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.