will scare the pants off you! Basically, if you get too close to the Aetherwings or the Knights (all super fast, and with Lightning Chariot where needed), then the big Raptor unit gets to shoot in the hero phase. To add insult to injury, if you kill a unit from the battalion, that Raptor unit is going to shoot you again. Once for each unit you kill...
For an army as combat oriented and squishy as Pestilens, this was going to be a bad time. But I'd done my research and had concocted a plan that only required a metric ton of luck to pull off!
Knowing full well that I had the odds stacked against me, but that the eyes of just about the whole event were upon me, I had a game plan that I needed to stick to! I parked each of my monk units directly in line with the three possible locations of the first meteor, with the intent of running forward onto all three points and so controlling whatever point it landed on. Catapults deployed on the back board edge, staying in range of the objectives but out of range of my opponent's army. If he wanted them dead, he was going to have to put a unit in a very dangerous position! The Arch-Warlock did a similar thing, deploying right at the back. the thought behind this was that he could kill off small units and characters from outside the range of the big unit of Raptors, meaning there would be no negative ramifications. At least, that was the plan!
My opponent deployed very centrally, using the shipwreck and the occulus to anchor each of his flanks. The Aetherwings and Relictors sat on the right hand side, while the Liberators were put in the sky for some late-game shenanigans. Having been well and truly outdropped, my opponent took first turn and I braced myself for the horrific carnage that would ensue...
Much to my surprise (and my opponent's dismay, his plan to Lightning Chariot both Aetherwing units up the board failed miserably, with both Relictors rolling terribly low for their prayers. This had pretty much saved me a round of shooting from the Longstrikes, as there were no enemy units within 12" of his army to unleash on. With his first turn in disarray, my opponent made the most of a bad situation by pushing his Azyros up onto the right hand dropzone, while the Venator landed in the central forest, and pulled out a very special arrow. Thanks to a Luckstone, the Star-Fated Arrow put a whopping nine woulds on my right Plagueclaw Catapult, reducing it to splinters. Other damage was fairly minimal, with the Verminlord suffering three wounds at the hands of the two Judicator units. I was thrilled! Things had gotten off to a good start, and I was in a position for a cheeky double turn...
I very aggressively pushed up the table with my monks and did my best to start doing some damage. The Arch Warlock managed to leap up on his Balewind Vortex, and started kicking out mortal wounds. While he didn't manage to actually kill anything, he did smoke one of the Aetherwings and chipped a few wounds off the Venator. The survivng catapult missed, but I did manage to pull off the Neverplague, adding 1 to all Prayer attempts for the rest of the game. Excellent. But my big play, and big gamble, was with the Plague Furnace. Now, I knew that if I was going to gain the upper hand, it would involve a degree of risk, and so here was my plan; I knew that if I killed something, the Furnace was as good as dead. But if I could kill as many small units as I could, I would still lose the Furnace, but could take more units down with me. The last piece of the puzzle was the Great Plague Censor. With full wounds, this could do up to 6 mortal wounds, while also being able to hit units not within 3" of the furnace, as you pick a point within 3" and it can then potentially dmage units within 2" of that point, not the furnace. So, my goal was to sling him into both Aetherwings and the Venator, drop the Censor, and then use the remaining (admittedly not amazing) attacks to finish off whatever unit was weakest or surviving.
So we rolled for priority, I rolled a five. My opponent matched it.
Then I rolled a six. My opponent matched it.
Another five was matched.
Another six was matched.
Then I rolled ANOTHER five, but my opponent outrolled me with a six. Absolute heartbreak.
The objective landed in the centre of the board, and my opponent went to work...
The first notable play was the arrival of five Liberators in my backline, but thanks to Bale-Chimes, failed their charge at the Plagueclaw. The rest of my opponent's phase was spent gunning down as many Monks as he could that were holding the centre objective, as will as killing off combo pieces in my army. Unsurprisingly, and much to my dismay, the Furnace met a terrible end at the hands of the Raptors. He also moved his Venator onto the central objective, to lay the groundwork for a counterattack to claim it off me.
After missing out on that all-important double turn, I was left with no other option than to stick with the plan. I made the central unit of Monks immune to Battleshock, knowing full well they would be drawing far too much murderous attention to themselves. I was tempted to pop my Contagion Banner, and beat down the Venator, but that would have simply resulted in yet more shooting at them. So I moved right up to the objective, making sure to stay outside of 3" of the Venator. This meant that I held the objective (with not only more models within range, but also having a unit of over twenty; for now, at least...), and that my opponent would be forced to commit no small portion of his shooting at them and not other elements, if he wanted that objective. They did pop the champion's book to trim a few mortal wounds off here and there, but otherwise, they were doing their part.
Their doomed, sacreficial part...
Approaching the end of turn two, I implemented part two of my plan. With the other two objectives incoming, I pulled back with my army, making sure that I had at least one unit in each of my possible three objective sites. The Corruptor, having taken a wound or two, had no hesitation in performing a "tactical retreat" behind some arcane terrain and Mystic Shielding himself.
The nearly unscathed unit of forty Monks on my left flank had two simple tasks. Move to the potential objective zone, and hack and slash their way through the Liberators. The Contagion Banner was popped, and they charged on in, making appropriately short work of blending the five Libs.
The Catapult trundled up the board with it's abysmal 3" move, putting itself in range of the Raptors but out of range of their return fire. It hit, and completely failed to wound. Rat-tears were shed.
On the right flank, things were getting a bit heated. What started out as an Azyros attemping a cheap shot (typical Stormcast...) on my poor, defenceless Priest, had turned into a full-blown brawl in the forest. His intention to cheekily grab my objective when it landed ended up turning into a war of attrition, with bad rolls on both sides. My monks couldn't get past his impressive armour save and fortunate dice rolls, and he failed to do any significant damage; a few wounds were inflicted upon my Priest, but nothing fatal. I had my opportunity to put him down, mind you...
I cast Pestilent Breath with my Priest, and chipped a mortal wound off the Azyros. With that Prayer, I also triggered a "super-prayer", rolled to inflict D6 mortal wounds on him. He had three wounds remaining. I rolled a 1... Probably some vile scheme by a rival Warlord.
This left the Monks on my right flank free to go about their day, having lost the Priest to the Azyros' sword, before he was fried inside his armour by the Warlock. They began marching toward the centre objective, but it was too little too late.
In the dying turns of the game, the Aquilor finally made his move, teleporting the Raptors onto my back board edge, punching holes through the Warlock and trimming four wounds off the catapult. The central Judicators and the Venator finished it off in a hail of arrows. My dwindling Monk unit was then pinned in place at each end by the Venator and Relictor.
This signalled the end of Game One, and a punishing major loss for Clan Pestilens. I also missed out on my secondary objective, which was "Kill a Monster; if there are no Monsters in your opponent's army, kill the unit with the largest points cost". That unit would have been the 9-man Raptor unit, and my reasoning behind choosing that one, was that if I had any hope of winning the game, I needed to kill that unit. I tried to make the Scenario and the Secondary work towards a common goal, but it was not to be...
This was a highly anticipated Grudge Match, that was very heavily skewed in favour of the Stormcast, as I didn't really have an answer for a lot of his tricks. On the live stream before the event, I'd called this list as one that would hit the podium, and he was off to a screaming start. I feel there were a few moments that could have possibly changed the tide of battle, but the dice weren't on my side, and the odds were slim. As always, my opponent was an absolute gentleman, and he earned my vote for Best Painted, which he ended up winning. This army is exquisitely painted, and the prize was well deserved.
Having scored zero tournament points in my first game, I was in the express lane to the bottom tables, where I would meet my next opponent...
A Gnarlroot Wargrove!
But more on that next time... Check in soon for Game Two!
As every time, thanks so much for reading.
Gabe
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