Harkevich Only Has One Spell

I managed to meet up with Dru for another game at last. I was running the same 50 point list as my last game, but with Harkevich subbed in for Strakhov:
Harkevich
- Beast 09
- Decimator
Nyss Hunters
Alexia & the Risen
Aiyana & Holt
- Valachev
Widowmaker Marksman

Gru brought:
Maelok the Dreadbound
- Blindwalker
- Ironback Spitter
- Targ
Gobber Chef
Bellow Crew
Gatorman Posse x2
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Croak Raiders


Pre-game:
Gru hadn't had a game since the start of MkIII - in fact he probably only played once or twice in this edition - so we decided to play without a scenario. After two ties Gru finally won the roll and chose to go second.


Deployment:
I deployed my battlegroup centrally, the Risen on my left where there wasn't any terrain to deal with, and the Nyss on my right where the forest wouldn't be a problem.

Gru deployed his battlegroup opposite mine, a unit of gators on each side, and his Raiders in the forest in front.

Round 1:
Hark cast Mobility and fail-charged forwards. Everything else ran up. I tried to keep Alexia behind a wall of Risen.

Gru advanced his Croak Raider aggressively. One Posse got bogged down by the forest, while the other moved outwards towards the hill.

Round 2:
Hark cast Mobility and walked forwards. The Decimator moved in front of him. My Risen ran to engage the Raiders. A few got a charge off and managed to kill one who was close enough for Alexia to get a corpse. Beast 09 ran into the forest, managing to engage a Raider. The Nyss Hunters advanced cautiously; a hot roll on a four-man CRA took out a Gatorman.

Gru killed some Risen with the Raiders. One Posse ran/charged my Nyss (I don't remember if any charged without running, but either way they didn't kill any Nyss). Maelok moved up and cast Mortality on Beast 09, then the Blindwalker ran in front of him. The Spitter put two shots into Beast thanks to Ancillary; I think he did about a column and a half of damage.

Round 3:
Harkevich cast Mobility and feated, then walked around the Decimator to stand just behind the forest. Alexia sent a few more Risen into the Raiders, doing nothing, and created a Thrall who charged the Raider blocking Beast's path but missed the attack. Valachev used his spray spell on Beast, doing no damage as Beast is immune to cold but managing to kill the offending Raider. Then Aiyanna used Kiss on the Blindwalker, while Holt did nothing. Finally Beast 09 charged in and managed to take out the Blindwalker (it was close). He then repositioned forward into base contact with Maelok. My Nyss Hunters all landed their melee attacks but did no damage to the ARM 20 Posse, except one who rolled hot and one-shot a Gatorman. I had originally planned to use the Decimator to block LOS to Hark, but I forgot and ran him forwards into the forest instead.

Gru popped his feat and walked Maelok away from Beast. He couldn't make line of sight to Harkevich so he cast Mortality on Beast again. Targ used Ancillary Attack on the Spitter to allow it to shoot the corrosion-immune Raiders in the back and kill an engaging Risen, allowing them to aim and shoot at Harkevich, leaving him on three boxes. A Gatorman was able to walk into the forest and take a swing as well, but missed his attack.

Another Gator killed Aiyana while a third killed Cylena. The Gobbers charged the Decimator but couldn't do any damage. The Spitter went in on Beast 09 and took out his movement and left arm.

Round 4:
Harkevich cast Mobility and missed an attack against the Gatorman. Beast 09 shuffled over to Maelok and started swinging. His first attack scored the crit, and his last left Maelok on one damage box (he was against ARM 21 after all). The Decimator then walked up and finished the job. I had another Decimator shot, a charge lane with the Thrall, and Alexia was ready to Dominator a Gatorman and have him take a swing too.

Post-mortem:
If you were paying attention you might have noticed a pattern to how my turns went... yeah, Harkevich cast Mobility every turn and... that was all he did. It's pretty much the only real spell on his card. While he does bring more to the game, he's not really very active himself. He's basically a buff-bot, but one that doesn't even need too make decisions about who to buff.

With only slightly better dice Gru would have killed Harkevich. If his list had been better built to take advantage, possibly by bringing some faster melee models, then he probably would have won. I actually really think his list needs a bit of tweaking: he doesn't really have any armour cracking, and he should probably bring Saxon for Pathfinder (one of his Posse spent the whole game bogged down in a forest). The Feralgeist didn't get to do much this game as we weren't playing a scenario so he couldn't contest (plus I did have Aiyanna and a few native magic attacks), and Maelok makes his warbeasts Undead so he couldn't be used to reanimate them.

The Gatormen Posse have been nerfed quite a bit; 5 boxes is one thing, but MAT 6? On expensive heavy infantry? What the hell PP? Yeah, they get much better in one theme, but still, they level to which they've been nerfed seems frustrating. I think Gru might be best off playing in theme since he's always been fond of his gators and has at least three units of them.