Admiring only, not contesting

 A 50 point game of Warmachine Mk4.

My list:

Skorne Unlimited
Hexeris2
-Archidon
-Rhinodon
-Agonizer
Unit of Cetrati
Unit of Venator Reiver
Unit of Beast Handlers
Void Spirit
Bog Trog Trawler

Opponent had:

Trollbloods United Kriels
Madrak3
-Dire Troll Mauler
- 2x Trollkin Axer
- Impaler
2x units of Fennblades

Scenario was Recon II.

Skorne started game and advanced with Cetrati contesting zone on left with Hexeris following nearby, then Rhinodon and Reiver in the middle with Agonizer and Beast Handlers behind them. Archidon with Cloak of Ash was holding zone on right with some additional Void Spirit support.

Opponent had a unit of Fennblades coming to challenge zone on left with Axer nearby to control. Dire Troll Mauler was behind their objective, ready to go either way. Madrak was going to flag with Axer and Impaler standing on a hill with another unit of Fennblades.

Second turn Reivers did some good damage on Impaler. Hexeris cast Eruption on the beast to make it less feasible to heal it back to full. Another Eruption thinned down some on the hill and left Hexeris with zero fury points left for transfers.

Bog Trog Trawler ambushed the Fennblade unit on the left and actually managed to shoot one of them dead. Or, more precisely, skewer one of them and punch him dead. 

Archidon with Cloak of Ash was trying to hide for a bit behind terrain, maybe luring something in for a charge. Rhinodon went into middle behind a cloud effect, with Agonizer crying next to it. 

Fennblades on the left, however, didn't pay much attention to Bog Trog Trawler and instead played pathfinder card and charged Cataphract Cetrati, killing one of them. 

The Fennblade unit on top of a hill and Axer removed Reiver unit with some thrown spear help from Madrak. Madrak also used his feat. Dire Troll Mauler was laying in wait for a better day to turn the tides, but Impaler and Axer tried their luck in attacking a Def 16 heavy. There was no luck. 

So, it could have been worse. 

It was time for Hexeris' feat. It wasn't all that impactful, but at least all beasts were able to run full on Fury and remove both Axers. 

It was nearing the end of my turn when I casually measured if one of the Fennblades on the left were within 4" of my flag, and damn that 4" has become difficult to estimate! Yeah, that was two control points for Trollbloods, since the Fennblade had been contesting my flag all along. 

Yay.

Well, that Fennblade continued to do just that. Impaler and fully loaded up Dire Troll Mauler clear the zone on the right while Madrak sits at the flag. So that's a four point lead for Trollbloods.

I try to remove Fennblades from my flag, but only get half of them out. Beast Handler heroically kills last Fennblade from the unit on right and contests rectangular zone. Rhinodon has the ungrateful duty of running to contest both Madrak's flag and rectangular zone. Trollblood lead falls to three points.

Impaler doesn't frenzy, which could have saved my game. But now it was able to go and remove my contesting Beast Handler. Mauler and Madrak are more than able to kill Rhinodon together, and Fennblade gets within 4" of my flag. Game over. 

It just had to come vol III

 Had a 50ss game of Malifaux on Vassal.

Strategy: Standard Cursed Objects

Scheme pool: Assassinate, Spread Them Out, Leave Your Mark, Set the Trap, Vendetta

My list:

Jack Daw & Ligeia
Montresor
Johan Creedy
Catalan Brawler
Hanged
Dead Outlaw
Guilty

Stones: 7
Schemes: Vendetta (Dead Outlaw on Iggy), Leave Your Mark

Opponent had:

Pandora2 & Poltergeist
Candy
The Carver
Hooded Rider
Iggy
Aversion
Wicked Doll

Stones: 6
Schemes: Assassinate, Leave Your Mark

Turn 1:

Mistakes were made. 

I clumped up my models even there was Candy in opposing team... My last encounter with her wasn't that bad, so I had not learned the fear in its full extent.

Once opponent had moved Cnady with Hooded Rider, and given her Fast, I started to worry for a bit. I decided to launch Hanged on suicide mission, and managed to tie Candy in melee until Aversion activated. Only thing I could figure out was to make double walk with Jack Daw and use Drawn to Betrayal to re-engage Candy.

That did buy me some time.

Turn 2:

But in the end I could not delay Candy long enough for my crew to spread out. Nope, I had exactly two models outside of her devastating aura - Dead Outlaw and Hanged. 

It was the most hideous situation I've ever been in sixty or so games of Malifaux, but eventually it just had to come. I had to give up on second turn because the board state was hopeless in highest magnitude, and opponent agreed. Game was irrevocably lost after just a few activations, but we still played at least to the end of the turn to have something you could call a game. My "game" at that point was just to see if I'd be able to remove Candy. I couldn't.

At least there was some comfort in Iggy accidentally killing Jack Daw when opponent had Assassinate scheme. Woo hoo.

Fastest Road to Darkness

During my visit to Kuhmo I continued a Touch of  Evil campaign with a friend. 

We were against Shadow Witch. We got Sara the Bright Witch and Karl the Soldier as our heroes. Rather decent characters, I must say.

But they did not help much. 

Oh gods, the game was horrible. The game took a total of five or six rounds to lose, with Shadow Track falling for one whole stage on every turn. 

We were drawing two mystery cards from the first turn, and four to five mystery cards from thereafter. Murders just kept coming, and I don't think we had over two mystery cards that did not force shadow track down. 

Since it was such a short and terrifying game, we played another game right after against the same villain.

Game 2

Second game we had Dr. Edwards and Eliza the Witch Hunter going on.

This time we actually had a game. Eliza with old maps was good enough spectre-remover for a long time until she started getting knocked down in the mystery phase while getting ambushed by trees and 18 fight dice Shadow Witch. 

Seven out of nine town elders lay dead or as tormented spirits on the board.

We had seven Remains in Play cards, and Dr. Edwards did manage to get Sacred Chalice. But when the situation called for many a 3+ roll, none were made and the chalice got ditched after the first try. 

In the end we did not even get to showdown, as shadow track fell to darkness thanks to Eliza getting knocked down every turn while there was this "each time a hero is KO'd, shadow track falls by two" mystery card online.

Oh well. Still four more heroes left in this campaign.

Campaign Statistics:

Villains defeated: Spectral Horseman, Vampire, Siren, Bog Fiend, Volgovian Nutcracker, Delion Dryad, Scarecrow, Krampus, Sunken Seven, Gargoyle, Banshee, Reaper, Dreamweaver, Werewolf, Unspeakable Horror, Necromancer

Villains still to be defeated: 2, +2 investigation vs Shadow Witch

Heroes dead: Katarina the Outlaw, Frederic Leon Brother Marcus, Anne-Marie, Lucy Hanbrook, Harlow Morgan, Scarlet Shadow, Maria de la Rosa, Thomas the Courier, Adrianna, Valeria, Jack Fellows, Argot Blackwell, Inspector Cooke, Isabella von Took & Liliana, Lost Soul, Karl, Eliza, Dr. Edwards, Sara the Bright Witch
Heroes remaining: 4

Stashed investigation: 3

vs 2x Beefed Up Grim Angus

Yesterday I played these two 75 point games of Warmachine. Opponent wanted to test a particular list, so he had the same list in both games while I switched mine in between. It's been way, way too long since I played Warmachine with themes. But now I'm getting ahead of things.

Game 1:

Scourge of the Broken Coast

Captain Aiakos [+29]
- Harrower [16]
- Helldiver [6]
- Reaper [13]
- Slayer [10]
- Stalker [8]
- Satyxis Blood Priestess [0(4)]
Axiara Wraithblade [0(6)]
General Gerlak Slaughterborn [0(6)]
Misery Cage [2]
Satyxis Raider Captain [4]
2x Warwitch Siren [4]
Black Ogrun Boarding Party (max) [11]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Satyxis Raiders (max) [16]
- Satyxis Raider Sea Witch [4]


Opponent had (something like):

Kriel Company
Grim Angus [+29]
- Sea King [36]
- Trollkin Runebearer [0(5)]
Boomhowler, Solo Artist [0(6)]
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (max) [9]
- Stone Scribe Elder [0(3)]
Pyg Burrowers (min) [7]
Hearthgut Hooch Hauler [18]
2x War Wagon [16]

War Wagon butchered up over half of my Satyxis Raiders, who had the ranged defense option on. As a reply, they expend Power Swell and charge the wagon.

Then Slayer charges in, deals damage. Eventually even Stalker charges in, deals some damage. Now...

Now. Had I remembered about, let's say, GANG FIGHTER, the Wagon would now have been dead, and Reaper could have gone elsewhere. Now I wanted to have at least some dead huge based models, and Reaper charged in to finish the War Wagon on the right. Now I had three warjacks within easy sweep range of Sea King. Facepalm.

Harrower took a thresher against both War Wagon on left and the Hooch Hauler, and the Hooch Hauler destroyed its melee weapon with Return Fire.

The dices in this game were absurd. Of course I can't defend from bad play by blaming dice, but they did not help at all. My good rolls were the average rolls. Opponent, on the other hand, missed perhaps five attacks throughout the game.

But yeah. Maybe I'll pay some attention to my special rules next time. Just...

Maybe.


Game 2:

In second game I had:

Black Industries
Lord Exhumator Scaverous [+27]
- Deathripper [6]
- Erebus [16]
- Nightmare [18]
- Nightwretch [7]
- The Withershadow Combine [9]
Darragh Wrathe [9]
Machine Wraith [2]
3x Pistol Wraith [0(5)]
Soul Trapper [1]
Warwitch Siren [4]
Black Ogrun Ironmongers [6]
Mechanithralls (min) [6]
- Brute Thrall (3) [0(6)]
Soulhunters (max) [18]

And here I forgot Carapace right off the bat. Maybe I need some sort of clearly visible reminders about the special rules? Would that help?

In this game I consider my downfall to be when I thought you can't stay on top of covering fire template. This resulted in me trying to do a little bit of damage here and there, not actually breaking anything. All three battle engines were damaged, but even with Feast of Worms and charging Nightmare who had Hooch Hauler as its prey could not break it with okay-ish rolls.

Mechanithralls charged War Wagon on left, and Erebus charged War Wagon on right.

Miraculously Erebus survived for a little longer than I expected - and would have survived a LOT longer if I had remembered Carapace. Luckily, Carapace wouldn't have done diddly squat on Nightmare, who got trashed by Sea King who did its best to fail at the job.

War Wagon on the right failed to remove almost any of the Soulhunters from board - which in turn allowed me to destroy both Hooch Hauler and the War Wagon on left. If I would've remembered Carapace, Erebus would've been tying up the War Wagon on right.

Scaverous took six souls from Pyg Burrowers who had risen up to shoot the objective down.

But then, Sea King destroyed every remaining Soulhunter and my Pistol Wraith who had been trying to get some points from flag on the left.

Opponent uses most of his non-Sea King resources to remove all who blocked the lane for War Wagon to come and contest my zone.

Then Scaverous with thirteen focus removes that Wagon from the board.

Grim knocks down Scaverous and Baits the Line on him, which allows for Sea King to charge Scaverous. End of game(s).

Unsettling

I was about to begin a new solo settlement for Kingdom Death, but somehow getting a successful solo campaign has eluded me for some time now.

This only continued, when I had my first prologue wipe. Granted, out of six severe injuries I was called to make, four were either one or two.

I did get the monster down to one card remaining, so I might have pulled a win if I hadn't tried to be so stingy with Founding Stones and fish for critical hits by using fist & tooth.

Lesson learned here. Play the game, not the mechanics.

Void Walker Mordikaar

A couple of days ago I played this 75 point game of Warmachine.

My list was:


Winds of Death
Void Seer Mordikaar
- Archidon [10]
- Basilisk Drake [8]
- Basilisk Drake [8]
- Basilisk Krea [7]
- Cyclops Savage [7]
- Rhinodon [12]
Maximus [4]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [0]
Venator Dakar [4]
Void Spirit [0(4)]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew [2]
Venator Flayer Cannon Crew [5]
Venator Reivers (max) [15]
- Venator Reiver Officer & Standard [4]
Venator Slingers (max) [13]


Opponent had:

Call of the Wild
Kromac the Ravenous [+26]
- Feral Warpwolf [16]
- Ghetorix [19]
- Pureblood Warpwolf [17]
- Shadowhorn Satyr [12]
- Shadowhorn Satyr [12]
- Warpwolf Stalker [17]
- Wild Argus [7]
- Druid Wilder [0(4)]
Blackclad Wayfarer [0(4)]
Lord of the Feast [0(6)]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]
Shifting Stones [0(3)]


And scenario was Recon II.

Skorne started game.

I was kind of terrified of this match up. Slingers were next to useless models, and Reivers were not exactly top tier Warpwolf killers either. Or Basilisks. Or Archidons. Or Rhinodons. Or Mordikaar.

So my battle plan was panicky to say at least. I rushed stuff forward, keeping infantry mostly out of range from Lord of the Feast, feated on turn 2 and hoped for the best.

And it wasn't too bad. Ghetorix hit only one attack against Archidon and was pushed away with Poltergeist. A Shadowhorn Satyr did destroy objective, but otherwise I survived rather well. Of course opponent was able to set-up a nightmare for me next turn, but hey. I survived.

It was a tormenting turn to play. With a high volume of low-powered attacks against heavies is a pretty good combination for analysis paralysis, and that's what I got. I considered the possibility of assassination.

First, though, Void Spirit charged Blackclad Wayfarer and killed it, did the void walk thing and also killed Druid Wilder, and then hit Kromac.

I spent many a minute in figuring out how I'd be able to kill the Void Spirit. Drake slammed Ghetorix down and Krea ran within Essence Blast range. Which hit neither Void Spirit nor Kromac. A well used light warbeast, I must say.

Then I lose my focus completely and forget I was activating Mordikaar. He just stood there, five fury points remaining.

Reiver cannon shoots enemy objective down and three attacks to Ghetorix. Enraged Rhinodon does the rest. Archidon tries to critically pitch Shadowhorn Satyr off from zone so that I might take gain some leverage in scenario play, but crit it is not.

Reivers use minifeat as I believe most would be dead next turn. They do negligible damage to Warpwolf Stalker.

Maximus misses Pureblood Warpwolf.

Now, had I removed Void Spirit, the Reivers would have been taking their shots at Kromac. Able to re-roll two-man combined ranged attack misses (that had equal to RAT 8) would have had probably softened ARM 16 Kromac with their POW 13 attacks. Then P+S 17 (had I remembered to enrage) charge attack from Archidon, had I remembered t heal it up a little. With any luck it could have gotten one extra attack with body still functional. With no luck it would have done so with body system broken.

...

And here is where I take a closer look at Essence Blast. Nothing would have prevented me from casting it from Void Spirit. Hah. Hah. Ha.

I would've had my shot at paralyzing Kromac, not to mention still having a warbeast.

Well, opponent destroys all but one Basilisk Drake from Mordikaar's battlegroup. Maximus and a number of Slingers die, too.

Mordikaar has 15 Fury points. He spends them all to destroy a Shadowhorn Satyr that had strayed too close, but really. Mordikaar even was within 13" of Kromac.

Game was over there even if I tried to scrape in some lucky damage rolls against beasts. There was none, by the way.

So these were the odds where my luck with Skorne does not extend. A Basilisk Drake for transfers (that had one hit box remaining) and enemy still having four heavies left, with an assortment of supporting models.

Mordikaar started Void Walking himself.

JMG Warmachine tournament III

At the end of last month there was a tournament held in my home city. As I had not been able to practice much, I had decided on a familiar list structure - Deneghra3 and Infernal Machines.

This time my second list was in theme, too. Which was Infernal Machines.

My lists were:
[Theme] Infernal Machines
Deneghra, the Soul Weaver [+27]
- Corruptor [14]
- Deathripper [6]
- Inflictor [13]
- Nightmare [18]
- Nightwretch [7]
- The Withershadow Combine [9]
Necrotech [2]
Pistol Wraith [0(5)]
Soul Trapper [1]
Mechanithralls (min) [6]
- Brute Thrall (2) [4]
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls [4]
Soulhunters (max) [18]


[Theme] Infernal Machines
Master Necrotech Mortenebra [+24]
- Kraken [36]
- Seether [13]
- Stalker [8]
Darragh Wrathe [9]
Pistol Wraith [0(5)]
Ragman [4]
Soul Trapper [1]
Bile Thralls (max) [15]
Mechanithralls (max) [9]
- Brute Thrall (2) [4]

Tournament waas four rounds and used steamroller 2018 rules.

Game 1: Deneghra3

Opponent had

[Theme] Masters of War
Tyrant Xerxis [+28]
- Agonizer [6]
- Tiberion [22]
Extoller Soulward [3]
Mortitheurge Willbreaker [4]
Cataphract Cetrati (max) [18]
- Tyrant Vorkesh [0(6)]
Legends of Halaak [8]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Praetorian Ferox (max) [20]
Praetorian Swordsmen (max) [13]
- Praetorian Swordsman Officer & Standard [4]
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [0(6)]
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer [0(6)]


First game against Skorne was probably the most exciting one this tournament had. Shame that it had such an ending.

I neither had the raw hitting power required to crack such a brick list, nor the attack volume. And not much of an attrition either. So I had to be exceedingly careful in this game - and even with time constraints I think I did pretty well. Game became a real struggle with control points, Skorne always being a point or two in lead. I got to commit Deneghra to danger and have her in action, which I'm somehow drawn into.

But I strongly dislike time limits, whether coming from clock or a set number of rounds. And in this game experience was ruined by both. It looked like I was winning with deathclock - opponent had three seconds left in clock. But then again it was seventh turn, which gave scenario victory for Skorne. I wouldn't have been happy had I won with deathclock, and I couldn't be happy that I lost to game being cut in a manner that I find artificial. But out of these two the latter was better here, as I believed I'd lose the game at least to attrition. So victory at least got to rightful hands.



Game 2: Deneghra3

Opponent had:

[Theme] Storm of the North
Horgle, the Anvil [+29]
- Dire Troll Bomber [19]
- Dire Troll Mauler [15]
- Trollkin Runebearer [0(5)]
Fell Caller Hero [0(5)]
Valka Curseborn, Chieftain of the North [0(6)]

Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (max) [9]
- Northkin Elder [3]
Trollkin Champions (max) [16]
- Skaldi Bonehammer [5]
- Trollkin Sorcerer (1) [3]
Trollkin Champions (max) [16]
Hearthgut Hooch Hauler [18]


I probably mentioned how I enjoy sending Deneghra3 into the middle of action?

Games like these are annoying. Fortunately they don't happen all that often, but still. I stole the victory from my very own mouth by making choices based on misunderstandings.

Game was good up until to the point where time started running short. Again it was a game of trying to grind control points, but this time the advantage was for me.

I either had the chance to try and assassinate Horgle or trying to get the few remaining points from control points 6-4. But my model count was already so low, not to mention the clock. So I launched Deneghra and some random mechanithralls upon Horgle.

I had given Puppet Master for Deneghra. Mortality missed, and obviously I forgot to use Mortality.

Second Mortality hit, but that was six focus points away from actual attacks for assassination. Also, every damn attempt at killing Dire Troll Mauler (that had around five boxes left) failed.

Then Mechanithralls charged, but didn't amount to much. Especially when I re-rolled an attack roll 5,5 that was slightly tilted next to scenario zones.

At some point after the game it came to my attention that opponent actually had three scenario points.

So I would've needed to kill Valka Curseborn and the nearly dead Dire Troll Mauler to score those remaining points.

Oh well. Lose & Learn.


Game 3: Deneghra3

I can't piece together the list involved in game three. It was against Khador and Sorscha1. I don't have any pictures of this match because the game was over before I realized.

I respect the bravery of my opponent. It takes some courage to attend a tournament without that much playing experience. Opponent didn't realize players scored scenario points in every turn after the second players' second turn. And Khadoran warjacks tend to be slow, unless list is specifically built to enhance that. It was a fast scenario victory for Cryx.


Game 4: Mortenebra

Opponent had a list something like this:

[Theme] The Bones of Orboros
Krueger the Stormlord [+27]
- Megalith [20]
- Wold Guardian [16]
- Woldwarden [14]
- Woldwarden [14]
- Woldwyrd [9]
- Woldwyrd [9]
Blackclad Stoneshaper [0(3)]
Blackclad Stoneshaper [3]
Blackclad Stoneshaper [3]
Blackclad Wayfarer [0(4)]
Blackclad Wayfarer [0(4)]
Gallows Grove [2]
Gallows Grove [2]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Shifting Stones [3]
- Stone Keeper [2]

Last game was over nearly as fast as the previous one - this time to my demise. I really should've known better than to run Mortenebra that far up. But I thought she'd be kind of safe beyond the forest. After all there were no Tree Walkers or other kind of forest-sighted models. But a Gallows Grove was able to get line of sight to Mortenebra with a tiniest sliver of base tugging out from the forest. Then Krueger hit Mortenebra with a boosted Telekinesis, and remaining fury was spent on two telekinesis's on Megalith and Woldwarden. First Megalith trampled into the forest and managed to hit with Weight of Stone. Woldwarden trampled, too, and killed Mortenebra.

To make this loss even saltier was the fact that I had Seether nearby - had it's facing been even ten degrees in different position, it would have been able to counter charge Megalith - blocking the way for Woldwarden. Maybe then we might have had an interesting game.

None of the games in this tournament had a very satisfactory course. All of them seemed to be lacking in some very basic way that I find enjoyable in Warmachine and Hordes. But I suppose a game like this had to come. Trying again anyway at the end of this month.

Monster horror story

Okay, now I feel dumb.

Once more I dropped my camera, and to my astonishment - image quality has drastically improved.

Overjoyed by this I took a couple of pictures of some models I've painted for Kingdom Death.

The smallest one is Mother that I plan to use as one of the starting survivors if I can't get hold of unarmored survivor sprue. Picture is not all that good but at least the weird vertical stripes are not there. I finished painting Mother exactly today and I'm going to tell a horror story right now.

When I had finished Mother, I started to spread gloss varnish on the miniature. Turned out the brush wasn't clean, and it started smearing grey all over the model. Panicking I ran for a sink to hopefully get most of the stuff away. This helped a little, but damage had already been done. I managed to salvage Mother adequately enough, but the final paint-job could have been tad better without this horrible accident.

The hard way to learn I guess.

Miniatures shown are White Lion and Screaming Antelope quarries from Kingdom Death: Monster and Mother survivor is some kind of collector extra or something.

"But I'm safe from blast damage!"

A while ago I played a 75 point game of Warmachine. Actually, make that two. Or make that one. However you wish. One and a half. One point twenty five. Enough rambling.

Both games (game and a non-game) were with same lists and scenario.

My list was:

Lord Exhumator Scaverous
- Seether
- Erebus
- Ripjaw
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Withershadow Combine
Aiakos
- Desecrator
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Machine Wraith
2x Soul Trapper
Ragman
Swamp Gobber River Raiders

Opponent had:

Severius2
- 2x Reckoner
- Redeemer
- Blessing of Vengeance

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Idrian Skirmishers + Command Attachment
Rhoven & Bodyguard
Covenant of Menoth
Hierophant
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic

Scenario was Recon. I won't bother with the first game too much. I somehow thought it was a very good idea to bring Scaverous that much front. My objective was Bunker, so I was, uh. Safe from blast damage. Whee.

Assassination still comes from rather far away with Severius2. Though I don't think he actually even cast Awareness and blasted Scaverous with two Hex Blasts instead.

Game 2:

Okay, another try.

This time I decided to keep Scaverous a little bit better 'screened', though what the heck does that help against anything that has access to Awareness?

I tried to shoot scather template to block Idrians even a little, plus used arc node to cast Feast of Worms "somewhere", that landed on Idrians, giving Scaverous a soul or something. I think Protectorate started this game and the first picture in the doubled up scene is from the end of Cryx turn 2. Protectorate had shot Seether off the board. I sacrificed Ripjaw to cast Feast of Worms deep in the enemy line of supports. I forget how much actually happened, but quite a few choir members died. Scather falls to a slightly bad position, not doing much against single wound infantry now.

Next Severius uses his feat and everything dies. I lost objective (to shooting, actually. I lost Bunker to shooting.) most Black Ogruns, Aiakos (which made Desecrator inert), Warwitch Siren and Soul Trapper.

When I try to reply to this aggression, everything fails. Even Machine Wraith misses it's back strike attack against Blessing of Vengeance. I decided to launch Erebus forward anyway, both to contest the zone and to act as some sort of a dummy for Protectorate to beat instead of focusing on Scaverous.

Withershadow Combine casts Telekinesis on inert Desecrator and Scaverous comes to re-activate it. He casts Feast of Worms on enemy objective.

Next Protectorate has its fair share of bad luck when Reckoner misses back strike attack against Machine Wraith, and Redeemer fails as miserably against Pistol Wraith. Erebus is slammed out of the zone, though.

Machine Wraith and surviving Black Ogruns make Protectorate over-reach a little; Severius really wants to start playing some serious scenario game and he empties his focus pool relatively close to my troops.

This was my only chance, but it was quite a slim one. Severius had Holy Ward on himself, and he was on top of a hill also.

Admonia upkeeps the Feast of Worms, and then Pistol Wraith advances to shoot the hierarch a little. Wraith does some damage in, but doesn't succeed in Death Chilling its target.

No matter how I try to shuffle things, I can't find any other shot I could make other than from Desecrator, which would need 13+ to even hit in the first place. Covenant had denied spellcasting and I didn't have that many attacks available to deal with it...

So, Withershadow Combine gives Puppet Master for Desecrator, who then advances and shoots the biley cannon forth. I don't remember if I had to use Puppet Master or not, but in the end the attack hit and killed Severius.

(un) Friendly Reminder

Last Thursday I played two practice games for tournament that's held this weekend. Both games had the same list:

Cassius and Wurmwood
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Shadowhorn Satyr
- Woldwatcher
- Gorax

Tharn Bloodweavers
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobber Bellows
Lord of the Feast
Night Witch
Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Gallows Grove

Objective: Bunker

Opponent had:

Archdomina Makeda

- Molik Karn
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Cyclops Brute
- Basilisk Krea

Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Aptimus Marketh
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Objective: Bunker

First game had Incursion scenario. Circle started game, and the picture is from the end of Circle turn 2 where Cassius has desperately used his feat to try to block Molik Karn from doing things. There had been about three millimetres in between Molik Karn and Cassius when Cassius had attempted to cast Stranglehold on the cyclops chieftain.

There is nothing else to say, really.

Molik Karn didn't even need to use side-steps to walk within 2" of Wurmwood.

We played another game after this sorry affair.

Game 2:

Lists were the same, but we switched sides. Skorne started and scenario was Fire Support. I think these lists were quite balanced against each other. Both had counter options for moves opponent would be able to make. Skorne had completely absurd walking distances with Pathfinder available, but I had Stranglehold and Pathfinder removal, plus the 10" forest feat with me. Makeda had a a feat to bring back Nihilators, but I had some remove from play -effects. I had ways to lower MAT and relatively high defense, and opponent had Carnage. And so on.

First picture is from the end of Circle turn one. Woldwatcher shot one of the Nihilators into a forest.

Turn 3 opponent rushes forward with Nihilators. They kill a couple of Druids of Orboros. Molik Karn came close. Too close.

Turn three was also the turn when Cassius used his feat. But before that Lord of the Feast threw his crow at a Nihilator. He jumped in to make his thing with Nihilators and hopefully make a dent at Basilisk Krea. Well. Just as in last game, he hit with zero attacks against infantry models. Sometimes MAT 8 takes you only so far. Sometimes, like, two times in a row.

Druids of Orboros pull Bronzeback Titan a total of four inches closer. Gorax or Wilder cast Primal on Warpwolf Stalker, who then warped for Strength and proceeded to attack the warbeast. I think Stalker wasn't in Agonizer range, because it was able to kill the Bronzeback.

Rest of the army killed off Nihilators, Bloodweavers taking out Defender's Ward in the first place.

Now Cassius tried to be smart and cast Stranglehold on Molik Karn through Gallows Grove, without exposing himself too far just yet. Stranglehold hit Karn and dealt some stray damage points in. Molik missile never again. Or at least next turn.

Lanyssa Ryssyll fell a little short from getting Molik Karn within Winter Storm. The only reasonable thing to do was to use Push power attack on her with Woldwatcher.

Turn 4 Makeda uses her feat. Nihilators kill Lanyssa with the aid from Carnage. After that Titan Gladiator used Rush on itself and walked to attempt a double handed throw against my Warpwolf Stalker. This was one of the first times, or perhaps even the first time I have witnessed the throw target resisting a double-handed throw. Though it wouldn't have worked without Primal and warping for strength.

Bloodweavers and Hellmouths and whatnot all over the place destroyed the rest of the Nihilators, so Makeda wouldn't be able to return any models into play with her feat. Not that there were too many Nihilators that had been honestly destroyed.

Two Bloodweavers did some damage in to the Titan Gladiator, and Warpwolf Stalker had done it's frenzy attack against it. But those were quite not enough to kill it. Agonizer was giving -2 to damage rolls. Druid Wilder cast Primal on Shadowhorn Satyr - which would still be making attacks only with P+S 14 and 13 despite Primal! But this goat is not Gnarlhorn Satyr, no. Shadowhorn advanced, used Bounding Leap and killed Titan Gladiator - with one blow!

Cassius Strangled Molik Karn yet again.

Turn 5 Skorne got rid of Gallows Grove, which could possibly get Molik Karn out of Stranglehold's reach.

But this turn Molik wouldn't be able to do anything meaningful. Cyclops Brute tried to attack my warbeasts, but killed none. I don't remember what Krea did, except that it died on my next turn.

Circle turn 5, or so called "why, oh why did I do this" turn. Woldwatcher shot one Beast Handler into a forest, and the rest of Druids of Orboros cast Vortex clouds. This turn it looked like I had expended all of my good damage rolls, though, when Warpwolf Stalker, frenzying Shadowhorn Satyr and a stray P+S 9, weapon-masterish Bloodweaver didn't kill Brute. Should've used Primal on Stalker, I guess...

I advance Cassius and try to kill thr Brute with Stranglehold, but that accomplished nothing. He moved Wurmwood to safety.

Attrition game was looking good, but it doesn't really matter, when Makeda removes a couple of Bloodweavers from Molik's way, has Carnage on and Aptimus Marketh casts Savagery. Then Molik made a casual walk to Cassius and kills him.

Well, okay, it wasn't that casual. Cassius had been less than half an inch too close to Molik Karn. But that's all what it takes...

It's not entirely impossible that after these experiences I'm starting to fail to enter killbox in future games whenever enemy has Molik Karn.

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.

Nnnope.

Last Tuesday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine.

I had finished painting a third Helldiver, so obviously I had to make a list that utilises it.

Here was what I came up with:

Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- 3x Helldiver
- Nightmare

Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Maximum unit of Soulhunters
Withershadow Combine
Darragh Wrathe
Satyxis Captain
Warwitch Siren
Pistol Wraith

Objective: Effigy of Valor (Why? Because I don't trust CMD 9 anymore.)

Opponent had Legion of Everblight. What was sad, however, was the fact that Asphyxious wouldn't be getting trillion zillion souls from a ton of Legion warbeasts, no.

List was:

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
- Archangel
- Carnivean

Maximum unit of Warspears + Chieftain
Blackfrost Shard
Maximumm unit of Croak Raiders
Shepherd

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Scenario was Two Fronts. There have been a lot of fronts lately... Anyway, Legion started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1, where failing hard has already begun. I had just told the opponent how fun it is to make that 14" charge with Satyxis Raiders, though sometimes holding them back for one additional turn might actually be a better option. But here we go again, charging to 14" and running to engage to 18" - with Ashen Veil on them for maximum annoyance.

In the middle of the activation of Satyxis Raiders I notice that Satyxis Captain hasn't, well, activated yet. So what could have been a charge against three to four Croaks and tying most of the unit up came off as no charge attacks and engaging what... four of them? I made a mental note of playing a little better the upcoming turns. And I guess I did. But sometimes you need a little more than just playing a little better...

Turn 2 from Legion isn't that bad, though. Only four Satyxis die to attack made by tons of frogmen, the Archangel, Carnivean and the Ogrun Warspears. Important bit here is that it doesn't cause a Command check for them. I'm starting to feel like Cmd 9 equals Cmd 7 for me. Sea Witch is set on fire, though.

On my turn the fire wears (thankfully) off.

Since it was second players second turn, I saw a real opening for scenario play. I brought Asphyxious as far forward as possible, cast Scything Touch on Soulhunters and Ashen Veil on himself. Asphyxious even used his feat to discourage opponent from bringing beasts closer. It's possible I was a bit over-cautious and paranoid there, but hey. So many times I have overextended my warcaster. This game would not be one of those... maybe.

Honourable mention goes to Pistol Wraith during this turn. It advanced a bit and wanted to shoot the Warspear dead who was contesting my friendly zone with his toe. First attack hit, no problem. Damage roll, however, was 1,1. Oh well. Maybe second shot would at least soften the Ogrun up for something else to kill it? Yes, it's a hit! Damage roll. However. Was 1,1. Well done! Then Pistol Wraith attempted the third Death Chill attack. Attack roll is 1,3. And Wraith needed fives to hit. Really?

Withershadow Combine activated next. Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Soulhunters, and Maelovus and Admonia tried to shoot the Warspear that had been impervious to any damage and to any effect at all that Pistol Wraith had tried to do. Turns out the iron liches aren't any better in shooting Def 12 targets.

Satyxis use Power Swell and charge around. Four Satyxis charged the Croak Raiders, and two charged Ogrun Warspears. One of the Satyxis brought herself within 4" of the objective so they wouldn't need to take a dreaded command check. If I'm counting right I made seven attacks with MAT 6 against DEF 13. Two attacks (2) hit. Both scored a kill, though. But still. Then there were two Satyxis that had charged a Warspear that was contesting my friendly zone. That Warspear also had Spiny Growth on. One Satyxis didn't get charge bonuses, so she rolled her attacks first. It's possible she scored one or two damage points with two attacks. The last Satyxis suffered Set Defence penalties, so I didn't really expect her to hit or do anything. Rolls had been so horrible anyway. But damage roll came up as 5,5,6,6 or something comparable. Was this the turning point?

Next Satyxis Captain charges enemy objective. I think the attack did seven points of damage. Plasma Nimbus took Satyxis Captain's life, though. Good riddance.

Incorporeal Soulhunters charge next. Only one gets to the objective, which was nasty as I had somehow hoped I'd get two.

One Soulhunter charges the Warspear who had dodged Pistol Wraith and the Withershadow Combine.

I spent the Puppet Master on destroying the enemy objective. I think it was left with one damage box or something, and one of my dice had been a one. At least re-roll helped here and the objective was a wreck.

Next it's time to make cavalry charge attack against the last Warspear who was contesting zone. It's a hit, YES! The Warspear has been actually HIT. My moral was immediately raised... only to be crushed miserably with the poor damage roll. It did damage, but not enough to get a kill.

On the verge of tears I make light cavalry movements, and the heroic Soulhunter took two free strikes from various Warspears. Needless to say, the horsie became an undead sausage.

Now. I still had Darragh Wrathe. I had been planning on bringing him up and casting Beyond Death, but instead he had to try to shoot the thrice damned Warspear with Hellfire. And finally... finally after five failed attacks the Warspear went down. And I got two scenario points.

Darragh and one Helldiver tried to block Line of Sight to Asphyxious.

Turn 3 for Legion. I had to double check that there has not been one full round in between the pictures, but no. All that devastation came from just one turn of Legion activations.

Satyxis took a severe beating, and only one of them survived. Much to my amazement she succeeded in her Command check.

With great trouble Legion manages to clear their friendly zone of Cryx models, so it became a scenario race at this point. All the Soulhunters died, too, but it warmed my bittered soul that my objective did not die just yet.

Asphyxious got three souls from his feat.

Then it's time for me to contest enemy zone somehow and clear my own to get to three scenario points. Should be easy. Should. There's only two Warspears and Scythean with Spiny Growth in my friendly zone. And Scythean is Nightmare's Prey.

Nightmare is allocated three focus.

Darragh and two Dark Fires from Withershadow Combine should do the trick against the middle Warspear, and Nightmare should be able to dispatch Scythean and possibly the Warspear, too. If not the Warspear, Asphyxious could come to help.

Tremulus casts Puppet Master on Nightmare, and Admonia and Maelovus shoot the middle Warspear with little to no damage. It HAS to be that position. There must be something magical in it, something sinister and menacing.

Darragh then trod close to that Warspear fellow, and he had P+S 13 and 12 attacks. I don't remember the actual damage rolls, but I do remember that after these four attacks the bastard was alive with five hit boxes.

It's looking a bit grim, but I decide to sacrifice one of my Helldivers for the greater good. It has to take one free strike from a Warspear, which very likely would cause a lot of damage. But Helldivers have such an annoying damage grid that it's difficult to destroy any of the systems - and I didn't care about Cortex.

Warspear does a meager damage roll of fifteen points in and breaks Helldiver's head. At that point I wasn't sure if I was laughing or if I was crying - or if those two were very much the same thing in situations like these.

Nightmare advances into melee with Scythean and somehow manages to roll damage so nicely that it cannot buy any additional attacks after killing the warbeast - and tusks didn't kill the other Warspear in the zone. It somehow looked like Warwitch Siren might be able to charge the Warspear Nightmare had failed to kill, but I guess in my desperation I was thinking about the total threat range and added Reach on top of that. Charge fell so much short that looking at it in the picture embarrasses me.

I couldn't figure out a reliable way of getting rid of both Warspears with Asphyxious and stay safe from Archangel's retaliation, so I gave up on getting that third scenario point. Asphyxious tried to come and kill the most defiant Warspear, and just to stay on the safe side he boosts attack roll. It's a hit, but it's a bitter one.

In the enemy zone I had brought one Helldiver to contest the zone and try to eat a Blackfrost Shard member.

Now there's a full round in between the pictures, looks like.

Turn 4 Archangel wrecks Nightmare and Thagrosh uses feat to bring Scythean back. Tons of Croaks and Thagrosh are more than enough to wreck the Helldiver who was contesting, so point situation was now 2-2. Beautiful thing here was, however, that my own objective was still alive. At least I had one model, too, that rivalled the Warspears in endurance!

Cryx has its hands full with removing only three Warspears. Most of the trouble came from the fact that they were engaged.

I get my second really good roll in this game when Vociferon... yes, Vociferon charges a Warspear. And no less than one-shots it. My MAT 5, P+S 8 model succeeds where multiple necro scythes and darkest magics had failed.

Asphyxious kills one of the Warspears and combined efforts of Warwitch Siren and Darragh Wrathe kills the last one. Darragh dealt the killing blow, so it triggered a free spell, which was Beyond Death.

Scores: 3-2 in favor of Cryx.

Turn 5 Legion crushes the last Helldiver I had that was able to contest enemy zone. Yet the Croaks and Archangel somehow start to roll absurdly poorly. Not that I complained at all when my luck had been what it had been...

Croaks, Blackfrost Shard and Archangel manage only to destroy Darragh Wrathe. Scores go 3-3 and my objective is still standing.

On my turn Asphyxious leisurely walks to Archangel, kills Shepherd with initial attack, casts Scything Touch on himself with Blood Boon and starts hacking and slashing the Archangel. Venethrax would've been proud - Asphyxious single-handedly one-rounded the Archangel. Well okay, I may exaggerate a little. It took him all of his focus. And he had nine.

Warwitch Siren ran to contest enemy zone, and score was 4-3, in favor of Cryx. It's almost too painful to think what those scores had been if one particular Warspear would have had the dignity to die at one certain point of the game... Now all rested on the shoulders of Warwitch Siren. And, well, my objective.

Turn 6 I don't remember what Blackfrost Shard did, and why they didn't come to contest? There was some reason for that, but I can't remember what it was. Vociferon's free strikes, perhaps? Objective had been Kissed, that's for sure at least.

Croaks throw some oil and darts at Effigy of Valor and destroy it, so it's 4-4 now.

Thagrosh succeeds in killing Warwitch Siren, so scores would be 5-5, unless opponent got something to contest my friendly zone. Well, there was the Scythean there, though.

Now, looking back, I might have tried to block Scythean from entering my zone with Withershadow Combine. But when they activated there was still this small distraction on 120mm base standing on my zone, and I had been thinking I'd need Puppet Master and any random damage I could do to kill the dragon.

Oh well.

It was a tough and close game, and not only that... it was depressingly hilarious in all its absurdness. After all opponent managed to make his share of bad rolls at some critical moments, too, so there were times when this epic battle looked more like a pillow fight than anything life threatening.

The Amazing Fail

First Warmachine/Hordes game I played in Ropecon was kind of unplanned for.

There was a team tournament going on, and I was wandering around the Warmachine tables at the time when last round of team tournament was about to start. One team had lost a player, which meant a bye. I don't know how byes function in a team tournament, but I thought why not? After all it was only one round.

So I threw a list together as fast as I could. It wasn't especially planned out, and it turned out to be:

Epic Krueger
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Scarsfell Griffon
- Gorax

Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Bloodweavers
Gallows Grove
Lord of the Feast
War Wolf
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Gatorman Witch Doctor

My opponent was another Circle of Orboros player. And a good one. Ah, well, he had Kromac for his warlock of choice, which was nice since I haven't played against Kromac ever before.

His list was:

Kromac the Ravenous
- Megalith
- 2x Warpwolf Stalker
- Gorax

Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers
Una the Falconer
- Rotterhorn Griffon
2x Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Druid Wilder

Scenario was Incursion. Leftmost flag disappeared.

It seems I have skipped one whole turn in taking pictures. Anyway, after the first picture it's Kromac's turn. Kromac is close enough to deny most of my spellcasting with Bestial. One Warpwolf Stalker was contesting middle flag under the cover of cloud effect from (enemy) Swamp Gobbers.

Another Warpwolf Stalker had ran to contest rightmost flag, but it couldn't get anything to trigger Prowl.

I'm actually quite happy about my next turn, as I think I made some good choices there game-play wise. Lord of the Feast throws raven at Megalith and attempts to kill Stone Keeper or shifting stones hiding behind the construct. Sadly he fails miserably, though he takes out one Blackclad Wayfarer.

Then Pureblood Warpwolf sprays center Stalker.

Krueger tries to pull Stalker from the right to charge range of Tharn Bloodweavers, but the drag roll is an utter failure. One full inch. That could have been devastating with 2 inches, and with 4+ inches there would have been a really good chance of knocking out the beast with Bloodweavers. But only one Bloodweaver got to charge Stalker, though one more ran to trigger Gang. War Wolf tried to charge Stalker, too, but one infantry model and one 1 point solo does not a dead warbeast make.

I don't remember if Krueger used the last two Fury to cast Telekinesis on Gnarlhorn Satyr or if he cast Bounding on it instead. If it was Telekinesis, then Gnarlhorn cast it's own animus on itself and then charged center Stalker, not quite killing it.

And then... since Druid of Orboros looked quite worthless unit in this bestial match-up, they charged. They didn't even do that bad - they killed Gallows Grove and a Shifting Stone. I don't remember if the two Druids who charged Stalker killed it or did Gnarlhorn activate after them and destroyed Stalker instead. However it was, the end result was a dead Warpwolf Stalker.

Again there seems to be a full round in between the pictures. The picture is as dark as the turn I played, because I tried to take a picture without flash.

But Kromac first.

Rightmost Stalker obviously kills a ton of Bloodweavers and the War Wolf.

Rotterhorn Griffon got Primal from Gorax and attacked Gnarlhorn Satyr. Megalith charges Pureblood Warpwolf, but fails to kill.

Kromac uses his feat and goes personally to whack the Gnarlhorn Satyr away, and backed off a little with Warpath movement. He had one Fury left for transfers.

Looked like there was quite a few potential assassinations for me, then. And there's no kill like overkill, right? RIGHT?

So, my plan: First Krueger uses Telekinesis on himself and advances full 6" and shoots Kromac with as many bolts of lightning as possible. He had to spend one or two Fury to heal Pureblood's aspects, though. However, it would be so-and-so if Krueger would get line of sight to Kromac, and there was one model standing in-between the maximum potential movement for Krueger. Not a problem, though.

Then Gorax would activate, use Primal on Pureblood and kill the model that was blocking Krueger's advance. Krueger would do his tricks then, and Primaled Pureblood would be teleported next to Kromac then.

So, Gorax activates, uses Primal on Pureblood Warpwolf. It advances next to Stone Keeper, and kills him.

Right after I do this I remember such funny on inconsequntial rules like unit coherency and the Command value of 4 on Shifting Stones. Oh my god, what the hell I was thinking? And of course I realised what I had done just five seconds after when it was too late.

So, instead of having a Primaled Pureblood right next to himself, Kromac faced only a shot from Krueger. Well, there might have been a tiny possibility to assassinate Kromac if Krueger unleashed five Fury worth of ranged attacks. Three POW 12's and a charge from two Druids of Orboros and warping for Ghostly with Pureblood Warpwolf, disengaging and spraying Kromac.

First shot misses.

Well, to be honest, I deserved a severe punishment from the powers of dice gods for my ultimate mistake. I don't remember if the second attack hit, but Krueger didn't really accomplish anything. Seeing how all chances of a decent assassination were going down the drain, Krueger used his feat to offer even a small measure of protection.

Pureblood Warpwolf didn't even try to spray Kromac, one POW 14 wouldn't kill him. Instead Pureblood attacked Megalith, who doesn't die just yet. Scarsfell Griffon has to come and finish the job Pureblood couldn't.

Horrible.

Just horrible.

I will have nightmares about this turn for many years.

Well, thanks to Krueger's feat he didn't die next turn. Enemy Gorax was teleported next to Scarsfell Griffon, and it kills the bird and uses Warpath to move away.

Rotterhorn Griffon kills what's left of Druids of Orboros, and looks like Kromac is going to try dominating rightmost flag.

My clock was starting to run out. I guess I wouldn't have had to go into a full-derp mode, but I didn't have the time in my clock even to attempt attrition game.

Well, my Pureblood frenzied from Primal.

Kromac had left five Fury left for transfers, but I tried to kill him anyway.

Krueger advances and tries to cast two Gallows on him, as Bestial had not been cast last turn. I figured that if I got decent drags, I might have got Gorax to charge Kromac as well as possibly doing melee with Krueger himself.

Again drag was 1-2, and I don't remember if the second unboosted Gallows even hit Kromac.

Gatorman Witch Doctor advances and uses Sacrificial Strike on one of my Swamp Gobbers and kills an enemy Swamp Gobber with the strike. Last remaining Swamp Gobber (who passes massive casualties test) charges Kromac in last and futile gesture of defiance.

Kromac runs to dominate rightmost flag and wins game with control points.

Damn that mistake was annoying. But looking on the bright side of things, I doubt I will forget about unit coherency with teleportation with Shifting Stones any time soon.

TaTaPe warmachine tournament day 1

Last weekend I participated in a warmachine tournament at Tampere.

It was 50 points, 1-2 lists and divide & conquer [1]

My lists were:

Morvahna the Autumnblade
- Megalith
- Feral Warpwolf
- Woldwatcher
- Winter Argus

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gatorman Witch Doctor

And

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Winter Argus
- Gorax

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
2x Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer
Tharn Ravager White Mane

I made a last minute change to my Morvahna2 list, because I realised that neither list had power to crack any heavier targets, and changing ravager shaman and reeve hunter to Gorax I thought I'd be able to finish my turn a little bit faster.

And about the Morvahna1 list... well, that one I didn't practice at all. And why should I have practiced it? I played Morvahna a lot in Mk1 and during field test of mk2. End of sarcasm.

First game was against Retribution of Scyrah, so that pretty much meant I should pick Morvahna2 because of the abundance of Eirysses in that faction.

Dawnshadow got Issyria, the Sibyl of Dawn versus her. This was nice, since I had never played against Issyria, and I want to complete the entire set.

Issyria had the following list, barring any errors I've made in recollecting details from pictures:

- Hyperion
- Chimera

Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Commander
Maximum unit of Dawnguard Invictors + Unit Attachment
2x Mage Hunter Assassins
At least one Arcanist
Eiryss2
Sylys Wyshnalyrr

First scenario was Fire Support. First picture is from the end of Circle turn X. Carnivore was on Wolves of Orboros and Fog of War was on, too.

Next turn it's Issyria's feat turn, and Fog of War plus various Stealth abilities were made useless. Chimera had ran close to Wolves of Orboros, and Issyria cast Blinding Light on them.

Feat + Blinding Light meant that Mage Hunter Strike Force butchered most of Wolves of Orboros eventhough they were on a hill.

Ravagers also took some heavy casualties, but no unit was completely wiped out.

The thing that mattered most was, however, that Hyperion and Invictors shot Pureblood Warpwolf down to some six hit boxes remaining, after which it was finalized by a Mage Hunter Assassin.

Morvahna used her feat next, obviously. I had been left with too few models to make much damage against enemy, and Ravagers managed to whiff all of their attack rolls against Eiryss. So I would just receive another round of decimating shooting.

Gnarlhorn Satyr went and controlled one control point for Circle, and Winter Argus advanced and put on it's animus.

Next turn all but two Ravagers died, and all but two Wolves died. Gnarlhorn Satyr, Gorax and Winter Argus were still intact, as well as a broken unit of Shifting Stones and one Gallows Grove.

Issyria had been advancing closer, possibly to dominate flag later on. But to me it looked like there was around 10" in between Issyria and Winter Argus. That was the only thing I could possibly do to try to win. There was, however, some models standing in the way. Only one completely blocked the charge, but a lot more might be able to make a free strike.

I figured I could get rid of the prohibiting model with blast damage from a Death Knell blast damage, if Shifting Stone teleported close to it. Shifting stones, however, had Stealth from Stone Keeper.

Two remaining Wolves of Orboros activated, and one of them tried to kill Stone Keeper, and the other one wanted to poke the Winter Argus blocking Mage Hunter through a wall. Both Wolves failed in their attempts.

Gorax activated, used Primal on Winter Argus and ate the Stone Keeper. I'm not entirely sure if it's economical for a secret druidic cult to use highly trained spellcasters as ape food, but hey, the stones no longer had Stealth since it's a Granted ability on Stone Keeper.

Morvahna activates, casts Death Knell on the stone, kill the important target and then she casts Carnivore on Winter Argus.

Winter Argus charges Issyria, survives a free strike and kills the Sibyl of Dawn.



Game 2:

Second game was against Retribution of Scyrah. I was prepared to get another Issyria thrown against me, but instead Morvahna2 was eyeballing Vyros2 from across the table. I didn't feel like I had any choice in picking lists again. On top of Eirysses all over the place, Issyria list had Hyperion and Vyros list had Imperatus. My list with Morvahna1 didn't have even a remote chance of downing either one of those.

Vyros2 had a list:
- 6x Griffon
- Imperatus

Maximum unit of Dawnguard Invictors + Unit Attachment
Sylys Wyshnalyrr
Eiryss2
At least one Arcanist

Scenario was Rally Point. I think Retribution started game, and first picture is from the end of Circle turn 1. I tried to jam the enemy zone with Ravagers. I felt pretty confident that I could carelessly throw the Ravagers away. Two were even in charge range. One charged Invictors and the other one a Griffon.

But damn those Griffons are fast. Any hopes I had for dominating my friendly zone were lost by those three light myrmidons. I had decided to drop Carnivore alltogether, as there wasn't that many living enemy targets around. Morvahna advanced, cast Purification and re-cast Fog of War.

Next turn Vyros used his feat. He was a bit focus-starved. I had hoped that Vyros would have some problems with activation order since he had to activate first before any of the Griffons if he wanted Synergy chain going on that round. But there was no problems. He just activated first and cast Synergy.

Three Griffons on right raised the Synergy count, as well as two on the left. Then the last Griffon (who had some focus) charged Pureblood Warpwolf, who had already taken some hits from Invictors' shooting. Pureblood was no more.

On my next turn I make the thing that gives this write-up the "fail" tag.

I had lost a lot of models last turn and if I managed to destroy something, whole Vyros' battlegroup would just outmaneuver me. I see a possibility for an unlikely assassination. My plan was to destroy one of my own Groves, activate Morvahna, advance and feat the tree into Vyros' back arc. Note to self: Vyros does not have a back arc.

I was also going to teleport Winter Argus close enough to spray Vyros, hoping for a critical hit. If Vyros would be stationary, Blackclad Wayfarer would have no problem in landing yet another pow 12 hit to Vyros. So, I feated a Shifting Stone back into formation, too.

See anything wrong there?

It was absolutely worst time to learn that Dawnshadow's feat does not bring back non-living models. Well, harsh lessons like that are the best teachers, though. I doubt I'll ever forget about that again. I had, however, gone too far already in my assassination attempts to back off.

Morvahna cast two Sunder Spirits on Vyros, dealing damage well enough to make assassination a possibility with the remaining attacks I got.

For some reason, though, I had feated a wolf of orboros badly in the way of Blackclad Wayfarer, and Winter Argus would take three free strikes from Griffons.

Gorax was able to reduce that number to two by performing a successful two-handed throw on one of the Griffons.

It is possible that I could have reduced the number of free strikes to only two if I had not thought it was possible to bring Shifting Stones back with Morvahna's feat. Gnarlhorn Satyr could have thrown or head-butted one Griffon, and Gorax possibly another one. Ironically Winter Argus had all branches intact after resolving first free strike. Second free strike dropped both Mind and Body.

But, hey! It was the very same Winter Argus from my last game. It needed 11+ to hit Vyros and 7+ to damage, and with boosts these could be attempted with two dice.

Both sprays hit after re-rolls from Morvahna. One of them even did a couple of points of damage. Heck, that Argus did not fail - I did. This might have been a second caster kill for the woofie.

Blackclad Wayfarer was way too far because he had to dodge two Wolves of Orboros.

Well, at least I was able to fulfill someone's dream of getting to hit enemy warcaster/warlock with Imperatus with full +7 Synergy chain. I guess it was an icing on the cake that the warlock in question was one of the most annoying ones.


Game 3:

Oh my. Third game did not have Purification or Eiryss in either list. I was against Circle of Orboros, facing either Baldur1 or Krueger1. I took Morvahna1, as I could at least be sure that Regrowth is not taken away in as rude manner as possible. Every turn.

It turned out to be Morvahna1 vs Krueger1, and the Stormwrath had following list:

- Feral Warpwolf
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Woldwarden
- Gorax

Maximum unit of Nyss Hunters
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Druid Wilder
Gatorman Witch Doctor
+2 points I just can't figure out

Scenario was the tried and tested good old Incursion.

I must say that 8" + large base + reach is an awful lot of threat. I guess I should know since I play Circle myself, but no. I think Krueger started game, and the first picture is from the end of my turn 1.

Krueger used primal on both Warpwolf Stalker and Feral Warpwolf, and Lightning Tendrils were on Feral Warpwolf. So... I just lost both of my heavy warbeast.

And most of my infantry.

At least Druids of Orboros were safe from Krueger's feat, and at least whole unit of Wolves of Orboros did not die, so I could burn away all of Morvahna's fury to Regrowth Wolves back. I guess that might have been my chance to do anything useful during the game had not Megalith and Feral Warpwolf fallen so ridiculously.

Well. At least I knew those two enemy heavy beasts were going to frenzy next turn. Wolves of Orboros failed in gathering Fury for Morvahna with Harvest, and Morvahna had only two Fury to use during her activation.

"I might as well try" was the main principle in charging to Warpwolf Stalker with Morvahna, scoring a hit and then killing the beast with transfer from Harrow.

I couldn't get anything done with Feral Warpwolf, and it was turn.

Stalker frenzied, and random target was indeed Morvahna. Damage roll was amazing - the beast killed itself and some damageeven came through back to Morvahna. Just as I had planned.

Then shifting stones teleport Woldwarden to Morvahna's back arc. Just... eh... as I had planned?

Morvahna died, and at the end of day I was at one victory, two losses.