My list was:
Void Seer Mordikaar:
- Bronzeback Titan
- Archidon
- Cyclops Shaman
Minimum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Minimum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Objective: Arcane Wonder
Opponent had:
Lich Lord Venethrax
- Slayer
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Withershadow Combine
2x Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
Objective: Arcane Wonder
Scenario was Two Fronts and Cryx started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 2. Venethrax had cast Dragon Slayer upon himself, and did not quit upkeeping it during whole game. Mordikaar has cast Hollow on Praetorian Swordsmen and, well... Also Banishing Ward on himself, but that was just a fancy way of dumping Fury away.
Turn 2 looks obviously quite a nice spot for Mordikaar's feat. I also have some fantasies about the minimum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen erasing all Mechanithralls from existence. But first Cyclops Shaman tries to stare down the Brute Thrall. He almost succeeds - only one damage box remaining on the target.
Archidon is enraged by the Beast Handlers, and then it puts its own animus and charges a corporeal Pistol Wraith. It's a miss, so last Fury has to trigger Sprint somehow. Archidon buys an extra attack against a Bane Thrall and hopes it doesn't succeed in a tough roll. But the extra attack is also a miss. Only a re-roll from Willbreaker's Puppet Master saves the situation. I nearly forgot about the ability altogether. With a little better memory I could have probably taken out the Pistol Wraith instead.
Bronzeback puts its own animus on himself and takes a modest start at wrecking things. Bronzeback only advances a little, kills a Mechanithrall and moves backwards with Beat Back movement. Mordikaar advances now, casts Revive to bring back one Swordsman, and then he uses feat to give +3 DEF for the whole army minus one Praetorian Swordsman.
Praetorians charge Mechanithralls, and their attack rolls are a beauty to behold. But some insist that true beauty always needs some imperfection to make the beauty more real. And looks like the Praetorian Swordsmen were true aesthetics, when they killed all but one... ONE Mechanithrall. And I had only the Catapahract Cetrati to activate any more, and of course I had blocked their most obvious charges with my own models.
There was one tiny spot one Cetrati could try to squeeze in (in the picture that's the Cetrati C), but looked like he'd never get within 2" of the Mechanithrall. But Cetrati had taken some advice from various meme owls and cats and whatnots and was like "if i fits i sits", and took down the last Mechanithrall. Phew.
Cryx couldn't do much on turn 3. They killed a couple of Praetorian Swordsmen, and that's it. But that also meant that Venethrax really didn't need to spend much Focus. I think he used one to boost attack roll against a Swordsman, or something. Bane Thralls also engaged everything on my friendly zone and destroyed the objective. Plasma Nimbus took one Bane Thrall with it. Whee.
On my turn I have the options of trying to reduce the Bane Thrall horde and hope I can somehow kite Venethrax for the rest of the game. But I have this personal problem of mine of trying to go for an assassination if I can get at least something like 50% chance of success. So that's what I tried.
I had to remove Warwitch Siren and a Bane Thrall from Bronzeback's way somehow, cast Ghost Walk on the beast and give a charge target for it so that it would get into contact with Venethrax. Cataphract Cetrati succeeded in killing the Siren with a Combined Melee Attack. And since I was going all out for assassination, after that Mordikaar cast Ghost Walk on Bronzeback and Essensce Blast on one of the Cetrati. Spray was targeted at Venethrax, who suffered one damage point.
Praetorian Swordmen offers itself as a charge target for Bronzeback, and Cyclops Shaman takes down the Bane Thrall that was in the way of Bronzeback. Archidon tried to come and wreck Slayer, but got a free strike from a Bane Thrall instead and lost its Body branch. At least it scored a Critical Pitch. Whee.
Then Bronzeback is enraged and given Puppet Master. Bronzeback Charges Praetorian Swordsman officer, and unleashes both initial attacks and five Fury on Venethrax. Dice -5 for damage was a pretty good chance of scoring a caster kill with so many attempts. But to get those "dice -5" damage rolls you actually need to score hits. Even with Puppet Master only one attack hit that I was able to boost for damage, and last attack I couldn't boost to hit or to damage got lucky on its own.
So... finally Bronzeback had some challenge in combat. Finally he was against somebody who could take a little beating with real chances (but not guaranteed) of surviving. This was a true test for the offensive capabilities of Bronzeback Titan. And what does it do? He fails so very miserably. My disappointment was great. Looks like Bronzeback is just a big bully who has become so used to beat little kids and the elderly that once he's against another tough guy like himself, he gets scared and doubtful. Shame on you, Bronzeback. Shame on you.
Turn 4 Bane Thralls beat Archidon and Venethrax beats Bronzeback. All three Bane Thralls who get to attack Cyclops Shaman miss their attack rolls, but other than that it's starting to look rather bad. But perhaps I might still try to play scenario game, if I'd be able to destroy the objective and all the contestors, and run Mordikaar to the enemy zone.
That would have required some rather exceptional rolls. Which I actually got! Oh boy, Cataphract Cetrati and Praetorian Swordsmen were able to clear just about every enemy model from the zone. But that's it. Just about every. Yet again the application of force is perfect, except for the last Praetorian Swordsman who isn't able to kill Necrosurgeon. To make matters worse, he's capable of inflicting damage on her. Some two or one damage boxes remaining.
Turn 5 Venethrax comes to my enemy zone and kills a couple of Cetrati. A bane thrall runs to Mordikaar to engage him, or perhaps he charged and missed. I don't remember. What I do remember that next turn I'm able to kill the Necrosurgeon, bring back the two dead Cetrati with Revive and charge someone with Mordikaar so I get to three control points. As I didn't have Fury to cast Ghost Walk, Mordikaar had to suffer a free strike from Bane Thrall that hit. Damage roll was on the high side and brought Mordikaar to just one hit box remaining, which was rather a bad thing when we consider the fact that all of my warbeasts had already died.
Not that Mordikaar survived Cryx turn 6. Venethrax came to finish him personally in melee. Two Cetrati were not able to block the Lich Lord's advance.
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