Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Cry like you have never cried before! (It just might save us...)

In attempt to try out something new, I tried out a theme list for Hexeris in a 50 point game.

Well, I got only to tier level of 1, because the following requirements are quite harsh. But the tier 1 bonus looked nicest anyway, since I'd be able to fill Agonizer in very first turn, and get all the upkeeps going on.

So, my list was:

Kingdom of Shadows tier 1
Lord Tyrant Hexeris
- Bronzeback Titan (soul slave)
- Cyclops Shaman
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Basilisk Drake

Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment (death march)
Maximum unit of Beast Handlers
Extoller Soulward
Ancestral Guardian
Agonizer

I was against Convergence of Cyriss.

Carrier Group tier 4
Iron Mother Directrix
- Prime Axiom
- Monitor
- Assimilator
- Mitigator
- Diffuser
- Corollary

Optifex Directive
+ servitors. Lots of different servitors.

Scenario was Rally Point. Convergence won starting roll. Tactical Supremacy was cast on Monitor.

Thankfully I had used tier list, because filling Agonizer with Fury was easy enough now even if I went second. Cetrati just ran forward, backed up by Krea who had her animus on. Hexeris put four Fury on Agonizer, cast Krea's animus himself, too, and left one for transfers. First Bronzeback ran, but I could not risk of losing Bronzeback so early. Absolutely nothing would severely harm the Prime Axiom if the titan died.

So. Cyclops Shaman ran to block any drags to Bronzeback.

Turn 2 Mitigator knocked down Bronzeback and Cyclops Shaman, and as a consequence Shaman was shot to pieces. Amazing number of Praetorian Swordsmen died too. At least Extoller Soulward got souls. To use, well, against Optifexes. I guess Aptimus Marketh would have been a better choice here, after all.

On my turn I royally screw up with Bronzeback. I had somehow been estimating that with three beat backs Bronzeback should be able to get to Mitigator, and perhaps even Monitor. But also I knew I had to destroy one of the servitors from the middle to get as long charge as possible. Elementary mathematics would have told me that it would leave me with only two beat backs, but it's been such a long time since I was in elementary school. That's my onle defense, really.

So, it'd be a miracle if Bronzeback survived now. But at least I'd make it as difficult for opponent as possible, and Agonizer with four Fury ran forward, catching all but assimilator and corollary within its cries of agony. Cetrati advanced in shield wall, and two or three got their toe to enemy zone.

Turn 3 Convergence beats Bronzeback and Agonizer down, but it takes pretty much all available arsenal to do that. Last few points to Bronzeback were actually shot by some eliminator servitors.

Praetorian Swordsmen lose all but their unit leader. Not that there were too many of them still alive, though.

My turn looks a little bit weird. I remember that my grand plan was to charge one of the servitors in my enemy zone, beat back two of them dead and shooting Soulfire to one hiding in the woods. Well, all this succeeded and Skorne got two control points from that.

But I can't remember what had done damage to Mitigator... Basilisk Drake shot the light vector down with his gaze, but surely not one POW 14 could one-shot a light warjack? Only possible explanation is that two POW 14's did exactly that, if I shot Mitigator one turn earlier with exactly the same drake.

Cetrati then charged, or only two of them charged and the rest ran to block Line of Sight to Hexeris. If I remember right they did some respectable damage to Assimilator, but not enough to make it useless.

Drake on the left wrecked another light vector. I don't know how, and I don't know why, but that's what it did. It's a bit shameful when Basilisk Drakes wreck more heavy armor than Bronzeback during a game.

Krea cast her animus, and then it was next turn.

Turn 4 Convergence attempts to assassinate Hexeris, but one of Prime Axiom's tow cables miss, so Hexeris was safe at least from melee assassination. I vaguely remember that some attack hit Hexeris and deal something like four points of damage, and after that Convergence just tried to beat the army down. But four Cetrati were the only models that died completely. I think that the Basilisk Drake on the right lost a branch or two, but nothing that a beast handler couldn't repair.

But again I was losing the attrition here. If Hexeris only managed to survive, I might have had chances of either wrecking all the heavy warjacks, or with some luck the colossal, but not both. Though it would have been hilarious to get to use Krea's flank with Drakes meaningfully probably the first time ever.

Thanks to Hexeris' beat back securing the control zone was very easy, just one attack at the Assimilator and Skorne was essentially at four control points. It was the undamaged objective that was the tricky one. So I put all firepower to the objective I possibly can. Hexeris even uses his feat! Then he casts Obliteration on the objective, and rolls absurdly high damage roll, which made things a lot easier. Hexeris also boosts damage against an Optifex Directive, who dies and turns into a zombie and goes to whack the objective. Zero damage. Yay, such a glorious feat!

But then there were one Drake I could get 100% sure within the range of the objective, and another that might be within the range.

Didn't have to see if the second Drake could have sprayed the objective, first one hit and dealt the few remaining damage points to it.

In some way Bronzeback Titan was essential in this scenario victory, too. It's sheer spite kept it alive for attack after an attack, which eventually forced a couple of contestors away from my enemy zone. Also if the servitor in the woods would have been an inch or two deeper in the woods none of this would have been possible, or at least unfeasibly difficult.

Of course I might have ran something close to the servitor and cast Obliteration on my own model and killing the servitor with blast damage, but. Eh.

Anyway, my love for tormented baby titans continues to grow. There's something in the cry of an Agonizer that puts even the cold, mechanical heart of convergence away from balance. Or perhaps it was the emotional scene itself, where Agonizer runs behind the Bronzeback Titan, crying pitifully: "Daaaddyyy! Don't gooo! You can't reach your target you'll just dieee! Nooooo!"

No comments:

Post a Comment