Last two games of Talisman for this year were a four player game and a three player game.
First was the four player game, and characters were Knight, Vampiress, Priest and Prophetess. So there was some sort of a theme here, when everyone started from chapel except one player, who started in the graveyard. We played a revealed game variant "A Hero Rises" which
Knight went to Highlands right away, and there he picked up two monsters that caused extra damage before the fight. Due to a stand-off he didn't die yet, but during first fifteen turns or so Knight had died. New character was the Bounty Hunter.
Vampiress and Priest went to forest quite early in the game, but Titania's or Oberon's or someones gate teleported Vampiress to the space right before Treasure Chamber in the Dungeon.
Prophetess got stuck in the Highlands when there was a Talisman in an eagle's nest in the mountain pass space. Whatever she did, she just didn't land on the space. She did pick up amazingly good items and tossed enemies left and right as she drew them, so her Strength and Craft started soaring. At one point Prophetess did run through the Woodlands and got herself a wealthy destiny - whenever a player gained gold, she'd replenish fate. And because we had this game variant where you gained a Fate if you replenished when at maximum Fate, this destiny made for a nasty combo with Bounty Hunter. Bounty Hunter gains a gold whenever he wins a battle. Prophetess looked like a strong candidate for victory.
Vampiress took her chances in the Dungeon, but in the end it didn't pay off. She died there, and got replaced with Highlander. Bounty Hunter had had a good start even if original character died. Highlander also had a really good start, but this death happened in the middle stages of game, so it was a lot more punishing.
But yeah. Bounty Hunter was amazing, and gained both Talisman and enough fate to begin the race for Crown of Command. Well, this time it just couldn't be called a "race", since nobody else got into the Inner Region in time. Just a turn before Bounty Hunter reached the valley of fire, Prophetess encountered the Gong of War or something like that, which summoned a character from any region to battle her.
She chose Bounty Hunter.
And Prophetess was the same player who added some extra hours to the game length last time around at the very last possible moment. I guess she has a knack for these things.
So, the game continued.
Bounty Hunter, having both Talisman and enough Fate started a second run to the Crown of Command, all the while Prophetess desperately tried to get the Talisman from the birdie.
And there he was again. Just as he was reaching the valley of fire Prophetess cast a spell on him that removed all of his fate and gave them to Prophetess, which in this game variant meaned Bounty Hunter wouldn't be able to win the game, and had to slowly backtrack away from Inner Region.
Finally Prophetess got her Talisman, beat the Eagle King and teleported close to Portal of Power. Seven rounds later the game ended to the triumph of Prophetess.
Oh, and the Priest. I haven't talked anything about the Priest.
Well, Priest played entirely mediocre game with no real highs or lows. Only memorable thing was when he turned evil just a turn after he had cast the very same fate stealing spell Prophetess later used to win the game.
Game 2 (or 3?):
Last Talisman for the year started with a hidden ending, Amazon, Elementalist and Totem Warrior.
Statistically I was a bit bummed by Amazon and Elementalist, since they've had a lot of screen time. But at least we saw Totem Warrior make his entré.
Amazon had a rather hilarious start. No matter wherever she went, she picked up absurdly powerful magic weapons. So much so that she soon couldn't carry any items any more and started leaving magic weapons behind.
Elementalist also got a good start. He rolled a six from encountering the Reaper, and got turned into a lycanthrope from an encounter with the Werewolf. And it felt like the game was played in an eternal night, giving only bonuses to Elementalist and penalties for other characters. His progress was astonishing.
Totem Warrior was messing around in the Highlands and danced there for a long time with only one life remaining, and managing only stand-offs even against Strength 1 monsters. I guess Totem Warrior got all bad luck that should have been evenly distributed between players.
Soon it started to look like it was mostly a game between Elementalist and Amazon. Amazon thought it was a good idea to enter the Woodlands, since with two dice for movement she'd be able to dodge most of the more annoying spaces.
And just there was only about 30% left to go, she encountered a Fey Witch or something like that who rolled two dice for attack. If it rolled doubles, the character got turned into a toad. Double sixes.
Nice.
All the items she had dropped there, as did the followers. And worse yet - if the toad didn't move forward, it'd start fleeing the Woodlands and not be able to move forwards any more until it or she'd get out. Once Amazon finally turned back into a real person, she had only one chance to get her stuff back - by rolling a three for movement. And then she'd have to flee the entire Woodlands and abandon her path.
Amazon thought the items were better than the non-destiny reward of completing her path, and she did roll a three for movement. All items back.
One turn later she encountered the Toad King. Toad King turns your character into a toad for three turns and jumps three spaces counter-clockwise. If you encounter Toad King as a toad, your character gains either Craft or Strength.
But the horrible thing here was that Amazon had to dump all her items, and since she was fleeing the Woodlands, there was now absolutely zero chance of easily getting the items back. Perhaps after twenty turns or something.
Next space the Toadzon landed it encountered Dryad. Roll two dice, if the score is equal to or less than your Craft, you gain one Craft. If not, you're teleported to the forest space.
Really?
Twice in a row turned into a toad, then teleported away from your items and as an added insult being denied your prize of encountering Toad King again.
What a cruel way for fate to revenge the good luck at the beginning of the game.
Amazon never really recovered from such a crash land, and now there was nobody to challenge Elementalist unless he'd get his share of bad luck.
He didn't, and it was a victory for the Elementalist.
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
And the last adventurer was slain in the Magic Room
During visit to Kuhmo we also got to play one four player game of Dungeon Lords.
One player hadn't played the game before, so we didn't use Festival Season, but we also didn't play it entirely with beginner rules. We used random inaccessible orders at the beginning, but that was it. Though we did use additional rule of the three paladin variant - which mattered very little, as nobody triggered any paladins in either year.
First year special event we lost half of our gold, which wasn't too bad - except for one player who received three dead letters because of that.
Second year we had Monster Strike, which turned monsters face down if you didn't pay one part of the monster's wage.
Four players wreaked surprisingly little havoc when it came to orders phase. A player didn't get a minion on a location perhaps only twice during whole game, so I guess playing with three players is a bit more challenging in this matter.
This was also the first game we played the "build rooms" order correctly. Tee hee. I hope that's the very last rule that's been played wrong.
In the end scores were 21, 10, 7 and 1. So everybody got their dungeon builders permit again!
But this was the last game of Dungeon Lords for this year.
I need to figure out a better way to write the dungeon lords, I'll probably try to write up the exact order of tax day/pay day/special events for every season from now on.
One player hadn't played the game before, so we didn't use Festival Season, but we also didn't play it entirely with beginner rules. We used random inaccessible orders at the beginning, but that was it. Though we did use additional rule of the three paladin variant - which mattered very little, as nobody triggered any paladins in either year.
First year special event we lost half of our gold, which wasn't too bad - except for one player who received three dead letters because of that.
Second year we had Monster Strike, which turned monsters face down if you didn't pay one part of the monster's wage.
Four players wreaked surprisingly little havoc when it came to orders phase. A player didn't get a minion on a location perhaps only twice during whole game, so I guess playing with three players is a bit more challenging in this matter.
This was also the first game we played the "build rooms" order correctly. Tee hee. I hope that's the very last rule that's been played wrong.
In the end scores were 21, 10, 7 and 1. So everybody got their dungeon builders permit again!
But this was the last game of Dungeon Lords for this year.
I need to figure out a better way to write the dungeon lords, I'll probably try to write up the exact order of tax day/pay day/special events for every season from now on.
Monday, December 29, 2014
Best Christmas present ever
Just a day before Christmas we played a three player game of Talisman.
We used a random ending with a few most annoying ones removed.
Characters were Chivalric Knight, Tavern Maid and, well... the Alchemist.
Alchemist.
Such an annoying character that's all but bound to win any and all games he plays.
The other two players tried to balance out the Alchemist by targeting mostly him with any possible opportunities to kick another player in the knee. And for a moment it almost seemed to pay off - but then he picked up the Everfull Purse. Just what the Alchemist needs. If he doesn't have a gold at the beginning of his turn, he gains one.
Tavern Maid had a really good start, too. I don't remember any more what the items were that she got, but that didn't matter for long - she encountered the Leprechaun at the beginning of Highlands and got turned into a toad. Before she managed to get her stuff back, the Chivalric Knight picked them up.
For one reason or another Alchemist didn't start gaining Strength or Craft too much, and neither did anybody else. It was a slow start all over - don't know if some trips to the Woodlands caused that.
First Alchemist ran through the Woodlands board, but luckily didn't get a real Destiny. Only reward for him was to raise Strength or Craft.
Tavern Maid started grinding the Woodlands and during whole game managed to gain two destinies for herself, and even a magic object that essentially functioned as a destiny. And they all combo'd up.
I don't remember the complete horror, but it was something like that whenever another player rolled "1" for movement or lost a battle or psychic combat, she would replenish one dark fate. She was able to spend a dark fate to choose the result of a movement roll for anyone. One magic object gave her a fate if she started her turn without any. There was additional shenanigans involved, too, but those were the ones that came up most often.
Chivalric Knight managed to snatch Alchemist's Everfull Purse eventually, but by then all heroes got around 8-10 of either Strength or Craft, and so the race for Crown of Command began. Probably there were lots of memorable little happenings that I fail to remember, but game had already lasted for quite a while. Everybody was getting tired.
Alchemist was the first to try to enter Inner Region, and he had Craft 9. And somehow he managed to fail three times in a row to pass the Mines. By this time Tavern Maid and Chivalric Knight had got a bit scared that the Alchemist was running for victory, so both of them entered Inner Region too. Chivalric Knight was the last one to enter, but he had Cloak of Feathers. Before Chivalric Knight started stripping his clothes, Alchemist failed to pass Mines fourth time in a row with a roll of 6, 5, 5. To the tavern it was, then.
But game didn't end just yet, though Chivalric Knight teleported to Valley of Fire, and picked the ending next. Oh no. The game was just beginning, since the ending we got was "Spreading Flames", where every player dropped a fireland token at the start of turn.
And, well. Alchemist looked like the winner here, since he had easy healing available. And things didn't look any better for other players when he snatched Everfull Purse right back.
Tavern Maid had only dark fate, and she encountered Death and rolled one. The board was almost filled with fireland tokens, many spaces containing more than one token. Well, it had been a long game, but finally it'd be over.
Nope.
Chivalric Knight drew some kind of Ifrit enemy that removed all fireland tokens from current region. Gosh, looked like game just didn't want to stop.
So Alchemist and Chivalric Knight started to dance around the board again, trying to dodge the fireland tokens.
That one enemy unnecessarily easily added an extra hour to the game length, but the result was fully worth it.
Alchemist was left in the Outer Region that again had perhaps two spaces with no fireland tokens, and many spaces with two or more tokens. Chivalric Knight dodged the tokens and got his heals first twice from Chapel and then from Castle in the middle region. Final steps were that Chivalric Knight entered the black knight space that didn't have a token, and Alchemist had had to melt his Everfull Purse last turn to heal enough that he wouldn't have died. And then after over two hours of dodging the hot spaces Alchemist was not able to heal any more, and he lost.
Alchemist lost a game! Party!
We used a random ending with a few most annoying ones removed.
Characters were Chivalric Knight, Tavern Maid and, well... the Alchemist.
Alchemist.
Such an annoying character that's all but bound to win any and all games he plays.
The other two players tried to balance out the Alchemist by targeting mostly him with any possible opportunities to kick another player in the knee. And for a moment it almost seemed to pay off - but then he picked up the Everfull Purse. Just what the Alchemist needs. If he doesn't have a gold at the beginning of his turn, he gains one.
Tavern Maid had a really good start, too. I don't remember any more what the items were that she got, but that didn't matter for long - she encountered the Leprechaun at the beginning of Highlands and got turned into a toad. Before she managed to get her stuff back, the Chivalric Knight picked them up.
For one reason or another Alchemist didn't start gaining Strength or Craft too much, and neither did anybody else. It was a slow start all over - don't know if some trips to the Woodlands caused that.
First Alchemist ran through the Woodlands board, but luckily didn't get a real Destiny. Only reward for him was to raise Strength or Craft.
Tavern Maid started grinding the Woodlands and during whole game managed to gain two destinies for herself, and even a magic object that essentially functioned as a destiny. And they all combo'd up.
I don't remember the complete horror, but it was something like that whenever another player rolled "1" for movement or lost a battle or psychic combat, she would replenish one dark fate. She was able to spend a dark fate to choose the result of a movement roll for anyone. One magic object gave her a fate if she started her turn without any. There was additional shenanigans involved, too, but those were the ones that came up most often.
Chivalric Knight managed to snatch Alchemist's Everfull Purse eventually, but by then all heroes got around 8-10 of either Strength or Craft, and so the race for Crown of Command began. Probably there were lots of memorable little happenings that I fail to remember, but game had already lasted for quite a while. Everybody was getting tired.
Alchemist was the first to try to enter Inner Region, and he had Craft 9. And somehow he managed to fail three times in a row to pass the Mines. By this time Tavern Maid and Chivalric Knight had got a bit scared that the Alchemist was running for victory, so both of them entered Inner Region too. Chivalric Knight was the last one to enter, but he had Cloak of Feathers. Before Chivalric Knight started stripping his clothes, Alchemist failed to pass Mines fourth time in a row with a roll of 6, 5, 5. To the tavern it was, then.
But game didn't end just yet, though Chivalric Knight teleported to Valley of Fire, and picked the ending next. Oh no. The game was just beginning, since the ending we got was "Spreading Flames", where every player dropped a fireland token at the start of turn.
And, well. Alchemist looked like the winner here, since he had easy healing available. And things didn't look any better for other players when he snatched Everfull Purse right back.
Tavern Maid had only dark fate, and she encountered Death and rolled one. The board was almost filled with fireland tokens, many spaces containing more than one token. Well, it had been a long game, but finally it'd be over.
Nope.
Chivalric Knight drew some kind of Ifrit enemy that removed all fireland tokens from current region. Gosh, looked like game just didn't want to stop.
So Alchemist and Chivalric Knight started to dance around the board again, trying to dodge the fireland tokens.
That one enemy unnecessarily easily added an extra hour to the game length, but the result was fully worth it.
Alchemist was left in the Outer Region that again had perhaps two spaces with no fireland tokens, and many spaces with two or more tokens. Chivalric Knight dodged the tokens and got his heals first twice from Chapel and then from Castle in the middle region. Final steps were that Chivalric Knight entered the black knight space that didn't have a token, and Alchemist had had to melt his Everfull Purse last turn to heal enough that he wouldn't have died. And then after over two hours of dodging the hot spaces Alchemist was not able to heal any more, and he lost.
Alchemist lost a game! Party!
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Bi-Polar Dungeon Lord
So, my bi-annual trip to visit my parents started only a few days ago, and already it has yielded two three player games of Dungeon Lords.
First time around we only added into the soup all easily integrated parts of "Festival Season" expansion (that is - monsters, bards, rooms, special events) since it's been a while when any of us played Dungeon Lords.
And did it show!
I messed up completely my finances, though the yellow guy is to be blamed a little here, too. I didn't have any food or money available during second year (except for taxes), so my only defense against leveled up adventurers during second year was a lone demon. No other monsters, traps, or anything.
Special Events screwed every player up. First year we had Witch Hunt (remove one of your monsters or gain 3 evil) and second year was Impatient Heroes (various highly annoying effects from adventurers you get that season).
Two players got some dead letters, but I avoided them like a plague. One of the letters was received from using the plague trap, heh.
Only one player got to use new monsters (the cocatrice), and only two bards showed up, both years combined. Nobody triggered paladin even if there was this Witch Hunt.
It was a real struggle for every player, a minimum of five squares was conquered from all players, and the final scores weren't too shabby, either.
Winner scored six points despite having three dead letters.
Second player scored five, and last player scored the loneliest number of points - but still got the dungeon lord's permit!
Game 2:
Second game we played we used all the components of Festival Season expansion. I find it somehow fitting that this happened only a couple of days before Christmas.
Since nobody has played the game extensively, it was bound to happen that the game went into full chaos.
First year we all managed quite well. This was probably due to special events not being too punishing - first we got Rats when nobody had over one food token, and the last one was A Scout at the Entrance, but everybody had a trap for the scout.
I got myself a Cocatrice with +2 attack modifier from the Unique Opportunity.
The unique opportunity (bank gold farm) ruined my first year Tax day, and as a result I got two Dead Letters when nobody else had those. I didn't have a gold to put into the farm.
First year I got a vampire and the aforementioned cocatrice as my monsters. At this point my play style could be described as "bi-polar", since at the end of first year I was as good as it can get: lowest of the lowest on the Evil-O-Meter.
But then first two seasons next year I purchased a ghost and a dragon before it was pay day... So that's effectively a nine step rise. At that point I just stopped caring. And I also had some wild dreams of getting the dwarf paladin to visit my dungeon. And that looked like a very real possibility, when the Masquerade unique opportunity was revealed to be the very last unique opportunity in the whole game...
Two special events were the Earthquake and Danse Macabre. Har har. Danse Macabre with six monsters. Last year I'd have a guaranteed rise of +15 in the Evil-o-Meter, before taking into account possible additions from Masquerade. I've never felt so good. I mean... I've never felt so evil.
Thanks to Masquerade every other player (well, except for the yellow idiot) (I don't usually speak bad of other players, but yellow was a non-player character, so it's okay) got over the Paladin space on Evil-o-Meter, too. So I got the dwarf. Just as I planned. Damn, I've never felt the idea of growing any kind of mustache, but in situations like these it would be so lovely to get to twirl.
Then it's the last quarter of the game, the fight round of year two.
One of the players is whining excessively and ready to flip all her dungeon tiles over because she would just get her ass kicked with no possibility to survive. I don't usually speak of other players in a bad tone, but she was my little sis, so it's okay.
I don't remember too well how the other two players did, because I was so immersed in my own nefarious plots.
First the Paladin eats a poisoned meal, and then dart of madness causes the warriow right behind of the paladen to strike him for three damage. Who knew getting rid of paladins could be so simple?
In the end the adventuring party of two bards, a wizard, warrior and a palading conquered only two tiles.
Having played such a successful second year I was rather certain I had won - especially when I compared my points to those we had scored a day earlier. I had scored twenty one points.
Final scores were:
Winner: 30
Second: 21
Third: 11
Damn you, sis... Damn you!
First time around we only added into the soup all easily integrated parts of "Festival Season" expansion (that is - monsters, bards, rooms, special events) since it's been a while when any of us played Dungeon Lords.
And did it show!
I messed up completely my finances, though the yellow guy is to be blamed a little here, too. I didn't have any food or money available during second year (except for taxes), so my only defense against leveled up adventurers during second year was a lone demon. No other monsters, traps, or anything.
Special Events screwed every player up. First year we had Witch Hunt (remove one of your monsters or gain 3 evil) and second year was Impatient Heroes (various highly annoying effects from adventurers you get that season).
Two players got some dead letters, but I avoided them like a plague. One of the letters was received from using the plague trap, heh.
Only one player got to use new monsters (the cocatrice), and only two bards showed up, both years combined. Nobody triggered paladin even if there was this Witch Hunt.
It was a real struggle for every player, a minimum of five squares was conquered from all players, and the final scores weren't too shabby, either.
Winner scored six points despite having three dead letters.
Second player scored five, and last player scored the loneliest number of points - but still got the dungeon lord's permit!
Game 2:
Second game we played we used all the components of Festival Season expansion. I find it somehow fitting that this happened only a couple of days before Christmas.
Since nobody has played the game extensively, it was bound to happen that the game went into full chaos.
First year we all managed quite well. This was probably due to special events not being too punishing - first we got Rats when nobody had over one food token, and the last one was A Scout at the Entrance, but everybody had a trap for the scout.
I got myself a Cocatrice with +2 attack modifier from the Unique Opportunity.
The unique opportunity (bank gold farm) ruined my first year Tax day, and as a result I got two Dead Letters when nobody else had those. I didn't have a gold to put into the farm.
First year I got a vampire and the aforementioned cocatrice as my monsters. At this point my play style could be described as "bi-polar", since at the end of first year I was as good as it can get: lowest of the lowest on the Evil-O-Meter.
But then first two seasons next year I purchased a ghost and a dragon before it was pay day... So that's effectively a nine step rise. At that point I just stopped caring. And I also had some wild dreams of getting the dwarf paladin to visit my dungeon. And that looked like a very real possibility, when the Masquerade unique opportunity was revealed to be the very last unique opportunity in the whole game...
Two special events were the Earthquake and Danse Macabre. Har har. Danse Macabre with six monsters. Last year I'd have a guaranteed rise of +15 in the Evil-o-Meter, before taking into account possible additions from Masquerade. I've never felt so good. I mean... I've never felt so evil.
Thanks to Masquerade every other player (well, except for the yellow idiot) (I don't usually speak bad of other players, but yellow was a non-player character, so it's okay) got over the Paladin space on Evil-o-Meter, too. So I got the dwarf. Just as I planned. Damn, I've never felt the idea of growing any kind of mustache, but in situations like these it would be so lovely to get to twirl.
Then it's the last quarter of the game, the fight round of year two.
One of the players is whining excessively and ready to flip all her dungeon tiles over because she would just get her ass kicked with no possibility to survive. I don't usually speak of other players in a bad tone, but she was my little sis, so it's okay.
I don't remember too well how the other two players did, because I was so immersed in my own nefarious plots.
First the Paladin eats a poisoned meal, and then dart of madness causes the warriow right behind of the paladen to strike him for three damage. Who knew getting rid of paladins could be so simple?
In the end the adventuring party of two bards, a wizard, warrior and a palading conquered only two tiles.
Having played such a successful second year I was rather certain I had won - especially when I compared my points to those we had scored a day earlier. I had scored twenty one points.
Final scores were:
Winner: 30
Second: 21
Third: 11
Damn you, sis... Damn you!
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Forge Master vs Void Seer
This game also dates a couple of weeks back.
I continued to play with Mordikaar, and I was against Convergence of Cyriss.
It was a 50 point game, and my list was a copy of one of my earlier lists... Shocking, I know. I never do that.
Void Seer Mordikaar
- Bronzeback Titan
- Archidon
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit
Saxon Orrik
Opponent had (or at least I think I got the list right... so many vectors again):
The Great Machine tier 4
Forge Master Syntherion
- Assimilator
- Cipher
- Monitor
- 2x Modulator
- 2x Diffuser
- Mitigator
- Corollary
- Free Galvanizer
Optifex Directive
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex
Accretion Servitors
Attunement Servitors
Scenario was Destruction, which looked rather challenging on this board! Flayer Cannon and Dominar Rasheth act as the objectives in this game because I forgot to take my usual objectives with me.
Convergence started game, and first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 1.
Syntherion had his usual set of Synergy, Reconstruct and Hot Shot going on, thanks to tier bonuses. Reconstruct was on one of the Modulators, and Hot Shot was on Cipher.
Skorne had Banishing Ward on Cetrati and Hollow on Praetorian Swordsmen.
Turn 2 Convergence casts Magnetic Hold on Praetorian Swordsmen and kills one Cetrati and a void spirit.
Mordikaar uses his feat and tries to rush forward with entire army. Cataphract Cetrati charge various vectors on the left, and Archidon flies straight to the ruins against a modulator. Bronzeback Titan backs up the flying reptile. Magnetic Hold on Praetorian Swordsmen was a costly affair. Aptimus Marketh cast Banishing Ward on them, and then Mordikaar cast Hollow right back. Anyway, the Swordsmen and two Reptile Hound clog the right side of the board. Skorne didn't do much in terms of casualties, but hopefully +3 def would have some effect.
Turn 3 Syntherion replies with his own feat, but that +3 defense is a tough one. Only a couple of Cetrati die plus ton of Swordsmen, but they just turn into souls for Mordikaar. I think Archidon took a few nasty hits and was left with only about 20% of damage boxes left.
The ruins in the middle make for rather confined battleground, so I decide that Archidon is dead anyway, so it flies over the Modulator and takes a free strike - which doesn't hit. Nice. Then Archidon tickles Cipher a bit. Bronzeback Titan comes and mauls Modulator with just initial attacks, but damn. Exactly this Modulator was the one with Reconstruct. And it popped up from behind of Bronzeback Titan.
Mordikaar brought back at least two Cetrati, one of which was dedicated to take out the reconstructed Modulator, and thankfully it succeeded.
Three charge attacks and a Basilisk Krea was enough to wreck the Assimilator (one charge attack had come a turn earlier).
Turn 4 Convergence killed Archidon, Basilisk Krea and I think even one Reptile Hound, which was kind of a bad thing. Just a while ago situation had looked so good. After all, Skorne infantry is the very definition of "disposable" with Mordikaar.
But I still got my Bronzeback, who single-handedly goes and wrecks Cipher and the enemy objective. Praetorian Swordsmen gang up on Monitor and deal one point of damage with precision strikes. Last Reptile Hound tries to come and finish it, but there's only so much P+S 8 can do.
Turn 5 Convergence finishes off all Cetrati, which is kind of a harsh blow. Only real heavy hitter was now the Bronzeback Titan - and opponent still had tons of warjacks. Granted, none of them seemed to have the hitting power to easily kill Bronzeback either! But I'd be losing that attrition thanks to Reconstruct.
Swordsmen still aren't able to finish off Monitor, who in turn scores a hit on the last remaining Reptile Hound, killing it. Random assassination, here I come! No other chance any more, really.
Wall of steel starts to form up right in front of Bronzeback, who impatiently waits some reinforcements from Praetorians. But they're a turn too late in any case, and finally Bronzeback falls down, succumbing to the terrible amount of low-powered attacks slewn at it. By then the Swordsmen have arrived, but there is a wall with see-through windows in-between them and enemy forces.
With two Revives and a Ghost Walk from Aptimus Marketh... would two Praetorian Swordsmen kill uninjured enemy warcaster with two P+S 12 boosted attacks?
No.
So Convergence now needs only to mop up the battlefield from last remaining Skorne models. They fail to kill Mordikaar, who just manages to cut himself down to one hit box remaining and get full Fury for one last turn. He casts Ghost Walk on himself, charges Corollary, and... well. That's it. There was now a Furyless warlock with only one hit point sitting in the middle of enemy warjacks.
I continued to play with Mordikaar, and I was against Convergence of Cyriss.
It was a 50 point game, and my list was a copy of one of my earlier lists... Shocking, I know. I never do that.
Void Seer Mordikaar
- Bronzeback Titan
- Archidon
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit
Saxon Orrik
Opponent had (or at least I think I got the list right... so many vectors again):
The Great Machine tier 4
Forge Master Syntherion
- Assimilator
- Cipher
- Monitor
- 2x Modulator
- 2x Diffuser
- Mitigator
- Corollary
- Free Galvanizer
Optifex Directive
Accretion Servitors
Attunement Servitors
Scenario was Destruction, which looked rather challenging on this board! Flayer Cannon and Dominar Rasheth act as the objectives in this game because I forgot to take my usual objectives with me.
Convergence started game, and first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 1.
Syntherion had his usual set of Synergy, Reconstruct and Hot Shot going on, thanks to tier bonuses. Reconstruct was on one of the Modulators, and Hot Shot was on Cipher.
Skorne had Banishing Ward on Cetrati and Hollow on Praetorian Swordsmen.
Turn 2 Convergence casts Magnetic Hold on Praetorian Swordsmen and kills one Cetrati and a void spirit.
Mordikaar uses his feat and tries to rush forward with entire army. Cataphract Cetrati charge various vectors on the left, and Archidon flies straight to the ruins against a modulator. Bronzeback Titan backs up the flying reptile. Magnetic Hold on Praetorian Swordsmen was a costly affair. Aptimus Marketh cast Banishing Ward on them, and then Mordikaar cast Hollow right back. Anyway, the Swordsmen and two Reptile Hound clog the right side of the board. Skorne didn't do much in terms of casualties, but hopefully +3 def would have some effect.
Turn 3 Syntherion replies with his own feat, but that +3 defense is a tough one. Only a couple of Cetrati die plus ton of Swordsmen, but they just turn into souls for Mordikaar. I think Archidon took a few nasty hits and was left with only about 20% of damage boxes left.
The ruins in the middle make for rather confined battleground, so I decide that Archidon is dead anyway, so it flies over the Modulator and takes a free strike - which doesn't hit. Nice. Then Archidon tickles Cipher a bit. Bronzeback Titan comes and mauls Modulator with just initial attacks, but damn. Exactly this Modulator was the one with Reconstruct. And it popped up from behind of Bronzeback Titan.
Mordikaar brought back at least two Cetrati, one of which was dedicated to take out the reconstructed Modulator, and thankfully it succeeded.
Three charge attacks and a Basilisk Krea was enough to wreck the Assimilator (one charge attack had come a turn earlier).
Turn 4 Convergence killed Archidon, Basilisk Krea and I think even one Reptile Hound, which was kind of a bad thing. Just a while ago situation had looked so good. After all, Skorne infantry is the very definition of "disposable" with Mordikaar.
But I still got my Bronzeback, who single-handedly goes and wrecks Cipher and the enemy objective. Praetorian Swordsmen gang up on Monitor and deal one point of damage with precision strikes. Last Reptile Hound tries to come and finish it, but there's only so much P+S 8 can do.
Turn 5 Convergence finishes off all Cetrati, which is kind of a harsh blow. Only real heavy hitter was now the Bronzeback Titan - and opponent still had tons of warjacks. Granted, none of them seemed to have the hitting power to easily kill Bronzeback either! But I'd be losing that attrition thanks to Reconstruct.
Swordsmen still aren't able to finish off Monitor, who in turn scores a hit on the last remaining Reptile Hound, killing it. Random assassination, here I come! No other chance any more, really.
Wall of steel starts to form up right in front of Bronzeback, who impatiently waits some reinforcements from Praetorians. But they're a turn too late in any case, and finally Bronzeback falls down, succumbing to the terrible amount of low-powered attacks slewn at it. By then the Swordsmen have arrived, but there is a wall with see-through windows in-between them and enemy forces.
With two Revives and a Ghost Walk from Aptimus Marketh... would two Praetorian Swordsmen kill uninjured enemy warcaster with two P+S 12 boosted attacks?
No.
So Convergence now needs only to mop up the battlefield from last remaining Skorne models. They fail to kill Mordikaar, who just manages to cut himself down to one hit box remaining and get full Fury for one last turn. He casts Ghost Walk on himself, charges Corollary, and... well. That's it. There was now a Furyless warlock with only one hit point sitting in the middle of enemy warjacks.
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Sold to the pits
Last Thursday my Carnival of Chaos played three games. And how terrible games they were.
I wonder why it is that every time I go to play Mordheim, I haven't slept, like, at all. Ever.
So this is why I'm writing these Mordheim games first, though I still have one Warmachine game to write up that was played earlier. But I need to do this quick or I'll forget just about everything.
Anyway, first game was against Reiklanders warband.
I only have one decent picture from this game, so it will have to do.
Scenario was surprise attack, and I rolled really good for warriors who started the game on board. Only one brute, tainted one and brethren hero started off board. Nice, I thought. But then I had to deploy all of the warriors so that nobody was within 8" of another... not so nice.
I had taken chances with the double handed weapon wielding brute and deployed it close to one of the table edges with no lesser models acting as buffers. Of course Reiklanders randomly started just from that table edge.
Reiklanders' start was a bit underwhelming, though their archers got nasty positions in a tower, and other warriors had clear charge lane to the double handed weapon brute.
The brute survived an attack of four enemies, though he stunned only two of them. Then he failed his "all alone" test and took a run, provoking two automatically hitting attacks. And yet he survived even those.
What he didn't survive was a rally check, and he ran off the board.
Joker (hideous + cloud of flies) Tainted One and flail wielding brute showed up on my next turn, and from a random board edge - which was the very same edge Reiklanders started. So it was some sort of double-surprise attack?
Joker charged the two stunned Reiklanders and put them out of their misery. Flail guy killed another Reiklander
So things looked pretty good - Reiklanders managed to take down only two nurglings, which wasn't enough to cause a rout check.
But then the downfall began. On my very own turn, even. Flail guy turns into a fail guy and knocks himself down in combat. I don't remember what happened to the joker, except that he didn't get any kills either. My last hero didn't show up even this turn.
Reiklanders then kill both the flailer and the joker, and even a poor little nurgling. Things went horribly bad in very rapid succession. Voluntary rout it was.
When I started rolling for injuries, I almost cried when I rolled 1 for tens for flail brute. But then I was relieved when I rolled 6 for ones, meaning brute didn't die, but suffered multiple injuries. Then I almost cried again when I rolled SIX additional injuries. What an emotional rollercoaster.
Brute rolled bitter enmity (Reiklander warbands), which was good. And then he rolled four full recoveries. So I was again quite relieved. But then the last was "sold to the pits", and the pit fighter brutally mauled him. And again to roll injuries... Deep wound, miss one next game. Phew.
He also got a skill advance, which was Step Aside.
My new and improved Tainted One rolled a leg wound (-1 M), and I had a vision of converting a clown on a pogo stick... but anyway. That sucks.
Brethren hero raised his Ballistic Skill.
I think two nurglings died out of three taken out of action, but I bought them right back.
As an added insult one of the Reiklanders was sold to the pits, too. And won.
Game 2:
Second game was against a Possessed warband, and a terrifying warband it was. Scenario was Skirmish.
I managed to arrange nice little bottleneck to the middle with a nurgling. Probably the best hero of the Possessed got stuck there.
Double handed weapon brute merrily charged in to the thick of Possessed henchmen - backed up with a couple of nurglings and arrows from my own henchmen and heroes.
I remember I rolled five dice for exploration, so one of the heroes must have been taken out of action. I don't remember who it was, but enough nurglings plus the hero died, so I took my leave voluntarily. My reasoning behind this was that I sorely needed some cash, and didn't want to risk losing any more exploration dice against melee monsters of Possessed.
With five dice I find two shards. Whee...
Two handed weapon brute rolled an extra point of leadership. Yay.
The new Tainted One rolled an extra skill, and I decided to take Sprint to make up for the loss of a leg.
Another Tainted One rolled extra Initiative.
I think two nurglings died again, but I replaced only one.
Game 3:
Because last game was so quick, we played another one, so this was against Possessed, too. I hoped for a little better outcome, because two last games had been so underwhelming. But...
The scenario was Chance Encounter, and I was carrying one shard, opponent two.
This time I had good feelings about the game - I got to deploy first, so I was able to take good positions. Opponent would need to come get me from inside the building, where all of my carnival was.
And things looked going well enough - opponent had to split his forces, so I got to pick my fights. Random happenings gave a thick fog to the field, which annoyed my ranged weapons a little, but it also denied crazy long charges for the enemy.
But then suddenly everything went wrong. Every attack I could make with flail brute, double handed weapon brute and joker tainted one either missed or didn't wound. One tainted one failed to climb to a building despite having I4. Joker killed himself, and two nurglings were gone, too.
If I remember right, the Plague Bearer took something out of action at least.
Opponent charged Carnival Master dead and the last nurgling died, but double handed weapon brute stood valiantly. A bit of a shame that I just couldn't take any enemy warriors out of action, not even with two attacks at weapon skill 4 and strength 6. I don't believe the Possessed were impossible to defeat here - I just didn't score those few critical hits that would have impacted the game.
But I didn't want to leave the game as cowardly as I last time did, and I was hell-bent on inflicting some casualties on the Possessed, who have a very good chances of starting to snowball their way to power level over 9000. So I don't voluntarily rout, and pass my test.
Henchman and a hero take a diving charge against whoever it was that killed carnival master, and the tainted one who failed to climb came to assist with his meager WS2.
Double handed weapon brute managed to stumble down and stun himself, and the combat in the middle wasn't going much better, but at least they didn't offer themselves as a sacrifice for the Possessed next turn.
But it happened anyway. Flail guy and double handed weapon brute both went out of action, and plague bearer was stunned.
This was too much. I took my leave.
Funny thing, really. I rolled as many wyrdstone shards with two dice as I did with five dice... c'est la vie.
Carnival Master rolled multiple injuries... first was a leg injury. And second was "sold to the pits". Damn it! And though my carnival master fought quite a few rounds more than my brute ever did, he still lost. And was robbed as a consequence.
Flail brute rolled a skill again and picked Resilient. He should be tough one to take down now with two wounds, toughness 4, step-aside and resilient! But we'll see.
Hideous & Cloud of Flies Tainted One rolled an old battle wound, so he'll be out of about 16% of games from now on.
Brethren hero rolled a skill... through these three games I rolled quite a lot of skills. Anyway, I took Wyrdstone Hunter for him, since my luck in finding wyrdstones has been so abysmal...
This time there were no real life-costing (or existence-costing) casualties. Only very crippling ones.
Damn, I start to remember the good old days where I had my beloved Clan Eshin Sorcerer with only one leg, one hand and one eye - plus possibly a chest wound.
My plans of getting a Plague Cart are not going too well.
I wonder why it is that every time I go to play Mordheim, I haven't slept, like, at all. Ever.
So this is why I'm writing these Mordheim games first, though I still have one Warmachine game to write up that was played earlier. But I need to do this quick or I'll forget just about everything.
Anyway, first game was against Reiklanders warband.
I only have one decent picture from this game, so it will have to do.
Scenario was surprise attack, and I rolled really good for warriors who started the game on board. Only one brute, tainted one and brethren hero started off board. Nice, I thought. But then I had to deploy all of the warriors so that nobody was within 8" of another... not so nice.
I had taken chances with the double handed weapon wielding brute and deployed it close to one of the table edges with no lesser models acting as buffers. Of course Reiklanders randomly started just from that table edge.
Reiklanders' start was a bit underwhelming, though their archers got nasty positions in a tower, and other warriors had clear charge lane to the double handed weapon brute.
The brute survived an attack of four enemies, though he stunned only two of them. Then he failed his "all alone" test and took a run, provoking two automatically hitting attacks. And yet he survived even those.
What he didn't survive was a rally check, and he ran off the board.
Joker (hideous + cloud of flies) Tainted One and flail wielding brute showed up on my next turn, and from a random board edge - which was the very same edge Reiklanders started. So it was some sort of double-surprise attack?
Joker charged the two stunned Reiklanders and put them out of their misery. Flail guy killed another Reiklander
So things looked pretty good - Reiklanders managed to take down only two nurglings, which wasn't enough to cause a rout check.
But then the downfall began. On my very own turn, even. Flail guy turns into a fail guy and knocks himself down in combat. I don't remember what happened to the joker, except that he didn't get any kills either. My last hero didn't show up even this turn.
Reiklanders then kill both the flailer and the joker, and even a poor little nurgling. Things went horribly bad in very rapid succession. Voluntary rout it was.
When I started rolling for injuries, I almost cried when I rolled 1 for tens for flail brute. But then I was relieved when I rolled 6 for ones, meaning brute didn't die, but suffered multiple injuries. Then I almost cried again when I rolled SIX additional injuries. What an emotional rollercoaster.
Brute rolled bitter enmity (Reiklander warbands), which was good. And then he rolled four full recoveries. So I was again quite relieved. But then the last was "sold to the pits", and the pit fighter brutally mauled him. And again to roll injuries... Deep wound, miss one next game. Phew.
He also got a skill advance, which was Step Aside.
My new and improved Tainted One rolled a leg wound (-1 M), and I had a vision of converting a clown on a pogo stick... but anyway. That sucks.
Brethren hero raised his Ballistic Skill.
I think two nurglings died out of three taken out of action, but I bought them right back.
As an added insult one of the Reiklanders was sold to the pits, too. And won.
Game 2:
Second game was against a Possessed warband, and a terrifying warband it was. Scenario was Skirmish.
I managed to arrange nice little bottleneck to the middle with a nurgling. Probably the best hero of the Possessed got stuck there.
Double handed weapon brute merrily charged in to the thick of Possessed henchmen - backed up with a couple of nurglings and arrows from my own henchmen and heroes.
I remember I rolled five dice for exploration, so one of the heroes must have been taken out of action. I don't remember who it was, but enough nurglings plus the hero died, so I took my leave voluntarily. My reasoning behind this was that I sorely needed some cash, and didn't want to risk losing any more exploration dice against melee monsters of Possessed.
With five dice I find two shards. Whee...
Two handed weapon brute rolled an extra point of leadership. Yay.
The new Tainted One rolled an extra skill, and I decided to take Sprint to make up for the loss of a leg.
Another Tainted One rolled extra Initiative.
I think two nurglings died again, but I replaced only one.
Game 3:
Because last game was so quick, we played another one, so this was against Possessed, too. I hoped for a little better outcome, because two last games had been so underwhelming. But...
The scenario was Chance Encounter, and I was carrying one shard, opponent two.
This time I had good feelings about the game - I got to deploy first, so I was able to take good positions. Opponent would need to come get me from inside the building, where all of my carnival was.
And things looked going well enough - opponent had to split his forces, so I got to pick my fights. Random happenings gave a thick fog to the field, which annoyed my ranged weapons a little, but it also denied crazy long charges for the enemy.
But then suddenly everything went wrong. Every attack I could make with flail brute, double handed weapon brute and joker tainted one either missed or didn't wound. One tainted one failed to climb to a building despite having I4. Joker killed himself, and two nurglings were gone, too.
If I remember right, the Plague Bearer took something out of action at least.
Opponent charged Carnival Master dead and the last nurgling died, but double handed weapon brute stood valiantly. A bit of a shame that I just couldn't take any enemy warriors out of action, not even with two attacks at weapon skill 4 and strength 6. I don't believe the Possessed were impossible to defeat here - I just didn't score those few critical hits that would have impacted the game.
But I didn't want to leave the game as cowardly as I last time did, and I was hell-bent on inflicting some casualties on the Possessed, who have a very good chances of starting to snowball their way to power level over 9000. So I don't voluntarily rout, and pass my test.
Henchman and a hero take a diving charge against whoever it was that killed carnival master, and the tainted one who failed to climb came to assist with his meager WS2.
Double handed weapon brute managed to stumble down and stun himself, and the combat in the middle wasn't going much better, but at least they didn't offer themselves as a sacrifice for the Possessed next turn.
But it happened anyway. Flail guy and double handed weapon brute both went out of action, and plague bearer was stunned.
This was too much. I took my leave.
Funny thing, really. I rolled as many wyrdstone shards with two dice as I did with five dice... c'est la vie.
Carnival Master rolled multiple injuries... first was a leg injury. And second was "sold to the pits". Damn it! And though my carnival master fought quite a few rounds more than my brute ever did, he still lost. And was robbed as a consequence.
Flail brute rolled a skill again and picked Resilient. He should be tough one to take down now with two wounds, toughness 4, step-aside and resilient! But we'll see.
Hideous & Cloud of Flies Tainted One rolled an old battle wound, so he'll be out of about 16% of games from now on.
Brethren hero rolled a skill... through these three games I rolled quite a lot of skills. Anyway, I took Wyrdstone Hunter for him, since my luck in finding wyrdstones has been so abysmal...
This time there were no real life-costing (or existence-costing) casualties. Only very crippling ones.
Damn, I start to remember the good old days where I had my beloved Clan Eshin Sorcerer with only one leg, one hand and one eye - plus possibly a chest wound.
My plans of getting a Plague Cart are not going too well.
Last Rally Point of the year
This game dates way back, a couple of weeks I think.
It was a 35 point game of Warmachine, and since I knew I would be playing against the first incarnation of Kreoss, I took Asphyxious the Hellbringer with me. Reason? He's never played against Kreoss1, and it's a bit of a vanity and twisted pride to keep all of my warcasters and warlocks having played against Kreoss1.
Funny thing, really.
I've played more against Kreoss1 than against quite a few whole factions.
Anyway, my list was:
Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- Malice
- 2x Helldiver
- Ripjaw
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 2x Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Darragh Wrathe
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Scrap Thralls
Saxon Orrik
Opponent played with:
High Exemplar Kreoss
- Crusader
- Revenger
- Repenter
- Dervish
Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth (the yellow bases)
Minimum unit of Deliverers
Paladin Vilmon
2x Paladin of the Wall
Reclaimer
Wracks
Vassal of Menoth
Scenario was Rally Point, and Cryx started. Saxon Orrik was a blessing, truly, when you take a look at the forest.
Anyway, Scything Touch was on Mechanithralls and Ashen Veil on Asphyxious. Kreoss put up at least Lamentation.
Turn 2 Malice with two or three focus (plus Mobility) tries to drag Revenger into getting pulped by Mechanithralls, but accidentally (more ways than one) misses. Deliverers try to shoot Darragh Wrathe, and I vaguely remember they did something like two damage points. One Deliverer advanced to contest my enemy zone. Repenters and a couple of Cleansing Fires take a toll on Mechanithralls, and Paladins advance under Impervious Wall.
There must be a full round in between next picture, but turn 3 Malice walked up, possessed the Revenger and moved it so that Mechanithralls under Reconnaissance charged it to bits. Asphyxious advanced boldly forward, under Lamentation, and used his feat. At least he'd gain one soul from upkeep.
Everything else tried to block easy charges to Asphyxious, since it was quite guaranteed that Kreoss would use feat next. Someone removed the deliverer from the right zone, and Cryx scored one control point.
And then everything except Necrotech and some models on the right was knocked down.
Casualties in itself were thankfully low - only some mechanithralls and Darragh Wrathe had to dismount - but Malice had lost cortex and some (or both) weapons.
Turn 4 I wanted to charge Asphyxious to Kreoss, but there was my own army and a paladin in the way. Malice attempted to walk as far away from the melee as possible. Then Warwitch Siren tried to spray the paladin, but failed. Then Necrotech tried to kill the paladin, but failed. Then Necrosurgeon constructed a few additional thralls, which then were able to charge the paladin. Finally paladin was killed... but the one who did the deed looked like he was standing in the way of Asphyxious.
I couldn't kill the thrall with anything else, so I ditched whole assassination attempt and decided to go in for scenario victory.
Asphyxious walked or ran to enemy zone, and Ripjaws and Scrap Thralls and whatnot killed another bold Deliverer contestant.
So that was three scenario points.
Protectorate wrecks Malice and a Helldiver and mauls another Helldiver. Only Vilmon gets to contest the zone, and he does so with Stone & Mortar stance.
Turn 5 it was only the question if Asphyxious could take down Vilmon. Dices didn't fail that badly, and Cryx went to five scenario points.
It was a 35 point game of Warmachine, and since I knew I would be playing against the first incarnation of Kreoss, I took Asphyxious the Hellbringer with me. Reason? He's never played against Kreoss1, and it's a bit of a vanity and twisted pride to keep all of my warcasters and warlocks having played against Kreoss1.
Funny thing, really.
I've played more against Kreoss1 than against quite a few whole factions.
Anyway, my list was:
Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- Malice
- 2x Helldiver
- Ripjaw
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 2x Brute Thrall
Darragh Wrathe
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Scrap Thralls
Saxon Orrik
Opponent played with:
High Exemplar Kreoss
- Crusader
- Revenger
- Repenter
- Dervish
Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth (the yellow bases)
Minimum unit of Deliverers
Paladin Vilmon
2x Paladin of the Wall
Reclaimer
Wracks
Vassal of Menoth
Scenario was Rally Point, and Cryx started. Saxon Orrik was a blessing, truly, when you take a look at the forest.
Anyway, Scything Touch was on Mechanithralls and Ashen Veil on Asphyxious. Kreoss put up at least Lamentation.
Turn 2 Malice with two or three focus (plus Mobility) tries to drag Revenger into getting pulped by Mechanithralls, but accidentally (more ways than one) misses. Deliverers try to shoot Darragh Wrathe, and I vaguely remember they did something like two damage points. One Deliverer advanced to contest my enemy zone. Repenters and a couple of Cleansing Fires take a toll on Mechanithralls, and Paladins advance under Impervious Wall.
There must be a full round in between next picture, but turn 3 Malice walked up, possessed the Revenger and moved it so that Mechanithralls under Reconnaissance charged it to bits. Asphyxious advanced boldly forward, under Lamentation, and used his feat. At least he'd gain one soul from upkeep.
Everything else tried to block easy charges to Asphyxious, since it was quite guaranteed that Kreoss would use feat next. Someone removed the deliverer from the right zone, and Cryx scored one control point.
And then everything except Necrotech and some models on the right was knocked down.
Casualties in itself were thankfully low - only some mechanithralls and Darragh Wrathe had to dismount - but Malice had lost cortex and some (or both) weapons.
Turn 4 I wanted to charge Asphyxious to Kreoss, but there was my own army and a paladin in the way. Malice attempted to walk as far away from the melee as possible. Then Warwitch Siren tried to spray the paladin, but failed. Then Necrotech tried to kill the paladin, but failed. Then Necrosurgeon constructed a few additional thralls, which then were able to charge the paladin. Finally paladin was killed... but the one who did the deed looked like he was standing in the way of Asphyxious.
I couldn't kill the thrall with anything else, so I ditched whole assassination attempt and decided to go in for scenario victory.
Asphyxious walked or ran to enemy zone, and Ripjaws and Scrap Thralls and whatnot killed another bold Deliverer contestant.
So that was three scenario points.
Protectorate wrecks Malice and a Helldiver and mauls another Helldiver. Only Vilmon gets to contest the zone, and he does so with Stone & Mortar stance.
Turn 5 it was only the question if Asphyxious could take down Vilmon. Dices didn't fail that badly, and Cryx went to five scenario points.
"Jamais plus" said the Corbeau
I'll quickly leave this here before I start trying to overcome the huge backlog of games.
It's Madelyn Corbeau, the Ordic Courtesan - a mercenary model who works for Cryx. I especially wanted to go all sorts of wacky colors with her. I wanted her to be so out-of-color-scheme both from Cryx and any other army I have (for whom she doesn't work) and from any army I might possibly get anywhere in the future. This is what I came up with.
Reason? I don't need a reason!
It's Madelyn Corbeau, the Ordic Courtesan - a mercenary model who works for Cryx. I especially wanted to go all sorts of wacky colors with her. I wanted her to be so out-of-color-scheme both from Cryx and any other army I have (for whom she doesn't work) and from any army I might possibly get anywhere in the future. This is what I came up with.
Reason? I don't need a reason!
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Then they punched the clown in the tummy. Its guts fell out.
So.
Last Thursday there was a gathering of five Mordheim players, and I ended up playing one three player game.
I was absurdly tired then (well, nobody forced me to stay up for over 30 hours) so anything I write here should be taken with a grain of salt. Or perhaps even with mixture of crushed glass and salt.
But that much I know that the scenario was multiplayer ambush where defender was the warband with highest rating (beastmen) and the rest were attackers, and game would last for ten rounds without taking rout tests... how insanely punishing for the defending warband! Well, I guess it's high risk, high reward sort of thing, because every defending hero was carrying d3 wyrdstone shards.
We also used the Random Happenings, where every player rolls a dice at the beginning of turn and when 1 comes up, something happens, and only once per game.
It looks like I was a sloppy picture taker here, as I took only three shot. But first, however, seems to be taken from turn where the beastman leader saw a Nurgling from across a crumbled wall, and thanks to frenzy, it had to charge in.
Well. The beastman leader was in a horrible position, but still I didn't dare to attack it. The leader had this scary special skill, where it'd get to make attacks first, regardless of charges and initiative.
So instead I thought it'd be best to try and shoot the beast down, as I got to make four ranged attacks against it, three of them at point blank range. Four attacks only stunned the leader, but at least my clowns would feel a little bit more confident next turn to charge a target that was lying unconscious on the ground.
Somewhere here a random happening number fourteen was rolled - the upcoming hurricane has caused some high winds to hinder combat. From now on all hit rolls (in close combat and ranged attacks) were made with -1 penalty and all initiative tests suffered the same penalty, too. I guess this was a boon for beastmen, who, to be honest, needed it.
The beastmen and the undead hadn't yet closed in that turn, but soon enough they did. Second picture is from an angle that will break necks, but anyway, it looks like Carnival has managed to shoot that beastman leader down, and at least Centigor is stunned or knocked down. One undead wolf-hound or dire wolf or what they are called seems to be dead, too - wasn't enough to stall whole bunch of beastmen, I suppose.
Carnival's plague bearer (Hordes Feralgeist in picture) and brute with double-handed weapon were slowly skulking to right side of the board, hopefully coming late even to the afterparty, and rake in a few extra wyrdstone shards from half dead targets.
Undead closed in against the beastmen next, which was fine by me. In the picture you can see the joker-esque Tainted One stalking a good time to charge in with its impressive WS 4 and three attacks.
Beastman leader went dead here, and half of my warband were rather stranded away from action.
Situation looked really hopeless for the Beastmen, but somehow they managed to slowly endure the waves of undead. The undead player was rolling dice really badly, and was grateful when he rolled a second hit in the whole game in somewhere around third round of combat, or something like that...
Centigor and some other gor were going to come at the two-handed weapon wielding brute and plague bearer, but there isn't a picture for reference. Situation there went something like that some kind of gor charged the brute and stunned him, and it was Carnival turn next, so brute raised one step to "knocked down" status... still a really bad status to be in combat! Plague Bearer had to charge in to save the brute, though I was really hesitant to get the bearer into melee... they're 50 gold coins per nose, or in some cases multiples of noses, but the point is they're not cheap, and if taken out of action, they die 50% of the time.
But the plague bearer didn't die. Swarm of Flies and the high winds and WS 4 caused enemy to hit mostly on 6+, or in some rare cases 5+. It's a mystery how the flies weren't blown away by the winds. I don't think it killed the gor, though it did kill the centigor next turn. If memory serves, the gor was stunned, so when my turn came around the brute stood up and smashed the gor.
Somewhere, somehow, I had thought that the joker Tainted One could charge beastman shaman, and perhaps kill it or at least stun it with three attacks. Nope. Not today.
When it was the beastmen turn, the shaman and tainted one attacked each other with same iniative, and took each other out of action. Pantomime gone all wrong. Or right. Depends from the point of view.
So, I had only three heroes on board now (one was recovering from his dive to the well and didn't take part in this game) and I really wanted some wyrdstone shards from search, too. Since beastmen and the undead were mostly occupied with each other, I did the courageous route of action, and ran as far away as possible with my whole warband all the remaining few turns.
I got to pay for my cowardice right away. I found only two shards, though I had collected four from beastmen.
Two nurglings out of three dead nurglings died completely, and my joker... my poor joker. My beloved little joker. He died.
Other than that I couldn't complain the advances I got. Carnival Master raised ballistic skill by one, and the two-weapon wielding brute got another skill, which was sprint. That's 12" charging Strength 6 hero right there, with two Wounds and Resilient skill. If I ever lose that one I think I'm bound to cry.
The surviving Tainted One rolled one extra attack, which was a bit of a lackluster with only WS of 2.
The henchmen group of two Brethren rolled "The lad's got talent", so I was overjoyed. I chose academic and shooting skills for him, because if I ever lost Carnival Master, I'd lose access to academic skills forever. Or at least until I'd get another Lad's got talent, which isn't something you should count on.
He also got an additional wound from the free roll at hero advancement table, and seems like I have forgotten to re-roll the result for the lone guy at henchmen group. Need to remember that next time.
I had one wyrdstone shard stashed, and I sold all seven. I couldn't bear the loss of my joker, so I bought him back, new and improved. Though it cost just about all gold I had, I thought it'd be good investment for future to have a Tainted One with Hideous and Cloud of Flies mutation. I guess if you want to think it storywise, yeah, the clown did die even by Carnival's standards, and he was left rotting in some back alley. And when he got back to camp later, stinking more putrid than ever and nesting a host of flies, nobody even said: "Oh, sorry. Welcome back."
I still got gold to buy one nurgling I had lost.
Even after all these changes and advancements my warband rating dropped. Well... only by one, but still.
Now I need to start saving for the plague cart. Can't make a proper show without a decent cart.
Last Thursday there was a gathering of five Mordheim players, and I ended up playing one three player game.
I was absurdly tired then (well, nobody forced me to stay up for over 30 hours) so anything I write here should be taken with a grain of salt. Or perhaps even with mixture of crushed glass and salt.
But that much I know that the scenario was multiplayer ambush where defender was the warband with highest rating (beastmen) and the rest were attackers, and game would last for ten rounds without taking rout tests... how insanely punishing for the defending warband! Well, I guess it's high risk, high reward sort of thing, because every defending hero was carrying d3 wyrdstone shards.
We also used the Random Happenings, where every player rolls a dice at the beginning of turn and when 1 comes up, something happens, and only once per game.
It looks like I was a sloppy picture taker here, as I took only three shot. But first, however, seems to be taken from turn where the beastman leader saw a Nurgling from across a crumbled wall, and thanks to frenzy, it had to charge in.
Well. The beastman leader was in a horrible position, but still I didn't dare to attack it. The leader had this scary special skill, where it'd get to make attacks first, regardless of charges and initiative.
So instead I thought it'd be best to try and shoot the beast down, as I got to make four ranged attacks against it, three of them at point blank range. Four attacks only stunned the leader, but at least my clowns would feel a little bit more confident next turn to charge a target that was lying unconscious on the ground.
Somewhere here a random happening number fourteen was rolled - the upcoming hurricane has caused some high winds to hinder combat. From now on all hit rolls (in close combat and ranged attacks) were made with -1 penalty and all initiative tests suffered the same penalty, too. I guess this was a boon for beastmen, who, to be honest, needed it.
The beastmen and the undead hadn't yet closed in that turn, but soon enough they did. Second picture is from an angle that will break necks, but anyway, it looks like Carnival has managed to shoot that beastman leader down, and at least Centigor is stunned or knocked down. One undead wolf-hound or dire wolf or what they are called seems to be dead, too - wasn't enough to stall whole bunch of beastmen, I suppose.
Carnival's plague bearer (Hordes Feralgeist in picture) and brute with double-handed weapon were slowly skulking to right side of the board, hopefully coming late even to the afterparty, and rake in a few extra wyrdstone shards from half dead targets.
Undead closed in against the beastmen next, which was fine by me. In the picture you can see the joker-esque Tainted One stalking a good time to charge in with its impressive WS 4 and three attacks.
Beastman leader went dead here, and half of my warband were rather stranded away from action.
Situation looked really hopeless for the Beastmen, but somehow they managed to slowly endure the waves of undead. The undead player was rolling dice really badly, and was grateful when he rolled a second hit in the whole game in somewhere around third round of combat, or something like that...
Centigor and some other gor were going to come at the two-handed weapon wielding brute and plague bearer, but there isn't a picture for reference. Situation there went something like that some kind of gor charged the brute and stunned him, and it was Carnival turn next, so brute raised one step to "knocked down" status... still a really bad status to be in combat! Plague Bearer had to charge in to save the brute, though I was really hesitant to get the bearer into melee... they're 50 gold coins per nose, or in some cases multiples of noses, but the point is they're not cheap, and if taken out of action, they die 50% of the time.
But the plague bearer didn't die. Swarm of Flies and the high winds and WS 4 caused enemy to hit mostly on 6+, or in some rare cases 5+. It's a mystery how the flies weren't blown away by the winds. I don't think it killed the gor, though it did kill the centigor next turn. If memory serves, the gor was stunned, so when my turn came around the brute stood up and smashed the gor.
Somewhere, somehow, I had thought that the joker Tainted One could charge beastman shaman, and perhaps kill it or at least stun it with three attacks. Nope. Not today.
When it was the beastmen turn, the shaman and tainted one attacked each other with same iniative, and took each other out of action. Pantomime gone all wrong. Or right. Depends from the point of view.
So, I had only three heroes on board now (one was recovering from his dive to the well and didn't take part in this game) and I really wanted some wyrdstone shards from search, too. Since beastmen and the undead were mostly occupied with each other, I did the courageous route of action, and ran as far away as possible with my whole warband all the remaining few turns.
I got to pay for my cowardice right away. I found only two shards, though I had collected four from beastmen.
Two nurglings out of three dead nurglings died completely, and my joker... my poor joker. My beloved little joker. He died.
Other than that I couldn't complain the advances I got. Carnival Master raised ballistic skill by one, and the two-weapon wielding brute got another skill, which was sprint. That's 12" charging Strength 6 hero right there, with two Wounds and Resilient skill. If I ever lose that one I think I'm bound to cry.
The surviving Tainted One rolled one extra attack, which was a bit of a lackluster with only WS of 2.
The henchmen group of two Brethren rolled "The lad's got talent", so I was overjoyed. I chose academic and shooting skills for him, because if I ever lost Carnival Master, I'd lose access to academic skills forever. Or at least until I'd get another Lad's got talent, which isn't something you should count on.
He also got an additional wound from the free roll at hero advancement table, and seems like I have forgotten to re-roll the result for the lone guy at henchmen group. Need to remember that next time.
I had one wyrdstone shard stashed, and I sold all seven. I couldn't bear the loss of my joker, so I bought him back, new and improved. Though it cost just about all gold I had, I thought it'd be good investment for future to have a Tainted One with Hideous and Cloud of Flies mutation. I guess if you want to think it storywise, yeah, the clown did die even by Carnival's standards, and he was left rotting in some back alley. And when he got back to camp later, stinking more putrid than ever and nesting a host of flies, nobody even said: "Oh, sorry. Welcome back."
I still got gold to buy one nurgling I had lost.
Even after all these changes and advancements my warband rating dropped. Well... only by one, but still.
Now I need to start saving for the plague cart. Can't make a proper show without a decent cart.
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Rage, Feat, Go!
It's about time I write this thing up.
I played a 50 point game of Warmachine last Thursday, and continued to toy with Skorne and Mordikaar.
My list was:
Void Seer Mordikaar
- Archidon
- Bronzeback Titan
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hound
Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit
Saxon Orrik
Opponent was playing legion with a warlock I've never faced before:
Epic Absylonia
- Scythean
- Seraph
- 3x Ravagore
2x The Forsaken
2x Strider Deathstalker
Huh. I guess a list like that won't be losing to deathclock in tournaments.
Anyway, scenario was Outflank, and Skorne started game.
Turn 1 most models just ran forward. I think Mordikaar himself ran forward too, and parked right behind Archidon. Bad mistake. Aptimus Marketh cast Hollow on Praetorian Swordsmen. Since Absylonia has absolutely zero spells she can cast on enemy models Banishing Ward was a bit useless spell I didn't bother to cast. Opponent could also erase a spell from Absylonia's spell card - Return Fire wouldn't probably see much action, since I only got one 6" ranged attack, and one other ranged attack on Mordikaar himself.
Slipstream + 6" move + 14" range caught me by surprise when a Ravagore shot the burning blast over Archidon and set both the heavy beast and Mordikaar on fire. The blast damage dared to do six points of damage, which was transfered to Basilisk Krea.
Turn 2 Strider Deathstalkers were on the left control zone, but they're not present in the first picture any more. Looks like the first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 2. Two Praetorian Swordsmen who had been brought back with Revive charged them and managed to get kills.
I consider doing the unthinkable, and proceed to run another turn with my whole army. No matter where I'd hide, I'd be in Absylonia's threat range, so better to embrace the incoming slaughter. With Mordikaar's feat, of course.
I'm not sure if I had done that if I'd remembered Absylonia's battlegroup got +2 MAT from Conferred Rage... oh well.
Absylonia easily triggered the additional bonuses from aforementioned ability on a poor Praetorian Swordman, used her feat and teleported away.
At least Mordikaar's feat did that much that I only lost both of my heavy warbeasts and two Cetrati that turn.
I only. Lost. Both of my heavy warbeasts. Opponent had five.
I also had blundered my placements on the left zone - I hadn't brought anyone to control it, so I didn't score a control point on opponent's turn even when he brought nothing to contest it.
Turn 3 I did score that control point, and I really did try to clear two beasts from the rightmost zone, too. The things I did to accomplish that... *shudder*
And I failed.
Void Spirit killed a Forsaken that was in the zone. The Ravagore in the right zone had Fortify on it.
Saxon Orrik advanced (he had been doing reconnaissance for Cetrati the whole game) and tried to take a rifle shot at Scythean. Missed or didn't damage.
Cataphract Cetrati charge, and three go to Scythean and one who didn't get a charge bonus attacked fortified Ravagore. Scythean was left with four damage points. Damn it. Four!
Mordikaar activated here. It was a desperate course of action that was most probably rather foolish thing to do, but he cast Essence Blast on a cetrati and attacked the Scythean again with POW 12. Only a 10+ to kill on a three dice!
I rolled 9.
So Mordikaar cast another Essence Blast on another Cetrati, and thankfully rolled 7+ with three dice. Killing two of my own heavy infantry was bad enough.
Then everywhere else things failed slightly. Or in a big way, depends how you look at it. Any more warbeasts didn't die. I vaguely remember that all of them had something like 14 or 15 damage boxes left.
Rufus, the named Reptile Hound even performed "bite" trick to get the Arm 20 Ravagore down, but there's only so much P+S 8 warbeasts can do.
One Ravagore was left with full four Fury, so to my advantage it frenzied and ate a Praetorian Swordman.
I was a bit worried if I'd lose to caster kill now, but most likely ravagore to do that was the one who frenzied.
Absylonia cleared the two Swordsmen that were engaging Forsaken and then she teleported away.
Forsaken attempted to clear the gathering of Praetorian Swordsmen with that annoying POW 8 blast action. No too many died. The Ravagore in left was already full on Fury - it had succeeded in the Threshold check. But as a consequence it didn't get to trample or do any other such shenanigans to the control left zone - and three Praetorian Swordsmen had been left alive who blocked a plain advance to the zone.
Seraph and fortified Ravagore took down all of the remaining Cetrati. Yet the last few attacks by that ravagore (well, three attacks or so...) failed to kill a Reptile Hound.
Skorne scored second control point then.
Turn 3 Skorne would win if Seraph and fortified Ravagore died. A combined charge by Saxon Orrik, Void Spirit and enraged Basilisk Krea killed the Seraph. But then there was the Arm 20 Ravagore.
Now that the enraged Reptile Hounds both started in the same melee, they both got flank bonuses. It did take all the Fury they could generate, but the Ravagore finally died.
I don't know what desperate actions I would've needed to take if that Ravagore had managed to kill one of the hounds... No other option than to revive as many swordsmen as possible and hope those P+S 12 attacks would have scored some high rolls.
Anyway.
Scary warlock, that new Absylonia.
I played a 50 point game of Warmachine last Thursday, and continued to toy with Skorne and Mordikaar.
My list was:
Void Seer Mordikaar
- Archidon
- Bronzeback Titan
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hound
Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit
Saxon Orrik
Opponent was playing legion with a warlock I've never faced before:
Epic Absylonia
- Scythean
- Seraph
- 3x Ravagore
2x The Forsaken
2x Strider Deathstalker
Huh. I guess a list like that won't be losing to deathclock in tournaments.
Anyway, scenario was Outflank, and Skorne started game.
Turn 1 most models just ran forward. I think Mordikaar himself ran forward too, and parked right behind Archidon. Bad mistake. Aptimus Marketh cast Hollow on Praetorian Swordsmen. Since Absylonia has absolutely zero spells she can cast on enemy models Banishing Ward was a bit useless spell I didn't bother to cast. Opponent could also erase a spell from Absylonia's spell card - Return Fire wouldn't probably see much action, since I only got one 6" ranged attack, and one other ranged attack on Mordikaar himself.
Slipstream + 6" move + 14" range caught me by surprise when a Ravagore shot the burning blast over Archidon and set both the heavy beast and Mordikaar on fire. The blast damage dared to do six points of damage, which was transfered to Basilisk Krea.
Turn 2 Strider Deathstalkers were on the left control zone, but they're not present in the first picture any more. Looks like the first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 2. Two Praetorian Swordsmen who had been brought back with Revive charged them and managed to get kills.
I consider doing the unthinkable, and proceed to run another turn with my whole army. No matter where I'd hide, I'd be in Absylonia's threat range, so better to embrace the incoming slaughter. With Mordikaar's feat, of course.
I'm not sure if I had done that if I'd remembered Absylonia's battlegroup got +2 MAT from Conferred Rage... oh well.
Absylonia easily triggered the additional bonuses from aforementioned ability on a poor Praetorian Swordman, used her feat and teleported away.
At least Mordikaar's feat did that much that I only lost both of my heavy warbeasts and two Cetrati that turn.
I only. Lost. Both of my heavy warbeasts. Opponent had five.
I also had blundered my placements on the left zone - I hadn't brought anyone to control it, so I didn't score a control point on opponent's turn even when he brought nothing to contest it.
Turn 3 I did score that control point, and I really did try to clear two beasts from the rightmost zone, too. The things I did to accomplish that... *shudder*
And I failed.
Void Spirit killed a Forsaken that was in the zone. The Ravagore in the right zone had Fortify on it.
Saxon Orrik advanced (he had been doing reconnaissance for Cetrati the whole game) and tried to take a rifle shot at Scythean. Missed or didn't damage.
Cataphract Cetrati charge, and three go to Scythean and one who didn't get a charge bonus attacked fortified Ravagore. Scythean was left with four damage points. Damn it. Four!
Mordikaar activated here. It was a desperate course of action that was most probably rather foolish thing to do, but he cast Essence Blast on a cetrati and attacked the Scythean again with POW 12. Only a 10+ to kill on a three dice!
I rolled 9.
So Mordikaar cast another Essence Blast on another Cetrati, and thankfully rolled 7+ with three dice. Killing two of my own heavy infantry was bad enough.
Then everywhere else things failed slightly. Or in a big way, depends how you look at it. Any more warbeasts didn't die. I vaguely remember that all of them had something like 14 or 15 damage boxes left.
Rufus, the named Reptile Hound even performed "bite" trick to get the Arm 20 Ravagore down, but there's only so much P+S 8 warbeasts can do.
One Ravagore was left with full four Fury, so to my advantage it frenzied and ate a Praetorian Swordman.
I was a bit worried if I'd lose to caster kill now, but most likely ravagore to do that was the one who frenzied.
Absylonia cleared the two Swordsmen that were engaging Forsaken and then she teleported away.
Forsaken attempted to clear the gathering of Praetorian Swordsmen with that annoying POW 8 blast action. No too many died. The Ravagore in left was already full on Fury - it had succeeded in the Threshold check. But as a consequence it didn't get to trample or do any other such shenanigans to the control left zone - and three Praetorian Swordsmen had been left alive who blocked a plain advance to the zone.
Seraph and fortified Ravagore took down all of the remaining Cetrati. Yet the last few attacks by that ravagore (well, three attacks or so...) failed to kill a Reptile Hound.
Skorne scored second control point then.
Turn 3 Skorne would win if Seraph and fortified Ravagore died. A combined charge by Saxon Orrik, Void Spirit and enraged Basilisk Krea killed the Seraph. But then there was the Arm 20 Ravagore.
Now that the enraged Reptile Hounds both started in the same melee, they both got flank bonuses. It did take all the Fury they could generate, but the Ravagore finally died.
I don't know what desperate actions I would've needed to take if that Ravagore had managed to kill one of the hounds... No other option than to revive as many swordsmen as possible and hope those P+S 12 attacks would have scored some high rolls.
Anyway.
Scary warlock, that new Absylonia.
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