Hey I'm finally back to what looks like a normal consistant batrep report schedule. I dropped the ball on churches batreps from regionals, sorry everyone.
But, moving forward, today we'll be seeing what to do and not do with darnati, as well as checking out the M&M builds of meagan (martial magarth vs martial malcorne).
In other news, kethra is new, and quite the situational beast.
Anyway, on with the show.
First battle.
Volatile runes with unprepared. Church had the bid.
My list
200/200
Maegan Cyndewin [36] 1x1
Shield of Margath [6]
Martial Magic [3]
Total Unit Cost: 45
Deepwood Archers [17] 2x1
Fire Rune [7]
Total Unit Cost: 24
Leonx Riders [30] 2x2
Aliana of Summersong [12]
Raven Tabards [2]
Lay of the Land [4]
Total Unit Cost: 48
Darnati Warriors [60] 3x3
Firstblade of lord anoth [5]
Storm Sorceress [4]
Wind Rune [6]
Herald of the Twisting Gale [4]
Marching Starling [2]
Simultaneous Orders [2]
Total Unit Cost: 83
Churches list
Kingsbone kethra with magarth
3x2 zerkers
2x1 thresher scuttling horror
Ravos insatiable goblet
2x1 rippers
Missing some upgrades.
Setup: Terrain is Tent, swamp, rock. I set up as far from the tent as I can get. Church aims for the tent to get a boost with several units.
Turn 1: I was reckless with my cats and darnati. They both moved farther than I had thought and the cats got in an awkward position.
Church unpacks his army to meet my unready flank. Insatiable ravos with raiders tent might be a problem...
This is still turn 1.
Turn 2: The darnati charge the threshers, doing a whopping 6 damage. They get hit back by threshers and kethra. Darnati really want shield wall above any other equipment.
The leonx shift charge ravos, but get little for results, the archers miss their first shot and put two wounds up on ravos with fire rune.
End of turn ravos eats a cat, dropping the tray engaging him, letting him scoot out of terrain, should have thought that one thru.
Turn 3: Kethra hits my darnati, killing my avenger champion and preventing them attacking the threshers before they activate. Darnati drop to 1 tray, but take 1 thresher down.
I had figured the darnati would get cleared, so I dialed in a long bank charge on the cats. The one remaining tray of darnati block the charge.
Meagan goes after the zerkers.
Turn 4: No picture, kethra, the thresher, and the rippers wipe the cats and darnati.
Meagan plows into the zerkers, dropping two trays. When they hit back, most of another tray goes from magarth. Ravos ate her at the end of the turn.
Afterthoughts: That was a rough game. Darnati are fun in big block form, but they aren't spearmen, they need proper support and a shield wall to have any staying power, especially since they have a fairly low damage output for infantry.
Interesting fact, I didn't utilize it in this game, but a cat unit with lay of the land can shift charge an opponent and still bounce back after the attack due to lotl wording.
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Second Battle
Meeting engagement with seize the artifacts.
My list
199/200
Maegan Cyndewin [36] 1x1
Malcornes Bequest [6]
Martial Magic [3]
Total Unit Cost: 45
Deepwood Archers [17] 2x1
Fire Rune [7]
Total Unit Cost: 24
Deepwood Archers [17] 2x1
Fire Rune [7]
Total Unit Cost: 24
Leonx Riders [24] 1x3
Column Tactics [4]
Total Unit Cost: 28
Darnati Warriors [19] 2x1
Corruption Rune [4]
Total Unit Cost: 23
Darnati Warriors [43] 3x2
Avenger of Latariana [5]
Tempered Steel [3]
Raven Tabards [2]
Marching Starling [2]
Total Unit Cost: 55
Churches list
Kethra bonecaster
Ravos insatiable goblet
2x 2x1 scuttling zoids
2x 2x1 rippers
Setup: Raiders tent came out again, so I decided to capitalize on it. I stayed in the corner while church spread out.
Turn 1: I manage to unpack my army without hitting anything! Church holds back avoiding potential fire rune late activations.
Turn 2: I find the tent to be more clumsy than useful so my cats get in an awkward position. The darnati move too far again and get flanked by rippers. My archers are nicely set though. Church commits ravos to finish the cats quickly.
Also, when kethras ability goes off, it hurts. Meagan takes a wound.
Turn 3: Ravos eats every last cat. Darnati get ripped to shreds but the archers and meagan avenge them by destroying the threshers. The small darnati drop an immobillize on kethra with corruption rune.
Turn 4: Kethra falls to fire runes, while Meagan moves to safety, as the darnati fall to rippers. The corruption darnati stun the threshers.
Turn 5: No more pictures, but the archers dropped a tray of the rippers on the right, while the darnati stand against the threshers.
Turn 6: most of my units got cleared off the board on this turn.
Afterthoughts: Darnati really want that shield wall. I actually am liking them more in the 2x1 as a technical interference unit.
Corruption rune side by side with fire rune is potent when running malcorne meagan. I think I'll try 2 of each next time.
Kethra is a beast, but in a much more manageable sense. Kingsbone (kingsbane?) Kethra shreds infantry but not much else, bonecaster is less destructive, but still good (so long as her surges don't apply, then she'd be a bit in OP range). And she's only got 3 wounds.
I think m&m Meagans are my preferred builds with her. Martial Magarth gives her a hefty punchback effect which compliments her swingy attacks nicely. Martial Malcorne is a good utility meagan build which only really is useful when running other upgrades requiring unstable runes.
Thanks for reading.