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.

Army of Sheep lead by a sheep

I'll start this year's Ropecon write-ups with one that's by far the easiest one.

Battle Sheep proved it's worth in being a terrific game for even those of us who suffer from severe sleep deprivation while playing.

Though, I have to admit that now and then doing some easy math might save from a humiliating defeat.

Oh well, what can I say more about such a simple game. We had three players, and I did win two times out of the ten or so rounds we played.

Goreshade vs Thyra

So, this game was played a few weeks back. I have to start writing these now.

It was my first real Warmachine Mk3 (or: New Edition) game with actual miniatures.

My list was 75 points:

Goreshade the Bastard & Deathwalker

- Corruptor
- Leviathan
- Malice

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls +2x Brute Thrall + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Withershadow Combine
2x Pistol Wraith
Necrotech
Warwitch Siren
Soul Trapper

Opponent had something like this:

Thyra
- Blood of Martyrs
- Vigilant
- Dervish
- Avatar of Menoth

Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Idrian Skirmishers + Command Attachment
Daughters of the Flame
Hierophant
Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic?
Wracks
Rhupert

Scenario was good old Incursion, I think. No idea who started the game any more. Pictures are a bit blurry.

Incorporeal Pistol Wraith wanted to seize flag on the right. I don't know what was the deal with flag on the left, nobody seemed to be too interested in that.

Daughters of the Flame flooded Malice and my front line on the left, but Bile Thralls took care of those aggressors. Malice took a few souls in the process, and a bit later Malice just becomes my new favorite cryxian warjack. I mean... Arm 22. Amazing.

Both players score a few control points, Protectorate from the middle flag and Cryx from the flag on right. I remove Idrians easily enough and now when I'm looking at the pictures situation doesn't look that bad for Cryx. I was just terribly afraid of Protectorate warjacks, as none of my own warjacks excelled in Arm 21 removal. I'd need at least two warjacks to charge one target, and then there'd be one Protectorate jack that could easily enough remove both pieces I sent in...

At least that was how I felt.

Next I get a little bit of a spook when I advance Goreshade to cast Bleed on an Idrian Skirmisher. I didn't really pay attention on how far Thyra would be able to launch Blood of Martyrs. Don't know if Bleed attracted Blood.

Thyra advanced and used feat, casts Carnage and what else. Thanks to Lamentation on Goreshade, whatever Thyra did left her at zero focus points. I bet I've never ever gained as much use out of Mage Blight.

Blood of Martyrs then charged Goreshade, and had enough movement to get in to position. I doubt I would've taken such risks with Goreshade had I remembered Carnage and Silence of Death. Most probably that was one dead Goreshade now.

Except that there is this Warwitch Siren that was able to get a free strike against Blood of Martyrs. The attack hit and triggered shadow bind. There had been a lone Daughter of the Flame that could have tried to take her down, but opponent forgot. A bit of an anticlimactic save for me.

Next Thyra is sitting relatively close to Cryx with zero focus.

Goreshade charges some warrior model and pops up a new Deathwalker. He uses feat, too.

Only two Bane Thralls get to Thyra and both miss, but good old Dark Shroud had been delivered. With Deathwalker Thyra had -2 def & arm. Malice got within Thyra's back arc and butchered her up. Shame that Malice had just been errata'd to not be able to use possession on warcaster models.

Well. What can I say.

A most skillful caster bait I guess.