Total sell-out

Introduction

Like I said before, I really needed to rack up some wins if I wanted to get into a WTC team, so this time I approached the tournament in a different way. I took 1 safe list, that I knew was powerful and for which I had a good idea of its good matchups, and take 1 list that I was interested in trying out. The theory being that I could drop the latter when I felt comfortable to do so, or I was already losing too much anyway.
In practice however, this just meant that I played the former all day…

Pairing was the following:

Cryx
[Theme] Dark Host
[Skarre 1] Pirate Queen Skarre [+28]
– Stalker [8]
– Stalker [8]
– Stalker [8]
– Stalker [8]
Bane Lord Tartarus [0(6)]
Darragh Wrathe [9]
Scrap Thrall (3) [2]
Bane Knights (max) [15]
– Bane Knight Officer [0(4)]
Bane Knights (max) [15]
– Bane Knight Officer [0(4)]
Wraith Engine [15]
Wraith Engine [15]

Cryx
[Theme] Scourge of the Broken Coast
[Rahera 1] Captain Rahera, Terror of the Wailing Sea [+28]
– Kraken [35]
– Nightwretch [7]
– Stalker [8]
– Satyxis Blood Priestess [4]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
General Gerlak Slaughterborn [0(6)]
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist [4]
Misery Cage [2]
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max) [11]
Blighted Trollkin Marauders (max) [15]
– Jussika Bloodtongue [5]
Satyxis Blood Witches (min) [8]
– Satyxis Blood Hag [4]
Scharde Dirge Seers [0(6)]

To be fair, I wasn’t entirely sure what the Rahera list was supposed to be good at, but I like the list in principle. Black Ogrun Boarding Party are secretly amazing, especially if Rough Seas can keep them safe on the approach. The list has a strong Kraken, as well as a bit of everything, so should have an out in many situations.
Worst case, I can send in Gorman for a feat bomb, or have Rahera just finish the job herself.

Round 1

Skarre 1 vs Krueger 2 BoO (/Wurmwood DH)
Spread the Net

I really didn’t feel comfortable dropping Rahera into Wurmwood, because I have very little outs against his forest and he eats infantry for breakfast, not to mention he will Stranglehold my Kraken all day, every day. I drop Skarre and my opponent drops Krueger; a rough matchup, but one I have played before.

I lose the rolloff and my opponent elects to go second, which means Krueger 2 might score first, but allows me to apply some pressure. I don’t have Ambush in this list, so my opponent comfortably puts his Well of Orboros in his rectangular zone. The middle zone has a relatively large obstruction towards his side of the table. Other terrain is barely relevant between our lists.
I inverted my usual setup; Wraith Engines are in the middle with the units near the sides. This means 2 things, namely that Krueger has a harder time scoring by his feat, because my battle engines can’t be pushed, and it makes them harder to be reduced to irrelevancy through telekinesis. Additionally, it lets my Bane Knights go wide, which keeps them safer from the feat and lets them score the outer zones more easily.

I let my Stalkers go wide and make sure that each one of them can’t be gotten to by any of the Mannekins; no use in losing half a Stalker to a lucky fully boosted spray just yet. The rest moves up as far as possible; Wraith Engines outside threat of the Wolds and Knights just as far as they can run, so they can do something relevant next turn.
My opponent poops out a Blackclad Wayfarer with the Well and just moves up as far as he feels comfortable. He sends up his one Gallow’s Grove to Rebuke the Bane Knights on my right, so the ones in my rectangular zone. This is unfortunate, but they’re mostly there to hold the zone anyway and this allows me to send in a Stalker to take out the tree, which I do.

Darragh provides Death Ride, which still means the Rebuked Bane Knights move up 9″ after Reposition, so all is well. Wraith Engines shuffle up, still trying to stay out of threat ranges. 1 Stalker goes behind the large obstruction in the middle. I can’t kill any of the Sentry Stones, nor can I get to the well.
My opponent feats and can score his flag and his zone, he catches a lot in the feat and TK’s both Wraith Engines backward, but he makes 1 mistake. He only kept a 7″ walking threat of the right Wraith Engine into account, but Darragh pushes it up to 8. I still score my zone because the Wraith Engine was in it and nothing was contesting, though Tartarus was pushed off his flag.

This means I can comfortable feat and have that 1 Wraith Engine take out the offending Woldwarden. A loaded Stalker severely cripples another Woldwarden, leaving it with just Body left. My opponent chose not to use Mad Visions for whatever reason.
On my left I basically just run everything as far as I can. A feated Wraith Engine runs in the face of Krueger, Megalith and a Woldwarden, to give him something to play with. I take out the Sentry Stone on my right with feated Bane Knights walking up 6. The right side is effectively mine now as there is nothing left there of note, except a Stoneshaper and a Woldwyrd. The score goes to 3-2 in my favor.

On the retaliation, my opponent is worried about using Whispers at the Gate in case I would be able to get to Krueger, so his caster + 2 heavies leave the Wraith Engine on 3 boxes. The crippled Woldwarden tries to get away from the Stalker and eats a big free strike, but survives on a handful of hit points. As expected, not much happens on the right side. Some of my stuff dies on the left and I score 2 more points at the end of the turn because there was nothing contesting.
My next turn is just cleanup. A loaded Stalker kills the Hermit with the help of a walking Bane Knight, needing Death Ride because of Rebuke. I clear the opposing flag to score it, finally kill the left Sentry Stone and can also score my zone and flag again. The game is over, but the Wraith Engine still takes a shot at a Krueger camping 1, now that Mad Visions is gone. I actually manage to kill, with a little help from Dark Guidance and so get a dual assassination/scenario victory.

This is a rough game for Skarre, but it’s one that I have played before, which was definitely my advantage. My opponent underestimated the Wraith Engine which meant I could clean out the right flank despite his feat and Telekinesis hampering me. This allowed me to stay in the scenario game and eventually grind out the win.

Round 2

Skarre 1 vs Harbinger FM (/Vlad 3 WotOF)
Anarchy

Again, I don’t feel comfortable dropping Rahera here as I have no idea how to chew through all of Harbinger’s army with a bunch of living models and limited Grievous Wounds. The problem is that Skarre isn’t entirely favored either, especially on an active scenario such as this, as Stalkers need to commit to allow me to score and then I lose them.

My opponent wins the rolloff, so I choose the side where there’s a wall partially protecting my flag. That also has a small obstruction and there is a forest near my opponent’s side. The zone on my right also has a large patch of rubble and that’s it for relevant terrain.
I put my Knights on the outsides to better threaten the zones.

First turn has him rush forward, staying outside of the Stalkers’ threat ranges. Second turn has me do the same, staying outside 15″ of the Judicator (sprays) and Champions (Crusader’s Call charge).
Next my opponent lazily lets his Judicator toe the left zone, puts an Allegiant under Shifting Sands near my flag and the Covenant in the right zone. He also feats. This is honestly a brilliant play against Skarre, because I need to commit Stalkers if I want to score, which means I won’t have a big feat turn. The Knights will be useless because of the feat and it’s too early for my own feat.
So I commit 2 Stalkers on the Covenant, as jumping means that they only have 4 attacks. Luckily they were able to advance outside the feat and then jump forward. 1 other Stalker jumps in the back of the monk to take it down with 4 dice to hit, wouldn’t want to miss and have him run away. I withdraw the other Stalker so I still have at least 1 source of Grievous Wounds left. I score 2-0 but at what cost?

My opponent takes back my Stalkers, spreads out a unit of Initiates at the edge of the left zone, where the Judicator also is, so I can never hope to clear it. Knights on my right get Rebuked (why does this always happen…) and Harbinger stays as far back as possible as to not get killed.
Next turn I feat to be able to jam better, with a Wraith Engine unhorsing both Champions, and the rest of the game is just a slow grind, where Darragh tanks a few solos for multiple rounds under Mortal Fear until he gets plastered by the Judicator. Harby staying back means that I can occasionally kill something outside of Martyrdom, but it’s not really enough. She stays a bit behind a wall on that side so I can’t get to her with a circling Wraith Engine, taking assassination out of the picture. I never score the left zone and he scores his flag a few times. He eventually starts scoring that zone with the Initiates after all the Knights are dead.
In the end the score is 5-5 and I can’t score anything anymore because the Judicator is now close to my flag. I desperately run the Wraith Engine to the enemy objective and throw 2 unboosted Hellfires at it, but leave it on 1 box. It doesn’t really matter, as turn 7 ends with Harbinger scoring one of the zones and the flag, ending the game at 7-5. Even if it hadn’t, the other tie-breakers would’ve been in her favour.

Yep, Harbinger is still a miserable game, especially on a scenario where I can’t play defensively to maintain the lead. Anarchy really draws everything to the zones and from there it’s easy pickings for Protectorate.
Maybe it was wrong of me to commit the Stalkers so early, but I really felt the need to get ahead and (hopefully) stay there. Maybe I should’ve waited it out instead and could’ve afforded to just score my flag, leaving the rest behind to commit after Harbingers feat had subsided.

Round 3

Skarre 1 vs Rasheth TE (/Makeda 2 MoW)
Recon II

I think Rahera might actually stand a chance against Rasheth, but Makeda worries me somewhat, again because I don’t have a massive amount of Grievous Wounds. I can still get 3 wins today and I know Skarre can do okay against only 2 units of Immortals, so we get the Skarre-Rasheth matchup.

I lose the rolloff and choose sides. I put one of the theme clouds over my flag, like I usually do, to protect either a contesting model or a scoring one.
There is a forest in the middle, between the two zones and a burning clouds near the back of the zone on my left.

First few turns see us both surging forward, toeing around each others threat ranges. Top of 2 I lose a Stalker to 2 fully boosted Sunder Spirits. Both Void Archons flubbed a bit and spent their souls to kill a Bane Knights each and teleport back.
My opponent puts the Shaman toeing the left zone, behind the cloud, but neglects to put any Immortals in. The right zone has a handful of Immortals and the Krea.

So I feat on all remaining Stalkers, Wraith Engines and Skarre, as well as a handful of other models. I manage to kill the Shaman with a Stalker, the contesters on the right with some Knights and a Wraith Engine. On the left I just surge forward, camping a Wraith Engine at the end of the zone, to make it as hard as possible to contest. Score goes to 3-0 in my favor, as I get Tartarus to score my flag.

I didn’t trigger Vengeance on the left and the one on the right doesn’t do much. My opponent feats and puts Blood Mark on my right Wraith Engine, which is then easily killed by the Supreme Guardian while the Immortals kill a few more Bane Knights. I might’ve used the mini-feat here to at least stop Vengeance attacks, but chose not to as the Incorporeal would stop the in-activation attacks anyway. Notable this turn is that my second Wraith Engine doesn’t die, as its still ARM 21 and Incorporeal, so the Titan can’t hurt it. My opponent sends in 2 Immortals at my objective, but leaves it at a handful of boxes. Because of this he only scores 1 point, because he’s unable to completely clear the right zone, so only claims his own flag.

My turn comes around and basically everything goes right. The SG is just within charge distance of the remaining Wraith Engine, but its jammed by Immortals, who can hurt it, so I have the remnants of my Knights kill 3 of them, reducing the number of free strikes to manageable levels. Darragh kills 2 Immortals contesting my flag, Tartarus kills the CA, the Wraith Engine takes out the SG as planned, with very little to spare. The remaining Knights take out a Void Archon and some more Immortals and the Stalker is then free to kill some more and clear the zone. This lets me score the zone and my flag and 2 Knights from the other side succeeded at taking out the objective. I did have some backup attacks for some of this, but if my rolls had been slightly worse I would’ve been hard pressed to deal with the table state and would’ve likely lost.
I should’ve feated on my objective, which would’ve made it all the harder for my opponent to try to claw back on scenario.

Round 4

Skarre 1 vs Morvahna 1 TWH (/Baldur 1 DH)
Anarchy

I don’t see Rahera gaining the upper hand against Baldur and Morvahna’s Mortality will make it difficult for me as well. Neither list has a lot in the way of magical weapons and the Skarre list effectively ignores Baldur’s feat, so that’s what I drop. My opponent also doesn’t like the fact that 80% of the Skarre list straight up ignores his control feat, so decides to go with Morvahna.

For once I actually win the toss and of course go first. The table is rather barren, except for a house blocking off the flag on my side of the table.

I again go wide with the Banes to score zone. My opponent has very little in the way of threat extenders, so I go forward aggressively, making sure the Stalkers don’t get shot too much. In my second turn I put both units of Knights in a zone, half of them facing the table edge with their mini-feats up, against the Ambush. 2 Stalkers and Darragh (on the flag) hang out behind the house. I put Tartarus closer to the left Knights so they would have an easier time hitting the ambushing Wolves.

My opponent gets Mortality on the right Bane Knights, where he Ambushes. Wraith Engine or no, the Reeves’ sheer volume of shots make short work of the slanted Bane Knights and the ambush takes out the rest. We both score our flags, because the right zone is contested by the Wraith Engine and the left by Skinwalkers.
I feat and clear the left zone of the Hermit, with about 7 Knights and the 2 Skinwalkers with the help of a Stalker, who then fails to kill the tree. Other Stalker finishes the tree and offs the Skinwalker that was in the way so my Wraith Engine can charge the objective. I send in a Stalker in the middle of the Wolves to contest the zone and kill some of them. I’m now contesting the other flag with the Wraith Engine’s big butt and the score goes to 5-1.

The retaliation does kill the Wraith Engine with some help from Mortality and Wolf Lord Morraig, but sadly, for my opponent, every single attack on the Stalker in the right zone whiffs. The War Wolves were set up for a Sic’ Em double-tap, but all three of the Wolves of Orboros missed the Stalker, even the CMA from the two in the back , after a 2-man CRA from the Reeves had also missed twice. The War Wolves simply charged and dealt only a couple of damage, as 2 of them missed again.
Some other irrelevant stuff happens and I just need to clear a handful of models on my turn to bring the score to 7-1.

This was actually an interesting Morvahna list, but the fact that I could push so hard allowed me to get a massive scenario lead. Had my right flank collapsed faster, I would’ve still scored 7-2 most likely. But any longer than that and I would’ve been in trouble.

Summary

The attentive reader will have noticed that I played one scenario (Anarchy) twice. Since we started using (4-round) Steamrollers as a basis for team selection, we’ve usually resorted to having a preset scenario on each table, in an attempt to reduce time needed between rounds, and thus to speed things up.
This has worked quite well, but it does mean that scenarios are often duplicated between some tables and so some people will play a certain scenario twice.

So, I finally got my 3-1 which allowed me to climb up the ladder a bit, so I don’t have to feel too bad for not playing jank. Let’s see if I can keep this up.