Slow Grow Round 5

Well, here we are; the final round of the Slow Grow League. A journey for a group of men, both new to the game and experienced, into the uncertainty that is a new faction. It been great listening and reading the accounts of fellow Leaguers about their own foray into something new. My own journey has been good and I have had fun with my new cold-blooded friends. I have managed to use all three (and a half) Gator Warlocks but could do with a bit more time with each of them. But as I have already made plans up until after ETC, I may not give them another go until the end of the year.

Anywho, time to get down to business and start talking battle report.

For Round 5, I took the plunge and opted to take two more Croak Hunters instead of the Bone Swarm. My final list looks like:

Maelok, the Dreadbound
* Bull Snapper
* Blackhide Wrastler - Kaine
* Blackhide Wrastler - Ray
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Croak Hunter - Jimmy
Croak Hunter - Dennis
Croak Hunter - Jay
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

My opponent for tonight was Major Tom who is one of the total noobs in our league. He fielded:

Commander Coleman Stryker
* Lancer
* Ol' Rowdy
* Squire
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard
* * Stormclad
Sword Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

After the terrain was set up by Martin, we rolled off. After rolling the same, we tried again and Tom rolled higher (I swear this has happened before every league game so far). Tom opted to give me the first turn and we set up. WE both deployed in fairly wide lines.

I started off in the usual way; run everything after casting Death Pact on one of the GMP.

Tom mostly did the same with all his melee orientated models while parking his shooty stuff in relative safety (the Gun Mages standing behind a wall while the Black 13^th and Eiryss played around in a forest).

Next turn saw me edge W+S further up the table and Submerging in front of the Black 13^th and Eiryss giving them some food for thought. My left hand GMP smelt blood and charged the Sword Knights and killed two out of three that were in range. First blood to me.

Tom reacted by getting the Sword Knights to retaliate but only caused a few points of damage. The Black 13^th then came out of the forest slightly and put a couple of points of the foremost Gator from my right hand GMP. Tom chose to feat here.

I only noticed my big mistake from the previous turn as Tom started to activate his troops. I forgot to use my two Wrastlers which meant I hadn’t generated enough Fury. It would be tough trying to put some hurt on Tom’s Cygnar. Despite two more Gatormen joining the fray, the left-hand GMP only managed to take down three more Knights. Only one Gator from the other GMP managed to get a charge in but he only killed one of his two Stormblade targets. Wrongeye did a little better by casting and boosting Influence twice on the Stormblades making them kill two off their own. Snapjaw sprang into action and charged down one of the 13^th while leaving another with one wound remaining, not cool. My Croaks al moved up behind the left-hand GMP.

Tom moved his Lancer in behind the Knights and killed one of my Gatormen, while the Knights themselves had a tough time scratching their opponents despite having the Flank bonus. A few of the Gun Mages got together to CRA Wrongeye. This was a shrewd move as a) he had no more Fury to transfer damage and b) Snapjaw was now full up. So they both left the table while Tom gave a sigh of relief. The remaining Stormblades moved in on the further most Gator on my right and skinned him alive between them. The Stormclad came and put some hurt on Kaine while Ol’ Rowdy, not having much of an option, charged down and killed another Gatorman.

 

Turn four started with me chucking out a couple of Spiny Growths and then feated. The left-hand GMP, after singing the Cold Blood prayer (they would need it if they wanted to damage the opposing Warcaster), went through the Stormblades with one having enough room to get to Stryker, another engaging the Gun Mages while the last couldn’t quite get past the Stormblades. Stryker only took a few points of damage due to him camping on three Focus, one Gun mages was bitten to death and a single Stormblade died. Not so bad. Kaine walked through the Stormclad positioning himself behind it and layed the smack down. Due to terrain, Ray couldn’t quite fit in behind Ol’ Rowdy so started swinging. Ray had a lot of trouble actually damaging Ol’ Rowdy, who finished the round in a fairly healthy state, which was hugely disappointing. The other GMP made their charge move after singing Cold Blood. Two charged Stryker and two fell in behind Lancer. Stryker suffered some more damage and still stood tall while Lancer took on some hefty damage crippling both arms. The Croaks charged the Knights and killed two and putting Corrosion on another (I would forget about this in Tom’s maintenance phase). So a decent turn for me with Stryker in Check.

Tom had big trouble hurting my Undead Gatormen during my Feat turn. Ol’ Rowdy had a tough time of it too when he shimmied around and got into Maelok’s face. Both initial attacks missed. The first additional hit but did minimal damage. The second hit but I transferred the six points to the Snapper. And the third missed. Maelok was safe sitting on no Fury and only seven boxes left and thankfully no more blues near him. Tom only had to activate Stryker now and decided to move away from the three Gatormen standing on his toes. Not good as he took the Free Strikes and died. 

A tricky game with both sides proving to take a lot of effort to damage, but in the end Maelok made his Gators just a bit too hard for Tom. I was actually getting slightly worried on Tom’s Feat turn, because if I didn’t kill enough, then I was bound to be shot to pieces by the Gun Mages and Black 13^th. As it was, I managed to engage the Cygnarans very early making Tom unsure about shooting into melee. I think W+S worked well supressing a very shooty flank as they stayed submerged until they got right under their noses. The sad thing for me was to leave Wrongeye open to a couple of ranged shots after getting carried away with casting Influence (this nearly didn’t work as the spacing of the Stormblades meant that I had very little options in choosing my targets meaning that I couldn’t take out the UA). It was sad to lose W+S without them causing a bit more mayhem. The Croaks didn’t see much action as this time I kept them behind my front line, but they teamed together well and could have mopped up a little had there been another turn. The Witch Doctor did his job well (although I did forget a couple of Tough rolls) and quietly. The Snapper was available for Spiny Growth and a little bit of transference. I remembered to use the GMP prayers every turn, and it helped with softening Stryker up. Maelok definitely needs to sit closer to the action. Although I didn’t use it, I made sure I had the option to cast Revive behind Tom’s lines.

Special mention has to go to Eiryss. Once she got into the action she started firing her Crossbow. She did this twice and missed both times. This alone would have given Maelok a bit more of a headache as Eiryss was no longer occupied by W+S. Missing two shots at RAT 9 is surely unheard of. Additionally, the Sword Knights did thier job so well as a tarpit but then couldn't do anything about my Feat.
Otherwise a good game all round. I think Tom had a good time and learned a few more tricks and synergies. I’m glad that he has got a bit of appetite for the game when we discussed other casters after the game.

The Streak Counter moves in a positive way (Streak = 1 win) and the countdown for the Slow Grow Tournament begins here.

The madness in planning.

I’ve mostly been a game by game guy. But, as a previous post last (Post Slow Grow plans) month and what I’m going to write here will suggest, it looks like that I’m starting to think about the future a lot more. However, I find that bad (in this context, bad usually has something to do with going over my monthly minis budget) things have a better chance of happening when I think. As in the above mentioned post, I said that the plan was to take Skorne to tournaments in the summer and then go back to the Protectorate, with a smattering of Infinity and Malifaux along the way. The plan is under threat of becoming undone because I was hit by the idea of taking PoM instead of Skorne to this year’s tourneys. The reason I originally wanted to take Skorne was that they are not far away from being a completely painted army. Nearly two thirds are painted and based while out of the rest pretty much most of them just require finishing touches and basing. But if I took PoM, I could use these tourneys as an incentive to paint this force as it has long been overdue.

In other news, my eyes are beginning to wander again. Going into the Slow Grow, I was toying with the idea of starting a Coven army. I still might at some point, but not yet. At least I hope not yet. It is taking every ounce off my will to try and put this out of my mind. I can tell you that I am succeeding at the moment because I have found something else to obsess over. However, a new faction is not something I need at the moment or at any point in the near to medium future. What I do need is the tabletop gaming equivalent of a cold shower. I have more than enough factions to get my head around. Warcasters and Warlocks I have yet to buy in order to command my forces, units and beasts and jacks to further bolster my lines, and of course, those models that I already exist in my collections that have not quite seen the light of day yet. But other factions/models (especially my new obsession) just look like too much fun to use.