Nemorial Service

Over two weeks ago I played this 50 point game of warmachine.

Scenario was good old Moshpit, and my list was:

Cryx

 Lich Lord Asphyxious [+28]
- Defiler [7]
- 2x Slayer [20]
- Stalker [8]
Darragh Wrathe [7]
General Gerlak Slaughterborn [5]
Machine Wraith [2]
Pistol Wraith [4]
Soul Trapper [1]
Bane Warriors (max) [14]
 - Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [5]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [5]

Opponent had;

Cygnar

General Adept Nemo [+26]

 - Hammersmith [12]

 - 2x Ironclad [24]

 - 2x Lancer [16]

Rangers [7]

Steelhead Riflemen (min) [8]

Stormguard Infantry (min) [9]

First turn for Cryx was rather standard "block line of sight to important pieces of army and run as fast as possible." In this case warjacks were screened, and Bane Warriors were moving from north, faced by Rangers and a Lancer.

It's been so long that I have forgotten which upkeep spells were on which Cygnaran models, but I think the "no crippled systems" was on Hammersmith.

Turn 2 Banes ran to engage enemy I think a few even managed to get in a charge with the aid of Darragh Wrathe, and Stalker jumped to cause a commotion because it's awesome. While Banes were dying left and right, Stalker miraculously survived as Cryxian heavies were creeping closer to front.

Turn 3 I think for the first time ever Gerlak Slaughterborn got to do his job by murdering a minimum unit of Stormguard with Killing Spree. I screwed up the placement of clouds this turn, but I really wanted Cygnaran Lancer dead. This took the full efforts of Machine Wraith and both Slayers. But the clouds left a Slayer exposed.

Banes were more than clogging enemy gears - they were doing impressive damage against enemy warjacks. But still, there was only so much they could do to a line of three buffed warjacks.

Hammersmith had no troubles in removing one of Cryxian Slayers, but failed at taking down two of them. Pretty much all of the Bane Warriors were dead, yet coming back in not-so-far future.

Because it was time for Asphyxious to use his feat, which finished Hammesmith and the unit of Steelhead Riflemen and destroyed an Ironclad. Darragh Wrathe committed towards Lancer and brought it to low hit boxes, although Bane Warriors had already softened it up.

Since it looked like Cryx was winning by attrition, Ironclad tried to assassinate Asphyxious. That didn't go as planned and in the end, it was a victory for Cryx.

Warmachine in Stopped Motion

 

This game was played a long time ago actually, many months ago. But it took me a great while to actually complete this video, but now it's here! Never mind the Warwitch Siren that I forgot to deploy!

Asphyxious on Halloween

 

Had a 50 points game of Warmachine about a week ago on All Hallows Eve, which is the reason for a particular piece of scenery.

My list:

Cryx

Lich Lord Asphyxious [+28]
 - Defiler [8]
 - Harrower [16]
 - Ripjaw [7]
 - Seether [13]
Bane Lord Tartarus [6]

Misery Cage [2]
Swamp Gobber River Raider [1]
Bane Warriors (min) [10]
Bile Thralls (min) [9]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]

Opponent:

Protectorate

High Exemplar Kreoss [+29]

 - Crusader [10]

 - Sanctifier [14]

 - Vigilant [9]

Exemplar Bastion Seneschal [5]

Vassal Mechanik [1]

Vassal of Menoth [3]

Choir of Menoth (min) [4]

Exemplar Bastions (max) [15]

Exemplar Errants (max) [16]

Scenario was the one from main rulebook with three flags on the centerline, and five points to win.

First rounds are pretty straightforward. Cryx advances behind Caustic Mist clouds. Exemplar Errants spread out and take random shots, mostly at Bane Warriors who defy death a second time. 

Vigilant with Defenders Ward is contesting middle flag, Crusader flag on the right and some errants the flag on the left. 

Harrower, Tartarus and Bane Warriors maul the Vigilant, but the light jack just refuses to go down. Well, of course there was this ARM 23 thing going on, too.

Bile Thralls, Harrower and Defiler remove all but two Errants. I could have scored a point with Swamp Gobber River Raider, but I had already activated it before the opportunity arose.

Protectorate secures flag on the right. Kreoss uses his feat, and Sanctifier charges Harrower to get through caustic mists in order to attack Seether. Opponent doesn't bother attacking Bane Warriors all that much, as Kreoss had come to a rather vulnerable distance in regards to Asphyxious' feat. 

Bastions charge in, and while Harrower and Seether both are severely beaten up, neither lost Cortex. This was a big turnpoint in the game, because now I was able to remove Sanctifier and what was left of Vigilant. 

However, Kreoss and Bastions were next going to remove both of my warjacks, too, and Crusader was unscathed - at least until Tartarus charged in to die himself in turn. 

Cryx managed to even out the advantage opponent had in scenario, but that likely was too late - I was had a couple of Ironmongers left, plus the feat. Kreoss had cast Defenders Ward on himself, and had been keeping up the Lamentation throughout the whole game - six focus Hellbound sure feels costy.

But.

Kreoss was within charge distance of Asphyxious, and there were six Bane Warriors waiting to take a dive into Caen once more. 

So, Asphyxious used feat and charged the Protectorate warcaster. Asphyxious did well enough, but Kreoss was not dead. Only two Banes got to his back arc, so those went first. First one hits, and Kreoss fell to only a few damage boxes remaining. Another one lost. 

So, next four attempts to score 10 on 2d6 and win the game, or miss them all and go home. So, better hit since we were playing in my apartment.

No Banes hit, so I'm currently looking for a new home I guess... or?

Opponent had to leave to not get a parking ticket so the grande finale was never actually rolled. I added the game to my spreadsheets as a loss anyway, since opponent would be doing damage with -2 to dice, and would be able to do two fully boosted attacks, and one attack with a hit boost.

Time For Classics

Played a 50 point game of Warmachine. My list was:

Lich Lord Asphyxious [+28]
 - Deathripper [6]
 - Inflictor [13]
- Ripjaw [7]
 - Slayer [10]
Iron Lich Overseer [5]
- Desecrator [14]
Swamp Gobber River Raider[1]
Bane Warriors (max) [16]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]

Opponent had:

Baldur the Stonecleaver [+31]

 - Gorax Rager [7]

 - Megalith [20]

 - Woldwatcher [8]

Gallows Grove [2]

Lord of the Feast [6]

Shifting Stones [3]
Gatorman Posse [16]

Warpborn Skinwalkers (max) [15]

 - Warpborn Skinwalker Alpha [4]

Scenario was the point scoring Annihilation from main rulebook.

Circle had Gatormen approaching from the right and Skinwalkers from the left. The obstacle in the middle was a nasty table divider, and I sort of did a mistake by directing Slayer and Desecrator to go from the right side.

Neither player had no LOS to anything, thanks to Ashpyxious's Caustic Mists and Baldur's forests. But when Lord of the Feast ran behind the center obstacle, Cryx opened game by running Ripjaw to get arc node into position. I wanted to get rid of the solo before it had the chance to do any major damage. 

Excarnate, however, didn't do much.

Swamp Gobber River Raider, however, did. That little fellow scored a hit with it's harpoon against a Gatorman, and - killed one of the Posse members. 

In retaliation I lost the arc node and a couple of Bane Warriors. Baldur also used his feat, which obviously wasn't going to be all that impactful.

But my next turn isn't that big either. Bane Warriors and Inflictor manage to destroy all but two Skinwalkers and Slayer ate one Gatorman. So it was Circle who got to make the first major turn.

Woldwatcher, remaining Skinwalkers and Lord of the Feast remove all but two Bane Warriors. Megalith deals with Inflictor and Gorax comes to cuddle with Desecrator. Gatormen charge Slayer. Shifting Stones annoyingly teleport in front of Megalith.

Time to draw out the toolbox. Oh right, I haven't got one.

Deathripper succeeds to kill Lord of the Feast. Desecrator also makes Gorax problem disappear, while Slayer takes down two Gatormen. Two remaining Bane Warriors kill last Skinwalker. Only their Alpha left now. 

Asphyxious walks and teleports next to Desecrator so that he might be able to flank and shank Baldur with his feat.

Circle wouldn't have any of that, and Megalith, Gallows Grove and Shifting Stone all come to block the charge from any possible feat Banes. Woldwatcher and Skinwalker Alpha remove last Bane Warriors from the unit. 

I have my chances to "win" the game now. Random models (Desecrator, namely) removes Gallows Grove from blocking charges. And I believe it was Iron Lich Overseer who shot the last remaining Shifting Stone.

Asphyxious advances. Megalith benefits from cover, so it is def 14 against shooting. I can either cast unboosted Parasite on it and teleport away to safety, or secure the spell and leave my warcaster exposed. I choose the latter. Ironically the Parasite would have caused a hit on any combination of the rolled dice. Oh well.

Parasited Megalith goes down like butter, which kind of surprised me. The Banes could have probably done it without Parasite, too. Now Circle has only their warlock, Woldwatcher and a lone Gatorman around.

And when the measuring starts, Asphyxious is found to be within charge distance of Baldur. He just straight up butchered the Lich Lord, not even needing to expend all of his Fury points.

Had I placed Asphyxious exactly within 8" of Megalith, this would not have happened. Had I teleported, this would not have happened. I suppose you can call a game end like this "classic".

Inviolable Parasite

Played a ten point game of Warmachine against a new and returning player. As he had played only a couple of games during Mk2, the game was more of an introduction rather than a bloody battle for victory.

My list was:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- 2x Slayer
- Defiler
Minimum unit of Satyxis Raiders

Opponent had:

Grand Exemplar Kreoss
- Crusader
- Castigator
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanik

I started the game, and Asphyxious cast some Caustic Mists to block LoS. There was a building in the middle that acted as a sort of divider. And I decided to do just that - challenge from both sides of the house.

Satyxis Raiders put a dent on Crusader on turn two, and Slayer advanced behind a Caustic cloud on the other side of the building. Far enough that plain old walk wouldn't be enough to engage it.

Opponent put Castigator to act as a bouncer, but Slayer wanted to perform. (Get it? Eh eh.) I mistakenly thought that the helljack was able to knock out the Cortex of Castigator - a mistake that proved fatal, when P+S 19 automatically hitting attacks started pouring in.

Crusader had been finished by another Slayer, but as Kreoss was using his feat now, Repenter engaged in melee.

Then we has Asphyxious personally attacking the Castigator, casting Parasite on Kreoss and using Excarnate to pluck off one choir member. Then he used feat and tried to assassinate Kreoss with Satyxis Raiders. It failed miserably. The lucky critical knockdown had been used already on Crusader earlier in this match. Not a single lacerator was able to score 8+, but two horns did - but didn't do even a single point of damage.

Opponent shoots Cleansing Fire on Asphyxious and scores a whopping eight points of damage. If opponent had been pondering whether to charge Defiler or Asphyxious, I guess this tipped the scale towards my warcaster. Charge attack dealt nine points in, but last attack opponent was to make missed.

Kreoss had both Parasite and Inviolable Resolve on himself. Asphyxious was still rolling damage at -1, and hitting on 8+ required boosts.

All three boosted attacks Asphyxious could do resulted in a hit, and it was the very last attack possible that downed the Menite warcaster.

Lich Lord vs Witch Coven of Garlghast

Had this 50 point game of Warmachine a couple of days ago.

My list was;

Lich Lord Asphyxious [+28]
- Deathripper [6]
- Desecrator [14]
- Inflictor [13]
Bane Lord Tartarus [6]
Darragh Wrathe [9]
Misery Cage [2]
Soul Trapper [1]
Bane Warriors (max) [16]
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [5]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]


Opponent had:

The Witch Coven of Garlghast [+26]

- 2x Deathripper [6]
- Reaper [13]
- Slayer [10]
Bane Lord Tartarus [6]
Bane Warriors (max) [16]
Satyxis Blood Witches (max) [13]
- Satyxis Blood Hag [4]


Scenario was Close Quarter from main rulebook.

Witch Coven feated on second turn, which mitigated my damage potential. As I was playing Asphyxious2 anyway, I ran forward with Bane Warriors. Their deaths wouldn't feel that bad, considering how they were coming back.

I managed to take down the contestants from my flag, and scored first scenario point from the four required to win.

It wasn't difficult for opponent to do the same and deny my second point. I lost my Misery Cage, Soul Trapper and one Ironmonger in the process.

Bane Warrior minifeat brought back some of the destroyed models, and I tried to take down both heavies from Witch Coven. Reaper was destroyed, but Slayer took a big 13 damage hit, and broke not even a single system. Thanks, column 3.

Then I suddenly was looking at my five models versus enemy twenty. Enemy Tartarus had destroyed shield system from Inflictor, but thankfully nothing else. Anyway, even if scenario game was steady 1-1 or something like that, just looking at the numbers present told me I had no chance of playing scenario.

It's been a while since I played with Asphyxious2, or Warmachine for that matter, and I didn't realize I could reach Witch Coven with Spectral Legion. I could bring about four warriors to them. Needing 7's and 8's to hit was so unlikely that I tried to make certain Inflictor would be able to at least trample and take a swing at one of the witches, but Fortuna smiled on me this time. Not a single Bane Warrior missed their attack roll, and that's not good news for Arm 11, eight wound models.

Burning Ash & Caustic Mist

There was one casual game of Warmachine in Ropecon where we agreed not to use theme lists. Because I really have missed that.

My list was:

Lich Lord Asphyxious [+28]

- Desecrator [14]
- Nightwretch [7]
- Ripjaw [7]
Bane Lord Tartarus [6]
Iron Lich Overseer [5]
- Harrower [16]
Necrotech [2]
Soul Trapper [1]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Bane Warriors (max) [16]
- Bane Warrior Officer & Standard [5]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [4]

Opponent had:

Lord Tyrant Zaadesh [+28]

- Aradus Soldier [16]
- Aradus Soldier [16]
- Archidon [10]
- Chiron [19]
- Rhinodon [12]
- Titan Gladiator [15]
Legends of Halaak [8]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max) [7]

Obviously I had great advantage in scenario game. Opponent closed in from the middle, so Bane Thralls were quite safe from Chiron's sprays. Opponent took a gamble with Chiron, bringing it forward and trying to spray Iron Lich Overseer. The attack was a miss.

Next turn Zaadesh used feat and rushed quite a lot of heavy beasts on to me. Harrower went down like it was butter, and I have no doubt that same fate would have been reserved for Desecrator had it been just a little closer to Aradus Soldier.

Chiron sprayed Ripjaw almost into wreckage. It only had cortex and weapon system intact.

On my turn I tried to kill both Rhinodon and Aradus Soldier in the middle, but only Rhinodon went dead. Aradus did have it's spirit broken and thanks to Desecrator it was suffering from Grievous Wounds, so at least it wouldn't assassinate Asphyxious.

Somehow Titan Gladiator couldn't kill Desecrator. How is that possible? I don't remember any more. It probably involved quite a few missed hits. So Cryx survived fairly well that turn, and next Bane Thralls were able to reach almost all of the warbeasts.

Titan Gladiator proved to be a difficult one to remove from the board, and Asphyxious tried to come to finish the beast. He had cast Hellbound and used feat. Feated Bane Thralls and some Satyxis Raiders wiped the board from warbeasts, and when Skorne started turn there was only Zaadesh and two members of Legends of Halaak left. He conceded.

Does two Wrong Eyes make a right one?

Two 75 point games of Warmachine from this... month, or so.

Deneghra, the Soul Weaver
- Corruptor
- Defiler
- Erebus

Mechanithralls (min) +2x Brute Thralls

Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
The Withershadow Combine
Iron Lich Overseer
- Leviathan
Necrotech
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Pistol Wraith
2x Soul Trapper
Warwitch Siren

Opponent had:

Actually I got no idea what opponent had. I don't remember the names of the monstrosities and cannot easily tell the two drudge units from each other. List may have been something like this:

Cognifex Cyphon
- Warden
- 2x Wrecker

Alexia Ciannor & the Risen + Dominator

2x Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (max)
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (min)
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max)
Cephalyx Overlords
Horgenhold Artillery Corps + Dominator
2x Cephalyx Agitator

Scenario was Take & Hold.

This write-up is bound to be brief, as it's been way too long since I played this game and it was a long one.

In the first picture, for example, I forget why there is one monstrosity close to my flag. It was probably something with Leviathan having Stealth from Iron Lich Overseer, so that Cognifex was not able to cast Gallows on the heavy warjack. It's possible that opponent had used feat this turn, too, and when Gallows shenanigans and such went wrong, the benefits of feat were less than impressive.

So was my next turn, too. I really hope Cognifex had used the feat, because otherwise dice rolls must have been exceedingly subpar. I dedicated Leviathan, Iron Lich Overseer, Deneghra, Defiler and Pistol Wraith to kill the monstrosity - and failed. The monstrosity was at one hit box remaining, under corrosion and stationary from Death Chill.

Opponent killed Iron Lich Overseer, because somehow I had thought it more beneficial to take a POW 12 swing at ARM 22 target or something than cast Stealth. I think Erebus took a hit despite DEF 16 and obviously some Mechanithralls died, but other than that I cannot remember. Except, well, there it is in the picture. A daunting swarm of drudges closed in.

I think I used Deneghra's feat next and spammed Mortality all over the board. Corruptor is a nice piece of art when fighting Drudges with a warcaster that can remove Tough.

For some reason I also charged in with Erebus, getting four kills at maximum. Deneghra re-activated Leviathan under her control and used feat souls to fill it with focus. It probably killed monstrosity on the right next.

Of course I lost Erebus, foolish as I was launching him in to the thick of action. Necrosurgeon was steadily bringing in new batches of Mechanithralls - opponent had been extremely unlucky in his attempts to remove her.

Next I figure that if I kill the last monstrosity, Deneghra will have very little to fear. She and Leviathan killed it. From here on game went weird and awkward. We were both trying to dominate the enemy flag. Cyphon was continuously spraying Deneghra with the "cannot cast spells" gun, which meant I didn't have the courage to charge him. Not without Mortality, no.

Eventually Deneghra was more successful in grinding out scenario points. Killing blow was when Cognifex was unable to finish Leviathan that didn't have all that many health boxes remaining.



Game 2:

Second game was played about a week later. My list was:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- Malice
- Ripjaw
- 2x Stalker
Bane Warriors (max) + Officer & Standard
Bile Thralls (min) + Skarlock Commander
Darragh Wrathe
Scrap Thralls
2x Soul Trapper
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Opponent had:

Gorten Grundback
- 2x Ghordson Driller
- 2x Grundback Gunner

2x Kayazy Eliminators
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Kell Bailoch
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor
Savio Montero Acosta
Sylys Wyshnalyrr, The Seeker
Rorsh & Brine
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw


Scenario was Entrenched and Cryx started game.

I had some success in removing some solos and whatnot with surprise SPD 6 Purge sprays from Bile Thralls.

Engaging didn't feel like an option when both had Star Crossed going on for them.

Looked like game would become a scenario grind-fest, but opponent got Savio Acosta into a difficult spot to remove and I didn't feel like I would be able to punch through enemy armor any time soon.

So, assassination attempt it was. All models I had tried to kill Wrong Eye first. It didn't succeed, so Asphyxious walked forward and cast Parasite on Gorten. Then he used feat and got seven thralls back or something. One thrall killed off Wrong Eye, and a four thralls or so succeeded in charging Gorten.

One was a miss, but three other attacks hit.

Last one caused a Tough roll, which obviously succeeded when I couldn't make any more attacks. Maybe with a little bit better positioning from the very start of my feat I could have got five thralls at him... but maybe it wouldn't have changed anything. After all, three 7+'s on two dice out of four attempts was far better statistics than what I have come used to...

Anyway, Asphyxious was butchered up many times over on the next turn. If I had saved up enough focus points for Teleport, maybe I would have played for one additional turn.

Now, Asphyxious3 needs to fail at caster kill because of Tough roll and I have a full set complete.

Length of seventeen focus

These are two 50 point games of Warmachine against Trollbloods that were played recently. Trolls had the same list in both games, but I tried a different list in the second game. Both games were played with Recon scenario.



Ragnor Skysplitter, The Runemaster
- Dire Troll Mauler
- Troll Axer
- Troll Impaler
Trollkin Sluggers (max) (pre-errata)
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) + Stone Scribe Elder
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Trollkin War Wagon

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Game 1 list:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- Desecrator
- Corruptor
- Slayer
Bane Warriors (max) + Command Attachment
Bane Lord Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech
Soul Trapper

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Game 2 list:

Asphyxious the Hellbringer
- Harrower
- Corruptor
- Nightmare
Mechanithralls (max) +2x Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech

Objective: Bunker

First game was quite straightforward Asphyxious2 game, at least for me: Bane Warriors ran first to get themselves killed, while heavier targets tried to hide behind Caustic Mists. Opponent was hesitant to bring models too much forward. I guess it was an oversight when there was only the objective and a krielstone grunt contesting middle zone at the start of my turn 3. Well, it didn't really help that one major contestant had lost it's activation to a failed threshold check - Dire Troll Mauler had eaten a krielstone bearer grunt to help with some sort of problems with anxiety or stage fright.

As hopeful as I had been with the acquisition of Tough for Bane Warriors once more, the War Wagon was a terrifying piece to negate that precious Tough - as knockdown happens before damage is being done, it negated Tough altogether.

Impaler had been really proficient at rolling for criticals. I don't think it rolled any non-critical attacks in this game?

Anyway, once an ARM 17 warjack goes down to def 5, Sluggers are suddenly rather a scary prospect. But there must be some sort of hidden ammunition type special rule for them. Every time they rolled three shots, there was only one or two points of damage, or none at all. And every time only one shot was rolled, they must have been some sort of depleted uranium shells from the grim distant future, because of their high damage.

But there were no warjack casualties. Desecrator and Corruptor both had suffered heavy damage, but weren't quite dead yet. Necrotech kept their systems functional.

I didn't even go for actual enemy models during Ragnor's feat - I dedicated everything to destroy the objective. Which succeeded even if it wasn't easy. Bane Thrall with it's Dark Shroud gave the required extra punch for Slayer to destroy objective. And then Cryx went straight to three control points.

Next opponent caused some impressive damage on Cryxian forces, and I lost any desire I could have had at playing any kind of attrition.

There was Mauler, Impaler and Slugger contesting the central zone. I had Tartarus, Asphyxious, movement-less Desecrator and Asphyxious' feat. It was all-out onslaught, which did succeed in removing trollblood troops and giving Lich Lord those remaining control points.

Game 2:

Last game had evolved Asphyxious2 into Asphyxious3.

Beginning wasn't that grand, when I advanced Corruptor to take a shot at War Wagon. I had thought that I might have done some 4-5 damage points in, perhaps, and then make enemy deal with the heavy warjack and any Mechanithralls I would be running up the middle zone. But opponent didn't need to expend any extra resources at all - everything was just shot off the board. Damn that knockdown cannon. Oh, and the Necrojector shot was triple 1's.

Then I brought Asphyxious up to feat, and had Mobility up. Nightmare had Ashen Veil.

I had trusted Nightmare to deal with War Wagon, but damage rolls were pretty terrible. Charge attack even missed the DEF 9 target.

Hellfire from Vociferon missed one krielstone grunt that was contesting the zone.

Harrower, Necrotech and Brute Thrall were what it took to remove enemy objective - and then I noticed I had completely forgotten about that contesting krielstone grunt. Mentally I had already dealt with it with the Hellfire. Three control points denied.

I lost pretty much everything on next turn. Buffaloes knocked Nightmare down, and suddenly Ashen Veil stopped doing, well, anything at all. Dire Troll Mauler wrecked Harrower and Axer came to finish off Nightmare. At least post-nerf recursion had kept Mechanithralls on the board. During course of the game six extra grunts had been reconstructed to offer some bullet practice targets for Sluggers.

At least that turn yielded ten extra focus points for Asphyxious - and opponent forgot to use feat. Well, at least that still kept me in game, though gaining advantage over such memory lapses don't feel clean.

There were only a Slugger and a krielstone grunt contesting the zone. Absolutely everything I threw against them failed miserably.

Mechanithralls weren't doing anything either. I guess it fits some sort of archetypal "worthless minions, must I do everything by myself" trope.

Asphyxious had to cast Mobility to get to Dire Troll Mauler, which was annoying. He then charged and bought an extra attack against Slugger, killing him and casting a boosted Hellfire at the krielstone grunt via Blood Boon. At least that much succeeded.

Then he cast Calamity on Dire Troll Mauler and started swinging his blade.

All the attacks had terrible rolls. Six was the most common damage roll for the attacks that even managed to hit a def 10 target. I wonder if Asphyxious was hitting the troll with his sword's handle instead of the blade.

Ten focus and the charge attack was what it took to kill a def 10, arm 18 heavy warbeast with MAT 6 and P+S 16. Asphyxious had zero focus point in camp.

But karma (sometimes) has this fickle way of balancing things out.

Opponent wasn't much better at rolling dice on his next turn. First, and most importantly, Ragnor missed the knockdown spell. He got scared then and ran off to the hills all the while listening to Iron Maiden.

War Wagon scored only one Mechanithrall kill. Spray missed both the Siren and Vociferon, and I don't remember at all what it was that the knockdown cannon tried to shoot. Axer scored only one hit against Asphyxious that dealt something like six or seven damage points. Impaler had been busy removing remaining Mechanithralls, and the whole unit was indeed wiped out that turn.

But - Asphyxious was miraculously alive, and there were only War Wagon and Axer on the zone. And Ragnor had still not used his feat.

Asphyxious destroys War Wagon and casts Calamity on Axer via Blood Boon, and proceeds to finish the light warbeast, bringing Cryx yet again to five control points.

Now, this game was solely won because of opponent forgot to use his feat twice in a row. Though, of course he had left the scenario zone way too uncontested in both games. But whatever the case, I felt kind of weaponless in both games. Enemy had a low model count, but still I was unable to reduce that count all that much. Corruptor that I usually take as a form of crowd control mechanic felt rather useless now, when POW 10 AoE would be stopped by a 5+ tough roll, and even if it did succeed, krielstone aura made it require 7+ or 8+ to kill any extra models.

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 Derp is strong in this one

Well. What can I say.

I really can't blame Black Ogruns this time... too harshly, at least.

I played two games of Warmachine last Friday.

Since my Lich Lord Asphyxious has been lagging behind in play count for some time now, I decided to give him a go. After all the games were supposed to be tournament practice. And it's been over than a year since I played him last time.

My list was (50 points):

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- Defiler
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Desecrator
Bane Lord Tartarus
2x Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
Gorman diWulfe

Objective: Effigy of Valor


And first game was against:

Anson Durst
- Judicator
- Reckoner
- Devout

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
High Paladin Dartan Vilmon
Regular Paladin
Hierophant
Reclaimer
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic
Wracks
Gorman diWulfe

Objective: Something

Scenario was Fire Support and Protectorate started the game.

There isn't much to tell about this game. On my second turn I guess I got so carried away when I was too merrily blocking charges by Temple Flameguard to various targets - including Black Ogruns.

I don't understand why the situation isn't how I fixed the picture. I couldn't bear to watch my Caustic Mists where they were, so I had to cut & paste one to position that would have changed entire game.

Oh, how I wish changing past mistakes was as easy as in Microsoft Paint... but it isn't. Reckoner shot Asphyxious. There might have been a small chance for game to continue if Reckoner missed the first shot that needed 12+ to hit. It didn't miss, though. And to twist the knife in vein I had also placed Asphyxious so close to Effigy of Valor that AoE 3"'s from Judicator were easily clipping him.

Let's never speak about this again, ever.

Game 2:

Since last game was such a disgrace, we played another one. There was a little more into it than to the last game. Not too much, but a little.

My list didn't change, but opponent changed list for:

Northern Crusade tier 2
Hierarch Severius

- Judicator
- Reckoner
- Blessing of Vengeance

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Visgoth Rhoven & Honour Guard
Covenant of Menoth
Hierophant
2x Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic

Scenario was Recon, and somehow Cryx started game despite the tier bonus for Protectorate. First picture is from the end of Protectorate turn 1. Blessing of Vengeance has Enliven on it, and it was used to cast Fear of God to Black Ogruns, and if I'm counting right, something has killed two Black Ogruns. Oh! Now I remember. Black Ogruns were killing each other from repeated Influences.

Turn 2 Bane Thralls ran forwards, ignorant of any possible threats to them. Black Ogruns shooed the Blessing of Vengeance away from their lawn. Then Desecrator shot its scather template to a random Flameguard. Now, I wouldn't make the same mistake again that I did in last game. I'd block every damn LoS vector there ever was to Asphyxious, and then I cast my own Fear of God to Temple Flameguard in the form of Caustic Mists and a scather template. Take that, you Protectorate swine! Hahaha! Now what you're going to do, old man Severius? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW?

Well.

Uh.

You know what's different between Arcing Fire and Awareness?

I do, now. Awareness ignores even those intervening models that are within 1" of the target.

Reckoner could and would have two-shotted Asphyxious again. That's bad enough. I did double check the technicalities of that spell, though. But it was during Protectorate turn 2. Not Cryx turn 2.

But that's really not how the game ended, though I wish it was.

I wanted to bring Bane Lord Tartarus to the LoS blocking safety of the objective and Desecrator, and far enough that if Rhoven made Reckoner ignore Stealth it'd have to come close enough to get wrecked by, well, everything and/or anything.

Take a close look at Tartarus. Especially his facing. Especially his place there in the back arc of Asphyxious.

Blessing of Vengeance ran forward. Rhoven applies stealth ignoring for Severius, and Severius starts spamming Influence on Tartarus.

Technically I did succeed in protecting Tartarus till the end of the game, which is fairly important for Lich Lord Asphyxious.

Asphyxious gets breached

Well.

I wanted to try out something new and weird, so I chose Lich Lord Asphyxious for the job.

We were practicing for a tournament that uses deathclock. We had 50 point lists, and mine was:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- 2x Slayer
- Desecrator
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment

Minimum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Banelord Tartarus
Darragh Wrathe
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Gorman diWulfe

Opponent had:

Siege
- Defender

Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers + Officer
- Hunter
Rangers
Maximum unit of Storm Lances
Professor Pendrake
Epic Eiryss
Squire
Stormsmith Stormcaller
Journeyman Warcaster
Ragman
Rhupert, piper of Ord

Scenario was Process of Elimination.

Cryx started the game. All the pictures are really shaken up so they're probably quite a pain to look at. First picture, however, is from the end of Cygnar turn 1.

I decide to trade Nightwretch for the life of Eiryss and a couple other models. That could have been a good move, but I got greedy. That sweet elf soul looked so delicios to Asphyxious, so Asphyxious decided to drop his template over Eiryss and other nice fellows and cast boosted Death Knell, and decided to boost damage rolls instead of teleporting away. Well, at least Asphyxious got that particularly annoying elven soul to use next turn.

I though I'd be able to block most shooting with a cloud template from Gorman and three heavy warjacks. Siege would need to use Foxhole and Mage Sight both to get Line of Sight to Asphyxious if I placed things correctly.

Well, I didn't place things correctly.

Short story shortly: Siege advanced, used Breach, cast Mage Sight and nimbly got LoS to Asphyxious with both Siege and Defender.

Siege nearly killed Asphyxious, but Defender actually missed it's shot. Well, there was a jack marshalled Hunter still available. It dealt the final blow, and thus game was over at the second player's second turn.

After the game had ended we noticed that Mage Sight affects only battle group, and Hunter wasn't inside. However, Hunter could have most probably advanced as far to the right as possible and taken the same shot from there.

Never betray your principles or you'll fall, and never rise

Last Wednesday I played a 50 point Warmachine game.

I've had this thing going on for a long time now that I won't play with a model that's not been painted. When I had less models I wasn't so strict about it, but now when I got hundreds of points worth of models, this principle ensures me that I continue to play with my older models and also have the motivation to finish new ones.

But the Kraken has been sitting on my painting table for over a year now. I decided that what the hell, now it's time to try this one out, after all its almost painted.

So, I conjured up a funny list:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- Kraken
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Bane Lord Tartarus
Satyxis Raider Captain
2x Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Ogrun Bokur
Ragman
Gorman diWulfe

And opponent had:

Army of Annihilation tier 4
Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
- Carnivean
- Ravagore
- Scythean

2x Maximum unit of Warspears + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Spawning Vessel
The Forsaken
(free) Warmonger War Chief

Legion started the game, and damn it was a horrifying speed the legion closed in. Both warspear units had picked Kraken as their prey, and the unit in middle had this +2 STR & Terror spell on them.

Anyway, first picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1. Satyxis had run to stall the Legion a bit, because I didn't want to run with my whole army to get slaughtered, and yet I didn't want to leave all zones completely uncontested. A pleasant suprise was the astounding RNG of 16 on the Kraken's supersystem gun. I could start shooting on turn 1, though the funniest thing happened - attack hit, but even with a damage boost it didn't kill a Warspear.

Needless to say, all of the Satyxis but the Sea Witch got killed. Now, looking back, I'm not sure if that was a good idea, as I unintentionally fed the spawning vessel enough to create a lesser warbeast.

But all in all, legion could only touch their own zone.

Next the Blood Witch tried to be bold and went to tie legion heavy warbeasts and bloodthirsty warspears. Being there all alone must take some guts...

Bane Thralls just ran forward and Tartarus tried to hide behind. After all Warspears didn't ignore Stealth.

Kraken tried to shoot down yet another Warspear again, yet it failed to kill even with a damage boost. Again.

Asphyxious tried to cast Excarnate on Spawning Vessel. It was a long shot, and didn't pay off at all. Not even a single damage point.

So Cryx had inflicted zero casualties on Legion of Everblight, and it was already second turn.

There is some luck on my side next, as Sea Witch defies all attempts to get herself killed. Ravagore has to step in and kill her after Forsaken doesn't do the job. Also the Stinger that was spawned last round frenzies and bites the spawning vessel. Damage roll was quite high, but sadly it didn't wreck the cauldron. That would have been funny.

Anyway, a shredder is spawned and it comes to engage Nightwretch.

Middle unit of Warspears charge Kraken, but only two got withing melee range. And that was what saved Kraken, since it nearly got wrecked by this charge. Boxes from left field were all gone and almost half of the boxes from right were filled, too. Supersystem and left arm were the only systems that broke down, though.

Other warspear unit and scythean kill bane thralls, but since I was playing epic Asphyxious that wasn't a big concern. Scythean killed three with Take Down animus on, so that was something.

The picture from Cryx turn 3 hasn't focused well, but the important things were that both Necrotechs failed their repair rolls, meaning I wouldn't get off a Kill Shot. That was a bummer.

Bane Thralls perform badly against Warspears on the right, but three of them soften up Scythean a little.

Tartarus curses Warspears and charges them, killing two.

Ragman puts on Death Field and Kraken manages to kill one of the Warspears with its broken tentacle and the other one with second initial attack. Three focus go into extra attacks against Scythean, and the last attack (phew) removes the beast from play.

Ogrun Bokur comes to engage Warspears. Fun fact: the shield DOES do more damage than the halberd.

Gorman diWulfe blinds Ravagore, and feeling courageous because all of this Asphyxious advances forward, camping 3 focus and upkeeping Hellbound.

Nightwretch breaks off from the melee with Shredder and tries to shoot down the spawning vessel. Nope, it's still standing.

Ogrun Bokur did what he was hired to do - almost. Forsaken unleashed all her fury at Ogrun Bokur, but still he was engaging the warspear unit. This lead to an interesting situation, when Thagrosh advanced and cast Obliteration on Ogrun Bokur. This attack killed its target, and as a consequence Warspears were free to charge Kraken. That was the end of Kraken.

Both heavy warbeasts came to block any attempts to use Asphyxious's feat on Thagrosh.

But still - there was a chance!

I tried to clear a path for Asphyxious to charge Black Oiled Ravagore, but nothing really worked out so he had to take two free strikes from p+s 17 Warspears. That brought him down to 5 hit boxes or so. Or maybe the damage done was 5 boxes. I'm not entirely sure, since it was a while since this game was played.

Anyway, after Bane Thralls had activated and tried to do things Asphyxious charged the Ravagore. I decide to go full win-or-lose here and not save any focus for Teleport.

The situation here was that Carnivean was maxed out on Fury, Ravagore was at two Fury and the spawned Stinger had advanced to Thagrosh's control range. So I needed to take out Stinger and Ravagore, bare minimum. Excarnate, a shot from Nightwretch and a charge by Satyxis Raider Captain got rid of Stinger and attacks by Asphyxious and one bane thrall and one satyxis raider from Spectral Legion killed Ravagore.

So, would 3 Satyxis Raiders and 4 Bane Thralls be able to kill Thagrosh?

Turned out that they couldn't. And the result was none other than Thagrosh being left alive with one hit box remaining. If I'm looking for lessons here, it's probably that you don't play Asphyxious2 without a unit of bane thralls AND bane knights. But I'm not looking for such annoying lessons.

And then I lose games. To one box remaining.

Bitter? Hell no.

Thagrosh himself comes and destroys Asphyxious in melee. I had dropped Hellbound from Asphyxious for this assassination run, but if I had upkept it, Asphyxious would've still needed to survive 3x p+s 17 RAT 9-10 ranged attacks and uninjured Carnivean.

Anyway, it was an interesting game. I wasn't entirely disappointed with Kraken, as it had quite an impact on the game and could have achieved a lot more had the dice been a little better for it. After all two dead Warspears could've been everything it would have needed to survive.

30 points vs 35 points

Some time ago I played a game of warmachine.

It was supposed to be a 35 point game, and I played with following list:

Epic Asphyxious
- Corruptor (Yes, you read right. I need to feel better for playing epic Asphyxious and not downright filthy.)
- Nightwretch
- Cankerworm
- Helldiver

Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment

Bane Lord Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
Gorman diWulfe
Bloat Thrall

And opponent had:

Strakhov
- Black Ivan

Maximum unit of Assault Kommandos + 1 flame thrower
2x Kayazy Eliminators
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Epic Eiryss
Gorman diWulfe

When I'm playing Cryx I've really started to see Assault Kommandos in a different light. Again here that often dismissed infantry unit was immune to Warwitch Siren, Bloat Thrall and even Caustic Mists. And, well, even to that particular ammo of Corruptor, but I don't think that really counts for anything.

Anyway. After the game we noticed that this Khador list was, in fact, 5 points short. In the original list there were Great Bears of Gallowswood that didn't make it to the board.

Game started with Cryx taking the first turn. Scenario was Into the Breach, and large blast template marks the middle point of control zone. First picture is taken from the end of Khador's first turn. I'm including that picture, since upcoming pictures have completely atroctious camera angles.

Anyway, second picture shows how I (having learned some lesson from my fooling around in Ropecon 2013) marched Bane Thralls this time in front of whole flank to the right. And the second half of that second picture... wow. Opponent did pretty good job of wrecking whole damn unit of Bane Thralls. Only Officer and two thralls survived out of full 12. One thing caught me completely off guard.

Black Ivan had bulldoze. That combined with Overrun and Strakhov's feat is rather devastating gimmick indeed. Chances would be that I would still have at least 2-3 thralls more if Bulldoze hadn't pushed the flag bearer of Bane Thralls out of the 1" pick-up radius of other grunts. I think I got to make only 2-3 tough rolls whole game before I lost the flag to this fancy trick. Maybe my next lesson to learn is to always keep flag so far away from any and all even unseen threats?

Widowmakers advanced and shot a couple of bane thralls and Kayazy Eliminators walzed through 4 thralls.

However, I was actually quite content with this huge loss. I was ready to use Spectral Legion any time now, and opponent would lose almost all serious attack power on my turn... or would he?

First Warwitch Siren advanced and seduced Kayazy Eliminator (again?) and all four of them were in a nice clump next, and one Bane Thrall was free to charge.

I doubted I had enough killing power for Black Ivan, so I decided to probably sacrifice Bane Lord Tartarus. He cursed Black Ivan and advanced, aligned himself properly and unleashed Thresher. Two thralls were created to the back arc of Black Ivan. Funnily enough Tartarus himself missed the attack roll against the cursed Ivan.

Bane Thralls charge Black Ivan next and with plenty of unsuccesfull rolls (and one really succesful!) the warjack is still pretty much standing with nothing important destroyed. Crap, crap, crap! It's then Asphyxious' time to activate, and he charges Black Ivan - that monstrosity just needs to die. Two attacks and it's finally gone, and Asphyxious teleports away, camping one focus.

Then Bloat Thrall shot the huge AoE all over Eliminators and... well, none of them died. Not even those two that were having -2 ARM from Dark Shroud. However one of my own Bane Thralls died, which ironically needed exactly same damage roll as to kill one Eliminator outright. Drats.

Things actually started to look a little worrisome right now. I can only imagine my distress had the Great Bears been on board! But of course, different decisions would've been made then and game would probably have played differently. At least that's what I try to keep telling myself.

On opponents turn Def 15 saves Warwitch Siren from assassination attempt by a Kayazy Eliminator. I think it was a charge attack so that the other Eliminator had to run, so Siren had to dodge only one combo-strike or two ordinary strikes.

Bane Lord Tartarus and all Bane Thralls are destroyed by various attacks, but Bane Thrall Officer defied all fate behind a wreck marker and was left standing with one hit box (and under Fire continous effect). Khador scored two Control Points this turn by dominating control zone.

Bane Thrall officer died to the Fire, by the way.

Well, then is my turn, and I try to use a little bit of Cryxian crowd control techniques. Nearly all Assault Kommandos had cramped up in attempt to kill Bane Lord Tartarus (damn I wish he would've lived... or... continued being undead, how that one needs to be expressed?), and even Gorman diWulfe was in that huge blob of warm, tender flesh. So.

My grand plan was that I would somehow would get rid of both Kayazy Eliminators in middle of my lines, then run Bloat Thrall next to the gathering of souls, advance Nightwretch so that I could launch Death Knell on Bloat Thrall and boost damage to the thrall. That way AoE 4 Death Knell would kill what it may and it would be followed with even larger AoE pow 14 death blast.

But I just couldn't figure any way to remove those Eliminators, as even the Corruptor was blind with Black Oil.

So I had to use the Bloat Thrall to clear the way for Nightwretch. This time it managed to kill two already corroded Eliminators, yay.

Next Cankerworm advanced to act as a loving homing beacon for Death Knell. Nightwretch advances into position. Asphyxious activates, puts down his soul gathering template and casts death knell through nightwretch to Cankerworm. Attack misses but deviates just so that that damned Gorman is out of the template. And what's even more annoying is that two damage rolls fail to kill, despite blast damage coming in with... what... pow 11 or 12? Assault Kommandos were in Shield Wall. That order was indeed a good call this time. Asphyxious got 4 souls from this affair.

Well, then. I lose everything but Nightwretch and Asphyxious. Technically I didn't lose Cankerworm or Corruptor, but they were both Blind from Black Oil.

So. I'm actually losing this game unless I do something drastic.

Time to call in Spectral Legion.

Nightwretch advances out of a good charge lane (and actually survives a free strike from one of the Eliminators) and then Asphyxious charges an Assault Kommando. He kills three of them and burns, well, pretty much ALL of his remaining focus to kill one pesky Kayazy Eliminator, saving only enough for a teleport. Obviously attempt to kill the Eliminator just fails.

Then he uses his Feat and table is filled with Bane Thralls once again. It's a pity I didn't take a picture before removing the models.

Anyway. Only four thralls make it to Strakhov. Suprisingly, however, first thrall hits! And rolls a godlike damage roll, leaving Strakhov with only two hit boxes remaining. Well, I still got 3 tries to roll a 9+ for a guaranteed kill. Second one is a miss. Third one is a miss. Fourth one hits! P+S 11 with 4 dice vs Strakhovs armor of something 17 or so. There are no markers next to him, but he was camping some focus. After all... where would have he actually used them?

Damage roll doesn't exceed his armor. To add an insult to injury, damage roll is exactly equal to his armor. It was something like 1,1,2,2 or 1,2,2,2.

Now wasn't that sweet?

Luckily rest thralls manage to kill some important pieces such as Gorman diWulfe.

Opponent then wrecks Cankerworm, who had been standing valiantly until this late game in the middle of enemy forces. Requiescat in pacem, until Asphyxious reconstructs it.

Strakhov heals a couple of damage points and goes to hug wreck marker. Enemy doesn't actually have too much models on board any more, but neither do I have too many attacks available. I do a little math, and I figure that I will actually lose to scenario unless I manage to assassinate Strakhov somehow.

So.

I am thinking of trying to spell-assassinate Strakhov next, but I didn't think I brought Nightwretch close enough to get through Stealth (Strakhov had been upkeeping Occultation on himself for whole game - wise move, actually, since I would've probably tried to assassinate and/or Parasite him at various points of the game - especially on the feat turn) and Strakhov in cover is outside of Asphyxious' league, I dare say.

Last remaining Assault Kommando had ran to engage Nightwretch.

On my upcoming turn it seemed like my only chances were to kill everything on the control zone and start dominating for points. However... if even one of enemy models remained that would just hand over the loss to me. So many dice rolls had already barely failed in this game that I thought that it'd be so much against all odds if this last chance would be ruined also.

Asphyxious allocates a focus point to Corruptor and Nightwretch. Corruptor advances and strikes the Assault Kommando down (while free-striking Eliminator doesn't strike Corruptor down) and then Nightwretch runs to Strakhov.

Asphyxious activates and advances so that he can attempt one last fully boosted Excarnate on Strakhov. Hits, and damage roll is excessive.

Phew.

Only logical reason for Eliminators, Gorman, Strakhov and to some extent even Black Ivan (it took almost every possible attack to nail the warjack down so the resources couldn't be directed to any other target) surviving for so long is that the spirit of the missing Great Bears of Gallowswood was magically supporting their performance. Wait... that's not logical at all... Another possible explanation is that some form of greater dice gods and kharma and whatnot punished me for using Corruptor.

Anyway, I hope we get to play another game some time with same lists, this time bears included. Game was a really good one and exciting, but still opponent was playing 5 points down, and it bugs me.

Last two games of Steamroller tournament at Ropecon 2013

Well, then.

Two losses in a row, things just couldn't get any worse, could they?

Next I was against Legion of Everblight.

Here I made a little mental note that I'm bound to forget. Both of my lists hadn't taken any countermeasures against Legion of Everblight. Both lists relied pretty much on denying LOS and/or having access to Stealth.

I mean... Legion isn't, strictly speaking, a very uncommon sight in tournaments.

Oh well, I just took epic Asphyxious because I need more games in with him. For statistics, you know.

When I knew I was playing against Saeryn, I wonder why the heck I took Bile Thralls... I could have changed them to something useful with Specialists.

Anyway, opposing list was something like:

Saeryn
- 2x Ravagore
- 2x Angelius
- Raek

2x Strider Deathstalkers
Forsaken
Blighted Nyss Shepherd or two
2-3 Spell Martyrs
- some empty points I don't remember... Succubus, perhaps?

First picture is taken from the end of Legion turn 2, when shooting had already began.

Because I deployed Bane Thralls rather poorly it was my heavy jacks that took the hits. I don't know why I did it, but I decided to rush aggressively to the control zone (at least I didn't want to give points to Legion that easily. But I know Saeryn's feat, I have played enough against her and still... I ran all of my jacks and even Asphyxious himself to a tightly packed formation.

I guess I wanted to believe that Asphyxious would still be standing next turn and I would be able to unload 6x purges on Angeliuses when one of them would have -3arm from Parasite and one -2 from Dark Shroud for at least one purge, but that was quite desperate thinking.

Angeliuses charged Slayer in the middle and wrecked it and bought extra attacks against Asphyxious. Even boosted blast damages from Ravagores did some points in, so Asphyxious was killed in a most embarrasing situation that's imaginable, barring only a purge from own bile thrall.


Last game in Ropecon 2013 Steamroller tournament:

I was against Khador, and decided to take epic Asphyxious again. I was against Old Witch of Khador and I almost cried there and then. Three out of four of my matchups during tournament had some way of negating most rules for Line of Sight. Again, cloud effects wouldn't protect Asphyxious himself.

Game itself was interesting, though I had forgotten my camera somewhere. I could only snatch one picture in the end when there was no pressure from Deathclock.

I had played against Old Witch of Khador only once before, and then it ended so that Scrapjack just parked right next to my warcaster, Old Witch advanced and cast Unseen Path and killed Deneghra in just a few hits. So... I was afraid, and played extra carefully.

Scrapjack was a monster against Bane Thralls, when it advanced under Avatar of Slaughter and destroyed tons of thralls. It did this for three full rounds, and only because I rolled godlike tough rolls. I dare say at least 50% of all tough rolls I made succeeded.

I had replaced one Slayer with Soulhunters, and I must say that they did wonderful job at harassing Winterguard Infantry.

This time I kept Tartarus way back in the safe zone, waiting for a moment to curse something worthwile. Last few games I had played Tartarus way too forward and Stealth ignoring or scattering autofire AoE's had made his undead life difficult.

Anyway, both of the warcasters were standing way too back for either faction to get a clean, nice assassination. However, when it started to look like Khador would be winning attrition, I decided to try an all-or-nothing assassination.

Everything I had tried to shoot down a large-based objective that was in-between Asphyxious' feat and Old Witch.

First Tartarus charged Aiyana (missed her, of course) and cursed the Old Witch.

Then Asphyxious charged something, I don't remember what. Then he used Spectral Legion and either teleported to safety or tried to soften up the objective marker. Since my lock was running real short, I didn't plan on surviving next turn if I failed the assassination attempt. So a boosted excarnate to objective marker it was. Still it wasn't destroyed, but one Spectral Legion bane thrall charged it down.

A maximum of four Bane Thralls would have been able to charge the cursed Witch. Third one dealt the finishing blow, and game ended, and I got a couple of seconds over 2 minutes left on my timer.