Kommandant Sorscha Kratikoff (Sorscha3) vs. Baldur the Stonecleaver (Baldur1)

The great Devourer is once again sending its Tharn spawn into Khador territory. Last time that happened, Irusk and his Winter Guards were dispatched. That turned out to be a terrible idea. So, this time Sorscha and her sturdy Man-O-Wars are send to intercept. It turns into a bloody battle far better than the last encounter. Yet, at some point Baldur is allowed to to pull off his famous forest walking assassination run. 

The Great Devourer is stirring. Baldur is bringing his Tharn out of the woods and into Khador territory. I have seen a lot of Tharn, but recently only Baldur a few times. Iona has been quite popular for some time. I have faced Tharn once before under Iona’s command. That time Irusk brought his Winter Guards. That was a really bad idea (for battle report see here). This time Sorscha is called upon to bring her fellow Man-O-Wars. A description of Sorscha’s list can be found here. These are the two opposing forces (pre-Oblivion): 

Devourer’s Host with a huge bunch of Tharns is the new black for Circle. Recently, Iona has been the choice of warlock. But Baldur the Stonecleaver (Baldur1) is also popular on and off. The theme gives all models that can gain Corpses one Corpse to begin with. It also give a unit of Bloodweavers Ambush. But that is not relevant here.

Baldur1 is one of the old stable warlocks in Circle. On paper he is a Construct’s best friend. However, this time he only brought living beasts. He is perhaps best know for his forest walking assassination. It combines his ability to place a forest anywhere within 12″ through the spell Rapid Growth, and his build in ability to Forest Walk between two forests. He does pack to additional powerful spells: Solid Ground, which we are familiar with through Irusk2 (no knockdown and immune to blast within 12″); and Stone Skin, which gives a unit +2 ARM and STR, and -1 SPD and DEF. That will probably go on one of the Ravagers. Finally, he has Earth Spike, which does damage in a 3″ AOE and knockdown. His feat is primarily there to get his troops to the enemy, whilst hindering the enemy. It gives Cover and Pathfinder to to his models, whilst enemy model can never have Pathfinder. All of this within 12″.

The battlegroup consists of Ghetorix and Loki, and Baldur also has a Tharn Blood Shaman attached. The latter is there primarily for Harmonious Exaltation (allows the warlock to cast one spell at a COST reduction of 1), and Spell Slave, which allows the Shaman to cast Earth Spikes.

Ghetorix is hardest hitting warbeast available. As all Warpwolves, he can warp in each round. He can choose between Murderous (same a Beast ’09), Snacking to heal when he kills stuff, and Strength for +2 to STR. His Animus is Spiny Growth that give +2 ARM. Finally, he has Rapid Healing giving him d3 boxes back whenever damage. All in all he could be ARM 19 (effectively 21 due to rapid healing), 30 boxes, one P+S 19 and one P+S 16 , MAT 7 and can touch things 11″ away. All of this without any help from the outside.

The second warbeast is Loki. He is a slightly better, at least different Warpwolf than the Feral. He can warp for +2 STR, ignore Cover and Concealment when shooting, and can’t be targeted by CRA, CMA and no back strike bonus. What he has going for him is being a Shield Guard and being able to shoot and drag things from 8″ away.

Baldur is obviously bringing two units of Tharn Ravagers, including UA. They are really a steal for just 15 point for six of them (20 including the CA). Add all the bells and whistles, and they become quite fearsome. They naturally have Pathfinder and Treewalker (ignore forest for LOS and DEF 15 against melee), they are Circle after all. They also have Heart Eater allowing them to collect Corpse Tokens, which then can be used to buy or boost. They can gain and use in the same activation (I generally think gaining and using in the same activation is too good). The Theme gives them one token each to begin with. The main game breaker is the combination of Tough and Rapid Healing, combined with the Solid Ground spell from Baldur for no knockdown. They are then very close to impossible to get rid of. The Tharns heal after every single attack! Finally, they also have Vengeance and the mini-feat giving them overtake. They can basically surf through almost anything, in particular under feat. I just hope they can’t do Man-O-War surfing.

One can’t go to a party and only bring beefy men. So Baldur is also bringing a unit of Tharn Bloodtrackers, including Nuala. The Bloodtrackers are fast and stealthy. They have Advance Deployment to get them near the enemy, Reposition to get away again, and  they can clear out their enemies due to Weapon Master on their Spears and Prey. When they throw their spears at their prey there is basically no chance of missing (in a list of DEF 10 stuff). The will hit at an average damage of 22 points. This makes them rather dangerous against e,g. the Bombardiers and Demolition Corps (only ARM 16). Two can kill one Man-O-War. There are 11 of them. So, they can clear an entire unit in one round!

The final unit is ubiquitous Boil Master and Cauldron. The crocodile and his pot generally does two things: makes corpses and gives them away (within 5″). On rare occasions it might do a Puppet Master just to allow a reroll.

Baldur brings three solos: Lord of the Feast, a White Mane, and a single Wolf Rider Champion. The former still shouldn’t be free. He basically just kills a lot. The combination of the Lord threatening at least 16″ in weird direction (please note that this match is before he had his reach reduced to a much more sensible 1″, and the raven’s range went down to 8″) and being able to take out most things with Corpes Tokens, which he can be filled up with by the Cauldron. He needs to die, quickly – but of course has Stealth. The White Mane is a much more pleasant solo (but again, compared to LotF everything is more pleasant). He gives Ravagers +1 to their attack rolls (which doesn’t really matter here). Besides that he is medium hard hitting solo, which does have Countercharge. Finally, a single Wolf Rider Champion has arrived. These are really fast jumping cavalry. They can reach something 13″ away through charging. They will probably always end up in the back arc, as they can make a 5″ jump before attacking. Being in the back arc really hurts. Despite having only a P+S 9 weapon, they can manage to roll five dice. 3 for a charge, 1 for Weapon Master, and one for Backstab. It translates into 27 points of damage on the average. Just for fun they can also do three attacks (72 points of damage on a charge run). With a bit of clever jumping one Champion should be able to kill two Man-O-Wars. After all the killing it can Reposition for 5″.

All in all, I have never really be able to handle Tharn in Devourer’s Host. My best guess is still Sorscha3 and Armored Corps. Nevertheless, this is not going to be easy.

We are playing pre-Oblivion Steamroller 2018 Standoff. Sorscha won the roll-off and opted to go first. We both chose the Stockpile objective (remove d3 point of damage within 4″).

Sorscha deployed the Demolitions Corps on the left flank (first error, it should have been the Bombardiers, as they can do Pathfinder), along with one of the Suppression Tankers. On the right flank the Bombardiers and a Suppression Tanker deploys in a similar pattern. The Shocktroopers goes in the middle in Shield Wall screening Sorscha who is right behind them. All the rest goes in the back.

Circle deploys in a very traditional way. A unit of Ravagers goes on each flank. All the rest in the middle. The Bloodtrackers goes on the left flank, putting pray on the Demolition Corps. Finally, Lord of the Feast goes in the middle. The two latter use the Advance Deployment. The picture above depicts the end of deployment, including the Advance Move by the Man-O-Wars. 

Sorscha needs to get her troops forward to have a chance of actually charging some of the Ravagers. She starts by moving forward behind the Shocktroopers. She then casts Iron Flesh on the Shocktroopers and Stoke the Fires on the Kodiak. The Kodiak moves up and the Demolition Corps falls in behind it. The leftmost Tanker runs into the woods. Sorscha now assumes that the Kodiak and Tanker will offer some protection to the Demolition Corps against the Bloodtrackers.

The Konvik moves up and gives Desperate pace to the Shocktroopers, who then moves forward in Shield Wall. The rightmost Tanker moves in between to Shocktroopers and the house, closely followed by Beast. On the right flank the Bombardiers move forward. Hoping that Lord of the Feast won’t kill them all. Mechaniks tag along the front line.

Baldur begins by casting Solid Ground. He then moves forward, put a forest in continuation of the existing forest, casts Stone Skin on the Bloodtrackers and feats. The pot does it corpse thing and fills Lord of the Feast up. On the left flank the Bloodtrackers just move forward and spread us, with a unit of Ravagers close behind. The other unit of Ravagers move up on the other flank. Everybody else just move forward. Lord of the Feast does his feasting and through a combination of charging, raven, teleporting, thresher and corpses removes all the Bombardiers save one. I don’t like whining, but Lord of the Feast in his current incarnation is simply a negative game experience. The picture above depicts the end of round 1.

So far Sorscha is already in trouble. Lord of the Feast once again does his think and takes out a whole unit of Man-O-Wars. Besides that, it is actually not as bad as I had feared. Let’s see if the mighty Man-O-Wars can do anything in round 2.

Luckily, most of Sorscha’s army is outside Baldur’s feat area. Sorscha upkeeps Iron Flesh and allocates nothing. In the middle, the Shocktroopers continue their slow and steady advance in Shield Wall. Sorscha moves up behind the objective, casts Stoke the Fire on the Kodiak and feats. 6 clouds appear, which she puts in front of her army to keep the evil Tharn at bay.

On the left flank, the Kodiak moves forward slightly in front of the Shocktroopers, primarily to threaten anything getting too close with a counter charge. Atanas moves up and puts Unstoppable Fury on the Demolition Corps, who then divides and moves up behind the Kodiak and the Shocktroopers. The tanker moves to the front of the forest. For some obscure reason it does not put down Covering Fire. 

On the right flank, the remaining Bombardier and the Tanker gangs up on Lord of the Feast and removes him. All the rest basically just moves forward. The Bombardier gets a little TLC from one of the Mechaniks. The picture above depicts the end of Sorscha’s turn.

Baldur upkeeps Solid Ground. On the left flank, the Bloodtrackers advances and throw spears at the Tanker until it goes down. The Ravagers just advance. Baldur then activates and cycles Stone Skin onto Ghetorix. Who then proceeds to walk up and wrecks the Kodiak. The Wolf Champion somehow ends up in the middle of the Man-O-Wars, where it damages one of the Demolition Corps, triggering Vengeance.

On the right flank the Ravagers move up, partly into the zone and partly in front of the Shocktroopers whom they ding a little. I’m so happy that Sorscha’s clouds denied them a charge. All the rest just moves forward. Baldur manages to score one point for his zone, whilst the Wolf Champion is contesting Sorscha’s. This leaves scenario score at 1-0 in Baldur’s favour. The picture above depicts the end of the second round.

Round 3 and Sorscha is actually managing far better than I had hoped for. The feat did pretty well, and for some reason Baldur is playing somewhat defensive. 

The objective starts by repairing one of the Shocktroopers. Then the Vengeance move for the Demolition Corps allows them to take out the Wolf Rider, put a dent in Ghetorix, and kill one of the Bloodtrackers who were in the way. Sorscha upkeeps Iron Flesh and allocates one to Beast. She then activates, puts Stoke the Fire on Beast, casts Winter’s Wrath on two Ravagers and remains behind the objective.

On the left flank, the Mechaniks move up and do a bit of repairing of the Demolition Corps. Felling fresh and well oiled they issue a Press Forward. Most of them goes into Ghetorix, whilst one of them hits the Ravagers. They proceed to kill Ghetorix but none of the Ravagers. Dragos Bond of Brotherhood.

On the right flank, the Shocktroopers remove two Ravagers, and the Bombardiere Tanker combo also take out one. Beast moves into position. Atanas puts Unstoppable Fury on the Demolition Corps. All others just move forward.

One of the Demolition guys manage to toe Baldu’s zone to contest. This means that Sorscha scores one point and Baldur none. Scenario score is now 1-1. The picture above shows the end of Sorscha’s turn.

Baldur is now in revenge mood. He upkeeps Solid Ground. He then activates and cycle Stone Skin onto Loki. On the left side, the Bloodtrackers move in a half circle behind the Demolition Corps and shoots some of them to death. Loki moves forward and cleans up the rest. On the right flank, the Ravagers charge everything and take out half the Shocktroopers, the last Bombardier, and the Tanker. Beast would have liked to couter charge, but Baldur is clever and engages him with the first Ravager charge. That was a serious clean up. Baldur scores two points and Sorscha scores one. This leaves the scenario score at 3-2 in Baldur’s favour. The picture above shows the end of round 3.

I think Sorscha is in trouble. Not as much as I feared, but still. The left flank is completely lost. However, there might be hope for the right flank.

The objective heals one of the Shocktroopers. Sorscha upkeeps Iron Flesh. It is axe to face time. Beast charges into the rightmost Ravangers and manages to kill two of them. The Shocktroopers also charge and remove one more Ravager. Rapid Healing, Tough and no knockdown is a bitch. Atanas and his Standard needs to get into the fray as well. Atanas charges the Ravagers, and the Standard charges Loki to keep him occupied. He also puts Heroic Call on Sorscha. There are still Ravagers. The Kovnik charges in. Still the same. Sorscha needs to assist and also charges in. Finally, there are no more Ravagers on the right flank. The left most Mechaniks just stay put. The rightmost moves into the right zone. This turn Baldur scores two points and Sorscha only one. Scenario is now 5-3 in Baldur’s favour. The picture above shows the end of Sorscha’s turn.

Sorscha might have made a small error. She stepped into a forest. Before Baldur notices this, the Bloodtrackers remove a few Mechaniks. Then he notices. Baldur does his forest walking assassination. He casts Rapid Growth where he is. He then Forest Walks to the forest Sorscha is in. He then smashes her in the head with Tritus and knocks her down. From there it is an easy run. Sorscha is history. With her dying breath she actually manages to score two more scenario point, and Baldur none. The game ends at a scenario score of 5-5. That is a kind of consolation. The picture above depicts the end of the game.

All in all, the game actually went better than I had expected. I think I only made two and a half major errors. I should have put the Bombardiers on the left flank to take advantages of the forest there, and I should not have put Sorscha in a wood. If I hadn’t there might theoretically been a chance of using the right flank to get to Baldur. The half error was to sacrifice the Bombardiers to Lord of the Feast. However, in his current incarnation I can’t seen how to get around that.

Until next time.

For the Motherland!