Saturday, April 30, 2016

Casual Three Turn Avatar Facetank

(That's not what happened really, but it sure felt like it!)

Last Wednesday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine with:

Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- 2x Nightwretch
- Leviathan
- Nightmare

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 2x Brute Thrall + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon
Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
Orin Midwinter
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Soul Trappers

Opponent had:

Feora, Priestess of Flame
- Devout
- Reckoner
- Avatar

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Exemplar Errants + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Flameguard Cleansers
Epic Eiryss
Rhupert
Hierophant
Exemplar Errant Seneschal
Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic
Wracks

Scenario was Outflank and Cryx started game. The first picture is from the end of Protectorate turn two.

Opponent didn't have any anti-upkeep capability and their warjacks couldn't gain Pathfinder from anywhere. Always up for daring and unhealthy moves, I didn't spend any focus with Deneghra and advanced to the zone on right with Grave Wind on. Reckoner wouldn't be able to get a charge off, and even if it did only one heavy warjack didn't scare me that much. And the rest were just Exemplar Errants.

Well.

I should've seen it coming. Avatar of Menoth activated Menoth's gaze and ran to stop Deneghra on her tracks. Wall of Fire blocked Mechanithralls on the other side of the board.

Turn 3 was an interesting puzzle. Protectorate jacks were under Passage.

Deneghra used her feat and cast Mortality on Reckoner and filled Nightmare and Leviathan with focus points. She was left with five souls and seven focus.

Pistol Wraith tried to come and shoot Reckoner stationary, but Devout grabbed one of the shots.

Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Nightmare, and then it charged Reckoner. Reckoner had Enliven on, so Nightmare did a combo strike, which dealt some damage in. Remaining focus was used to buy attacks against Devout.

Orin Midwinter tried to make use of his lightning spell, which took one member of Choir of Menoth as collateral damage.

Next Leviathan activates and proceeds to shoot Reckoner dead. Whoops. Reckoner had Passage. Damn it. I figured the best I could do now was to shoot the Choir of Menoth. Only one remained.

Even Skarlock Commander tried to come and shoot Reckoner with Dark Fire, but the thing just wouldn't die. I think I broke the cortex, though. Some arm, too, but those were of no consequence when Mechanic rolled five or six for repairs.

Turn 3 Protectorate wrecks Nightmare. Feora advances to spray with flame throwers and feat. She missed first flamethrower, but second one hit it's target. There is one Nightwretch in the picture that's not showing. It's on far left. I think it lost everything but cortex by now. Eiryss had kept it disrupted for the whole game.

I think Avatar had rolled something three Focus points. It advanced to use Gaze of Menoth to immobilise even bigger portion of Cryx forces, and took a fully boosted swing at Deneghra. Attack dealt something like four points of damage.

Additional asualties that turn were Orin Midwinter and a Soul Trapper. Covenant had denied spellcasting.

Casualties at the start of my turn four were a ton of Mechanithralls. Luckily both Admonia and Skarlock Commander put out the fires.

So, Deneghra had twelve focus points. I planned on taking down Avatar this turn, yet again not paying attention for Enliven. I was desperate for souls, though.

A soul trapper ran to get as many enemy models within 10" of it as possible, and then Necrosurgeon advanced to make some new Mechanithralls. Thralls got a charge order. One charged Avatar of Menoth, one the Covenant and one decided to poke Mechanik. I figured that one Mechanithrall wouldn't kill Reckoner entirely, and even if it managed to break systems, Mechanik would just fix them back.

Other Mechanithralls tried to attack two Errants next to Leviathan.

Mechanithrall who charged Avatar triggered Enliven, so Avatar was now out of reach of Leviathan. Opponent kept one Errant alive near the Leviathan, probably to block a possible charge against Avatar. Couldn't kill that one. But two Errants had died within 10" of Soul Trapper. Deneghra activated and gave focus for Leviathan. She spent three focus on attacks against Avatar and destroyed the shield. I was too scared to continue buying attacks. I wanted at least Def 17 Arm 25. The Choir Priest didn't seem like it would be close enough to Avatar to make Deneghra too dead.

Since Leviathan didn't look like it'd make it to Avatar, I thought to try assassination instead. First Pistol Wraith who had miraculously survived last turn took a couple of aimed shots at Devout and made it stationary. Then Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Leviathan. Admonia tried to shoot Feora with Dark Fire, but I forget if it did anything.

Leviathan takes aiming bonus and shoots Feora twice. Not a dead Feora, but she has less than eight damage boxes remaining.

Turn 4 Avatar rolls only two focus points. It doesn't even bother with Deneghra and instead kills Ogrun Bokur and finalizes Leviathan that Reckoner had failed to wreck. Ogrun Bokur's death set Deneghra on fire.

Eiryss tries to run to engage Necrosurgeon. Feora clears the zone from Admonia, Pistol Wraith and Nightwretch with two sprays. Protectorate scored three scenario points. Yikes.

Turn 5 Cryx has only a few shambling dead on the board, none of which would be able to stand contesting either zone long enough. Nobody was able to charge Feora either because of the wall of fire.

So, my plan was thus: two Mechanithralls would kill Covenant and two Brute Thralls and a Mechanithrall would at least destroy Avatar's sword if not wreck the thing outright.

But I was too greedy.

One Brute charged an Exemplar Errant next to Deneghra (it wouldn't have got charge bonus anyway and needed to move from the way of another brute) and another got to Avatar. One Mechanithrall tried to charge Avatar, but I fumbled measurements with my shaky hands and didn't claim the charge bonus. And the sword was the only system they didn't break. And I didn't even get a soul for Deneghra. And Covenant didn't die, it was left with one hit box.

As a random added bonus, a Mechanithrall killed Eiryss.

Deneghra hadn't upkept Grave Wind because I thought I'd need all of her eight focus to deal with Feora. I would have really wanted that soul, though, for a Mortality.

But she had to take four free strikes from Exemplar Errants and one from Avatar and land on a spot that wasn't in melee with Avatar, within 8" of both Feora and Covenant. Things like this will get a lot easier to navigate after edition change...

However, Deneghra landed on correct spot and was left with three hit boxes after the free strikes and while under Fire continuous effect.

Her spray attack thankfully killed Covenant of Menoth, so Deneghra could try to cast Scourge on Feora.

Attack was a hit, and damage roll was something like fourteen, fifteen. That was enough to kill what was left of Feora. Phew.

Pretty exciting game from start to finish.

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