Battle Report: Stryker2 vs Thagrosh2

Old buddy Mike came to visit and brought models!

My list: Stryker2 (tier 2), Squire, Ol Rowdy, Stormclad, Sentinel, Stormguard (10), 2x Stormblades (6+UA+3WA), 2 Stormblade Captains.

My opponent: Thagrosh, Blightbringer, 6x Blight Wasps, Croak Raiders (10), Gatorman Witch Doctor.

Scenario: Outflank, 60 minute death clock.

Again I lost initiative and ended up going second. I didn't think this would be such a big deal, but 6 units of Blight Wasps can really move up the table fast! With the Outflank scenario this was especially a problem. By my second turn my left flank was completely pinned in melee outside of the zone. Fortunately Stormblades are awesome and I was rolling pretty well, so I managed to clear a large swath of the little beasties in short order. Mid game though I hit a snag: a combination of Croak Raider oil and a Blightbringer direct hit with a cranked damage roll put 14 damage on Stryker, which basically left him with no option to use Overpower and in a dangerous position near the center of the board. At this point I had to beat a hasty retreat and use a forest to get Stryker in a bit more safe of position. The Stormblades and Stormclad then had to start doing a bulk of the clean up work, especially since Rowdy was quickly running out of boxes. Once the Blightbringer went down, it forced Thagrosh's hand. A sac-strike from the Witch Doctor nearly took Stryker out (and on average dice should have), but fortunately came up 2 short. At this point I pressed the battle home with charges on Thagrosh from 2 Stormblade Captains, 2 Stormblade infantry, and then Stryker himself to finally finish the job. I breathed a sigh of relief because this one came down really close!

Lessons Learned: I'm getting really efficient with applying Stormblades to problems. I've played them so many times now and their utility is just so valuable to me. Worth every point. On the flipside, getting hit by Croak Raider oil and then by a Blightbringer direct hit is bad business, even when camping 6 focus. Stryker took 14 damage in a single hit from that! The real key there was that although Stryker is hard to hit with ranged, Rowdy is not, and being in B2B basically simplified hitting Stryker with the AOE. That's an important lesson I won't forget.

Games this year: 13