Yet again we practised for a tournament that actually starts tomorrow. Oh my.
Game was against Protectorate, so I played with Iron Lich Asphyxious. On hindsight I should have taken Venethrax because of reasons.
Anyway, my list was:
Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Ripjaw
- Nightstalker
- 2x Slayer
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 2x Brute Thrall + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Harrower
Gorman diWulfe
Saxon Orrik
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Skarlock
Pistol Wraith
Wawritch Siren
Opponent had:
Northern Crusade tier 2
Hierarch Severius
- Judicator
- Reckoner
- Blessing of Vengeance
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Rhoven & Honor guard
Covenant of Menoth
Hierophant
Vassal Mechanic
2x Vassal of Menoth
Scenario was Outflank and Protectorate started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 2.
So far Reckoner has shot movement off from Harrower. I tried to seize eastern zone since there were only Gius and Cassian contesting it. My plan relied on giving three focus for Ripjaw and Power Boost a Slayer to one focus with Warwitch Siren. Slayer was successful, but Ripjaw was not. Boosted charge attack either missed or dealt laughable damage despite being P+S 14 with Armor Piercing and Scything Touch.
Severius has shot Pistol Wraith dead with Admonisher, and I guess we're ready for turn 3 by Protectorate.
It was turn when he used his feat and butchered nearly every infantry model I had, plus Slayer and Ripjaw. It was a terrible turn for Cryxian attrition game, and Severius was way too far to pull off any kind of assassination anyway. Though now that I'm looking at the picture I guess I could have tried to assassinate Severius with four Hellfires if I had succeeded in bringing Nightwretch within 10" of Severius and in Nightwretch's line of sight. Difficult to judge distances from picture, but it would have probably been my best course of action anyway in an actual tournament.
But no. NO.
I do what I always do. In a desperate situation I look for an unlikely way to cause as much damage as possible. My plan this time was try to destroy both Blessing of Vengeance and Reckoner and teleport to safety.
My pro play move was to charge Blessing of Vengeance and swing it twice with Asphyxious and get pushed back by repulsor shield within reach to Reckoner. But first I tried to soften up Blessing of Vengeance with a combo-striking Slayer, and then Reckoner with Mechanithralls. Since unit leader had been dying all over the place during enemy turn, I was unsure about the unit coherency. And, yes. Of course both Brute Thrall and the Mechanithrall close by were out of the pesky CMD 6 of Mechanithralls. Brute was perhaps two millimetres off, but enough for a 6" measurement piece to move freely between the two models. Combo-Strike by the Slayer was rather unimpressive, too.
I died a little inside.
Well. Most likely I would be losing this game, but damn it! If my minions are this useless, Asphyxious would be taking down the two warjacks all alone! Well, Skarlock did cast Scything Touch on him. At least one minion was doing it's job correctly, which isn't surprising - Skarlocks are pretty much extensions of the warcaster's will, anyway.
Asphyxious charged Blessing of Vengeance and deals good enough damage, but doesn't break the shield. He is pushed 1" back and buys one more attack against Blessing of Vengeance and wrecks it. Alas, it was yet again a very close call, but it turned out that Asphyxious wasn't within reach of Reckoner. It was a very awkward situation where Asphyxious barely did have Line of Sight to Reckoner and his back arc was easily within 2" Reckoner, but reach measured from front arc was not.
Oh well. Since there was no place I could safely teleport and be out of reach of Reckoner, I decided to teleport out of charge distance of Judicator and facetank Reckoner with only three focus. Easy!
Well. I guess I should have used feat anyway. Perhaps cast Parasite on Reckoner to bring Asphyxious up to ARM 25, and see if a colossal and Reckoner would bring Asphyxious down. Probably, but at least not as easily as a Reckoner kills ARM 19 Asphyxious. But I was greedy again - I wanted to believe in miracles and save feat for a turn where I'd be able to fully utilize the 14 focus points.
That turn never came.
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