Martyrs, martyrs everywhere

 A 50 soul stone game of Malifaux.

Turf War with Flank deployment. Scheme pool: Vendetta, Claim Jump, Hidden Martyrs, Let Them Bleed, Research Mission

My list was:

Seamus & Copycat Killer
Madame Sybelle
Grave Golem
Dead Doxy (Vendetta on Obsidian Oni)
Mourner with Grave Spirit Touch (Martyr)
Rotten Belle (Martyr)
Gravedigger

Pool: 6
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs, Vendetta

Opponent had:

Asami Tanaka & Amanjaku
Ama No Zako
Shadow Emissary
2x Yokai (Hidden martyrs)
Obsidian Oni
Akaname (Claim Jump)

Pool: 7
Schemes: Hidden Martyrs, Claim Jump

Turn 1:

Ten Thunders brought their both scary models on high vantage points. Obsidian Oni and Yokai near the middle, and one additional Obsidian Oni is summoned by Asami as a hand grenade. It sets up Dead Doxy, Grave Golem and Mourner on fire. Akaname interacts with closest marker to Ten Thunders. The second Yokai speeds up to charge Rotten Belle that had arrived in base contact with strategy marker on the bottom left. Amanjaku follows Yokai around. 

Gravedigger and Mourner both do Blasphemous Rituals, and hand out focus +2 to both Grave Golem and Madame Sybelle. Resurrectionists had made a nice little blob of three models in the middle. Grave Golem tried to look menacing and distract-ey, while Dead Doxy was aiming to get a strike at her vendetta target.

Gravedigger interacted with my closest strategy marker. Copycat Killer and Seamus do their movement shenanigans and interact with top-right strategy marker. Then Seamus thought it would be a good idea to draw the attention of Shadow Emissary by taking a random weak damage shot at it.

Turn 2:

Resurrectionists gain initiative, and first to activate is Madame Sybelle who goes to take a swing at Obsidian Oni. I had overestimated their durability, and she hit the thing for five points of damage in. That meant Dead Doxy might ruin my Vendetta with a moderate damage as Obsidian Oni had two health remaining. This was especially worrisome, as my lowest card in hand was 6. However, Doxy scores only weak damage and scores Vendetta.

Loud bang of the flintlock had indeed aroused the ire of Shadow Emissary. When the mauling ceased, Seamus was at around half of his health remaining, plus me having three stones less. Time to escape! Copycat Killer took a random shot at Yokai that did some damage in. Then he switched places with Seamus. 

And that's when Ama No Zako charged to my master. Great. What's even better - after the Ten Thunders henchman had activated, I had zero soul stones left and Seamus was down to one wound remaining. And that was only because Hard-to-Kill.

Seamus Terrorizes Ama No Zako away from him and heals a bit. Then he takes a shot at Yokai engaging Rotten Belle, killing the oni. 

Obsidian Oni takes a swing at at Dead Doxy and she dies. But it's notthe exotic axe/maul/mace-thingy that had hit her, oh no. It was the horrible stench caused by Akaname. Doxy was at two health remaining, burning, and then poisoned.

Asami summons Katashiro, which flaps furiously at Madame Sybelle.

Grave Golem interacts with marker in middle and tries to attack Yokai. Rotten Belle interacts with marker on bottom-left.

Then it's end of turn. Both players score strategy, and opponent reveals Hidden Martyrs on Yokai. I had done my Vendetta earlier, so scores go 2-2.

Turn 3:

Ten Thunders win the initiative. It's beyond me why opponent picked Ama No Zako to activate first. I mean... there was this 12" teleporting, four action point, Def 4 master two weak hits from being dead, and Ama No Zako had essentially 3 action points and stat 6 melee attack. It's beyond me.

Yeah. I lost my master turn 3 before he got to activate.

At least Shadow Emissary fails to kill Copycat Killer thanks to an untimely Black Joker.

Grave Golem kills the remaining Hidden Martyr Yokai.

Madame Sybelle removes the vendetta Obsidian Oni and Katashiro. Then Akaname, and a summoned Jorogume pile in on the undead lady in leather. Akaname would have only needed to land one weak damage on Sybelle for her to die to its stench, but in the end Sybelle was left alive with three health, burning and poisoned.

Mourner takes a couple lucky Feed on Griefs on Akaname, killing it.

Rotten Belle interacts with strategy marker on the bottom-left and charges Ama No Zako, failing right at the Terrifying check.

Resurrectionists score strategy, taking the lead at 3-2.

However, opponent concedes. After all, Ten Thunders had lost all key models for schemes and was behind in points, and likely to kill Rotten Belle.

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.

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.

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.

Cryxmas Games

Kuhmo traditions continued with two small Warmachine games. These were played around 24-26th days of December, so they are no longer in fresh memory.

Lists were ten points and first game was:

Wraith Witch Deneghra
- Erebus
- Nightwretch
- Ripjaw
Gorman diWulfe
Bloat Thrall

Versus

High Allegiant Amon

- Crusader
- Dervish
- Devout
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Wrack

First game I kind of wanted to make this super-stunlock maneuver I've been dreaming of. That means a Blind, Shadow Bind, Knockdown and Stationary all on one model.

Well it didn't come to that, but in small point sizes as this it definitely affected matters when you get, for example, 50% of enemy army blinded.

Don't mind the stegadon, by the way. It's an obstacle. Not a proxy.

Arm 21 crusader could have been a great trouble for me to chew through even when it came to have a go at the bonejacks. But Erebus still is only p+s 16. So instead I decided to ignore Crusader altogether and try to score assassination. Amon was behind Devout and there was Repenter blocking Erebus from charging Devout. Deneghra used Dark Banishment on the Repenter and lobbed it some six inches away. But this was an all-out attempt to win. Deneghra was focusless and within Crusader's melee range. Erebus better succeed.

And Erebus did succeed. When the boosted attack against Amon hit, the Protectorate warcaster went stationary. Of course everything hanged on 5+ tough roll once again, because it wasn't until the last possible attack that finally dealt enough damage to Amon. This time tough roll failed.


Second game was:

Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- Slayer
- 2x Helldiver
- Deathripper
Gorman diWulfe
Machine Wraith

Versus

High Executioner Reznik

- Crusader
- Revenger
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Exemplar Bastions

This somehow turned into long fight of attrition. Crusader was trying to flank Cryx, which distracted Asphyxious with twelve or thirteen focus points for a turn. During this time Cryx lost Slayer and Helldiver and what else.

But Cryx gained the upper hand, and finally there was nothing else except a lone Bastion and Reznik on board. Reznik ran to engage Asphyxious and had five focus points for camping.

I think Gorman succeeded to blind him. Asphyxious burned out attacking Reznik, and still Reznik was not dead.

I don't remember if it was Vociferon that finihed Reznik or Deathripper, but whatever the case, Reznik fell after taking quite a beating.

The Price of Beauty

Two 50 point games of Warmachine. Both were played with Week 2 rule pack for Steamroller CID cycle. Both games had the same lists.


Deneghra, the Soul Weaver
- Corruptor
- Erebus
- Deathripper
- Defiler

The Withershadow Combine
Necrotech
Ogrun Bokur
2x Pistol Wraith
Soul Trapper [1]
Warwitch Siren


Opponent had:

Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Deathripper
- Nightwretch
- Reaper
- Slayer
Bane Warriors (max) + Command Attachment
Mechanithralls (max) +1x Brute Thrall + Skarlock Commander
Warwitch Siren


First game was the scenario Outlast and Deneghra started.

I forgot to take pictures for quite a while, but considering their quality I guess it isn't that much of a loss.

Enemy Mechanithralls had swarmed zone on left. Maelovus had cast Mortality on them. I think about three Mechanithralls survived.

In the picture Deneghra has used her feat and cast Mortality on Slayer, plus switched Grave Wind on herself. It had originally been cast on Erebus.

Enemy Slayer became quite a sorry piece when it was knocked down, stationary from Death Chill and had lost it's cortex.

However, for some reason I wanted to protect Deneghra from ranged attacks - and enemy had only one ranged attack available. Harpoon attack from Reaper wouldn't even have been able to drag Deneghra - but it sure could do that to Erebus. That's how I lost my newly painted Erebus right away.

I lost both of my Pistol Wraiths and of course the Erebus. Corruptor suffered heavy damage, and I felt quite a bit powerless when enemy was outnumbering me 3 to 1.

Souls converted to Focus points for Deneghra, bringing her up to twelve points. And Asphyxious was within charge range, so I decided to attempt an assassination.

Withershadow Combine cast Puppet Master and Ghost Walk on Deneghra.

I somehow needed to pull the only soul enemy had - Warwitch Siren - for Deneghra. I don't remember how that exactly happened, but Soul Trapper did it's job just fine, and Deneghra could charge, cast Scourge on Asphyxious, use the soul to cast Mortality on Asphyxious and then proceed with 8 focus points of attacks against automatically hitting P+S 13 attacks against ARM 14 target. Asphyxious did have three or four focus points in camp, but they did not save Asphyxious from an overkill like this.

Final score was 1 scenario point for Asphyxious and zero for Deneghra.


Game 2:

Second game was Spread the Net and Asphyxious started.

In the first picture Asphyxious is about to start controlling the rectangular zone. Deneghra uses her feat, and that must have been the most beautiful Deneghra the Soul Weaver's feat turns I've ever had.

Maelovus had cast Mortality on Mechanithralls once more. But Deneghra cast Mortality on Slayer, Deathripper and Bane Warriors, Ghost Walk on herself and on Erebus, and allocated extra focus for Erebus and Corruptor.

Then she charged close to the flag on my side of the board, killed stuff and used Reposition to get to control the flag.

Erebus charges and wrecks Slayer. I would have wanted to use Overtake to get to contact with Nightwretch and make it stationary and somewhat damaged, but wrecking ARM 15 target took all attacks and all focus it had.

Killing six Mechanithralls and the Brute Thrall, Slayer, five Bane Warriors and some stray points to Deathripper along with two control points felt quite nice indeed. But alas, then something happened.

Only one attack missed Erebus, so I didn't get that much mileage out of Poltergeist. Attacking models were two Bane Warriors, Bane Warrior Officer and Reaper. Okay, this was a loss I was ready to accept. What wrenched my guts was how all it took was two (2) Bane Warrior attacks that wrecked Corruptor also. It had taken some minor damage that had been mostly repaired by Necrotech. This was a loss I was not ready to accept, though I did not flip the table just yet.

It think scenario was 2-2.

I cleared flag and zone on the right, but I was outrageously starved of attacks. It also felt like a death sentence, when Pistol Wraith couldn't kill Bane Warrior Officer and then Defiler advanced to spray Warwitch Siren and Bane Warrior Officer - hit Siren, but missed officer. Did not kill Siren.

Soul Trapper ran to contest zone where Asphyxious was grinding victory points, and scenario went to 4-2 for Deneghra.

Opponent then wrecked Defiler, killed Ogrun Bokur and last remaining Pistol Wraith. Most terrible thing was a stray spray from enemy Warwitch Siren that killed Maelovus. I really wouldn't have needed that to happen.

Scenario went 4-4.

My memory is getting a little bit hazy on the minute details of match. Deneghra failed her activation. She only killed Warwitch Siren and missed Mortality on Nightwretch. She did some random attacks against the arc node, but pretty much just tickled it. Admonia made a valiant sacrifice by running to contest two zones, so scenario was still 5-5.

I lost Deathripper and Admonia, so all I had was Tremulus and Deneghra. Scenario went to 7-5 for Asphyxious.

Deneghra failed her activations yet again. She did remove Deathripper I think, and impact attacks nailed all but the flag bearer of Bane Warriors.


Final score was something like 11-8 for Asphyxious and game ended on the second player's seventh turn. It's more than likely that I messed up somewhere when trying to re-calculate the point scoring, but lots of points were scored by both players. And eventually both players had only their warcaster on the table.

Lord Commander Stryker vs the Soul Weaver

Last Thursday I played a 50 point Warmachine game.

My list was:

Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- Leviathan
- Nightmare
- Deathripper
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch

Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
Satyxis Captain
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Skarlock
Soul Trappers

Opponent had:

Lord Commander Stryker
- Lancer

Maximum unit of Storm Lances
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + Officer
Maximum unit of Horgenhold Forge Guard + Murdoch
Aiyana & Holt
Archduke Runewood
Journeyman Warcaster
Maxwell Finn
Squire
Stormblade Captain
Rhupert
Harlan Versh

Scenario was Incursion and Cygnar started game. First picture is from the end of Cygnar turn two. I had left the flag on the right next to uncontested, and I had definitely not anticipated Stryker would use his feat this turn to take over flag on the left with Forge Guard, too. Rhupert had given them Tough.

I got to make a cheap trick by casting Mortality on Forge Guard with Skarlock and then killing a whole bunch of them with Satyxis. Pistol Wraith took down Murdoch. Yet again I forgot my plans when I got to kill some filthy dwarves. I had thought of controlling left flag with the Satyxis unit, but one of them just had to charge way past 4" area around the flag. Satyxis Captain was able to run to the flag, but most likely that just meant a dead Satyxis Captain.

I was afraid that Stryker would now make a suicidal charge with three Overload dice against Deneghra, so I tried to place my warjacks to threaten at least with free strikes if nothing else.

However, next tun it looked like I had (for once) placed my warcaster far enough from charges like this so Stryker ditched that plan. He cast Rebuke on Satyxis Raiders and tried to kill the Sea Witch - probably to give Gun Mages realistic chance to hit them.

Gun Mages either missed or didn't score damage for most of their activations. Storm Lances looked like a problem when they charged to Nightwretch. Or, well, one tried to and the rest just ran. Harlan Versh came to control the flag.

Though Satyxis wouldn't now charge Stryker thanks to Rebuke, I decided to go for the assassination anyway. Deathripper ran to position, and then Deneghra activated and flew on top of the hill just to look cool. She cast Mortality on Stryker, and then a boosted Scourge right after. She tried to spray Stryker with her ranged attack, but scored no damage.

Pistol Wraith took a shot at Stryker and boosted damage. Damage roll was 5,5,6 which killed the Cygnaran warcaster.

I know it isn't right, but I felt a little disappointed. I had wanted to knock Stryker down and make him Stationary.

Then I would have wanted to have Shadow Bind on him and Blind on him.

And then I would have wanted to curse him and his descendants down to seventh generation.

And then I would have even wanted to insult his dog.

And all of that wouldn't have been even remotely close to what the poster boy deserves.

Warmachine Demo

Last Wednesday I did a small demo game of Warmachine for a starting Protectorate player.

Demo forces were:

Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Leviathan
- Stalker
- Nightwretch

and

Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- Defiler
- Ripjaw

Which makes a total of 11 points per side.

I tried to make the demo forces fairly balanced against each other, and I think I succeeded at least somewhat. Leviathan would be able to dish out damage from afar, but not end the game right away by getting lucky shots against Deneghra. Stalker would be relatively safe from Crippling Grasp and Parasite. Deneghra on the other hand had enough arc nodes to afford to lose one by accident. And even if Slayer would die to just about anything, Ripjaw would be able to deal damage in this small game size.

Opponent took Asphyxious.

Since it was a demo game I chose not to play too safely, and pushed on aggressively instead. Opponent probably got good taste of the combo mechanics of Warmachine, when Ripjaw dealt charge damage to Nightwretch with dice + 7...

Slayer fell to Leviathan shots and I charged Leviathan with Deneghra. Damage rolls were excessively poor, so that was a little bit of an anti climatic moment. Leviathan on the other hand shook off Shadow Bind and hit Deneghra once, bringing her to two damage boxes remaining. Asphyxious made short work of her. In fact there was a chance that Deneghra might have died to the POW 5 damage roll from Asphyxious' feat... now, even if I wasn't playing WAAC in this demo game, that would have been embarrassing.

Venethrax Doesn't Bother with Small Print

Last Saturday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine.

I thought to toy around with Venethrax since he's up in Active Duty Roster. If some sort of tournament comes around later this year, I might take part with Venethrax/Asphyxious1 list pair.

So this was my list:

Venethrax
- Seether

Minimum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Nyss Hunters
Withershadow Combine
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Satyxis Raider Captain
Ogrun Bokur
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Opponent was playing:

Northern Crusade tier 2
Hierarch Severius
- Judicator
- Reckoner
- Blessing of Vengeance

Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment

Rhoven & Honor guard
Covenant of Menoth
Hierophant
Vassal Mechanic
2x Vassal of Menoth

Scenario was Outflank and Protectorate started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1.

Turn 2 Blessing of Vengeance enters the... uh... right side? Upper? scenario zone, and Severius starts flinging spells. Most notably he just cast Influence repeatedly on Ogrun Bokur, who, as it looks like, still retains client bonuses even if he is controlled by the enemy. I guess Ogrun Bokur hastily showed up some sort of contract to Venethrax, who didn't even bother to read who had signed the contract. I bet he could have seen the shaky handwriting of the old man Severius on that paper.

Well, Ogrun Bokur single-handedly killed Snapjaw. Then Severius cast Fear of God on Seether, which came as a bit of a surprise. Somehow you'd think you can only cast that spell on units, but no, there is no such requirement.

I don't remember who eventually killed Ogrun Bokur, but its only use for me was to Shield Guard a shot against Wrong Eye. Wow. I didn't realise it then, but that Bokur truly was such a jerk. He shielded Wrong-Eye from damage all the while beating the crap out of Wrong Eye's pet alligator.

Temple Flameguard charge to engage Satyxis. They use their minifeat as Satyxis would ignore Shield Wall anyway. Satyxis passed their Command check.

Venethrax had cast Soul Harvester on Satyxis, and this was one of the first times for a long, long time where that spell was actually useful. But I'm getting ahead of things.

First Bane Thralls charge Blessing of Vengeance, but only two get into contact with it. Defensive Strike downs the other one, but it passes Tough check. I was thinking of using Admonia to get rid of Fear of God and possibly even Holy Ward on Temple Flameguard, but 6" move and 5" range fell about a quarter of an inch short from disbinding Seether, and almost two inches short of cleansing Flameguard. What a waste.

Now Seether could only go and punch Blessing of Vengeance once with no serious damage being done instead of performing a double handed throw and starting to score control points.

Venethrax advanced forward and camped some focus. He also had Dragon Slayer on. I wanted him mid-field to use his Feat.

Then Satyxis activated and used Power Swell. I should have probably saved that one for later, but somehow I was thinking the Sea Witch could die next turn somehow. Well, this yielded four souls for Venethrax and quite a few cloud effects.

Nyss Hunters sacrificed one of their own to cause a cloud effect close to Venethrax. They also shot one or two additional Flameguards, but that was all.

Wrong Eye advanced so that if it died next turn, he'd explode into a cloud that hopefully would block Line of Sight to Venethrax.

Turn 3 Severius used his feat and chose to kill Bane Thralls with it. Only Bane Thrall Officer died, though. Everybody else passed their Tough rolls. Next Severius casts enough Influences on a Bane Thrall so that it wrecks Seether. So now I had lost 18 points worth of models to attacks made by my own models. Oh well. At least Bane Thralls continued to roll Tough rolls like crazy - Bane Casualties for that turn were only the Officer and one other Grunt - and three that were knocked down.

I think only one Satyxis died to Flameguard, and Wrong Eye got pasted by Judicator.

But I needed to take some drastic actions now to stay in the game. Both Seether and Snapjaw were gone, and most of Bane Thralls wouldn't be charging this turn.

But the Banes that are able to charge, charge Blessing of Vengeance, and even Judicator. I thought I might as well try to bring -2 ARM for Judicator, even if the chances were really low as the thrall in question needed to survive a free strike from Blessing of Vengeance. Didn't make it, as expected.

Nyss Hunters charge next, and five get to Judicator. The rest just try to look like they're doing something, even if they are not. Damage against Judicator is a bit on the poor side, but luckily they are not the only models I've got reserved for charging the colossal!

Then I activate Satyxis Raiders. I get four of them to charge Judicator, and the rest attack what's left of Temple Flameguard. It was a risk, since Satyxis would need to make another Command check. But I didn't want to waste, what, four or five Satyxis and their attacks just becauseI was afraid to engage Temple Flameguard. So... instead I wasted the whole activation of Satyxis Raiders. yup. Command check was double fives. Why, Toruk... Just why??

This time Admonia succeeded in bringing down Holy Ward, and Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Venethrax.

Would P+S 16 Venethrax bring down a lightly injured Judicator with 10 Focus?

Nope. Even with Puppet Master he leaves Judicator to two hit boxes. Two hit boxes... Such a low number was the dice gods truly rubbing it in my face with Satyxis failing their command check. After all, four P+S 9 +3d6 attacks, with possibility for a couple of horns + lacerator Combined Melee Attacks would have most likely scored at least two damage. Cortex and Movement were the systems that were still fully functional for Judicator.

Turn 4 and it was Protectorate's time to repair Judicator just one point and end the game. Choir sang hymns of battle, and Vassal Mechanic proceeded to roll the repair check. This time the Mechanic was as skilled in his craft as Satyxis were in their leadership - the check failed. Was there a glimmer of hope I see, now?

Probably not, since Severius cast Awareness, and started removing Bane Thralls with help from Blessing of Vengeance. Bane Thralls had passed approximately around 60% of Tough rolls they had needed to make during the game. So this is how it goes. Pass a maximum of 2 Tough rolls for three games, and then balance it with being right next to immune to damage for one game.

Reckoner takes aiming bonus and tries to shoot Venethrax. Intervening models are no problem thanks to Awareness. RAT 9 vs DEF 19. About 50% chance of spelling doom for Venethrax - and the roll fails. Imporant bit here is that Venethrax didn't suffer Flare penalties. MAT 7 Judicator tried to punch Venethrax next. It needed 8+ to hit the Lich Lord, but since its weapon systems were broken, a boost meant it had only two dice to try and reach that elusive 8+. Which never came.

But I couldn't sigh from relief just yet. Rhoven & Honor Guard charged Venethrax. Though only Gius or Cassian got into contact with him, that tiny knight had Blessed on his halberd. One swing took nine points off from Venethrax.

And last but not least, even the Temple Flameguard officer charged Venethrax and survived a free strike by some random Satyxis. He scored a hit, but dealt only two additional points. But worst part here was that Venethrax was now set on fire...

Well then.

Looks like I still have a turn to play.

Venethrax backs off like the powerful and fearless supervillain he is. But not before the Nyss butcher up Judicator, and Satyxis Captain takes care of Gius or Cassian. Last Bane Thralls and two charging Nyss finally wreck Blessing of Vengeance. Shame that I got no solos nearby to run to the zone and start controlling.

Turn 5 Severius seizes scenario game. Bane Thralls had finally stopped passing Tough rolls, but not before Severius had expended his last focus point in clearing the zone.

Because game had already lasted for quite a while, and control points were 0-2 in the favor of Protectorate, I thought it'd be best to try and assassinate the hierarch once and for all, and not try to whittle down enemy troops and hopefully contest enemy zone for many turns to come.

Five Nyss get to shoot Severius, but fail to kill him. He had been left with, what, two or three damage boxes?

Tremulus had one soul from earlier kills and he used that one for attack boost against Severius. It's a hit. Five or six for damage and Severius would be dead. It would have fit the big picture if that damage roll would have failed, but it didn't. Tremulus exchanged the soul of Vassal of Menoth to that of Severius.

Had that failed I guess I would have tried to charge Venethrax as far as possible and hope for a good deviation from Blood Rain. But that would have been quite a stretch.

Yet again a very close and very awkward game. So many game changing moments, where dice just went awry or critical distances were misjudged by quarter of an inch.

Lucant vs Deneghra

Played a 50 point Warmachine game last Friday. I played another game before Ropecon, but writing that up just will have to wait.

I'm testing around an idea that's probably a stillborn tragedy... but that doesn't stop me bringing a dead fetus to a tournament.

So, my list:

Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- 2x Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls

Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Reaper
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
Madelyn Corbeau
Ragman
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Machine Wraith

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Opponent had:

Father Lucant
Iron Giants tier 4
- Cipher
- Monitor
- Inverter
- Corollary

Maximum unit of Eradicators
Maximum unit of Reciprocators
Minimum unit of Perforators
2x Enigma Foundry

Objective: Fuel cache

Scenario was Two Fronts. Strangely that's been a bit of a rare scenario for me here in my home town. Anyway, Convergence started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1, though Convergence has already made a few activations. I was measuring my own time with a chess clock, and worrying about time always makes me forget taking pictures.

Cipher shoots a couple of rough terrain batches to middle of the board. Slayer takes surprising damage from Perforators, and I believe Lucant used Clockwork Reinforcement this turn.

Cryx mainly repositions, too, because engaging didn't feel like a good idea. Deneghra cast Scourge on... Eradicators, I think? Only two got under the template, though, but that would be two less chargers at least.

Bile Thralls just huddle forward and try to look like a threat. And, well, that's it.

Turn 3 I'm missing a picture from the end of Convergence turn. But mainly just Nightwretch on the right and my objective got destroyed. Lucant has at least Deceleration on, which was making my ranged game suffer throughout the whole game.

I had grand plans of crippling Reciprocators (they're the shield wall unit, right?), but in the end everything else died. Deneghra walked up and used her feat, nearly getting whole enemy army under. Just a few Eradicators on the right were a bit off.

She cast Crippling Grasp on the Reciprocators, and left two Focus to boost armor.

Bile Thralls advanced and made three or four purges, killing all the Perforators. Enigma Foundry took some damage also, but nothing to write home/blog about.

Black Ogruns then attempted to start messing up shield wall formation, but then reality dawned on me in a cruel way. Field Marshal: Shield Guard made any dragging against Reciprocators nearly impossible. Instead the Ogruns shot a couple of Eradicators, and Mechanithralls charged the rest. Reaper went and killed possibly two Eradicators on the hill.

It was a good turn, after all. Getting two medium based units dead before Enigma Foundries started manufacturing additional troopers was a harsh blow for Convergence.

Turn 4 Lucant cast Purification with his diminished focus pool, but it was more than enough to make yet another casting of Crippling Grasp useless. Other than that there was not much for Convergence to do. Reciprocators advanced in shield wall and killed a couple of Mechanithralls. Enigma Foundry on left kept on contesting the control zone.

My clock was starting to run out. Though we weren't actually playing the deathclock, I decided to do what I'd have to do in a tournament. Slayer charged Lucant, and hoped he'd go down. If this had been a real tournament game, I'd have lost there and then, because Slayer just couldn't take the few remaining damage boxes off of Lucant. I think Lucant was left alive with four or less boxes.

The rest of Cryx then proceeded to maul the shield guard infantry, but failed to kill the very last one. Thing's didn't look too bad as of yet.

Turn 5, however, Convergence breaks both Slayer and Reaper and most of the Mechanithralls. Suddenly there was not enough attacks to cut through Convergence heavy warjacks. But to me it looked like that there was a charge lane for Deneghra to assassinate Lucant. And because Deneghra had Parry on herself anyway, she wouldn't need Ghost Walk to get to Lucant, right? So Skarlock can cast Ghost Walk on Black Ogruns just for giggles? Right?

Well, somehow it escaped my thoughts that Parry doesn't ignore rough terrain. Deneghra had to cast Ghost Walk on herself for premium price instead of a free cast by Skarlock. Luckily Lucant was already so damaged that four Focus points were enough to kill him, but damn it. How can I ever hope to fare in the upcoming tournament if I'm already making mistakes like these without the dehydration and sleep deprivation that's bound to happen at Ropecon?