#126: The Road to Bris Vegas Open...

With BrisCon fast approaching, I thought I'd do a quick article on the BrisVegas Open, the Age of Sigmar event at BrisCon.

Now, typically, I'm not able to attend two-day tournaments, as work and family usually fill my schedule long before a tournament can. But this year, I've set two weekends aside wholly and solely for rolling dice and getting rinsed. While I don't consider myself to be amongst the elite upper echelon of Australian gamers (my choice in army doesn't help...), I do want to play and fight to the best of my ability.

 RCGT has become quite the iconic event, and draws a large contingent of interstate players. And so I definitely wanted to attend that one. This left me with one more two-dayer to lock in, and the BrisVegas Open is it! My goal this year was to punch as high as I could in the Aussie Matched Play rankings, and to do that with any hope of success, it's kind of mandatory to do well in at least one two-day event, as they are worth significantly more ranking points than one-day events. With RCGT still a long way off, this left me with the BrisVegas Open to focus on, so this article is going to cover the player pack, my army list for the event as well as what I want to achieve at the tournament.

So let's start with the players pack, the framework upon which every tournament is built. If you want to read along, or check it out for yourself, the pack can be found here...

http://www.briscon.com.au/tournaments.html

So, it's a 2000pt 5-game event, using scenarios from the GHB17. And while I won't bore you with all of the details that are readily available on the document, I do want to pick out a few things that set this players pack apart.

The first thing of note is that each player is required to bring six objective markers and three pieces of terrain. Now, when I first saw that six markers were required, I was surprised. Typically, if both players have three, that's enough for any and every scenario being played. But the more I thought about it, it makes sense to bring a full set, because I guarantee you there will be at least one person (I've been guilty of being this person in years gone by) who will straight up forget to even bring markers. So, I can fully understand that decision. Objective markers are easy enough to either make or find appropriate tokens for, so I don't think many players will have trouble with this.

The terrain element is something that has been introduced relatively recently in the Australian scene; CanCon implemented it at the beginning of the year, and BrisVegas Open is following suit. And the reasoning behind this is, as the scene grows and tournaments get larger, the demand for terrain on tables also grows. In the past, that demand has fallen to the TO, who will have to beg, borrow and buy enough terrain to sustain the event. This is a huge outlay and a pretty big weight on their shoulders. By asking players to provide three pieces each (so, six per table), it cuts down the workload immensely for the organisers, allowing them to actually organise the event. I'm not opposed to this at all. I think anything we, as players, can do to make it easier for TO's to run events is beneficial for all involved. It takes pressure off TO's, and means that we'll see more tournaments and events at a scale that has previously been unattainable. And terrain is very open ended. You can put as much or as little effort as you wish to create terrain for events. I know gentlemen who are planning to take the Arcane Ruins box ($41AUD) and split it in three to make small scatter pieces, while other gamers are investing in the Warscryer Citadel as just one of their pieces! Some gamers are also using the terrain requirement as a reason to lavish attention on their army display, creating scenery that matches and compliments their force, either as additional elements or as part of a display board. I don't think the terrain is too much of a barrier to entry, and I think it will push hobbyists to new levels of creativity.

There's the standard clarification rules, such as measuring base-to-base, and measuring from the centre of objectives, allowing a little size variation from player to player without impacting gameplay.

Then we have five secondary objectives. Each player picks one at the start of each game, and can only use each objective once in the tournament. And this is where I think players will be able to really scrape advantages and gain lots of momentum. Of the 165 Tournament Points available over the weekend, secondaries are worth 20. This means that every player is going to need to play hard for them. I think one of the toughest parts of the event (other than trying to beat your opponent, of course) is going to be matching those secondaries with your five opponents. If you can play your cards right, you can launch yourself up the leaderboard, but I can see myself making a mistake early on and finding the objectives in my last two games to be very difficult! I think that all five are pretty achievable, and I think every player should familiarise themselves with how to achieve each one, and how to try and prevent your opponent from claiming them on you.

  For me, I feel like No Prisoners is my strongest, as I can usually chew through units pretty easily throughout the game (admittedly, while taking horrific losses myself), where I think Bloodlust is going to be tricky. As always, it depends on the opponent and scenario, but I feel therein lies the skill and strategic decisions.

The last little thing I wanted to touch on is the painting matrix. BrisVegas Open requires "3-colour minimum" when it comes to painting, as a base requirement for entry. Depending on what side of the fence you're on regarding this, it's either a good or a bad thing. My position on this has always been pretty public. I think that armies should be painted. Painting is a huge part of the hobby for me, and I personally love playing against other painted armies with my own fully painted army. That's just a side of the hobby that catches my interest and really impresses me! I love the idea of going to an event knowing that every army was going to be painted.

On the other side of the coin, one of my mates has never been an avid painter, and saw it as a huge barrier to entry. He's since embarked on a journey to learn to paint, and his army has come up really well, but I can fully understand people seeing it as a huge barrier.

What do you think about painting requirements? Do you love them, hate them, something in between?

Painting also has a lot of weight in Tournament Points, being worth 25 points if you can clean up on the painting matrix. So, there's a significant benefit to having a fully painted army.

All in all, I think the Player Pack is pretty well rounded. I think the requirements on the player is higher than we've seen in the past, but I also feel like its not unreasonable for us to shoulder some of the weight in running a tournament. The more we help, the more events there will be. Everyone wins.

What are standouts of the Players Pack for you?

I'll be taking my Clan Pestilens to BrisVegas Open as their first big outing after being completed. Despite having two other competitive armies in the works, these guys deserve an outing. So here's what I'm taking.

Allegiance: Skaven Pestilens

Verminlord Corruptor (Vexler's Shroud, Verminous Valour)
Plague Furnace (Liber Bubonicus)
Plague Priest
Plague Priest
Arch-Warlock (Allies)
40 Plague Monks (Battleline)
40 Plague Monks (Battleline)
20 Plague Monks (Battleline)
Plagueclaw Catapult
Plagueclaw Catapult
5 Gutter Runners (Allies)
Congregation of Filth (Warscroll Battalion)

It's pretty similar to what I've been using, but I've put some Runners in to give myself that little movement trick. I'm hoping that in a pool of fifty players, I can get some favourable matchups, and I'm hoping to catch a few people off guard with the rats, as they aren't really a common army that people have had experience fighting.

Then again, maybe there's a reason no one plays Pestilens...

To wrap up this little pre-event run down, I want to talk about what I'm hoping to achieve at the event. My first goal is to finish in the top half of the pool. While that sounds very straight forward, theres a very good reason for this! Currently in the Rankings, Thomas Holdsworth holds the Pestilens Icon, proclaiming him to be the highest ranked Pestilens player in all the land. He has recorded 43-44 points with them. If I finish in the top half, it means that I'll gain 50+ points on the Rankings, which will propel me into that Icon, where I can claim what shred of glory there is in Pestilens. Now, that said, Thomas has also not decided what army he is taking, so he could just as well bring Pestilens and extend his lead. We'll see... But I really, reeaally want that Icon!

I'd also love to get a Best Opponent vote. It's always something that I strive for, as I believe everyone should. And it's always an honour to get a vote.

I don't think I'm going to be in the mix at the top tables, or in that top level of painting for Best Painted, but I'm fully planning to do my very best.

What are your goals going into tournaments. If you're attending BrisVegas Open, what are your hopes for the event.

Thanks for reading,
Gabe

#123: Festering of February Game 2 - Skaven Pestilens vs. Disciples of Tzeentch

After coming out of Game One with a convincing win, I found myself amongst some of the strongest armies in the pool, and round two saw me face down a Disciples of Tzeentch army. The list is as follows.

Lord of Change (General)
Herald of Tzeentch
The Blue Scribes
The Changeling
Gaunt Summoner w/Chaos Familiars
10 Pink Horrors
10 Pink Horrors
10 Pink Horrors
10 Blue Horrors
10 Blue Horrors
10 Blue Horrors
30 Brimstone Horrors
Multitudinous Host
390 points in Reinforcements

Note on the list: It only came to my attention while double checking points and lists that my opponent's army was one unit of horrors short to meet the requirements of the Host. In our game, this had no impact on the end result, as he didn't end up using all of his reinforcement points and could have just as easily had a unit of 10 Brims at the back of the board with no impact on how the game went. My opponent was very apologetic upon being made aware of this, and I have no doubt that it was a mistake.

This was probably the one army at the event that I didn't want to face, for one reason and one reason alone; the Gaunt Summoner. My army has three massive units of infantry, that do a great deal of the heavy lifting and I knew how brutal the Summoner's arcane barrage of damage can be! But, the draw was the draw and I was determined to give my opponent the toughest run possible with the tools at my disposal.

The scenario was Battle for the Pass, which favoured large units for objective grabbing. If I could keep my big units above twenty, I'd be able to snatch objectives off my opponent (Brimstones aside). My Plagueclaws deployed fairly deep into my deployment zone, making sure to have enough range to hit 3" past the mid-board objectives, meaning any unit cheeky enough to try and toe-tap the objective would be in range. I kept a unit of 20 monks back to screen my Arch Warlock against the Changeling (who ended up deploying in his own zone after all), while the Corruptor held down the other flank. I made sure that my Warlock went down after the Summoner, and measured to put him just inside 36". meaning that when I popped my Balewind, I had the range to hit him (inevitably atop his own Balewind) with both of my damage spells. On my front line, my Furnace held the centre, while a unit of forty monks lined up a mid-board objective each, each supported by a Priest. 

On the other side of the board, rows upon rows of Horrors stared back at me. The council of wizards formed a tight group to benefit from each other's auras. Having beaten my on drops, my opponent took first turn and unleashed hell. The Summoner popped up on his Balewind and hit one unit of monks with Treason of Tzeentch and hit the other with Infernal Flames, just melting huge chunks of the units. Unfortunately for me (and more specifically, my Monks), we were playing under the assumption that Treason triggered on 5's instead of 6's, so when combined with the many other spells coming my way, casualties were unsurprisingly high. After the game was over, we double checked the FAQ, and discovered the mistake. On the right side, Brimstones pushed up to cap the objective, while on the left, a unit of Daemonettes materialised and laid claim to the other. 

I was bloodied, but not beaten yet, as I prepared to unleash the full strength of the crazed rat. The Warlock popped up on his Balewind, and did three mortal wounds to the Gaunt Summoner with Warpstorm. Only two to go; an Arcane Bolt should do the trick! Nope... despite the bonus to cast, I failed to get the spell off. To make matters worse, the Furnace took a mortal wound from a failed prayer and both catapults missed the Brimstones (on a 2+, mind you!). Things were not going according to plan...

 Having found myself in quite the pickle, I began to do what I do best; scrap. Pushing as hard as I could on every possible advantage to try and scrape together some momentum, I tried to make the most of a bad turn and set myself up for a possible double turn. The left hand unit of monks, having survived better than their comrades, got buffed up and launched into the Daemonettes, blitzing the ten models off the table in a heartbeat and taking the objective. The other monks fell short of the charge against the Brimstones, and would have had to kill a large number of them to cap the objective.

Lady Luck was not on my side, and I had to endure another barrage of magic from the Summoner and shooting from the horrors, further crippling my main combat units. With only a dozen models left in the unit, I shredded my way through more than a handful of Brimstone Horrors, and foolishly hit the Blue Horrors as well, opening up the opportunity for my opponent to replenish the Brimstones (back onto the objective), before healing D6 Blues in his following Hero Phase.

The other flank fared slightly better. With superior numbers, and more prayers on them, they managed to carve their way through a unit of Pinks and a unit of Blues, while also putting some hurt on the Brimstones, who healed from the Blues dying. The Priest and Censer Bearers moved up behind them to hold down the objective, and contest against any more sneaky summoning. 

Both Plagueclaws missed again. The Arch Warlock failed to cast both of his spells.

Having survived the worst I could throw at him (not the Plagueclaws... they couldn't throw anything), my opponent went to work, mopping up the rest of my army. The Horrors on the right made short work in shooting down the last few monks, while my larger left flank unit drew the unsavoury attention of the Gaunt Summoner, who unleashed both Treason and Infernal Flames and just wiped them off the board. My Corruptor also got removed from the table, after the Changeling popped up on a second Balewind, nicked the Lord of Change's spell and unleashed Tzeentch's Inferno upon him. When combined with several other spells, the sheer volume of mortal wounds was too much for even Verminous Valour to save him, and he fell. 

In a turn full of moments that felt a bit "too little too late", the Arch Warlock FINALLY took the last two wounds off the Summoner and killed him, and one of the catapults found it within themselves to actually hit something and do two wounds that were promptly replenished. My Furnace, knowing that he was on half wounds and was incredibly close to death, ploughed headlong into the Pink Horrors, but failed to do enough to have an impact. Retribution was swift, as the Lord of Change forged a path of destruction, smiting down the Furnace before carrying on and clearing the objective of the Priest and Plague Censer Bearers. With only two Plagueclaws, twenty monks, one objective and no way to claim a lead, the game ended in a major loss.

I'm not going to sugar coat it. This game was rough. In three shooting phases, one catapult hit once, and my Arch Warlock simply barely managed to dish out five wounds in three turns. This resulted in the Gaunt Summoner wreaking havoc unchecked, managing to kill over sixty Monks on his own. I think, even if Treason of Tzeentch was played correctly, the actual impact on the game would have been very similar; the tally would have still been horrific and Battleshock would have cleaned those units off the board regardless. I made a couple of mistakes attacking Blues when Rabid Fever kicked in, which fed the severely damaged Brimstones, but it was a bit of a catch twenty two, where I didn't really have anything else to attack. Multitudinous Host is very strong! Between the splitting mechanic and the replenishing that happens in the Hero Phase (and sometimes the Battleshock phase for Pinks), they're deceptively difficult to get through. 

It was a tough match up, but I was determined to give my opponent a fight, and as much as you can blame bad dice or bad match ups, I refused to accept defeat until the last hope of victory passed into darkness.

With a Major Win and a Major Loss, I found myself in the middle tables, facing down a unique Slaves to Darkness army! Keep an eye out for Game Three, results and overview of the event.

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#122: Festering of February Game 1 - Skaven Pestilens Vs. Seraphon

The draw for the first round of the tournament was completely random and was announced the day before the event. I had never met my opponent, but saw Seraphon, and knew I was going to be up against it. Seraphon requires some finesse to play efficiently, but when put in the hands of an experienced player, they are truly something to be feared.

To read my list, check blog post #121.

My opponent ended up being one of the venue's Youngblood players, and he was fielding an intimidating list. 

Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur (General)

Scar-Veteran on Carnosaur

Lord Kroak

Engine of the Gods

40 Skinks

40 Skinks

20 Saurus Warriors

10 Saurus Knights

While the Saurus units weren't a major concern, considering how unheathly it is to be in combat with Monks, the rest of the list was a concern. I was delighted to see that Kroak didn't have a Balewind Vortex, but he was still a formidable wizard. The two massive units of skinks were going to be frustrating to whittle down, as they're incredibly hard to pin down. And two Carnosaurs is never a good thing!

The scenario was Duality of Death, so I knew I needed to kill his four big pieces if I had a hope of winning.

My deployment was pretty conventional for the most part. The bulk of my Congregation deployed on the left, with a unit of forty lining up the left hand objective, and supported by a Priest. The Arch-Warlock delpoyed far enough toward the centre so as to be in range of both objectives once he popped up on a Vortex. Then the Furnace and the other unit of forty deployed in the centre, ready to push straight up the middle and hit whatever got in their way first. 

 My right flank consisted of the last unit of monks, the Censer Bearers, a Priest and the Corruptor. My hope was that each flank could push onto an objective, with the middle force serving as reinforcements to whoever was in most dire need. Catapults sat on the back board edge, with more than enough range to hit anything that wandered outside the opposing deployment zone.

My opponent deployed in quite a conservative manner, making sure to wrap his most valuable units in bodies for fear of some unforeseen Skaven trickery. I was very happy to see Kroak as far back on the board as he was, as this meant he wouldn't really be a huge threat until later in the game. But I've faced (and used) Seraphon and their teleporting shenanigans before, and I wasn't about to lull myself into a false sense of security.

Thanks to his Command Trait, my opponent utilised a second teleport in turn to launch both Carnosaurs onto my left flank, leaving one on the objective to start racking up points, while the second slammed into my Monks! Not exactly how I envisioned turn one...

Elsewhere, Kroak and the Engine of the Gods pushed over toward the other objective, while the Seraphon infantry advanced toward the centre of the table. Luckily for me, the Carnosaur absolutely tanked his rolls and did very little damage to me. In return, I managed to put four wounds on the giant dino-rider.

I knew that if I wanted to win this game, I couldn't afford to get bogged down in my own delpoyment zone, so my first turn was pretty active. The Arch-Warlock popped up on his vortex successfully, and unleashed the arcane arsenal into the Carnosaur, chipping another three wounds off him, as well as killing a Saurus Knight as collateral damage from Warpstorm. Both my large units popped their Contagion Banners, and the central unit benefited from the Corruptor's command ability. With the Furnace successfully casting Rabid Fever on both large units, it was about to get bloody.

I made a mistake on my right side, by moving my Censer Bearers before my Corruptor, which meant that his superior movement was hampered, preventing him from reaching the objective turn one. With both objectives outside of my control, things were not looking good. Both Plagueclaws took aim at the Saurus Warriors with limited success. Guess it was down to my Monks to save the day...

And save the day, they did! While taking minimal casualties, they absolutely blended the Saurus Knights, leaving only one standing after Battleshock, while the Saurus Warriors were completely slaughtered. With four attacks each, the Contagion Banner and Rabid Fever, the monks were on a rampage!

The monks on the flank, not to be outdone by their brethren, ripped the wounded Carnosaur apart, leaving the Scar-Veteran on the objective horribly exposed and unsupported. A double turn would really swing the tide of battle, and allow me to capitalise on the momentum...

But alas, it was not to be. In fact, I failed to win a priority roll all game long! Kroak was in range of several spells now, and had begun putting the hurt on several elements of my army. My opponent made some mistakes with target priority here, as he chose Plagueclaw, the Corruptor and the Monks as his targets for Comet's Call, leaving the Priest (crucial to the scenario) completely unscathed. I also managed to use Verminous Valor to great effect on my Verminlord, passing off the high-quality damage onto the lowly (and entirely disposable in the eyes of the Corruptor) monks. Rapidly running out of units, my opponent pushed the Engine of the Gods onto the right hand objective, applying a great deal of pressure to my army to get points on the board. The Engine also pulled out some Seraphon sorcery, nuking my Furnace with a whopping 6 mortal wounds! The two massive regiments of Skinks materialised on my back corner, with one of them making a cheeky move after the jump. To the surprise of absolutely no one, the forty blowpipes managed to trim the last three wounds off my Plagueclaw.

In my turn, I was intent on claiming the objectives and putting some kind of numbers on the board. It was 4-0 in my opponent's favour, and I simply could not let him widen the gap any further. I cast Arcane Bolt with the Corruptor and put two wounds on Kroak, while the Warlock was left to cast Warpstorm at whoever was in range, crucially managing to kill the last Saurus Knight who was locking the Monks in combat.. The verminlord also put Mystic Shield on the Plague Priest, who had triggered his Plague Tome on the Engine of the Gods before making a dash for the safety of the ruins (and the glory of the objective). The forty man unit in the centre, swept around to launch an assault upon the cursed Engine, while the Verminlord and his accompanying Censer Bearers made a line for Kroak. The twenty monks at the back made the noble (and fanatically insane) choice to screen my army from the eighty Skinks. Retribution was brutal upon the Blowpipe Skinks, my surviving catapult unleashed a shower of corrosive spew that killed twelve and forced another seven to flee! Excellent. 

When combat rolled around, the odds were stacked against the Engine, and it simply couldn't withstand the onslaught of rats. It fell, and the objective was mine! The Verminlord cursed as Kroak managed to wound the Corruptor (and as a flow-on effect, kill two Censer Bearers... seriously, Verminous Valor is amazing!), suffer seven wounds, then refuse to crumble, heal and teleport away!

On the other side of the board, the second Carnosaur was overrun and slain by the bloodthirsty rats of the other massive regiment. The Furnace had manged to sneak close enough to the objective to claim it the moment the Scar-Veteran drew his last breath. 

Cowering behind his swarms of Skinks, Kroak tried his hardest to kill the Priest, but spells either failed or were out of range. He did manage to cast mystic shield upon himself, but that was little solace for the wasted damage potential. The Skinks had even less luck, failing to wound anything with their shooting. Things were beginning to look bleak for the Seraphon. 

In the dying moments of the game, My Arch-Warlock and remaining Plagueclaw unleashed an avalanche of damage upon Kroak, inflicting another seven wounds in hopes of claiming the huge chunk of victory points that would result in his death. Against all odds, he survived AGAIN, and healed back all of his wounds. My dastardly schemes were foiled. With the clock out of time, our last turn was very much just rolling out the crucial parts of the game, but in the end, I managed to win 12-4, securing a major victory, and losing less than four hundred victory points. 

I had complete control of the left hand side of the board, and managed to keep my Furnace alive (just) on only two wounds after all of the magic and Engine mayhem caused earlier in the game. 

I think my opponent had the tools to beat me. We talked briefly after the game about his list, and I think the verdict was that he was going to drop the Knights, and use the points to flesh out the Saurus and invest in a Balewind. It just makes Kroak so much scarier. As it was, I only ever really needed to worry about being in range of one or two spells, and it allowed me to ignore his damage output for the most part, which is not something you want said about a 450 point model. 

My opponent lost sight of the objective a few times, not in regards to his army, but in regards to mine. Other than the Verminlord, my heroes do not hold up well to damage, and several times, he targeted units of monks with spells and abilities that dish out mortal wounds. If he'd blasted my characters off and clawed a big enough lead, there would have been nothing for me to do but watch. But these things come with experience, and considering how long he's been playing, I think he's definitely going to be a player to watch in the future. 

This left me on a major win with a large amount of victory points, pushing me into the top bracket of players, ready to face down whatever horrific list awaited me in round two...

Thanks for reading,

Gabe

#121: The power of Hobby Democracy and Festering of February tournament prep

Well, the people have spoken. Last week, I put up a poll to decide what my next army painting project would be. With only two possibilities allowed by Facebook, Ironjaws crushed Beastclaw Raiders in popularity, and so my fate has been sealed. My next army will be the ironclad orruks with a severe anger management issue. I'm going to use this to push myself from a painting perspective, especially in regards to free hand painting; something I have always avoided if possible. With the abundance of flat plates of armour, as well as a banner or two, there are plenty of opportunities to stretch my hobby legs and try out some techniques I haven't committed a whole lot of time to.

For all you who voted for Beastclaw Raiders, fear not. I'm sure I'll be tackling them soon enough*.

*subject to awesome new releases and a brutally short attention span

I've settled on a list (in the voting poll post on Facebook) which I'm really happy with, as it gives me a huge variety of units and characters; well, at least in terms of Ironjawz, who are not known for having a whole lot of diversity in units. I'm very much looking forward to painting the Maw-Crusha, as well as the Warboss with the Waaagh Banner, as I think this will almost be the secondary centrepiece model in the army after the General.

But, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. Before I kick into them, I have a rat-tag handful of models that need to be painted to finish off my Pestilens. I cannot wait to close the painting door on that army and enjoy painting something other than robed rats.

But, speaking of robed rats, I'll be taking my Pestilens on their first tournament outing of 2018 this coming weekend, at the Festering of February. This is a one-day 2000pt matched play tournament hosted by Warhammer Capalaba, and while there's only a small player pool, it's shaping up to be a fantastic day. I was lucky enough to jag one of the tickets, and as it's not large enough to earn points for the Aus Matched Play Rankings, I figured I'd use this event to fine-tune my list for some of the bigger events later in the year. The core is very similar to what I've used at several events last year.

Allegiance: Pestilens

Verminlord Corruptor (General, Vexler's Shroud, Verminous Valour)
Plague Furnace (Liber Bubonicus)
Plague Priest w/Plague Censer
Plague Priest w/Plague Censer
40 Monks (Battleline)
40 Monks (Battleline)
20 Monks (Battleline)
Plagueclaw Catapult
Plagueclaw Catapult
Congregation of Filth (Warscroll Battalion

This left me with 300 points still to spend, with none of my Allies pool used. From there, I began to scour the Skaven warscrolls looking for that perfect element to my army. I toyed with using a Warpseer, or even squeezing in a Deceiver, but what my army lacked was the ability to put mortal wounds out at considerable range from relative safety (as skaven as it gets...). While the Warpseer offers that with his Orb, and comes with a fantastic spell, he kind of has to put himself in serious danger to get the opportunity to fling grenades at people.

No-no, I needed something a little more... distanced.

Two options floated to the surface. The first was a big unit of six Jezzails, who (with help from any Mystical Terrain) were quite capable of punching holes through the head of just about any character on the board. The second was (and I can feel the shudder down your spine, my dear reader, but I'm playing Skaven at the event, and make no excuses!) an Arch-Warlock perched atop a Balewind Vortex. In the end, I leant toward the Warlock, as a friend pointed out just how prone Jezzails were to failing Battleshock, and how reliable a Warlock was at putting out mortal wounds at an extremely long range. With a bonus to cast, and a 2+ save atop the Vortex, I feel like he poses far more of a threat, and has far more utility within the army than the snipers do.

So, I'd spent 240 for the Warlock and the Balewind, which had given me the reach that I needed. This left me with 60 points in change. My knee jerk reaction was to just purchase five Plague Censer Bearers, and be done with it, but upon further thought, I decided to sneak in (literally) a unit of five Gutter Runners. These ninja rats give me that tactical element to let me contest or claim unprotected objectives, assassinate a squishy support character, or tie up a unit and prevent it from being where it needs to be to shift the tide of battle toward my opponent. With these stealthy operatives purchased, my list was rounded out to a neat 2000 points on the dot. Fantastic!

The pool of players is actually a surprising mix of new and experienced players, as well as a couple of Youngbloods testing their mettle. I don't know what all of the armies will be on the day, but I'm expecting three good games. I think a lot of the experienced players are approaching it with the same mindset as myself, more focused on refining their own lists rather than going for the throat with a hectic list. I'm very much looking forward to taking the Pestilens for a run again, and finding my groove before some of the larger events up in Queensland.

The event is next Sunday, so there'll be no blog post Sunday night. But fear not, as I'll be publishing all three battle reports in the following week! See you then.

Thanks as always for reading,
Gabe

#113: Age of Sigmar Battle Report - 2000 points Clan Pestilens Vs. Wanderers (Starstrike)

Having not taken my rats out for weeks, I figured it was about time to throw down, and who else to face but my old rivals, the Wanderers. I took my 1600 point tournament list from the recent event at the city store and used it as my foundation for the 2000k list. The real dilemma was how to spend those extra 400 points. I toyed with an Arch Warlock and 40 Monks, or even a Warpseer and 20 Monks, but in the end I decided to try out two units that I've never fielded before; a Verminlord Deceiver and 5 Plague Censor Bearers. I think Skitterleap adds some much need mobility to the army, and gives me a lethal character assassin!

Verminlord Corruptor (General, Vexler's Shroud, Verminous Valour)
Plague Furnace (Liber Bubonicous)
Plague Priest
Plague Priest
40 Plague Monks
20 Plague Monks
20 Plague Monks
5 Plague Censor Bearers
Plagueclaw Catapult
Plagueclaw Catapult
Verminlord Deceiver (Allies, unpainted)
Congregation of Filth (Warscroll Battalion)

My opponent was bringing a similar list to our last clash, with the addition of a rather large, tenacious ally.

Nomad Prince (General)
Spellweaver
Waywatcher
30 Glade Guard
30 Glade Guard
10 Eternal Guard
5 Sisters of the Thorn
30 Wildwood Rangers
Annointed of Asuryan on Frostheart Phoenix (Allies)

I knew I was going to be outmanoeuvred, but I'd learnt a lot from our last game, and I was going to put up a much harder fight than I did in the past. I knew that to come out on top, I was going to need to keep pressure up on my opponent, and play hard for the objectives.

I deployed heavily on the left hand side of the table, with the the Catapult parked close enough to the back corner so as to zone it out if any elves decided to traverse the board edges. The rest of my army was more central, while giving the Mystical Terrain in my centre right tile a wide berth. 

My right flank was definitely my weaker side. With the catapult being guarded only by a Priest and twenty monks. My opponent deployed in several overlapping ranks, making sure that all units were close enough to a board edge to be able to Wander the Paths. The Phoenix deployed centrally and the Wanderer characters all set up in the woods on the hill, with enough spread that I wasn't able to sneak my Deceiver behind the main battle line. 

Beating my opponent by a single drop, I took first turn. I knew that if my opponent took first turn, key elements of my army would die before I was able to do anything with them, and a double turn in this scenario was not going to win me the game. So I took first and wasted no time in pushing forward. My plan was to push a unit onto the possible landing spot of the middle line objective, meaning that my opponent would have to decide which site he wanted to contest before he knew which was the right one. It forced my opponent to be reactive, rather than controlling the board early-game and the pace of play. And it meant, that no matter where the first Objective dropped, it would probably be in my control. Both Priests cast Pestilent Breath into empty space in hopes of triggering a Greath Plague, but with no luck. The Furnce cast Rabid Fever on both nearby units of Monks thanks to the Liber, and triggered the Neverplague, removing all danger from Prayer casting for the rest of the game. Excellent! The big unit of forty was also blessed with the Corruptor's command ability, giving them an extra attack each. 

On the right flank, the twenty monks and the Priest followed suit, running as fast as they could toward the possible landing sight. The Deceiver Skitterleapt onto the far right flank to threaten the huge unit of Glade Guard. I chose the right flank, as the left had a huge unit of Rangers that would have made a mess of him, and his -2 to hit in shooting made the Glade Guard all but useless against him. The Catapult trundled forward a few inches to make range…

The Catapults went to work and showed just how brutal they can be, killing twelve Wildwood Rangers and eight Glade guard. This was perfect, as not only did it put a big hit on the opponent, it drew a lot of attention to the war machines, making sure that my opponent knew they couldn't be ignored. 

My only other move for the turn was to charge my Deceiver into the Glade Guard in the corner. He only managed to kill four, which was a little disappointing.

The elves wasted no time in pushing forward, Wildwood Rangers creating an imposing screen in front of the Glade Guard and Sisters of the Thorn. The play for turn one was pretty apparent from the Hero Phase. Mystic Shield and Shield of Thorns landed on the Phoenix, who barrelled straight up the centre of the field, eyes locked on my Corruptor. 

His charge fell barely short, thanks to Bale-Chimes, and so he ploughed into the unit of Plague Monks instead. This triggered a bloody cycle of Monks dying, piling in thanks to Rabid Fever, and then triggering Shield of Thorns (which was ticking on a 4+) to start the cycle all over again. In the end, I lost 19 monks in a single round of combat. Rough! The Glade Guard under attack from my Deceiver Wandered with the Nomad Lord to the centre of my board edge, unleashing upon my left-hand catapult, bringing it down to a single wound. The Nomad Lord released his bird and finished it off in comical fashion. 

After three drawn rolls, my opponent won the second turn, and wasted no time in going to work. The Eternal Guard moved up to screen their weaker comrades, while the Rangers Wandered after the general popped up nearby. Shield of Thorns failed to cast which proved to be vital for me, without mortal wounds bouncing back at me. Glade Guard continued to pepper the central monks on the hill with arrows, and I removed casualties to take them out of combat with the Phoenix. This proved to be a mistake, as they weren't in as much danger as when Thorns was on, and it left the Phoenix free in the charge phase to cut sick. 

The all important first objective landed on the right flank, and the Wildwood Rangers responded, leaping over, and hoping for a long charge on the Monks to bring them into range to contest it. The archers unleashed another volley, their arcane Bodkins stripping wounds off the Corruptor with contemptuous ease, despite his defensive options. The Waywatcher wandered the paths into my back right corner, and unleashed on the Catapult, only causing three wounds.  

The Rangers made an 11" charge, and just butchered the monks, with the last five falling to Battleshock. He claimed that objective for two points. 

Thanks to my mistake with removing casualties from the Monks, the Annointed found himself in a position to launch into the Corruptor and just make a mess of him. Dice were hot and the Corruptor was cold. And dead. Mostly dead…

I knew that I had to make the most of the opportunity to try and bring the big bird down for the brief moment while he didn't have any buffs on him, so I went to work. The Priest that was about to have his face cut off by Rangers cast Wither on the bird, as well as using his once-per-game Plague Tome to add fuel to the fire that would hopefully melt the Ice-Bird-of-Death. Then all I needed to do was send in the Deceiver. He could Skitterleap over, make a short charge, and shank the Annointed in the back with a series of well placed stabs. Job done, right? Well, Snake Eyes for my casting attempt put a quick stop to that idea. This was a disaster. I needed this bird to die, as it was just moving from unit to unit, taking next to no damage. My Furnace once more cast Rabid Fever upon the monks and Plague Censor Bearers, only this time, it triggered another Great Plague! With the Phoenix being the closest enemy unit at the time, I chose the Bubonic Blightplague. I knew it wouldn't kill the Phoenix and bounce on to other units, but the change to do D6 Mortal Wounds was too good to pass up. I rolled a five, which I was extremely happy with, until the Annointed saved three with his mortal wound save. Super, duper… 

My Plague Censor Bearers, with nothing else really to do until the other objectives dropped at the start of turn three, whirled violently into the spearmen. Knowing that I was going to be activating the monks fighting the phoenix first, I knew that the spearmen would most likely kill the Bearers before they could hit back, which is why they were the recipients of Rabid Fever. I think this was one of my first significant mistakes, as I pretty much threw this unit away, before I even knew if I needed them. Even if they did wipe out the whole unit of Eternal Guard, which was unlikely, I would be trading one unit for another and not actually gaining anything. Hindsight is indeed a beautiful thing. Perhaps I should have sent the Furnace into them, but I knew that the unit of Glade Guard at the back were still packing their Arcane Bodkins. So I chose instead to move him into terrain, which he can benefit from, as he doesn't have the Monster keyword. The last Catapult, living on borrowed time in the sights of the Waywatcher, unleashed a barrage of foul vomit upon the Glade Guard in my back line, hoping to cause similar damage, but was less successful. A few elves dissolved in the acidic stench, but not enough to inflict any casualties from Battleshock. The Waywatcher would waste no time in finishing off the war machine in his next phase. The monks went to work on the Phoenix, and started slipping wounds past its saves. It was only a matter of attritional time...

To nobody's surprise, the Plague Censor Bearers died a horrible, horrible death, and to everyone's surprise, the Plague Priest on the right flank survived against the Wildwood Rangers. To my joy, I snagged the double turn, after being on the receiving end of one, so I was ready to put my very contagious pedal to the metal. The second and third objectives dropped in the centre of the table, one in my deployment zone, one in my opponent's. Time to go to work. To protect my objective from those pesky spearmen, I launched into the Eternal Guard with my Priest, hitting the left end of the unit to try and draw them away with pile ins. 

Finally, I was gaining back some control of the board. I had plans to Skitterleap, but the nearby Spellsinger used her auto-dispel to turn it off. The Deceiver took great personal offence to this, and made sure all of her blood ended up not being inside her with a few well-placed stabbings. The Furnace also barrelled down the hill toward the Sisters of the Thorn, obliterating four of them, but much to my dismay, one remained alive. This meant that, with the Deceiver not being able to reach due to the failed spell, I wasn't able to claim the objective. 

On my home turf, I flooded the objective with my previously unharmed unit of Monks that had so far played no significant part of the battle. In a sheer stroke of luck, the last four monks from the forty man unit, with no buffs or prayers, managed to sneak through the last two wounds and kill the flappy bird of death! Huzzah! 

On the right hand side of the board, I retreated my Priest out of combat, and near to the objective. Nothing was to be achieved by him staying in combat and getting his head caved in. This meant that I only scored three points this turn.

After a minor "ankle snapping" incident with the vermin lord, repercussions were swift. Glade Guard appeared from nowhere, unleashed Arcane Bodkins and did a grand total of six wounds. They pushed forward to try and contest the objective, but were unable to get close enough without entering combat with both the Furnace and the Deceiver. 

The Eternal Guard finally pin cushioned the Priest, leaving them free to march upon my objective. Uh-oh! 

In more movement shenanigans, the Nomad Lord and Way Watcher showed up and caused as much damage to the last sizeable unit of Monks, though it cost the Nomad Prince his life. Death by a thousand cuts!

The Rangers finally hacked apart the rabid Priest, clearing the right side of the board entirely of Skaven, and began to daisy chain toward my back objective. Things were beginning to slip through my fingers.

Being very aware that I only had two models holding the far objective, I knew I had to do something about the big unit of Glade Guard. Conveniently enough, my Furnace continued its affinity with the Great Plagues, unleashing the Undulant Scourge upon them, killing 10, before charging in and disintegrating the rest of the unit. The Deceiver didn't need to lift a finger.

 The Waywatcher had Wandered the Paths and held down the right hand objective...

Which left the Rangers free to launch into the fray alongside the surviving Eternal Guard. Enough Monks died that the objective was the Wanderer's. We tallied up the scores and it was 22-21 in favour of the Wanderers! So CLOSE! 

This was a nail biting game from start to finish. Objectives changed hands, units performed far better than they should have, while others choked. In hindsight, there were a few mistakes here and there. I could have risked Skitterleaping in the last turn and shanking the Waywatcher, at the very least denying him the ability to score, but there was no way to know that the Undulent Scourge would rip apart the Glade Guard, and I couldn't risk losing that objective. 

At the end of the day, I think I played a much smarter game than I did in our last encounter, and was able to influence the game far more effectively. I felt I had enough pressure and enough tricks up my sleeve that I could keep my opponent in a reactive play style. He had enough movement shenanigans that he was able to react to everything I did, and keep pressure on in return. This was a very close game, and was on the line until the dying moments of the game! 

I think I'm definitely going to keep the Deceiver in the list. He adds a lot to the list, and I'm sure that as I play more with him and learn his limitations, that I'll get my points worth. The Plague Censor Bearers, I'm unsure of. I'll play a few more games with them, but I think there's yet a place for them in the list, they pose a minor threat, that are capable of beating down chaff units or insignificant characters. I mean, not in this game… I threw them away and they died a horrible death. Whoops.

Until next time, thanks for reading.

Gabe