Practice Game: Ossrum vs. Baldur 2

With the new Irregulars theme force, I am coming back to Ossrum as a serious caster to be used. The existance of Cryx was a big problem previously, and Ossrum had been relegated to Cryx counter with a very suboptimal list otherwise (and also, the list only would work against Ghost Fleet, not Dark Host).

Now, I came up with this as my first approximation:

Irregulars
Ossrum
- 4 Blasters
- 4 Gunners
- Avalancher
Crawler
Aiyana & Holt
2 Artilleries
Free Eiryss1, Kell and Orin

I am having a practice game against my friend Dima with his Baldur2:

Bones
Baldur 2
- Wrath
- Megalith
- 3 Wyrds
2 Mannikins
2 Stones (1 with keeper)
2 Free Wayfarers
2 Stoneshapers (1 Free)

He gets first turn. He skews left. I mirror this with my Crawler, artillery and Avalancher. Bunnies are in the middle: gunners in first row, blasters in second row.

Dima goes ahead and tries for a lucky scatter with Wrath but doesn't get it. Both Sentry Stones are hidden behind the forest, with stealth up. Two wyrds and Wrath get the armor spell.

I run up to positions, not bothering with shooting yet (that's why first turn is better for Ossrum in this matchup). Kell and Eiryss stay hidden behind the forest. Bunnies in the center hug the wall. FFE goes on the Crawler, which stays more than 17" away from all wyrds.

Dima advances and starts shooting. The left most gunner loses head. Wrath shoots the Crawler, removing 10 boxes and also killing one member of the artillery crew.

I first shoot with Crawler at the Wrath, unfortunately not getting a crit. Small guns go into the objective. Eiryss and Kell remove 9 poinst from Wrath. Crawler also removes stealth from one Sentry Stone, which is Kissed by aiyana and then removed by gunners. The mannikins of the other one are all killed. Ossrum feats, cycles FFE and I do some more damage on Wrath. I guess, around 20-25 damage in total. The average should be 28.5 damage per my shooting phase but I believe I did less. I also put some gunner shots into the objective and leave it on 3 boxes, hence failing to score.

Since I did little damage last turn, Wrath is healed back to only 12 points of damage. Then wyrds do some shooting at bunnies but with little effect. Then Wrath charges the bunny wall in the center, knocks down everyone, kills two and cripples some more. Due to my positioning mistake, Dima can place a mannikin to target a bunny but get Aiyana ana Holt both (so, not allowing Holt to make the cancelling shot) - as a result Aiyana gets killed (Holt lives yet, on one box). Megalith comes into the bunnies and almost kills one.

I put everything I have into the Wrath and leave it on one box. I don't have any bunnies except the one with no head to shoot at the objective, so no scoring again. Unfortunately, the Wrath isn't crit staggered, and I have my battle engine with no feat protection and with FFE within shooting range of three Wyrds.

Wyrds kill the crawler, Wrath kills two bunnies. Megalith kills a bunny. Wrath is healed back to 5 boxes.

Kell removes wrath, Eiryss removes objective, Holt kills the remaining sentry stone (it was on one box). Bunny engaged by Megalith runs away and is killed by the free strike. Two artilleries and avalancher do a lot of damage to Megalith.

The rest is pretty irrelevant. We grind and get to a place where he has three wyrds and I have one artillery and solos. This is unwinnable for me now.

Analysis

The match up is quite dependant on dice rolls. With two Siege Crawlers it would be much easier to win. It might be conceivable to swap the avalancher for a Siege Crawler, and it might even make the Cygnar match up better - but I'm not sure (KD gun is good against Thorn). Anyway, too early to change lists, and buying the second Crawler is a serious investment.

Positioning wise, I made a huge mistake on my feat turn. I lined the five bunnies to block los to the FFE artillery, which allowed the Wrath to get all five into his melee range. The proper way would have been to use two bunnies, including the one with crippled head, to block the wrath entirely, and then use the avalancher and two bunnies to block LOS. The difference in attirion and also in which bunnies are engaged next turn could have made all the difference. Maybe I'd have even finished the wrath next turn as a result.

Additionally, when I ran the bunnies to contest I clustered them unnecessary on the right flank, and leaft two out of Ossrum's control range. This allowed Megalith to engage both, and none could power up.

The play with Aiana to remove a stone was also a mistake probably. It would have been better to keep her in reserve for a while and only use Holt at first. She can be useful in late game.