Perfected Principle Failure

 A 50 pts game of Warmachine on War Table.

To shake things up a little I decided to try out Necrofactorium with my sort of favorite warcaster from past edition, Mortenebra. Throughout my fifteen years of writing this blog I don't think I have proxied an entire force I don't  own even once. I guess it was time to cross that threshold. I hope this doesn't force me to buy an additional starter just to keep my stats clean.

My list:

Cryx Necrofactorium
Mortenebra Perfected
-Malefactor with Harpoon, Ripping Claw and collector head.
-Malefactor with Dark Shroud, Plague Cannon and Helldriver
2x Mechanithrall Swarm
Necrosurgeon Initiates
Skarlock Lieutenant

Opponent had:

Cryx Dark Host
Bane Witch Agathia
-Reaper
-2x Deathripper
Bane Warriors with Officer
Bane Warriors
Bane Riders
Pistol Wraith

Scenario was Two Fronts, which split Necrofactorium forces as you'd expect. Both Malefactors were going for 50mm objectives, with Raptor shielding Mortenebra for  a bit in the middle.

Both units of Mechanithralls were going for the 40mm objectives, with the support dragging their feet behind.

Dark Host had Bane Riders and the bigger unit of Warriors going towards 50mm objectives, Agathia, Reaper and a Deathripper just about in the middle and the remainder were nearing 40mm's. 

Dark Host had begun the game, and didn't quite commit just yet, except with Bane Riders who charged both of Mortenebra's heavies. Their accomplishments were meager, but so were the Malefactor that was assigned to kill them. Only one Bane Rider died even with full focus. 

Fortunately Mortenebra and the other Malefactor did much better job at killing the Bane Warriors with command attachment. They managed to remove them in their entirety.

A unit of Mechanithralls tried to clog Cryxian warmachines by charging Reaper with a unit of Mechanithralls. They did enough damage to break systems despite Hellwrought... shame, that the damage went all into the wrong columns.

Another Mechanithrall unit decided to engage the second Bane Warrior unit that was too far to charge. Their main use was to contest 40mm objective.

Agathia had gone to control a 50mm marker, which I couldn't contest. Otherwise I claimed one point lead in scenario game.

However, Agathia then used feat to dislodge a Deathripper and Reaper from melee, and they along with a Bane Rider attacked Mortenebra who had only one focus for defense. Not a single attack roll failed, which proved to be too much even for Mortenebra's formidable stats.

You Reap What You Seethe

 A 50pts game of Warmachine Mk4.

My list:

Cryx Dark Host
Goreshade the Bastard & Deathwalker
-Nightmare
-Reaper
-Seether
Bane Warriors + Officer & Standard
Pistol Wraith

Opponent had:

Khador Winter Korps
Tatiana Sikora
-Great Bear with Aggressive, Battle Mace and Cannon Shield
2x Man-O-War wrecking Crew
Winter Korps Infantry
Sergeant Sergei Krol
2x Battle Mechanik

Scenario was Best Laid Plans where 50mm objectives were lost.

It was certainly a bummer that 50mm objectives went off when I had over 50% of my points on warjacks, but hey, such happens. 

Khador went to caches with only Winter Korps Infantry, and I challenged them with Seether and Pistol Wraith. 

Nightmare and Reaper were coming in from the middle, but were screened by a dense fog terrain. Goreshade and Deathwalker were going to take care of the flag terrain, while Bane Warriors were going to 40mm markers. 

Khador had a group of Man-O-Wars and their Mechanik to the left, Winter Korps to the right and everything else in the middle.

Khador had started the game and tried to play it safe - but it was a little bit too safe. Bane Warriors were able to claim 40mm scenario point without anyone contesting. 

Reaper shot a Man-O-War dead with harpoon, and Nightmare tried to keep Reaper's back. 

Winter Korps Infantry tried to claim both caches on the right, but Seether ran to engage them. Pistol Wraith had been a tad too far from my claimable cache, so it just had to run next to it. 

With Tatiana's feat Khador devastated both Reaper and Nightmare, leaving Goreshade staring at an uninjured khadoran heavy  warjack and two Man-o-War's. That looked like ouch time.

Winter Korps Infantry backed off, which in another situation might  have been a good move - after all, the six or so points managed to direct my 16 points away from the action.

Man-O-War's to the left engaged Bane Warrior, and that was pretty much the start of turn three.

Winter Korps Infantry had made kind of a blunder with the caches, and Pistol Wraith was able to claim two points, bringing the difference to three for Cryx.

Bane Warriors tried to remove a unit of Man-O-War's, but without a charge bonus one of them was left standing, contesting both 40mm objectives. Oh well. At least Goreshade was able to use his feat and run along with Deathwalker to get points from flag terrain. After feated Bane Warriors ran to contest enemy flag terrain, points difference was four for Cryx.

Khador tried to assassinate Goreshade, and that almost succeeded. Great Bear and two Man-O-Wars brought Goreshade down to two health remaining, with Deathwalker remaining. 

Thus it was a scenario victory for Cryx. 

Waving a flag

A 50 point game of Warmachine on War Table. 

My list:

Horruskh with Inviolable Resolve and Windstorm
-Ravener
-Tyrant with Relentless Charge, Shield and flail
Ulkor Barragers
Strike Reavers + Standard
Warwitch Sirens

Command cards: Careful Reconnaissance, Infiltration, Old Faithful, Power Swell, True Inspiration

Opponent had:

Cryx Dark Host
Bane Witch Agathia
-Desecrator
-4x Deathripper
-2x Ripjaw
Bane Warriors
Pistol Wraith
Necrotech

Command cards: Old Faithful, Blessing of Gods, Breakthrough, Infiltration, Power Swell

We were playing a Steamroller 2023 scenario. Cryx started, with Nanes and three bonejacks to the left, Pistol Wraith and remaining three bonejacks to the right, and Desecrator, Necrotech and Agathia in the middle. Agathia had cast Hellwrought on Desecrator.

Orgoth had Ravener rampage through the woods to my side flag, with Strike Reavers in the middle behind an impassable tower. Tyrant and Horruskh were there too. Horrusk gave Inviolable Resolve for Strike Reavers. Ulkor Barragers closed in from the left.

Desecrator shot at ARM 19 Strike Reavers. It was a direct hit, but damage didn't penetrate that armor. Howeer, two out of three blast damage rolls somehow succeeded at that. Go figure?

Everything opponent had on the left packed themselves to trenches. Pistol Wraith claimed flag, and the bonejacks there started to pivot to center. 

It was time for Horruskh's feat now. Remaining Strike Reavers got Tough from command card, walked near centerpoint and started shooting a Ripjaw that was hiding behind the tower. They managed to do some damage, but the kill shot was made by Tyrant's shield cannon.

Horruskh put up Wind Storm and went to control a flag. 

Ravener advanced behind Strike Reavers. Ulkor Barragers managed to kill Necrotech, but they also triggered Hellwrought with unfavorable tradeoff for Orgoth.

Ulkor Barragers were killed easily enough after Agathia arced Parasite on them. As an added bonus, Desecrator certainly had a thing going on with blast damage rolls in this game. Two Bane Warriors were removed by the finalizing shot made by Desecrator.

The flock of bonejacks continued to swarm the circular zone, leaving the right side with only incorporeal Pistol Wraith scoring points. However, Ulkor Barragers had been my only models contesting circular zone, so Cryx took the lead in scenario.

Since I had not hired enough solos to control flags, Horruskh was stuck at Orgoth flag. At least he had Fate-Blessed to support his team. 

Strike Reavers went to contest circular zone and shoot at bonejacks, dealing random damage points here and there. With some help from Reavers, Tyrant was able to remove remaining Bane Warriors. 

Ravener charges Pistol Wraith with fell cleaver, destroys the ghost and goes berserk on Cryx objective. Thus, Orgoth took lead in scenario.

While Agathia did respectable job personally killing Strike Reavers, the flock of bonejacks and Desecrator didn't fare as well against Tyrant. Although that was probably thanks to Agathia missing her boosted Parasite against Def 11 target. 

This gave me quite of a lead in scenario play, as now I was able to contest the circular zone with Ravener. Unfortunately Tyrant wasn't able to thin the number of enemy models, well, at all. Not even when Warwitches were supporting with Dark Shroud.

It was already turn five, so even if I was leading with points, I didn't think my models would last long enough to actually give me even scenario victory. 

This time Tyrant went down with ease, as Agathia cast Parasite on it for good measure. Bonejacks tried to kill any Warwitches they could find. They missed one. 

Another Deathripper wasn't enough to challenge Ravener, but it blocked its way to reach Agathia. With the aid of some finger maths, I reckoned Ravener and a singular Warwitch would have to survive for a one full round to give me scenario victory - or kill Agathia now.

Horruskh tried to blow Deathripper that was engaging Ravener away with Thunder Strike. Despite melee bonus, the spell hit and Ravener was free to get blocked by another damn Deathripper. No matter how I tried, there just wasn't a way to get to Agathia. So, the monstrosity just wrecked the bonejack and started to pray.

Its prayers went unanswered. In fact, the Ravener took absolutely horrendous damage rolls in. It almost looked like last Warwitch from coven would be the one to defy odds, but now. Last possible attack made another Deathripper sealed her deal, and Horruskh started his sixth turn with only him remaining. 

For a while I had been four points above Cryx in scenario game, so now Horruskh just needed to survive, or opponent would have to score four points. So, Horruskh cast Inviolable Resolve on himself, went hiding behind a flag and waved it... not to surrender, but to taunt.

A couple of Hellfires just weren't enough to kill undamaged Horruskh with five focus for damage blocks, so it was a tiebreaker victory for Orgoth. 

Who's the Banest of Them All?

 A 50 point game of Warmachine over War Table.

My list:

Cryx Unlimited
Venethrax
- Desecrator
- Harrower
- Deathripper
Bane Warriors & Attachment
Scharde Ogrun Ironmongers
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock

Command cards: Gravedigger, Blessing of the Gods, Break Through, Old Faithful, Power Swell

Opponent had:

Cryx Dark Host
Bane Witch Agathia
- 3x Slayer
- Deathripper
2x Bane Warrior units
Pistol Wraith
Necrotech

Command cards: Infiltration, Power Swell, Old Faithful, Careful Reconnaissance, Break Through

Scenario was Payload.

First two turns Venethrax's army just ran forward, Desecrator and Banest on the left, with Venethrax and Ironmongers in the middle. Both solos and Deathripper were on the right, with Harrower repositioning there to help them for a bit. 

Opponent had launched his slayers against Desecrator and Banes. He wanted to make his warjacks incorporeal with Agathia's feat, but both Banes chosen for that managed to pass their Tough checks, and even Desecrator was left alive with a couple of damage points remaining. 

It looked pretty bad for Agathia, but somehow Cryx warjacks - no matter the side - were not living up to their damage potential standards. First Bane Warriors charged Slayer that had Hellwrought on, and while they managed to hit respectably - I think two out of three did that - their charge damage rolls were abysmal. Non-charging attacks versus another Slayer engaging Desecrator didn't do any better. 

Desecrator managed to bring Slayer down to a couple of damage boxes, but that just wasn't enough. Venethrax had to charge in and deliver the warjack from its misery. This left him in a subpar position... at least when there were opposing Bane Warriors involved! He kept a four focus in camp, just in case.

Harrower charged to Slayer on the right, and managed to take down two enemy Bane Warriors with a Thresher attack. Damage to the warjack was actually on the higher end, but Agathia was able to bring the thing fully functional with Old Faithful.

The now-repaired Slayer and remaining enemy Banes were able to wreck Harrower entirely. On the left, opponent wen all-in with assassination. Agathia landed Parasite on Venethrax, and the remaining Slayer trampled over a couple of my Warriors, not doing much. Five Bane Warriors charged, though. They needed 9's to hit, and two of them exceeded that roll. Damage rolls were stressful, and my warcaster was left with three health remaining after just two attacks. Fortunately nothing was able to score further hits, although Pistol Wraith certainly tried.

This left opponent dragging behind in scenario points - Venethrax now had a lead of two. 

It took combined efforts of Venethrax, Desecrator and Bane Warriors and even Scharde Ogrun Ironmongers to destroy Slayer and enemy banes from the right, but that was a devastating blow to Agathia. On the right, Warwitch Siren was able to spray one enemy flag terrain scoring Bane dead, and while Deathripper wasn't able to destroy Slayer there, the helljack no longer had functional cortex. 

In total, Venethrax took a four point lead on that turn, and Agathia didn't stand a chance to catch that. 

Venethrax had healed back to five health remaining, and Agathia's best shot was to throw a fully boosted Hellfire against him. First, Pistol Wraith tried to chill Venethrax, but trying to get a ten twice in a row was a tall order. Hellfire also missed, and we ended the game there in Venethrax's victory.

The Thousand Chills

 A 50 point game of Warmachine.

My list:

Horruskh with Inviolable Resolve and Silence of Death
-Tyrant with Relentless Charge, Ripper and Harpoon
-Jackal with Arc Node, Pole Arm and Shield
Strike Reavers & Standard
Assault Reavers
Ulkor Barragers
Maulgreth, Charnel Plague

Opponent had:

Bane Witch Agathia
- 2x Slayer
-Deathripper
-Defiler
2x Bane Warrior units
2x Pistol Wraiths

Cryx went first and had a pretty symmetrical Bane Warriors  - Bonejack - Slayer - Pistol Wraith - Agathia formation that was mirrored on the other flank. Orgoth had Ulkor Barragers, Horruskh and Tyrant in the middle, Strike Reavers on the left and the rest on the right. Silence of Death went to Tyrant and Inviolable Resolve on Assault Reavers.

Second turn Cryx continues flanking operation with Bane Warriors spreading near table edges, just contesting the rectangular zones. Cryxian forces kept their distance and even used Agathia's feat defensively. Fortunately a single Strike Reaver was the only casualty that turn.

It was obvious feat round for Horruskh. Strike Reavers went to take shots against enemy objective. Tyrant missed Deathripper with harpoon and I completely forgot about Fate Blessed. Oh well, Assault Reavers went within 5" of Deathripper and dragged the thing into melee with them. Damage wasn't all that impressive, but at least there were was armor 19, 4+ tough detachment that wouldn't get knocked down in the middle. They received tough from command card.

Ulkor Barragers couldn't figure out anything better to shoot than Agathia, and so didn't really do anything. Maulgreth had the sorry duty of contesting rectangular zone on right, with Jackal standing nearby. 

Cryx then activates and Slayer on the right is absolutely on fire. It kills both Maulgreth and objective, thus getting two control points! What a disaster. At least damage made by Slayer and Deathripper in the middle was tolerable - only two Assault Reavers died. A pistol wraith shot one Ulkor Barrager stationary and the other killed a Strike Reaver. Bane Warriors just closed in as they were a bit far from the action.

The scenario pressure was real. And it didn't help when Strike Reavers tried to do double duty and kill corporeal Pistol Wraith and destroy the objective - failing at both. Assault Reavers relocated a little and tried to poke holes in Deathripper, but didn't accomplish much. Ulkor Barragers did more damage to Deathripper with blast damage when they shot at hellwrought Slayer in the middle.

It certainly pained me when Jackal had to charge Slayer on the left rectangular zone and left it with only around four or five damage boxes remaining, although Maulgreth had already softened the helljack a little with defensive strike. 

Deathripper in the middle didn't have too many damage boxes left, so Horruskh who had two focus points charged the thing. He needed to roll only around six with three dice if the charge attack hit. If the charge attack hit.

It didn't, not even with re-roll. At least last bought attack removed the Deathripper from board and triggered Blood Boon, which went into Inviolable Resolve on Horruskh, but still my warcaster was now in the middle with zero focus.

Tyrant manages to land harpoon against hellwrought Slayer and totals the helljack, which evens score as Horruskh controlled the flag and plenty of units had the circular zone.

Agathia attempts assassination, which started to look a real possibility when first Pistol Wraith death chilled him. After that all the remaining attacks hit without effort, and while they didn't do a lot of damage, each point counted towards Horruskh's demise. The other Pistol Wraith chilled Horruskh a second time and Defiler splurged bile over Horruskh. Agathia charged Horruskh, cast Parasite on him and attacked a couple of times. He sure is a tough fellow, as even after this The Thousand Wraths was standing with around six damage boxes or so.

But with -5 armor, the assassination wasn't resting on remaining Slayer's shoulders. It was on rightmost Bane Warriors. Jackal with Set Defense and shield was engaging the Cryxian heavy. Warriors were hitting on 8+, dealing damage with dice -6.

Out of five attacks only one missed. Granted, two attacks in removed Set Defense from equation. 

Jackal went down, and so went stationary Horruskh.

First and the Last

 Had a Warmachine Mk4 game.

My list:

Scaverous
- 2x Corruptor
Bane Warriors + attachment
Bane Lord Tartarus
Pistol Wraith
2x Necrotech

Opponent had:

Bane Witch Agathia
- Desecrator
- Reaper
- Deathripper
2x Bane Warriors
Bane Riders

Scenario was one from Steamroller document.

Scaverous started game and rushed forward. Agathia used her feat right at the start and gave stealth to almost her entire army, so on my second turn there was little to do. My warjacks lined up behind long wall in the middle, while Bane Warriors went to flank from the right. Pistol Wraith was sitting in the forest with Skarlock behind the secret gathering of trees. 

I did, however, manage to take a shot at Bane Rider in cover with Corruptor, and kill a single Bane Warrior with burster attack. 

Agathia repositions with all of her army to the circular zone, leaving a massive advantage for me in scenario.

Bane Riders went to punish Pistol Wraith, getting in range thanks to vengeance. Magical weapons came from a command card. 

Desecrator managed to snipe one of the Necrotechs dead with boosted blast damage roll. 

One unit of Bane Warriors ran to make a wall between Corruptor and Reaper, which had run to the zone as well.

On my next turn one of my Corruptors uses the unstoppable command card and charges Bane Riders. That activation was... less than ideal. I thought Corruptor would smack the rider dead and spend remainder of its focus bursting some Bane Warriors too, but all it managed to do was three points of damage to Bane Rider. 

Scaverous uses feat and casts Feast of Worms over Reaper. Second Corruptor removes some Bane Warriors with a ranged attack, which was far more effective than melee. I mean... it killed two models!

At least Bane Lord Tartarus did anything useful that turn - he single handedly, dual attackedly, wrecked Reaper. Skarlock also finishes with Excarnate what a Corruptor couldn't in melee with three focus... Removed that Bane Rider.

 My Bane Warriors ran to engage Desecrator.

Agathia removed Bane Lord Tartarus and a Corruptor and Bane Warrior Officer, but did nothing to contest scenario. 

After my turn I would have been at four victory points. So I don't know why I opted to killing Desecrator... But so I did. Scaverous moved into position to make a nice thresher attack, cast Feast of Worms and then failed to hit Desecrator. Yeah, not good. 

So I go into a kind of panic mode and want to make sure the warjack is gone from next to my warcaster. 

Bane Warriors run to give some Dark Shroud for Desecrator, and surely enough Corruptor kills last heavy jack from Agathia. But now that my Banes were not engaging enemy Banes, Scaverous had to sweat through five charging Bane Warriors - a terrifying prospect when Agathia hits Parasite on my caster. 

Scaverous has a focus point to blocking damage, but still takes eight damage in from the very first attack. Three Bane Warriors proceed to miss so I start to get a little hopeful - but nope, not today. Last Bane Warrior hits Scaverous and 4d6-1 didn't come out 7 or less. 

Maybe this was a lesson for me. I just needed one point.

Just Walk It Off

 Had a 50 point game of Warmachine Mk4.

My list:

Goreshade the Bastad & Deathwalker
-Corruptor
-Reaper
-Slayer
Bane Warriors & Command attachment
Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrotech

Opponent had:

Wurmwood & Cassius the Oathkeeper
-Feral Warpwolf
-Gnarlhorn Satyr
-Wild Argus
2x Tharn Bloodweaver units
Lord of the Feast
2x Gallows Grove

Scenario was rectangular zone with two objectives and two flags for a compact 50pts game.

Circle started and had warbeasts in the center of their formation, flanks protected by Bloodweaver units. Wurmwood was hanging around behind the buildings.

Bane Warriors and Tartarus seized my flag, and warjacks went into trench on the right. Goreshade crept slowly with Lamentation and Shadowmancer on.

Tharn Bloodweavers charged Bane Warriors, and this is when I learned about their Burster attacks. What an insane ability on infantry models. Fortunately only five Bane Warriors died to two successful Bloodweaver attacks...

One Bloodweaver unit took the enemy flag on the right, and warbeasts positioned themselves to protect enemy objective. Wurmwood grew a feated forest. 

The forest LoS penalty messed up my turn big time. I just was not able to get LoS to anything of importance. Corruptor tried to shoot into concealment and melee to have an arc node, but Def 20 is a bit of a challenge for RAT 5 model. 

Tartarus was able to bring back only one Bane Warrior because Tharn Bloodweaver passed tough check. Bane Officer brought the minimum of two. Atrocious attack rolls ensured that I was not able to score point this turn, but Slayer ran to contest enemy flag so opponent wouldn't score either.

Goreshade used feat and tried to remove my flag contesting Bloodweavers and tie up enemy warbeasts.

I had brought Goreshade to a relatively vulnerable position. Opponent was able to clear a lane for Primaled Gnarlhorn to slam Corruptor over Goreshade and dealt massive collateral damage - seven points in even after reducing the damage with one of Goreshade's four focus points. At least the remainder of attacks weren't so successful.

But then Primaled Warpwolf took a trample next to knocked down Goreshade who had only two focus points left by now. First damage roll against Cryxian warcaster was only moderate at best, so Deathwalker had what it takes to have Goreshade survive.

I had one unengaged Bane Warrior with LoS to Wurmwood and the Unstoppable command card. Bane axes started chopping the tree, and thanks to multiple terrible damage rolls it was the very last Bane Warrior that able to score the killing blow.

The Newest New

So here is the first full game of Warmachine Mk4 using up-to-date everything. Had to invent new tags, too. And my statistics... damn... what am I going to do with my spreadsheets? I play Warmachine so little these days that getting in enough games for them to mean anything is going to take forever. 

Sob.

Anyway, my list:

Dark Host
Scaverous
-Corruptor
-Reaper
-Inflictor
-Deathripper
-Ripjaw
Bane Warriors
Bane Warriors + Officer & standard
Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrotech

Opponent had:

First Army
Siege2
-Defender
-Cyclone
-Ironclad
3x Trencher Infantry
Trencher Cannon Crew
Rangers
3x Trencher Sniper

Scenario was the only relevant scenario from rulebook.

Cygnar started game. I gravely underestimated both distance and accuracy of Trenchers, but at least I had the sense to play stealth card on smaller unit of Bane Warriors. My reasoning was that the other unit had both Tough and recursion from officer.

After Trenchers had taken their second turn, both units consisted of a single member. Fortunately Trenchers had to come close on the right side of the board, so Tartarus was able to slice and dice two additional Bane Warriors to the unit, and a couple of Excarnates brought them along even more.

Second turn was also when Scaverous used his feat. A well placed Feast of Worms gave Scaverous five souls after Reaper and Bane Standard Bearer went into soul shopping.

Cygnaran heavien and cannons and whatnot had been shooting Inflictor, which I strategically kept in reserve forgot to activate. But it was in a relatively good spot with Necrotech and Old Faithful repairing it.

During first two rounds I managed to remove all Trencher Infantry units.

Turn three Cygnar removed Bane unit from the right and kept shooting Inflictor, bringing it down to, like, four boxes remaining or so.

Reaper removed Ironclad with the help of Dark Shroud and Feast of Worms. Inflictor was still being repaired and forgotten to activate. Admonia and Withershadow Combine in general were making lucky 10+ rolls to hit entrenched Trenchers, although souls helped a lot there.

Deathripper ran to contest enemy flag, so I gained advantage of one point.

Turn four my warjacks couldn't believe their luck. All of them remained intact, albeit each were crippled with just a few boxes remaining. Bane Warriors were gone, though. 

I have to do telekinesis shenanigans to get Necrotech to repair Reaper. Bane Lord Tartarus is also nudged a little forward, and he charges Cyclone. Reaper finishes the heavy jack. 

As Siege had not managed to remove Deathripper and Scaverous moved to control my flag, point difference went to three in Cryx's favor.

Fifth turn both of my heavies and Deathripper are removed from board. Admonia also runs into rocket turret's counter blast and dies. Ripjaw arcs a Feast of Worms on Defender, and Tartarus manages to kill the already damaged Cygnaran warjack.

Necrotech creates a whole lot of scrap thralls. Point difference goes to four in Cryx's favor, so we end the game.