Naturally, I want to bring my Circle. Not only can they be a fully-painted force quite easily, but they are my strongest faction. I have a lot of experience with them, I play well with them (rarely losing with either Baldur) and I want to prove their effectiveness in the competitive arena. It's rare to see Circle at the top of any major tounament and I want to show what they can do.
There are some major differences this year compared to last, however: 35 points (not 50), only 2 lists, and Reinforcements. This actually works against me playing with Circle. Circle is a faction that can really play rock-paper-scissors better than most factions and unfortunately this means that I'll only really be able to bring 'Rock' and either 'Scissors' or 'Paper', making my list selection that much more difficult. Circle has some great options for warlocks and it's tough to choose which two I should bring. On top of that, I'm sorely tempted with the releases since last year to try a new warlock entirely and practice with them in time for July. The smaller lists, although great for factions like Mercs and Minions, means that Circle has more weaknesses and a tougher time dealing with factions that have solid choices regardless of level (like Cryx). Lastly, Reinforcements are my least favorite part of SR2012 and I'll need to make sure that I get lots of practice with them before the tournament. They will similarly make list-building horribly obnoxious for Circle, which has few choices that are 7 points.
This makes it quite difficult to make a decision but here are 3 of my ol'-standbys:
Rock of Orboros, Tier 4 - 35 pointspBaldur (+6)
- Megalith (10*)
- Woldguardian (8*)
- Woldwyrd (5)
Sentry Stone + Mannikins (3)
Shifting Stones (2)
Shifting Stones (2)
- Stone Keeper (1)
Stoneward and Woldstalkers (5)
Stoneward and Woldstalkers (5)
Reinforcements:
Druids of Orboros (7)
Druids are the only good option here for reinforcements but they're still quite solid and I don't have any complaints. Baldur's big weakness in this list is that everything is fairly susceptible to debuff spells, and the Druids can help with some Counter Magic. Since everything either has Advance Move or Advance Deploy, I can make sure that everything is on the same flank as the Druids so that when they arrive the Counter Magic bubble will snag everyone. Should be a fairly strong list and I'm really likely to use it. Unfortunately, I can't see myself bringing eBaldur at 35 points as I just can't give him what I want to make him work well, so it looks like pBaldur will have to be my favorite for this team tournament.
My second list is one which I've used numerous times, but am willing to tweak:
- Woldwarden (9)
- Woldwarden (9)
- Feral Warpwolf (9)
Shifting Stones (2)
Shifting Stones (2)
Druids of Orboros (7)
- Druid Overseer (2)
Reinforcements:
Gorax (4)
Gallows Groves (1)
Blackclad Wayfarer (2)
This is an interesting list. While I admit that I'm using reinforcements to beef up the weaknesses of the list, I find no fault in that considering that I can handle infantry obscenely well with it anyway. I've gone back and forth about what kinds of changes could be made, such as potentially dropping a Woldwarden for something that might hit heavier, but I do really like how the list has performed in the past - including how it worked at the NETT last year where I was able to kill Eiryss, Harlan Versh, and a Kayazy Underboss all in the same turn by casting Chain Lightning onto my own models. I think that the Blackclad will be a great reinforcement because of his really accurate spray and his ability to rapidly redeploy near my Shifting Stones if I need him. On top of that, he can allow my warbeasts to charge a target for free, leaving more fury for buying extra attacks against enemy heavies. Since it's a two-list required tournament, my opponent is required to inform me about which lists they've played and so I can be more assured that pKrueger will be a nightmare match-up for an opposing list.
My third option is only theory at this point, but I'm really interested in this list:
- Feral Warpwolf (9)
- Pureblood Warpwolf (9)
- Warpwolf Stalker (10)
- Gorax (4)
Celestial Fulcrum (9)
Reinforcements:
Shadowhorn Satyr (7)
While I make no claims to the effectiveness of this list, I want to play around with it a little before I write it off. While there's not much obvious synergy between the Fulcrum and Kaya, being able to throw Occultation onto it can add a bit to its survivability and Kaya runs her warbeasts so efficiently that the Fulcrum can focus on doing what it does best - wipe out infantry. It also provides a huge base for her warbeasts to hide behind when she decides to case Spirit Door onto them and it means that the Stalker can charge, kill some guys with Berserk, and then get teleported back behind the Fulcrum or even behind a smoke cloud left behind by the flame blast by the Fulcrum. This list might be really great in 35 points against a list with a lot of heavy threats, like a warbeast-heavy Legion list. Legion I think is fairly powerful at 35 points as their beasts are horrifically efficient, and I think this list will be best suited for dealing with that type of match-up. The Satyr will be great for a reinforcement, I think, because he'll be in a great position to leap into the back lines and potentially throw a key model back towards the rest of your army to munch on, then later be brought back via Spirit Door. This will be a fun list to try because the hit-and-run potential is quite amusing. I might even drop the Stalker (*GASP*) for a Gnarlhorn (extra threat with his animus...) and a Wilder (...for free). The Stalker is crazy good with pKaya though, as she offsets his biggest weakness (MAT 6) so I'll play around with it and see what I can do.
The last list that I'm considering will be the hardest to put together since I'll need to buy some models to make it work, but I think it has potential:
- Woldwatcher (5)
- Woldwarden (9)
- Woldwarden (9)
Tharn Ravagers (full, 9)
- Tharn Chieftain (2)
Shifting Stones (2)
Shifting Stones (2)
- Stone Keeper (1)
Gallows Grove (1)
Gallows Grove (1)
Reinforcements:
Tharn Bloodweavers (5)
Blackclad Wayfarer (2)
This list is quite interesting. Typically you'll see people bringing along lots of bodies for Cassius to feed off of, but I'm worried that relying on souls too much might lead to some weaknesses. Instead, I think this list will be great against most Warmachine armies and some Skorne armies by offering a lot of melee prowess and getting into tight places. I envision that with the Tharn Ravagers having Tree Walker and with the Woldwardens able to Geomancy Curse of Shadows my feat turn could involve the Ravagers charging past entire lines of infantry to hit key models while sitting at a respectable DEF and getting twice the benefit for killing enemy models (corpse tokens + soul tokens). With Curse of Shadows being such an amazing debuff and the Chieftain granting them Brutal Charge, the Ravagers have the potential to wreck even heavy targets, and the Woldwardens could do the same with the Curse effectively making them P+S 17. Throw in some Gallows Groves and Shifting Stones for some Hellmouth shenanigans and I think that Cassius has the potential to be quite brutal to a wide range of armies. Unfortunately, this would end up being quite bad against Cryx and even worse against Legion - two fairly common factions in the meta, so that's quite unfortunate. If I play this next to my pBaldur list, however, it's less of a problem since Baldur can handle Cryx reasonably well, although he can potentially still struggle against Legion. Playtesting is required...