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?