Monday, September 26, 2011

Lip Beating - Severius hammers Thagrosh

Where I live the loser of a fight is often described as having "the lips beat off of them". This happened on Saturday night when Kenoth of Menoth brought a dead hard 50 point nSeverius list to the throwdown in St. John's.

His list had 5 jacks (Reckoner, Crusader, 2 x Revengers, and a Repenter) along with full units of Choir, Cleansers and Knights Exemplar, and the usual Menothian suspects.

I had 2 Carniveans, a Seraph, a Nephilim Protector, a Harrier and a Shredder, along with full Legionaires, 3 Warmongers and the War Chief, and 2 Shepherds.

We played ten minute turns. I won the roll off, and it had been so long since that had happened that I had forgotten how to play first, so I passed the first turn to Ken.

What I Did Wrong

Poorly Deployment

My deployment, the supposed reason I went second, was not good. I placed the Legionaires opposite the Knights (and a Paladin of the Wall). This was not the right thing to do. What I should have done was either deploy the Warmongers opposite these laddies of Menoth, or else I should have led everything with the Legionaires with the Warmongers behind them and opposite the Knights as a counter-charge unit. The Knights were a big problem for me and I had to deal with them properly ab initio.

Tactica Idiotas

My tactics were poor. This was displayed in my poor deployment, of course, but also in my decision-making during the game. On my second turn I slammed one Carnivean into a Revenger and Reckoner, knocking both down, and then charged the second Carnivean into the Reckoner after Slipstreaming it. Notionally, there is nothing too, too wrong with this, and neither was vulnerable to charging Knights on Ken's next turn (though there was a Crusader to think about), but throwing both of my heavy hitters into the maws of the enemy was perhaps not so wise. There is no magic to knocking things down any more unless there is a game-changing shooting attack to follow and, as it turned out, I nerfed the Carni's charge damage roll on the Reckoner anyways (I rolled a 1 and a 2 and didn't even bother with the third dice). By the end of Ken's following turn both Carniveans were dead. I got one back on the feat, but it was still very poorly done on my part. Interestingly, I had to actually back both Carniveans into the melees, arse first, which unerringly displayed in a figurative sense the position that I had put both of them, and myself, in with this grand, suicidal gesture.

Emotional Barbeque

I played this game standing up. I need to sit down when I play. I have way more fun and success that way. My dice rolling was absymal. The truth is I have to boost - not to make a 7, but to make a 5. My dice rolling is so crappy that for it to even out I would need to roll 5's and 6's for about the next 107 years, and that's just not going to happen. But I know all this, and my style has evolved over time, subconsciously I think, to take this into account. Here, I got into a fey mood during the game, after rolling shite dice for three rounds straight, so that in the end I just got a little moody, and when I missed my attack roll when charging the Repenter with my Seraph I started to lose interest in the contest. My final play of the game involved rolling a 3 on a Mutagenesis onto a Choirboy (I needed a 5) and I conceded. There is no need of this. I painted 4 Legionaires and a Protector for this game. I have always known that 1) you have to be good to be lucky, and 2) you have to laugh in the face of bad dice. I wasn't good, and so I wasn't lucky. And when I got unlucky, I forgot to laugh and to just have fun and think on how lucky I am to be able to have a game of Hordes every couple of weeks. I'll have to think on this.

Time Mismanagement

I knew I was going to have problems with time when I used all but 1:45 on the first round. I mean, this is not a hugely complex list. Every turn that followed saw me missing the play of a number of models. I missed a Vengeance attack with my Legionaires, and I missed their regular move altogether in the same, or another, turn. I think I played 1 Shepherd once in the last three turns of the game, and I think I played each of the Harrier and the Protector once only as well. Now this is something that I can fix with practice and, probably, with some list management. But it has to be said that I used to be better able to play Hardcore at 750 points with 7 minute turns than I was on Saturday night past at 50 points using 10 minute turns. I think I am getting old. Maybe I need to start at 12 minute turns and then work down from there.

What Ken Did Right

Ken was a fell opponent playing a dead hard list. So, an experienced foe using, with craft, a combination of Eye of Menoth + Choir + Jacks + Ashes to Ashes + dice rolling which invariably succeeded and, more often than not, succeeded with a plentitude of dice in the 4-6 range = a hammering to remember.

El Conclusion

I want a rematch! And, I need to play an army that requires me to roll 4's, not 5's.
I don't care what the faction is. Any suggestions?

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