Reclaimed Bastard

Few days ago I played this 75 point game of Warmachine.

My list:

[Theme] Slaughter Fleet Raiders
Goreshade the Bastard [+27]
- Harrower [16]
- Leviathan [16]
- Nightwretch [7]
- Reaper [13]
- Seether [13]
- Stalker [8]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess [4]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max) [11]

Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Cephalyx Overlords [8]


Opponent had:

[Theme] Exemplar Interdiction
The High Reclaimer [+32]
- Judicator [34]
Exemplar Bastion Seneschal [0(5)]
High Exemplar Gravus [8]
Scrutator Potentate Severius [0(6)]
- Dervish [7]
Exemplar Errants (max) [16]
- Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard [0(4)]
Exemplar Errants (max) [16]
- Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard [4]
Knights Exemplar [9]
- Knights Exemplar Officer [4]
Knights Exemplar [9]

Scenario was Mirage.

I let opponent start the game, because I didn't want High Reclaimer hiding behind a building.

Early on Judicator nearly shoots Reaper into a smoldering wreck with sprays.

This had Judicator close enough for Seether to charge - as well as the feated unit of Bane Warriors. I just had to clear a few exemplars that were blocking the way. As an extra challenge I wanted to clear my round zone to start scoring points.

This plan succeeded.

Removing Judicator, on the other hand, succeeded too well. Seether was able to destroy it, so it promptly removed three bane warriors with berserk attacks as well. Oh well. At least it was a colossal warjack down in one round. Something I usually have a fair bit of difficulties.

Less surprisingly, exemplars then butchered all of my warjacks except for Leviathan and Nightwretch.

Overlord sprays and desperate attempts had been clearing enemy infantry. From the thirty five exemplars that began the game, I can count only thirteen from the picture. Though the structure might hide someone.

But there was no more game for me once I lost last Overlord, Leviathan, Axiara and a couple of Ironmongers. Opponent had also rocketed too far ahead on the scenario points. It was a loss.

Still, I think there might be something in this theme/caster pairing. Gang + Dark Shroud is an amazing combination.

Burkstad 8-9

...

Maybe I can leave this like that?

These two lantern years were, once again, extreme to say at least. There seemed to be no safeish middle ground. It was all either things going horribly worse way possible, or amazing performance beyond all expectations.

Year 8 hunt is a Screaming Antelope. Hunt phase went fine, though survivors had their identities re-written by a Phoenix flying overhead above the clouds. But actual showdown went exceptionally. Antelope did next to no actual attacks against survivors - targets were always able to dash away. Most attacks made by survivors hit, and it was somewhere around sixth wound attempt when it failed for the first time.

If memory serves, only one point of damage was taken by the survivors, and that came via trample.

Victorious, survivors return to settlement. Only that the last survivor from the original four - Trevor (or Greyvor after getting renamed) got too curious about what's inside of saviors. He poked a hole to our savior's head and the savior just disappeared. Shocked, settlement murders the murderer.

Now isn't that nice. It wasn't like we needed a savior in the upcoming fight against King's Man.

Bob orders people to breed, and we received another savior. Well then. We decided to get a green one. Augury gives one additional moment of intimacy, and hey. A second savior. Too bad there can be only one, but at least we got twins. Population is brought to ten.

Settlement innovates Inner Lantern, which also is a major boon. But then to the next challenge...

King's Man. People of Burkstad aren't going down that easily!

But... they sure are going down.

Bob, Hecu, Tournebulle the Dormenatus savior and former Gwennyth confronted armored stranger.

It starts pretty well. Except that Cat's Eye Circlet revealed trap to be there within first three cards. But Claw Head Arrow hits, and then former Gwennyth lobs a bone dart to lure off the trap.

First turn King's Man did no damage at all.

Bob scores a critical wound against the nemesis monster and lowers it's speed by one. Hooray. He scores a second wound, too, but it had reflex that did basic action against attacker.

It's two hits. Two leg locations. Severe injury roll of 2.

Our best survivor down.

And still ten or eleven wounds to be done. Game over.

Or is it?

Hecu scores a critical wound that gives King's Man another -1 speed for the rest of combat. Then on the second attempt she gains King's Step.

Greater Gaxe was also doing damage here and there. Even Tournebulle does some, and looked like after losing Bob we stood an actual chance.

But then survivor luck ran out. Might be because they also ran out of survival.

Whenever Hecu tried to flush out Battle Pressures, she picked a card that one way or another returned all Battle Pressures on top of hit location deck.

This could not go on forever, and random hits were taken by the survivors here and there. Eventually Hecu bled to death.

That's when Tournebulle and former Gwennyth started dancing. Gwennyth had a head start since she had tried it a couple of times. But once leg location went to heavy damage levels, she had no courage to continue. She managed to get a total of five battle tempo tokens before... dying.

And it was not a pretty death either. She already had no jaw. She also got gaping chest wound, broken back and broken arm. She was mangled beyond recognition.

Now it was a duel between green savior and King's Man. This took an exhausting length of time, since King's Man was quite adept at missing him, and when he did hit, Tournebulle was able to get some armor back via dormenatus.

Tournebulle held his own and managed to trigger Age 4. King's Man had four cards in it's AI deck. With a little bit of luck perhaps showdown could still have been won, but Tournebulle beat even former Gwennyth in amount of tempo tokens. He got six of them.

Bleed tokens were also his downfall.

There are no survivors to return to settlement. Only a blood-quenched executor that's thirsty for more.

Glossolalia has Tiberius babbling endlessly. Gorm Climate gives such a storm that it pulls out Guidepost that had been erected by King's Men on lantern year six.

King's Man takes notice of this and lodges another halberd into the ground. And since it has no longer a halberd, he has to go and fetch a new one before executing whole Burkstad. Casually it tosses three random basic resources to settlement. Considering one survivor just disappeared from being, the origin of these resources was dubious.

Settlement also innovated Cooking. Hmm. Tastes like chicken.
There was also Bob's last matchmaking gift. His corpse was probably the Love Juice. That's nice, since population of six carries a promise of losing settlement to darkness.

Well, it's a miscarriage that kills both mother and the baby. Down to five.

Tiberius starts doing auguries, which yield intimacies surprisingly easily.

Population is down to four. Tiberius, you're reading the portents upside down.

Then it gets better. Intimacies bring two survivors with +1 permanent strength, one survivor with no specific anything and...

A savior.

Also, Bob came back as a withered husk and offered flower to a survivor who became Bob again.

Once again Burkstad emerges from the brink of utter annihilation.

It's tenth lantern year, and death count is nineteen. Plus three vanished saviors.

Burkstad is absurd. With other hand it's giving sweetest cake, and with another hand it stabs you with a poisoned knife. It gently pats you on the head with sole of a feet and with another foot it kicks you in the tummy. Head bashes you down, then gives a lapdance.




Burkstad

Population: 8

Principles:
Protect the Young
Graves

Innovations:
Language
Hovel
Ammonia
Bed
Nigredo
Symposium
Paint
Family
Bloodletting
Inner Lantern
Cooking

+Guidepost

Locations:
Lantern Hoard
Bone Smith
Skinnery
Organ Grinder
Catarium
Gormchymist
Gormery
Weapon Crafter

Gear:
3x Cloth
3x Stone Noses
Full Rawhide Set
1x rawhide vest, 1x Rawhide Gloves
Gorment Boots
Skull Helm
Bone Dagger
Bone Darts
Rib Blade
Greater Gaxe
Cat Eye Circlet
2x Monster Grease
Lucky Charm
Monster Tooth Necklace
Bandages
Catgut Bow + Claw Head Arrow
White Lion Coat
Bone Dagger
Flower Knight Badge



Resources:
Phoenix Small Feather
Pelt

Blindness Extends

More survivors had been found. A score of their kin, few dozen or so. While this was a promising prospect for the revival of their species, right now it was an added layer of difficulties. Many were already starving. Blind Company had tried assaulting outskirts of any small enough settlements, but so far resistance had been fierce.

Catrul had been ravaging the minds of any mammalian creatures with her magic spells. More often than not this left target braindead, but what were they to do? In a foreign world with no language or a safe place, Blind Company needed any and all scraps of information to stand a chance for struggle. Yeah, that's how bad the situation was.

Aimlessly, a hunting party had found another raiding venue. Executrix Nirha had her hands full with organizing their refugee camp. Nonetheless, she was going to lead the assault at nightfall. But then there was this old cliche about plans and meeting with the enemy. Deg, a promising scout, was demanding a meeting with haste.

"A group of creatures is already scouring the area. If we want to get any provisions at all, we have to act now", Deg proclaimed.

How annoying. But first things first. It had not been that long since Twilight Kin had been living in the nightmare world below. Nirha had only one question: "Are they going to eat us?"

Deg was pondering. Hesitantly she said: "They wear armor and wield weapons. Also, they have a feline beast with them."

"I take that as a no. Bring us the supplies."




Last Sunday there was a campaign game day for Kings of War: Vanguard. I was missing one game from round 1, so that's where I started.

Game 1

Blind Company faces Basileans in Supply Grab mission.

Catrul, Healer/Summoner, Quartermaster Poosk, Reaper Guard Nirha and a member of citizen levy tackles them. There were five basileans.

The defensive nature of Basileans is a bit shocking. Only after three rounds of clear-shot shooting from a vantage point with burning power, and a retaliation attack from summoned Reaper killed their cat. Some other - or same - reaper slayed a crossbowman, but by now I had dedicated nearly everything I got to that flank. Three basileans started to close in on Catrul. After someone engaged, Catrul took a flight and went to secure at least one supply depot.

But again, I managed only to get two scenario points from supplies when opponent got three from the middle one.

Nista was promoted to become a budget healer. Poosk gained a rank and took a permanent point of ranged attack.

Game 2

Second in line are the Salamanders. This starts second round for the campaign for me. Game size is 125. Which is enough to squeeze the Executrix to my list. Scenario is the one where you attempt to seize some sort of plans, or details about a supply caravan everyone wants to raid in this case.

Executrix Nirha, reaper guard healer Nista and Grelpon, the generic reaper guard, Quartermaster Shadow Poosk, Shadow Tihuaru, and Blade Dancer Harpalk have a go at lizardfolk just as both parties had entered Greensway peninsula.

And, well, huh. This game was brutal. I suppose I got a wrong impression about the damage inflicted in Kings of War: Vanguard from fighting hardy Varangur and near invulnerable Basileans.

Poosk takes a shot at some sort of salamander. She gains clear sight, uses sheaf of arrows and even takes a power dice. This kills the reptilian in just one attack. This was unexpected.

Then, a stunted little lizard with blow pipe takes a shot at Poosk, and look at that. Again, instant kill.

Nirha advances to shoot a bodyguard lizard who had walked in front of the blowpipé. Instant kill.

I was a little worried when the little guy put a dart in funnel and blew real hard. I mean, if this lethality rate was an emerging pattern...

It wasn't.

Another big salamander charges Grelpon, who survives. Grelpon retaliates, and...

Instant kill.

Only one salamander was there at the objective, so they decided plans weren't worth this. They conceded.

Poosk makes a full recovery from her injury. Tihuaru is promoted into Master Scout.

Game 3

Third game is against Basileans, again. They have been following the same lead as Twilight Kin, and both parties met at the far end of Greensway peninsula, where there was a tower of some kind.

Executrix Nirha, reaper guard healer Nista and Holrotho, the generic reaper guard, Quartermaster Shadow Poosk, Master Scout Shadow Tihuaru, and Blade Dancer Harpalk.

Considering the painstaking struggles and difficulties the warbands had needed to undergo it was a litte suprising neither warband showed negligible interest in actually finding the mysterious cargo.

Poosk was on fire. She killed two models with ranged attacks and injured one. And then she, somehow, didn't die in the hands of basilean commander.

I may have been tad too confident in how much Whirlwind of Steel actually protects blade dancers. Blade Dancer and Nista suffered a group charge. Blade Dancer went down right away. Nista took a wound.

Executrix Nirha joined the fight, and gosh darn how overpowered she feels. She managed to tick Basileans with steady damage even when they had 8-11 power at their disposal every round for their warband special ability, and most of her targets had Parry. Paladins charge again, this time Holrotho and Nirha. Holrotho is struck down, but Nirha casualifies this aggressor. Which wasn't all that good, since now there was a charge line for even more basileans against her.

Some sort of paladin finished Tihuara, and I was one casualty away from breaking point. And Poosk was in melee with enemy commander, and had already one wound. But I already gave a spoiler how that went.

Nirha is a bastion against basileans. She managed to remove a melee sister of sorts that had attacked her. And after three rounds of combat with multiple enemies she only received a total of one wound.

Game ended in a draw. With no-one bothering to even check the middle flag.

Exciting game anyway, but then it was time for injury rolls. I had been avoiding those well until now.

Tihuaru had been battered for ages to come. She suffered Old Battle Wounds, which I deemed to serious of a detriment for a retinue member. Tihuaru got demoted, and Shadow Deg took her place. Blade Dancer received Suppurating Wounds, which means other Blademasters will take his place in the future. Armor save of 7+ is rather unconvincing for a melee warrior. Holrotho got left behind as everyone thought him dead. But he is about to return later with a little extra experience to boot.

Poosk gained her second rank. I wanted to give the skill tables a try, and she gained Parry. That makes perfect sense, actually, as she survived in melee for so long against all odds. But is it better than better nerve or extra wound?

Exploration gave the company a visit to tavern, so my warband for next game should be able to pull through any nerve-cracking situation. Other than horrible game term puns.

Next round is going to be played with 175 point warbands.

Paint Campaign

So I've been painting my warband for Kings of War: Vanguard campaign.

When I enlisted myself for the campaign, I already had a couple of magnetized Kingdom Death survivors up and coming. So I quickly re-assigned them to another game. There's also third magnetized survivor in the picture. After campaign ends I'll remove them from their bases and hand them over to subconscious nightmare world.

Here are Executor, Shadow and Citizen Levy that are to stay on 20mm bases.

The three survivors I'll arm as needed to represent different warriors on board. Six models ought to carry through one or two game rounds. Next we'll be playing 125 point games.

There's also some extra miniatures in picture that are being worked on. There are two Summoner Crones, a Blademaster, Reaper Guard with Heavy Weapon and a reaper model for Catrul to summon.

I'll probably construct either a Reaper Guard or Blademaster with Large Shield. Maybe some other model, too. We'll see.

Opmot Begins

I started a new People of the Lantern campaign for a very specific purpose. I won't go there just yet.

This time I'll use Flower Knight but not Spidicules. I did get Dung Beetle Knight a while ago, but that's for some another time and age.

Anyway, prologue fight is a breeze. There were no dead survivors, or any permanent injuries either. Then, during first day, I rolled maximum population for start.

Settlement of Opmot was one member off from getting society principle right away. And prologue lion had been generous enough to give a love juice. Settlement also innovated Symposium, so things were looking bright.

But not to make things too easy settlement did not receive a new life principle that year. Intimacy result was 2, which meant a dead mother.

Cle, the almost-to-be-father, swore revenge. Towards who? I don't know. Maybe fellow survivors, as people descended into despicable wretches, cannibalizing the dead mother right after failed childbirth. Or how do I know if they even waited for it to fail. Gruesome.

Bone Darts, Bone Blade, Moster Grease and Rawhide Gloves were my choice of gear to be made for hunting White Lion.

Year 1 White Lion hunt has a brutal start. One of the survivors dies during hunt phase. This is probably second or third time or something like that when this occurs. Might be even the first. Cle died, but then on the other hand a new survivor was found from Bloody Eyes.

Monster Corpse eased showdown a little, but very first action Lion did was to attack and score hits with Bloody Claw against Elcan, who was the survivor with all extra gear. Two bleed tokens on turn 1 to the only real fighter was a disheartening event, coupled with the fact that there were only three survivors anyway.

Once Terrifying Roar dispenses survivors all over the board far from each other, one survivor lobs Founding Stone at it. This creates a nice organ trail, which gave me a little hope. Spoiler: it did zero wounds, though.

I had to use a second founding stone once Lion drew Lick Wounds.

But for quite a while it didn't seem too bad. It started looking unwinnable when Lion finally killed Elcan. Now it rested on Bone Darts on one survivor and bare hands on another to deal with Lion. There was only one card left in it's deck, though. And it was removed with Bone Darts.

One more wound.

Please.

Please.

Bare hands scored a hit and drew trap. Survived, but I had been rolling one hits with two dice - if it hits, the second die is wound roll if location is woundable. It would have been a critical wound.

Turn after turn Bone Dart just wouldn't hit, and hands would do damage. Bare hand fighter was knocked down most of the time, as Lion was targeting him with basic action every round. And there were at least five rounds like this until Bone Darts finally hit home.

Only to reveal trap, again.

Bare hand fighter eventually succumbed to all the wounds he had been inflicted. He had already been blind and disemboweled.

On the verge of flipping the table and go crying under it, Bone Darts did a second hit and scored wound.

Clinging Mist gave Elba Sun Drunk disorder. Nucni, the First Speaker, also becomes the Voice of Reason.

Settlement innovates Ammonia, and has a baby from Love Juice. Settlement picks Protect the Young as life principle.

Following equipment are developed: Catgut Bow, Fecal Salve, Rawhide Vest and Headband, plus King Spear.

I think I'll have to go for another White Lion for second year hunt.

Hunt phase gave a White Lion Cub as well as doppel den. Two survivors got switched into their evil counterparts.

Showdown started magnificently, which is often the case when Prowling Lion is in play.

First actual AI card it draws is Bat Around, and survivors had already dealt five points of damage in next turn.

But then it draws Lick Wounds. While it was in effect for only one round, it backed off so that next turn it would eat Lonely Fruit.

Never have I ever been grateful when trap comes up. Or maybe I have, I don't remember. There are weird situations in this game. Anyway, this trap drew White Lion away from the feeding range to Lonely Fruit.

But that was when the pain begun. A total of four traps were sprung during this showdown. Survivors were adept in failing to wound on hit locations that gave Basic Action against them. Last card that was left in AI deck was Revenge. But survivors did win, and with only one casualty. Sadly this was one of the doppelgangers, which meant Evil Elba ate Nucni, the First Speaker and Father of Words. I guess she wanted to complete her name and become incuNablE.

Settlement didn't approve and killed the murderer. Starting four survivors were gone, as were my hopes for society principle any time soon. Population had fallen to nine survivors. Event was Open Maw, where nobody entered.

Well, approaching storm gave settlement Hovel. The plethora of resources had settlement innovate Settlement Watch.

Development involved completing Rawhide armor set, skull helm, white lion helm, lion beast katar, claw head arrow and luck charm.

Two survivors used Settlement Watch, the other gaining +1 strength and the other got to select weapon proficiency.

I tried to trigger intimacy via Augury, but didn't succeed.

Now.

Approaching Storm heralded incoming Gorm herd.

So that's where survivors are going next.

But that may take some time...