I played my first game yesterday vs. Khador and it was a HOOT! I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to posture my guys to get the most out of them. There were a few definite stars and a few figs that lacked, though mostly due to how I ran them.
I played:
Zaal
Krea
Savage
Cannoneer
Extoller
AG
AG
Praetorian Swordsmen (8) + The Officer & Standard Bearer
Cetrati (4)
Ferrox (3)
Orin Midwinter
Venator Catapult
Pain Givers (4)
He ran: (More or less)
Epic Sorcha
Destroyer
Juggernaut
Kovnik
Drakhun
A&H
Eyriss
Orin Midwinter
Man-O-War Demo Corp
Mortar
Mortar
Field Gun
Great Bears
I won initiative and ran everything forward, for the AG I had them declare charges just to get the added 3" of movement. Gobbers put concealment on my front rank of praetorians.
He had Eyriss in a tree and shot a phantom hunter bolt at my praetorian officer, didn't kill him thaknfully but it was close. I sent Orin Midwinter after the Iosan Bitch, too bad she's a better shot than he is. Basically he shot at her, she killed him.
Khador then launched a mortar and field gun barrage which killed a few praetorians and fed the AG's. The Drakhun then ran down my left in an attempt to flank. Holt then killed a few more praetorians and now have almost completely loaded my AG's with souls. :)
My Turn. AG's both gain +4" movement and charge for free thanks to zaal. Death rains down on the great bears and the demo corp. The ferrox jump over the intervening model in front of Sorcha and engage her. They deal some damage but not enough to really matter.
By now the savage is dead and the cannoneer has taken care of the Drakhun thanks to a well placed shot to his tiny khador head. The catapult drifted nicely into Holt and turned him into a red stain. The Cetrati engage the Demo Corp and deal damage but not sufficient to really kill much.
I'm feeling good about my position. My titan is still untouched with the extoller in tow and the unit of pain givers are doing just fine. The praetorians are dead but that was pretty much their purpose. I didn't even bother feating, mostly because I forgot to but I felt that it wouldn't have made much of a difference. I was wrong, why was I wrong? I thought Zaal only received a token for each Skone model killed in the last turn etc. I failed to see that it counts for the WHOLE game. Holy crap. Had I feated the Cetrati would have put out way more damage killing much much more than they did. Also, the ferrox could have put more than a few scratches on Sorcha.
Ah well, live and learn.
Now It turns ugly.
Sorcha feats. So I'm like you. I think that it's pSorcha not epic. I laugh because I've anticipated the feat and there is not much in LOS that isn't expendable. Oh snap, it's epic Sorcha, so instead she makes it so that her entire army deals double damage for every pip that gets through my armor. Well, to make a long story short he beats the crap out of me and manages to get the last remaining great bear into combat with Zaal. Yeah. Dead.
In all it was one of the most fun games I've played in a long time. The newness of the faction and their unfamiliarity made game play a tad slow but that was mostly due to my search for "combos" etc. I can't wait for my next opportunity to play.
Zaal is still my go to guy. I can't imagine having less than 7 fury so making that adjustment will be difficult. Morghoul seems interesting but I'll have to get a few more pain givers together to allow better fury management. I'll save that discussion for another time.
Until then,
-Cheers-
