infectedsloth and I had an intense clash that had quite a bit going on. I would classify both of the armies as tricky to play between all the options available to bond with, and the decision making was....meticulous for sure. Fairly typical of games between IS and I though. Of which this makes #10 by my count.
kd: Blade Gruts x
21.5, Ornak, Marcu Esenwein,
Isamu, Brunak,
Mind Flayer Mastermind, Me-Burq-Sa, Raelin
IS: Boreos, Khosumet the Darklord, Darkprowl Thrall, Death Knights of Valkrillx4, Dumutef Guardx3, Skull Demon
Round 1
IS with setup moves Dumutef/Khosumet/Darkprowl, while I move Brunak (carries Rae), MBS, Blades with Ornak and I claim Astrid with MBS to take a shot at a knight (miss)
*Fairly typical IS slowroll bringing up a lot of the nontraditional bonding options, which is only problematic with MBS on the board (and not holding Thorian)
Round 2
IS wins initiative, and Boreos gets a 5v5 on MBS which is blocked, as is a 2v3 from a DK. Ornak orders Marcu forward, and MBS disengages (miss), and kills that deathknight. MBS then gets a wound on Boreos before Boro retreats behind a wall, and the Skull Demon develops.
*Pretty big that MBS was unscathed from the 5v5, 2v3, and LEA. He got a big forward kill and a critical first wound on Boreos. Potshotting with MBS (and Raelin) was the biggest advantage of the Ornak army, but it's dangerous to be caught putting order markers outside of Ornak on MBS when the deathknight army could come in hard with 3 attacks. A delicate balance on both sides.
Round 3
The Posturing ends pretty quickly though with an IS initiatve win. The Thrall pounces and the 5v4 kills a Blade Grut. This ties up MBS who kills the Thrall instead of a potshot at a DK.
Seeing the moment is right, Boreos goes in for a 5v5 on Nerak that does 2 wounds and deathknights take both glyphs.
Nerak desperately tries to knock off the Astrid glyph holder (which would allow a Blade Grut to take it), but fails.
Boreos tries flying in for another 5v5, but it's blocked, and Nerak blocks a clutch attack from Astrid.
Astrid blocks a second time, but a blade grut sneaks a 2nd wound on Boreos.
*The action came quicker than I expected as Boreos came in, but I probably should have expected as after an Ornak OM was a great time for Boreos to enter the fight, because the Blade Gruts were just going to have such a hard time swarming him. He put Boreos in a very good position that denied a good attack from Nerak (who could bypass swirling vortex), so I tried Astrid instead. However the OM3 Boro block led to a 2nd wound on the Air Elemental
Round 4
IS wins initiative and Vortex pulls a Blade Grut away for a kill (only 4 Blades left), Thorian DK moves into my territory to hit Marcu for 2 wounds (Thorian replaced by a back end DK)
My OM1 was probably the biggest swing of the game from a one turn perspective. Ornak orders Marcu to attack Boro whose Vortex is bypassed by flying. 2 skulls and Boreos whiffs. The pings by MBS and the Blade Grut turn up huge as the elemental goes down. (Marcu heals to 1 wound) With the second order Ornak sends Brunak to low ground who uses blood hungry and kills the Thorian deathknight AND a high ground deathknight. Boreos and 2 deathknights killed (@Sisyphus tells me 17.5% of that double kill). This turn kept my head above water and I thought turned the table on the game scenario at the time, but the show goes on.
IS has to regroup a bit with his forward forces depleted. He advances a Guard, Nerak blocks a third attack from the Astrid DK.
I have a mostly empty OM with Brunak, as I anticipated needing him as being the only viable way to damage Boreos, who I didn't anticipate dying. So I retreat Brunak back out of low ground.
IS sends in his forces again, killing Nerak finally and hitting MBS for his first wound via a road boosted deathknight.
The final order marker sees more lucky shots by me as a 3v6 from Ornak kills a deathknight, and Ornak boosted Gruts kill the Dumutef
Matchup:
Raelin, Brunak, Ornak, Marcu (5 life), MBS (2 life), 4 Blades vs. Skull, 2x Dumutef, Khosumet, 4 deathknights
With only 4 deathknights, I really am happy about the situation currently. I was very worried after Boreos was taking charge, but the dice swung it strong.
Round 5
I finally win an initiative, but MBS and Brunak both fail attacks of 4 on the astrid deathknight. A MBS kill would have been a pretty big thing as Brunak could then have taken Astrid backed by Raelin, but Nerak died trying to kill him and another 2 attacks went wide.
IS brings up support troops including the 2nd Dumutef and the Skull Demon to boost the Astrid DK. I position the Gruts for an OM3 Strike, that appears to be disastrous.
Instead of letting IS have first strike on me with his 6 attack Dumutef and incoming DKs, I send Ornak into a very prone position to attack Astrid. 3 Skulls, I will finally kill this bastard.....NO 3 shields by the DK, and the blade attack I got was blocked. I kept most of the blades back to keep them around for order markers next round. But my lack of killing this round was mostly matched by IS who came in on OM3, but the Dumtef was blocked and the DKs despite throwing 4 attack and -2 defense only managed 1 wound on Ornak.
*I really was struggling to manage Blade Grut order markers this round with trying to set up Marcu range and sight (as he had been put way on the other side of the map when he attacked Boreos), and balance wanting that with the fact that I had failed to kill the Astrid DK with the incoming attack force. I wasn't super keen on the position I had been left in, but didn't want to let IS dictate how his attacks would come....plus I had put Brunak in the swamp which, if I did nothing, would allow big attacks down on him from height.
Round 6
Yeah, the initiative here was really big. I wasn't about to risk an OM on Ornak even at 3 life because IS with an init win could have gotten 3 full attacks on me. I DID win initiative though, and I got a full force Ornak + Blade Grut order. I disengaged with Ornak (miss) to kill a DK (3 left), but my 4 Grut attacks were all blocked.
The gruts really clogged things up, and held up just enough to keep any heightened attacks off me. MBS on Turn 3 FINALLY killed the Astrid deathknight (2 left), but I lost Ornak and 2 Blade Gruts during the Round, as well as Brunak taking his first wound when the Dumutef filled into Astrid
Matchup:
Raelin, Brunak (2 life), Marcu (5 life), MBS (2 life), 2 Blades vs. Skull, 2x Dumutef, Khosumet, 2 deathknights
Round 7
With Ornak gone, my order markers got very tricky. Things weren't easy on the other side either down to 2 deathknights.
IS won intiative, and put 2 wounds on Raelin, and reclaimed Thorian which was a sly move to keep MBS from being a major problem.
My OM1 was on Marcu, Eternal Hatred miss, who killed the deathknight attacking Raelin (healed to full health) (1 DK left)
-Brunak takes a 2nd wound from the Astrid Dumutef
-I waste a turn on MBS, moving him out of range of any figures since he can't attack safely with Thorian covered
-Skull Demon moves within striking distance
-Seemingly I get some key breaks. I engage the last deathknight on thorian with MBS and my 2 skull attack kills him.
*I feel bad for IS rewriting all this. Yeah there were definitely some attacks on the Astrid holder that, if I get, swing the ownership of the glyph and go along way to giving me the advantage, but the Round 3 super turn, the Round 6 initiative, and then the 2 deathknight kills on 2 attacks by Marcu/MBS this round were highly fortuitous.
End of Round
Matchup:
Raelin (3 life), Brunak (1 life), Marcu , MBS (2 life), 2 Blades vs. Skull, 2x Dumutef, Khosumet
Round 8
Yeah, this is another big initiative to me. I run MBS away, if not the Skull Demon would have caught him, though in Raelin's aura. As it was MBS took 2 shots at the Astrid Dumutef (both blocked), while the Skull Demon killed Brunak. My last OM is on Blade Gruts (they're still around???!!!???) The two of them go to work killing the Dumutef on Astrid. The Skull Demon takes Thorian
Matchup:
Raelin (3 life), Marcu , MBS (2 life), 2 Blades vs. Skull, 1x Dumutef, Khosumet
Round 9
My order markers are Blade Gruts (take Astrid). Marcu (Eternal Hatred Miss...1 wound to Skull Demon) and MBS (2 wounds to Khosumet) 3 Order Markers on Khosumet get nothing (a 3v4 blocked by Astrid) Yeah I've got the Astrid now
Matchup:
Raelin (3 life), Marcu , MBS (2 life), 2 Blades vs. Skull (2 life), 1x Dumutef, Khosumet (1 life)
Round 10
Blade Gruts kill Khosumet, but Marcu and Raelin can't finish off the Skull Demon (though he hits back)
Matchup:
Raelin (2 life), Marcu , MBS (2 life), 2 Blades vs. Skull (2 life), 1x Dumutef
Round 11
Marcu (Eternal Hatred Miss again) kills The Skull Demon, and then MBS finishes off the startzone chillin Dumutef to get the win
I took the marathon victory with a 1 life Raelin, 2 life MBS, full health Marcu Esenwein, and 2 Blade Gruts
I lot to unwrap in all of that, but there it is. Marcu was my MVP killing a deathknight, 2 killing wounds on Boreos, and all 3 wounds on the Skull Demon. If any of the 3 Eternal Hatreds I roll go awry it's a different game, along with all the other big moments. I think there's plenty to analyze about this game, and I didn't even talk about the draft, but I've said enough for now. Thanks for the epic game
@
infectedsloth