Slow Grow Round 4

For Round 4, I took the option to change warlock. I drafted in Maelok to lead the way for the remainder of the league. Not having used him before the game was certainly going to be fun. Also we had the option of swapping out up to ten points, which I also took advantage of by changing the Spitter and Feralgeist for my second Wrastler. So the list now looks like this:
Maelok the Dreadbound
* Bull Snapper
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Blackhide Wrastler
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Croak Hunter

My round 4 opponent was Lewis, the chap who is doing a great job running this league, and his new Skorne army. I haven’t seen him play any of his other games so I’m not sure if changed much, but he certainly changed warlock to eHexeris. I’ve come up against the warlock before and know that his spell book and abilities are quite something. Lewis fielded:

Lord Arbiter Hexeris
* Cyclops Shaman
* Molik Karn
* Titan Gladiator
* Aptimus Marketh
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt)
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer

The round 4 scenario was Diversion from the SR2012 pack, where you capture the flag to your right and contest the zone in your opponents half of the table. After the first to roll-offs were draws, Lewis won the third and opted to go first. Lewis set up everything in front of his Nihilators while I set everything up behind my GMP’s.

Lewis ran everything forward leading off with his Nihilators under Ashen Veil towards the flag I wanted.

I ran everything forward myself with one GMP under Death Pact heading for flag duty and the other looking to see what was heading towards the other flag.

It was the Gobbers who moved closest to the flag and the popped a cloud next to the forest creating a large area I couldn’t see into. This was ideal in covering Molik’s approach. The Ashen Veiled Nihilators moved to the other flag with the TyCo and Standard right behind them. The Shaman then drew first blood by casting Hexy’s Hellfire cutting a Gatormen in half.

I responded by charging my undead GMP into the Nihilators. Sadly I didn’t have enough charge range and only managed to fell three of the beserkers. This was further compounded by the Croak Hunter wildly missing the TyCo with a spear.

Lewis’s Nihilators skirted towards the edge of the table in an effort to fence me in while the Gladiator and Molik got in a charge on my undead GMP, only two of which fell (you got to love Death Pact and Spiny Growth spam). Molik then did the obvious thing and Fate Walked out of trouble.

My response was to feat and Revive one Gatorman. My undead GMP charged through the Nihilators taking out the TyCo and putting a bit of damage on the Gladiator and Hexy himself. Then for some reason I thought I could get a charge THROUGH the forest to go for Molik, but it turns out that I couldn’t and ended up putting the other GMP into said forest just because there was nothing else to do.

Lewis Nihilators took down two of my undead gators and hurt one of my Wrastlers (Ray) a little. Hexy eventually disengaged himself from the super hard Gatorman in front of him, while Molik walked into the forest, killed two Gators, and walked back out again.

My brain-fart in the previous turn kinda left me on the ropes. The last remaining undead Gatorman failed to kill any of the Nihilators in his immediate vicinity. Maelok killed two with his Venom spray while Ray charged into the Gladiator. Not having any mind really reduced the damage output. Then I just tried to move stuff out of harm’s (Molik’s) way.

Lewis feated this turn but only reaved the fury from Ray, as that was the only one of my beasts in his control area. The Nihilators moved into action and seriously hurt Ray a bit more but could get the last Gatorman near them. The Gobbers moved closer to the action and popped yet another cloud. The Shaman pulled off the shot of the game by killing a Gatorman standing in a forest in one go.

I responded by getting Kaine (the other Wrastler) to first trample two Nihilators (which worked well) and then hit the Gladiator (which didn’t work so well). Maelok then moved for moving’s sake.

Lewis put the game to bed by getting Molik to destroy the Kaine and then a Gatorman for a laugh. This freed up a Nihilator to soften up Maelok for the killing blows to be delivered by the Gladiator.

Everything seemed right in my head and a GMP with Death Pact and a few Spiny Growths are a tough nut to crack, but then they had a bit of trouble dishing out damage with my dice. My downfall was to screw myself into a little corner while not being able to get out. On one side I was fenced in by some crazy tough Nihilators and on the other I had Molik waltzing around like he owns the place (which you would understand, just look at him). My brain-fart halfway through the game didn’t help and Lewis pounced on my mistake. I think I should have made the Gladiator a higher priority target and also to try and take advantage of the Croak’s Gang ability.

This was a game where Lewis was in full control and he deserved the win, he really made me panic a lot during the game.