Such fiery freezing

Yesterday I played a 25 point game of Warmachine.

My journeyman league list had been expanded thus:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gorax Rager
- Winter Argus
- Gnarlhorn Satyr

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Command Attachment
Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove

Opponent had:

Kommander Sorscha
- Juggernaut
- Destroyer

Minimum unit of Winter Guard Rifle Cords + 3x Rocketeer
Kovnik Josef
Eiryss1

Scenario was Outlast. Circle started game.

My plan was to win scenario from zone on the left and try to contest the one on the right for long enough to give me the edge.

I was happy to notice I, for once, had some tools against Sorscha. Both Gnarlhorn Satyr and Winter Argus had animi that trumped Sorscha's feat. At least Mohsar wouldn't become a sieve via low-powered, automatically hitting military rifles.

On the left there was also trench that Wolves were happy to abuse, as Sorscha had traveled too far to come and freeze them into the trench.

Despite Wolves and their DEF 17 Winter Guard Rifle Corps shot off the screen from Wolves of Orboros officer, plus the officer himself. Destroyer and a couple of Winter Guard rockets made terrible damage against Gnarlhorn Satyr. Looked like I would be losing my heavy warbeast again before enemy warjacks had even had their paintjob scratched. Well, Juggernaut did take a couple of points from Sunhammer, though. My triumphant shouting and yelling did not seem to quiet down, because there was none in the first place. Only a bitter chirp of crickets.

Anyway. Next Winter Argus goes and sprays Eiryss dead, despite needing 12's to hit. It even had enough fury left to put up its animus.

Wolves of Orboros charged Rifle Corps, destroyed their front line and then used reposition to engage the rest of them, while leaving spots open for Mohsar to cast a couple of Pillars of Salt to make contesting the zone difficult.

Juggernaut smacks Gnarlhorn dead with just one hit, while Destroyer makes initial damage roll against Winter Argus so that the wolf is left with three boxes remaining. Last attack missed. As the Destroyer charged in, it took a few points from the scorching sun above, and then got frozen right next to the Winter Argus. Go figure.

I messed up a few things on my next turn, as I tried to score a caster kill with Primaled Winter Argus. First Gorax cast Primal on the argus, and then Mohsar activated, healing lost aspects from Winter Argus and then advanced to dominate the zone - leaving Winter Argus way out of his control range.

Druid Wilder tried to come and help Mohsar to force the caster killer, but CMD 6 just was not enough.

Well, without boosts Winter Argus did five or something damage points in.

I was really confident at winning by scenario now, but I had forgotten all about Sorscha's feat.

She made her movement tricksies to come and freeze Wolves of Orboros, removing that many attacks from my arsenal to clear off any contestants. Then Rifle Corps and Kovnik Joe ran to the zone, trying to spread out as far from each other as possible.

Gallows Grove was thankfully there to get rid of Tough that Joe had sang about.

Blackclad Wayfarer charges one of the Winter Guards, killed him and made a Battlewizard spray against Joe. Attack hit, but did not kill. Kovnik was left with two or three damage boxes.

Then Mohsar aims a spray at a Winter Guard and... misses.

There were three models to remove now, and Mohsar had eight fury points. Even one missed Crevasse would now ruin absolutely everything.

First one did score a hit, and resulting spray took down Kovnik Joe.

Last, boosted Crevasse did not roll 1,1,1 to hit, so game was over with scenario points being 6-2 in Circle's favor.

Next week starts the 50 point rounds with option to switch warlock.

Additional league games

And the Journeyman League continues, slightly sloppily when it comes to my activity at least.

But once I got to a gaming night, I played thee 10 point games.

I expanded my list with:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Winter Argus
- Gorax

Blackclad Wayfarer
Druid Wilder
Gallows Grove

First game was against General Ossrum, who had added Basher to the list. Basher broke off the base just before we started game, so it is the empty base with some cork in it.

This game went a little better than the first one. Not much, but at least I got to do something other than advance and die.

I tried to open up the game so that I'd block enemy heavies to the right side of the board, while wrecking things on the left and hopefully getting to Ossrum in time. However, Basher got to kill Gorax.

Also, Gnarlhorn Satyr was not able to kill one enemy light warjack, though it had Curse of Shadows on it. Well, sure, Ossrum had his feat on, but come on.

Basher destroyed any pillars that were protecting Gnarlhorn, and Energizer got Driller to position where it could easily go and make some minced meat out of the Satyr.

Ossrum had no Focus points, so I guess I really needed to make caster kill now. Mohsar charged in to cast Curse of Shadows on Ossrum but missed. Ossrum had Bullet Dodger on, so it advanced away from Mohsar's cast range. I accidentally thought of making some pillars to block Ossrum's advance, so Winter Argus was free to try and kill an uninjured enemy def 16 warcaster with two RAT 4, POW 12 attacks.

Failed. And Mohsar died.

Game 2:

Second game was against Cryx:

Lich Lord Venethrax
- 2x Slayer
- Deathripper

6x Mechanithralls
Skarlock

I was way too scared of Terminal Velocity in this game. And it didn't exactly help either that I didn't bother to ask about the Venethraxs' new feat's details. I was under impression that it forbade forcing when it instead didn't allow for to leech.

That was one ouchy touch turn.

But I did put up a valiant fight, though. Piece by piece I was removing Cryxian stuff from the board until there was only one Slayer left. Venethrax had been sitting on the flag, grinding scenario points whole time.

But it wasn't a scenario victory, no.

Slayer charged Gorax with Terminal Velocity and got within 1" of Mohsar. First attack brought Mohsar to one or two points remaining or something like that. Then Mohsar died.

New and improved Crevasse is quite a nice spell, though.

Game 3:

Last game was against Syntherion, who had added Corollary and some servitors to his list.

I chose to make a grand opening in this game and sent Gnarlhorn Satyr to its death, trading a 12 point beast to 7 or 8 point warjack. But I made that on purpose this time, as I thought Syntherion would now have to dedicate quite a bit of his resources to deal with a heavy and also Winter Argus, buying me time to start to score scenario points.

It almost worked. However, there was always some nasty enemy model that was able to run to contest my flag from one vector (pun...?) or another. And I had ran out of models to contest enemy flag.

A rare game, where both players went to 5 control points.

However, next Mohsar lost last remaining model from his army list - the Blackclad Wayfarer. Mohsar's game was doomed.

So that was three losses. Oh dear.

Journeyman League

A Journeyman League with slightly modified rule set started in my home town.

My initial list was:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Winter Argus
- Gorax Rager

0-point games were played with Mangled Metal rules.

My first game was against:

General Ossrum
- Ghordson Driller
- 2x of those tiny jacks with a single shot cannon
- 1x of the warjack with spray weapon

... and oh boys, was I rusty.

First turn I started to think about my fury management once I had already activated two of my beasts that only ran. So I had to cut up, what, four points on my turn 2?

Well, it was quite tough match up anyway. As there was no scenario pressure, I had to keep going at them, all the while getting shot to pieces. At least the salt pillars were a nuisance for Ossrum and protected me somewhat.

Once Driller got to charge Gnarlhorn Satyr and I had not seriously damaged even one of their jacks, I started to figure out a way to give me even a tiniest sense of accomplishment, as winning the game looked unlikely.

I ended up wrecking the Driller with Mohsar. Yay.

Game 2:

Second game was against Convergence of Cyriss:

Syntherion
- Monitor
- Diffuser
- Galvanizer

Oh, this game brought me back fond memories of playing Mk2 with Mohsar against Khador.

I used my feat on turn 1.

I was less afraid of the shooting aspect of enemy forces this time, and pushed forward much more aggressively.

Syntherion, however, got Magnetic Hold on Gnarlhorn Satyr, which made me feel a lot less confident.

All Gnarlhorn did was to walk over to Diffuser and beat it to the ground. I expected to lose it next turn.

Reconstruct was on Monitor, so I'd have to somehow wreck it twice with light warbeasts. Perhaps with Curse of Shadows.

However, a sort of miracle happened. Monitor did not kill Gnarlhorn, and neither did Galvanizer who came to help. Attack rolls by opponent were terrible. Syntherion spent all of his focus points that turn, so now I would have to try to assassinate him.

Mohsar charged Monitor and cast Curse of Shadows on Syntherion. Gorax gave Primal to Winter Argus, and Winter Argus then walked to back arc of Syntherion, who promptly died.

Prequel to Pictureless Tournament

Damn it. The loss of my camera haunts the details of even this one game that was played a few days prior to the Warmachine tournament. At least I wrote up the lists in advance to a draft. So this is rather brief document.

Anyway. This game was a practice game for the tournament.

Lists were:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gorax
- Riphorn Satyr
- Warpwolf Stalker

Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Bloodweavers
Minimum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Reeve Hunter

Opponent had:

Vayl, Disciple of Everblight
- 2x Scythean
- Typhon
- Seraph

Maximum unit of Hex Hunters
Swamp Gobbers
Spawning Vessel
2x Forsaken
Either 2x Spell Martyr & 1 Shepherd
or
2x Shepherd & 1 Spell Martyr

Scenario was Recon and Circle started game.

I remember Hex Hunters with Chiller ruining my game and dragging one of the Scytheans to die to Riphorn Satyr and a random Ravager.

Game was a tough one, where eventually the legion started gaining upper hand in attrition, though it was very even.

I took my chances at an assassination when Vayl had only one fury point left for transfers and she had already taken some damage. Mohsar teleported close to her and tried to use spray attack, but missed. Unboosted Crevasse hit her, and the damage was enough to kill her. But it was transfered.

Mohsar cast another unboosted Crevasse and hit Vayl. Rolling 11+ on three dice would've won me the game. Rolling 1,1,2 lost me the game.

A Pictureless Warmachine Tournament

I still haven't received any word about my camera, so I guess I'll have to write these down as soon as possible now.

So, last weekend I took part in a 50 point Warmachine tournament. Fortunately all of the games were memorable in their own way.

My lists were:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Gorax
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Woldguardian

Shifting Stones + Stone keeper
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Tharn Ravager White Mane

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gorax
- Riphorn Satyr
- Warpwolf Stalker
Druids of Orboros + Overseer2
Shifting Stones + Stone keeper
Tharn Bloodweavers
Minimum unit of Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Reeve Hunter

Objective: Bunker


First game was against Retribution of Scyrah, and Issyria.

Issyria had Hyperion, Mage Hunter Strike Force and both Sentinels and Invictors.

I had picked Morvahna the Dawnshadow as my list. Scenario was Incursion.

I started playing scenario game after the full unit of Ravagers tied up Mage Hunter Strike Force and, to some extent, Hyperion. Issyria's feat took down Pureblood Warpwolf (plus tons of infantry, but they would just be coming back). Game looked pretty good, especially when I was looking at the scenario points. I would go to four points at the end of my turn, and opponent had got only two.

That was the extent of my strategic thinking, though.

Opponent also scored third point as I got my fourth. Now opponent would only need to get two points on Retribution turn, which was easy as I hadn't been dedicating too much contestants to the middle flag. Not that I even had that many contestants left any more.

But still. Game ended in 4-5 scenario victory for Retribution.

Game 2:

Second game was against Khador. Warcaster was Sorscha2, and there was the full nightmare of Winter Guards in the list, as well as Beast-09 and Iron Fang pikemen. I was playing Morvahna again. I think the scenario was Incoming.

Opponent rolled tough really well at the beginning of the game, and Ravagers weren't able to make much of a dent to the Winterguard detachment. I don't have any right to complain about those tough rolls. My Wolves of Orboros were passing tough rolls quite well also.

I started grinding scenario points again, as enemy was clogged down with Ravagers and even Wolves of Orboros to some extent. Shatterstorm and Freezing Grip were scary spells, though, but opponent wasn't able to completely devastate my game with them. At one point opponent forgot to cast Boundless Charge on Beast-09, and so it didn't come to wreck Woldguardian.

It was a bloody game and most of the infantry from both sides was either dead or frozen. Opponent still had Great Bears of Gallowswood and Greylord Ternion going on for him.

I'm at three scenario points when Beast-09 charges in to the zone I had been dominating. Beast failed to kill Pureblood Warpwolf, but the Spirit was broken.

If I would've paid closer attention to things, I would've probably been able to take a scenario victory. But as it happened, I wanted to heal Pureblood's spirit. That meant Morvahna had to activate first. And, well... though her damage output is pretty decent, she wasn't able to drop uninjured Beast in one round. Thanks to Sorscha's bond Morvahna froze in place. Nice.

Well, Pureblood did kill the Beast and I was at four scenario points.

Morvahna had a couple of Fury left for transfers, but she was DEF 5 and had something like two or three damage points left.

I was a little bummed that I had lost two games at four control points.

Game 3:

Then I was against Skorne, Mordikaar more specifically. Mordikaar had Aradus Sentinel, Cyclops Raider, a unit of Nihilators and a full set of Immortals. There was also a minimum unit of Incindiarii. Scenario was Outflank.

I took Mohsar as my list. Opponent used feat a turn too early, so the effects of +3 defense were mitigated quite a bit. My own feat usage was a little underwhelming, too, as I only got the Aradus with four fury under my feat. I almost had the Cyclops Raider under too, who had two or three. Aradus failed threshold check, and the distraction bought me time to start playing scenario game once more.

I pretty much gave the left side of the table to Skorne. There were only the remnants of Ravagers duking it out with Immortals. This gave me quite good presence on the right side, and I dominated four points relatively easy. The last point was the tough one yet again, when tons of Skorne started pouring into the zone to deny me that precious last point.

If I would've lost Riphorn Satyr to all the attacks opponent threw against it, the last turn would've been a lot more difficult. But now I had Riphorn Satyr and Warpwolf Stalker removing the enemy infantry. I felt so secure that I played a little bit of foolishly and trampled through my own models to get to the remaining Nihilators. Soon enough there was only Gatorman Witch Doctor remaining, and I charged the croc with Mohsar himself.

Game 4:

Last game was againt epic Lylyth with three Ravagores and Zuriel, and two Deathstalkers. I took Mohsar and the scenario was probably Recon.

This was kind of an annoying game. But sometimes you need such humbling experiences so that you won't become overconfident about eye gauging (gouging?) distances.

Opponent had zero fury points on Lylyth, and to me it looked like I'd be able to get her under Mohsar's feat. I decided to try a wacky approach, and run a Druid of Orboros within reach of Lylyth, and then deny transfers for Lylyth for two complete rounds. With Sands of Fate I would've tried to come and tickle her a little and then be off. Next turn hopefully at least a couple of Legion beasts would fail their THR check.

I did get Lylyth under Mohsar's feat, but the Druid of Orboros was less than two millimetres away. Damn. Also, only Naga Nightlurker failed THR next turn. If only one of the Ravagores or perhaps Zuriel had failed, my Riphorn Satyr could have survived. But not like this. Lylyth obviously tried to play safe and went deeper into the forest she was hiding in.

Next turn is depressing. I figured out that I'd be able to kill Zuriel and a Ravagore easily, plus with some good rolls another Ravagore would go down.

My plan was to shoot Hunter's Mark on a Ravagore in the woods near Lylyth and then charge in with Warpwolf Stalker with Primal. Blackclad Wayfarer advanced to cast the spell, but there was less than a millimetre in between Stealth range. Great. Well, at least I'd kill Zuriel and a Ravagore.

Druids would need to pull Zuriel just a little, one or two inches, so that at least three, possibly four Bloodweavers would be able to charge Zuriel. Obviously the druid pulled the full 3" so that a scather template made it impossible for one flank of Bloodweavers to even attempt a charge.

A couple of other Druids tried to come and pull the Ravagore that had been my original target from the woods. That was a miss, so a second druid would be way out of stealth range.

Two Bloodweavers that charge Zuriel don't really do much damage there, so instead of charging one Ravagore with four Ravagers, I charge the Ravagore with three and get one of the Ravagers to soften up Zuriel so that I wouldn't need to use Primal on Warpwolf Stalker.

Two millimetres attack again, and one of the three Ravagers didn't get within reach. And even with good rolls two Ravagers just aren't enough to kill a Ravagore.

To smear some salt into the many mental injuries, Warpwolf Stalker fails to kill Zuriel. I forget what model I used to finally kill it, probably Mohsar.

Damn it. I had wonderful opportunity to play a scenario game once more, but I threw it away in pursuit of greater glory. It was too late now, and being out of range by just a couple of millimetres on many different critical points in the game cost me everything.

Tournament Practice

I'm going to a tournament this month, and these are two practice games against the same opponent.

It's a 50 point tournament, and this was my list for the first game:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gorax
- Riphorn Satyr
- Warpwolf Stalker

Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Bloodweavers
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Blackclad Wayfarer

Objective: Bunker

Opponent had:

High Exemplar Kreoss

- 2x Reckoner

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Holy Zealots + Monolith
Initiate Tristan Durant
- Redeemer
2x Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanik
Epic Eiryss
Covenant of Menoth

Scenario was Destruction and Protectorate started game.

Mirage is on Ravagers and Defender's Ward on Temple Flameguard. In the first picture Holy Zealots are under Greater Destiny. Way too many Druids died to blast damage, but they were the only casualties that turn. Lucky deviations could also have landed on Mohsar, who didn't have a single Fury point left for transfers.

Circle turn 2 Mohsar was empty on the inside again. He upkept Mirage and cast four salt pillars. Ravagers charged Temple Flameguard just to open up the game somehow.

Somehow the game felt really oppressive and I started to figure out any desperate moves. And a plan emerged when opponent had only Holy Zealots to contest the scenario zone. I'd destroy enemy objective and dominate zone for two turns somehow. First three points would be easy, just advance Mohsar to the zone and cast salt pillars after the Zealots and objective is removed. If he somehow survived, Rip Horn and Mohsar himself with Bulldoze might be able to empty the zone and bring scenario victory.

Well, the plan didn't have all that great chances of success, but it was the best I could do.

However.

There was one "but" I didn't take into consideration. The Covenant of Menoth had said "no spellcasting within 10" of me", and that was where Mohsar found himself. With eight or nine fury points, unable to use them in any other way than to boost spray attack.

It was pretty much game over there, unless...

Riphorn Satyr made a double handed throw on Mohsar and threw him within Shifting Stones. Shifting Stones then teleported Mohsar to safety. Wow. Pro moves.

And Riphorn did save Mohsar - the game continued for one full round. Mohsar did lose all of his warbeasts, though. As a final act of defiance Mohsar charges a Reckoner, dragging at least one of the warjacks to grave with him. Except Mohsar missed quite a few attacks and didn't score that great damage rolls even with four dice. To Kreoss it probably looked more like an angry old man jumped to Reckoner and poked it a couple of times with a walking stick.


Game 2:

Opponent had the same list, while I took:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow

- Gorax
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Wold guardian

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit attachment
MAximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Tharn Ravager White Mane
Gatorman Witch Doctor

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Scenario was Two Fronts and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Circle turn two, I think. Finally I remembered to keep one of the Tharn Ravagers a bit behind not to make removing entire unit that easy. I didn't get the Ravager A that far because they only advanced. I wanted to kill two Zealots with Shaman's lighting stick, but failed the attack roll even with a re-roll.

Morvahna has Fog of War on and Carnivore is on Wolves of Orboros. Wolves are also zombified. Defender's Ward is on Temple Flameguard.

Protectorate turn 2 the Temple Flameguard charge a little, but only three get into contact with Wolves. Kreoss uses his feat and the rest of the army kills all but the one Ravager I had hidden behind Gorax.

That obviously meant Morvahna had to use her feat on turn 3 right away. Closest Reckoner had had Enliven cast upon it. I used the newly risen Ravagers to envelop it from all sides. Morvahna cast Purification to get rid of Defender's Ward and Fortify from Tristan's Redeemer. She cast Wold Guardian's animus on herself and called it a day. She had two fury points left for transfers.

Shifting Stones teleported Wold Guardian to the Enlivened Reckoner. Guardian didn't quite manage to destroy it, but fortunately the only Ravager who was able to charge dealt enough damage to wreck it. Ravager made it that far thanks to Hunter's Mark that had been cast on the Reckoner earlier.

White Mane failed a MAT 10 charge attack once more. He could have relatively easily eaten all three Flameguards and open up charge lanes for Wolves, but no. Not today. Not ever.

So the Wolves just advance and do a couple of Combined Melee Attacks to kill two Flameguards.

Game looked good enough, though I was afraid I'd lose all the Ravagers again, plus the Wold Guardian. But what I actually needed to be afraid of was the loss of Morvahna. She was not the only caster on board who had Purification on spell list. She lost the Wold Guardian animus, and then Reckoner and Redeemer attempted to assassinate her. Scary stuff.

But the key shot missed - Reckoner didn't get Morvahna under -2 Def Flare. Redeemer hit only with a maximum of one attack, and the damage rolls didn't raise concerns.

Covenant was reciting the "no knockdown or stationary" verse. I really wanted to knock Kreoss down with Wold Guardian. Opponent also ran Eiryss in between Kreoss and Wold Guardian, so there was an annoying Def 16 model that needed to go down somehow for a secure assassination.

This time the dice were rolling like a dream. The Covenant did break down, and Blackclad Wayfarer scored a hit against Kreoss. Pureblood Warpwolf killed Eiryss and dealt astonishing damage to Kreoss. Wold Guardian punched the protectorate warcaster in the belly.

Warmachine in Kuhmo

This game was played a little after Christmas eve.

It was a traditional 35 point game versus Protectorate of Menoth.

I had:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Riphorn Satyr
- Gorax
- Rotterhorn Griffon
- Woldwyrd

Minimum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Druids of Orboros
2x Gallows Grove
Totem Hunter

Objective: Fuel cache

Opponent played:

Grand Exemplar Kreoss
- Fire of Salvation
- Dervish

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth

Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Knights Exemplar
Daughters of Flame
Vilmon
Paladin
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Scenario was Fire Support and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Circle turn 2 I think. I've skipped quite a few pictures as the images are of poor quality.

White AoE's are Pillar of Salt spells. Official AoE's are Vortexes on Druids. Mohsar has already used his feat.

Circle had Mirage on Wolves of Orboros and Sunhammer just for kicks. Inviolable Resolve is on Bastions and Sacrosanct on Daughters of the Flame.

Turn 2 Bastions wrecked two salt pillars, which just opened a charge lane for Fire of Salvation to Woldwyrd. It was so really damn close that had I placed the pillar just a few millimetres to the left, the charge would have failed.

Turn 3 I'm not sure if I should use Primal on Riphorn Satyr. I decide not to, and instead charge it with one Wolf of Orboros, Riphorn Satyr and Totem Hunter. Wolves used Power Swell, as I didn't believe Wolves officer would live to see another turn.

I chose not to use Primal, and as a consequence the heavy protectorate warjack was left alive with one box remaining. I had to use Totem Hunter to finish it off. Mohsar spammed pillars to eat enemy activations and used his feat again with a permission from the opponent.

Protectorate made Kreoss use his feat. Results could have been devastating if there wouldn't have been salt pillars around. Well, actually they didn't help. Results were game breaking devastation anyway. Who would have guessed that Dervish would kill an Arm 19 heavy warbeast all by itself? Well sure, it was one P+S 15 +3d6 and four P+S 15 +2d6 damage rolls, so it wasn't that egregious.

Turn 4 I wondered what to do, as I had lost the only real damage dealer in my army. To be on the safe side, I used Mohsar's feat again with a permission. I saw some sort of a possibility in playing scenario at least for a little while, but there were at least four Daughters of the Flame contesting the flag.

Wolves of Orboros officer charged one and killed her. Sacrosanct knocked him down. Something, probably Totem Hunter, killed another. Rotterhorn Griffon placed it's own animus on itself and went within 2" of two Daughters. Fun fact: POW 8 just isn't enough to kill an ARM 12 model even with two attempts. This sucks.

Originally I wanted to advance a Druid of Orboros to the flag and then use Sands of Fate to start scoring points. I had already used most of my activations, so the Druid who was going to sacrifice himself couldn't reach the flag as he wasn't able to walk directly towards it. One of the Druids did score the killing blow with a Force Bolt, however.

Mohsar then uses his ranged attack on Dervish and casts Primal on Gorax. He shifts away with Sands of Fate and puts one Pillar up. Gorax wrecks Dervish.

Vortex cloud saved Gorax from the Bastions. Knights in shining armour started to look quite scary when I pretty much had only POW 10's at my disposal.

To make things interesting Kreoss camps all focus and runs forward closer to my friendly flag. Yes! This was my moment. One assassination coming right up.

This required quite a lot of shuffling around with Druids of Orboros. They had to pull a couple of Bastions away so they wouldn't get free strikes against Rotterhorn Griffon. Druids succeeded in that - as well as bringing in a major bonus in knocking down Kreoss himself.

I charged Rotterhorn Griffon to Kreoss, but didn't do that much damage. But now the beast had Fury, so Mohsar could use maltreatment on it. So, Mohsar with nine focus charged Kreoss. First he cast Curse of Shadows on him.

In total I did nine points of damage in. Seems like yelling "get off my lawn" doesn't work on Kreoss.

After the game I thought out an alternative way to try the assassination - to activate Mohsar first, cast Curse of Shadows on Kreoss and Primal on Rotterhorn Griffon. Though the number of attacks would have been reduced greatly, I guess damage potential might have been higher thanks to effectively getting the Griffon to P+S 15.

"Master" "Strategist"

So, last Thursday there was a bit larger gathering for Warmachine Riven Bonds league at The Basement.

I got three games in that night, and this post gives away the two I played against Protectorate of Menoth.

First game was a 35 point game, and my list was:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Gorax
- Argus
- Woldwatcher

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Swamp Gobbers
2x Gallows Grove
Tharn Ravager White Mane
Sepoh Thalasland, the Blackclad Janitor

My adversary was:

High Reclaimer
- Repenter
- Dervish

Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth

Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Minimum unit of Exemplar Errants
Minimum unit of Deliverers
Maximum "unit" of Paladins (2x paladin + Vilmon)
... which, I now realise, cannot be done in the league. Oh well. Happens.
Vassal of Menoth
Wracks
Hierophant

Scenario was the Cutthroat Keep that shoots two AoE 3" templates at the end of every turn that causes POW 10 blast damage roll to everyone underneath... Circle doesn't approve. In fact... it's a weird scenario. Without very specific army builds I can't imagine that Cutthroat Keep would be won by a scenario at least in 35 points, or less! Perhaps there are more hard hitting tools available at 50 points and beyond.

But enough of that.

Protectorate started game, and first blasts from the keep caused massive casualties check on Swamp Gobbers, who failed and started to flee. Afterwards during whole game the poor little gobber didn't succeed in regrouping.

I think this first picture is from the end of Circle turn 1.

Not much happened yet. Turn 2 Protectorate dealt first two damage to the keep with a combo-striking Dervish. Exemplar Errants shoot a couple of Wolves dead, and High Reclaimer creates a smoke screen for the main body of his army. The most important thing was Repenter shooting down one of the Shifting Stones, preventing Gnarlhorn from teleporting next to High Reclaimer next turn.

Anyway when my turn starts I see a somewhat unlikely chance for assassination. Gnarlhorn Satyr had the Mirage on itself, so it was teleported 2" in Circle control phase. Gnarlhorn wasn't just yet in the Burning Ash cloud, meaning it couldn't see through the AoE. The distance looked like it was less than 1", though.

Defying the odds is always a struggle of will for me. So I decide to give it a go. Gorax casts Primal on itself, advances behind Gnarlhorn and makes Power Attack: Push. Animus made Gorax Strength 11 versus Gnarlhorn's Strength 11. Strength test comes out as 6 for both Gorax and Gnarlhorn, but after consulting the rulebook about this obscure Power Attack, it turned out that defender must beat the attacker's score. Attack succeeds if the roll is a tie.

Gorax pushes Gnarlhorn into the Burning Ash cloud, and then Mohsar advances and casts Primal on Gnarlhorn, who then charges High Reclaimer. Repenter gets a free strike on the way, but doesn't break any branches. Then Gnarlhorn Satyr breaks High Reclaimer.


Game 2:

Since first game had been so fast, we decided to play another 15 point game in the wait for the other board to clear.

I had decided at home that if I get two consecutive victories, last game would be played with Morvahna the Dawnshadow to maximise chances of gaining Master Strategist milestone.

But... Morvahna the Dawnshadow at 15 points?

Hell yeah, let's try that one out!

My list was:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Sepoh Thalasland, the Blackclad Janitor
Gallows Grove

I was against:

High Exemplar Kreoss
- Crusader

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Minimum unit of Exemplar Errants
Minimum unit of Deliverers
Hero Paladin

Scenario was Close Quarters, and I was a bit worried about the amount of infantry models opponent had. I had only one warbeast, that would easily fall to ranged weaponry if DEF was dropped down to 5...

So I decided to try to pull off an annoying and difficult-to-counter assassination. Even with epic Morvahna I doubt I'd outlast the attrition game.

Wolves of Orboros hack down Gallows Grove, and Morvahna uses feat to bring it back close to Kreoss, who was camping only one Focus. But sometimes that one Focus is all it takes to survive.

First Sunder Spirit caused what, eight points of damage or something like that. I thought it was good enough score, so I didn't re-roll. But again I was horrified when I remembered in the middle of action that Kreoss has astonishing 18 damage boxes. So last attack needed to score quite high to actually kill Kreoss.

Second damage roll caused damage enough to bring Kreoss down to two boxes remaining. Which, incidentally, is exactly how much the one camped Focus lessened incoming damage.

Morvahna re-rolls, and the score only becomes worse. Kreoss is left with three hit boxes.

Kreoss decimates most of Circle's army next turn. Around six Wolves of Orboros and Blackclad Wayfarer are still standing after Protectorate is done beating.

Kreoss had been upkeeping Lamentation, and was camping some Focus, too.

With nothing additional to lose, Morvahna advances and casts Sunder Spirit with four Fury she had cut from herself. Attack is a hit, but damage roll was something like 1,1,3. But since it was epic Morvahna after all, that quickly turned into some 2,5,6 or whatever. Enough to kill, anyway.

I believe Protectorate should have used feat last turn to get rid of Morvahna's army entirely, but I guess opponent was saving it up for shooting/beating Morvahna personally down after the one and only Warbeast had fallen.

Master Strategist, my arse. Master Opportunist, perhaps, followed by a Master Damage Roller.

But however the milestone was gained, it was mine now. And Sepoh Thalasland gained some bats in the form of Crown of the Wild.

Fourth league game coming up sooner or later.

Madrak Ironhide, the Thornwood Fertilizer

Last Tuesday I played two 26 point games of Warmachine. Bastard point cost is again because of reasons.

Anyway, opponent played both games with:

Chief Madrak Ironhide
- Dire Troll Mauler
- 2x Impalers
- Axer

Minimum unit of Krielstone Bearers

Whelps
Stone Scribe Chronicler

My first game was:

Cassius the Oathkeeper & Wurmwood, Tree of Fate
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Woldwatcher
- Gorax
- Argus

Tharn Bloodweavers
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers
Minimum unit of Farrow Bone Grinders
Gallows Grove

Scenario was Close Quarters in both games. Trollbloods started game if I'm doing my maths right. However, I have skipped first round entirely as the progress was rather slow - troll brick slowly rumbled forwards, and Circle was too scared to close in.

Trolls got to start dealing the pain and hurt, but, well. Main interest here was that an Impaler critically slammed Gnarlhorn. Next turn was a bit more interesting for Circle. I was quite confident that I'd be able to assassinate Madrak this turn, as I would be able to charge him with Gnarlhorn Satyr, Woldwatcher, Cassius and a primaled Argus.

It was somewhat distressing to notice in the middle of your all-out assassination that, in matter of fact, no warbeast would actually be charging Madrak, thanks to Talisman of Subdual.

Before this dawned on me, I had already pulled Madrak closer with Hellmouth. Since I was figuring that Gnarlhorn would need more space for him, Cassius actually charged the shifting stone he had failed to kill with a boosted damage from Hellmouth. Well. That was one tough stone, I must admit, since even charge attack from Cassius did not destroy it. Only extra attack did. And then. Cassius did no damage in melee to Madrak, probably thanks to Scroll of Perseverance.

It's a special feeling when you see everything you attempt to do unravel before your eyes, and then dissipate into nothingness. Cassius said "screw it" and spent last two Fury to cast Unseen Path on himself and move to relative safety. For some reason or another I didn't use Wurmwood's feat. If I want to try and save my face I'm saying that it was because I still wanted to attempt an assassination with Gnarlhorn Satyr and Woldwatcher. But if I'm honest, I just forgot.

Well, since Gnarlhorn Satyr is not able to charge Madrak, it charges some other troll and uses remaining attacks at Madrak. But charge had cost one Fury, and the Satyr had had to shake itself up from the critical slam. I don't remember if Madrak even had to resort to transfering damage.

It had all started good, when primaled Argus dealt a lot of damage in to Madrak, and Madrak didn't transfer those away.

Bloodweavers and Bone Grinders had been beating themselves (stop hit yourself!) to provide Fury to Cassius in this grand assassination of self-esteem.

Trolls obviously killed Gnarlhorn Satyr, Argus and what was left of Bloodweavers. I think Madrak used his feat this turn, but it didn't do as much as I've seen it does.

So. On my next turn I had inflicted zero casualties to Trollbloods, and I had lost 17 points worth of models.

No other chance to aim for what I started last turn - even more attacks against Madrak.

I don't remember if Woldwatcher managed to do anything useful against Madrak. But Wurmwood was full on souls, but stood in-between Cassius and Madrak. That meant 9 Fury worth of attacks against Def 16, Arm 18 Madrak with some damage boxes.

Hmm. Now I'm wondering if Madrak used the scroll last turn or no, or if he just had that much Fury camped up. But Cassius required at least three attacks to hit and damage.

Not a single attack missed, and Madrak didn't pass Tough. Cassius fertilizes a forest out of Madrak.



Game 2

Second game I played was with following list:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Wold Guardian
- Gorax

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Swamp Gobbers
Gallows Grove

Scenario was again the Close Quarters, but Circle got to start this time around.

First picture is from the end of Circle turn 2 I think, because Trolls are reacting next. Impaler scores a critical slam again - this time against Wold Guardian. But as it was standing right next to Gnarlhorn Satyr, the goat was knocked down again. The slam master of Hordes (perhaps even including Warmachine?) spent both games grazing the grass.

Damage rolls were amazing, though. Boosted super slam damage against Wold Guardian didn't even punch through it's armor, as dice came out something like 1,1,2,3. Collateral damage did nothing to Gnarlhorn Satyr, and the original ranged attack dealt nothing. Well, Wold Guardian did have it's animus on, but still it's adding insult to injury.

Well then!

I must say I didn't do any better.

I thought that a primaled Gnarlhorn Satyr and Wold Guardian and some random damage rolls would be enough to kill Def 14, Arm 20 Dire Troll Mauler. Perhaps it could have been a possibility, but again Gnarlhorn had had to shake itself up, and sometimes Def 14 is too much for a Mat 8 beast. And it even succeeded in missing another attack. Only one attack dealt some damage, which spawned a Whelp, that blocked charge lane of Wold Guardian.

Mohsar dealt with the Whelp personally. He sprayed it dead and went to safety with Sands of Fate. Wold Guardian charged Dire Troll Mauler, and missed one of it's available attacks, don't remember if it was the actual charge attack.

Oh, Wolves of Orboros had earlier charged around a little bit, but I was scared to bring too many of them into the fray because of the earlier experiences against Madrak.

Gnarlhorn Satyr was killed instantly, but Wold Guardian took a little bit longer to deal with. In fact it survived with Body and Mind unbroken, but of course Spirit was knocked off.

So it was bad, I was in very much same situation as I was in last game. But it wasn't all hopeless - this time I remembered to use Mohsar's feat, and it was nice to actually see it do things for once. Big things. But first Gorax charged Impaler on the hill, and Wolves of Orboros used Power Swell and attacked all over. The result of all this was two Impalers with 2-3 hit boxes remaining. Whee.

Both warlocks were dominating their friendly flags, just for the record.

But the damage output of Circle had been miserable during whole game.

Trollbloods luckily did a lot more damage. In fact they did 10-12 damage points to Madrak. All warbeasts except one Impaler that didn't have any Fury failed their Threshold checks. Mauler attacked Wold Guardian, who still didn't go down. Axer attacked Madrak with the results above, and Impaler took one Wolf of Orboros down.

Madrak uses his feat this turn, an takes care of Wold Guardian - personally. Let's just not compare the personal achievements of the warlocks in this game, yes?

Free Impaler didn't do much as Carnage had not been cast. Krielstone Bearers charged into battle, which was kind of funny.

Ah well. Anyway. Trollbloods didn't really do much that turn, but I was still woefully behind in attrition game. So I attempted the very same thing I did last game - warlock vs warlock assassination!

First Wolves of Orboros charge, and one of them goes against Madrak, who doesn't have a single Fury left for camp.

Mohsar enters the Wolf with Sands of Fate and uses Maltreatment on Gorax to get one extra Fury.

So, would Mohsar with 7 Fury kill Madrak with some 5-6 boxes remaining, without Sure Foot?

First attack is a hit and deals enough damage to bring Madrak to one hit box remaining. Next attack is prevented by Scroll of Perseverance. Third attack is a miss, and Mohsar has only one Fury remaining by then. So. Mohsar needed 9+ to hit and 9+ to deal the one last damage box remaining, and after that Madrak needed to fail Tough roll.

Unlikely, yeah. There was a tiny amount of excitement, though, when last attack actually scored a hit. Sadly damage roll wouldn't have punched through Madrak's base armor, as entire damage roll came out as 16.

For once it was a good thing Mohsar was blind - his last moments would have been a horrible sight to behold. So many teeth...

Rusty Old Man and Hippie Tharns

And last Tuesday I played two games of Warmachine with Circle of Orboros.

They were both 35 point games, and here is my list for the first game:

Mohsar the Desertwalker
- Megalith
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Argus

Druids of Orboros

Minimum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones
Gallows Grove

And opponent had:

Haley prime
- Centurion

Maximum unit of Long Gunners + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Horgenhold Forge Guard + Jonas Murdoch
Journeyman Warcaster
Squire
Ragman
Gorman diWulfe

Scenario was Fire Support. Now when I'm looking at the picture, I notice a horrifying error - there is seven members in the Wolves of Orboros base unit. I was never that good in math during school, but I didn't know I was that bad.

Anyway, Circle started game and first picture is taken from the end of Cygnar turn 1.

Pureblood Warpwolf had Mirage. On my next turn Pureblood advanced, used its animus and started spraying up the forge guard. I don't think it missed even one shot.

I didn't know what the heck to do with Wolves of Orboros, so I attempted to run them as far as possible, trying to engage even a couple of Long Gunners. Well, one Wolf got to engage them, so all in all it was a royal mess-up. But that's fine for a dirty cheater.

Ah well, then Gallows Grove teleports and Mohsar casts Crevasse on Gorman diWulfe, killing him. This was where I realised how awesome Gallows Groves are with Mohsar as he gets to ignore whole lot of stuff with Eyeless Sight. Mohsar also put up a pillar of salt in front of Pureblood Warpwolf.

I was quite confident at this point, but I guess I forgot to think that it'd be enemy turn next, and from now on I'd have to deal with Temporal Barrier.

Despite all of Centurion's best efforts it just couldn't destroy Pureblood Warpwolf next turn.

All but two Wolves of Orboros die to shooting by Long Gunners, and because of my mistake that should've been just one Wolf remaining.

Journeyman Warcaster shoots down Gallows Grove, and that was the worst of it.

Well, if I'd be able to destroy Centurion on my next turn the rest of Cygnar would have hard time destroying at least Megalith. So, Mohsar activates, tries to charge but that was just denied because of Temporal Barrier. He then just advances, casts Curse of Shadows on Centurion and shoots his spray, and then teleports over a Druid of Orboros.

Pureblood Warpwolf warps for strenght and starts beating. However, it is the last attack that drops shield. Movement is also gone, but not either Cortex or the spear.

Megalith advances and casts Crevasse on Centurion, but either deals no damage or doesn't break cortex or spear. Damnit. I was about to bring Megalith closer to melee, but then I realised that Mohsar would probably get shot by an impressive Combined Ranged Attack by Long Gunners. It had to back off to block Line of Sight to Mohsar.

Then Pureblood Warpwolf is butchered, and so is Argus and almost all of the druids of orboros, and the remaining Wolves.

Haley had not cast Temporal Barrier, but this was of little consolence.

Megalith charged to Centurion, destroyed it with one attack and continued to kill whatever was within its reach (or, in game terms, within 0.5" melee range) and then it cast Crevasse to some random model. I was wondering if I should try to assassinate Haley with Sands of Fate shenanigans, but when I counted up useable Fury I could have got in only a couple of attacks, and Haley was after all def 16 arm 19 target at the moment.

I don't remember exactly where an when control points were scored, but the situation there was that in the last picture Cygnar has three control points, and Circle goes to 2 from dominating a flag.

Mohsar had something like 5 damage boxes left and Megalith had also taken some damage, but still if Cygnar could just get rid of the two Shifting Stones I ha brought to contest left flag, Cygnar would win with scenario.

And, well, there was a warcaster and almost a full unit of Long Gunners over there.

I guess the major turning point in the game was my inability to destroy either cortex or melee weapon from Centurion. Also I should've probably been more aggressive with Megalith and go to harass Long Gunners.


Game 2:

Since last game went to the last minutes of deathclock, we decided to play another game with same board, same sides and same scenario to reduce set-up time.

This time my list was:

Kaya the Wildborne
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Feral Warpwolf
- Scarsfell Griffon

Minimum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Blackclad Wayfarer
Lord of the Feast
Druid Wilder

Opponent had:

Siege Brisbane
- Defender
- Ironclad

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
Maximum unit of Horgenhold Forge Guard
Journeyman Warcaster
- Hunter
Squire
Reinholdt, the gobber speculator

This game was hilarious in a few ways.

Circle got to start the game again, and picture is taken from the end of Circle turn 2.

Here Lord of the Feast outrageously outperformed yet again - it destroyed half of Horgenhold forge guard and gave a few damage points to Siege himself. However, when you look at the right side of the board you can see that Ravagers don't even want to fight. They're pacifists, really, though they look like big brutes. I mean, everyone hates them. And the few of us who don't hate them and take them to battle... then they fail even where they're supposed to be good at.

Three ravagers got a clear charge against Black 13th. Three MAT 9 P+S 15 + 3d6 attacks later not even a single blow had landed in its target. Well, sure, they did need 6+ on two dice to hit. Maybe they were just really unlucky and didn't misbehave on purpose.

Well, then was a "yikes" turn.

Siege dropped a foxhole on the two warpwolves, taking away Kaya's screen. And, heh... Yeah. Something you don't see quite often happened.

Kaya took 23 points in from a single attack made by Defender. Kaya did have one Fury left for transfers, and thank the Devourer wurm she did.

Hunter tried to shoot Kaya too, but didn't kill her.

Ironclad tries to charge Pureblood, but fails to get within range.

So, Kaya survived.

Next Pureblood advances and makes a double-handed throw against Ironclad to throw it away from Kaya's charge lane.

Blackclad Wayfarer casts Hunter's Mark on Siege and scores a hit.

Three ravagers in melee had been butchered by Black 13th puny little members. However, now Shaman, Chieftain and the unit leader charge in. MAT 10 and two MAT 9 attacks and a possible electro leap later... only one hit and kill, scored by the MAT 10 chieftain. No, this couldn't be bad luck any more. Those Ravagers weren't even trying.

However, then Kaya measures control range a bit and sees that she's easily able to charge to Siege.

Second attack even scores a critical knockdown. Well, Kaya isn't exactly a pro when it comes to caster kills against any heavier targets. But Lord of the Feast had scored a couple of damage in, and Kaya hadn't used her feat, so she had about 12 Fury for use. I don't remember if she upkept Occultation or healed Feral or Pureblood.

Last damage roll was outrageous, something like 5,5,6.

"I do not lament my loss, dear High Exemplar, but I lament hearing your Lamentation"

Next I was against an old foe. High Exemplar Kreoss.

But since it was a completely new player in a completely different city in a completely different board, the game felt somewhat new. Heh.

I played Mohsar. We agreed on 35 point game and scenario was randomised to be... uh, well, I don't really remember the name of scenario, but it was the one where caster had to contest a flag and the army had to control a zone in the centre.

My list was:

Mohsar
- Megalith
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Argus
- Gorax

Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros
Reeve Hunter
Thrullg

And opponent was playing:

High Exemplar Kreoss
- Crusader
- Vanquisher
- Repenter

Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth
Knights Exemplar
Minimum unit of Exemplar Errants + Unit Attachment
High Exemplar Gravus

This time around I won the starting roll. In my deployment I tried to make a suprise moment of teleporting Mohsar to contest a flag, but no plan survives contact with the enemy.

I was able to sneak into center pretty easily with the aid of salt pillars, but as opponent could react to my deployment more easily he was able to dedicate Repenter and Vanquisher to my Wolves of Orboros. Bad match-up at the eastern front.

My grand plan pretty much failed next round thanks to the utility of Exemplar Errants.

My plan was that about everything I got would just succeed in killing all the errants, and once that's over Gnarlhorn would slam Crusader over Kreoss and beat him down.

Thrullg removed Defender's Ward from errants, but still three of them survived. I did try to bring Mohsar close by and shoot the errant blocking satyr's slam lane but the blind granpa obviously missed. And Mohsar was under 14" of Kreoss, so Lamentation stopped all kinds of Crevasse shenanigans. So Mohsar teleported away to the flag, but not as triumphantly as I had visioned...

It seems that next picture is taken after a full round.

Opponent tried to beat up Megalith, but the stone fellow didn't go down. Everything else in my army, however, went down when Kreoss used his feat. Only Megalith and Mohsar were left on their feet.

Actually Megalith did have some bonus from not-getting-knocked-down, when Crusader rolled double 1's on the attack roll with its MAT of 8 (thanks to choir).

I think three Wolves of Orboros survived the combined efforts of Repenter and Vanquisher. But they failed their command test so, yay.

Well, I still tried to be devious.

Megalith healed itself fully functional. He then cast Curse fo Shadows on the engaging crusader and beat it up with everything else.

All the furry beasts had shaken themselves up.

Gnarlhorn used its animus and charged Kreoss over Crusader.

It did charge away from Mohsar's control range, however. But that didn't exactly matter as it was already at full fury. Charge attack hit and scored 8 points in. All the other initial attacks missed, however.

Argus charged crusader with a combo-strike. If I remember right by then Crusader had lost cortex and the mace.

Argus tied up the enemy for a turn, which in my book is an impressive feat from a 4 point beast that had just crippled a couple of systems from a heavy warjack.

Gorax did go down then, however, as did the Gnarlhorn with combined efforts from Vanquisher and Kreoss and Reclaimer.

On my turn Mohsar upkept Curse of Shadows on Crusader, after which Megalith charged past Crusader to nail the Vanquisher. I don't remember how badly the warjack was mauled, though.

Argus bit one exemplar and tried to do some damage on Crusader, but really, things started to look rather grim, as Megalith wasn't exactly in good shape any more.

Vanquisher, Repenter and Kreoss eventually destroyed the Megalith and Gravus killed the puppy. Shame on Gravus!

Reeve Hunter was engaged by running Errants, so I kinda needed to win Kreoss that had 10 hit points remaining, Lamentation on and was camping up armor at 19-20 with Mohsar and two wolves of Orboros.

No problem!

One Wolf of Orboros charged Kreoss to the back arc and one "charged" Repenter to get himself moving. Neither did damage, at least any important damage.

Then Mohsar advanced and cast Crevasse at the Wolves of Orboros officer and tried to spray Kreoss down with a boosted pow 12. Triple 1's or something.

Game over.

Last two games of the warmachine tournament at Ropecon

So, third game was against Cryx, again.

This time I was facing epic Deneghra who had a rather big fella to back her up.

Yeah, I get to fight a real battle-engine, in flesh and blood! (Well, that may not be an apporpriate description...)

Anyway, I went with epic Krueger, because I wanted to have a full choice of lists during last round (because every list needed to be used at least once).

Scenario was the horrible Command and Control, or whatever the name is for the one where you have to control a small circle in middle of board with your troops and a flag somewhere else on the board to score points.

And this game was actually one of the most thrilling games I've had for a long while.

Opponents list was:

Wraith Witch Deneghra
- 2x Deathrippers
- Deathjack

Wraith Engine
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Skarlock
2x Warwitch Sirens

However, one thing became clear with the Battle Engines.

Lord of the Feasts annoyance factor goes up. This time he didn't roll all that well, he killed only Necrotech and did some random damage to two Withershadow members. You can see his horns peeking just behind the Wraith Engine. That's how far he went.

Luckily I had the druids with me. With Deathjack and epic Deneghra around I would have been rather messed up if two Hellmouths started flying around with a base Focus stat of 7. I mean, nowadays I can respect two hellmouths at fury 6...

Well, then.

Next picture is taken from the thick of action.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the turn after Deneghra's feat. First she stopped my army on its tracks and Wraith Engine moved up to beat up stuff, Megalith mostly. Then, during this turn the picture is taken, opponent cast Hellmouth on his own battle engine, dragging all nearby models closer so the huge wraith could have another round of beating up my models...

I did try to shoot it down with Krueger, but in the end it was left with just a few wounds.

Whoops. Looks like I'm talking nonsense here. Sorry people, that people was taken from the end of my round under Deneghra's feat.

And this picture:

is taken where my troops were Hellmouthed around. Sad picture indeed, no wonder I tried to forget its existence altogether.

I think I actually wanted to feat a round earlier, but forgot because I was too enthusiastic trying to get Thrullg into contact with Wraith Engine. So, as it turned out, Thrullg wasn't in range and I lost my chance to use Kruegers feat.

Well, because Krueger survived the turn, I actually got a good spot to use feat still.

And once the Wraith Engine went off, the board somehow seemed a lot more... empty.

Green AoE effect on shifting stone is a Lightning Storm from Krueger that nailed three bane thralls. Also, the unseen hero, the Blackclad Wayfarer, did a nice spray that dealt with plenty of bane thralls too.

I don't remember who or what did the final blow on the Wraith Engine, but seeing as everyone else except epic Deneghra herself was under Krueger's feat, I was fairly safe from retaliation.

My main interests besides the engine was killing off Tartarus and arc nodes. While I didn't wreck any bonejacks, if I remember right the one currently engaging ravagers lost its arc nodes and decided to go into offense.

Next round, when Gnarlhorn beat down the engaging bonejack, my other troops were ready to charge around. Thrullg disrupted the Deathjack and a couple of ravagers hurt it badly, but didn't wreck it.

However, this was a timed tournament with 59 minutes for both players. My clock was ticking, and damn it was ticking fast.

Well, opponent destroyed almost everything I had left. Overseer, all the ravagers and even the over-enthusiastic, drooling thrullg met their ultimate demise.

Reeve Hunter, on the other hand, survived about everything.

Could be that opponent didn't think of it as a too big of a threat, and judging from it's performance, I don't wonder. Early in the game it shot one scrap thrall and rest of the game it spent on charging warwitch sirens, always missing them.

So, when my turn started, I had Gnarlhorn Satyr, Reeve Hunter and epic Krueger left. And just above 5 minutes playing time.

So, I decided to try an assassination.

I tried to get Line of Sight for Krueger against Deneghra, but the small hill was in the way. First Reeve Hunter, finally getting a chance to do something useful, like killing Admonia, who had one or two hit points left. Missed.

Then I figured I had to burn fury for telekinesis.

I moved Krueger as much forward as possible and used telekinesis to place him on the hill so he'd have line of sight to Deneghra.

I was in a real hurry by then, so the picture shows Krueger behind the hill, but around three minutes playing game doesn't really leave much wiggling to try to balance a model to an unsteady slope...

I have a good record of missing the first shot with epic Krueger, but this time it wasn't so. First attack hit, and I boosted the damage. Bought another attack, boosted the damage. Deneghra was still left with some hit points, and I didn't have the fury to boost last damage roll because I had to use telekinesis to get into position. However, damage roll was enough to kill her (again?).

After that my head exploded with excitement.

Then, the last game.

Which was short.

Game 2:

Scenario was Destruction. If you see any Wurmwoods in the pictures, they're the objectives, as I was playing Mohsar there.

But... the game was all kinds of brutal. And opponent knew how to play against Mohsar and in my opinion he made no mistakes at any point of the game.

His list was:

Epic Thagrosh
- Carnivean
- Scythean
- Seraph
- Typhon
- 2x Shredders
- 1x Harrier or Stinger, don't know which

3x Spell Martyrs
2x Shepherds
The Forsaken

Now, starting the first turn, things looked "fairly" good.

However, Slipstream + 9" charge + reach proved enough to get Scythean to my first objective during second round.

Sure, it was a trade-off as there were my Bloodweavers and 2 heavy warbeasts, but given the scenario, I'd do the same trade if I had the chance.

Now, looking back at the game, I think I would've had two chances to counter that loss of first objective so early. I should've ran my warbeasts and infantry so that opponent should've charged them first, but. There is a big but, sacrificing troops that badly just for the sake of scenario feels absolutely horrible.

The other way could've been trying to place the pillar of salt so that it would have blocked any possibility of Scythean charging the objective without provoking a counter slam from Gnarlhorn, but salt pillars aren't exactly indestructible.

I honestly don't know what I could have done there differently to have a chance.

But, then. In next picture sun started shining through a nearby window.

That's why it looks a bit goofy.

But yeah. Then, on my turn, the next objective spawned. And I think opponent could hear the gulp of horror when I realised that I was looking at my last objective that was facing possibly 5x pow 14 sprays that were boostable and whatever the Seraph could do, and failing to kill the objective for some weird reason, feat would give plenty of melee attacks against it as well.

I tried to protect it with as many salt pillars as I could, to no avail.

Thagrosh and Carnivean sprayed the salt pillars away, one shepherd ran to block counter charge from Gnarlhorn and Typhon moved closer. A couple of sprays later the scenario was lost.

So, people. Pow 14 sprays are the absolute murder in Destruction scenario.

So, that was the last one of the tournament.

With my games I was exactly 10th, which is about where I have always placed in tournaments. Exactly, or very near, the absolute center.

Anyway, all games were awesome in their own way, even the last one where I couldn't do much else than raise my hands in the air and say: "gg". In its short brutality I feel I got some new insight about the expendability of the army, when you mostly need to do surgical strikes to remove objectives.