020 - Makeda2 Vs. Vlad1

Khador!

I have heard a lot of things about them after the edition change, none of it good from our point of view. But i have never had the chance to actually play against them. Untill now! He had a Butcher3/Vlad1 pair, and wanted to try Vlad against Skorne (First time playing against them in Mk3). I dropped Makeda again, wanting to see how she could fare against the shooting Hell that is Vlad1. Scenario and Map were the same as last game. I lost the Roll Off, and had to go second..

My List:

Supreme Archdomina Makeda WB+24
 - Tiberion - 22
 - Cyclops Shaman - 8
Mortitheurge Willbreaker - 4
Mortitheurge Willbreaker - 4
Tyrant Radheim - 9
Void Spirit - 4
Swamp Gobber Chef - 1
Praetorian Ferox Max - 21
Praetorian Ferox Max - 21
Paingiver Beast Handlers Min - 5

His List:

Vladimir Tzepesci, The Dark Prince WJ+28
 - Behemoth - 24
 - Spriggan - 19
Widowmaker Marksman - 4
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich - 4
Kell Bailoch - 5
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor - 5
Gobber Tinker - 2
Winter Guard Rifle Corps Min - 8
 - Winter Guard Rocketeer - 2
 - Winter Guard Rocketeer - 2
 - Winter Guard Rocketeer - 2
Winter Guard Rifle Corps Min - 8
 - Winter Guard Rocketeer - 2
 - Winter Guard Rocketeer - 2
 - Winter Guard Rocketeer - 2
Widowmaker Scouts - 8
Winter Guard Field Gun Crew - 4

Pre Battle Thoughts and Deployment:

I knew going up against this large amount of shooting can be a real problem. He out threats me by a mile, and with Signs and Portents he's accurate as all hell.. I need to close the gap, and i need to do it fast. Taking out as much of his guys as possible, and Jam to the best of my abilities. If i can negate his shooting enough, i should be able to grind him out eventually.
There's a forest on my right flank, and a nearby wall for me to hide behind, so i skew hard right. The plan being to use the cover of the forest and wall to keep my guys safe from his one turn of shooting before i run in. This also prevents him from scoring on his own flag as that will leave Vlad far too exposed to my Ferox.
He deploys pretty centrally, his AD guys deploying opposite my flag.

He moves stuff up, all his Widowmakers and Kell moves towards my flag.

Forgot to take a picture after his turn..

I move stuff up. Hiding as many guys behind the Forest and wall as possible. a few unlcuky cats gets sacrificed to toe the zone and try to draw his fire. This will mean that he commits to my threatranges, hopefully without making too much of an impact on my guys. Void Spirit goes left to move onto the Widowmakers and Kell if they get too offensive, taking care to be outside of 14" of Kell so that he doesn't get to aim and fire twice. Makeda casts Deflection ( i figure it's better to skew DEF than to solely rely on Stay Death. Winter Guard only have RAT 5, so even with S&P, skewing DEF should mean he gets a few misses.) Shaman and Chef skews hard right.

The guns open fire, and when all is said and done, i'm 3 Ferox down. As predicted, Deflection helped A Lot, meaning the widowmakers had do move in and finish the job, leaving the remaining 7 untouched. I also got to dodge around meaning he got fewer shots off in the first place.

Time to commit! Left Ferox move in and kill some winter guard (One survies to toe the zone unfortunatelly.. They then Repositions to engage both winter Guards and Widowmakers. Makeda Moves up Behind Radheim and Tibbers and Feats. Void Spirit Kills a Widowmaker and teleports to Jam Kell. Shaman shoots down a Rocketeer, and Right Ferox kill a bunch more and put a few boxes of damage on a jack. Reposition o engage all his remaining shooters. I even manage to engage Behemothbehind a couple of Winter Guards. I forgot about the chef..

He tries to unjam himself, but he's not nearly as frightening in melee. Behemoth manage to get Radheim off his mount, and takes some boxes off Makeda. Everything else combines to kill a single Ferox.

Forgot to take a picture after his turn..

I figure i can probably win this on atrition at this point, The Spriggan is standing within Threat of Tibbers, so it will go down. Ferox can kill most of the remaining Winter Guards, and i will move to 3-0 (Dominating the Zone and Controlling his Flag. He's also down to 9-ish minuts on his clock, so i feel pretty confident. Vlad is really exposed however, and even without Radheim i should have a pretty good run here. I decide to try it (It's always good to know what i can and can't handle). Radheim charge out of the way and kill the Kovnik, Beast handlers kill a Winter Guard. Makeda moves up on the hill so she can see Vlad after recieving Puppet Master from a Willbreaker, and Knocks Vlad down with Prostration. He only had a single Focus and used that to take a little less damage here. I cast Dash and move two Ferox over to him. I roll a little bit above average and he goes down! If they hadn't finished him i would still have two more with Puppet Master to go in and finish the Job.

Victory to the Tyrants!

Post Battle Thoughts:

I know this kind of shooting might be horrible to deal with, but i feel like i handled it pretty well, and this match up should definatelly be playable, even though i was a bit lucky with Toughs and a few misses. The Forest helped me out a lot as well, keeping several cats completelly safe until i could commit in force. He didn't get much work out of the Behemoth either, which was pretty good for me ( He missed both shots T2, and although he managed to knock Radheim off his mount the Next turn, at that point it was a bit too little too late.

The Shaman got to do a little bit more work this game, killing a few Winter Guards, and helping to keep the pressure on the right Flank. Tibbers was really nice to have as a solid shield guard to help take a bit of the pressure away from the Ferox, and The Void Spirit was incredibly important as he helped keep the Flanking WIdowmakers and Kell Bailoch out of the Game. I have to say i like the changes, although i still miss the TyCom.. And i wonder if it might be better to have the Raider instead of Shaman/Chef package. The ability to snipe out Stealth models can be pretty important. As i said before, more testing is definatelly needed!

In the next few weeks i'll have to get as many practice games as possible in, and do a lot of Painting. I made an impulse desicion to travel down to Amsterdam and attend Clogcon! So a lot of work now have to be made to make myself ready for that. And that includes trying to find a perfect buddy for my Makeda list. I'll probably go with a ranged oriented Hexxy2/Rasheth list ( I get to borrow the Mammoth of one of my club mates!) I'm really looking forward to this! Even though i'm probably going to stress myself out completelly to try and get a second list painted and tested in time..

Untill next time! Keep your faith in the Empire, Skorne will be strong again.