Shenanigans

First, I received my shipment of minis and can now put together several different 35-50 point armies on the table top. But, this likely won't be happening anytime soon since my wife and I just welcomed our first child to the world (a healthy baby girl!).

On to my gaming topic of the day - what I am terming 'shenanigans.' Having played a bunch of games now, I have a grasp of the basic rules and am beginning to pick up some "board vision" (thinking about threat ranges of models, LoS, and charge lanes), but I think seeing that kind of stuff comes with time. I feel like I am gaining a grasp of the basics, but one thing I keep missing is things that alter the board I am looking at. These are the Shenanigans. Last night's game was an example, but not the only one I have encountered.

Playing a game on Vassal (Vassal is great for those of us who may not be able to make it out to the LGS) last night was an example - Trollbloods v. my Menoth. He was playing eDoomy (first mistake - I thought it was pDoomy which effected my play somewhat due to feat differences) and I am totally unfamiliar with Trolls. Testament and my Zealots/KE/Seneschals move up and zealots do a tiny bit of damage to Mulg and the big Troll, Avatar moves up on the right and a Reckoner on the left. Testament is kinda out in the open at the end of my turn, but is a solid 14" away from anyone else with rough terrain in front of him. Refuge is up on the 2 handed troll heavy, Mulg has Wild Aggression. Doomy activates and feats, Troll heavy eats some whelps walks up, grabs Avatar and throws him about 9" out of the way then Refuge walks another 8" up to the Testament and misses/fails to do anything. Mulg then activates and eats whelps - he doesn't have LoS on the Testament, but that ends up not mattering. He tramples 4+3+3+2+2 inches forward. He then boxed a model, and goaded 2 inches to the left to be in melee with he Testament, with only 1 fury on him. Smacks Testament, game over.

Mulg's 7" threat range was extended by the 3" feat +2" from the animus of the big 2 handed troll heavy +2" from Relentless - effectively doubling his threat range, and then he sidestepped 2 more inches.

I will be the first to admit that had I been familiar with the models I would have known to play differently and things are a little harder on vassal where there are no cards I can look over before the game starts. BUT there seems to be a fair amount of these shenanigans and almost all of them can be game-winning (or in the case of the doom-n-gloom forumites, game-breaking [see the thread on Molik Karn being in your DZ before your turn]) and are thus VERY important to keep in mind.

Thats my lesson for the day for myself - "Beware the shenanigans." I have seen the extreme movement stacking mostly in Hordes (since they can have an animus and an upkeep on them) and with Cryx (because they are Cryx), but its something I really need to start worrying more about.