AoS Escalation league batreps

[Tokek]

I have joined in a local escalation league and i will use this thread to post my progress over the months.

We are starting out at 500 points and my list for that is as follows :
Allegiance: Seraphon
LEADERS
Saurus Scar-Veteran on Cold One (100)
- General
- Command Trait : Mighty War Leader - Artefact : Light of Dracothion
Skink Starpriest (80)
UNITS
5 x Saurus Knights (90)
-Lances
5 x Saurus Knights (90)
-Lances
3 x Razordons (120)
ENDLESS SPELLS
Soulsnare Shackles (20)

For the first month we are playing the First Blood scenario. Not really a favourite of mine but lets see what happens.

First game against Stu with his Bonespitterz. He was bringing
Maniak Weirdboy
5 Savage Boarboys
20 Savage Arrowboys

He deployed first but as I was out of threat range gave me the first turn - looking for a punishing double-turn.
Turn 1
I flubbed all my dice in my hero phase, with no strong options I decided to shuffle back further out of threat range.
He moved up still within cover but could not get into shooting range.
This looked like a nothing turn but I was storing up command points - which is part of my game plan.

Turn 2
My Summon Starlight on the Razordons was unbound but I rolled a 5 on LOSAT for them so off they went onto the flank with the arrowboys. They kill one arrowboy with shooting and a further 2 after they make the charge in combat. First blood to me for 1 CP and he no longer has 20 arrowboys for the real heavy block of dice. Everything else moves up really fast in place for turn 3.
He fights back against the razordons but does not kill any, his boarboys move across and charge my right-flank knights. He kills 2 knights I kill one boarboy.

Turn 3
We tie on priority so I keep it.
I spend a big bunch of CP on my scar veterans command ability and send my saurus knights in. All are now in his 8" buff radius and they kill his wierdboy and most of his arrowboys while the weakened unit kills a couple of boarboys for the loss of one in return.
He can do little now and is clearly on the backfoot with everything locked in combat. He fights as well as he can but only kills one more knight.

Turn 4
I win priority.
I leave the razordons to kill the last couple of arrowboys and pile everything else into the boarboys. Game over.

Major win to the lizards. I have to say that stacking the Savage Charge ability is really nasty against anything that lacks a decent save. Even so MVP were the teleporting razordons locking everything in place in perfect position for the slow knights to move up and get the charge.

If Stu had got the double turn on me after turn 1 he could have really hurt me due to my poor first hero phase but that is a risk I take with this list. Once I locked his arrowboys in combat with nice tanky razordons he never really had a way out of the trap.

 

[Tokek]

Second game against George with his Legions of Nagash

Allegiance: Grand Host of Nagash

Leaders
Wight King with Baleful Tomb Blade (120)
- General
- Mount: Steed
- Artefact: Ossific Diadem

Battleline
10 x Skeleton Warriors (80)
- Ancient Blades
10 x Skeleton Warriors (80)
- Ancient Blades
5 x Grave Guard (80)
- Wight Blades & Crypt Shields

Units
5 x Black Knights (120)

I win the roll to deploy first so with 5 drops each I finish deploying first and opt to go first. George has one unit of skeletons in reserve waiting to come out of a graveyard but the markers for that are all quite central and i think I can try to block them.

Turn 1
My hero phase goes perfectly, the razordons have Summon Starlight and roll a 5 on LOSAT so off they go into the backfield behind his general. I move up the knights as fast as possible so that between the razordons and the knights I block his skeletons from coming in on the gravesite. The razordons shoot and charge his general but he tanks like a champ and only loses a couple of wounds.
On George's turn he moves one unit of skeletons up to try to screen out my fast-approaching forces and piles other things into my razordons. He moves his knights away to avoid getting charged. Razordons in cover with Summon Starlight tank most of the wounds and nothing dies!

Turn 2
We tie for priority so I keep it.
The lead unit of knights takes all the buffs and charges in with the scar veteran all of whom have lots of bite attacks on their mounts again. The screening unit of skeletons vanish but his general survives on one wound due to cold dice. His grave guard really hurt my razordons and I have one left at this point.
On his turn George moves his wounded general away and charges his knights back in. He activates them first and carefully piles in to avoid my scar vet being within 3" - but what he initially does not see is that he has almost blocked off the pile-in for his grave guard. The knights kill some of my knights but casualty removal leaves his grave guard with nothing to do but finish off my last wounded razordon as they cannot pile in through a gap less than 1" wide between his models. He still cannot bring that unit of skeletons in because I have a skink priest capping the only gravesite he can reach range of.

Turn 3
I win priority and with my starpriest zap his general for the critical last wound killing him. I commit my last unit of knights and we are in a bit of grand melee now which I partially control by blocking sideways pile-in from his knights. With only 1 CP to burn my knights do not do much and he still has 4 black knights.
The black knights fight on and kill one of my knights for the loss of one of his that was wounded already. The grave guard can finally move in through where he removed a casualty and finish off one unit of knights.

Turn 4
George wins priority
He moves his black knights out of the way and pushes his grave guard further into combat where they put wounds on my scar vet and bring me down to just 2 saurus knights. He has one grave guard left standing after I fight.
On my turn I arcane bolt the last grave guard away freeing me up to move nice and close to his last 3 black knights. I go in and the two units of knights exchange blows killing 2 each - then my scar vet kills the last of his black knights to end the game. He never did get that other unit of skeletons into play.

This was a super tight game. Everything initially seemed to go well for me on taking down his general but I came up one wound short which might have cost me the game except for him blocking out one of his own units without realising it. That one slight thing - less than half an inch on a pile-in move - swung the game..

A narrow victory for the lizards.

 

[Aginor]

Nice reports, good job!
Deathrattle is a hard matchup. I play those myself and their regeneration can be very annoying for the enemy. Blocking the gravesites was a good tactic!

 

[Tokek]

Nice reports, good job!
Deathrattle is a hard matchup. I play those myself and their regeneration can be very annoying for the enemy. Blocking the gravesites was a good tactic!

Blocking the gravesites was my best hope but that its really hard in low points games because I have so few units and he still has 4 gravesites. Fortunately he placed the sites very aggressively to try to control the middle of the table. I tried my best to evaporate whole units to limit his chances to regenerate, I think he had 3 tries at regenerating but failed them all.

I still think the best approach vs most Death armies is to try to decapitate them by taking out the heroes. I will reconsider how hard that is to manage and how much I left my army in the way of a counter-charge when I write the list for the next month at 750 points. I thought the Razordons with buffed Knights charging in to support would reliably get the job done against a 5 wound hero but it turned out not to be that reliable.

I realised after that with my knights 3" away from his hero I had no reason at all to hold back a CP for a charge re-roll because they would have re-rolled 1's to charge anyway. Another 5 bite attacks might have done it. Or maybe I could have rolled a single 6 on the damage roll all game, that would have been nice

 

[Crowsfoot]

Blocking the gravesites was my best hope but that its really hard in low points games because I have so few units and he still has 4 gravesites. Fortunately he placed the sites very aggressively to try to control the middle of the table. I tried my best to evaporate whole units to limit his chances to regenerate, I think he had 3 tries at regenerating but failed them all.

I still think the best approach vs most Death armies is to try to decapitate them by taking out the heroes. I will reconsider how hard that is to manage and how much I left my army in the way of a counter-charge when I write the list for the next month at 750 points. I thought the Razordons with buffed Knights charging in to support would reliably get the job done against a 5 wound hero but it turned out not to be that reliable.

I realised after that with my knights 3" away from his hero I had no reason at all to hold back a CP for a charge re-roll because they would have re-rolled 1's to charge anyway. Another 5 bite attacks might have done it. Or maybe I could have rolled a single 6 on the damage roll all game, that would have been nice

If he played Wight king with Black axe he could have swung it, (pun intended) I totally understand using the King to buff the knights as that is a good tactic, placing the GY out of reach was his biggest mistake.

Well done on the victories

 

[Tokek]

If he played Wight king with Black axe he could have swung it, (pun intended) I totally understand using the King to buff the knights as that is a good tactic, placing the GY out of reach was his biggest mistake.

Well done on the victories

Thanks.

I do not think any of us are running perfect 500 point lists. I have half an eye on what i want my list to look like at 1000 points and above and am also putting some painting challenges for myself in place because there are league points for painting each month. The amount of green stuff fiddling it takes to put feathers on the mounts for the knights has really slowed me down and I needed a real motivation to get on with finishing all 15 sometime.

George was expecting to use the really good move on his hero to have any one of 3 gravesites in range - he was not expecting teleporting razordons but he will be wise to our Seraphon tricks next time we play.

 

[Crowsfoot]

Thanks.

I do not think any of us are running perfect 500 point lists. I have half an eye on what i want my list to look like at 1000 points and above and am also putting some painting challenges for myself in place because there are league points for painting each month. The amount of green stuff fiddling it takes to put feathers on the mounts for the knights has really slowed me down and I needed a real motivation to get on with finishing all 15 sometime.

George was expecting to use the really good move on his hero to have any one of 3 gravesites in range - he was not expecting teleporting razordons but he will be wise to our Seraphon tricks next time we play.

Don't talk to me about painting knights, I just finished 15 what a pain.....

 

[Tokek]

Just one game this week against Alex with his Tzeentch. He runs a very small force with
Ogroid Thaumaturge
Tzangor Shaman
Kairic Acolytes

His plan is to use his spells to bring in more brimstone horrors and tzangors. Against that I decide to play a more cagey game to minimise the number of turn I am in spell range.

Turn one I put the Soulsnare Shackles out to discourage him from closing to spell range. This works as we then spend 3 very rapid turns manoeuvring for position and nothing dying.

Turn 4 he is going first and manages to get a spell off on one of my units of Knights and turn some of them into brimstone horrors. His acoloytes shoot and do nothing. On My turn the razordons manage to teleport up. All my knights are locked with the horrors so I move up my scar veteran knowing that he still has the Light of Dracothian unused. I have loads of CP by now so I activate 3 on the Scar Vet. The Razordons do a bit worse than average but it does not matter because the Scar Vet makes the 3" charge (hard not to when re-rolling 1's) and mashes the remaining acolytes. With all those extra attacks the Knights consolidate as far forwards as possible and wipe the brimstone horrors. I win the priority roll and with it the game as I put 3 more CP into the Scar Vet command ability and then the hero and the full-strength unit of Knights move up to attack the remaining wizards. The Razordons roll hot leaving the Ogroid Thaumaturge on 2 wounds - the Saurus Knights with all those extra bite attacks then take off the two wizards to end the game with a major win.

I had built my list with the shackles to play a waiting game if need be while I built up CP and this was the first time I used it. With 5 bite attacks per cold one they chew through things really fast and the Serpent Staff really did work this game too - I rolled a lot of 6's to wound.

If I lose that last priority roll it could be a different game entirely - at this point I am only up by 11 wounds to 7 but he has 10 fate points and might get a couple more at which point things could get very interesting and close. With the double turn I win a major, if I lose priority I think it is a nail-biter of a close finish.

 

[Xasto]

Nice report, Tzeentch can be hard to play against!

 

[Tokek]

Final game of the month against Nick with his very pretty Wanderers army.

This one should be titled The Day of the Razordons

He has :
Nomad Prince with Starcaster Longbow
10 Glade Guard
10 Eternal Guard
5 Sisters of the Thorn

He finishes deploying first and opts to go first to get his Eternal Guard into terrain. The Prince and Glade Guard are hiding behind the Eternal Guard but the Sisters are out on his left flank. Nothing is in range to shoot.

My turn 1 I summon starlight onto the Razordons and roll a 6 for LoSaT on them. They teleport off to the side of the Sisters of the Thorn and close in for the kill. Everything else begins a diagonal advance to avoid a frontal charge on his Eternal Guard. Between shooting and fighting the Razordons leave one Sister alive on a single wound, she does not hurt them in return.

Nick wins the initiative roll and continues to go first.
The Glade Guard get buffed by the Prince who zaps the Razordons for a mortal wound with his Starcaster Longbow. The Glade Guard then shoot their arcane bodkins into the Razordons and miss with everything. Spurred on by their good fortune the Razordons make a couple of saves against the last Sister of the Thorn and then finish her off.

My turn 2 the Razordons close in on the Glade Guard and the Knights continue their flanking move around the Eternal Guard. The Razordons shoot back at the Glade Guard killing 8 of them. Seeing the Prince close by and wanting to tempt his Eternal Guard out of cover I decline to charge the Razordons in. The remaining Glade Guard fail battleshock.

Nick wins the initiative roll again - seems this is the only dice roll he has any luck with
The prince advances on the Razordons looking to exact some measure of revenge. He whiffs his shooting. He charges and I fail the roll to shoot him. He makes my Razordons take a single save, which they do.

I now buff they Knights with a bunch of CP holding one back for a charge re-roll and teleport one unit into his backfield and advance the other past his flank. The flanking unit make the charge and finish off his prince. The skink priest starts chipping off Eternal Guard with Arcane Bolts.

Nick wins the initiative roll again and declines to move his Eternal Guard out of cover.
I move all my stuff away - I have an overwhelming lead and we may as well call it a day.

Major win. The razordons were absolutely nuts this game taking 2 units off the table for the loss of just one wound in return. Nick's dice were really bad, ice cold when he needed a bit of luck to deal with the Razordons in his backfield.

 

[Xasto]

Nice! Those Razordons sure can be mean!

 

[Tokek]

Nice! Those Razordons sure can be mean!

Yeah, I am dropping them from my list next month partly to clear points to fit a Slann in and partly because they feel a little too good in these low point games. They did not let me down in any of my games but in one they basically took out the win on their own.

I think they are undercosted and I admitted as much to my opponent in that last game. On the other hand internet wisdom says that Saurus Knights are not much good[1] and that is the bulk of my models so I don't think I set out to be That Guy.

[1] The more games I play with them the more I think the internet wisdom of the crowd is not all its cracked up to be.

 

[Xasto]

Yeah, I am dropping them from my list next month partly to clear points to fit a Slann in and partly because they feel a little too good in these low point games. They did not let me down in any of my games but in one they basically took out the win on their own.

I think they are undercosted and I admitted as much to my opponent in that last game. On the other hand internet wisdom says that Saurus Knights are not much good[1] and that is the bulk of my models so I don't think I set out to be That Guy.

[1] The more games I play with them the more I think the internet wisdom of the crowd is not all its cracked up to be.

I tend to think of the Saurus Knights as I think of the Hexwraiths, they're not bad, especially when brought up to bulky sizes, it's just that they're a bit disapointing when taken in MSU's

 

[Tokek]

October was not a good month for the escalation league, so much so that we had to roll it over into November as bad weather and illness had prevented many games from being played.

My 750 point list is
Slann, Great Rememberer, General
Saurus Scar Veteran on Cold One, Light of Dracothion
Skink Starpriest
3 x 5 Saurus Knights
Soul snare Shackles

Game against George with his death army, I think it was
Wight King with baleful tomb blade
Necromancer
10 Skellies
10 Grave Guard
10 Black Knights
Soul snare shackles (!)

Scenario has two objectives on the centre-line, with escalating VP for holding them multiple turns without your opponent holding them in-between on their turn.

He put the skeleton unit off the table to be summoned and split his infantry on the left with his necromancer while the cavalry are on his right with the wight king.

I line all my knights up fairly centrally with the heroes behind. He has less drops than me and opts to go first.

Turn 1
George drops soulsnare shackles on the objective on his left flank, moves up his infantry and summons the skeletons onto the objective there. His cavalry move forward just close enough to take the other objective. 2 VP to George

I move make a diagonal right move with the bulk of my force to go get his infantry force while moving just one unit of knights within range of the other objective. I have starlight summoned on the knights most likely to make the charge and activate my Scar Vet command ability. I then summon skinks onto my left flank to grab that objective with their numbers. The skinks do no wounds with shooting. On my right flank only one unit of knights make it in and cut him down to 5 skeletons so I do not gain that objective. 1 VP to me.

Turn 2
George wins priority

The black knights move around my left flank to threaten both my knights and the skinks. On his left flank George brings the skeletons back up to a strength of 9 and moves up the grave guard. The knights and grave guard both make the charges as does his general. He activates the grave guard but they roll badly only killing one saurus knight (I do love summon starlight). I activate the skinks who Wary Fighters away to still hold the objective. This leaves behind a unit of Saurus Knights who quickly die to the much superior Black Knights. My Saurus Knights on the right flank chop his skeletons back down to just 4 and take no damage in return. George still holds his LHS objective for 2VP

On my second turn I bring in a couple of Razordons who whittle down the grave guard and then charge everything in to wipe everything but the Necromancer out of his left flank. My skinks just chill because they have the objective for another turn. I gain 3VP and we are level.

Turn 3
I win priority for the double turn.

At this point it is pretty painful for George. I roll on LoSaT to show that my Slann can get in position to cap the other two gravesites with summoned skinks and a razordon and George concedes. I will gain a lead in VP this turn that he could only overturn by holding both objectives but with me holding both at this point and able to summon/teleport and him only having one unit and one hero left (his necromancer is statistically dead, we do not even want to roll that one out) he just cannot do it without being able to summon another unit in this turn. I would gain 5 VP and that is an unassailable lead from this position.

Major win the seraphon after we talk it out for 5 minutes.

The scenario is interesting and really forces quite aggressive play but its downside is that the game can get away from you very fast if your opponent can get a lead.

As before the trick really was to be very mindful of the gravesites and plan to cap them off with summoned junk just when he would need them most. Getting the double turn gave me the initiative to do just that.

George learned about my aggressive use of teleport last game, this time I used it more obliquely to position my Slann to summon things for objective and table control. Skinks and razordons are going to be my go-to summoning options for a while, they are SO good. Against lesser lists and players I think they are too good, I will probably be summoning more fun but sub-optimal choices like a Trogladon in those games.

 

[Aginor]

He should probably have given you the first turn to have a chance for the double turn himself.
The regeneration of Desth armies makes them brutal in that case and as a Death player you really don't want to be double turned.

Good job!

 

[Tokek]

He should probably have given you the first turn to have a chance for the double turn himself.
The regeneration of Desth armies makes them brutal in that case and as a Death player you really don't want to be double turned.

Good job!

Agreed - but my plan in those cases is to throw skinks in harms way and look to counter-charge with Knights with a couple of CP worth of extra attacks. So I agree that he should have tried that but when I wrote the list I had a plan for that situation that I think is sound.

As you say getting double-turned with deathrattle really undoes much of the power of their regeneration as units tend to get wiped. That I could then cap his gravesites with the hypermobility of teleporting and summoning left him with no way back into the game fast enough to catch up the VP lead i was building.

 

[Aginor]

As someone who plays both Deathrattle and Seraphon I agree with that analysis.

 

[Abyrn]

Thank for the awesome battle reports. As a newbie they are very informative... I think I might have to pick up some razordons soon.

 

[Hij4cker]

...
On my second turn I bring in a couple of Razordons who whittle down the grave guard and then ...

Hi, first of all, amazing battle reps! Was a joy to read them.
I have a question regarding how summoning works, as I am new to Seraphon (want to pick up xmass boundle to start my army )
So my question is, you said that you "brought in a couple of Razordons". Can I summon a bigger unit? Lest say I spend 3*6=18 points, can I summon a unit of 3 razordons? Or just 3 separate unit of 1?
Thanks in advance, and keep up the reports ^.^

 

[Aginor]

Hi, first of all, amazing battle reps! Was a joy to read them.
I have a question regarding how summoning works, as I am new to Seraphon (want to pick up xmass boundle to start my army )
So my question is, you said that you "brought in a couple of Razordons". Can I summon a bigger unit? Lest say I spend 3*6=18 points, can I summon a unit of 3 razordons? Or just 3 separate unit of 1?
Thanks in advance, and keep up the reports ^.^

I think they don't really tell you in the book, so it might get FAQed at some point, but the most common interpretation right now seems to be that you have to summon three different units, each consisting of one Razordon.