KOW - Ratkin Communard at Runefang IX

Last weekend I took my newly multibased Ratkin to Runefang IX. This was a four round 2000 point event using COK 2017 rules.

My list was as follows:

• Tunnel Slave Horde
• 2x Tunnel Slave Regiments
• 2x Shock Troop Horde
• Blight Horde
• 2x Weapons Team with Storm of Lead
• 2x Death Engine with Vile Sorcery
• Swarmcrier with Lute
• Warlock with Bane Chant and Talisman
• Daemonspawn with Fly

My only change from pre-COK is two Slave Regiments have become a Horde freeing 20 points up for the Lute. I love the list as it has fantastic synergy.

Game 1 - Carson Turnbull (Forces of Nature) in Push

This was the game that got away! Early on in the piece I had pushed the Blight into Carson's half after removing the his Shamblers and Fire Elementals. I was cruising towards a big win when, for some unknown reason, I decided to bring the Blight back into the middle to see if I could pick up more points. The game went into a 7th turn and Carson was able to get a Nerve Check of 9+ on them. He managed to get it even though he had a re-roll. To compound my misery I timed out (for first time ever) on my Turn 7.

I still had sufficient tokens to salvage a draw and had +1 on Attrition. This was compounded by -1 for timing out.

Draw 8-7

Game 2 - Peter Williamson (Forces of Nature) - Ransack

So my second FoN army. Peter had finished second at WSS-Autumn a couple of weeks ago and was running the same list.

When we set up I thought that I was in trouble because although I had picked the side, Peter had better mobility and the counters were "difficult". This all changed early in the game when I opened up on one of his Ensnarer Hordes. I wasn't optimistic but the combined Ratkin shooting removed it - gone. Peter and I looked at each other and we had a moment! After that the newly emboldened Ratkin were able to pin the FoN army back capturing or contesting enough counters for a solid win. I was also 600 points up on Attrition so got +2 bonus.

Win 14-2

Game 3 - Lliam Munro (Forces of the Abyss) - Eliminate

In our last few games Liam has had the wood on my Herd army winning three out of four encounters. I was hoping that my Ratkin would match up better.

Liam counters were on Tortured Soul, Abyssal Horseman and Lower Abyssal Hordes while mine were on the Shock Troops and Daemonspawn. I decided to play a waiting game and deployed so I could create a diagonal line. On the short side I had two Regiment of Slaves, my Daemonspawn, a Weapons Team, my Warlock and a Death Engine. They set up around/behind a pond and waited for the onslaught. Facing them were the Tortured Souls, Horsemen, 2x Regiments of Succubi, Harbinger and Champ.

Game came down to a few critical rolls. I (inadvertently) gave my Blight's flank to the Hellhounds. Lliam took the charge, rolled down and lost the unit to combined charges the next turn. I felt that he was always a bit optimistic given I was -/23 with a reroll. The Ratkin concentrated their first two turns Ranged Attacks on the Gargoyle units and removed both. My plan there was to ground his attack as much as possible.

When the attack came Hindered Succubi and Horsemen hit a Slave unit and rolled double 1s. This good fortune allowed me to remove the Succubi with combined front and flank Slave charges. I blocked the Horsemen up with a War Engine. Same turn Hindered TS and flying Harbinger hit my Daemonspawn. He survived and was able to move out of charge arc (turn then 10" straight. I then moved Death Engine back so Flying character couldn't se him....sneaky!

I was winning battle in the centre and had objective tied up. I managed to do 20+ wounds on Chroneas but then I rolled double 1s. This was followed in T6 with my Warlock failing to wound with his Lightning Bolt. Lliam had hit my Shock Troops in the flank on T6 with his Souls but I held. Some outrageous dice allowed me to remove them in my last Turn.

We rolled for T7 but it wasn't to be giving me a narrow win. If it had gone to T7 me holding the central objective would have been decisive. I only lost three Slave units for 300 points in this game which gave me +2 on Attrition.

I was down to 1s on the clock at the end of this game, Lliam had 29s left. Shows how tight it was.

Win 14-2

Game 4 - Ryan Lister (Undead with Night Stalker Allies) - Scour

Going into the last round I was 2 points ahead of Carson and 6 ahead of Ryan and Lliam. We were all playing each other so the podium would be decided here.

There were 5 objectives and Ryan out dropped me. One objective was in a corner and with 3 units of Wraiths and multiple cheap Ghouls Ryan was always going to get that.

After deployment I knew I was in trouble. His Soul Revenants x2 and Dopplegangers could match my Shock Troops and he had the ability to hold the Wraiths for contesting as their was a blocking hill. He did this on Turns 1 & 2 but then got a rush of blood on Turn 3 and brought them over the hill - one charging Shock Troops in conjunction with Wyrm character. The Rats opened up with all their shooting on the Wraiths and removed the two units in the open. The Shock Troops countercharged and with BC removed the final Wraiths. This allowed the Daemonspawn and Engines to move up and contest then win a further counter after front and flank charging Soul Revenants. From here it was mopping up. I managed to be ahead 1100+ points which gave me +3 on Attrition.

I certainly feel that if Ryan had sat patiently he would have won this game. His three Wraith units could effectively control the game and were safe behind the hill. My Engines couldn't get within 18" without exposing themselves to charges (possibly multi).

Win 15-1

Wash-Up

In the end I finished on 51 Battle Points. Lliam was second on 42, Carson next on 38 and Ryan 31.

I was happy to pick up the win with the Rats but was dark with myself over the first game. Over the course of the four games I felt as though I was a bit sloppy and certainly slow. I'll put this down to rustiness with the Rats after six months playing Herd (no shooting).

Really enjoyed playing with the Rats and it was great to have them multibased and out on the table. They certainly fit my preferred style of a Ranged Attack Counterpuncher. That they can be successful with so little invested in Magic Artefacts points to the strength of the list. What I like most is that in my army each unit has a job and they complement each other.

 

Posted with Blogsy