Battle Report #71: Maddox vs Zaal2

Second Maddox game after facing Krueger2 in my first game. This time it's Skorne and Zaal2. Zaal2 is an amazingly cool Warlock, with the ability to suck in souls and use them for all kinds of shenanigans.

Major Beth Maddox (75 points)

Objective: Bunker
Theme; Storm Division

Major Beth Maddox (Maddox1)
* Squire
* Ironclad
* Stormclad
Journeyman Warcaster
* Firefly
Major Katherine Laddermore
Savio Montero Acosta
Stormblade Captain
5+5 Storm Lances
6 Stormblades
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard

Zaal, The Ancestral Advocate (75 points)

Zaal, The Ancestral Advocate (Zaal2)
* Basilisk Krea
* Cyclops Raider
* Cyclops Shaman
* Titan Cannoneer
2x Ancestal Guardian
Extoller Soulward
Hakaar the Destroyer
10 Immortals
* Extoller Advocate
10 Immortals
* Extoller Advocate

4 Paingiver Beast Handlers

Deployment

My opponent wins the die roll. I try a new deployment pattern to check out how the Captain works. I have never played with the Tactician ability before, but in theory it should allow wave after wave of Blades and Lances to flow through a sea of immortals.

Turn 1

Immortals run up.

I move up centrally, with a mass of Storm Lances on the right flank.

Turn 2

Zaal feats and runs up. A couple of Stormblades die.

And--- it works beautifully. ARM 22 Immortals are hard to kill with leaps, but they sure die fast to POW 18 feated Storm Lances, even impact attacks kill on 8+. Tactician allow Laddermore to go in first, followed by the Blades, followed by a wave of Storm Lances, then a wave of Arcane Shielded Storm Lances, and they all clear a lane for the ironclad that proceeds to smash Hakaar to bits. Zaal2 gets a stack of soul tokens so bigly it can make Skorne great again.

Turn 3

Skorne hits back, and boy do those Ancestral Guardians punch. One of them even murders my Stormclad (almost) single handedly! Even though I lose both jacks, it hardly seems to be enough.

Another wave goes in, murdering all the remaining Immortals and the Cannoneer.

Turn 4

The Skorne army is massively down on attrition. The left Ancestral Guardian murders Laddermore too. 26 points killed by a 5 point solo, he will be getting a post-posthumous medal from his Skorne overlords. Next time I am focusing down these bastards first!

It's all gone, Zaal.

Turn 5

But of course I have forgotten about his Righteous Vengeance! Zaal manages to scoot out, tank some free strikes, kill my Officer on the Vengeance strike, open a charge lane on Maddox, and kill her on the very last blow!

Skorne wins by assassination!

Post Mortem

You did not see that one coming, I guess! Neither did poor Maddox. Well, now I know about *that* trick and shall not fall for it again, and of course why expose your caster when you have tabled the opponent? Such a silly thing to do.

Still looking good for the list. In retrospect the Immortals should have spread out more and not given me so many models on my feat turn, but it's hard to know what lists do when you have never faced them before. No-one expects Cygnar to murder a swarm of ARM 22 dudes, but Maddox can deliver the hurt!