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.