It was against an exchange student in my town of residence, and despite it being against Protectorate of Menoth (which I've played against most) it was something I had never seen before.
First of all, he was playing Vindictus.
Anyway.
My 35 point list:
Dominar Rasheth
- Rhinodon
- Cyclops Shaman
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
Full unit of Praetorian Swordmen + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Aptimus Marketh
Master Tormentor
Orin Midwinter
Totem Hunter
And opponent was playing:
Vice Scrutator Vindictus
- Reckoner
- Devout
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Holy Zealots + Monolith Bearer
Minimum unit of Exemplar Vengers
Rhoven & Honor Guard
Vilmon
Paladin
Vassal of Menoth
Opponent won the starting roll, and first picture is taken from the end of my first turn. Now, a word needs to be said about a couple of proxies. Exemplar Errant with standard acts as if he's Vilmon, Rhoven is a hierophant & two exemplar errants and the paladin threw his armor and weapon away and looks like Allegiant.
Well, picture is small and hazy and not too much to tell about the first round, except that Totem Hunter chose Vengers as its prey.
Second picture is taken even farther away and is even smaller, but it's there mostly to illustrate the situation, as trying to take impressive pictures from unpainted miniatures with my less-than-awesome photoshooting skills is a quest in vain.
Anyway, this is the round I understood how awesome spell True Path is. Vengers rushed in and trampled a couple of praetorians under their hooves, and zealots walked 8" and threw their bombs away, knocking out body & spirit from basilisk drake. They used their minifeat of near-invulnerability. Tons of bombs landed on random targets too, but didn't roll enough to kill anyone.
Vengers had Defender's Ward on them, so I really, really wanted to remove them from board or at least neutralize well enough.
Though I must admit that I may have used excessive force when I enraged the Rhinodon and charged one of the vengers, destroying it outright.
Then Basilisk Krea shoots a paralyzing gaze at the venger in the back. Hits.
Aptimus Marketh tries to fry one venger with Sunder Spirit and deals a couple points of damage.
Then cames all kinds of hilarious dice rolling. Praetorians had Carnivore on them so were hitting on 6's. However, both were sitting on armor 21.
You would think that getting a hit on 6 and rolling at least 12 even once, or less with more hits, but it just didn't happen. First Venger was left alone. Then four combo-strikes were done on the paralyzed knight. Now he... he was left with one or two hit points.
Luckily Totem Hunter came and finished the non-paralysed one, but still... it relly didn't work as planned.
Next I became overfixated on killing the lone venger. I shot a boosted Drake spray at it - nothing. I shot a boosted sunder spirit on it with Rasheth (through a "meat node" - nothing. Even Cyclops Shaman tried to stare it down, but nothing. Not a single time I rolled over 10 with three dice.
At least Orin Midwinter fried a couple of zealots.
Now, to be honest, next opponent showed what exemplars are capable of.
As was to be expected, Reckoner charged Rhinodon and nearly skewered it. It had something like six or seven points remaining after the beating. It would have probably killed it, but it had to take care of of the Cyclops Shaman too. Which was quite killed after getting mauled by... uh. After getting mauled by Holy Zealots. Stop laughing!
High Paladin Dartan Vilmon charges in with his holy blade of magic and might. Well he misses with double 1's.
Cassian, feeling it his duty to protect Vilmon and maybe gain a little bit more honor by slaying the huge beast confronting the epic paladin charges in. Misses with double 1's.
Ancillary Attack finishes off the beast, however. Trust only Reckoner.
Now, losing a couple of my beasts did hurt. Also, during whole fight Vindictus had made good use out of Devout's spell barrier, which meant no unsporting Blood Mark shenanigans.
On my turn praetorians used their minifeat and mopped up a whole swath of enemy troopers after Totem Hunter killed the lone remaining exemplar venger.
Basilisk Drake and Aptimus Marketh both tried to do their best in getting at least some important system broken from the Reckoner, but failing miserably.
However, it would have meant 4 points more damage in if I had activated Rasheth first and cast Blood Mark on it before those attacks.
But at least I had one transfer point.
Next I lost every swordman except the standard bearer.
I lost my basilisk drake too.
It really started to look rather grim.
I figured out only one way I could "win", and I'm quite glad I didn't win because of that, because it wouldn't have felt like a victory at all when you look at that picture...
So, I ran the lone standard bearer as far as possible close to Vindictus. This was first round when spell barrier from Devout wasn't on.
After vengers bit the dust Vindictus had cast Defender's Ward on himself and he was sitting behind cover, so he had defense value 21 against spells. My fury of 8 required me to roll at least 13 with three dice to get a spell off... Blood Mark being that spell.
Well, it didn't get off.
Then Rasheth cast Blood Mark again on Reckoner with one fury left for transfers.
Funnily enough, almost all the proxy models are present in this "Finish Him!" picture. After cutting and getting random damage in Rasheth had 17 damage boxes. First palading that charged dealt exactly 17 points damage in, so off to Reckoner they went, breaking off one of its arms and movement.
Then Vilmon charges in and rolls a bit more nicely, which means "not killing" Rasheth. He had three damage boxes left when Cassian finished him.
If I nominated a central miniature for this game, it has to be the Reckoner. It just shrugged off everything I threw at it and in turn killed three warbeasts. Or did it kill all of them? I don't remember the fate of basilisk krea any more.
Anyway, it was a good game with a fresh take (for me) on Protectorate of Menoth!
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