Mk2 Full Circle (not Orboros)

Yesterday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine.

My list was:

Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- Harrower
- Malice
- 2x Nightwretch

10x Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudge Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
2x Pistol Wraith
Soul Trappers
Swamp Gobber River Raiders
Skarlock
Ragman

Opponent had:

High Exemplar Kreoss
- 2x Reckoner

4x Choir of Menoth

10x Holy Zealots + Monolith Bearer
10x Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Eiryss1
Tristan Durant
- Redeemer
Covenant
Rhupert
2x Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic

This match was going to be of a special significance for me. Since edition change is looming, I needed to get get a game with Deneghra3 against Kreoss1. Every other warlock and warcaster in my possession (20 total, not including Deneghra3) have played at least one game against him. I wouldn't be able to leave Mk2 without this game. But here it was.

Scenario was Recon, and Cryx started game. First picture is from the end of Protectorate turn 1. I had ran to flag with Deneghra. She had Grave Wind on, yet only a focus camp of three. This prompted an assault from one Reckoner, which missed the attack. Big risk here I know, but hey. I wanted to run to a flag on turn 1A at least once in a lifetime.

Turn 2 a Pistol Wraith kills one of the Temple Flameguards to get a soul for Deneghra. If I would have got a couple of souls more from different sources, I might have not used feat with Deneghra. But she does and allocates focus for Malice and Harrower. She tries to cast Mortality on Temple Flameguard, but misses twice.

Well, at least a whole bunch of them die afterwards.

Drudges run forward for some target practice... where they're the dummies.

Turn 2 Protectorate uses minifeats on both Holy Zealots and Temple Flameguard. Latter also gets Defender's Ward, and charge to Pistol Wraith, Harrower and Nightwretch. Nightwretch loses arc node. Harrower gets only minor damage.

I don't remember what Reckoners did. I guess they just missed their shots or something.

Holy Zealots fight the Drudges, but front line was very adept at passing tough checks.

Turn 3 I get this crazy idea of dragging Kreoss closer to my lines and charging him with Deneghra, after everything else had tried to shoot him. But Zealots with Greater Destiny and anti-magic, Covenant with anti-magic caused my some headache. Eventually I couldn't figure out any way to kill or move the Zealot that's on the left. Thanks to him I might not get a proper angle to drag Kreoss. But I decided to have a go at it anyway.

Malice with three focus, a soul and Puppet Master walked maximum distance as close to Kreoss as possible, yet trying to stay out of reach of Temple Flameguard officer.

I did manage to estimate the reach pretty well - there was perhaps a safe zone of two millimetres. But Kreoss was also out of 8" by less than half centimetre.

Nooooooo!

Well, then I maximised my efforts at scenario play. I did succeed in removing models from within 4" of the flag, so Deneghra made a point. Control point. Two remaining Swamp Gobbers tie up additional Holy Zealots, and one reels itself in to Covenant of Menoth. And deals no less than maximum amount of damage to it with two attacks! Admonia had taken off Defender's Ward on Temple Flameguard.

Turn 3 it's time for Creator's Wrath. The pens in picture mark the divider between knocked down and standing models.

Notable losses were Admonia and Drudges' officer. Hello there, Cmd 3 unit coherency! Oh, and I guess you can call Malice a notable loss, too. And objective.

Kreoss casts Defender's Ward on himself and has a few focus points for armour. Covenant denied getting knocked down, as opponent figured I might fling Mortality and Scourge on him through an arcnode anyway. Scenario goes 2-1 for Protectorate.

Turn 4

I'm trying to get maximum amount of souls for Deneghra before I attempt an assassination. Maximum amount just wasn't very impressive - two souls was all she got.

Tremulus gives Puppet Master to Harrower. Arc node runs into position.

Deneghra activates and advances closer to her death. That's what would happen next if assassion failed, there in the middle of everything. But I wanted to use the venom breath spray thing.

But first Deneghra casts Mortality on Kreoss, and allocates three focus for Harrower. Then she attacks with Scourge, plus the spray. This does some damage, but the numbers were slightly lower than I had hoped for.

Next Harrower activates and comes to shoot Kreoss with its Ghost Shot POW 14 cannon. Boosted attack is a hit, and boosted damage rolls 6,6,2. Harrower still had Puppet Master on. We did some math there, and game literally hinged on one roll of 4+.

Roll comes up exactly four.

Wow.

Come to think of it, the real winner here had been Admonia, who did one damage in to Kreoss with her upkeep removal ability. Your sacrifice was not in vain.

Soul Weaver vs Grand Scrutator

Over a week ago on Sunday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine.

My newest Deneghra looks painted enough to be used in games at home. So my list was:

Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- Harrower
- Malice
- 2x Helldiver
- Deathripper
- Stalker

Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Party Pirates
Maximum unit of Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudge Thralls
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Ragman

Opponent had:

Grand Scrutator Severius
- Judicator
- Reckoner
- Blessing of Vengeance
- Repenter

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Holy Zealots + Monolith Bearer
Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Wracks
Rhupert

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

Deneghra has cast Grave Wind on Stalker, which has ran far to the right.

On second turn Cryx scores first control point from flag on the right. Blessing of Vengeance wasn't even contesting it, but Stalker slammed the arc node away nonetheless. Pistol Wraith went to control the flag, and Black Ogruns tried to block Line of Sight to it. Perhaps I'd get a second point on Protectorate turn.

Drudges run to engage Holy Zealots who are under Greater Destiny.

Both of the heavy warjacks contest middle flag at maximum distance.

Turn 3 Reckoner destroys Harrower, and some kind of spell from Severius kills the Pistol Wraith. Sad thing, because no protectorate models came to actually contest the flag. Holy Zealots kill most of the Drudge thralls.

Deneghra uses her feat on Cryx turn three, and it's played incorrectly. Deneghra can use her souls to allocate focus to warjacks inside her command range, not in her control area. Luckily Helldiver who charged Severius didn't kill the old man - finding out later that you won because you played a rule incorrectly is annoying.

Stalker, Helldiver and Deathripper also cheated some extra focus points for them, but that mix up was definitely worth it. First Stalker tries to head-butt Blessing of Vengeance down - only to find Blessing of Vengeance was within command range of Covenant of Menoth, who had cancelled knock down effects. Deathripper only got to make one attack, as Blessing of Vengeance killed the Black Ogrun with Defensive Strike that I would've used to block repel. Helldiver didn't really do anything either. Three warjacks with nine focus points were able to deal three damage in...

Deneghra had cast Mortality on Reckoner and Repenter, and had legally given three focus points for Malice.

Ragman advanced a little too close to Severius, who had used his feat to prevent spellcasting. Malice failed to disable Reckoner with four attacks that were the equal of P+S 18. Better play with Ragman would've done the trick, but, oh well.

Two charging Drudge Thralls destroy spray from Repenter. A scrap thrall scores second control point for Cryx.

Turn 4 Judicator wrecks both Helldivers, and Blessing of Vengeance cripples Stalker. Reckoner who had something like four or five damage boxes left wrecked uninjured Malice.

Blessing of Vengeance still didn't quite get within 4" of flag on the right, so I score third control point on my turn with Ragman. Situation was pretty hopeless because I had lost Malice. Severius had taken ten or so damage points, so that in mind Skarlock casts Grave Wind on Deneghra, who then charges Reckoner. Damage was triple ones.

Would Def 17, Arm 23 Deneghra face tank Reckoner, Judicator, Severius, Repenter and whatever Protectorate would be able to throw against her?

At least she had a really good start, when she had taken only a few stray points in from Reckoner, Repenter and channeled spells from Severius. Being so fixated over Deneghra made opponent forget to bring someone to contest flag on the right, so I'd go to four control points on Protectorate turn. That would be automatic victory for Cryx if Protectorate fails to kill Deneghra.

But now here was the real test. A charging Judicator who had received Battle Hymn.

Deneghra went down to four hit boxes remaining from the charge attack. Judicator had one focus remaining, which was used to boost attack roll. Judicator needed to roll 8+ with three dice to score a hit. And 8+ it was. Well. A roll of one plus one or one plus two would still save Cryx. But it was not to be, presumably because I had allocated focus too far. Karma does stuff like that. Really, it does.

Adventures of Failhorn Sat... oh, wait, wrong faction

Today I played a 50 point Warmachine game.

My list was:
Master Necrotech Mortenebra
- Harrower
- Malice
- Helldiver
- Ripjaw
- Deathripper
- Stalker

Maximum unit of Black Ogruns
Withershadow Combine
Warwitch Siren
Ragman
2x Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Scrap Thralls
Soul Trappers

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Opponent had:

Saeryn & Rhyas
- Zuriel
- Scythean
- Seraph

Maximum unit of Hex Hunters
Blackfrost Shard
Maximum unit of Croak Raiders
Spawning Vessel

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Scenario was Fire Support and Legion started game. Everything pretty much ran forwards. Rhyas gave Croaks Occultation.

And then it was my turn to get stressed over Croak Raiders. Range 14" threat with the damage buff, and 16" threat with the darts that caused continuous fire. I had planned on running Mortenebra close to my objective with full camp, but that would've opened up the possibility of POW 12 + 3d6 damage rolls at the start of Mortenebra's turn, regardless of stacked focus! Making a screening out of Black Ogruns was also bad idea, because Croaks would've only caught 2-3 of them under the oil gourd, which meant 2-3 dead Black Ogruns...

In the end I just advanced cautiously so that no frog was within oil gourd range of Mortenebra. But I did the mistake of moving my heavy warjacks out of my deployment zone. Harrower had Spectral Steel on. I placed Malice and Harrower base-to-base contact to block Line of Sight to a Soul Trapper, Necrotech and whatnot.

Turn 2 the Croaks activated first. They set one Black Ogrun on fire (who died to the continuous effect next turn), and then, uh... Uh huh.

A Croak throws oil gourd on Malice. One frog misses the dart attack. Another one hits and rolls 6,6,4 for damage. That troubled me slightly. Hopefully next damage rolls would be at slightly more manageable levels. Well, they weren't. Next one was 6,6,6. Gah.

Third one also hit. And the damage roll was 6,6,6. WHAT IS HAPPENING IN HERE?

The rest of activations were mostly just positioning. But my morale and combat effectiveness had suffered a heavy blow.

But do not fret! There is always a way! Game is not lost until it's lost. I figured I might be able to make some overrun shenanigans to get Harrower to kill Scythean and any other nearby models. Mortenebra allocates three to Harrower and one to Stalker. Deryliss casts Overrun on Stalker, who advances into contact with two Croaks and kills them. The spawning vessel takes the corpse, and my Soul Trapper takes the soul. Efficient recycling. Overrun triggers and Harrower advances closer to Scythean.

Black Ogruns attempt to scare the Croaks, but they pass their command checks. Soul Trappers give two souls for Harrower and Tremulus casts Puppet Master upon it. Then it advances so that thresher special attack reaches one from the Blackfrost Shard, one Croak and the Scythean. Harrower uses souls for attack roll boosts against the infantry models, and kills them both. Now it would be six attacks against Scythean, hitting with 5+ and dealing damage at dice -2! Fun time.

Fun.

Time.

Out of the six attacks, two missed. I used Puppet Master to re-roll one of those into a hit. So, out of the five attacks that scored a hit, there were three rolls of 1,2 for damage. The two other attacks both rolled five or four damage points in.

One of these games, it seems.

Well, Helldiver who got focus point from Warwitch Siren attempted to do something to the Scythean, but the heavy warbeast wasn't even close to being finished off!

There was a glimmer of hope, though, when somebody killed fifth Croak Raider, which made them roll for massive casualties and they failed. This gave me a little bit more confidence with Mortenebra, who tried to advance so that she'd be able to cast Void Gate on the Scythean to hopefully protect Harrower to some extent. Luckily I measured her control area and noticed Zuriel was easily within slipstream + charge range to Mortenebra... abort the plan! The Void Gate was cast on a Black Ogrun instead. Reasoning: you can't force warbeasts inside the AoE effect.

Turn 3 Legion breaks my objective with Hex Hunters. Croaks get within 4" of the effigy and rally themselves.

Blackfrost Shard gives Kiss of Lyliss on Harrower, and then Rhyas charges it and spends all of her fury on Flashing Blade attacks. She doesn't score any critical rolls, but wrecks Helldiver and leaves Harrower alive with about six boxes remaining. Last Flashing Blade attack had missed Harrower.

Next Scythean activates and proceeds to wreck Harrower. It must have been love at first sight between those large based targets, because it really looked like neither wanted to kill the other! One initial attack missed, and twice it scored also 1,2 on damage rolls. Last attack it was able to make dealt the killing blow, though. "Nooo I don't want to kill you, dear Harrower! Noo!" "Well... stop hitting me?" "I caaaaaan't..."

Zuriel destroyed Stalker. Spawning Vessel made a Shredder, who went rabid and killed Ragman, my only source of Remove from Play effect. Legion got two control points.

Then it's my turn. Mortenebra allocates three focus points for Deathripper. Deryliss casts Spectral Steel on it, and then it goes to tear furyless Rhyas into shreds! And succeeds! Ahhahhah. At least I did something. Now, of course I knew that she'd be back next turn, but still... it was a sort of achievement. Black Ogruns also managed to scare the Croaks again, but after the roll was made we noticed at some point that they were indeed 4" from Effigy. Blackfrost Shard got failed their massive casualties test, though.

Rest of my activations were useless shuffling around. I didn't realise that by killing Rhyas I indirectly caused a ton of threshold checks for the enemy beasts next turn. All of them except Zuriel frenzied.

But, as I said, I was afraid of the enemy beasts with Mortenebra. She tried to cast Void Gate on Maelovus (missing because of stealth), hoping for a good, safe spot where she could travel to. The AoE drifted away from Mortenebra, though, so I tried to enter the next safest spot: behind Admonia and Soul Trapper. Neither of the warbeasts within charge distance had reach.

The spot I had chosen to hide in was just out of Killbox, though. So Legion went to four scenario points, and next turn Legion had only to clear either one of the flags and take a point. This was no problem for them.

Losing Malice so early in the game to disturbing damage rolls made it a difficult game, and the astonishing performance of Harrower against Scythean didn't help the least. If Harrower had succeeded, opponent would have needed to take care of Harrower with something else. That would always have been less attacks directed to, say, Stalker. Or the very least my objective would still have been standing, as Seraph was the one who dealt the killing blow to it. Maybe I wouldn't have chickened out then and hand over two scenario points for the opponent. Who knows.

Ragman ain't no bragman

Last Thursday I played two 35 point games of Warmachine.

Both were played with same list, which was:

Iron lich Asphyxious
- 2x Nightwretch
- Ripjaw

Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Maximum unit of Nyss Hunters
2x Pistol Wraiths
Madelyn Corbeau
Ragman
Gorman diWulfe

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Opponents were two different lists, however.

First game was against Convergence of Cyriss. It was a special game, since it was against Aurora. It's special, because now I have played at least one game against every Convergence warcaster, and I have to confess that the very core of my soul is that of a set collector and a bingo player. Convergence has been filled for now. Hooray.

Next closest factions are Retribution of Scyrah (missing Vyros1 and soon Thyron) and Legion of Everblight (missing Lylyth3 and Kallus, and soon Saeryn2.)

But I digress.

First game was against Convergence with following list:

Aurora, Numen of Aerogenesis
Maidens of Gear tier 4
- Corollary
- Conservator
- Cipher

5x Clockwork Angel units...!
Optifex Directive
Steelsoul Protector
Attunement Servitors
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex

Objective: Fuel Depot

Scenario was Incoming, and Cryx started game. It was a lucky thing I did, as Aurora and the Clockwork Angels seem to be quite fast - even before counting in the fact that opponent forgot about Advance Deployment of the Angels!

First picture is from the end of Convergence turn 1, and I continue off from there by trying to kill as many Clockwork Angels from near my friendly zone as possible. But as luck would have it... I killed only one or two.

Things went at least a little better on my enemy zone, though at first I had kind of wanted to throw Breath of Corruptions to my friendly zone to mitigate charges from the onslaught of winged maidens. Though I only killed one or two maidens there also, the smashing success was Pistol Wraith causing Death Chill to the Conservator.

Convergence killed most of the Nyss Hunters, and, considering what was left of my troops, pretty much secured their enemy zone. One Nyss defied death long enough to contest the zone. Generally speaking... flare is nasty.

Both Pistol Wraiths also died to various attacks. They had both been shooting, so they were corporeal. Not that it mattered much, because for some reason most of the Clockwork Angels' attacks are magical in nature.

Turn 3 it was rather difficult to assess the situation. Was I losing? Was I winning? After this turn who would have the upper hand in attrition? There weren't any too tight clumps of enemy infantry to be Breathed upon, so I went for assassination instead. Madelyn Corbeau moved Gorman for 3", and then Gorman advanced 6" to lob some Black Oil on Aurora. I had estimated distances poorly (to my benefit this time), and that 9" was more than enough to cause -4 DEF & various other penalties for Aurora.

An arc node advances into position, and finally Asphyxious advances. He casts Parasite on Aurora, and then Hellfire. Damage roll is absurdly high and kills Aurora in one shot.

Well... the game was over before I had the chance to actually get to know Aurora personally. But those Clockwork Angels. Yikes.



Game 2:

Second game was against Cryx, against no other caster than the notorious Warwitch Deneghra, who had:

Warwitch Deneghra

- Leviathan
- 2x Nightwretch

Minimum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Withershadow Combine
2x Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock

Scenario was Outflank, and Cryx started game. Ahhahhah. Get it? Cryx started game! (Please, make me stop before I lose the rest of my dignity.)

Anyway, Iron Lich Asphyxious started game. There has already happened quite a lot before I remembered to take first picture. It should be the end of Asphyxious turn 2.

I tried to seize the zone on the right, and a lucky deviation from Breath of Corruption sniped off the standard of Bane Thralls. I tried to remain as far from Deneghra as possible, and Outflank scenario seemed to encourage that.

Black Ogruns and a stray hen were contesting Deneghra's zone. At least the Ogruns were good for something, even if they're not good at something.

Turn 2 Deneghra casts Crippling Grasp on Nyss Hunters, and they start dying all over the place. Luckily for me not that many were within opponent's reach, and not that mane Bane Thralls were alive any more.

But then to the Black Ogruns.

Skarlock cast Crippling Grasp on them after Bane Thralls and Pistol Wraith were done with the Nyss, and just that one spell was enough to wipe the whole goddamn unit. Well... to be honest, Leviathan, Pistol Wraith, Withershadow Combine and Warwitch Siren may have also had something to do with their departure. Well. At least they succeeded in their Command check.

Turn 3 for Asphyxious, then. Madelyn Corbeau moved Gorman up front, who then proceeded to lob Black Oil over Warwitch Siren and two members of the Withershadow Combine. Combined efforts of the Nyss, Pistol Wraith, Ripjaw, Nightwretch and even the Ragman manage to clear the zone on the right from enemy models. During the three times I've played this list this was the first time Ragman actually had any kind of an impact within a game.

I tried to bring the leftmost Nightwretch to Asphyxious' Control Zone, but failed to do that by something like three millimetres. That was probably the final deciding factor if I'd use my feat now or later. Asphyxious had to advance those three millimetres, and started flinging spells. Tremulus and Warwitch Siren died easily enough, but somehow Admonia remained completely uninjured. Perhaps she used Tremulus and Siren to screen the hits?

Ripjaw acted as a node for two Hellfires that went to enemy arc node that was hiding behind the building. I'm not sure on this, but did the two spells really wreck the light warjack? Maybe, as it probably had some earlier damage from Breath of Corruptions that were aimed at Bane Thralls. Then Asphyxious teleported to dominate the zone on right.

Deneghra needs to make a fairly desperate turn. She advances, uses her feat and casts Ghost Walk on Skarlock. Most of the Nyss and Asphyxious weren't under her feat, but everything else was.

Skarlock ran through the building in the middle to contest the zone I had in my possession.

Enemy Pistol Wraith shot Gorman and Ragman off the board, but the remaining models failed to wreck my Nightwretch. I think it was left with something like three damage boxes remaining or something. Enemy Nightwretch on the left had been Death Chilled a turn earlier by my Pistol Wraith.

Turn 4 dispatching the Skarlock wasn't a problem. It wasn't even a challenge. More important was trying to block the advances any other models that'd be coming to contest next turn. I had been considering to use Vice Lock on Leviathan, but after all it was Deneghra's feat turn. No special attacks for me. I still tried to block a little bit of movement by walking Ripjaw right next to the helljack.

My Pistol Wraith and a Hellfire later the enemy Nightwretch on left was destroyed.

Then it's Deneghra's turn again, and Leviathan easily runs to my zone. The free strike even missed. My Nightwretch on the left was finally wrecked. Enemy Pistol Wraith shoots Madelyn Corbeau off the board. Only character models were good enough prey for this guy.

But then it was pretty much a question if I'd manage to kill the Leviathan in time. And damn it was hard! It literally went to the last possible attack I was able to make with Asphyxious, and even that wasn't a given - it required 8+ to succeed. But 8+ it was with three dice.

As much as it tears me, I think I'll have to ditch Ragman from this list and pick a Skarlock instead. I just can't seem to be able to use Ragman effectively, and there's not that much synergy for him in this list after all.

Menoth's Yowl

Last Thursday I played a 35 point Warmachine game.

I may go to a tournament that's being held on 1st of August, and there's Venethrax and Iron Lich Asphyxious in Cryx Active Duty Roster. So this month goes with those two warcasters.

But the actual game.

My list was:

Iron lich Asphyxious
- 2x Nightwretch
- Ripjaw

Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party

Maximum unit of Nyss Hunters
2x Pistol Wraiths
Madelyn Corbeau
Ragman
Gorman diWulfe

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Opponent was playing:

Vindictus
- Reckoner

Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Maximum unit of Horgenhold Forge Guard + Attendant Priest
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Epic Eiryss
Anastasia diBray
+2 points I can't figure out. Was there some solo that died before first picture was taken? Or did the list fall short?

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Anyway. Scenario was Two Fronts, and Cryx got to start despite of Anastasia's +1 to starting roll. Yet again the oppressive deathclock made me forget about the camera, so first picture is taken when Protectorate has already started second turn.

Cryx used their second turn to shoot various targets with a Pistol Wraith and Nyss Hunters, and even one Black Ogrun advanced forward to drag Exemplar Bastions... which, by definition, is a stupid idea since they cannot realistically be dragged. Vindictus hadn't used his feat just yet, so I tried to remove a bit of infantry.

My grand plan was to shoot a couple of Breath of Corruptions to block any meaningful advance by Horgenhold Forge Guards, but once I had positioned Asphyxious to do just that, it became apparent that Attendant Priest had given them "no spell targeting" prayer. Oh joy. Well, Asphyxious shot a couple of clouds at Bastions, then, and hoped for good deviations so that at least their charge would be mostly blocked.

First Bastion was just within range, though, so the attack didn't deviate anywhere. Second Breath was cast upon same farther Bastion, but it deviated right over the first Bastion. What a waste.

So, it's Protectorate's second turn now. So far Eiryss had shot Madelyn Corbeau, who had to use Sucker! -skill to redirect the hit to... well... Gorman. Now that was some expert positioning right there on my part!

Temple Flameguard just charge around aimlessly, and look at that. One charged Black Ogrun. What's the worst that could happen? Well, Black Ogruns fail their terror check from Menoth's Howl, and I'm left wondering why I even bother with the Party Pirates.

At least Nyss pass their check, though only barely.

Next picture seems to be from the end of this particular Protectorate turn. The rest of the turn was Attendant Priest giving magic weapons for Horgenhold Forge Guard, Vindictus using feat and casting True path, and the aforementioned dwarves wrecking my objective and Pistol Wraith. Oh, and Anastasia appeared from out of nowhere, too.

Turn 3 was terrible for Cryx.

I probably balanced out every bad roll from earlier "continuously above average dice roll" games against this opponent. Or perhaps it just felt like it - now that I look at the picture, at least some Temple Flameguards and Anastasia have died.

But the Bastions were completely impervious to any and all damage (and even attack) roll I was able to make. Multiple Combined Ranged Attacks by Nyss Hunters - nothing.

And the greatest failure of all. Asphyxious himself decided to show his unworthy minions how things are handled here. He charges Bastion and misses. He buys an additional attack and boosts attack roll, and misses. He buys one last desperate attack, and misses. Then he teleports away. Talk about focus efficiency. But there was an occurrence that might keep me going in this game - Terror check that Asphyxious caused to Horgenhold Forge Guard was failed.

And at least Black Ogruns rallied.

Turn 3 Protectorate easily destroyed the Nightwretch that was contesting my friendly zone, and Vindictus ran around to where the orange proxy base is. Protectorate was at three control points now.

All the Black Ogruns miraculously survived any attacks that Bastions were trying to make. Temple Flameguard were so few in number that they didn't do much either - right flank was pretty much mine, now. But would it matter in a situation like this?

Come Cryx turn 4, I ran so tight on clock that if this was an actual tournament game, I'd just have to try an assassination. So that's what I tried... Dice rolls would need to be quite phenomenal to assassinate Def 17 (on a hill) Arm 20 (with focus) Vindictus, but let's see how it goes.

Black Ogrun shuffle themselves into better position, and then Asphyxious charges a Bastion, and tried to shoot Vindictus with Hellfire. Well, it was a horrible miss, so I ditched whole assassination plan and tried to injure Bastions instead by shooting Breath of Corruptions left and right, and finally teleporting away.

Fun fact: Black Ogruns had miraculously survived a round of melee against Bastion. They weren't so lucky when Asphyxious came to "help" them. Best damage rolls were against my own models. Sigh...

Nyss killed enough Temple Flameguards to cause a massive casualties test on them, which failed. What's this? Three failed command checks in just one game?

They weren't, however, weapon masters enough to wreck the enemy objective. Armour piercing Ripjaw also wasn't armour piercing enough, so yeah. That was my game. Had I succeeded in destroying the objective, I'd have gone to three control points, too, and then, if I prayed Toruk hard enough, Madelyn, Ragman or Nightwretch would survive a round of beating in the enemy zone.

But either I didn't pray hard enough, or Toruk just didn't care. First system the Nightwretch lost was Movement, and that was my best bet in hoping a dice screw for opponent.

Oh well.

Ragman and Madelyn didn't really do much for me in this game. Perhaps I should drop them and get, perhaps, Skarlock and Saxon Orrik or something. Or learn to play and plan better in the long run.

Practise makes regret

Before I was off to Ropecon 2015, I played once more with experimental drag themed list for Deneghra1.

List consisted of:

Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- 2x Nightwretch
- Defiler

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

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Opponent had:

High Executioner Reznik
- Vanquisher
- Templar

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Initiate Tristan Durant
- Reckoner
Hierophant
Reclaimer
2x Vassal of Menoth
Wracks
Madelyn Corbeau

Scenario was Destruction. We practised with Death Clock. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 3, I think. As usually happens, I kind of forget to take pictures when there's clock running.

So far Reaper has dragged a Vanquisher to its demise, and I'm quite certain that this is the turn Deneghra used her feat. Bastions had had Crippling Grasp on them, but Reznik shot Hex Blast on them. I was a little bit too afraid of Witch Hound when I was attempting to spray targets, or maybe casting Scourge. Somehow it escaped my mind that Reckoner doesn't trigger Witch Hound, because it's in Tristan's battle group.

Protectorate turn 3 was uneventful, thanks to Deneghra. Temple Flameguard had some models able to charge, and they yielded some bile thralls and Bastions killed a black ogrun.

Cryx turn 4 I thought I figured a good way to get a clear charge/trample/whatever lane to Reckoner with both of my heavy warjacks - drag the front Bastion away, and kill it. Well. It might have worked without the damage re-allocation process of Bastions. Now the initial target suffered no damage, so no drag either. Other possibility is that I placed the ogrun dedicated for this so poorly that Bastion didn't move at all because it was right next to Reckoner.

Ragman advanced into a position to cast Death Field, and then various models wrecked Protectorate as hard as they could. Annoying thing here was the fact that my side was so damn crowded that I didn't get to make too many charges. The greatest disappointment was that the enemy objective just refused to die, no matter what I threw against it. Had I destroyed it with other models, Slayer could have charged plenty of Bastions, but now I needed it to finalize the objective and only one Bastion.

I was afraid of dominating the zone with Deneghra, so she backed off a little. Perhaps controlling it would suffice.

Well. Reaper didn't do much to Reckoner, not even with Dark Shroud from Ragman, so that helljack just signed its own death sentence.

Next turn Templar gets me caught by surprise by trampling and beat-backing right next to Deneghra. Only one attack hit, but it was doing something like dice +5 damage already. Deneghra got to four damage boxes remaining or so.

Reckoner and pals wrecked Reaper.

I was running low on clock, so I somehow tried to destroy both heavy warjacks and hope for a scenario victory. Turned out that I got neither, and clocked myself.

Movements were so pain to try to optimize that it ate a lot of time. I tried to tear down the Templar with Deneghra and mechanithralls, and when they failed, every ranged weapon at my disposal tried to shoot the remaining damage points off. Nope. Not today, little one. Well, at least the flail had been destroyed.

Slayer and Aiakos fared just as badly against Reckoner.

We still played the game till bitter end, which came fast. Templar had lost cortex and flail arm, so it boiled down to if Templar could roll 8+ to hit with two attempts (iron aggression + one initial attack + ancillary). It could. Boo!

Both games with this list were difficult with the clock, and I had been continuously blocking my own movements. So I constructed two different Deneghra & Scaverous list pairings and played one game on Friday at Ropecon with the modified Deneghra.

Lucant vs Deneghra

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

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

So, my list:

Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- 2x Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls

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

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Opponent had:

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

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

Objective: Fuel cache

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Puppet, but not a master

I played a game of Warmachine recently. Or... over a week ago, if I'm being honest here.

It was a 50 point game, and I had this absurd and funny idea of using Kraken with Venethrax.

Here was my list:

Lich Lord Venethrax
- Kraken
- Reaper
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Bloat Thrall
2x Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Ragman
Ogrun Bokur

Opponent had:

Temporal Barrier Haley
- Centurion
- Lancer

Maximum unit of Storm Lances
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + Officer
- 2x Charger
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Journeyman Warcaster
Stormblade Captain
Squire
Gorman diWulfe

Scenario was Destruction. Well, it wasn't all that apparent at the start of game, but really. That match-up and scenario. I can spoil that game was not short, as Haley makes enemy sluggish with Temporal Barrier and Venethrax has absolutely zero quick-and-dirty tricks for him, and even the scenario had four large based models at the centre blocking any possible charges... oh my.

I thought that I'd want to have Lamentation going on to counter Temporal Barrier. Hiding behind Kraken I thought that would be easy. Kraken also had Soul Harvester.

I don't actually remember if Cryx or Cygnar started game. First picture might be from the end of Cygnar turn 1 or 2. However it is, Cryx starts the second turn.

Haley had cast Temporal Barrier, but still it looked like Kraken might be within range to start beating Lancer with advance + 4" melee range.

Well, turned out that there was almost quarter of an inch too much distance. A beautiful shot from the big cannon killed Squire, though, so it wasn't all bad.

Kraken was now, however, going to bite the dust if I didn't start some rash actions.

All the rest of Cryxian troops pretty much ran forward to block as many charges as possible against Kraken. All in all it felt like a pretty bad turn, but I was in for a surprise next turn.

Haley uses her feat, obviously. Aiyana casts the +2 damage kiss on Kraken. Gun Mages kill most of the Mechanithralls, and Chargers attempt to shoot Reaper. They do pretty well, since the ranged weapon drops. The Mechanithralls, on the other hand, seem to have some kind of blessing on them. It takes Haley, Gun Mages, Junior Warcaster and whatnot to kill them to the last. Oh wait - there's still one remaining! Behind the Reaper!

Next Storm Lances charge. Thankfully some important charge lanes to Kraken were blocked and only one Lance got to charge the colossal. One Storm Lance charged Reaper, and I was sure Mechanithralls were now done for. After all only one attack needed to hit Reaper to make Electro Leap to last remaining Mechanithralls.

All the attacks missed. Well, I didn't feel sorry. Not yet.

Lancer advanced to melee with Kraken, and then it was Cryx turn again.

Venethrax activated first and used his feat.

Withershadow Combine activates and Tremulus gives Puppet Master to Kraken, and Admonia goes to abolish Arcane Shield from Storm Lances.

Kraken then kills Storm Lance and with resulting Kill Shot it shoots Lady Aiyana, despite needing absurd rolls to hit. To make matters even worse - Master Holt fails massive casualties command check. With remaining attacks Kraken nearly wrecks Lancer warjack, but not quite.

Ogrun Bokur advances and gets Client bonus from being close enough to Venethrax and attacks Lancer, but fails to kill.

Reaper and four Mechanithralls destroy two Storm Lances.

With all magic weapons except those of Haleys and Journeyman Warcasters gone, Pistol Wraith feels courageous enough to run forward.

Then it's Cygnar turn, and remaining two Storm Lances, what's left of Lancer and Centurion unleash their full fury upon Kraken, and this is where I start to feel sorry. Damage rolls were pathetic, and if memory serves only left tentacle was broken. Chain Lightnings and Electro Leaps took all of my support away, though, so there was no more repairing Kraken at least.

Gun Mages and Chargers underperform seriously. One Mechanithrall is left alive... again. And it was being shot to back arc.

Gorman diWulfe almost manages to win the game again, when he advances and throws Black Oil on Lancer, whose Movement system had been broken down. That was bad news for Kraken next turn.

Something kills Admonia, which was a setback. I don't remember who or what did it, but I believe it was one of the Gun Mages.

But then it's Cryx turn.

Pistol Wraith advances and shoots Gorman diWulfe with one well placed shot. Second shot goes to Journeyman Warcaster, and it's a kill again. At this point I'm not feeling sorry anymore - I feel bad. It was really looking like my opponent couldn't roll above 7+, and I couldn't roll less than 7+.

Well, Journeyman bit the dust and off went the Arcane Shield from Centurion.

Blind Kraken wrecks blind Lancer.

Two mechanithralls and Reaper wreck uninjured Centurion with pretty good rolls. And then... just because I can, Withershadow Combine gives Puppet Master to somewhere and Maelovus takes a random pot shot against Stormblade Captain. And... it's a kill.

Venethrax, aided by Ragman's Death Field, advances into forest and whacks two Storm Lances dead.

It's certainly not looking good for Cygnar, but on the other hand, Kraken wasn't in too good shape either and if the big guy would go down, there wouldn't be much to talk about of Cryx forces either.

Finally all of the Mechanithralls go down, and one of the Chargers run to block Kraken's advance. Pistol Wraith also dies to one of the many options.

Next turn there's some amazing dice rolling going on again. An aimed shot from Nightwretch and a boosted Dark Fire from Maelovus wreck the Charger on right, and Reaper and Venethrax wreck the other one.

Kraken charges objective, but fails to destroy it.

How many critical brutal damages can Arm 18 Venethrax take? Well, I don't have the answer, because Gun Mages and Master Holt dealt at most five damage points in.

Kraken then charges Haley, but doesn't hit even once.

Venethrax charges Master Holt and kills him, and now it's Arm 18 Venethrax again against critical brutal damages, this time targetting his back arc.

But two Gun Mages just don't roll enough to kill Venethrax. All opponent has remaining is two Gun Mages and Haley, so he concedes.

It was an interesting game that went all kinds of funny, but it was a bit frustrating since neither force could deal the final blow at any point during match. I believe Cygnar would have been triumphant here if there had been even a couple lucky rolls going their way, but no. Only averages and 5 or less with three dice.

It's very possible this was the last practice game I can play before playing in a tournament at the start of next month. Well, at least I know for sure that since it's using Deathclock, I'm not bringing Venethrax + Kraken there.

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

Last Wednesday I played a 50 point Warmachine game.

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

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

So, I conjured up a funny list:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- Kraken
- Nightwretch

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

And opponent had:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tartarus curses Warspears and charges them, killing two.

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

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

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

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

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

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

But still - there was a chance!

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

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

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

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

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

And then I lose games. To one box remaining.

Bitter? Hell no.

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

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

Enter SR 2014

I played my first game of warmachine with Steamroller 2014.

When I was picking my warcaster I realised that I hadn't played with Wraith Witch Deneghra for almost one and a half year. She managed to skip Steamroller 2013 entirely.

Game was 50 points, and my list was:

Wraith Witch Deneghra
- Nightmare
- Reaper
- 2x Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Soulhunters
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Minimum unit of Mechanithralls
Darragh Wrathe
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
Ogrun Bokur (Deneghra client)
Ragman

And opponent had:

Tier list, not sure up to which tier level:
Epic Vayl
- 2x Ravagore
- 2x Angelius
- Seraph

Maximum unit of Hex Hunters
Maximum unit of Spawning Vessel & Acolytes
2x Shepherd
2x Spell Martyr


Despite Vayl's tier bonus Cryx got to start the game. First picture is taken from the end of Legion turn 1. On second turn Deneghra did what Deneghra does best - turns incorporeal, walks up and uses feat. Only the Ravagore on the far right and some Hex Hunters to the left are outside of Deneghra's control area. Deneghra cast Hellmouth on spawning vessel and killed about three or four acolytes.

A charge by Soulhunters against Hex Hunters (now who's hunting who?) killed a couple of the nyss infantry, and light cavalry movement ensured that the unit was engaged.

Other than these not much damage was done, but most importantly Refuge shenanigans by Angeliuses was stopped dead on their tracks.

Next turn Vayl attempts some slipstreams instead and places the spawning vessel to block LOS to Vayl herself. She also casts Icy Grip on Mechanithralls.

Hex Hunters and warbeasts kill all but one Soulhunter on the left side of things, and the free ravagore advanced to hill and tried to shoot Ragman, but missed.

Next turn I was quite confident I'd remove at least two heavy warbeasts. And I almost did, but combined efforts of Ogrun Bokur, Reaper, Nightwretch, Necrotech and even scrap thrall wasn't enough to bring the ravagore on the hill down.

Vayl had also cast Admonition on herself and she managed to escape rather easily. I had been thinking of casting a Hellmouth again on spawning vessel to drag her a bit closer before triggering Admonition, but somehow I still managed to charge the vessel with Mechanithrall. Since vessel was either undamaged or taken one or two damage points in the mechanithrall needed quite good roll to destroy it entirely. The roll was outrageous, so I lost Vayl and the possibility of killing Nightmare's target shepherd.

Deneghra cast Venom on the shepherd, then, and Nightmare chose the angelius as new prey. Then Nightmare charged its Prey and destroyed it.

Situation is a bit desperate on Legion now. Vayl tries to use her feat, but it goes awry when she is under Darragh Wrathe's Beyond Death.

Ravagore and Angelius on left manage to only dismount Darragh Wrathe, and Ravagore on right does some damage on Reaper. However, this was the last picture taken. Nightmare kills Seraph and the large gathering of random units eventually kill the ravagore on the hill. I don't have the heart to force opponent play any longer, and Legion concedes the game. After all there was only two hex hunters, Ravagore and Angelius versus about 40 points of Cryx.

Yeah, it was a tough match-up for epic Vayl. However, if Legion had won the starting roll I believe the game would have looked a lot different, and the Wraith Witch's feat wouldn't have been so crippling. It's actually really annoying when a single roll (the starting roll) dictates so much if a match-up is tough or if it's an outright stomp. Maybe I can now skip another year before I play epic Deneghra again.

Iron Arena at Ropecon 2013

26.-28. of July was time for Ropecon gaming convention.

I think this was the biggest year for Warmachine there - there were lots of tournaments (at least planned) and Iron Arena going on.

I played two games in Iron Arena and took part in the 50 point main tournament.

I'm writing up the Iron Arena games first now, as I'm still visiting people.

First game on Friday was against Lord Carver and some happy pigs.

It was a 50 point game, and I played with Iron Lich Asphyxious with following list:

Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Nightmare
- 2x Nightwretch
- 2x Helldiver

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 1x Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Darragh Wrathe
Bloat Thrall
Skarlock Thrall
Gorman diWulfe
Ragman

Opponent played something like this:
(Not sure about exact army composition)

Lord Carver
- Gun Boar
- 2x Road Hog
- War Hog

2x minimum unit of Farrow Brigands

Minimum unit of Bone Grinders
Slaughterhousers
Rorsh & Brine

There was some scenario that I don't remember any more. Anyway, first picture is taken from the end of opponents turn number X. Either first or second.

Lord Carver had been casting Batten Down the Hatches more than what is healthy. Iron Lich used his feat right next turn, and he charged closest Road Hog, cast Parasite on it, took a few hits against Road Hog and cast Breath of Corruption on close Brigands. I would have liked the shot to miss for a better chance to hit multiple pigs, but what can you do when you just roll 11+.

Then Asphyxious teleported away, and Darragh Wrathe cast Death Ride, hoping to get more Mechanithralls within charge range. Well, the 1" didn't probably help much, but two thralls got the charge and beat the beast with a whopping p+s 17, thanks to Scything Touch. Road Hog was left with just a few damage boxes, which was slightly annoying. Now I needed to bring Nightmare to the fray, which probably meant an end to Nightmare.

And Lord Carver used his feat, so it really did mean an end to bad dreams. Cankerworm went to scraps too, so all melee warjacks were gone in one sweep.

Rorsh and Brine went to contest left zone, and fool as I was, I thought they'd be some easy bacon.

Next turn Asphyxious used the good method of charging in, casting Parasite and teleporting away. Then Ragman and a ton of Mechanithralls with Scything Touch came to finish War Hog.

And despite all Cryxian forces tried to do, they just couldn't get rid of Rorsh. The smelly little pig just defied all efforts to turn him into a sausage. Luckily Warwitch Siren managed to score a hit on Brine, Shadow Binding it to place. Things could have gone really ugly.

Cryx started to win attrition when Rorsh finally bit the dust and there were only a handful of brigands on the board plus Road Hog and Gun Boar.

There was, however, a short moment when everything could have fallen apart. Asphyxious ran to left zone, trying to dominate it.

Otherwise it worked well, but opponent almost pulled off an assassination.

Road Hog, combined ranged attacking Brigands and Lord Carver himself who cast Rift on Asphyxious, and a Fire damage roll later Asphyxious was standing with only two hit boxes. Eww, way too close!

But then Ragman's Death Field and Asphyxious did their thing, and Lord Carver was put down.

It was my first game against Lord Carver, and first game against minions overall. And a good game it was.


Game 2:

On Sunday I played a 35 point game with Cryx against Cryx.

My list was:

Venethrax
- Seether
- Malice
- Ripjaw

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Skarlock Thrall
Machine Wraith
Ragman

And opponents list was a rather tough one:

Warwitch Deneghra
- Defiler

Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Bane Knights
Bane Lord Tartarus
Gorman diWulfe
Skarlock Thrall
2x Pistol Wraith

I think the scenario was Ammunition Run, and Cryx won the starting roll (damn, what an awesome pun of sorts! I can even spoil the report a little more: Cryx won)

Anyway.

Best thing I could try to do here was to screen my army with Venethrax's feat and hope no banes would get into contact with the helljacks.

It did work out to some extent, but Deneghra's feat denied bile thralls' purge attacks too, so situation on round 3 looked very grim - almost all my infantry gone, only helljacks remaining.

Venethrax had been upkeeping Lamentation, because a lucky hit from Malice had dragged Defiler to its death. If Deneghra wanted to cast any of those horrendous spells, she would be paying premium price for them.

When Gorman threw Black Oil on Malice, all of my hopes for a desperate assassination were gone.

I just tried to screen Venethrax with Seether and Malice and hope for a chance to jump.

But alas, it was not to be. Venethrax fell to a swarm of various Banes. But not until he had survived them for three turns.

I know it was rather stupid in the first place to pick Venethrax against Cryx, but that's what I like to do. Stupid things, heh.

I actually got a few convention dice, a bandana and a gift voucher for these small efforts at playing Iron Arena, which was an amazing bonus.

"I'm, like, completely ignoring you."

A couple of days ago I played a bit Warmachine.

It was a 35 point game with Steamroller 2012 scenario The Gauntlet.

I played following list with my Cryx:

Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- Ripjaw
- Defiler

Cephalyx Overlords
2x Warwitch Sirens
Iron Lich Overseer
- Reaper
Necrotech
Pistol Wraith
Ragman

And opponent had:

Epic Caine
- Ol' Rowdy

Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + Officer
- Defender
Minimum unit of Greygore Boomhowler & Co.
Squire
Epic Eiryss
Madelyn Corbeau
Reinholdt

Opponent won starting roll, but decided to let me go first and pick side instead. Not a bad choice, when he'd get to score scenario points first. Also, his guns outranged mine. Which wasn't exactly a suprise, as I was playing Cryx.

First picture is taken from the end of Cygnar's first turn, and follow-up picture from the end of my second.

I decided to use Deneghra's feat there and then, because there was a real possibility of me not having enough of an army to make The Withering count on later turns. Only models that weren't under feat were jack marshaled Defender and Ol' Rowdy.

Damage I did was not very impressive. Two models dead from opposing side. However, Crippling Grasp was on Gun Mages, which meant that later I might actually hit against their otherwise godlike Defense.

Opponent didn't manage to do much, which usually happens during The Withering.

However, Defender missing corporeal Pistol Wraith with triple 1's and Ol' Rowdy failing to knock down Warwitch Siren with Tremor were some sort of an insult to injury, since both were unaffected by Deneghra's feat.

Eiryss, however, didn't mind much about the feat and disrupted Slayer.

On my next turn Pistol Wraith shot Gun Mage officer down and second shot tickled either a Boomhowler's company, or another model in Gun Mage unit, don't remember any more.

Eiryss messed up a Venoming of Caine as Ripjaw moved within 5" of her. Luckily Defiler could make up for the moronic move of Ripjaw, and the venom that could have melted Caine's heart made sludge out of Eiryss only.

Then, maybe next time when I face Ol' Rowdy I remember he has Counter Charge. Hapless Iron Lich Overseer moved on top of the little hill and wanted to claim one soul from the mercenary trollkin for Reaper to use later.

Well, turned out I didn't need to bring Ol' Rowdy to my lines with Reaper, it came just by itself, and made Overseer a sorry heap of scrap metal and necrotite fumes.

Though all was not lost! Ragman positioned himself so that both Slayer and Reaper would gain benefits of Death Field. However, Slayer attacked with Combo-Strike and rolled 4 or 5 for damage. With two dice. Yay.

Then Reaper came in with one focus loaded by a Warwitch Siren, and made two amazing damage rolls with two Helldriver attacks, leaving only Movement and Cortex intact on Rowdy. Could be that Movement was down too, but I'm not certain.

Well, I was afraid that this would be the turn when Caine used his feat upon Deneghra. She was sitting on two focus, so she was Defense 16 Armor 16 with 16 damage boxes left. Wow. I didn't realise that until now when I was writing this.

However, that was not to be. Caine did use his feat, but he opted to decimate pretty much everything but the Cryxian heavy warjacks and models with Stealth.

But he was without Focus now, and he just could not get rid of Arc Node of the Defiler.

With unsporty measurement of Control Area I found out that Caine was just within 12" of Deneghra, which is the range how far she can charge.

Problem was the one trollkin standing in between. She would have to charge exactly straight to Caine, he'd be left out of reach if she tried to shuffle even a little bit.

Looking at the pictures I can see that I had the keys to victory there, but order of operations was, again, messed up.

My two warwitches tried to poke Boomhowler to death, one with melee weapon (didn't hit) and one with Venom (hit but did no damage).

Then Slayer destroyed what was left of Ol' Rowdy, and Reaper tried to move into melee with the thrice damned trollkin.

If I was actually a good player, I would have first destroyed Rowdy with Slayer, moved Reaper up and dragged the trollkin out of way with Reaper.

Anyway, then Deneghra cast Scourge on Caine from about 1.75" away, which was autohit. Having failed to remove the trollkin from charge lane, Deneghra cast Venom on Caine instead, and did good damage in, something like 10 or the like.

Then Deneghra moves bravely as far away as was possible. I left her tip-toeing the Gauntlet zone, though as a hindsight, I should have gone to hug the Killbox instead and give opponent one damn control point.

Then comes opponents turn. Caine shakes himself up, moves forward and casts Gatecrasher, and just manages to get to Deneghra's back arc.

I find last picture to be somewhat hilarious. Both warcasters look like they're doing everything in their power to not notice the other.