Friday, August 2, 2013

First two games of Steamroller tournament at Ropecon 2013

On Saturday 27th of July I participated in a 50 point Steamroller tournament at Ropecon.

It was a 1-2 list event with Divide & Conquer [1].

My lists were:

Epic Asphyxious
- 2x Slayer
- Seether
- Ripjaw
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of bane thralls + unit attachment
Minimum unit of bile thralls
Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrotech

Reinforcements:
Skarlock
Minimum unit of Soulhunters
Gorman diWulfe

And

Goreshade the Bastard & Deathwalker
- 2x Helldiver
- Reaper
- Seether
- Nightmare

Cephalyx Overlords
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Satyxis captain
Bloat Thrall
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Pistol wraith
Warwitch siren

Reinforcements:
Maximum unit of mechanithralls + Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon
Warwitch siren

I lost all starting rolls during the tournament.

First game was against Protectorate of Menoth that had epic Severius and Amon as choices for lists. I figured that since neither would be terribly bothered by Mage Blight or Stealth from Shadowmancer, I'd pick epic Asphyxious. And I got epic Severius against me. The protectorate army had a gorgeously painted Vessel of Judgement

Opposing list was something like:

Hierarch Severius
- Redeemer
- Blessing of Vengeance
- Vanquisher

Maximum unit of Exemplar Errants + Unit Attachment
Knights Exemplar
Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth
Exemplar Errant Seneschal
Hierophant
Reclaimer
Vassal of Menoth
Vessel of Judgement

First picture is taken from the end of Cryxian first turn, and second picture sees Protectorate mostly just advancing around. What was rather disappointing was the fact that Vanquisher with a lucky deviation set Bane Lord Tartarus on fire. What was even more horrible was that the fire didn't go off - it dealt something like 5 points in. Tartarus had only two hit boxes left and was on fire, so I decided to push forward aggressively.

I got to make a bile thrall out of Deliverer, but it didn't do very much. Ensuing purge failed to punch through Exemplar Errants' armor three times out of five or so, and next turn all corrosions effects just ended.

I tried to screen Asphyxious a little and make it more difficult for knight exemplars to charge into bane thralls, but things just didn't work out. This particular spell "Awareness" caught me by suprise. Asphyxious took Severius' feat, two shots from Vanquisher and two shots from Redeemer in and one "arced" blast from Vessel of Judgement. He didn't die, but... arm 16 model on fire with something like 4 boxes left isn't exactly an optimal situation.

Well, I tried what I could.

Ripjaw and Seether dispatched Vessel of Judgement and one of the Slayers tried to clear path for another Slayer to do various things. After tons of fiddling around things looked pretty good, now, if only Slayer could advance and get to engage Redeemer I might actually stay playing for another turn if fire continous effect didn't kill me.

Nope, Slayer could not do it. Large base was too large to fit through to get into Redeemer. Next turn bonded Redeemer was allocated four focus, which it spent happily to the demise of epic Asphyxious.


Second game during Ropecon 2013 Steamroller tournament:

I was against Cygnar with (if I remember right) Haley1 and Haley2 as list choices. I was pretty anxious, since the player opposite of me was all kinds of a champ. Let's face it - I was scared!

Since there would most probably by tons of shooting around, I decided to pick Goreshade the Bastard as my list.

I got Haley1 against me, with a list vaguely like this:

Haley
- Sentinel

Maximum unit of Storm Lances
Maximum unit of Tempest Blazers
Rangers
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters + Jonas Murdoch
Alexia Ciannor & Risen
Journeyman Warcaster, perhaps?
Squire
Rhupert Carvolo

First picture is taken from the end of Cryxian second turn. It's not a good day when someone shoots 8 satyxis and satyxis captain solo in a forest in just one turn.

Luckily Sea Witch was still going strong, so Satyxis advanced and used Power Swell. Two got within reach range of Alexia herself, so they attacked her and hoped for some good rolls. And they got 'em. P+S 11 + 3d6 was enough to kill Alexia (probably because not all of the Risen were close enough).

Well, that was nice. But next it was Haley's feat turn. And again I was suprised to see that yes, indeed it is one extra attack of any kind, not just an extra ranged attack that the feat gives.

Leftern flank was destroyed entirely along with Nightmare.

Situation looked so bad that I didn't really think of maintaining scenario, and that was a serious mistake. I should have moved leftmost Helldiver to contest flag on the left so opponent wouldn't have gained a control point on my turn.

Anyway, I was too busy on attempting a desperate assassination.

Everything that could would destroy any and all models in-between Goreshade and Haley. It succeeded. Nyss Hunters had shot Deathwalker down last turn, so she appeared again when Goreshade managed to hit a Nyss Hunter. Goreshade also used his feat and bane thralls activated. Only one could walk to Haley, who was just within 5" of Deathwalker.

Would a Bane Thrall manage to hit a def 14 warcaster? Yes, yes it would! And dealt in 6-8 points of damage, which is, sadly, less than what Haley has on her health bar.

Next turn opponent doesn't do too much damage, considering that I was so overwhelmed.

He could, however, secure way too much scenario points. If I wouldn't be able to get anyone to contest leftmost flag, I'd just lose to scenario. And that's exactly what happened.

It was a little disturbing to lose my army to shooting when my whole army was quite well protected against shooting. Ultimately I gave Nightmare way too easily, maybe next time I try to bait with a 7 point jack instead of a 10.

So, two first games were a loss, but I think they were still pretty good games. They were hellishly difficult to play, yet they were not complete, hmm... how to say it nicely? Forced rectal invasions.

I played two more games in the tournament, write-ups coming soon enough I hope.

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