Battlecry 2014 - 35 pts + Moar Cryx hate

aka. How to Write Stupid Lists at 35pts

Step 1 - Choose casters

I went with Rask and Maelok. Calaban can only "really" be played with his tier (note that unlike Runes of War, this does not make him really baller, just makes him less bad) and the tier is not great at 35pts. He himself is not really that sweet at 35pts, or ever.

Rask is good because he does Rask things. Combine this with 35pt foolishness and you have a pretty strong skew. I usually play Barnabas as my second list and wanted a change, therefore going for Maelok (the only other alternative).

Step 2 - Choose to skew or not skew.

I decided to skew one, and then skew both:

Rask
Snapper
Snapper
3x Gatorman Posse
Min Troggs

Feralgeist
Croak

This list is pretty stupid. I called it "GOING FULL RETARD", which it was. 3 Posse at 35pts is the kind of skew that makes games uninteresting, but hey, why not do it if they're not going to fix it. 
If you ask me, I think we should move to 60 or 65 pts as the new tournament standard as it'd make factions like Cryx, Circle and Legion a little weaker, Trolls a little stronger, and everyone else more or less the same. And include 15 pt Specialists on top of that. Boom.

The Maelok list was the same as the Rask one, except switching Feralgeist and Trogs for 2 Witch Doctors, and the Croak for Pendrake. Pendrake did nothing good in any game - he is the king of the sideboard.

 

Behold, this zoological majesty!

A very short summary of my games

1- Luke H w/ eDoomshaper, Mountain King, Earthborn, Krielstone and Scouts. 
Incursion.

His second list was eGrim with 2 shooty heavies and the Krielstones UA. Despite this (the Incorporeal destroying Stone UA), I had a nagging feeling I should have picked Maelok, but I pushed this out of my head and picked Rask. This was a bad choice as eDoomshaper's feat is "+3 SPD, full stop, bitches!", not "+3 SPD if charging or slamming" as I had first thought, meaning his entire pathfinder list responds to my feat by jamming me with tramples and killing my stuff.
As expected, Luke's response to me popping Rask's feat was jamming me with everything in his list, including the Scouts to block charges to the MK. I wasn't able to get enough damage on the King because of some fortunate tough rolls on his part (ie. 4 in a row on the same damn Scout), so he healed to full and kept swinging.
Luckily Rask is basically immune to assassination with Trogs around, so I ran him over to the right flag over 2 turns, where the Croak Hunter had been parked since turn 2 and won on 5 CPs. A stolen game I should have lost on account of getting outplayed and outlisted, but managed to take advantage of his skew list's small footprint.


2. -  Paul H w/ Hexeris2, Bronzeback, Gladiator, Krea, Nihilators, Incindiarii, Nihilators, Paingivers. Process of Elimination

I was forced to pop my feat turn 1 as I had ambushed my Bog Trogs and only had Rask on 2 transfers - had I not used it, Hexeris would likely have spelled me to death using his feat. This was a planning mistake on my part as it otherwise only blocked 2-3 Nihilator charges from happening (which likely would have been stopped by Inhospitable Ground alone). So, I more or less played without a feat.
Otherwise it was mostly a matter of charging Furied Gatormen into things and trying to keep Rask alive with Admonition and transfers alone, which worked pretty well. I ended up assassinating Hexeris in the end after he decided to YOLO charge some Gators, then got hit by 2 Furied Gators (from different units), a charging Croak and died to a Bog Trog hook in the back.

Rask is pretty good against Skorne.

3. - Dave S w/Skarre1, 30 McThralls (that's 15 pts, btw), 10 Bloodwitches with UA, 2 Necrosurgeons, 2 Helldivers, Min Blackbanes. Destruction.

Dave said he took this list just to play against me. Thanks Dave. You are too kind. His list writing took my 35pt motto "GOING FULL RETARD" to heart, and managed to out-retard my list - proving that only Cryx is capable of giving 110% retardation by simply Cryxing harder.

Basically the game was a huge grind where I popped my feat on my second turn and killed like 22 guys but none of the Necrosurgeons, then he popped his feat and got boosted-to-hit POW 20s everything (cause Cryx). In the end I mistakenly assumed Skarre was SPD 6, when she is in fact SPD 7, so she just walked over to Maelok and easily killed him with her 11 focus (all in the name of balance). Thus began my downfall.

I think overall we both played quite well with some minor mistakes here and there to even things out. The only huge mistake in the game by far, on both our parts, was when I cast a boosted Venom at a Necrosurgeon hiding behind a wall, and Dave called Sac Pawn to a Stitch Thrall. We got into a short debate regarding Sac Pawning sprays and agreed that you could, when in fact we should have been focusing on the fact that Venom is a spell, not a ranged attack! If that Necrosurgeon had died (very good chance - need 7s on 3 dice + Corrosion), the game would have played out very differently I think, with that flank collapsing much faster and Maelok being entirely unthreatened and able to pull back and stay much safer while simultaneously pushing me forward in attrition. Basically a massive boost for me. Alas, you live, you learn, you continue to hate Cryx.

--------------------------------

MINI RANT OF THE WEEK:
Skarre1 and McThralls are straight up OP, and where probably designed in the midst of a really dark LSD trip, overflowing with hatred of the world. Here is how you fix them:
Skarre - Remove Ritual Sacrifice entirely. Dark Guidance is not a choice when you have 10+ focus at next to zero cost (like losing one of your 45 small-based models matters), and non-choices are the antithesis of games design and competitive play. And who the hell thought it was a good idea to make it a d6 roll? Going from 1 more focus to 100% more focus seems legit, right?
I'd say make her focus 7 to compensate but her feat is also simply stupid (it is literally pStryker's feat + a 100% denial of eStryker's feat - all for 5 life points) so I wouldn't want more stuff affected by it, but it's probably the simplest way to do it. That or +1 ARM.
McThralls - MAT 4 -or- no combo strike. You shouldn't be able to hit an average heavy on expected dice if you cost 0.5 points and hit at P+S 15 completely independent of buffs/debuffs (of which there are PLENTY in Cryx). HALF. A. POINT.

Easy. Too bad it's not going to happen since PP are scared shitless of balancing anything post-release :) 

--------------------------------

4. - Nikola w/Vayl1, Typhon, Seraph, Scythean, Raek, Shredder, Shepard, 2 Deathstalkers. Some scenario (Incoming?)

Nikola played actually really well and I played really bad. Like, really really bad. I think Rask was a way better matchup here, but I dropped Maelok again for practice since I realized that the prize pool didn't include mugs, and mugs are the only thing I care about in NZ tournaments (I have 4).
Basically I ran stuff up way too far, Typhon and Scythean one-shot like 9 Gators under Incite, then I tried to assassinate Vayl with feat + Revive BS, got cock-blocked by Dark Sentinel and forgot to move my unit leader so the Revived guys couldn't even make attacks. What a muppet. Got steamrolled and outplayed and basically put up the worst match one can imagine. Much like the last time we played. I am guessing his total nice guy approach disarms my asshole WAAC ethos, making me play like a complete ballsack.

Usually I consider myself 50/50 against Legion and it is one of my fairer matchups, but this time I really wasn't in the right mindset. I need to practice more with Maelok, as I play him far too aggressively, which gets him killed. He's tough but he's not Barnabas sitting in Swamp Pit with transfers and Spiny Growth tough.

---------------------

Dave came 1st, Paul placed 2nd and Nikola placed 3rd, giving me officially the most ball-busting schedule in the tournament.  I'm guessing I placed something like 8th or 9th out of 17. Overall nice tournament, thanks to Darryl Painter for organizing and running it!

Some thoughts

• I don't like 35pts much as I dislike skews and list-design having that much impact on the outcome of the game, but I really like one-day events so that worked out alright in the end. Came home to a nice dinner of salad + fish. Good stuff. Cryx is OP.
• I should probably practice with Maelok more, but our local Ret player is about to get his new caster Tinkerbell in the mail, and I think she will totally steamroll Maelok. He will probably still refuse to play Rask :(
  I don't think Maelok is as good as Circle/Legion matchup as Barnabas, but he's the better Cryx matchup. It's the eternal question in a 2-list format.
• I think my all-star picks in the Rask games was the Croak Hunter. Despite their mediocrity, as I have gotten better as using them they seem like a worthwhile addition to most lists given then ability to clear jams and charge lanes, or countercharge like mad, or just go for scenario points. He pretty much single-handedly won me my first game by just being a solo with Stealth, and did a crapton of damage on Hexeris in the second game.
• Yeah, I am totally mad about Cryx. Deal with it, because I can't (at least until my Battle Engine loaded with anti-incorporeal, anti-tough and anti-undead tech is released).

Playing for Assassination

Warmahordes games typically have two win conditions - either win by scenario (5 control points in SR 2013), or win by having the only warcaster/warlock model on the table (assassination). There are usually three playstyles with which one can achieve these goals:

1. Attrition - this playstyle focuses on making efficient trades, sacrificing as little as possible, and generally killing your opponent's stuff while keeping yours alive. The idea is to improve your relative position on the table so that your forces become relatively stronger and your opponent's become relatively weaker, thus allowing you to assassinate or win on scenario a few turns into the game without the possibility of strong resistance or retalition.
   Examples of attrition tactics include recycling dead bodies (Necrosurgeons, Shamblers), hit and run (Vayl, Stalkers), having really resilient stuff that can take a counterpunch without collapsing (Gatorman Posse, IF Kayazy), having enough hitting power to reliably one-rounding heavy targets, and so on.
2. Board Control/Scenario - this playstyle focuses on obstructing your opponent's ability to manoeuvre so that you can control important areas of the board (usually the areas that give CPs).
   Tactics for this playstyle include power attacks (ie. throws), speed debuffs (Crippling Grasp), jamming, movement denial feats (eDenny/ eKrueger/Gorten), generating terrain and generally being an asshole.
3. Assassination - this playstyle focuses on somehow killing the enemy caster as quickly as is safely possible.
   Tactics for this playstyle involve removing/ignoring defenses like buff spells and focus (Arcane Assassin, Eyriss), placement and movement shenanigans (Shifting Stones, Apparition), contrated high power attacks (mobile heavies/casters) and having massive balls of steel.

Obligatory old-school gaming reference

The Purest Form of the Game

Many believe that Warmachine is at its heart an assassination-oriented game, and the assassination playstyle is the purest form of Page 5:

• Mk1 tournament games were won on assassination more often than not, and lists were designed around that.
• The Hardcore format traditionally encouraged an assassination playstyle by having dice down being equal to 'both players lose'.
• The game bears many similarities to chess, which operates on a similar principle. 
• See previous comment about steel balls.

Despite the "purity" of the assassination style, it has fallen out of favor as a preferred winning strategy. I argue this is due to the risk/reward of the assassination playstyle relative to attrition/scenario play.

Risk vs Reward

I think the main reason assassination has fallen out of favour as a competitive playstyle is that it provides the same or lesser rewards than an attrition playstyle, while also being significantly riskier.
If you win a game by assassination, you get 1 VP on your scorecard along with any CP you scored in that game (probably not many).
If you win a game by scenario, you get 1 VP on your scorecard, and 5 CPs that will serve to elevate your overall ranking.
If you win a game as a result of attrition, you get 1 VP, probably a couple of CP, and a good deal of KPs.
In terms of reward therefore, you are likely to get quantifiably more out of a scenario win than you are out of an assassination win, at least in a tournament setting.

In terms of risk, an assassination playstyle necessitates more risk than the alternatives, or at the very least, more focused risk - less redundancy leads to higher potential for each singular die roll to influence the outcome.
First, you will usually have to involve your caster in the assassination, either by use of a feat, a buff, a debuff, a placement effect and so on. Often, this means that your caster has to have the opposing caster in his control area, which in turn means that you caster is probably in threat range of most of his army next turn.
Secondly, you are probably banking the outcome of the game on a smaller number of dice rolls than a scenario win strategy. Most assassinations rely on making a few attacks - the fewer dice are rolled, the more likely you are to get screwed. A ~58% chance of success (dice at expected value) also means a ~42% chance of failure.

Because of all these factors, failure means you will in turn be assassinated next turn more often than not and at much lower risk on your opponent's part.

So why else has assassination fallen out of favour?

First, I think Hordes becoming a fully-fledged competitive sister game to Warmachine (not really the case early Mk1) has made assassination lists less viable, as the transfer mechanic takes emphasis away from winning the game with two-three high POW attacks on the right target. Playing against Hordes pushes you to play for attrition as killing warbeasts simultaneously decreases your opposing warlock's survivability by taking away potential transfer targets - not to mention the loss of resource generation, animi and damage output. Abilities that bypass transfers are quite rare (Grievous Wounds?), the casters who can do it reliably are often crapped on (Garryth, eMorg, Thyra) and Cryx players are too busy spamming OP infantry to take Stalkers. There are alternatives, like manipulating fury on beasts to block transfers or moving them outside the opposing warlock's control area - these are good tactics but poor strategies.
Hordes might come second in almost everything PP does, but I think it has had a significant impact on how tournament games are played.

Second, the changes to Steamroller over the years have also changed how players approach competitive play. Scenarios have become more important to the game, and not respecting the scenario conditions means you are likely to lose on scenario. As scenario play becomes more popular, assassination play has become less so (zero sum).

Third, the mass reduction in threat ranges between Mk1 and Mk2 has had a pretty big impact on how easy it is to keep your caster safe. There are still a few models that can go a million miles and hit really hard (ie. my buddy Molik Karn), but such models are far less prevalent than they used to be. The reduction of advanced deployment from 12" to 6" is also a big deal, as is the greater distance between each player upon deployment (first player deploys 7").

Finally, arc nodes. I think the increase in relative cost of arc nodes from Mk1 to Mk2 is a factor in the decrease of assassination play. Mk1 Warmachine lists usually had an arc node (unless you played Khador, which traded arc nodes for charging 22" on average). Lancers, Revengers, Guardians and especially chicken bonejacks were very common. Spell assassination was a common strategy amongst all the factions with arc nodes, and THE strategy for Cryx.
Fast forward to a few years of Mk2 and I haven't seen a Revenger in YEARS (except for the one I have on the lower level of my case next to Calaban). Same thing with Lancers and Guardians. Bonechickens are still pretty common, although you see one or two per list these days, compared to the 4-5 you saw in Mk1. Sometimes Haley and Nemo players take Thorn (because he is sweet), and Ret players regularly take a Phoenix with Rahn (since it is also one of their best combat jacks). But on the whole, spell assassination as a reliable tactic or list strategy is gone.


In the end, is the move away from assassination a good thing or bad thing? I don't think it is really either - it just 'is'. The alternative is we could go back to Mk1-style eVlad casters that make assassinations much more certain by throwing ridiculous buffs on a handful of models*, or Goreshade being able to exchange a Blackbane's Ghost Raider almost anywhere on the board for a Deathjack that gets to activate and insert his metal into your caster. Personally I prefer the way things are now than the way they used to be.

In summary, the way the game is at present, if you enjoy assassination and like that aggressive playstyle, you can still be competitive in building your lists around it. There is nothing wrong or right about playing for the assassination. However, it is riskier, and therefore a less reliable path to victory than attrition/scenario play in most balanced matchups.

Blindwater Assassination

One of the nice things about Gators is that (almost) all their casters have some legit assassination tactics, on top of being quality attrition warlocks (due to Gatorman Posse, shooting denial and Spiny Growth).

Barnabas - The "Drop 'n' Pop"

This is basically the oldest trick in the WM book, but weaker since Blindwater has far less guns than PoM and Barnabas's feat is a straight-up inferior version of pKreoss' feat. I wish it was 'non-amphibious enemy models have their base DEF reduced to 5 and must sacrifice movement or action next turn' instead. You don't get LoS advantage like you would with KD, but then there is a ton of anti-KD tech out there that it would bypass... I digress. Here is how it is done:

1. Activate Barnabas
2. Charge a living enemy trooper (charging gives you an extra 3" of range on the feat which you will probably need to catch the enemy caster).
3. Feat to knock down enemy caster and everything in the way
4. Kill your now-KD target with the Blood Cleaver, giving you a free Flesh Eater at the enemy caster
5. Cast 2 more Flesh Eaters at the enemy caster
6. Shoot KD enemy caster with Ironback Spitters and Croak Hunters

I admit I use this tactic more than I would like - sometimes because I come upon bad matchups and feel my odds of victory are better with this than playing out the game, and sometimes just because I like to cup my nuts of steel and gamble.

Maelok - The "ScoobyDoo Ghost Gator"

I think this is probably the most potent assassination in Blindwater because it is really unpredictable, and the only sure defense is distance (or Polarity Shield/Hellbound type stuff)- which is a problem when you are faced with an grindtastic Gator list threatening to win on scenario. It is a bit like a weaker but more focused version of eGaspy's feat:

1. Activate Maelok
2. Revive some Gators in your control area (if you managed to get a small heap of souls last turn, then you get more Gators! Yay!)
3. Feat and finish Maelok's activation
4. Charge enemy caster with incorporeal Gators, or whatever else in your army that can get there and do the job (heavies for example)

That's about it. Against a living warcaster, 2 Gators are likely to get the job done - rerolls are pretty cool. You just have to make sure you have LoS, beware magical weapons, and try to keep Maelok semi-safe in case the assassination fails - the less heavy stuff there is on the table at this point, the better it is.

Rask - The Best Gun In The Game™

Rask has really viable assassination options:

• Boundless Charge for 2" of threat range/ free charges on beasts
• Fury for +3 damage
• Paralysis Bolt to bring high DEF casters to their knees
• Arcane Interference Bolt to remove those pesky defensive upkeeps and focus adding to ARM

I have one-shot several hardy casters after hitting them with Rask's gun and charging them with a single Furied Gatorman (2x POW 16s at MAT 7s with rerolls = better than many heavies).
Snapjaw in particular becomes an absolute terror under Rask, with a 14" threat range against living models at P+S 20 (Fury + Boundless Charge + Bloodthirst + Elasticity). Turns out this is pretty good at killing Gargossals as well.
Anything that stops or hinders ranged attacks can hurt this assassination run of course (Stealth, Blur, DEF buffs, etc.)

And unlike his fluff blurb, he never actually applies the finishing blow himself. What a douche.

Calaban - The "Yeah Nah"

The "Yeah Nah" tactic of assassination is something that looks sweet and legit, but isn't. Here is how it should go:

1. Activate Calaban
2. Shoot a squishy enemy living model with LoS to the enemy caster with your voodoo meat gun
3. Pop feat and finish activation
4. Kill every infantry model in your opponent's list, and use the fury you generate via the feat to periodically throw boosted Bone Shakers into your opponent's caster through the meat node.
5. Fail and die

Much like the phrase "yeah nah", it doesn't really mean anything, but sounds deep and meaningful. I think I have actually pulled this off once or twice, but repeated self-inflicted blows to the head to reduce the mental strain of playing Calaban seem to have affected my memory. It is also very matchup dependent, which makes it even less appealing. It's a decent feat, but more for defensive than offensive purposes IMO.
This makes me want to write another article about exactly why Calaban sucks - I know you love them! Watch this space.... maybe.

The Gator Rise Missile 

This trick can potentially be pulled off in any list that includes a Blackhide Wrastler. I have already written about this trick at length here so you can have a look at it there. The summary is basically that it is an effective and unpredictable way to deliver a heavy beast to the enemy caster and bypass the engagement lines, but I feel it is very risky (even risky for an assassination).

The Totem Hunter

This guy is a ninja and is capable of killing the squishier casters, especially if you can get Fury on him. However he will need the Prey bonus to do so for the MAT/damage buff, and the odds of you getting a Totem Hunter onto a moderately skilled opponent's caster early game are very slim. You would be better off preying an AD unit or key support piece and focusing your efforts on killing that, saving a potential Totem Hunter assassination for late game.

*Sidenote - History Lesson: Blood Legacy in Mk1 was not only +3 to all stats for a round, but also fully-boosted attack and damage rolls and an additional attack per melee weapon. And the Drakhun had d3 initial attacks. It's also why the fastest caster kill on hardcore record was eVlad feating on 4 Widowmakers who killed a focusless Skarre with 4 fully-boosted RAT 10 POW 10s.

The path to the Ides of March

What will probably be New Zealand's largest Warmachine tournament ever will take place in less than two weeks (1). This will be my first "proper" tournament in a long time, so the best I hope to do is place in the top half of the field and meet some nice people who share my amusement at Searforge and the Mountain King.

Ides of March is a 42pt (2), 2 list, character restricted, 2x 1 hour deathclock, 7 round, 7 scenario, Killbox artifice, fully-painted tournament.

Since I am such a non-player playing a non-faction, I think I am at liberty to discuss my list choices without fear that someone will try to netdeck against them. Because that would just be stupid, and the best way to netdeck against Gators/Minions is to play something actually good.

List 1

Rask 
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Swamp Horror
* Bull Snapper

Bog Trog Ambushers (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt)

Feralgeist
Totem Hunter 

One of the lists will of course be Rask. There are a few reasons for this:

- He is freaking awesome.
- He is by far our best matchup vs Gargossals, Protectorate and Skorne.
- He is a good all-rounder with a lot of answers (upkeep removal, Boundless Charge, Fury, Paralysis) and a lot of problems (Inhospitable Ground, Feat, Admonition, Call to Sac Trogs).
- Most people won't really be familiar with him as he has only been out for a few weeks.

I haven't tested this list as such, and I probably won't. It seems good, and is very similar to stuff I've been using with Rask at other point levels. The one actual decision I had to make was whether to bring a Snapper or a Witch Doctor. This wasn't a hard decision in the end, but I considered that tough Gators might give a little boost in this list's otherwise average attrition potential.

However, despite Rask's clear superiority on the power scale, he still has a good number of weaknesses. Some of these are faction-wide, while others are somewhat covered by other warlocks - it's a good thing we have the option to take two lists!

Terry Crews

List 2

Bloody Barnabas
* Bull Snapper
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Ironback Spitter

Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) 

Feralgeist 

Wrong Eye + Snapjaw

In my opinion, Barnabas is still a really solid all-round tournament caster and deserves the second list spot. However, he still does have Maelok to contend with, and Maelok is not to be trifled with.

What the Barnabas list has that the Rask list does not is more favourable matchups against high DEF infantry (on account of his feat), shooting armies (on account of Swamp Pits), and better attrition and scenario potential (on account of him being a tough cookie, Iron Flesh, and a list full of high ARM models). Furthermore, he brings a Spitter, which as Blindwater's only decent ranged attack, can be amazing at sniping out key UAs and support models.

I considered switching out Wrong Eye and Snapjaw for Bog Trogs, Gobbers and a Witch Doctor. The discussion (with myself) basically went like this:

JS: This is a tough predicament....
JS: Indeed... indeed. So, what does Wrong Eye actually bring to the table, compared to the Trogs and Doctor?
JS: Mmmmm... I should analyze this ... WITH SCIENCE:

Option 1: WE + Snapjaw

Damage: 
1x PS 17, 1x Crit KD Reach PS 14, with 4 fury, Bloodthirst, ManEater.
1x PS 13, 1x Reach PS 12, with 4 fury.
Survival: 
ARM 18 and a 27ish boxes 
ARM 17 and 8 boxes, transfers
Submerge
Utility:
2 scenario holding pieces
RFP
Influence, Voodoo Doll

Option 2: Trogs, Gobbers, Croctor

Damage:
6x PS 11 attacks, with powerful charge, CMA
1x PS 12, 1x PS 11 (magical)
2x PS 5 weapons? (legit!)
Survival:
6 dudes with victim stats, but Camouflage
2 dudes with ARM 11
ARM 16, 8 boxes
Utility:
Effectively 1 scenario holder piece (the Trog unit, as the support stays back)
Ambush
Crap out large clouds
Zombify, Sac Strike, Dominate Undead

Overall:
Damage - WE + S by a large margin.
Survival - WE + S by a medium margin.
Utility - WE + S by a small margin.

WE+S win out bigtime on damage and survival, and probably come out a little ahead on utility when you consider the list as a whole: Barnabas doesn't need to hide in clouds when he can just swim in a Swamp Pit, and the Rask list is far stronger against lists that bring a lot of support pieces (PoM, Skorne, Trolls). On the whole, WE +S win by a sizable margin.

This analytical approach to building lists is of course back by solid play experience that has shown me that WE+S are pretty damn good with Barnabas and in scenario play. It is also backed by a postgraduate course on policy analysis and evaluation techniques that makes me think this way about any given problem with multiple finite alternatives.

List 3

Maelok, the Dreadbound
* Bull Snapper
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Swamp Horror 

Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts) 

Feralgeist
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Thrullg

This is the other list I am considering. It is a bit of a skew list, which asks "can you deal with 10 high-ARM, tough, undead Gators, which keep coming back and can pretty much charge anything they want for a turn?". If the answer is "yep, I have weapon masters/can rfp/have lots of ARM on my caster", then pretty much all you have left is a tough caster and unpredictable Revive assassinations against opposing squishy casters. Which is ok, all things considered.

At 50pts, you would probably be better off dropping the Feralgeist for a third Gatorman Posse to make the skew even more skewy.
 

Painting Prize

The painting prize for this tournament will be based on the best-looking large- or huge-based model. In short, I have no chance of winning this.
Gators have no huge-based model, and our four large-based heavy beasts are ugly, plain, uninpressive models lacking in outstanding detail. Sure, there are little pieces here and there like the Wrastler's shoulder pad and the Spitter's abdomen and face, but as showpiece models they don't stand a chance vs something like a Titan Bronzeback, a Judicator or a Nightmare. Ah well.

(1) Not on 15th of the month, and also not featuring George Clooney. But there are bound to be plenty of assassinations.
(2) Don't ask why, I don't really get it either. I guess 42pts is a 'thing' now.

Batrep - Rask vs Cassius 50pts

Exciting picture free battle report!

Anyway, I played against one of the highest ranked players in the country, better known to the internet as VaulSC, former Starcraft enthusiast and fellow D3 hater.

Rask
Swamp Horror
Blackhide Wrastler
2x Full Gatormans
Min. Bog Trog Ambushers
Croctor
Totem Hunter
Swamp Gobbers
Wrong Eye + Snapjaw

Running a list first time ever without a Bull Snapper. Intense stuff.

Cassius
Megalith
Woldwrath
2x Shifting Stones (one with UA)
Min Ravagers + UA (I think it was a min unit)
Full Wolfriders
1x Gallows Grove
Swamp Gobbers

Scenario was Close Quarters, aka. 'mostly non-scenario which just forces you to not gunline'. Deployment was a bit like this high definition map:


                                 [Cassius]   [Megalith] [Woldwrath]

[Wolf Riders][Grove][Stones]                            [Tharn]

                  *
---------------------------centerline------------------------------
                                                                                     *


[Blue Posse]    [WE+SJ] [Beasts]     [TH]    [Red Posse]
       [Croctor]                     [Rask and friends]


Stuff in italics is AD, the asterix are the scenario flags. There was a large forest on the left side near the centerline, and two perpendicular linear obstacles dead center, right next to an annoying rock. My two Posses are distinguished by tribal warpainting on their models and bases:

Some red, some blue...

The Wolf Riders were set up opposing the Blue Posse and Preyed them, the Tharn set up opposite the Red Posse and were in turn Preyed by the Totem Hunter. Let's go down to the field and ask our competitors what went on.

Cassius: "............... Orboros speaks through me. He loves me, and I him. His roots go deep, and we are truly one when he creeps into my..."
Rask: "Aaaaaughibbrgubugbugrguburgle!"

Thanks guys. Better get a translator for that second guy....

Turn 1

Cassius: "Onwards, scions of nature. "
Rask:  "Looking out at this horde of hairy warm blooded scum running towards me simply made me want to kill them, as a joke. I instilled my Blackhide Wrastler with an unnatural wariness for his environment and instructed him to slowly move up, followed by my Swamp Horror. After riling up a nearby Gator Posse with a sense of righteous fury (they are so easy to manipulate), I call upon the powers of the bogs to hide my forces in thick black mist. Some Gatormen to my far left were left unprotected, but they can go to hell."

Turn 2

Cassius: He shuffles Ravagers to the center, moving a chunk of them outside Red Gator threat range. The Grove teleports up to deny tough and the Wolf Riders start flinging spears at Blue Gators, killing a couple. Cassius feats.
Rask: Upkeep both spells. Send the Red Gators with pathfinder to kill some Tharn (easy with Fury), then cycle Fury onto the Totem Hunter who manages to kill the Stone UA and Ravager UA before running off behind the annoying rock. The Blue Gators get Zombified and Dirge of Mists and run into the Wolfriders, who pass their terror check. Snapjaw manages to kill a Gallows Grove, RFPing and denying Wurmwood a soul (woo!).

Turn 3

Cassius: Megalith moves up near the Wrastler, and I use Admonition to move him an inch or two forward so he is 3/4" away from Megalith and b2b with a Red Posse member, thus blocking LoS to the rest of the Posse unit and Rask. Whether this was clever or stupid, we will never know. Megalith then proceeds to Stranglehold my Wrastler, and kill the Gatorman. So the Wrastler seems pretty boned at this point.
Cassius casts Curse of Shadows on the Red Posse, allowing the remaining Ravagers to charge in and kill a few, and Woldwrath to do the same. The Wolf Riders finish off the Blue Posse, switch Prey to Snapjaw, and move up to surround the gator beast.
Rask: At this point, I have come up with what I thought was a BRILLIANT TACTICAL MANOEUVRE. I activate Rask, back up, put Fury on the Wrastler, and shoot a Ravager. The Swamp Horror then moves up behind the Wrastler, gives it Elasticity and throws it directly behind Megalith. Naturally, it contacts Megalith after 3/4" and gets knocked down. The Wrastler however is unaffected by KD, so chooses to sacrifice his movement for Stranglehold (not getting up) and makes a heap of attacks against Megalith and the last Ravager behind it. Megalith is left on few boxes thanks to some shocking attack rolls, but is finished off by the last Red Posse member.

The Totem Hunter then switches his Prey to Wolf Riders, jumps halfway across the board to kill two of them, and Sprints off to engage the other two. Wrong Eye then kills a Wolfrider and Submerges, while Snapjaw charges up to grab the enemy point.

Now that I think about it, this was probably an illegal move since the Wrastler would still have to sacrifice his movement or action due to being knocked down in its own turn. If it has used its animus, then it would be ok, but I'd have an attack less (assuming it's the attack I missed needing 4). I'd have to check. Intuitive rules interpretations have no place in wargames.... alternatively, I could have just given him reach and not thrown him, but then I wouldn't have been able to switch Prey. It would have been safer to just use reach, and have the Gatorman who killed Megalith kill the last Ravager.

EDIT: It was a legit tactic - all that happens is the Wrastler cannot stand up during the turn it was KD (unless it uses its animus). It doesn't have to sacrifice either movement or action.

Turn 4

Cassius: Cassius is now very sad to have lost Megalith. He responds by having some Stones teleport around, and then throws a monster Hellmouth in the center of the table, catching Snapjaw, the Wrastler, a bunch of his own stones, and the last Red Gator. Nothing really takes much damage, but the Woldwrath comes in and monkeystomps the Wrastler. Fortunately for me Snapjaw is just outside his reach and KD threat.
The Tharn on the left do nothing to the Totem Hunter, since Prey is everything.
Rask: This was a momentous moment in my Blindwater career. I actually managed to kill a full health Woldwrath with a Fury + Boundless Charged Horror and Snapjaw. Yay Fury! I also learned that the Crit Catastrophic Damage on the Horror's bite is INSANE vs Gargantuans. Sadly I only rolled one crit here, and it was on a branch that was pretty much gone, hence I only did 2 pts of damage out of a potential 14 or so. Sadface.
Totem Hunter finishes off the Wolf Riders and Preys Cassius.

Sorry, Wurmwood.

Turn 5

Cassius: He concedes, since I have two heavies, Wrong Eye and Rask with 6 sacrificial targets, and he has Cassius, some Swamp Gobbers, and some Shifting Stones.

Conclusions?

- Unlike my last test game with Rask vs Khador, Inhospitable Ground did absolutely NOTHING here, so I never used it. It's one of those spells.
- Fury is amazing. Like an answer to Blindwater prayers. Much like the Razorboar was an answer to Thornfall prayers.
- I thought I would really miss the Snapper, but I didn't. In fact, I was swimming in fury half the game and nothing to do with it. In two games, no-one has attempted an assassination at Rask nor have I had him take a single point of damage.
- Having Ambushers not ambush seems like a massive points sink. They are so bad when they don't ambush, and literally do nothing except stay within 5" of Rask the whole game. Gimme Shamblers please.
- Hellmouth is a hell of a spell.

More on Rask after I've  played a bunch more games (ie. about a month)