Broke out my waiqar to try some oversized reanimate formations. Church brought gorgemaw to the field.

We played overextended with take the artifacts.

My list:

'Shambling undead'

200/200

Reanimates [64] 4x3
Executioner [6]
Vorunthul the Cursed [8]
Cursed Signets [2]
Aggressive Drummer [5]
Lingering Dead [3]
Total Unit Cost: 88

Reanimates [35] 3x2
Ankaur Maro (I) [20]
Marching Drummer [2]
Total Unit Cost: 57

Death Knights [42] 2x2
Shield of Margath [6]
Dispatch Runner [7]
Total Unit Cost: 55

Church's list:

Don't have the list, but here's the gist

'Serpentine'

2x 2x2 Rippers, dead sprint, MoI

2x2 vipers, fire rune

Gorgemaw, unsure of his uniques.

Setup: Overextended doesn't give much wiggleroom for large units.

I tried to make the most of having an aggressive approach option. In hindsight, church is running a really mobile build, I should have just fortressed.

Turn 1:

Church unpacks with a slow rally turn.

My reanimates unpack with a wheeling march. The deathknights stay near to wingman the reanimates.

Maro slides forward and raises 2 trays of undead.

Turn 2:

The death knights push into the terrain to prevent gorgemaw taking it. The reanimate block inches towards the rippers.

Church puts the rippers into reaction mode. With an i6 shift/reform and dead sprint, they become capable of moving in any direction fairly quickly.

Gorgemaw does a reform shift and positions himself in a rough spot for me.

Maro trundles forward and raises another tray.

Turn 3:

I really thought church was going to zip down under the terrain with the rippers and follow gorgemaw towards maro. I jumped my deathknights out to intercept the upper rippers, and reformed the reanimates to protect maro.

Gorgemaw continued slithering towards maro, while the rippers I had hoped would long march, turned and flanked my deathknights. This prevents a charge I would have had the next turn.

The vipers find themselves rather out of position.

Turn 4:

The deathknights get shredded by two MoI ripper attacks.

The reanimates perform a turning march, hoping to catch an over-eager gorgemaw...he is not so foolish.

Maro has become useless until the reanihammer takes damage.

Turn 5:

The rippers finish gnawing on the bones of long undead knights. The reanimates reform to hit gorgemaw if he commits to hitting maro.

The vipers slide into position and lob a fire rune at the block, lethal 1 takes a figure.

Turn 6: I missed the pictures. Gorgemaw is a slippery snake, he reformed and ran down to catch a flank on maro on the next turn.

Maro shifted into gorgemaw to hold him in place. Meanwhile, the reanimates charge forward, but come short. The back rank of the reanihammer comes off from the vipers.

Turn 7:

The rippers will catch the reanimates before they can charge gorgemaw, so they reform to meet the rippers.

Gorgemaw double attacks for 10 damage total.

Maro adds back the trays that the reanihammer loses during the turn.

Turn 8:

The reanihammer swings, and deals 15 damage to the rippers. The rippers swing back and take a tray. The vipers take 2 more trays, but the other rippers are unable to find a way to charge.

Gorgemaw swings again, and knocks maro down to one tray, but can't kill maro.

The match ends 6/5 uthuk.

Afterthoughts:

I played this one poorly. I should have fortressed and waited in a corner. After the deployment mistake, I should have just committed with the reanihammer on the topside and engaged the rippers. The deathknights would have held up against gorgemaw and the vipers. Overprotecting maro was the biggest mistake, I got 4 trays, after that he doesn't need to do more.

The reanihammer is fearsome in the fact that if you approach it head on its suicide, but trying to use it aggressively against highly mobile units is not so simple.

I'm thinking deathcaller would be great if there is blight generation elsewhere (disco or CI archers), as it makes the opponent have to approach or take damage.

Gorgemaw is super elusive. He makes the army very mobile, but at the cost of wounds, but he gets around the battlefield very easily.

His damage output is consistent against 1/1 units, but against armor he will simply slobber on his enemies.

Thanks for reading.

I had:

2X 2x2 Rippers with Dead Sprint and MoI

2x2 Vipers with Cacophony Reav and Fire Rune

Gorgemaw with Grasping Coils, Crushing Jaws, and Fearmonger’s whip.

197/200

This was the first match where I felt like I had an inkling it how Gorgemaw works.

-He is FAST. Elements of running Warsprinter, Flesh Rippers, and Wildcall Aliana all come together when trying to decide what to do with him.

-He will not be an armor buster. His double attack gets his damage up to a decent level, but splitting it means he can’t do a lot to armor.

-Shield of Margath is awful for him to see across the table.

-He’s a massive Red Herring when on a flank. The ability to do a reform and march 3 at I3 makes him very hard to pin down. His damage isn’t staggering for 42-59 points.

-Points Fortress. I’m gonna have to try him with Viscera Goblet.

-He’s not a stand and fight hero.

Thanks for the report guys! I love reading these!

Gorgemaw: fast and ridiculously maneuverable. It isn’t just all of the speed shenanigans and the I3 reform/March, but also the bendy shifts.

He is very front-loaded to early initiatives. Your best moves happen early, and that often means setting up and anticipating well for upcoming rounds.

While he won’t be super against armor, he’s also not necessarily bad against it. He will basically so three damage very regularly per attack of you don’t build for him at all. That’s two wounds to armor three. Another hero doing 8 damage also does two wounds. Granted, he isn’t Kethra’s mortal strike, and he isn’t Ravos surge-wounding and then eating, but he’s serviceable.

I am still working out how much in a list to build for him on damage. Someone pointed out Fortunas and Crushing Jaws, which suddenly hits 7 or 9 damage really regularly on the second attack. That lets him work independently regardless of what else is in your list.

The break-even point for Fearmongers whip is two panic tokens. Anything more and you exceed the damage of Fortunas/crushing jaws. Lunging terror can help create this, not to mention Threshers, Bannerscamp, and Vipers, but I’m trying to work out how many of those things to put. In the end, Thresher+Lunging Terror might do just enough.

He seems to really want to run alongside something that can draw the opponents attention while he flanks off of them. I’m looking at trying a 3x3 flesh ripper, cruel master/fearmongers/lunging terror.

i think the final question is working out when you want to charge and set up your flank die, and when you want to hold back. The flank doe on two attacks feels good.

Great write-up

Hm. Fortuna’s Dice seems viable. Hadn’t considered it.

Fearmonger’s Whip did not pay off as I think I got a total 2 Lethal from it. If I were in the mood to run Threshers, then it could be a different story.

Whip gets some more value from lunging terror, but it might need some more support to really push the damage up.