Abominations versus Swine

What is this? Another battle report with pictures? With pictures? Yes, yes it is. Though, the turn two picture was lost to the corruption of the warp or something. I play a game versus Patrick, and this time he pulled out Gremlins. By pulled out, I mean the cards. He proxied them using his standard Ressers, though I think he should pick them up, he seems to enjoy them more.

Strategy: Reconnoiter
Deployment: Flank
Schemes: Sand, Distract, Outflank, Plant Explosives, and Breakthrough. In keeping with the theme, we both chose and hid Plant Explosives and Distract.
His Crew:
Ulix - Husbandry and Hunting Bow
Old Major - Quality Mash Liquor and Corn Husk
Penelope
The Sow
Slop Hauler
Hog Whisperer
3x Piglets
4 Stones

My Crew:
Leveticus - Tally Sheet, To Earth Return, and Desolate Soul
2x Hollow Waifes
Rusty Alyce - Desolate Soul
Ashes and Dust - Scramble
Lazarus
Oiran
5 Stones
I took the Oiran for Lure. A Mercenary Oiran and a Rotten Belle + Pariah cost the same stones, but the Bell costs an extra upgrade slot. Seems like a better choice. Not really. I took Lazarus for his blasts, hoping to put them to use against the Gremlin hordes. The rest is pretty standard stuff for my Leveticus crew. Who thought I would ever call Ashes and Dust standard, huh.

He went for a fairly clustered center deployment, so I countered with a split one. I put most of my stuff to the right, with Lazarus and Alyce forming a shooting front to my left, with a Waife, just in case.

Turn one: The first turn was all about making piglets. With this being his first game with a Ulix list, only have run smaller lists before, he was still working through the order, but still managed to bring out the oinkers. This was when I decided I wasn't going to be able to convert them fast enough. It takes a couple actions, at least, to turn something into an Abomination, while he is building piglets per action. I quickly felt that I may crumble under the wave.

Turn two: I quickly recovered though, and started into the work. He spread out a little, and later a lot. I think this helped, since it allowed me to break down targets. However, Lazarus couldn't hit a barn, so I was unable to bring his blasts into Patrick's squads, which completely negated the reason for bringing Lazarus. He had spread a little too much, losing some of the synergy of his crew, and slowing his summoning. He did manage to get a piglet into Lazarus, a piglet that turned out to be invincible. Lazarus's problem seems not to be his card, but his or mine inability to successfully use anything on it.

Turn three: At the start of the third, I was already down a point each on Distract and Reconnoiter. Early in this turn it became obvious that he was also playing Plant Explosives and I had managed to summon a small army of Abominations right around his markers. I turned to a desperate hope that I could summon just one more Abomination, turn them into a Desolation Engine, resummon Ashes and Dust out of range and maybe give him one point from it. The catch? I didn't have the hand for it, and while I did the death blow that would get the fourth Abomination, I didn't have the suit, and so I failed. He pulled out another Distract as well, but I blocked his Reconnoiter. I did manage to get Reconnoiter, as I had control of most of the table at this point, save for the corner where are the action was. Either way, we went into turn four 1 to 6.

Turn four: We called it on turn four. It was mostly me, but we were out of time. I was sure I could make full points for Reconnoiter and stop him from getting any more for it. However, even though he was hemorrhaging models, and my force was only getting stronger, I doubted I would get many points, if any, for Distract, and would have to devote more than a little to getting Plant Explosives. He already had full Explosives, and would likely complete Distract on turn four. This meant that, even if we finished and I managed to close the gap between us, it was likely impossible for me to move ahead.

For the most part, I was completely unprepared for the amount of models he could summon. Lazarus was largely ineffective, again. He will likely be side lined again. Others have commented that he is super strong, but, for me, he tends to be less so. Rusty Alyce also was a bit lackluster this game, but I doubt she will be side lined, because, no matter what, I luvs her. All in all, the crew performed well, but I just don't have the options to deal with large numbers of models. I did make a purchase under duress this last weekend that will fill that hole, but we shall see.