I wasn't quite sure where to post this and ultimately settled on Tactics. It is about half-way between battle reports and real tactics discussions. I'd like to get to the point where I can take a photo once per round and do a report much like Jukey and Church do, but I haven't quite got the hang of that.

Since the new year, I've gotten two games in with Uthuk versus Waiqar, and I wanted to do a report on what I've seen in the units.

My opponent has been running

Viper Legion Archers [33] 2x2
Cacophony Reaver [6]
Fire Rune [7]
Total Unit Cost: 46

Viper Legion Archers [33] 2x2
Cacophony Reaver [6]
Fire Rune [7]
Rallying Shrieker [4]
Simultaneous Orders [2]
Total Unit Cost: 52

Obscenes [27] 2x1
Total Unit Cost: 27

Kethra Alaak [34] 1x1
Bonecaster [8]
Total Unit Cost: 42

Berserkers [27] 2x2
Bloodfire Witch [5]
Total Unit Cost: 32

End result was a slight 6-5 in his favor. We have a number of close games.

Highlights: The Fire Rune Cacaphony Reavers were fantastic. They shredded the Reanimates before they could engage in melee. I horribly misplaced Kethra, which allowed several units to pounce her. Vorunthull, of course, made a mess of things. He's hard to get a good bead on and to stay trained on long enough to put him away. The Obscenes were fantastic blockers.

Reflections: This 2x2 is going to be good, but with Kethra/ranged, it is probably best to have just one, at which point maybe the Bloodfire Witch becomes optional and you take what you can get with the Runes. The Rallying Shrieker/Simul Orders were just dead points that could have been spent on bid. I think the game is in a place where a 3 point bid is almost always worth it, and a six point bid becomes pretty reasonable.

Game 2:

I've liked Gorgemaw as a hero since he arrived on the scene, and I've been experimenting with different upgrade cards. Here, the idea is to get the Flesh Rippers shifted/reformed around as needed and into the fight. This has also been my experiment with the 3x3 formation, which I finally purchased enough Rippers to field. Beyond that, Threshers/Zerkers are built to help Gorgemaw trigger Lethal damage from Fearmonger's Whip.

Since the end of organized play, we pulled out all the deployments and objectives and went random from there, taking a deployment with a long but narrow face-off (forget the name), and Demoralize their Forces (blaise about this).

Highlights: I like having just 4 units with one scout, because you can see quite a bit of the opponent's set-up before you put anything of yours down. On the other hand, the narrow map + obstacles just meant there weren't too many places I could go. It also made flanks harder. Since I hadn't played Gorgemaw in a month, I botched his deployment and ended up out of range to wound/inspire the Rippers. We had terrain to one side, and then open field beyond that, with enough room to put the Rippers a little off the edge, the Threshers next to them, the Zerkers, and then Gorgemaw. Turn-1, Vorunthull jumped terrain which I had anticipated (and thought about putting Gorgemaw into it first), but didn't quite stay back far enough to avoid a transformation flank attack on Gorgemaw. This is also where Gorgemaw started to shine defensively, because I simply shifted back away from the flank (green) and march-2 (extend per card to 3), which made it extremely difficult for Vorunthull to follow up. One thing I've noticed is that Gorgemaw and Vorunthull have in common that they take a key turn to get positioning, and it is really your next turn or two in which they then make some incredible attacks. If you can keep Vorunthull jumping around, even if he does a little damage, he doesn't do nearly as much. The Rippers had to do a careful advance down their side, eventually jumped the lone Carrion Lancer and killed it in one blow. The Knights got off an incredible attack and held up the Flesh Rippers, allowing the Reanimate Archers to shoot them twice. In the middle of the map was a lot of confusion. The Reanimates seemed not sure where they should go, and ended up marching, turning, reforming, and never really colliding with anything. Eventually, I managed to bring Threshers/Rippers to bear on the Reanimate Archers, killing them. Vorunthull finished off the Zerkers, who used Corruption Rune to annoy him and slow him down.

Reflections: Gorgemaw is extremely good at getting out of trouble. He did it twice in this game, and he's really flexible with his range-1 attack. I'll have to continue to play with upgrades. I still really like Lunging Terror/Fearmonger's Whip as a combo, but didn't really get a chance to pull it off due to my poor positioning. The 2x1 Threshers really start to feel more like a utility piece, like the other 2x1s in this list. Generating panic ends up being extremely important. Two keep Scuttles ended up being critical to moving them closer to the engagement, but there weren't really any crazy shenanigans off of that movement. I've tried Feeding Frenzy, but was extremely unimpressed. Maybe in a Dispatch Runner set-up, it could have merit, but without the extra attacks from DR, it just doesn't build up momentum. I really think even on a 3x3 that Dead Sprint is where it is at with them. I'm also more inclined to think that the 2x2 MoI/DS is more versatile. You can deploy/maneuver/terrain much more effectively, and although there's some damage loss from threat, you also get quite a few points to beef up other units. I'd also really like to look at getting a formation that can get extra benefit, at least some of the time, from Gorgemaw's wound to inspiration, probably a stronger Zerker tray, but a Viper tray might work too.

Any concepts or wishes that anyone wants to see on the table, let me know. I'm sure it would be fun to have comparisons and some different reports even from the same lists/concepts that Church and Jukey are trying.

If you're running bonecaster Kethra, try a dispatch runner or two. Dispatch her to make her shoot; with brutal and precise, she can put Lord V down pretty quickly.

Obscenes with a dispatch runner can screen for kethra and give her another shot.

5 hours ago, Darth Matthew said:

If you're running bonecaster Kethra, try a dispatch runner or two. Dispatch her to make her shoot; with brutal and preci  se, she can put Lord V down pretty quickly.

Obscenes with a dispatch runner can screen for kethra and give her another shot.

Thanks for the suggestion. I suspect that will have to be my next test for Tuesday.

Edit: Here's a list I just built to try Kethra-DR out, but with a twist.

Spined Threshers [48] 2x2
ThuUk Tar and Gorgemaw (S) [19]
Scuttling Horror [3]
Total Unit Cost: 70

Kethra Alaak [34] 1x1
Bonecaster [8]
Total Unit Cost: 42

Obscenes [27] 2x1
Dispatch Runner [7]
Total Unit Cost: 34

Viper Legion Archers [33] 2x2
Cacophony Reaver [6]
Fire Rune [7]
Rallying Shrieker [4]
Simultaneous Orders [2]
Total Unit Cost: 52

I've not done embedded Gorgemaw yet, and giving Threshers another die for their brutal to multiply over seems pretty sick. I'll play with the proposed "exhaust to scuttle or stun" Errata. In any kind of DR list, I like to have two viable targets to DR, so being able to DR Kethra on approach, and the Threshers after contact works out. And there's also enough range to force the opponent to come into contact, with Obscenes/Threshers being beefy enough to hold up an enemy a couple of rounds.