Remember all of those who told "motivational" half-jokes about how your minis ain't gonna paint themselves no matter how long they sit on the paint station.
WELL THEY LIED!
I got undeniable footage over how Bog Trog Trawlers gather paint on them despite no effort whatsoever on my part.
Showing posts with label warmachine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label warmachine. Show all posts
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Saturday, May 28, 2016
End of an era
With bitterness I bid farewell for my Warmachine & Hordes MkII statistics.
This is a fond recap of my Mk2 career with arbitrary highlights and statistical anomalies.
General breakdown:
The total number of Mk2 games was 439. This figure includes all demo games and other styles of play that couldn't make it to proper statistics. This is 309 games more than during Mk1. Total win/loss percentages for Mk2 were 54,21% wins and 45,79% losses, not including draws and the statistically impossible game modes.
Protectorate was #1 main adversary with no other faction coming even close. They were against me 102 times in Mk2. A special mention goes to High Exemplar Kreoss with 38 games played. That's more games against him than complete factions of Retribution, Convergence, Mercenaries, Circle of Orboros, Skorne, Trollbloods and Minions. I have to admit that once I saw this trend, I kind of started to stack games against Kreoss1 on purpose. I wanted each of my warcaster to have at least one game played against him. And that was accomplished.
Second most games I played against Cygnar (58) and third was Legion of Everblight (50)
Legion was by far my most difficult match-up, with net result being 20 wins and 30 losses.
From factions that I played against at least 30 times, the best record was against Khador with 28 wins and 17 losses.
I never lost any game against Butcher1 (played against him five times) and I never won even one game against Baldur1 (three games)
Out of all 159 released warcasters and warlocks I got to play at least one game against 109 out of them, translating to 68,5%
Protectorate was closest to completion on getting to play against each faction warcaster - only Thyra and Reznik2 were never against me. Legion of Everblight was second, missing only Kallus and Lylyth3. Technically I did play against each and every one of Convergence warcasters, but their caster pool is so low in number that I don't think they are fair to count. Retribution was also missing two (Vyros1 and Thyron), but they also have much less warcasters than even Hordes faction.
All games were spread over fifteen different cities plus Vassal.
Faction breakdowns:
Cryx
Cryx was my most played faction with a total of 216 game played. It was my starting faction in 2007 when I began playing Warmachine Mk1. My faction loyalty is adamant, as is my warcaster loyalty. Once I add a warcaster or warlock to my army, I never take it out of rotation. This probably explains why Cryx was most played faction. I have the most warcasters for it. Eleven, to be exact. As I just added a Deneghra3 to my caster pool, the average number of games per Cryxian warcaster ended up being only 19,63.
Out of the 216 Cryx games 167 was against Warmachine with 97 wins and 69 losses, and 49 games against Hordes with 28 wins and 20 losses. Both numbers are a bit off, as there was one draw in both systems. They were a result of running out of time in a game store.
There is this one warcaster I have to mention. He goes by the name of Lord Exhumator Scaverous. He was such an amazing failure. Countless are the games where victory was denied in some unexplainable and unlikely way. I even started to believe there was a curse or something on him. As a result he has the worst track record out of all of my 21 warcasters and warlocks. Only Dominar Rasheth would be able to reach same level of failure with equal number of games played, and that's only if he lost four games in a row.
Most diverse faction match-ups were with Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon, who got to fight it out with eleven different factions. Only Wurmwood matchess Asphyxious3, but it has more games played than Asphyxious3.
Asphyxious1 was my Protectorate specialist with games against six different Protectorate warcasters. Iron Lich Asphyxious also had best win/loss record out of each of my factions. Which is somewhat interesting, considering that I've played Deneghra1 & 2, Asphyxious2 and Morvahna2. Maybe I took these more notorious ones to tournaments more often because I was ashamed for playing them in the local scene.
Circle of Orboros
Circle of Orboros had 142 games played of which:
100 was against Warmachine, with 60 victories.
41 was against Hordes, with only 13 victories. Legion of Everblight seemed to be nemesis for my Circle, with only two wins against them and fifteen losses.
One was a three player game that couldn't be placed inside normal statistics.
Circle was my most played faction with any particular warlock, averaging 23,66 games per warlock.
Cassius the Oathkeeper & Wurmwood, Tree of Fate was my most played Mk2 warcaster/warlock with a total of 27 games played.
Mohsar holds a shared record with Hexeris1 with having the most games played against a particular warlock or warcaster. Funnily enough, both have the same adversary: four games against High Exemplar Kreoss. Mohsar was also
Mohsar was also my Legion of Everblight specialist, with games against five different Legion warlocks. His professional capabilities can be questioned, though, since he only ever won one game against Legion.
Morvahna1, on the other hand, had the most experience against Cryx with games against six different Cryxian warcasters.
Skorne
Skorne got a humble number of only 73 games played. They were the least played faction in every imaginable way, averaging only 18,25 games played per warlock. Well, Skorne is more of a side project for me anyway. I never tried to, you know, competitively compete with Skorne. I guess it tells something that I have neither Titan Gladiator nor Molik Karn in my collection.
Out of those 73, 53 games were against Warmachine factions. Scores were pretty even, 26 wins and 27 losses.
Hordes had the rest twenty games, with eight wins and twelve losses.
All in all I don't think my Skorne fared that badly, considering my eclectic and holistic list design practices.
There were no record holders in Skorne, other than the shared title of a particular nemesis.
Now... for Mk3. I know I'm already getting Agathia for Cryx, since I kind of pre-ordered the battlegroup box. I've been wanting to make a gatorman army for a long time, and also a Cephalyx army. But my inclination to have equal number of games played with each of my warcasters has been such a burden that I haven't even tried to start new factions. Perhaps Mk3 can shake up some completely unnecessary, statistical habits by offering a fresh tabula rasa for numbers.
This is a fond recap of my Mk2 career with arbitrary highlights and statistical anomalies.
General breakdown:
The total number of Mk2 games was 439. This figure includes all demo games and other styles of play that couldn't make it to proper statistics. This is 309 games more than during Mk1. Total win/loss percentages for Mk2 were 54,21% wins and 45,79% losses, not including draws and the statistically impossible game modes.
Protectorate was #1 main adversary with no other faction coming even close. They were against me 102 times in Mk2. A special mention goes to High Exemplar Kreoss with 38 games played. That's more games against him than complete factions of Retribution, Convergence, Mercenaries, Circle of Orboros, Skorne, Trollbloods and Minions. I have to admit that once I saw this trend, I kind of started to stack games against Kreoss1 on purpose. I wanted each of my warcaster to have at least one game played against him. And that was accomplished.
Second most games I played against Cygnar (58) and third was Legion of Everblight (50)
Legion was by far my most difficult match-up, with net result being 20 wins and 30 losses.
From factions that I played against at least 30 times, the best record was against Khador with 28 wins and 17 losses.
I never lost any game against Butcher1 (played against him five times) and I never won even one game against Baldur1 (three games)
Out of all 159 released warcasters and warlocks I got to play at least one game against 109 out of them, translating to 68,5%
Protectorate was closest to completion on getting to play against each faction warcaster - only Thyra and Reznik2 were never against me. Legion of Everblight was second, missing only Kallus and Lylyth3. Technically I did play against each and every one of Convergence warcasters, but their caster pool is so low in number that I don't think they are fair to count. Retribution was also missing two (Vyros1 and Thyron), but they also have much less warcasters than even Hordes faction.
All games were spread over fifteen different cities plus Vassal.
Faction breakdowns:
Cryx
Cryx was my most played faction with a total of 216 game played. It was my starting faction in 2007 when I began playing Warmachine Mk1. My faction loyalty is adamant, as is my warcaster loyalty. Once I add a warcaster or warlock to my army, I never take it out of rotation. This probably explains why Cryx was most played faction. I have the most warcasters for it. Eleven, to be exact. As I just added a Deneghra3 to my caster pool, the average number of games per Cryxian warcaster ended up being only 19,63.
Out of the 216 Cryx games 167 was against Warmachine with 97 wins and 69 losses, and 49 games against Hordes with 28 wins and 20 losses. Both numbers are a bit off, as there was one draw in both systems. They were a result of running out of time in a game store.
There is this one warcaster I have to mention. He goes by the name of Lord Exhumator Scaverous. He was such an amazing failure. Countless are the games where victory was denied in some unexplainable and unlikely way. I even started to believe there was a curse or something on him. As a result he has the worst track record out of all of my 21 warcasters and warlocks. Only Dominar Rasheth would be able to reach same level of failure with equal number of games played, and that's only if he lost four games in a row.
Most diverse faction match-ups were with Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon, who got to fight it out with eleven different factions. Only Wurmwood matchess Asphyxious3, but it has more games played than Asphyxious3.
Asphyxious1 was my Protectorate specialist with games against six different Protectorate warcasters. Iron Lich Asphyxious also had best win/loss record out of each of my factions. Which is somewhat interesting, considering that I've played Deneghra1 & 2, Asphyxious2 and Morvahna2. Maybe I took these more notorious ones to tournaments more often because I was ashamed for playing them in the local scene.
Circle of Orboros
Circle of Orboros had 142 games played of which:
100 was against Warmachine, with 60 victories.
41 was against Hordes, with only 13 victories. Legion of Everblight seemed to be nemesis for my Circle, with only two wins against them and fifteen losses.
One was a three player game that couldn't be placed inside normal statistics.
Circle was my most played faction with any particular warlock, averaging 23,66 games per warlock.
Cassius the Oathkeeper & Wurmwood, Tree of Fate was my most played Mk2 warcaster/warlock with a total of 27 games played.
Mohsar holds a shared record with Hexeris1 with having the most games played against a particular warlock or warcaster. Funnily enough, both have the same adversary: four games against High Exemplar Kreoss. Mohsar was also
Mohsar was also my Legion of Everblight specialist, with games against five different Legion warlocks. His professional capabilities can be questioned, though, since he only ever won one game against Legion.
Morvahna1, on the other hand, had the most experience against Cryx with games against six different Cryxian warcasters.
Skorne
Skorne got a humble number of only 73 games played. They were the least played faction in every imaginable way, averaging only 18,25 games played per warlock. Well, Skorne is more of a side project for me anyway. I never tried to, you know, competitively compete with Skorne. I guess it tells something that I have neither Titan Gladiator nor Molik Karn in my collection.
Out of those 73, 53 games were against Warmachine factions. Scores were pretty even, 26 wins and 27 losses.
Hordes had the rest twenty games, with eight wins and twelve losses.
All in all I don't think my Skorne fared that badly, considering my eclectic and holistic list design practices.
There were no record holders in Skorne, other than the shared title of a particular nemesis.
Now... for Mk3. I know I'm already getting Agathia for Cryx, since I kind of pre-ordered the battlegroup box. I've been wanting to make a gatorman army for a long time, and also a Cephalyx army. But my inclination to have equal number of games played with each of my warcasters has been such a burden that I haven't even tried to start new factions. Perhaps Mk3 can shake up some completely unnecessary, statistical habits by offering a fresh tabula rasa for numbers.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
(Step)daddy issues
Last Tuesday I played a game that was most likely my last game of Warmachine Mk2.
It was a 35 point game with following list:
Deneghra, the Soul Weaver
- Ripjaw
- Defiler
- Malice
Maximum unit of Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges
Withershadow Combine
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Orin Midwinter
Swamp Gobber River Raiders
Opponent had:
Iron Lich Asphyxious
- 2x Deathripper
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 1x Brute + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
Saxon Orrik
So, would the latest incarnation of Deneghra win against the father figure of her past? Scenario was Incoming, and Asphyxious started game.
Since I've been so successful (read: not) in intimidating my opponents by running Deneghra full 18" forward on turn 1, I thought I might do that yet again. On the right flank there were pretty much just MAT 5 Mechanithralls.
Turn 2 Asphyxious proceeds to seize my friendly zone, and jam their own friendly zone with mechanithralls and def 15 arc nodes.
On my turn 2 I try to clear my enemy zone, but thanks to Orin Midwinter missing Arc Lightning, that plan was foiled. Deneghra used her feat this turn and cast Mortality on Bane Thralls, Mechanithralls and a Deathripper, plus giving Ghost Walk for Drudges.
I had this great plan of dragging Deathripper to Malice and dealing crippling damage in with the harpoon and melee attack, then possessing it and walking it so that Withershadow Combine would make a new bonejack for me. Turned out that harpoon and melee attack destroyed the enemy arc node before I had the chance to use possession... oh well.
Drudges and River Raiders kill some Bane Thralls. That's it.
Turn 3 all but one Drudge thrall is decimated. Tartarus makes two additional Bane Thralls. Enemy Mechanithralls don't accomplish much, but the Brute Thrall nearly wrecks Defiler. One box was left in Cortex.
I really, really do my best to clear the zone again. But yet again Orin Midwinter misses (though now he had power tokens for boosts... must be going senile, this old man.)
Deneghra hits the Brute Thrall and deals enough damage to get it down to one hit point. Then she takes Malice's soul and turns it into three focus points for the very same helljack. Malice tramples, and I have ambitious plans of killing all the Mechanithralls, Skarlock Commander and a contesting Stitch Thrall. Otherwise it went fine, but boosted trample attack roll against Skarlock Commander turned out to be 1,1,2.
Withershadow Combine kills Necrosurgeon and removes Scything Touch from Mechanithralls.
Ripjaw kill Tartarus with armour-piercing bite.
Turn 4 I lose a bunch of stuff. Admonia, Defiler and Ripjaw are all dead now. But despite everything opponent tried to do - a lone River Raider defied all odds and survived contesting my friendly zone. What a champ!
But now game would get tough. I could try to clear zone and score two points, then next turn wreck enemy objective and clear zone again. Come to think of it... why didn't I do just that??
Well, my old weakness kicked in, I guess. I saw a difficult but possible chance at assassinating Asphyxious, who had five focus now.
Malice advanced to kill Saxon Orrik, and succeeds.
Skarlock gives Ghost Walk and Tremulus gives Puppet Master for Deneghra. Deneghra takes soul off from Malice and charges Asphyxious. She casts Mortality on Asphyxious, and succeeds. She risks everything by not taking attack boosts (and misses only one attack!) but Asphyxious is left un-alive with two hit boxes remaining. The Puppet Master re-roll had been used on a '1', which re-rolled into '2'. Damn. I tried advance with the lone River Raider out of melee range of two or three Bane Thralls and Warwitch Siren. They all miss! What a champ!
Now, you need to hit Def 17 Asphyxious and kill him either with Pow 10 or P+S 6 attack. Do it! Do iiiit! Well, nope. Boo.
Asphyxious then kills Deneghra once and for all. It didn't really help that Warwitch Siren got Shadow Bind on my warcaster, and then there were Bane Thralls around giving Dark Shroud.
Well, kind of exciting and aggressive game. Fine enough to ragequit Mk2.
It was a 35 point game with following list:
Deneghra, the Soul Weaver
- Ripjaw
- Defiler
- Malice
Maximum unit of Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Orin Midwinter
Swamp Gobber River Raiders
Opponent had:
Iron Lich Asphyxious
- 2x Deathripper
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 1x Brute + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
Saxon Orrik
So, would the latest incarnation of Deneghra win against the father figure of her past? Scenario was Incoming, and Asphyxious started game.
Since I've been so successful (read: not) in intimidating my opponents by running Deneghra full 18" forward on turn 1, I thought I might do that yet again. On the right flank there were pretty much just MAT 5 Mechanithralls.
Turn 2 Asphyxious proceeds to seize my friendly zone, and jam their own friendly zone with mechanithralls and def 15 arc nodes.
On my turn 2 I try to clear my enemy zone, but thanks to Orin Midwinter missing Arc Lightning, that plan was foiled. Deneghra used her feat this turn and cast Mortality on Bane Thralls, Mechanithralls and a Deathripper, plus giving Ghost Walk for Drudges.
I had this great plan of dragging Deathripper to Malice and dealing crippling damage in with the harpoon and melee attack, then possessing it and walking it so that Withershadow Combine would make a new bonejack for me. Turned out that harpoon and melee attack destroyed the enemy arc node before I had the chance to use possession... oh well.
Drudges and River Raiders kill some Bane Thralls. That's it.
Turn 3 all but one Drudge thrall is decimated. Tartarus makes two additional Bane Thralls. Enemy Mechanithralls don't accomplish much, but the Brute Thrall nearly wrecks Defiler. One box was left in Cortex.
I really, really do my best to clear the zone again. But yet again Orin Midwinter misses (though now he had power tokens for boosts... must be going senile, this old man.)
Deneghra hits the Brute Thrall and deals enough damage to get it down to one hit point. Then she takes Malice's soul and turns it into three focus points for the very same helljack. Malice tramples, and I have ambitious plans of killing all the Mechanithralls, Skarlock Commander and a contesting Stitch Thrall. Otherwise it went fine, but boosted trample attack roll against Skarlock Commander turned out to be 1,1,2.
Withershadow Combine kills Necrosurgeon and removes Scything Touch from Mechanithralls.
Ripjaw kill Tartarus with armour-piercing bite.
Turn 4 I lose a bunch of stuff. Admonia, Defiler and Ripjaw are all dead now. But despite everything opponent tried to do - a lone River Raider defied all odds and survived contesting my friendly zone. What a champ!
But now game would get tough. I could try to clear zone and score two points, then next turn wreck enemy objective and clear zone again. Come to think of it... why didn't I do just that??
Well, my old weakness kicked in, I guess. I saw a difficult but possible chance at assassinating Asphyxious, who had five focus now.
Malice advanced to kill Saxon Orrik, and succeeds.
Skarlock gives Ghost Walk and Tremulus gives Puppet Master for Deneghra. Deneghra takes soul off from Malice and charges Asphyxious. She casts Mortality on Asphyxious, and succeeds. She risks everything by not taking attack boosts (and misses only one attack!) but Asphyxious is left un-alive with two hit boxes remaining. The Puppet Master re-roll had been used on a '1', which re-rolled into '2'. Damn. I tried advance with the lone River Raider out of melee range of two or three Bane Thralls and Warwitch Siren. They all miss! What a champ!
Now, you need to hit Def 17 Asphyxious and kill him either with Pow 10 or P+S 6 attack. Do it! Do iiiit! Well, nope. Boo.
Asphyxious then kills Deneghra once and for all. It didn't really help that Warwitch Siren got Shadow Bind on my warcaster, and then there were Bane Thralls around giving Dark Shroud.
Well, kind of exciting and aggressive game. Fine enough to ragequit Mk2.
Friday, May 20, 2016
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.
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 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.
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Swamp Gobber River Raiders
Yesterday I finished up these fellows.
It's been a while since I did minion models. Maybe that's why I went a little overboard with the mushrooms.
I was unsure if these guys would ever see a game in Mk2, but tomorrow they will. Oh yes, they will.
It's been a while since I did minion models. Maybe that's why I went a little overboard with the mushrooms.
I was unsure if these guys would ever see a game in Mk2, but tomorrow they will. Oh yes, they will.
Monday, May 9, 2016
Soul Weaver vs Durst
This was a practice game for a tournament that was held last Saturday. Game was played, oh, I don't remember when.
My 50 point list (still) was:
Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- 2x Nightwretch
- Leviathan
- Nightmare
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 2x Brute Thrall + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon
Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
Orin Midwinter
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Soul Trappers
Objective: Bunker
Opponent had:
Anson Durst
- Devout
- 2x Reckoner
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Daughters of the Flame
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Holy Zealots + Unit Attachment
Aiyana & Holt
Orin Midwinter
Reclaimer
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic
Wracks
Objective: Fuel cache
So it would be the duel of Orins. Scenario was Recon. I think Protectorate started, or I'm being very cautious with my advances in the picture. Oh, by the way, the blue and red proxy base in the middle are the Reckoners.
Grave Wind is on Deneghra, and Durst has at least Wall of Steel and Deflection going on for him. I had packed as many Mechanithralls next to Bunker as possible, though one Critical Fire from Zealots could've made me rather sad. I was worried about it back then, but if it was Protectorate turn 2A, the Bunker was still untargetable.
So, turn 2 Protectorate put Temple Flameguard on Iron Zeal, and ordered a Shield Wall. Holy Zealots used Greater Destiny, fervor, and advanced to lob some bombs. There were a few terrifying deviations - Orin Midwinter was left with one or two hit boxes remaining. Some Mechanithralls die, as well as one Brute and two Stitch Thralls. Not only to Zealots, though.
Always up for weird moves, I decided to start scoring, or die trying. Skarlock cast Mortality on Zealots first.
Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Leviathan, and the rest of the Combine shot Zealots successfully. Orin Midwinter advanced and cast Lightning Bolt on farthest Zealots, but the remaining arc jumped in wrong direction. Two arcs resulted in three kills, though, so I don't think I can complain. Even Skarlock Commander used Dark Fire to take down one Zealot. Rest of the Mechanithralls just shambled about, trying to clog sewage.
But hey! Now there were only a bunch of Def 15 models contesting the flag on left. Well, strictly speaking there were only two. One Daughter of the Flame was standing right in front of Leviathan, though. I needed to activate Deneghra before I had secured the flag.
So she allocated focus for Leviathan and ran in base contact with the flag.
Leviathan needed to trample to get to Daughter that has Prey marker in front of her AND it target to clear charge lane for Ogrun Bokur. One focus for power attack: trample. An attack boost against the trampled Daughter was a success, but then Leviathan needed to score 9+ with two dice. It was a miserable failure and Puppet Master needed to roll both dice again. This time attack hit its target.
Then effectively MAT 10 Ogrun Bokur charged the last Daughter. Five plus can still definitely fail. But it didn't.
Phew. There were a lot of moving parts in this scheme with next to no back-ups if models failed some critical rolls. Usually things get screwed over at one point or another if there are multiple absolutely necessary rolls only one model can make.
Then it was Protectorate turn 3, and the dice stopped smiling. I guess I took all of it last turn. The amount of work opponent had to put in removing seven Mechanithralls made me feel bad. Important pieces had to suffer no actual threat that turn. Another Reckoner shot Ogrun Bokur off, at least I think so. I can't figure out anything else that would be able to do that.
Devout (who had used the spell shield thingy) charged Leviathan. Next came Anson Durst, who used his feat. He had to spend all focus he had to remove Leviathan. But at least Leviathan got blown to pieces in style, when Eruption of Ash triggered.
Cryx turn 3. Devout was contesting my precious flag, and I doubted I'd be able to take it down as it had Arm 22. I had a pretty useless turn at least in kill count. I just cleared my flag and Mechanithralls took, what... one Temple Flameguard down, who had Mortality from Skarlock? Mechanithralls' main function was to engage enemy in melee so getting those scary aimed Reckoner shots wouldn't be that easy.
Protectorate turn 4 all but one Brute Thrall dies. I mean, from the unit. Not from the board.
Necrosurgeon survives against all odds, but objective does not. Durst needed only to back a little and start dominating. Scenario went 2-3 for Protectorate. Deneghra got one point, as opponent rather wanted a spell immune Durst. Now Durst only had to dominate middle zone one additional time.
So, on my turn I throw just about everything to the middle zone and pray Protectorate wouldn't have enough tools to remove them.
Skarlock cast Ghost Walk on Necrosurgeon, who then advanced to build three additional Mechanithralls. Placing them was tricky, as their leader now was a CMD 5 Brute Thrall...
Well, anyway. I wanted to destroy enemy objective, so Tremulus cast Puppet Master on Mechanithralls. Deneghra then cast Ghost Walk on them and Mortality on enemy objective. Mechanithralls charge the fuel cache. Grand plan would have failed without Puppet Master.
So scenario was 4-3 for Cryx. Opponent deemed it easier to clear zone than to kill Def 15 Arm 25+ Deneghra.
Clearing the zone from half-way to top went well enough, but Reckoner didn't manage to kill Nightmare and Temple Flameguard failed their most important roll - the attack roll against Skarlock. All of the Protectorate models were activated except for the warcaster.
Durst charges in and plans to kill Skarlock with Eruption of Ash from destroying Nightmare, probably Admonia next with Necrotech dying to the blast. Def 15 Nightwretch would be the kingmaker here if dice would roll at least only a little below average rolls.
Well. I think Durst missed three attacks against Nightmare, and then the Eruption cloud either didn't roll high enough to kill Skarlock, or Skarlock wasn't under the template. Durst then released the flame the Flameguard was guarding, and hit the soldier in the back. This created another Eruption that killed Skarlock. By now I think he only had one spare focus to attack Admonia, or perhaps he had none. However the final details were, only one POW 12 wasn't enough to wreck Nightwretch, or that POW 12 never came.
Next Deneghra only needed to wreck Devout to get the final control point. Which she did.
My 50 point list (still) was:
Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- 2x Nightwretch
- Leviathan
- Nightmare
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 2x Brute Thrall + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon
Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
Orin Midwinter
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Soul Trappers
Objective: Bunker
Opponent had:
Anson Durst
- 2x Reckoner
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Daughters of the Flame
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Holy Zealots + Unit Attachment
Aiyana & Holt
Orin Midwinter
Reclaimer
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic
Wracks
Objective: Fuel cache
So it would be the duel of Orins. Scenario was Recon. I think Protectorate started, or I'm being very cautious with my advances in the picture. Oh, by the way, the blue and red proxy base in the middle are the Reckoners.
Grave Wind is on Deneghra, and Durst has at least Wall of Steel and Deflection going on for him. I had packed as many Mechanithralls next to Bunker as possible, though one Critical Fire from Zealots could've made me rather sad. I was worried about it back then, but if it was Protectorate turn 2A, the Bunker was still untargetable.
So, turn 2 Protectorate put Temple Flameguard on Iron Zeal, and ordered a Shield Wall. Holy Zealots used Greater Destiny, fervor, and advanced to lob some bombs. There were a few terrifying deviations - Orin Midwinter was left with one or two hit boxes remaining. Some Mechanithralls die, as well as one Brute and two Stitch Thralls. Not only to Zealots, though.
Always up for weird moves, I decided to start scoring, or die trying. Skarlock cast Mortality on Zealots first.
Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Leviathan, and the rest of the Combine shot Zealots successfully. Orin Midwinter advanced and cast Lightning Bolt on farthest Zealots, but the remaining arc jumped in wrong direction. Two arcs resulted in three kills, though, so I don't think I can complain. Even Skarlock Commander used Dark Fire to take down one Zealot. Rest of the Mechanithralls just shambled about, trying to clog sewage.
But hey! Now there were only a bunch of Def 15 models contesting the flag on left. Well, strictly speaking there were only two. One Daughter of the Flame was standing right in front of Leviathan, though. I needed to activate Deneghra before I had secured the flag.
So she allocated focus for Leviathan and ran in base contact with the flag.
Leviathan needed to trample to get to Daughter that has Prey marker in front of her AND it target to clear charge lane for Ogrun Bokur. One focus for power attack: trample. An attack boost against the trampled Daughter was a success, but then Leviathan needed to score 9+ with two dice. It was a miserable failure and Puppet Master needed to roll both dice again. This time attack hit its target.
Then effectively MAT 10 Ogrun Bokur charged the last Daughter. Five plus can still definitely fail. But it didn't.
Phew. There were a lot of moving parts in this scheme with next to no back-ups if models failed some critical rolls. Usually things get screwed over at one point or another if there are multiple absolutely necessary rolls only one model can make.
Then it was Protectorate turn 3, and the dice stopped smiling. I guess I took all of it last turn. The amount of work opponent had to put in removing seven Mechanithralls made me feel bad. Important pieces had to suffer no actual threat that turn. Another Reckoner shot Ogrun Bokur off, at least I think so. I can't figure out anything else that would be able to do that.
Devout (who had used the spell shield thingy) charged Leviathan. Next came Anson Durst, who used his feat. He had to spend all focus he had to remove Leviathan. But at least Leviathan got blown to pieces in style, when Eruption of Ash triggered.
Cryx turn 3. Devout was contesting my precious flag, and I doubted I'd be able to take it down as it had Arm 22. I had a pretty useless turn at least in kill count. I just cleared my flag and Mechanithralls took, what... one Temple Flameguard down, who had Mortality from Skarlock? Mechanithralls' main function was to engage enemy in melee so getting those scary aimed Reckoner shots wouldn't be that easy.
Protectorate turn 4 all but one Brute Thrall dies. I mean, from the unit. Not from the board.
Necrosurgeon survives against all odds, but objective does not. Durst needed only to back a little and start dominating. Scenario went 2-3 for Protectorate. Deneghra got one point, as opponent rather wanted a spell immune Durst. Now Durst only had to dominate middle zone one additional time.
So, on my turn I throw just about everything to the middle zone and pray Protectorate wouldn't have enough tools to remove them.
Skarlock cast Ghost Walk on Necrosurgeon, who then advanced to build three additional Mechanithralls. Placing them was tricky, as their leader now was a CMD 5 Brute Thrall...
Well, anyway. I wanted to destroy enemy objective, so Tremulus cast Puppet Master on Mechanithralls. Deneghra then cast Ghost Walk on them and Mortality on enemy objective. Mechanithralls charge the fuel cache. Grand plan would have failed without Puppet Master.
So scenario was 4-3 for Cryx. Opponent deemed it easier to clear zone than to kill Def 15 Arm 25+ Deneghra.
Clearing the zone from half-way to top went well enough, but Reckoner didn't manage to kill Nightmare and Temple Flameguard failed their most important roll - the attack roll against Skarlock. All of the Protectorate models were activated except for the warcaster.
Durst charges in and plans to kill Skarlock with Eruption of Ash from destroying Nightmare, probably Admonia next with Necrotech dying to the blast. Def 15 Nightwretch would be the kingmaker here if dice would roll at least only a little below average rolls.
Well. I think Durst missed three attacks against Nightmare, and then the Eruption cloud either didn't roll high enough to kill Skarlock, or Skarlock wasn't under the template. Durst then released the flame the Flameguard was guarding, and hit the soldier in the back. This created another Eruption that killed Skarlock. By now I think he only had one spare focus to attack Admonia, or perhaps he had none. However the final details were, only one POW 12 wasn't enough to wreck Nightwretch, or that POW 12 never came.
Next Deneghra only needed to wreck Devout to get the final control point. Which she did.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Casual Three Turn Avatar Facetank
(That's not what happened really, but it sure felt like it!)
Last Wednesday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine with:
Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- 2x Nightwretch
- Leviathan
- Nightmare
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 2x Brute Thrall + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon
Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
Orin Midwinter
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Soul Trappers
Opponent had:
Feora, Priestess of Flame
- Devout
- Reckoner
- Avatar
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Exemplar Errants + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Flameguard Cleansers
Epic Eiryss
Rhupert
Hierophant
Exemplar Errant Seneschal
Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic
Wracks
Scenario was Outflank and Cryx started game. The first picture is from the end of Protectorate turn two.
Opponent didn't have any anti-upkeep capability and their warjacks couldn't gain Pathfinder from anywhere. Always up for daring and unhealthy moves, I didn't spend any focus with Deneghra and advanced to the zone on right with Grave Wind on. Reckoner wouldn't be able to get a charge off, and even if it did only one heavy warjack didn't scare me that much. And the rest were just Exemplar Errants.
Well.
I should've seen it coming. Avatar of Menoth activated Menoth's gaze and ran to stop Deneghra on her tracks. Wall of Fire blocked Mechanithralls on the other side of the board.
Turn 3 was an interesting puzzle. Protectorate jacks were under Passage.
Deneghra used her feat and cast Mortality on Reckoner and filled Nightmare and Leviathan with focus points. She was left with five souls and seven focus.
Pistol Wraith tried to come and shoot Reckoner stationary, but Devout grabbed one of the shots.
Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Nightmare, and then it charged Reckoner. Reckoner had Enliven on, so Nightmare did a combo strike, which dealt some damage in. Remaining focus was used to buy attacks against Devout.
Orin Midwinter tried to make use of his lightning spell, which took one member of Choir of Menoth as collateral damage.
Next Leviathan activates and proceeds to shoot Reckoner dead. Whoops. Reckoner had Passage. Damn it. I figured the best I could do now was to shoot the Choir of Menoth. Only one remained.
Even Skarlock Commander tried to come and shoot Reckoner with Dark Fire, but the thing just wouldn't die. I think I broke the cortex, though. Some arm, too, but those were of no consequence when Mechanic rolled five or six for repairs.
Turn 3 Protectorate wrecks Nightmare. Feora advances to spray with flame throwers and feat. She missed first flamethrower, but second one hit it's target. There is one Nightwretch in the picture that's not showing. It's on far left. I think it lost everything but cortex by now. Eiryss had kept it disrupted for the whole game.
I think Avatar had rolled something three Focus points. It advanced to use Gaze of Menoth to immobilise even bigger portion of Cryx forces, and took a fully boosted swing at Deneghra. Attack dealt something like four points of damage.
Additional asualties that turn were Orin Midwinter and a Soul Trapper. Covenant had denied spellcasting.
Casualties at the start of my turn four were a ton of Mechanithralls. Luckily both Admonia and Skarlock Commander put out the fires.
So, Deneghra had twelve focus points. I planned on taking down Avatar this turn, yet again not paying attention for Enliven. I was desperate for souls, though.
A soul trapper ran to get as many enemy models within 10" of it as possible, and then Necrosurgeon advanced to make some new Mechanithralls. Thralls got a charge order. One charged Avatar of Menoth, one the Covenant and one decided to poke Mechanik. I figured that one Mechanithrall wouldn't kill Reckoner entirely, and even if it managed to break systems, Mechanik would just fix them back.
Other Mechanithralls tried to attack two Errants next to Leviathan.
Mechanithrall who charged Avatar triggered Enliven, so Avatar was now out of reach of Leviathan. Opponent kept one Errant alive near the Leviathan, probably to block a possible charge against Avatar. Couldn't kill that one. But two Errants had died within 10" of Soul Trapper. Deneghra activated and gave focus for Leviathan. She spent three focus on attacks against Avatar and destroyed the shield. I was too scared to continue buying attacks. I wanted at least Def 17 Arm 25. The Choir Priest didn't seem like it would be close enough to Avatar to make Deneghra too dead.
Since Leviathan didn't look like it'd make it to Avatar, I thought to try assassination instead. First Pistol Wraith who had miraculously survived last turn took a couple of aimed shots at Devout and made it stationary. Then Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Leviathan. Admonia tried to shoot Feora with Dark Fire, but I forget if it did anything.
Leviathan takes aiming bonus and shoots Feora twice. Not a dead Feora, but she has less than eight damage boxes remaining.
Turn 4 Avatar rolls only two focus points. It doesn't even bother with Deneghra and instead kills Ogrun Bokur and finalizes Leviathan that Reckoner had failed to wreck. Ogrun Bokur's death set Deneghra on fire.
Eiryss tries to run to engage Necrosurgeon. Feora clears the zone from Admonia, Pistol Wraith and Nightwretch with two sprays. Protectorate scored three scenario points. Yikes.
Turn 5 Cryx has only a few shambling dead on the board, none of which would be able to stand contesting either zone long enough. Nobody was able to charge Feora either because of the wall of fire.
So, my plan was thus: two Mechanithralls would kill Covenant and two Brute Thralls and a Mechanithrall would at least destroy Avatar's sword if not wreck the thing outright.
But I was too greedy.
One Brute charged an Exemplar Errant next to Deneghra (it wouldn't have got charge bonus anyway and needed to move from the way of another brute) and another got to Avatar. One Mechanithrall tried to charge Avatar, but I fumbled measurements with my shaky hands and didn't claim the charge bonus. And the sword was the only system they didn't break. And I didn't even get a soul for Deneghra. And Covenant didn't die, it was left with one hit box.
As a random added bonus, a Mechanithrall killed Eiryss.
Deneghra hadn't upkept Grave Wind because I thought I'd need all of her eight focus to deal with Feora. I would have really wanted that soul, though, for a Mortality.
But she had to take four free strikes from Exemplar Errants and one from Avatar and land on a spot that wasn't in melee with Avatar, within 8" of both Feora and Covenant. Things like this will get a lot easier to navigate after edition change...
However, Deneghra landed on correct spot and was left with three hit boxes after the free strikes and while under Fire continuous effect.
Her spray attack thankfully killed Covenant of Menoth, so Deneghra could try to cast Scourge on Feora.
Attack was a hit, and damage roll was something like fourteen, fifteen. That was enough to kill what was left of Feora. Phew.
Pretty exciting game from start to finish.
Last Wednesday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine with:
Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- 2x Nightwretch
- Leviathan
- Nightmare
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 2x Brute Thrall + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon
Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
Orin Midwinter
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Soul Trappers
Opponent had:
Feora, Priestess of Flame
- Devout
- Reckoner
- Avatar
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Exemplar Errants + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Flameguard Cleansers
Epic Eiryss
Rhupert
Hierophant
Exemplar Errant Seneschal
Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic
Wracks
Scenario was Outflank and Cryx started game. The first picture is from the end of Protectorate turn two.
Opponent didn't have any anti-upkeep capability and their warjacks couldn't gain Pathfinder from anywhere. Always up for daring and unhealthy moves, I didn't spend any focus with Deneghra and advanced to the zone on right with Grave Wind on. Reckoner wouldn't be able to get a charge off, and even if it did only one heavy warjack didn't scare me that much. And the rest were just Exemplar Errants.
Well.
I should've seen it coming. Avatar of Menoth activated Menoth's gaze and ran to stop Deneghra on her tracks. Wall of Fire blocked Mechanithralls on the other side of the board.
Turn 3 was an interesting puzzle. Protectorate jacks were under Passage.
Deneghra used her feat and cast Mortality on Reckoner and filled Nightmare and Leviathan with focus points. She was left with five souls and seven focus.
Pistol Wraith tried to come and shoot Reckoner stationary, but Devout grabbed one of the shots.
Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Nightmare, and then it charged Reckoner. Reckoner had Enliven on, so Nightmare did a combo strike, which dealt some damage in. Remaining focus was used to buy attacks against Devout.
Orin Midwinter tried to make use of his lightning spell, which took one member of Choir of Menoth as collateral damage.
Next Leviathan activates and proceeds to shoot Reckoner dead. Whoops. Reckoner had Passage. Damn it. I figured the best I could do now was to shoot the Choir of Menoth. Only one remained.
Even Skarlock Commander tried to come and shoot Reckoner with Dark Fire, but the thing just wouldn't die. I think I broke the cortex, though. Some arm, too, but those were of no consequence when Mechanic rolled five or six for repairs.
Turn 3 Protectorate wrecks Nightmare. Feora advances to spray with flame throwers and feat. She missed first flamethrower, but second one hit it's target. There is one Nightwretch in the picture that's not showing. It's on far left. I think it lost everything but cortex by now. Eiryss had kept it disrupted for the whole game.
I think Avatar had rolled something three Focus points. It advanced to use Gaze of Menoth to immobilise even bigger portion of Cryx forces, and took a fully boosted swing at Deneghra. Attack dealt something like four points of damage.
Additional asualties that turn were Orin Midwinter and a Soul Trapper. Covenant had denied spellcasting.
Casualties at the start of my turn four were a ton of Mechanithralls. Luckily both Admonia and Skarlock Commander put out the fires.
So, Deneghra had twelve focus points. I planned on taking down Avatar this turn, yet again not paying attention for Enliven. I was desperate for souls, though.
A soul trapper ran to get as many enemy models within 10" of it as possible, and then Necrosurgeon advanced to make some new Mechanithralls. Thralls got a charge order. One charged Avatar of Menoth, one the Covenant and one decided to poke Mechanik. I figured that one Mechanithrall wouldn't kill Reckoner entirely, and even if it managed to break systems, Mechanik would just fix them back.
Other Mechanithralls tried to attack two Errants next to Leviathan.
Mechanithrall who charged Avatar triggered Enliven, so Avatar was now out of reach of Leviathan. Opponent kept one Errant alive near the Leviathan, probably to block a possible charge against Avatar. Couldn't kill that one. But two Errants had died within 10" of Soul Trapper. Deneghra activated and gave focus for Leviathan. She spent three focus on attacks against Avatar and destroyed the shield. I was too scared to continue buying attacks. I wanted at least Def 17 Arm 25. The Choir Priest didn't seem like it would be close enough to Avatar to make Deneghra too dead.
Since Leviathan didn't look like it'd make it to Avatar, I thought to try assassination instead. First Pistol Wraith who had miraculously survived last turn took a couple of aimed shots at Devout and made it stationary. Then Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Leviathan. Admonia tried to shoot Feora with Dark Fire, but I forget if it did anything.
Leviathan takes aiming bonus and shoots Feora twice. Not a dead Feora, but she has less than eight damage boxes remaining.
Turn 4 Avatar rolls only two focus points. It doesn't even bother with Deneghra and instead kills Ogrun Bokur and finalizes Leviathan that Reckoner had failed to wreck. Ogrun Bokur's death set Deneghra on fire.
Eiryss tries to run to engage Necrosurgeon. Feora clears the zone from Admonia, Pistol Wraith and Nightwretch with two sprays. Protectorate scored three scenario points. Yikes.
Turn 5 Cryx has only a few shambling dead on the board, none of which would be able to stand contesting either zone long enough. Nobody was able to charge Feora either because of the wall of fire.
So, my plan was thus: two Mechanithralls would kill Covenant and two Brute Thralls and a Mechanithrall would at least destroy Avatar's sword if not wreck the thing outright.
But I was too greedy.
One Brute charged an Exemplar Errant next to Deneghra (it wouldn't have got charge bonus anyway and needed to move from the way of another brute) and another got to Avatar. One Mechanithrall tried to charge Avatar, but I fumbled measurements with my shaky hands and didn't claim the charge bonus. And the sword was the only system they didn't break. And I didn't even get a soul for Deneghra. And Covenant didn't die, it was left with one hit box.
As a random added bonus, a Mechanithrall killed Eiryss.
Deneghra hadn't upkept Grave Wind because I thought I'd need all of her eight focus to deal with Feora. I would have really wanted that soul, though, for a Mortality.
But she had to take four free strikes from Exemplar Errants and one from Avatar and land on a spot that wasn't in melee with Avatar, within 8" of both Feora and Covenant. Things like this will get a lot easier to navigate after edition change...
However, Deneghra landed on correct spot and was left with three hit boxes after the free strikes and while under Fire continuous effect.
Her spray attack thankfully killed Covenant of Menoth, so Deneghra could try to cast Scourge on Feora.
Attack was a hit, and damage roll was something like fourteen, fifteen. That was enough to kill what was left of Feora. Phew.
Pretty exciting game from start to finish.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Intercessed
Last Friday I played a 50 point practice game for the last Mk II tournament in which I'm going to participate.
My list was the same as earlier:
Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- Leviathan
- Nightmare
- Deathripper
- Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
Pistol Wraith
Satyxis Captain
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Skarlock
Soul Trappers
Opponent had:
Intercessor Kreoss
- Reckoner
- Crusader
- Revenger
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Holy Zealots + Monolith Bearer
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Nicia
Eiryss1
Reclaimer
Hierophant
Covenant
Vassal
Rhupert
Wracks
Scenario was Close Quarters and Protectorate started game. I forgot the foams that had Satyxis in them back in my apartment, so Drudge Thralls enter the battlefield in chainmail bikinis and battle heels.
Deneghra has Grave Wind on herself. I was being paranoid about Warpath. Revenger had ran forward so that Kreoss could try to cast Crevasse on Satyxis Raiders. Attack missed. Revenger had Enliven on.
Kreoss dropped Holy Ward from Temple Flameguard, so Deneghra used her feat to cast Mortality on them. She also allocated three focus for Leviathan.
Satyxis Raiders charged Revenger and used Power Swell. Two Satyxis ran to block Enliven movement, but one would need to take free strike from Holy Zealot. Zealot missed. First Satyxis also scored Critical Knockdown. Two Satyxis Raiders had charged Temple Flameguard (and passed their command check!) and killed two. I could have easily charged a few Flameguards had I trusted Satyxis to score anything else but sub-par rolls. Oh well.
Pistol Wraith shot a couple of Flameguards down. Leviathan tried to shoot Kreoss a little bit, because there were no other targets. Holy Zealots had used Greater Destiny.
Next turn opponent was rolling dice pretty badly. I lost only about half of the Satyxis, including Sea Witch. Impressive amount of firepower that Leviathan had taken in had not broken any systems at all. Fire continuous effect burned Cortex, though.
Despite minor losses I still felt like I didn't have the correct tools to beat Protectorate.
Nicia had charged Pistol Wraith or something on the right side of the board. Nicia was Nightmare's prey, so I made it top priority to kill her, so I'd be able to switch Prey to Holy Zealots and charge Crusader. Pistol Wraith had a soul token from previous turn, so I trusted it to deal with Nicia. And it did score a hit with boosted attack roll - only the damage wasn't enough to kill her. Needed six on two dice. Meh.
I didn't abort my plan, though I guess it would have been the best course of action in this situation. I had been desperate in my attempts to kill even just a few enemy infantry models to get souls for Deneghra, but no. Somehow all but one soul managed to avoid the Trappers, and that had to go into focus for Nightmare. I couldn't figure any other way to kill Nicia than to cast Scourge on her via Deathripper and boost the damage roll. That killed her, but I felt like a camp of four would be too weak protection for Deneghra. So she didn't cast Mortality on Crusader - especially when I was unsure if I had brought the arc node close enough. Such problems won't exist in Mk3 any more I guess.
Anyway, Nigthmare then charged Crusader and I realised that it was just about the last model that was activating. Either it would get the job done, or nobody would.
Without Mortality and without Prey chances looked slim, so I didn't bother boosting damage. I just hoped I would destroy some important system. Main melee hand, cortex, something! Nope. Damage rolls were okay, slightly above average, but damaged columns were so scattered that not even Movement broke down.
Well. I still had Soul Trapper and Leviathan left to activate. Leviathan filled the Trapper with one Zealot soul. Yay.
Then, obviously, both of my heavy warjacks died.
Well. I guess I would assassinate Kreoss, then. Ghost Walking Deathripper advanced into position.
Kreoss had already been damaged by Feedback from Satyxis Raiders. The last Satyxis Raider actually tried to score one additional Feedback point by charging Reckoner in the back arc. It was a critical knockdown, but no damage in, so no Feedback either.
I wanted Maelovus and Admonia to try and cast Dark Fire on Kreoss, and Puppet Master for Deneghra. Maelovus couldn't get in range and Admonia didn't hit or do damage.
Deneghra activated and cast Mortality and Scourge on Kreoss via Deathripper. Scourge missed, so I needed to use Puppet Master re-roll there and not in the damage portion of the attack. And damage was something like 1,3,4.
With a good damage roll from Scourge and fully boosted spray from Deneghra's mount could have done it, albeit with good rolls only. After such a low roll I didn't have the faith in POW 10 spray to kill effectively Arm 18 Kreoss. Deneghra left the rest of her focus for armor boost. Def 17, Arm 19 against a warcaster, Reckoner and Crusader. Bring it on!
They brought it on, and Deneghra died.
Well. I pretty much lost when I charged with unsupported Nightmare. I should have just cast the Mortality and take in a couple of Reckoner shots. But I was afraid of a lot of things at that point. I was afraid of Warpath somehow getting Reckoner in melee with Deneghra, I was afraid of those two potential Reckoner shots, I was afraid of Fire continuous effect on Deneghra... Def 15/Arm 19-20 is a stressful vital statistics for a huge base warcaster.
My list was the same as earlier:
Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- Leviathan
- Nightmare
- Deathripper
- Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
Pistol Wraith
Satyxis Captain
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Skarlock
Soul Trappers
Opponent had:
Intercessor Kreoss
- Reckoner
- Crusader
- Revenger
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Holy Zealots + Monolith Bearer
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Nicia
Eiryss1
Reclaimer
Hierophant
Covenant
Vassal
Rhupert
Wracks
Scenario was Close Quarters and Protectorate started game. I forgot the foams that had Satyxis in them back in my apartment, so Drudge Thralls enter the battlefield in chainmail bikinis and battle heels.
Deneghra has Grave Wind on herself. I was being paranoid about Warpath. Revenger had ran forward so that Kreoss could try to cast Crevasse on Satyxis Raiders. Attack missed. Revenger had Enliven on.
Kreoss dropped Holy Ward from Temple Flameguard, so Deneghra used her feat to cast Mortality on them. She also allocated three focus for Leviathan.
Satyxis Raiders charged Revenger and used Power Swell. Two Satyxis ran to block Enliven movement, but one would need to take free strike from Holy Zealot. Zealot missed. First Satyxis also scored Critical Knockdown. Two Satyxis Raiders had charged Temple Flameguard (and passed their command check!) and killed two. I could have easily charged a few Flameguards had I trusted Satyxis to score anything else but sub-par rolls. Oh well.
Pistol Wraith shot a couple of Flameguards down. Leviathan tried to shoot Kreoss a little bit, because there were no other targets. Holy Zealots had used Greater Destiny.
Next turn opponent was rolling dice pretty badly. I lost only about half of the Satyxis, including Sea Witch. Impressive amount of firepower that Leviathan had taken in had not broken any systems at all. Fire continuous effect burned Cortex, though.
Despite minor losses I still felt like I didn't have the correct tools to beat Protectorate.
Nicia had charged Pistol Wraith or something on the right side of the board. Nicia was Nightmare's prey, so I made it top priority to kill her, so I'd be able to switch Prey to Holy Zealots and charge Crusader. Pistol Wraith had a soul token from previous turn, so I trusted it to deal with Nicia. And it did score a hit with boosted attack roll - only the damage wasn't enough to kill her. Needed six on two dice. Meh.
I didn't abort my plan, though I guess it would have been the best course of action in this situation. I had been desperate in my attempts to kill even just a few enemy infantry models to get souls for Deneghra, but no. Somehow all but one soul managed to avoid the Trappers, and that had to go into focus for Nightmare. I couldn't figure any other way to kill Nicia than to cast Scourge on her via Deathripper and boost the damage roll. That killed her, but I felt like a camp of four would be too weak protection for Deneghra. So she didn't cast Mortality on Crusader - especially when I was unsure if I had brought the arc node close enough. Such problems won't exist in Mk3 any more I guess.
Anyway, Nigthmare then charged Crusader and I realised that it was just about the last model that was activating. Either it would get the job done, or nobody would.
Without Mortality and without Prey chances looked slim, so I didn't bother boosting damage. I just hoped I would destroy some important system. Main melee hand, cortex, something! Nope. Damage rolls were okay, slightly above average, but damaged columns were so scattered that not even Movement broke down.
Well. I still had Soul Trapper and Leviathan left to activate. Leviathan filled the Trapper with one Zealot soul. Yay.
Then, obviously, both of my heavy warjacks died.
Well. I guess I would assassinate Kreoss, then. Ghost Walking Deathripper advanced into position.
Kreoss had already been damaged by Feedback from Satyxis Raiders. The last Satyxis Raider actually tried to score one additional Feedback point by charging Reckoner in the back arc. It was a critical knockdown, but no damage in, so no Feedback either.
I wanted Maelovus and Admonia to try and cast Dark Fire on Kreoss, and Puppet Master for Deneghra. Maelovus couldn't get in range and Admonia didn't hit or do damage.
Deneghra activated and cast Mortality and Scourge on Kreoss via Deathripper. Scourge missed, so I needed to use Puppet Master re-roll there and not in the damage portion of the attack. And damage was something like 1,3,4.
With a good damage roll from Scourge and fully boosted spray from Deneghra's mount could have done it, albeit with good rolls only. After such a low roll I didn't have the faith in POW 10 spray to kill effectively Arm 18 Kreoss. Deneghra left the rest of her focus for armor boost. Def 17, Arm 19 against a warcaster, Reckoner and Crusader. Bring it on!
They brought it on, and Deneghra died.
Well. I pretty much lost when I charged with unsupported Nightmare. I should have just cast the Mortality and take in a couple of Reckoner shots. But I was afraid of a lot of things at that point. I was afraid of Warpath somehow getting Reckoner in melee with Deneghra, I was afraid of those two potential Reckoner shots, I was afraid of Fire continuous effect on Deneghra... Def 15/Arm 19-20 is a stressful vital statistics for a huge base warcaster.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Lord Commander Stryker vs the Soul Weaver
Last Thursday I played a 50 point Warmachine game.
My list was:
Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- Leviathan
- Nightmare
- Deathripper
- Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Withershadow Combine
Ogrun Bokur
Satyxis Captain
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Skarlock
Soul Trappers
Opponent had:
Lord Commander Stryker
- Lancer
Maximum unit of Storm Lances
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + Officer
Maximum unit of Horgenhold Forge Guard + Murdoch
Aiyana & Holt
Archduke Runewood
Journeyman Warcaster
Maxwell Finn
Squire
Stormblade Captain
Rhupert
Harlan Versh
Scenario was Incursion and Cygnar started game. First picture is from the end of Cygnar turn two. I had left the flag on the right next to uncontested, and I had definitely not anticipated Stryker would use his feat this turn to take over flag on the left with Forge Guard, too. Rhupert had given them Tough.
I got to make a cheap trick by casting Mortality on Forge Guard with Skarlock and then killing a whole bunch of them with Satyxis. Pistol Wraith took down Murdoch. Yet again I forgot my plans when I got to kill some filthy dwarves. I had thought of controlling left flag with the Satyxis unit, but one of them just had to charge way past 4" area around the flag. Satyxis Captain was able to run to the flag, but most likely that just meant a dead Satyxis Captain.
I was afraid that Stryker would now make a suicidal charge with three Overload dice against Deneghra, so I tried to place my warjacks to threaten at least with free strikes if nothing else.
However, next tun it looked like I had (for once) placed my warcaster far enough from charges like this so Stryker ditched that plan. He cast Rebuke on Satyxis Raiders and tried to kill the Sea Witch - probably to give Gun Mages realistic chance to hit them.
Gun Mages either missed or didn't score damage for most of their activations. Storm Lances looked like a problem when they charged to Nightwretch. Or, well, one tried to and the rest just ran. Harlan Versh came to control the flag.
Though Satyxis wouldn't now charge Stryker thanks to Rebuke, I decided to go for the assassination anyway. Deathripper ran to position, and then Deneghra activated and flew on top of the hill just to look cool. She cast Mortality on Stryker, and then a boosted Scourge right after. She tried to spray Stryker with her ranged attack, but scored no damage.
Pistol Wraith took a shot at Stryker and boosted damage. Damage roll was 5,5,6 which killed the Cygnaran warcaster.
I know it isn't right, but I felt a little disappointed. I had wanted to knock Stryker down and make him Stationary.
Then I would have wanted to have Shadow Bind on him and Blind on him.
And then I would have wanted to curse him and his descendants down to seventh generation.
And then I would have even wanted to insult his dog.
And all of that wouldn't have been even remotely close to what the poster boy deserves.
My list was:
Deneghra the Soul Weaver
- Leviathan
- Nightmare
- Deathripper
- Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Ogrun Bokur
Satyxis Captain
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Skarlock
Soul Trappers
Opponent had:
Lord Commander Stryker
- Lancer
Maximum unit of Storm Lances
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages + Officer
Maximum unit of Horgenhold Forge Guard + Murdoch
Aiyana & Holt
Archduke Runewood
Journeyman Warcaster
Maxwell Finn
Squire
Stormblade Captain
Rhupert
Harlan Versh
Scenario was Incursion and Cygnar started game. First picture is from the end of Cygnar turn two. I had left the flag on the right next to uncontested, and I had definitely not anticipated Stryker would use his feat this turn to take over flag on the left with Forge Guard, too. Rhupert had given them Tough.
I got to make a cheap trick by casting Mortality on Forge Guard with Skarlock and then killing a whole bunch of them with Satyxis. Pistol Wraith took down Murdoch. Yet again I forgot my plans when I got to kill some filthy dwarves. I had thought of controlling left flag with the Satyxis unit, but one of them just had to charge way past 4" area around the flag. Satyxis Captain was able to run to the flag, but most likely that just meant a dead Satyxis Captain.
I was afraid that Stryker would now make a suicidal charge with three Overload dice against Deneghra, so I tried to place my warjacks to threaten at least with free strikes if nothing else.
However, next tun it looked like I had (for once) placed my warcaster far enough from charges like this so Stryker ditched that plan. He cast Rebuke on Satyxis Raiders and tried to kill the Sea Witch - probably to give Gun Mages realistic chance to hit them.
Gun Mages either missed or didn't score damage for most of their activations. Storm Lances looked like a problem when they charged to Nightwretch. Or, well, one tried to and the rest just ran. Harlan Versh came to control the flag.
Though Satyxis wouldn't now charge Stryker thanks to Rebuke, I decided to go for the assassination anyway. Deathripper ran to position, and then Deneghra activated and flew on top of the hill just to look cool. She cast Mortality on Stryker, and then a boosted Scourge right after. She tried to spray Stryker with her ranged attack, but scored no damage.
Pistol Wraith took a shot at Stryker and boosted damage. Damage roll was 5,5,6 which killed the Cygnaran warcaster.
I know it isn't right, but I felt a little disappointed. I had wanted to knock Stryker down and make him Stationary.
Then I would have wanted to have Shadow Bind on him and Blind on him.
And then I would have wanted to curse him and his descendants down to seventh generation.
And then I would have even wanted to insult his dog.
And all of that wouldn't have been even remotely close to what the poster boy deserves.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Night Witch Tournament
Last weekend I was in a (this time) planned Warmachine/Hordes tournament.
It was a 50 point Steamroller game with four rounds.
My lists were:
List 1:
Cassius the Oathkeeper & Wurmwood
- Gorax
- Woldwatcher
- Shadowhorn Satyr
- Warpwolf Stalker
Shifting Stones
Tharn Bloodweavers
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Lord of the Feast
Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Bloodweaver Night Witch
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Gallows Grove
List 2:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Gorax
- Riphorn Satyr
- Pureblood Warpwolf
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Tharn Ravager White Mane
Blackclad Wayfarer
Bloodweaver Night Witch
Gallows Grove
War Wolf
I had finished painting Bloodweaver Night Witch just a day ago, so I wanted to include her in both of my lists so that I wouldn't have the dilemma of "I should play this list because of the matchup, but I want to play Night Witch!"
So. First game was against Skorne. I chose Cassius as my warlock, though opponent had Titan Gladiator and Tyrant Commander handing out Pathfinder. Oh well. Enemy list was something like:
Supreme Archdomina Makeda
- Molik Karn
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Basilisk Krea
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Cataphract Incindiarii
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer
Scenario was Fire Support. I forget who started game.
Even when I had quite a few models immune to fire damage, the Incindiarii were a pain. They managed to set Cassius, Wurmwood and tons of other models on fire anyway. I was really lucky in setting the fires out - about 66% of the fires got extinguished instead of the regular 33%. Lord of the Feast took down three Incindiariis, but that didn't seem to slow them down.
I was terrified of Molik Karn. Perhaps a little too much. Molik went for a little killing spree against Druids of Orboros and used his animus to back off.
The first picture is taken from the situation where Night Witch and Warpwolf Stalker have charged Molik Karn and killed him. Stalker rolled dice absolutely terribly. Under Primal it was MAT 8 and rolled damage with dice +2, and still Molik Karn would have survived if it wasn't for the couple odd points Bloodweaver Night Witch had done. I had been pretty sure I would have been able to get at least one, hopefully two attacks against Bronzeback Titan, but no. Not today.
Bloodweavers charged Bronzeback and dealt some damage in.
Opponent had been playing really slowly (it was his first tournament) and had around six minutes left on his clock after his next turn. Titan Gladiator had not been able to kill Warpwolf Stalker and Bronzeback Titan forgot to put his animus on, so his kill count for that turn was two Bloodweavers only.
I could have also played attrition or scenario game, since three Incindiarii and a couple of Nihilators were the only infantry opponent had.
And still I wanted to assassinate Makeda. Makeda had two Fury points left for damage transfers. Titan Gladiator was at maximum Fury. I tried to kill Bronzeback Titan first, but had no luck there.
Cassius hopped next to Makeda and tried to cast Curse of Shadows on her, hitting on 9+, and obviously that's a miss. Second Curse of Shadows miraculously hit, but Cassius had been reduced to just one unboosted initial attack that required 9+ to hit. It was a miss.
Well. I still had Shadowhorn Satyr leaping in with Primal on it. Shadowhorn required 7+ to hit, but had six attempts after Bounding Leap. I decided I needed to risk it and go for unboosted 7+'s since Cassius had failed to make any damage in to Makeda.
Out of the six attacks only two hit, and first one did very little damage. Second roll was high, I think, but it was transfered away.
Now, okay, 7+ can do things like this. Two hits from six tries isn't that far below average. However... out of the four Shadowhorn attacks that missed, none would have hit even if required score would have been 6+.
Suddenly my successful rolls for fire expiration made perfect sense, yet again. Furyless Cassius was cracked in two like a dry branch.
During lunch break I swore that if the rest of the games roll as badly as this one did, I'd get rid of this batch of dice. They've been failing so terribly lately (though making stupid mistakes haven't really helped to even the odds in case of bad dice...) and I was just about done with them. Superstitiously I shuffled all of the dice in the box and re-arranged them randomly to make sure I wouldn't be using the same bad dice that are on top of the box all the time.
Game 2:
Second game was against Trollbloods, and I chose Morvahna for my list.
Opponent had something like:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
- Troll Axer
- Mulg the Ancient
Minimum unit of Krielstone Bearers + Elder
Maximum unit of Fennblades + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Long Riders
2x Fell Caller Hero
Fennblade Kithkar
Horthol
Scenario was Incoming and Trollbloods started.
I thought that hiding Ravagers behind a wall and inside a forest would be kind of okay defence against Long Riders. I was kind of horrified when they got their MAT equal to eleven, or something? That was a whole lot of dead Tharn Ravagers right on turn two.
Circle second turn I decided to use feat to bring back the six or so dead Ravagers all around Longriders - without cavalry charge bonuses they'd be less frightening... right? Pureblood tried to spray Krielstone unit dead, and despite needing only 7+ with three dice to hit, I had to re-roll most of the attacks with Scales of Fate. And to make matters worse, out of the four Krielstone Bearers that got damage in, three passed Tough check. Morvahna casts Death Knell on the same lot, but, well. All Tough checks passed when I managed to breach their armor.
Wolves of Orboros advanced a little to bait Fennblades into charging, though I'm not sure if that manoeuvre qualifies as a successful bait, because that was exactly what they wanted to do in the first place anyway. I had also brought many too far ahead so that they received more losses than I had anticipated when it was Trollblood turn again. At least Madrak didn't use his feat yet, so Mulg killed only Pureblood Warpwolf, Gallows Grove and possibly Blackclad Wayfarer.
Trying to remove the key support piece had now pretty much cost me the game, unless I killed Madrak, who had two transfers or something like that. He had overextended himself, though, so I would be able to teleport Riphorn Satyr behind him.
I shuffle quite a bit on my turn and try to make it possible for Riphorn Satyr to throw Madrak closer to Morvahna with Chain Attack - in case that Mulg would be, like, close to killing Riphorn.
However, once chain attack triggered Riphorn still looked alive and well, so I chose to head-butt Madrak instead to the ground. Mulg had mercifully missed a protective fit. Riphorn managed to chew through all Madrak's transfers and bring him down to four hit points before dying to the Rune Club.
Only model that was able to reach Madrak then was Morvahna with Sunder Spirit. I had three attempts. I was pretty sure it'd be something like, one miss, one doesn't cut through armor and one passed Tough. So much faith I had in my dice. But the first Sunder Spirit was enough.
Game 3:
Third game was against Skorne, again. We drove two hundred and fifty kilometres to get a match with player from my home city.
He had:
Lord Arbiter Hexeris
- Titan Gladiator
- Bronzeback Titan
- Cyclops Brute
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Maximum unit of Croak Raiders
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Agonizer
Task Master
Extoller Soulward
Scenario was Two Fronts. Since opponent would become list locked for the final round if he didn't choose Hexeris for this game, I was fairly confident in choosing Cassius for this match. Again I had a lot of fire immune models, and enemy had Croaks and Ashes to Ashes.
Circle started, and first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 1.
Circle shot Lord of the Feast to Croaks and kills three of them plus one Nihilator. Not sure if worth four points, but the pleasure I get from just one dead frog counts at least for two. Two additional Croaks die in the middle.
Hexeris had cast Arcane Reckoning on Croaks, and this lead to first time in recorded history when that spells makes a casualty. I didn't remember that spell, and somehow didn't register that Croaks were in a trench. All the 2d terrain looks the same... Anyway. A druid killed itself with Force Bolt. Though we were not completely sure if that was possible, since unit leader had already put up Counter Magic. So possibly Arcane Reckoning wouldn't have done absolutely anything yet again.
Anyway, Cassius uses his feat. The various markers show the general area of the forest in second picture.
Opponent brings some remaining Croaks and Swamp Gobbers to contest Circle friendly zone and relocates his forces to Skorne friendly zone.
Turn 3 berserking Warpwolf with Sprint clears the zone, and Cassius starts dominating. I didn't realise until it was too late that I had placed Bloodweavers rather... foolishly, considering opponent had a spray basilisk nearby. Oh well.
Bronzeback Titan with Rush tries to charge a Druid of Orboros after Basilisk Drake had cleared the way, and thankfully the charge fell short. On my turn one Bloodweaver, Shadowhorn Satyr with Primal, Warpwolf Stalker who warped for strength and Cassius kill the Bronzeback Titan. Ech.
Circle friendly zone is cleared again, and Cassius dominates second scenario point.
Up until now things had looked really good for me. Warpwolf Stalker had taken some stray damage points in from different sources, and now a charging Cyclops Brute with enrage and Rush managed to kill the heavy warbeast. Drake and Titan Gladiator came to contest Circle friendly zone, and Shadowhorn Satyr would frenzy for sure next turn.
Hexeris had charged in to finish off Woldwatcher and casts Ashen Veil on himself.
Even if I somehow managed to clear Circle friendly zone again with some Force Bolt pushes, I'd get to three control points only... and then enemy warbeasts would be so deep inside the zone that my scenario game would stop right there and then. So, an assassination it would be.
First Druids of Orboros and Blackclad Wayfarer try to clear some Nihilators in front of Hexeris. Blackclad Wayfarer did a couple damage points in to Hexeris, even.
Next Shifting Stones teleport Bloodweaver Night Witch to the back arc of Hexeris. This was the moment I had been dreaming of for whole tournament and a couple of practice games. Except, that, she had to score a hit against a def 17 target (def 15 in back arc). She dealt three points of damage to herself with her ability to boost attack or damage rolls, so first attack was most likely the only shot she would get. But it hit, and Hexeris got Grievous Wounds in.
Now Cassius needed to finish the job with eleven fury points, four of which were needed for placements.
It took the very last attack Cassius was able to make, but this time he scored the kill.
Game 4:
Last game was against Legion of Everblight, and I chose Morvahna for the job.
Opponent had:
Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight
- 2x Ravagore
- Zuriel
- Naga Nightlurker
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower
- Shredder
2x Shepherd
2x Strider Deathstalker
Succubus
Anyssa Ryvaal
Scenario was Recon and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Circle turn 2.
I'm quite happy that probably for the first time ever I played against Lylyth2 like you should: rush to her with everything you got as fast as you can. And it was nice to see that it was effective. Lylyth had to use her feat on turn two to defend herself and not to assassinate my caster. Damage was impressive, though... Riphorn Satyr has one box of health remaining in the Spirit branch.
Turn 3 Pureblood Warpwolf enters zone and deals crazy damage to objective and Lylyth herself. I think objective took thirteen points and Lylyth twelve (which was transfered to Shredder, though)
Riphorn Satyr runs to engage enemy beasts, Warwolf does the same and actually everything does the same, except for Morvahna who does full feat and has only one hit point remaining afterwards. Blackclad Wayfarer wrecks the objective, and Circle goes to three control points.
Opponent does respectable job again in clearing dirty hippies from the board. Only models that get to contest the zone are a Shepherd, Succubus and... a Ravagore.
Then it's Circle turn. Pureblood Warpwolf is left with two fury points, but it has quite good Threshold anyway. With eight or less I'd most likely win the game relatively easily.
It soothes my pain a little that Pureblood Warpwolf wouldn't have succeeded in the check even if it had to make it with zero fury... eleven was rolled. Blackclad Wayfarer was eaten.
This sucks.
Oh well. Let's see. I needed to keep Shepherd alive so that Morvahna would be able to Ram her to get within reach of Ravagore after being teleported with Shifting Stones.
Succubus would need to be taken down somehow, and I chose Wolves of Orboros for the job. I charged Succubus with three Wolves of Orboros and thanks to not thinking very straight one ended up blocking an easy charge for one Ravager. I wanted to make sure that the Succubus died, so I brought every Wolf there I could. First Wolf killed Succubus, though. Oh well.
Morvahna then got teleported, and she rammed Shepherd dead and started attacking Ravagore. She had healed some damage during enemy turn, but not enough to be completely careless of her own health.
There was one really good damage roll, and a lot of sub-par rolls. Though at least every attack did some damage in. Well, except once she re-rolled one 1,1,1,2. Luckily damage to her was only one.
In the end of the day, Ravagore was alive with three damage boxes remaining. Now... if I would have trusted that two Wolves get the job done with Succubus, Ravagore would have had an easy lane to charge enemy warbeast. Now, Bloodweaver Night Witch tried to kill one Wolf of Orboros out of the way, but still the Ravagore ended up being half an inch away from reach range.
Furyless Morvahna at one hit point in the middle of enemy army.
Well, funnily enough every Legion warbeast frenzied except for the one Morvahna had in melee. But still... even if Morvahna had Def 19 in melee, Lylyth gets to RAT 10 with aiming bonus.
It was so close. So close.
Well, even if Morvahna would have killed the Ravagore, I would have been in fourth place of the tournament. So that moronic Ravager block didn't cost me winning positions.
Still it sucks.
And I even need to keep using the same dice, because their fails weren't so egregious in the latter games of the tournament. Maybe they heard my threats.
It was a 50 point Steamroller game with four rounds.
My lists were:
List 1:
Cassius the Oathkeeper & Wurmwood
- Gorax
- Woldwatcher
- Shadowhorn Satyr
- Warpwolf Stalker
Shifting Stones
Tharn Bloodweavers
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Lord of the Feast
Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Bloodweaver Night Witch
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Gallows Grove
List 2:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Gorax
- Riphorn Satyr
- Pureblood Warpwolf
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain + Shaman
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Tharn Ravager White Mane
Blackclad Wayfarer
Bloodweaver Night Witch
Gallows Grove
War Wolf
I had finished painting Bloodweaver Night Witch just a day ago, so I wanted to include her in both of my lists so that I wouldn't have the dilemma of "I should play this list because of the matchup, but I want to play Night Witch!"
So. First game was against Skorne. I chose Cassius as my warlock, though opponent had Titan Gladiator and Tyrant Commander handing out Pathfinder. Oh well. Enemy list was something like:
Supreme Archdomina Makeda
- Molik Karn
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Basilisk Krea
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Cataphract Incindiarii
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer
Scenario was Fire Support. I forget who started game.
Even when I had quite a few models immune to fire damage, the Incindiarii were a pain. They managed to set Cassius, Wurmwood and tons of other models on fire anyway. I was really lucky in setting the fires out - about 66% of the fires got extinguished instead of the regular 33%. Lord of the Feast took down three Incindiariis, but that didn't seem to slow them down.
I was terrified of Molik Karn. Perhaps a little too much. Molik went for a little killing spree against Druids of Orboros and used his animus to back off.
The first picture is taken from the situation where Night Witch and Warpwolf Stalker have charged Molik Karn and killed him. Stalker rolled dice absolutely terribly. Under Primal it was MAT 8 and rolled damage with dice +2, and still Molik Karn would have survived if it wasn't for the couple odd points Bloodweaver Night Witch had done. I had been pretty sure I would have been able to get at least one, hopefully two attacks against Bronzeback Titan, but no. Not today.
Bloodweavers charged Bronzeback and dealt some damage in.
Opponent had been playing really slowly (it was his first tournament) and had around six minutes left on his clock after his next turn. Titan Gladiator had not been able to kill Warpwolf Stalker and Bronzeback Titan forgot to put his animus on, so his kill count for that turn was two Bloodweavers only.
I could have also played attrition or scenario game, since three Incindiarii and a couple of Nihilators were the only infantry opponent had.
And still I wanted to assassinate Makeda. Makeda had two Fury points left for damage transfers. Titan Gladiator was at maximum Fury. I tried to kill Bronzeback Titan first, but had no luck there.
Cassius hopped next to Makeda and tried to cast Curse of Shadows on her, hitting on 9+, and obviously that's a miss. Second Curse of Shadows miraculously hit, but Cassius had been reduced to just one unboosted initial attack that required 9+ to hit. It was a miss.
Well. I still had Shadowhorn Satyr leaping in with Primal on it. Shadowhorn required 7+ to hit, but had six attempts after Bounding Leap. I decided I needed to risk it and go for unboosted 7+'s since Cassius had failed to make any damage in to Makeda.
Out of the six attacks only two hit, and first one did very little damage. Second roll was high, I think, but it was transfered away.
Now, okay, 7+ can do things like this. Two hits from six tries isn't that far below average. However... out of the four Shadowhorn attacks that missed, none would have hit even if required score would have been 6+.
Suddenly my successful rolls for fire expiration made perfect sense, yet again. Furyless Cassius was cracked in two like a dry branch.
During lunch break I swore that if the rest of the games roll as badly as this one did, I'd get rid of this batch of dice. They've been failing so terribly lately (though making stupid mistakes haven't really helped to even the odds in case of bad dice...) and I was just about done with them. Superstitiously I shuffled all of the dice in the box and re-arranged them randomly to make sure I wouldn't be using the same bad dice that are on top of the box all the time.
Game 2:
Second game was against Trollbloods, and I chose Morvahna for my list.
Opponent had something like:
Chief Madrak Ironhide
- Troll Axer
- Mulg the Ancient
Minimum unit of Krielstone Bearers + Elder
Maximum unit of Fennblades + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Long Riders
2x Fell Caller Hero
Fennblade Kithkar
Horthol
Scenario was Incoming and Trollbloods started.
I thought that hiding Ravagers behind a wall and inside a forest would be kind of okay defence against Long Riders. I was kind of horrified when they got their MAT equal to eleven, or something? That was a whole lot of dead Tharn Ravagers right on turn two.
Circle second turn I decided to use feat to bring back the six or so dead Ravagers all around Longriders - without cavalry charge bonuses they'd be less frightening... right? Pureblood tried to spray Krielstone unit dead, and despite needing only 7+ with three dice to hit, I had to re-roll most of the attacks with Scales of Fate. And to make matters worse, out of the four Krielstone Bearers that got damage in, three passed Tough check. Morvahna casts Death Knell on the same lot, but, well. All Tough checks passed when I managed to breach their armor.
Wolves of Orboros advanced a little to bait Fennblades into charging, though I'm not sure if that manoeuvre qualifies as a successful bait, because that was exactly what they wanted to do in the first place anyway. I had also brought many too far ahead so that they received more losses than I had anticipated when it was Trollblood turn again. At least Madrak didn't use his feat yet, so Mulg killed only Pureblood Warpwolf, Gallows Grove and possibly Blackclad Wayfarer.
Trying to remove the key support piece had now pretty much cost me the game, unless I killed Madrak, who had two transfers or something like that. He had overextended himself, though, so I would be able to teleport Riphorn Satyr behind him.
I shuffle quite a bit on my turn and try to make it possible for Riphorn Satyr to throw Madrak closer to Morvahna with Chain Attack - in case that Mulg would be, like, close to killing Riphorn.
However, once chain attack triggered Riphorn still looked alive and well, so I chose to head-butt Madrak instead to the ground. Mulg had mercifully missed a protective fit. Riphorn managed to chew through all Madrak's transfers and bring him down to four hit points before dying to the Rune Club.
Only model that was able to reach Madrak then was Morvahna with Sunder Spirit. I had three attempts. I was pretty sure it'd be something like, one miss, one doesn't cut through armor and one passed Tough. So much faith I had in my dice. But the first Sunder Spirit was enough.
Game 3:
Third game was against Skorne, again. We drove two hundred and fifty kilometres to get a match with player from my home city.
He had:
Lord Arbiter Hexeris
- Titan Gladiator
- Bronzeback Titan
- Cyclops Brute
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Maximum unit of Croak Raiders
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Agonizer
Task Master
Extoller Soulward
Scenario was Two Fronts. Since opponent would become list locked for the final round if he didn't choose Hexeris for this game, I was fairly confident in choosing Cassius for this match. Again I had a lot of fire immune models, and enemy had Croaks and Ashes to Ashes.
Circle started, and first picture is from the end of Skorne turn 1.
Circle shot Lord of the Feast to Croaks and kills three of them plus one Nihilator. Not sure if worth four points, but the pleasure I get from just one dead frog counts at least for two. Two additional Croaks die in the middle.
Hexeris had cast Arcane Reckoning on Croaks, and this lead to first time in recorded history when that spells makes a casualty. I didn't remember that spell, and somehow didn't register that Croaks were in a trench. All the 2d terrain looks the same... Anyway. A druid killed itself with Force Bolt. Though we were not completely sure if that was possible, since unit leader had already put up Counter Magic. So possibly Arcane Reckoning wouldn't have done absolutely anything yet again.
Anyway, Cassius uses his feat. The various markers show the general area of the forest in second picture.
Opponent brings some remaining Croaks and Swamp Gobbers to contest Circle friendly zone and relocates his forces to Skorne friendly zone.
Turn 3 berserking Warpwolf with Sprint clears the zone, and Cassius starts dominating. I didn't realise until it was too late that I had placed Bloodweavers rather... foolishly, considering opponent had a spray basilisk nearby. Oh well.
Bronzeback Titan with Rush tries to charge a Druid of Orboros after Basilisk Drake had cleared the way, and thankfully the charge fell short. On my turn one Bloodweaver, Shadowhorn Satyr with Primal, Warpwolf Stalker who warped for strength and Cassius kill the Bronzeback Titan. Ech.
Circle friendly zone is cleared again, and Cassius dominates second scenario point.
Up until now things had looked really good for me. Warpwolf Stalker had taken some stray damage points in from different sources, and now a charging Cyclops Brute with enrage and Rush managed to kill the heavy warbeast. Drake and Titan Gladiator came to contest Circle friendly zone, and Shadowhorn Satyr would frenzy for sure next turn.
Hexeris had charged in to finish off Woldwatcher and casts Ashen Veil on himself.
Even if I somehow managed to clear Circle friendly zone again with some Force Bolt pushes, I'd get to three control points only... and then enemy warbeasts would be so deep inside the zone that my scenario game would stop right there and then. So, an assassination it would be.
First Druids of Orboros and Blackclad Wayfarer try to clear some Nihilators in front of Hexeris. Blackclad Wayfarer did a couple damage points in to Hexeris, even.
Next Shifting Stones teleport Bloodweaver Night Witch to the back arc of Hexeris. This was the moment I had been dreaming of for whole tournament and a couple of practice games. Except, that, she had to score a hit against a def 17 target (def 15 in back arc). She dealt three points of damage to herself with her ability to boost attack or damage rolls, so first attack was most likely the only shot she would get. But it hit, and Hexeris got Grievous Wounds in.
Now Cassius needed to finish the job with eleven fury points, four of which were needed for placements.
It took the very last attack Cassius was able to make, but this time he scored the kill.
Game 4:
Last game was against Legion of Everblight, and I chose Morvahna for the job.
Opponent had:
Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight
- 2x Ravagore
- Zuriel
- Naga Nightlurker
- Nephilim Bolt Thrower
- Shredder
2x Shepherd
2x Strider Deathstalker
Succubus
Anyssa Ryvaal
Scenario was Recon and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Circle turn 2.
I'm quite happy that probably for the first time ever I played against Lylyth2 like you should: rush to her with everything you got as fast as you can. And it was nice to see that it was effective. Lylyth had to use her feat on turn two to defend herself and not to assassinate my caster. Damage was impressive, though... Riphorn Satyr has one box of health remaining in the Spirit branch.
Turn 3 Pureblood Warpwolf enters zone and deals crazy damage to objective and Lylyth herself. I think objective took thirteen points and Lylyth twelve (which was transfered to Shredder, though)
Riphorn Satyr runs to engage enemy beasts, Warwolf does the same and actually everything does the same, except for Morvahna who does full feat and has only one hit point remaining afterwards. Blackclad Wayfarer wrecks the objective, and Circle goes to three control points.
Opponent does respectable job again in clearing dirty hippies from the board. Only models that get to contest the zone are a Shepherd, Succubus and... a Ravagore.
Then it's Circle turn. Pureblood Warpwolf is left with two fury points, but it has quite good Threshold anyway. With eight or less I'd most likely win the game relatively easily.
It soothes my pain a little that Pureblood Warpwolf wouldn't have succeeded in the check even if it had to make it with zero fury... eleven was rolled. Blackclad Wayfarer was eaten.
This sucks.
Oh well. Let's see. I needed to keep Shepherd alive so that Morvahna would be able to Ram her to get within reach of Ravagore after being teleported with Shifting Stones.
Succubus would need to be taken down somehow, and I chose Wolves of Orboros for the job. I charged Succubus with three Wolves of Orboros and thanks to not thinking very straight one ended up blocking an easy charge for one Ravager. I wanted to make sure that the Succubus died, so I brought every Wolf there I could. First Wolf killed Succubus, though. Oh well.
Morvahna then got teleported, and she rammed Shepherd dead and started attacking Ravagore. She had healed some damage during enemy turn, but not enough to be completely careless of her own health.
There was one really good damage roll, and a lot of sub-par rolls. Though at least every attack did some damage in. Well, except once she re-rolled one 1,1,1,2. Luckily damage to her was only one.
In the end of the day, Ravagore was alive with three damage boxes remaining. Now... if I would have trusted that two Wolves get the job done with Succubus, Ravagore would have had an easy lane to charge enemy warbeast. Now, Bloodweaver Night Witch tried to kill one Wolf of Orboros out of the way, but still the Ravagore ended up being half an inch away from reach range.
Furyless Morvahna at one hit point in the middle of enemy army.
Well, funnily enough every Legion warbeast frenzied except for the one Morvahna had in melee. But still... even if Morvahna had Def 19 in melee, Lylyth gets to RAT 10 with aiming bonus.
It was so close. So close.
Well, even if Morvahna would have killed the Ravagore, I would have been in fourth place of the tournament. So that moronic Ravager block didn't cost me winning positions.
Still it sucks.
And I even need to keep using the same dice, because their fails weren't so egregious in the latter games of the tournament. Maybe they heard my threats.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
(un) Friendly Reminder
Last Thursday I played two practice games for tournament that's held this weekend. Both games had the same list:
Cassius and Wurmwood
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Shadowhorn Satyr
- Woldwatcher
- Gorax
Tharn Bloodweavers
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobber Bellows
Lord of the Feast
Night Witch
Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Gallows Grove
Objective: Bunker
Opponent had:
Archdomina Makeda
- Molik Karn
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Cyclops Brute
- Basilisk Krea
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Aptimus Marketh
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Objective: Bunker
First game had Incursion scenario. Circle started game, and the picture is from the end of Circle turn 2 where Cassius has desperately used his feat to try to block Molik Karn from doing things. There had been about three millimetres in between Molik Karn and Cassius when Cassius had attempted to cast Stranglehold on the cyclops chieftain.
There is nothing else to say, really.
Molik Karn didn't even need to use side-steps to walk within 2" of Wurmwood.
We played another game after this sorry affair.
Game 2:
Lists were the same, but we switched sides. Skorne started and scenario was Fire Support. I think these lists were quite balanced against each other. Both had counter options for moves opponent would be able to make. Skorne had completely absurd walking distances with Pathfinder available, but I had Stranglehold and Pathfinder removal, plus the 10" forest feat with me. Makeda had a a feat to bring back Nihilators, but I had some remove from play -effects. I had ways to lower MAT and relatively high defense, and opponent had Carnage. And so on.
First picture is from the end of Circle turn one. Woldwatcher shot one of the Nihilators into a forest.
Turn 3 opponent rushes forward with Nihilators. They kill a couple of Druids of Orboros. Molik Karn came close. Too close.
Turn three was also the turn when Cassius used his feat. But before that Lord of the Feast threw his crow at a Nihilator. He jumped in to make his thing with Nihilators and hopefully make a dent at Basilisk Krea. Well. Just as in last game, he hit with zero attacks against infantry models. Sometimes MAT 8 takes you only so far. Sometimes, like, two times in a row.
Druids of Orboros pull Bronzeback Titan a total of four inches closer. Gorax or Wilder cast Primal on Warpwolf Stalker, who then warped for Strength and proceeded to attack the warbeast. I think Stalker wasn't in Agonizer range, because it was able to kill the Bronzeback.
Rest of the army killed off Nihilators, Bloodweavers taking out Defender's Ward in the first place.
Now Cassius tried to be smart and cast Stranglehold on Molik Karn through Gallows Grove, without exposing himself too far just yet. Stranglehold hit Karn and dealt some stray damage points in. Molik missile never again. Or at least next turn.
Lanyssa Ryssyll fell a little short from getting Molik Karn within Winter Storm. The only reasonable thing to do was to use Push power attack on her with Woldwatcher.
Turn 4 Makeda uses her feat. Nihilators kill Lanyssa with the aid from Carnage. After that Titan Gladiator used Rush on itself and walked to attempt a double handed throw against my Warpwolf Stalker. This was one of the first times, or perhaps even the first time I have witnessed the throw target resisting a double-handed throw. Though it wouldn't have worked without Primal and warping for strength.
Bloodweavers and Hellmouths and whatnot all over the place destroyed the rest of the Nihilators, so Makeda wouldn't be able to return any models into play with her feat. Not that there were too many Nihilators that had been honestly destroyed.
Two Bloodweavers did some damage in to the Titan Gladiator, and Warpwolf Stalker had done it's frenzy attack against it. But those were quite not enough to kill it. Agonizer was giving -2 to damage rolls. Druid Wilder cast Primal on Shadowhorn Satyr - which would still be making attacks only with P+S 14 and 13 despite Primal! But this goat is not Gnarlhorn Satyr, no. Shadowhorn advanced, used Bounding Leap and killed Titan Gladiator - with one blow!
Cassius Strangled Molik Karn yet again.
Turn 5 Skorne got rid of Gallows Grove, which could possibly get Molik Karn out of Stranglehold's reach.
But this turn Molik wouldn't be able to do anything meaningful. Cyclops Brute tried to attack my warbeasts, but killed none. I don't remember what Krea did, except that it died on my next turn.
Circle turn 5, or so called "why, oh why did I do this" turn. Woldwatcher shot one Beast Handler into a forest, and the rest of Druids of Orboros cast Vortex clouds. This turn it looked like I had expended all of my good damage rolls, though, when Warpwolf Stalker, frenzying Shadowhorn Satyr and a stray P+S 9, weapon-masterish Bloodweaver didn't kill Brute. Should've used Primal on Stalker, I guess...
I advance Cassius and try to kill thr Brute with Stranglehold, but that accomplished nothing. He moved Wurmwood to safety.
Attrition game was looking good, but it doesn't really matter, when Makeda removes a couple of Bloodweavers from Molik's way, has Carnage on and Aptimus Marketh casts Savagery. Then Molik made a casual walk to Cassius and kills him.
Well, okay, it wasn't that casual. Cassius had been less than half an inch too close to Molik Karn. But that's all what it takes...
It's not entirely impossible that after these experiences I'm starting to fail to enter killbox in future games whenever enemy has Molik Karn.
Cassius and Wurmwood
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Shadowhorn Satyr
- Woldwatcher
- Gorax
Tharn Bloodweavers
Druids of Orboros + Overseer
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobber Bellows
Lord of the Feast
Night Witch
Druid Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer
Lanyssa Ryssyll
Gallows Grove
Objective: Bunker
Opponent had:
Archdomina Makeda
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Cyclops Brute
- Basilisk Krea
Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Nihilators
Aptimus Marketh
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Objective: Bunker
First game had Incursion scenario. Circle started game, and the picture is from the end of Circle turn 2 where Cassius has desperately used his feat to try to block Molik Karn from doing things. There had been about three millimetres in between Molik Karn and Cassius when Cassius had attempted to cast Stranglehold on the cyclops chieftain.
There is nothing else to say, really.
Molik Karn didn't even need to use side-steps to walk within 2" of Wurmwood.
We played another game after this sorry affair.
Game 2:
Lists were the same, but we switched sides. Skorne started and scenario was Fire Support. I think these lists were quite balanced against each other. Both had counter options for moves opponent would be able to make. Skorne had completely absurd walking distances with Pathfinder available, but I had Stranglehold and Pathfinder removal, plus the 10" forest feat with me. Makeda had a a feat to bring back Nihilators, but I had some remove from play -effects. I had ways to lower MAT and relatively high defense, and opponent had Carnage. And so on.
First picture is from the end of Circle turn one. Woldwatcher shot one of the Nihilators into a forest.
Turn 3 opponent rushes forward with Nihilators. They kill a couple of Druids of Orboros. Molik Karn came close. Too close.
Turn three was also the turn when Cassius used his feat. But before that Lord of the Feast threw his crow at a Nihilator. He jumped in to make his thing with Nihilators and hopefully make a dent at Basilisk Krea. Well. Just as in last game, he hit with zero attacks against infantry models. Sometimes MAT 8 takes you only so far. Sometimes, like, two times in a row.
Druids of Orboros pull Bronzeback Titan a total of four inches closer. Gorax or Wilder cast Primal on Warpwolf Stalker, who then warped for Strength and proceeded to attack the warbeast. I think Stalker wasn't in Agonizer range, because it was able to kill the Bronzeback.
Rest of the army killed off Nihilators, Bloodweavers taking out Defender's Ward in the first place.
Now Cassius tried to be smart and cast Stranglehold on Molik Karn through Gallows Grove, without exposing himself too far just yet. Stranglehold hit Karn and dealt some stray damage points in. Molik missile never again. Or at least next turn.
Lanyssa Ryssyll fell a little short from getting Molik Karn within Winter Storm. The only reasonable thing to do was to use Push power attack on her with Woldwatcher.
Turn 4 Makeda uses her feat. Nihilators kill Lanyssa with the aid from Carnage. After that Titan Gladiator used Rush on itself and walked to attempt a double handed throw against my Warpwolf Stalker. This was one of the first times, or perhaps even the first time I have witnessed the throw target resisting a double-handed throw. Though it wouldn't have worked without Primal and warping for strength.
Bloodweavers and Hellmouths and whatnot all over the place destroyed the rest of the Nihilators, so Makeda wouldn't be able to return any models into play with her feat. Not that there were too many Nihilators that had been honestly destroyed.
Two Bloodweavers did some damage in to the Titan Gladiator, and Warpwolf Stalker had done it's frenzy attack against it. But those were quite not enough to kill it. Agonizer was giving -2 to damage rolls. Druid Wilder cast Primal on Shadowhorn Satyr - which would still be making attacks only with P+S 14 and 13 despite Primal! But this goat is not Gnarlhorn Satyr, no. Shadowhorn advanced, used Bounding Leap and killed Titan Gladiator - with one blow!
Cassius Strangled Molik Karn yet again.
Turn 5 Skorne got rid of Gallows Grove, which could possibly get Molik Karn out of Stranglehold's reach.
But this turn Molik wouldn't be able to do anything meaningful. Cyclops Brute tried to attack my warbeasts, but killed none. I don't remember what Krea did, except that it died on my next turn.
Circle turn 5, or so called "why, oh why did I do this" turn. Woldwatcher shot one Beast Handler into a forest, and the rest of Druids of Orboros cast Vortex clouds. This turn it looked like I had expended all of my good damage rolls, though, when Warpwolf Stalker, frenzying Shadowhorn Satyr and a stray P+S 9, weapon-masterish Bloodweaver didn't kill Brute. Should've used Primal on Stalker, I guess...
I advance Cassius and try to kill thr Brute with Stranglehold, but that accomplished nothing. He moved Wurmwood to safety.
Attrition game was looking good, but it doesn't really matter, when Makeda removes a couple of Bloodweavers from Molik's way, has Carnage on and Aptimus Marketh casts Savagery. Then Molik made a casual walk to Cassius and kills him.
Well, okay, it wasn't that casual. Cassius had been less than half an inch too close to Molik Karn. But that's all what it takes...
It's not entirely impossible that after these experiences I'm starting to fail to enter killbox in future games whenever enemy has Molik Karn.
Friday, March 25, 2016
Scaverous vs High Exemplar Kreoss
Last Wednesday I played a 25 point Warmachine game against an aspiring Protectorate of Menoth player.
My list was:
Lord Exhumator Scaverous
- Ripjaw
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + Brute Thrall + Skarlock Overseer
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Reaper
Skarlock
Pistol Wraith
Soul Trappers
Ragman
Opponent had:
High Exemplar Kreoss
- Avatar of Menoth
- Reckoner
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Minimum unit of Deliverers
We didn't play any scenario, and the intimidated Kreoss cornered himself. No problem. Reaper could go and drag him out of his hole.
I had Death Ward on Mechanithralls so that they wouldn't all just die to Deliverer shots. Kreoss had cast Defender's Ward on Repenter, as Avatar had accidentally ran too far before Kreoss activated.
First picture is from an interesting situation, where Avatar had attempted to slam Reaper. Idea behind this was to catch Aiakos under the slam and kill him. Slam fell short just by something like two millimetres. Well. Not everything went sour for Protectorate that turn - Reckoner assaulted Scaverous and dealt nine points of damage. Repenter scorched Ragman.
Next turn Scaverous used feat. He used Ripjaw as an arc node and turned Reckoner and Repenter around so that they wouldn't charge next turn. Then he cast Feast of Worms on Reaper to get that -2 Arm for Avatar. Then he cast Telekinesis two more times on some Mechanithralls to ensure they'd reach Avatar.
Reaper and Mechanithralls wrecked Avatar. Skarlock cast Death Ward on Scaverous. Pistol Wraith and Mechanithralls had already caused a massive casualties check for Deliverers, who had failed.
Now its time for Kreoss to use his feat. Reckoner tried to advance and shoot Scaverous, but Scaverous had not been under Kreoss' feat. Shot missed.
Repenter scorched a couple of Mechanithralls and the Brute Thrall.
Well. I had plenty of options now. I took the most interesting one instead of the safest. Hey, I was playing against a new guy. Of course he has to see wicked combo chains! So I went for Kreoss, who had two focus points boosting his Arm score to 17.
So. Every model I had tried to remove one choir member that was in between Reaper and Kreoss. None succeeded, so Scaverous had to cast Telekinesis on him. Then he cast Telekinesis on Reaper and Icy Grip on Kreoss. Skarlock cast Ghost Walk on Reaper, who then charged Kreoss with +2" movement from Escort.
Miraculously the charge attack hit (I've been having trouble with those lately...), and after that every attack hit. Out of the four attacks I was able to make, there was only one really damn poor damage roll. Others were at least average. But... I was playing Scaverous.
It had thought my the Curse of Scaverous had been lifted, as last couple of games with him haven't been that terrible.
But there it was again. Kreoss survived with only one hit point.
Mechanithralls then made some kind of attempt to block Reckoner from reaching Scaverous.
That didn't help, though. Mechanithrall in front of Scaverous was just far enough to stop Reckoner from getting within 2", but there was the Assault shot. The shot required 11+ to kill. And it was 6,5,4 or something along the lines of that.
Meh. The curse is back, but at least it made for quite an exciting introductory game.
My list was:
Lord Exhumator Scaverous
- Ripjaw
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + Brute Thrall + Skarlock Overseer
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Reaper
Skarlock
Pistol Wraith
Soul Trappers
Ragman
Opponent had:
High Exemplar Kreoss
- Avatar of Menoth
- Reckoner
- Repenter
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Minimum unit of Deliverers
We didn't play any scenario, and the intimidated Kreoss cornered himself. No problem. Reaper could go and drag him out of his hole.
I had Death Ward on Mechanithralls so that they wouldn't all just die to Deliverer shots. Kreoss had cast Defender's Ward on Repenter, as Avatar had accidentally ran too far before Kreoss activated.
First picture is from an interesting situation, where Avatar had attempted to slam Reaper. Idea behind this was to catch Aiakos under the slam and kill him. Slam fell short just by something like two millimetres. Well. Not everything went sour for Protectorate that turn - Reckoner assaulted Scaverous and dealt nine points of damage. Repenter scorched Ragman.
Next turn Scaverous used feat. He used Ripjaw as an arc node and turned Reckoner and Repenter around so that they wouldn't charge next turn. Then he cast Feast of Worms on Reaper to get that -2 Arm for Avatar. Then he cast Telekinesis two more times on some Mechanithralls to ensure they'd reach Avatar.
Reaper and Mechanithralls wrecked Avatar. Skarlock cast Death Ward on Scaverous. Pistol Wraith and Mechanithralls had already caused a massive casualties check for Deliverers, who had failed.
Now its time for Kreoss to use his feat. Reckoner tried to advance and shoot Scaverous, but Scaverous had not been under Kreoss' feat. Shot missed.
Repenter scorched a couple of Mechanithralls and the Brute Thrall.
Well. I had plenty of options now. I took the most interesting one instead of the safest. Hey, I was playing against a new guy. Of course he has to see wicked combo chains! So I went for Kreoss, who had two focus points boosting his Arm score to 17.
So. Every model I had tried to remove one choir member that was in between Reaper and Kreoss. None succeeded, so Scaverous had to cast Telekinesis on him. Then he cast Telekinesis on Reaper and Icy Grip on Kreoss. Skarlock cast Ghost Walk on Reaper, who then charged Kreoss with +2" movement from Escort.
Miraculously the charge attack hit (I've been having trouble with those lately...), and after that every attack hit. Out of the four attacks I was able to make, there was only one really damn poor damage roll. Others were at least average. But... I was playing Scaverous.
It had thought my the Curse of Scaverous had been lifted, as last couple of games with him haven't been that terrible.
But there it was again. Kreoss survived with only one hit point.
Mechanithralls then made some kind of attempt to block Reckoner from reaching Scaverous.
That didn't help, though. Mechanithrall in front of Scaverous was just far enough to stop Reckoner from getting within 2", but there was the Assault shot. The shot required 11+ to kill. And it was 6,5,4 or something along the lines of that.
Meh. The curse is back, but at least it made for quite an exciting introductory game.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
Suddenly a warmachine tournament
Last weekend I went on a completely unexpected Warmachine tournament. It was a team tournament, and the team from out city lost a player just a day before the tournament. On Friday 8PM I didn't yet know that I would be going to a tournament 7AM next day.
I also had to make lists in less than twenty minutes. Here's the what I came up with:
List 1:
Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- 3x Helldiver
- Nightmare
- Stalker
- Deathripper
10x Cylena Raefyll Nyss Hunters
10x Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Withershadow Combine
Satyxis Raider Captain
Objective: Effigy of Valor
List 2:
Witch Coven of Garlghast
- Defiler
- Ripjaw
- Kraken
6x Bane Thralls & Unit Attachment
5x Soulhunters
Darragh Wrathe
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock
Objective: Arcane Wonder
Looking back now, I would have definitely tweaked the Deathripper out of Asphyxious list. When I was feverishly building his list I didnt remember Vociferon was an arc node already.
First game was against Legion of Everblight. I took my Asphyxious list and opponent had something like this:
Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
- Blightbringer
2x Maximum unit of Warspears + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Nyss Raptors
Maximum unit of Spawning Vessel
Warmonger War Chief
Shepherd
Scenario was Recon. Both Ogrun units made Satyxis their Prey target. I took one of the Ogrun units as Nightmare's prey.
Blightbringer and a couple of Warspears shoot movement and one claw away from Nightmare. Meh. I decide to make at least some use out of the warjack and walk it to beat two Warspears that came within walking distance.
Satyxis Raiders take Desperate Pace and charge deep within enemy lines in an attempt to tie up as many enemy models with Ashen Veil as possible. I expected casualties, so Sea Witch used Power Swell.
Now... there was a particular reason I took Effigy of Valor with this list. The reason was that I don't trust CMD 9 the least. However... I was so excited over my threat range that I forgot to keep one Satyxis within 4" of my objective. I had to take two Terror checks, as I had also tied up the Warmonger War Chief.
well. I didn't have to stress over two checks, as the first one failed right away. I laughed and I smiled, but it was a bitter laugh and a bitter smile. They managed to regroup right away, though.
I needed to make some moves now or Satyxis would just be killed for no use at all. My move was to enter middle zone with Asphyxious and use his feat. He was camping at Arm 23, if memory serves.
One of the Helldivers stayed above ground to block attacks opponent would be able to make against Asphyxious.
Satyxis survived well enough, considering the vast amount of attacks they were soaked in. But they received enough casualties to call for a Massive Casualties check. Which... how could it be otherwise? ... failed. Nothing attacked Asphyxious.
Next turn Asphyxious had ten or eleven focus points. Two or three came from the feat, and one from Vociferon who had collected the soul of an ogrun.
I had big plans of starting to dominate this turn. Nightmare killed a Warspear close to it, giving more souls for Vociferon. Stalker charged a Warspear and killed it. Then it was Asphyxious, who charged objective. Damage roll was laughable. He bought extra attack against a damaged Warspear nearby. Attack missed. Oh wait, Asphyxiosu has Puppet Master on him! Let's re-roll the one, and keep the four! Attack is still miss. He bought one more, and finally killed the Warspear, and cast Ashen Veil on himself with Blood Boon. Asphyxious had Def 17 in melee against all enemy attacks and Arm 25.
All but one Satyxis Raiders die next turn. Warspears clearly took some advice on how to roll attack rolls from Asphyxious. Four Warspears kill the Stalker. First successful hit destroyed movement system, so it wasn't exactly a hard thing to do.
Next turn Asphyxious finally dominates three points. This time cover-ignoring Nyss Hunters and two Dark Fires from Maelovus and Admonia failed to kill one Warspear that was contesting middle zone in behind the Stalker wreck. Third Helldiver and what was left of Nightmare killed one Warspear on the right, but there were two in the zone. All depended on P+S 9 Satyxis Raider Captain now. Oh, the lone survivor from Satyxis Raider unit had ran as far away from action as possible so that Warspears wouldn't change their Prey target to Asphyxious.
Did Raider pass a command check and score a kill with dice minus seven? Yes she does!
It's a shame that there was one Warspear behind the Stalker wreck. Asphyxious had to go there, kill that ogrun and kill the objective. If that guy had died, I would've moved Asphyxious to the right to block Blightbringer from entering the zone.
Asphyxious survives yet another turn right in the middle of whole damn enemy army. Nightmare is gone, all the Helldivers are gone, Satyxis Raider is gone and there's tons of ogruns and raptors and gargantuans in the middle zone. So...
So Asphyxious kills an ogrun in front of himself with a spell, casts Mobility and charges one Raptor close to the flag on the left and dominates a point from there. What was left of Nyss Hunters tried to go and block enemy army from charging Asphyxious.
This time Asphyxious had only Arm 18 and Ashen Veil, but still managed to survive somehow. I have only Deathripper, Admonia, Maelovus and Asphyxious on board. And one Satyxis Raider in the farthest corner of the bord. Shredder from Spawning Vessel and two Raptors are contesting the flag.
I make a cunning plan of killing Shredder with Deathripper, then killing one of the Raptors in melee with Asphyxious and casting an offensive spell at the other Raptor with Blood Boon, or if Raptor B was too far away to be within reach, kill A with boosted Bone Shaker and hopefully kill B with Raptor A or an unboosted Bone Shaker.
Well. Deathripper does something like four damage points in to the Shredder, and Asphyxious misses Bone Shakers entirely.
Opponent ran out of clock next, so it was a bit of a hollow victory. However, winning with deathclock didn't feel as bad as it usually does because my dice rolling had been so terrible in some crucial points in the game. True, I can only blame myself for the failure of Terror check by Satyxis, but looking at general bell curves I'm fairly sure Cmd 9 shouldn't fail over fifty percent of the time on Satyxis Raiders and Black Ogruns.
Still it was an exciting game. It's not often you spend three turns with your warcaster within charge distance of pretty much whole enemy army, plus one extra turn lethally close anyway - and survive.
Game 2:
Second game was a Cryx vs Cryx. Opponent had all sorts of soul collecting shenanigans, so I took Witch Coven list that had far less living models in it.
I can't figure out the entirety of enemy list, but it was something like:
Lich Lord Terminus
- Reaper
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
2x Minimum or maximum or some kind of units of Bile Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Warwitch Siren
Madelyn Corbeau
Saxon Orrik
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
+ something
Scenario was Incursion, and Terminus started game by casting Malediction on himself and running forward with everything.
Soulhunters and Darragh Wrathe took care of the flag on the right so that I started scoring points from it right from the start. Kraken did fine job in destroying one of Reaper's arms with just one shot. That was about the end of my luck, however. Well, I had been a little too greedy, too. I had been too sure that skill 7, POW 10 Warwitch Siren would be able to take down a Def 10, Arm 13 Bile Thrall. She did score a hit, but damage roll wasn't enough to get through armour.
Well. At least Bile Thrall had corrosion now, that ought to at least stop it in its tracks if it manages to pass Tough roll. Obviously the corrosion expired. Now Bile Thrall was just able to come and Purge over one the Witch Coven members. I had wanted to spread Nightfall as far as possible, and it did screw up most other attacks except those from Bile Thralls. Now it was a dead witch on 8+. Damage roll was seven. So on my next turn it was a dead witch on 3+.
Fortunately opponent's bile was just as ineffective as mine had been - the corrosion expired. But this got me all kinds of scared. I had also lost Skarlock and Warwitch in the very same Purge. There were enough Bane Thralls and, well, Terminus in the middle, so I might lose Kraken next turn. If I lost Kraken, nothing would damage Terminus. So, Witches loaded up Kraken and cast Infernal Machine on it. Veil of Mists allowed for passage through three Bane Thralls, and 4" chain strike range brought Terminus easily within charge range. Witches also cast Curse of Shadows on Terminus, who had six focus points to overboost powerfield.
So, Terminus had Arm 22, and Kraken had MAT 8 and P+S 18. Attacks would hit on 6+. I figured that I'd have best chances if I'd take two damage boosted attacks from initials against Terminus, and buy one extra nonboosted attack. But that 6+ has been so elusive lately. Charge attack misses. Second initial attack hits and I boost the damage. Total damage with one boosted and one regular attack was nine or something. But Terminus was still standing.
Next enemy Admonia disbinds Curse of Shadows and Infernal Machine. Witches are quite lucky and survive a few charges by Bane Thralls. Terminus then charges Egregore and Kraken gets to make a free strike. I was excited when the attack hit and scored high damage. But not enough, not today. Terminus arrived to Egregore with two hit boxes remaining. I don't think I have to say anything more. Terminus with six focus points next to Egregore with none.
Game 3:
Last game was against Retribution, and what a game it was... an experience, yes.
Scenario was Close Quarters, which meant a Killbox. Opponent had Ravyn and Issyria as the list pair. Issyria didn't actually have a lot of shooting in it, so I was really considering that I'd choose Witch Coven for this game. It was the killbox that eventually made me go Asphyxious. Game was against Ravyn tier list, and damn it. I should have chosen Witch Coven regardless. Their list had at least a little bit of stealth. Soulhunters with Occultation could have been a thing here.
Oh well.
Ravyn list was:
Ravyn
- Banshee
2x Maximum units of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Officer
Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Eiryss
2x Stormfall Archers
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen
Narn
At least Cryx got to start despite +1 from theme force bonuses.
I tried to rush Satyxis Raiders with Ashen Veil to tie up enemy front line. I should have rushed whole army front then, though. After all, who was I going to shoot with Nyss Hunters? Satyxis Raiders, perhaps Stalker and Helldivers were what kept me in the game for a little while. Opponent got so scared of the Helldivers that he gave me two control points by moving Ravyn out of killbox. Once he realised that Helldivers were so far away from Asphyxious that I wouldn't really be able to allocate focus for them, Ravyn came forward and by then my army was already pretty much decimated. Most 8+ attacks the Mage Hunter Strike Force had to score against Satyxis did hit home, and on top of that Satyxis even failed their command check.
That's three failed command checks by Satyxis in two games.
As a futile final gesture Asphyxious charged forward to kill some Mage Hunters. He cast Ashen Veil on himself with the Blood Boon.
Then Banshee shot Asphyxious knocked down and Skeryth finalised him.
Brutal game. Ravyn definitely seems like one of those warcasters that you need to play more often to know how you're supposed to play against her. There is no time for hesitation that I showed in this match.
I also had to make lists in less than twenty minutes. Here's the what I came up with:
List 1:
Asphyxious the Hellbringer & Vociferon
- 3x Helldiver
- Nightmare
- Stalker
- Deathripper
10x Cylena Raefyll Nyss Hunters
10x Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Withershadow Combine
Satyxis Raider Captain
Objective: Effigy of Valor
List 2:
Witch Coven of Garlghast
- Defiler
- Ripjaw
- Kraken
6x Bane Thralls & Unit Attachment
5x Soulhunters
Darragh Wrathe
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock
Objective: Arcane Wonder
Looking back now, I would have definitely tweaked the Deathripper out of Asphyxious list. When I was feverishly building his list I didnt remember Vociferon was an arc node already.
First game was against Legion of Everblight. I took my Asphyxious list and opponent had something like this:
Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
- Blightbringer
2x Maximum unit of Warspears + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Nyss Raptors
Maximum unit of Spawning Vessel
Warmonger War Chief
Shepherd
Scenario was Recon. Both Ogrun units made Satyxis their Prey target. I took one of the Ogrun units as Nightmare's prey.
Blightbringer and a couple of Warspears shoot movement and one claw away from Nightmare. Meh. I decide to make at least some use out of the warjack and walk it to beat two Warspears that came within walking distance.
Satyxis Raiders take Desperate Pace and charge deep within enemy lines in an attempt to tie up as many enemy models with Ashen Veil as possible. I expected casualties, so Sea Witch used Power Swell.
Now... there was a particular reason I took Effigy of Valor with this list. The reason was that I don't trust CMD 9 the least. However... I was so excited over my threat range that I forgot to keep one Satyxis within 4" of my objective. I had to take two Terror checks, as I had also tied up the Warmonger War Chief.
well. I didn't have to stress over two checks, as the first one failed right away. I laughed and I smiled, but it was a bitter laugh and a bitter smile. They managed to regroup right away, though.
I needed to make some moves now or Satyxis would just be killed for no use at all. My move was to enter middle zone with Asphyxious and use his feat. He was camping at Arm 23, if memory serves.
One of the Helldivers stayed above ground to block attacks opponent would be able to make against Asphyxious.
Satyxis survived well enough, considering the vast amount of attacks they were soaked in. But they received enough casualties to call for a Massive Casualties check. Which... how could it be otherwise? ... failed. Nothing attacked Asphyxious.
Next turn Asphyxious had ten or eleven focus points. Two or three came from the feat, and one from Vociferon who had collected the soul of an ogrun.
I had big plans of starting to dominate this turn. Nightmare killed a Warspear close to it, giving more souls for Vociferon. Stalker charged a Warspear and killed it. Then it was Asphyxious, who charged objective. Damage roll was laughable. He bought extra attack against a damaged Warspear nearby. Attack missed. Oh wait, Asphyxiosu has Puppet Master on him! Let's re-roll the one, and keep the four! Attack is still miss. He bought one more, and finally killed the Warspear, and cast Ashen Veil on himself with Blood Boon. Asphyxious had Def 17 in melee against all enemy attacks and Arm 25.
All but one Satyxis Raiders die next turn. Warspears clearly took some advice on how to roll attack rolls from Asphyxious. Four Warspears kill the Stalker. First successful hit destroyed movement system, so it wasn't exactly a hard thing to do.
Next turn Asphyxious finally dominates three points. This time cover-ignoring Nyss Hunters and two Dark Fires from Maelovus and Admonia failed to kill one Warspear that was contesting middle zone in behind the Stalker wreck. Third Helldiver and what was left of Nightmare killed one Warspear on the right, but there were two in the zone. All depended on P+S 9 Satyxis Raider Captain now. Oh, the lone survivor from Satyxis Raider unit had ran as far away from action as possible so that Warspears wouldn't change their Prey target to Asphyxious.
Did Raider pass a command check and score a kill with dice minus seven? Yes she does!
It's a shame that there was one Warspear behind the Stalker wreck. Asphyxious had to go there, kill that ogrun and kill the objective. If that guy had died, I would've moved Asphyxious to the right to block Blightbringer from entering the zone.
Asphyxious survives yet another turn right in the middle of whole damn enemy army. Nightmare is gone, all the Helldivers are gone, Satyxis Raider is gone and there's tons of ogruns and raptors and gargantuans in the middle zone. So...
So Asphyxious kills an ogrun in front of himself with a spell, casts Mobility and charges one Raptor close to the flag on the left and dominates a point from there. What was left of Nyss Hunters tried to go and block enemy army from charging Asphyxious.
This time Asphyxious had only Arm 18 and Ashen Veil, but still managed to survive somehow. I have only Deathripper, Admonia, Maelovus and Asphyxious on board. And one Satyxis Raider in the farthest corner of the bord. Shredder from Spawning Vessel and two Raptors are contesting the flag.
I make a cunning plan of killing Shredder with Deathripper, then killing one of the Raptors in melee with Asphyxious and casting an offensive spell at the other Raptor with Blood Boon, or if Raptor B was too far away to be within reach, kill A with boosted Bone Shaker and hopefully kill B with Raptor A or an unboosted Bone Shaker.
Well. Deathripper does something like four damage points in to the Shredder, and Asphyxious misses Bone Shakers entirely.
Opponent ran out of clock next, so it was a bit of a hollow victory. However, winning with deathclock didn't feel as bad as it usually does because my dice rolling had been so terrible in some crucial points in the game. True, I can only blame myself for the failure of Terror check by Satyxis, but looking at general bell curves I'm fairly sure Cmd 9 shouldn't fail over fifty percent of the time on Satyxis Raiders and Black Ogruns.
Still it was an exciting game. It's not often you spend three turns with your warcaster within charge distance of pretty much whole enemy army, plus one extra turn lethally close anyway - and survive.
Game 2:
Second game was a Cryx vs Cryx. Opponent had all sorts of soul collecting shenanigans, so I took Witch Coven list that had far less living models in it.
I can't figure out the entirety of enemy list, but it was something like:
Lich Lord Terminus
- Reaper
Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
2x Minimum or maximum or some kind of units of Bile Thralls
Withershadow Combine
Warwitch Siren
Madelyn Corbeau
Saxon Orrik
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
+ something
Scenario was Incursion, and Terminus started game by casting Malediction on himself and running forward with everything.
Soulhunters and Darragh Wrathe took care of the flag on the right so that I started scoring points from it right from the start. Kraken did fine job in destroying one of Reaper's arms with just one shot. That was about the end of my luck, however. Well, I had been a little too greedy, too. I had been too sure that skill 7, POW 10 Warwitch Siren would be able to take down a Def 10, Arm 13 Bile Thrall. She did score a hit, but damage roll wasn't enough to get through armour.
Well. At least Bile Thrall had corrosion now, that ought to at least stop it in its tracks if it manages to pass Tough roll. Obviously the corrosion expired. Now Bile Thrall was just able to come and Purge over one the Witch Coven members. I had wanted to spread Nightfall as far as possible, and it did screw up most other attacks except those from Bile Thralls. Now it was a dead witch on 8+. Damage roll was seven. So on my next turn it was a dead witch on 3+.
Fortunately opponent's bile was just as ineffective as mine had been - the corrosion expired. But this got me all kinds of scared. I had also lost Skarlock and Warwitch in the very same Purge. There were enough Bane Thralls and, well, Terminus in the middle, so I might lose Kraken next turn. If I lost Kraken, nothing would damage Terminus. So, Witches loaded up Kraken and cast Infernal Machine on it. Veil of Mists allowed for passage through three Bane Thralls, and 4" chain strike range brought Terminus easily within charge range. Witches also cast Curse of Shadows on Terminus, who had six focus points to overboost powerfield.
So, Terminus had Arm 22, and Kraken had MAT 8 and P+S 18. Attacks would hit on 6+. I figured that I'd have best chances if I'd take two damage boosted attacks from initials against Terminus, and buy one extra nonboosted attack. But that 6+ has been so elusive lately. Charge attack misses. Second initial attack hits and I boost the damage. Total damage with one boosted and one regular attack was nine or something. But Terminus was still standing.
Next enemy Admonia disbinds Curse of Shadows and Infernal Machine. Witches are quite lucky and survive a few charges by Bane Thralls. Terminus then charges Egregore and Kraken gets to make a free strike. I was excited when the attack hit and scored high damage. But not enough, not today. Terminus arrived to Egregore with two hit boxes remaining. I don't think I have to say anything more. Terminus with six focus points next to Egregore with none.
Game 3:
Last game was against Retribution, and what a game it was... an experience, yes.
Scenario was Close Quarters, which meant a Killbox. Opponent had Ravyn and Issyria as the list pair. Issyria didn't actually have a lot of shooting in it, so I was really considering that I'd choose Witch Coven for this game. It was the killbox that eventually made me go Asphyxious. Game was against Ravyn tier list, and damn it. I should have chosen Witch Coven regardless. Their list had at least a little bit of stealth. Soulhunters with Occultation could have been a thing here.
Oh well.
Ravyn list was:
Ravyn
- Banshee
2x Maximum units of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Officer
Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Eiryss
2x Stormfall Archers
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen
Narn
At least Cryx got to start despite +1 from theme force bonuses.
I tried to rush Satyxis Raiders with Ashen Veil to tie up enemy front line. I should have rushed whole army front then, though. After all, who was I going to shoot with Nyss Hunters? Satyxis Raiders, perhaps Stalker and Helldivers were what kept me in the game for a little while. Opponent got so scared of the Helldivers that he gave me two control points by moving Ravyn out of killbox. Once he realised that Helldivers were so far away from Asphyxious that I wouldn't really be able to allocate focus for them, Ravyn came forward and by then my army was already pretty much decimated. Most 8+ attacks the Mage Hunter Strike Force had to score against Satyxis did hit home, and on top of that Satyxis even failed their command check.
That's three failed command checks by Satyxis in two games.
As a futile final gesture Asphyxious charged forward to kill some Mage Hunters. He cast Ashen Veil on himself with the Blood Boon.
Then Banshee shot Asphyxious knocked down and Skeryth finalised him.
Brutal game. Ravyn definitely seems like one of those warcasters that you need to play more often to know how you're supposed to play against her. There is no time for hesitation that I showed in this match.
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