Bat Reps with Batman

Just thought I would post a little something since I haven't posted in a while. I have an upcoming post regarding my thoughts on faction identity in a post-CoC world in the works, from which I am being continually distracted by work, uni, having to make dinner, trolling my guinea pig, vacuuming, staring blankly at the stars, and basically anything that could take priority over this blog (first world problems)...

An excellent tool for bat reps

Game 1

First game was against my regular Ret opponent, but we decided to faction switch since Rask is more or less a perfect match-up vs Ret, given that Gatorman warlocks are very difficult to kill, Gatormans shred Ret infantry without the slightest bit of care, are extremely resilient to their puny counter attacks, and are only really threatened by three things:

1. Problem: Getting shot to bits by Stormfall Archers/ Invictors/ Ossyan's feat on the advance.
   Solution: Dark Waters (feat).
2. Problem: Getting sliced up by Sentinels (Vengeance especially sucks when you have no guns).
   Solution: Inhospitable Ground.
3. Problem: ARM stack.
   Solution: Fury.

Boom. Barnabas does very well against Ret as well, but lacks solution #3 with the advent of Hyperion (can't throw Colossals into Swamp Pits).

Anyway, I decided to play the following list:

Vyros, Incissar of the Dawnguard (*5pts)
* Hyperion (18pts)
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard (2pts)
* Soulless Escort (1pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)

vs a pretty standard Rask 35 list (2 Full Posse, Swamp Horror, Snapper, Min Trogs, filler solos). Scenario was Outflank (the one with the 2 centered zones).

Nothing of great interest happened. I lost after losing all the Sentinels, then losing Hyperion over a few turns, then losing on scenario (5-3). We've come to the conclusion that outside the Griffon spam list, eVyros is straight-up bad. Maybe not quite Calaban-bad, but bad. He is also really boring, and I have no idea why he has two really cruddy nukes in Lock the Target and Twister. Synergy however, is really quite nice when you have a super-tanky caster with ride-by attacks and very good 4pt reach lights.

In conclusion, Rask is sweet.

Game 2

Second game was against Pigmans with Midas:

Midas (*5pts)
* Bone Swarm (4pts)
* Gun Boar (5pts)
* Razor Boar (2pts) x4
* Road Hog (9pts)
* Targ (2pts)
Farrow Bone Grinders (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts) x3
Farrow Slaughterhousers (Leader and 5 Grunt) (6pts)
+ pre-destroyed War Hog

This tier list is just bananas. The only thing you lose is Saxon Orrik, and you get legitimately good tanky Boneswarms, advanced move, a free warbeast... good thing it's Pigs or it'd be broken.

I played a stock-standard Barnabas 35 list, having not played Barnabas in what seems like months, with the Thrullg as my filler solo to help deal with grinders and Bad Blood. I ended up winning on scenario (also Outflank).

Some highlights:

• Wrastler RFPs with Snacking! Yay! I managed to kill a KDed Road Hog using all 7 Wrastler attacks (yay pillow fists!) and RFP it so it doesn't come back with the feat or give fury to Midas! Yay!
  But of course, I now remember that you only RFP with Snacking if you are damaged and are able to heal yourself after with kill. Which, might I say, is a really stupid design probably conceived to douche Trolls. And evidently I cheated.
• The majority of my Posses were one-shot by charging Razor Boars - because boosted POW 10s reliably kill DEF 13/16, ARM 18, 8 wound models (that's a roll of 15 on 3d6 - little under 10% chance, not counting to-hit rolls).
• Midas killing the Wrastler by Hex Blasting Spiny Growth off, then slicing it up with a couple of attacks. No problem. Curse is a pretty amazing ability. God help us if a high ARM weapon master stealth solo ever got it.
• Midas casting Calamity on a full health Spitter, feating to bring back the tierlist War Hog, who then proceeds to 3 shot this full health Spitter with no boosts or additional attacks. Pretty much rolling a total of 28 on 6 dice - that's a little under 6% chance for you probability wizards out there. For the rest of you, that is what we call total BS.
• Boneswarm tanking a couple of Posse and killing two over the game, barely taking damage. Turns out +3 STR and ARM are pretty good buffs! Thanks PP for giving that to Pigs rather than Gators. Very sweet. Really makes that tier4 Maelok with three Boneswarms at one token each look legit.
• I did not accept an offer to scoop after Barnabas got a counter-charge off, which would have set up a charge on Midas next turn. Instead he managed to jam up the gap with Slaughterhousers who made tough rolls to deny my charge and douche me.
• The Thrullg lived! - he managed to kill two Slaughterhouses, a few Bonegrinders with the Arcane Consumption aura, and get me my first scenario point.

The moral of the story is, you can win games in the face of flaming hot dice, and your opponent can scoop no matter how well he is doing. My advice:  

ALWAYS ACCEPT THE SCOOP. 

It is the most enriching of victories.


Will hopefully have a more controversial, entertaining and opinionated blog up by the end of next week :)