Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver vs Tyrant Xerxis

More Bradigus blog!  I think y'all probably should just get used to this, I'm trying to break this guy in and get as much data as I can.  With that in mind, I'm back at it for another game with everyone's favorite stone-slinger.

I went with the same theme force list as last week, which you can see here:

Bradigus Thorle the Runecarver (*6pts)
* Woldwatcher (0pts)
* Woldwatcher (5pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldguardian (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)

As the title eludes to, I squared off against local Gabe playing Xerxis1 not in theme this time, which is a good change of pace I would say.

Here's what I believe his list looked like:

Tyrant Xerxis (*5pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Tiberion (11pts)
* Aptimus Marketh (3pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Cataphract Incindiarii (Leader and 5 Grunts) (9pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer (3pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)

We just sort of randomly threw a scenario out there and it ended up being Supply & Demand:

He wins the die roll, chose table edge and then we proceed to setup and what not.  This scenario does have a killbox which is going to be important I think with Bradigus going first.

Round 1

Since I'm going first and he doesn't have a ton of guns, basically everything runs. My Sentry Stone's use a fury to place themselves where they need to go, the little whicker men get to relevant places  and everything else gets as far forward as it can

Stuff has moved up far enough, he's basically looking to get into the mix.  He runs up his Nihilators, putting about 5 of them in harm's way.  Cetrati run forward with about 2 of them in my way.  Incindiarii move up, manage to drift and kill a couple of Mannikins.  Xerxis comes up, puts Defender's Ward on the Nihilators.  Everything else basically just moves up to try to become a pain.

Round 2

A lot of flailing begins here it would seem.  I try to clear out some Nihilators with my Mannikins, and they are having a hard time hitting boosted 9s and unboosted 6s, so that doesn't go super well for me.  I do manage to kill off 2 of the Cetrati though, and a few Nihilators.  I throw out some forests and basically setup to be able to hit him hard the next turn or get way ahead on scenario.

He responds back, the Nihilators get a few into my army, one of them is able to kill off like 3 Mannikins due to my positioning.  He Shieldwalls with the Cetrati in the middle, and throws the Krea and Agonizer behind them and Tiberion behind that as well.  Incindiarii don't feel like they have a lot of options and start running for the flanks.  I believe I got a few damage on the Woldwarden on my right as well, but nothing meaningful.

Round 3

The above picture is actually the table after I began this turn.  I'm looking at where my Woldguardian is on the right, and where Xerxis is positioned.  There's a pretty big gap there for a large base to make it through.  Figuring I can get my Guardian to pound him through 2 transfers just fine.  Woldwatcher on the left decides he can't hit a Nihilator though, so that doesn't help.  I move up the other watcher, get Synergy going, move up both Wardens, more synergy from each.  Teleport both Woldguardians up so the one is ready to go in on Xerxis and the other one can do some work on Cetrati.  Bradigus gets teleported hits a knocked down Nihilator, feats, pushes as planned.  The right Guardian kills 2 Cetrati.  I try to see if I can get my Sentry Stone within 6" of Xerxis to make life easier, but I can't.  Guardian there goes, 5 punches and that's the game!

Analysis

This was a strange list for me to play against, there is a LOT of armor cracking in his list, and Pathfinder options.  Forests can be a big pain, and I'm fairly sure that with teleporting, guns, spells and Bradigus' feat that he's normally hitting first.  The more I play with the Sentry Stones I think the better that I will get with them.  I'm not sure that if I get to the point that I am doing it correctly that I can fail to either be strong on scenario or get a strong alpha-strike.  One thing with this build that I'm really debating is if the battlegroup is correct, or if a Woldwarden should become a Woldguardian, I'd probably like to get in a few more games before I assess that.