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.