Introduction
Hi, welcome back for the final round of Pick and Ban! This week I’m again up against Protectorate of Menoth, this time with Durst1 TFM / Severius1 TFM / High Reclaimer1 GotT. My lists here.
I’m quite sure I want to ban Severius; I can’t really deal with a Judicator, especially since I have a hunch that Goreshade will get banned again. Add to that that the scenario, Recon II, is a tight one, and that colossal is just going to give me headaches.
To my surprise, however, my opponent doesn’t ban Horseshade after all, prompting me to pick him, because I haven’t had the chance yet in this event. The opposing forces pick the High Reclaimer as their champion.
Battle
I manage to win the rolloff and really don’t want to give my opponent the top side with the house protecting the flag, not to mention it’s perfect for building cloud bunkers. I decide to go second, pick top side and connect my theme clouds with the other terrain pieces.
We’ve both picked the Pathfinder objective to navigate through the forest. Most of my army won’t need it, but Goreshade can probably make good use of it.
Turn 1
Protectorate
My opponent moves up his forces, being careful not to give me any good targets yet. Hand of Fate goes on the Idrians, who picked the Bane Riders as their Prey.
Cryx
I cast Occultation on the Bane Riders, Infernal Machine on the Kraken, which moves up and lobs a cannon shot at some Temple Flameguard, killing 2, which angers the Archon.
I move the Riders only so far that 2 Idrians would both be able to shoot at one of them, because of Stealth. If my opponent take the bait, he’s unlikely to actually kill him, and even if he does, I’ll get Vengeance to trigger.
Turn 2
Protectorate
The bait remains untaken and the forces of Menoth just posture a bit. 2 of the Flamebringers position in front of the rest of the forces, to protect the meat. A cloud also gets dropped in front of the objective.
Cryx
I upkeep both spells and figure I can walk the Kraken forward to kill the 2 horse riders with minimal reprisal, which I do. I don’t remember what the Kill Shot did, but it wasn’t much. The machine eats both women, so at lest they’re not coming back.
The Bane Riders still don’t feel comfortable going in and the rest of the army just positions for scoring.
Both sides score 1 point at the end of the turn, on their flags.
Turn 3
Protectorate
This is where it starts to go wrong. The Dervish takes Pathfinder from the objective and the Menite Archon shuffles forward because I’ve angered him. Together, and with a little help from Hymn of Battle and the Idrians, they take a large chunk out of the Kraken, after which the Cleansers take Hand of Fate and finish it off. Bad news.
Besides that not much else happens this turn. My opponent scores his flag and contests mine with Nicia.
Cryx
The High Reclaimer is camping 2, and I got a free spell when he cycled Hand of Fate, so I feel obligated to go for the assassination, which would be 1 unboosted Siphon Bolt, and 2 boosted for damage. I start by giving Pathfinder to Goreshade, so he can walk through the forest, then I run models into position to provide Stationary. There’s one Machine Wraith that gets into a nice spot to tag the caster and a bunch of Cleansers, I also manage to catch the Archon, jacks and some cavalry in the feat. In return I lose some Machine Wraiths and Servitors. Sadly I am unable to get Dark Shroud onto the High Reclaimer, but Shade still walks forward, casts a free Siphon Bolt, stealing 1 focus and the other gets spent on overboosting the power field. The next spell rolls rather badly on (boosted) damage, so instead I decide to get a few hits in on the Archon and Dervish, then reposition back.
I kill Nicia with my remaining Machine Wraith and send in the rest of my forces to deal some damage.
Turn 4
Protectorate
My opponent retaliates, sending in the heavy at Goreshade, after it got Pathfinder from the objective, but fluffing the dice. He does manage to get a lot of work done on the right, putting him in a very good position to ride out the game.
Cryx
Asphyxious takes out the heavy, and I contest the right zone, dealing as much damage on the left as I can, to hopefully pull ahead there, but falling a little short.
The rest of the game is just a long grind, with my opponent feating somewhere in between. I attempt to contest both the zone and flag to the best of my abilities, blessed be the Ghostly and Incorporeal rules, but High Reclaimer can trivially get rid of the models by just casting Ashes to Ashes off the back of the remaining Crusader.
I of course lose Asphyxious after which his Stalker becomes useless.
At the end of turn 7 I’ve lost the vast majority of my army, neither of us has any time left and my opponent is ahead by 3 control points (and a whole bunch of army points). So even though I’d like to think I put up a good fight, victory goes to the Menites.
Summary
I’m honestly just happy that I at least got to play Goreshade in this event. It was a very grindy game, which was to be expected, but definitely a playable matchup. If I had taken a bit less time, and my opponent, a little more, there could’ve been something there. Not losing my Kraken so early also would’ve helped, but I knew the risks when I walked him forward.
The list itself feels like a good balance of attrition and utility, with Asphyxious bringing some Grievous Wounds tech and extending cloud walls. The Kraken does Kraken things and the Warriors hit like trucks and are relatively annoying to get rid of. The Bane Riders also pulled their weight, even though I wasn’t expecting to lose all of them in one go like that.
Smeerlapperij 