Tough luck

My list was:

Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Seether
- Slayer
- Deathripper
- Ripjaw
Machine Wraith

Opponent had:

Amon
- Crusader
- Dervish
- Devout
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth

We had no scenario other than caster kill. Protectorate started game.

Seether with Scything Touch one-rounded Crusader with +2 armor spell. Parasite on Choir of Menoth and Asphyxious' feat killed all but one choir member. That one was shot down with possessed Repenter.

Amon had a camp of five focus points. Asphyxious had cast Parasite on him. Because Crusader died that easily I thought I'd make Amon quite careful if I'd damage him with Slayer. So, Slayer charged Amon and out of a whim I did Combo-Strike. Damage roll was so high that even with damage reducing effect the High Allegiant was one-shot. Oh, wait! No he wasn't. He passed his tough roll.

Next turn what's left of Protectorate wrecks both heavies and one of the arc nodes. But Amon is at one hit box. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, Asphyxious missing three times and scoring only two attacks - both which were prevented by a successful Tough roll. Then one of the arc nodes come to bite with boosted attack roll, but it's a miss. As a last resort Machine Wraith possesses Repenter and the light warjack goes and takes a swing at its master. Missed.

And then Asphyxious was alone in the middle of, albeit smallish, enemy army. And died. As a small consolation Amon was not able to deliver the killing blow. He missed even more attacks than Asphyxious did.

The Angel and the Cat

So there was one more two-player occasion with Talisman.

This time we didn't use any "NPC's" and had City and Highlands extra boards. We played on Cataclysm board.

Random ending was Judged by Fate.

Initial characters were the Celestial and Barbarian.

Celestial met the Black Cat early during his journeys. Celestial has Craft value equal to his current fate points. And Black Cat removes all fate plus doesn't allow to replenish or gain fate. I guess cats make angelic beings even more stupid than an average troll. I mean, who could resist those cute fuzzballs?

So, Celestial died. I got Dragon Priestess next.

Dragon Priestess found some sort of prayer book that made stat-upping way too easy. But still Barbarian with head start was a furious contender. He had -2 Strength versus Dragon Priestess, but he was armed with a flail.

Race to the Crown of Command was a tight one. Barbarian was literally just one step behind Dragon Priestess. But then again, random ending turned out to favor Dragon Priestess since she was able to pray for fate points from the temple.

A quick note (Pillars)

A game of Pillars of the Earth with three players.

Scoreboard 54/46/37.

Trial By Toadification

First time in a great while I got to play a game of Talisman.

Sure, it was two players only, but still this is a rare, exhausting and mind-numbing 'treat.'

We used Lands of Wonder revealed ending, Cataclysm board with Harbinger. Grim Reaper and Werewolf were there too, as well as Woodlands and Dungeon extra boards. Day and night. Prophecy was Stars Align.

Initial characters were Warlord and Leprechaun.

Warlord (me) had astonishing start with +2 Strength points on second turn from those long lost relic cards. But that was the extent of my luck. Warlord had a streak of terrible luck and somehow managed to die. I got Gladiator next. Amusing, as both characters were Follower-abusers. I had the questionable honor of turning into a toad twice during the same game. First was Rain of Toads from Harbinger deck - Gladiator rolled a five. Leprechaun a six. Ribbit, ribbit. Leprechaun was in same region and rolleda six for move. Well, at least he was on maximum carrying capacity, and I had had two cursed objects around, so I didn't lose everything. Leprechaun also left Verdant Talisman for me (he wasn't in short supply on Talismans...)

Second time Gladiator was fateless and encountered Puck. Ribbir, ribbit. Leprechaun in same region rolls a six for move, robbing Gladiator again.

Still Gladiator managed to get to twelve Strength points as well as the Immortal destiny. If Gladiator wouldn't have continuously losing turn to toadification and whatnot, game would have been far closer, as Gladiator wasn't able to get the wonders for victory condition with Strength & Craft 1.

Gladiator took a run when game was nearing end - only option was to try to kill Lord of Darkness by eight or more. Four turns in a row Gladiator rolled a six for move. Nice try, but as the game ended immediately when someone reached the Crown of Command, he just wasn't quick enough.

Bane Rivalry

So a while ago I played these two 50 point games of Warmachine.

My lists were:

Game 1:

Goreshade the Bastard
- Corruptor
- Reaper
- Seether
- Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan
Bile Thralls (min)
Soulhunters (min)
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (min)
Machine Wraith
Necrotech

Game 2:

Lich Lord Venethrax
- Nightmare
- Malice
- Slayer
- Desecrator
- Ripjaw
2x Warwitch Siren
Necrotech
Machine Wraith

Opponent played this list in both games:

Bane Witch Agathia
- 2x Deathripper
- 2x Slayer

Bane Warriors (max)

Scenario was The Pit in both games.

There were some striking similarities on how the games played out.

In the first game Goreshade and Agathia had to settle it which one was more professional Bane Manager. Both players started scoring points from the flags until Goreshade seized the zone, getting my Cryx to four control points. I would win if I managed to dominate or control the zone or dominate my flag, so opponent decided to attempt an assassination. Vanish is quite a sneaky spell when it comes to that.

Charge attack missed as far as memory serves. Rest of the attacks did mediocre results. It was pretty much game over for Agathia when she left Goreshade at four or something hit boxes remaining with Deathwalker still alive. Deathwalker would have died and Goreshade would have been at one hit box, a Satyxis Blood Witch with that auto-hitting POW 6-7 would have been first legendary caster kill for my Mk3. But not this time. Victory for Goreshade.

Second game I switched to Venehthrax with heavy battlegroup emphasis. Again Agathia seized her flag, but I chose a most greedy route. I tried to conquer whole zone in the middle turn after turn.

It was a huge risk which could have paid off. I had some unlucky dice with Nightmare, when it couldn't wreck it's prey target (who, admittedly, had Hellwrought on) Malice and my Slayer wrecked second Slayer from opponent (I had had to suffer a feated, unlucky alpha strike that didn't destroy even one helljack from me. However, situation looks far better for me than it actually was - Desecrator and Malice were almost smoldering wrecks already, and Nightmare had lost at least one arm. Only Slayer was fully functional.)

So I ran out of attacks to clear the zone, all the while I had not really bothered to contest enemy flag. This was Venethrax' downfall.

Well, I would have needed to try some other kind of approach anyway, because if we consider model count, me getting random models to contest enemy flag was far more difficult than Agathia bringing models to contest mine.

One victory and one loss, good enough I guess.

Exhuming the Truth

Quite a while ago I played this 75 point game of Warmachine.

Lord Exhumator Scaverous
- Malice
- Slayer
- Corruptor
- Deathripper
Bile Thralls (min)
The Withershadow Combine
Mechanithralls (max) + Scarlock Commander

Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Darragh Wrathe
Machine Wraith
Necrotech
Warwitch Siren
Ragman

Opponent had:

Malekus, the Burning Truth
- 2x Reckoner
- Vanquisher
- Revenger
Choir of Menoth (max)
Flame Bringers (max)
Holy Zealots (max) & Monolith Bearer
Wrack
Vassal of Menoth
Hierophant

Scenario was Entrenched and Cryx started.

I opened up the game by dragging a Reckoner to Malice and then possessing it with Machine Wraith. Reckoner moved to take a shot at a choir boy. And then Corruptor and Warwitch Siren wrecked the Protectorate heavy warjack.

Malekus used his feat next. Opponent didn't want to waste any potential damage by committing to terrible overkill. Corruptor got wrecked easily enough, but knocked down Malice somehow survived with at least cortex still functional. Sure, Malice had Death Ward, but it had to make it through a couple of Reckoner shots and automatically hitting bombs from Holy Zealots.

Malekus had only one focus for damage mitigation. Malice shook itself up. Necrotech repaired it. Maelovus cast Telekinesis on Malice and Tremulus gave Puppet Master.

Scaverous activated and used his feat. He cast Telekinesis on some enemy models to move them out of way of Malice. He also cast Feast of Worms and managed to land it on a proper area where I thought it might be possible to drag Malekus. Ragman put up Death Field. Malice dragged Malekus with harpoon gun and punched the warcaster very dead. I would have had some Bile Thralls to make sure even rude dice wouldn't ruin my perfectly executed assassination - but no purge was needed.

Hellbringer vs Wrath of Ages

My list:

Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- Kraken
- Corruptor
- Deathripper

Maximum unit of Bane Warriors
Maximum unit of Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges
Pistol Wraith
Ogrun Bokur
Necrotech

Opponent had:

Reznik, Wrath of Ages
- 2x Reckoner
- Crusader
- Redeemer
- Devout

Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Idrian Skirmishers + Command Attachment

Rhoven & Bodyguard
Vassal Mechanic
Wracks
+5 points of something I can't remember or find from the pictures.

Scenario was Outlast and Cryx started.

It's been almost two weeks since this game was played. So the story is going to be rather short.

Protectorate heavy warjacks took advantage of walls so that Kraken would not be able to get to them. I tried to abuse the terrain the same way and place Kraken so that heavy bases would not fit to charge the colossal, or at least not all of them. I also had a plan to get rid of whole choir, or perhaps with only one choir member remaining, so I was confident Kraken would be able to take the heavies.

However, Cassian or Gius took the Kraken's AoE shot with Shield Guard, which didn't ruin the day all by itself. Of course d3+1 shots from the throat gun rolled only two shots. Corruptor came to shoot it's own AoE to a choir member, but all in all two grunts stayed alive, which was a worrisome prospect for the survival of my colossal.

Turned out I could have pretty much have missed all of my shots against the choir unit - Reckoner missed it's shot against Kraken and then Crusader with Boundless Charge missed most of it's attacks against Kraken and whenever it landed a hit, damage was negligible.

Then opponent had left Reznik with only one focus point. All enemy heavies had been placed so that Kraken would be able to just walk to enemy warcaster.

So that's what I attempted to do.

Asphyxious charged some Idrian and cast Mobility with Blood Boon. Then he spent the rest of his focus point buying attacks against Reckoner, which was later finalized by Corruptor. Crusader was the only enemy jack that would be able to take a free strike, which missed.

Three attacks out of five hit, but rolled damage so poorly that Reznik would have been able to take in three additional attack, at least with that "good" damage rolls.

Asphyxious was dead in less than three figurative seconds.

Last Smallworld of 2016, I suppose

Over a week ago I was visiting some friends in another town.

I brought Smallworld with me and we played a four player game.

All the extra races were used, including Royal Bonus and Spider's Web.


Scoreboard:

Diplomat Orcs/Historian Skags/Catapult Ice Witches: 81

Underworld Slingmen/Seafaring Pixies/Fireball Igors: 81

Dragonmaster Homunculi/Ransacking Leprechauns/Fortified Elves: 90

Alchemist Skeletons/Lava Humans: 92

Journeyman no more

Last two games of my Journeyman League participation. League ended quite a while ago, and first game dates almost a whole month back.

Since both games were with and against the same list, I'll slap both games here though there was at least a week between the two.

My list had evolved into:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Wold Guardian
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Winter Argus
- Gorax Rager

Shifting Stones
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Tharn Ravager Shaman
Maximus
Druid Wilder
Gallows Grove

Objective: Bunker

Both games were Recon scenarios.

Both games were against Convergence of Cyriss:

Forge Master Syntherion
- Prime Axiom
- Cipher
- Monitor
- Galvanizer
- Diffuser
- Corollary

Optifex Directive
Attunement Servitors
Elimination Servitors
2x Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex

Both games had some similarities in how they played out.

First game I rushed to the flag on right, trying to drown opponent in meat, trusting that opponent wouldn't have enough attacks to get rid of everything.

Ravagers were pretty much struggling to destroy even one light vector, but at least they were passing their Tough rolls well enough.

Morvahna had relatively easy time to score points, when opponent got only servitors from Axiom to contest the flag. At one critical point opponent forgot about it, though, and that probably was what tipped tough game in my favor.

In the end where was Cipher contesting the flag when Circle had four control points. Wold Guardian had only Body branch still functional. Most Ravagers were facing completely wrong way. Looked like Morvahna would have to wreck the heavy vector and get back to flag with Reposition. Morvahna was quite injured, so she didn't have that much life left for various boosts and/or re-rolls. But she succeeded.

Game 2:

Second game I took a huge risk by running Morvahna to flag on the right on turn two or something. She did have seven transfers, though.

I wonder how different the game would have played if I had not charged Syntherion with Morvahna when he came a little too close.

And heck, Syntherion is a tough one to assassinate. Morvahna was uninjured and had seven fury points. And last possible attack with only one hit box remaining on Morvahna finally killed the clockwork warcaster.

How much hut would a Hutchuck chuck if a (oh come on, I'm not going there...)

Well, it must be something like three weeks or so since these games were played.

It was a caster swap week in Journeyman League, and I took Morvahna2 in.

My list was:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Winter Argus
- Gorax Rager

Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones
Hutchuck, Ogrun Bounty Hunter
Blackclad Wayfarer

Objective: Bunker I think... not sure any more.

Scenario in both games was Extraction.

First game was against Cryx with:

Lich Lord Venethrax
- 2x Slayer
- Reaper
- Harrower
- Deathripper

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Skarlock
Necrotech
Soul Trapper

I opened the game by bringing Hutchuck to the table and lobbing knockdown grenade on a Slayer. Then Blackclad Wayfarer had easy time landing in Hunter's Mark. Ravagers charged in, but did overall very little.

I was wondering if I would be able to start some sort of scenario play, but I was not able to bring in enough meat to block Cryxian advances. Yet again - my initial battlegroup was not very optimal for wrecking even Arm 17 targets. Not that I actually got my battlegroup into action, but that's beyond the point... I was afraid. That's the point.

Well, I nibbled at the helljacks what I could, but attrition started to look like I had already lost.

But then opponent makes a blooper by activating with Venethrax, and bringing him to a certain position. Then Reaper advanced and got counter-slammed over Venethrax.

He had not activated all of his models yet, so promptly everything that could came to block Gnarlhorn's charge lane to Venethrax. If it hadn't been for a couple of Druids and their new and de-proved Wind Bolts, Gnarlhorn would most likely have been denied it's charge.

Considering Gnarlhorn's track record at failing in absurd situations, I wasn't expecting a caster kill. But that may have been a karma of Mk2, for this time around the Primaled satyr killed enemy warcaster. Yay.

Second game was against Convergence with:
(There's quite a bit of guesswork here, since I don't have Reconstruct on opponent's army list. )

Forge Master Syntherion
- Modulator
- Cipher
- Monitor
- Corollary
- Diffuser
- Galvanizer

Optifex Directive
2x Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex
2x Elimination Servitors
Attunement Servitors

I started pretty much the same as I did last game - Hutchuck enters field and knocks stuff down, which Ravagers then charge aided by Hunter's Mark.

This time it was even worse of a move than it was last time - after all, a couple of Ravagers aren't going to wreck heavies and Syntherion has this auto-repair thingy going on for him.

However, scenario game started to look a lot more promising. Opponent didn't have that many attacks to remove so many medium base models (and the smaller ones also, of course) so I started to snatch a control point here and there. But somehow a vector always managed to sneak close to contest things when they shouldn't have.

Came the time when all Ravagers were dead (twice) and I had completely lost the western front. I did have three scenario points I think.

At least I vaguely remember counting that if I somehow destroy enemy objective and the contesting Cipher on the same turn, I would win.

It wasn't lack of effort that kept the Cipher in game. My damage rolls all over the board were terrible, and I would have needed a little bit above average ones to actually stand any kind of a chance. But no. It took almost all of Morvahna's Fury to destroy Cipher, and then there was this Corollary that a Druid had missed with a Wind Bolt. There it was, still contesting.

Morvahna died to her own re-rolls in vain attempt to remove Corollary.

Four months

That's how long it has been since I completed any models sitting on my painting table. (Well, table, really.)

Things have been happening and re-appearing in my life right now, and I've found it difficult to find time for hobbies.

To serve as a motivational piece for myself, I'll just leave this right here.

An imp and two thugs for Frostgrave, a mutant and a tick-like critter for This is Not a Test, a couple of ruin sections from Mars Attacks -modular terrain kit plus Hutchuck and Maximus for Minions.

Such fiery freezing

Yesterday I played a 25 point game of Warmachine.

My journeyman league list had been expanded thus:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gorax Rager
- Winter Argus
- Gnarlhorn Satyr

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Command Attachment
Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove

Opponent had:

Kommander Sorscha
- Juggernaut
- Destroyer

Minimum unit of Winter Guard Rifle Cords + 3x Rocketeer
Kovnik Josef
Eiryss1

Scenario was Outlast. Circle started game.

My plan was to win scenario from zone on the left and try to contest the one on the right for long enough to give me the edge.

I was happy to notice I, for once, had some tools against Sorscha. Both Gnarlhorn Satyr and Winter Argus had animi that trumped Sorscha's feat. At least Mohsar wouldn't become a sieve via low-powered, automatically hitting military rifles.

On the left there was also trench that Wolves were happy to abuse, as Sorscha had traveled too far to come and freeze them into the trench.

Despite Wolves and their DEF 17 Winter Guard Rifle Corps shot off the screen from Wolves of Orboros officer, plus the officer himself. Destroyer and a couple of Winter Guard rockets made terrible damage against Gnarlhorn Satyr. Looked like I would be losing my heavy warbeast again before enemy warjacks had even had their paintjob scratched. Well, Juggernaut did take a couple of points from Sunhammer, though. My triumphant shouting and yelling did not seem to quiet down, because there was none in the first place. Only a bitter chirp of crickets.

Anyway. Next Winter Argus goes and sprays Eiryss dead, despite needing 12's to hit. It even had enough fury left to put up its animus.

Wolves of Orboros charged Rifle Corps, destroyed their front line and then used reposition to engage the rest of them, while leaving spots open for Mohsar to cast a couple of Pillars of Salt to make contesting the zone difficult.

Juggernaut smacks Gnarlhorn dead with just one hit, while Destroyer makes initial damage roll against Winter Argus so that the wolf is left with three boxes remaining. Last attack missed. As the Destroyer charged in, it took a few points from the scorching sun above, and then got frozen right next to the Winter Argus. Go figure.

I messed up a few things on my next turn, as I tried to score a caster kill with Primaled Winter Argus. First Gorax cast Primal on the argus, and then Mohsar activated, healing lost aspects from Winter Argus and then advanced to dominate the zone - leaving Winter Argus way out of his control range.

Druid Wilder tried to come and help Mohsar to force the caster killer, but CMD 6 just was not enough.

Well, without boosts Winter Argus did five or something damage points in.

I was really confident at winning by scenario now, but I had forgotten all about Sorscha's feat.

She made her movement tricksies to come and freeze Wolves of Orboros, removing that many attacks from my arsenal to clear off any contestants. Then Rifle Corps and Kovnik Joe ran to the zone, trying to spread out as far from each other as possible.

Gallows Grove was thankfully there to get rid of Tough that Joe had sang about.

Blackclad Wayfarer charges one of the Winter Guards, killed him and made a Battlewizard spray against Joe. Attack hit, but did not kill. Kovnik was left with two or three damage boxes.

Then Mohsar aims a spray at a Winter Guard and... misses.

There were three models to remove now, and Mohsar had eight fury points. Even one missed Crevasse would now ruin absolutely everything.

First one did score a hit, and resulting spray took down Kovnik Joe.

Last, boosted Crevasse did not roll 1,1,1 to hit, so game was over with scenario points being 6-2 in Circle's favor.

Next week starts the 50 point rounds with option to switch warlock.

Additional league games

And the Journeyman League continues, slightly sloppily when it comes to my activity at least.

But once I got to a gaming night, I played thee 10 point games.

I expanded my list with:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Winter Argus
- Gorax

Blackclad Wayfarer
Druid Wilder
Gallows Grove

First game was against General Ossrum, who had added Basher to the list. Basher broke off the base just before we started game, so it is the empty base with some cork in it.

This game went a little better than the first one. Not much, but at least I got to do something other than advance and die.

I tried to open up the game so that I'd block enemy heavies to the right side of the board, while wrecking things on the left and hopefully getting to Ossrum in time. However, Basher got to kill Gorax.

Also, Gnarlhorn Satyr was not able to kill one enemy light warjack, though it had Curse of Shadows on it. Well, sure, Ossrum had his feat on, but come on.

Basher destroyed any pillars that were protecting Gnarlhorn, and Energizer got Driller to position where it could easily go and make some minced meat out of the Satyr.

Ossrum had no Focus points, so I guess I really needed to make caster kill now. Mohsar charged in to cast Curse of Shadows on Ossrum but missed. Ossrum had Bullet Dodger on, so it advanced away from Mohsar's cast range. I accidentally thought of making some pillars to block Ossrum's advance, so Winter Argus was free to try and kill an uninjured enemy def 16 warcaster with two RAT 4, POW 12 attacks.

Failed. And Mohsar died.

Game 2:

Second game was against Cryx:

Lich Lord Venethrax
- 2x Slayer
- Deathripper

6x Mechanithralls
Skarlock

I was way too scared of Terminal Velocity in this game. And it didn't exactly help either that I didn't bother to ask about the Venethraxs' new feat's details. I was under impression that it forbade forcing when it instead didn't allow for to leech.

That was one ouchy touch turn.

But I did put up a valiant fight, though. Piece by piece I was removing Cryxian stuff from the board until there was only one Slayer left. Venethrax had been sitting on the flag, grinding scenario points whole time.

But it wasn't a scenario victory, no.

Slayer charged Gorax with Terminal Velocity and got within 1" of Mohsar. First attack brought Mohsar to one or two points remaining or something like that. Then Mohsar died.

New and improved Crevasse is quite a nice spell, though.

Game 3:

Last game was against Syntherion, who had added Corollary and some servitors to his list.

I chose to make a grand opening in this game and sent Gnarlhorn Satyr to its death, trading a 12 point beast to 7 or 8 point warjack. But I made that on purpose this time, as I thought Syntherion would now have to dedicate quite a bit of his resources to deal with a heavy and also Winter Argus, buying me time to start to score scenario points.

It almost worked. However, there was always some nasty enemy model that was able to run to contest my flag from one vector (pun...?) or another. And I had ran out of models to contest enemy flag.

A rare game, where both players went to 5 control points.

However, next Mohsar lost last remaining model from his army list - the Blackclad Wayfarer. Mohsar's game was doomed.

So that was three losses. Oh dear.

Journeyman League

A Journeyman League with slightly modified rule set started in my home town.

My initial list was:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Winter Argus
- Gorax Rager

0-point games were played with Mangled Metal rules.

My first game was against:

General Ossrum
- Ghordson Driller
- 2x of those tiny jacks with a single shot cannon
- 1x of the warjack with spray weapon

... and oh boys, was I rusty.

First turn I started to think about my fury management once I had already activated two of my beasts that only ran. So I had to cut up, what, four points on my turn 2?

Well, it was quite tough match up anyway. As there was no scenario pressure, I had to keep going at them, all the while getting shot to pieces. At least the salt pillars were a nuisance for Ossrum and protected me somewhat.

Once Driller got to charge Gnarlhorn Satyr and I had not seriously damaged even one of their jacks, I started to figure out a way to give me even a tiniest sense of accomplishment, as winning the game looked unlikely.

I ended up wrecking the Driller with Mohsar. Yay.

Game 2:

Second game was against Convergence of Cyriss:

Syntherion
- Monitor
- Diffuser
- Galvanizer

Oh, this game brought me back fond memories of playing Mk2 with Mohsar against Khador.

I used my feat on turn 1.

I was less afraid of the shooting aspect of enemy forces this time, and pushed forward much more aggressively.

Syntherion, however, got Magnetic Hold on Gnarlhorn Satyr, which made me feel a lot less confident.

All Gnarlhorn did was to walk over to Diffuser and beat it to the ground. I expected to lose it next turn.

Reconstruct was on Monitor, so I'd have to somehow wreck it twice with light warbeasts. Perhaps with Curse of Shadows.

However, a sort of miracle happened. Monitor did not kill Gnarlhorn, and neither did Galvanizer who came to help. Attack rolls by opponent were terrible. Syntherion spent all of his focus points that turn, so now I would have to try to assassinate him.

Mohsar charged Monitor and cast Curse of Shadows on Syntherion. Gorax gave Primal to Winter Argus, and Winter Argus then walked to back arc of Syntherion, who promptly died.

The Invincible Siren

I played these two 25 point Warmachine games about a week ago.

Opponent played with the same list; I, however, switched casters in-between. Scenario was the same in both games. Deployment sides also. Plus deployment.

Opponent had:

Iron Lich Asphyxious

- Slayer
- 2x Deathripper
- Helldiver

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 1x Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Warwitch Siren
Pistol Wraith

My first list was:

Witch Coven of Garlghast
- Nightmare
- Harrower
- 2x Deathripper
Pistol Wraith

Since Asphyxious has Breath of Corruption and I had to keep all of the witches rather close to each other, I started worrying about getting blasted with the POW 12's from first turn onward. Asphyxious started the game.

One enemy Deathripper runs forward to kill Pistol Wraith.

Witch Coven shoots the enemy Necrosurgeon dead with Stygian Abyss. It isn't very surprising that Coven used Nightfall. Arc nodes would still be a problem, though, but I didn't want to dedicate Nightmare for destroying one pesky Deathripper. Instead both heavies try to kill Mechanithralls. I was sure they wouldn't hit my helljacks under Nightfall. My own Deathripper goes and bites enemy Deathripper. Arc node survives, which worries me a little. I had quite a high bet for either destroying movement or the arc node with one free strike...

Then the Iron Lich. Asphyxious casts Parasite on Harrower but misses. He casts another, this time boosting attack roll, and it's a hit. Quite a few Mechanithralls are eligible for a charge. I was not very amused when only two attacks made by Mechanithralls (one didn't even get the charge bonus) and it took over half of the system boxes. Could've been worse when only ranged weapon was destroyed.

Deathrippers start a bite fight and Helldiver and Pistol Wraith run to threaten the coven.

So, either I take care of the aggressors or try to get Asphyxious. Of course I go in for the kill. My forces shuffle for quite a bit first, as there were three small based models blocking a charge to Asphyxious. Witches tried to remove enemy Warwitch Siren from the board and then charge Asphyxious, but that was not to be. Attack roll missed. I completely forgot about Nightmare's Ghostly ability in terms of free strikes, but oh well. I did remember it for the rough terrain...

So, I had to trample Nightmare to Asphyxious. Mechanithralls died just fine to the trample, but Warwitch Siren proved her resilience when Nightmare actually hit - but didn't deal even a single point of damage.

Asphyxious, on the other hand. That guy exploded all over the place.

Game 2:

My list in the second game was:

Master Necrotech Mortenebra & Deryliss
- Corruptor
- Reaper
- Cankerworm

Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Machine Wraith
Soul Trapper
Swamp Gobber River Raiders

And damn that Deryliss is bugged at the time of writing.

First picture is from Mortenebra's feat. Asphyxious didn't have any focus left from two Breath of Corruptions, so I thought I might be able to seriously damage Asphyxious and probably take out both arc nodes and what else. Corruptor shot one of the Mechanithralls into an arc node, and Mortenebra cast boosted Doom Spiral on Asphyxious, dealing eight or something like that damage in.

Reaper and assorted models wrecked one Deathripper, Machine Wraith, Cankerworm and Soul Trapper another.

Mechanithralls charge Cankerworm, but around one attack hit. Which, again, dealt crazy high damage. Warwitch Siren sprayed Deryliss and a River Raider dead. Asphyxious used his feat and sat on full camp of seven focus.

Corruptor shot Pistol Wraith into an AoE 5, giving a POW 10 to Warwitch Siren. Who survived. Really? Two games in a row?

I decided to rip Asphyxious' battle group into shreds and dragged Slayer next to Reaper. However, Reaper did next to no damage to Slayer. I had considered finishing it with Doom Spiral, or at least sealing its coffin ever more tightly. But... nope. I was certain that two heavy jacks just got wrecked there and then.

Next turn Mechanithralls swarmed my friendly flag, so I would have hard time trying to dominate some points, and Asphyxious had already started that. I think he went to three points now.

Siren Shadow Binds Reaper. Helldiver softens it pretty roughly, and Slayer finishes the helljack with tusks.

And then.

Out of five attacks Slayer could make, it missed four. Despite needing only 6+ to hit.

Well okay, I screwed up last turn by dragging Slayer right next to my vital parts and not having insurance against bad dice, but this... this. Wrecking Slayer with Mortenebra and killing the already injured Asphyxious with Corruptor felt like cheating.

Asphyxious does have impressive camp, but still... Corruptor just cannot make those few remaining damage points. And I had spent all of Mortenebra's Focus points. Tables had been turned so fast that the tableware didn't fall.

Asphyxious comes to cast Hellfires at Mortenebra and misses each and every one of them. Warwitch Siren misses Mortenebra. Everything and their dog misses Mortenebra. Well, one Mechanithrall may have hit her in the back, but didn't score a kill. Looks like the porcelain was in pieces on the floor after all.

A focusless Asphyxious with about three damage boxes fell to one hit.

"But I'm safe from blast damage!"

A while ago I played a 75 point game of Warmachine. Actually, make that two. Or make that one. However you wish. One and a half. One point twenty five. Enough rambling.

Both games (game and a non-game) were with same lists and scenario.

My list was:

Lord Exhumator Scaverous
- Seether
- Erebus
- Ripjaw
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Withershadow Combine
Aiakos
- Desecrator
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Machine Wraith
2x Soul Trapper
Ragman
Swamp Gobber River Raiders

Opponent had:

Severius2
- 2x Reckoner
- Redeemer
- Blessing of Vengeance

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Idrian Skirmishers + Command Attachment
Rhoven & Bodyguard
Covenant of Menoth
Hierophant
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic

Scenario was Recon. I won't bother with the first game too much. I somehow thought it was a very good idea to bring Scaverous that much front. My objective was Bunker, so I was, uh. Safe from blast damage. Whee.

Assassination still comes from rather far away with Severius2. Though I don't think he actually even cast Awareness and blasted Scaverous with two Hex Blasts instead.

Game 2:

Okay, another try.

This time I decided to keep Scaverous a little bit better 'screened', though what the heck does that help against anything that has access to Awareness?

I tried to shoot scather template to block Idrians even a little, plus used arc node to cast Feast of Worms "somewhere", that landed on Idrians, giving Scaverous a soul or something. I think Protectorate started this game and the first picture in the doubled up scene is from the end of Cryx turn 2. Protectorate had shot Seether off the board. I sacrificed Ripjaw to cast Feast of Worms deep in the enemy line of supports. I forget how much actually happened, but quite a few choir members died. Scather falls to a slightly bad position, not doing much against single wound infantry now.

Next Severius uses his feat and everything dies. I lost objective (to shooting, actually. I lost Bunker to shooting.) most Black Ogruns, Aiakos (which made Desecrator inert), Warwitch Siren and Soul Trapper.

When I try to reply to this aggression, everything fails. Even Machine Wraith misses it's back strike attack against Blessing of Vengeance. I decided to launch Erebus forward anyway, both to contest the zone and to act as some sort of a dummy for Protectorate to beat instead of focusing on Scaverous.

Withershadow Combine casts Telekinesis on inert Desecrator and Scaverous comes to re-activate it. He casts Feast of Worms on enemy objective.

Next Protectorate has its fair share of bad luck when Reckoner misses back strike attack against Machine Wraith, and Redeemer fails as miserably against Pistol Wraith. Erebus is slammed out of the zone, though.

Machine Wraith and surviving Black Ogruns make Protectorate over-reach a little; Severius really wants to start playing some serious scenario game and he empties his focus pool relatively close to my troops.

This was my only chance, but it was quite a slim one. Severius had Holy Ward on himself, and he was on top of a hill also.

Admonia upkeeps the Feast of Worms, and then Pistol Wraith advances to shoot the hierarch a little. Wraith does some damage in, but doesn't succeed in Death Chilling its target.

No matter how I try to shuffle things, I can't find any other shot I could make other than from Desecrator, which would need 13+ to even hit in the first place. Covenant had denied spellcasting and I didn't have that many attacks available to deal with it...

So, Withershadow Combine gives Puppet Master for Desecrator, who then advances and shoots the biley cannon forth. I don't remember if I had to use Puppet Master or not, but in the end the attack hit and killed Severius.

Bokkens bokkens everywhere

After I had been introduced to Citadels, I got to play another card game called Samurai Sword.

I heard it's a bit like Bang! with hidden roles and not knowing 'who's side you are on'. Again we had six players.

Gameplay was smooth. Turns didn't generally take very long (unless somebody played three Ceremonies and a couple of Distractions in a row... which is a feat in itself.)

I had the questionable honor of not getting even a single blue permanent 'buff' card into my hand during the whole damn game. I mean... they're not uncommon at all.

I think I made only two or three attacks during whole game, as I didn't have reach anywhere. Both players next to me had armatures from the beginning, and I got only few reach 2+ weapons.

Now... what did I get? I guess some geishas, distractions and bokkens. Random jiu-jitsus here and there. Dodge/parry or whatever that card was had been quite a familiar sight in my hand.

I forget which team won. I think it was ninjas, but could have also been the loner role.

Citadels

Few days back I played the card game Citadels. We had six players.

It was a fun game, though I don't usually like 'deck building' games all that much. But the mechanics were interesting with the changing leader types.

However, the game seemed to suffer from the usual syndrome associated with game translations: rules were somewhat ambiguous and bogged. A lot of judgement calls had to be made with conflicting and/or weird card interactions.

The beginner's luck almost kicked in when I scored 29 points and the winner 31.

Kind of a success (Asphyxious2 vs Xekaar)

Last game from Ropecon has been waiting to get written for almost two weeks.

My list was:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- Seether
- Corruptor

Maximum unit of Bane Warriors + Command Attachment

Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Aiakos1
- Desecrator
Madelyn Corbeau
Gorman diWulfe
Darragh Wrathe
Warwitch Siren
Soul Trapper

Opponent had:

Beast Master Xekaar
- Agonizer
- 2x Basilisk Drake
- Cyclops Shaman
- Titan Gladiator
- Tiberion

2x Minimum units of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Aptimus Marketh

Scenario was Close Quarters. First picture shows how I try to block the advance of Nihilators with Caustic Mist AoE and scather template. It kind of succeeded. One Nihilator runs to contest my flag.

Next turn I bring Corruptor to the front of my lines because I want to shoot the shiny new 5" AoE over Nihilators. It kind of succeeded. I caught at least five of them under the template. Isn't that nice? Potentially yes. But only two of them die. No, not all of them passed their tough rolls. At least two didn't even have to make it. Me, bitter? Not the least! I considered that taking out five Nihilators and luring Tiberion out with Corruptor might be worth it.

Well, sure... it did lure in Tiberion. That part of plan was - yet again - kind of a success. Tiberion did charge in. However, also Desecrator was within Tiberion's reach. Not sure if baiting Tiberion with 30 points worth of warjacks was worth it. Thanks to some poor rolls by opponent also Gladiator had to charge in to remove Corruptor from the equation. Both heavies were well protected by Xekaar's disturbing "while within" style of feat.

Seether had been neutralized by Deadweight.

My next turn took quite a bit of time to resolve. Xekaar didn't have any fury points left for transfers, so this was my chance.

Now, if I only would get a Black Oil on Xekaar, I might be able to pull it off with Hellfire from Darragh Wrathe, a couple of Hellfires from Asphyxious and one Bile Thrall purge.

Gorman diWulfe obviously failed the very first step, so I decided I wouldn't try to go for an assassination unless I somehow got a really good damage roll with Bile Thrall. Bane Warriors charged and ran here and there, not doing much other than dishing out the -2 Arm from Death Shroud. -3 MAT had some severe inclinations here.

Next I wanted to take out Tiberion. Asphyxious had to cast Parasite on him and deal as much damage as possible by himself. He didn't do too bad, but had to teleport away.

Aiakos advanced an leaped to the back arc of Tiberion. I'm not sure if Darragh tried to cast Hellfire on the titan, too. Tiberion was now at one or two damage points remaining and with -5 Arm. Warwitch Siren charges in to finish the beast and give one or possibly two autohitting POW 12's to Xekaar with no Fury. She needed 4+ to hit. Do I really need to tell more?

I decide to try to get at least one Bile Thrall to Xekaar even if it needed to suffer a free strike. Of course Tiberion's mind branch was still functioning. Failed.

The rest of the Bile Thralls try to Purge Tiberion. Damage roll of 11 did exactly that, but it was a pyrrhic victory at best in this situation.

We still play for one round, but when I had only Darragh Wrathe, Seether outside of Asphyxious' control range, one Bile Thrall and a Soul Trapper while opponent has pretty much lost only Tiberion, I yield. It's a rare occasion I do that. And I was tempted to try and get Asphyxious' feat to kill Gladiator and perhaps a couple of other warbeasts, but exhausted as I was (and in a little bit of a hurry) I just couldn't defy those odds.

The Way of the Moo

Well...

It was a game with rules. So I'm obliged to write this.

However, the game and the rules were casually tossed out by the persons who were in charge of the miniature events during the weekend.

Game figures were made out of cones and represented cows. I'm not sure if cone cows are a thing outside of Finland. Game had a grand name:

Mooshido - the way of the moo

You got to choose from one of the three general cow profiles that had a little bit different 'stats' like endurance, strength and what else. You had to come into contact with the other cone to make an attack. If you rolled a hit and caused an injury, the other cow lost one point of health. All basic profiles had three wounds. Advanced profile like Batman cow had extraordinary stats, but had a balance mechanic: you have to pay ten euros to play Batman cow, because Batman is stinking rich and has more than enough money.

I played the Boogeymoo from moomins, and opponent had Pikamoo.

The fight was a very special one, since it was filled with brutal violence and tender hugs and questionable innuendo.

First it looked like Boogeymoo stood no chance against the more experienced Pikamoo, as their health remained at one point for Boogeymoo and two points for Pikamoo for quite a while. But then something happened. I guess Boogeymoo gave off its trademark growl from the TV-series and Pikamoo was either terrified or frozen. Pikamoo moved no more and Boogeymoo won a pile of gold coins. But... did Boogeymoo want the fresh kill at all? Or was it searching for a friend in a completely new arena?

We may never know.

This is not a test test

I played a demo game of This is not a Test (TnT) during Ropecon 2016.

At one point we were supposed to start a TnT campaign of our own here in Jyväskylä, so I thought it might be worthwhile to give it a try.

Also, the board was gorgeous.

I got to choose my team between some sort of weapon carrying scavengers and wasteland mutants, and, well, honestly there was no choice for me. Mutants it was.

The demo scenario was a homebrew system that was both a race to get to the other side of the board. You got most victory points from getting out of table, but also from killing NPC monsters and opposing team members.

Combat mechanics reminded me a little bit of Frostgrave. You roll a die, both add their modifiers and that's it. Melee combat roll doesn't decide the result for both combatants, though, but as the wounds are actually resolved at the end of the round the melee combat is very lethal indeed. Beware those rats and badgers you might see running amok in the post-apocalyptic world.

I got to satisfy my disturbed perversion of trying to out-shoot the shooty factions with non-shooty options. My pistol wielding mutant spent several turns firing at scavengers, but it wasn't very effective. In the end the pistol jammed, putting an end to my shooting spree. I guess the dice knew better.

Scavengers got tied up against giant rats and the badger for several turns. Mutants had a little bit easier time dispatching a scorpions and some giants rats. Furry melee mutant I had went recklessly into melee at every possibility. This was it's downfall as a rat ate the mutant. Its sacrifice shall not be forgotten! (Unless it already is...) Last of the three mutants, some sort of bile belching guy, succeeded in melting all the remaining NPC resistance that was on my way.

Mutants won in the end when rats ate a second scavenger and I managed to escape the board with two mutants.