Bethayne + Belphagor vs Xerxis 35 pts

[Vishnu DoW]

This game was a while ago so I might not remember everything, but the outcome was absolutely ridiculous:

Lists were:
Bethayne + Belphagor (Tier 1) +3

Carnivean 11
Angelius 9
Shredder 2
Full Hex Hunters 8
Bayal 3
Sorceress + Hellion 3
2 Spell Martyrs 2

vs

Xerxis (Tier 2) +5

Molik Karn 11
Titan Gladiator 8
Full Cetrati 10
Min Arcuarii 5
Full Beast Handlers 3
Tyrant Commander 3

I dont quite remember the specifics of deployment. Basically the Skorne were in a tightly packed brick with both beasts on one flank and the legion were a bit more spread out with the sorceress on the same flank as the skorne beasts and the hex hunters advance deployed on the opposite flank.

Legion turn 1: Bethayne puts carnivore on the carnivean and ashen veil on the hex hunters, everything else runs forward.

Skorne turn 1: Everything advances; cetrati shield wall and Xerxis gives them defenders ward (armor 22 is scary). Arcuarii take pot shots at hex hunters on the edge of stealth range but miss.

Legion turn 2: Enemy is in range of hex hunters = feat turn. Bethayne upkeeps ashen veil but drops carnivore. Spell martyrs run forward and bethayne pops feat. Channels gallows at molik karn pulling him into angelius charge range and EoS through a gap in the line at the tyrant commander dropping him to one and killing his standard bearer, as well as poking some other cataphracts and doing some light damage to Xerxis. She enters belphagor and ends activation Hex hunters are able to kill all but one arcuarii, and do some serious damage to molik karn (i believe the gallows + hex hunters left him at about 2 or 3 health). They poke the cetrati a bit but there armor is just too high. Next carnivean activates and breaths on molik karn to finish him and spiny growths for free. Now that MK is dead, angelius takes a free charge on the gladiator and... (for the 3rd consecutive game...) misses the boosted armor piercing attack. It swings again at dice - 5 boosting damage and... does 0 damage. Then it cries and makes the horrible, horrible decision to repulsion enabling the gladiator to slam next turn (hey, it was free). The sorceress runs, landing right between the gladiator and angelius and the shredder throws tenacity on her.

Skorne turn 2: Xerxis goes first and pops feat. He then charges the sorceress and eviscerates her in one hit with a combo smite (pow 20 + 4 dice = no more sorceress). Next beast handlers whip up gladiator strength and send him slamming into angelius, straight back through 4 hex hunters (including bayal). All 4 hex hunters die and gladiator follows up to buy another attack killing the angelius. Cetrati split into 2 groups, one group of 3 charging the carnivean and the other group going after hex hunters. 2 5 die cetrati attacks cripple the carnivean but the 3rd misses leaving it with 5 health. The other cetrati have to combine to even hit the hex hunters and kill 1 or 2. The lone arcuarii and tyrant commander both simply poke at hex hunters and miss.

Legion turn 3: Bethayne exits belphagor and lands a nice angle to gallows the titan to where the carnivean can adjust to remain in threat range of the cetrati and still swing at it (also getting it out of b2b denying it the +2 armor from Xerxis feat) and heals the carnivean's boxed systems. The carnivean kills the gladiator and resigns itself to its fate from the cetrati next turn. Various hex hunters try to kill things and all miss/ping (maybe do a bit of damage, nothing significant). Belphagor screens bethayne with his 5" despoiler cloud. The shredder tries to poke Xerxis but does no damage.

Skorne turn 3: Xerxis cuts for a fury maxing him out. The cetrati finish off the carnivean and take down another hex hunter. Xerxis wrecks the shredder and saves some fury, being that he has no source of generation with both beasts dead. After all the skorne are done Legion is left with Bethayne, Belphagor, and 2 hex hunters.

Legion turn 4: IF YOU SKIP THE REST READ THIS PART: There was a reason i couldn't leach the 2 fury from belphagor... Perhaps i filled up on reaving the carnivean i dont quite remember. Point is Belphagor made a threshold check (which he passed thankfully). There is still a full unit of terrifying cetrati but the only thing between Belphagor and Xerxis is a lone beast handler blocking the path. Hex hunters go first and turn from the various combats toward it. First one misses, second one kills it. Next Bethayne activates and gallows xerxis through belphagor, boosting damage. He takes about 5 or 6 but is only pulled one inch, meaning belphagor would have to take free strikes to charge. She casts gallows one more time unboosted, doing 1 or 2 more damage but pulling him 4 inches past the cetrati defending him. She then charges Xerxis doing no damage with either initial attack BUT applying continuous corrosion (who even remembered she did that? xD). Belphagor activates with 2 fury already on him. He is too close to charge so walks up and swings with both fists. First fist misses. He uses his one fury to boost damage on 2nd fist dropping Xerxis to 1 health... WITH BETHAYNES CORROSION ON HIM.

Skorne turn 4: Corrosion die comes up 3. Xerxis dies. And the game is won by corrosion on Bethayne's claws. WHATTTTTTT

[Black Katalyst]

Very nice write up. Bethayne can control the board surprisingly well with gallows and belphagor's animus. I've had casters die due to corrosion and it sucks! :-)