Monster Brawl Basel (MBB) 2013

Getting ready for the MBB 2013 - the Tau didn't make the trip back. ;-)

The MBB is a tournament usually taking place at the Gymnasium Liestal near Basel, Switzerland. The tournament is located in the school's cafeteria and its patio which offer tons of space and first class catering. Honestly, at the venue I had my best meal and the best price at a Swiss tournament ever:

Ice Tea, country potatoes with sour cream, ratatouille, and roasted chicken.

Before we could have lunch, some major gaming had to be done with my Trollbloods, of course.

Game 1 - pGrim vs. The Old Witch

I decided to pick my Grim list since I figured I would need some shooting in this match-up against high DEF infantry. This game I played against Nicolas "Lt_Gaga" Bajic from Konstanz who picked his Old Witch list.

This is how we set up.

Nicolas went first and surprised me how quickly his troops advanced.

In my first I tried to establish a firebase on my left flank with my Trolls and pGrim, after that the Fennblades cautiously charged.

On his turn, Nicolas' cavalry charged in and anything but totally annihilated the Nyss Hunters on the right. The Fennblades were melting like butter in the sun, too.

Desperate to get the ball rolling, pGrim tried to cast "Marked for Death" onto the Old Witch, but just fell a couple millimeters short (yes, I measured the control range prior to that). The Bomber got the Impaler's animus and started to shoot the warjack letting the Old Witch suffer the blast damage. Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to kill her.

Naturally, all of Nicoles units closed in on pGrim now.

On my turn nothing really happened, I was just trying to attack as many of his units as possible.

On his turn, Nicolas won the game with six CP as his Old Witch was camping alone in the zone for three turns.

Once the game was over, +Botond Gati pointed out Nicolas couldn't have won because he didn't destroy his mission objective, so the Old Witch couldn't dominate the zone. With the tournament organizers we agreed that Nicolas got 3 CP for controlling the zone and a caster kill instead - pGrim was holding the line like a boss with his high DEF, but obviously it would have been only matter of time to finish him off.

Lunch!

Möru entertaining everyone else. :-)

Game 2 - pGrim vs. eKreoss T4

Well, so finally I had to eat the sour apple and play against +Dante Suwanda evil list - he only had this list for the entire tournament, BTW, so you can guess how good it is. Basically it's just a sea of Menoth infantry you can't get rid of. Once again I picked my pGrim list because I figured throwing templates is my best chance.

This is how we set up.

My Trollbloods carefully moved forward to stay out of charge range and shoot them next turn.

The Protectorate moved to the flags and took a couple shots, but nothing that really mattered.

The Fennblades on the left charged carefully with everyone except three staying back for a countercharge after Dante's countercharge next turn. The Bomber started to throw templates, but only could throw one as he got knocked down because of some foul eKreoss magic. The Nyss on the right did a couple CRAs. Grim also popped his feat.

Here, Dante's infantry simply walked in and started to thin out my lines. It turned out pGrim was way too far in the back, so most unity could still charge.

The Bomber and the Pyre Troll continued to throw one template each, the Impaler annoyed the Menoth Jack with a critical hit on his spear.

Slowly but surely the Fennblades and the Nyss disappeared.

Back in my turn again I shifted everyone to the left except for the Nyss. pGrim, the Impaler, and the Bomber took shots on eKreoss, but on the hill behind the rock he was well enough protected.

In Dante's turn, he essentially charged pGrim and ended this game with an assassination victory.

Game 3 - pGrim vs. eKrueger

Game 3 was against Thomas Fuchs' Circle army. I came here to play my pDoomshaper T4 list as much as possible, but I knew I needed some shooting to get rid of those pesky Shifting Stones no matter what warlock he picks, so pGrim was in for the ride again.

This is how we set up.

This is how my army advanced in turn 1.

This is how much of my army was left after Thomas' turn 1 with all that electricity flying around. At the same time it was also eKruger's feat turn.

In my turn 2, the Bomber charged with the Pyre Troll's animus and heavily crippled the wolf, but didn't kill him. In other words, nothing was really gained here.

Thomas focused on killing my Fennblades and started to throw things around with double handed throws. Okay...

In my turn, pGrim moved, put "Marked for Death" on eKrueger, and shot his gun. The Bomber dropped two bombs on eKrueger and got him down to four health points left. Once again, almost killing someone isn't the same as fully killing someone, so nothing was gained here either.

In return, pGrim got killed...

...with only 51s left on Thomas' clock.

I guess I could have won this by either doing better at assassination or running down the clock - which I didn't notice until the very end of the game, unfortunately. Either way, Circle continues to be a problem for me.

Game 4 - pDoomshaper vs. Kraye

Game 4 was against Werner Schosser's Cygnar Kraye list. Here it helped that I previously was a Cygnar player while Werner wasn't that familiar with Trollbloods. Since I was locked in in my choices I had to play the pDoomshaper list - but I would have done so against his army anyway.

This is how we set up. Evidently, my Rune Shapers on both flanks had to take care of the Ranger's (on both flanks, too), while my Trolls were forming a solid core in the center together with Janissa. I decided to ignore the zone, but try to position pDoomshaper at the flag.

My Trolls moved, the Rune Shapers attempted to throw templates, but were still out of range.

Werner's warjacks essentially moved into cover behind the wall he got from his T4 list while the Hunters were trying to take shots, but other than that nothing really happened.

Now it was time for the Rune Shapers why they are not to be laughed at although they are only three men units. From all the options I had in the center I decided to cautiously move the wall forward to see what Werner would do. I didn't see any benefit in running to his wall and get one round of beatings in return - especially since the Mauler and the EBDT didn't have reach to attack accross his wall.

This was the key turn. Werner wanted to charge accross his wall, but I told him he can't do that unless he has Pathfinder. Very unhappy he decided to stay behind the wall, just to find out after the game that Kraye would have had a fitting spell. :-( The Ranger's moved in trying to kill Janissa, but fortunately they could only run her down to one health point. At this point, Tough rolls were the most cursed thing in Werner's universe. On the right, the Rune Shapers started to have fun with the Minuteman for the rest of the game.

In my turn, I tried to be more risky as things seemed to go in my favor. In the center, the EBDT charged Ryan and ended up in front of Kraye's wall as I figured he's the best model to stay there with his animus. The Mauler moved up and charged Lynch, too. Mulg was just moving, ready to move in wherever he is needed. pDoomshaper popped his feat and started to camp at the flag with three fury.

The moment of truth: both Hunters shot at pDoomshaper, but failed their To Hit rolls. The EBDT ate some damage from the Stormclad's sword, but didn't really care at ARM 20. The Minuteman once again was frustrated of the Rune Shaper's Tough rolls.

The EBDT walked around the wall and one rounded the Stormclad. Mulg charged and one rounded the Centurion. The Mauler ran into Kraye's melee range.

I forgot to take a picture of Werner's turn, so here we are back in my turn again where the EBDT essentially chased Kraye and one rounded him for an assassination.

This game basically taught me that no tournament is over until the last game has been played. Werner was too defensive, didn't have exactly a list that could cope with my three heavies, and of course he suffered bad luck on top of that, too. However, I am sure the next time I play him it will be much harder.

The telling sign I spent my weekend at at tournament. :-)

How to play pGrissel

pGrissel

Well, it's a quiet Sunday evening, I am having my salad for dinner, and I finally get around to watch this video to see how +Chad Shonkwiler plays the pGrissel list.

Here's a quick summary of what I see.

Trollbloods, Turn 1

Everybody runs. pGrissel puts her Fury into the Krielstone and gives Hoof It to the Kriel Warriors. The Chronicler gives Feign Death to the Kriel Warriors as well. The Long Riders ride on the left flank, Horthol on the right.

Trollbloods, Turn 2

The Chronicler gives Charge of the Trolls to the Kriel Warriors (+2 on attack & damage). The Pyre Troll gives his animus to a Kaber Thrower. pGrissel gives Heroic Ballad to the Kriel Warriors, too. The Kriel Warriors start to clean out the Gatormen. The Kaber Thrower with the Pyre Troll animus would hit the Gladiator if he were in range.
The Long Riders run up, but still stay safely behind the Kriel Warriors. Everyone else does like the Long Riders just did, so Long Riders/Trolls/pGrissel/Horthol form a defensive line at the edge of the zone now. pGrissel is behind Janissa's wall for the first time.

Trollbloods, Turn 3

With the Kriel Warriors all but gone, pGrissel casts Calamity onto the Gatormen. She then sprays the Gatormen killing none, but severely wounding them. She also pops her feat.
Three Long Riders charge the Gatormen and Skorne Warbeasts on the left and eliminate the Gatormen there. Two Long Riders stay back for the countercharge. Horthol charges and slams a Heavy on his side of the table.
Interestingly, Janissa is casting her Wall not for pGrissel, but for the Long Riders staying back! One Long Rider is moving back into safety at the end of the turn; so there are now two Long Riders holding up the Skorne while the rest stays behind Janissa's Wall huddled up together with the Krielstone!

Trollbloods, Turn 4

The Runbearer moves up and casts Calamity on a Gladiator.
Not sure what pGrissel is doing exactly (environmental noise), but she gives Heroic Ballad to the Long Riders and attacks the Gladiator closest to her on the right side.
The Long Riders charge the Gladiators on the left and manage to kill one.
The Storm Troll (with the Pyre Troll animus on him) does five attacks (two fists plus three Fury) on the Gladiator that pGrissel hit already. The Pyre Troll does as the Storm Troll did and finishes off said Gladiator.
Janissa walls herself and pGrissel again.

Trollbloods, Turn 5

The Pyre Troll moves, shoots Rasheth, and boosts both To Hit and To Wound setting Rasheth on fire.
pGrissel moves forward, casts Calamity on Rasheth, and sprays him. Janissa follows up and walls her and pGrissel again.
The Storm Troll moves up, shoots Rasheth, boosts the damage, and Electroleap kills the Beasthandlers standing nearby.
The Krielstone moves up to protect pGrissel and everyone else ganged up around her.

At this moment, Dice Down is being called, and the video ends. Chad wins as he has more points in the zone.

General observations on the game

• This video shows the trading models game until pGrissel starts for the assassination.
• This list basically has three waves:
• Kriel Warriors advance aggressively and do the first damage.
• Long Riders charge once the Kriel Warriors are gone and are being called back with the Fell Call/Feat.
• Once enough infantry and heavies are gone, pGrissel starts a ranged assassination with her Trolls.
• One really big problem with this list is time as one can do really complex buffs plus pGrissel's feat turn can eat time like an extra turn. Chad masters this problem by not casting all possible buffs, but "just enough".

General observations on Chad

• When it's not his turn, he just sits and silently observed.
• When he is thinking during his own turn, he plays with his casino dice.
• He doesn't have his cards spread out in front of him but on a pile on his right. He has memorized everything and therefore has a less messy/crowded table. He only gets them out for marking damage on the Trolls.
• He marks the number of wounds on infantry models with eight sided dice (or whatever dice is needed depending on how many wounds a model has). Nifty idea!

My second "victory" over the CBC

Me during pGrissel's feat turn.

There is an easy rule in Switzerland: if you wanna be the Swiss WM/H Champion, you gotta defeat the +Color Blind Crusader (CBC) first. Well, this afternoon I did - sort of.

The CBC had a 42pts (Heresy!) pSkarre list he wants to play at the MBB next weekend, I played Chad Shonkwiler's 50pts pGrissel list for the first time. The CBC knew how my list worked and explained it to me, I return I asked him tons of questions about his. He got something like 50 45min on the clock, I had two hours. In other words, the playing field was sort of leveled, he though still had an advantage. In the end, I won because I "managed" to deathclock him with only 90s on his clock left.

pGrissel 50pts

pGrissel
Pyre Troll
Storm Troll
Impaler
Runebearer

Long Riders (max)
Kriel Warriors (max)
2 Caber Throwers
UA
Krielstone (min)
UA

Horthol
Janissa
Fell Caller
Stone Scribe Chronicler

Since this was a learning game focused on getting to know this marvelous list, the focus of this report is heavily on what I learned on operating this list - and what the CBC did to negate that.

I won the initiative and set up first.

This is how I set up - the Kriel Warriors as a screen up front, the Long Riders on the left to build up pressure on the flank.
The CBC put his Satyxis up front, the Blood Witches in the back to my left, the Mechanithralls in the center and the Bane Thralls to my right.

End of Trollbloods Turn 1. I cautiously moved everything forward (between 10 and 12 inches) staying out of the Satyxis' charge range. I saw no point in advancing any further as it would have been a big invitation for the Satyxis to charge at will. However, I basically lost the game here already.

End of Cryx Turn 1. Here it started to get bad - the Satyxis didn't charge me, but two of them were able to run to my Kriel Warriors and now basically blocked the movement of the entire unit because of their reach weapons. (I expected to move freely one more turn.)
Also, the Blood Witches on the left popped their mini feat which made them Incorporeal and essentially indestructible for one turn - therefore nullifying anything my expensive Long Riders could do. Also, their officer prevent me from doing any Tough rolls.

End of Trollbloods Turn 2. The Kriel Warriors started to cleaning out the Satyxis, but couldn't get all of them since they were nicely spread out. pGrissel moved up and together with the Runebearer started to cast two Rift templates which sort of helped. Also pGrissel did her Cacophony fellcall to keep the Satyxis from countercharging. The Trolls used their ranged weapons, too, with some success. The Long Riders started to do what their main purpose was in this game - being an expensive speed bump. I'd have been better off with a second unit of Kriel Warriors.

End of Cryx Turn 2. Basically, the Cryx just pile in. The Cacophony prevents the Satyxis and the Blood Witches from charging, but they can still walk and strike. On the right, the Bane Knights come to the party.

End of Trollboods Turn 3. Things start to look slightly better after the Blood Witches mini feat expired. pGrissel popped her feat this turn. On the right, the Kaber Throwers started to clean out the Satyxis and the Bane Knights. In my Control Zone pGrissel & Co. managed to clean it out for 1 CP. This was to become the line of defense for the rest of the game. The Long Riders withdrew to the center except one who had to hold the flank together with the Fell Caller moving up to help him. Horthol managed to get into the Cryx' backyard and waited to charge next turn.

End of Cryx Turn 3. The Cryx attrition fest continued. Three Kriel Warriors survived, of which two had hand weapons. The Long Riders were gone. Nasty things were to be found on the other side of pGrissel's wall, plus the Helldivers threatened to cross it next turn.

End of Trollbloods Turn 4. Essentially pGrissel played chicken together with Janissa to run down the CBC's clock. Everyone else just had to make their stand as long as possible. At this point my motivation was below zero, but the CBC showed me how to buff the Krielstone unit to fight with those as well - they have hand weapons and are Trollbloods after all. Really, a WM/H game isn't over until it's over. On the left, the Pyre Troll and the Fell Caller managed to kill one Helldiver, so that took some pressure off.

End of Cryx Turn 4. Blood Witches, the Helldiver, and Bane Knights started to close in on pGrissel, but couldn't get close enough. After this turn, the CBC called it a game as he didn't believe he could assassinate pGrissel in his next turn with 90s on his clock left. pGrissel was full on Fury, could transfer wounds to two Trolls, plus had Janissa and the Fell Caller to her assistance, so this made me a "winner".

Conclusion

This pGrissel is incredibly fun to play and nicely represents the Trollbloods' character, i.e. it's fluffy. On the other hand, it's very complex, the total game length was 4.5h. To master this list takes quite a while of practice. However, I like this list way better than the pGrim list with his feat, the Bomber and the Nyss Hunters trying to shoot as many Cryx as possible before they crash into the Trollbloods' lines. If played properly, this list clears out massive amounts of infantry and therefore is the ideal complementary list to my pDoomshaper T4 list that is focused on taking down heavies.