It was a 50 point Riven Bonds league game, and my list was:
Cassius the Oathkeeper & Wurmwood, Tree of Fate
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Gorax
- Woldwatcher
Maximum unit of Cylena & Nyss Hunters
Tharn Bloodweavers
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers
Minimum uni of Farrow Bonegrinders
Blackclad Wayfarer Hero
2x Gallows Grove
Reeve Hunter
Tharn Ravager White Mane
War Wolf
Opponent had:
Feora, Priestess of Flame
- Reckoner
- Templar
- Avatar
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Minimum unit of Flameguard Cleansers
Daughters of the Flame
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Paladin Hero
Hierophant
Vassal of Menoth
Wracks
Madelyn Corbeau
... and that's a lot of heavy armor to be cracked. I didn't feel like I had enough high-powered attacks to bring the jacks down.
Well, the scenario was league scenario 2: Scrap Heap.
Protectorate started game, and first picture is from the end of Circle turn 1. Feora has Hex Hammer in play, which is quite annyoing spell against Circle.
Turn 2 Feora advances forward and uses feat, catching only the front line of Nyss Hunters and two Farrow Bone Grinders, plus Reeve Hunter who either died to the continuous effect or curtain of fire unleashed by Cleansers.
Daughters of the Flame ran to engage right flank.
I saw I kind of needed to get rid of Avatar of Menoth. Tough task, and even if Gnarlhorn would succeed, it'd be a piece trade I'd be losing. There were, however, a couple of Daughter of the Flame blocking the charge.
Gorax removed one of them easily enough and cast Primal on Gnarlhorn Satyr.
But then there was one Daughter in a difficult position - the one next to Woldwatcher. At first I activated Woldwatcher and was going to attack the Daughter, but mid-activation I realised that if Woldwatcher did manage to kill her, she'd explode into a forest that Gnarlhorn Satyr wouldn't ignore. And then I'd just have a frenzying satyr in my own ranks next turn...
Anyway, first I needed to get Avatar a little closer. Shifting Stones teleported Cassius forward, who then pulled all souls from Wurmwood. Cassius cast Hellmouth on a nearby Flameguard Cleanser, killing a few cleansers for sure - but most importantly, getting Avatar a little closer. Then he cast Unseen Path, and Hex Hammer had dealt four damage to Cassius.
I couldn't figure out a way to kill the Daughter in front of Woldwatcher, so Gnarlhorn Satyr just charged and suffered a free strike. After all, how much damage is P+S 9 going to do? Well... enough to break Mind branch. Ouch. Well, thanks to Primal the Satyr had MAT 8, so he'd be missing only on a roll of 1, so I thought it wouldn't be that bad. Out of all the attacks Gnarlhorn did, only one missed. And Avatar was left with four damage boxes left. Well played, Daughter of the Flame. Well played.
Tharn Ravager and War Wolf attempt to dislodge themselves from Daughters of the Flame, but miss all their attacks. Now that Gnarlhorn isn't blocking the way, Bloodweavers kill the heroic Daughter of the Flame, and relocate themselves to the right side of the board. I thought they'd be my best answer for the Daughters.
Nyss Hunters take some random shots, killing a couple of Cleansers and scratching the armour of a Bastion or two. Nothing much, really.
Turn 3 Protectorate scores first scenario point. Madelyn moves one Exemplar Bastion up, who then charges Pureblood Warpwolf, and the rest just run forward to engage Nyss. The Bastion breaks Pureblood's Mind branch. Reckoner assault a Gallows Grove into splinters, and Daughters of the Flame kill enough Bloodweavers to cause a command check... which failed, of course.
Oh my.
Situation looked grim indeed, but Cassius had not used his feat yet. That'd always buy an additional turn of shenanigans. But still I needed some rolls to succeed this turn... one of the most notable ones being a charging Woldwatcher wrecking the remains of Avatar... which never happened. How damn difficult it can be to deal four points in to DEF 7, ARM 19 target with two P+S 12 + 3d6 damage rolls? Or... let me rephrase. How damn difficult it is to deal even one additional damage point to DEF 7, ARM 19 targets with two P+S 12 +3d6 damage rolls? Impossible, looks like.
Avatar still being alive gave me quite a lot of distress, and even if Cassius used his feat, I'd be still losing the Woldwatcher. Perhaps a MAT 10 P+S 13 hit would destroy the Avatar, instead? Tharn Ravage White Mane charges Avatar, and deals no damage.
There's no hope any more, other than assassinating Feora right here, right now.
First Blackclad Wayfarer advances through Wall of Fire and casts Stone Spray in such a way that Feora is hit. And Feora is indeed hit, but it wasn't a critical hit, and didn't deal any damage. Bummer.
Next Pureblood Warpwolf warps for Ghostly, advances a bit and regenerates Mind branch fully operational. Unlucky for the pooch was that a Bastion was engaging it... so I didn't have a chance to inflict a POW 14 + 3d6 hit on Feora.
Then Nyss activate and shuffle around. Cylena herself somehow manages to take in a free strike from a Bastion, and whole unit lost Combined Ranged Attack, then. Not that too many would have been able to shoot Feora anyway.
Cassius pulls five souls from Wurmwood and starts tree-hopping into Feora, and lands attacking her with seven Fury.
I should have seen that the attacks rolls against Avatar were an omen. Cassius doesn't fare much better against the Protectorate warcaster. I don't remember for sure, but seven Fury yielded only about five damage points to Feora. Just to make things interesting Cassius uses his feat. Just in case Protectorate plays as terrible turn as I did.
Madelyn Corbeau moved the Paladin Hero 1.5" in the forest, which brought Cassius to his sight. Paladin charges Cassius and ends his life with just one attack, gaining the Mage Slayer milestone for Protectorate, as well as Vengeance. It was probably Bastions that killed Blackclad Wayfarer.
Injury roll was "7", only a flesh wound. Not on Cassius, though. He lost so much more than just his life. Down went also his dignity.
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