2000 MPP Pitched Battle

Seraphon versus Skaventide

Battleplan: Three Places of Power

Realm: Shyish

 

Seraphon Army List

Skaventide Army List

 

Played another battle from the upcoming tournament yesterday against my favorite Skaventide opponent. This will be a shortened battle report as I’m reading up on my army, the realms, and the battleplans, BECAUSE THE TOURNAMENT IS TODAY!

 

Dracothion’s Tail allows me to pick who goes first and I opted to play aggressively and take first turn. Stealthy Advance is used to assist in gaining objectives T1. I teleport the Slann to the left objective and the Starpriest takes the right. I summon an Eternity Warden to help keep the Slann alive. Knights move up double time to support and prepare for charges. Rippers come down on my left into his unit of Acolytes and a unit of Clan Rats. The ScarVet and a unit of Knights also come down and charge into the same unit of Clan Rats. In combat, the Rippers killed 24 of 30 Acolytes, and the Knights and ScarVet killed 26 of 40 Clan Rats. The Screaming Bell prevents any Battleshock fleeing.

 

In his T1, he advances his Verminlord and the injured Clan Rat unit retreated and charged my Slann. The Slann took several wounds from Spells. Spells and combat killed the Eternity Warden and brought the Slann down to one wound. The Starpriest was killed by spells and shooting. His defending Skinks were also killed by the unit of Clan Rats escorting the Verminlord. I also lose several Knights and four Rippers.

 

I won the roll for T2 priority. The Slann, nearby Knights, and a summoned unit of Skinks managed to kill off the Clan Rats surrounding the Slann. The remaining Rippers killed the remaining Acolytes. The ScarVet charged into the next unit of Clan Rats. I brought down my Oldblood on Cranosaur, dumped 4 CP into his CA, and then teleported him in range of the Verminlord. I retreated the Razordons (this was dumb). The center Skinks and Knights charged to tie up the middle unit of ClanRats. The Oldblood inflicted 5 wounds into the Verminlord (the additional saving rolls this thing gets is NUTS).

 

Skaventide’s T2 he rolled a 12 on the Screaming Bell. This summons a Verminlord! There’s now two on the board! Unfortunately, our time ran out by the end of his T2, which allowed me a victory of 4-2. We did however play out the game. He won T3 priority and very easily removed my Slann and most of the rest of my army. Had it not been for the timer, Skaventide would definitely have won a major victory.

 

Post Game Analysis

 

I PLAY SLOW. I need to work on this as if I plan to go to future tournaments, it’s going to be looked down on as it can very easily be seen as gaming the clock. I’m reading up on my army, it’s units, abilities, and battalions more and hopefully I can get in more 2K games to help in this area. I’ve won two games primarily due to slow play and I don’t like it. Not only does the victory feel hollow, I know my opponent isn’t going to be super pleased about it either.

 

In this particular battle, I shouldn’t have teleported the Slann into such a vulnerable position. He should have stayed in the woods, with protection and brought down the other heroes onto objectives. The Starpriest should have gone to the left objective as I knew as soon as deployment was done, I’d have the two large units on that side tied up and potentially destroyed. Heck even teleporting the ScarVet in my T2 to the middle objective would have been a good play. I didn’t do that, because I forgot that Betrayer’s Crown is a Once Per Battle item. Additionally, retreating the Razordons was not smart. I didn’t play the unit well in this game and it didn’t help that I failed both of their Instinctive Defense rolls. Also, can I just say that rolling for that ability seems like a nerf… Anyway, a little less aggression would probably have helped me survive longer, gaining more points.

 

I do think taking first turn was good. In general, I know my friend is going to push into me when I play him. He’s screens well, so waiting for him to open up his army is super risky and likely will just end in my army with a face full of Clan Rats. Also, those Acolytes are murderous. I knew they had to die asap and fortunately he left them exposed. Unfortunately, I only got the chance to attack one of his heroes and its ridiculous save re-rolls neutered the damage I could have caused with the Oldblood (failing all his Sunbolt wounds didn’t help there either). In this Battleplan, I definitely should have kept the Slann back, positioned my heroes better and allowed him to advance more in hopes of getting at his heroes, though as I said, he likely wouldn’t have allowed that to happen easily.