#134: Mayhem 2018 Tournament Overview

Well, as what was expected to be my last event before Age of Sigmar dropped it's new edition, I wanted to see out the current edition how I started it...

Playing a sub-par army and getting rinsed by everyone.

Mayhem was a 1500 point, 3-Game Matched Play tournament a few weeks ago that I managed to clear my schedule for. And while I originally wanted to take one of several other armies, with the time I had, I simply wasn't going to have them painted. So, as a last hurrah for the edition (and the army for a while), I once again took to the battlefield with the unreliable but entertaining Clan Pestilens.

Verminlord Corruptor (General, Verminous Valour, Vexler's Shroud)
Plague Furnace (Liber Bubonicus)
Plague Priest
Arch-Warlorck (Allies)
40 Monks (Battleline)
40 Monks (Battleline)
20 Monks (Battleline)
Congregation of Filth (Warscroll Battalion)
Balewind Vortex

Rather than split the tournament into three battle reports, I've chosen instead to do a single article on the event as a whole. Going into this tournament, my goal was simple. Don't come last. I was 1.3 points off claiming the Best in Allegiance: Pestilens icon, and as long as I didn't hit the bottom of the barrel, I'd be alright. I say that, but despite the tournament not being huge, the player pool was of the highest calibre. Some of the best players in the country had converged on this event to roll dice and take names. I would need some good luck surrounding match ups...

My first opponent was a young player who I'd played at the last event at the store. I'd beaten his Seraphon soundly, and after the game, we'd talked about things he could have done differently to give me a lot of trouble. Unfortunately for me, he'd taken that advice (along with the advice of several other players) and showed up with a Kroaknado, a ton of skinks and one angry, angry Carnosaur.

The scenario was Battle for the Pass, and I wasted no time in pushing up onto the middle objectives. My Warlock was shut down from casting Balewind, which made his impact on the game very minimal do to an unhealthy amount of magic missiles to the face from Kroak in the bottom of turn one. The game was incredibly close, with objectives changing hands several times. I got a little bit greedy and made a rush for his exposed rear objective, but he managed to scramble enough to scurry back with skinks and push me off. In the end, scenario points were dead even, and he beat me on victory points. With no way of damaging Kroak enough to threaten him, and with limited ways to stop his magic, the arcane onslaught just brutalised my army. It was a really close game, and despite taking a minor loss, I was stoked to see my opponent taking advice from older players on board and achieving better outcomes as a result.

Lurking in the bottom half of the field, my next opponent was running a Stormcast list. He was very new to the matched play side of things, despite having a beautifully painted army, and I believe this was his fourth game. The scenario was Scorched Earth, and this was his list.

Knight-Venator (General, Consumate Commander, Luckstone)
5 Judicators
5 Judicators
5 Liberators
2 Fulminators
5 Retributors
3 Prosecutors with Hammers
3 Longstrike Raptors
3 Longstrike Raptors
Gryph Hound

The first thing that stood out was that there was a lot of shooting, but not a lot to threaten my objectives. The Liberators and Retributors deployed on the table, so I knew that I had plenty of time to handle them. What I wasn't expecting was for the shooting to kill my Arch Warlock off a Balewind, and the Plague Furnace on turn one. The Fulminators failed a 6" charge on my lines, which really saved my bacon, and the counter attack from the horde of frenzied rats made short work of them. From there, my army launched forward, slamming into his lines, and cutting down the infantry units with relative ease. It came down to a numbers game, and my opponent just didn't feel like he had the tools to combat 100 rats with what he had left on the board after the Fulminators failed to do anything. In the end, numbers won it for me, as I was able to mob his objectives and burn them for the win. He was a great sport about the game, and we had a chat afterward about strong Stormcast builds. This left me on a Major Win and a Minor Loss.

It was a bizarre set of results that saw my next match up against an undefeated Khorne player. There were only a handful of players on two wins, and my Minor Loss put me ahead of most other players who had gotten a major loss. My initial reaction was one of dread, as the Khorne player had, in his first two games, smashed off a Fyreslayers and a Nurgle Daemon army with his Letterbomb/Gore Pilgrims/Wrath of Khorne Bloodthirster list. Anyone who has played either of those armies knows how resilient they are, and he'd just waded through them in no time at all. Great.

But I had a plan.

The scenario was Knife to the Heart. I knew that I outdropped him, and I knew that if he went first, I was toast. So, I accepted what was going to happen, and screened my entire army with a long screen of 40 Monks. They were going to die, no matter what, but I was going to take the Letterbomb with me...

At least, that was the plan until I failed to cast Rabid Fever... my Pile In and Attack upon death didn't go off, which meant that the Letters flew in, inflicted 53 mortal wounds and removed them from the game. From that point onward, I had some of the best luck of my life. If I'd lost turn two priority, that virtually unharmed (bar a few casualties from 40 exploding rats) Bloodletter unit would hit all of my characters and other units, pin me in place, and just hack me to pieces. As it was, I didn't lose a single priority roll for the rest of the game. My 20-strong Monk unit counter-punched the Bloodletters, slaying all of them.

From there, the game took a violent turn, with stuff dying left, right and centre. My remaining 40-man unit of Monks managed to kill the Bloodthirster, a Bloodstoker, a Slaughterpriest and 10 Blood Warriors. The Corruptor decided to roll hot, streaking up a flank to kill ten Reavers, Riptooth and the Bloodsecrator!

In the upset of the tournament, I managed to not only score a victory, but also table my opponent!

Once again, it came down purely to numbers. Having 100 models on the board, no matter how squishy, still needs a lot of killing to get through. My opponent in game three was an absolute legend, and this was actually our first game against each other, despite attending quite a few events.

With kill points playing a big part in scoring, and managing two wins and a minor loss, I landed 3rd place, hitting the podium with Pestilens! This was a huge achievement for me, and a great send off for the army and the edition. I was under no illusion that luck had gone my way at the event, as if match ups had gone in other directions, I might have faced armies that I knew I couldn't beat. But Lady Luck plays a part in every event, and I was stoked to have her favour at this tournament.

My opponent from Game Three claimed second place (thanks to his truly horrific Points Killed tally), while an undefeated Seraphon army took out the crown.

With a trophy for Pestilens, I was happy to put them onto the display shelves and move on to other armies. They'd earned their place there!

Are you starting a new army for the new edition?

Thanks for reading,
Gabe

#133: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - BrisVegas Open Game Five - Skaven Pestilens Vs. Maggotkin of Nurgle

After two big wins and two big losses, I found myself facing one of the five Maggotkin players!

Lord of Plagues (General)
Rotbringer Sorcerer
Gutrot Spume
Verminlord Corruptor
Plague Priest
Rotigus
20 Marauders of Nurgle
5 Putrid Blightkings (Battleline)
5 Putrid Blightkings (Battleline)
5 Putrid Blightkings (Battleline)
5 Putrid Blightkings (Battleline)
Blight Guard (Warscroll Battalion)

At first glance, I was pretty stoked. Thanks to the Nurgle keyword, I could make use of her Feculent Gnarlmaws to run and charge with my Monks, as well as benefit from certain results on the wheel. Then I looked a little closer and realised what a rough stretch of road this was going to be. The Blight Guard meant that I was at -1 to Hit against all of the Blight Kings, which completely blunted the Monks' melee triggers. The scenario was Scorched Earth, so I had the numbers advantage, but whether I could capitalise on that was yet to be seen.

I deployed pretty across a pretty wide frontage, being well aware of the threat posed by Gutrot and his goons. I left a Catapult in each corner to zone out my back field, made sure to park my Arch-Warlock next to Arcane Terrain. 

 My opponent built her offence using Rotigus as the anchor. The Sorcerer and Lord of Plagues protected him, along with five Kings. On the left, the Marauders were left relatively unprotected on the objective, while the right flank was held down by two units of Kings, the Corruptor and the Priest. Gutrot and a unit of Kings were waiting off the board.

My opponent gave me first turn, and I was determined to stop her from ruining my back field with Spume. Luckily for me, I had enough bodies in the list to do that effectively. 

My first turn was very conservative. I knew that, especially in Scorched Earth, if I gave Spume & Friends an opportunity, they'd run on, burn an objective and get ahead on the scoreboard. If that happened, I was going to be in serious strife. So, I chose to sit back and force Spume to commit, and then react from there. Usually, I hate playing a reactive play style, but in this situation, I felt I had to. The Warlock jumped up on his Balewind and started chipping wounds off characters that didn't have a built in ability to heal (like Rotigus) but it was to no avail, as in the following turn, the King's Discharge rolled perfectly and healed the nearby heroes back up to almost full wounds. The gutter runners popped up in the right-back corner, in hopes of running along the back board edge, and burning a cheeky objective. Only wounding Nurgle on 6's, my Plagueclaws were pretty much just paperweights this game.

Realising that there wasn't much point in waiting, my opponent made the choice to bring Spume & Friends on the right flank, to strengthen the weaker side. I was confident that the Bale-Chimes would protect me from a long-bomb charge. 

Fortunately for me, Mystical terrain was not kind to my opponent. A unit of Kings, the Plague Priest and the Marauders were all befuddled, but fortunately, they were on objectives and had no urgent need to move. 

Nurgle got the double turn, and wasted no time in hitting the gas. Spume and his friends had a tree pop up behind them, and got ready for a charge on the Priest and Monks, while on the other flank...

...a unit of Blight Kings butchered their way through twenty Monks to leave an objective dangerously exposed! Oh dear.

Spume and the Kings made it into combat, and began punching things to death. The Priest was no match for the grizzled sea-captain's onslaught, and the Monks and Catapult took a punishing amount of damage from the Kings. It was at this point that I realised how badly the game was going for me, primarily because of Blight Guard. -1 to hit on all the Blight Kings meant that all of my monks were hitting like wet noodles, as none of their triggers were able to go off. 

In my following turn, realising that I had nothing to lost, and everything to gain, my Corruptor sprinted forward, running and charging thanks to the nearby Gnarlmaw, and launched into the Marauders, hoping to slice and dice his way through the unit and maybe even get a sneaky burn!

On the other side of the board, I was celebrating the little wins. After my opponent's Corruptor got befuddled by the same Mystical Terrain that had basically derped out that whole flank, my monks made full use of the opportunity, running and charging to punch on with both the Corruptor and the Priest. Thankfully, they had no negative hit modifiers, so my attacks actually put a great deal of pain on them! 

Not content with murdering my Priest and Plagueclaw on my right-hand objective, the Blight Kings chose not to burn the objective, as there was no real threat to it, and instead, tag the tail end on ym unit of Monks, stringing them out and mitigating the volume of attacks.

The Blight Kings accompanying Gutrot were losing models one by one, but were able to kill plenty of rats in return. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to put Inspiring Presence on them, which meant that they weren't going to be going anywhere in a hurry. Through sheer numbers, they managed to hold that objective all game! 

The Corruptor had also charged in and done significantly less that I would have hoped! Instead of leaping into the horde and decimating them with his scythed blades, he killed three... three marauders. Cool. 

The right hand combat fortunately did not result in complete carnage, but it did end with both right hand objectives firmly in my opponent's control. Game ended with a decisive victory for my opponent. 

You may have noticed that my Arch-Warlock, Plague Furnace and Gutter Runners had very little to do with this game. This was thanks to Rotigus and some truly masterful Wheel manipulation! The sheer mortal wound output of this army at long range is terrifying. In the end, the game ended up going about as well as I expected. I knew that even with some luck, I was going to have to fight tooth and nail to gain the upper hand. As it turned out, my opponent outplayed me and managed to catch my army in an awkward spot and hold them there. 

\

This was probably my most relaxed game of the weekend, as both of us knew we were nowhere near the podium, and therefore weren't playing for sheep stations. 

The event as a whole was fantastic, and I actually managed to hit some (but definitely not all) of the goals that I had going into it. To claim the Best Pestilens badge on the Australian Matched Play rankings, I needed to finish 26th out of 48 players or better. 

I came 27th...

I missed it by one spot. Spewing. That said, I can't complain too much. I managed to place higher than a lot of scary lists. With two wins and three losses, what really boosted me up was the painting scores. I managed to score maximum painting points, which was a real bonus; the painting journey for this army has been a hard road, and it was paying off! This was a goal that I really wanted to nail for the event, and I did just that.

I also wanted to get a "Best Game" vote from one of my opponents, and while I didn't actually end up seeing if I got anyone else's, I did get one from my opponent in Game Three with his Greenskins. I also gave him my "Best Game" vote, and it was well earned. That was probably the funniest game of Age of Sigmar I have ever played. So.. many... things... died.   

The BrisVegas Open was run seamlessly by the Tournament Organisers, had a fantastic pool of players, and ended up being a really enjoyable weekend! I will definitely be going again next year, and if you have the opportunity to, by all means, buy a ticket and get along to it. 

Thanks for reading, 

Gabe :)

#132: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - BrisVegas Open Game Four - Skaven Pestilens Vs. Swifthawk Agents

Heading into Day Two, I honestly had no idea who I'd be facing. There were a lot of diverse armies on the middle and bottom tables, so it could have been anyone!

As it were, I found myself facing down the solitary Swifthawk Agents player! And I'll be completely frank; I had no idea what his army did. I've never seen Swifthawk on the table before, let alone played against it.So, I was well and truly ready for some nasty surprises!

Skywarden (General)
High Warden
Archmage
Branchwych (Allies)
Treelord Ancient (Allies)
30 Spireguard (Battleline)
5 Reavers (Battleline)
5 Reavers (Battleline)
30 Swordmasters
Gryph-Hound (Allies)
Guardians of the Dawnspire (Warscroll Battalion)

While the Guardians of the Dawnspire has no points value, and is not usable in matched play, the TO made the decision to allow it. The Battalion allows the Archmage and Swordmasters to gain the SWIFTHAWK AGENTS keyword, meaning that they don't come out of the Allies pool, and allows the High Warden to order a unit to move or shoot in the Hero Phase.

Going into this game, I knew that i was going to be up against it when it came to movement. The army is incredibly fast, even without the Battalion, so I needed a plan. The Scenario was Total Conquest, where you gain more objective points if you seize an objective off your opponent.

 I deployed pretty conservatively, as I wasn't too concerned if my opponent took either of the two diagonal objectives. I was confident that I could smash units off the objectives with buffed up rats, and so had no huge need to be too far forward. If he gave me first turn, they were all within reach turn one, so I could comfortably react. My catapult and priest were content to park on my back objective, while the forty man units were supported by either the Verminlord or the Furnace, and were preparing to push straight up the middle if I need to.

I ended up being given first turn, as my opponent really wanted the double turn, so I wasted no time in pushing. The Arch-Warlock didn't wast any time popping his vortex, and giving the unit next to him a push. The Verminlord lurked behind some Arcane Terrain, and shielded himself, while the Warlock munched on a chunk of warpstone and decided to start zapping things! The characters were high-priority targets, but he didn't manage to kill any; just bruise them up a little.

On the right side of the board, my Monks and Furnace wasted no time pushing up and asserting what little authority they had on the objective in the shadow of the ruined tower, while their ninja rat mates showed up and peppered the Reavers with throwing knives, broken bottles and a brick. They inflicted no damage. All things considered, I was happy with turn one. I'd put my army into a good position, and had set myself up for what would hopefully be a successful assault on the aelves. 

My opponent's turn was pretty gentle for the most part. The Archmage threw up his aura of protection, while the other characters shuffled around in the backline. The Reavers both raced over toward the centre, and the Spireguard stepped forward to get in range of the Monks with their bows. Casualties were relatively minimal. 

Being spoilt for choice with charges, I wasted zero time in hammering home on multiple fronts. The Monks and Verminlord sliced and diced their way into the shieldwall of the Spireguard, causing their fair share of damage...

...while on the other flank, the Gutter Runners took up objective camping duty, while the Monks barrelled into both units of Reavers and started punching on. I managed to wipe out one unit of horsemen, while reducing the other down to a single model. I was really happy with how the battle was going, but I was painfully aware of the enemy heroes and Swordmasters who were yet to enter the fray. 

My opponent's retribution was swift and brutal. A sloppy pile in with my monks into the Spireguard had unintentionally dragged the Swordmasters into combat by the tiniest of margins. However, the pile in and slaughter that followed was something to behold! The Swordmasters butchered their way through the unit, leaving the survivors to be victims of battleshock. This was a huge blow, as it not only left my Verminlord relatively unsupported and with no unit to pass wounds off onto, but also meant that the Swordmasters weren't locked in combat, and could use the blinding speed of the formation to hit me at my weakest point.

And, as if to prove herself truly fickle, Lady Luck turned her back on me and left me at the mercy of a double turn. Vowing revenge for the lives of the Reavers, the Swordmasters turned about face, and charged down their line into the other large unit of Monks. The monks were butchered once more, but Rabid Fever took a horrific toll on the Swordmasters. Mystic Shield saved many of them, but I felt I was close to breaking the back of the unit. While I was suffering crippling blows left, right and centre, I was still holding three of the objectives, and if there's one lesson I've learnt well, it's to never lose sight of the scenario. Everything is expendable in order to secure the win. I was having to expend a serious chunk of my resources, but I was slowly getting away from my opponent on the scoreboard. 

The High Warden had held back until now, when he decided to go supersonic across the table in an attempt to steal my rear objective. All I had guarding it was a Plagueclaw and a Priest, but I was determined to make it as difficult as possible for him to claim it. In a stroke of sheer bad luck for my opponent, he failed to kill the Priest by a single wound, meaning that I still had more models on the objective. This cost him dearly, as he really needed to get some points on the scoreboard. By all odds, he should have slain the Priest, but some sneaky dodges and rather ridiculous save rolls, he survived! 

In probably the most tactically sound move I'd made all tournament, I retreated with both models, and positioned them so that they were both holding the objective, but were too far apart for the High Warden to kill both of them in a single turn. He was going to charge and kill one of them, but the other would live and contest the objective, delaying his scoring opportunity for yet another turn! 

Elsewhere on the board, I'd secured my left flank. The large unit of monks had suffered heavy losses to the constant shooting of the Spireguard, but the Corruptor had finally silenced their bows, slashing the last remnants of the unit to pieces. My Warlock continued his arcane barrage, which finally downed the enemy general atop his Skycutter Chariot, as well as mopping up the Branchwych lurking on the far left objective. The Plagueclaws both targetted the Swordmasters, and the Furnace smalled into them, hoping to finish them off... But, once again, I completely under-estimated them, even at less than half strength, and the reduced the Furnace to timber, scrap metal and wheezing smoke. 

Realising that he was on the back foot, and seeing an opportunity, he seized the chance to charge my general. The Gryph-Hound, who I had largely forgotten about until now, tried to jump my Priest, while the Treelord Ancient launched out of the woods to engage the Verminlord Corruptor!  

With a combination of shooting and magic, I'd manage to finish off the Swordmaster unit AND the High Warden on my back objective, while still holding the top right objective with the Gutter Runners. Despite getting absolutely trashed, I had a convincing lead on the board. 

In the last lights of the game, I carefully moved Monks forward to absorb damage for the Corruptor! The Verminlord managed to survive the onslaught from the Treelord, and wasn't killed before the end of the game. 

This was a bloody game, and I was stoked to come out of it with a major victory. I think the fact that I'd managed to beat my opponent onto all the objectives made it very hard to push me off. If my opponent had been more aggressive with the Swordmasters from the start, using the double move to get right up in my grill early, I firmly believe he could have swung the game heavily in his favour. They killed the Furnace and 60 Monks, and took an absolute beating; I'm sure they could have killed more. Re-rolling saves against shooting really saved their bacon against the Catapults. I feel like if they'd moved with purpose and sliced their way toward an objective, I wouldn't have had much to stop them. As it was, I was able to throw units at the Swordmasters and keep them occupied in the mid-field, well away from the objectives. All in all, a hard-fought and brutal win, but a win nonetheless.

This win left me on two Major Wins and two Major Losses. 

Finding myself back in the middle tables, I found myself staring down a Maggotkin army. This was going to be rough...

Thanks for reading,

Gabe