Get Out Of Jail Free Card?- Musings On Shifting Stones

Grandad here, playing Circle again and just thinking about this key piece. Game last night against a 50 point jack heavy Anson Durst list and the discussion had afterwards has prompted this blog post. The game was going badly for me, I was using a tier 4 Kromac 2 beast heavy list. I just had forgotten about boundless charge, and lost Gehtorix to a buffed Reckoner, Durst feated which meant even under Kromac's feat my retaliation only got one and half heavy Jack's back. The following Menoth turn saw my army disappear and left me in a precarious position. Quite rightly my opponent was confident of victory, he played well and I had played poorly, I deserved to loose. During my next turn I measured eight inches from my caster, saw Durst was in reach range, then teleported a fury 7 'Mac 2 into an ARM 20 Durst and killed him quite comfortably, with 2 fury to spare. Get out of jail free card played? This left a sour taste in my opponents mouth and I don't blame him.

So even after the recent no double port nerf, the Shifting Stones are still one of the most dangerous units Circle has, possibly one of the most dangerous in the game. The ability to place a piece, circumventing the battle line is very dangerous. The two things I would advise new players about Shifting Stone Teleportation is that firstly, it's always more than eight inches the model moves, account for this. A canny player will have the back of their models base just barely breaking the invisible plane of the Stones triangle. They then can be placed within eight inches, which means the model can be placed measuring from front of base to back of base, effectively adding the base size of the model to the distance moved. A large based model with reach like a Warpwolf Stalker can be placed and still engage a model nearly twelve inches away. Don't be caught out.

Secondly, kill a Stone, always. The above tale should illustrate clearly you must take away this ability, don't give the Circle player a get out of jail free card. I have played veterans who will gladly throw a ten point unit into certain death just to remove the ability to teleport. There is not much a buffed Circle heavy can't kill.

So can Shifting Stones do anything else besides teleport death into the enemy lines? Yes they have a multitude of uses besides teleportation. Beast management is one use. Serenity is useful for taking fury of beasts preventing frenzy checks whilst healing beasts (even constructs) can help with order of activation. In this capacity you will have your Stones following your beasts around like a gaggle of goslings.

Objective/zone contesting. Shifting Stones are a great little unit for holding a zone, once placed, they can keep using healing field to go back to full health and the opponent will not be able to remove them with pot shots, they will have to dedicate resources to removing them.

Road block, my favourite use. I often put Stones in front of models to block charge lanes but they are also great at blocking enemies in, especially annoying jacks with enliven or models with admonition. Positioning Stones around a heavy also means they cant charge until the annoyance is removed and ARM 18 is a quite annoying.

So is there a point to all this rambling? Probably not, but I do not think Shifting Stones are somehow broke or overpowered, their most powerful ability can be neutered by removing one stone, the double port nerf was fair (even if it did remove the eBaldur Lord of the Feast in your deployment zone turn 1 hi-jinx). Every faction has their powerful support pieces, Krielstone,Choir,beastmasters, squire etc. Shifting Stones are just another unit in this mould. I think in a strategy game like warmahordes, dealing with powerful enemy pieces is a central part of the game.

SYNERGY DANCE OFF

Its Grandad here with an Imperishable Dominion battle report. Myself and Dan from this blog decided to bring eVyros and Bradigus together to have a synergy battle. We both decided to take it to tier four for both casters.
Dans force was pretty straight forward, Imperatus, a unit of Sentinals, a Destor Thane, couple of arcanists, an Aspis and a load of Griffon's.
      

No Dan, its Incursion

My force was a straightforward tier four wold war list the only thing I tried out different was putting in the Woldwrath.

Turn one: Retribution ran everything forward, Vyros cast Synergy and then popped feat. Circle ran forward mostly, took a few pot shots with Woldwatchers and the Woldwrath which mostly missed and the Manikin line went forward and exploded into forests (yes, I know birds eye and pathfinder made this largely ineffective but it would slow the Sentinals). Bradigus cast synergy and the Woldwatchers hunkered down, the dance off was on.

The thin, green, useless, line

Turn two: Dan was expecting a bit more from the Circle shooting (which was mostly misses) so the feat was (when a friendly model dies and friendly model moves) a non-event. Vyros cast deflection, a couple of Sentinels and a couple of Griffon's ganged up to nearly kill a Woldwatcher. Tired of dancing round each other Bradigus feated and went in, also casting mystic wards. The Wolds started to build up a synergy chain, taking out a few more Sentinels and three Griffon's. Sadly for Bradigus the move back on the feat just moved him back 1/2" to far which left the stoneformed Woldwatcher who was 5" from Vyros out of control, meaning mystic wards would not work.

Turn three: Dan started sweating at the thought of not being able to upkeep synergy, but he had gotten away with it. The Retribution launched their counter strike, the Thane galloping around to try and get involved (Dan had forgotten about him and left him on the extreme flank) Vyros went to hide his giant armoured horse behind a small wall (that's right, you cant see me) and Imperatus and the Griffon's built up enough synergy to smash two Woldwatchers to pieces. In response the Woldguardians pounded the rest of the Sentinels and two more Griffon's to dust.

Your on a warhorse son, get involved

Turn four: Vyros had to move and recast synergy due to mystic wards, killing a Sentry Stone in the process, the other Sentry Stone was taken out by the Destor Thane.Imperatus bagged himself a Woldguardian and an Arcanist ran to score a control point (Dan could see his army buckling and had to try and apply some pressure).The second Woldguardian cleared the way forward, taking out the Aspis.The Woldwrath charged Imperitus, having a + 4 from synergy, I was confident that even with the stupid Phoenix protocol, my MAT 10 P+S 23 gargantuan should be able to remove the Retribution heavy from table. Stupid distances, the Woldwrath failed the charge by millimetres. Imperatus lived and Dan could stop holding his breath.

Stupid distances....

Turn five: Vyros gave out all is focus to the lone Griffon and Imperatus before claiming the far right control point. The Griffon charged Bradigus for little effect whilst Imperatus killed the second Woldguardian. A Woldwatcher takes out the Thane whilst the Woldwrath makes a meal of taking out Imperatus, running out of fury, allowing the Retribution heavy to come back to life after being pulled apart. Sensing the dance is over and being on + 2 synergy and 5 fury whilst Vyros has no focus, Bradigus gets ready to end it himself. I measured control and Vyros is just millimetres out of Bradigus 10" threat, damn distances, again! To rub salt in the wounds, the three rocks he chucks at Imperatus fails to finish the Jack of.

Imperatus is still there, why wont you die?

Turn six: Vyros fills up Imperatus, casts easy rider so Imperatus can skip over the left overs of all the light jacks and goes to dance with Bradigus himself (here I have made a cardinal sin, I left my warlock without a transfer target) and Imperatus ends the game.

Bye Brad....

Conclusions: Dan  is a pretty decent player and well experienced with his Retribution. He followed his battle plan, which was swarm the enemy with Sentinels and Griffon's, build up synergy and employ Imperatus (easily the man....jack? of the match) as his finisher. I felt that I had control of the tempo of the dance and felt comfortable going towards the endgame, just a couple of bad manoeuvring errors and then getting carried away and failing to leave a transfer target sealed my doom, against experienced players that is just a gift. Great game.