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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Search for a new Partner

After the NETT I discovered that I was a little disappointed by my pKrueger list.  While it certainly handles Warmachine armies reasonably well, I played against 3 Troll lists over the course of the day and they made me aware of some of its limitations if I have a bad match-up.  So, that means that I need to either tweak the list or come up with another list that I want to run alongside Baldur when I take my Circle to tournaments.  I took some inspiration (as I always do) from the captain of team Danger Apartment.  He's given me some great ideas since I first started playing the game and he's probably the best Circle player that's out there right now, so I watch his games and lists carefully.  Today I'll share my revamped pKrueger list and then some alternatives that I'm considering to try out to see which of the three will compliment Baldur the best.



While I still defend my decision to take 2 Woldwardens in my pKrueger list, my problem was that I didn't have as much mobility or utility as I would have liked.  My opponent was able to out-maneuver me and that's always a serious problem for Circle.  I've made one minor change but I think it will mean all of the difference in the world for the list:

pKrueger (+5)
- Feral Warpwolf (9)
- Woldwarden (9)
- Woldguardian (9)
Druids of Orboros (7)
- Overseer (2)
Shifting Stones (2)
Shifting Stones (2)

While the list I was inspired from did have some different elements (Megalith instead of a Woldwarden, Gallows Groves instead of one unit of Stones), it was largely similar to both what I was bringing and this list now.  The big change, of course, is the Woldguardian.  I can't believe I didn't think about bringing him before!  He's the perfect candidate for Lightning Tendrils since he not only adds some heavy-hitting (P+S 17) to the list, but with his Ram Fists he can push things around and, more importantly - knock things down with Reach.  That gives him an incredible boost to his threat range.  In my list, I'd like to keep both sets of Shifting Stones just so that one of them basically babysits the Woldguardian and gives him the threat of Teleportation, increasing his threat range to around 12" - nearly as much as pKrueger or the Feral!  Having 3 long-range threats can be quite significant and can give me more viable assassination options.  While I miss out on the Geomancy, with the Guardian auto-knockdown, pushing his target, and Lightning Tendrils, I can probably clear out just as much (if not more) as Chain Lightning.  I'm surprised that I haven't considered him before and I'll be eager to try this list out soon.

What about some other options?  I'm eager to try a new warlock and Circle definitely has lots of warlocks to choose from.  I know 35 points is generally considered to be a difficult level for Circle, but I have a couple of warlocks that I'm interested to try as well, one of whom I've been coming back to for the last couple of months.

Cassius (+6)
- Gorax (4)
- Warpwolf Stalker (10)
- Woldwarden (9)
Swamp Gobbers (1)
Tharn Ravagers (full, 9)
- Tharn Chieftain (2)
Wolves of Orboros (min, 4)
Gallows Groves (1)
Gallows Groves (1)

I know, I know!  Everyone thinks Cassius sucks.  I've tweaked lists and been itching to try him recently because I don't think he's as bad as everyone thinks.  I also think that the recent release of the Gallows Groves help him out a lot.  I've drawn up lists for him before and I've gone back and forth on what I feel is the goal I need to achieve with Cassius.  He has a lot of weaknesses that need to be mitigated in the most efficient of ways and if I were to use him as a partner for Baldur, I need him to solve problems that Baldur might not be able to handle.  While Baldur is certainly very well-rounded, he doesn't deal too well with infantry swarms.  Woldstalkers are great, but they can only do so much.  So I need someone who can clear out chunks of infantry and I think Cassius might be the man for the job.

I won't go into too much detail here but my hope is that my Wolves will provide a nice meaty (and soulful!) shield for my Ravagers to make sure that I can deliver them relatively safely.  The Stalker synergizes well with Cassius since he can use his animus to run back into the forest during feat turn, and Pathfinder is always nice.  The Gorax is there for a fury battery (if I need it) and also so he can hand out Primal if I need to go on a suicide run with the Stalker.  The Woldwarden is obviously useful for both its animus and to Geomancy Curse of Shadows and the Gallows Groves will allow me to arc Hellmouth to clear out annoying infantry as well as allowing me to deal with Trolls better - a major limitation of my pKrueger list!  I really like this list and think it can deal with a variety of threats.  While Cryx will generally be a problem for this list, I still think that between the Stalker and Hellmouth, I can still give Cryx a run for their money just by playing the "keep away" game, and at least I'll still get souls from the Wolves!

The second alternative list was again inspired by my favorite Circle player:
Morvahna (+6)
- Gorax (4)
- Ghetorix (11)
Shifting Stones (2)
- Stone Keeper (1)
Tharn Bloodtrackers (full, 8)
- Nuala (2)
Wolves of Orboros (full, 6)
Wolf Lord Morraig (5)
Gallows Grove (1)
Gallows Grove (1)

I want to re-iterate that I'm looking for a good partner list for Baldur and one of the biggest difficulties Baldur faces is swarms of infantry.  I think that Morvahna will provide plenty of infantry-clearing abilities for me and has a better match-up against Cryx than Cassius.  Much of this list is pretty straight-forward but I want to point out that the Gallows Groves again make Morvahna a solid warlock which can now afford to stay further back than she could before.  Ghetorix also has some silly synergy with Morvahna with his animus since it can basically give a warcaster pause if they want to try to assassinate you.  Otherwise, Ghetorix provides a very solid bodyguard for Morvahna that can both pack a punch and take a beating thanks to Unyielding and the ability to throw Restoration on him.  Naturally, this list will not do so great if the opponent can remove upkeeps, but I can often play my Baldur list against those lists anyway and do just fine.

I've been itching to play Morvahna for some time now and I think it's about time I start.  I have a spare Feral Warpwolf that I can convert into Ghetorix anyway, and I own pretty much all of the models I need to run this list (unlike the Cassius list), so it'll probably see some play in the near future.
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