Building a list for this caster was a challenge. He requires so many elements to function that it's difficult to fit them all in, even at 50pts. After spending a fair amount of time on Forward Kommander I did the unthinkable and abandoned my heavies, and was able to settle on this:
Vice Scrutator Vindictus
- Repenter
- Repenter
- Hierophant
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Exemplar Cinerators (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts)
- Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer
Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
The Covenant of Menoth
The Wrack (3 wracks)
Vassal of Menoth
Jay brought:
Dawnlord Vyros
- Griffon
- Griffon
- Manticore
- Manticore
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts)
- Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard
- Soulless Escort
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Arcanist
Arcanist
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen
House Shyeel Artificer
Mage Hunter Assassin
Mage Hunter Assassin
Note that this is 51pts and that Jay is a cheater (Or did you only bring one Arcanist? I think I remember two power boosts, but I'm not really sure)
We rolled for scenario and got Destruction. As this was the last scenario that Jay had played and one I had played frequently, we decided to roll again. This time the dice decided we would play Diversion. Crap. A radial scenario. Deploying this many infantry is always a challenge. Having to squeeze them all into a radial deployment is something I hadn't considered at all. I was also expecting Jay to take Ravyn or Ossy, so I was going into this rather blind. Yay.
I win the roll off and decide to go first. Deployment looks like:
- Vindi front and center
- Hierophant at his side
- Zealots ready to run at the starting line
- A full unit of KE on each side of Vindi behind the Zealots.
- Cinnerators lining up next
- Monks tucked in between Cinnerators and KE.
- In the next row, Covenant center, Repenters on the flanks
- finally choir and Vassal
Turn 1
- Decide I don't need to pull from the wracks or run the Jacks.
- Hierophant gives harmonious exaltation to Vindictus
- Vindictus moves up and to the side in order to grab the zone next turn, casts Defender's Ward on the Zealots, and True Path. Sits on 2 focus.
- Zealots run up middle, 14" or so with Truth Path. Cinnerators behind.
- KEs take flanks.
- Eiryss and Gorman on one side, A&H and a Monk on the other, one Monk in the middle.
Turn 2
- Sents up front a few inches outside of the zone
- Eiryss, A&H, and MHA move to deal with Gorman. Dragoon
- Heavies in the center, lights take flanks. Manticore laydown covering fire.
- Vyros and support in the rear
Turn 3
- Forget to pull from the Wracks, drop DW, none to the Jacks.
- Hiero HEs.
- Vindi touches the flag, casts DW on the Cinnies, and True Path.
- Zealots pop minifeat and run through the covering fire, to the other side of the zone, engaging as much as Jay's stuff as possible. Lockdown in place.
- Cinnies and KE move up to deal with the Jacks when they come trampling through to contest the zone.
Turn 4
- Eiryss, A&H, and MHA all kill themselves some KE.
- Jacks go trampling through to contest the zone, killing a KE.
- Sents kill a KE
- Griffon fully loaded on focus goes after Aiyanna hiding behind some crates, can't score the 11 to hit.
Turn 5
- Forget to pull from the Wracks, forget to upkeep DW, none to the Jacks.
- Hiero HEs.
- Vindi touches the flag, casts DW on the Cinnies, and True Path.
- deja vu
- Flanking monk charges and kills two Sents to free up...
- Lady A swings around within the reach of the Griffon to engage a Manticore and kisses it.
- KE are mad as hell. P+S 14, effectively 16 with kiss. First one puts 15 points on the Manticore. Second does another heavy hit.
- Cinnerators charge in to finish off the kissed heavy and put serious damage on the other. Rolling fire.
- Gorman looks around confused, he should have rust bombed a heavy.
- Eiryss takes a shot at remaining heavy. Engaged but an easy shot with its movement busted, she puts four points on it.
- Center Monk charges in to finish off the second Manticore.
- With the Zealots and second unit of KE left to activate, Jay concedes.
Color me impressed. I was absolutely astonished by the damage output of the KE. They hit harder than warjacks, for half the price. The Cinnerators were less impressive but still, I can see their worth. Zealots worked perfectly to lock out the scenario. It was brutal.
Can't wait to try the list against a more standard Ret list in a less favorable scenario, like killbox, to see how I fare. Also want to try him out against Cryx. If he pans out, he'll replace eFeora and allow me to make some changes to my Harbinger list to better deal with armor.
-next day-
Thinking of some changes to make to the list. I really do want to include a heavy to make the list more well rounded. A unit of Daughters would work amazingly well with Defender's Ward and True Path, so I definitely want to include them.
Thinking more on the Cinnerators, it seems like they were the biggest point block that brought the least to my army. Their medium bases and lack of reach prevented me from getting them in where I wanted them to in the sea of small base models. While it worked out okay with my string of lucky rolls, I can't rely on that. Dropping the Cinnerators for a Reckoner would be a straight swap that solves the heavy problem, gives more a more concentrated and higher damage melee output, and a ranged attack with debuff. Cinnerators have better anti-infantry abilities and can stop tramples but I don't think those are abilities that will come up too often with how jammy the list is.
Dropping the second Repenter frees up 4 of the 5 points needed for the Daughters. Hiro is basically the same thing as the wracks I forgot all game, so I can drop him to gain +1 overall with no change in effectiveness. As I already have wracks, I can max out the Choir for more free focus or take a mechanic to repair any shooting damage the jacks have taken on the way up. I think I'll go with Choir. Alternatively, I could try to free up a point somewhere else to get the Daughter's UA, the Piper. DEF is delicious but may be putting too many eggs in one basket. Think I'll wait to see how this list does first. All in all I have:
-next day-
Thinking of some changes to make to the list. I really do want to include a heavy to make the list more well rounded. A unit of Daughters would work amazingly well with Defender's Ward and True Path, so I definitely want to include them.
Thinking more on the Cinnerators, it seems like they were the biggest point block that brought the least to my army. Their medium bases and lack of reach prevented me from getting them in where I wanted them to in the sea of small base models. While it worked out okay with my string of lucky rolls, I can't rely on that. Dropping the Cinnerators for a Reckoner would be a straight swap that solves the heavy problem, gives more a more concentrated and higher damage melee output, and a ranged attack with debuff. Cinnerators have better anti-infantry abilities and can stop tramples but I don't think those are abilities that will come up too often with how jammy the list is.
Dropping the second Repenter frees up 4 of the 5 points needed for the Daughters. Hiro is basically the same thing as the wracks I forgot all game, so I can drop him to gain +1 overall with no change in effectiveness. As I already have wracks, I can max out the Choir for more free focus or take a mechanic to repair any shooting damage the jacks have taken on the way up. I think I'll go with Choir. Alternatively, I could try to free up a point somewhere else to get the Daughter's UA, the Piper. DEF is delicious but may be putting too many eggs in one basket. Think I'll wait to see how this list does first. All in all I have:
Vice Scrutator Vindictus
- Repenter
- Reckoner
Choir of Menoth (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Daughters of the Flame (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer
Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist
Allegiant of the Order of the Fist
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
The Covenant of Menoth
The Wrack (3 wracks)
Vassal of Menoth
Hmm. That looks much nicer than last night's list. AD on the Daughters and losing the big, slow Cinnerators and the wants-to-activate-first Hierophant should really clean up deployment and reduce the number of times I block my own charges. Digging it.
