So far since writing that I've had one very long walk to get a new Warlock and three games.
The Road
I had ordered the Hunters Grim a couple of weeks ago, and not long later a red slip appeared on my doormat one afternoon when I returned home from work. Helpfully the time on the card indicated that as useual, the Postman had been waiting around the corner out of sight until I had left for work earlier in the day, waited a whole three minutes, then gingerly ran to my house card in hand. This is the only logical conclusion I can draw as it seems to happen every time. That was the Friday. By Tuesday I was finally off work, but not having a car at the moment meant that I would need to walk to the depot if I ever wanted my parcel. Phones, it seems do not work in the Royal Mail and I cannot figure their backwards website out.
And so, I began the forty five minute walk (each way) to pick up my new favourite Warlock and it was worth every second!
Hunting Season
I've been lucky enough to get three games this week with Hunters Grim. In no particular order, I played against Ben's Lord Assassin Morghoul led Skorne, Luke's Gorten Grunback led Mercenaries and Sam's Thagrosh the Messiah led Legion of Everblight.
Now, I must admit that I completely messed up against the Skorne. Taking nothing away from Ben who earned his win regardless, I not only left Angus vulnerable but I didn't exploit openings he left to the fullest and I fixated on his distraction. And so, Ben got his first Caster Kill with his new warlock.
Against Luke I knew I was facing a much more experienced player than I. He started playing Warmachine and Hordes at the same time as Ben and me, but hadn't been playing other systems since and so was more focused (pun intended) than either of us. It was a great game and Luke was very patient considering unlike myself, he doesn't need ten minutes just for the control phase. I enjoyed facing the Mercs as it was a very different one to the Seaforge list I faced last time I played against Mercs so it was a nice change. I conceded this game because of time, though as I explained to Luke, my options couldn't lead to a win, though his own would, and so I am glad I didn't take up Luke's paint bet upon arrival. I've fallen foul of that before!
In my game with Sam, I had obviously learned from the previous two games and I managed to pull together a few combinations to ensure a caster kill on Thagrosh with these little buggers
Now, it was actually the min unit rather than the max, but it was still fairly impressive. Here is how the plan came together. At the beginning of my turn I was left with just a Mauler in my battlegroup who was facing off against a Scythean that it didn't manage to kill. With a Raek nearby the Scythean and Grim being in charge range of the Scythean, I knew that if I didn't manage to kill Thagrosh in my turn, Sam would kill Grim in his.
Coup de grace
Mirage and Vengeance moved my Fennblades in to Thagrosh's rear arc as well as enabling them to kill a Shredder which would hinder the Digmies shooting. Because Sam had depleted my Fennblades over the previous two turns, I only had three that would definitely make it into Melee with Thagrosh and two that may or may not (I had used No Quarter earlier so wouldn't gain +2 movement not to mention the all important Fearless required to face an Abomination with ease). As such, I knew that I would need to view them as the back up plan. I therefore activated The Hunters Grim. Muggs and Krump advanced towards Thagrosh, albeit from different areas of the board and Grim as the only with a hindered line of sight to the Messiah advanced to a better position, though one that would mean a rear advance from the Scythean if the plan didn't work (albeit that it would only be a rear advance if Krump died). It was unclear at this stage whether all the components were in the right postion as I purposefully for once didn't check my control range. If even one member of the warlock unit was out, the plan would crumble anyway. My first action was for Krump perform his Trapper action. If Thagrosh survived, it would deter Sam's Blackfrost Shard from aiding in the retribution towards Angus, not that the Scythean particularly needed it. But it's main function was to let me know if I would gain Mark Target on Thagrosh. The 5" template overlapped Thagrosh's base and so I knew that part one of the plan had worked. Next up, Grim popped his feat. I now knew he wouldn't need snipe on Headhunter as I had just declared I was casting Mortality on Thagrosh and found myself to be in range of that. I boosted the roll to be certain and managed to hit. This proved invaluable as I then fired Headhunter causing the first amount of damage to Thagrosh. Sam didn't have any fury on him and so couldn't transfer. Next, making the most of gaining Snipe from the Feat, Muggs fired the Snare gun. Even at defensive 11 with an effective RAT of 8 thanks to Mark Target, I was nervous of the roll but managed to hit Thagrosh thereby knocking him down. From here, I knew that the outlook was bleak for Thagrosh as the newly emerged Pyg Burrowers were next to activate and advanced so that four of them were within eight inches of Thagrosh. Needing anything but ones, none of the pygs failed to hit their target and it took just three to finish off the Messiah.
I would say that Sam didn't really make any mistakes, he just couldn't cover all the possibilities as I had ensured that threats were evenly spread and so he dealt with what he could where he could.
I was pleased with the way I used the list as I felt I was beginning to get my head back in to the Privateer Press way of thinking again, so hopefully I shall be able to continue this in future games.
Thanks to all three for great games, and I hope to face you all, and others besides, again soon.
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