Dealing with Sorscha (assassination runs)

[Chrisb]

I am still quite a new player but have played a fair share of games. I recently had a game vs Khador (Sorscha) and was a little surprised. I had killed most of his jacks and my caster was protected behind 2 Argus (Argii?), on his turn though I got assassinated. His caster was behind a line of his snipers, he cast wind rush to get an extra full advance, moved all the way to the side, then feated, hitting my entire army and then charged my caster using his second advance. I was using Khaya and he killed me in 2 hits.

I hadn't properly read his casters abilities so was surprised with the outcome but after thinking about it I'm not entirely sure how you could ever avoid being assassinated by Sorscha. Unless of course your own caster was so far back out of the battle, being useless.

Anything I am missing, or should I have been more prepared somehow?

[ironchicken]

pSorscha is a good caster and this is basically her trick.

For the all in one turn wind rush/charge then you need to understand her threat range and use stones as blockers. Just have them just under a base width apart in a V around your caster.

For the 2 turn feat to get a second go: Don't forget you can shake off the frozen with your caster and beasts.

[mercury]

Always be aware of this! It's a pretty simple play for the Khador player to pull off, so you should be camping a Fury or 2 every turn for Transfers. You can use Spirit Door to teleport well out of Sorscha's threat range, though this is not easy and if you subsequently get caught by the Feat you could end up being shot to death anyway. Remember that Sorscha does not have to do the dirty work all by herself! The Scarsfell Griffon enables Kaya to teleport over 24" via Spirit Door, though you must be careful to ensure that your Beasts remain in your Control area after a long range teleport.

Outside of Transfers, the best strategy is to make yourself immune to her Feat. Icy Gaze (the Feat) only affects models in Sorscha's line of sight, so hide! Circle have lots of cloud effects for you to hide behind, or better placement of models should prevent Sorscha from drawing line of sight to you. Just remember that you need to be hidden from both her current position, and wherever her Wind Rush might place her. Alternatively the animi of both the Woldwatcher and Winter Argus will prevent Kaya from being affected by Icy Gaze (either by making her immune to Stationary, or granting ).

Let's break it down a little:
If Sorcha hits you with her Feat and you have no Fury remaining, then she will require 1 Focus on average to kill Kaya (one charge attack + one additional attack).
If you are able to resist the Feat, then Sorscha will require at least 3 Focus to kill Kaya on average rolls (MAT6 vs DEF16 means that she will need to boost to hit with her 2 attacks).
If you have Fury for 2 Transfers then she will likely require at least 5 Focus, and cannot therefore Wind Rush and assassinate in the same turn. Even if you have just 1 Fury, the Wind Rush + assassinate play will use all of Sorscha's Focus, so is very risky for her (she is buggered if one of her attacks misses).

Edit: ninja'd!

[mercury]

For the all in one turn wind rush/charge then you need to understand her threat range and use stones as blockers. Just have them just under a base width apart in a V around your caster.

This is easier said than done. Sorscha has Reach and can therefore still charge you and hit you through gaps in the Stones if they are placed close to Kaya. If they are spaced further from Kaya, then Sorscha can probably Wind Rush into a position where she can charge through the gaps between the Stones. A Shifting Stone is not difficult to kill either: 4 Widowmakers + Marksman or Kell (which turn up pretty frequently in Khador lists) will drop a Stone without even having to roll for damage, allowing Sorscha to charge through unhindered. Besides, in my experience Kaya is one of very few Circle Warlocks that can be run adequately without Shifting Stones. Spirit Door can replace their teleporting ability to some extent, but also means that the positioning of Kaya's battlegroup is so fluid that the Stones struggle to get into range to teleport or heal anyway.

[Chrisb]

Thanks for the help. Guess the biggest thing is fury for transfers :/

[theaY]

Well, just keeping models in front can not only prevent you being frozen, but it will stop her assassination run.
If you want to be cheesy, just throw in a woldwatcher in your list. The animus makes you immune to both her feat, and her tempest.

[rpavers]

If you want to be cheesy, just throw in a woldwatcher in your list. The animus makes you immune to both her feat, and her tempest.

+1 for woldwatcher. So handy. Druids, winter argus, and celestial fulcrum also can't be frozen with the cold immunity.

[Mattho2k3]

Also this is a information friendly game. Never be afraid to ask to see your opponents cards.

[jkl]

Since you are a new player, let me explain to you Sorscha's assassination run:

1. Keep all 6 focus on herself
2. Move all other models out of her way of assassination path
3. Wind Rush (2 focus), advance up to 6 inches to LOS with enemy caster/lock
4. Measure control area, to determine if enemy caster/lock is within control area and charge range
5. If Sorscha would get free strike during the charge movement, use her feat
6. If enemy caster is 11"~13" away, or charge lane requires pathfinder, cast Boundless Charge (2 focus, +2 movement to charge and pathfinder)
7. Charge enemy caster
8. If you haven't used the feat, use it
9. Kill enemy caster


Tips on preventing the assassination run:
- stay behind something that block LOS. Sorscha's feat needs LOS to freeze a model. You can even use your argus to form a wall since they are larger base than Kaya
- force her to use the feat before the assassination
- always camp 2 fury on Kaya for transfer, until Sorscha used her feat
- stay 1.5"+ behind linear obstacles, make Sorscha cast that boundless charge to drain her focus
- 2 argus serves no point, take a winter argus, the animus counter's the feat, which means Sorscha need to roll 10+ on attack rolls, so boosting to hit will drain Sorscha's focus
- use stones and other models to block charge lanes and rooms thus preventing the assassination run

[theaY]

Or the even cheesier assassination run:
Charge the full 9" at a model in front of the assassination target, feat to catch everything before attack, then windrush around charge target to get the warcaster. This way, they don't even need a straight line.
You lose the charge attack, but whatev's.

[Gobos]

in this scenario you don't lose the charge attack, just the boost to initial's damage roll.

[sourclams]

The big thing with Sorscha is that she remains a pretty soft hitter. Kaya/Circle generally don't have particularly tanky stats, so they have to camp 3+ fury to guarantee that they can survive her 3-5 attacks. The real danger with her feat is shooting from the arcing fire models like Mortars and Bombards.

eKaya is a good matchup due to mass stealth, just always keep 3 Fury to survive the run and always keep a good amount of blockers in front and to the sides.