Circle at 50 point steamroller (eBaldur t4) (WIP)

[Walter]

I brought my eBaldur tier 4 tournament to a local steamroller tourney. I thought I'd write a battle report.

Field:

This tournament was a practice run for the Warmachine Weekend Qualifier, so all of the top guys in ATL were playing their strongest lists. We also had the guys from Chattanooga make the long ride down here. (thanks!), so there were a lot of strong players. There were 14 in total.

3 Cygnar
2 Menoth
1 Cryx
1 Khador
1 Mercenaries
1 Circle (me)
1 Skorne
1 Trolls
2 Retribution
1 Minions

List:

-Baldur
-Watcher
-Watcher
-Watcher
-Guardian
-Megalith
Druids + UA
Fulcrum
Shifting Stones
Shifting Stones + UA
Reinforcements
Guardian

I like this list, it works pretty well for me. I've been playing it since Domination came out, so I'm pretty good with it. This is my Mohsar list's partner for at least the near future.

I also brought this Mohsar list, but didn't end up playing it.

Mohsar
-Stalker
-Pureblood
-Gorax
Min Wolves
Max Trackers + UA
Thrullg
wold stalkers
wold stalkers
blood weavers
Reinforcements
Max Nyss Hunters

It's a change for me, moving from beast heavy to infantry heavy Circle with Mohsar. I've never really been comfortable with a 50 point list for him. It's tough.


Anyway, on to the tourney.

Game #1:

Vs. Retribution

Vyros
-Phoenix
-Griffon
Max Invictors + UA
Max riflemen + UA
Max MHSF, no UA
MHA
Ghost Sniper
basic Eiryss
Stormfall archers

Hes' got a Rahn list and a Vyros list. I feel like either of my lists could take either of his lists, so I take eBaldur, as I have less experience with him, and I want to make sure it goes on the table like it goes in my mind.

Scenario is close quarters, (the two zones in the center. Have to take the enemy's 3 times, have your caster in one of the two as you do so. Basically a fake scenario just there for dice down.)

I go first.

Circle 1: I move up the field, creating my formation ( 3 watchers in front, eBaldur and his two main wolds behind, in both triangles of stones, the front 3 stones able to serenity the Watchers, or heal them if they have to activate first, all 3 watchers Weight of Stone'd and Stone Formed, Druids sort of off to the right keeping the battlegroup under counter magic, counter magic guy, UA and a few others behind 3 clouds, Fulcrum on left). I'm curious as to how he's going to try and approach this.

Ret 1: He just runs up on us, forming his Invictors into triangle. Notably everyone is massively closer together than they should be to funnel through some terrain. Eiryss is flanking me on the far right.

Circle 2: I move up again, minor shooting kills like a guy or two makes some forests to slow him down more with Fertilizer. This round I put a little extra fury out to add Roots to the Engine.

Ret 2: He stands still and shoots me, and it just utterly doesn't do a thing. He's a new player, and his target priority is very bad.

Circle 3: I kill about 20 guys with the Fulcrum and Druids and Watchers shooting, don't get any closer, still Rooted.

Ret 3: More floundering, Eiryss creeping up behind. MHA kills my Druid UA.

Circle 4: I finish off the infantry, do a little damage to the Phoenix. Feat.

Ret 4: The Assassin charges eBaldur and does massive damage, which has to be transferred to Megs. Eiryss charges him in the back, does minimal damage. Vexingly, he knows enough to camp with Vyros.

Circle 5: I take a bit to think about it, then send the Fulcrum up to spray Vyros. fortunately I hit and crit. I warp my Guardian behind him to drive him forward and do some damage, then a Watcher throws the Griffon out of the way so Megalith can charge and deal some damage. Finally eBaldur warps on him and finishes him off.

Assessment: I didn't really learn anything this game, because my opponent was too new to his faction, and too unfamiliar to my list. It was nice to see the Fulcrum really go to town though. I also got some practice at positioning shifting stones for future turns in a situation where I wasn't going to be moving (gun line war).

Round 2:

Vs. Menoth

He has pKreoss and Reznick. I choose eBaldur because I want to know how eBaldur does vs. Menoth. He doesn't have the book so it won't be a right test though. Giving it a little thought, eBaldur is a nightmare matchup for pKreoss. Drop and Pop simply isn't going to happen. my heavies are steady and everything else is rooted, and the druids are immune to fire. I'm expecting Reznick, but he goes pKreoss. He doesn't play very often (lucky draws for me so far).

pKreoss
-Revenger
-Revenger
-Vanquisher
-Reckoner
Max Bastions
Max Choir
Vessel of Judgement
Gorman
eEiryss

Reinforcements:
Scourge of Heresy

The scenario is a Flag too far ( I like this scenario a lot, it's fun and new)

Circle #1: I run forwards, my formation.

Menoth #1: He moves up, bastions on the right, jacks behind them. Engine in center/left.

Circle #2: I shuffle forward, shoot my watchers at his Engine boosting damge, do about half it's health. I put a wall to stop his bastions from charging my watchers.

menoth #2: 3 focus to a revenger which gets battle. It charges and does almost all of my engine's health in damage. Uh oh. His bastion's charge my Druids and kill 2. Kreoss, critically, switches his upkeeps around and gives out his focus, then hides behind the Engine.

Circle #3: I go for it. Warp Guardian up to punch out the engine, then Megalith up to put Undergroth on Kreoss (he misses with a crevasse). the 3 Watchers fire on -2 def no focus pKreoss and fertilize him.

Games #3 and #4 in next post, probably later tonight.

[VagrantPoet]

Good reports. Hope the next two matches proved more challenging.

[Walter]

Match #3:

He's got eHaley, with her new Tier, and eNemo with 17 chargers. (All painted too, he's actually got a thread about it. They looked great!). I ponder this for a bit, but eBaldur is clearly my guy for this. He'll stop eNemo cold with his invincible wolds, and I've played the eHaley tier list before (different player, natch) and it's a strong matchup for eBaldur.

He goes eHaley. Battle Engine vs. Battle Engine!

eHaley
-Stormclad (bonded)
-Thorn
Stormblades (+ua)
Black Thirteenth
Storm artillery thing
2 stormcallers
2 units of mechanics
2 storm striders (start with 3 tokens)

I'm pretty happy about this matchup. He doesn't really have a lot that makes me afraid, bar eHaley and her marvellous ability to win any battle. More than that, he's from Chat, and they don't have any Circle tourney players out there, so eBaldur will probably be able to surprise him. (He does that once to each player).

Scenario is sacrifice. I make sure i understand the tie breaker, and get ready. Critically, I get first turn.

Circle 1: I move up into my formation. I know exactly how far those guns can shoot, and with his tier bonus advance move I'm already under his guns. My brick goes left towards the zone, and my druids + engine goes in the center. I send no one towards the flag, no need to pretend I'm going to match her at scenario. My plan is to bore her to death.

Cygnar 1: He moves up, with his main stuff in the center, and each engine going wide out on one of the wings. eHaley decelerates.

Circle 2: Ok, I need to seize control of this game this round. Critically, the Engine near my side is out of his deceleration range (no squire), so I can bang on it a bit. What I need to do to win this game is avoid the following scenario 'eHaley blitzes me and feats, I squirm like a chump, next round she gets the stormclad to eBaldur and hits him to till the candy comes out'. It's a very specific setup, so I should be able to stop it.

I hatch the following plan. I'm going to use my Wolds to shoot his undefended Storm Strider, send my engine on a suicide run, drag his stormclad into a bad position and build an impassible roadblock in the form of Rooted Megs with undergrowth directly between eBaldur and Stormclad.

This goes fabulously. My 3 Watchers and a Stones UA KILL the unbuffed Stormclad close to me (3 boosted 12's and a 14...some hot dice rolling there). The Fulcrum moves up and blasts a collection of storm dudes with its fire blast, kills the direct hit and no one else, but catches them all on fire (like 6 guys, they were mad clumped up going over a wall and trying to keep a dude near Stormclad), also I use my freeze beam on Ryan and get her with the boosted 11. The druids zap the Stormclad, KD it, and drag it into base with my Engine. Megs moves into position and eBaldur feats.

Cygnar 2: The predicament which confronts him is acute. With his engine dead the only things that really threaten my control of the point are a unit of mechanics. His Stormclad is laying next to my engine, in charge range of Rooted Megalith on the other side of the Engine. And another 5 soldiers burn up, leaving him with most of the unit dead. I'm hoping hard for feat turn, and I'm not disappointed.

He gives the Clad focus, thorn focus and fights my middle. Clad kills my engine with ease, he also kills a few druids with Thorn and some black thirteenth shooting. he feats on me. That's effectively game, just have to bring it in.

Circle 3:

Under eHaley's feat I basically just writhe like a landed fish. I think my Druids kill the remaining storm guys with force bolts. Wolds shoot/punch mechanics. eBaldur roots and sits. Megs walks backwards, still staying between eBaldur and Stormclad, roots/growths himself again.

Cygnar 3:

His post feat turn is really rough. He just can't get at the meat of my army safely. He takes his clad and instead of backing off kills some druids. He also shoots out a stone to break one of my triangles. eHaley decelerates

Circle 4:

Remaining druids bolt the clad, bringing it closer, and then the wolds shoot it (not doing much because of decel), Megs teleports in attacks it, doing about half its HP, and rooting. That's basically game.

Cygnar 4: Now the clad is Weighted, it just stands up and wails on rooted Megs, does about 2/3 of his health. thorn pitches in, does a bit more but leaves it alive. bad luck. The other engine finally spends its last token shooting Megs, he still doesn't go down.

Essentially the remainder of the game is that Megalith finishes off the clad and we shoot some stuff, his remaining forces aren't anywhere near the zone, and I'm content to fortress up on the tie breaker point (he's keeping me from the flag so I can't actually score). ultimately ehaley charges Megs and finishes it off, spending her focus and leaving herself open for the Wold Watchers to gun down.

That victory put me into the last round. I was very proud of a dominating win against ehaley, even if it was her tier.

[Walter]

So, last round. Turns out it's Cygnar again. Hmph.

Enemy has the choice of eHaley or...Darius.

I actually saw this army earlier, and its pretty worrisome for my list. Basically, I want Mohsar for Darius and eBaldur for eHaley. I figure for the last round of a tourney eHaley is definitely going to come out, so I take eBaldur.

It's Darius. Oof.

Darius
-Stormclad
-Stormclad
-Cyclone
Black Thirteenth
Alexia + Risen
Stormblades
Ragman
Gorman
eEiryss
Journeyman
other power solo's, I can't recall precisely. Ask Moz if you want the exact list.

It's destruction. That's actually better for me than a straight fight. I'll definitely take it vs. Darius.

He goes first. That's not so hot.

Cygnar 1: He moves up a bit, throws Fortification on one of his Stormclads. Journeyman throws Arcane Shield on the other. Alexia makes a Thrall which goes running on a long outflank for my pillar.

Circle 1: I move up across from him, my usual formation. We are both hard on his pillar side, soft on my pillar side. My plan is to use my battle engine and wold shooting to take down a pillar next round, force him to guard both Darius and the last pillar on the round after, assassinate whichever is vulnerable.

Cygnar 2: He gives 3 focus to the Cyclone (screening Darius with the unpushable jack wall and a cloud from magestorming a scrapjack in the back). It shoots down my Engine (which wasn't rooted, oops), and has 2 more shots to spare. Darius's gun scatters and kills my druid UA. oof! Another thrall follows the first. He activates his pillar to give it an armor.

Circle 2: Ok, my plan isn't going to work without the engine. New plan is to advance under cover of my feat and hope he charges in. If he does the little wolds that survive will lock him up, and I'll warp past him on to Darius (ideally) or his pillar (suboptimally). I do some shooting at the pillar, do a little damage.

(Astute readers may note I'm not using my usual game plan this time. The problem is that eBaldur's usual plan is a 2 step procedure, particularly with defensive upkeeps, which he has. In between step one and two he'll feat, and that's bad. Also he'll have ragman for the decisive round, and that hurts my armor a lot. Finally, even if my dice are crazy hot and it works out for me, there's still darius himself, who will get Arcane Shield and be immune to anything except eBaldur with a million worm tokens. Darius out eBaldur's eBaldur with this list setup. He also has WAY better support)

Cygnar 3: He back up. Ugh. I shouldn't have played this list against him outside of tourneys. He knows my tricks. It's not all bad though, as his backup turn mostly just kills druids (who don't really work vs. his no-push or KD upkeep anyway), and he leaves a spot for Wold Guardian to be warped onto his pillar.

Circle 3: Ok, I warp in the Guardian on the pillar, after a bit more desultory shooting. It rolls poorly and leaves it a live. This is bad. My little wolds gum up his front ranks at this point, charging into his heavies and such. I have just Megs and eBaldur in the backfield. Megalith moves up and roots itself to keep them off my caster.

Cygnar 4: He blinds Megalith (ugh), kills the Guardian and one of the Watchers. Takes down my remaining stones. This game is over.

Circle 4: Ok, last ditch effort. I've got one Watcher left near the pillar. If it can kill the pillar, blinded Megs can use it's animus, move up and try and just be rooted and animus' engaging someone. eBaldur can sprint towards where the pillar will appear...and I dunno, maybe he'll totally flub the roles to beat me down with a stormclad? It's a bad plan, but I don't have any options. The Watcher fails to kill the pillar! Curses!! eBaldur mans up and swan dives into the crowd of power solo's, beheading Alexia and ground zero'ing away a few other models I hate.

Cygnar 5: A stormclad gets dark shroud, then Darius full throttles and jackhammers eBaldur into the floor.

Oof. That's about how it goes for eBaldur tier though. The enemy can either break your gimmick, or they can't.