Calandra's School of Kriel-Fu vs Mordikaar Attrition/Assassination List

I got to try my Calandra ''School of Kriel-Fu'' list today.

I understand this will make for a very dry battle-report but I decided to write it anyway because this game showcase the Kriel-Fu vs a very competitive Mordikaar list and gives insight as in defeat we learn.

Calandra's School of Kriel-Fu vs Mordikaar Attrition/Assassination List

Opponent: Alain
Age: Unknown...He his rumored to be as old as Zaal.
Passion: Unknown but he probably likes painting his Skorne because they are gorgeous!

My opponent, Alain was playing a Mordikaar competitive list that had the following:



Alain's Mordikaar List (from memory):
System: Hordes
Faction: Skorne
Casters: 1/1
Points: 50/50
Void Seer Mordikaar (*5pts)
* Basilisk Drake (4pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Tiberion (11pts)
Bloodrunners (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
* Tyrant Vorkesh (3pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer (3pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Mortitheurge Willbreaker (2pts)

Personal Thoughts about Alain's list:

Jam forever with ''Hollow'' on Bloodrunners and then on ''Nihilators'' while Mordikaar sits way back and just spams "Revive'' and ''Essence Blast'' to cause as much destruction as possible.
Also with the Nihilators having berserk, a decent Pow and excellent Mat it can count on amazing infantry clearing capabilities.
On the other hand, the Cataphracts with a Krea will be more than enough to gain control or at least contest whatever objective or area it wants to deny/gain control of.
Tiberion can provide serious armor cracking.

In the Desert they meet...

We roll for scenario: Outflank

We roll for deployment, he choses side (asymetric table) and lets me go first.

Left Flank:
I deploy the Fennblades as a central bloc with the goal of taking as much space as possible and screen every other unit. The Sons of Bragg are on the very far left, hugging the table with their mission to flank on the left zone. They later get joined with the Pygg Burrowers in advance deploy to help them fight for the left flank.

Center:
The Dire Troll Mauler is on the center left, ready to switch on any side of the table to provide his animus to a Fennblade needing some armor cracking or to lay down the armor cracking himself. In this list I only have the Mauler and to some extent the Sons of Bragg that can deal with high armor so it is important I don't waste them or else things might go very poorly.
Krielstone is almost completely in the center to maximise its protective aura, every other bearer are behind in a chain to avoid blasts. The Bouncer is next to the Krielstone to help intercept shots and deter soft targets.
Calandra goes mid-right, next to the Bouncer and the Krielstone to make her ''Starcrossed'' spell emcompass as much of the future battle as possible when it will be needed.

Right Flank:
The Slag Troll, the Pyre Troll and Horgle go on the right of the Center group with the mission of capturing or at least contesting the Right zone.
Lastly the Skinner Advance deploys in the right flank behind some Fennblades, chosing this careful position not to single him out as a target of opportunity and make it ready to engage Tiberion and cause some damage if the Skorne beast gets too close to the Fennblades or Horgle.

Annex 1: rough idea of my deployment:

              Pb Pb Pb
              Pb Pb Pb

SoB SoB SoB     Fb Fb Fb Fb Fb Fb Fb Fb             St Pt
                          Fb Dtm Ksb Bo Cal Fb Fb Fb Ski     Hor
                             Ksb Ksb Ksb Ksb Ksb   Ssc

Pb: Pygg Burrowers (in front of a forest)
Sob: Sons of Bragg
Fb: Fennblades
St: Slag Troll (Horgle)
Pt: Pyre Troll (Horgle)
Dtm: Dire Troll Mauler
Ksb: Krielstone Bearers + UA
Bo: Bouncer
Ca: Calandra
Ski: Skinner
Hor: Horgle
Ssc: Stone Scribe Chronicler

Alain's Deployment:

Alain deployed the Cataphract with a clear ''control/contest the left area'' message (making me advance deploy the Pyggs on that side), he deployed the Nihilators in a Center/Right wide line. Deployed Tiberion on the Right to face Horgle's light beasts (making me advance deploy my Skinner on that side). and had the Basilisc Krea support the Cataphract on the left while the Drake was a little more central to spray whichever cluster of infantry would happen in my lines.
Most support pieces (Tyrant and Standard, Paingivers) were very central, ready to shift on either side to provide their boosts. Mordikaar was in the very middle, straight in the frontline.

He then Advance Deployed his Bloodrunners in the center.

Trolls Turn 1:

My Pyggs run in the forest. The Sobs hug the left flank and run 12'' toward the zone.
Fennblades all run 12" forward and start spreading just in case sprays or blast could start to rain down.
Horgle and his beasts run forward 10''.
Everything runs except Calandra who moves and drops ''Bullet Dodger'' on the Fennblades, making them Def 14 vs Ranged Attacks and giving them Dodge (free 2'' move if missed by any attack). To add insult to injury, the Stone Scribe Chronicler starts recounting the 'Tale of Mists' giving the Fenns concealment and Feign Death (cannot be target by shots if knocked down).
Finally, the Krielstone, having received some fury from Calandra, activates a +2 armor aura and no continuous effects.

Skorne Turn 1:

Mordikaar moves forward, drops ''Hollow'' on the Bloodrunners, making them though, undead and feeding him souls if any of them dies.
With their high def, their reposition shenanigans and Mordikaar's spell ''Revive'' I start seeing how this unit could prove problematic...
The Bloodrunners then run and engage my front line, blocking me right at the edges of both zones.
The rest of Alain's stuff runs forward and gets in the zones.

Trolls Turn 2:

I realise I am not used to Fury 7 warlocks and have to cut Calandra for one fury, she upkeeps ''Bullet Dodger on the Fennblades''.
I need to get rid of the Bloodrunners this turn AND not leave a single survivor or else they will all come back thanks to ''Revive''...then they would engage stuff in my back arc, paralyzing my movement and making me lose to scenario or to assassination thanks to a rain of ''Essence Blast''.
To do this I decide to try something I've only dreamed of doing and could never manage to do: Activate the Stone Scribe Chronicler and tell the Tale of ''Charge of the Trolls''!!!
Targeting my Fennblades, I give them a +2 to damage and attack against targets in the melee range of a friendly beast. In that case I'm counting on my Bouncer who is in the middle of my Fennblades as well as maybe some help from the Slag Troll.
I then activate the Slag and Pyre who unleash a rain of shots on the undead Bloodrunners staying in the back and out of reach of my Fennblades. I kill three (or two and corrode one who passed his though). Ignoring the Bloodrunners' stealth because I moved forward and ended within 5'' of my targets..
Its the Bouncer's turn to shine, he moves forward until he cannot anymore because Fenn's bases block him and he then proceed to engage two Bloodrunners thanks to his reach. He smashes both I think.
The Fennblades activate and kill every single other Bloodrunners that were engaging them.

On the Left Flank, the Pyggs go into burrowing mode with the plan of showing up on turn 3 and being invincible on Alain's turn 2. The Sons of Bragg get in position on the far left and clip the zone so Alain won't score at the end of this turn.

Calandra, having advanced forward, activates ''Star Crossed'' protecting almost everything in my army, she keeps one focus, two focus had been used to re-roll and make sure all the Bloodrunners had died.
The Mauler and co that I didnt named, stay in the middle, rile and overall don't do much other than being threatening.

Personal thoughts: I managed to wipe an entire Def 14-15 that was under Mordikaar's ''Hollow'' thus preventing him to bring any back into play. All this while sustaining NO LOSSES. This game is starting very well for me.

Skorne Turn 2:

Alain moves the Cataphract forward into the Left zone. Krea activates its Aura.

Most of the real fight starts happening on the right when the Nihilators, receiving ''Hollow'' start spreading with a run/charge order and try to jam and deny my army the center + right flank. Tiberion is now in the right flank's zone so I won't score any points in this one anytime soon.
The Nihilators attack my Fenns and kill one or two with some though rolls preventing other from dying.
They also engage Horgle's battlegroup. One Nihilator stays in formation behind Tiberion, hidden by the large base.
A Nihilator explodes as Mordikaar's use ''Essence Blast'' on my Fennblades. He sadly kills the Unit Attachment leader removing my ''Tactics: Set Defense'' on the unit. This might not seem like it but it is actually a huge deal for this list. (Lesson learned: put that guy further back!!)

Personal thoughts: Good my losses this turn were around 3 to 4 Fennblades, ''Starcrossed'' prevented most of my forces from taking too much damage from the Nihilators.

Trolls Turn 3:

I Forget Vengeance, the Pyggs unburrow.
On the left Flank the Pyggs show up. They unleash a hail of Pow14 Rng 4'' shots onto the Cataphracts....who thanks to the Krea's animus and shieldwall ignore most of it and take close to no damage.
My Sons of Bragg, singing 'Fervor' for a good bonus to Mat and Damage, charge into the bloc of Cataphracts and, despite a beautiful spray catching 6 of them but that deals no damage, manage to kill one guy and heavily damage 2-3 others.
There are still 6 Cataphracts left and they look impressive, I'm a little worried with how things could turn on that flank.

Horgle on the right has himself, his Pyre and his Slag eat and kill as many of the Nihilators as they can (I think they killed 3 and put one guy on corrosion despite all the shots he received...Alain kept making his though rolls!)

The Stone Scribe Chronicler is old and starts retelling the Tale of ''Charge of the Trolls''....Sadly the Fennblades are bored and don't listen (aka my Bouncer can't get anywhere) so they don't really profit from it. They try to kill Nihilators but the thoughs are hot and Alain's jam is working so the center of the table is a ''2'' reach weapons no-man's land'' of Nihilators and Fennblades''. (in italics and in bold to put some emphasis on how bad the situation is).

Calandra gives some re-rolls here and there but the Nihilators stay strong. She casts ''Star Crossed''. She keeps one fury.
Mauler moves closer to the right flank in case Tiberion was to engage Calandra or Horgle.
Bouncer casts Bump on Calandra because there is a nice charge lane for Tiberion....its like a highway to victory by assassination. Thankfully a Fennblade had moved in-between but nothing else stands between her and deat (aka Tiberion) at this point.

Personal thoughts: Thankfully Alain doesn't have the Titan Gladiator to put his ''Rush'' animus on Tiberion or that would be game right now. I also end my turn realizing that I forgot the Fennblade's Vengeance and that the Fennblades got packed together fighting the Nihilators and a couple of ''Essence Blast'' could wipe them out.

I also think I clocked out. Second game I play against Alain, second time, in my life, that I clock out at Warmachine/Hordes....Maybe its my lists, maybe its the first time I'm playing Calandra or maybe I'm just too chatty with Alain.

Skorne Turn 3:

Alain revives tons of Nihilators, and, proving my fears right, makes a nasty ''Essence Blast'' that kills 2-3 Fennblades. I make one though. Mordikaar use his feat.

Left Flank: The Cataphracts and Krea engage the Pyggs and the Sons of Bragg, they kill two sons of Bragg leaving only Rhudd alive. The Pyggs fare better as, benefiting from Calandra's ''Star Crossed'' only one of them dies.
The Drake joins the Left Flank and try to spray the Pyggs, due to its low Rat (4), the above troll-average Def of my Pyggs (13) and Calandra's ''Star Crossed'', not a single one is hit.
The Mortitheurge use Ancillary attack on the Drake. ONE Pyggs finally gets hit by the Drake's spray.....and he passes his though check.

On the Right Flank, the Tyrant and Standard Bearer kill the Fennblade, opening the way for Tiberion but he doesn't engage anything and sits back.

The Nihilators Continue to wreck havoc in my lines, killing a lot more Fennblades. I think I only have 4-6 left alive at this point.

Unworthy of attention note: Alain also clocks out. Still I would have lost first in a tournament environment...then again both of use would not speak and joke and would play much faster. Also, its his second time playing Mordikaar so, like me with Calandra, he his still getting used to the tactical choices and options offered by the warlock.

Personal thoughts: I regret not having put the tale ''Hero's Tragedy'' on my last turn as, not only was ''Charge of the Trolls'' useless but ''Hero's Tragedy would have provided me with easy to kill knockdowned Nihilators that wouldn't be Def16 from Mordikaar's feat. One has to make mistakes to learn!
I'm also wondering why Tiberion is not getting closer, I'll learn after the game that Alain was really afraid of losing it to the Dire Troll Mauler still located in the center and able to engage it should it have made a move against Horgle's Battlegroup.

Trolls Turn 4:

If Alain used Mordikaar's feat, I can counter it with one single move: I activate Calandra, she casts ''Star Crossed'' and uses her feat! I keep all remaining fury for rerolls and transferring but mostly rerolls as Poltergeist is a very very very nasty defensive ability.

Left Flank, the Pyggs go underground. I then realize this wasn't the best move as they could have used the feat...at least, by moving them toward the center I start threatening Mordikaar himself for my next turn, maybe he will be forced to move toward the Right Flank...or he will suffer the Burrowers if he doesn't!
Rhudd, the last Sons of Bragg alive, sings 'Fervor', attacks two Cataphracts and kills them thanks to the feat increasing his damage to insane levels.

Right Flank, Horgle and co continue their excellent job of killing Nihilators, the Pyre, being free from the Nihilator that engaged him seconds before (he got smashed by Horgle's hammer under the feat with a boost to hit just to make sure) and benefiting from Horgle's ''Hotshot'' (boosted ranged attack damage) tries to remove the Nihilators hiding behind Tiberion by moving forward and shooting a blast at Tiberion, the Nihilator (caught in the blast) and the Agonizer. The 'Hotshot' blast damage under Calandra's feat cause significant damage to all and kills the Nihilator...who makes his though roll.

Fennblades, most of them knocked down from though rolls, could not get much out of Vengeance but continue to jam and fight the Nihilators in that contest of wills.

Now the moment everyone was waiting for!! With the Slag Troll having knocked down the Nihilator in front of Tiberion, the Trollkin Skinner charges in a straight line to its prey!
He rolls a Pow 8 with 5 dices (two base + charge + weapon master + dismember) under Calandra's feat....and just removes half of Tiberion's life in one swift strike. Now Tiberion is engaged in melee with a weapon master + dismember Def 13 + Duck (so 17 against warbeasts) that benefits from Calandra's ''Star Crossed'' = good luck getting out of there without any external help!!

The Mauler engages the Drake and eats it alive...he then eats a Nihilator but can't snack it because the freakin skorne is undead.

The Stone Scribe Chronicler finally puts ''Hero's Tragedy'' on what remains of the Fennblades and himself.

I end my turn. There are roughly 4-6 Nihilators left on the table, most of them Knocked down from though rolls.

Personal Thoughts: I'm very happy with how things are going although I'm wondering if Rhudd (the last Son of Bragg) will make it for one more turn alive in order to deny a control point to Alain.

Skorne Turn 4:

Corrosion and Fire take their toll on Alain's models that are affected by them.

Left Flank, the Cataphracts miss Rhudd, engage the Titan and deal a little bit of damage to it. They are well positioned inside the Zone so I'll have to kill every last of them to score in this area.

Center, Nihilators engage the Krielstone and co and fail dealing with them thanks to though and ''Star Crossed''....sadly they wipe the remaining Fennblades and the Stone Scribe Chronicler off the map.
The Tyrant and standard bearer kills the Trollkin Skinner Now this is a Hero's Tragedy!
Not.
He makes his though roll.

Alain is looking at this one model blocking Tiberion who somehow wants to engage Horgle now (and I don't know why ''now'" and not the turn before).
He moves Mordikaar to the far Right Flank and uses its ranged attack to snipe the now knocked down and not anymore in melee Trollkin Skinner (Okay we can mourn him now!)....and easily kills it. Mordikaar uses 'Revive' a little more.

Tiberion now has a free charge lane...the Paingivers give it a little boost and off he goes.
At the receiving end is Horgle. Who takes a Tetsubo attack...transfers it to the Slag (who can survive a 19 damage transfer right? right??!!....yes he does!) who becomes super-crippled. Tiberion uses its shield on the Pyre and cripples the poor guy too leaving it at 1 damage left.
Tiberion gets an extra attack against Horgle who explodes under the pressure....of a Tetsubo applied to his face.
Both the Pyre and Slag trolls go wild.
Right Flank is looking VERY UGLY.

Alain ends turn.

Personal Thoughts: Okay...the Right flank just crumbled with the untimely departure of Horgle. The Fennblades are gone too...Thankfully Hero's Tragedy made a lot of the Nihilators fall on the ground so they don't jam my models too much as they don't have reach anymore.
Tiberion has been very heavily damaged in the previous turn....maybe the Bouncer could salvage this.

Trolls Turn 5:

The Pyggs unburrow.

Calandra casts 'Rager' the Mauler's animus on herself bringing her melee to a Pow 13...I wanted to cast it on the Bouncer at first but realized Calandra might be able to deal with Tiberion as ''Salt'' her weapon, has the rule ''Mercy'' to it, adding an additional damage dice against wounded models.
Calandra charges, deals a massive amount of damage to Tiberion, pays a couple of extra attacks and finally the beast falls. She has two fury left on her so she casts 'Bump' the Bouncer's animus and then keeps one for transfers.

The most immediate threat to Calandra is now the Tyrant and Standard Bearer so the Bouncer moves in and kills both.
Other than knocked down Nihilators and Wild Slag and Pyre, the Right Flank just came back under Troll control!

There are very little center lines now as the Mauler is moving to the left, and, the Krielstone being close to useless in melee and having depleted all their fury tries in vain to buy some time against the few Nihilators still alive.

Left Flank: being blessed by the stars (contrary to my opponent), the Pyggs pop in the Cataphract's back and unleash a very deadly storm of bullets that kill two.
Rhudd, having made it to turn 5, finishes off another two with some excellent weapon master rolls.
The Mauler eats a Cataphract and another Nihilator.

Personal Thoughts: This game is almost won, I don't think Mordikaar can pull off an assassination against Calandra and despite some Nihilators remaining, I've killed all of Mordikaar's warbeasts so his turn 6 will look very grim. I've also managed to get rid of Tiberion, almost every Cataphracts except Vorkesh, kept my Mauler, Rhudd, the Burrowers, the Bouncer and Calandra alive. All the odds are in my favor now, I'm close to the end and if I can't kill Alain, I'll win with tiebreaker scenario points on my next turn by scoring on the Left and having Calandra in the Right.

Skorne Turn 5:

Alain goes for the All-or-nothing ''Essence Blast'' assassination. He brings all remaining Nihilators and Paingivers to charge/engage Calandra, deals minor damage and a Paingiver triggers ''Bump'' and goes away.

Mordikaar shoots Calandra, misses and kills his own Paingiver.
He then unleashes three ''Essence Blast'' all hitting Calandra and causing some serious damage, I take the first two (bringing her to 4 damage left) and transfer the last one to the Mauler.
That is it, Mordikaar has nothing left.

Trolls Turn 6:

Rhudd kills Vorkesh, I own the Left Flank. It is a security measure in case the game would go to tie.

Calandra activates, casts a boosted ''Force Blow'' on Mordikaar and boosts damage, knocks him down while dealing a very serious amount of damage.
She ends her activation and keeps the last two fury for transfers or re-rolls.
The Bouncer activates, moves to Mordikaar and wins the day for the Trollbloods!

Personal Thoughts: Holy hell!! I won!! I finally won against Alain!!!

After-Battle Report and Thoughts:

Both of our lists could counter aspects of each others': I would boost my Def thanks to ''Star Crossed'' but his amazing Mat on Nihilators and Cataphract would still make it fairly average for him to hit.
His feat would boost his army's Def and give it an incredibly defensive ability (Poltergeist) but Calandra's feat  and re-rolls would ensure I miss very little to none of my attacks.

Although Rhudd making it to the endgame is a miracle (also due a little to ''Star Crossed'' making Vorkesh and co miss two rounds of attacks against him...hey that was the goal of this list!), it wasn't until Turn 5 that things clearly turned in a decisive and game-winning advantage for me.

While Alain lost with Mordikaar, he told me that Rasheth and Xerxis are looking forward to teaching this list a lesson. While I'm curious about how well the School of Kriel-Fu would hold vs the Fist of Halaak, I'm dreading the 4xTitans that Rasheth's can bring to the table...
I'm looking forward to our next death-match!

Thoughts on how my list performed:

Other than a couple of very small mistakes (putting 'Charge of the Trolls' instead of 'Hero's Tragedy' a turn late), almost every model did admirably...EVEN the Trollkin Skinner!!! Who almost ruined Tiberion's entire activation if it wasn't for Mordikaar's desperate gamble.

Def 13 units work amazingly as expected with Calandra's ''Star Crossed'' so are models with weapon master (I'm looking at you Rhudd!!...and you too Skinner, to quote eGrim: ''You did good out there.'') who can benefit from her feat by increasing their damage substantially.

Horgle's Battlegroup was an amazing tool to contest, kill infantry and deal with pesky Nihilators trying to hide in the back for revive. They are the Skinner's counterpart in that the Slag Troll will be insane vs Warjacks under 'Hotshot' from Horgle and Calandra's feat.

What I learned: Keep the Fennblade's UA Leader safe...at almost all cost! Losing the -2 Def vs charges hurts a lot.

Changes (that are highly not recommended but this list is an experience) I might try with this list: 
- Fennblade and UA (-10pts) 
For:
+2x Northkin Fire Eaters = the Northkins have the one point higher Def that might work.. They go well with Horgle and his Pyre.
Or:
+2x Trollkin Scouts = they have also Def 13 but gain ranged attacks and more importantly 'Gang Fighter'.

Any suggestions? Thoughts? Let me know how you find this list if you give it a try!