This game, however, was played just a day before I was off to Ropecon. I didn't quite manage to write it down then, and now I got seven games to write.
Game was a 50 point game against Cygnar, and my list was:
Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- Ripjaw
- Harrower
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Satyxis Raider Captain
Ogrun Bokur
Gorman diWulfe
Opponent had:
Epic Haley
- Ironclad
- Hammersmith (bonded)
- Thorn
Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers + Officer
Minimum unit of Field Mechanics
Aiyana & Holt
Epic Eiryss
Gorman diWulfe
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Journeyman Warcaster
- Hunter
Scenario was Close Quarters, and Cygnar started game. I guess scenario could have been worse, but still it was nasty that Haley got to start the game. Because she did, I tried to give some headache for Cygnar by running Satyxis Raiders who had Desperate Pace and Ashen Veil on full 16" to engage Cygnar and contest enemy flag.
Scything Touch was on Bane Thralls and Arcane Shield from Journeyman Warcaster on Hammersmith
Well, it did take most of Cygnar to remove the Satyxis, but that also meant that Haley didn't use her feat just yet. I had also hoped that one, or if we're crazy two Satyxis might have survived, but they all died. I had clumped them together and I was horrified when I remembered that Gorman diWulfe doesn't actually do blast damage with the acid bomb... Well, he missed badly, but that didn't save the Satyxis.
It was absolutely certain that Haley would use her feat next turn, so I tried to position my melee-only troops so that I could do at least something during my next turn. Satyxis Raider Captain ran to enemy flag, but she couldn't make it into base contact with it. Idea here was that something would need to waste attacks against her and not soften up main body of my army.
Harrower charged and killed Lanyssa Ryssyll.
Epic Haley uses her feat next turn. Sometimes world plays fair and makes things difficult for Epic Haley - the rest of the turn sees pretty amazing rolls for Cygnar in the sheer amount of 1's and 2's rolled.
Charging Hammersmith with four focus doesn't wreck Harrower and Gun Mages don't do any better. Only a couple of Bane Thralls die, and Gorman diWulfe tells yet another amazing story of taking four points in and not dying.
Haley herself dominates friendly flag, taking one control point.
Then it's Cygnar turn again, as only two Bane Thralls and Vociferon were left outside of Haley's feat.
Thankfully I had Helldivers in the list - at least I could get some hard-to-remove target to contest Haley's flag. In the end I decided to leave both Helldivers up to gain upper hand in attrition.
Asphyxious forfeited action and advanced a little and used his Feat. Even if I lost most of warjacks in my army, at least I'd have amazing number of Focus next turn.
Tartarus had been knocked down because of critical Thunder Bolt, so he forfeited movement to stand up, cursed Hammersmith and forfeited action to Haley's feat. We weren't entirely sure on the legality of this action, but it was quite inconsequantial to overall performance during that turn. Only one Bane Thrall got to charge Hammersmith, and another took a charge at Stormclad.
Rest of Cryx just advanced to engage various enemies. Harrower obviously attacked Hammersmith, but I don't remember if anything important broke down.
Dice were really hating Epic Haley that day, because Hammersmith with four focus fails to kill Harrower again. Though I believe it used a lot of focus to remove Bane Thralls from board.
Haley & co wrecked the Helldiver close to enemy Gorman diWulfe, and the other Helldiver was just outside of contest range, so Haley took another control point.
Then Asphyxious has 12 Focus. Just about every model I got charged or otherwise attacked Hammersmith, including Asphyxious himself. He cast Hex Blast on Hammersmith to remove Arcane Shield. And down the Hammersmith went, and Asphyxious was left with 5 focus to overboost powerfield.
A couple of Gun Mages died also, and Necrotech and Helldiver went to contest Haley's flag. Other than that not much happened.
As a response Cygnar just killed Necrotech and cast Telekinesis on Helldiver and scored third control point. Vociferon was too far away to contest flag.
Hunter comes to engage Harrower, though I'm not sure why. Probably to threat with a free strike - Harrower was most probably in a very bad shape by then. It starts to look like Cygnar just doesn't have enough attacks to remove Cryx from the board. One inch at a time Cryx lines advanced through anything Cygnar could throw against them.
Hunter dies, Thorn dies, Squire dies and there's only movement-less Ironclad and a handful of other models at Cygnar's side. It looked like Haley might be able to score fourth control point, but Cryx had finally advanced to the point that too many models could run and contest Haley's flag next turn. I don't remember where I wasted all 8 focus Asphyxious had that turn, but he advanced without any focus to embrace cover from a wreck marker. Since Ironclad could not charge I thought he was safe from just about anything.
Last ditch effort: Ironclad advances and uses Tremor special attack. It needs a natural 8+ roll with two dice. Four and four. Aww, crap! Asphyxious is knocked down.
Aiyana dropped Kiss of Lyliss on Asphyxious then, which essentially lowered Asphyxious' effective armor to 15. Could Asphyxious survive Journeyman Warcaster, two Gun Mage attacks and a few Arcane Bolts from Haley? With Ogrun Bokur taking one physical attack away?
Nope, no he did not. From the positioning it even looks like Haley killed Asphyxious with an Arcane Bolt. How humiliating.
Ironclad had at least lost Movement and open fist, I'm not sure if it had even lost Cortex. Anyway, I completely ignored it as a serious threat, I figured it might wreck Harrower and kill the Bane Thrall officer. Annoying oversight on my part.
So, it was my first game with Asphyxious the Hellbringer. Judging from one game he feels like he plays very differently from anything I've used to. If you want the juicy bonuses from either Mobility or Carnage, it forces you to take special care on the activation order. Also when you have to activate your warcaster early in the turn it might not be apparent where is the safest location to place him.
But that's it. Next will be some Ropecon fails with my Circle of Orboros.
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