Frostgrave campaign game ten

Despite forgetting my own models home, we played the next scenario of Thaw of the Lich Lord campaign. Scenario six, the House of Longreach. I was afraid that it would be an awkward scenario to play because of the small area you might get teleported into. After all it worked out quite fine and didn't devolve into figuring out poorly explained rules and unexpected rule interactions.

I'm going light with pictures because I forgot my miniatures home, but I'm including one that gives out the position of treasures and magic portals.

Sigilists succeeded in casting the Reveal Secrets spell. That treasure, as well as treasure #4 were easy grabs for Sigilists.

I had my greedy eyes on treasures 1-3. The number one was an easy one for me, but there was more contest with #2 and #3.

Opponent sent (accidentally, through a portal) some soldiers behind my lines that were nearing #3, but I had outrageous luck with dice there. At the same time Sigilist war hound had entered the treasure chamber through a magic portal. These dogs are a thing in this game. The pup single handedly... pawedly? took down both of the Frost Wraiths that were guarding the treasures! Possessed Jack entered the area right after, and even he was terrified of the dog. Instead of engaging in melee, he shot it down with empowered elemental ball.

On turn three some death cultists and zombie troll entered the board. By this time I had seized both treasure #2 and #3, and though Sigilists were peppering my troops with archer fire, they weren't actively threatening those treasures. Now and then some Sigilist soldier took his chances to teleport right into my troops through a magic portal, but those plans didn't yield fruit.

In the treasure chamber, however, was Jack who had cast Possess on himself and Fleet Feet. He picked up the special treasure. In the chamber at the very same time was the Sigilist wizard, who was invisible. The death cultists were moving towards the portals, so the chamber might get crowded very soon. This in mind Jack picked the special treasure so that Sigilist wizard could be able to pick the other treasure up without Jack denying it - if I had walked next to both treasures, a battle would've ensued with just about one hundred percent chance.

Thankfully Sigilist wizard deemed it better to get one treasure for sure than try to attack Jack.

Two death cultists entered the treasure chamber. Jack fought one and killed him. Sigilist wizard used this time to pick the second treasure and start casting Invisibility on himself again.

Now, Jack only had nine hit points left thanks to my extravagant empowerments. If the last two Death Cultists entered the area and ganged up on Jack, they might actually kill him. Because of this my Possessed Treasure Hunter attacked the death cultist and zombie troll party to buy time for Jack to escape.

It worked, kind of. Kind of, because opponent succeeded in bringing one Treasure Hunter of his own to the treasure chamber, and suddenly Jack was there, outnumbered by enemy warband members instead of +0 Fight death cultists.

But hey, no problem, really. Jack only needed to cast Leap on himself and leap to the magic portal and enter the main board from some safe location. Easy.

Well, only half of that was "easy" (Jack entered main board from just about the best portal he could - in the middle of my treasure carriage #3.) The casting roll had been "1". Draining Word was raising the difficulty of Leap to ten, so Jack didn't have enough hit points to empower the spell to succeed.

With a heavy sigh Jack drained all empower points from his Orb of Power [8] that he had found last game. I surely hadn't planned to use such an artifact of great power to empower... Leap.

Game started nearing end. Sigilist warband was the one to kill Zombie Troll. My Possessed Treasure Hunter had just been a short-lived practice target for the troll. As an added annoyance, an archer shot killed Jack's apprentice.

My captain, whose debut last game had not been anything to write home about, did a little better in this game. She killed enemy blood crow and managed to flee the scene even if she was injured from some arrow by an archer. That was +30xp for her.

Treasures were four for Summoner warband and three for Sigilist warband, so that was pretty even.

- - -

Apothecary and War Hound died, but there were no other casualties. Apprentice rolled fourteen, and the troll-beaten Treasure Hunter survived without a scratch.

In this game Jack gained a total of 370 experience points, which gave him four levels. Treasures included Fire Heart Gemstone, Horn of Hellfire, Dagger with +1 damage modifier and 320 gold coins. Make that 288, thanks to Captain. After replenishing losses, gold gained was 180. Let's just hope that Fire Heart Gemstone will be worth an Orb of Power (8) in the long run...

Since none of my soldiers use daggers as main weapons, I sold the magic dagger I found for 90 gold, greedy captain taking that 10 gold from the trade.



Roster details:

Jack Saturn is level 29 with 2935 experience.
He has levelled fight by +3, Will by +2, and health by +4*.
Fleet Feet spell has been improved by +4, Elemental Ball by +2, Leap by +2*, Possess by +1, Spell Eater by +1, Imp by +1 and Fog by +3.
He has learned Plague of Insect, which has been improved by +2*.
He has learned the Reveal Secret spell, which has been improved by +1.
He has learned Willpower spell.*

Home base is Inn with Crystal Ball, Sarcophagus of Healing, Carrier Pigeons (-1 gold) and Kennels

Vault has Magical two handed weapon (+1 damage modifier), 2x Sword of Undead Slaying, Magical bow (+2 damage modifier), Club of Battering
Book of Rangifer
Ring of Power (1)
Eyes of Amoto
Fire Heart Gemstone
Horn of Hellfire
Grimoire: Poison Dart, Control Construct, Furious Quill, Enchant Weapon*
Scroll of Planar Tear.

Total gold that has been collected is 2880, unspent gold is 656.

Warband roster is worth 1360 gold (level 29 apprentice is 490) and includes:
Barbarian (with the club of battering)
Marksman
Ranger
2x Treasure Hunter
Apothecary (re-purchased)
Bard
War Hound (re-purchased)
Rangifer
Captain: +1 Move and Sprint trick (cost so far: 83 gold), leather armor, hand weapon and dagger, 40 experience

Night Witch Tournament

Last weekend I was in a (this time) planned Warmachine/Hordes tournament.

It was a 50 point Steamroller game with four rounds.

My lists were:

List 1:

Cassius the Oathkeeper & Wurmwood
- Gorax
- Woldwatcher
- Shadowhorn Satyr
- Warpwolf Stalker

Shifting Stones
Tharn Bloodweavers
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Lord of the Feast
Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Bloodweaver Night Witch
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Gallows Grove

List 2:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Gorax
- Riphorn Satyr
- Pureblood Warpwolf

Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Tharn Ravager White Mane
Blackclad Wayfarer
Bloodweaver Night Witch
Gallows Grove
War Wolf

I had finished painting Bloodweaver Night Witch just a day ago, so I wanted to include her in both of my lists so that I wouldn't have the dilemma of "I should play this list because of the matchup, but I want to play Night Witch!"

So. First game was against Skorne. I chose Cassius as my warlock, though opponent had Titan Gladiator and Tyrant Commander handing out Pathfinder. Oh well. Enemy list was something like:

Supreme Archdomina Makeda
- Molik Karn
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Basilisk Krea

Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Cataphract Incindiarii
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer

Scenario was Fire Support. I forget who started game.

Even when I had quite a few models immune to fire damage, the Incindiarii were a pain. They managed to set Cassius, Wurmwood and tons of other models on fire anyway. I was really lucky in setting the fires out - about 66% of the fires got extinguished instead of the regular 33%. Lord of the Feast took down three Incindiariis, but that didn't seem to slow them down.

I was terrified of Molik Karn. Perhaps a little too much. Molik went for a little killing spree against Druids of Orboros and used his animus to back off.

The first picture is taken from the situation where Night Witch and Warpwolf Stalker have charged Molik Karn and killed him. Stalker rolled dice absolutely terribly. Under Primal it was MAT 8 and rolled damage with dice +2, and still Molik Karn would have survived if it wasn't for the couple odd points Bloodweaver Night Witch had done. I had been pretty sure I would have been able to get at least one, hopefully two attacks against Bronzeback Titan, but no. Not today.

Bloodweavers charged Bronzeback and dealt some damage in.

Opponent had been playing really slowly (it was his first tournament) and had around six minutes left on his clock after his next turn. Titan Gladiator had not been able to kill Warpwolf Stalker and Bronzeback Titan forgot to put his animus on, so his kill count for that turn was two Bloodweavers only.

I could have also played attrition or scenario game, since three Incindiarii and a couple of Nihilators were the only infantry opponent had.

And still I wanted to assassinate Makeda. Makeda had two Fury points left for damage transfers. Titan Gladiator was at maximum Fury. I tried to kill Bronzeback Titan first, but had no luck there.

Cassius hopped next to Makeda and tried to cast Curse of Shadows on her, hitting on 9+, and obviously that's a miss. Second Curse of Shadows miraculously hit, but Cassius had been reduced to just one unboosted initial attack that required 9+ to hit. It was a miss.

Well. I still had Shadowhorn Satyr leaping in with Primal on it. Shadowhorn required 7+ to hit, but had six attempts after Bounding Leap. I decided I needed to risk it and go for unboosted 7+'s since Cassius had failed to make any damage in to Makeda.

Out of the six attacks only two hit, and first one did very little damage. Second roll was high, I think, but it was transfered away.

Now, okay, 7+ can do things like this. Two hits from six tries isn't that far below average. However... out of the four Shadowhorn attacks that missed, none would have hit even if required score would have been 6+.

Suddenly my successful rolls for fire expiration made perfect sense, yet again. Furyless Cassius was cracked in two like a dry branch.

During lunch break I swore that if the rest of the games roll as badly as this one did, I'd get rid of this batch of dice. They've been failing so terribly lately (though making stupid mistakes haven't really helped to even the odds in case of bad dice...) and I was just about done with them. Superstitiously I shuffled all of the dice in the box and re-arranged them randomly to make sure I wouldn't be using the same bad dice that are on top of the box all the time.


Game 2:

Second game was against Trollbloods, and I chose Morvahna for my list.

Opponent had something like:

Chief Madrak Ironhide
- Troll Axer
- Mulg the Ancient

Minimum unit of Krielstone Bearers + Elder
Maximum unit of Fennblades + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Long Riders
2x Fell Caller Hero
Fennblade Kithkar
Horthol

Scenario was Incoming and Trollbloods started.

I thought that hiding Ravagers behind a wall and inside a forest would be kind of okay defence against Long Riders. I was kind of horrified when they got their MAT equal to eleven, or something? That was a whole lot of dead Tharn Ravagers right on turn two.

Circle second turn I decided to use feat to bring back the six or so dead Ravagers all around Longriders - without cavalry charge bonuses they'd be less frightening... right? Pureblood tried to spray Krielstone unit dead, and despite needing only 7+ with three dice to hit, I had to re-roll most of the attacks with Scales of Fate. And to make matters worse, out of the four Krielstone Bearers that got damage in, three passed Tough check. Morvahna casts Death Knell on the same lot, but, well. All Tough checks passed when I managed to breach their armor.

Wolves of Orboros advanced a little to bait Fennblades into charging, though I'm not sure if that manoeuvre qualifies as a successful bait, because that was exactly what they wanted to do in the first place anyway. I had also brought many too far ahead so that they received more losses than I had anticipated when it was Trollblood turn again. At least Madrak didn't use his feat yet, so Mulg killed only Pureblood Warpwolf, Gallows Grove and possibly Blackclad Wayfarer.

Trying to remove the key support piece had now pretty much cost me the game, unless I killed Madrak, who had two transfers or something like that. He had overextended himself, though, so I would be able to teleport Riphorn Satyr behind him.

I shuffle quite a bit on my turn and try to make it possible for Riphorn Satyr to throw Madrak closer to Morvahna with Chain Attack - in case that Mulg would be, like, close to killing Riphorn.

However, once chain attack triggered Riphorn still looked alive and well, so I chose to head-butt Madrak instead to the ground. Mulg had mercifully missed a protective fit. Riphorn managed to chew through all Madrak's transfers and bring him down to four hit points before dying to the Rune Club.

Only model that was able to reach Madrak then was Morvahna with Sunder Spirit. I had three attempts. I was pretty sure it'd be something like, one miss, one doesn't cut through armor and one passed Tough. So much faith I had in my dice. But the first Sunder Spirit was enough.


Game 3:

Third game was against Skorne, again. We drove two hundred and fifty kilometres to get a match with player from my home city.

He had:

Lord Arbiter Hexeris
- Titan Gladiator
- Bronzeback Titan
- Cyclops Brute
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea

Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Maximum unit of Croak Raiders
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Agonizer
Task Master
Extoller Soulward

Scenario was Two Fronts. Since opponent would become list locked for the final round if he didn't choose Hexeris for this game, I was fairly confident in choosing Cassius for this match. Again I had a lot of fire immune models, and enemy had Croaks and Ashes to Ashes.

Circle started, and first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 1.

Circle shot Lord of the Feast to Croaks and kills three of them plus one Nihilator. Not sure if worth four points, but the pleasure I get from just one dead frog counts at least for two. Two additional Croaks die in the middle.

Hexeris had cast Arcane Reckoning on Croaks, and this lead to first time in recorded history when that spells makes a casualty. I didn't remember that spell, and somehow didn't register that Croaks were in a trench. All the 2d terrain looks the same... Anyway. A druid killed itself with Force Bolt. Though we were not completely sure if that was possible, since unit leader had already put up Counter Magic. So possibly Arcane Reckoning wouldn't have done absolutely anything yet again.

Anyway, Cassius uses his feat. The various markers show the general area of the forest in second picture.

Opponent brings some remaining Croaks and Swamp Gobbers to contest Circle friendly zone and relocates his forces to Skorne friendly zone.

Turn 3 berserking Warpwolf with Sprint clears the zone, and Cassius starts dominating. I didn't realise until it was too late that I had placed Bloodweavers rather... foolishly, considering opponent had a spray basilisk nearby. Oh well.

Bronzeback Titan with Rush tries to charge a Druid of Orboros after Basilisk Drake had cleared the way, and thankfully the charge fell short. On my turn one Bloodweaver, Shadowhorn Satyr with Primal, Warpwolf Stalker who warped for strength and Cassius kill the Bronzeback Titan. Ech.

Circle friendly zone is cleared again, and Cassius dominates second scenario point.

Up until now things had looked really good for me. Warpwolf Stalker had taken some stray damage points in from different sources, and now a charging Cyclops Brute with enrage and Rush managed to kill the heavy warbeast. Drake and Titan Gladiator came to contest Circle friendly zone, and Shadowhorn Satyr would frenzy for sure next turn.

Hexeris had charged in to finish off Woldwatcher and casts Ashen Veil on himself.

Even if I somehow managed to clear Circle friendly zone again with some Force Bolt pushes, I'd get to three control points only... and then enemy warbeasts would be so deep inside the zone that my scenario game would stop right there and then. So, an assassination it would be.

First Druids of Orboros and Blackclad Wayfarer try to clear some Nihilators in front of Hexeris. Blackclad Wayfarer did a couple damage points in to Hexeris, even.

Next Shifting Stones teleport Bloodweaver Night Witch to the back arc of Hexeris. This was the moment I had been dreaming of for whole tournament and a couple of practice games. Except, that, she had to score a hit against a def 17 target (def 15 in back arc). She dealt three points of damage to herself with her ability to boost attack or damage rolls, so first attack was most likely the only shot she would get. But it hit, and Hexeris got Grievous Wounds in.

Now Cassius needed to finish the job with eleven fury points, four of which were needed for placements.

It took the very last attack Cassius was able to make, but this time he scored the kill.


Game 4:

Last game was against Legion of Everblight, and I chose Morvahna for the job.

Opponent had:

Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight
- 2x Ravagore
- Zuriel
- Naga Nightlurker
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower
- Shredder

2x Shepherd
2x Strider Deathstalker
Succubus
Anyssa Ryvaal

Scenario was Recon and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Circle turn 2.

I'm quite happy that probably for the first time ever I played against Lylyth2 like you should: rush to her with everything you got as fast as you can. And it was nice to see that it was effective. Lylyth had to use her feat on turn two to defend herself and not to assassinate my caster. Damage was impressive, though... Riphorn Satyr has one box of health remaining in the Spirit branch.

Turn 3 Pureblood Warpwolf enters zone and deals crazy damage to objective and Lylyth herself. I think objective took thirteen points and Lylyth twelve (which was transfered to Shredder, though)

Riphorn Satyr runs to engage enemy beasts, Warwolf does the same and actually everything does the same, except for Morvahna who does full feat and has only one hit point remaining afterwards. Blackclad Wayfarer wrecks the objective, and Circle goes to three control points.

Opponent does respectable job again in clearing dirty hippies from the board. Only models that get to contest the zone are a Shepherd, Succubus and... a Ravagore.

Then it's Circle turn. Pureblood Warpwolf is left with two fury points, but it has quite good Threshold anyway. With eight or less I'd most likely win the game relatively easily.

It soothes my pain a little that Pureblood Warpwolf wouldn't have succeeded in the check even if it had to make it with zero fury... eleven was rolled. Blackclad Wayfarer was eaten.

This sucks.

Oh well. Let's see. I needed to keep Shepherd alive so that Morvahna would be able to Ram her to get within reach of Ravagore after being teleported with Shifting Stones.

Succubus would need to be taken down somehow, and I chose Wolves of Orboros for the job. I charged Succubus with three Wolves of Orboros and thanks to not thinking very straight one ended up blocking an easy charge for one Ravager. I wanted to make sure that the Succubus died, so I brought every Wolf there I could. First Wolf killed Succubus, though. Oh well.

Morvahna then got teleported, and she rammed Shepherd dead and started attacking Ravagore. She had healed some damage during enemy turn, but not enough to be completely careless of her own health.

There was one really good damage roll, and a lot of sub-par rolls. Though at least every attack did some damage in. Well, except once she re-rolled one 1,1,1,2. Luckily damage to her was only one.

In the end of the day, Ravagore was alive with three damage boxes remaining. Now... if I would have trusted that two Wolves get the job done with Succubus, Ravagore would have had an easy lane to charge enemy warbeast. Now, Bloodweaver Night Witch tried to kill one Wolf of Orboros out of the way, but still the Ravagore ended up being half an inch away from reach range.

Furyless Morvahna at one hit point in the middle of enemy army.

Well, funnily enough every Legion warbeast frenzied except for the one Morvahna had in melee. But still... even if Morvahna had Def 19 in melee, Lylyth gets to RAT 10 with aiming bonus.

It was so close. So close.

Well, even if Morvahna would have killed the Ravagore, I would have been in fourth place of the tournament. So that moronic Ravager block didn't cost me winning positions.

Still it sucks.

And I even need to keep using the same dice, because their fails weren't so egregious in the latter games of the tournament. Maybe they heard my threats.

Sectoids

Few days ago I finally painted a couple of Sectoids for my '94 X-COM Enemy Unknown themed Plague (or pretty much whatever) Strike Force.

I guess it's perfect time to start finishing these things, as Deadzone second edition has been released for the kickstarter backers.

I'm not sure what Sectoids should represent in the game - unless I expand my choice of armies. They might be perfect Rebs, or something. Left one is holding Plasma Rifle and right one has Plasma Pistol.

Sectoid with Heavy Plasma might... no, it will look funny indeed.

(un) Friendly Reminder

Last Thursday I played two practice games for tournament that's held this weekend. Both games had the same list:

Cassius and Wurmwood
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Shadowhorn Satyr
- Woldwatcher
- Gorax

Tharn Bloodweavers
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobber Bellows
Lord of the Feast
Night Witch
Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Gallows Grove

Objective: Bunker

Opponent had:

Archdomina Makeda

- Molik Karn
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Cyclops Brute
- Basilisk Krea

Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Aptimus Marketh
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Objective: Bunker

First game had Incursion scenario. Circle started game, and the picture is from the end of Circle turn 2 where Cassius has desperately used his feat to try to block Molik Karn from doing things. There had been about three millimetres in between Molik Karn and Cassius when Cassius had attempted to cast Stranglehold on the cyclops chieftain.

There is nothing else to say, really.

Molik Karn didn't even need to use side-steps to walk within 2" of Wurmwood.

We played another game after this sorry affair.

Game 2:

Lists were the same, but we switched sides. Skorne started and scenario was Fire Support. I think these lists were quite balanced against each other. Both had counter options for moves opponent would be able to make. Skorne had completely absurd walking distances with Pathfinder available, but I had Stranglehold and Pathfinder removal, plus the 10" forest feat with me. Makeda had a a feat to bring back Nihilators, but I had some remove from play -effects. I had ways to lower MAT and relatively high defense, and opponent had Carnage. And so on.

First picture is from the end of Circle turn one. Woldwatcher shot one of the Nihilators into a forest.

Turn 3 opponent rushes forward with Nihilators. They kill a couple of Druids of Orboros. Molik Karn came close. Too close.

Turn three was also the turn when Cassius used his feat. But before that Lord of the Feast threw his crow at a Nihilator. He jumped in to make his thing with Nihilators and hopefully make a dent at Basilisk Krea. Well. Just as in last game, he hit with zero attacks against infantry models. Sometimes MAT 8 takes you only so far. Sometimes, like, two times in a row.

Druids of Orboros pull Bronzeback Titan a total of four inches closer. Gorax or Wilder cast Primal on Warpwolf Stalker, who then warped for Strength and proceeded to attack the warbeast. I think Stalker wasn't in Agonizer range, because it was able to kill the Bronzeback.

Rest of the army killed off Nihilators, Bloodweavers taking out Defender's Ward in the first place.

Now Cassius tried to be smart and cast Stranglehold on Molik Karn through Gallows Grove, without exposing himself too far just yet. Stranglehold hit Karn and dealt some stray damage points in. Molik missile never again. Or at least next turn.

Lanyssa Ryssyll fell a little short from getting Molik Karn within Winter Storm. The only reasonable thing to do was to use Push power attack on her with Woldwatcher.

Turn 4 Makeda uses her feat. Nihilators kill Lanyssa with the aid from Carnage. After that Titan Gladiator used Rush on itself and walked to attempt a double handed throw against my Warpwolf Stalker. This was one of the first times, or perhaps even the first time I have witnessed the throw target resisting a double-handed throw. Though it wouldn't have worked without Primal and warping for strength.

Bloodweavers and Hellmouths and whatnot all over the place destroyed the rest of the Nihilators, so Makeda wouldn't be able to return any models into play with her feat. Not that there were too many Nihilators that had been honestly destroyed.

Two Bloodweavers did some damage in to the Titan Gladiator, and Warpwolf Stalker had done it's frenzy attack against it. But those were quite not enough to kill it. Agonizer was giving -2 to damage rolls. Druid Wilder cast Primal on Shadowhorn Satyr - which would still be making attacks only with P+S 14 and 13 despite Primal! But this goat is not Gnarlhorn Satyr, no. Shadowhorn advanced, used Bounding Leap and killed Titan Gladiator - with one blow!

Cassius Strangled Molik Karn yet again.

Turn 5 Skorne got rid of Gallows Grove, which could possibly get Molik Karn out of Stranglehold's reach.

But this turn Molik wouldn't be able to do anything meaningful. Cyclops Brute tried to attack my warbeasts, but killed none. I don't remember what Krea did, except that it died on my next turn.

Circle turn 5, or so called "why, oh why did I do this" turn. Woldwatcher shot one Beast Handler into a forest, and the rest of Druids of Orboros cast Vortex clouds. This turn it looked like I had expended all of my good damage rolls, though, when Warpwolf Stalker, frenzying Shadowhorn Satyr and a stray P+S 9, weapon-masterish Bloodweaver didn't kill Brute. Should've used Primal on Stalker, I guess...

I advance Cassius and try to kill thr Brute with Stranglehold, but that accomplished nothing. He moved Wurmwood to safety.

Attrition game was looking good, but it doesn't really matter, when Makeda removes a couple of Bloodweavers from Molik's way, has Carnage on and Aptimus Marketh casts Savagery. Then Molik made a casual walk to Cassius and kills him.

Well, okay, it wasn't that casual. Cassius had been less than half an inch too close to Molik Karn. But that's all what it takes...

It's not entirely impossible that after these experiences I'm starting to fail to enter killbox in future games whenever enemy has Molik Karn.

Scaverous vs High Exemplar Kreoss

Last Wednesday I played a 25 point Warmachine game against an aspiring Protectorate of Menoth player.

My list was:

Lord Exhumator Scaverous
- Ripjaw

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + Brute Thrall + Skarlock Overseer
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Reaper
Skarlock
Pistol Wraith
Soul Trappers
Ragman

Opponent had:

High Exemplar Kreoss
- Avatar of Menoth
- Reckoner
- Repenter

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Minimum unit of Deliverers

We didn't play any scenario, and the intimidated Kreoss cornered himself. No problem. Reaper could go and drag him out of his hole.

I had Death Ward on Mechanithralls so that they wouldn't all just die to Deliverer shots. Kreoss had cast Defender's Ward on Repenter, as Avatar had accidentally ran too far before Kreoss activated.

First picture is from an interesting situation, where Avatar had attempted to slam Reaper. Idea behind this was to catch Aiakos under the slam and kill him. Slam fell short just by something like two millimetres. Well. Not everything went sour for Protectorate that turn - Reckoner assaulted Scaverous and dealt nine points of damage. Repenter scorched Ragman.

Next turn Scaverous used feat. He used Ripjaw as an arc node and turned Reckoner and Repenter around so that they wouldn't charge next turn. Then he cast Feast of Worms on Reaper to get that -2 Arm for Avatar. Then he cast Telekinesis two more times on some Mechanithralls to ensure they'd reach Avatar.

Reaper and Mechanithralls wrecked Avatar. Skarlock cast Death Ward on Scaverous. Pistol Wraith and Mechanithralls had already caused a massive casualties check for Deliverers, who had failed.

Now its time for Kreoss to use his feat. Reckoner tried to advance and shoot Scaverous, but Scaverous had not been under Kreoss' feat. Shot missed.

Repenter scorched a couple of Mechanithralls and the Brute Thrall.

Well. I had plenty of options now. I took the most interesting one instead of the safest. Hey, I was playing against a new guy. Of course he has to see wicked combo chains! So I went for Kreoss, who had two focus points boosting his Arm score to 17.

So. Every model I had tried to remove one choir member that was in between Reaper and Kreoss. None succeeded, so Scaverous had to cast Telekinesis on him. Then he cast Telekinesis on Reaper and Icy Grip on Kreoss. Skarlock cast Ghost Walk on Reaper, who then charged Kreoss with +2" movement from Escort.

Miraculously the charge attack hit (I've been having trouble with those lately...), and after that every attack hit. Out of the four attacks I was able to make, there was only one really damn poor damage roll. Others were at least average. But... I was playing Scaverous.

It had thought my the Curse of Scaverous had been lifted, as last couple of games with him haven't been that terrible.

But there it was again. Kreoss survived with only one hit point.

Mechanithralls then made some kind of attempt to block Reckoner from reaching Scaverous.

That didn't help, though. Mechanithrall in front of Scaverous was just far enough to stop Reckoner from getting within 2", but there was the Assault shot. The shot required 11+ to kill. And it was 6,5,4 or something along the lines of that.

Meh. The curse is back, but at least it made for quite an exciting introductory game.

Frostgrave campaign game nine

Last Tuesday I played a game of Frostgrave.

It was part of our campaign. Scenario was the number five from Thaw of the Lich Lord, Run of the Rangifer.

Game was played on a suspicious part of Felstad, where technology of times long since gone still show signs of surpassing the mechanical advances of these days. There were six rangifers on the board (or were they descendants of a tribe that had had far too much radiation leaking into their lineage?) kind of guarding the treasures. After game ends, each wizard would gain extra experience for all rangifers that had not been slaughtered, chopped to pieces, had their heads bashed in, bled out or life force being drawn out.

On first turn a death knight wraith thing would appear to hunt them also, so they would be in danger even if two wizards didn't cause enough collateral damage.

I marked treasure locations to the first picture. Two treasures with no number I gave to opponent without contest.

The #1 treasure was, by far, the easiest to grab. The rangifer was put down easily enough, though I think I played Plague of Insects incorrectly - spell gives the penalties to each model within the range, even to my own models! But since the rangifer was already wounded from a bolt fired by Marksman or Crossbowman, I doubt it would've changed things that much. Though, rolls of 20 are always rolls of 20.

Then. My sellsword captain.

Tresure #3 was guarded by a fierce rangifer indeed. It held its own against both captain and treasure hunter, and even dealt damage in to captain. In the process the rangifer became wounded.

Later I brought bard into combat with it, but didn't make attacks because I wanted extra experience for the captain.

Well. Wounded rangifer in combat with three uninjured warband members still managed to kill captain. Just as planned.

Fleet feet on a Treasure Hunter, clouded by a Fog made a quick rush to treasure #2 after the rangifer had wandered off, wounded from missile fire, and had a little encounter with my Possessed barbarian.

Leap made for an easy retreat.

Eventually rangifer at treasure #3 died and someone started to move the treasure away. Player interaction had not been much of a deal in this game aside from some ineffective archery.

Opponent had secured the two treasures, but #4 was still unclaimed. Opponent started rushing for it, and it would nigh impossible for me to get there before enemy summoner would just cast Leap on the treasure carrier.

Except...

My possessed, uninjured barbarian might be able to Leap twice to get on top of the roof! Nobody would stop my possessed barbarian! Especially when opponent didn't have any war hounds!

After first Leap enemy wizard tried to cast Bind Demon on the barbarian. What? First use of that spell, like, ever. Casting roll was really poor, I think opponent boosted to get the minimum result for a successful cast. Bard right next to my barbarian saved the day, and he passed the Will check.

Then then Adon cast second Leap on the barbarian, and he stood right next to treasure #4. Enemy apprentice tried to cast Bind Demon on the barbarian and... and... and he failed. Noooo!

Well. There was no way for me to contest treasure #4 now. It was a clean 50/50 game. Opponent had killed the wraith knight and exactly one (1) rangifer had made a peaceful retreat from the zone.


- - -


Post-game Jack found 260 gold, Orb of Power, Eyes of Amoto and Grimoire of Enchant Weapon. Jack thought he doesn't need such amount of eyes, so they were sold off. Greedy and useless captain took her share, so total gold gained from this game was 369.

Captain survived and bard died.

Since captain screws up the gold coin amounts, I bought Carrier Pigeons for home base for five gold. Bard had died, so I got a new one for 99 gold. I wanted to wait for the crossbowman to die of... natural causes, so to speak. But I ditched him and got a Ranger in his place for 99 gold.

Jack gained two levels, and I got so scared of Bind Demon that I raised Will by another +1 and levelled Spell Eater by one.

Roster details:

Jack Saturn is level 25 with 2565 experience.
He has levelled fight by +3, Will by +2*, and health by +3.
Fleet Feet spell has been improved by +4, Elemental Ball by +2, Leap by +1, Possess by +1, Spell Eater by +1*, Imp by +1 and Fog by +3.
He has learned Plague of Insect, which has been improved by +1.
He has learned the Reveal Secret spell, which has been improved by +1.

Home base is Inn with Sarcophagus of Healing, Carrier Pigeons and Kennels

Vault has Magical two handed weapon (+1 damage modifier), 2x Sword of Undead Slaying, Magical bow (+2 damage modifier), Club of Battering
Orb of Power (8)*
Book of Rangifer
Ring of Power (1)
Eyes of Amoto
Grimoire: Poison Dart, Control Construct, Willpower, Furious Quill, Enchant Weapon*
Scroll of Planar Tear.

Total gold that has been collected is 2560, unspent gold is 636.

Warband roster is worth 1320 gold (level 25 apprentice is 450) and includes:
Barbarian (with the club of battering)
Marksman
Ranger
2x Treasure Hunter
Apothecary
Bard (re-purchased)
War Hound
Rangifer
Captain: +1 Move and Sprint trick (cost so far: 41 gold), leather armor, hand weapon and dagger

Suddenly a warmachine tournament

Last weekend I went on a completely unexpected Warmachine tournament. It was a team tournament, and the team from out city lost a player just a day before the tournament. On Friday 8PM I didn't yet know that I would be going to a tournament 7AM next day.

I also had to make lists in less than twenty minutes. Here's the what I came up with:

List 1:
Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- 3x Helldiver
- Nightmare
- Stalker
- Deathripper

10x Cylena Raefyll Nyss Hunters
10x Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Withershadow Combine
Satyxis Raider Captain

Objective: Effigy of Valor

List 2:

Witch Coven of Garlghast
- Defiler
- Ripjaw
- Kraken

6x Bane Thralls & Unit Attachment
5x Soulhunters
Darragh Wrathe
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Looking back now, I would have definitely tweaked the Deathripper out of Asphyxious list. When I was feverishly building his list I didnt remember Vociferon was an arc node already.

First game was against Legion of Everblight. I took my Asphyxious list and opponent had something like this:

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
- Blightbringer

2x Maximum unit of Warspears + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Nyss Raptors
Maximum unit of Spawning Vessel
Warmonger War Chief
Shepherd

Scenario was Recon. Both Ogrun units made Satyxis their Prey target. I took one of the Ogrun units as Nightmare's prey.

Blightbringer and a couple of Warspears shoot movement and one claw away from Nightmare. Meh. I decide to make at least some use out of the warjack and walk it to beat two Warspears that came within walking distance.

Satyxis Raiders take Desperate Pace and charge deep within enemy lines in an attempt to tie up as many enemy models with Ashen Veil as possible. I expected casualties, so Sea Witch used Power Swell.

Now... there was a particular reason I took Effigy of Valor with this list. The reason was that I don't trust CMD 9 the least. However... I was so excited over my threat range that I forgot to keep one Satyxis within 4" of my objective. I had to take two Terror checks, as I had also tied up the Warmonger War Chief.

well. I didn't have to stress over two checks, as the first one failed right away. I laughed and I smiled, but it was a bitter laugh and a bitter smile. They managed to regroup right away, though.

I needed to make some moves now or Satyxis would just be killed for no use at all. My move was to enter middle zone with Asphyxious and use his feat. He was camping at Arm 23, if memory serves.

One of the Helldivers stayed above ground to block attacks opponent would be able to make against Asphyxious.

Satyxis survived well enough, considering the vast amount of attacks they were soaked in. But they received enough casualties to call for a Massive Casualties check. Which... how could it be otherwise? ... failed. Nothing attacked Asphyxious.

Next turn Asphyxious had ten or eleven focus points. Two or three came from the feat, and one from Vociferon who had collected the soul of an ogrun.

I had big plans of starting to dominate this turn. Nightmare killed a Warspear close to it, giving more souls for Vociferon. Stalker charged a Warspear and killed it. Then it was Asphyxious, who charged objective. Damage roll was laughable. He bought extra attack against a damaged Warspear nearby. Attack missed. Oh wait, Asphyxiosu has Puppet Master on him! Let's re-roll the one, and keep the four! Attack is still miss. He bought one more, and finally killed the Warspear, and cast Ashen Veil on himself with Blood Boon. Asphyxious had Def 17 in melee against all enemy attacks and Arm 25.

All but one Satyxis Raiders die next turn. Warspears clearly took some advice on how to roll attack rolls from Asphyxious. Four Warspears kill the Stalker. First successful hit destroyed movement system, so it wasn't exactly a hard thing to do.

Next turn Asphyxious finally dominates three points. This time cover-ignoring Nyss Hunters and two Dark Fires from Maelovus and Admonia failed to kill one Warspear that was contesting middle zone in behind the Stalker wreck. Third Helldiver and what was left of Nightmare killed one Warspear on the right, but there were two in the zone. All depended on P+S 9 Satyxis Raider Captain now. Oh, the lone survivor from Satyxis Raider unit had ran as far away from action as possible so that Warspears wouldn't change their Prey target to Asphyxious.

Did Raider pass a command check and score a kill with dice minus seven? Yes she does!

It's a shame that there was one Warspear behind the Stalker wreck. Asphyxious had to go there, kill that ogrun and kill the objective. If that guy had died, I would've moved Asphyxious to the right to block Blightbringer from entering the zone.

Asphyxious survives yet another turn right in the middle of whole damn enemy army. Nightmare is gone, all the Helldivers are gone, Satyxis Raider is gone and there's tons of ogruns and raptors and gargantuans in the middle zone. So...

So Asphyxious kills an ogrun in front of himself with a spell, casts Mobility and charges one Raptor close to the flag on the left and dominates a point from there. What was left of Nyss Hunters tried to go and block enemy army from charging Asphyxious.

This time Asphyxious had only Arm 18 and Ashen Veil, but still managed to survive somehow. I have only Deathripper, Admonia, Maelovus and Asphyxious on board. And one Satyxis Raider in the farthest corner of the bord. Shredder from Spawning Vessel and two Raptors are contesting the flag.

I make a cunning plan of killing Shredder with Deathripper, then killing one of the Raptors in melee with Asphyxious and casting an offensive spell at the other Raptor with Blood Boon, or if Raptor B was too far away to be within reach, kill A with boosted Bone Shaker and hopefully kill B with Raptor A or an unboosted Bone Shaker.

Well. Deathripper does something like four damage points in to the Shredder, and Asphyxious misses Bone Shakers entirely.

Opponent ran out of clock next, so it was a bit of a hollow victory. However, winning with deathclock didn't feel as bad as it usually does because my dice rolling had been so terrible in some crucial points in the game. True, I can only blame myself for the failure of Terror check by Satyxis, but looking at general bell curves I'm fairly sure Cmd 9 shouldn't fail over fifty percent of the time on Satyxis Raiders and Black Ogruns.

Still it was an exciting game. It's not often you spend three turns with your warcaster within charge distance of pretty much whole enemy army, plus one extra turn lethally close anyway - and survive.



Game 2:
Second game was a Cryx vs Cryx. Opponent had all sorts of soul collecting shenanigans, so I took Witch Coven list that had far less living models in it.

I can't figure out the entirety of enemy list, but it was something like:

Lich Lord Terminus
- Reaper

Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
2x Minimum or maximum or some kind of units of Bile Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Warwitch Siren
Madelyn Corbeau
Saxon Orrik
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
+ something

Scenario was Incursion, and Terminus started game by casting Malediction on himself and running forward with everything.

Soulhunters and Darragh Wrathe took care of the flag on the right so that I started scoring points from it right from the start. Kraken did fine job in destroying one of Reaper's arms with just one shot. That was about the end of my luck, however. Well, I had been a little too greedy, too. I had been too sure that skill 7, POW 10 Warwitch Siren would be able to take down a Def 10, Arm 13 Bile Thrall. She did score a hit, but damage roll wasn't enough to get through armour.

Well. At least Bile Thrall had corrosion now, that ought to at least stop it in its tracks if it manages to pass Tough roll. Obviously the corrosion expired. Now Bile Thrall was just able to come and Purge over one the Witch Coven members. I had wanted to spread Nightfall as far as possible, and it did screw up most other attacks except those from Bile Thralls. Now it was a dead witch on 8+. Damage roll was seven. So on my next turn it was a dead witch on 3+.

Fortunately opponent's bile was just as ineffective as mine had been - the corrosion expired. But this got me all kinds of scared. I had also lost Skarlock and Warwitch in the very same Purge. There were enough Bane Thralls and, well, Terminus in the middle, so I might lose Kraken next turn. If I lost Kraken, nothing would damage Terminus. So, Witches loaded up Kraken and cast Infernal Machine on it. Veil of Mists allowed for passage through three Bane Thralls, and 4" chain strike range brought Terminus easily within charge range. Witches also cast Curse of Shadows on Terminus, who had six focus points to overboost powerfield.

So, Terminus had Arm 22, and Kraken had MAT 8 and P+S 18. Attacks would hit on 6+. I figured that I'd have best chances if I'd take two damage boosted attacks from initials against Terminus, and buy one extra nonboosted attack. But that 6+ has been so elusive lately. Charge attack misses. Second initial attack hits and I boost the damage. Total damage with one boosted and one regular attack was nine or something. But Terminus was still standing.

Next enemy Admonia disbinds Curse of Shadows and Infernal Machine. Witches are quite lucky and survive a few charges by Bane Thralls. Terminus then charges Egregore and Kraken gets to make a free strike. I was excited when the attack hit and scored high damage. But not enough, not today. Terminus arrived to Egregore with two hit boxes remaining. I don't think I have to say anything more. Terminus with six focus points next to Egregore with none.



Game 3:
Last game was against Retribution, and what a game it was... an experience, yes.

Scenario was Close Quarters, which meant a Killbox. Opponent had Ravyn and Issyria as the list pair. Issyria didn't actually have a lot of shooting in it, so I was really considering that I'd choose Witch Coven for this game. It was the killbox that eventually made me go Asphyxious. Game was against Ravyn tier list, and damn it. I should have chosen Witch Coven regardless. Their list had at least a little bit of stealth. Soulhunters with Occultation could have been a thing here.

Oh well.

Ravyn list was:

Ravyn
- Banshee

2x Maximum units of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Officer
Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Eiryss
2x Stormfall Archers
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen
Narn

At least Cryx got to start despite +1 from theme force bonuses.

I tried to rush Satyxis Raiders with Ashen Veil to tie up enemy front line. I should have rushed whole army front then, though. After all, who was I going to shoot with Nyss Hunters? Satyxis Raiders, perhaps Stalker and Helldivers were what kept me in the game for a little while. Opponent got so scared of the Helldivers that he gave me two control points by moving Ravyn out of killbox. Once he realised that Helldivers were so far away from Asphyxious that I wouldn't really be able to allocate focus for them, Ravyn came forward and by then my army was already pretty much decimated. Most 8+ attacks the Mage Hunter Strike Force had to score against Satyxis did hit home, and on top of that Satyxis even failed their command check.

That's three failed command checks by Satyxis in two games.

As a futile final gesture Asphyxious charged forward to kill some Mage Hunters. He cast Ashen Veil on himself with the Blood Boon.

Then Banshee shot Asphyxious knocked down and Skeryth finalised him.

Brutal game. Ravyn definitely seems like one of those warcasters that you need to play more often to know how you're supposed to play against her. There is no time for hesitation that I showed in this match.

Adventures of Winhorn Satyr vol I

Last Friday I played a practice game for an upcoming tournament. I didn't quite know that I'd be going to a different tournament the very next day... but that's another story.

Anyway, my 50 point list was:

Cassius the Oathkeeper & Wurmwood
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Shadowhorn Satyr
- Gorax
- Woldwatcher

Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Tharn Bloodweavers
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew
Shifting Stones
Lord of the Feast
Bloodweaver Night Witch
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Blackclad Wayfarer
Druid Wilder
Gallows Grove

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Opponent had (I think):

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight:
- Blightbringer
- Naga Nightlurker

2x Maximum unit of Warspears + Chieftain
Minimum unit of Warmongers
Minimum unit of Spawning Vessel
Warmonger War Chief
Forsaken

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Scenario was Destruction and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Legion turn 1. Thagrosh had a little accident just before the game and as a result lost his upper torso. He didn't waist his feat on bringing it back. Oh god. That pun.

Turn two I decided to use Cassius' feat already. Hey, why not? I figured I could take one hit from Blightbringer with Wurmwood - especially when guarded by Woldwatcher. This might give me a chance at playing scenario. Lord of the Feast throws his teleport bird at the Spawning Vessel and slaughters all of the chefs. So, damage from Legion is negligible on turn 2, and only three Ogruns come to contest the zone. Well, three Ogruns and a Shredder from Spawning Vessel.

It was all too easy to dominate for three points on Circle turn three. Or... was it?

I need to buy new dice. The amount of total of threes was astonishing. In next write-up I'm going to complain even more about hitting on 6+. But let's not get ahead of things.

Only models that did really well were the Bloodweavers and Druids, who pushed two Ogruns out of the zone. Warpwolf Stalker, Shadowhorn Satyr, Lanyssa, Woldwatcher, Blackclad Wayfarer, Gorax and Cassius with a couple of souls would be more than enough to get rid of the three, right? Right? Well, it was, eventually. Once absolutely everything else had already activated, there was only Shadowhorn Satyr and Gorax left to activate and opponent still had Shredder and objective. Gorax used Primal on Shadowhorn Satyr, who trampled over Shredder (killing it) and also wrecked the objective. Whoa. The thing has worse P+S than Gnarlhorn Satyr, and yet it managed to save the day (or what could still be saved)? I think this guy deserves its own tag. Even if it serves no purpose, at least it's there to add to the shame of my Gnarlhorn Satyr.

But really. With only a couple good rolls (or heck, a couple of mediocre rolls more instead of the abysmal ones!) I could have got so much better turn. I had originally planned to dominate for three scenario points, but I felt like I couldn't risk it as I had achieved only the bare minimum with maximum efforts. Shadowhorn would frenzy next turn, and there were far more Ogruns around than I had hoped for.

Turn 3 Legion wasn't exactly the dice rolling champ either, as Woldwatcher and Druid Overseer and a couple of Bloodweavers were the only casualties. Both heavy warbeasts took heavy damage, but at least they were still alive...

But now there was a gargantuan sitting on the zone that I had failed to dominate. Game became an admirable grindfest from there on. Satyr frenzied and attacked Blightbringer. Stalker thinned down Ogruns and sprinted away. Rest of my army tries to scrape at the Ogruns, but don't really accomplish anything. Cassius casts Curse of Shadows on Ogrun Warspear unit. Legion then kills Shadowhorn Satyr and a number of my infantry. Miraculously Gorax survives all of this.

Cassius continues to upkeep Curse of Shadows on Ogruns. Remaining Bloodweaver make a dirty charge at the Warspear chieftain, killing him. Then Cassius juggles Curse of Shadows to Blightbringer and even managed to damage it with Stranglehold, making it to forfeit either action or movement. Then Warpwolf Stalker charged it and killed a nearby Ogrun to trigger Sprint. Night Witch killed at least The Forsaken.

Gorax dies next, but Night Witch somehow escapes death. I'm starting to have wild fantasies about making the final blow to Blightbringer with Hellmouth. That would mean opponent would get Naga back with the feat... or a Shredder, why not.

Night Witch pokes Blightbringer to make it un-healable, and Warpwolf Stalker did the "ogrun for Sprint + attacks at Blightbringer" trick again. Blightbringer was left at four hit boxes remaining. Warpwolf didn't Sprint back to Shifting Stones, but rather tried to hide behind the gargantuan.

Then Thagrosh activates and kills Blightbringer with his own... claw! Not sword, mind you. That one removes from play, while claw doesn't. Thagrosh feats Blightbringer back and Warspears shoot Stalker dead. Damn it.

Now there was no longer any chance of winning the game. I conceded after figuring out for ten minutes for anything at all. But no.

Originally I had been thinking of walking or charging with Blood Witch through Blightbringer (which had Curse of Shadows) and hopefully hitting Thagrosh with second attack. That would've denied damage transfers. Warpwolf Stalker would've killed Thagrosh then, if able.

After losing Curse of Shadows on Blightbringer and Warpwolf Stalker, none of this was possible. I could have tried some weird Hellmouth/Stranglehold assassination if Night Witch could have landed the "no transfer" hit. Very unlikely, but not completely impossible, unlike this situation now.

Exciting game nonetheless. Little did I know that next game I'd play would be against the Prophet of Everblight again in about eleven-twelve hours, or so... but that's for a bit later.

Soul Weaver vs Grand Scrutator

Over a week ago on Sunday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine.

My newest Deneghra looks painted enough to be used in games at home. So my list was:

Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- Harrower
- Malice
- 2x Helldiver
- Deathripper
- Stalker

Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Party Pirates
Maximum unit of Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudge Thralls
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Ragman

Opponent had:

Grand Scrutator Severius
- Judicator
- Reckoner
- Blessing of Vengeance
- Repenter

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Holy Zealots + Monolith Bearer
Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Wracks
Rhupert

Scenario was Incursion and Protectorate of Menoth started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1.

Deneghra has cast Grave Wind on Stalker, which has ran far to the right.

On second turn Cryx scores first control point from flag on the right. Blessing of Vengeance wasn't even contesting it, but Stalker slammed the arc node away nonetheless. Pistol Wraith went to control the flag, and Black Ogruns tried to block Line of Sight to it. Perhaps I'd get a second point on Protectorate turn.

Drudges run to engage Holy Zealots who are under Greater Destiny.

Both of the heavy warjacks contest middle flag at maximum distance.

Turn 3 Reckoner destroys Harrower, and some kind of spell from Severius kills the Pistol Wraith. Sad thing, because no protectorate models came to actually contest the flag. Holy Zealots kill most of the Drudge thralls.

Deneghra uses her feat on Cryx turn three, and it's played incorrectly. Deneghra can use her souls to allocate focus to warjacks inside her command range, not in her control area. Luckily Helldiver who charged Severius didn't kill the old man - finding out later that you won because you played a rule incorrectly is annoying.

Stalker, Helldiver and Deathripper also cheated some extra focus points for them, but that mix up was definitely worth it. First Stalker tries to head-butt Blessing of Vengeance down - only to find Blessing of Vengeance was within command range of Covenant of Menoth, who had cancelled knock down effects. Deathripper only got to make one attack, as Blessing of Vengeance killed the Black Ogrun with Defensive Strike that I would've used to block repel. Helldiver didn't really do anything either. Three warjacks with nine focus points were able to deal three damage in...

Deneghra had cast Mortality on Reckoner and Repenter, and had legally given three focus points for Malice.

Ragman advanced a little too close to Severius, who had used his feat to prevent spellcasting. Malice failed to disable Reckoner with four attacks that were the equal of P+S 18. Better play with Ragman would've done the trick, but, oh well.

Two charging Drudge Thralls destroy spray from Repenter. A scrap thrall scores second control point for Cryx.

Turn 4 Judicator wrecks both Helldivers, and Blessing of Vengeance cripples Stalker. Reckoner who had something like four or five damage boxes left wrecked uninjured Malice.

Blessing of Vengeance still didn't quite get within 4" of flag on the right, so I score third control point on my turn with Ragman. Situation was pretty hopeless because I had lost Malice. Severius had taken ten or so damage points, so that in mind Skarlock casts Grave Wind on Deneghra, who then charges Reckoner. Damage was triple ones.

Would Def 17, Arm 23 Deneghra face tank Reckoner, Judicator, Severius, Repenter and whatever Protectorate would be able to throw against her?

At least she had a really good start, when she had taken only a few stray points in from Reckoner, Repenter and channeled spells from Severius. Being so fixated over Deneghra made opponent forget to bring someone to contest flag on the right, so I'd go to four control points on Protectorate turn. That would be automatic victory for Cryx if Protectorate fails to kill Deneghra.

But now here was the real test. A charging Judicator who had received Battle Hymn.

Deneghra went down to four hit boxes remaining from the charge attack. Judicator had one focus remaining, which was used to boost attack roll. Judicator needed to roll 8+ with three dice to score a hit. And 8+ it was. Well. A roll of one plus one or one plus two would still save Cryx. But it was not to be, presumably because I had allocated focus too far. Karma does stuff like that. Really, it does.

Please Morvy, can I take these tuffalos home with me?

Better write this game up right away, as I forgot to take camera.

So, I just got back from playing a 50 point game of Warmachine.

My list was:

Morvahna the Autumnblade
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Woldguardian
- Woldwyrd
- Rotterhorn Griffon

Druids of Orboros
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Lord of the Feast
Druid Wilder
Gallows Grove
Gatorman Witch Doctor

Opponent had:

Borka Kegslayer
Family Reunion tier 4
- Pyre Troll
- Slag Troll

Maximum unit of Trollkin Champions + Skaldi Bonehammer
Minimum unit of Trollkin Champions
Minimum unit of Trollkin Sluggers
Stone Scribe Chronicler
2x Trollkin Champion Heroes
Gudrun the Wanderer
War Wagon

Scenario was Incursion and Trollbloods started game. Borka was coming from the middle. Gudrun and War Wagon were holding a flag on the left, and I didn't really have anyone there... A few stray druids only. Well, at least this left me good presence on the flag on right. However, all of the champions were nearing that flag, so I kind of needed most of my punching power there.

So, on my second turn the only model I managed to get within 4" of the flag on left was only a Druid of Orboros. Within Vortex cloud, though. Opponent had been limited in his movement options with the champion trolls, and I guess he didn't want to overextend them either because of Circle threat range shenanigans. This resulted in an easy grab of the rightmost flag with Wolves of Orboros.

Borka had cast Wind Wall, which safe-proofed two Sluggers, a Pyre Troll (I think) and just about every Stone Bearer. This blocked the perfect spot for Lord of the Feast's crow, but one Slugger who was outside of Wind Wall took the bird right in the face. The cheaty thresher attack with extended warranty took down the whole unit of Sluggers and two Stone Bearers. Lord of the Feast had Restoration on him, so he wouldn't be that easy to remove from the board next turn.

Well... I don't remember too keenly, but I failed to bring other models to contest the middle flag, or if I did it was a single Druid of Orboros. However it went, it was easy for opponent to get two scenario points there and then. Two Druids of Orboros died, as well as five Wolves of Orboros, but who counts Wolves of Orboros when they got Regrowth on? Perhaps Morvahna should, as she was left at zero Fury next turn after paying for the upkeep for Harvest and Regrowth...

I really wanted to get at least two Fury before I would activate Morvahna so that I could get Restoration somewhere. Druids of Orboros try to give her that. One druid kills the last remaining Stone Bearer grunt, and then there was only the stone itself remaining, who passed two Tough rolls. I really wanted the fury points for Restoration, so Shifting Stones teleport themselves within 4" of each other, and Stone Keeper teleports himself closer to the knocked down Krielstone. And another passed Tough roll. Turn later I realised that Woldwyrd goes through Wind Wall as it has a magical attack. Oh well. I ditch my attempt to get Restoration and activate Morvahna to use her feat.

Druid Wilder give sprint for Warpwolf Stalker, who then warps for Strength and charges into thick of Trollkin Champions. Skaldi counter charges, but thankfully doesn't break anything. Warpwolf kills one Champion and one Champion Hero and manages to knock down Skaldi. Then it sprints as much back as possible. Woldwyrd shoots Skaldi dead.

Wolves of Orboros charge and use Power Swell. This scores them three kills and a second scenario point for Circle.

Woldguardian tries to beat War Wagon, but the damage rolls... let's not speak about the damage rolls. Let's just... don't.

Then Borka uses his feat, and that turn was a serious blow to my attrition. Both Warpwolf Stalker and Woldwyrd died. Only one Druid of Orboros remained. Trollbloods go to 3 scenario points.

On my my turn the Rotterhorn Griffon charges the lone Krielstone Bearer, and this guy passes yet another three Tough rolls. Damn it you useless underlings... target the TROLL, not the stone! Wolves of Orboros activate, and finally the Krielstone Bearer is skewered for good. Other casualties for trolls included only a trollkin champion and one champion. I had had quite a few knocked down Wolves of Orboros at the start of their activation thanks to Hero's Tragedy, or whatever the actual name for that ability is.

Now that the damned stone was dead, Woldguardian killed Gudrun the Wanderer and brought War Wagon down to seven hit points remaining. I'm not sure what the heck that Guardian tried to do to the Wagon the whole game. Did it try to hug the fluffy and warm and soft buffaloes or something? Pet and play with them forever, and ever?

Morvahna was a bit cold hearted when she cast Eruption on Life on the Wagon. She needed to roll 13+ for damage to kill it in one shot, and of course she rolled exactly twelve. She had Fury for one more Eruption of Life, but needed 7+ on two dice to score the kill. Failing that, she'd have zero fury points for transfers. Ah well. There goes.

Damage roll is eight, so she gets one fury from Harvest and is teleported to safety via Shifting Stones.

Gallows Grove had teleported to control the flag on the right, so scenario points were 3-3.

So. Thanks to Regrowth Circle was a bit ahead on the attrition by now, but on the other hand scenario game was even and Trollbloods would most probably go to four points now.

It's a little annoying when a game ends this way. Opponent had laid plans thinking dominating a flag gave two scenario points in Incursion. Dice weren't with opponent this turn, and he struggled to remove two Tough Wolves of Orboros and Rotterhorn Griffon from contesting middle flag. It's possible nothing would have changed in the outcome thanks to some poor luck, but still winning because of or losing to oversights isn't that nice. It's the same, really, as when somebody learns just a little too late that warcasters and warlocks cannot contest zones or flags, or when someone isn't aware that both players score points during both players' turns.

But hey. Happens. Tough game anyway.