Road to Smogcon: 35pt Tier EMadrak vs EMagnus

While perusing the beautifully produced Smogcon entry pack it occurred to Max that we were lining up to dish out a beat down on each other in the Friday night steamroller event for no good reason (other than comedy and bragging rights).  Smogcon is the first UK version of an American style 'Con' tournament and features a wide range of qualifying events that will allow the winning player (or top 2 for bigger qualifiers) to participate in the final 'Masters' event on the Sunday.  Now, there is really no guarantee that either Max or myself will make it through to this event.  Their are plenty of high quality, veteran players entered for the qualifying tournaments.  It does seem a silly decision however to volunteer for the opportunity to play each other when their is such a variety of events available and so we decided to explore the possiblities inherent in the 35pt tier events on offer.

So, for a bit of pre-christmas gaming, Max decided to 'work from home' and I dropped the missus off at the office and ventured back to the capital of culture that is Warrington for some 35 pt gaming.  Looking through the troll book there are not many stunning tier lists, unless you are willing to invest in about a million runeshapers for some PDoomy craziness it is all relatively standard stuff with few bonuses worth shouting about.  I had previously decided that the simplest option for me was to run a EMadrak tier that used models I already possessed, was relatively familiar to me in terms of playstyle and most importantly, was simple to run.

EMadrak
Dire Troll Mauler
Storm Troll

Horthol Long Rider Hero
5 Trollkin Long Riders
10 Trollkin Fennblades plus Officer and Standard

Not a complex list. Line up and run at them, use Blood Fury to hit like a ton of bricks, Killing Ground to mitigate pathfinder issues and Warpath to get the Mauler in.  The 'rage' animus helps the Long Riders open up heavies and the Storm Troll offers a ranged option as well as a way to get round high def troops.

Max has recently discovered the EMagnus theme list 'The Bad Seeds', a list that was initially very popular on 'teh forumz' but has recently gone quiet.  It is a tier that certainly allows you to get a lot of troops on the table with the cheap as chips Sword Knights and has the ever present threat of a pair of Renegades.  Max was planning on using the list to dominate scenario play using his speed, numbers and impressive feat.

EMagnus
Nomad
Renegade 
Renegade
Talon

10 Sword Knights with Officer and Standard marshaling:
Sentinel 
6 Rangers
Orin Midwinter
Kell Bailoch

Setup and Turn 1

Having won the roll off for the first time in a few games I leapt at the chance to choose sides and go second (going second being the new black).  This was a mistake.  As I had been on the receiving end of some bad terrain in our last few games and was feeling like I hadn't won a deployment roll for a while I didn't think before electing to go second.  Under SR2012 going second has become much more powerful than it ever was before but only if it still allows you to compete in the scenario - I had an aggressive list that needed to get up the table and going second had played right into Max's hands.


For this game we were continuing our tour through the SR2012 scenarios, I had chosen 'Restoration' for this game as it was new to both of us.  Yet again, I repeated my signature trick of choosing, reading and then gleefully ignoring the scenario.  Max, with his usual focus, did not.



Max began by gleefully handing out his free focus (a nice tier benefit).  He had deployed  his Sword Knights with their marshaled Sentinel centrally, flanked at either end by the two Renegades.  The Nomad had deployed to the left and the Talon to the right of the unit, maximising the potential for the Sword Knights 'Flank' bonus as they are both reach Jacks.  Magnus was central with Orin to his left.  Kell and the Ranger's AD'd with the rangers spread in front of the left flank and Kell in the difficult ground to the right


What followed was a fairly simple but quite scary turn 1.  The Sword Knights ran in a group up the middle of the board, maintaining their defensive line and the Sentinel used his Jack marshall pseudo focus to run up beside them. The rangers also ran, maintaining a very spread formation across the front of Max's lines.  Magnus activated, put up mobility and then charged up the hill 'unfortunately' falling short of engaging a Sword Knight.  The battlegroup jacks were now free to run with their extra movements and came tearing forward at a scary pace, taking up positions at either end of the line of Sword Knights.  As Max ended his turn it became apparent to me that my choice to go second had been an error, I was seriously under pressure as Max's army was virtually on the centre line and was now being forced out and sideways to try and mitigate the feat I knew was coming in the next turn.


My turn was spent in what was becoming a pretty standard manoeuvre for me, the out, back and sideways spread.  I was conscious that I didn't want to give Max an easy clump of models to feat and was aware that I would have to have models free to move and contest zones or this could be a very easy win for him.  To this end my entire army took a run order, Horthol and the Long Rider cavalry fanning out across the middle and up Max's right flank, the Fennblades and the Mauler heading left towards my objective and zone.  At the end of the turn I was still fairly unconvinced I had spread far enough thanks to my bunched deployment.

The Board at the end of turn 1

Turn 2

With some glee Max began measuring his control area and planning this turn's feat goodness.  Magnus was going to be hanging himself forward it was clear but with such a powerful scenario position available and very little potential for ranged retaliation it looked like he would be very safe.  Focus was given to both Renegades and the Nomad and Max began the turn by running the rangers into positions where he could take advantage of their 'mark target' ability, leaving one ready for Magnus to 'failcharge' into.  Next, the left hand Renegade advanced and picked the Long Rider stood on the hill and the Fennblade next to him; fortunately I had, on the whole, managed to spread my troops far enough not to give Max easy clumps to knockdown/kill.  The right hand Renegade went for an aimed shot at Horthol who was beginning to threaten the right flank but poor damage rolls left him knocked down but still mounted. 

Deciding he didn't like the ranged threat of the Storm troll the Nomad barrelled forward but again, poor damage rolls left Stormy limping but still (just) in the fight.  The Sword Knights advanced into the zone, leaving a channel for Magnus to charge through later and maintained their defensive line; the Officer pronto'd the Sentinal forward, allowing it to advance but then still take the aiming bonus in its activation.  It went to work next, picking the two foremost Fennblades off the top of the hill and the Talon advanced across and poked a knocked down Horthol with his spear, again doing little damage.  Finally, Magnus activated, popped his feat and 'failcharged' the furthest ranger to get as far up the board as possible, unsurprisingly nominating the top and bottom edges of the board. 


Max had finished in a very strong position, he had flooded the zone with troops, was well advanced and was threatening my objective which I had, in usual and expect fashion, failed miserably to protect.  I also had very little I could use to effectively threaten Magnus as most of my stuff was busy line dancing sideways.  After a lot of head scratching and far too much hard thought I began by using my vengeance moves to kill a couple of Rangers and reposition some Fennblades for better angles. The bulk of this turn was to be taken up with killing the Nomad and potentially throwing him and Magnus for some knockdown goodness.  Madrak activated first, put up warpath and killing ground and then advanced and boosted a thrown axe into a ranger, triggering warpath and moving the Mauler.  The Mauler was then able to activate, charge over the wall for free (thank you killing ground), use its 'Rage' animus and with two boosted attack rolls triggered his smash and grab attack to fling the Nomad into Magnus (boosting the to hit roll).  Magnus was now on his arse and the Nomad was badly beat up, sadly, my stunning positioning had left the Mauler outside of the circular zone 

This is still something I am having big issues with.  The top players are so precise with their movements, anticipating where their models need to be looking in following turns and adjusting facing for maximum effect. In this instance the Mauler's 1/2" melee range left it plenty of opportunity to end its charge still in the zone but a lack of focus when placing the model had left Max with a gilt edged opportunity

As I had not yet noticed my poor positioning (Max was to joyfully highlight it in his next turn) I then proceeded to compound my mistake by charging the Fennblades sideways, out of the zone to finish of the Nomad.  A few short whacks later and the Nomad was a wreck but I was again badly out of position.  I finished my somewhat restricted turn by standing Horthol and having a fairly ineffective whack at the Talon nearby and running the only Cavalry unaffected by the feat to engage Magnus and two Sword Knights.  I had done a little damage and threatened Magnus but was dangerously exposed in the Scenario. 

The board at the end of turn 2

Turn 3

Max had already done his maths before beginning this turn and had clocked the easy scenario win available to him.  If he could clear the zone and destroy the exposed objective he would score the required points at the end of his turn and it would be game over.  Unfortunately for me, this didn't seem like much of a challenge.  Max began by clearing the central zone, Magnus filled up the left hand renegade, spent one to stand and began by casting mobility to ensure the renegade could reach the objective.  He then attacked the Longrider engaging him and in a moment of utter comedy failed miserably to kill him.  The Sentinal was next to go, with a ranger bonus and aiming it easily picked off two of the Fennbades in the Zone and the other was finished by the Rangers.  With the centre now nearly clear all Max needed was an easy kill on the objective and Long Rider and the game was his.  First up was the Renegade, charging in and with two additional attacks it rolled well doing 7 points of damage and left the objective with 8 remaining

On the maths this should have been an easy kill for Max, the charging Renegade should do 3 or 4 points of damage (P+S 13 plus 3d6) and then two additional attacks doing a couple of points with a potential crit shred for even more bites at the cherry.  The 8 points remaining should be easily taken care of by 2 Sword Knights who with the 'Flank' bonus were at P+S 10 plus 4d6, doing an average 4 damage each.

Things didn't quite pan out however, the Sword Knights charged in and in the centre easily killed the Long Rider.  On the flank however 3 Knights made it to the objective and with a series of unfortunate dice rolls failed utterly to finish off the structure, despite having one more model than the averages deemed necessary.  With the game now turned on the dice all that remained was for the Talon and Renegade on the left to poke ineffectually at Horthol and for me to enact my fortuitous escape.

What remained was a relatively simple run on Magnus.  Madrak upkept Warpath, cast Rage on the Mauler and then advanced and threw his axe at the enemy to trigger the warpath and reposition the Mauler.  With a clear charge line the Mauler bounded in and after a couple of big meaty fists Magnus was down and the game was over.

The board at the end of the game

This was an interesting game and a very fortunate win. Poor decisions throughout, from going second, to the lack of focus on the scenario and poor positioning on the Mauler meant that I really should have lost.  Max's only mistake might have been wasting the Renegade rockets, boosted shots into the objective would have really hurt it, making it all the easier to kill in the end game.  I did not play well but am on the whole happy with the list.  As always, more practice required.

Road to Smogcon: 35pt Steamroller Musings

Smogcon is going to be the first UK gaming event to adopt the style of the big American conventions.  I bought my ticket within an hour of them going on sale and am seriously excited about it, so excited it inspired me to setup a blog documenting my progress towards the event.  One of the key features of Smogcon is that it is running a huge number of qualifying tournaments on the Friday night and Saturday day (even into the early hours of Sunday morning for those that are willing to go without sleep) and I have so far entered the Friday night 35pt Steamroller qualifier and the Saturday 50pt Steamroller qualifier.  

This leaves me with something of an issue; most of my warmahordes gaming is done at 50pts, I don't get to attend many tournaments so I tend to pick the big masteresque events which don't often stray away from this points value.  35pts is therefore going to be something of a challenge for me, I am aware that many casters are considered to 'scale' well or badly, changing the meta and the power levels at lower points values.  Two good examples of this are EVlad and ESkarre; both feats effect a set maximum number of models and so, with less models on the table, become exponentially more powerful. With this in mind I have begun examining the various troll casters looking for counters to these popular choices and to see if any of them have the same 'power scaleability'.

Calandra @ 35

My favourite troll caster (Calandra) likes herself plenty of infantry to maximise the effect of her feat and jam up the board while she grinds you down with a very effective 'Starcrossed' attrition game.  I worry that at lower points she is going to stuggle with damage output and without points for supporting 'buff' solos may lose some of her army synergies.  If I go with Calandra I am going to be stealing liberally and with no shame from Sevwall's patented 'Burrownomicon' List with just a minor tweak or two....

Calandra
Dire Troll Bomber
Troll Impaler

10 Pygmie Burrowers
10 Trollkin Fennblades with Officer and Drummer
Fellcaller Hero
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Victor Pendrake
4 Farrow Bone Grinders


With the current shift toward Hordes as the 'perceived' power system this list is designed for one purpose only - to tackle and take down opposing Horde armies.  Pendrake all but guarantees hits on what are often high DEF beasts and the Bone grinders allow Calandra to maintain some distance and still be able to throw out a Befuddle or two.  On the whole, Hordes beasts are lower armour so I hope that my damage output won't be an issue.

In the past my counterpart list to Calandra would have been the tried and tested EMadrak 'Blood Fury' spam that uses virtually the same troops.  While this has no problem cracking armour, every time I have run Maddy recently he has really really struggled getting past high DEF troops. With this in mind I am turning away from him, especially if the second list must be 'anti-warmachine' in its flavour.

PGrissel

I must be clear before I begin, I have never used PGrissel before, but, as Christmas is approaching there is a small chance my loving family may be persuaded to spend the extortionate amount of cash required to purchase a full Kriel Warrior unit with UA and 3 Caber Throwers.  A little bit of internet research led me to a 'Hammer and Anvil' tactic posted up on the PP Trollbloods forum. Essentially, the full 15 man Kriel Warrior unit jams up the centre of the board whilst the cavalry 'hoofs it' 21" down one flank and looks to pile back into the middle turn 2.  


PGrissel
Slag Troll
Troll Impaler


10 Kriel Warriors, Officer and Drummer, 2 x Caber throwers
6 Krielstone Bearer and Scribes
Fellcaller Hero
Horthol, Long rider hero
3 Long Riders


I am finding that I run out of points really really quickly in this list.  The Slag troll provides a damage buff and some nice anti jack capability, the Impaler does its usual snipe/critslam job.  I feel like it can deal well with high def (fervour/war cry/calamity/cma) giving a potential +8 MAT on the warriors, line breaker and similar buffs on the cavalry will also mean they can run over iron fleshed troops pretty easily.  I worry about cracking armour however - I am aware of the buff stacking possibilities on the Caber Throwers but I only have 2 of them.  I wonder if this would be a better list with a Mauler instead of the two lights, then allowing me to add the Stone Scribe Elder and the final Caber thrower.  It will also give me a nice recipient for 'Hallowed Avenger'.


These will be the first two test lists for 35 point steamroller.  Even as I type I think I prefer the mauler to the two lights with Grissel.  If anyone has any really effective 35 point lists for me to try please post them up.  I feel lost at this point level and really need some assistance.

 

Road to Smogcon: Practice 2, Calandra Vs PIrusk

In a rare twist of fate I found myself with time for two games in one week, so, on a wet and windy Sunday morning I braved the journey up the M6 to sunny Warrington; heart of northern culture, home of beautiful women in lovely shellsuits and resting place of the lesser spotted Maxus Horsemanus.


Today I wanted to run out Calandra, she is currently the troll caster I feel most comfortable with but despite her forgiving nature where dice are concerned I often find myself struggling in the late game once she has popped her feat.  I need to stop relying on the very potent alpha strike that burrowers and bombers provide her with and invest more time in using her as a true support caster throughout the game.


One swap I am considering in her list is adding in the Farrow Bone Grinders - the extra 2" range for Befuddle and Force Blow is very tempting, not quite sure what to drop though...


The Lists and Deployment


Calandra
Mulg the Ancient
Dire Troll Bomber
Troll Impaler


10 Fennblades plus Officer and Drummer
10 Burrowers
Fell Caller Hero
5 Gatorman Posse 


Max was using his new PIrusk infantry spam variant that now included the full WG blob that had been moved from his PVlad list.  I hate playing this list because I hate any list that has better tough than I do.


PIrusk
Wyshnyllr
Beast 09
Marauder


Full Winterguard Plus Officer and Standard plus 2 rocketeers plus Joe (twat)
10 Kayzay Assassins with Underboss
6 Doomreavers
Koldun Lord
Greylord Ternion
Saxon Orrick

We were continuing with our SR2012 practice and decided to indulge in a little bit of 'Diversion'.  In this scenario you need to control the flag to the north of your deployment zone while contesting an 8" Diameter zone on the far side of the table.  For the second game running Max won the dice roll, chose the far table edge and forced me to set up and go first.  


Looking at the table Max had definitely chosen well, both of us would have been very happy to get that wood to park our respective casters behind.  The wood also meant that their was a pretty narrow channel for my pathfinder lacking beasts to operate in.  Mine was a fairly predictable deployment; the Fenns went down facing the wood as they had both their mini feat and the Fellcaller to help them out here, Calandra and all of the beasts went centrally and the Gatormen were positioned ready to make a run on my Flag. 


In response Max deployed the full WGDS behind the wood, clearly looking to take advantage of Saxon Orrick's pathfinder granting ability.  Beast, the Marauder, Irusk, and Wishnailer all went fairly centrally with the Kayzay deploying to challenge my scoring flag.


The advance deployment is something I should have given more thought to in retrospect, as it was, my burrowers deployed centrally and Max reinforced his run on my flag with the Doomreavers.

The board after deployment

Turn 1


Yet again I fell victim to my inability to form coherent plans before starting moving.  I must stop relying on an ability to think on the fly...


In what was a fairly standard turn one the Fenns ran and spread out across the bottom left of the board.  Mulg and the Bomber both ran down the middle and the Gatormen ran towards the flag. The burrowers moved directly forward heading for a run on Max's heavies.  I wanted to get Calandra as high up the table as possible so she charged Mulg in the rear (and inflicted a comedy point of damage!), cast Bullet Dodger on herself and put up Starcrossed. Finally, the Fellcaller advanced in behind and the Impaler ran in to the right of the two heavies.


In response Max concocted quite a neat defence; Irusk hung on to all his focus and he started by running the Beast up to the corner of the wood (being careful to leave him a clear charge lane down its side).  Next the Koldun lord advanced and passed the Marauder a focus which it immediately used to run in next to Beast. The Doomreavers took an easy jog out toward the flag (and my advancing Gators) and Saxon Orrick shuffled then pathfinder'd up the WGDS.

What I hadn't anticipated was the next move; the Greylord Ternion tarted about a little and then popped down blizzards on three Kayzay.  The Kayzay then activated and ran to form a line of LOS blocking clouds in front of the two heavies, the best bit being the little buggers are stealthy so I had no easy way to clear a path for my burrowers.  To end the turn the WGDS ran in amongst the wood, Joe called tough onto them and advanced and then Irusk finished off by getting Beast all Superiority'd and Iron Fleshed the Winter Guard.


Now I had two problems, I wasn't committed to the scenario, my burrowers were in the wrong place and I needed to kill some very stealthy Kayzay.

The board at the end of turn 1

Turn 2


A bright idea had occurred toward the end of Max's movement.  Whilst I couldn't target his kayzay I could certainly target my own Fennblade.  With this in mind I began by bringing up the burrowers in a clump just in front of my two heavies being very careful to stay 3 inches away from the Doomreaver closest to me.  Calandra upkept Bullet Dodger and I started my movement with the Fenns who were simply going to be running and 'Jamming' this turn and therefore could go before she popped her feat.  A single Fenn ran and engaged the two Kayzay blocking my path (I later realised my small mistake here) and the rest ran to engage as many WG as possible.  Mulg moved next and simply shuffled to his left to clear a path for Calandra to advance and remain behind his imposing bulk.  With everything set it was time for the feat, Calandra advanced to ensure that both of Max's heavies were in her control area, cast Star Crossed to try and mitigate the inevitable retaliation and left herself with 3 fury for 'fate blessed' re rolls.


Now I realised my small mistake, as the bomber stepped up to blow my Fennblade and the two offending Kayzay off the table I twigged that having engaged the Kayzay the Fenn was at +4 DEF, I would have been much better running him in backward!  Still, under the feat and in the rear the Bomber only needed 9's to hit with a boosted attack and re-rolls galore.  As expected he hit and the two Kayzay evaporated (along with the annoying blizzards) also as expected the stupid Fenn passed his tough test and stayed stubbornly in the way.  Not wanting to waste a shot on him the next bomb put a tasty 8 damage on the now exposed Beast 09.   I now had to waste the Impaler on trying to clear my Fenn out of the way, knocked down he was hit easily and fortunately this time failed his tough test.


Now I just needed that annoying abomination test cleared; the Gatormen declared charges on the Doomreavers that were in range and prayed for rerolls to hit against living models (as most of them were out of range of the feat).  They did their usual excellent job and 3 Doomreavers were released from their earthly bonds.  With this last annoyance cleared it was time for the charge of the burrowers; the fellcaller went first and buffed them with +2 to hit and off they scuttled, 4 of them making it into Beast, the rest picking of available WG and Kayzay.


(An aside; I always overestimate the damage that burrowers will do to Khador jacks.  There is a real drop in damage around armour 19/20, even with the re-rolls that Calandra grants them.  Unfortunately it seems I always fall into the trap of sending them off to hunt down the 'high value' targets I know they will not kill and hoping for better than average rolls....A bad habit and one I must break)
 
Now it was Max's turn to be clever; as I had 4 burrowers packed in around Beast they were all stood at the very limit of 1/2" melee.  After the first one had damaged, Max used Hyper Aggressive to shuffle Beast in combat, taking him out of melee with the last burrower.  Yes, he took a free strike doing it but only off a P+S 8 sword, in future I must remember to consider which attack to do first, rather than just starting at the end of a line.  With only 3 burrowers attacking and some shocking rolls (despite the feat re-rolls!) Beast was left in an alarmingly healthy condition.

The remaining burrowers did a pretty respectable job of clearing out a couple of Kayzay and some Winterguard but on the whole it was a pretty disappointing feat turn, especially when Max was yet to use his.


Max had a quick ponder and then began his turn with the slightly ominous 'lets just see how much I can kill'. Irusk allocated 3 to Beast, upkept Iron Flesh and kept 3 for himself (Wishnailer continued in his role of '2 points to upkeep superiority for free all game'). Amusingly, Max's initial move was to charge his Doomreavers off the hill and into the Gatormen, and obligingly missed all his attacks.  If only the rest of the turn had been like this.   Keen to take advantage of the +2 to hit part of his feat Irusk activated next, popped his feat and threw a cheeky boosted airbust in the direction of my Fellcaller doing 4 points of damage.


I must apologise at this point for not being able to remember the specifics of just how Max's Winterguard managed to spray/shoot the Fenns and Burrowers to death.  Suffice to say Max is well practiced in the dark arts of spray shenanigans. Obeying the time honoured tradition that is a WG blog turn some fat bearded red bastard gave out boosted to hit rolls and then the unit proceeded to wipe out all the engaging Fennblades and many of the burrowers while shuffling (read: bloody bob and weave) in the wood.  The Greylord Ternion stepped up for their own spray spectacular and using their own heavy jacks as target markers added to the carnage by removing the burrowers that were in the way of Beast and the Marauder.  The Kayzay went next, popped their minifeat and began running, jumping and generally arsing about all over my line, killing any spare infantry while they were at it.  Once these were done the board was looking distinctly less blue and I was really struggling for troops.


Max's final meaningful combat was to come in the shape of Beast 09 charging down the runway cleared for him by the sprays 'o' doom.  As he engaged Mulg, Max explained to me the puzzle he faced.  Having used one focus for the charge he now had a choice - there was no way that he was going to miss unless he rolled double 1 so he could take 3 whacks at Mulg and expect 7D6 of total damage (boosted charge and 2 more unboosted whacks for an average of 24.5 damage). Or alternatively he could spend one focus to use his murderous imprint and get two whacks with boosted to hit rolls and only 5D6 of damage (boosted charge and one unboosted damage whack for an average of 17.5 damage).  Now this might seem obvious but Max had a sneaky plan.  If he put around 18 points of damage on Mulg he had a reasonable change of wrecking his 'Spirit' leaving him unable to be forced until he was healed.  Boosted attack rolls gave him a very good chance of a CritFreeze and without the ability to be forced Mulg would be unable to shake the stationary in the maintenance phase, crippling him next turn.


Edit: I have now been informed by a Khador player clearly much smarter than Max that 'Murderous' only works on warrior models...Clearly he was trying to outrageously cheat me at this point and therefore I am claiming victory by default.  Even though he did not actually use murderous.....  

In the end Max went for damage over tricksy, their was no guarantee he would damage the branches required to take away Mulgs spirit and in the end he put about 23 points on him. (Amusingly, killing his spirit but not freezing him).  A powerboost from the Koldun sent the Marauder on its way to put some heavy weight contesting my scoring flag and he was done. 

The board at the end of turn two

Turn 3

I was really starting to struggle now in the scenario.  I could see Beast going down easily but I was rapidly running out of troops.  Feeling like Calandra was a bit exposed she activated first, upkept Bullet Dodger, retreated away from the advancing WG and put Starcrossed up again.  She also made sure that she healed the point in Mulg's spirit, allowing him to be forced this turn.

Starting with the simple stuff the Gatormen repositioned in combat to ensure they were getting both their reach and bite attacks and prayed for re-rolls against living models.  Some fairly terrible dice rolls later and they had cleared out the Doooooooomedreavers, but only just.  In the centre Mulg stepped in for a better slam angle and to bring his fist into play and started whaling on Beast,  3 hits later and we had to reach for the wreak marker but their was no CritSlam into the Kayzay behind.  


Now for some more Dave genius.  Despite running a Fennblade earlier in the game and getting him engaged for a lovely DEF buff I decided that I would repeat the trick but this time with burrowers.  Forfieting actions and standing both burrowers up and then moving them into combat meant I had just moved their DEF from 5 to 17, all to try and catch more models in the Bomber's blast radius.  Luckily for me the bomber was able to wander forward, boost both his shots and catch my little dygmie marker lights with both kegs.  Max then gleefully proceeded to pass all the tough rolls with the Kayzay and only 2 of the Winterguard fell over for the loss of one burrower, not my best trade ever.


I was starting to run out of ideas at this point.  The fellcaller peeked in between the wreck and the Bomber to spray a couple of Kayzay dead (with some judicious reroll help from Calandra) and then gave the Fenns +2 to hit.  The Fennblades popped their minifeat and charged into the available Winterguard, failing miserably to hit the DEF 17 red ninja's that were crawling all over the wood.  Finally, the Impaler stepped up and in a pointless act of defiance managed to slam the Marauder back, down and away from  the flag; helping me not at all as I neither controlled the flag nor was I contesting the Zone.


Max continued with his 'wipe me out and win the scenario' plan with great efficiency.  With Beast down Wishnailer was free to upkeep the Iron Flesh on the WG.  Irusk paid a point to stand the Marauder up and began the turn by Battle Lusting the Kayzay, airbursting my Fellcaller (again for little damage) and remaining safe behind the wood.  The battle lusted Kayzay immediately made a beeline for the bomber but fortunately for me the Underboss was 1/2" out of charge range.  3 of them gave the bomber some gang lovin however and at the end of it he had a good 2/3rds of his spiral coloured in and had lost his spirit.  Near the flag, the one lone Kayzay charged and killed a Gator and the newly stood up Marauder advanced to keep the pressure on.


It was no real challenge for the Winterguard to continue the massacre in the wood and by the end of their boosted spray skullduggery I had been reduced to a single drummer and one dygmie who refused to fail a tough roll.  The scenario was beginning to look out of reach for me.

Turn 4

The turn started for me with a frenzy check on my impaler, who promptly failed but then managed to hit and kill the Kayzay Underboss stood next to him.  This lovely little bonus was to be the highlight of the turn however.  Calandra dropped Bullet Dodger and I started trying to puzzle my way through how not to lose...

Again the Gatormen performed admirably near the flag, finishing off the Kayzay near them but struggling to put any significant damage on the Marauder.  The fellcaller stepped back and sprayed into the 3 Kayzay engaging the Bomber but only managed to kill two, despite a number of 'fate blessed' rerolls.  Now I really had a problem, I couldn't survive a battle lusted free strike on the Bomber and he was my only chance of killing significant Winterguard.  Reluctantly, Calandra activated and stepped forward to within 5", she boosted a befuddle into him and fortunately (after her final reroll) hit and wandered him away.


Now the Bomber could dish out some pain; he stepped up and lobbed two kegs into the WG and Greyords that were lined up on the edge of the wood, killing most of them.  It was all starting to feel however like too little too late.  Mulg charged into the forest and killed some more Winterguard but as my turn drew to a close both me and Max realised that he had a number of easy ways to win this in his remaining turn, Mulg was an easy kill with only a few damage boxes remaing, as was the Bomber.  The Kayzay I had befuddled could run in to contest the zone and Saxon Orrick, having spent the whole game loitering quietly at the back could run in to claim a scenario point I would be unable to respond to.  Game over, Max had his revenge.

The board at the end of the game

This was a game where I really hadn't thought enough about the scenario and how best to deploy my tools.  Instead, I had charged head first down the middle instead of securing my scoring flag and getting runners in to contest the zone.  A poor performance overall and well played by Max who had a clear plan to blunt my Alpha Strike and grind me down.

Road to Smogcon: Practice 1 Grim Vs PVlad

After a week of hectic blogging trying to get my initial thoughts down on paper it was time for my first real practice game.  Helen was in London on a work Christmas do and so I was free to meet Max at the Northwest Gaming Centre for a bit of Friday night geekery.

I wanted to run out my Grim list that had taken a small tweak in the week after being slapped around by Jamie P's Old Witch, if you haven't read the blog posts below the list is:

Grim Angus
Earthborn Dire Troll
Dire Troll Bomber
Troll Impaler

10 Nyss Hunters
10 Bog Trog Ambushers
3 Long Rider Cavalry
Horthol
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

Reinforcements: 5 Gatorman Posse, Feralgeist


As stated before, this is an attempt at a well rounded list that will encourage me to learn to play the game rather than relying on over powered tricks.  Max was running his recently updated PVlad gunline, now sporting his own unit of Nyss (having swapped the WG DEFstar into his PIrusk list);


PVlad

Behemoth
Drago

Gun Carriage
10 Nyss Hunters with Ranking Officer Valachev
Great Bears
Grey Lord Ternion
Koldrun Lord
Widowmaker Marksman


Reinforcements: 10 IFP plus Officer and Standard.


Max and I are regular opponents and I have played against what we have come to term 'a bit of S+P' many times.  His is a list that pummels you on the way in and then slaps you for having the temerity to get the tattered remains of units into his half of the board.  Under signs and portents his shots rarely miss and the damage output, especially on boosted rolls, can be insane


Deployment

(Apologies for the blurry pictures, shit cameraphone FTL) 


As you can see, the two zones are marked using the white gauze.   Max scores in the right hand zone, I score in the left.  Max won the initial dice roll and elected to deploy first and go first.  He set up the Gun Carriage, Behemoth and Drago as close to my scoring zone as possible, with Vlad, the Great Bears and the various Greylords loitering behind.  The Nyss were set up staring at his own scoring zone.  In response I decided to take advantage of the wood on my side (pathfinder being something Grim really doesn't struggle with).  The Nyss and Horthol deployed directly below my scoring zone, supported by the Earthborn.  They would be heading in to try and score while the Longriders, the Impaler, Grim and the Bomber would drive up the middle, deal with Max's fake replica Nyss and swing across, accompanied by the Gatormen reinforcements.  I was also anticipating a nice bit of rear action from the bog trogs on Max's IFP as they would likely be on the table before my ambushers (how wrong I was...)


Turn 1

Max began his turn by allocating 1 focus to the Behemoth's legs.  The GunCarriage then trampled out to the right, stuck its toe in the back of the zone a launched a couple of very speculative shots towards the Nyss, missing completely. The Widowmaker Marksman advanced through the wood into the back of the zone,  Behemoth ran forward and Vlad BoK'd up and shuffled in behind.  The Koldrun Lord advanced, Drago ran straight forward,  the Great Bears stepped in behind the Gun Carriage and Behemoth.  The Greylord Ternion then activated, advanced and placed blizzards on the two jacks and a Nyss. Finally, the Nyss ran forward, one carrying a blizzard to finish off Max's defensive snow wall and the rest toward his scoring zone.


Having played against this 'Signs and Portents' buffed gunline before I immediately started my turn by breaking a number of the cardinal rules for combating effective heavy shooting.  If you can't stop him shooting you, give him too many targets to deal with.  With this firmly forgotten I promptly ran my cavalry into cover behind the building, from where they could happily not really effect the game. To compound my stupidity I then ran the Earthborn to the front of the wood, just neatly into aiming bombard range.  The Nyss adopted the famous Perkins 'out, sideways and backward' shuffle to get themselves spread and hopefully out of range of the reinforcing IFP.  The Impaler activated, sniped up the bomber and advanced to the back of the wood.  Next up, Grim activated, cast Cross Country on the Bomber, sniped himself, advanced and boosted a shot into a Nyss, killing it.  Finally, the bomber advanced through the would, chucked two speculative bombs at the Nyss, killing one and the Gobbers snuck round the edge of the wood and pumped some smoke up to block LOS to Grim.


Stupidly I had given Max a very easy target with my over ambitious run for the Earthborn and had left his Nyss unthreatened by my Cav.

The board at the end of Turn 1

Turn 2


Max began turn 2 with a bit of a surprise, he decided that with few real targets for his reinforcements he would elect not to bring them on.  As he had been a part of my list building theorymachine I knew that he was aware of the Bog Trog ambushers who would be able to give him a bit of a bumming if the IFP appeared on the table first.  What this did mean though was that I would have a numerical advantage for a short while with both my Gators and the Trogs available to me this round...


I was fairly sure at the end of my last turn that the Earthborn was in bother and Max was soon to prove me right.  Vlad stuck 3 focus in Behemoths guns, shuffled in behind his oversized jack and cast Signs and Portents ready for a turn of bombard comedy.  First up was the Gun Carriage who sidestepped to ensure it was solidly in the zone and able to bring both bombards to bear on the Earthborn. The carriage lacks the ability to boost so at DEF 14 in the wood this was really my only hope for a missed shot this turn.  Two direct hits later and half the Earthborn's grid was coloured in, Signs and Portents is so brutal.  Thanks to my stunning positioning the Behemoth had the option to aim but Max was keen to get up the table and dominate the centre of the board, keeping me pinned down in the wood.   Behemoth stepped towards my scoring zone, boosted two shots into the Earthborn and boosted the damage on one.  Now I was really limping with only about 5 damage boxes left and the Nyss and the Widowmaker Marksman yet to activate.


The Nyss activated and advanced toward the wood containing the Earthborn and the Bomber. Thanks to my superb flanking maneuver with the Longriders they were free to do this completely unthreatened, with no fear of retaliation as my cav were busy playing tag with a stone wall.  2 Large CRA's later and the Earthborn was extremely dead.  The turn finished with the Greylords dropping blizzards back on the jacks, the Koldun Lord shuffled again and Drago  ran into base to base with the Behemoth (please note in the picture his base is twisted sideways to fit him in, he is actually looking forward).  The Great Bears continued to pitch tents by the Gun Carriage and the Widowmaker Marksman tried a swift leroy out to ping Cylena but was half an inch short and was left holding his cock in the middle of the zone.


Now lacking a beatstick heavy I had some real problems this turn, I decided to bring on both my reinforcements and my ambushers.  I needed to reduce Max's ranged threat and force him to play to the scenario rather than just blowing me off the table.  Interestingly, if I could take out the Gun Carriage and the Widowmaker marksman I could go a point up and with my Gatormen arriving this turn I could put a large multiwound presence in Max's scoring zone that he would struggle to shift.  The Nyss were also now dangerously close and I needed to find a solution them.   


The Bomber was my ideal solution to the Gun Carriage, I was also fairly sure that my ambushingBog Trogs were in range for a cheeky flank charge.  I began by upkeeping Cross Country; wantingto keep Grim for later, the Impaler then activated, advanced towards the Nyss, sniped up the bomber and took a cheeky unboosted shot that unsurprisingly missed the nearest Nyss.  Now the Bomber could go to work, an advance followed by two boosted shots did disappointing damage and the Gun Carriage still had 9 boxes remaining.  This left me with a debate, I was unsure how many Trogs were in range, 3 two man CMA's should just do it, 2 would not be enough.  The big question was over the Nyss; once the carriage was engaged I would be unable to CRA into it, however, using them may well have been overkill and I needed them to deal with Max's fake Nyss.  


In the end I decided to save the Nyss.  The Trogs charged in and unfortunately poor judgement on my part meant that only 4 were in range.  2 two man CMA's later and the carriage was left on 3 health, as a small bonus, they did manage to take out the Widowmaker marksman but the scenario point was now beyond my reach.  As we discovered later, my poor positioning of the Trogs unable to get into combat was going to cost me, I had also realized that advancing the Bomber had put him easily in Drago's charge range.  Time for Grim to come to the rescue;  a stroll forward put both Behemoth and Drago in feat range as well as most of the Nyss.  The feat was popped, Marked for Death was boosted into the Nyss and then Grim picked one off with headhunter and sat on two transfers.  The Nyss were now free to destroy the evil red impersonators and went to work, requiring no line of sight and only 4's to hit, it wasn't too difficult, soon only Valachev and one elf remained.  Horthol wandered forward slightly behind the Nyss, the Longriders emerged from the cover of the building and ran to the middle, the Gatormen appeared and ran into the zone and again the gobbers finished the turn by advancing and pumping some smoke to try and block line of sight to Grim.


Irritatingly I had again fallen victim to not having a clear plan and sticking to it.  I should have gone all out for the scenario point, used my feat to slow the Nyss down and relied on the smoke to hide Grim.  Max was now in a great position to use his IFP to wipe out the Bog Trogs and pack the zone, effectively making the remainder of the game a war of attrition that he was likely to win.

The board at the end of Turn 2

Turn 3


Max took a long, long look at the gap between the Bomber and the smoke cloud and pointed out to me a clear line of sight.  Whilst I knew it was there, I had not realised was that under Vlad's feat the jacks would be doubling their move before applying Grim's -3 spd debuff.  Behemoth could clearly walk to take advantage of the gap and drop double boosted 'S+P'd' bombards on Grim's head.  Fortunately for me, I had not fully racked up the fury on the Impaler and had two transfers available.  Deciding against going for it Max allocated two focus to Behemoth's guns, bought on the reinforcing IFP, activated Vlad, cast Signs and Portents, danced around like a big gay behind his jack wall and camped 1 focus without really moving.  


It was time for the Koldun Lord to open up with some sprays.  Having shuffled around in the rear for two turns he now stepped up, taking down three trogs with a well placed spray. Next the IFP went to town with rear charges galore on the Bog Trogs.  What I had realised is that the spare trogs, instead of running behind and around the battle engine, should have turned around and formed a well spaced line of reach models that the IFP would have had to engage and kill or risk being free struck.  As it was, they rampaged in, wiped out the remaining trogs and then minifeated into the zone to create a lovely shield walled blob.

Now that the Gun Carriage was free it began launching shots into the Nyss, killing 3 of them.  Max had decided that he really needed to thin out my troops but it was a tough choice between them or lifting off the Bomber as he had done with the Earthborn.  Behemoth stepped up and with his two shots dismounted Horthol and killed one of the cavalry that were threatening to get back in the game. Again, the Great Bears shuffled, waiting for the inevitable arrival of my reinforcements and Drago advanced to reform Vlad's jack wall.  Finally the Greylord Ternion popped down blizzards on the two jacks and Valachev.


In a similar fashion to Max it was now my turn to stare hard at the board, we had discussed during the previous turn that Vlad seemed vulnerable to a CritSlam from the Impaler, through Drago for a knockdown.  To me, Vlad now seemed even closer to the jacks but it would require some decent rolls to pull off.  


Trying to keep my options open Grim upkept Cross Country (my new fave spell) and I spent some time figuring out my activations.  In case the assassination run failed I was keen to have at least done some substantial damage to Max's firepower.  To this end, the Nyss activated first, advanced through the wood and put a 6 man CRA in to the battle engine that failed miserably to kill it off.  This was not starting well.  


In order to pull of the assassination I needed the Impaler to snipe itself, advance at a slight angle to ensure Drago wouldn't hit the Behemoth if i got the CritSlam, and roll well enough to hit.  In a moment of good fortune it managed all of this (8's to hit, boosting, rolled a double 4 and a 5) and then proceeded to roll the 3+ required to slam drago back 2 inches into Vlad.  Things had now got a little easier.  Next up was Grim, he sniped the bomber and promptly fell back to relative safety in the rear of the wood in case things went dramatically wrong.  Now the Bomber just needed to apply the finishing touches, advancing out he dropped his first bomb on Vlad's head but rolled poorly for damage, buying the second shot he again hit easily and required 12 on 3 dice to finish him.  With a lovely (albeit above average) roll of 14 Vlad was down and it was game over

The board at the end of the game

Birds Eye View of Assasination Run

Post Game Thoughts

I have been feeling for a while that to really take advantage of Grim's feat he need to be able to get further up the board,  at the moment he seems very vulnerable.  To this end I will be dropping to min Bog Trogs and adding Janissa to the list (as for Smogcon I only need two lists and she is therefore available).  


I am also very aware that my placement and positioning need a huge amount of practice, offering up the Earthborn turn one was stupid, especially as I had decided to hide the cavalry.  I am also still placing models so they look pretty, facing their targets, I MUST remember to think about potential threats and where they want to be facing the turn after, they have a 180 Degree LOS and I am not using it to its fullest potential


Happy to get the win but in all honesty it was not a well played game from my side. Still months to go yet, next up, first practice with Calandra...

Road to Smogcon Part 2

In previous outings with Trolls my second caster had always been EMadrak.  He was the first Troll model I painted and I had been advised that he had a relatively short learning curve.  In some parts of the UK tournament scene he had been (un)affectionately nicknamed 'Skilldrack' in reference to the perceived lack of skill it took to spam Blood Fury onto Burrowers/Fenns/Champs and that at times his 'A Game' felt a little one dimensional.  I personally quite enjoyed playing with him but the release of SR2012 Beta pack left me looking for a caster with a more 'toolbox' feel and one that could take real advantage of the new 'reinforcement' complication 


[ A word relating to SR2012:  There were two aspects of the new SR pack that leapt out immediately.  One was that a number of the scenarios required your caster to be 'up table' in order to claim control points, the second was the introduction of reinforcements.  The 'up table' requirement is one I am still pondering but the reinforcement complication seemed to have some clear implications.  Credit goes to Max for pointing out that casters/'locks with feats that effect the enemy could be extremely powerful as your reinforcements could take advantage of your feat from a long way away]


Grim Angus 


I must confess that I had always wanted to use Grim, it was only my inexperience that was holding me back.  In learning EHaley, Jamie had constantly drilled into me the importance of focusing on the scenario when using a support caster with a debuff feat (admittedly, probably the best debuff feat in the game...) so I was keen to see if I now had any transferable skills.  EHaley excels in controlling the board, buffing her ranged support and launching a stormclad into a casters face.  It seemed to me that Grim could do similar things but in a more trollish fashion, it also happened that he didn't really want any character models that others were using...(barring Janissa who I would take in every list given the opportunity) 


2 or 3 List Environment


Grim Angus
Earthborn Dire Troll
Dire Troll Bomber
Troll Impaler


10 Bog Trog Ambushers
10 Nyss Hunters
Horthol, Long Rider Hero
3 Trollkin Long Riders
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew


(Reinforcements: 5 Gatormen and Feralgeist)


Ahhh, challenges, challenges, now I actually have to learn to play this game.  It has soon become apparent through some very early playtesting that Grim is nowhere near as forgiving as Calandra and requires a level of finesse to play well (no wonder I am struggling).  The idea is that this is supposed to be a well rounded 'combined arms' list that should function well in most environments.  The combination of Bog Trogs, reinforcements, speedy Cav, Nyss and Earthborn mean that this is an extremely mobile force.  It is not however resilient or simple, I am going to need a lot of practice with model placement and am currently really struggling with judging how far to let Grim get up the table to maximise his feat. This will be default list for practice games in the foreseeable future - any advice on a postcard to this blog please!


EDoomy and the wacky 3rd list...


I don't believe I am alone in struggling with 'third list' problems under the new character restrictions for masters tournaments.  It is my opinion that this has been a true masterstroke by PP as it is not necessarily that great a challenge to share out a faction's characters over just two lists.  


I wanted something a little different for my third list, something that might surprise a few people.  I know Edoomy is a popular 'lock, well regarded by many forumites but I simply haven't seen him regularly in UK tournaments, possibly because he does have a range of hard counters that he really struggles with.  This said, he does give me an interesting option when playing against Khador, an extremely popular faction with some fairly predictable builds (Jamie P's patented Old Witch Mercenary List, any Iron Flesh caster with Nyss/WGDS/Kayzay)


3 List format only.


EDoomshaper
Mulg the Ancient
Rok
Earthborn Dire Troll
Troll Axer


10 Bog Trog Ambushers
4 Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes
Troll Whelps
Janissa Stonetide
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew


(Reinforcements: 5 Gatorman Posse and Feralgeist)


It's weird how the wackiest list with all the hard counters is by far my favourite, I simply love the combination of MAT 7, Primal and Wild Aggression. Whilst the advent of Domination has heralded new ways to deal with the DEF stacking meta trends it will take a while before players abandon their high def infantry 'jammers'. Until this point I really need an answer to Iron Fleshed Kayzay that isn't a Dire Troll Bomber and a berserk Rok being goaded through the unit is an hilarious prospect.  I also like the idea of being able to pop down the Janissa/Transmute/Krielstone/Girded brick and wander across the table feeling pretty impervious.


Unfortunately this list is probably the least well rounded of the 3 and will end up being dropped in 2 list steamroller tournaments, freeing up Janissa and Mulg for use with Calandra.


With the theorymachining done for now all that remains is practice, practice, practice.  The early games that led to these lists can remain in the past, what I need to do now is learn to use these, minimise the silly mistakes and not be tempted to change casters for an 'easy' fix.  First game of the blog era will be tonight at the North West Gaming Centre against Max and whatever Khador filth he is testing today.

The Road to Smogcon

In what seemed to be a serendipitous chain of events I find myself putting pen to paper for the first time in years.  During my first 18 months of warmahordes gaming I have drawn great inspiration and many a tactical tip from tournament reports and blogs, posted on the wide range of gaming websites I frequent whilst avoiding teaching the youth of today.  It has also been an extremely long time since I have exercised my much unpracticed passion for writing. So, with a mighty fanfare of self indulgent trumpets I have decided to launch an assassination run on two birds using only one stone (whilst cutting myself for emo fury).  I will be documenting my progress throughout 2012, attending as many tournaments as allowed by my much suffering better half and exorcising my writing demons all within one little blog.

No journey can truly be considered a failure without some overly ambitious goals that I dramatically struggle to meet in what I imagine will be a disappointing and slightly lacklustre finalẻ.  To this end I am setting myself the following targets for the next 12 months:

To win a Warmachine/Hordes tournament (any)

To finish in the top 20 at the UK Masters Event

To play Trollbloods for the entire year.

To completely paint the 3 lists I settle on.

Before I go any further it is important for me to make clear my expectation is that none of the above will happen.  These goals are deliberately ambitious and an attempt more to focus my mind than based on any real expectation.  I think the more realistic expectation is that I will learn my faction much more thoroughly than I know it now, paint a few models and have lots of fun losing hard.

Choice of Faction

Having had some minor success with my Cygnar over the past twelve months it was a tough decision to drop them for my Trolls.  I had invested time in learning to maximise the strengths of EHaley (not the most challenging task I hear you cry...) and had practiced not getting ECaine killed turn 2. This had started to pay dividends, I found eventually I was losing less and winning more but, critically, I was bored.

It was about this time that I started discussing the character restrictions being implemented in SR2012 with Jamie Perkins and Max Horseman.  Jamie, being miles ahead of the curve as usual, was already designing lists for Templecon, had quietly invested in a huge Circle Orboros collection and was preaching the virtues of Hordes over Warmachine in a 3 list, character restricted meta.  The release of Domination had only strengthened his argument as Circle, Skorne, Minions and Legion (note the key omission) had all gained faction changing new pieces.

Without wanting to spend a huge amount of time debating the merits of Domination vs Wrath I figure that this is my blog and so I can indulge myself in a short rant.  For me, Wrath was uninspiring, it didn’t make me want to play my faction more than before its release.  I wasn’t crying out for overpowered stuff, a new uber unit or caster, I just wanted something different, something that offered genuine alternatives for lists that needed to run in a competitive tournament environment.  This was Domination’s greatest success in my mind, new models that were not necessarily overpowered but opened up new avenues for their factions; the Archidon and Tibereon for Skorne, Gallows Grove for Circle, the Nightlurker for Legion.  I must profess to some disappointment in the Troll releases; whilst I love the Storm Troll and Rok  I consider them niche releases in a faction that was crying out for something different (please lord, a RAT buff…).  I don’t believe the Troll selection had the variety or new flavour that other factions received but I still believe the book to be far superior to Wrath when viewed as a whole.

It was a combination of these factors that led me to unpack the trolls that had last been seen 12 months ago.  SR2012 has dramatically increased the power of Hordes factions as they are on the whole less reliant on character models than Warmachine.  My Cygnar lists felt crippled by the lack of Arlan, and The B13 and I am not above admitting that I was struggling without these crutch models.  Trolls in contrast felt fresh, I hadn’t used them in a while, they had a number of different builds available to them and they felt like could be competitive with some practice.

‘Lock and List Selection

Calandra

Calandra has always been my favourite troll ‘lock, she is incredibly forgiving with ‘Star crossed’ making up for many of my noobish mistakes.  I make no apologies for stealing the core of this list from ‘Sevwalls’ article ‘The Burrownomicon and would like to thank him for his work (read ‘evil genius’)

I always find I struggle horribly against Legion; it seems they are the ‘bandwagon’ faction of choice currently and Saeryn seems to be every Legion player’s 'go to' ‘lock.  A bad thing for melee-centric troll lists.  In a 3 list, masters environment I want one list to be specifically anti-hordes, with a side order of anti-legion.  Putting Saeyrn to one side, Legion are always mobile, have a lot of high def beasts and have an effective ranged and melee game.  In my experience they are vulnerable to a massive ‘alpha strike’ and it was this I had in mind with Calandra.  It seemed to me that If this list could deal with the cookie cutter Saeryn/Vayl/ELylyth lists out there then it would probably function quite well against Hordes in general.

3 List Masters Environment

Calandra

Dire Troll Bomber

Dire Troll Bomber

Troll Impaler

5 Gatorman Posse

10 Pyg Burrowers

10 Fennblades plus Officer and Drummer

 Victor Pendrake

(Reinforcements: 5 Gatorman Posse and a Feralgeist)

I will freely admit this is pretty one dimensional, if you look below you will see a much more well rounded force for use in 2 List tournaments.  The idea is simple.  You will virtually always pop Calandra’s feat turn 2 and use the burrowers and bombers to remove your opponents key heavies.  Between Pendrake, the Fellcaller and the feat your Burrowers shouldn’t miss.  If you are facing an ‘immune to melee’ Saeryn Feat Turn then you have two choices, use befuddle to turn the Angelius around and walk them backwards towards your burrowers who aim and shoot them up the arse (effective RAT 8 re-rolling 1’s and 2’s). Or bring your burrowers up in safety, save your feat, drop bombs where you can and use star crossed, the fenns and the gators to ‘Jam’ the board until the feat has expired.

2 List Steamroller Environment.

Calandra

Mulg the Ancient

Dire Troll Bomber

Troll Impaler

3 Gatorman Posse

10 Fennblades plus Officer and Drummer 
10 Burrowers

Fellcaller

Janissa

(Reinforcements: 5 Gatorman Posse and a Feralgeist)

I can't afford to be quite so limited in scope in standard steamroller; with only two lists to play with Janissa and Mulg become available  (as my EDoomy list is reluctantly retired) and make a much more multi-purpose Calandra list. The principles are largely the same but this list has a little bit of everything and a much more well rounded late game with Mulg mopping up after the Burrowers have done their evil work.  Janissa gives Calandra some much needed protection and between a wall, Bulletdodger and Girded she becomes incredibly hard to touch from range. This is probably my favourite list but sacrifices have to be made to make it work when 3 Lists are required.