Both games were a 35 point game.
Anyway, after having Scaverous fail me so badly I wanted to try out my Skorne now that I had some new painted models for them.
First I was against Protectorate of Menoth.
My list in both games was:
Dominar Rasheth
- Cyclops Shaman
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- Rhinodon
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordmen + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers
Venator Flayer Cannon
Extoller Soulward
Ancestral Guardian
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Opponent had about following list:
Scrutator Severius
- Crusader
- Revenger
Minimum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Exemplar Errants + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth
Exemplar Errant Seneschal
Vassal of Menoth
Hierophant
Rarely enough, I won the starting roll.
It is somewhat of a custom that Bloodrunner Master Tormentor dies first. This game was no exception. Opponent sacrificed one Flameguard to cast Ashes to Ashes on him. And thus was the master tormentor dead again.
On my next turn I, in turn, sacrificed one of my Praetorian Swordman to black rituals to kill four flameguard members with a Breath of Corruption.
I didn't want another Ashes to Ashes anymore, so Rasheth cast Castigate too. It was funny to notice how Castigate was a good spell against this particular waracaster. Usually the spell is "nice" against Cryx and not much else.
Well, then it was opponents turn. Two bastions were in charge range to Rhinodon and took off most of its damage boxes. Exemplar Errants ran to engage my basilisk Drake. Temple Flameguard attempted pretty much the same, except one tried to be a sacrificial lamb to another Ashes to Ashes. But here Castigate saved a whole lot of my Praetorians.
Then the slaughter began.
Cyclops Shaman crafted a talisman for Rasheth, providing him with +2" range to spells. Then Rasheth spammed Influence on the farthest Bastion, who killed one of his comrades and a exemplar errant close by. Castigate was cast again.
Flayer Cannon killed a couple of errants and Ancestral Guardian came to help in trying to dislodge Basilisk Drake from melee. But really. Errants are an excellent "tarpit" in that if you want to engage something in melee, you can be pretty sure that it stays engaged. So it happened that Drake had to bite the last errant himself, meaning no 8" POW 14 spray this round for me.
Swordsmen used their minifeat and rampaged through opponents lines. Actual casualties were a bit on the low side, but praetorians nearly engaged Severius himself, so they should be at least a little headache for opponent.
Rhinodon tried to be cool, but failed miserably. All it ever did was to destroy one of the Bastions, and rest of the attacks missed or did little damage to the last Bastion, who survived.
Then it was opponents turn, and I got to taste how it feels like to receive an Ashes to Ashes in middle of your infantry with 6 secondary attacks.
Suddenly I wasn't all that self-confident any more, when six of my infantry models got killed. One survived just because it was officer and got damage boxes.
Crusader destroyed Rhinodon and Revenger finished the praetorian officer.
I guess that if I had not had Extoller Soulward and Ancestral Guardian on full souls there at the moment, I would have struggled to survive.
I skipped one turn in pictures, but what happened off-screen was that Rasheth cast Blood Mark on Crusader and Basilisk Krea was killed.
Now, when already pretty mauled Crusader came and tried to beat up Basilisk Drake, all my remaining models about ganged up on it. Extoller Soulward did pretty impressive job with a couple of souls she had, as well as Ancestral Guardian. In the picture the Crusader is beaten to a pulp, but Revenger is still standing.
Rasheth had not used his feat yet, so next turn it was time to unleash Plague Wind.
Basilisk Drake tried to spray the choir members out of Ancestral Guardians charge lane, but failed to do that. However, it did succeed in getting 8 points in to Severius.
Cyclops Shaman took an aiming bonus and stared Severius down.
And then game 2:
Because of a little bit of a hurry I played with same list (maybe it was good too, to see how exactly same list works against a totally different warcaster?)
Rasheth was now against Khador with following list:
Epic Vlad
- Marauder
Maximum unit of Man-O-War Bombardiers
Maximum unit of Man-O-War Demolition Corps
Minimum unit of Iron Fang Uhlans
Widowmakers
Sylys Wyshnalyrr the Seeker
And damn was it a brutal game.
I won the starting roll. That's right, second time in a row!
Opponent had everything run forward. Enough forward so that Flayer Cannon could try and shoot down the approaching cavalry. Cannon did actually hit once and did some damage in, but not enough to bring down those crazy horses.
One praetorian swordmen had to sacrifice himself for Rasheth to get off a Breath of Corruption, which killed two of Uhlans. Cyclops Shaman tried to come and stare down the last horse, but was more interested in a seagull that flew over the board and missed his Evil Eye attack.
On opponents turn the Uhlan promptly charged in, but not before Vlad himself had activated. As Vlad had Seeker with him, he had +2" spell range.
He actually cast Razor Wind on Cyclops Shaman with the Seeker's guidance buff. Damage roll came out as 6, 6, 6, 1, with the 1 discarded. Ouch.
And then it was time for the uhlan to finish up the brave beast who had his single eye fixed to an already distant bird.
And then the brutality began.
Blood Mark was cast on Marauder, that was then nailed with as many shots as Flayer Cannon could produce.
Praetorians killed the lone brave Uhlan, and after that enraged Rhinodon with Amuck on charged into the middle of opponents lines. Two Man-o-Wars laid dead on their tracks and one was at one health box, but there was a slight problem after Rhinodon had been pounding on Marauder. It was almost broken, but still had both weapon systems alright, as well as cortex.
Drake sprayed one Demo Corp dead and walked then into melee. It had used its animus. Bloodrunner Master Tormentor killed the Demo Corp in question and sprinted to engage the last surviving member of the unit.
Then Krea charged to the Marauder, hoping to destroy it. Which didn't happen. But Krea managed to bite its cortex off, which was a good start.
On opponents turn Vlad himself charged to the Rhinodon and used his feat too. He nearly slaughtered uninjured Rhinodon just by himself - Rhinodon had only something like five damage boxes left. Juggling with Hand of Fate and other spells Rhinodon was combo-slammed to Basilisk Drake, who took some little damage in. But Rhinidon was killed.
Feat had been used on Man-o-War Bombardiers, who did their best to beat up the Basilisk Krea. They couldn't charge though, so Krea just didn't bite the dust. Yet.
On my turn it looked like I had to finish Vlad now.
After trying to kill Marauder with Venator Cannon Blood Mark was switched to Vlad himself, and Rasheth used his feat.
Basilisk Drake took aiming bonus and sprayed Vlad, dealing whopping 15 points in. Vlad was camping one focus here.
Not wanting to risk 4x free strikes with Krea, the other basilisk tried to scrape at what was left of Marauder. Damage roll was almost as excessive as it had been with Vlad, and so the Marauder was wrecked.
As Vlad had 3 health boxes left and had Blood Mark on, I guess I would've had the game safely under my belt, was it not for the newest rulings on Blood Mark.
Vlad started running away and the rest of his army beat up what was left of my army.
I lost all of my warbeasts and troops the next turn, except for one beast handler and Venator Cannon without a marksman. But there were enough keys for victory there.
The lone beast handler ran as much forwards as possible, and using Black Rituals Rasheth cast Sunder Spirit on Vlad.
Rasheth did hit and dealt two damage points in.
Two.
Yes, I'm a little bit bitter about that. But for every warmachineplayer out there - just camping one focus can save your arse and bring you the victory. Here is the sad last picture:
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