I got in a game last night with Dan and his Trolls. I think that it's fitting that my new regular opponent plays Trolls since there is so much animosity between our two factions in the Warmachine world.
I decided to give pXerxis a try. I had considered him for a while but was stuck on what to use with him. His low fury stat of 5 threw me off a bit, I'm used to playing with casters with plenty of fury to do what they need to do.
My list:
Points: 35/35
Tyrant Xerxis (*5pts)
* Bronzeback Titan (10pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)
Dan's list:
Points: 35/35
Borka Kegslayer (*5pts)
* Troll Axer (6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Mauler (9pts)
Krielstone Bearer and 3 Stone Scribes (3pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Trollkin Scattergunners (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Troll Whelps (2pts)
We played Scenario #1 from the 2014 Steamroller rules. I won the roll and went second. I deployed my army as a brick; Cetrati in a line up front and center, one beast per flank, Nihilators and Xerxis right behind the Cetrati and everything else behind them.
Right away I realized that I had made a mistake in my army composition. I should not have taken the agonizer, I was only able to give him 1 whole fury point all game. He just stood there and wet himself. The willbreaker was underused as well. He did put Puppet Master on the gladiator before it slammed a fennblade and got to reroll a miss. Also I messed up on deployment and activation. I was too cautious with the Cetrati and kept them in shieldwall all game. They never even got into the control zone BUT I upkept Defenders Ward on them all game, giving them an ARM 22 and an ARM 24 on feat turn. None of them took a single wound!!
The Trolls owned the control zone and Borka dominated after a combined effort killed my gladiator on turn 3. Mauler got the alpha strike on the bronzeback removing all but 1 damage point. On turn 4 I popped feat and charged the nihilators out at his axer and impaler, 3 on each. They butchered the axer, and wounded the impaler. The bronzeback made short work of the mauler. We called the game because the store was closing. Dan was ahead in points and won square.
Overall I liked how the game played out. I was concerned about beasts wandering out of Xerxis' control area but that didn't happen. I plan on playing a similar list in the future, something like this:
Points: 35/35
Tyrant Xerxis (*5pts)
* Cyclops Brute (5pts)
* Tiberion (11pts)
* Aptimus Marketh (3pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer (3pts)
I need something to get the Cetrati where they need to be in safety. Marketh can upkeep spells after he collects souls and can hot swap spells when needed. I don't think I needed 2 heavy warbeasts last game, we'll see what 1 heavy and 1 light can do.
I need to figure out an activation sequence where Xerxis can activate, does what he needs to do but not get left behind when the rest of his army advances. I was considering the following steeps:
1. Deploy Xerxis in the forward center of the brick flanked by the Cetrati, the TyComm to one side of the Cetrati.
2. Activate Xerxis, cast Defenders Ward on the Cetrati, use Press Forward on the Cetrati, advance his full SPD (5") and cast Inhospitable Ground.
4. Activate the Cetrati, give them the Shield Wall order, advance them 7" into base to base with each other and forming a protective wall in front of Xerxis.
5. Activate the Nihilators, Run them up directly behind the Cetrati. This will protect the Nihilators and increase their threat range.
Since the Cetrati can only be affected by one Press forward at a time, I may have to use 2 turns to get them into the control zone.
I have acquired a second mammoth recently and am attempting to build workable lists for them. So far the best is this: