Rasheth vs Goreshade the Bastard

A 50 point game of Warmachine from who knows when. Got to start writing these things up lest I forget everything.

My list was:

Dominar Rasheth
- Agonizer
- Cyclops Savage
- Aradus Sentinel
- Rhinodon
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
Praetorian Swordsmen (max) + Command Attachment
Venator Reivers (min)
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Paingiver Bloodrunner Master Tormentor

Opponent had:

Goreshade the Bastard
- 2x Nightwretch
- Reaper
- 2x Slayer

The Withershadow Combine
Mechanithralls (max)
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Satyxis Raider Captain
Warwitch Siren

Scenario was Extraction and Cryx started game.

Opponent brought a couple of his warjacks too close and I decided to launch Rasheth's feat. Feat was satisfying, as it wrecked quite a few Mechanithralls and two Slayers plus a Nightwretch.

Gnawing Pain from Agonizer and Rasheth's feat being an aura-like effect didn't make Cryx's retaliation a very impressive one. A reaper and a full minimum unit of Bane Thralls killed pretty much just the Cyclops Savage.

I could have attempted an assassination next, but I thought my position was strong enough to play safe.

Well, my next turn wasn't all that beautiful either. I was struggling to remove the Bane Thralls, and I couldn't even wreck Reaper.

I opponent would have removed both heavies next turn, it could have turned the tables entirely. But that didn't happen even if Goreshade charged in. Neither heavy beasts died.

I somehow got rid of the Deathwalker, critically knocked down Goreshade with Rhinodon, and then Aradus Sentinel walked to maul the cryxian warcaster. Aradus had to take a free strike from Reaper, but that didn't accomplish anything.

Goreshade was destroyed. I suppose there would be extra details I could squeeze from my brains into this writing, but in the end it was pretty straightforward game.

Someone call a Doctor! Butcher is here

Just finished a couple of Kingdom Death miniatures.

There's Doctor to represent various supporty survivors with little to no possibility to inflict wounds on enemies.

Then there's the Butcher - first nemesis encounter that ruined my, and many other players' early game, too.

I decided to leave the lantern cloak separately, because it fits so well to the Butcher model that he dons it on when he's level 2 and 3.

Butcher, along with The Hand, were shipped with incorrect bases, so I made some tinkering. I slapped a magnet on the 50mm base, and made some custom bases for Butcher, The Hand and King's Man, putting a magnet inside of them, too.

Butcher's base went a little... over the top. But considering all the innocent new player blood he's spilled, I think it's only appropriate.

Anyway, here they are.

Grande Finale

Ooookay. With might of two saviors, I proceed to attack a level 2 White Lion.

And I killed level 2 White Lion just fine.

Well.

Well in fact it slaughtered three of my survivors. Last one remaining was able to score the kill pretty much on the last turn possible. And it happened to be the Lucern savior survivor. It was a gruesome fight. Next time I will be prepared for this horrible Cunning ability a little better.

Doesn't change the fact that now - again - I got only three survivors alive.

Settlement event is Murder. The hero, blue dream savior, is murdered just as he arrives home. One of the last two survivor decides to take the justice in her own hand and kills the murderer.

There I am. At one survivor remaining. I hope she's happy with her decision to spell doom on the continuation of this particular settlement.

I did things with the last remaining survivor, though, and the amazing amount of endeavors.

I built Built Weapon Crafter and Scrap Sword, nnovated Symposium and Shadow Dance.

Made augury enough to give Insight for the last survivor, as well as grind a little Settlement Watch to get extra fighting arts. Defender was what she got. Who is she going to defend? Too late for that.

I thought this would be over soon when I went to fight level 1 White Lion.

I made two critical hits that both gave -1 accuracy token for the beast. After this the fight was practically over in my favor. Lion didn't score even a single injury roll during the whole match.

Heck. I want it to be over, so when settlement even is Open Maw, I jump right in with four dice. And there it is. Double 1's.

This carnival is over. I'm a little disappointed, though, that she did not get the best result in the Maw and return with some sort of super weapon, and become the sole survivor for years to come.

Statistics:

I managed to survive until the settlement event phase of Lantern Year 8.

I killed:
Prologue Lion
1x level 1 screaming antelope
3x level 1 white lion
1x level 2 white lion

+ kind of lost to Butcher.

I managed to innovate:
Language, Hovel, Inner Lantern, Guidepost, Lantern Oven, Settlement Watch, Symposium, Shadow Dancing and Ammonia, mostly in this order.
I had Protect the Young and Graves principles.

I had built Lantern Hoard, Organ Grinder, Skinnery,Bone Smith and Weapon Crafter.

Death count was 17.

Well, it's good that this campaign ended this soon. I noticed I had played a couple of things wrong in the first two showdowns or something. I thought that you could dodge as many times as you had survival. Otherwise I don't think I broke any crucial rules, though I think I goofed up with White Lion's Basic Action a couple of times.

I don't think I remembered that I could spend survival during flows on monster cards even once. I didn't have Dash, though, so it's not that terrible, though a well placed Encourage here and there might have affected some miserable situations.

I aim to start next campaign when I got Butcher and King's Man painted along with some progress on Phoenix.

Funguish (not related to mushrooms, though)

Aww.

I was going to play Kingdom Death fully painted with no exceptions.

After painting the Butcher for one hour and a half, I decided "screw this, it's painted enough" and started to set up the showdown board.

That much for principles.

However, this time I'm attempting to go for extra detail-y write up of this dreaded Nemesis encounter.

Random terrain was Tall Grass, which gave me quite a bit of hope. I got fairly good evasion on a couple of my survivors.

Survivor details:

- Solon, with Catgut Bow, Bone Blade and Cloth. Survival is 2, insanity 0. Unconscious Fighter art (takes 7 bleed tokens to kill him.)

Reasoning for equipment: I was afraid to give Bone Blade for anyone who will be dedicated for melee, because I suspect Butcher has Super Dense locations that would just break the blade.

- Anuth, with Bone Dagger, Monster Grease, White Lion Cloak, Cloth, Rawhide Gloves. Survival 2, insanity 4 and understanding enough to Analyze, +1 permanent strength.

Reasoning: Bone Dagger will not break even with Super Dense locations. Hopefully strength token and ability to Pounce for extra strength will offset low power a little. If it does not, at least Analyze is bound to give a little bonus.

- Amnother, with King Spear, Monster Grease, full Rawhide Armor, survival 3, insanity 0 and +1 permanent evasion.

Reasoning: +3 evasion will, I hope, make Butcher miss most of his attacks especially if I can lure him to attack Amnother inside Tall Grass. I have high hopes for her.

- Bowynn with Bone Darts, Cloth and Cat Eye Circlet. Survival 3 and permanent +1 evasion. Insanity 0.

Reasoning: He's a Cat Eye bot.


Let the showdown begin!

Turn 1 Amnother takes a peek at AI cards, which were in perfect order already. Cards were Backhand and Hack City. Backhand would just trigger Menace, and I made sure Amnother would be closest threat - and inside Tall Grass. Oh boy, looks like Legendary Lungs.

Then I realised Amnother has no insanity to protect her from Menace. Rolled 8, got 5 insanity and Quixotic disorder. How's that a disorder? I can see only benefits in this disorder... I don't complain, though. Hack City went just as planned. Better, in fact, because Butcher rolled only one hit. Amnother dodged it, but got back to three survival from the Legendary Lungs story event.

Now, turn 2.

Bowynn looks hit locations, that offer Trap, a Super Dense location and Furious Scrag. I put them back in reverse order, and then Bowyn uses Surge to lob a dart at Butcher. Miss.

Catgut Bow shoots twice, hits once to Furious Scrag. First wound to the Butcher. He surges for extra shot, but makes it aimed shot. It's a hit, but doesn't wound. The rest survivors do "whatever" because they don't want to trigger trap. Amnother uses Rawhide Headband, and next will be Bite and Wild Carve. Otherwise I feel safe, but enough Wild Carves might ruin Amnother's day.

It didn't take Wild Carves, though.

First, one Bite attack hit, despite Butcher scoring hits only with 9+.

Amnother dodged and re-gained that survival from Rawhead set. Next attacks from Wild Carve both hit, with 9 and 10. She dodges both, but regains none of those via Rawhead set bonus. Wild Carve extra damages hands and tosses out a Bleed token.

Turn 3:

Starts with a check at hit locations. Furious Gauntlet, Furious Crown, and Cleaver. Doesn't matter all that much, when out of seven rolls altogether only one scored hit, but did not wound. That was a second lunacy token for Amnother. Why not.

Next we get Lantern Frenzy, and target becomes - who else - other than Amnother. Then, Butcher breaks her lantern, giving her -3 accuracy tokens. This expedition is doomed. Most likely, at least.

Turn 4:

Amnother scores a wound against Butcher. What a champ, even with a broken lantern. Other survivors pretty much just position themselves.

Then Butcher hacks, kicks and roars. This results in Amnother finally having no survivality. I was lucky with roar, as only Bowynn fell down, got two Insanity and Delicious disorder.

Turn 5.

I've only scored two wounds to Butcher. While situation is not terrible, this cannot continue like this. Amnother has priority token, which is nice thanks to her evasion, but I doubt she'll survive for long. And she's the only one who has a decent weapon. Meh.


... so much for the details, then. Things started going really badly, which in turn lead me to "fast-forward" -mode to see if things would get any better on the next attack roll/activation/et cetera. They never did.

Long story short: Butcher won. Kind of, at least.

He roared the cat-gut bow user dead, at which point I decided that fight was unwinnable any more. Amnother sacrificed herself, meaning that I just lost most of my gear as well... again... two survivors with the most progress.

I know I should have painted Butcher before this. This is the price for my haughtiness.

So, let's see:

Settlement event was Triathlon of Death. Uh. Okay. A good spot for olympics I suppose. With Butcher having killed almost 30% of population. But hey. Let's compete, then.

Nominated survivors:
Faehrus, Bowynn, Unkhno and Eldyne.

Race Contest:
Eldyne 8
Faehrus 6
Unkhno 3
Bowynn 1

Comments: Most useless survivor got +1 movement, how nice. Courage for a jawless spokesperson, meh. Rawhide boots are truly welcome after recent encounter with Butcher.

Debate contest:
Eldyne: 6
Unkhno 5
Faehrus 3
Bowynn 1

Comments:

Now I got two survivors skipping next hunt when I got only a population of 5.

Fight Contest:
Bowynn 10
Faehrus 8
Eldyne 2
Unkhno 1

Comments: Nice. Bowynn wasn't banished. However, he isn't experienced enough to gain any weapon proficiency levels, either. Eldyne got Mighty Strike. Now, if she only wasn't Aichmophobic...

I think I have six endeavors thanks to Graves. First I make skull helm out of the skull I gained from Triathlon.

Then I start endeavoring! I need a kid, or, two kids, or - a whole dozens of kids to save my colony. Faehrus - the only survivor from the original four - starts some auguries. First one is 8. Praise the Watcher.

Faehrus and Eldyne get intimate, and thanks to Protect the Young principle, a savior is born!

Though I might have been more happy with two kids, which it would have been if I didn't have Hovel innovation.

I choose Dream of Beast.

But we need more meat.

Faehrus takes a second augury, this time rolling 9, followed by 8.

Suddenly my survivor camp is "back in the game" so to say. But has four first years been an emotional rollercoaster? Yes. So much so, that I might do fifth year...

I decide to hunt a Screaming Antelope for a first time ever.

First hunt even card is Devoured Grounds - but I choose not to use it's ability, because I want to see what the actual d100 hunt table is all about.

Rolled 50 - there was an empty skeleton whispering for help. Anuth has only one insanity point now.

Second space was 20, dry lands. All but Anuth loses one survival point.

Last space before showdown is Stampede, and Anuth rolls 8.

I'm quite confused. Truly seems like the gambler giveth and gambler taketh. Mostly taketh.

Random terrains are tall grass again and a dead monster. Dead monster was a bliss for making me go first. Making me go first with my automatically hitting strength 3 bow. Amazing. Ranged weapons make three wounds to the antelope before it even has a chance to act.

Survivors also find cyclops fly and small feathers from phoenix deck. I would have been overjoyed, but turned out Antelope was infested with parasites. Cat Eye user took a flight and gained 5 insanity points. Savior suffered memory loss. Not that bad, since she doesn't yet have any weapon proficiency.

My joy for such a great beginning was premature. Soon enough Chow Down was drawn, and the antelope fed itself (and healed itself) back to full. I decided to let it have a full merry-go-round over all the acanthus plants so that my future work would not be robbed away all that easily.

...


The battle that ensued was terrible. It lasted for an eternity.

I thought it would be an easy cake, considering my savior, but no. The antelope killed Unkhno the One Handed.

The antelope was continuously knocking everyone down, and especially Lone Rampage was main damage dealer. Luckily I had two ranged weapons - because Lone Rampage was - indeed - the last AI card I had in deck. All that wailing. All that whiffing. It was disturbing how badly I rolled for wounds. Also the parasites gave a total of -2 strength tokens, which didn't exactly help in dealing with Toughness 9 target.

I will definitely prepare my survivors a little better for next Antelope fight. Ranged weapons seem to be a must have.

But, anyway, I did receive quite a few resources.

2x Monster Hide
Monster Organ
Broken Lantern

Small Feathers
Cyclops Fly
2x Pelt
2x Shank Bone
Bladder
Muscly Gums
Large Flat Tooth.

Savior received Last Man Standing fighting art. Anuth, on the other hand, received Sneak Attack. Just wow. Now for some accuracy somewhere, and monsters start dying in droves.

And just as I'm gleeful from a hunt well done, settlement event is Plague.

I nominate Eldyne, Bowynn, Browno and, sigh, Anuth. Who just received Sneak attack.

All of them died.

So, I got two survivors in my camp right now. But hey... 9 endeavors! Time to start breeding!

But first Hands of Heat screws me up. First I roll 7, so I get Lantern Oven and Red Fist, but will also have to roll on the branding. I lose half of my resources. Half of my resources that I just rejoiced. To make matters worse, I roll 10+, making Faehrus blind from one eye. But hey, at least +1 luck.

I throw away: 2x Broken lantern, 2x monster hide, cyclops fly, monster organ and bladder. What a great feast.

Before I start intimacies, I construct items so that low rolls from auguries wouldn't eat away my resources.

I make Monster Tooth Necklace, Rawhide Vest, Headband and Pants, Bone Darts and extra Monster Grease

Next Faehrus starts using auguries.

First one gives +1 survival.

Second is a 9, which gives intimacy with 8 & 2 as my choices. That's +1 population.

Third augury gives an intimacy again, and one more savior. I'm not entirely happy with this, since saviors cannot use all gear and look like they will wear out fast. Need even more auguries...

Fourth is 6, fifth is 4, sixth is 2. I lose the last resource and Faehrus gets +1 understanding, triggering Insight. I get +1 endeavor. Damn.

Seventh augury is one more intimacy and gives +1 population.

Now I'm at 5 population, which just feels far too insecure. Even more auguries: eight one is 5, ninth is 4 and last one is intimacy thanks to having +1 for auguries from all this understanding.

So now I'm at population of 6, with two saviors and a broken heart. I still have one endeavor left, but I won't use it.

Wow, what a two-year mixture of hope at the brink of extinction.

Next vI decide to hunt for one white lion. I really wanted to hunt for a level 2 one, but my equipment just doesn't allow it just yet - even with power of Red Fist and two saviors. I really really really need an easy kill to gear up and advance my settlement a little.

Year 6 hunt phase:

Lion in Heat, didn't turn out to be a problem.

Sea of Golden Grass. I decide to move Lion back one space. Next hunt space rolls 56, dead monster. Luckily I do indeed have Faehrus who has 3+ understanding, so I will be able to ambush the Lion.

Next space is 41, Nightmare, but Faehrus has 3+ courage, too. Then we ambush the beast.

First of all White Lion shoos everyone away from Tall Grass by grabbing Wilt and Dream of Beast. Then it turns around and sizes up on Faehrus, who rolls Lunacy and becomes a vestiphobe.

Otherwise the showdown was child's play. Lion losing accuracy and toughness early in play made easy fight to feel like cheating. Should have picked that Lion level 2 instead. Oh well.

I got 2x White Fur, 2x Great Cat Bones

Debris gave one extra normal resource, which were:

2x Broken Lantern
Monster Hide
Skull
Monster Organ

Successful hunt triggered quite a few Age -events:
Age for Dream of Beast: +1 permanent strength
Age for Lucern: +1 permanent strength.
Age for Faehrus: fighting art. Orator of Death. Funny in it's own way, when he doesn't have a jaw. But I suppose gurgling like that will give insanity for other survivors anyway.

Settlement Event is Skull Eater. I nominate Wilt, but roll 9. I spend two endeavors to give her Binde Eating instead.

Since Faehrus is a returning survivor, I still have three endeavors left. Armored Strangers give Guidepost and three random resources. (Monster Organ, Love Juice, Monster Hide)

Guidepost becomes my fifth innovation, triggering Hooded Knight. I roll 3. Was expecting 2, which would have killed people. Could this really become my first lantern year where no survivors die? At all?

Anyway, I innovate once. Got two endeavors left. I get Settlement Watch.

I make Lucky Charm, Bone Axe, Bandages and Rawhide Vest and Headband.

Lucern took Burning Ambition and Wilt had Combo Master fighting arts from Settlement Watch.

It's a terrible, masochistic game with continuous high's and low's. Great fun, laced with anguish and bitterness.


After six years my achievements/development stand as:

Detailed inventory:

Innovations and Principles:
Principle: Graves
Principle: Protect the Young
Hovel
Inner Lantern
Language
Lantern Oven
Guidepost
Settlement Watch


Resources:
2x Broken Lantern

Great Cat Bones


Items:
4x Cloth
Bone Blade
Bone Dagger
Bone Helm
Bone Axe
2x Bone Darts
Bandages
Cat Eye Circlet
Catgut Bow
Rawhide Gloves
Rawhide Boots
Rawhide pants,
2x headband
2x Rawhide vest.
2x Monster Grease
Lucky Charm
Monster Tooth Necklace
White Lion Coat

Population: 6

Two (three) years and I'm already ruined

Alrighty.

So a dream comes true and I finally got to play Kingdom Death: Monster. I've double checked most things so many times that it took me almost six hours to play two Lantern Years. And this even when I didn't make detailed notes... I plan to write some of these write-ups on a card-by-card basis. Anyway, if something, this is going to act as my inventory for resources and such.

I began the First Story with four survivors: Mother, Daulys, Faehrus and Solon.

I managed the intro story pretty well I suppose. Daulys went blind as well used three Founding Stones... but at least that yield me +1 permanent Strength for Mother, and an extra Lion Claw from elsewhere.

I rolled the lowest amount of survivors possible for a start - ten heads. Well, not a big setback as I found two Love Juices.

I used one and nominated the half-blind Daulys and yet unnamed survivor to bear a child. They did not, because I rolled "1" on the intimacy chart.

But hey, I got rid of the half-blind and I got the death principle! For some reason I chose Graves. So I guess I dug up graves for two persons that decided to leave the colony? Anyway, Mother gained +1 Luck for this.

I innovate Hovel and made Bone Blade and Bone Dagger.

Off to lantern year 2!

I had Solon, Mother, Gurel and Bowynn with me, since one returning survivor had to be left to ponder a little bit about the newly established lantern hoard.

Hunt phase was exceedingly short when first space had White Lion Cub. I decided to slaughter it right away for astonishing amount of materials. This provoked the worst result - angry lion mother!

I had given the bone dagger to my Mother, because I was thinking extra strength and extra luck would make her a nice combatant, when it didn't look like a terrible effort to get to a monster's blind spot.

Gurel found a survivor's corpse from the field and went insane - first brain injury gave three points plus +1 speed and strength tokens, and then searching the corpse gave two more insanity and a material. This kept her away from action quite a while, though.

There was this eye-for-an-eye thing going on, because my mother managed to critically disembowel the White Lion Mother. Not too long after Lion Mother returns the favor and disembowels my survivor. This was terrible, because now Mother had, what, three useless accuracy 7 attacks with no extra strength at all. Toughness of 8 of level 1 lion caught me by surprise.

It was a long and difficult fight. Yet I believe I was kind of lucky when no other permanent injuries came up other than the death of Mother - just a turn before the White Lion Mother died herself. Their fates were linked. And I no longer had any founding stones.

Random event gives me this seducer visitor, that causes male members unable to depart, and females who depart do so with +10 survival. Funny thing here was that I only had three female survivors alive any more... would I dare a Love Juice?

I had to, and luckily it gave +1 population with no extra difficulties. However, I had to choose "Protect the Young" as my principle, because "survival of the fittest" had a 50% chance that parents would not be able to depart.

White Lion Cub, the survivor corpse terrain, a random critical hit on a proper spot and being generally victorious gave me stunning amount of resources, though:

2x Monster Organ
2x Monster Hide
2x ???
Broken Lantern
Monster Bone
Love Juice

2x White Fur
Lion Claw
Eye of Cat

I gained five endeavors thanks to graves, but I was afraid to use them. I could only innovate or use augury. I innovated Inner Lantern, but augury might give me another encounter with Intimacy, which in turn might affect how many survivors I would be able to send for a hunt.

I nominated Faehrus to stand as the voice of reason amidst Endless Screams: rolled 1. How nice. Broken jaw was exactly what my spokesperson needed.

Production phase gave me:

Cat Eye Circlet from Cat Eye and Catgut Bow from Sinew and Monster Bone..

??? and Monster Hide into Rawhide Headband and Rawhide Vest.

Monster Organ into a Monster Grease.

Lion Claw into Bone Darts.


Detailed inventory:

Innovations and Principles:
Principle: Graves
Principle: Protect the Young
Hovel
Inner Lantern
Language

Resources:
Broken Lantern

2x White Fur
Lion Testes
Golden Whiskers

Items:
4x Cloth
Bone Blade
Bone Dagger
Bone Darts
Cat Eye Circlet
Catgut Bow
Rawhide Headband, Rawhide Vest
Monster Grease

Population: 8

Next showdown survivors and their gear:

Note: all will begin with full 3 survival thanks to settlement event that gave +10 for all departing survivors... however, I don't think it still can bring the total above survival limit?

Gurel: (has five insanity)
Rawhide Vest & Headband, Cloth + Bone Blade

Amnother:
+1 Evasion, Monster Grease, Cloth & Bone Dagger & Cat Eye Circlet (total of +2 evasion)

Eldyne:
Cloth, Bone Darts

Anuth:
Understanding +1

Cloth, Catgut Bow

Lantern Year 3

Well, I just had to play for one more lantern year.

One more White Lion quarry.

First hunt event was Scratching Grounds. Every survivor took a point of courage, and only one suffered event damage.

Second event was Lion's sculpture. A little bit of insanity is always welcome, but follow-up was Wildfire.

Proceeding to Wildfire, first result was 17, face-to-face. Well, Gurel's Survival was not higher than her insanity, so nothing happened.

Next roll was 04, -1 speed token would make moving to blind spot darn difficult. Oh well. This time I have ranged weaponry with me, though. Maybe it doesn't matter.

In the showdown nobody died, so there's that.

Bow user also made a critical hit and gained permanent strength from the strange hand location. Later, lion gazed at it's bloody stump, and a one survivor triggered Insight from this. Se gained Analyze.

Getting -1 permanent accuracy for one of the survivors was probably the worst effect. She also got aichmophobia in the process, not being able to depart with sharp things. Pretty much all survivors lost their precious insanity, except for Gurel of course, who has insanity in plentiful supply.

Not too bad I suppose, but there weren't that many resources this time.

2x Broken Lanterns
2x Monster Hides

2x White Fur
Great Cat Bones
Lion Claw

And with these, I will need to take down Butcher. He isn't painted yet, though, so this might take a while.

Settlement event: Cracks in the ground, rolled 3.

A random survivor fell to the crack. Obviously, of course this was the survivor with highest progress, Gurel. Seems like at least one dead survivor per lantern year is a liability: if it doesn't happen in showdown, settlement phase will "cover you." With gravel.

Great Cat Bone and Lion Claw become a King Spear instantly.

Rawhide Armor set becomes completed with Pants, Gloves and Boots.

"Just because" I used augury on Eldyne. Result was 1, so I took off Golden Whiskers and gained understanding. This triggered Insight on her - yay, a boon at last! Except I don't want to use Eldyne anywhere, so Tinker is useless and I rolled an extra point of endeavor.
I did the same with Faehrus, and rolled 2, so I lost Broken Lantern and gained understanding.
I used augury with the last remaining survivor I don't plan to use with Butcher showdown - Unkhno. Rolled 7.

I still got resources for a White Lion Coat and extra Rawhide Gloves. Then we'll see what happens with Butcher.

Detailed inventory:

Innovations and Principles:
Principle: Graves
Principle: Protect the Young
Hovel
Inner Lantern
Language

Resources:
2x Broken Lantern

Lion Testes


Items:
4x Cloth
Bone Blade
Bone Dagger
Bone Darts
Cat Eye Circlet
Catgut Bow
Rawhide Headband, Rawhide Vest, Pants, 2x Gloves and Boots
Monster Grease
King Spear
White Lion Coat

Population: 7

Beginning of Death

Alrighty.

Today three remaining starting survivors were completed.

This means I have everything I need to play first three Lantern Years.

When will I have the courage to enter the nightmare world of Kingdom Death? Soon enough, I suppose.

"Must I do everything by myself?"

Two 50 point games of Warmachine from a couple of weeks ago.

Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- Kraken
- 2x Stalker

Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max)
2x Necrotech
Scrap Thralls
Warwitch Siren


First game opponent played with:

Tyrant Xerxis
- Tiberion
- Titan Gladiator
Cataphract Cetrati (max)
Nihilators (max)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max)

Scenario in both games was... I don't know what it was. A reminiscent. Friendly flags gave one point for dominance, enemy flags one for control and two for dominance. Center zone one for control and two for dominance.

First game was a historical one.

I approach carefully, but not carefully enough. Five Cetrati one-rounded my Kraken under Xerxis' feat. Those damage rolls... 6,6,6,6,4. 6,6,6,4,4. Lowest roll was only slightly above average. Fortunately for me opponent sent Tiberion in to beat some Drudge Thralls - I suppose he didn't expect I'd overcommit Asphyxios, or if I did, it would be his downfall.

Asphyxious had seven extra focus points from Nihilator souls only. This turn he used feat and charged Tiberion. He also killed a nearby Nihilator to cast Calamity on Tiberion. It took nearly all focus he had, but finally Tiberion was dead. Cloak of Ash was on Asphyxious.

Xerxis was slowly grinding scenario points at his flag. Tactical Supremacy on himself made it possible for him to kill whatever I ran to contest flag and back-track for the score. A hilarious happenstance was when Xerxis made a combo-smite at my Stalker, which brought the warjack into contact with Scrap Thrall. Stalker had only one hit box remaining. Either thrall survived collateral damage roll or the explosion didn't destroy Stalker, but surely I was sweating my spleen off there.

Anyway, Gladiator tries to Grand Slam Asphyxious away from the zone, but misses. This causes one Drudge Thrall to remain on the zone, contesting it. All other models had died.

Asphyxious had seven extra focus again next turn. Again he killed Nihilator or something and cast Calamity on Gladiator.

And then.

I had big plans - Asphyxious would become a hero. With Gladiator dead along with some Cetratii, with nicely camped focus he'd be an unstoppable and yet invulnerable force of destruction.

Four double 1's. One 1,2. Plenty of 1,4. Come on, Asphyxious! COME ON!

Finally he came on and killed the warbeast, but had only one focus point left. Only the charge attack roll dealt more than five points of damage in one go. And he was, after all, at dice -1 to damage.

Opponent cleared up some other models of mine, trying to buy some time for Xerxis to grind a few more control points.

Next turn Asphyxious doesn't have that many extra focus points, three, four or something like that. Nonetheless he casts Calamity on Cetrati and kills a bunch of them. Stalker and some Drudges kill the last ones. Main body of Drudges and this particular Stalker had been tied to Legends of Halaak near my friendly flag.

Eventually all models but Xerxis are dead, at which point we conclude that mathematically Xerxis cannot win any more even if I somehow failed to contest his flag. Xerxis then charges last remaining Stalker and concedes.


Asphyxious kill total: Gladiator, Tiberion, three to four Cataphract Cetrati and some Nihilators - roughly 45 points... with that kind of attack and damage rolls. That's close to a personal record - only thing that even remotely compares was this one ancient Mk2 tournament where Venethrax was charged by tons of Circle warbeasts that should have killed him, but somehow did not.

Game 2:

Opponent had:

Master Ascetic Naaresh
- Agonizer
- 2x Cyclops Brute
- Razor Worm
- Tiberion
- Titan Gladiator
Legends of Halaak
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max)

This game was a distracted failure in every aspect at least when compared to last one.

Long story short: I was far too obsessed over Agonizer. First I sent a leaping Stalker at it, leaving it with four damage points or something. Of course Spirit was fine.

Kraken tried to take some random useless shots - I think the grand plan here was trying to get Agonizer under blast damage. Well, Kraken was now easily within Tiberion's charge range.

I didn't feat, which was a grave mistake. I mean - of course opponent would send all of his beasts against Kraken and assorted models. Why did I not. Why.

Tiberion did not break Kraken, which was a relief. Naaresh had used feat, so I was hard pressed to remove Tiberion this turn. First and foremost Asphyxious shot Agonizer with Hellfire. That seemed like a good idea at the time. How many warcasters have Agonizer killed like this? Countless... Asphyxious did use his feat now, though.

Anyway, Kraken and some Drudge Thralls and whatever I could land on it failed to kill. Not by many boxes, but still failed.

Gladiator and Tiberion both trample next to Asphyxious. To my consolation even Cloak of Ash would not have saved me from these attack rolls.

Anyway, Gladiator took one fully boosted swing at Asphyxious, hit and dealt some damage.

Now, if Tiberion only would have healed him back to full health with his Fury points... Tiberion's damage roll dealt 17 points in. Asphyxious3 has eighteen boxes. Much grief and many sadnesses.

Does two Wrong Eyes make a right one?

Two 75 point games of Warmachine from this... month, or so.

Deneghra, the Soul Weaver
- Corruptor
- Defiler
- Erebus

Mechanithralls (min) +2x Brute Thralls

Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
The Withershadow Combine
Iron Lich Overseer
- Leviathan
Necrotech
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Pistol Wraith
2x Soul Trapper
Warwitch Siren

Opponent had:

Actually I got no idea what opponent had. I don't remember the names of the monstrosities and cannot easily tell the two drudge units from each other. List may have been something like this:

Cognifex Cyphon
- Warden
- 2x Wrecker

Alexia Ciannor & the Risen + Dominator

2x Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (max)
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (min)
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max)
Cephalyx Overlords
Horgenhold Artillery Corps + Dominator
2x Cephalyx Agitator

Scenario was Take & Hold.

This write-up is bound to be brief, as it's been way too long since I played this game and it was a long one.

In the first picture, for example, I forget why there is one monstrosity close to my flag. It was probably something with Leviathan having Stealth from Iron Lich Overseer, so that Cognifex was not able to cast Gallows on the heavy warjack. It's possible that opponent had used feat this turn, too, and when Gallows shenanigans and such went wrong, the benefits of feat were less than impressive.

So was my next turn, too. I really hope Cognifex had used the feat, because otherwise dice rolls must have been exceedingly subpar. I dedicated Leviathan, Iron Lich Overseer, Deneghra, Defiler and Pistol Wraith to kill the monstrosity - and failed. The monstrosity was at one hit box remaining, under corrosion and stationary from Death Chill.

Opponent killed Iron Lich Overseer, because somehow I had thought it more beneficial to take a POW 12 swing at ARM 22 target or something than cast Stealth. I think Erebus took a hit despite DEF 16 and obviously some Mechanithralls died, but other than that I cannot remember. Except, well, there it is in the picture. A daunting swarm of drudges closed in.

I think I used Deneghra's feat next and spammed Mortality all over the board. Corruptor is a nice piece of art when fighting Drudges with a warcaster that can remove Tough.

For some reason I also charged in with Erebus, getting four kills at maximum. Deneghra re-activated Leviathan under her control and used feat souls to fill it with focus. It probably killed monstrosity on the right next.

Of course I lost Erebus, foolish as I was launching him in to the thick of action. Necrosurgeon was steadily bringing in new batches of Mechanithralls - opponent had been extremely unlucky in his attempts to remove her.

Next I figure that if I kill the last monstrosity, Deneghra will have very little to fear. She and Leviathan killed it. From here on game went weird and awkward. We were both trying to dominate the enemy flag. Cyphon was continuously spraying Deneghra with the "cannot cast spells" gun, which meant I didn't have the courage to charge him. Not without Mortality, no.

Eventually Deneghra was more successful in grinding out scenario points. Killing blow was when Cognifex was unable to finish Leviathan that didn't have all that many health boxes remaining.



Game 2:

Second game was played about a week later. My list was:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- Malice
- Ripjaw
- 2x Stalker
Bane Warriors (max) + Officer & Standard
Bile Thralls (min) + Skarlock Commander
Darragh Wrathe
Scrap Thralls
2x Soul Trapper
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Opponent had:

Gorten Grundback
- 2x Ghordson Driller
- 2x Grundback Gunner

2x Kayazy Eliminators
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Kell Bailoch
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Savio Montero Acosta
Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker
Rorsh & Brine
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw


Scenario was Entrenched and Cryx started game.

I had some success in removing some solos and whatnot with surprise SPD 6 Purge sprays from Bile Thralls.

Engaging didn't feel like an option when both had Star Crossed going on for them.

Looked like game would become a scenario grind-fest, but opponent got Savio Acosta into a difficult spot to remove and I didn't feel like I would be able to punch through enemy armor any time soon.

So, assassination attempt it was. All models I had tried to kill Wrong Eye first. It didn't succeed, so Asphyxious walked forward and cast Parasite on Gorten. Then he used feat and got seven thralls back or something. One thrall killed off Wrong Eye, and a four thralls or so succeeded in charging Gorten.

One was a miss, but three other attacks hit.

Last one caused a Tough roll, which obviously succeeded when I couldn't make any more attacks. Maybe with a little bit better positioning from the very start of my feat I could have got five thralls at him... but maybe it wouldn't have changed anything. After all, three 7+'s on two dice out of four attempts was far better statistics than what I have come used to...

Anyway, Asphyxious was butchered up many times over on the next turn. If I had saved up enough focus points for Teleport, maybe I would have played for one additional turn.

Now, Asphyxious3 needs to fail at caster kill because of Tough roll and I have a full set complete.