BLOODFIRE 47-48: RATKIN & OGRES

On July 31, 2023December 8, 2023 By SalvageIn BLOODFIRELeave a comment

Pilgrimage reports are coming, I promise 😅 In the meantime, here’s another practice game double-header to tide you over. While I couldn’t make the Unplugged GT this year, I was happy to oblige my clubmates with some smashy practice. This was all the excuse I needed to bust out the Bloodfire redux I’ve been poking at …

GAME 47: RATKIN

SALAMANDERS 1995
Fire Elementals Horde
Fire Elementals Horde
Fire Elementals Horde
Fire Elementals Regiment
Fire Elementals Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ember Sprites Regiment
Ghekkotah Slasher – tox bolts
Ghekkotah Slasher – tox bolts
Mage Priest – Crown of the Wizard King; Surge (8), Host Shadowbeast (3)
Clan Lord on Raptor
Clan Lord on Raptor

The recent buffs to the Slasher have me very excited, especially since I was already going to include them before they got US2 😉 Tox bolts is a ridiculous upgrade solidly in my wheelhouse, and you’ve already seen me messing with host firebeast and Raptor Lords. My list building habits have changed a bit since I started Bloodfire in 2E, along with the meta I reckon, as thick chaff have become a popular and rewarding way to play the game. This first game sees me trying out 2x Fire regiments for the first time. Minor spoilers, I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them! Woefully slow, not particularly tough, and not particularly fighty unless they can grab a flank. But five regiments to get in the way and/or play scenario is a better feel than yet another fire horde.

RATKIN 1995
Shock Troops Horde – Plague Pots, Heavy Halberds
Shock Troops Horde – Plague Pots
Nightmares Horde
Warriors Horde
Tunnel Runners Regiment – Brew of Sharpness
Clawshots Troop
Clawshots Troop
Vermintide Regiment
Mutant Rat-Fiend
The Tangle [1] – Bane Chant (1+), Fireball (10+), Mind Fog (1+), Weakness (1+)
Brood Mother – Blight Staff, Drain Life (5)
War Chief – Aura (Vicious (Melee) – Infantry Only)

I’m not 100% that Cory had sharpness on the Tunnel Runners but that’s how I’d run them and the points work out. He may have had Strider Boots and 20 points of something on the heroes. Regardless, Cory took rats to Unplugged and had been grinding through different iterations of the list. This is actually not what he ended up taking – he went with the more typical Scud and Cryza and double Nightmares and less infantry overall, as he was struggling to get all the infantry hordes to be relevant. Spoilers again.

We rolled up Salt the Earth, which was good practice as Bloodfire isn’t good at Pillage games and I’m personally bad at burning tokens. Rats go first because Clawshots?

BATTLE

Battlelines! Ratkin Warriors are the horde to the left (with the stalagmites) and the Shock Troops on the right have phalanx. I scout up my Ember Sprites, staying within inspiring range.

Turn 1: The rats skitter forward, with Clawshots punching 3 damage into the right Slasher. The wall of sentient flame oozes closer in response, before Ember Sprites singe the Vermintide for 2 damage. Then I hot hand tox bolts on 6+ to hit into some Clawshots, removing one unit 😉

Turn 2: Ratkin wrap the left flank in, sending the Vermintide into Ember Sprites to be annoying before they burn to death. They do 4 damage to their fellow swarm. The surviving Clawshots punch another damage into the looming right Slasher, and Nightmares blast off the leftmost Ember Sprites.

In response, a Fire Elemental regiment flanks and immolates the Vermintide (surge may have been involved), but not until another round of 6+ to hit tox bolts slams the other Clawshots for 5 damage, wavering them 😀 I am loving these things, but Cory doesn’t necessarily share my joy.

Turn 3: The ratty center backs up as the flank swings in further, with the Warrior horde nuzzling up against a wall. Nightmares shoot 3 damage into the left Fire Elemental reg.

With rats still in charge range, I figured now is as good a time as ever to get stuck in. I triple charge the right Shock Troops horde with a Fire horde, a Fire reg and Ember Sprites, and use surge to block up the other Shock Troops with the remaining Ember Sprites (who also burn 3 damage into the horde before being magically scooted forward). The triple charge results in a decent 12 damage. I also send the left Fire reg into the Nightmares for some amount of damage (and a disorder), with a Raptor Lord into their Brood Mom for 2 damage (and a disorder).

Turn 4: Ratty retaliation is swift and deadly. The Warrior horde (hindered) flanks the Raptor Lord, driving him off despite 6+ to hit (Brood Mom only helped so much), shortly before the Nightmares clubbed the Fire Elemental reg to goo. On the hill, the unengaged Shock Troops splattered some Ember Sprites with the War Chief’s help, and the right Shock Troops chunk 10 damage into the Fire horde thanks to bane chant from the Tangle. Finally, the Tunnel Runners toe onto the lower left hill, although I’m not certain their leader point was on or not? Also the Clawshots tag another 2 damage on the right Slasher (6 total).

Bloodfire, smash! The mangled Fire horde finishes off the heavily damaged Shock Troop horde, turning to face the other Shock Troops as the Fire reg blocks the Mutant Rat-Fiend. Meanwhile a fresh Fire horde plows into those Shock Troops, punching them to 11 damage with the help of some friendly Ember Sprites and scoring a waver! Which won’t mean much because Tangle but still! The third Fire horde slams into the Nightmares but only manages a statistically expected 7 damage. Last but not least, the tox bolt party kicks up again as one Slasher tags 1 damage into the Tunnel Runners and the other blasts the second Clawshots troop off the table. Nice.

Ratkin 5: We are well and truly in it now! The Nightmares counter their Fire horde while that damn Warrior horde (hindered) flanks in for great victory, exploding the elementals despite the odds. The Shock Troop horde counter-charges its Fire horde thanks to the Tangle’s fury aura, and delivers 8 damage (bane chant might have failed?) You’ll notice that the Shock Troops didn’t center up – the War Chief waited for the horde to engage, before shooting off into the damaged right Fire horde and dunking it himself. The MRF, meanwhile, smashed into the blocking Fire reg and did a shocking 2 damage total, shortly after the Brood Mom on the left drained the last of the Ember Sprites off the table and healed the Shock Troops to 7 damage. The Tunnel Runners continue to loom.

Salamanders 5: I am feeling decidedly light on the table 😬 On the right, a Slasher flanks the Mutant Rat-Fiend and tears it apart (the War Chief was just out for the reroll) with the help of the Fire reg. The surviving Raptor Lord takes precisely 2 bites out of the War Chief (even with host shadowbeast +4 O_O), before the Fire horde on the hill burns the Shock Troops down. They face the Nightmares, heavily damaged or no. I debate for a long time and end up bombing the other Slasher into the Tunnel Runners. He’s a big punchy boy and if he can hold, he can probably grind the chariots out and score that point. He lands 7 damage out of 10 attaks, which is a brilliant start.

Ratkin 6: As tempting as that Slasher flank is, the Ratkin Warrior horde mobs the Mage-Priest instead, somehow dragging her down (on 5+/5+ from these enslaved kings). This gives the Tunnel Runners a single shot to rout their Slasher, but despite 7 damage they don’t land the 11 to break. The Nightmares and Brood Mum buzz the last Fire horde down, the Tangle fireballs the right Slasher to a waver (7 damage but shattering!), and the War Chief does a stellar 3 damage to the Raptor Lord.

Salamanders 6: In what I’m hoping is the last turn, the left Slasher shatters the Tunnel Runners and turns to face the heroic Warriors and the Raptor Lord eats the Ratkin War Chief. With 2 tokens apiece and no Turn 7, this is a …

DRAW

Part of me loves coming back to the warm red embrace of Bloodfire, and part of me doesn’t. The army’s problems haven’t really gotten better with 3E, although I do have access to some new toys that make life easier thanks to being faster, shootier, and better at hitting 😛

GAME 48: OGRES

I used the same list as above for the next throwdown against Drew’s Gnollgres, except I swapped one Fire Elemental reg out for a Scorchwing reg for science, putting the extra points towards knowledgeable on the Mage-Priest. After this game I swapped the other Fire reg out for Scorch too, the birds are just too useful and Fire regs are just too meh. Of all the elemental regs, they don’t seem to offer much apart from being cheaper than their horde version. Anyway, onward!

OGRES 1995
Siege Breakers Horde – Helm of the Drunken Ram
Siege Breakers Horde – Chalice of Wrath
Hunters Horde
Warrior Chariots Regiment – Boots of Striding
Berserker Braves Regiment
Berserker Braves Regiment
Red Goblin Scouts Troop
Red Goblin Scouts Troop
Nomagarok [1] – Bane Chant (2+), Heal (4+), Lightning Bolt (4+)
Ogre Warlock – Lightning Bolt (3+), Drain Life (5+)
Ogre Warlock – Lightning Bolt (3+), Drain Life (5+)
Berserker Bully

To sum up, it’s Good Stuff Ogres but without Boomers 😛 No item on the Hunters is surprising but he’s trying to relive the 2E glory of CS2 + TC1 Siege Breakers I guess. For when you really need to one round a fool.

We played Plunder, because it’s great. During the game it looks like they’re pillage markers but I assure you that they’re loot tokens, neither of us wanted to pick them up for speed / surge reasons. The Gnollgres go first because I’m slow and he’s fast.

BATTLE

Scouting Phase! Ember Sprites creep up but stay within inspiring and retaliatory Fire Elemental range. Hunters are hard to the left with the Bully, Braves are stacked in the pond with Siege Breakers to either side.

Turn 1: The Gnollgres thunder forward, sending the Scouts up to be a menace before the Warlock coven unleashes hell into the Ember Sprites. Drew rolls out of his mind with lightning and removes the center Sprites, with 5 damage dealt to the left regiment. And a couple more to my already low confidence in this match up.

Bloodfire oozes forward in the center in response and doesn’t move at all on the left, while mobilizing chaff on the right. A Raptor Lord charges the right Scouts, delivering 3 damage even with +5 Shadowbeast 😐 Ember Sprite and Scorchwing shooting tags 6 damage on one of the Brave regs but their Nv is always higher than I remember and I realize I should probably have assassinated a Warlock. That won’t come back to haunt me. Oh, and tox bolts punch 3 damage into the Chariot reg.

Ogres 2: Scouts charge off the hill into a waiting Slasher as their fellows counter-charge the Raptor Lord on the right. The smoldering Braves charge the central Ember Sprites, and the rest of the Ogre line tiptoes around very slightly. I deploy more coffee.

Braves eat the Ember Sprites and Scouts deal 4 damage to the Slasher and 1 to the Raptor Lord. The Warlock’s lightning storm zaps 3 damage onto the right Fire horde.

Salamanders 2: I feel like forcing Drew’s hand a bit before he can force mine or lightning one of my hammers away, so I shove two Fire hordes (including the damaged one) into the forward Braves. Ember Sprites get in the way to their right – and do a stellar 3 damage to the Warlock I should have shot earlier! – while the right Raptor Lord takes another bite out of the Scouts. Speaking of mounted heroes, the other Raptor Lord rips into the Chariot regiment to keep them occupied as my Fire reg flanks the Scouts harassing the Slasher (who also counter-charges). The other Slasher decides to look forward to keep its options open, including making a dash for the 1 point token in front of it.* However the coolest play of the turn sees the Ht 4 Scorchwings zip into the flank of the fury Siege Breakers. For reasons.

The Red Goblin Scouts die (RIP), as do the Braves. The Siege Breakers take 5 damage from angry birds, and the Chariots go up to 7 damage from the hosted Raptor Lord and waver. Result!

*This was a mistake that I realized after passing the turn. The left Slasher can currently see the Hunters’ flank if they engage the Fire reg, and potentially if they kill them as well … but what if it’s a combo-charge with the Bully right next to them? And what if they overrun?

Ogres 3: The Hunters and Bully immediately combo-charge the Fire reg, knowing they’ll disappear from the left Slasher’s arc and face the titans piecemeal. Speaking of fighting things piecemeal, the fury Siege Breakers charge the undamaged Fire horde in the center, the second Braves charge the damaged Fire horde, and the TC Siege Breakers charge the right Raptor Lord. Warlocks scoot around for spell-slinging purposes.

Noms heals the fury Siege Breakers down to 2 damage (giving them vicious in the process) and various drain lifes or lightnings put 1 damage on the Scorchwings, but Drew hot rolls a waver. In combat, the Fire reg and right Raptor Lord are obliterated, however both Fire hordes are somehow alive on 8 and 5 damage respectively. I may have never survived a Siege Breaker charge before and am ecstatic.

*Drew has spent the year racking up well-deserved paint awards!*

Salamanders 3: The Raptor Lord re-charges the Chariots while centrally I send the Fire hordes back into their dancing partners. Yes, I should be double-charging the Siege Breakers but we are precisely aligned and identical frontages, so my right horde is actually in the Breakers’ flank, yet cannot contact it apart from the 0mm corner. So counters it is. In the lower left, I take a moment to lament my life choices before having the Slasher fight the Hunters. Ensnare means I’ll do less damage than against the Bully but the flank next turn will be potentially less bad from the Bully and really I’m setting my other Slasher up as best I can next turn. Slasher #2 walks on the hill and prepares to watch his brother die next turn, but does tox bolt the Bully for 3 damage 😀 Meanwhile, the Scorchwings turn to be a real pain in Turn 4 and Ember Sprites continue to be a pain. They squirt a damage onto a Warlock.

In combat, the Braves are nuked and I don’t reform the victorious Fire horde (I should maybe have backed up?), shortly before the fury Siege Breakers are slammed to double digits (12 maybe?) but fail to rout. Butts. Elsewhere, the Hunters take a decent 5 damage from the Slasher, but the real winner here is the Raptor Lord, who dunks the Chariot regiment with the help of host shadowbeast! I really love these plucky lizard dudes riding, um, other less-dudely lizards.

Ogres 4: The slugfest continues unabated. Hunters counter their Slasher with the Bully in the flank. Helm Siege Breakers trip over a wall and into the last of the Ember Sprites. Fury Siege Breakers hit their Fire horde again, with a combination of heal and drain life returning them to 5 damage. Thanks, I hate it. All those drains push the Scorchwings up to 5 damage in the process, but they hold.

A hot, wet squelching sound can be heard as the Gnollgres kill all their targets in combat. The fury Siege Breakers get frankly really lucky on their side step (3″ of 3″ needed), blocking the other forward Fire horde from flanking them.

Salamanders 4: Denied a flank, I take the fury Siege Breakers in the front and the back with Scorchwings! The third Fire horde I’ve had as backup goes into the helm Siege Breakers, sadly hindered. In the lower left, the Slasher charges off the hill into the waiting Hunters, and the triumphant Raptor Lord plows into the Berserker Bully (who’s on 3 damage).

Shockingly, that Raptor Lord eats the Bully’s lunch, with +5 host playing no small part. Shortly after, the Slasher slams the Hunters up to 9 damage, the fury Siege Breakers are finally burnt to cinders, and the helm Siege Breakers take an unknown amount of damage (math says 3 but I think I did better). Also! We can see that the (now central) Fire horde picked up a 2 point token. In fact, they did this back in turn 2 😅

Turn 5: Damn, the Ogres have a lot of tools left … A combination of drains, lightnings and/or heals from the Warlocks sees the Scorchwings dead, the token Fire horde on 9 damage and the helm Siege Breakers certainly on less damage than before. Those Breakers smash 7 damage into their Fire horde (I AM ALIVE WOW) while the Hunters stab 6 into the surviving Slasher.

In return, both Fire hordes crash into the Siege Breakers, turning them into warm liquid goo. The Hunters are likewise dismembered by the Slasher and Raptor Lord combo, with shadowbeast for spice.

Turn 6: Even with just Noms and two Warlocks left, I’m on such high damage and the 2 point tokens are so close together that this isn’t a foregone conclusion. Drew ends up pushing the odds and playing for a win rather than a draw: Noms charges the 9 damage Fire horde with a 2 point token, who bump up to 11 damage from a Warlock’s drain. Sadly Noms doesn’t stick a wound so no test is rolled. At the same time, the other Warlock drains the 7 damage Fire horde up to 9 damage, but flubs the 8 (rerolled) needed to rout.

I immediately grab a 1 pointer with the Slasher and position the Raptor Lord to move block the central 1 pointer, as the 9 damage Fire horde scoops up a 2 pointer. This leaves the 11 damage Fire horde to bop Noms for 3 damage and hold onto their 2 pointer with rapidly dissolving mittens. With no Turn 7, this is a …

BLOODFIRE VICTORY

Wow, what a game! On the whole I feel like I skated by a couple tough spots with the luck of the (read: Drew’s) dice, but it’s a good feel that we were both in it until the end. Overall, I really enjoyed playing Bloodfire again and reviewing these games makes me want to get the 1995 version back on its elemental feet / stumpy bodies. It’s a lot of Mantic resin but I figure that’s a major plus as well.

Thanks for hanging in there readers, hoping to finally clean my Herd tournament reports out sooner than later! I had a heck of a year with the Hallow and have one more GT before I pack them away for a bit. Stay tuned as ever.

THE HALLOW 3: RATKIN

On July 12, 2021October 7, 2021 By SalvageIn THE HALLOWLeave a comment

In the run-up to the US Masters this weekend (spoiler: Go Herd!!), a bunch of the Northeast crew got together to dojo some games out before heading to Texas. My fledgling Verdant Herd got tossed into this pressure cooker as a matter of course 😀 I only had time for one game, and ended up playing Corey Reynolds’ Ratkin. Fun Fact: The last time I faced Corey was on the top table in a WHFB GT in Philly where I was playing Skaven and he was playing Wood Elves. He thoroughly outplayed me, but he isn’t called Mr. 300 for nothing. A note on this game, I didn’t take a ton of photos, as I was more keen to hang out and knew I’d be getting smashed to bits regardless 😐

The Herd 2300
Forest Shamblers Horde
Forest Shamblers Horde
Forest Shamblers Horde
Spirit Walkers Regiment
Spirit Walkers Regiment
Spirit Walkers Regiment
Spirit Walkers Regiment
Centaur Bray Striders Troop
Centaur Bray Striders Troop
Tree Herder – The Wiltfather, Hann’s Sanguinary Scripture, Surge (8)
Tree Herder – Surge (8)
Druid – Lightning Bolt (2), Bane Chant (2), Heal (2)
Druid – Lightning Bolt (2), Bane Chant (2), Heal (2)
Forest Warden – Surge (4)

I knew I would need something a little heavier going into this den of masters, so I trotted out the Wiltfather and a second support Druid. I don’t personally love running Wiltdaddy – honestly his vicious aura is the hardest thing for me to say no to – due to his cost and his popularity, but I figured I should see how hard he can carry.

Ratkin 2300
Shock Troops Horde – Plague Pots, Heavy Halberds
Shock Troops Horde – Plague Pots
Warriors Horde
Clawshots Troop
Clawshots Troop
Clawshots Troop
Weapon Team
Weapon Team
Weapon Team
Mutant Rat-fiend
Mutant Rat-fiend
Scudku-z’luk – Lightning Bolt (5)
Mother Cryza – Lightning Bolt (5), Bane Chant (3)
Brood Mother – Blight Staff, Drain Life (5)

Wheeeeew, it’s a strong list, ok? And fairly 3E all told: fewer bodies, more speed, more shooting, more mobile scoring. He ended up taking a version to Masters that swapped Cryza’s bane chant to a Lute on the other Brood Mother, as the vanilla mom tended to take a more supportive role, etc.

We rolled up Dominate, which initially seemed to favor me (US 26 vs 19) but probably was a benefit for him, as he can direct the hammers and shooting and scoring to the same place. Herd also won priority and took it.

BATTLE

Rats 1: My chaffy left flank is met with all three Weapon Teams and a Clawshot. They spend the game mostly trying to escape to the right or shoving in to see how bad the rat dice are, in the Centaurs’ case. Turns out 30 weapon team shots are hard to mess up!

Rats 1: View of the action proper, with Herd mobilizing some chaff and taking residence in the wood. Centaurs have started taking damage from Clawshots but miraculously hold.

Herd 2: Chaffing up the Mutant Rat-Fiends / threatening Cryza with the Warden on the right, and delaying the Shock Troops on the left with a long hindered Spirit Walker charge. Any chip damage these charges did was undone by the Brood Mom between the two Shock Troop hordes or the MRF’s regen.

Herd 2: Also there’s Scudz, lurking in the shadow of a house and threatening down the line. (His lightning however did almost nothing all game, if not literally nothing!)

Herd 3: With the first wave (Walkers + Centaurs) dealt with, the Hallow sends in the next round. More Spirit Walkers hit the Brood Mom, Forest Shamblers head into the Centaurs’ MRF, and both Herders combine their surges to propel the winged Shamblers 10″ into some Shock Troops! They do ok damage, thanks in part to bane chant, but it’s not mindblowing (Rally 2 on everything is kind of a lot to deal with). The Forest Warden also grabbed a flank on Cryza, and despite being a champ (6 attaks = 5-6 damage) her Nv was crazy high thanks to rally too so nothing else.

Rats 3: MRF sneakiness ensues, with one corkscrewing the winged Shamblers (they live!) and the other very dexterously flanking some Spirit Walkers (they don’t live!) The other two Shamblers are ground on as well to little real effect. Skudz hops into the pond and kills those other Spirit Walkers harassing the Brood Mom.

Herd 4: The normal Tree Herder joins some Shamblers in hitting Cryza (she only wavers!), and the winged Shamblers turn to the left and are surged into the Shock Troop horde, which is evaporated under all the angry tree punches. The Wiltfather (who had surged said Shamblers in) menaces an MRF and board center.

Rats 4: One MRF flanks the winged Shamblers, along with Shock Troops to the front, ending their reign of terror. The other MRF rears the regular Herder, but fluffs and it lives! And the other Forest Shamblers are shot off the table.

Herd 5: The last of the Shamblers kill Cryz, the Wiltfather rears and obliterates one MRF, and the other Herder and/or Warden continue to pound on the other one.

Rat 6: After dropping the regular Herder last turn, the Rats hard zone the Herd out of the center, and continue to bath the Wiltfather in shooting of different flavors. The last Forest Shamblers hold firm, but are out of the Dominate range. Turn 7 happens! The Wiltfather smashes a Weapon Team but the Shock Troop horde can’t be ground out.

Rat 7: The Wiltdaddy tanks Scudz to the front and a Warrior horde to the rear, but as a last act of aggression the Shock Troops tear down the Forest Warden, who had a helluva game and caused a lot more damage than his 3 attaks suggests. But anyway, this was a foregone …

RATKIN VICTORY

It was cool to play Corey again after so long (he tends to run events, not play in them), and good to face Ratkin, something I’ve very rarely done, despite playing them myself. The game had a couple cool moments, like the 10″ surge and Forest Warden on a tear, but again I felt doubly outclassed. Oh, and it was cool to have the Wiltfather go so hard, tho as we see, one model doesn’t a domination make.

That’s my gaming backlog, hope to get a couple more games in soon! Til then!

INCOMING CRABS 🦀

On February 26, 2020February 26, 2020 By SalvageIn SCUTTLING REALMLeave a comment

Or rather, they arrived a while ago, but haven’t been batrepped for unknown reasons … Bloodfire is still on hiatus while I explore fresher avenues, however I wanted to give some coverage to my current army, plus those that come after this one, and this seems like a decent, agnostic place to do it.

So welcome to the new, expanded, ad-free blood-fire.com!

*CRABS (FEB 2020) – Big boys by Mierce, tiny lads by Khurasan, token Hadross dude by CMON*

Late September 2019, I finished up a new crab-themed Trident Realm army, just a couple days before the Crossroads GT (which was a 2250 point KOW 2E team event). I played a practice game the night before against a team mate, crushing his new Nightstalkers with the fury of a bunch of crustaceans (GAME 1: NIGHTSTALKERS). And with practice out of the way – I had literally never played the army before! – we got a few hours sleep and headed into the event. The list I took for that first outing:

Trident Realm 2250 (2E)
Naiad Heartpiercers Regiment
Naiad Heartpiercers Regiment
Naiad Heartpiercers Regiment
Naiad Heartpiercers Regiment
Gigas Horde*
Gigas Horde*
Kraken
Kraken
Kraken
Naiad Envoy – Aura of Heroism (2), Banner of the Griffin
Depth Horror Eternal – Inspiring Talisman
Depth Horror Eternal – Orcish Skullpole
Naiad Wyrmrider Centurion – Fire-Oil
*King Crabs

As captain of Team Cuddle Time II, I was vaguely in charge of working out which armies would go up against each other and/or what scenarios they would play, so I had some control over who and what my crabs faced. My goal for the team was to put myself into harder armies but ideally with better scenarios for my Trident … which was total conjecture since I didn’t really know what they could do! Here’s the briefest of recaps:

GAME 2: ELVES

*NWC and Kraken doing terrible things to Elf Archers!*

Couldn’t tell you what the mission was or how things broke down, but holy hell I won! Biggest revelation was that massed heartpiercers are really good at killing big monsters, as his dragon was deleted in a couple turns as it tried to harry my flanks and rear.

GAME 3: KINGDOMS OF MEN

*Kraken resolutely face-tanking a charge from a Knight horde!*

Knight-heavy (like 2x hordes + regiments + flying heroes) men largely controlled this game, however through the magic of ensnare + hindering the crabs were able to bog down his momentum and smash their way to an inconceivable draw.

GAME 4: BASILEANS

Another fast army, this time 2x Elohi, 2x Uh-Elohi, 1-2x Knights, token foot troops, Gnaeus Sallustis annnnnd the mega-dragon (who is now just the normal dragon). I should have gotten wrecked, however he was extremely caught up in the dance a Kraken and his dragon were having in some woods, where I kept turning or stepping into and out of wood templates and he had to keep over-analyzing LOS and what was going on over there, all while taking continual Heartpiercer damage. Preposterously I won this one too!

GAME 5: UNDEAD

Dawn of Day 2, and while Team Cuddle Time II wasn’t doing stellar (our Varangur player was getting paired up against very hard armies, and pretty consistently getting smashed for his troubles), my Trident Realm was on a real tear! Up against Undead next, a rather standard 2E affair with some hordes, some knights, some wraith troops, some barrow wights, a dragon, etc. Lowlight was a Kraken getting trapped by Wraiths and dismantled – one troop to the front, then more to the flank, then another to the rear! But otherwise the dragon was shot down and the punchy crabs punched hard, with a somewhat lucky Gigas + Gigas + Eternal charge into a fresh horde that helped me roll his flank up and maul through the rest of the Undead line. Another win!

GAME 6: UNDEAD

Final round of the tournament, and another Undead grinder for me. Main difference here is the abundance of zombies and zombie trolls. I was in control of this game early on, thanks to shooting, but I still remember how, instead of waiting for Turn 3 to engage, when the zombie trolls had been shot off, I jumped the guns and sent the Kraken all in Turn 2, which got most of them killed – including one to multiple wraith troop charges, again. Once the big hammers were down, I scrabbled as best I could but was overrun, earning the armies first loss.

All told, it was a pretty heartening first six games with the scuttlers! Really quite unexpected … although a bit tarnished as the 3E changes for Trident Realm had been previewed the day before the event, and it was clear that almost all the units I was using were going to lose their COK19 bumps. I had a feeling 3E was about to get bumpy for my new army.

Some KOW-less weeks later, the new edition hit, confirming some particularly distressing developments:

Heartpiercers became irregular, making my 2E list illegal and ensuring I will always hurt for unlocks
Heartpiercers lost ensnare, pathfinder and 2 attaks, for the benefit of steady aim, which gutted the reason I based an army around these little, mobile tarpits happy to grab a 24 attak flank when able
Gigas went up to a larger base, making them unwieldy but more importantly meaning I had to paint more of them and rebase the unit (they also lost 1 CS but gained 1 Def and kept their King Crabs Sp, so meh; the added nimble has yet to matter for me)
Kraken lost 3 attaks, severely hurting their abilities as hammers, ironically at the same time as they gained +D3″ charge range

At first I added a Wyrmrider horde for a third hero unlock, but man they suck now. In my first 3E game I lost against Ogres (GAME 7: OGRES):

Then over Wintermas I leant my brother my Ratkin, who brutally beat me at dominate (GAME 8: RATKIN), but then the next day I narrowly squeaked out a win in raze (GAME 9: RATKIN):

With a 3E win under my belt at last, I took on my clubmate’s Abyssals (GAME 10: FORCES OF THE ABYSS), losing again but at least keeping it close:

Meanwhile, my buddy had finally relented to my arm twisting, picked up a load of Mantic minis and smashed through a Northern Alliance army in record time. In short order he hit 2300 points and found himself facing crabs every other week or so. While I won the first match (GAME 11: NORTHERN ALLIANCE), and his first game of full size Kings –

– Trident’s pillowy fists would come up to haunt me, as I lost both of the next two games (GAME 12: NORTHERN ALLIANCE & GAME 13: NORTHERN ALLIANCE). Including this gem:

Aye, that’s a Kraken (with 2 loot tokens) being flanked by Huscarls (with 2 loot tokens) and Half-Elf Berserkers. While the Kraken is in that predicament because I rolled double ones, the North did not repay the favor 😥 Nor did I ever get those 4 loot tokens away from the Huscarls.

Which brings us up to last week! February 22-23 was the US Masters here in New York, and there was a side GT called the Best of the Rest for, well, the rest of us who wanted to scrum and soak up that Masters vibe. I took my freshly reduxed crabs with me and ended up taking a lot of photos with the intent to blog. So strap in, tournament report inbound!

Side Note: Since I’m covering reports for different armies on this blog now, you’ll be able to use the new Category feature >> to more easily select which army you want to follow. Though I do tend to avoid bouncing between armies, it could happen!

GAME 41: RATKIN

On August 21, 2019 By SalvageIn BLOODFIRELeave a comment

There’s a magical thing that happens at most tournaments for me, where I’ll chat a person up a whole lot on Day 1, typically about how much I like their army’s models or because it does something cool or whatever, and then get to play them on Day 2. Enter the rat army made entirely out of metal Skaven …

BLOODFIRE GAME 41: RATKIN

Ratkin 2350

Tunnel Slaves Regiment
Tunnel Slaves Regiment
Tunnel Slaves Regiment
Tunnel Slaves Horde
Shock Troops Horde
Shock Troops Horde
Blight Horde
Blight Horde
Clawshots Troop
Clawshots Troop
Clawshots Troop
Tunnel Runners Horde*
Tunnel Runners Horde*
Weapon Team – Storm of Lead
Weapon Team – Storm of Lead
Weapon Team – Storm of Lead
Night Terror*
Night Terror
*Turbo Runners Formation

First game of Orc Town Day 2 was against a great Canadian dude with a legit horde of rats – and yep, no inspiring at all. Whoa. I think we played Ransack, but spoilers, it’s all going to come down to the middle three-point objective. Bloodfire grabbed the initiative again.

Round 4 we played on … a table I forgot to take a photo of and then lost the photo of when I went back. Ah well.

BATTLE

Battlines! Worth noting that his horde order (L2R) is blight, blight, shock (behind blight), shock, slaves (behind stormies), as his blight are nightmares for me (ensnare is horrific for 4+ Me, and my CS2+ means nothing)

Bloodfire 1: *squishing sounds* Red markers are 2 points, green are 1, blue is 3 (I think)

Ratkin 1: His Clawshots all hammered Agnes whenever possible, with this 5 damage opening salvo giving me some fear for her safety!

Bloodfire 2: Lots of fire loiters in that field, ready to grind for the center; Agnes and Sprites start breathing on the right Shock Troops as combat approaches (Agnes gets Martyred up and will continue to be so all game long); Jarraiders and Lekelidon shooting goes into uninspired Weapon Teams with medicore results o_o

Ratkin 2: Sprite death, Night Terrors outflank, Agnes gets shot

Bloodfire 3: Lekelidon shoots + delays, Fire Elementals brace for the Blight grind, right Shock Troops die to I think combat not shooting; two Weapon Teams eat it

Ratkin 3: Lekelidon is mobbed by double Blight hordes, Agnes is pushed to 10 damage but big girl don’t care (-/20!)

Ratkin 3: Blight reform thusly, as the rat general laments some of his Shock Troop / Blight layering, as the Shock are left out of the action

Bloodfire 4: The only way I can deal with Blight to the front is overwhelming force, so two Fire Elemental hordes it is (it doesn’t work); Slaves also hold against Fire Elementals + commando Sprites; Agnes nukes the last Weapon Team as the CLOFD + Jarraiders slam the Shock Troops – you’ll notice Agnes was healed for 6 but the Martyr-Priest didn’t take any, that die appears later when I caught the mistake (she was never targeted anyway)

Ratkin 4: Shock Troops and Blight combo a Fire horde, leveling it; Sprites are also merc’d by Slaves :'[

Ratkin 4: Thick brown line with Runners idling behind it!

Bloodfire 5: Fire Elementals end the Blight and the Shock Troops, the latter with Agnes’ help, while the CLOFD + Jarraiders burn down the Slave horde

Ratkin 5: Tunnel Runners hinder-charge into Agnes (and bounce), Slave regiments start to stream down the field (including booping some Fire Elementals for 1 damage), Blight tear into the central Fire Elementals, left Night Terror finally starts making a play for the left objective

Bloodfire 6: Fire Elementals burn into the Blight (and get Martyred down), Agnes + the backline Fire Elementals break the Tunnel Runners, other Fire Elementals smoke the Slave regiment, CLOFD cooks the Night Terror lurking on the right flank, the Jarraiders grab 2 VP and tickle some Tunnel Runners, annnd the left Ember Sprites shoot and waver the left Night Terror (!)

Ratkin 6: It’s in the rats’ paws now, and the only moves that matter are Slaves grabbing 2 VP and the second Tunnel Runners + Blight combo-ing the Nv -/19 Fire Elementals

Ratkin 6: The Fire Elementals crumble on 15 damage, snatching victory from a game that felt firmly in the Salamanders’ claws

BLOODFIRE LOSS

Awesome grind of a game against a very cool army and great opponent. Look forward to seeing him at upcoming events!

GAME 27: RATKIN

On November 28, 2018November 28, 2018 By SalvageIn BLOODFIRELeave a comment

Anyhoo, second round is Ray and his rats, an army I play myself but have rarely faced. There were four rat armies at this tournament, and all of them ended up on the top five tables come round five, if that says anything.

BLOODFIRE GAME 27: RATKIN

Ratkin 2250

Warriors Regiment*
Warriors Regiment*
Warriors Horde*
Shock Troops Horde – Brew of Sharpness
Shock Troops Horde – Brew of Strength
Shock Troops Horde – Potion of the Caterpillar
Blight Horde
Vermintide Regiment
Vermintide Regiment
Enforcer on Fleabag* – Blade of Slashing
Enforcer on Fleabag
Warlock – Bane-chant (3)
Warlock – Bane-chant (3)
Swarm-Crier
Swarm-Crier
Demonspawn – Fly & Speed 10
*Lab Rats Formation

Im not going to say its the best Ratkin list, simply because you can play the army pretty differently and still do great (note the suspicious lack of Death Engines and Weapon Teams here), but its got a smart formation and triples down on what may be the best line unit in the game. Plus lots and lots of bodies for the scenario

Second round was Pillage, a scenario my army is not good at, which is a fact I probably over-focused on going into this game. Rolling maximum counters (7), against a horde army piloted by a very competent player (I heard Ray is the highest ranked player in the Mid-Atlantic currently?), meant I was pretty much resigned to my fate. Ratkin won initiative as well and took it.

BATTLE

Battlelines!

Rats roll out, with the Warrior horde going far left to claim one of two tokens (just barely too far apart to claim them both). The +1 to hit Shock Troops are on the left, the +1 CS ones are mid, the pathfinding ones leaving the forest on the right, and the Blight are the rightmost horde. Rat shooting lightnings an Ember Sprite reg off the field, because Ray was more concerned about them than most of the army

Bloodfire shambles forward, but the cagey rats are all out of breath range and theres nothing to heal.

The Ratkin maintain the standoff, except for the Warrior regiments, goaded into bait range, and the Enforcer, who charges the right Sprites and disorders them. The remaining central Sprites are lit up with lightning and wavered.

Given something to destroy, Bloodfire obliges. On the left, Sprites + Clan Lord breath on the left Warriors for 5 damage (but no waver), while Agnes + Diadem horde + both Mage-Priests incinerate the other, obviously bait Warriors. I advance my own, less obvious bait Fire horde in the center, and on the right the Enforcer is shredded by a combo-charge from the Sprites + Fire horde, with the Sprites advancing 6 and the Fire horde backing up 2-3. Things should get spicy next turn

and indeed they do! Blight charge and wreck the right Sprites, as the other Enforcer charges and disorders the inspiring, surge Mage-Priest nearby. The Fire horde perched on the hill/obstacle get jammed by some Vermintide (ensuring theyll be hindered next turn), and the leftmost Sprites are flanked and removed by the surviving Warriors (who regenerate 2 wounds). The wavered Sprites blocking a Fire horde is wavered again thanks to lightning and poor rout dice, and its on to the main event: Can a bane-chanted Shock Troop horde flip over a -/18 Fire Elemental horde in a front charge? Math says its close (~11 damage + rerolled 7 rout)!

12 wounds and some solid routs later, the Fire Elementals are no more Q_Q

As we start this turn, I comment that despite getting rocked I have a surprising amount of Fire Elemental left, so maybe I can still fight it out? Ray gives me a quizzical look and I shrug and declare some charges: On the right, one Fire horde charges the Blight and another hits the Enforcer in the flank. After smashing the Enforcer, that horde overruns into the Blight and both Fire hordes go to work. Ensnare is a bear but they manage to put 11 wounds on the horde, which isnt enough for anything but itll do in a grind.

In the center, Agnes is forced to go it alone against the Shock Troops, as her backup Fire horde is stuck behind wavered Sprites. In retrospect it might have worked better to pound the Shock Troops with Agnes laser + 20 Mage-Priest fireballs, and let the rats do the charging. As it was, Agnes smashed 4 damage into the horde and they cared not.

On the left, the Fire horde scattered the Vermintide, despite hindering, and the CLOFD backed up a bit and roasted the Warriors again (5 damage total and wavered).

Ratkin 4 and its all out aggression now. The Fire horde on the hill take a charge from the CS 2 Shock Troops (hindered), Agnes (-/20) facetanks CS1 Shock Troops + the Demonspawn, and the Blight counter-charge the Diadem horde. Even with bane-chant on them, math says they 7.5 wounds and get melted in my next turn

15 insane wounds later, that Fire horde is dead, as are the hill Fire Elementals as well as Agnes. All his dice were amazing this game, but the Blights were the spikiest by far, pretty much eliminating my ability to grind.

Its basically over, but theres attrition to be had. Also vengeance. The surviving Fire hordes go into Shock Troops and Blight respectively, while the CLOFD and Ember Sprites scoot around and bake 10 wounds into the CS2 Shock Troops. The Fire horde punching Shock Troops does a statistically low 6 damage while those fighting Blight do a statistically expected 5 damage. No rat cares.

Ratkin 5 means more murdering.

The CS2 Shock Troops devour the last of the Sprites, the central Shock Troops rip 12 wounds into their Fire horde but dont roll the 6 to rout, and the Demonspawn + (bane-chanted) Blight zero-to-rout the other Fire horde.

Bloodfire 5 and weve got a lot of 12 damage to slop around. One Mage-Priest fireballs the Blight off the table while the other tags 5 damage into the Demonspawn, and the CLOFD hammers 6 more damage into the CS2 Shock Troops as he prepares to meet his fate. The last of the Fire Elementals pounds another ~6 damage into the pathfinding Shock Troops but cant get lucky.

In Ratkin 6, the CS2 Shock Troops + Demonspawn zero-to-rout the CLOFD and the central Shock Troops finish off the final Fire horde. A Mage-Priest gets tickled by lightning as well.

In a final FU, the inspiring Mage-Priest hammers the pathfinder Shock Troops with fireballs, sending them packing, while her understudy Martyrs Prayers her clean because reasons. The Herald scooches her pot out of LOS of things in case Turn 7 happens. Blessedly it does not.

BLOODFIRE LOSS

This was a game I was never going to win, especially once we rolled maximum counters, and especially with how his dice were. I needed some things to work out for me to grind things out, but I never caught a break. Ah well.

Up Next: VARANGRRR