We played a Pillars of the Earth game with some family members.
Not much to write about, except it was a three player game.
Prior Philip was there for anyone to pick in the very first turn, and he did not have to wait for long - in three player game that's almost a guaranteed six extra points.
And in the end scores were something like 54, 50 and 46, with winner being the player with Prior Philip.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Sunday, June 29, 2014
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Last Tuesday I played a Warmachine game.
There is a 50 point tournament coming, and I decided to do something different this time. First time ever I enter with a list I have actually played at least once before the tournament.
So, this was that practice game. Oh, and we were practicing some Deathclock, too.
My list:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Winter Argus
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Shaman + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
2x Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer
Ravager White Mane
Opponent had:
Commander Adept Nemo
- Stormclad
- Ol' Rowdy
- Lancer
(Hunter?)
Maximum unit of Stormguard
Tactical Arcanist Corps
Journeyman Warcaster
(Hunter?)
Epic Eiryss
Sylys Wyshnalyrr
Ragman
Rhupert the Piper
I'm not sure if Hunter was with Journeyman or with Nemo. Scenario was Incoming, and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Cygnar turn 2, I think. Fog of War is on, and Carnivore is on Wolves of Orboros. Arcane Shield is on Stormguard.
Eiryss drew first blood by sniping Blackclad Wayfarer with just one shot. White Mane avenged the fallen druid and killed with a charge attack, sprinting afterwards to engage Ol' Rowdy.
I decided to rush forward with all I got, and since I managed to block right side a little, I thought I might try to start dominating my friendly zone.
Arcane Shield is juggled to Ol'Rowdy next, and White Mane saves Morvahna from getting assassinated by a five focus Ol'Rowdy. Nemo activated too early, so Rowdy couldn't get the 3" movement boost from Locomotion. Instead Ol'Rowdy killed Gnarlhorn Satyr.
Emboldened by Morvahna's performance against the Protectorate of Menoth, she wanted to try to wreck Ol' Rowdy all by herself. Well, not all by herself. Winter Argus sprayed Rowdy to stationary. Wolves of Orboros tried to kill Stormguards to heal Morvahna, and they succeeded well enough. Then Morvahna activates and casts Purification to bring Ol' Rowdy's armor value to manageable levels. Mount attack hit automatically since Rowdy was stationary already, so now the warjack was both knocked down and stationary.
Morvahna did not wreck Ol' Rowdy, but if I remember right, she did knock off its Cortex. With light cavalry movement Morvahna backed off a little and used her feat to bring a wall of meat between her and Rowdy. Attrition was looking good at this point, but deathclock did not. I really need to speed up my game, or I will clock myself out from tournaments.
Anyway, there is now one full round in-between pictures.
Lucky location rolls had destroyed Stormclad's melee weapon, so it was an even fight between Stormclad and Pureblood Warpwolf. Nemo cast a couple of good Chain Lightnings that killed most of Circle's infantry, but Stormclad wasn't able to down the Warpwolf, not even with five focus. Sometimes that Def 14 seems like a gift from the sky.
Nemo had charged a Stormguard to get to the control zone to dominate it.
I had less than two minutes in my deathclock, so I tried to kill stormguard and Ragman with sprays from Winter Argus, and hopefully critical freezing the Stormclad. I don't remember what happened to the Stormclad, but just as I was going to activate Pureblood, the clock ran out. We still played it to the end, and Pureblood Warpwolf did tear Nemo in quite a few equal weighted pieces. However... in a tournament that would have been a loss, and a very annoying one.
Well, in about a week I'm going to see how it goes in a tournament.
There is a 50 point tournament coming, and I decided to do something different this time. First time ever I enter with a list I have actually played at least once before the tournament.
So, this was that practice game. Oh, and we were practicing some Deathclock, too.
My list:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Winter Argus
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Shaman + Chieftain
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
2x Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer
Ravager White Mane
Opponent had:
Commander Adept Nemo
- Stormclad
- Ol' Rowdy
- Lancer
(Hunter?)
Maximum unit of Stormguard
Tactical Arcanist Corps
Journeyman Warcaster
(Hunter?)
Epic Eiryss
Sylys Wyshnalyrr
Ragman
Rhupert the Piper
I'm not sure if Hunter was with Journeyman or with Nemo. Scenario was Incoming, and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Cygnar turn 2, I think. Fog of War is on, and Carnivore is on Wolves of Orboros. Arcane Shield is on Stormguard.
Eiryss drew first blood by sniping Blackclad Wayfarer with just one shot. White Mane avenged the fallen druid and killed with a charge attack, sprinting afterwards to engage Ol' Rowdy.
I decided to rush forward with all I got, and since I managed to block right side a little, I thought I might try to start dominating my friendly zone.
Arcane Shield is juggled to Ol'Rowdy next, and White Mane saves Morvahna from getting assassinated by a five focus Ol'Rowdy. Nemo activated too early, so Rowdy couldn't get the 3" movement boost from Locomotion. Instead Ol'Rowdy killed Gnarlhorn Satyr.
Emboldened by Morvahna's performance against the Protectorate of Menoth, she wanted to try to wreck Ol' Rowdy all by herself. Well, not all by herself. Winter Argus sprayed Rowdy to stationary. Wolves of Orboros tried to kill Stormguards to heal Morvahna, and they succeeded well enough. Then Morvahna activates and casts Purification to bring Ol' Rowdy's armor value to manageable levels. Mount attack hit automatically since Rowdy was stationary already, so now the warjack was both knocked down and stationary.
Morvahna did not wreck Ol' Rowdy, but if I remember right, she did knock off its Cortex. With light cavalry movement Morvahna backed off a little and used her feat to bring a wall of meat between her and Rowdy. Attrition was looking good at this point, but deathclock did not. I really need to speed up my game, or I will clock myself out from tournaments.
Anyway, there is now one full round in-between pictures.
Lucky location rolls had destroyed Stormclad's melee weapon, so it was an even fight between Stormclad and Pureblood Warpwolf. Nemo cast a couple of good Chain Lightnings that killed most of Circle's infantry, but Stormclad wasn't able to down the Warpwolf, not even with five focus. Sometimes that Def 14 seems like a gift from the sky.
Nemo had charged a Stormguard to get to the control zone to dominate it.
I had less than two minutes in my deathclock, so I tried to kill stormguard and Ragman with sprays from Winter Argus, and hopefully critical freezing the Stormclad. I don't remember what happened to the Stormclad, but just as I was going to activate Pureblood, the clock ran out. We still played it to the end, and Pureblood Warpwolf did tear Nemo in quite a few equal weighted pieces. However... in a tournament that would have been a loss, and a very annoying one.
Well, in about a week I'm going to see how it goes in a tournament.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
The Talking Opal and the Singing Talisman
I had a quick chance to play a game of Talisman with just two players.
The reason I carried the many kilograms of expansion sets almost four hundred kilometres is that I wanted to play at least once with the Nether Realm before Woodlands expansion comes around. So, we played with The Hunt alternative ending, where you needed to collect four Nether Realm monster cards face down and reach Crown of Command first to win.
Characters we got were Tinkerer and Spy.
Both characters got quite amazing start - almost every card drawn was beneficial somehow. Spy in fact got such a bucketload of magic objects that he had to visit the alchemist in city and turn them to gold. Though he kept the magic wand and a bottle that could enslave any spirits or elementals he encountered.
Tinkerer, on the other hand, had plenty of friends. His friends included the Axe, who's advice was always welcome. There was also the Walking Treasure Map (which wasn't so successful) and once Tinkerer went to the Highlands, he found many jewels that whispered disturbing ideas to Tinkerer's head. Oh, and the sentient Winter Oil was an ingenious invention.
The fact that Tinkerer doesn't have any object - all object become followers instead - is quite amazing. He was completely immune to any effects that removed objects, and whenever some cards was drawn that did harm to followers, he just could draw a new one instead by discarding one follower.
Spy had a promising start, but somewhere along the way bad luck started following him. He missed turns in almost regular basis, and didn't draw any more good items, and no enemies. He did complete one Warlock's Quest and pastoral tunes brought a Warhorse for him.
Tinkerer managed to steal Spy's brass bottle and magic wand, and due to a miscalculation of odds he lost his Warhorse, too. I guess brass bottle found winter oil's eyes very beautiful, and magic wand had lively conversations with the four-clover leaf.
Too late Spy started to gain a lot of Craft, enough to try to race to Crown of Command. Late? Well, Tinkerer was already inside the Inner Region. The only possibility Spy had was to go and beat Eagle King, get Arnkell and Talisman somehow, enter Plain of Peril and then jump straight to Valley of Fire. It was a long stretch, but sometimes amazing things happen. Like the Vagabond starting a never-ending tale that Spy just had to stop listening every second turn (Vagabond makes you instantly lose the rest of your turn when you roll 1 for movement.)
Tinkerer had seventeen followers when he won the game.
The reason I carried the many kilograms of expansion sets almost four hundred kilometres is that I wanted to play at least once with the Nether Realm before Woodlands expansion comes around. So, we played with The Hunt alternative ending, where you needed to collect four Nether Realm monster cards face down and reach Crown of Command first to win.
Characters we got were Tinkerer and Spy.
Both characters got quite amazing start - almost every card drawn was beneficial somehow. Spy in fact got such a bucketload of magic objects that he had to visit the alchemist in city and turn them to gold. Though he kept the magic wand and a bottle that could enslave any spirits or elementals he encountered.
Tinkerer, on the other hand, had plenty of friends. His friends included the Axe, who's advice was always welcome. There was also the Walking Treasure Map (which wasn't so successful) and once Tinkerer went to the Highlands, he found many jewels that whispered disturbing ideas to Tinkerer's head. Oh, and the sentient Winter Oil was an ingenious invention.
The fact that Tinkerer doesn't have any object - all object become followers instead - is quite amazing. He was completely immune to any effects that removed objects, and whenever some cards was drawn that did harm to followers, he just could draw a new one instead by discarding one follower.
Spy had a promising start, but somewhere along the way bad luck started following him. He missed turns in almost regular basis, and didn't draw any more good items, and no enemies. He did complete one Warlock's Quest and pastoral tunes brought a Warhorse for him.
Tinkerer managed to steal Spy's brass bottle and magic wand, and due to a miscalculation of odds he lost his Warhorse, too. I guess brass bottle found winter oil's eyes very beautiful, and magic wand had lively conversations with the four-clover leaf.
Too late Spy started to gain a lot of Craft, enough to try to race to Crown of Command. Late? Well, Tinkerer was already inside the Inner Region. The only possibility Spy had was to go and beat Eagle King, get Arnkell and Talisman somehow, enter Plain of Peril and then jump straight to Valley of Fire. It was a long stretch, but sometimes amazing things happen. Like the Vagabond starting a never-ending tale that Spy just had to stop listening every second turn (Vagabond makes you instantly lose the rest of your turn when you roll 1 for movement.)
Tinkerer had seventeen followers when he won the game.
Monday, June 23, 2014
Get off my lawn, you damn Raek!
Last Wednesday I played a 50 point game of Hordes.
I played with Circle, and my list was:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Winter Argus
- Woldwatcher
- Gorax
Tharn Bloodweavers
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Ravager White Mane
2x Gallows Grove
I had Legion of Everblight against me, with following list:
Saeryn
- 2x Scythean
- 2x Angelius
- Afflictor
- Raek
2x Strider Deathstalker
2x Forsaken
2x Nyss Shepherd
1x Spell Martyr
Eww. Not a nice list at all, but since I was playing Morvahna2, who am I to complain?
Scenario was Rally Point. Megalith and Wurmwood are the objectives for this scenario since I forgot to take the objective box.
Circle started game, and first picture is taken from the end of Legion turn 1. Well, it looked like both armies would horrendously dominate the enemy zone. Since Legion had so few models near their zone, I thought I might be able to contest my own zone better and possibly get scenario victory. Possibly.
Carnivore was on Wolves of Orboros.
I was a bit afraid of Scytheans and their animi, so Morvahna cast Sunder Spirit on the closest one, and then with light cavalry movement she rode far to the left, and Shifting Stones teleported her even further. I tried to get enough models to contest my friendly zone, but damn it. I didn't think of any of the basic tricks Legion has. And on top of that I was woefully underprepared for Saeryn's feat - I was expecting much more offensive use from that.
So, all the legion heavy warbeasts rush to their enemy zone, and Angelius just uses Repulsion to push the models away that other beasts had failed to kill. And then Saeryn used her feat. And the Raek was toeing my enemy zone, so Circle didn't gain any control points.
I had basically two options. Either I would focus on contesting my friendly zone with something a bit more meaty than infantry models, or then I'd try to kill Raek with Woldwatcher, Pureblood Warpwolf and two boosted Sunder Spirit's, and be back in the scenario game.
Well, I tried to take Raek.
Woldwatcher missed it's attack, but Pureblood hit. Morvahna used her feat to bring as many models to contest my friendly zone and then she tried to cast Sunder Spirit on Raek from a feated Gallow's Grove. Either I would make one fully boosted Spirit at Raek, or two half boosted spells. Morvahna didn't have too many damage boxes left, so she decided to cast only one fully boosted, since Raek would die if damage roll was 14. Difficult, yes, but hey, Scales of Fate work on herself, too.
It's a hit, and damage roll is something like 8 with three dice. Morvahna re-rolls, and the damage roll is something like 6 with three dice. Uh, that's it.
So now Legion only needed to wreck my objective and dominate their enemy zone for one round.
That's wasn't a big problem for them, really. Most contestors were repulsed away again, and the rest were killed by two Scytheans. There was one tricky Bloodweaver model, though. However, when Forsaken with its Abomination rule charged close enough, Bloodweavers failed their command check.
Now Angelius only needed to destroy the objective. Which it did, but not in one hit. In two hits.
Ah well, that game was lost because of some bad choices I made. I would have liked to play a little longer, though, since it would have been really interesting to see how the game would have went if there was a little more actual attacks going on. I mean, four heavies and two lights versus a ton of infantry models and only one heavy? And when a maximum of 15 of those infantry models would just come back, unless Scytheans managed to do some juicy bloodbaths with Slaughterhouse animus on?
Maybe one day.
I played with Circle, and my list was:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Winter Argus
- Woldwatcher
- Gorax
Tharn Bloodweavers
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Ravager White Mane
2x Gallows Grove
I had Legion of Everblight against me, with following list:
Saeryn
- 2x Scythean
- 2x Angelius
- Afflictor
- Raek
2x Strider Deathstalker
2x Forsaken
2x Nyss Shepherd
1x Spell Martyr
Eww. Not a nice list at all, but since I was playing Morvahna2, who am I to complain?
Scenario was Rally Point. Megalith and Wurmwood are the objectives for this scenario since I forgot to take the objective box.
Circle started game, and first picture is taken from the end of Legion turn 1. Well, it looked like both armies would horrendously dominate the enemy zone. Since Legion had so few models near their zone, I thought I might be able to contest my own zone better and possibly get scenario victory. Possibly.
Carnivore was on Wolves of Orboros.
I was a bit afraid of Scytheans and their animi, so Morvahna cast Sunder Spirit on the closest one, and then with light cavalry movement she rode far to the left, and Shifting Stones teleported her even further. I tried to get enough models to contest my friendly zone, but damn it. I didn't think of any of the basic tricks Legion has. And on top of that I was woefully underprepared for Saeryn's feat - I was expecting much more offensive use from that.
So, all the legion heavy warbeasts rush to their enemy zone, and Angelius just uses Repulsion to push the models away that other beasts had failed to kill. And then Saeryn used her feat. And the Raek was toeing my enemy zone, so Circle didn't gain any control points.
I had basically two options. Either I would focus on contesting my friendly zone with something a bit more meaty than infantry models, or then I'd try to kill Raek with Woldwatcher, Pureblood Warpwolf and two boosted Sunder Spirit's, and be back in the scenario game.
Well, I tried to take Raek.
Woldwatcher missed it's attack, but Pureblood hit. Morvahna used her feat to bring as many models to contest my friendly zone and then she tried to cast Sunder Spirit on Raek from a feated Gallow's Grove. Either I would make one fully boosted Spirit at Raek, or two half boosted spells. Morvahna didn't have too many damage boxes left, so she decided to cast only one fully boosted, since Raek would die if damage roll was 14. Difficult, yes, but hey, Scales of Fate work on herself, too.
It's a hit, and damage roll is something like 8 with three dice. Morvahna re-rolls, and the damage roll is something like 6 with three dice. Uh, that's it.
So now Legion only needed to wreck my objective and dominate their enemy zone for one round.
That's wasn't a big problem for them, really. Most contestors were repulsed away again, and the rest were killed by two Scytheans. There was one tricky Bloodweaver model, though. However, when Forsaken with its Abomination rule charged close enough, Bloodweavers failed their command check.
Now Angelius only needed to destroy the objective. Which it did, but not in one hit. In two hits.
Ah well, that game was lost because of some bad choices I made. I would have liked to play a little longer, though, since it would have been really interesting to see how the game would have went if there was a little more actual attacks going on. I mean, four heavies and two lights versus a ton of infantry models and only one heavy? And when a maximum of 15 of those infantry models would just come back, unless Scytheans managed to do some juicy bloodbaths with Slaughterhouse animus on?
Maybe one day.
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Welcome to the Slaughterhouse(s)
Played two 35 point games of Hordes last Monday with following list:
Dominar Rasheth
- Archidon
- Rhinodon
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen
Minimum unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Feralgeist
And opponent had:
Thagrosh the Prophet
- Carnivean
- Ravagore
- Scythean
Maximum unit of Blighted Ogrun Warspears
Forsaken
Scenario was Close Quarters in both games, and Skorne started both games.
There's not much to say about the first game. Thagrosh was too close and had spent all his Fury because of a slight mismanagement of Fury. Rasheth had Carnivore on Rhinodon, Blood Mark on Thagrosh and then used his feat.
Warspears were lined up so that I really needed to kill a few of them or Rhinodon would take far too many free strikes on his was to Thagrosh. Basilisk Drake rolled pretty good rolls with the spray and killed maybe two warspears, and then reptile hounds took care of the last one who was threatening with a free strike.
But still... Thagrosh was Arm 16 with that -2 strenght bubble going on for him. Rhinodon was Enraged (P+S 16) and Thagrosh had Blood Mark and Plague Wind (-4 arm) so the final chances were MAT 7 (Carnivore) with all damage straight in to Thagrosh with four Fury. This time it was more than enough.
Well, next game went a bit differently. Or, quite a lot differently, in fact.
Game 2:
So, we got the same scenario and same starting order.
First picture from this game is actually from the end of Skorne turn 2. Carnivore had been cast on Rhinodon, and Rasheth has cast Blood Mark on Carnivean.
I thought I'd try to get some sort of alpha strike with Archidon, but the enraged charge was about quarter of an inch too short.
One full round has passed in between the pictures.
Warspears were punishing Praetorian Swordsmen, and Ravagore took a shot at Rhinodon, setting the turtle on fire. Scythean beat the crap out of Archidon, but didn't kill the beast. Carnivean backs up a little and sprays Archidon, killing it. This time I remember to use Feralgeist, who Spirit Binds the flying reptile.
Next Blood Mark is cast on Ravagore, and Rasheth cast Amuck to Rhinodon. Beast Handlers enrage Rhinodon and Rufus, the reptile hound. Basilisk Drake sprays Ravagore, and finally Rhinodon charges it, but fails to kill. Well, what can you expect from a 7 point base p+s 14 warbeast?
Next another Reptile Hound runs to engage Ravagore, after which Rufus charges with Slaughterhouse on. Damn the little dogs bite hard with that flank bonus - Ravagore was removed from play.
Again one full round is in between the pictures.
Attacking was tricky for Legion now. If Archidon would die, then Feralgeist would be free to give an additional hit to any of the many beasts Skorne got lined up in the front line.
I don't remember the exact activation order, but I think that Carnivean activated first and tried to kill Rhinodon, but failed.
Then Forsaken got Line of Sight to Archidon and charged it, killing it. Feralgeist popped out. Scythean used Slaughterhouse animus and advanced to remove Rhinodon and one of the Reptile Hounds from game. Since both heavy warbeasts were on full Fury now, Thagrosh started flinging spells all over the place. First he cast Mutagenesis on a Praetorian Swordsman, then advanced and cast another Mutagenesis on Feralgeist.
Meh.
Well, then it's Skorne turn. Swamp Gobbers run fast forward, and Rasheth uses one of them to cast Blood Mark on Scythean. He also uses Plague Wind, since it was quite imperative to get those heavy beasts removed from play. I think Rasheth also cast one Sunder Spirit at Carnivean.
Basilisk Krea paralysed Scythean, or at least tried to, I don't remember if it was a success.
Beast Handlers enrage Reptile Hound and Basilisk Drake. Drake charges Carnivean first and does impressive damage alltogether. But still the beast had a little too many hit boxes remaining that I could realistically hope for Reptile Hound to kill it... but that didn't stop Rufus from trying.
Reptile Hound uses Slaughterhouse and charges Carnivean. Damage roll was either 5, 5, 6 or 6, 6, 5. Oh my, Rufus had already taken down two heavy warbeasts. Was there any chance it would take down the whole trio?
No, no there wasn't.
Scythean Slaughterhouse'd both Basilisk Drake and Reptile Hound down, and the duel between Warspears and Praetorian Swordsmen was finally over.
So... I got two different options. I could try to kill Scythean with a couple of spells from Rasheth and Basilisk Krea. I think Scythean was on full Fury, so I also might try to kill Thagrosh with spells from Rasheth. Since Thagrosh had much less hit boxes than Scythean, I decided to try to go for the assassination, come what may.
Willbreaker gives Puppet Master to Basilisk Krea, who then advances and shoots Thagrosh with its blinded eyes. It's a hit! So, at least I wouldn't miss any of Rasheth's spells.
Slowly and unsteadily Rasheth lumbers forward and start measuring Control Area to see if Thagrosh was within 10". Turned out he wasn't. Damn it, why didn't I measure 14" before advancing? Well, then Rasheth tried to cast two Breath of Corruptions, hoping for good deviations. One of them actually was lucky, and I got to make a boosted POW 12 damage roll against Thagrosh. Well, I'm sure it's no suprise - it didn't one-shot Thagrosh.
Now. Situation was bad. It had been bad before, but now it was unbearable.
Ogrun Warspears assault Rasheth, but don't really do damage. There is, however, a Scythean within walking distance to Rasheth.
I took a close-up picture from the epic last stand of Rasheth. I mean, that Scythean sure has a meal on a plate right there. It's chin was in fact inside the chalice with that undefined yellowish drink.
The lack of a Bronzeback Titan was surely felt again in this game. It also didn't help much that I failed to estimate the 10.5" charge of Archidon on turn 2. Regardless, I was really happy with the Reptile Hounds. Their animi were quite essential in lessening Thagrosh's feat's impact. Now, come to think of it... I think every warbeast that got destroyed was removed from play in this game, except Archidon?
So, in this game Rufus played following tricks:
Kill: twice
Play dead: once.
Dominar Rasheth
- Rhinodon
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen
Minimum unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Feralgeist
And opponent had:
Thagrosh the Prophet
- Carnivean
- Ravagore
- Scythean
Maximum unit of Blighted Ogrun Warspears
Forsaken
Scenario was Close Quarters in both games, and Skorne started both games.
There's not much to say about the first game. Thagrosh was too close and had spent all his Fury because of a slight mismanagement of Fury. Rasheth had Carnivore on Rhinodon, Blood Mark on Thagrosh and then used his feat.
Warspears were lined up so that I really needed to kill a few of them or Rhinodon would take far too many free strikes on his was to Thagrosh. Basilisk Drake rolled pretty good rolls with the spray and killed maybe two warspears, and then reptile hounds took care of the last one who was threatening with a free strike.
But still... Thagrosh was Arm 16 with that -2 strenght bubble going on for him. Rhinodon was Enraged (P+S 16) and Thagrosh had Blood Mark and Plague Wind (-4 arm) so the final chances were MAT 7 (Carnivore) with all damage straight in to Thagrosh with four Fury. This time it was more than enough.
Well, next game went a bit differently. Or, quite a lot differently, in fact.
Game 2:
So, we got the same scenario and same starting order.
First picture from this game is actually from the end of Skorne turn 2. Carnivore had been cast on Rhinodon, and Rasheth has cast Blood Mark on Carnivean.
I thought I'd try to get some sort of alpha strike with Archidon, but the enraged charge was about quarter of an inch too short.
One full round has passed in between the pictures.
Warspears were punishing Praetorian Swordsmen, and Ravagore took a shot at Rhinodon, setting the turtle on fire. Scythean beat the crap out of Archidon, but didn't kill the beast. Carnivean backs up a little and sprays Archidon, killing it. This time I remember to use Feralgeist, who Spirit Binds the flying reptile.
Next Blood Mark is cast on Ravagore, and Rasheth cast Amuck to Rhinodon. Beast Handlers enrage Rhinodon and Rufus, the reptile hound. Basilisk Drake sprays Ravagore, and finally Rhinodon charges it, but fails to kill. Well, what can you expect from a 7 point base p+s 14 warbeast?
Next another Reptile Hound runs to engage Ravagore, after which Rufus charges with Slaughterhouse on. Damn the little dogs bite hard with that flank bonus - Ravagore was removed from play.
Again one full round is in between the pictures.
Attacking was tricky for Legion now. If Archidon would die, then Feralgeist would be free to give an additional hit to any of the many beasts Skorne got lined up in the front line.
I don't remember the exact activation order, but I think that Carnivean activated first and tried to kill Rhinodon, but failed.
Then Forsaken got Line of Sight to Archidon and charged it, killing it. Feralgeist popped out. Scythean used Slaughterhouse animus and advanced to remove Rhinodon and one of the Reptile Hounds from game. Since both heavy warbeasts were on full Fury now, Thagrosh started flinging spells all over the place. First he cast Mutagenesis on a Praetorian Swordsman, then advanced and cast another Mutagenesis on Feralgeist.
Meh.
Well, then it's Skorne turn. Swamp Gobbers run fast forward, and Rasheth uses one of them to cast Blood Mark on Scythean. He also uses Plague Wind, since it was quite imperative to get those heavy beasts removed from play. I think Rasheth also cast one Sunder Spirit at Carnivean.
Basilisk Krea paralysed Scythean, or at least tried to, I don't remember if it was a success.
Beast Handlers enrage Reptile Hound and Basilisk Drake. Drake charges Carnivean first and does impressive damage alltogether. But still the beast had a little too many hit boxes remaining that I could realistically hope for Reptile Hound to kill it... but that didn't stop Rufus from trying.
Reptile Hound uses Slaughterhouse and charges Carnivean. Damage roll was either 5, 5, 6 or 6, 6, 5. Oh my, Rufus had already taken down two heavy warbeasts. Was there any chance it would take down the whole trio?
No, no there wasn't.
Scythean Slaughterhouse'd both Basilisk Drake and Reptile Hound down, and the duel between Warspears and Praetorian Swordsmen was finally over.
So... I got two different options. I could try to kill Scythean with a couple of spells from Rasheth and Basilisk Krea. I think Scythean was on full Fury, so I also might try to kill Thagrosh with spells from Rasheth. Since Thagrosh had much less hit boxes than Scythean, I decided to try to go for the assassination, come what may.
Willbreaker gives Puppet Master to Basilisk Krea, who then advances and shoots Thagrosh with its blinded eyes. It's a hit! So, at least I wouldn't miss any of Rasheth's spells.
Slowly and unsteadily Rasheth lumbers forward and start measuring Control Area to see if Thagrosh was within 10". Turned out he wasn't. Damn it, why didn't I measure 14" before advancing? Well, then Rasheth tried to cast two Breath of Corruptions, hoping for good deviations. One of them actually was lucky, and I got to make a boosted POW 12 damage roll against Thagrosh. Well, I'm sure it's no suprise - it didn't one-shot Thagrosh.
Now. Situation was bad. It had been bad before, but now it was unbearable.
Ogrun Warspears assault Rasheth, but don't really do damage. There is, however, a Scythean within walking distance to Rasheth.
I took a close-up picture from the epic last stand of Rasheth. I mean, that Scythean sure has a meal on a plate right there. It's chin was in fact inside the chalice with that undefined yellowish drink.
The lack of a Bronzeback Titan was surely felt again in this game. It also didn't help much that I failed to estimate the 10.5" charge of Archidon on turn 2. Regardless, I was really happy with the Reptile Hounds. Their animi were quite essential in lessening Thagrosh's feat's impact. Now, come to think of it... I think every warbeast that got destroyed was removed from play in this game, except Archidon?
So, in this game Rufus played following tricks:
Kill: twice
Play dead: once.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Epic melé of ages
Last Thursday I played a 50 point game with Skorne.
My list was:
Lord Arbiter Hexeris
- Archidon (bonded)
- Bronzeback Titan
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds
Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Opponent had the same list he had in last blog post, the one with Siege.
Scenario was Outflank, and Cygnar started the game. Since I played a game against Siege where my warcaster died straight to the get-go, I was a little bit too afraid of an assassination this time. In the second picture I start to chicken out with Hexeris. Looking back now I probably should have pushed more aggressively with the warlock, keeping a couple of Fury for transfers at all times.
As it happened, Siege just used his feat and destroyed both of my heavy warbeasts. And, well, all but two of Praetorian Swordsmen, too. It was quite apparent that I had lost the game already unless I went all kinds of crazy and the dice just wouldn't fail me.
I try to do the traditional Ashes to Ashes twice so that first Ashes went to Mortitheurge Willbreaker that ran close to Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers, and another was to go to back arc of Basilisk Drake. The Ashes to Ashes that was cast on Mortitheurge was quite successful, as it got five additional targets and didn't even kill the original target. The second, however... I didn't boost because I needed only 4's to hit the back arc of Basilisk Drake. Double 1's. Now that was a fine feat, wasn't it?
All in all the turn was quite miserable, but I got a good foothold to the control zone on right, and Siege was engaged by two Cataphract Cetrati. One of them even got a charge against the Cygnaran warcaster, but I don't remember if it did any damage.
Well, Cygnar continues to remove the warbeasts. Rufus the non-character character Reptilian Hound and Basilisk Drake are both destroyed. All the Praetorian Swordsmen are finally gone, too, as is the Mortitheurge Willbreaker. Since the game can't go much worse for me, I charge Hexeris in the middle of Storm Lances and Rangers and threshers them to death. He still has Basilisk Krea for a couple of damage transfers.
Then Defender smashes the blind frog into a paste, and Hunter takes a shot at Hexeris. Two Storm Lances charge Hexeris. I don't remember how much damage was dealt, but enough that Siege felt confident enough to charge in melee personally. Aaaannd...
Hexeris survives.
He was able to cut himself to full seven Fury, and Siege was focusless.
Now this was Hexeris's moment of glory.
However MAT 7, P+S 14 isn't enough to crack Def 14 Arm 20 warcaster (Siege had Arcane Shield on from Journeyman). I guess that's okay, since it would've felt like cheating if Hexeris had pulled off such a weird victory by just standing in the middle of enemy army when every attack made against him just keeps failing. It's good enough for me if Siege just crapped his warcaster armour when he saw that Hexeris just turned around and said something cool like "And you're next."
This was probably the first time ever I saw Siege in melee for two full rounds, and no less than against a warlock/warcaster model.
Rufus performed the Kill and Play Dead tricks in this game.
My list was:
Lord Arbiter Hexeris
- Archidon (bonded)
- Bronzeback Titan
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds
Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Opponent had the same list he had in last blog post, the one with Siege.
Scenario was Outflank, and Cygnar started the game. Since I played a game against Siege where my warcaster died straight to the get-go, I was a little bit too afraid of an assassination this time. In the second picture I start to chicken out with Hexeris. Looking back now I probably should have pushed more aggressively with the warlock, keeping a couple of Fury for transfers at all times.
As it happened, Siege just used his feat and destroyed both of my heavy warbeasts. And, well, all but two of Praetorian Swordsmen, too. It was quite apparent that I had lost the game already unless I went all kinds of crazy and the dice just wouldn't fail me.
I try to do the traditional Ashes to Ashes twice so that first Ashes went to Mortitheurge Willbreaker that ran close to Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers, and another was to go to back arc of Basilisk Drake. The Ashes to Ashes that was cast on Mortitheurge was quite successful, as it got five additional targets and didn't even kill the original target. The second, however... I didn't boost because I needed only 4's to hit the back arc of Basilisk Drake. Double 1's. Now that was a fine feat, wasn't it?
All in all the turn was quite miserable, but I got a good foothold to the control zone on right, and Siege was engaged by two Cataphract Cetrati. One of them even got a charge against the Cygnaran warcaster, but I don't remember if it did any damage.
Well, Cygnar continues to remove the warbeasts. Rufus the non-character character Reptilian Hound and Basilisk Drake are both destroyed. All the Praetorian Swordsmen are finally gone, too, as is the Mortitheurge Willbreaker. Since the game can't go much worse for me, I charge Hexeris in the middle of Storm Lances and Rangers and threshers them to death. He still has Basilisk Krea for a couple of damage transfers.
Then Defender smashes the blind frog into a paste, and Hunter takes a shot at Hexeris. Two Storm Lances charge Hexeris. I don't remember how much damage was dealt, but enough that Siege felt confident enough to charge in melee personally. Aaaannd...
Hexeris survives.
He was able to cut himself to full seven Fury, and Siege was focusless.
Now this was Hexeris's moment of glory.
However MAT 7, P+S 14 isn't enough to crack Def 14 Arm 20 warcaster (Siege had Arcane Shield on from Journeyman). I guess that's okay, since it would've felt like cheating if Hexeris had pulled off such a weird victory by just standing in the middle of enemy army when every attack made against him just keeps failing. It's good enough for me if Siege just crapped his warcaster armour when he saw that Hexeris just turned around and said something cool like "And you're next."
This was probably the first time ever I saw Siege in melee for two full rounds, and no less than against a warlock/warcaster model.
Rufus performed the Kill and Play Dead tricks in this game.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Apocalypse Now
I finished a Silacoid for Deadzone plague as X-Com aliens project.
It's just a Barbie doll's shoulder joint and some green stuff. I really have no idea what it might represent in the actual game, because the only small based melee-only thing plague has is the plague hound - which is fast and die to an angry word. And Silacoid was the slowest alien in original X-Com and really tough. I guess it's just for the atmosphere.
Anyway.
I've been converting some Chryssalids too, and I used Mesaan Grunts from Hasslefree Miniatures for their head. Then I ended up with two torsos with only legs. Converting them to Spitters from X-Com apocalypse was pretty darn easy, and of course I had to do exactly that. The funnel head is green stuff and hands are from old plastic Games Workshop Vampire Count zombies. I probably won't do more Apocalypse aliens, because, well, they don't have that X-Com feel to them (though I did enjoy the game back in the days...)
As a side note... now I have all the aliens that Muton terror missions used for Deadzone. Whee...!
It's just a Barbie doll's shoulder joint and some green stuff. I really have no idea what it might represent in the actual game, because the only small based melee-only thing plague has is the plague hound - which is fast and die to an angry word. And Silacoid was the slowest alien in original X-Com and really tough. I guess it's just for the atmosphere.
Anyway.
I've been converting some Chryssalids too, and I used Mesaan Grunts from Hasslefree Miniatures for their head. Then I ended up with two torsos with only legs. Converting them to Spitters from X-Com apocalypse was pretty darn easy, and of course I had to do exactly that. The funnel head is green stuff and hands are from old plastic Games Workshop Vampire Count zombies. I probably won't do more Apocalypse aliens, because, well, they don't have that X-Com feel to them (though I did enjoy the game back in the days...)
As a side note... now I have all the aliens that Muton terror missions used for Deadzone. Whee...!
Friday, June 13, 2014
Asphyxious gets breached
Well.
I wanted to try out something new and weird, so I chose Lich Lord Asphyxious for the job.
We were practicing for a tournament that uses deathclock. We had 50 point lists, and mine was:
Lich Lord Asphyxious
- 2x Slayer
- Desecrator
- Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Banelord Tartarus
Darragh Wrathe
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Gorman diWulfe
Opponent had:
Siege
- Defender
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers + Officer
- Hunter
Rangers
Maximum unit of Storm Lances
Professor Pendrake
Epic Eiryss
Squire
Stormsmith Stormcaller
Journeyman Warcaster
Ragman
Rhupert, piper of Ord
Scenario was Process of Elimination.
Cryx started the game. All the pictures are really shaken up so they're probably quite a pain to look at. First picture, however, is from the end of Cygnar turn 1.
I decide to trade Nightwretch for the life of Eiryss and a couple other models. That could have been a good move, but I got greedy. That sweet elf soul looked so delicios to Asphyxious, so Asphyxious decided to drop his template over Eiryss and other nice fellows and cast boosted Death Knell, and decided to boost damage rolls instead of teleporting away. Well, at least Asphyxious got that particularly annoying elven soul to use next turn.
I though I'd be able to block most shooting with a cloud template from Gorman and three heavy warjacks. Siege would need to use Foxhole and Mage Sight both to get Line of Sight to Asphyxious if I placed things correctly.
Well, I didn't place things correctly.
Short story shortly: Siege advanced, used Breach, cast Mage Sight and nimbly got LoS to Asphyxious with both Siege and Defender.
Siege nearly killed Asphyxious, but Defender actually missed it's shot. Well, there was a jack marshalled Hunter still available. It dealt the final blow, and thus game was over at the second player's second turn.
After the game had ended we noticed that Mage Sight affects only battle group, and Hunter wasn't inside. However, Hunter could have most probably advanced as far to the right as possible and taken the same shot from there.
I wanted to try out something new and weird, so I chose Lich Lord Asphyxious for the job.
We were practicing for a tournament that uses deathclock. We had 50 point lists, and mine was:
Lich Lord Asphyxious
- 2x Slayer
- Desecrator
- Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Banelord Tartarus
Darragh Wrathe
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Gorman diWulfe
Opponent had:
Siege
- Defender
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers + Officer
- Hunter
Rangers
Maximum unit of Storm Lances
Professor Pendrake
Epic Eiryss
Squire
Stormsmith Stormcaller
Journeyman Warcaster
Ragman
Rhupert, piper of Ord
Scenario was Process of Elimination.
Cryx started the game. All the pictures are really shaken up so they're probably quite a pain to look at. First picture, however, is from the end of Cygnar turn 1.
I decide to trade Nightwretch for the life of Eiryss and a couple other models. That could have been a good move, but I got greedy. That sweet elf soul looked so delicios to Asphyxious, so Asphyxious decided to drop his template over Eiryss and other nice fellows and cast boosted Death Knell, and decided to boost damage rolls instead of teleporting away. Well, at least Asphyxious got that particularly annoying elven soul to use next turn.
I though I'd be able to block most shooting with a cloud template from Gorman and three heavy warjacks. Siege would need to use Foxhole and Mage Sight both to get Line of Sight to Asphyxious if I placed things correctly.
Well, I didn't place things correctly.
Short story shortly: Siege advanced, used Breach, cast Mage Sight and nimbly got LoS to Asphyxious with both Siege and Defender.
Siege nearly killed Asphyxious, but Defender actually missed it's shot. Well, there was a jack marshalled Hunter still available. It dealt the final blow, and thus game was over at the second player's second turn.
After the game had ended we noticed that Mage Sight affects only battle group, and Hunter wasn't inside. However, Hunter could have most probably advanced as far to the right as possible and taken the same shot from there.
Monday, June 9, 2014
InCurseon
Last Thursday I played a 35 point Warmachine game.
I'm currently stacking games for Morvahna the Dawnshadow, and my list was:
Morvahna
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Gorax
- Winter Argus
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Tharn Bloodweavers
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Reeve Hunter
2x War Wolf
Opponent had:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- 2z Deathripper
- Defiler
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Bane Thralls
Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrotech & Scrap thrall
Scenario was incursion, and Circle started. Fog of War is on, and Carnivore is on Wolves of Orboros just for giggles. Cryx took a risk in having heavy presence at middle and leftmost flag, and unluckily that didn't pay off. It was exactly the leftmost flag that disappeared.
A War Wolf runs to control the rightmost flag, and Wolves of Orboros make an awkward charge against Bane Thralls. Bloodweavers charge Deathripper, but only one of them actually gets the charge. One extra weaver runs into melee to provide gang bonus for the charger. Last and least War Wolf charges the Defiler, too. Damage wasn't too excessive, but Cryx was quite badly blocked from rightmost flag.
Next Deneghra advances an unleashes The Withering. All Circle warbeasts and Morvahna is under that dreaded feat, as is everything else except for about half of Wolves, War Wolf on the rightmost flag and Blackclad Wayfarer.
Damage in itself wasn't very bad, though Gnarlhorn Satyr was knocked down with Scourge and then a Bane Thrall charged the goat and took 4/5 of its damage boxes away with just one swing. However chances were that I'd lose all of my warbeasts next turn, or at least I was afraid of that.
War Wolf scored first control point.
So, why not go for the assassination? Satyr shaked off the knockdown, Gorax advanced and used Primal on Gnarlhorn Satyr and then Shifting Stones teleported the Satyr to Deneghra's back arc. Gnarlhorn had three Fury left to use, effectively MAT 8 with Primal and back strike bonus, but in Deneghra's feat.
Something felt amiss, though. I should have done something earlier, but I could not remember what. Gnarlhorn activates and starts beating Deneghra. Oh, right... Then I remembered. Gnarlhorn had lost both Body and Mind aspect. Thanks to Morvahna's re-roll Gnarlhorn was still able to land nine points of damage in, but damn it. I need to do some kind of big, visible neon sign tokens I can place next to my warbeasts that remind me of lost aspects.
Winter Argus froze a nearby Deathripper and prepared to die.
Gallows Grove teleported in middle of Bane Thralls with the unit attachment. Wolves of Orboros who weren't under the feat charged Bane Thralls and a Deathripper. Five thralls died.
Morvahna advanced 6" and then another 5" with light cavalry movement. She had stopped to upkeep anything and healed for six boxes, keeping one Fury left for transfers. I had already been way too greedy with re-rolls and used them where they weren't absolutely necessary.
War Wolf scores second control point.
Bane Thralls kill all of the Bloodweavers, so they wouldn't be coming back with Morvahna's feat any more.
It starts to be quite nasty situation for Cryx, so Deneghra goes for assassination. Now that Defiler had been dislodged from melee, it advanced to align some sprays Morvahna. First Venom deals seven damage, which Morvahna could still take in and not die. I don't remember if second spray hit or not or what was the damage dealt and where it was transfered, but Morvahna was still standing.
War Wolf scored third control point and Cryx scores first.
Next Morvahna just runs to dominate right flag, which gives scenario victory.
I did gain a huge advantage in the flags, and Cryx wasn't aggressively trying to contest the rightmost flag. But the attrition game was interesting, I almost would have liked to see how that would have turned out here. After all, I still hadn't been able to kill Tartarus, and I lost my heavy warbeast. All my serious hitting power was lying in the hands (or cleft spears) of Wolves of Orboros, and Morvahna still hadn't used her feat.
But again playing Morvahna left a little bit sour taste in my mouth. Mental mouth, that is. She has such a huge amount of tricks available to her - and not just some fluffy little gimmicks, no, they're all powerful tricks. This was just third game with new Morvahna, and I'm already hoping for some sort of nerf.
Heavy armour is probably difficult to handle with her, since she doesn't directly raise the damage potential of the army all that much. Sure, re-rolls do that too, but it's not a direct bonus to Strength or lowering armour of enemy models. Maybe I was just lucky with her in the game against the Protectorate, where she personally destroyed Reckoner and Arm 22 Reznik.
But I guess that's enough of complaining about the warlock I'm currently playing. I should be happy - not whiny.
I'm currently stacking games for Morvahna the Dawnshadow, and my list was:
Morvahna
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Gorax
- Winter Argus
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Tharn Bloodweavers
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Reeve Hunter
2x War Wolf
Opponent had:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- 2z Deathripper
- Defiler
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Bane Thralls
Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrotech & Scrap thrall
Scenario was incursion, and Circle started. Fog of War is on, and Carnivore is on Wolves of Orboros just for giggles. Cryx took a risk in having heavy presence at middle and leftmost flag, and unluckily that didn't pay off. It was exactly the leftmost flag that disappeared.
A War Wolf runs to control the rightmost flag, and Wolves of Orboros make an awkward charge against Bane Thralls. Bloodweavers charge Deathripper, but only one of them actually gets the charge. One extra weaver runs into melee to provide gang bonus for the charger. Last and least War Wolf charges the Defiler, too. Damage wasn't too excessive, but Cryx was quite badly blocked from rightmost flag.
Next Deneghra advances an unleashes The Withering. All Circle warbeasts and Morvahna is under that dreaded feat, as is everything else except for about half of Wolves, War Wolf on the rightmost flag and Blackclad Wayfarer.
Damage in itself wasn't very bad, though Gnarlhorn Satyr was knocked down with Scourge and then a Bane Thrall charged the goat and took 4/5 of its damage boxes away with just one swing. However chances were that I'd lose all of my warbeasts next turn, or at least I was afraid of that.
War Wolf scored first control point.
So, why not go for the assassination? Satyr shaked off the knockdown, Gorax advanced and used Primal on Gnarlhorn Satyr and then Shifting Stones teleported the Satyr to Deneghra's back arc. Gnarlhorn had three Fury left to use, effectively MAT 8 with Primal and back strike bonus, but in Deneghra's feat.
Something felt amiss, though. I should have done something earlier, but I could not remember what. Gnarlhorn activates and starts beating Deneghra. Oh, right... Then I remembered. Gnarlhorn had lost both Body and Mind aspect. Thanks to Morvahna's re-roll Gnarlhorn was still able to land nine points of damage in, but damn it. I need to do some kind of big, visible neon sign tokens I can place next to my warbeasts that remind me of lost aspects.
Winter Argus froze a nearby Deathripper and prepared to die.
Gallows Grove teleported in middle of Bane Thralls with the unit attachment. Wolves of Orboros who weren't under the feat charged Bane Thralls and a Deathripper. Five thralls died.
Morvahna advanced 6" and then another 5" with light cavalry movement. She had stopped to upkeep anything and healed for six boxes, keeping one Fury left for transfers. I had already been way too greedy with re-rolls and used them where they weren't absolutely necessary.
War Wolf scores second control point.
Bane Thralls kill all of the Bloodweavers, so they wouldn't be coming back with Morvahna's feat any more.
It starts to be quite nasty situation for Cryx, so Deneghra goes for assassination. Now that Defiler had been dislodged from melee, it advanced to align some sprays Morvahna. First Venom deals seven damage, which Morvahna could still take in and not die. I don't remember if second spray hit or not or what was the damage dealt and where it was transfered, but Morvahna was still standing.
War Wolf scored third control point and Cryx scores first.
Next Morvahna just runs to dominate right flag, which gives scenario victory.
I did gain a huge advantage in the flags, and Cryx wasn't aggressively trying to contest the rightmost flag. But the attrition game was interesting, I almost would have liked to see how that would have turned out here. After all, I still hadn't been able to kill Tartarus, and I lost my heavy warbeast. All my serious hitting power was lying in the hands (or cleft spears) of Wolves of Orboros, and Morvahna still hadn't used her feat.
But again playing Morvahna left a little bit sour taste in my mouth. Mental mouth, that is. She has such a huge amount of tricks available to her - and not just some fluffy little gimmicks, no, they're all powerful tricks. This was just third game with new Morvahna, and I'm already hoping for some sort of nerf.
Heavy armour is probably difficult to handle with her, since she doesn't directly raise the damage potential of the army all that much. Sure, re-rolls do that too, but it's not a direct bonus to Strength or lowering armour of enemy models. Maybe I was just lucky with her in the game against the Protectorate, where she personally destroyed Reckoner and Arm 22 Reznik.
But I guess that's enough of complaining about the warlock I'm currently playing. I should be happy - not whiny.
Friday, June 6, 2014
Done Oulu
Phew. This is the last write-up I need to do from my visit to Oulu and Vaasa. Ironically it was the very first game I played during that trip.
It was a 50 point Warmachine game, Circle versus Retribution of Scyrah. First I have to say two things:
1) The Retribution was gorgeously painted. My photography skills, however, don't do them justice.
2) The Retribution list was weird as hell.
So, my list was:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Feral Warpwolf
- Woldwatcher
- Winter Argus
Minimum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Ravager White Mane
Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer
Opponent had:
Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper
- Hyperion
- 3x Aspis
- Chimera
Arcanist
House Shyeel Artificer
2x Destor Thane
Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath
Scenario was Into the Breach. Retribution got the start and first picture is from the end of Circle's first turn.
Carnivore is on Wolves of Orboros, and Fog of War is too. On everything.
Next turn Kaelyssa casts Phantom Hunter on Hyperion, which starts to blast Feral Warpwolf, damaging it severely. Destor thanes try to shoot ravagers a bit, but they don't do much.
Skarath had been brought a little too forward and Blackclad Wayfarer was able to get Hunter's Mark on it, thanks to re-rolls from Morvahna. Pureblood Warpwolf tried to come and soften up Skarath a little with its spray, but a nearby Aspis took the shot instead. Three Wolves of Orboros get a charge against Skarath. Using Power Swell, the three of them actually killed the beast. Thanks to re-rolls from Morvahna.
Ravagers charge the Destor thanes, but only one gets into melee with them with pretty low damage output.
Then it's retribution again. Three light warjacks kill four Wolves of Orboros. Destors are really, really unlucky in killing Tharn Ravagers. Co-joined effort by Destors and a few stray shots from Hyperion kill only two. Kaelyssa used her feat here, giving Stealth to own army and denying my charges against models in her control area.
Next turn is miserable for Circle. I guess ravagers felt bad for Destors' poor performance and decided they shouldn't do any better, either.
White Mane advances to beat Dahlia, who had her toe within the control zone. Whoopsie. Cannot be targeted by melee attacks by living models, thanks to that horrible spell. So White Mane went and gave Dahlia a stern look.
And now Dahlia was in melee, so shooting her was out of question, too. Luckily I had Woldwatcher, who tried to smash Dahlia into bits. Despite all the re-rolls and whatnot, Woldwatcher mostly gave her a stern look, too. I even tried desperately to spray Woldwatcher with Blackclad Wayfarer, but no, Dahlia wouldn't go down.
Feral Warpwolf was pretty much going to die, so it warped for ghostly and walked next to an Aspis that had come to deal with Ravagers. Well, at least the warjack was wrecked. Feral had lost all but the spirit branch, which was fine because it managed to regenerate two points.
Pureblood wrecked another one. Then Wolves of Orboros tried to put a stick to Retributon myrmidons that were engaging them, but they didn't do too much. Winter Argus got a critical hit against Chimera and froze it in place, thanks to re-rolls from Morvahna.
Since I failed to bring Morvahna to healing range of Shifting Stones, the stones teleported to act as some sort of distraction for enemy.
Next turn Destors kill the Gallows Grove and Ravager chieftain. Hyperion smashed the Feral Warpwolf, and now the colossal myrmidon was inside the control zone. Nice.
I think Kaelyssa shot the Stone Keeper, and the two light jacks on the left continued to fight with Wolves of Orboros, not doing much. Picture from this is quite blurred.
Next turn Ravagers finally kill one of the Destors, but only one. Not two.
Though I checked Kaelyssa's card at the start of game, I had completely forgotten about Witch Hound. Blackclad Wayfarer advanced and sprayed Hyperion, catching the Arcanist behind. But then Kaelyssa advanced, and that was one of the critical mistakes I made.
Woldwatcher killed Dahlia now.
Spraying Winter Argus and Wolves of Orboros kill Aspis, but Chimera is still left with a few boxes. Pureblood decided to warp for Ghostly (there was a wreck marker in front of the beast) and trampled to Chimera. Aaaand... half an inch off from Morvahna's control area. This was another one of the critical mistakes.
I had been thinking of going for scenario game, but as the Chimera that had one foot in grave already stayed there contesting the flag, that plan just got that much harder to achieve. I believe I could have contested the control zone long enough to dominate points from flag and destroy the enemy objective.
Then Morvahna used her feat and brought back quite a few models, mostly to block Hyperion and to engage Kaelyssa. She advanced and moved with light cavalry deep into the woods on the left. She left two Fury left for transfers.
Then it's Retribution. First time (and at the worst time!) Hyperion succeeded to score a critical hit against a shifting stone. Boom. There went my screen.
Now Kaelyssa had only to survive a free strike from Ravager Shaman, which she easily did. After moving she cast Phantom Hunter on herself and started taking shots at Morvahna. Phantom Hunter made Kaelyssa see through the forest that I thought would have blocked view. Well, Kaelyssa had something from two to four damage boxes left. First shot was transfered away, spending fury was probably my third critical mistake, since I still hadn't learned to count Energy Siphon from Kaelyssa's weapon for my transfers. Energy Siphon steals a fury and converts it to focus for Kaelyssa just from hit.
So... the question is - can Kaelyssa miss twice in a row?
Of course she can, but chooses not to. If Morvahna the Dawnshadow falls in a forest with over 3" of forest all around her, does it make a sound?
It was a 50 point Warmachine game, Circle versus Retribution of Scyrah. First I have to say two things:
1) The Retribution was gorgeously painted. My photography skills, however, don't do them justice.
2) The Retribution list was weird as hell.
So, my list was:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Feral Warpwolf
- Woldwatcher
- Winter Argus
Minimum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Ravager White Mane
Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer
Opponent had:
Kaelyssa, Night's Whisper
- Hyperion
- 3x Aspis
- Chimera
Arcanist
House Shyeel Artificer
2x Destor Thane
Dahlia Hallyr & Skarath
Scenario was Into the Breach. Retribution got the start and first picture is from the end of Circle's first turn.
Carnivore is on Wolves of Orboros, and Fog of War is too. On everything.
Next turn Kaelyssa casts Phantom Hunter on Hyperion, which starts to blast Feral Warpwolf, damaging it severely. Destor thanes try to shoot ravagers a bit, but they don't do much.
Skarath had been brought a little too forward and Blackclad Wayfarer was able to get Hunter's Mark on it, thanks to re-rolls from Morvahna. Pureblood Warpwolf tried to come and soften up Skarath a little with its spray, but a nearby Aspis took the shot instead. Three Wolves of Orboros get a charge against Skarath. Using Power Swell, the three of them actually killed the beast. Thanks to re-rolls from Morvahna.
Ravagers charge the Destor thanes, but only one gets into melee with them with pretty low damage output.
Then it's retribution again. Three light warjacks kill four Wolves of Orboros. Destors are really, really unlucky in killing Tharn Ravagers. Co-joined effort by Destors and a few stray shots from Hyperion kill only two. Kaelyssa used her feat here, giving Stealth to own army and denying my charges against models in her control area.
Next turn is miserable for Circle. I guess ravagers felt bad for Destors' poor performance and decided they shouldn't do any better, either.
White Mane advances to beat Dahlia, who had her toe within the control zone. Whoopsie. Cannot be targeted by melee attacks by living models, thanks to that horrible spell. So White Mane went and gave Dahlia a stern look.
And now Dahlia was in melee, so shooting her was out of question, too. Luckily I had Woldwatcher, who tried to smash Dahlia into bits. Despite all the re-rolls and whatnot, Woldwatcher mostly gave her a stern look, too. I even tried desperately to spray Woldwatcher with Blackclad Wayfarer, but no, Dahlia wouldn't go down.
Feral Warpwolf was pretty much going to die, so it warped for ghostly and walked next to an Aspis that had come to deal with Ravagers. Well, at least the warjack was wrecked. Feral had lost all but the spirit branch, which was fine because it managed to regenerate two points.
Pureblood wrecked another one. Then Wolves of Orboros tried to put a stick to Retributon myrmidons that were engaging them, but they didn't do too much. Winter Argus got a critical hit against Chimera and froze it in place, thanks to re-rolls from Morvahna.
Since I failed to bring Morvahna to healing range of Shifting Stones, the stones teleported to act as some sort of distraction for enemy.
Next turn Destors kill the Gallows Grove and Ravager chieftain. Hyperion smashed the Feral Warpwolf, and now the colossal myrmidon was inside the control zone. Nice.
I think Kaelyssa shot the Stone Keeper, and the two light jacks on the left continued to fight with Wolves of Orboros, not doing much. Picture from this is quite blurred.
Next turn Ravagers finally kill one of the Destors, but only one. Not two.
Though I checked Kaelyssa's card at the start of game, I had completely forgotten about Witch Hound. Blackclad Wayfarer advanced and sprayed Hyperion, catching the Arcanist behind. But then Kaelyssa advanced, and that was one of the critical mistakes I made.
Woldwatcher killed Dahlia now.
Spraying Winter Argus and Wolves of Orboros kill Aspis, but Chimera is still left with a few boxes. Pureblood decided to warp for Ghostly (there was a wreck marker in front of the beast) and trampled to Chimera. Aaaand... half an inch off from Morvahna's control area. This was another one of the critical mistakes.
I had been thinking of going for scenario game, but as the Chimera that had one foot in grave already stayed there contesting the flag, that plan just got that much harder to achieve. I believe I could have contested the control zone long enough to dominate points from flag and destroy the enemy objective.
Then Morvahna used her feat and brought back quite a few models, mostly to block Hyperion and to engage Kaelyssa. She advanced and moved with light cavalry deep into the woods on the left. She left two Fury left for transfers.
Then it's Retribution. First time (and at the worst time!) Hyperion succeeded to score a critical hit against a shifting stone. Boom. There went my screen.
Now Kaelyssa had only to survive a free strike from Ravager Shaman, which she easily did. After moving she cast Phantom Hunter on herself and started taking shots at Morvahna. Phantom Hunter made Kaelyssa see through the forest that I thought would have blocked view. Well, Kaelyssa had something from two to four damage boxes left. First shot was transfered away, spending fury was probably my third critical mistake, since I still hadn't learned to count Energy Siphon from Kaelyssa's weapon for my transfers. Energy Siphon steals a fury and converts it to focus for Kaelyssa just from hit.
So... the question is - can Kaelyssa miss twice in a row?
Of course she can, but chooses not to. If Morvahna the Dawnshadow falls in a forest with over 3" of forest all around her, does it make a sound?
Thursday, June 5, 2014
Vanilla drips forever (Talisman)
Two games of Talisman were played in Oulu, one with four players and one with five players.
Game 1:
Characters were Wizard, Troll, Elementalist and Vampire Hunter.
Only a few pointers I remember from the game:
- Wizard was unlucky enough to perish on his pursuit of Crown of Command. New character was the Dervish.
- Elementalist seemed like he might win, but waited a little too long.
- Troll got stuck early in the middle space of Highlands. And he got stuck there for long. And of course he drew Craft 1 monster there, and lost to it many times in a row.
- Vampire Hunter was the first to reach Crown of Command, but then Troll got there too and smashed the hunter to bits.
Game 2:
Characters were Thief, Elementalist (again!), Amazon, Chivalric Knight and Gladiator.
Elementalist had some poor luck in the beginning and decided to avenge the Amazon. He died in the attempt, and new character was the Swashbuckler.
I have always been saying that maybe, maybe Thief is at least a little better character if there are at least five players. Well, truth be told, he was. Game didn't go horribly badly from him and he stole some good items, but he didn't really gain any Strenght or Craft points. Still he wasn't a very good character, but at least playing him didn't feel like a waste of time. Yes, I played him.
By a clever use of Toadify and winning Lord of Darkness by 8, Amazon flew to the Crown of Command early in the game. Other players had had very little progress, so it looked like a fast win for Amazon. Gladiator tried to challenge Amazon on the Crown of Command, but Amazon was dice +2 against him. Thief, too, died to influence of Crown of Command, but then there were the Swashbuckler and Chivalric Knight.
What seemed to be a fast win for Amazon turned out to be a game dragging on for all eternity. Swashbuckler and Chivalric Knight were exceptionally lucky in getting to the Chapel to heal themselves full. They could actually play this game, though there was a character on the Crown! Also after a nice start Amazon starte rolling 4+ very, very badly.
Random spell took all Amazon's gained Strenght away, so either other character might win the game if they only got to the Crown somehow. That never happened, not within the 2 hours the three characters were playing all by themselves. Finally Chivalric Knight's and Swashbuckler's luck ended - Knight was the first to go down, and the very next turn Swashbuckler bit the dust.
That was pretty anticlimatic and prolonged ending. We didn't use alternative ending because I thought with five players the game would take forever to play. I didn't really see it coming that the game took eternity to play nonetheless.
Game 1:
Characters were Wizard, Troll, Elementalist and Vampire Hunter.
Only a few pointers I remember from the game:
- Wizard was unlucky enough to perish on his pursuit of Crown of Command. New character was the Dervish.
- Elementalist seemed like he might win, but waited a little too long.
- Troll got stuck early in the middle space of Highlands. And he got stuck there for long. And of course he drew Craft 1 monster there, and lost to it many times in a row.
- Vampire Hunter was the first to reach Crown of Command, but then Troll got there too and smashed the hunter to bits.
Game 2:
Characters were Thief, Elementalist (again!), Amazon, Chivalric Knight and Gladiator.
Elementalist had some poor luck in the beginning and decided to avenge the Amazon. He died in the attempt, and new character was the Swashbuckler.
I have always been saying that maybe, maybe Thief is at least a little better character if there are at least five players. Well, truth be told, he was. Game didn't go horribly badly from him and he stole some good items, but he didn't really gain any Strenght or Craft points. Still he wasn't a very good character, but at least playing him didn't feel like a waste of time. Yes, I played him.
By a clever use of Toadify and winning Lord of Darkness by 8, Amazon flew to the Crown of Command early in the game. Other players had had very little progress, so it looked like a fast win for Amazon. Gladiator tried to challenge Amazon on the Crown of Command, but Amazon was dice +2 against him. Thief, too, died to influence of Crown of Command, but then there were the Swashbuckler and Chivalric Knight.
What seemed to be a fast win for Amazon turned out to be a game dragging on for all eternity. Swashbuckler and Chivalric Knight were exceptionally lucky in getting to the Chapel to heal themselves full. They could actually play this game, though there was a character on the Crown! Also after a nice start Amazon starte rolling 4+ very, very badly.
Random spell took all Amazon's gained Strenght away, so either other character might win the game if they only got to the Crown somehow. That never happened, not within the 2 hours the three characters were playing all by themselves. Finally Chivalric Knight's and Swashbuckler's luck ended - Knight was the first to go down, and the very next turn Swashbuckler bit the dust.
That was pretty anticlimatic and prolonged ending. We didn't use alternative ending because I thought with five players the game would take forever to play. I didn't really see it coming that the game took eternity to play nonetheless.
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
The Featless Ones
This one is actually the last game of Warmachine in Oulu, but I believe this one will be faster to write up than the other.
Anyway, it was a 35 point game.
My list:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Feral Warpwolf
- Winter Argus
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Ravager White Mane
Opponent had:
High Executioner Reznik
- Castigator
- Reckoner
- Repenter
Daughters of the Flame
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Hierophant
Saxon Orrik
Scenario was outflank and Protectorate got to start the game. Since we played quite late at night, the lightning wasn't too good for pictures without flash. Of course I didn't use flash and all the pictures are horribly shaken and stirred. I'm including only the least shaken picture to give some kind of impression of the board we used.
Game opening was when opponent under-estimated the 11" threat range of Wolves of Orboros. I, on the other hand, over-estimated it. Pureblood Warpwolf tried to go and remove a couple of Bastions, but it got only in melee with one. Because of that only two Wolves got to charge Repenter, maybe two Daughters of Flame were charged by Wolves and one or two got into contact with Bastions. Ah well. At least Repenter lost its flame thrower.
Castigator had run far into the control zone on left, and Reckoner was staying a little behind with Enliven on. That was pretty much a piece trade going on there, but I was worried because Pureblood was on right and only Gorax and Feral Warpwolf and a few solos were there to tackle two protectorate heavies.
Shifting Stones teleported Feral Warpwolf next to Castigator, warped for strenght and started beating. In my experience it's quite rare for a heavy to wreck another durable heavy in one activation, but this time Warpwolf did it's job. Scales of Fate from Morvahna most probably made the Castigator go away.
Well, it was no suprise then that Reckoner came and shooed Feral off the board with tha big baton. Bastions, who had Ignite from Reznik, almost killed Pureblood, too. It was left alive with, what, three or four damage boxes?
Next turn Gorax beats the Reckoner with all its fury, and then Morvahna charges it. That Life Trader is a bit excessive rule on the Dawnshadow, I dare say. She wrecked the Reckoner and backed off with light cavalry movement. Things didn't look so bad any more, though I lost Pureblood next turn, too.
Bastions and Daughters of Flame were duking it out with Wolves of Orboros with neither side being able to make the final push. Carnivore was on Wolves of Orboros so it didn't matter too much as long as they kept healing Morvahna.
Reznik goes all ballsy and whatnot next. He upkeeps Ignite, camps five focus and runs to left zone. Crap, crap, crap. There was now Arm 22 warcaster with what, 17 or 18 boxes? sitting on an objective, and I had lost all of my heavy armor cracking power. And he still hadn't used his feat to drain all Fury away from his control area.
Gorax tried to scratch Reznik a little, but all it managed to do was one point of damage in with all four Fury spent.
Well, what the heck. Morvahna charges in. Ram knocks Reznik down (why does Morvahna have easy access to knockdown when she can re-roll everything of importance?) and then Morvahna starts whacking the tank with her P+S 12 stick. Did I say Life Trader feels a bit excessive rule on Morvahna? Well, thanks to it Morvahna kills Reznik with last possible attack and with two damage boxes remaining (from re-rolls and Life Trader).
Damn it.
I love the mechanics of Morvahna the Dawnshadow, high risk high reward -play has always tickled me from the right spots, but when she has such ability to make whole army re-roll any unfortunate dice screw situations, does she really have to have such personal melee power too?
I wonder if I'm going to complain about Morvahna the Dawnshadow every time I play with her. We shall see.
Anyway, it was a 35 point game.
My list:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Feral Warpwolf
- Winter Argus
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Ravager White Mane
Opponent had:
High Executioner Reznik
- Castigator
- Reckoner
- Repenter
Daughters of the Flame
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Hierophant
Saxon Orrik
Scenario was outflank and Protectorate got to start the game. Since we played quite late at night, the lightning wasn't too good for pictures without flash. Of course I didn't use flash and all the pictures are horribly shaken and stirred. I'm including only the least shaken picture to give some kind of impression of the board we used.
Game opening was when opponent under-estimated the 11" threat range of Wolves of Orboros. I, on the other hand, over-estimated it. Pureblood Warpwolf tried to go and remove a couple of Bastions, but it got only in melee with one. Because of that only two Wolves got to charge Repenter, maybe two Daughters of Flame were charged by Wolves and one or two got into contact with Bastions. Ah well. At least Repenter lost its flame thrower.
Castigator had run far into the control zone on left, and Reckoner was staying a little behind with Enliven on. That was pretty much a piece trade going on there, but I was worried because Pureblood was on right and only Gorax and Feral Warpwolf and a few solos were there to tackle two protectorate heavies.
Shifting Stones teleported Feral Warpwolf next to Castigator, warped for strenght and started beating. In my experience it's quite rare for a heavy to wreck another durable heavy in one activation, but this time Warpwolf did it's job. Scales of Fate from Morvahna most probably made the Castigator go away.
Well, it was no suprise then that Reckoner came and shooed Feral off the board with tha big baton. Bastions, who had Ignite from Reznik, almost killed Pureblood, too. It was left alive with, what, three or four damage boxes?
Next turn Gorax beats the Reckoner with all its fury, and then Morvahna charges it. That Life Trader is a bit excessive rule on the Dawnshadow, I dare say. She wrecked the Reckoner and backed off with light cavalry movement. Things didn't look so bad any more, though I lost Pureblood next turn, too.
Bastions and Daughters of Flame were duking it out with Wolves of Orboros with neither side being able to make the final push. Carnivore was on Wolves of Orboros so it didn't matter too much as long as they kept healing Morvahna.
Reznik goes all ballsy and whatnot next. He upkeeps Ignite, camps five focus and runs to left zone. Crap, crap, crap. There was now Arm 22 warcaster with what, 17 or 18 boxes? sitting on an objective, and I had lost all of my heavy armor cracking power. And he still hadn't used his feat to drain all Fury away from his control area.
Gorax tried to scratch Reznik a little, but all it managed to do was one point of damage in with all four Fury spent.
Well, what the heck. Morvahna charges in. Ram knocks Reznik down (why does Morvahna have easy access to knockdown when she can re-roll everything of importance?) and then Morvahna starts whacking the tank with her P+S 12 stick. Did I say Life Trader feels a bit excessive rule on Morvahna? Well, thanks to it Morvahna kills Reznik with last possible attack and with two damage boxes remaining (from re-rolls and Life Trader).
Damn it.
I love the mechanics of Morvahna the Dawnshadow, high risk high reward -play has always tickled me from the right spots, but when she has such ability to make whole army re-roll any unfortunate dice screw situations, does she really have to have such personal melee power too?
I wonder if I'm going to complain about Morvahna the Dawnshadow every time I play with her. We shall see.
Follower lover (Talisman)
I'm writing up the last game of Talisman now that was played in Vaasa with three players. It's still relatively fresh in my memory.
Characters were the Grave Robber, Bounty Hunter and Sage. We used only the side board expansions this time.
Every character got a decent start, but the Bounty Hunter was above everyone. He got five gold early in game and went to city to get a flail. That he got, for free that is. Some lucky event let him take an item from armoury free of charge. Five gold were spent on magic ring. So we were looking at Strenght 6-7 Bounty Hunter with a flail at around turn 10.
Things evened out a little when Bounty Hunter picked up gremlin follower. Whenever he used an item, it would explode and cause a damage on 1-2, not work on 3-4 and gremlins explode themselves on 5-6.
Grave Robber on the other hand found a talisman straight out of adventure deck and some decent +2 strenght in battle weapon. Things took a turn for the worse for him, too, when he found probably the most horrifying follower ever that's in the whole damn game. Old Man of the Sea was the name, and it takes away your gained Craft and Strenght points at rate of one per turn! If you have none, then you lose life instead. You can get rid of him at the tavern and you gain the Craft and Strenght points lost from him, but... really? If you get that one early in game you have at most four turns to reach the tavern or you just die.
Luckily Grave Robber had one Craft point, and when he was trying to get to tavern he gained another.
Sage found some good items, but the game was more merciful on him. As we weren't using the day/night card it was a little annoying when he turned into a lycanthrope. I guess the sage didn't attract many disciples after that.
After such a random start where two characters almost died, game went on steadily. Grave Robber started gaining Craft and Bounty Hunter got rather disturbing amounts of Strenght. Sage almost didn't get to fight at all, though he had quite impressive fighting capability thanks to some good items.
Grave Robber tried to reach the Crown of Command first, and that put some pressure to Bounty Hunter. Well, I guess it put pressure on Sage too, but he had gained only one point of Strenght during whole game.
It looked like Grave Robber would inevitably win, because Bounty Hunter didn't even have a talisman when Grave Robber started rolling 4+ on the Crown.
Then amazing things started to happen.
Turn 1: Bounty Hunter defeats Eagle King and gets no other reward than Arnkell. That's one of the few items that speed up Inner Region immensely. Hunter teleports to lake of visions in the outer region and takes a quest to visit Cursed Glade.
Turn 2: Bounty Hunter lands on same space as Sage and gives Tricks and Treats to him and takes Phoenix potion in exchange.
Turn 3-4: Bounty Hunter reaches Cursed Glade, finishes quest and teleports to Warlock's Cave, gaining a Talisman.
Turn 5-6: Bounty Hunter reaches Plain of Peril.
Turn 7: Bounty Hunter uses Arnkell to teleport to Valley of Fire.
Turn 8: Bounty Hunter wins the game. He has 1 life when he enters Crown of Command.
Well, technically Bounty Hunter didn't win on turn 8, but because there was no chance to get even a draw and Sage had gained one Strenght and two Craft points now.
In turns 5-6 Sage also made a serious blunder in not remembering to check what card was there on the top of adventure deck. Of course it was the Tornado that could still have ruined Bounty Hunter's game, but instead it threw all the important items Sage had all over middle region.
Sage tried to cycle spells to get something that would affect the outcome of the game, but nothing came up.
Characters were the Grave Robber, Bounty Hunter and Sage. We used only the side board expansions this time.
Every character got a decent start, but the Bounty Hunter was above everyone. He got five gold early in game and went to city to get a flail. That he got, for free that is. Some lucky event let him take an item from armoury free of charge. Five gold were spent on magic ring. So we were looking at Strenght 6-7 Bounty Hunter with a flail at around turn 10.
Things evened out a little when Bounty Hunter picked up gremlin follower. Whenever he used an item, it would explode and cause a damage on 1-2, not work on 3-4 and gremlins explode themselves on 5-6.
Grave Robber on the other hand found a talisman straight out of adventure deck and some decent +2 strenght in battle weapon. Things took a turn for the worse for him, too, when he found probably the most horrifying follower ever that's in the whole damn game. Old Man of the Sea was the name, and it takes away your gained Craft and Strenght points at rate of one per turn! If you have none, then you lose life instead. You can get rid of him at the tavern and you gain the Craft and Strenght points lost from him, but... really? If you get that one early in game you have at most four turns to reach the tavern or you just die.
Luckily Grave Robber had one Craft point, and when he was trying to get to tavern he gained another.
Sage found some good items, but the game was more merciful on him. As we weren't using the day/night card it was a little annoying when he turned into a lycanthrope. I guess the sage didn't attract many disciples after that.
After such a random start where two characters almost died, game went on steadily. Grave Robber started gaining Craft and Bounty Hunter got rather disturbing amounts of Strenght. Sage almost didn't get to fight at all, though he had quite impressive fighting capability thanks to some good items.
Grave Robber tried to reach the Crown of Command first, and that put some pressure to Bounty Hunter. Well, I guess it put pressure on Sage too, but he had gained only one point of Strenght during whole game.
It looked like Grave Robber would inevitably win, because Bounty Hunter didn't even have a talisman when Grave Robber started rolling 4+ on the Crown.
Then amazing things started to happen.
Turn 1: Bounty Hunter defeats Eagle King and gets no other reward than Arnkell. That's one of the few items that speed up Inner Region immensely. Hunter teleports to lake of visions in the outer region and takes a quest to visit Cursed Glade.
Turn 2: Bounty Hunter lands on same space as Sage and gives Tricks and Treats to him and takes Phoenix potion in exchange.
Turn 3-4: Bounty Hunter reaches Cursed Glade, finishes quest and teleports to Warlock's Cave, gaining a Talisman.
Turn 5-6: Bounty Hunter reaches Plain of Peril.
Turn 7: Bounty Hunter uses Arnkell to teleport to Valley of Fire.
Turn 8: Bounty Hunter wins the game. He has 1 life when he enters Crown of Command.
Well, technically Bounty Hunter didn't win on turn 8, but because there was no chance to get even a draw and Sage had gained one Strenght and two Craft points now.
In turns 5-6 Sage also made a serious blunder in not remembering to check what card was there on the top of adventure deck. Of course it was the Tornado that could still have ruined Bounty Hunter's game, but instead it threw all the important items Sage had all over middle region.
Sage tried to cycle spells to get something that would affect the outcome of the game, but nothing came up.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Way too much to remember! (Gloom)
I was visiting friends in Oulu and Vaasa for about a week. I got to play a lot of different games, and I didn't have too much time to write the games up as they were played.
Well, luckily I got some pictures for Warmachine and some memo's about Talisman, but I also had Gloom with me.
Four games were played in total, and really... it's impossible to remember detailed stories what happened in the cruel and dark world of Gloom.
However, I'm trying to write something about them.
In Oulu I played two four player games with Unhappy Homes and Unwelcome Guests expansions.
First game had the Woeful Widow unwelcome guest, and later even that *%#* cat was unfashionably late from the party.
Families involved were the Blackwater Watch, Hemlock Hall, Artistes Le Canard Noir and the Malone Mob.
I have forgotten especially much from this game, but one very disturbing tale popped back into my mind. I would have rather forgotten that one.
Cousin Mordecai of Blackwater watch... I mean, the little kid... was seduced by a strumpet, and subsequently got married magnificiently. Once his bride died, he got married again.
Family of Hemlock Hall were the most victorious... I mean, the most miserable family of everyone involved.
Second game we had Artistes of Le Canard Noir, the Slogar Family, Malone Mob and Dark Dens of Deformity. We took two Unwelcome Guests in the second game, and they were Unhappy Holmes and the Poor Relations.
From this game I remember even less, except that the outcome was a draw between Malone Mob and Dark Dens of Deformity with 140 points each. That was the very first draw ever in my games of Gloom. I guess two families can live equally horrific lives, then.
Oh, except that there was quite an infighting in the circus for the place of ringmaster after Darius Dark died. The live members of circus were poisoning each other during Teatime Terror.
In Vaasa I got to play two games again, and they were three player games.
First game had Dark Dens of Deformity, Slogar family and the Hemlock Hall. Unhappy Holmes was the Unwelcome Guest of this game.
Samson O'Toole, the bearded man was trying to escape the law during whole game. That *(#¤ cat was unfashionably late again, this time for the circus. Darius Dark, the ringleader was first circus member to die, yet again. He took an overdose of morphine and disappeared into the fog, never to be found again.
Mr. Giggles, the skeletal clown was seduced by a strumpet, got married to her, but she died of disease during wedding ceremony. Whatever the disease was it took Mr. Giggles a few turns later.
Hemlock Hall scored a sad, sad victory in this game.
In the second game families were Artisted of Le Canard Noir, Hemlock Hall and Slogar family. That )@%& cat was the unwelcome guest this time.
It looked like Hemlock Hall would win yet again, because they got the cat and soon the cat was dead, and some other family member died miserably, too. Together they gave 95 points already.
Yucky things happened at the Slogar family. First the brains were boiled in a broth, and next the little Slogar kid fell ill from a foul meal... did she eat that broth? Well, doesn't really matter, since soon after she was eaten by bears. And, well, there is the teddy bear in Slogar family. I guess something went wrong in the tiny brain of the fluffy bear when beggars beat it earlier in the game. That's hars, faminished beggars taking their frustration to an innocent teddy. Though it wasn't innocent for long.
The naked model of the Artistes died early in the game, and, uh. That wasn't a pretty thing that happened there, either. The butler of Hemlock Hall turned out to have some special interest in Marie, and took off to foreign lands with her... late body.
Rousseau, the painter, made a career of painting some interesting pieces of art. First he was terrified of a special topiary he painted. Next he painted up some tigers, whose mere presence taunted him from the picture. Last but not least he painted a bog... and drowned there.
A bishop was a big fan of the androgynous actor Simon Simone and blessed him, and even gifted a dress for him. Bishop probably mistook the biological sex of Simon. Simon wasn't offended, though. On the very contrary, he found this dress to be a perfect chance to begin life anew. After all, at that point he was the last surviving member of his family. What a perfect time for a new identity. Simon was last seen on the coast.
This time it was Slogar family that won the game, and with that gorefest inside their family, I'm not too surprised.
Well, luckily I got some pictures for Warmachine and some memo's about Talisman, but I also had Gloom with me.
Four games were played in total, and really... it's impossible to remember detailed stories what happened in the cruel and dark world of Gloom.
However, I'm trying to write something about them.
In Oulu I played two four player games with Unhappy Homes and Unwelcome Guests expansions.
First game had the Woeful Widow unwelcome guest, and later even that *%#* cat was unfashionably late from the party.
Families involved were the Blackwater Watch, Hemlock Hall, Artistes Le Canard Noir and the Malone Mob.
I have forgotten especially much from this game, but one very disturbing tale popped back into my mind. I would have rather forgotten that one.
Cousin Mordecai of Blackwater watch... I mean, the little kid... was seduced by a strumpet, and subsequently got married magnificiently. Once his bride died, he got married again.
Family of Hemlock Hall were the most victorious... I mean, the most miserable family of everyone involved.
Second game we had Artistes of Le Canard Noir, the Slogar Family, Malone Mob and Dark Dens of Deformity. We took two Unwelcome Guests in the second game, and they were Unhappy Holmes and the Poor Relations.
From this game I remember even less, except that the outcome was a draw between Malone Mob and Dark Dens of Deformity with 140 points each. That was the very first draw ever in my games of Gloom. I guess two families can live equally horrific lives, then.
Oh, except that there was quite an infighting in the circus for the place of ringmaster after Darius Dark died. The live members of circus were poisoning each other during Teatime Terror.
In Vaasa I got to play two games again, and they were three player games.
First game had Dark Dens of Deformity, Slogar family and the Hemlock Hall. Unhappy Holmes was the Unwelcome Guest of this game.
Samson O'Toole, the bearded man was trying to escape the law during whole game. That *(#¤ cat was unfashionably late again, this time for the circus. Darius Dark, the ringleader was first circus member to die, yet again. He took an overdose of morphine and disappeared into the fog, never to be found again.
Mr. Giggles, the skeletal clown was seduced by a strumpet, got married to her, but she died of disease during wedding ceremony. Whatever the disease was it took Mr. Giggles a few turns later.
Hemlock Hall scored a sad, sad victory in this game.
In the second game families were Artisted of Le Canard Noir, Hemlock Hall and Slogar family. That )@%& cat was the unwelcome guest this time.
It looked like Hemlock Hall would win yet again, because they got the cat and soon the cat was dead, and some other family member died miserably, too. Together they gave 95 points already.
Yucky things happened at the Slogar family. First the brains were boiled in a broth, and next the little Slogar kid fell ill from a foul meal... did she eat that broth? Well, doesn't really matter, since soon after she was eaten by bears. And, well, there is the teddy bear in Slogar family. I guess something went wrong in the tiny brain of the fluffy bear when beggars beat it earlier in the game. That's hars, faminished beggars taking their frustration to an innocent teddy. Though it wasn't innocent for long.
The naked model of the Artistes died early in the game, and, uh. That wasn't a pretty thing that happened there, either. The butler of Hemlock Hall turned out to have some special interest in Marie, and took off to foreign lands with her... late body.
Rousseau, the painter, made a career of painting some interesting pieces of art. First he was terrified of a special topiary he painted. Next he painted up some tigers, whose mere presence taunted him from the picture. Last but not least he painted a bog... and drowned there.
A bishop was a big fan of the androgynous actor Simon Simone and blessed him, and even gifted a dress for him. Bishop probably mistook the biological sex of Simon. Simon wasn't offended, though. On the very contrary, he found this dress to be a perfect chance to begin life anew. After all, at that point he was the last surviving member of his family. What a perfect time for a new identity. Simon was last seen on the coast.
This time it was Slogar family that won the game, and with that gorefest inside their family, I'm not too surprised.
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