New Zealand is a special snowflake of a meta, as shown by the fact there were only 2 Bradigus players at a 50 man event. Murphys Law dictates I draw one of them in the first round. The mission was Close Quarters and I chose to drop Absolonia2.
Greg went first and walked everything foward, making 2 pods, consisting of Standing Stones, Sentry Stone, 3 lights and a heavy.
I had 12% of a plan, which mainly involved using my smaller models to deny him the ability to slide into my heavies. To this end I ran everything foward, forming a foward line with my 2 Deathstalkers, Shredder, Naga and a Tenacitied Seraph running a block while my Ravagore, Scythean and Carnivean formed up begind the wall along with Abby and the support.
Gregs second turn saw him move up cautiously again, with his Watchers doing thier +4 armour shenanagins. They also managed to shoot the Naga to death with some help from the Mannikins. Mannikins also managed to spray one Deathstalker to death and left the second on 1 box. Bradigus put Flesh of Clay on himself and also cast Mystic Wards, leaving himself with zero transfers, believing himself safe behind his wall of Wolds.
Two nicely clumped groups of models and the chance to get the alpha was too good an opportunity to pass up. Absonloia went first, popped her Feat and charged a Mannikin to proc Conferred Rage. Unfortunately, I charged the wrong Mannikin and found myself trapped within range of Mystic Wards and unable to Teleport back to safety. Uh-oh. The Scythean flew into the middle of the pod on my right and proceeded to kill 2 Watchers, a couple of Mannikins and put damage on a heavy. The Carnivean finished off a third Watcher, but couldn't quite get reach range on one of the Shifting Stones. One the other side, the Ravagore and Seraph killed two Watchers and a Shifting Stone. This cleared a charge lane to Bradigus that a Rabid, Feated, Conferred Raged Shredder took full advantage of. Coming from waaaay downtown, the Shredder tore into Bradigus leaving him on one box. Bugger.
Gregs third and final turn went much as expected. His remaining Watchers Pushed my heavies around to build Synergy, before the Woldwarden teleported into Absolonia and punched her to death.
So a loss first up, but a close game. My 12% of a plan did what I hoped and stopped the early slide into my heavies, allowing me to get the alpha. Getting trapped by Mystic Wards really cost me but I feel I would have been ok if I could have broken the second set of stones and neutered his ability to teleport the Woldwarden. Or if I could have rolled the boosted 10 to kill Bradigus with the Shredder, that would have helped too.
Game 2: Paul Monk - Farrow
Round 2 was Recon and I drew Wooden Spoon hopeful, Paul Monk. Paul was single listing a Carver list like the true hard man he is and I decided to drop Absolonia again.
I won first turn and ran everything foward as fast as possible, only slowing to fuel the Forsaken with 4 fury. Abby put Fortify on the Carnivean and Spiny Growth on both the Carnivean and the Scythean. The Succubus also put Spiny Growth on the Ravagore.
In return, a wave of bacon surged foward towards me as fact as thier stubby pig legs would carry them.
Turn 2 saw the Ravagore move foward and set 4 of the brigands in the center on fire, while the Seraph and Naga killed 3 more. The Deathstalkers killed 3 Slaughterhousers on the right flank and the Forsaken moved towards the Slaughterhousers on the left.
Pauls Brigands shot at the Shredder on the hill but they all missed. The Gun Boar shot missed the Naga, Carver shot it with both barrels and did decent damage, before smashing it with a Warhog.
Turn 3 saw Absolonia pop her feat, charge a Brigand to proc Conferred Rage and destroy the objective before teleporting back behind the beasts. The Deathstalkers both survived free strikes from the Slaughterhousers they were engaged with, in order to back up and shoot dead two more each. The Ravagore charged Brine, also getting Rorsch into melee, then proceeded to miss both initial attacks (needing 5s). He still managed to kill Brine but left Rorsch untouched.
The Forsaken walked into the middle of the Slaughterhousers on the left and triggered a Blight Bomb, killing 3 Slaughterhousers, knocking down 2 more but failing to scratch Carver. The Scythean flew into position to engage both Warhogs and Carver. Some less than stellar dice saw the Scythean only kill one Warhog, damage the second and force a transfer from Carver to the Gunboar. The charging Rabid, Feated, Conferred Raged Shredder finished off the Gunboar (seriously, Abbys Shredders are just stupidly good), the Seraph finished off the damaged Warhog, before the Carnivean flew over and bit Carvers head off.
Having finished my game fairly early, I wandered off to grab lunch from the sausage sizzle and cake stall that had been set up for a different event being held at the same time....
