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.