Tuesday, June 7, 2011

"They're only scrap thralls!" ... a lesson to be learned about 0.33 point models

I played a game of Warmachine on Vassal a couple of days ago. I had some hurry about and I wrote the report as the game progressed so I wasn't in a rush to update this while I had things still in fresh memory.

It was a 35 point game and I was playing Circle. I wanted to do something differently and decided to play without Druids of Orboros and without Shifting Stones. Oh my, exciting, new approach to Circle! Well... my opponent really beat me into that!

My list was:

Morvahna
- Feral Warpwolf
- Wold Guardian

Maximum Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Minimum Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Lord of the Feast
Totem Hunter

And he had:

Epic Asphyxious
- Leviathan

Minimum unit of Bane Thralls
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
2x Revenant Cannons
Skarlock
Gorman diWulfe
2x Pistol Wraiths
2x Bloat Thralls
2x group of 3 scrap thralls

I don't know... at least it is a brave try-out of something completely unexpected and wacky, though opponent wasn't aware of the fact that most of his army blow themselves up so they cannot be brought back through Asphyxious's feat. Still it didn't hinder opponents game all that much...

Anyway, opponent won the starting roll.

From first round there isn't much to tell, Cryxian advanced behind a cloud wall and I came at them rather cautiously. In the picture the fury on my beast has been messed up, as I was thinking that I cast Regrowth & Harvest, but after "taking" the picture I realised that I said that I had cast Regrowth and Restoration on Warpwolf. It was okay for opponent that I reworked my fury management.

Well, then opponents turn started and it was a horror to behold. For starters, Revenant cannons took shots at my ravagers. Well, first shot missed ravagers, but deviation brought 2 of them under the template. Blast damage did 3 damage to both of them. Yeah, damage roll was 10 on both.

Then, the other cannon managed to hit the other ravager and killed it.

And then... Bloat Thrall scores a direct hit to the other damaged ravager with its RAT 4!

Oh wait, that wasn't all the humiliation. Next a Scrap Thrall charges one of my Ravagers. Misses, but blast damage deals 2 points of damage. Then, another scrap thrall charges and scores a HIT and kills the ravager. At least the last scrap thrall wasn't in range, it was left out of melee by mere pixels. Then, Leviathan moves and tries to shoot the ravager but misses and kills the scrap thrall instead. And the resulting damage roll deals damage, too... All of this just couldn't be happening!

I had totally misjudged 8 inches and on top of that, opponent rolled dice... well.

Scarlock then attempts to cast Excarnate on the last remaining ravager but finally something missed, though a pistol wraith killed it ultimately.

Oh dear, what a horrible turn.

Then, it was my time to punch opponent in the face. Which I did, in the most horrible imaginable way. I killed two scrap thralls and backed off.

Yeah.

I'm about to cry just now.

Both Wold Guardian and Morvahna put up Flesh of Clay, and Restoration was transfered to Lord of the Feast, as I was hoping I could position it better to entangle nearly whole army. But it was not to be, it got only into melee with the last scrap thrall you can see in the picture.

I ran away with Wolves of Orboros, as I noticed that the revenant cannons had a nasty remove from play -effect, which pretty much nullified my Regrowth on them. And having lost all of my ravagers I thought that keeping wolves alive was a priority of sorts.

Well.

But then... first attack from Scrap Thrall one-shotted my Lord of the Feast that had Restoration on. Needed 5 & 6 to do that. Hit roll was 5, 5 and damage roll 5, 6.

Then Gorman walks up and scores a hit on my Warpwolf with black oil. Exactly, with RAT 5. Game was starting to look hilarious.

Well, scarlock popped Parasite on the blind warpwolf and revenant cannons started shooting. First was just out of range, but the other hit home.

Bloat thrall took an aimed shot.

Damage roll 5, 6.

Other really exceptionall rolls didn't come out, but I think that was a good basement for killing off my wolf and tharn ravager chieftain. Wold Guardian was obviously Death Chilled.

Then came my turn, which did soothe my agony thus far somewhat.

Opponents infantry was nicely packed tightly together, so I activated Morvahna first. I didn't upkeep Regrowth on Wolves of Orboros, but put on Harvest. Two Eruptions of Lives later right in the middle of opposing army resulted in dead Gorman, two dead pistol wraiths, three bile thralls and about two bane thralls.

Morvahna even had enough fury to cast Restoration on Wold Guardian and to put Guardian's animus on herself. Guardian advanced to protect Morvahna, and Wolves packed up too. Then Totem Hunter charged two remaining bile thralls, killed both of them, filling Morvahna up to 3 fury and then sprinted to safety.

Phew.

But then came a weird turn.

First, Skarlock advances and casts Parasite on Wold Guardian. Things shot at it (one Bloat and Leviathan I think, could be others too, and at least one boosted Deathknell)

Asphyxious activates, advances and puts his soul template on and casts the said Deathknell, feats and teleports away.

Feated Bane Thralls destroy Wold Guardian, who had both +2 arm and -3 arm on. Two pistol wraiths charge Morvahna, dealing 7 points of damage in.

Then opponent launches all blast weapons in there that he could, resulting in no damage, except for dead Wolves of Orboros.

My turn.

Morvahna was death chilled by one of the pistol wraiths but upkept Harvest. She forfeited action and moved enough to get one Bloat Thrall under 10", who was then destroyed by an Eruption of Life. She used her feat, and charging Wolves killed the two remaining bane thralls, the skarlock and the remaining Bloat Thrall.

Totem Hunter ran to engage Revenant Cannons, risking a free strike on the way. It had amazing 16" move because it's current prey target, the bane thralls (when I did this they were still alive) were close enough.

Opponents turn.

Asphyxious comes a bit forward, sends in a Deathknell that kills four wolves and teleports away.

Leviathan moves a bit and shoots a boosted shot at Morvahna. Miss. Buys another, boosts hit. Hits and damage roll 6, 6.

Weird game.

But in the hindsight, I should have probably been more aggressive with my Wolves, a couple of them dying to "removed from play" effects.

Obviously losing my whole ravager unit to astonishing dice rolls didn't actually help.

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