NicoLab

Hoping that Sepulchral Guard means a return of Krell! 

Enter Arkhan

Arkhan solved one problem in the list - namely that of unreliable casts of spells. He could take charge of casting Vanhels and Mystic Shield with +2 to cast.

However, Arkhan also supplied another cannonball for my arsenal - for he is a Skeleton. That means that he is able to be buffed by Vanhels and Righteous Smiting and by the Tomb King buff (unlike Nagash or any other Mortarchs or other big scary heroes).

Arkhan is movement 16", so long charges are a real possibility. Full buffed, his Ghosts would be 6 attacks, exploding on 4+ and simultaneously doing a mortal wound, which is great. The Claws would be 6 attacks, exploding on 4+ , 3+ to wound, rerolling ones and then -2 rend, 2 damage. 

Furthemore, Arkhan could also summon with +3, this gave me the option of using either Spirit Hosts or Zombros as a summoning pool. I devised the following plan. After buffs were placed on the cannonball, Arkhan would summon 20 Zombros on a cast of 5 (there was no Battleline requirement by the way under the pack) to form a protective wall or ring in the middle of the table, which Settra could move up into (so that he could be in range to buff the cannonball. The first cannonball could fly over the Zombro wall in the movement phase (as Settra grants Fly in the movement phase only).

 

Budget-Krell

Krell mysteriously lacks points, so I had to come up with a way to use the budget version - the wight King with Black Axe, who has 1 fewer attack and only a 4+ save (significant nerfs). However, being generic does open up artefacts and the Cloak of Mists and Shadows fitted perfectly.

This meant that the Wight King could be setup 12" forward in the hero phase (after being fully buffed). He would then be able to move 14" (with Fly) and then charge, for a suitably deadly cannonball (for 120 points)

Edited April 18, 2017 by Nico

The list

My 2,500 point list was as follows:

• Settra 369
• Tomb King 100
• Liche Priest 120
• Necromancer 120
• Necrotect 100
• Tomb Herald 100
• Arkhan 340
• Coven Throne 260
• Wight King 120
• 6 Necropolis Knights 320
• 9 Spirit Hosts 360
• 30 Zombros 180

2480 points

The units in blue were the options. I could build 3 lists of 2,000 points - 1 offensive, 1 bunker and 1 bunker with the Coven Throne. Spirit Hosts were perfect for a defensive unit as they synergise well with Settra.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2017 by Nico

Round 1

We were fortunate in knowing our opponents were the legendary EATBATS crew - so super dudes with awesome paint jobs.

As for the draw (itself a fascinating part of the game), you are basically able to choose the opposing army for two of your players (by putting your player out front and holding the other one in the "pocket" so to speak). Throughout the event, I adopted the approach of protecting James (who was our least experienced player), rather than going for aggressive 20-0s. Ben's list was pretty solid all round and I figured that Tom would be competitive in most match ups (his big downside was the low range of his pew pew).

As none of the rest of the team were particularly experienced against Sylvaneth I opted to take on Jimbo's Sylvaneth. I'd played Jimbo at Heat One (one of my best games - sadly only a practice game on the Friday so it didn't count).

Jimbo had a text book Gnarlroot plus Loremaster list.

I deployed in a bunker behind some of the Zombros.

Battleround 1

James went first and spawned a Wyldwood on my left and another one on my right. He moved his 3 Scythe Hunters through to the central Wyldwood. His Kurnoth pew pew fired at the Necbromancer but achieved little due to the wound bouncing mechanic. Durthu and the Ancient moved to the Wyldwood on my left and did some pew pew, but elected not to charge in. The Scythes made it in and killed a Necropolis Knight and dented the Wight King.

My turn was brutal. Arkhan buffed himself with Vanhels Danse Macabre, but double oned the Mystic Shield cast like a boss. The Liche Priest did cast Righteous Smiting. The Necromancer lobbed a bolt at Durthu and did 2 wounds. The Necropolis Knight came back to life. Mr Whippy buffed the Wight King, before he teleported 12" forward - off to hunt the Loremaster.

Arkhan moved 16" forward over the Zombros to be 3" away from Durthu. Settra and the Knights stayed put for some grinding against the Hunters.

Arkhan made the charge as did the Wight King. I activated Arkhan first and he proceeded to delete Durthu without much difficulty. The 6 attacks from the Spirit Hosts exploding and doing a mortal wound on 4+ was brutal. I deliberately ensured that the Ancient was out of 3" both to avoid the Stomp and to avoid a pile in.

The Kurnoths hit back and from memory did some damage to Settra. I wiped them out in return.

The Wight King slew the Loremaster comfortably.

Battleround 2

Jimbo won the initiative and extricated his forces to distant Wyldwoods. He knew that he had bounced and was quick to switch to playing for the secondaries. The Ancient went back to defend the Bow Hunters.

In response I put the movement buffs onto the Necropolis Knights and send them sharply right towards the Kurnoths. The offensive buffs went onto Arkhan again. Arkhan smashed into the Ancient and half killed him, took some wounds back, but healed back two at the end of the phase. The Necropolis Knights managed the feat of losing 3 models out of 6 when they charged into the Wyldwood. They killed another Hunter.

Battleround 3

James again won the initiative, which kept him in the running. The Ancient went off to support the Kurnoths in the race to wipe out the Necropolis Knights (and to hold an objective). Against all probability his pew pew attack actually went through and did 5 damage. The combat was tight. The Hunters were wiped out, but the Ancient managed to get his impaling Talons through on the last Knight. With only a few wounds left, Jimbo needed a 3+ to wipe out the unit. Tragically a 2 it was. The Knights clung on.

Mr revenge was brutal - Arkhan cast the reanimate spell on the Necropolis Knights to bring back the banner bearer - I put the model closer to my forces and then planted the Tomb Herald's banner to bring back another model and a third came back from the banner bearer - evil! I put the buffs onto the Necropolis Knights. Arkhan also flapped over to hit the Ancient from behind. Settra rolled about pointlessly. The Ancient went down and I had the objective now.

Battleround 4

I won the initiative and tightened the noose. The Wight King moved over to take the building (which was one of my secondaries). Arkhan and the Necropolis Knights went after the Bow Hunters who were hiding in a Wyldwood on the far right of the table.

Jimbo did what he could, but probably could have retreated more aggressively.

Battleround 5

Jimbo won the initiative and made a play for one of the secondaries with the 5 Tree Revenants that were in his back corner - my whole team (and Jimbo) were playing this wrong to our disadvantage all tournament (playing that the unit had to be in the enemy deployment zone at the end of the game, not at any point - which is trivial).

In my final turn, Settra had to make a charge into the Tree Revenants to wipe them out and stop Jimbo scoring. Everywhere else the forces of Death wiped out the last of the Sylvaneth, but Settra derped.

That made it an 18-2 victory to me. A promising start. Even better, while James and Tom had lost, they had kept the losses to marginal ones; whereas Ben had smashed face, so we recorded a 49-31 win! Jimbo @Jimbo was a pleasure to play against - a true gent as always!

Edited May 4, 2017 by Nico