Befuddled

So I got a game against new and improved Fiona the Black. This is my story of survival.

My list was:

Dark Host
Lord Exhumator Scaverous [+27]
- Deathripper [6]
- Desecrator [14]
- Inflictor [13]
- Nightwretch [7]
- Reaper [13]
- Skarlock Thrall [4]
Bane Lord Tartarus [0(6)]
Darragh Wrathe [9]
Bane Warriors (max) [16]
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [5]
Wraith Engine [15]


Opponent had:


The Irregulars

Fiona, the Black [+27]
- Rover [14]
- Toro [13]
- Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker [0(4)]
Alten Ashley [0(6)]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Gastone Crosse [4]
- Nomad [12]
Croe's Cutthroats (max) [16]
Idrian Skirmishers (max) [15]
- Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide [0(5)]
Kayazy Eliminators [5]
Kayazy Eliminators [5]
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt [8]
Press Gangers (min) [7]


I played Dark Host for a change. And once again I misplaced the theme clouds and blocked my own line of sight for some charges. Oh well.

No sooner than round two I learned a thing or two about Befuddle. I was somehow thinking Inscrutable would protect Wraith Engine. Also, I wasn't paying attention that Aiyana & Holt can give magical weapons. There went my glorious Wraith Engine.

Wait. What? It didn't? There were some... rolls... involved. Idrians with magical weapon and Prey on Wraith Engine, along with Gastone Crosse somehow didn't crack through the battle engine. It was left alive with two damage boxes remaining. Well, at least it had Death Ward on, but this combination of magical weapon, prey and a random 3" confusion of a colossal necromechanical inscrutable monstrosity machine kind of overwhelmed me. Didn't see that one coming, not yet.

Well, at least Fiona didn't use her feat yet. I might be able to do something.

I decided to use Scaverous' feat now. Three telekinesis' shuffled two enemy warjacks around and Reaper closer to enemy. Scaverous had to remove one Idrian with Excarnate.

Skarlock turned Wraith Engine around, which then charged Gastone Crosse and managed to kill him. Whee. I got my very first free Machine Wraith, ever. This had unexpected extra boon: Nomad fell inert deep within Kill Zone. Fiona probably wouldn't go an fetch it.

Bane Warriors scored my first control point by destroying enemy objective. Reaper drags Toro with harpoon, and then whatever I have left try to take it down. I thought I'd be able to make it without the help of Inflictor, but if opponent didn't wreck Wraith Engine, neither did I any damage of consequence to the mercenary warjack. So I don't think I have any rights to complain here.

Opponent destroys Wraith Engine next for sure. From then on the game goes odd. Fiona also uses her feat, and my next turn is a mess. My biggest achievement was to destroy the Toro or Rover or whatever it was I had dragged with Reaper.

Both sides are slowly whittling away, and it's probably seventh turn when I get a spot for an assassination. Scaverous charges an Idrian, bringing himself within 8" of Fiona. This also gave soul for Scaverous, so Reaper wouldn't need to be that afraid of missing with harpoon.

But it didn't miss. Fiona found a harpoon bolt sticking through her tummy.

Not a result I could have expected. Befuddle was cast on almost every round. Could be that first round was the only exception. Had Wraith Engine died when it should have, I doubt I could have put on much of a fight.

Kaya and Venethrax in stop motion

It's finally here.

This game was played over a month ago, but the format I chose to present it took a while.

Lightening conditions gave some trouble and it shows. Many of the frames have been individually adjusted in order to reduce flickering. And because I had to go image editing, why not take it a little further? I tried new things like edit away blu-tack or dice that were used to support Kaya and Venethrax during their climb and fall. And it worked out pretty well.

Anyway. Here it is.

Lord Exhumator vs Bane Witch

A couple of days ago I played these two 50 point games of Warmachine.

My lists were:

Game 1:
Lord Exhumator Scaverous [+27]
- Defiler [8]
- Malice [15]
- Ripjaw [7]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess [4]
Bane Lord Tartarus [6]
Necrotech [2]
Soul Trapper [1]
Soulhunters (max) [18]
Swamp Gobber River Raiders [1e
Wraith Engine [15]


Game 2:

Lord Exhumator Scaverous [+27]
- Defiler [8]
- Malice [15]
- Ripjaw [7]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess [4]
Bane Lord Tartarus [6]
Iron Lich Overseer [5]
- Desecrator [14]
Ogrun Bokur [5]
Soul Trapper [1]
2x Swamp Gobber River Raiders [1ea]
Bane Warriors (min) [10]


Opponent had (in both games):

Bane Witch Agathia [+29]
- 2x Deathripper [6]
- Desecrator [14]
- 2x Slayer [10]
Bane Lord Tartarus [6]
2x Pistol Wraith [5]
Bane Warriors (max) [16]

Both games also had the Mosh Pit scenario from main rulebook.

Game 1:

First game was over rather fast. Soulhunters removed a bunch of enemy Bane Warriors, but mostly got slaughtered themselves in the process. I was afraid to commit Wraith Engine to actual combat (because two Slayers would shred it to pieces) so I thought best target for Wraith Engine would be Agathia herself. No need to worry about Slayers if their warcaster dies.

Scaverous got to do his thing when he used feat, cast Telekinesis on Wraith Engine and on Agathia, then Icy Grip and Feast of Worms on Agathia. The other Cryxian warcaster had used her feat turn prior, so getting the arc node into position was perhaps the biggest challenge. That succeeded and Wraith Engine charged Agathia dead.

Since game was over so quickly, we decided to play another round.

Game 2:

This one took a bit longer to resolve.

Enemy Desecrator scored a lucky hit on Malice that was on a hill. This dealt enough damage to bring melee weapon to one damage box remaining - so I didn't dare to stay in the scatheresque template.

Enemy Pistol Wraiths were flanking together on the left, and I countered them with Soul Trapper. That was not very effective, though.

Eventually Agathia's horde charged in - Desecrator and two Bane Warriors got to Malice after Pistol Wraiths had taken their shots. Somehow Malice survived even with Cortex to boot.

Situation was dire for me, so I decided to use Scaverous' feat even if it wouldn't make it into an assassination.

Conjoined efforts by Scaverous, Tartarus, Ripjaw and even Satyxis Blood Priestess removed every enemy Bane Warrior from board, which was a good thing of course. But Scaverous was uncomfortably close to Agathia's Cryx.

Feat removed one Slayer that was guarding Agathia. However, there still was another Slayer. Within charge distance of Scaverous.

Opponent had a streak of bad dice in some important rolls, but what gave most trouble for Agathia was Satyxis Blood Priestess. Without her Scaverous would've been Death Chilled for sure.

And if Desecrator and some light warjack would have removed my Tartarus, enemy Tartarus could have either charged to Scaverous or at least run to give dark shroud penalties.

But there was this Blood Priestess. Blocking Slayer's charge, and making Scaverous pretty much unshootable.

And as a gesture of good will and merry thoughts, Slayer charged Satyxis Blood Priestess.

Without bonuses from Scaverous' feat his ability to line up an assassination wasn't that impressive. However, one boosted Telekinesis did hit Agathia, which brought her within charge range of three Bane Warriors. And, well, Swamp Gobber River Raider too, I suppose.

First Desecrator and... oh my. Now I realize I cheated.

Desecrator and Iron Lich Overseer take random shots at Agathia. This means that there is a non-undead damaging template on Agathia.

Then, Swamp Gobber River Raider comes and takes a heroic shot at Agathia, which unfortunately deals no damage. Then the poor little guy is placed inside the template. Melee attack didn't even hit. But that might be because the gobber knew it should've already been dead.

Kind of sad. The only time it was about to do anything at all, the gobber only dragged itself to it's demise.

Then it was 7+ rolls for Bane Warriors. Who succeeded this time. Agathia went to keep some company to Swamp Gobber River Raider, whose empty, soulless husk is still standing there in the picture.

Headless rumours everywhere

Some time ago I played this 75 point game of Warmachine.

I'm still tinkering with Goreshade1 in Slaughter Fleet Raiders. My list was two points short, because I haven't got my hands on a Misery Cage yet. Though I suppose that's relatively useless model for Goreshade.



Slaughter Fleet Raiders
Goreshade the Bastard [+27]
- Harrower [16]
- Leviathan [16]
- Nightwretch [7]
- Slayer [10]
- Slayer [10]
- Stalker [8]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess [4]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
Saxon Orrik [4]
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max) [11]

Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Cephalyx Overlords [8]


Opponent had:

Hammer Strike
General Ossrum [+28]
- Ghordson Basher [9]
- Ghordson Driller [10]
- Ghordson Driller [10]
Ogrun Bokur [0(5)]
Steelhead Gunner [3]
Steelhead Gunner [3]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [0(6)]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [0(6)]
Horgenhold Forge Guard (max) [16]
Horgenhold Forge Guard (max) [16]
Hammerfall Siege Crawler [18]
Hammerfall Siege Crawler [18]

In the pictures the colossal is a proxy for another Siege Crawler.

Cryx started. Opponent had carefully placed his warjacks out of my melee threat, so in order to do something I decided to use Goreshade's feat on turn 2a.

Harrower, Leviathan and Black Ogruns opened fire, before Goreshade put some Bane Warriors on board. Banes mulched only one Driller, but Basher was damaged enough that Stalker with Leap managed to wreck it. Plus poke Grievous Wounds on the remaining Driller that had lost Cortex.

In turn I lose all Bane Warriors and all but one Black Ogrun Ironmonger plus objective. Ossrum had retaliated with his feat, so I guess things could have been worse.

Well, of course there was still the extra armor part...

Cephalyx Overlords heroically spray dead opponent's gunner who was trying to score points at opponent's flag. Stalker went and poked another Grievous Wounds on Driller. No other damage there.

Harrower and Slayer clear my rectangular zone from Forge Guards despite them not giving it easily. Tough was giving me tough time. Slayer could have done it all by itself, in the perfect world. Scenario points went 2-2.

But then Forge Guard destroys Harrower and severely damages Leviathan and Slayer. Opponent scored only one scenario point, but I was running out of troops.

I do my best at contesting, and thanks to Blood Priestess getting into melee to finish what Slayer could not do, scenario goes 3-5 for Cryx.

But then both Slayers become smoldering scrap heaps, and I got only a handful of models left. Opponent probably catched me on scenario points, too.

Ossrum was hiding behind a wall, behind an Ogrun Bokur and Leviathan was tied up in melee with Forge Guard.

Axiara releases Leviathan from melee, who then proceeds to shoot Ogrun Bokur off. It was already down to one hit box remaining, so it was well withing probabilities. Leviathan got three shots and did some random damage points even to Ossrum - by rolling double sixes to hit.

Now Goreshade had a free charge to Ossrum, with Deathwalker negating his bonus from intervening terrain.

But even with attack boost Goreshade misses charge attack and then it's just rolling dice for giggles, hoping enough 7+ on two dice to kill There were some, but three focus points coupled with too many misses made the assassination a failed one. If memory serves, Ossrum was left with thirteen hit points, so even a double six on my last attempt in dealing damage wouldn't have done it.

Goreshade lost shade and turned into gore.

Race for Hearts

A quick note about a Love Letter game that lasted for eleven rounds - we chose to re-play two rounds because Countess was such an unruly troublemaker.

It was almost an anniversary for when the game was last played. How time flies and such...

Maurala 5-7

A friend visited over, and we continued our Kingdom Death campaign up until the beginning of eight lantern year.

I was dead tired throughout the day when we played, so I probably won't remember that much.

Fifth year, right after encounter with Manhunter survivors took on a Gorm. Hunt went fine, and Gorm itself wasn't much of a threat. Which is surprising with Protect the Young.

Settlement event is Open Maw, where Lavishnak gain +2 courage. Armored Strangers count that Maurala is overpopulated at a size of ten, so they remove recently gained Nigredo innovation and shrug off.

Settlement receives blue savior called Hopeanuoli. Snellana, Hopeanuoli, Sven and Ursa hunt for another gorm because we already received two stout hides and stout kidneys - one more hide and we got the coveted Gormskin armor. Settlement innovated Inner Lantern, so we got the full amount of survival actions now. Yet only survival limit of five.

Hunt phase was prolific, and there were even a few extra resources from critical hits. All the survivors spent time searching through Nightmare Tree when Gorm was lame and retching on the ground. It was kind of sad. "Look, that giant baby is on it's death throes. Should we end it's suffering? No, let's all go look at that... tree."

Victory was easy. But no Stout Hides were drawn. Farewell, Gormskin dream.

Settlement event is Stranger in the Dark, who turns out to be this seducer that makes all males lovesick, unable to depart that lantern year.

Gorm Climate gave Lavishnak additional point of Courage, and Settlement Watch teaches her some Acrobatics. Innovation is Drums.

Society Principle triggers on lantern year 7. Maurala gains Collective Toil and when survivors start the hunt, settlement has a population of seventeen.

Flower Knight is the next quarry. Huntresses are Hauaeia with twilight Sword, Ursa, Lavishnak and Snellana.

During hunt survivors encounter baby and the sword, and grab & dash both. Hauaia gains sword while Lavishnak carries the baby (as she was already wielding Slow weapon.) Right after there is another hunt event which I forget that gives almost everyone extra disorders. By far this had been the most devastating hunt phase we've had. At least in this session. The roll on Forest Wants What It Wants was a "3", so all survivors started showdown with one or two bleed tokens along with negative attribute tokens.

It was interesting fight, and one that gave bit of a challenge.

But luck (tokens) were on our side and not a single heavy injury level was caused, though plenty there were plenty of light levels.

Survivors win and return to settlement.

Hauaeia should have known better than to pick up two sentient swords. Sword of Silence and Twilight Sword had come to blows and split the ground below Hauaeia. She fell to Cracks in the Ground.

Hooded Knight arrived also, and can't believe the level of inadequacy when he learns these humans have dropped the mightiest magical sword there is to a chasm. With a heavy sigh he offers to teach some fighting arts.

Sense Memory gives settlement the overpowered Vespertine Bow. We got the resources for it, we were in no short supply of population, so why not?

Two warbling blooms were planted, and they tried to make new kids right away from a gentle suggestion by matchmaking capabilities of Ursa.

They probably hadn't quite realized yet how humans do it, so their moment of intimacy breeds only death and tears. Additional attempts by more proficient baby makers brings population to eighteen.

Innovation is Song of the Brave, so now we'd be able to get rid of Gorm Climate.

We got the resources to build up Leather Worker.

Year eight hunt. Last hunt before King's Man.

Who know if we'll ever see it, since there was just over a year in between these sessions.