Day 1 of Steam & Fury

A week ago I played in a 50 point warmachine tournament. It had Active Duty Roster option (season 1), so hey. Why not? Lists needed to be sent quite early for validation, so there was no possibility for last moment changes. Which was bad, as I was building my lists a day before the deadline in a slight hangover... Well. Who want's to ignore stealth, anyway?

So. I opened the tournament with a smashing victory before the first round had even begun. There was uneven number of players and I got the bye. I chose I had played the game with Hexeris because I would be playing with Mordikaar for sure. Possibly not so much with Hexeris, and now there was no obligation to play with Hexeris at all.

First real game was against Trollbloods.

I'm not 100% certain of opponent's list, as I'm not that familiar with their models. With Forward Kommander I came up with:

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender
- Mulg

2x Maximum units of Warders
Maximum unit of Fennblades + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Krielstone Bearers + Elder
2x Fennblade Kithkar
Fell Caller hero
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Trollkin Champion Hero

My list was:

Void Seer Mordikaar
- Bronzeback Titan
- Archidon
- Cyclops Shaman
- 2x Reptile Hounds

Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrari
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Beast Handlers
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit
Feralgeist

Looking back now I think I should have switched Agonizer into something more useful. Scenario was Close Quarters. It was really nice to get to play against Madrak2, since I've played versus him... perhaps... only once? Ever?

I thought that Slaughterhouse might come in handy against trollbloods, but for some reason I deployed Reptile Hounds far away from each other. I guess I thought I might spread the Take Down farther that way, but then again... these were heavily armoured trolls I was facing. P+S 8 will only go so far, and with Slaughterhouse on you still need to deliver the killing blow to ignore tough and remove from play.

My plan was just to engage trolls with and survive one round of beating with Mordikaar's feat, especially with the Bronzeback. But trollbloods are such a rare encounter for me that I had completely forgotten that Fell Callers can give +2 to attack rolls for troll units. That seriously lessened the survivability of my warbeasts and coupled with some real good damage rolls, the Bronzeback died while under Mordikaar's feat. So the game was a downward spiral from there on. If I just somehow might reach Madrak himself with a Ghost Walked Archidon there might still be a game.

But things went as expected.

Madrak cleared most of my warbeasts and Praetorian Swordsmen with his feat. Rufus played dead. Mulg advanced with Warpath and trampled to Mordikaar, but somehow fails to kill him. So there's one last chance of a really awkward assassination if everything was perfectly executed and opponent failed every roll he'd be doing!

Well. Sad as it was, I cast Ghost Walk on Mordikaar and tried to advance past Mulg. But a Beast Handler or one of the last Praetorians was just blocking his advances, so my chances dropped from 2.5% to zero.

It's possible I clocked out in this game trying to navigate the last turn, but it didn't really bother me as the situation was very, very clear.



Game 2:

Next I was against Circle of Orboros. And I faced no other than the dreaded Bradigus with his tier list.

Opponent had:

Bradigus
- 2x Wold Guardian
- Five thousand Wold Watchers

2x Sentry Stone & Mannikins
3x Shifting Stones

Before I learned a thing or two during the game, I thought my best bet would be Mordikaar, because Hexeris wouldn't have a feat against Bradigus. And +3 Def seemed like a nice pre-emptive measure against a disturbing Synergy chain. How wrong was I...

Anyway, my list was:

Void Seer Mordikaar
- Bronzeback Titan
- Archidon
- Cyclops Shaman
- 2x Reptile Hounds

Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati

Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Beast Handlers
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit
Feralgeist

Scenario was Fire Support. Skorne started game. I took the Reptile Hounds again, because I didn't think I'd be needing Basilisk Krea, and there would be no reason to boost attack rolls for the hounds. All targets were automatically hit, or had DEF 9.

First picture is from the end of Circle turn 1.

Turn 2 I try to open the game and trust my DEF 17 Archidon would survive or at least require some serious dedication from the opponent to get down. So Archidon was enraged and given Puppet Master, and I hoped it would take down one Woldwatcher. Well... it didn't. It wasn't too far off, and I can probably blame a failed Puppet Master re-roll, which turned a result of 1,2,2 to 1,1,2. Anyway, I had used Mordikaar's feat so the rest of the army advanced aggressively.

Circle turn 2 I learn some new shenanigans about this game. Push Power Attack is a melee attack that hits automatically, and as such it triggers Synergy. That was terrible news for me. But even worse news that was for the Archidon, who promptly died to some +5 attack & damage synergy chain.

Skorne turn 3 I desperately launched enraged, Ghost Walked and Train Wrecking Bronzeback Titan at a Woldwatcher that was standing in a forest template, thus in LOS. Here was a tiny glimmer of hope. Two war gauntlet initials and a head butt destroyed the Woldwatcher, and tusks and one additional attack destroyed the sentry stone. Now was the true test for Bronzeback: four Fury left for attacks, and a def 9, arm 20 target to destroy.

True to Bronzeback's newfound tradition of failing all the true tests, it just didn't roll enough damage to kill Wold Guardian - even with five attacks. Oh dear. Even if Bronzeback would have killed the Guardian, Bronzeback would still have needed to survive next round of beating from various Wold Watchers and a second Wold Guardian for me to stand a chance.

The rest of the game pretty much played itself. Somehow I did manage to struggle to survive, but I didn't inflict real casualties for Circle. I also realised how good counter that list was for Mordikaar. First was that unsporting synergy trickery that mitigated Mordikaar's feat. Second gruesome aspect was the remove from play quality of Woldwatchers' melee and ranged weapons. They pretty much ruined Hollow.

Oh well. I did score one control point when Void Spirit charged enemy objective and during the course of two turns destroyed it.

Finally Bradigus comes personally to deal with Mordikaar once all transfer targets had been mauled by the constructs.

Game 3:

Last game for Saturday was against Convergence of Cyriss. Good thing I've had some practice against Convergence thanks to our local Convergence player.

Anyway. Convergence list was:

Father Lucant
- Prime Axiom
- Inverter
- Corollary

Maximum unit of some small base infantry with shields and chain weapons... Obstructors?
Maximum unit of Reciprocators
2x Optifex Directive
2x Enigma Foundry

Well. No matter what, there was Purification to screw both of my warlocks. However, yet again Mordikaar seemed my best option, since there weren't too many models in the opposing army for Hexeris to have an effective feat.

My list was:

Void Seer Mordikaar

- Bronzeback Titan
- Archidon
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea

Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Beast Handlers
Swamp Gobbers
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit (why?)
Feralgeist

Scenario was Incoming. I think Skorne started the game, and the first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 2. I don't have a picture from the end of Convergence turn 2, which is a shame since some important positional stuff happened there.

First, the Reciprocators got Shield Wall order and took Set Defence. All of them came to contest the leftmost zone, and Enigma Foundry followed them closely.

Prime Axiom and Obstructors took a rather big foothold on the rightmost objective. Basilisk Drake died pitifully, as did some Praetorians, but somebody was left alive to contest the zone. Lucant didn't use his feat just yet, and so it was Skorne turn 3.

Willbreaker gave Puppet Master for Cataphract Cetrati, and then they go to beat some Reciprocators. Their damage rolls are enough to take down three of them, which was unexpected. And there it was, now... an opening for scenario game. It's possible that Mordikaar shot a couple of last damage boxes from one of the Reciprocators, though. I'm not entirely sure, but I believe Mordikaar used his feat now.

Then enraged Archidon needed to take down last two Reciprocators, and succeeds.

On the right I just try to contest long enough to grind five control points. Looking back now I probably shouldn't have even done any attacks with the Swordsmen to save me some time, since what was automatic one damage points to a colossal? A couple of the small based infantry members died, though. But Enigma Foundry would just bring them right back. So it was the Agonizer who was the actual hero here when it denied focus allocation for Inverter and Prime Axiom.

Turn 3 Lucant uses his feat and comes to contest the left zone with Enigma Foundry that has absurd armour value. Inverter comes mid field (pun intended... but is there even a pun?) and Obstructors and Prime Axiom continue to duke it out with Praetorians in the right zone.

Turn 4 there's this ARM 22 Enigma Foundry with ten damage boxes that needed to be taken care of.

Before I fully realised what I'd be doing with my turn, I started with the "easy" activations, like Basilisk Krea, who used her animus. I had been thinking of just running Mordikaar to enemy zone.

Cataphract Cetrati get the Puppet Master again and proceed to wreck the Enigma Foundry. I was quite sure I'd be able to destroy it, but when the bugger was left with just one damage box remaining, I needed to re-evaluate my plans.

I wanted to charge the enemy objective with Archidon and not waste it's activation on the Enigma Foundry, so this is what I came up with: Bronzeback performs a double handed throw on Basilisk Krea, and then Mordikaar charges a Cetrati, casts Essence Blast and takes the last damage box from Enigma Foundry. Success.

Archidon was free to charge enemy ARM 22 objective.... which triggered Watcher, and next to no damage was done to the objective. Die on the objective tells it was five damage. Really? All the earlier effort of throwing Krea's all over the place was... for this?

Anyway. Skorne was at three control points now.

Next turn opponent obviously throws everything he can to contest their friendly zone, which isn't much, but still a heavy vector and perhaps a servitor. Lucant kills Archidon, and the rightmost front is the same as ever.

Turn 5 I'm fairly confident that I can kill the heavy vector... but funnily enough it proved to be a lot more trickier than I initially thought. Both Basilisk Krea and Bronzeback Titan were facing completely wrong directions - neither could see the Inverter!

Last remaining Cetrati did what they could, but it was not enough. Mordikaar had quite a lot of Fury thanks to Hollow, so he decided to give it a go, too. But first he cast Ghost Walk on Basilisk Krea, who had shaken herself up.

Well, damage was okay I guess, but as it was not entirely excessive I aborted the wrecking of the vector and opted for another plan. Mordikaar cast Paralytic Field on himself.

Then Bronzeback activated and used Train Wreck on Basilisk Krea. And then Beast Handlers take the Fury point off from Krea.

Krea advanced and needed to land two or three successful hits on Inverter to push it away from the zone - and that's what she did.

Last few activations I had to make could have spelled my doom, as I had forgotten about the Watcher. Luckily I didn't run any random models within 6" of Lucant just for the fun of it as Corollary might have been able to come to contest the zone.

So that was the Saturday of Steam & Fury. Nice games overall even if I got my own butt handed back to me in the form of some kind of nuggets in the first two games. But they were both new experiences in their own way, and against rare (for me) warcasters and warlocks.

Forge Master vs Void Seer

This game also dates a couple of weeks back.

I continued to play with Mordikaar, and I was against Convergence of Cyriss.

It was a 50 point game, and my list was a copy of one of my earlier lists... Shocking, I know. I never do that.

Void Seer Mordikaar
- Bronzeback Titan
- Archidon
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds

Minimum unit of Beast Handlers

Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit
Saxon Orrik

Opponent had (or at least I think I got the list right... so many vectors again):

The Great Machine tier 4
Forge Master Syntherion
- Assimilator
- Cipher
- Monitor
- 2x Modulator
- 2x Diffuser
- Mitigator
- Corollary
- Free Galvanizer

Optifex Directive

Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex
Accretion Servitors
Attunement Servitors

Scenario was Destruction, which looked rather challenging on this board! Flayer Cannon and Dominar Rasheth act as the objectives in this game because I forgot to take my usual objectives with me.

Convergence started game, and first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 1.

Syntherion had his usual set of Synergy, Reconstruct and Hot Shot going on, thanks to tier bonuses. Reconstruct was on one of the Modulators, and Hot Shot was on Cipher.

Skorne had Banishing Ward on Cetrati and Hollow on Praetorian Swordsmen.

Turn 2 Convergence casts Magnetic Hold on Praetorian Swordsmen and kills one Cetrati and a void spirit.

Mordikaar uses his feat and tries to rush forward with entire army. Cataphract Cetrati charge various vectors on the left, and Archidon flies straight to the ruins against a modulator. Bronzeback Titan backs up the flying reptile. Magnetic Hold on Praetorian Swordsmen was a costly affair. Aptimus Marketh cast Banishing Ward on them, and then Mordikaar cast Hollow right back. Anyway, the Swordsmen and two Reptile Hound clog the right side of the board. Skorne didn't do much in terms of casualties, but hopefully +3 def would have some effect.

Turn 3 Syntherion replies with his own feat, but that +3 defense is a tough one. Only a couple of Cetrati die plus ton of Swordsmen, but they just turn into souls for Mordikaar. I think Archidon took a few nasty hits and was left with only about 20% of damage boxes left.

The ruins in the middle make for rather confined battleground, so I decide that Archidon is dead anyway, so it flies over the Modulator and takes a free strike - which doesn't hit. Nice. Then Archidon tickles Cipher a bit. Bronzeback Titan comes and mauls Modulator with just initial attacks, but damn. Exactly this Modulator was the one with Reconstruct. And it popped up from behind of Bronzeback Titan.

Mordikaar brought back at least two Cetrati, one of which was dedicated to take out the reconstructed Modulator, and thankfully it succeeded.

Three charge attacks and a Basilisk Krea was enough to wreck the Assimilator (one charge attack had come a turn earlier).

Turn 4 Convergence killed Archidon, Basilisk Krea and I think even one Reptile Hound, which was kind of a bad thing. Just a while ago situation had looked so good. After all, Skorne infantry is the very definition of "disposable" with Mordikaar.

But I still got my Bronzeback, who single-handedly goes and wrecks Cipher and the enemy objective. Praetorian Swordsmen gang up on Monitor and deal one point of damage with precision strikes. Last Reptile Hound tries to come and finish it, but there's only so much P+S 8 can do.

Turn 5 Convergence finishes off all Cetrati, which is kind of a harsh blow. Only real heavy hitter was now the Bronzeback Titan - and opponent still had tons of warjacks. Granted, none of them seemed to have the hitting power to easily kill Bronzeback either! But I'd be losing that attrition thanks to Reconstruct.

Swordsmen still aren't able to finish off Monitor, who in turn scores a hit on the last remaining Reptile Hound, killing it. Random assassination, here I come! No other chance any more, really.

Wall of steel starts to form up right in front of Bronzeback, who impatiently waits some reinforcements from Praetorians. But they're a turn too late in any case, and finally Bronzeback falls down, succumbing to the terrible amount of low-powered attacks slewn at it. By then the Swordsmen have arrived, but there is a wall with see-through windows in-between them and enemy forces.

With two Revives and a Ghost Walk from Aptimus Marketh... would two Praetorian Swordsmen kill uninjured enemy warcaster with two P+S 12 boosted attacks?

No.

So Convergence now needs only to mop up the battlefield from last remaining Skorne models. They fail to kill Mordikaar, who just manages to cut himself down to one hit box remaining and get full Fury for one last turn. He casts Ghost Walk on himself, charges Corollary, and... well. That's it. There was now a Furyless warlock with only one hit point sitting in the middle of enemy warjacks.

Rage, Feat, Go!

It's about time I write this thing up.

I played a 50 point game of Warmachine last Thursday, and continued to toy with Skorne and Mordikaar.

My list was:

Void Seer Mordikaar
- Archidon
- Bronzeback Titan
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hound

Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Void Spirit
Saxon Orrik

Opponent was playing legion with a warlock I've never faced before:

Epic Absylonia
- Scythean
- Seraph
- 3x Ravagore

2x The Forsaken
2x Strider Deathstalker

Huh. I guess a list like that won't be losing to deathclock in tournaments.

Anyway, scenario was Outflank, and Skorne started game.

Turn 1 most models just ran forward. I think Mordikaar himself ran forward too, and parked right behind Archidon. Bad mistake. Aptimus Marketh cast Hollow on Praetorian Swordsmen. Since Absylonia has absolutely zero spells she can cast on enemy models Banishing Ward was a bit useless spell I didn't bother to cast. Opponent could also erase a spell from Absylonia's spell card - Return Fire wouldn't probably see much action, since I only got one 6" ranged attack, and one other ranged attack on Mordikaar himself.

Slipstream + 6" move + 14" range caught me by surprise when a Ravagore shot the burning blast over Archidon and set both the heavy beast and Mordikaar on fire. The blast damage dared to do six points of damage, which was transfered to Basilisk Krea.

Turn 2 Strider Deathstalkers were on the left control zone, but they're not present in the first picture any more. Looks like the first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 2. Two Praetorian Swordsmen who had been brought back with Revive charged them and managed to get kills.

I consider doing the unthinkable, and proceed to run another turn with my whole army. No matter where I'd hide, I'd be in Absylonia's threat range, so better to embrace the incoming slaughter. With Mordikaar's feat, of course.

I'm not sure if I had done that if I'd remembered Absylonia's battlegroup got +2 MAT from Conferred Rage... oh well.

Absylonia easily triggered the additional bonuses from aforementioned ability on a poor Praetorian Swordman, used her feat and teleported away.

At least Mordikaar's feat did that much that I only lost both of my heavy warbeasts and two Cetrati that turn.

I only. Lost. Both of my heavy warbeasts. Opponent had five.

I also had blundered my placements on the left zone - I hadn't brought anyone to control it, so I didn't score a control point on opponent's turn even when he brought nothing to contest it.

Turn 3 I did score that control point, and I really did try to clear two beasts from the rightmost zone, too. The things I did to accomplish that... *shudder*

And I failed.

Void Spirit killed a Forsaken that was in the zone. The Ravagore in the right zone had Fortify on it.

Saxon Orrik advanced (he had been doing reconnaissance for Cetrati the whole game) and tried to take a rifle shot at Scythean. Missed or didn't damage.

Cataphract Cetrati charge, and three go to Scythean and one who didn't get a charge bonus attacked fortified Ravagore. Scythean was left with four damage points. Damn it. Four!

Mordikaar activated here. It was a desperate course of action that was most probably rather foolish thing to do, but he cast Essence Blast on a cetrati and attacked the Scythean again with POW 12. Only a 10+ to kill on a three dice!

I rolled 9.

So Mordikaar cast another Essence Blast on another Cetrati, and thankfully rolled 7+ with three dice. Killing two of my own heavy infantry was bad enough.

Then everywhere else things failed slightly. Or in a big way, depends how you look at it. Any more warbeasts didn't die. I vaguely remember that all of them had something like 14 or 15 damage boxes left.

Rufus, the named Reptile Hound even performed "bite" trick to get the Arm 20 Ravagore down, but there's only so much P+S 8 warbeasts can do.

One Ravagore was left with full four Fury, so to my advantage it frenzied and ate a Praetorian Swordman.

I was a bit worried if I'd lose to caster kill now, but most likely ravagore to do that was the one who frenzied.

Absylonia cleared the two Swordsmen that were engaging Forsaken and then she teleported away.

Forsaken attempted to clear the gathering of Praetorian Swordsmen with that annoying POW 8 blast action. No too many died. The Ravagore in left was already full on Fury - it had succeeded in the Threshold check. But as a consequence it didn't get to trample or do any other such shenanigans to the control left zone - and three Praetorian Swordsmen had been left alive who blocked a plain advance to the zone.

Seraph and fortified Ravagore took down all of the remaining Cetrati. Yet the last few attacks by that ravagore (well, three attacks or so...) failed to kill a Reptile Hound.

Skorne scored second control point then.

Turn 3 Skorne would win if Seraph and fortified Ravagore died. A combined charge by Saxon Orrik, Void Spirit and enraged Basilisk Krea killed the Seraph. But then there was the Arm 20 Ravagore.

Now that the enraged Reptile Hounds both started in the same melee, they both got flank bonuses. It did take all the Fury they could generate, but the Ravagore finally died.

I don't know what desperate actions I would've needed to take if that Ravagore had managed to kill one of the hounds... No other option than to revive as many swordsmen as possible and hope those P+S 12 attacks would have scored some high rolls.

Anyway.

Scary warlock, that new Absylonia.

Almost a funny match up - how come I can't stop sobbing bitterly?

Every key I press while I write this report is struck with a sweaty finger - sweat that is composed of pure dread and horror, as well as the usual stuff. I shudder as I remember the moments from my 35 point game of Warmachine last Tuesday.

I wanted to take out Lord Arbiter Hexeris out for a spin, and I did. Hey, it's one of the most respected Skorne warlocks, what could go wrong?

My list was:

Lord Arbiter Hexeris

- Bronzeback Titan
- Cyclops Shaman
- Basilisk Krea (bonded)
- 2x Reptile Hound

Minimum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Aptimus Marketh

Well, once I took my army out of the transport foam I couldn't really believe that was all. Again I had just slapped models I wanted to play together without much consideration to anything else, and I was baffled once I actually saw my list on the table. So damn few models. But that wasn't a horrifying thing or anything like that, no. To some extent I've used to surprises like this.

Opponent was playing:

Epic Haley
- Stormclad (bonded)
- Thorn

Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers + Officer
Black 13th
Storm Blades + Unit Attachment
Squire

Okay, epic Haley, that's bad news always. But still I wasn't suffering from terror and sudden panic attacks just yet.

Scenario we had was Close Quarters, and skorne won starting roll, and again I had a slow list, plus I was facing a serious scenario caster. No other option than to go first, and this time I ran as far as possible. This time there wasn't that much high powered long range shooting around than in last game.

Opponent did the same, and Rufus, my dear Reptile Hound who performs a wide variety of tricks during games, got to do its first trick in the first round of game: Play Dead. Haley cast a damage boosted Time Bomb on it.

Turn 2 I did start feeling these "oh no, whatever I do will bring me doom" -feelings that are quite commonplace when fighting against Haley2. Still nothing too bad.

Cataphract Cetrati shield walled themselves and advanced to definitely contest the friendly flag, and Basilisk Krea followed them with her animus.

Cyclops Shaman advanced and used Krea's animus, too. Hexeris cast a Hellfire on Stormclad through Basilisk Krea, since it was the only target in sight. Hexeris had quit upkeeping Ashen Veil on Cataphract Cetrati, and instead replaced it on Bronzeback Titan, who ran to a really bad position. I have Telekinesis on two of my own warlocks/warcasters, so I deserve what I got there, but still it hurts what happened next.

Thorn advances, Haley activates, casts Temporal Acceleratin on Stormclad and Telekinesis on Bronzeback, repositioning the beast both two inches closer and to direct charge lane. Yes, I had been thinking that Haley can get quite ridiculous threat ranges, but Stormclad wouldn't be able to charge Bronzeback in exact direct line - without reach the charge might have fallen short even with additional bonuses. Yeah, Stormclad has reach in reality, which is very different from my "rainbows and butterflies" make-believe world. I had mostly prepared for a charge from Storm Blades, and Stormclad possibly coming to wreck Cetrati.

So, even if Bronzeback does weather punishment fairly well, a P+S 19 warjack with four focus against Bronzeback's back arc was too much. It did take all four focus to kill it, though. As an added insult, the electro leaps killed last remaining Reptile Hound, meaning I wouldn't be able to do a full feat from my own beasts only.

Nothing else does much, though one of the black 13th rolls triple sixes for brutal damage shot against a Cetrati. And the Cetrati doesn't even die. These are the moments you almost want to raise your Krea from the table and lovingly caress it. Almost.

Turn 3 all but Aptimus Marketh is under Haley's feat.

And Haley makes Hexeris activate first. And this is the moment I will see nightmares about - at this point I realised how especially hopeless match-up epic Hexeris is against epic Haley. By activating Hexeris first there would be no feat for him this turn. Just moments prior I had been wondering if I should try to shoot Haley down with three Hellfires and probably fail, but at least there would have been a chance.

So Hexeris shoots Ashes to Ashes on a nearby Storm Blade instead just out of spite. Perhaps more than two additional hits might have affected the game somehow (which I doubt) but three hits was nothing, really. Then Hexeris tries to walk to relative safety of the rest of the army.

Then Beast Handlers activate, and do nothing, really.

Krea and Cetrati advance, both of which just advance to engage. Krea puts on her animus for no apparent reason.

Once Cyclops Shaman activates, I realize there is actually something I can do this turn - Cyclops Shaman can shoot with his eye! And it does. Twice, thanks to Ancillary Attack from Willbreaker. Both attacks kill a model, one of which was the officer. Sadly Storm Blades don't fail their command check.

Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer advance to protect Hexeris, and Aptimus Marketh just casts Ashen Veil on Hexeris.

Done.

Hexeris has two Fury left for transfers, and only Basilisk Krea for transfers. Foolishly I had riled the Shaman once to get some Fury next turn. Storm Blades beat Krea down to four boxes remaining, and then Haley clears a clears a path for Stormclad with Telekinesis. Stormclad advances to Hexeris, and hits. And hits. And hits. And dead.

It was a brutal game. Also some critical miss here or there might have kept me in game, but opponent dared to miss only one attack roll during whole game (it was a Gun Mage against a Beast Handler). But I don't think I can actually blame the dice here - worse rolls for opponent might have given me a remote chance of winning by a hail mary assassination, but I don't think amazing rolls were directly responsible for anything in this game. It was a hard match up, and poor planning on my part.

Also, if I hadn't thrown the Bronzback away so haplessly, I might have navigated through Haley's feat turn somehow even without a feat next turn. Whole Bronzeback affair was just sub-par play from me.

A random thing comes into my mind right now for future matches of Hexeris2 vs Haley2 - since I'm not doing anything with my warbeasts anyway, why not leave them full Fury and leach fury from Hexeris himself, and get some sort of feat that way? Funnilly enough, given proper alignment of your beasts, you might actually get a charge in during Haley's feat! After all, frenzy happens before Haley starts playing your turn.

Welcome to the Slaughterhouse(s)

Played two 35 point games of Hordes last Monday with following list:

Dominar Rasheth

- Archidon
- Rhinodon
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds

Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen
Minimum unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Feralgeist

And opponent had:

Thagrosh the Prophet
- Carnivean
- Ravagore
- Scythean

Maximum unit of Blighted Ogrun Warspears
Forsaken

Scenario was Close Quarters in both games, and Skorne started both games.

There's not much to say about the first game. Thagrosh was too close and had spent all his Fury because of a slight mismanagement of Fury. Rasheth had Carnivore on Rhinodon, Blood Mark on Thagrosh and then used his feat.

Warspears were lined up so that I really needed to kill a few of them or Rhinodon would take far too many free strikes on his was to Thagrosh. Basilisk Drake rolled pretty good rolls with the spray and killed maybe two warspears, and then reptile hounds took care of the last one who was threatening with a free strike.

But still... Thagrosh was Arm 16 with that -2 strenght bubble going on for him. Rhinodon was Enraged (P+S 16) and Thagrosh had Blood Mark and Plague Wind (-4 arm) so the final chances were MAT 7 (Carnivore) with all damage straight in to Thagrosh with four Fury. This time it was more than enough.

Well, next game went a bit differently. Or, quite a lot differently, in fact.


Game 2:

So, we got the same scenario and same starting order.

First picture from this game is actually from the end of Skorne turn 2. Carnivore had been cast on Rhinodon, and Rasheth has cast Blood Mark on Carnivean.

I thought I'd try to get some sort of alpha strike with Archidon, but the enraged charge was about quarter of an inch too short.

One full round has passed in between the pictures.

Warspears were punishing Praetorian Swordsmen, and Ravagore took a shot at Rhinodon, setting the turtle on fire. Scythean beat the crap out of Archidon, but didn't kill the beast. Carnivean backs up a little and sprays Archidon, killing it. This time I remember to use Feralgeist, who Spirit Binds the flying reptile.

Next Blood Mark is cast on Ravagore, and Rasheth cast Amuck to Rhinodon. Beast Handlers enrage Rhinodon and Rufus, the reptile hound. Basilisk Drake sprays Ravagore, and finally Rhinodon charges it, but fails to kill. Well, what can you expect from a 7 point base p+s 14 warbeast?

Next another Reptile Hound runs to engage Ravagore, after which Rufus charges with Slaughterhouse on. Damn the little dogs bite hard with that flank bonus - Ravagore was removed from play.

Again one full round is in between the pictures.

Attacking was tricky for Legion now. If Archidon would die, then Feralgeist would be free to give an additional hit to any of the many beasts Skorne got lined up in the front line.

I don't remember the exact activation order, but I think that Carnivean activated first and tried to kill Rhinodon, but failed.

Then Forsaken got Line of Sight to Archidon and charged it, killing it. Feralgeist popped out. Scythean used Slaughterhouse animus and advanced to remove Rhinodon and one of the Reptile Hounds from game. Since both heavy warbeasts were on full Fury now, Thagrosh started flinging spells all over the place. First he cast Mutagenesis on a Praetorian Swordsman, then advanced and cast another Mutagenesis on Feralgeist.

Meh.

Well, then it's Skorne turn. Swamp Gobbers run fast forward, and Rasheth uses one of them to cast Blood Mark on Scythean. He also uses Plague Wind, since it was quite imperative to get those heavy beasts removed from play. I think Rasheth also cast one Sunder Spirit at Carnivean.

Basilisk Krea paralysed Scythean, or at least tried to, I don't remember if it was a success.

Beast Handlers enrage Reptile Hound and Basilisk Drake. Drake charges Carnivean first and does impressive damage alltogether. But still the beast had a little too many hit boxes remaining that I could realistically hope for Reptile Hound to kill it... but that didn't stop Rufus from trying.

Reptile Hound uses Slaughterhouse and charges Carnivean. Damage roll was either 5, 5, 6 or 6, 6, 5. Oh my, Rufus had already taken down two heavy warbeasts. Was there any chance it would take down the whole trio?

No, no there wasn't.

Scythean Slaughterhouse'd both Basilisk Drake and Reptile Hound down, and the duel between Warspears and Praetorian Swordsmen was finally over.

So... I got two different options. I could try to kill Scythean with a couple of spells from Rasheth and Basilisk Krea. I think Scythean was on full Fury, so I also might try to kill Thagrosh with spells from Rasheth. Since Thagrosh had much less hit boxes than Scythean, I decided to try to go for the assassination, come what may.

Willbreaker gives Puppet Master to Basilisk Krea, who then advances and shoots Thagrosh with its blinded eyes. It's a hit! So, at least I wouldn't miss any of Rasheth's spells.

Slowly and unsteadily Rasheth lumbers forward and start measuring Control Area to see if Thagrosh was within 10". Turned out he wasn't. Damn it, why didn't I measure 14" before advancing? Well, then Rasheth tried to cast two Breath of Corruptions, hoping for good deviations. One of them actually was lucky, and I got to make a boosted POW 12 damage roll against Thagrosh. Well, I'm sure it's no suprise - it didn't one-shot Thagrosh.

Now. Situation was bad. It had been bad before, but now it was unbearable.

Ogrun Warspears assault Rasheth, but don't really do damage. There is, however, a Scythean within walking distance to Rasheth.

I took a close-up picture from the epic last stand of Rasheth. I mean, that Scythean sure has a meal on a plate right there. It's chin was in fact inside the chalice with that undefined yellowish drink.

The lack of a Bronzeback Titan was surely felt again in this game. It also didn't help much that I failed to estimate the 10.5" charge of Archidon on turn 2. Regardless, I was really happy with the Reptile Hounds. Their animi were quite essential in lessening Thagrosh's feat's impact. Now, come to think of it... I think every warbeast that got destroyed was removed from play in this game, except Archidon?

So, in this game Rufus played following tricks:

Kill: twice
Play dead: once.

Epic melé of ages

Last Thursday I played a 50 point game with Skorne.

My list was:

Lord Arbiter Hexeris
- Archidon (bonded)
- Bronzeback Titan
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds

Maximum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Opponent had the same list he had in last blog post, the one with Siege.

Scenario was Outflank, and Cygnar started the game. Since I played a game against Siege where my warcaster died straight to the get-go, I was a little bit too afraid of an assassination this time. In the second picture I start to chicken out with Hexeris. Looking back now I probably should have pushed more aggressively with the warlock, keeping a couple of Fury for transfers at all times.

As it happened, Siege just used his feat and destroyed both of my heavy warbeasts. And, well, all but two of Praetorian Swordsmen, too. It was quite apparent that I had lost the game already unless I went all kinds of crazy and the dice just wouldn't fail me.

I try to do the traditional Ashes to Ashes twice so that first Ashes went to Mortitheurge Willbreaker that ran close to Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers, and another was to go to back arc of Basilisk Drake. The Ashes to Ashes that was cast on Mortitheurge was quite successful, as it got five additional targets and didn't even kill the original target. The second, however... I didn't boost because I needed only 4's to hit the back arc of Basilisk Drake. Double 1's. Now that was a fine feat, wasn't it?

All in all the turn was quite miserable, but I got a good foothold to the control zone on right, and Siege was engaged by two Cataphract Cetrati. One of them even got a charge against the Cygnaran warcaster, but I don't remember if it did any damage.

Well, Cygnar continues to remove the warbeasts. Rufus the non-character character Reptilian Hound and Basilisk Drake are both destroyed. All the Praetorian Swordsmen are finally gone, too, as is the Mortitheurge Willbreaker. Since the game can't go much worse for me, I charge Hexeris in the middle of Storm Lances and Rangers and threshers them to death. He still has Basilisk Krea for a couple of damage transfers.

Then Defender smashes the blind frog into a paste, and Hunter takes a shot at Hexeris. Two Storm Lances charge Hexeris. I don't remember how much damage was dealt, but enough that Siege felt confident enough to charge in melee personally. Aaaannd...

Hexeris survives.

He was able to cut himself to full seven Fury, and Siege was focusless.

Now this was Hexeris's moment of glory.

However MAT 7, P+S 14 isn't enough to crack Def 14 Arm 20 warcaster (Siege had Arcane Shield on from Journeyman). I guess that's okay, since it would've felt like cheating if Hexeris had pulled off such a weird victory by just standing in the middle of enemy army when every attack made against him just keeps failing. It's good enough for me if Siege just crapped his warcaster armour when he saw that Hexeris just turned around and said something cool like "And you're next."

This was probably the first time ever I saw Siege in melee for two full rounds, and no less than against a warlock/warcaster model.

Rufus performed the Kill and Play Dead tricks in this game.

Main damage dealers being Rangers and Journeyman Warcaster

Okay, I'm exaggerating in the topic.

But anyway, I played a 50 point Warmachine game with Skorne.

My list was:

Lord Tyrant Hexeris
- Bronzeback Titan
- Archidon
- Basilisk Krea
- Basilisk Drake
- 2x Reptile Hounds

Minimum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Maximum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Venator Flayer Cannon
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Extoller

Opponent had:

Siege
- Defender
- Ol' Rowdy

Maximum unit of Long Gunners + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Horgenhold Forge Guard
Rangers
Squire
Arlan Strangewayes
Journeyman Warcaster
Gorman diWulfe
Ragman
Reinholdt

Skorne started the game at the cost of starting from difficult table edge. However, I really wanted to go first because my whole army was so damn slow, and Cygnar had quite impressive shooting options available.

Scenario was Outflank.

Well, as I already said, my army was slow. First picture is taken from the end of Skorne turn 2. Hexeris had cast Death March on Praetorian Swordsmen and Soul Slave on Archidon.

But then things started happening. Tons of Praetorian Swordsmen fell to shooting by... rangers. Even Ragman causes two deaths with Bone Shaker. But what griefs me most is the fact that two... just two rangers shot down my dear Rufus! Who was even hiding in a forest! Damn it, why lesser warbeasts never die that easily when I try to attack them? Well... at least Rufus got to Play Dead...

On my next turn Hexeris uses his feat, which has less than impressive results. If my memory doesn't fail me, Ragman and one or two Horgenhold Forge Guard members were the direct casualties. Oh, and Journeyman Warcaster had only one hit box remaining.

Last remaining Reptile Hound ran to block Ol' Rowdy's counter charge. I shuffle with the remainder of my army, except for Agonizer who unleashes all of its tears, denying focus allocation, and then ran towards the front line.

Next turn the most horrible thing imagined.

First I was relieved that Gorman diWulfe's movement was blocked by Defender and Siege. But that didn't stop Bronzeback Titan from being blinded by black oil, thanks to a fancy deviation.

Then it's obviously a perfect turn for Siege's feat. Things I lost: Reptile Hound, Basilisk Krea Archidon, Agonizer, rest of Praetorian Swordsmen except for the officer, and though Bronzeback didn't die, it took a lot of damage.

After casualties like that I usually go into reckless mode, and this is exactly what happened again.

Cataphract Cetrati declare a charge, and the unit leader aims for Siege. It's was a bit bummer that when I measured if charge was succesfull, it was quite apparent that it would had been possible to get a charge in at Gorman diWulfe. Ah well. Anyway, three Cetrati charge Ol' Rowdy (who had been denied a counter charge again by a beast handler), but don't wreck the jack.

Blinded Bronzeback manages to kill a forge guard, and Praetorian officer kills a ranger and tries to kill another forge guard, but fails in that.

Basilisk Drake sprays a few models dead, and Extoller shoots something down. Possibly a forge guard, since there is only one remaining in the picture.

Well, Hexeris finishes what Cetrati started. He charged Ol' Rowdy, and thanks to some bad rolls in the end it took him all but 1 Fury. He had Puppet Master on him, and this was probably the first time that I remembered to use the re-rolls and I needed those re-rolls, but as has been proved so many times before - re-rolls don't help. Well, I did improve 1 and 2 to 1 and 3.

By this time Cygnar had scored 1 control point, and now Skorne scored by dominating the zone on right.

Cygnar just needs to clean the board now. Bronzeback Titan is shot to pieces, and then there are some foxhole shenanigans and Hexeris is almost done for, too. The one Fury that was left saved him, though now when I'm looking at the picture I wonder if Drake was actually in his control range. Probably toeing it or something.

Gorman diWulfe attempts to blind all the Cetrati, but thankfully only one falls to the dreaded AoE.

However, there is only one model contesting right zone again. And Hexeris lived.

The model in question was promptly killed, and Skorne would be soaring to 4 control points. Hexeris launches Obliteration at Squire, and kills both its target and Reinholdt.

A Cetrati kills Gorman, and Extoller walks into melee with Forge Guard, boosts to hit and to damage and kills the dwarf.

And then something happens that gives this game a "fail" tag.

I somehow deem that shooting Siege with a spray is somehow more important than killing the last contesting Long Gunner from left zone. I'm not sure what the heck happened in the dark corners of my mind. I guess I failed to adapt to the situation, as I hadn't been counting on Extoller being able to kill the Forge Guard and I had given up the left zone in my mind. When situation changed, the best I could figure out was "hey, I go spray arm 21-22 warcaster!" instead of trying to hit a def 13 model that would die on a hit.

The end of story is short, but embarrassing. Long Gunners shoot down the last transfer target, Basilisk Drake.

Defender doesn't manage to do anything useful, and Siege missed against Hexeris with Ground Pounder.

The last possible guy then shuffles a little and takes a random shot at Hexeris - this last guy being Journeyman Warcaster. Against all odds (Hexeris was def 19 in cover) the attack hits. The hand cannon has pretty nice POW of 12, so I was quite worried at this point especially when Hexeris had something like 5 or 6 boxes remaining.

A poor roll could still save Hexeris, but, alas, the Journeyman Warcaster gains an advance in rank by gunning down a warlock.
But to be honest - I deserved that for my mental fart last turn.

At least Rufus performed a trick. This was my fourth game with the beast. From now on his statistics can be found from the Numbers subpage.

The Awkward Tree

Last Tuesday I played a game of Hordes vs Hordes.

Not a big suprise, I brought Skorne.

My 35 point list:

Lord Tyrant Hexeris
- Bronzeback Titan
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- 2x Reptile Hounds

Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Beast Handlers
Venator Flayer Cannon
Agonizer
Extoller
Mortitheurge Willbreaker

I was playing against Legion of Everblight (in person):

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
- Carnivean
- Scythean
- Shredder
- Afflictor

Maximum unit of Warspears + Chieftain
2x Forsaken

Skorne started game, but the first picture is taken from the end of Skorne turn 2. Nothing has happened yet. Draconic Blessing is on Scythean and Death March is on Praetorian Swordsmen. Thagrosh has Fog of War on, too.

Scythean charges Basilisk Krea, and kills her and a whole bunch of Swordsmen. Afflictor charges to Praetorian Swordsmen and makes an Incubus. Positioning was very awkward here, so the empty medium base high up in the tree represents Afflictor.

Scythean makes an assault and spray kills Agonizer.

So many important pieces dead in one turn. But fear not! I had the perfect plan for a counter-offensive. Hexeris' feat removed models from play, so if I only could kill all the warbeasts on my side, only a Shredder could come back from Thagrosh's feat.

Well.

If only.

I'm quite proud of all the shenanigans I pulled off, shame that they just didn't pay off.

First Hexeris activates, uses feat and charges Scythean. Hexeris manages to miss two attacks, and overall performance is annoyingly bad. I decide to pull back with Beat Back and leave two Fury left for transfers instead of buying attacks against Scythean. I was quite sure I'd manage to do enough damage to kill the beast.

Bronzeback Titan charges Carnivean. Carnivean dies, no suprises there, but Bronzeback knocks over 25% of its own health boxes out thanks to Spiny Growth.

Basilisk Drake advances and sprays so that both Scythean and Afflictor are under the template. Hits Scythean, but misses Afflictor. Scythean is in quite bad shape, but not dead yet.

Running out of options, both of the Reptile Hounds run next to Scythean. Beast Handlers then enrage Rufus.

Mortitheurge Willbreaker activates and uses Ancillary Attack on Rufus. P+S 10 + 3d6 hits Scythean and brings it down to... down to one damn hit box remaining. What is this thing with Thagrosh and one hit box?

I had been saving up my Venator Flayer Cannon and Extoller. Extoller took aiming bonus and an attack boost and tried to shoot Scythean who was engaged in melee. Miss, but a hit on Praetorians.

Venator Flayer Cannon is my last resort, though it needed 10's to hit thanks to melee bonus and concealment. But I really had to deal that one last point of damage. Cannon rolls full 3 shots. All miss. Two of them hit Praetorians, down goes the unit leader and the officer.

That was pretty miserable turn, but at least I know I tried.

Next Scythean is a healed a little and it takes out both Reptile Hounds. Afflictor continues to spawn incubi, and Praetorian Swordsmen manage to fail their command check. Damn it... Skorne has one of the best if not the best Command in the whole game. I guess Praetorians didn't approve the friendly fire from last turn.

Thagrosh juggles Draconic Blessing to Warspears, and they assault Bronzeback Titan. The spears they were throwing dealt much more damage than actual charge attacks, just as in the very same game I linked earlier. That must be some sort of karma thing. Anyway... Bronzeback fell. And when Bronzeback falls, so does whole Skorne.

Next Hexeris charges Scythean again and this time he kills the beast, but that was actually a bad thing for me. Thagrosh would only bring it back next turn.

Rest of Skorne army manages to kill two Warspears, and that's it.

Oh, if you're wondering about the long gunners in the woods - they're the incubi. Somehow I find that more disturbing than the actual incubi models.

Anyway, Legion closes in to Hexeris. Warspears try to assault Hexeris, but only one gets to do actual attacks against him. And misses.

This turn it's time for Beast Handlers to fail their command check. Skorne failing Command check twice during a game. Talk about a disciplined army.

It's pretty much game over, but thanks to Vampiric Reaving of Hexeris, I wanted to do a heroic last stand.

Hexeris started buying attacks against the incubi and warspear, using beat back to advance to Afflictor. He kills Afflictor and reaves 3 Fury from it. He then buys enough attacks to kill the warspear and advance to Shredder. Well, it really would have been awesome to actually do a heroic killing spree like that, but Hexeris was too exhausted to kill a Shredder even with five fury.

Praetorian swordsman feels pity for Hexeris and tries to come and kill Shredder, but the shredder just wouldn't die.

Thagrosh himself charges and makes Hexeris into a cloud effect.


But then to the interesting stuff:

So far, as a result from three games, Rufus has performed each of the following tricks once:
- Lie down
- Bite
- Play dead

That's Right - Lay Down, Play Dead, Be Dead

Last Sunday I played another game of Warmachine with my new beloved model, Rufus the Reptile Hound.

Game was 35 points, and my list was:

Lord Arbiter Hexeris
- 2x Reptile Hounds
- Bronzeback Titan
- Archidon (bonded to Hexeris)

Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Venator Flayer Cannon
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Agonizer
Aptimus Marketh
Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Opponent had:

High Exemplar Kreoss
- Crusader
- Revenger
- Repenter
- Dervish

Minimum unit of Exemplar Errants
Minimum unit of Deliverers
Vilmon
2x Paladins
Wracks
Vassal of Menoth

Board was interestingly full, but I guess it didn't give either player a big advantage since both of our armies were terrible at navigating terrain. However, we just played a caster kill game. If we'd have had a scenario with two 12" zones and maybe a sprinkling of flags and objectives, their initial placement would have been a pain.

Anyway.

Skorne started game. Kreoss began upkeeping Lamentation, and did this throughout the whole game. I had Ashen Veil on Praetorian Swordsmen. It was a bit annoying that my whole damn army was so slow. On turn 2 I had only brought my army to perfect Kreoss feat position. But better that way than getting your caster knocked down and having multiple blunt traumas with various instruments all over his body. I decided to not take a picture from my second turn as only progress was slowish advancement and a couple of Flayer cannon shots against Revenger.

Second picture is a bad picture, as it leaves out a paladin, rest of the Exemplar Errants and Archidon out on the right. Just try to imagine them there, will you?

Rufus learned a trick this turn - lie down. That was almost a cheat, since I was playing against Kreoss. Kreoss had activated his feat, and everything else but the Archidon, Hexeris himself an standard bearer of Praetorian Swordsmen were inside the control area.

One Dervish and a Repenter wasn't enough to take out a knocked down Bronzeback, however. I guess it would have needed at least Vilmon and Revenger there, too. But if Bronzeback would have survived those even with one box remaining, all three would have been dead on a single activation of that particular warbeast. That is to say - I can understand the hesitation.

Repenter had two shots available thanks to ancillary attack, and one of those attacks scorched Praetorians. Deliverers took shots against them, too, but one of them managed to roll double 1's to attack roll and no blast damage cracked through Arm 14. But even with a little lousy performance from them, all I was left was three praetorians and their standard.

On my next turn I make a serious blunder.

I shake off knock down from all of the warbeasts. I'm going to use Hexeris' feat and get rid of all Exemplar Errants. A couple of beast handlers can forfeit their movement to stand up and enrage the Bronzeback and take fury away from Rufus. Bronzeback then demolishes Dervish in a couple of swings. I think I would have been happier with a little less grand damage rolls, because there wasn't even a remote chance that Bronzeback would get to Beat Back to Revenger. Ah well. Bronzeback throws Dervish to Revenger with Chain Attack, destroying Dervish and knocking down Revenger.

Then Archidon advances and riles a bit Fury.

Hexeris activates and moves forward and I start twirling my evil mustaches and already imagining the wonders I could do with 14 Fury. Opponent says that I just entered Lamentation range. Heh.

Heh.

What would have been an onslaught of flame and cinder turned out to be a couple of heals to Bronzeback and Bronzeback's animus cast upon Rufus.

Valiantly the Reptile Hound charges to Revenger, and really does Beat Back the warjack. Not twice, though, that would have been too much.

Next turn Paladin on the right charges Archidon. I'm sure those knights wondered that why the heck did the beast just come and stare them menacingly. Paladin scored quite high damage, and I was sure Archidon was done for.

Exemplar Errants charge, three get to Archidon and rest go somewhere else. All three missed against Archidon. And to make matters even worse, if I'm looking right at the picture, the two who charged Beast Handler also missed? One who got to Beast Handler unit leader seems to have dispatched his target.

Vilmon goes to Stone and Mortar stance and Impervious Wall. Crusader didn't manage to kill Rufus - it was left alive with one damage box in Mind branch. Revenger backed off and took a free strike from the Reptile Hound, but took no damage. Without Body branch P+S 8 isn't going to do much.

And then some stuff happened.

Bronzeback is enraged by beast handlers and Hexeris casts Trainwreck on it. Then Bronzeback charges Vilmon. Even if it cannot harm Vilmon, it can still Beat Back it. Well, there was this free strike thing, though. Bronzeback had to take a free strike from Vilmon, because I didn't pay attention to the paladin's facing. Damage roll was quite low, though, and Bronzeback lost "only" it's mind.

That did mean that every attack roll had to be boosted, and still hit chances were only about 50%. This time it was enough, and Kreoss was beaten to death by an enraged, mindless Bronzeback Titan on fire.

This was enough for opponent to make a beautiful reaction picture to the situation (used with permission).

I could say it's overreacting, but then I would be lying.

Enraged lil' doggie

About two weeks ago Rufus made his debut on the battlefields of Immoren.

It was a 50 point game, and my list was:

Dominar Rasheth
- Bronzeback Titan
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- Cyclops Shaman
- 2x Reptile Hounds

Maximum unit of Paingiver Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Praetorian Swordsmen + Unit Attachment
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Agonizer
Bloodrunner Master Tormentor

Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Opponent had:

Jeremiah Kraye
- Ol' Rowdy
- Hammersmith
- 2x Hunters

Maximum unit of Greygore Boomhowler's & Co. + Jonas Murdoch
Rangers
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Arlan Strangewayes
Journeyman Warcaster
Squire

Cygnar started game and first picture is taken from the end of Skorne turn 1. I got to make my first acquaintance with the spell Full Tilt. There is something very disturbing in 16" running Hammersmith, though what really messed up my mind was thinking about 24" running spd 6 warjacks.

I don't remember any more how on earth did Hunter get where it is in picture 2 (on the right, next to Bronzeback) but it did deny a counter charge to hammersmith. Hammersmith, then, charged and beat Basilisk Krea into a pulp. This was first thing I forgot - I didn't jump in with Feralgeist. After all Krea would have been quite a beast in melee if coupled up with basilisk Drake.

On my next turn I wanted to make really sure that both Hammersmith and Hunter would get wrecked. Paingiver Beast Handlers enraged both Reptile Hounds and healed up Basilisk Drake a little bit, but then Bronzeback did it again. In a single activation it managed to punch both warjacks down.

Annoying thing here was now that both Reptile Hound had to declare a charge, thanks to Beast Handlers. Well, one of them charged Ol' Rowdy who had Arcane Shield on. And if I remember right, it even scored one damage point! Way to go, doge!

Rufus, on the other hand, tried to charge a trollkin, but the charge fell woefully short.

Praetorian Swordsmen who had Carnivore on them charged trollkin next, and decimated most of the unit. However, that 4+ tough is one heck of a countermeasure to one-turn anatomical precision.

Wrong Eye & Snapjaw advanced slowly under Submerge animus. Basilisk Drake advanced to contest the control zone and tried to spray Kraye, and scored a lucky hit with even luckier damage roll.

Finally Feralgeist ran to have most of my warbeasts within possession range.

Well, next Ol' Rowdy shows his disrespect for cute lil' doges, after he had knocked down both the dog and the basilisk.

This was annoying. I had intentional plans for Feralgeist jumping to and fro in my warbeasts, I had even brought it that far forward just for that purpose. And when Reptile Hound destroyed, I forgot to possess it. Again.

However, after that it was too late anyway since Master Holt came and shot the ghost down with some fancy magical pistols. I have no doubts that I would've forgotten to possess once again when Drake would die, so in that way this was some comfort.

Basilisk Drake was suprisingly resilient. It survived a shot from Hunter and a hand cannon shot from Junior Warcaster, and even a charge attack and impact attack from Kraye himself. Kraye had to buy one more attack to put the beast down, and I guess this was where opponent got a little bit too greedy for control points - I got Snapjaw, Wrong Eye and Cyclops Shaman within certain charge range. Though Kraye was Def 14, Arm 23 target at the moment.

Given that, I wasn't sure at all if the low-powered attacks of my models would bring Kraye down. However, Dominar Rasheth still hadn't used his feat, so obviously he did that now. Then he cast Blood Mark on Kraye, which mean a total of -4 Arm.

Snapjaw charges Kraye, and the first damage roll from a succesful hit is enough to one-shot him. None of the dice were below 4.

I hope I get to write up next game, where Bronzeback continues its daring exploits, and even Rufus learns a trick... (oh wow, what a hype).

Now who's a good boy? You're a good boy, you!

Uh.

When I started assembling my Reptile Hounds I noticed that with a tiny leg swap and a blob of epoxy made one of the hounds look like it was giving the "paw".

As I was painting the trainer at the same time, a weird idea emerged out of nowhere.

So, meet Rufus the Reptile Hound and Nathan, his trainer.

From now on whenever I'm fielding the two of them together, I'll keep a close eye on their performance to see if Rufus has learned any new tricks. Of course not to forget the statistics side of things I'm tallying up the times all of this has happened, too.

When I was thinking how to translate some common dog tricks into Warmachine, I wanted the tricks not to be either too hard or too easy to perform. That's why I ditched my idea of "bark" trick which would've been Rufus using his animus. Way too easy to perform in every single game.

So, the tricks are as follows:

- Fetch! Rufus scores a control point or destroys an objective.

- Roll! Rufus is slammed or thrown, and as a consequence is knocked down.
- Lie down! Rufus is knocked down while just standing still by an attack or effect caused by enemy model, or by a friendly effect that doesn't specifically target Rufus.
- Bite! Nathan uses Ancillary Attack on Rufus (while Rufus has an enemy model in its melee range).
- Kill! Well, pretty self-explanatory. Rufus destroys a model.
- Play dead! Rufus is destroyed or removed from play by an attack or effect caused by enemy model.

And last but not least, an ordinary trick almost every dog learns, but with a little twist from the culture of Skorne:

- Shake paw! Controlling warlock transfers damage to Rufus. Poor Rufus. The road to hell and good intentions and whatnot...