Digging through more new cards and deployments. Church and I try some weird stuff this game.
Deployment and Objective
Long canyon is one that church and I haven't played much. Treacherous ground is new with lord V and we tried it for the first time.
My list
'The Etharyon Experiment'
196/200
Prince Faolan [36] 1x1
The Spirit Sword [6]
Etharyon of the Ailatar [5]
Total Unit Cost: 47
Leonx Riders [30] 2x2
Aliana of Summersong [12]
Raven Tabards [2]
Lay of the Land [4]
Total Unit Cost: 48
Darnati Warriors [43] 3x2
Maegan Cyndewin [10]
Shield Wall [5]
Raven Tabards [2]
Lay of the Land [4]
Total Unit Cost: 64
Ventala Skirmishers [30] 2x2
Tempered Steel [3]
Lay of the Land [4]
Total Unit Cost: 37
The idea is to see how much I can abuse Faolans friendly shift with lay of the land.
Church's list
'Obligatory ObsceneStar'
200/200
Obscenes [70] 2x3
ThuUk Tar and Gorgemaw (S) [19]
Column Tactics [4]
Odious Appetite [6]
Total Unit Cost: 99
Viper Legion Archers [33] 2x2
Dispatch Runner [7]
Ritual Venom [3]
Rallying Shrieker [4]
Total Unit Cost: 47
Spined Threshers [18] 1x1
Total Unit Cost: 18
Spined Threshers [18] 1x1
Total Unit Cost: 18
Spined Threshers [18] 1x1
Total Unit Cost: 18
I think he just wanted to test out the obscenestar and embedded gorgemaw.
Setup: There isn't much to work with in the canyon deployment.
I claim the wild root patch and church is left with an open field.
Turn 1:
I unpack my forces easily with lay of the land.
Ventala in wild root become a 2/2 protected 1 with elevation.
Church knows better then to rush forward blindly. He spends a turn rallying.
The thresher cautiously creep forward.
Turn 2:
The demon horde advances, church continues to stay outside the range of the ventala.
The threshers stay close, turning to cover all approach vectors as the Leonx close in.
Turn 3:
The obscenes are on the move! The darnati slide out of cover to meet them.
Church and I continue the thresher/cat dance. The cats are too squirrelly, and the threshers are too deadly to simply engage at the wrong time on either side.
Faolan moves into position to push a unit.
Turn 4:
The Darnati forget that gorgemaw can reform the obscenes with a wound. It goes poorly, with the obscenes sitting cozy on my flank.
Faolan uses Etharyon to push the ventala out of terrain. They then use LotL to shift again, and then charge into the flank of the vipers, taking the back rank. It feels good to fight uthuk like uthuk.
The Leonx march 4 and reform, continuing to play with the threshers. They'll need to pounce soon.
Turn 5:
Faolan slams in and cyrsaerelle gets a bite of thresher tail. Model collisions can be thematically hilarious.
The runes didn't roll my way, the ventala take moderate losses from the thresher flanking their side. The darnati melee and reform, doing little to the obscenes, but meagan spikes enough damage to finish off the vipers with the ventalas help.
The obstar swings very hard on the darnati, shredding the back rank.
The thresher on faolans flank hits him, but with an armor up and spirit sword, only sinks in 1 damage, while the flanked thresher scores another damage.
The cats flank the flanking thresher, and obliterate it.
Turn 6:
The Darnati go down without leaving much impact. The ventala get dropped to 1 tray, and get reformed from a panic test.
Faolan doesn't roll well, and doesnt drop the thresher, which prevents the cats from leapfrogging into remaining thresher. They use LotL to slide over instead.
Turn 7: I forget about what the objective does, and my cats get mired while trying to charge the thresher. Faolan kills his thresher.
The wound to reform gets the obscenes into the flank of the cats. That unit is a lot more mobile than its dial looks.
The last ventala falls.
Turn 8:
The obscenes knock out every cat except alliana. The game ends with a 30ish point lead for uthuk.
Afterthoughts:
Didn't get as much shenanigans out of Etharyon and LotL but it's a combo that is well worth it.
Gorgemaw embedded is a frightening force. Having to remember the possibility that the unit will reform before activating is hard. They also hit like a freight train with CT for 3 threat.
Shield wall doesnt really hold up next to hedge shroud. It's more reliable, but needs more trays. Hedge has proven more useful more often.
Faolan is easily my favorite hero now (sorry meagan, you've been replaced). He makes a great tech support hero but can come in on a weakened flank or shore up a failing defensive line and does a great job every time.
Obscenes are an interesting unit. They basically are useless as anything but a blocker in single or double tray. But in full star they really pack a punch. I think they make a well balanced addition to uthuk.
Also, their regen is nasty, but not as broken feeling as lord Vs or Ravos. In general, not a big fan of regen mechanics that are too easy to achieve.
Really liking were the game is at right now.
Thanks for reading!