Game 6--Jarl vs Rask 35pts (REMATCH)

After my first defeat of the night, another guy asked if I wanted to play a game at 35pts-- he was using the Rask list he lent to the TO at the Hardcore event last Saturday.

We set up terrain and rolled the Ammunition Run scenario which I played against Garryth last week.

We Rolled off and I nabbed the first turn.

Jarl put Quicken on the Fenns and advanced, pretty standard.  The Fennblades ran 16" but instead of exposing them like a huge line, I put 3 forward sort of screening the rest of the unit.  Everything else ran up behind them.

My opponent ran everything up and used Rask's feat (friendly models in his control area can't be targeted by attacks or charges from >5" away).

I basically scooted forward a little bit and counter-feated with Jarl.

One unit of Gators got Dirge of Mists and ran to engage some of my forward Fennblades.  Rask walked up behind a wall and put Fury on his Swamp Horror.  I placed the clouds so that a little sliver of the middle objective was visible to the Swamp Horror, and he charged and killed it.  1CP to Rask.  The second gator unit got March and charged from the forest they were in and killed my objective, putting rask at 2CPs.  Both witch doctors used zombify on the gator units.

It bears mentioning that at this point, I had to roll a command check because the gators had Terror from Dirge.  And the Fennblades failed.  Craaaaaap.  My opponent said to forget it because that would be game over.  So, we continued.

Dropping the pretense of competition, the game took on a more educational posture from hereon in.  We discussed the best course of action for the fennblades-- They ended up managing to charge the front line of engaging gators, and 3 managed to charge the swamp horror, and they killed the gators and almost killed the Swamp Horror.  (It bears mentioning that in 6 games, this is the first time I've felt good about them).  Jarl toed into the zone, cast MB and shot the swamp horror, boosted damage, and finished it off.  MB bounced onto Rask and did a couple of points I think.

His turn, he decided he couldn't attrition against trolls and that he should go for an assassination-- He moved Rask out from behind the wall and used his energy siphon shot and took one of my Fury and used it to boost damage on Jarl and did a respectable amount.  The two witch doctors managed to do some sac strikes and got Jarl down to 6 boxes, but they couldn't seal the deal.

My turn, the fennblades get out of the way and do some attacks and maybe kill a gator.  The Mauler charges his Wrastler (the only beast left on his side) for 11 damage on the charge, then hits it again, and gets headbutt from his chain attack, and then manages to do like 2 points every attack after that.  Lame, Mauler, Lame.  I then take my Bomber and run up and beat the Wrastler the rest of the way to death--Rask now has nothing to transfer to.

Jarl stands still and takes two fully boosted shots at Rask (-3 to damage), and finishes him off

Jarl Wins-Assassination

Finally! A win!

Now, this is largely due to my opponent being gracious, so I can't really claim that my strategic mind was better than his or anything like that.  I just managed to take advantage of a failed assassination attempt.

Overall, I thought I played the list pretty well--For the first time, the Mauler felt like he belonged!  After my last game with just the Bomber and the Impaler, 2 beasts just didn't feel like enough.  I think keeping the Mauler as a second wave behind the fennblades and being more aggressive about using him is a good way to go.