24.04.2022 – 2d6 Steamroller 2022-2, Game 2
Second game and my opponent is rocking Karchev2 Jaws and Vlad3 WoOF. This was exactly the reason why I had brought Fiona in my list pair so I have to drop her, but I am a bit worried of potentially facing a Judicator with HoF if my opponent decides to drop Vlad3. Lucky for me it seems like he is basically just one-listing K2D2 this tournament so I get to stress test Fiona in the matchup. In theory this should be as good as an answer I can muster since I have a good mix of ARM debuffs and control elements in my list.
Fiona
- Mangler
- Mariner
Nemo4
- Freebooter
Gaspy4
- Shrike
Kayazy Eliminators
Commodore cannon
Boomhowler1
Hutchuk
Anastasia
Hermit
vs
Karchev2
- 2x Kodiak
- 3x Juggernaut
- Marauder
- Berserker
Sorcha0
- Rager
2x Kayazy Eliminators
Alexia1
Deployment
I win the roll-off and take a moment to consider if I want to go first or choose sides. Except for feat turn the Khador version of this list is famously slow, but at the same time this scenario isn’t one you get locked out of very easily since there are no defensive scoring elements like there are on most of the other scenarios (except Invasion which we played in the first round of the tournament). On the other hand the terrain setup on this map is quite interesting with the top side having almost all the terrain pieces except one giant forest in the middle. There is a nice building centrally which could be used to hide Fiona for an aggressive feat or as an anchor for a contesting model for the flag. At the same time there is a lot of movement restrictions on the top side, and my opponent barely has any shooting so I wouldn’t need all that defensive terrain. But for my opponent the buildings could be used to give cover and to protect against Befuddle.
In the end I decide that since there are pros and cons to each of the sides may as well just go first and let my opponent take the decision. He decides to take the top side.
Turn 1A
I just run up full steam without a care in the world. I actually need to pace myself a bit with the Freebooter so that he doesn’t accidentally run outside of Nemo’s control range.
Turn 1B
Opponent uses some clever tactics with the Kayazy Eliminators to stop Befuddle. This was standard anti-Druid tech back in MkII and watching my opponent bring this trick to the table makes me nostalgic. The Kodiak on the right side takes a very wide path around his own forest, leaving him open for a sneak attack from my two ambushers.
Turn 2A
I hmm and huh for a while on how much I want to send in, but ultimately decide that I need to go for the throat and hope that my feat can keep enough stuff alive to have a long game. The Freebooter, Commondore cannon and Nemo module easily takes care of the Marauder on the left hand side. On the right hand side I manage to destroy the Kodiak between Hutchuck, Anastasia, Shrike and the two Eliminators. It is at effective ARM 18 after rust and death shroud, so this was pretty much just a 50-50 chance.
In the center I got too greedy, though. I decide to Curse of Veils the Death Warded Juggernaut and then try to Chasten away the Death Ward. However, I fail to damage it so DW stays on. This means that it is still sitting at ARM 22. Gaspy and Gudrun2 go in on the Kodiak and fail to even kill that. I should have played it safe and instead just cursed the Kodiak to guarantee that at least that went down.
I also make a huge mistake in not measuring Gaspy’s position properly. He is currently a millimeter out of 12” from Fiona, which means that Karchev can reach him with his 2” melee weapon and still be outside of Fiona’s feat.
Turn 2B
Due to my position mistake with Gaspy it is a pretty simple turn for my opponent just to kill Gaspy with Karchev and get as much work done as possible on the Boomhowers. Sure enough Gaspy goes down and I lose a couple of Boomies to the Kodiak’s Vent steam and Kayazy Eliminators. On the right hand side my opponent sends in the Berserker on the objective and a Thrall to possibly clear the Kayazy who is contesting, but both survive comfortably. No CP are scored for either player.
Turn 3A
I am of course sad that Gaspy died so easily, but in the grand scheme of things I don’t think it cost me much more than maybe a couple of Boomhowlers. A fact that is made up for by Nemo rolling a max for three reinforcements! Otherwise I just keep chugging along cleaning out the Berserker in my zone and finishing off the Kodiak with some shooting.
Score 1-0
Turn 3B
Another turn of grinding for my opponent. I actually end up in a position where I can use Roth’s Mercy to deny Meat for the Beast, which is nice but not something I should count on in every game. My opponent is a but unfortunate and forgets to activate the Kayazy Eliminators. I have been sacking off most of my Boomhowlers except Greygore himself and two grunts, one of which is sitting in the left zone. Had he remembered the Kayazy he could have been able to wipe the unit and score the zone.
Score 1-0
Turn 4A
I am running a bit low on time so I try and quickly rush through my turn. Nemo and the cannon shoot out the objective and push the Juggernaut out of the zone. Fiona arcs a soulfire at the Kayazy sitting in the far left of the zone. This allows me to run the Mangler up to score. I easily clear the right zone to score three points. Nemo rolls max reinforcements again.
Score 4-1
Turn 4B
Karchev feats and finally manages to grind through the Boomhowler unit except the one dude who was out of command over on the right. Luckily he does not manage to clear the entire central zone, but he does destroy my objective for one point.
Score 4-1
Turn 5A
I only need to score two points to win, but there is only a minute and a half left on the clock. My plan is to use Nemo to push the Juggernaut out of the zone and then clear the right side to score both rectangles. However, I mess up the Nemo placement and end up bumping the Juggernaut into the Kayazy. This burns through a lot of my clock. I have to resort to Plan B and Befuddle the Juggernaut out of the zone with Fiona instead. Unfortunately the clock starts beeping, signaling that there is only 10 seconds left. I clock over at 9 seconds, but have not been able to clear the right hand side so I only score one point.
Score 5-1
Turn 5B
Since I never activated the Mangler it is still Stationary from a critical hit the previous round, so the Juggernaut receives Boundless charge from Sorcha0 and smacks Fiona to death.
Sadly, a loss for the Mercenaries
:: Evaluation ::
A great game, but I am really disappointed that I wasted my time and didn’t have just one more minute to clear the last zone. An onlooker pointed out that I could have just gone for the Befuddle play to begin with and probably have enough time to clear the zone. He is of course right, but annoyingly I had completely zoomed in on the Nemo play in my head. But this caused me to burn activations with the Arcane mechanics, Nemo’s pre-activation thing and ultimately figuring out the angle that I messed up (and even rolling for damage). That means I move on to the loser’s bracket, but at least I have learned that the matchup is playable for Fiona. The complete MVPs this game were the Boomhowlers who succeeded to gum up the works in the center and even hold the left zone thanks to Roth’s Mercy. Of course it didn’t hurt that Nemo recurred six trolls during the course of the game and the old school tough while knocked down is always going to be frustrating for the opponent to deal with.