Dual Singularity

 Had a couple of games of Brawlmachine. Scenario was the Singularity.

First game I had:

Cryx

Asphyxious the Hellbringer [+24]
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Seether [13]
 - Slayer [10]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
 - Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [4]

Opponent had:

Circle

Baldur the Stonecleaver [+31]

 - Gnarlhorn Satyr [12]

 - Woldwarden [14]

 - Woldwatcher [8]

Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (min) [10]

Shifting Stones [3]

Warpborn Skinwalkers (min) [9]

Circle approached with stone-formed Woldwatcher in front, which was promptly wrecked by my heavy warjacks. Helljacks were in a bad position now, in a possible charge range by opposing heavies. Satyxis Raiders that had Cloak of Ash on sacrificed themselves for the protection of Slayer and Seether. 

Somehow opponent kept hitting Satyxis Raiders despite needing 10 to hit. Over half of them died, including Sea Witch. But at least they were only Satyxis.

Vociferon had tried to sneak up to my flag, but suddenly there were a unit of Nyss Hunters there so plan was foiled. 

Woldwarden died to Seether, which was good enough I guess. But since there was a five round limit, casualties inflicted by both sides were too low for either of us to gain a big point advantage.

However, I did have one point advantage from the turn when Cryxian jacks destroyed Woldwatcher. This was the winning point at the end of fifth round. 

Game 2:

Skorne

Dominar Rasheth [+28]
 - Agonizer [6]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Tiberion [19]
Swamp Gobber River Raider [1]
Void Spirit [4]
Praetorian Swordsmen (min) [8]
Venator Flayer Cannon Crew [5]

Opponent had:

Retribution

Kaelyssa, the Night's Whisper [+29]

 - Banshee [18]

 - Chimera [8]

 - Manticore [14]

Mage Hunter Assassin [4]

Mage Hunter Strike Force (min) [10]

Second game was excessively short, perhaps to compensate for the first one.

Shortly put, Tiberion ran to middle field and opponent focused all attacks to kill Agonizer and then Tiberion - but thanks to one double 1 attack roll by Banshee Tiberion survived with two boxes remaining.  Rasheth feated next and Tiberion wrecked two of opposing warjacks - suddenly gaining points from the rectangular zone, all the while Void Spirit & Swamp Gobber River Raider were collecting points from flags. Scenario win.

Captain Night's Whisper

Played a 50 point game of Warmachine earlier this week.

Since I finished painting Captain Aiakos, why not give him a try?

My list:

Captain Aiakos [+29]
- Corruptor [14]
- Nightmare [18]
- Reaper [13]
- Deathripper [6]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess [4]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Satyxis Raiders (min) [10]
- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [4]
Warwitch Siren [1]

And opponent had:

Kaelyssa, the Night's Whisper [+29]

- Banshee [18]
- Chimera [8]
- Manticore [14]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Dahlia Hallyr [17]
Mage Hunter Assassin [4]
Mage Hunter Assassin [4]
Mage Hunter Strike Force (min) [10]


And suddenly, out of the blue, a hard counter for at least Aiakos' feat.

Well, of course charging and assaulting isn't mandatory. Anyway. Scenario was the one from main rulebook where you have three flags in the middle line.

Skarath sprayed Satyxis command attachment dead. Three models were under the template, and despite having def 16 all attacks made by the RAT 6 model hit.

Banshee knocked Reaper over. Reaper had Backlash on it, and then mage hunter strike force started shooting. Main gripe here was that Reaper lost cortex - no walking and harpooning now, under Kaelyssa's feat. This was by far the worst that could happen, and could have been easily avoided by 1) asking the total threat range of Banshee's cannon and 2) measuring distance from Reaper to Banshee.

From then on game was a struggle.

Mage Hunter Assassin one-shotted Deathripper, so no White Squall shenanigans either.

Desperately trying to do at least something Aiakos cast Scything Touch on Satyxis Raiders, who then charged Skarath. Only two got into contact, but they brought it down to five boxes remaining or so. Corruptor probably took a shot at it, too.

Chimera came to finish Reaper, and at the same time it jammed my forces badly.

So I'd be able to kill Chimera with Nightmare, and then receive Banshee shot again along with full volley from Strike Force. No thanks. Need to do something to Chimera.

And oh boy, did I mess that one up.

First Ironmongers activate and put a curse on Chimera. And since they are equal to P+S 12 weapon masters against warjacks, why not take every possible little extra swing at it?

There is one reason, though. For example, not to engage it in melee. Which is exactly what I did, and the Ironmonger attack did not even hit.

Then Corruptor and Aiakos manage to remove Chimera from board, but Nightmare's charge lane was blocked. So it could only charge Manticore that was behind a wall. Succeeded in destroying the myrmidon, though. But it was the Banshee I would have needed. Now it just took a shot at Aiakos and killed him with a damage roll of 5,5,6 with collateral damage or something like that.

Even Tough roll failed. Which is good, because Aiakos was already knocked down from momentum hit. Forgot about that.

It wasn't exactly a promising prospect for my career as an Aiakoneer. But at least it gives some comfort to think that had I not made a few critical mistakes, I would've stood a chance even after losing Reaper so early on.

Warmachine tournament at Ropecon

Last year I skipped Warmachine tournament that was held in Ropecon. Mk3 had just launched and all, and I felt somehow exhausted. But this year I took part, and these were my 75 point tournament lists:

List 1:
[Theme] Infernal Machines
Deneghra, the Soul Weaver
- Corruptor
- Kraken
- Nightwretch
- Skarlock Thrall
Necrotech
2x Pistol Wraith
2x Soul Trapper
Mechanithralls (max)
- 2x Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Soulhunters (max)

List 2:

Asphyxious the Hellbringer
- Desecrator
- Malice
- Ripjaw
- 2x Stalker
Bane Lord Tartarus
Darragh Wrathe
Satyxis Raider Captain
Machine Wraith
Necrotech
Bane Warriors (min)
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard
Bile Thralls (min)

First game was against Issyria. I chose Deneghra, and I lucked out when I got to play against the list which had Imperatus in it. Mortality was pretty devastating tho Phoenix protocol.

Ambushing Mechanithralls and Soulhunters wrecked one flank completely.

I played aggressively with Deneghra, and I suppose it worked out somehow. The Retribution battle engine spent a couple of turns shooting at Deneghra, but seemed to miss more often than it should have - Issyria had no problems landing Blinding Light on Deneghra.

Eventually it was a scenario victory for Cryx.

Game 2:

Second game was against Gorten Grundback, and I had picked Deneghra3 again. I didn't have an idea what I should be doing. At one point looked like I could try to start grinding some scenario points by seizing three control points, but then dice went all kinds of awry and I was left with only one. Plus I made mistakes in my positioning elsewhere, too - I had to leave Deneghra in a terribly vulnerable position.

Opponent didn't even have to bother with scenario, he just shot Deneghra into smithereens.

Still it was a nice game - even if I was a bit clueless, I still felt like I was at least doing something.

Game 3:

I played against the newly released Morghoul3. I am always especially excited when I get to play against new warcasters, and I had never faced Morghoul3 even during Mk2, where he did not exist. I chose Asphyxious3 as my list.

Bile Thralls did well enough in removing some Praetorian Swordsmen. I was too greedy and waited too long to use Asphyxious' feat. Even a couple of extra focus points could have made the difference, when I got Malice to shoot a harpoon at Morghoul3 who had Calamity, dragging him within Dark Shroud of Bane Lord Tartarus.

But even more impact than a less greedy usage of feat would have been if I would have moved Darragh Wrathe or anyone to take a point from my flag. I didn't.

And then I lost.

Game 4:

Last game I chose Deneghra once more, as I was against Cryx. Opponent took Asphyxious2.

Game was very exciting and brutal. Opponent made one tragic mistake, where he charged with Bane Riders - only to find out the last cavalry model, unit leader, was stationary.

Opponent also missed a couple of critical attacks, most notably ones targeting Kraken and Pistol Wraiths. I did have my share of bad luck a turn earlier, though, where despite everything I threw at enemy Darragh Wrathe, I just could not bring him down to start scoring scenario.

But yeah, Kraken lasted far longer than it should have against Bane Warriors. Ambushing Mechanithralls were amazing once more and I have to say I quite enjoy Infernal Machines theme.

Though I don't think I used Hyper Aggressive even once. But it's not that often when you want to go Hyper Aggressive with a Night Wretch... or a Corruptor, for that matter.

Eventually it was a scenario victory for Deneghra.

2-2, not bad result considering I haven't played in tournaments for ages. I was happy that none of the games were decided because of Deathclock - though some matches were pretty close. I think in the last game I had like three minutes left in my clock.

Suddenly a warmachine tournament

Last weekend I went on a completely unexpected Warmachine tournament. It was a team tournament, and the team from out city lost a player just a day before the tournament. On Friday 8PM I didn't yet know that I would be going to a tournament 7AM next day.

I also had to make lists in less than twenty minutes. Here's the what I came up with:

List 1:
Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- 3x Helldiver
- Nightmare
- Stalker
- Deathripper

10x Cylena Raefyll Nyss Hunters
10x Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Withershadow Combine
Satyxis Raider Captain

Objective: Effigy of Valor

List 2:

Witch Coven of Garlghast
- Defiler
- Ripjaw
- Kraken

6x Bane Thralls & Unit Attachment
5x Soulhunters
Darragh Wrathe
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Looking back now, I would have definitely tweaked the Deathripper out of Asphyxious list. When I was feverishly building his list I didnt remember Vociferon was an arc node already.

First game was against Legion of Everblight. I took my Asphyxious list and opponent had something like this:

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
- Blightbringer

2x Maximum unit of Warspears + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Nyss Raptors
Maximum unit of Spawning Vessel
Warmonger War Chief
Shepherd

Scenario was Recon. Both Ogrun units made Satyxis their Prey target. I took one of the Ogrun units as Nightmare's prey.

Blightbringer and a couple of Warspears shoot movement and one claw away from Nightmare. Meh. I decide to make at least some use out of the warjack and walk it to beat two Warspears that came within walking distance.

Satyxis Raiders take Desperate Pace and charge deep within enemy lines in an attempt to tie up as many enemy models with Ashen Veil as possible. I expected casualties, so Sea Witch used Power Swell.

Now... there was a particular reason I took Effigy of Valor with this list. The reason was that I don't trust CMD 9 the least. However... I was so excited over my threat range that I forgot to keep one Satyxis within 4" of my objective. I had to take two Terror checks, as I had also tied up the Warmonger War Chief.

well. I didn't have to stress over two checks, as the first one failed right away. I laughed and I smiled, but it was a bitter laugh and a bitter smile. They managed to regroup right away, though.

I needed to make some moves now or Satyxis would just be killed for no use at all. My move was to enter middle zone with Asphyxious and use his feat. He was camping at Arm 23, if memory serves.

One of the Helldivers stayed above ground to block attacks opponent would be able to make against Asphyxious.

Satyxis survived well enough, considering the vast amount of attacks they were soaked in. But they received enough casualties to call for a Massive Casualties check. Which... how could it be otherwise? ... failed. Nothing attacked Asphyxious.

Next turn Asphyxious had ten or eleven focus points. Two or three came from the feat, and one from Vociferon who had collected the soul of an ogrun.

I had big plans of starting to dominate this turn. Nightmare killed a Warspear close to it, giving more souls for Vociferon. Stalker charged a Warspear and killed it. Then it was Asphyxious, who charged objective. Damage roll was laughable. He bought extra attack against a damaged Warspear nearby. Attack missed. Oh wait, Asphyxiosu has Puppet Master on him! Let's re-roll the one, and keep the four! Attack is still miss. He bought one more, and finally killed the Warspear, and cast Ashen Veil on himself with Blood Boon. Asphyxious had Def 17 in melee against all enemy attacks and Arm 25.

All but one Satyxis Raiders die next turn. Warspears clearly took some advice on how to roll attack rolls from Asphyxious. Four Warspears kill the Stalker. First successful hit destroyed movement system, so it wasn't exactly a hard thing to do.

Next turn Asphyxious finally dominates three points. This time cover-ignoring Nyss Hunters and two Dark Fires from Maelovus and Admonia failed to kill one Warspear that was contesting middle zone in behind the Stalker wreck. Third Helldiver and what was left of Nightmare killed one Warspear on the right, but there were two in the zone. All depended on P+S 9 Satyxis Raider Captain now. Oh, the lone survivor from Satyxis Raider unit had ran as far away from action as possible so that Warspears wouldn't change their Prey target to Asphyxious.

Did Raider pass a command check and score a kill with dice minus seven? Yes she does!

It's a shame that there was one Warspear behind the Stalker wreck. Asphyxious had to go there, kill that ogrun and kill the objective. If that guy had died, I would've moved Asphyxious to the right to block Blightbringer from entering the zone.

Asphyxious survives yet another turn right in the middle of whole damn enemy army. Nightmare is gone, all the Helldivers are gone, Satyxis Raider is gone and there's tons of ogruns and raptors and gargantuans in the middle zone. So...

So Asphyxious kills an ogrun in front of himself with a spell, casts Mobility and charges one Raptor close to the flag on the left and dominates a point from there. What was left of Nyss Hunters tried to go and block enemy army from charging Asphyxious.

This time Asphyxious had only Arm 18 and Ashen Veil, but still managed to survive somehow. I have only Deathripper, Admonia, Maelovus and Asphyxious on board. And one Satyxis Raider in the farthest corner of the bord. Shredder from Spawning Vessel and two Raptors are contesting the flag.

I make a cunning plan of killing Shredder with Deathripper, then killing one of the Raptors in melee with Asphyxious and casting an offensive spell at the other Raptor with Blood Boon, or if Raptor B was too far away to be within reach, kill A with boosted Bone Shaker and hopefully kill B with Raptor A or an unboosted Bone Shaker.

Well. Deathripper does something like four damage points in to the Shredder, and Asphyxious misses Bone Shakers entirely.

Opponent ran out of clock next, so it was a bit of a hollow victory. However, winning with deathclock didn't feel as bad as it usually does because my dice rolling had been so terrible in some crucial points in the game. True, I can only blame myself for the failure of Terror check by Satyxis, but looking at general bell curves I'm fairly sure Cmd 9 shouldn't fail over fifty percent of the time on Satyxis Raiders and Black Ogruns.

Still it was an exciting game. It's not often you spend three turns with your warcaster within charge distance of pretty much whole enemy army, plus one extra turn lethally close anyway - and survive.



Game 2:
Second game was a Cryx vs Cryx. Opponent had all sorts of soul collecting shenanigans, so I took Witch Coven list that had far less living models in it.

I can't figure out the entirety of enemy list, but it was something like:

Lich Lord Terminus
- Reaper

Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
2x Minimum or maximum or some kind of units of Bile Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Warwitch Siren
Madelyn Corbeau
Saxon Orrik
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
+ something

Scenario was Incursion, and Terminus started game by casting Malediction on himself and running forward with everything.

Soulhunters and Darragh Wrathe took care of the flag on the right so that I started scoring points from it right from the start. Kraken did fine job in destroying one of Reaper's arms with just one shot. That was about the end of my luck, however. Well, I had been a little too greedy, too. I had been too sure that skill 7, POW 10 Warwitch Siren would be able to take down a Def 10, Arm 13 Bile Thrall. She did score a hit, but damage roll wasn't enough to get through armour.

Well. At least Bile Thrall had corrosion now, that ought to at least stop it in its tracks if it manages to pass Tough roll. Obviously the corrosion expired. Now Bile Thrall was just able to come and Purge over one the Witch Coven members. I had wanted to spread Nightfall as far as possible, and it did screw up most other attacks except those from Bile Thralls. Now it was a dead witch on 8+. Damage roll was seven. So on my next turn it was a dead witch on 3+.

Fortunately opponent's bile was just as ineffective as mine had been - the corrosion expired. But this got me all kinds of scared. I had also lost Skarlock and Warwitch in the very same Purge. There were enough Bane Thralls and, well, Terminus in the middle, so I might lose Kraken next turn. If I lost Kraken, nothing would damage Terminus. So, Witches loaded up Kraken and cast Infernal Machine on it. Veil of Mists allowed for passage through three Bane Thralls, and 4" chain strike range brought Terminus easily within charge range. Witches also cast Curse of Shadows on Terminus, who had six focus points to overboost powerfield.

So, Terminus had Arm 22, and Kraken had MAT 8 and P+S 18. Attacks would hit on 6+. I figured that I'd have best chances if I'd take two damage boosted attacks from initials against Terminus, and buy one extra nonboosted attack. But that 6+ has been so elusive lately. Charge attack misses. Second initial attack hits and I boost the damage. Total damage with one boosted and one regular attack was nine or something. But Terminus was still standing.

Next enemy Admonia disbinds Curse of Shadows and Infernal Machine. Witches are quite lucky and survive a few charges by Bane Thralls. Terminus then charges Egregore and Kraken gets to make a free strike. I was excited when the attack hit and scored high damage. But not enough, not today. Terminus arrived to Egregore with two hit boxes remaining. I don't think I have to say anything more. Terminus with six focus points next to Egregore with none.



Game 3:
Last game was against Retribution, and what a game it was... an experience, yes.

Scenario was Close Quarters, which meant a Killbox. Opponent had Ravyn and Issyria as the list pair. Issyria didn't actually have a lot of shooting in it, so I was really considering that I'd choose Witch Coven for this game. It was the killbox that eventually made me go Asphyxious. Game was against Ravyn tier list, and damn it. I should have chosen Witch Coven regardless. Their list had at least a little bit of stealth. Soulhunters with Occultation could have been a thing here.

Oh well.

Ravyn list was:

Ravyn
- Banshee

2x Maximum units of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Officer
Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Eiryss
2x Stormfall Archers
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen
Narn

At least Cryx got to start despite +1 from theme force bonuses.

I tried to rush Satyxis Raiders with Ashen Veil to tie up enemy front line. I should have rushed whole army front then, though. After all, who was I going to shoot with Nyss Hunters? Satyxis Raiders, perhaps Stalker and Helldivers were what kept me in the game for a little while. Opponent got so scared of the Helldivers that he gave me two control points by moving Ravyn out of killbox. Once he realised that Helldivers were so far away from Asphyxious that I wouldn't really be able to allocate focus for them, Ravyn came forward and by then my army was already pretty much decimated. Most 8+ attacks the Mage Hunter Strike Force had to score against Satyxis did hit home, and on top of that Satyxis even failed their command check.

That's three failed command checks by Satyxis in two games.

As a futile final gesture Asphyxious charged forward to kill some Mage Hunters. He cast Ashen Veil on himself with the Blood Boon.

Then Banshee shot Asphyxious knocked down and Skeryth finalised him.

Brutal game. Ravyn definitely seems like one of those warcasters that you need to play more often to know how you're supposed to play against her. There is no time for hesitation that I showed in this match.

A Pictureless Warmachine Tournament

I still haven't received any word about my camera, so I guess I'll have to write these down as soon as possible now.

So, last weekend I took part in a 50 point Warmachine tournament. Fortunately all of the games were memorable in their own way.

My lists were:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Gorax
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Woldguardian

Shifting Stones + Stone keeper
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Tharn Ravager White Mane

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gorax
- Riphorn Satyr
- Warpwolf Stalker
Druids of Orboros + Overseer2
Shifting Stones + Stone keeper
Tharn Bloodweavers
Minimum unit of Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Reeve Hunter

Objective: Bunker


First game was against Retribution of Scyrah, and Issyria.

Issyria had Hyperion, Mage Hunter Strike Force and both Sentinels and Invictors.

I had picked Morvahna the Dawnshadow as my list. Scenario was Incursion.

I started playing scenario game after the full unit of Ravagers tied up Mage Hunter Strike Force and, to some extent, Hyperion. Issyria's feat took down Pureblood Warpwolf (plus tons of infantry, but they would just be coming back). Game looked pretty good, especially when I was looking at the scenario points. I would go to four points at the end of my turn, and opponent had got only two.

That was the extent of my strategic thinking, though.

Opponent also scored third point as I got my fourth. Now opponent would only need to get two points on Retribution turn, which was easy as I hadn't been dedicating too much contestants to the middle flag. Not that I even had that many contestants left any more.

But still. Game ended in 4-5 scenario victory for Retribution.

Game 2:

Second game was against Khador. Warcaster was Sorscha2, and there was the full nightmare of Winter Guards in the list, as well as Beast-09 and Iron Fang pikemen. I was playing Morvahna again. I think the scenario was Incoming.

Opponent rolled tough really well at the beginning of the game, and Ravagers weren't able to make much of a dent to the Winterguard detachment. I don't have any right to complain about those tough rolls. My Wolves of Orboros were passing tough rolls quite well also.

I started grinding scenario points again, as enemy was clogged down with Ravagers and even Wolves of Orboros to some extent. Shatterstorm and Freezing Grip were scary spells, though, but opponent wasn't able to completely devastate my game with them. At one point opponent forgot to cast Boundless Charge on Beast-09, and so it didn't come to wreck Woldguardian.

It was a bloody game and most of the infantry from both sides was either dead or frozen. Opponent still had Great Bears of Gallowswood and Greylord Ternion going on for him.

I'm at three scenario points when Beast-09 charges in to the zone I had been dominating. Beast failed to kill Pureblood Warpwolf, but the Spirit was broken.

If I would've paid closer attention to things, I would've probably been able to take a scenario victory. But as it happened, I wanted to heal Pureblood's spirit. That meant Morvahna had to activate first. And, well... though her damage output is pretty decent, she wasn't able to drop uninjured Beast in one round. Thanks to Sorscha's bond Morvahna froze in place. Nice.

Well, Pureblood did kill the Beast and I was at four scenario points.

Morvahna had a couple of Fury left for transfers, but she was DEF 5 and had something like two or three damage points left.

I was a little bummed that I had lost two games at four control points.

Game 3:

Then I was against Skorne, Mordikaar more specifically. Mordikaar had Aradus Sentinel, Cyclops Raider, a unit of Nihilators and a full set of Immortals. There was also a minimum unit of Incindiarii. Scenario was Outflank.

I took Mohsar as my list. Opponent used feat a turn too early, so the effects of +3 defense were mitigated quite a bit. My own feat usage was a little underwhelming, too, as I only got the Aradus with four fury under my feat. I almost had the Cyclops Raider under too, who had two or three. Aradus failed threshold check, and the distraction bought me time to start playing scenario game once more.

I pretty much gave the left side of the table to Skorne. There were only the remnants of Ravagers duking it out with Immortals. This gave me quite good presence on the right side, and I dominated four points relatively easy. The last point was the tough one yet again, when tons of Skorne started pouring into the zone to deny me that precious last point.

If I would've lost Riphorn Satyr to all the attacks opponent threw against it, the last turn would've been a lot more difficult. But now I had Riphorn Satyr and Warpwolf Stalker removing the enemy infantry. I felt so secure that I played a little bit of foolishly and trampled through my own models to get to the remaining Nihilators. Soon enough there was only Gatorman Witch Doctor remaining, and I charged the croc with Mohsar himself.

Game 4:

Last game was againt epic Lylyth with three Ravagores and Zuriel, and two Deathstalkers. I took Mohsar and the scenario was probably Recon.

This was kind of an annoying game. But sometimes you need such humbling experiences so that you won't become overconfident about eye gauging (gouging?) distances.

Opponent had zero fury points on Lylyth, and to me it looked like I'd be able to get her under Mohsar's feat. I decided to try a wacky approach, and run a Druid of Orboros within reach of Lylyth, and then deny transfers for Lylyth for two complete rounds. With Sands of Fate I would've tried to come and tickle her a little and then be off. Next turn hopefully at least a couple of Legion beasts would fail their THR check.

I did get Lylyth under Mohsar's feat, but the Druid of Orboros was less than two millimetres away. Damn. Also, only Naga Nightlurker failed THR next turn. If only one of the Ravagores or perhaps Zuriel had failed, my Riphorn Satyr could have survived. But not like this. Lylyth obviously tried to play safe and went deeper into the forest she was hiding in.

Next turn is depressing. I figured out that I'd be able to kill Zuriel and a Ravagore easily, plus with some good rolls another Ravagore would go down.

My plan was to shoot Hunter's Mark on a Ravagore in the woods near Lylyth and then charge in with Warpwolf Stalker with Primal. Blackclad Wayfarer advanced to cast the spell, but there was less than a millimetre in between Stealth range. Great. Well, at least I'd kill Zuriel and a Ravagore.

Druids would need to pull Zuriel just a little, one or two inches, so that at least three, possibly four Bloodweavers would be able to charge Zuriel. Obviously the druid pulled the full 3" so that a scather template made it impossible for one flank of Bloodweavers to even attempt a charge.

A couple of other Druids tried to come and pull the Ravagore that had been my original target from the woods. That was a miss, so a second druid would be way out of stealth range.

Two Bloodweavers that charge Zuriel don't really do much damage there, so instead of charging one Ravagore with four Ravagers, I charge the Ravagore with three and get one of the Ravagers to soften up Zuriel so that I wouldn't need to use Primal on Warpwolf Stalker.

Two millimetres attack again, and one of the three Ravagers didn't get within reach. And even with good rolls two Ravagers just aren't enough to kill a Ravagore.

To smear some salt into the many mental injuries, Warpwolf Stalker fails to kill Zuriel. I forget what model I used to finally kill it, probably Mohsar.

Damn it. I had wonderful opportunity to play a scenario game once more, but I threw it away in pursuit of greater glory. It was too late now, and being out of range by just a couple of millimetres on many different critical points in the game cost me everything.

Last two games of Kangasala Steamroller

Game 3:

Third game was against Circle of Orboros.

I was kind of happy that I was againt epic Morvahna. Somehow until now I've dodged all games against Morvahna2, so this was my first time playing against her.

Opponent had:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Gorax

Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Maximum unit of Tharn Bloodtrackers
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Skinwalkers + Warpborn Alpha
2x Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Gatorman Witch Doctor

Scenario was Close Quarters and Cryx started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 2. As someone may have already guessed, Venethrax has used his feat. Venethrax also cast Soul Harvester on Satyxis Raiders, but Gatorman Witch Doctor had cast Zombify on Bloodtrackers. Venethrax got only one soul from a lucky Ravager kill.

Nyss Hunters rolled damage terribly on any targets they acquired, but did manage to down one additional Ravager.

Circle turn 2 couldn't have started off worse. A full unit of Nyss Hunters fail their command check against Skinwalkers. A big minus for me. But at least the smoke screen I had gained from Venethrax feat delayed Circle's advance on the right. Most of the Satyxis Raiders died, but that was to be expected - Satyxis had been the Prey target for Bloodtrackers.

Turn 3 There was only one Bloodtracker near Cryx friendly flag that might be contesting it. So Venethrax with eight focus points and Dragon Slayer upkept for free by Admonia started dominating points. Bane Thralls were supposed to be some sort of reserve. Nyss Hunters passes command check to regroup. My heavies were patiently waiting on the hill for something to slaughter. It was nice to notice that Snapjaw's warlock bond made it possible to remove models from play.

Circle mopped up what was left of Satyxis and switched Prey target to Bane Thralls.

Tharn Ravagers charge in and one chops off left arm from Seether. Another takes a swing at Ogrun Bokur, but since Bokur is still in the picture I have to assume the attack missed. Skinwalkers continue to butcher elves. Which is kind of OKAY for me. Butchering elves. Especially if they pee their pants every time a warped human/wolf hybrid with axes bigger than the elves themselves charges in....

Two Skinwalkers also try to kill Snapjaw, and they do in fact break the body branch.

Turn 4 Venethrax dominated another scenario point and even gained one soul from a nearby Ravager who died somehow, somewhere.

Wrong Eye healed Snapjaw (finally I remembered and activated these two in correct order!) and then Snapjaw mulched two Skinwalkers into such tiny bulbs that even Morvahna wouldn't be able to resurrect them with her feat.

Admonia got to use Disbinding to remove Carnivore from Skinwalkers.

My Bane Thralls, however, were badly exposed now to attacks by Bloodtrackers and whatnot. Here was hoping for a streak of good Tough rolls... but I guess my opponent from tournament round 1 rolled even my successful Tough rolls on turns 1-3.

Turn 4 picture is terribly out of focus, but I chose to include it anyway to visualize Morvahna's feat better.

She didn't feel confident enough yet to start dominating her own points as she only had a couple of damage boxes left after she brought dozens (exaggeration) models to contest my friendly flag.

Suddenly it started to look rather unlikely to win by scenario despite the good beginning.

Rest of the game was mostly just opponent throwing everything he got against Venethrax and clogging my flag, so I won't go into too many details. Except to brag a little.

Venethrax stood there for, what, four turns taking charges in from Ravagers and Bloodtrackers, and even face-tanked a Primaled and strength warped Warpwolf Stalker (which Venethrax then ate for breakfast).

When scenario points were 4-2 for Circle on my turn and I had lost all but Withershadow Combine game looked like it was over.

But I had nothing to lose - I ran to the flag with Admonia, taking a free strike from a Skinwalker. Skinwalker hit, but dealt only four points of damage. Yay. Prolonged the game unnecessarily against all the odds.

In the end it was a scenario loss for Venethrax, however.


Game 4:
By now I was so exhausted that I actually asked opponent: "Wow, you got Venethrax too?" or something like that when I was looking at a tray on the other side of the board.

It was my own tray. Ahem.

Opponent played Retribution of Scyrah, and the list was:

Lord Arcanist Ossyan
- Banshee (which I believed to be Hypnos for no good reason...)

Maximum unit of Invictors + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Halberdiers + Unit Attachment

Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Commander
Maximum unit of Riflemen + Unit Attachment
Houseguard Thane
Some kind of Eiryss...?

Scenario was Fire Support, and I don't remember who started. I had picked Venethrax as my list. Picture is either from the end of Cryx turn 1 or 2.

I was happy for the fact that I had Effigy of Valor on a hill. With Ogrun Bokur I might very well be able to go and camp focus on the hill despite threat from Ossyan and Mage Hunter Strike Force. So I slowly started to drag Venethrax to the hill, all the while Wrong Eye & Snapjaw under Submerge advanced towards the soft and juicy Mage Hunters.

Feat turn for me was a complete waste of time. Attack rolls were so depressing that only four enemy models died - even if I had six Satyxis and a few Nyss Hunters making attacks.

At least Venethrax got to a relatively safe spot behind Ogrun Bokur and the objective. I had thought of asking about what Hypnos was able to do, but for some reason I didn't. If I had, I might have actually been informed that there was, in matter of fact, a Banshee on the board.

I made it all too easy for opponent.

Next turn Banshee just loaded a slam shot on Ogrun Bokur and knocked both Venethrax and Ogrun down. Ossyan advanced, used feat and various models killed objective. Mage Hunter Strike Force activated and turned Venethrax to the signature spell of Lylyth2.

Stupid mistake. This might have been a very interesting game otherwise. But I'll probably remember to double check unfamiliar warjacks from now on - at least for a while.

First two games of TaTaPe Syysoffensiivi 2014 WM/H tournament

Last Saturday I was in a 35 point warmachine tournament.

It was 1-2 list, divide & conquer [1] and 40 minute deathclock.

I have been playing Asphyxious the Hellbringer a lot in the last few months, and I'm slowly getting tired of Cryx for a while. But my spreadsheet statistics forced me to play with Asphyxious once more - four rounds of tournament would bring him up to 16 games played, which starts to be comparable to every other Cryxian warcaster. I'd be able to quit playing Cryx for a little while with happy knowledge of having every single warcasters on 15+ games.

Anyway. Anyway.

My chosen list was:

Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- Erebus
- Ripjaw
- 2x Helldiver

Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Withershadow Combine
Satyxis Raider Captain
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall

So that's basically my 50 point list without Bane Thralls. And Cryx without banes sounds like a dangerous idea - but then again, Bane Thralls would have been slow as hell. Oh well.

My first game was against Cryx and against my own Warcaster, just a different incarnation.

Opponent had a list something like:

Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Malice
- 2x Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Bane Riders
Minimum unit oF Bile Thralls
Darragh Wrathe
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock

I lost the starting roll, but got to go first. Scenario was Incoming. Scenario zones are a bit hard to see in the pictures, but they are there. Honestly.

I had to re-evaluate Satyxis Raiders and their function here. Bile Thralls made them useless as a front line tarpit, Ashen Veil granted them only concealment which affected only spells from Asphyxious. Meh. I decided to hold them back and wait that Bane Riders launch themselves on me.

Well, still I placed them too far ahead. A feated barrage of Breath of Corruptions took threesatyxis out, which wasn't too bad. The major difficulty here now was the breath templates, that outright blocked a charge from Satyxis - and anything else.

To open a game somehow, Ripjaw charged Malice and tore off it's harpoon arm. But that was it.

Sadly there is a one full round in-between the pictures, so I have to try to remember what happened here.

For sure, at least, Malice possessed Ripjaw and moved my arc node in middle of the board (where now is a lonely wreck marker...) and Iron Lich Asphyxious wrecked it, and teleported behind the house.

Bane Riders ran to block the majority of my army. Encouraged by this, the Bile Thralls ran forward, which was the most threatening aspect here. Surely I would take out the Bane Riders next, but then all soft targets would melt into sludge.

So, Erebus with three Focus and the rest of Satyxis with Power Swell did take out the Bane Riders. Asphyxious the Hellbringer dared to personally kill one Bane Rider, even, and then he used his feat.

Then I see I have no pictures at all from this game. Next round, however, was the last.

Bile Thralls did take out most of the Satyxis - a few survived because they were too far away. But they failed their Massive Casualties test. Darragh charged Satyxis, but missed scythe attack. Mount, however, managed to get the kill. Darragh cast Hellfire somewhere, I forget where.

I vaguely remember that Admonia died somehow, and main culprit here might be the enemy Warwitch Siren. But if so, that was one heck of a damage roll from a POW 10... perhaps a Bile Thrall purge reached there, too? Iron Lich Asphyxious takes a risk and comes out from behind the building, casts Breath of Corruption and then teleports to the his enemy zone (my friendly zone), behind the Breath of Corruption cloud.

Mobility + advance + reach was enough to bring Iron Lich Asphyxious to Asphyxious the Hellbringer's melee threat, so the game was over there.


Game 2: Retribution

Next round I had Issyria on the opposing side. List was something like:

Issyria
- Hyperion

Maximum unit of Houseguard Halberdiers + Unit Attachment

Minimum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Commander
Arcanist
Houseguard Thane
Sylys Wyshnalyrr
Mage Hunter Assassin

Retribution starts the game, and first picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1.

Here I thought that Satyxis Raiders with Ashen Veil would be an annoying tarpit against, well, everything except Mage Hunter Strike Force. I also boldly marched forward with Asphyxious in a way that's beautifully depicted by Devil Doll in one of their songs: "whose irrational daring springs only from the ignorance of danger." He was camping three focus, so I assumed he might take a few random shots in.

But, you know. Issyria has a feat. A certain feat that does... things.

The additional die on hit & damage upped the averages crazily and every single damn Sstyxis (except for the Captain...) died. Mage Hunters rolled disgusting numbers for their damage on Asphyxious, and I think Hyperion scored some kind of a hit, too. Asphyxious took nine points of damage from only a couple of attacks, but opponent didn't dedicate more resources for killing Asphyxious because of miscalculations - he was supposed to cast Crusader's Call and charge Asphyxious with Mage Hunter Assassin. I did remember that Mage Hunter Strike Force has Arcane Assassin, but I completely forgot that the solo has Arcane Assassin, too. With Issyria's feat the Assassins might have had a realistic chance of one-hitting Asphyxious down.

Scary stuff there. We need to get a resident Retribution player here in Jyväskylä so details like this are kept in fresh memory.

Erebus loses movement system, which is highly annoying, because absolutely nothing would be doing damage to Hyperion now, except maybe for Withershadow Combine on a charge. But they're not coming up close.

I'm unsure what the heck I'm supposed to do now, so I go full steam ahead. Asphyxious camps full seven focus and walks up to a hill and uses his feat. Satyxis Captain runs to engage Halberdiers, who had used their minifeat to deal with the Satyxis unit.

Random bits and bobs tried to kill as many Magy Hunter Assassins as possible, because they still scared Asphyxious, who had taken nine or so damage.

But that was it. Come what may.

Issyria comes to cast Blinding Light on Asphyxious, and Halberdiers attempt to take out Ripjaw and a couple left behind deal with the Satyxis Captain. All roll horribly poorly, I believe only arc node and cortex break from the Ripjaw, possibly movement too with last possible attack.

Remaining Mage Hunters shoot Erebus into a wreck, and Hyperion advances to protect Issyria from any possible Helldiver shenanigans.

Then it starts to shoot Asphyxious. I'm pretty confident behind Arm 24, but goddamn those rolls! Most attacks thankfully missed, but those few that hit rolled Asphyxious below 50% hit boxes yet again. And next turn Asphyxious would have no feat.

Well, best place next to a shooty colossal is in melee, so Asphyxious charges to Halberdiers, kills two of them and casts Ashen Veil on himself with Blood Boon. Ripjaw and Satyxis Captain kill two other models, so Asphyxious would have four souls for next turn, if it would ever come.

Warwitch Siren charges Hyperion and Shadow Binds it, as well as engaging two Mage Hunters in melee.

On Retribution turn the few remaining Mage Hunters get a couple of really good rolls and kill the Warwitch Siren. But it looked like opponent used all available good luck there that turn.

I'm a little bit fuzzy on what Halberdiers did, but I think that they just advanced away from Asphyxious to make him an easier target. One Halberdier got next Admonia. They killed Satyxis Captain, but that was all. Then Issyria misses Def 15 Asphyxious even with a boosted attack roll. If Asphyxious was still in melee, she would have still needed only 11+ to hit.

Asphyxious was, by the way, camping 9 focus, making him Armor 26 target. Though, yes. But he had, what, six damage boxes remaining, at most? Possibly even less? I don't remember, but I was mentally sweating because of the possiblity of one peak damage roll.

Best chance, the Starburst Cannon, missed. It managed to kill the Halberdier engaging Admonia, giving her a soul token.

The sidearm cannons may have scored a few hits or something, but POW 12 needs quite a few 6's in damage rolls to punch through ARM 26.

So, Cryx did see another turn.

One of the remaining Halberdiers is standing so that Asphyxious' Line of Sight to Issyria is blocked. I don't remember who shot Maelovus and when, but there was only two members of Withershadow Combine alive. Tremulus gave Puppet Master to Admonia, and Admonia shot the Halberdier with Dark Fire, using soul token for an attack roll boost, because damage roll needed to be anything but double 1's to kill.

Well, it was double 1's. After surviving the mental shock I remembered Puppet Master, and that re-roll saved Asphyxious' day.

He had Line of Sight to Issyria now, and charged her with 11 available Focus. He had to take one free strike, but he survived - Issyria didn't. Damage roll for Asphyxious' attack was triple sixes.

TaTaPe warmachine tournament day 1

Last weekend I participated in a warmachine tournament at Tampere.

It was 50 points, 1-2 lists and divide & conquer [1]

My lists were:

Morvahna the Autumnblade
- Megalith
- Feral Warpwolf
- Woldwatcher
- Winter Argus

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gatorman Witch Doctor

And

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Winter Argus
- Gorax

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
2x Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer
Tharn Ravager White Mane

I made a last minute change to my Morvahna2 list, because I realised that neither list had power to crack any heavier targets, and changing ravager shaman and reeve hunter to Gorax I thought I'd be able to finish my turn a little bit faster.

And about the Morvahna1 list... well, that one I didn't practice at all. And why should I have practiced it? I played Morvahna a lot in Mk1 and during field test of mk2. End of sarcasm.

First game was against Retribution of Scyrah, so that pretty much meant I should pick Morvahna2 because of the abundance of Eirysses in that faction.

Dawnshadow got Issyria, the Sibyl of Dawn versus her. This was nice, since I had never played against Issyria, and I want to complete the entire set.

Issyria had the following list, barring any errors I've made in recollecting details from pictures:

- Hyperion
- Chimera

Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Commander
Maximum unit of Dawnguard Invictors + Unit Attachment
2x Mage Hunter Assassins
At least one Arcanist
Eiryss2
Sylys Wyshnalyrr

First scenario was Fire Support. First picture is from the end of Circle turn X. Carnivore was on Wolves of Orboros and Fog of War was on, too.

Next turn it's Issyria's feat turn, and Fog of War plus various Stealth abilities were made useless. Chimera had ran close to Wolves of Orboros, and Issyria cast Blinding Light on them.

Feat + Blinding Light meant that Mage Hunter Strike Force butchered most of Wolves of Orboros eventhough they were on a hill.

Ravagers also took some heavy casualties, but no unit was completely wiped out.

The thing that mattered most was, however, that Hyperion and Invictors shot Pureblood Warpwolf down to some six hit boxes remaining, after which it was finalized by a Mage Hunter Assassin.

Morvahna used her feat next, obviously. I had been left with too few models to make much damage against enemy, and Ravagers managed to whiff all of their attack rolls against Eiryss. So I would just receive another round of decimating shooting.

Gnarlhorn Satyr went and controlled one control point for Circle, and Winter Argus advanced and put on it's animus.

Next turn all but two Ravagers died, and all but two Wolves died. Gnarlhorn Satyr, Gorax and Winter Argus were still intact, as well as a broken unit of Shifting Stones and one Gallows Grove.

Issyria had been advancing closer, possibly to dominate flag later on. But to me it looked like there was around 10" in between Issyria and Winter Argus. That was the only thing I could possibly do to try to win. There was, however, some models standing in the way. Only one completely blocked the charge, but a lot more might be able to make a free strike.

I figured I could get rid of the prohibiting model with blast damage from a Death Knell blast damage, if Shifting Stone teleported close to it. Shifting stones, however, had Stealth from Stone Keeper.

Two remaining Wolves of Orboros activated, and one of them tried to kill Stone Keeper, and the other one wanted to poke the Winter Argus blocking Mage Hunter through a wall. Both Wolves failed in their attempts.

Gorax activated, used Primal on Winter Argus and ate the Stone Keeper. I'm not entirely sure if it's economical for a secret druidic cult to use highly trained spellcasters as ape food, but hey, the stones no longer had Stealth since it's a Granted ability on Stone Keeper.

Morvahna activates, casts Death Knell on the stone, kill the important target and then she casts Carnivore on Winter Argus.

Winter Argus charges Issyria, survives a free strike and kills the Sibyl of Dawn.



Game 2:

Second game was against Retribution of Scyrah. I was prepared to get another Issyria thrown against me, but instead Morvahna2 was eyeballing Vyros2 from across the table. I didn't feel like I had any choice in picking lists again. On top of Eirysses all over the place, Issyria list had Hyperion and Vyros list had Imperatus. My list with Morvahna1 didn't have even a remote chance of downing either one of those.

Vyros2 had a list:
- 6x Griffon
- Imperatus

Maximum unit of Dawnguard Invictors + Unit Attachment
Sylys Wyshnalyrr
Eiryss2
At least one Arcanist

Scenario was Rally Point. I think Retribution started game, and first picture is from the end of Circle turn 1. I tried to jam the enemy zone with Ravagers. I felt pretty confident that I could carelessly throw the Ravagers away. Two were even in charge range. One charged Invictors and the other one a Griffon.

But damn those Griffons are fast. Any hopes I had for dominating my friendly zone were lost by those three light myrmidons. I had decided to drop Carnivore alltogether, as there wasn't that many living enemy targets around. Morvahna advanced, cast Purification and re-cast Fog of War.

Next turn Vyros used his feat. He was a bit focus-starved. I had hoped that Vyros would have some problems with activation order since he had to activate first before any of the Griffons if he wanted Synergy chain going on that round. But there was no problems. He just activated first and cast Synergy.

Three Griffons on right raised the Synergy count, as well as two on the left. Then the last Griffon (who had some focus) charged Pureblood Warpwolf, who had already taken some hits from Invictors' shooting. Pureblood was no more.

On my next turn I make the thing that gives this write-up the "fail" tag.

I had lost a lot of models last turn and if I managed to destroy something, whole Vyros' battlegroup would just outmaneuver me. I see a possibility for an unlikely assassination. My plan was to destroy one of my own Groves, activate Morvahna, advance and feat the tree into Vyros' back arc. Note to self: Vyros does not have a back arc.

I was also going to teleport Winter Argus close enough to spray Vyros, hoping for a critical hit. If Vyros would be stationary, Blackclad Wayfarer would have no problem in landing yet another pow 12 hit to Vyros. So, I feated a Shifting Stone back into formation, too.

See anything wrong there?

It was absolutely worst time to learn that Dawnshadow's feat does not bring back non-living models. Well, harsh lessons like that are the best teachers, though. I doubt I'll ever forget about that again. I had, however, gone too far already in my assassination attempts to back off.

Morvahna cast two Sunder Spirits on Vyros, dealing damage well enough to make assassination a possibility with the remaining attacks I got.

For some reason, though, I had feated a wolf of orboros badly in the way of Blackclad Wayfarer, and Winter Argus would take three free strikes from Griffons.

Gorax was able to reduce that number to two by performing a successful two-handed throw on one of the Griffons.

It is possible that I could have reduced the number of free strikes to only two if I had not thought it was possible to bring Shifting Stones back with Morvahna's feat. Gnarlhorn Satyr could have thrown or head-butted one Griffon, and Gorax possibly another one. Ironically Winter Argus had all branches intact after resolving first free strike. Second free strike dropped both Mind and Body.

But, hey! It was the very same Winter Argus from my last game. It needed 11+ to hit Vyros and 7+ to damage, and with boosts these could be attempted with two dice.

Both sprays hit after re-rolls from Morvahna. One of them even did a couple of points of damage. Heck, that Argus did not fail - I did. This might have been a second caster kill for the woofie.

Blackclad Wayfarer was way too far because he had to dodge two Wolves of Orboros.

Well, at least I was able to fulfill someone's dream of getting to hit enemy warcaster/warlock with Imperatus with full +7 Synergy chain. I guess it was an icing on the cake that the warlock in question was one of the most annoying ones.


Game 3:

Oh my. Third game did not have Purification or Eiryss in either list. I was against Circle of Orboros, facing either Baldur1 or Krueger1. I took Morvahna1, as I could at least be sure that Regrowth is not taken away in as rude manner as possible. Every turn.

It turned out to be Morvahna1 vs Krueger1, and the Stormwrath had following list:

- Feral Warpwolf
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Woldwarden
- Gorax

Maximum unit of Nyss Hunters
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Druid Wilder
Gatorman Witch Doctor
+2 points I just can't figure out

Scenario was the tried and tested good old Incursion.

I must say that 8" + large base + reach is an awful lot of threat. I guess I should know since I play Circle myself, but no. I think Krueger started game, and the first picture is from the end of my turn 1.

Krueger used primal on both Warpwolf Stalker and Feral Warpwolf, and Lightning Tendrils were on Feral Warpwolf. So... I just lost both of my heavy warbeast.

And most of my infantry.

At least Druids of Orboros were safe from Krueger's feat, and at least whole unit of Wolves of Orboros did not die, so I could burn away all of Morvahna's fury to Regrowth Wolves back. I guess that might have been my chance to do anything useful during the game had not Megalith and Feral Warpwolf fallen so ridiculously.

Well. At least I knew those two enemy heavy beasts were going to frenzy next turn. Wolves of Orboros failed in gathering Fury for Morvahna with Harvest, and Morvahna had only two Fury to use during her activation.

"I might as well try" was the main principle in charging to Warpwolf Stalker with Morvahna, scoring a hit and then killing the beast with transfer from Harrow.

I couldn't get anything done with Feral Warpwolf, and it was turn.

Stalker frenzied, and random target was indeed Morvahna. Damage roll was amazing - the beast killed itself and some damageeven came through back to Morvahna. Just as I had planned.

Then shifting stones teleport Woldwarden to Morvahna's back arc. Just... eh... as I had planned?

Morvahna died, and at the end of day I was at one victory, two losses.

Done Oulu

Phew. This is the last write-up I need to do from my visit to Oulu and Vaasa. Ironically it was the very first game I played during that trip.

It was a 50 point Warmachine game, Circle versus Retribution of Scyrah. First I have to say two things:

1) The Retribution was gorgeously painted. My photography skills, however, don't do them justice.
2) The Retribution list was weird as hell.

So, my list was:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Feral Warpwolf
- Woldwatcher
- Winter Argus

Minimum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Ravager White Mane
Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer


Opponent had:

Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper
- Hyperion
- 3x Aspis
- Chimera

Arcanist
House Shyeel Artificer
2x Destor Thane
Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath

Scenario was Into the Breach. Retribution got the start and first picture is from the end of Circle's first turn.

Carnivore is on Wolves of Orboros, and Fog of War is too. On everything.

Next turn Kaelyssa casts Phantom Hunter on Hyperion, which starts to blast Feral Warpwolf, damaging it severely. Destor thanes try to shoot ravagers a bit, but they don't do much.

Skarath had been brought a little too forward and Blackclad Wayfarer was able to get Hunter's Mark on it, thanks to re-rolls from Morvahna. Pureblood Warpwolf tried to come and soften up Skarath a little with its spray, but a nearby Aspis took the shot instead. Three Wolves of Orboros get a charge against Skarath. Using Power Swell, the three of them actually killed the beast. Thanks to re-rolls from Morvahna.

Ravagers charge the Destor thanes, but only one gets into melee with them with pretty low damage output.

Then it's retribution again. Three light warjacks kill four Wolves of Orboros. Destors are really, really unlucky in killing Tharn Ravagers. Co-joined effort by Destors and a few stray shots from Hyperion kill only two. Kaelyssa used her feat here, giving Stealth to own army and denying my charges against models in her control area.

Next turn is miserable for Circle. I guess ravagers felt bad for Destors' poor performance and decided they shouldn't do any better, either.

White Mane advances to beat Dahlia, who had her toe within the control zone. Whoopsie. Cannot be targeted by melee attacks by living models, thanks to that horrible spell. So White Mane went and gave Dahlia a stern look.

And now Dahlia was in melee, so shooting her was out of question, too. Luckily I had Woldwatcher, who tried to smash Dahlia into bits. Despite all the re-rolls and whatnot, Woldwatcher mostly gave her a stern look, too. I even tried desperately to spray Woldwatcher with Blackclad Wayfarer, but no, Dahlia wouldn't go down.

Feral Warpwolf was pretty much going to die, so it warped for ghostly and walked next to an Aspis that had come to deal with Ravagers. Well, at least the warjack was wrecked. Feral had lost all but the spirit branch, which was fine because it managed to regenerate two points.

Pureblood wrecked another one. Then Wolves of Orboros tried to put a stick to Retributon myrmidons that were engaging them, but they didn't do too much. Winter Argus got a critical hit against Chimera and froze it in place, thanks to re-rolls from Morvahna.

Since I failed to bring Morvahna to healing range of Shifting Stones, the stones teleported to act as some sort of distraction for enemy.

Next turn Destors kill the Gallows Grove and Ravager chieftain. Hyperion smashed the Feral Warpwolf, and now the colossal myrmidon was inside the control zone. Nice.

I think Kaelyssa shot the Stone Keeper, and the two light jacks on the left continued to fight with Wolves of Orboros, not doing much. Picture from this is quite blurred.

Next turn Ravagers finally kill one of the Destors, but only one. Not two.

Though I checked Kaelyssa's card at the start of game, I had completely forgotten about Witch Hound. Blackclad Wayfarer advanced and sprayed Hyperion, catching the Arcanist behind. But then Kaelyssa advanced, and that was one of the critical mistakes I made.

Woldwatcher killed Dahlia now.

Spraying Winter Argus and Wolves of Orboros kill Aspis, but Chimera is still left with a few boxes. Pureblood decided to warp for Ghostly (there was a wreck marker in front of the beast) and trampled to Chimera. Aaaand... half an inch off from Morvahna's control area. This was another one of the critical mistakes.

I had been thinking of going for scenario game, but as the Chimera that had one foot in grave already stayed there contesting the flag, that plan just got that much harder to achieve. I believe I could have contested the control zone long enough to dominate points from flag and destroy the enemy objective.

Then Morvahna used her feat and brought back quite a few models, mostly to block Hyperion and to engage Kaelyssa. She advanced and moved with light cavalry deep into the woods on the left. She left two Fury left for transfers.

Then it's Retribution. First time (and at the worst time!) Hyperion succeeded to score a critical hit against a shifting stone. Boom. There went my screen.

Now Kaelyssa had only to survive a free strike from Ravager Shaman, which she easily did. After moving she cast Phantom Hunter on herself and started taking shots at Morvahna. Phantom Hunter made Kaelyssa see through the forest that I thought would have blocked view. Well, Kaelyssa had something from two to four damage boxes left. First shot was transfered away, spending fury was probably my third critical mistake, since I still hadn't learned to count Energy Siphon from Kaelyssa's weapon for my transfers. Energy Siphon steals a fury and converts it to focus for Kaelyssa just from hit.

So... the question is - can Kaelyssa miss twice in a row?

Of course she can, but chooses not to. If Morvahna the Dawnshadow falls in a forest with over 3" of forest all around her, does it make a sound?

Aftermath vol1: A Failed Assassination

After Ropecon I stayed in Helsinki for a while and got to play a few games of Warmachine during that time.

First game was against Retribution of Scyrah. Games were 35 points with no specific scenario.

My list:

Mortenebra & Deryliss
- Erebus
- Harrower
- Stalker
- Ripjaw

Minimum unit of Bane Thralls

Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Warwitch Siren

Opponent:

Ossyan
- Phoenix
- Discordia

Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strikeforce + Commander
Arcanist
Epic Eiryss
2x Mage Hunter Assassin
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios

This time Cryx won starting roll and first picture is taken from the end of Retribution's first turn.

Second turn saw a crazy long charge by Harrower. Mage Hunter Strike Force had already taken nasty position behind the impassable house, so I decided to charge them before they just shot my precious helljack down.

Mortenebra advanced a little and cast Terminal Velocity. Deryliss cast Overrun on Harrower, who then charged closest Mage Hunter Strike Force member in sight.

Since Discordia had Admonition on I had a couple of choices - either I try to run up to Discordia and start beating it or then I could park the helljack in range of a couple of Strike Force's and Eiryss. But if I had went to Discordia, it would have just ran away and Harrower would have been outside of Terminal Velocity's range.

All in all this shenanigan didn't do too much - three or four dead Mage Hunters and dead Eiryss. But at least it was an opening move that couldn't be ignored.

Opponent then had Narn charge some bile thralls and/or bane thralls and then sprinted next to Mortenebra. Mage Hunter Assassin from right also tried to take a shot at Erebus, but missed its mark. Obviously I lost Harrower, but I saw an opening for a possible assassination, and it went thus:

Overrun on Erebus, Terminal Velocity and Recalibration on from Mortenebra, then Warwitch Siren goes and sprays away one particularly important Mage Hunter Assassin, then Erebus would kill Mage Hunter Assassin next to it to trigger Overrun. Then Stalker would move with Overrun and charge 12" to Ossyan, loaded up with 3 focus. After all it would have been 5x pow 12's with attack roll boosts and one damage boost, all re-rollable.

Things were, however, screwed when Warwitch Siren couldn't land a 7+ on that particularly important Mage Hunter Strike Force member, despite being able to re-roll.

Ah well.

Then I just tried to run everything and block enough assassination vectors to protect Mortenebra. Stalker did impressive job at charging Phoenix, but sadly I ran Bane Thrall next to Phoenix after I had charged with Stalker. Systems would've been broken then, I dare say.

Much to my suprise Mortenebra didn't die next turn, and not too many models actually died either.

I lost all but one bane thrall and Stalker lost one claw and possibly movement to upcoming fire continous effect, and Ripjaw was shot down with Ossyan's feat.

I saw a potential assassination, again. And it went thus:

Deryliss would cast Overrun on Mortenebra itself. Warwitch Siren would spray a couple of troublesome models away, and then lonesome Bane Thrall would charge Warwitch Siren away from Mortenebra's charge lane.

Then Mortenebra would cast Terminal Velocity and charge a Mage Hunter Strike Force member, kill it, trigger overrun and go stomp Ossyan with one initial attack and four focus.

It worked well until Mortenebra was against Ossyan.

First attack hit home and dealt respectable damage in with a damage boost. But then she missed a bought attack and with last possible attack she hit but rolled 1,2,2 for damage. Sometimes cracking a def 15 arm 16 can be so damn difficult. Arm 16 because Ossyan was camping one focus.