Hordes vs. WM Battle Report - Trollbloods vs. Menoth - 35 points

Here's yet another battle report featuring John Johnson's Protectorate of Menoth going up against my Trollbloods. John's List:

• Amon
• Blood of Martyrs
• Dervish x 2
• Vigilant x 2
• Min. Exemplar Errants + UA
• Max. Choir
• Hierophant
• Vassal
• Wracks

My List:

• Grim Angus
• Mauler
• Bomber
• Axer
• Impaler
• Max. Pygmy Burrowers
• Fell Caller
• Whelps

Deployment: I won the roll off and elected to go first, with 3 Whelps starting on the table. From top to bottom I deployed: advance deployed Burrowers, Whelp, Fell Caller, Mauler, Axer, Whelp, Grim, Impaler, Bomber and another Whelp. From top to bottom John deployed: Wrack, Dervish, Vigilant, Vassal, Blood of Martyrs, Vigilant, Amon, Hierophant, Dervish, Wrack, AD'd Errants and the last Wrack, with Choir intermingled with between the jacks. We played the trenches as the sloped area being rough terrain and if you were on the inside you had cover.

Trollbloods turn 1: With the exception of Grim, everything ran forward, some less than others. Grim advanced and cast Cross Country (providing Pathfinder and Hunter) on the Bomber, Return Fire on himself and shed 1.

Menoth turn 1: Amon allocated 1 focus to each jack. The Vassal cast Enliven (after being damaged by an enemy attack the effected jack can make a full advance, ignoring free strikes) on the Vigilant in front of Amon, which then ran up behind the boxes in the center and the Hierophant used Harmonious Exaltation on Amon, allowing him to cast a spell for one less focus once per turn. Amon then took a focus from the Wrack behind the trenches (which promptly exploded), cast Synergy (models in the battlegroup gain a cumulative +1 to melee attack and damage rolls for each other model in the BG that hits an enemy model with a melee attack) and Mobility (battlegroup gets +2 SPD and Pathfinder) and advanced. The Choir advanced and used the Passage Hymn on his jacks and lastly, the Errants ran into the ruins.

A Trollblood perspective.

A Menoth perspective.

Trollbloods turn 2: Grim upkept Cross Country, cast Farstrike (the Impaler's animus which grants +4" to ranged attacks for 1 turn) on the Bomber and himself, stepped back into the woods and shot an Errant. The Impaler moved back slightly, cast Farstrike on itself and threw a boosted spear at the forward Vigilant in cover, getting a crit and slamming it back 5" into the other Vigilant, doing 8 damage to it and no damage to the other one. The Bomber then moved back slightly and threw a couple Bombs at the Errants, the first missing, but killing two in the blast and the second hitting and killing the target plus an adjacent grunt (the Standard and a grunt dying in place of a grunt and the Officer respectively). As they are want to do, the Burrowers burrowed and everything else moved ever so slightly back.

Menoth turn 2: Amon allocated 3 focus to the recently slammed Vigilant (who shook off the knock down), 1 to the Blood of Martyrs, 1 to a Dervish and upkept Synergy. The Hierophant used HE on Amon again, Amon took a focus from a Wrack in the back which exploded, cast Mobility and walked a bit into the forest. The Vassal advanced to Enliven the Blood of Martyrs and the Choir used Battle Hymn on the jacks. The Vigilant charged the Mauler, hitting three times, doing 9 damage (the Mauler creating a Whelp from the first damage suffered) and the still knocked down Vigilant stood up and walked to the spot behind the boxes that the other Vigilant previously held. The Blood of Martyrs ran forward to engage the Axer, then the Dervish with focus ran forward to stand a couple inches from the Bomber. The other Dervish moved in front of Amon and the remaining Errants ran forward to engage the Bomber.

Trollbloods turn 3: The Burrowers popped up, Grim upkept nothing, advanced and used his feat (enemy models in his CTRL suffer -3 SPD, DEF and can't make special attacks), catching the remaining Errants, both Vigilants, the forward Dervish and the Blood of Martyrs. He then cast Rage (the Mauler's animus, ie, +3 STR) on the Mauler and the Fell Caller and shot an Errant. The Fell Caller then charged the Blood of Martyrs, doing about two columns of damage and used War Cry on the Burrowers to give them +2 to melee attack rolls. Next the Burrowers received the charge order, 4 charging the forward Dervish (bringing it down to 2 boxes), the two already penning in the Blood of Martyrs to prevent Enliven movement technically charged it (doing just a few damage), one charging a Choir Acolyte (killing it), one charging the Vassal (missing both attacks), one charging the central Vigilant (doing a few damage) and two running (one to engage the central Vigilant and one going toward the other Dervish). The Impaler then walked up and finished off the crippled Dervish. The Axer moved a bit to make room for the Mauler and attacked the Blood of Martyrs twice, boosting damage and taking out about a column and a half. The Mauler then walked over (taking a free strike for 4 damage from the Vigilant, making another Whelp) and finished the BoM off with one attack and put Rage on the Bomber. The Bomber then walked over (taking 3 damage from an Errant's free strike) and, filling up on fury, finished off the forward Vigilant. The Whelps then ran to screen/get in the way, one in front of the Bomber and the others between the Errants and Grim.

Menoth turn 3: Amon upkept Synergy. The Hierophant did HE on Amon again and Amon took a focus from the remaining Wrack, which miraculously didn't explode. He then used his feat (allowing him to give any focus he spends to his jacks in his CTRL and giving them Perfect Balance), cast Mobility (giving the focus to the Dervish) advanced to engage two Burrowers, cast Flagellation (the only relevent part being that he ignores tough, giving the focus to the Vigilant) and threshed the two Burrowers (adding +1 to the Synergy bonus) and killed a third with Convection (filling the jacks on focus). The Choir then Battle Hymned the jacks and the Vassal killed the Burrower engaging him with an Arcane Bolt. The Dervish then charged a Burrower by the wreck marker, killed it, sidestepped to the Whelp in front of the Bomber, killed it and stepped to the Bomber and hit it for a decent chunk of damage. The Vigilant then charged the Bomber and, with the combined +4 to attack and damage from the Choir and Syngery, finished it in 4 attacks, using it's last attack to hit the Impaler for 6 damage. As my opponent was unfamiliar with Trolls and I was a little out of it from making another batrep immediately before this, I forgot that the Vigilant couldn't charge due to Grim's feat (-3 SPD), but not the end of the world. Lastly, the two remaining Errants killed the Whelps in melee and by way of Quick Work shot at Grim, one hitting for 2 damage, which Grim transferred the Impaler to get rid of a fury, as there was too much on the beasts already.

Trollbloods turn 4: After taking fury there was still one on the Axer and the Impaler, the Axer keeping his composure and Impaler frenzying on the Vigilant (and missing due to his mind being crippled). The Fell Caller advanced forward and sprayed an Acolyte in front of Amon, killing it and actually hitting Amon for 5 damage as well. He then used War Cry on the Burrowers again. Grim walked back a bit to the woods, cast Farstrike on himself and shot Amon through the gap with a fully boosted attack, doing 7 damage. The Mauler walked over and hit the Vigilant with boosted initial attacks and chain attacked a two-handed throw, throwing it into the Dervish, doing a bit of damage and knocking them down and buying attacks on the Dervish to bring it to one box remaining.The Axer walked over to kill an Errant, then Burrowers advanced, finished off the Dervish, did some more damage to the Vigilant and killed the last Errant.

Menoth turn 4: Amon kept his focus. The Hierophant used HE again and the Choir chanted Battle again. The Vigilant hit the Mauler a couple times for a bit damage, then the Vassal used Ancillary Attack and had it hit him once more. Amon then took a focus from the Wrack which finally blew up, cast Mobilty on himself and charged Grim, being just under a 1/2" short.

Trollbloods turn 5: Fury was under control this turn. First the Mauler advanced a bit toward Amon, cast Rage on Grim and finished off the Vigilant. Grim then charged Amon and missed with his initial boosted attack, but hit with the second fully boosted one and finished off the High Allegiant.

"Dodge this!"

Aftermath: As much as the Vigilants get maligned on the boards, I found them quite competent for a 4 point light. The ARM 21 goes a long way when running into the face of your enemy and moreover, when you're getting to +4 or 5 from the Choir and Synergy they don't seem very pillow-fisted at all. My list was probably a bit better suited against John's list then his was against mine, but I think I got a big break by winning the starting roll. If he'd gone first and ran his jacks in two waves with Passage on them, I would have been on my heels and forced to use my feat defensively (non-optimal) to keep from getting smashed. Getting the critical slam from the Impaler helped to keep what was essentially his distracting jab out of my face and the Bomber rolling fairly well to thin out the Errants helped as well. As it turned out, neither of us crossed the trenches, so we were essentially playing on a 2 1/2' table, though I doubt it changed either of our play styles. Though his charge didn't quite make it, I didn't think that Amon could get as close as he did and reminded me what a nasty spell Mobility is. I've played this list (or variants of it) several times and feel quite comfortable running Grim and mostly beasts, though with Whelps I feel that most Troll locks can pull it off.