Battle Report 3: Lord Tyrant Hexeris Versus Lich Lord Asphyxious

Battle Report #3

Lord Tyrant Hexeris Versus Lich Lord Asphyxious

Time for another Battle Report!

This post was originally supposed to be a 2 in 1 battle report post. In the recent weeks, I have challenged my excellent Cryx player regular opponent to a battle against eLich. eLich is arguably the best competitive warlock in Cryx (with eDenny and eSkarre not far behind), and is a regular on the tournament scene. I wanted to nail down an overall good list for tournament play with a caster that can also really screw with Cryx. I nailed it down to two casters; Mordikaar and pHexeris.

The first match was with Mordikaar against eLich. Here was my list:

Void Seer Mordikaar +5 points
* Cyclops Brute 5 points
* Cyclops Shaman 5 points
* Titan Cannoneer 9 points
* Titan Sentry 9 points

Agonizer 2 points
Extoller Soulward 2 points
Gatorman Witch Doctor 3 points
10 Nihilators 8 points
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers 2 points
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer 3 points
6 Venator Reivers 5 points
* Venator Officer & Standard Bearer 2 points

Basically a lot of Cryx hate. I had a Gatorman Witch Doctor Tough and Undead the Nihilators, which also got Banishing Ward to really make them a super annoyance to Cryx while the Reivers got Hollow and did their best to stay away from Admonia. It was a solid list and both armies mauled each other. Long story short, I knew I was actively losing, but had an opportunity to hail mary some decent strength Essence Blasts on Lich's head, but my dice said no. The Sentry was in the list because I felt I needed another heavy hitter, but I think he will soon be replaced for a Raider and a Drake or Krea. I love Mordikaar, I really do (one of my favorites, fluff wise) but I always struggle with an end game with him. He has denial out the ass, but how he wins games is what I have to figure out.

So I moved on to pHexeris. I feel pHexeris doesn't get enough love. As much as I love his epic form, and I do, I feel that pHexeris is still one of Skorne's strongest casters. In my opinion, his feat is the best feat in the faction, sure it hates low MAT, high DEF troops, and tough, but offensively speaking, if can cause way more damage then potentially your army could that turn. I look at is as an added bonus when trying to kill the opponent's army, rather then banking on it's kill ability by itself. He has a straight MAT buff that doesn't require him to be up field, he has the better arcing abilities because of Soul Slave, and Psychic Vampire just makes certain units cry. He also has an excellent denial reeving mechanic. I once wrecked a Legion heavy and 3 lesser beasts between a combination of Beat Back, buying attacks, and reeving the fury. After that turn, I still had him sitting on 5 transfers. He is an excellent caster, my only complaint about him is that it can be difficult to build his list.

I have a simple rule when it comes to list design. Is this the list I would take to a tournament with? I may take a caster that is a favorable match up with another caster, but I always have one list per caster, I never build specifically for a match up.

However, I knew I walked into this match up with an advantage. Any bane I kill on Hexeris' feat turn is permanently dead to eLich. It is a huge deal for an eLich player because he struggles to bring his feat to bear. The typical answer I get from an eLich player is "well, I will just kill my own stuff", to which I usually reply, "sweet, so I only have to deal with your army for one turn". pHexeris is also a fantasitc anti-cryx caster because Banes Fuel his feat, especially Knights. With a Large Control Zone for the feat, pHexeris on his feat turn could potentially waste an entire Bane Heavy Cryx army and deny any resurrection abilities save Tartarus.

To be fair, I didn't build a specifically anti-eLich army. I built, what I feel, is a solid pHexy army with some anti-cryx options.

So, enough explanations, on to the lists:

Mike

Lich Lord Asphyxious +6 points
* Cankerworm 5 points
* Helldiver 3 points
* Nightwretch 4 points
* Scavenger 4 points
* Stalker 4 points

10 Bane Knights 10 points
Bane Lord Tartarus 4 points
6 Bane Thralls 5 points
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard 3 points
6 Bile Thralls 5 points
Darragh Wrathe 4 points
2x Warwitch Siren 2 points each
Withershadow Combine 5 points

Mahu

Lord Tyrant Hexeris +6 points

* Cyclops Raider 5 points
* Cyclops Shaman 5 points
* Titan Cannoneer 9 points
* Titan Gladiator 8 points
* Aptimus Marketh 3 points

Agonizer 2 points
Extoller Soulward 2 points
5 Gatorman Posse 9 points
10 Nihilators 8 points
4 Paingiver Beast Handlers 2 points
Paingiver Task Master 2 points
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew 1 point

I really struggled with this list, I really did. At the end of the day, I decided to not worry about high defense with this army. There is a list I am playing around with that involves Orin Midwinter, a Thrullg, and Skornerpult (shocking) but I didn't have the Catapult model, and I was hoping that MAT 9 Nihilators and MAT 9 Gatormen with re-rolls to hit would be enough. My list also only has 2 really strong heavy hitters, but the infantry hate is here, and I think it can be a good match up for a lot of builds.

We rolled scenario and came up with Gauntlet from SR 2012. We rolled for first turn, and Mike got it.

This is set up. I deployed the Nihilators across from the Banes because it is easier to receive a charge from Bane Thralls then it is Bane Knights with Single wound infantry, as eLich doesn't have Ghost Walk, and you can play the blocking games I described in an earlier post. The Gators went after the Knights as even though they out threat me, with tough and medium bases, again, I can make it very hard to take out the whole unit with a charge, and even two Gators plus my feat can wipe out that whole unit. All the beasts and the rest of the army stayed central.

His first turn sees the typical running. I saw something I never saw before, Lich charged a Bane Knight to kill it and popped three Caustic Mist right in my face. I assume it was to try and prevent my advance onto the scoring area, but I figured I had yet another turn before I needed to contest the zone.

Here is my advance up. I "clouded" the Nihilators forward to try and bait the charge, but try and stay far enough away to not lose my whole unit to a purge. Gators Dirge of Mists advanced up and got tough, everything else got into position, trying to stay out of most of the threat ranges of his army, but still in a position to threaten him if he got close. I did get fortunate, a Sniped, Eyeless Sight Cannoneer put a massive hurting on the Stalker, crippling it enough to not have to worry to much about it.

What I expected to happen, happened now. Lich arcs an excarnate into my Nihilators, but thankfully, I pass my tough roll. He does it again, and get it off this time. I felt fortunate because now there was no focus for the Caustic Mist clouds. A Bile thrall was only able to catch a few Nihilators and the Swamp Gobbers in the purge. I felt kinda dumb because I didn't Death March the Nihilators which would have been handy. The Purge also got the Agonizer, which all Warmachine players love to hate, but caused minimal damage. I love that malnourished little guy. The Bane Knights advanced towards the center to avoid the Gators that will be there momentarily.

Going into this turn, I felt the perfect set up for the feat was given to me. I think Mike spread out enough to force Hexeris to move forward to possibly set up an assasination, but with midfield obstructions and some smart play, I felt I could capitalize the most on my feat and still keep Hexeris relatively safe. So between the initial charge of the Gators, shots from the Shaman, and the Raider, and the feat, I put all the Bane Knights away, including a couple of bile thralls. The Gladiator charged and finished off the Stalker. I felt that meant I lose my Gladiator next round, but that did put another ostacle in the way of getting to Hexeris, and the last thing I needed was a luck hit from a crippled Stalker to prevent transfers on Hexeris. Death March Nihilators clear a lot of Bane Thralls. I get fortunate here as well, as two Thralls under the feat did the impossible thing and actually hit Mike's one Arc Node, and after rolling fire on damage, left it with only a single point of health left. I couldn't get to Tartarus this turn, which was sadness, but Mike was Smart and played him as far away as possible. I was out of feat range and out of sniped Cannoneer range. The two downed Nihilators get behind the Gladiator to further block of charges to Hexeris. Marketh cycles Death March to the Gators. I did that because I knew Mike couldn't retaliate on them enough to put the whole unit down, and I wanted to put him in a place of, sure you can kill a couple, but then I an opportunity to get them in range of a lot of things. As you can tell from the picture, this was overall a great turn for me.

Even though I mauled his army, he is still Cryx and can put a hurting on my army with minimal guys left. Tartarus curses and Threashers 4 Nihilators which unfortunately make no tough rolls. Fresh Bane Thralls continue to wreck my Gladiator, but some of the Nihilators he failed to hit. The Shaman dies to the Canker Worm and some Withershadow fire. Lich pops Caustic Mist Clouds in front of the Gators to prevent charges and generally moves his army into position for the assassination.

Lich still had his feat, and I had no more remove from play. I felt maybe I could possibly range assasinate him this turn between the Raider and the Cannoneer. The Gators advance up with +2 STR from the task master and try and put a hurting on the Canker worm, which they don't. In hindsight I should have just run them back for Hexeris to hide behind. The Raider tests the waters for an assasination run by shooting at Lich with a boosted to hit and misses. I should also mention that I had Psychic Vampire up the whole time, and Lich had taken 5 points of damage during the course of the game. After that miss, I decided to play it safe. I threw what shots I had left, from Marketh casting Soulfire, etc, to kill the last of the Bile Thralls. I wanted them dead so that if Mike went for the desperation assassination, he didn't have an easy way to fuel his feat. No, if he wanted to kill his own models, he needed to do it himself. I pull the Cannoneer (who killed a Bile Thrall) and Hexeris back, and surrounded Hexeris with Paingivers to block off any potential charge from the feat. Again, should have used the Gatormen to do this, as you will see in a minute.

So Lich decides to go for it, between a couple of banes, Wraithe, and a charge from the Chankerworm, he was able to kill Tartarus. For his feat, he had two Thralls, Tartarus, and a Bane Knight. Lich charges in with puppet master on him and casts Death Knell right on top of a pain giver's head. At this point I am cursing in my head for being dumb enough to not remember that spell. He rolls to hit and misses. Puppet master kicks in, and he rolls to hit again. Again, he misses, the template scatters to far away to hit anybody in the way. With the charge angle lost due to particularly bad dice rolls, he calls the game. Especially with Hexeris and a Cannoneer looking Lich in the face with no focus.

To satisfy curiousity, we play the game whether or not he did hit. If he hit, the Paingivers would hav just died, and between a Helldiver knocking Hexeris down, and Tartarus, two Bane Thralls, and a Bane Knight, it would have cause the exact amount of damage past transfers to kill him. And I mean exact, one less on the last damage roll would have kept Hexeris alive and pissed.

So I win a game against the scariest caster in the game, but in a situation where I probably shouldn't have.




Like I said, if I ran the gators and used them as protection instead of the Paingivers, there would have been no way I would have been assassinated. At that point, Lich may or may not would have used the feat to just kill my army, which was also a fear. One of the strategies I had going into this was to try and cause as much damage with Psychic Vampire as possible, and set up a possible ranged assassination run. I almost had it too. If the Raider had hit with his ranged attack, I would have tried. Lich was in aiming range of the Cannoneer two, and I would have arced a Boosted to hit and damage Obliteration to try and finish him off. A POW 13 boosted, a POW 15 boosted, and a POW 14 boosted to take out an already damaged Lich? Maybe.

I felt it was a good game, and a simple mistake on my part almost lost it for me. A win is still a win though. I really like this Hexeris list, and will probably take it to the next local tournament instead of my eHexeris list. See if I can bring some glory to the caster that initially drew my to Skorne.

I have some games lined up, and the next battle report will hopefully be a Hardcore match.