First two games with Carver

[dboeren]

I recently finished painting my Lord Carver, so tonight I took a break from Arkadius to put him on the field. My list for both games was the same:

Carver
3xWar Hogs
10xBrigands
10xBrigands
34 points (one point short)


First opponent was Mercs:
McBain
Mule
Freebooter
Gorman
Aiyana & Holt
Piper
10xDevil Dogs
Buccaneer
10xBoomhowlers
35, Highborn

After some running, here's where we're at:


McBain pops his feat, very annoying, so we can't really do much this turn except retreat. Casualties on the Brigands are moderate, and I charge and kill Holt. That's a Brigand with Quagmire tying up the Mule.


Mercs go, and cause some light casualties. McBain uses Jackhammer to clear out my Quagmiring Brigand so the Mule can charge my War Hog, but at ARM 21 it doesn't hurt it that much. That's McBain there b2b with the Freebooter. He's awfully close.


My turn, it's feat time. Left War Hog trashes the Mule. In the middle we eat nearly all the Devil Dogs and rip up the Buccaneer. Of primary importance, I clear out the Devil Dogs that were blocking my War Hog from charging McBain. Mobility is up this turn (needed the range), I cast Quagmire on the War Hog, and away he goes... A few chops and McBain is history.

Good shakedown game for Carver. I felt bad for Boomhowler's, they never made an attack all game, just ran around with supertough. I kept Batten Down up most of the time - I only cast Mobility on the first turn and the last one. It was a solid victory, but honestly not as much fun as Arkadius I think. I may want to trade out a War Hog for Rorsch & Brine to get some more shenanigans in there.

Really, I think Carver doesn't want War Hogs so much. We think he does, because the only other choice is the Gunboar. But on his feat turn he doesn't need huge hitting power, one big slow heavy is probably enough. I think he'll come into his own better when the Slaughterhousers are out (who will hit hard enough to take down jacks/beasts and may have more than one attack) and when we have more beast options. Gotta wait and see how it goes. But as things are I'd love to have a melee light with decent MAT and Reach on his feat turn...

[dboeren]

Second game was against Trolls:
Grim Angus
Earthborn
Swamp Troll
Impaler
Fell Caller Hero
Janissa Stonetide
Stone Scribe Chronicler
10xFennblades
10xPyg Burrowers
35

After the initial running, the board looks like this:


The Fennblades have Tragedy of the Trolls on them so I don't really want to melee and you can't shoot them after they're knocked down. So, we call Hog Wild, shoot, and retreat. I end up killing three and knocking down three. War Hogs retreat too, no point in getting charged when we can't attack ourselves. On his turn, the Impaler crit slams a War Hog, every charges (including the Burrowers who popped out). Stupid fast Burrowers... Brigands take fairly heavy losses.


We wipe out nearly all his remaining infantry, best part was a War Hog trampling five Burrowers and then chopping a Fennblade in half. He pops his feat so we're all super-slow. Brigands shoot the Impaler for 6, War Hogs run away from the Earthborn, and we're still under Batten Down. Nothing much to do but sit out the feat since we're too slow to get to anything this turn.


Grim shoots one of my War Hogs, and the Earthborn charges it. 10" charge, but he comes up short and that's pretty much where you can call it game. On my turn I pop the feat. Left War Hog kills the Earthborn. Right War Hog kills the Swamp Troll. Brigands shoot the Impaler for 6 again. Middle War Hog has Mobility and Quagmire, and charges Angus. He's holding a ton of Fury though due to reaving from his two dead beasts and even at -2 he's DEF 14. I fail to crit on the Gore attack and only manage to tag him twice. He transfers the second one to the Impaler who is now nearly dead.


Living on borrowed time, he puts everything into killing my War Hog engaging Grim. He was somewhat hurt already and they manage to do it, although it costs most of Grim's Fury. No problem, I've got two more. On our turn we finish off the Impaler and one shot the badly hurt Grim Angus for the win. The Brigands knocked down the Chronicler and shot Janissa for a few points, the other War Hog and Carver never activated.

ps - I hate this 4-image limit on the forums now. When and why did that go into effect?

[dboeren]

So, after two games here are some early impressions.

ARM 21 War Hogs are pretty tough (even at DEF 10). Maybe I should have been pushing them up more aggressively but I was more than happy to let the Brigands take the charges and just counter-attack with them.

AD on my Brigands wasn't as good as I'd though. On ONE unit it's better, they don't know which flank they're going on. With two units, there's probably going to be one on each flank. The deception is gone. It will be better once Slaughterhousers are out and I can replace one Brigand unit with them. Giving up CRA seems worth it if they can benefit a lot more from his feat and Quagmire. Although I do have to admit that I'm not pushing the bounds of Quagmire + Hog Wild just yet. Neither enemy force really gave me a great setup for it tonight.

As mentioned above, I think he really wants some different beasts, when we get some I'll expand on that.

I didn't end up using Carver in melee much. I probably should, he's pretty buff, but tonight he only killed a few troopers.

Overall, Carver wasn't as much fun to play as Arkadius. He just feels like sort of a passive caster. He puts up his buffs, and he waits for his chance to pop the feat. The shenaniganometer hardly moves when I point it at him. Yes, I can make my Hogs faster and that's something, but mostly you know what he's going to do.

I made an effort to Hog Wild as much as possible tonight. It worked out OK, we did get extra kills, though not always as many as I hoped. I need to work on stacking Quagmire with it better, it was often on the wrong unit or couldn't be spared because I was trying to hold up something elsewhere. Next time I'll work on that.

[PG_Devilsquid]

Nods, it's like we talked about: Carver is a very straight forward caster. He's kinda like a freight train, in that you see it coming, but can't stop it.

Arkadius is definitely a schenanigan caster, without a doubt.

[Krom]

Great write-up. I really enjoy reading your thoughts/theories on each warlock. Four picture limit is probably due to 1-2 guys abusing it a few times. -K

[Azahul]

Personally, I usually find myself pining for a second War Hog whenever I play with only one. While I'll agree he certainly doesn't need three, I think two is the optimum myself, with one in the second wave and one leading the charge. It certainly gives me some mileage from my Bone Grinders, which is hard to do with Carver, since it gives them a good target for a free Massacre animus.
Still, very good write-up and I've been greatly enjoying your Arkadius chronicles. I agree that that a melee light beast would be great, and personally I'm hoping for something with stats more or less identical to the Troll Axer in Domination (combat beast with Rush would be fantastic, could get Rorsh and Brine a 15.5" Threat range among other things).

[dboeren]

Well, right now there is nothing to replace the War Hog with is the problem. What I was mainly talking about is the OTHER beasts that our faction doesn't have yet. We don't know what they'll look like yet, but I don't think a slow non-Reach beast will remain his favorite after we have a selection. With our current choices I agree that one War Hog is probably too few. Gunboars can only do so much against high-ARM targets, even on feat turn they're hitting significantly lighter than a non-feat War Hog with their little POW 11's. Then too, the Slaughterhousers may end up hitting hard enough on feat turn to wreck heavies but that's not a choice we have today, or maybe they won't hit as hard as we guess.

An Axer would be pretty nice, Thresher on feat turn could potentially clear out half a unit of multi-wounds, with the ability to move and buy followup attacks if necessary. I'd really like to see something like a Cyclops Brute, a Reach beast with a shield. Bump it to MAT 6, remove the forcing enemy rerolls bit (since pigs can't see the future) and give it a new animus. Reduce the DEF to 12 since it's likely not as agile, and you should still be in the 5 point range. If you have to, take off Shield Guard, I'm envisioning it as more of an offensive beast so it doesn't really need it.

[PG_Fellio]

I would really like a warbeast with Rush. I mean, it'd make Carver more amazing, but I think it would allow Arkadius to be a bit more usable with the current beasts we have (because SPD 4 with no speed boosts is really, really harsh.) The Slaughterhousers might help him out when they come out, since Brigands only really shine with Carver as well.

But that said, Carver is amazing and great fun to play. Its cool to see the battle reports like this, too. I would also like Tenacity as an animus on a beast too, if just to make Carver slightly more unkillable, but that is just me wanting to feed the rich more money.

[dboeren]

I think Arkadius would get more use out of Rush than Carver would. In my (admittedly limited) experience, Carver would rarely have the spare Fury to cast it himself where Arkadius probably would - and you would get to double dip on Rush for his feat turn. However, I will not be holding my breath that we get it Tenacity would be very appropriate on a Farrow beast I think, but I'd mostly want to throw it on my War Hogs and not as much my warlocks.

I think Slaugherhousers will be a big asset to both casters but we'll have to see what they do. I'm more than willing to give up CRA for a melee unit that hits hard enough to take out heavies on feat turn and/or has the ability to make multiple melee attacks and better MAT than the Brigands.

It's the battle report thing that makes me frustrated about the 4-pic limit. I have more shots showing additional details of the game, but I'm forced to discard 2/3rds of them and hope I can patch over the missing ones with descriptions.

[PG_Fellio]

Oh yeah- but I think the four picture limit has been around since the new forums. I occasionally post pictures on the painting forum, and ever since I posted my Protectorate thread (year and a half ago? at the beginning of MK2, whenever that was), it was capped at four as well.

[dboeren]

You're probably right. It's been a long time since I posted a lot of photos here, it really only comes up in two contexts - either painting threads or photo battle reports. Well, I just checked some threads in both the painting and battle report forums and could not find any with more than four pics.

I don't know properly whether to just mostly stick with text or to have to split a single game into several posts to get all the pics in (which is annoying to read). I've been accustomed to posting reports on other forums with a pic after every turn totaling 12 or more total so it's more confining than I'm used to is all

[Tarrant]

Your Farrow army looks great. Excellent basing job too.

T.

[dboeren]

Thanks. They're really only half painted at this stage, but it's difficult to see when you're zoomed out enough to capture the whole table.

The bases are 1/4" corkboard, bulletin-board stuff. You can get it ay Hobby Lobby or other craft stores. I rip it into little circles, glue them on the bases, spread Elmer's glue on top, and sprinkle on some of the tiny cork pieces for rubble. When it dries, prime it, paint it bone colored, then apply a couple of washes. On these I use a brown wash and a green wash. I use a similar technique for my Skorne bases but there I use brown, orange, and leather for the washes. After the painting you will need to repaint the plastic rim black unless you don't glue them on until afterward. Not too hard to do but it comes out looking pretty nice. I've had more compliments on my bases than I have on my painting I think

[GRYM]

Dboeren,

Another great series of posts. I don't have L. Carver yet but plan on getting him once I have the rest of my Farrow painted. I like the bases also, could we get some closeups of some finished ones? I've read a few other forum posts on L. Carver and the quagmire spell is very key in effective use of board control. Also I see the importance of using either your Bonegrinders or Brigands to tie-up targets for the Warhogs. In my few games with Dr. A I have used my brigands a little too cautiously and will be sure to make more effective use of them in the future to limit enemy charges on my slower Warhogs.

KSW

[PG_Devilsquid]

Certainly not a nitpick, but your list was pretty straight forward in it's build, so i'm not surprised it played that way.

[dboeren]

I don't have L. Carver yet but plan on getting him once I have the rest of my Farrow painted. I like the bases also, could we get some closeups of some finished ones?

Sure, I'll try to take a pic of those for you.

I've read a few other forum posts on L. Carver and the quagmire spell is very key in effective use of board control. Also I see the importance of using either your Bonegrinders or Brigands to tie-up targets for the Warhogs. In my few games with Dr. A I have used my brigands a little too cautiously and will be sure to make more effective use of them in the future to limit enemy charges on my slower Warhogs.

So Quagmire has an offensive half (-2 DEF) and a defensive half (can't move). In these two games I was not able to make use out of the offensive half on my Brigands. What I really wanted to do was Hog Wild - shoot stuff, charge, and then kill more with the DEF reduction. In the first game I couldn't because of McBain's feat. The turn we had the position to do it, his troops were unkillable. Against the Trolls, he had that annoying Tragedy of the Trolls going that would knock me down if I hit him in melee. Maybe I should have taken the bait anyway, but I was concerned that his Burrowers (or something) would kill me if I did.

On the other hand, I did get good out of it offensive as an assassination tool. It's pretty easy to run a trooper with Quagmire up to tag the enemy caster, or just put it on your War Hog and let him touch them. Makes it a whole lot easier to hit caster level DEF when it's debuffed a bit.

Defensively, you can get rid of the held-in-place effect by killing the Brigand/Bone Grinder. So far, my opponents have been doing just that. For instance, I tried to hold the Mule so it couldn't charge my War Hog. I put it so that the Mule blocked LOS to the Brigand for the rest of his army, ensuring no charge or aiming bonus. But, it was countered because McBain has Jackhammer (although if I'd made my Tough roll he'd have been forced to Jackhammer twice). Maybe I should have run TWO Brigands up. Anyway, will keep trying but be aware that if there are other models nearby they can free the Quagmired model. It may end up being more of a tool to lure things into helping position.

Certainly not a nitpick, but your list was pretty straight forward in it's build, so i'm not surprised it played that way.

It was, and I've got mixed feelings on that. I've got a point left over, and I'd like to swap a War Hog for Rorsch & Brine to get more variety. But doing so weakens Mobility and Batten Down the Hatches to an extent since there would be fewer models affected. It also puts my Fury pool rather low. I guess it all ties into my feelings that Carver could really use those Slaughterhousers and some other beasts.

But, these games were played before I had my Razorbacks assembled. Last night I got them put together (and I believe they're fully painted too) so they are now available for play. Nearly all my models are together now, only Alten and Gudrun remain unassembled.

So, I'm thinking of trying something like this:

Carver
2xWar Hogs
Gunboar
Rorsch & Brine
6xBrigands
6xBrigands
Razorback
35+6, Tier 4

That's his Tier list so I get a point off each Brigand unit, Pathfinder on turn 1, and Advanced Move on my beasts. But, only one of my three units will get to Advanced Deploy. I think I will make it the Razorback since the Brigands can shoot on the move. This should be a more interesting list, we'll see how it goes.

As Thornfall I could take a similar list with a single max Brigand unit. It gives me AD for both units, but I lose two troopers and the other Tier benefits (mainly Advanced Move) so I think the Tier is the way to go in this list.

[dboeren]

I like the bases also, could we get some closeups of some finished ones?

OK, here's a pic from my cellphone of a few spare bases sitting on a paper towel on my painting table:

[dboeren]

I got in a pretty good game with Carver today. I was using the list proposed earlier:
Carver
2xWar Hogs
Gunboar
Rorsch & Brine
6xBrigands
6xBrigands
Razorback
35+6, Tier 4

My opponent had Cryx:
Denegra
Reaper
Slayer
Stalker
2xDeathripper
Skarlock
Gorman
Necrotech
Scrap Thrall
6xCephalyx & Drudges
35+5

He won the roll and elected to go second. I decided to AD my Razorback reasoning that it needed the most help getting upfield and it was most important to get a good matchup where there would be Brigands on both flanks anyway.

After my second turn, the board looked like this:


Brigands and Razorback are Dug In. Carver has Quagmire on the left Brigands and Batten Down the Hatches. The Gunboar just fired and killed one Drudge, the second made his Tough roll, and I have Counterblast up. We're ready to receive the enemy attack.

A Deathripper runs up and Denghra spews Venom all over my Brigand unit, killing four of them. The Reaper harpoons my War Hog and drags it in for moderate damage, then it gets charged by Drudges for a bit more. His Pistol Wraiths run down my left flank, there's a second one out of frame there.

On my turn, Rorsch uses Diversionary Tactics so Brine can Slam the Slayer. Two Brigands CRA the Scrap Thrall and miss. Carver upkeeps Quagmire on the left Brigands who run to tie up his arcnodes. My War Hog gives the Reaper a good thrashing but it's not quite dead. Carver recasts Batten Down and shotguns the Drudges but only kills one - the other is Tough. The Razorback missed a Deathripper but did a little blast damage. The board is now like this:


Cryx nastyness coming... Skarlock Parasites Brine. Deneghra pops her feat and charges him, activating Shadow Bind, then casts Crippling Grasp on Carver. One of her arcnodes kills the Brigand Quagmiring it. The Pistol Wraiths move up and shoot at Carver doing decent damage (he's at -4 DEF and ARM 16) plus Death Chilling him. Gorman Black Oils my right War Hog, and the Scrap thrall charges the Brigands. He misses, catches two in his AOE (not in feat radius) and neither dies. The Necrotech repairs three boxes on the Reaper and the Slayer stands and walks back up.

OK, can't get that much done this turn but let's see... Razorback shoots a Pistol Wraith and kills it with blast damage. I still upkeep Quagmire to tie up that other node and call Tough & Fearless again. War Hog finishes off the badly hurt Reaper. Rorsch kills the last two Cephalyx with his gun and dynamite. The Brigands unleash a full CRA to kill Gorman. And that's all we can do.



Pistol Wraith shoots & Death Chills Carver again (he's still got Batten Down). Deathripper fails to free himself. The Stalker kills Rorsch, so Brine is gone too (taking a missed swing at Deneghra as he goes).

On my turn my War Hog kills the Slayer, the other beats the Stalker within an inch of its life but can't quite finish it. Brigands move and two of them CRA and kill the Skarlock. Razorback misses and deviates poorly. The stupid Gunboar frenzies on the CG'ed Carver, so I pay it back by transferring all damage to it for the rest of the game when I can. Not a lot of movement between now and the end so I'll save my 4th pic for next turn.

Deathripper STILL can't get free, he successfully bit my Brigand but he made his Tough check. Pistol Wraith shoots and Death Chills me again. Stalker and Deathripper try to kill Carver but the Stalker is missing both arms so damage is poor (I was Scourged so he auto-hit). Necrotech turns the Reaper into two Scrap Thralls that never get to activate.

On my turn I only make three activations. First the Razorback shoots and blows away the remaining Pistol Wraith. Then Carver activates, casting Mobility, popping his feat, and recasting Quagmire (not upkept) on the War Hog. Then finally the War Hog activates and charges Deneghra over the Slayer's wreckage. Boost to hit on all attacks needing 8's. I miss the initial Gore attack, but the first axe swing one shots her.


Much better game than the other day, although it was sad that Carver never really got to fight. I couldn't charge with Crippling Grasp and by the time I had targets I was always Death Chilled. Batten Down did a great job of keeping my beasts alive (you can see none of the died), and Quagmire was brilliant at locking up his arcnodes. Actually, we discovered it would also have been perfect for locking down his Pistol Wraiths if I'd had more troopers left. They can't move away, and they lose Incorporeal BEFORE making their attack roll, so by the time they can shoot they're engaged and can no longer do it. Awesome!

Rorsch & Brine had a tough time. I left several Fury on Rorsch to keep him alive (he actually had already weathered several attacks before he died) but the Stalker's Grievous Wounds bypassed that. This was the only game I've had so far where they didn't earn their pay.

The Razorback did well. Parked on a hill with cover (plus Dig In which I realize was sort of redundant) they were too annoying to try to shoot and there were always higher priority targets for Venom. So, they chipped some pieces out of a Deathripper and killed two Pistol Wraiths. Cost 3, made back about 6.5 or so. I doubt this will be their typical performance but it was good to see them do well and AD really does seem to help them out. If he'd had more troops, then maybe more kills would result.

The Gunboar did OK. He had at least two extra shots from Counterblast but then dropped the ball when he Frenzied on Carver. That was about the time I needed him to get involved fighting the Deathrippers. Not all his fault, I'm the one who had extra Fury and decided to leave one on him instead of somewhere else, but I wish he'd keep his temper under control.

Anyway, with a more varied list I liked Carver better. I'd like to try him again sometime when he can get into the fight more rather than getting CG'ed and sitting on the sidelines. He's more than capable of trashing a Deathripper on his own, or a Pistol Wraith, if he gets the chance.

[Asp]

Actually, we discovered it would also have been perfect for locking down his Pistol Wraiths if I'd had more troopers left. They can't move away, and they lose Incorporeal BEFORE making their attack roll, so by the time they can shoot they're engaged and can no longer do it. Awesome!

Unless the changed the ruling the Pistol Wraith gets to make the first attack and then loooses Incorporeal. Additionally they have Gun Fighter so they could just pop a couple of the offending troopers. Still better than getting Carver chilled for a few turns.

Anyway thanks for posing these reports...it is interesting to see different match up's, tactics, and such.

Like the list been painting up a T4 Carver for the last couple weeks. Only six Brigands to go....may have to do a Razorback now.

-Asp

[PG_Devilsquid]

Were you scourged while Batten Down was up?

Sounds like a solid game. Carver definitely supports his force, and if need be, can bring the pain himself.

[dboeren]

Unless the changed the ruling the Pistol Wraith gets to make the first attack and then loooses Incorporeal. Additionally they have Gun Fighter so they could just pop a couple of the offending troopers. Still better than getting Carver chilled for a few turns.

Do you have a link to that ruling? I just was searching in the rules forum but all the hits were about free strikes by Incorporeal models. The way we read it, Incorporeal says specifically that you turn solid before you make the attack roll. Once you were solid you could no longer make it. Good point on Gunfighter, I didn't know they had that. My opponent I think overlooked it too since the icons are easier to miss than words on the back of the card. Anyway, I never did Quagmire them anyway, just thinking of potential other uses. Anyway, Gunfighter alone makes it much less useful as he'd pop the Brigand with his first shot most likely. It still slows them down a turn and denies Death Chill I suppose.

Like the list been painting up a T4 Carver for the last couple weeks. Only six Brigands to go....may have to do a Razorback now.

Overall I liked the list, I'd use it again. Eventually I'll probably want to swap something for Slaughterhousers but I've got maybe 6 weeks before that happens. It's only one Razorback game so far so I'd like to do more testing with them but it's worth owning one. Not sure about multiples (I have two), they get expensive at some point. Most likely after incorporating Slaughterhousers I'd be back in Thornfall as I can't drop Brigands or Rorsch & Brine without losing Tier and don't know that I'd want to only have two beasts.

Were you scourged while Batten Down was up?
Sounds like a solid game. Carver definitely supports his force, and if need be, can bring the pain himself.

No. While I had Batten Down up most of the game, I had dropped it that turn. I decided that the difference between DEF 11 (-2 for Crippling Grasp and -2 for Batten Down) and knocked down wasn't that much anyway against Pistol Wraith RAT, and I didn't have 3 to spare. Let's see if I can remember... I spent one upkeeping Quagmire, I spent one making a second shotgun shot and I think I spent some healing a beast that had an aspect out. Anyway, I didn't feel like my beasts were in any real danger anymore and figured holding some Fury for a couple of transfers was better than improved ARM but very little transfer capability - or something like that.

[Walter]

Hey man, I think I'm the other player in ATL with a farrow army, and with Carver I find Rorsh and Brine indispensable. Give em more shots, they'll impress you.

Carver fixes every problem Brine has, with his feat and quagmire, while Rorsh has always been excellent at getting Brine wherever he needs to be. Frequently you get a free charge for one reason or another, so Brine is swinging 7 weaponmaster attacks, with crit knockdown on one and +2 to hit if he can make base. It's like getting charged by a unit of Bane Thralls, or worse. It kills most everything, and when they retaliate and kill brine or rorsh he gets his retaliatory strike before he goes, which has the potential to KD on the enemy's turn, which is really irritating. Finally, Rorsh is a good guy himself, with 2 shots from his gun and dynamite if he wants it, combine with DT and dig in.

At 35 I go:

Carver
-War Hog
-War Hog
Rorsh
-Brine
10 Brigands
6 Brigands
Gudrun the Wanderer

[dboeren]

Looks like a solid list. My own Gudrun is waiting for conversion, I should be picking up the parts this Thursday. Alten's in the same state but has to wait on a bits order.

The problem with Cryx is there sometimes isn't much there that requires Carver's feat to kill. ARM 17? Yeah, I think I'll save it thanks. So, I ended up holding it until I could attack Deneghra figuring I might only hit her once or twice so it had to count.

Good notes on R&B, next time we go up against something beefy I'll try that out.

Where do you play at in Atlanta?

[Asp]

Do you have a link to that ruling?

No sorry and it was as very old one, like old forums old, so it could very likely be different now. Wouldn't come up much in game play as not many effects keep the wraith planted in place.

It's only one Razorback game so far so I'd like to do more testing with them but it's worth owning one. Not sure about multiples (I have two), they get expensive at some point. Most likely after incorporating Slaughterhousers I'd be back in Thornfall as I can't drop Brigands or Rorsch & Brine without losing Tier and don't know that I'd want to only have two beasts.

Hear ya there list building is going to get interesting fast for us. Just so many quality choices....brigands with Carver, R&B, and the War Hogs are all hard not to take. Guess on the bright side we really can't reasonably expect much more out of the next book beyond a new unit and warlock. Likely we'll see a Farrow solo and an additional beast and that's about it.

Razorback is such a sweet model I'll likely end up with two even though they will rarely see play, sub 50 points anyway.

Think Carver's Teir bonuses will make streamroller play interesting....

-Asp

[dboeren]

Just to be sure, I'll open a question in the Rules Forum and find out for certain.

I don't really know how much to expect out of the next book. One Farrow warlock and the Slaughterhousers are confirmed. I would expect to get probably two more beasts, and a solo on top of that bringing it to five. If we get more, that's great, but I hope we should get at least that much. Maybe one Merc or Minion who's not Farrow that we can still take in Thornfall?

Edit: Did some more searching and found it in the Rules forum. It works as I thought, once you turn solid you are engaged and cannot make the attack against an outside model. You can of course still use Gunfighter.
http://privateerpressforums.com/show...l=1#post632042

Edit: Just for the sake of messing with Devilsquid, I'm going to suggest the possibility of a new Farrow Warlock that previous served with the Steelheads and can take Steelhead models in his Tier list

[PG_Devilsquid]

Harumph! :P

Hey, Halberdiers would be a great addition to block for the Brigands. And Stannis Porker, Cavalry solo can buff them.

Caster, Heavy, Light, Slaughterhouses, Support solo (Female Bone Grinder from the fluff?). That'd be a solid boost to the Farrow line up.

Oink oink.

[Walter]

-Where do you play at in Atlanta?

I was at that Mangled Metal plus tourney you went to. I had the red circle. I play at the Gaming Pit on wednesdays, Tower Games on Thursdays and Phoenix on Sat.

[dboeren]

Ah, ok. Those were some good looking models too. How'd you do in the tournament?

[Walter]

Beat Strakov in one, lost to pGoreshade in 2, beat bethayne in 3 and eSevy in 4 for overall second. It was a lot of fun, I like that format.

[Alienated One]

Hey man, I think I'm the other player in ATL with a farrow army, and with Carver I find Rorsh and Brine indispensable.

I know of myself, (granted I am getting rid of mine) as well as 2 other people not in this thread who have Farrow in Atlanta. They just don't come to tournaments.

[dboeren]

David Webster probably still has his (is he one of the 2 you're thinking of?) Not sure who the other might be. Besides, you'll be back. Eventually you'll have bought & sold all the factions and get around to Farrow again

@Walter: Ah, you're record is the same as mine then. I took third with 3-1. Too bad it couldn't be piggies in 2nd and 3rd place, teach people to fear them!

[Alienated One]

Yes, He is indeed one of the two. And I dont know that I will be back. I still haven't hopped to protectorate yet.

[dboeren]

Well, I'm not sure how many people will see this after the thread's been moved to Battle Reports, but I got in two more games with Lord Carver tonight.

First one was against Cryx.

Carver
2xWar Hogs
Gunboar
Rorsch & Brine
6xBrigands
6xBrigands
Razorback
35+6, Tier 4

vs.

Deneghra
Deathripper
2xNightwretch
Ripjaw
Scavenger
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
2xPistol Wraiths
Necrotech
Scrap Thrall
10xBiles
10xMechanithralls

It was a really long drawn out brutal game. Here we are after things have really gotten going:


The Mechanithralls came down the right flank and put some damage on my War Hog but the Brigands and Gunboar took them all out. The left War Hog has Crippling Grasp on it, upkept all game. On the left, I'm Quagmiring the Pistol Wraith.

A bunch of Venom and Bile sprays later on Deneghra's feat turn, here we are again:


I've lost a lot of stuff, so has he, I've been pounding the daylights out of his bonejacks and the Necrotech's been busy fixing them. The right Brigands just blew away a Pistol Wraith, and even though we lost Brine Rorsch has been going crazy shooting everything - I think he killed 3-4 Biles this turn.



I've lost both War Hogs now. Carver charges and kills the other Pistol Wraith and the Gunboar has accumulated a lot of damage. He's got Parasite and only Batten Down is keeping him alive. Rorsch and the Gunboar go nuts on the Biles again and kill the Skarlock too. I nearly take out the Warwitch but roll poorly on the blast damage.

Final turn:


Not a lot left on the board. Carver casts Mobility and Quagmire and charges Deneghra. She's got a couple focus on her, but he takes her out in a couple of swings for the victory.

I was really proud of Rorsch, he kept going after losing Brine and killed so much stuff. He cut himself for Fury twice for a total of four points, he was Corroded, and down to I think 2 health at the end but still taking as much as he could with him.

[dboeren]

Next game was against Circle. I took the same list:
Carver
2xWar Hogs
Gunboar
Rorsch & Brine
6xBrigands
6xBrigands
Razorback
35+6, Tier 4

vs.

Kromac
Pureblood
Feral
Gnarlhorn
Tharn Whitemane
6xBloodweavers
6xBloodtrackers
35+4, Tier 1

Start of the game, here's our setup after my Advanced Move:


He pretty much runs everyone and puts Inviolable Resolve on the Gnarlhorn. The Razorback is the Prey for the Bloodtrackers. I probably should have put them in the forest?

Left Brigands run, Carver casts Mobility and Batten Down. Right Brigands advance and Dig In against the Bloodtrackers, and the Razorback runs away. Gunboar has Counterblast up.


The Bloodweavers charge. They're effectively POW 11 weaponmasters vs. my ARM 21 War Hogs. Four charge the left hog, two the right. I figure 4d6-10 is an average of 4 points apiece so I can survive it. Then one of them rolls 6,6,6,5 on my left hog and they nearly kill it. The Pureblood throws a boosted spray and finishes him off, along with one Brigand (but he makes his Tough check) and two Bloodweavers. Gunboar's Counterblast kills the two charging my other War Hog before they can make their attacks so he's unscathed. I really didn't want to lose a War Hog this early.

On my turn I can kill one of his beasts and Carver might kill another but he'd expose himself to Kromac and the remaining heavy - no thanks. We mostly regroup this turn and kill as many Bloodweavers and Bloodtrackers as we can. Gunboar and Rorsch shoot the Tharn Whitemane to death and we set ourselves up - locking the Pureblood with Quagmire and using my other Brigands as a meat shield.


His turn wasn't much either. The Pureblood kills the Brigand locking him down but that's all he can do. Kromac and the beasts reposition and he moves Inviolable Resolve to the Warpwolf who warps for ARM this turn.

I've got a couple of options. I can possibly kill all three of his beasts this turn by popping my feat but I'll probably have to expose Carver to do it, Kromac is fast and his feat will probably let him kill me. I can't screen against him because he can leap. So, I go with Plan B - kill Kromac and win the game. Now, he's got 2 Fury on him and three untouched Heavies to transfer to. It's going to be some work, but I think I can do it.

I upkeep Quagmire, and charge the Brigands. Two on Kromac, one on the Feral, one on the Gnarlhorn, fall short on the Pureblood. They're all locked down and debuffed. The two Brigands that charged Kromac both hit (needing 7's) - the first one does minor damage which he takes, the second rolls well and he transfers 9 damage to the Pureblood. Carver casts Mobility and charges Kromac. I've got 3 Fury, he has 1. Charge attack hits for massive damage (4d6+1) so he transfers it to the Pureblood which kills it. I buy another swing, hit (I only need 6's) and boost the damage and Kromac is dead. One Fury remaining. If the turn had gone on I'd have probably killed the Gnarlhorn with the War Hog, hopefully the Feral with Brine, and the last Bloodtracker with the Brigands or Razorback, but there's no need - the Circle is shattered.

Here's the final position:



So, both games tonight were victories with both kills being made by Carver personally. With the feat and possible support from Quagmire he's pretty brutal and can kill nearly anything himself. That's a POW 15 weaponmaster who can be effective MAT 9 if he needs to be. I find myself casting Batten Down most turns until it's time to pop the feat and kill most of the big things, then it's a choice of him getting involved or not.

The Razorback didn't do a lot. In the Cryx game it died to Venom early and then blew up a few thralls. In the Circle game it had to run away (he wasn't clumped up enough to be worth dying for maybe one Bloodtracker) and then took out one or two troopers.

The Gunboar continues to do pretty well. I use Counterblast a LOT with him so he's quite frequently got a second shot at targets who are more clumped up after trying to move up or charge some of my stuff. He's tough as heck with Batten Down going, and once things get hairy he can slam, 2-hand throw, or just beat on stuff. The guy's better than his reputation would have you believe and I'm glad I have one. Two AOEs at POW 7 can rip up incoming units pretty well, if I'd realized this earlier I probably would have taken fewer Bile Thrall sprays to my knocked down and/or debuffed models. Next time I'll be more watchful for opportunities to take out big chunks of a unit with him as long as their ARM is only moderate (13 or less).

Brigands are doing well. and Quagmire makes them very useful at the cost of sometimes losing some of their special tactics. If you've got to touch key stuff you generally need to charge/run so I typically do that and take Tough/Fearless.

I was impressed with how much trouble Rorsch can cause on his own. It's easy to think of him as just Brine's puppeteer but he's more than that. Three ranged attacks from one model (one an AOE) is fearsome and he can boost a couple of them too. I'm still tempted to replace R&B with another War Hog but they provide so many tricks and toolbox abilities that I don't want to give them up.

[ozmo]

Great write up, please keep em coming.

[Hjelmen0]

Good reports. I like that you seem to be finding Carver more and more interesting the more you play him, and I am definitely learning from your experiences.

Keep it coming, please!

[pattison]

Reading through this topic, the Arkadius and the S&D Chronicles. Very useful write ups all of them!
Is there a chance of more Carver batreps please?