I made a good decision once...

... though it wasn't in this game.

Last Monday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine.

My list was:

Dominar Rasheth
- Tiberion
- Rhinodon
- Basilisk Krea

Minimum unit of Beast Handlers
Maximum unit of Venator Reivers + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Bog Trog Ambushers
Swamp Gobbers
Agonizer
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Opponent had:

Hierarch Severius

- Judicator (bonded)
- Reckoner
- Blessing of Vengeance

Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Visgoth Rhoven & Honor Guard
Ayiana & Holt
Vassal Mechanik
2x Vassal of Menoth

Scenario was Fire Support and Protectorate started game. Holy Ward was cast upon Temple Flameguard. I didn't bother with Carnivore just yet, instead Rasheth filled Agonizer with four fury and put up Castigate. Krea did that too and charged Judicator, bringing it nicely to contact with Tiberion. Wrong Eye and Snapjaw were advancing under Snapjaw's animus.

Turn 2 Protectorate didn't get to make any meaningful damage just yet. Only one Beast Handler died to Judicator's blasts and Tiberion was set on fire.

Then. If I had been secretly happy about such a poor performance, I was about to receive a harsh punishment for that fleeting moment of joy.

A full unit of Venator Reivers with unit attachment, combined ranged attacks and aiming bonuses were able to kill exactly one (1) Temple Flameguard, who had shield wall order, but not Iron Zeal just yet. Quite a feat for 11 point investment!

Tiberion killed another one, which was also remarkable performance from an eleven point beast. Though that one was entirely my own mistake, as I had placed Tiberion around two or three millimetres too far from a second member of the unit. Rhinodon walked next to to block line of sight to Rasheth. Krea advanced under its animus to provide bonuses for Rhinodon and Tiberion. Rasheth advances a little and casts Breath of Corruption on Gius or Cassian. My intention was to provide a sure charge block for Temple Flameguard against Rhinodon and hopefully even to Tiberion.

Well. The first template scattered nowhere. Second went to a little better place, protecting at least Rhinodon. Then Rasheth had two fury left, and I hadn't cast Castigate. The only way that might possibly save Rasheth's greasy behind that I could figure out was to charge a Temple Flameguard with Snapjaw and engaging Judicator in the process.

I think Snapjaw dealt around four points of damage to Judicator, and failed to kill the Flameguard grunt.

That move probably prolonged the game, as opponent didn't try to go in for the assassination. And why should he, Wrong Eye was on a plate there, and I wouldn't be able to threat his valuable pieces in any meaningful way.

All things considered, Protectorate turn 3 wasn't too horrifying. Both of us had had their share of low rolls during this game. Though Gius' or Cassian's damage roll against Wrong Eye wasn't low - the voodoo croc was instantly slain the moment the Exemplar started to look his way. That took down Snapjaw, who had witnessed some of the poor rolls Aiyana & Holt had thrown in its general direction.

Judicator tried to shoot Agonizer down, but the blast damage caused only a couple points of damage. Swamp Gobbers died to scattering templates, and one additional Beast Handler, too. Admonisher attack that was channeled through Blessing of Vengeance missed it's target entirely.

So, I had my warlock still standing (or, technically I had the agonizers that were carrying my warlock still standing) and net losses had been only around eleven points.

Bog Trogs entered the game and charged to kill Aiyana & Holt, and tied up Rhoven.

Venators had much better results this turn in whittling down the Flameguard. Rhinodon and perhaps Tiberion also beat a couple of them in an attempt to open up room for Agonizer to run through. And then Agonizer ran. I wanted to catch all of the Protectorate warjacks to the "no focus allocation" agony, but that needed Agonizer to run to Blessing of Vengeance's melee range, and even then getting Judicator within 9" was uncertain.

Perfect moment to forget about things like Defensive Strike... really. Need to try to read some of the opponents cards other than the warcaster before the game begins, too. Ah well. There went the Agonizer.

Instead of trying to escape somehow, Rasheth advances forwards. I wanted to bring some of the Bog Trogs within Rasheth's control area to cast Blood Mark on Severius, but it started to look too risky, so I ended his movement behind Krea. Gius or Cassian looked too threatening. This time I remembered to cast Castigate. Rasheth was just a wee bit out of 8" to Blessing of Menoth, so he used a Venator to channel boosted Blood Mark on Blessing of Vengeance.

EXCEPT. That Venator was also out of range, even more than Rasheth. It looked like it was slightly closer... perspective is a precarious thing.

I left three fury left for transfers, brought Beast Handlers to block charges, and bit the pillow.

Then goes Protectorate. Rhoven takes a free strike from Bog Trog, but apparently free attacks against key pieces don't work both ways. Rhoven survived and took a fury point away from Rasheth, so he only had two transfers now.

Reckoner, however, somehow missed the flare shot against Rasheth. This caused one of the Judicator rockets miss Rasheth, and another one was shield guarded by Tiberion. Ancillary attacks caused a few stray points in to Rasheth. Now Blessing of Vengeance had free charge lane to Rasheth. Two transfers and whatever the latter attacks did left Rasheth at six hit boxes.

Two Temple Flameguards get a charge in to Rasheth. The first one misses.

Opponent had no more models to activate, except maybe perhaps Vassal Mechanik. Severius had spent his activation on clearing Bog Trogs with his feat, and moving Beast Handlers out of the way.

This was literally the last possible attack opponent would be able to make.

It's a hit, and Rasheth is on fire.

Damage roll is...

... something like 4,5,5.

Ah well. Though my positioning was terrible in this game and I played way too aggressively with Rasheth against Protectorate of Menoth that had powerful enough ranged weaponry to be a threat to Rasheth, I had some moments where I at least feel I could have turned the train to safer tracks. Agonizer would really have definitely kept me playing for at least one more round if I would have sufficed for the two Protectorate warjacks. I did have good tools against Severius2, as the fire stick Severius can channel wouldn't become a problem, and Carnivore definitely helps in dealing against Holy Ward. Wrong Eye and Snapjaw were also protected from most of the tricks in Protectorate's arsenal.

Last two games of Kangasala Steamroller

Game 3:

Third game was against Circle of Orboros.

I was kind of happy that I was againt epic Morvahna. Somehow until now I've dodged all games against Morvahna2, so this was my first time playing against her.

Opponent had:

Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Warpwolf Stalker
- Gorax

Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Maximum unit of Tharn Bloodtrackers
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Maximum unit of Skinwalkers + Warpborn Alpha
2x Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Gatorman Witch Doctor

Scenario was Close Quarters and Cryx started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 2. As someone may have already guessed, Venethrax has used his feat. Venethrax also cast Soul Harvester on Satyxis Raiders, but Gatorman Witch Doctor had cast Zombify on Bloodtrackers. Venethrax got only one soul from a lucky Ravager kill.

Nyss Hunters rolled damage terribly on any targets they acquired, but did manage to down one additional Ravager.

Circle turn 2 couldn't have started off worse. A full unit of Nyss Hunters fail their command check against Skinwalkers. A big minus for me. But at least the smoke screen I had gained from Venethrax feat delayed Circle's advance on the right. Most of the Satyxis Raiders died, but that was to be expected - Satyxis had been the Prey target for Bloodtrackers.

Turn 3 There was only one Bloodtracker near Cryx friendly flag that might be contesting it. So Venethrax with eight focus points and Dragon Slayer upkept for free by Admonia started dominating points. Bane Thralls were supposed to be some sort of reserve. Nyss Hunters passes command check to regroup. My heavies were patiently waiting on the hill for something to slaughter. It was nice to notice that Snapjaw's warlock bond made it possible to remove models from play.

Circle mopped up what was left of Satyxis and switched Prey target to Bane Thralls.

Tharn Ravagers charge in and one chops off left arm from Seether. Another takes a swing at Ogrun Bokur, but since Bokur is still in the picture I have to assume the attack missed. Skinwalkers continue to butcher elves. Which is kind of OKAY for me. Butchering elves. Especially if they pee their pants every time a warped human/wolf hybrid with axes bigger than the elves themselves charges in....

Two Skinwalkers also try to kill Snapjaw, and they do in fact break the body branch.

Turn 4 Venethrax dominated another scenario point and even gained one soul from a nearby Ravager who died somehow, somewhere.

Wrong Eye healed Snapjaw (finally I remembered and activated these two in correct order!) and then Snapjaw mulched two Skinwalkers into such tiny bulbs that even Morvahna wouldn't be able to resurrect them with her feat.

Admonia got to use Disbinding to remove Carnivore from Skinwalkers.

My Bane Thralls, however, were badly exposed now to attacks by Bloodtrackers and whatnot. Here was hoping for a streak of good Tough rolls... but I guess my opponent from tournament round 1 rolled even my successful Tough rolls on turns 1-3.

Turn 4 picture is terribly out of focus, but I chose to include it anyway to visualize Morvahna's feat better.

She didn't feel confident enough yet to start dominating her own points as she only had a couple of damage boxes left after she brought dozens (exaggeration) models to contest my friendly flag.

Suddenly it started to look rather unlikely to win by scenario despite the good beginning.

Rest of the game was mostly just opponent throwing everything he got against Venethrax and clogging my flag, so I won't go into too many details. Except to brag a little.

Venethrax stood there for, what, four turns taking charges in from Ravagers and Bloodtrackers, and even face-tanked a Primaled and strength warped Warpwolf Stalker (which Venethrax then ate for breakfast).

When scenario points were 4-2 for Circle on my turn and I had lost all but Withershadow Combine game looked like it was over.

But I had nothing to lose - I ran to the flag with Admonia, taking a free strike from a Skinwalker. Skinwalker hit, but dealt only four points of damage. Yay. Prolonged the game unnecessarily against all the odds.

In the end it was a scenario loss for Venethrax, however.


Game 4:
By now I was so exhausted that I actually asked opponent: "Wow, you got Venethrax too?" or something like that when I was looking at a tray on the other side of the board.

It was my own tray. Ahem.

Opponent played Retribution of Scyrah, and the list was:

Lord Arcanist Ossyan
- Banshee (which I believed to be Hypnos for no good reason...)

Maximum unit of Invictors + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Halberdiers + Unit Attachment

Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Commander
Maximum unit of Riflemen + Unit Attachment
Houseguard Thane
Some kind of Eiryss...?

Scenario was Fire Support, and I don't remember who started. I had picked Venethrax as my list. Picture is either from the end of Cryx turn 1 or 2.

I was happy for the fact that I had Effigy of Valor on a hill. With Ogrun Bokur I might very well be able to go and camp focus on the hill despite threat from Ossyan and Mage Hunter Strike Force. So I slowly started to drag Venethrax to the hill, all the while Wrong Eye & Snapjaw under Submerge advanced towards the soft and juicy Mage Hunters.

Feat turn for me was a complete waste of time. Attack rolls were so depressing that only four enemy models died - even if I had six Satyxis and a few Nyss Hunters making attacks.

At least Venethrax got to a relatively safe spot behind Ogrun Bokur and the objective. I had thought of asking about what Hypnos was able to do, but for some reason I didn't. If I had, I might have actually been informed that there was, in matter of fact, a Banshee on the board.

I made it all too easy for opponent.

Next turn Banshee just loaded a slam shot on Ogrun Bokur and knocked both Venethrax and Ogrun down. Ossyan advanced, used feat and various models killed objective. Mage Hunter Strike Force activated and turned Venethrax to the signature spell of Lylyth2.

Stupid mistake. This might have been a very interesting game otherwise. But I'll probably remember to double check unfamiliar warjacks from now on - at least for a while.

Kangasala 50pts Steamroller (first two games)

Last Saturday the big day finally came.

It's a good thing, because I was starting to get tired of playing Asphyxious1/Venethrax!

So, tournament was held in Kangasala. It was 50 points, 1-2 list DC [1] and used Active Duty Roster season 2.

I'm quite fond of playing less used warcasters, and what's better than getting a real incentive to use them?

Taking advantage of that my lists were:

List1:
Iron Lich Asphyxious
- Ripjaw
- Nightwretch
- 2x Slayer

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 2x Brute Thralls + Skarlock Commander
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Harrower
Pistol Wraith
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Saxon Orrik
Gorman diWulfe

Objective: Fuel cache

Specialists:
Stalker
Nightmare
Ogrun Bokur
Orin Midwinter
Machine Wraith

List 2:
Lich Lord Venethrax
- Seether

Minimum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Maximum unit of Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters
Ogrun Bokur
Satyxis Captain
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Specialists:
Corruptor
Warwitch Siren
Maximum unit of Bile Thralls
Madelyn Corbeau

This was a 30 player tournament. Surprisingly there were only three Cryx players, me being one myself.

Game 1:

So needless to say, first game was obviously against Cryx.

I don't remember what was the caster pairs opponent had, but I considered Venethrax to be good enough for both of them. Opponent ended up choosing following Deneghra1 list:

Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- Nightwretch
- 2x Deathripper

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

Objective: Arcane Wonder

I used Active Duty Roster to switch Bane Thralls for Bile Thralls.

Scenario was Recon, and Venethrax started game. First picture is from the end of Deneghra turn 1. I thought that Lamentation might bring better defences against Deneghra if I only could somehow get rid of the arc nodes. Satyxis had ran forward pretty much as far as possible. Enemy Deathripper got engaged by a Satyxis Raider by accident. That was a major bonus considering Deneghra was free to cast Venom three times, or two with various boosts.

Turn 2 Venethrax used feat, which turned out to be somewhat of a lackluster (are there any other kind of Venethrax feat turns?) as enemy was advancing from two fronts. To make matters even worse, damnable Bane Thralls seemed to have something equal to 2+ Tough rolls. Only one Bane Thrall actually died, and another was knocked down.

Sea Witch used Power Swell so that they'd be able to crack through Slayer and Deathripper armor.

I had thought of shooting a couple of Bane Knights with Nyss Hunters, but decided against it because they were packed together so closely - even if I managed to turn somebody to Charnel Flame template, it wouldn't truly block Knights' advance... and I'd only trigger Vengeance.

Deneghra turn 2 Bane Knights charged Nyss Hunters, mostly just to engage them.

Four Satyxis on the left perished under Bane Thralls and a Pistol Wraith. Skarlock and a Warwitch Siren unleashed Venom over Satyxis, but on a hill they were quite capable of dodging the corrosive fluids that were flying left and right. One Venom, however, caught the Sea Witch and killed her and broke Satyxis Raider coherency.

Venethrax turn 3 Satyxis wrecked Slayer and tried to do something to Deathripper. By now Feedback had given quite a few damage points in to Deneghra.

Next two Bile Thralls advance to Purge, one takes down the Deathripper (and the two Satyxis engaging it...) and the other one purged over Bane Thralls and caused a number of successful Tough rolls yet again.

Nyss Hunters attack Bane Knights and roughly take half off the unit. There might be one ninja Knights on the right that's not seen in the picture.

Since Deathripper and the two Satyxis went away, Seether charged the Warwitch Siren. Somehow it felt like a good idea to give a little bit more additional threat saturation than just Venethrax on the middle, when Deneghra hadn't even used The Withering yet...

Deneghra turn 3 she does use her feat, though. She was afraid of coming too close to the action (probably because of having lost about half of her hit boxes to Feedback?) so she got only Venethrax, Seether and all the remaining Satyxis under it. That obviously spelled certain doom for Satyxis.

Gorman lobbed Black Oil over Seether, and Deathripper with three focus points advanced to dismantle the heavy warjack. Withershadow Combine also walks closer to Seether and shoots it with Dark Fire bolts. All this brings Seether down to some three or four damage boxes remaining.

Pistol Wraith shoots a few Bile Thralls away.

Venethrax turn 4 Venethrax was all but useless with his might 10" control area and penalties to everything. So he just stays there, giving the other Cryx a stern look.

Bile Thralls purge quite a few Bane Thralls away this time. Opponent probably expended all luck on Tough rolls over turns 1-3.

Since Bane Thralls were pretty much the only thing contesting the middle zone, I tried to destroy the enemy objective to get a scenario game going. It required quite a lot of shuffling because of difficult charge lanes, but in the end Ogrun Bokur and Snapjaw scored the kill.

Then I was about to activate Seether, and realised that I had Seether with less than five damage boxes remaining, and enemy Withershadow Combine were waving their hands in anticipation towards it. This would not do.

But I had already activated all but Satyxis Captain. She'd have to do it before enemy Combine does it.

And she succeeded. That might have cost me the game had she failed.

Remainder of the game was short. Opponent rushed in to contest, and I had to clear the zone. Clearance was successful, so the game was 5-0 for Venethrax.


Game 2:

Second game was against Convergence of Cyriss with:

Lucant

- Cipher
- Corollary
- Inverter

Maximum unit of Reciprocators
Maximum unit of Obstructors
Minimum unit of Reductors
Optifex Directive
2x Clockwork Angels
Attunement Servitors
2x Enigma Foundry

I picked Iron Lich Asphyxious for the job, but I somehow thought it would be good idea to switch Harrower for Nightmare and Saxon Orrik for Orin Midwinter. Somehow it escaped my thinking at the time that Harrower could have actually taken souls from the small based infantry, and that Cipher shot rough terrain batches.

Scenario was Incursion, and I believe Convergence started game. First picture is poorly focused and from the end of Cryx turn 1. I didn't have much of a plan yet. Mostly I was anticipating a feat round for Lucant.

Turn 2 was not a feat round for Lucant. In fact Convergence pulled back a little on the western front, and didn't press all that aggressively on east either. Two nasty 4" AoE's of rough terrain took most of my chances to get any kind of meaningful alpha strike off, however.

On my turn I'm absolutely certain Lucant will use feat next turn, so I have to use this turn to charge and engage as much of enemy forces as possible. It failed spectacularly. Most of my attacks missed or dealt no real damage. Nightmare charged the Reciprocators, and with three focus points did not kill even one ARM 20 target. And now I had thrown away the one and only model that might be able to do damage if Lucant uses feat... pro move, here.

Slayers at least did a little bit more. Two six point warjacks killed four models. At least the eastern flag was contested now.

Necrosurgeon built three Mechanithralls, so I did get about five Mechanithralls to actually charge despite the rough terrain. They killed one servitor, one Clockwork Angel and one Reductor.

Though why am I listing the kills here? All of them would just be coming back...

Turn 3 casualties were surprisingly few. Necrosurgeon was still alive and well, so Mechanithralls didn't count. Only Nightmare and possibly Pistol Wraith died permanently. And still Lucant didn't use feat! Well, I guess the damage done by both parties involved was rather laughable, so I guess there was no need to seize a turn of nigh invulnerability.

On my turn Slayers, Warwitch Siren, Orin Midwinter and even the oft neglected Scrap Thrall conquered eastern flag, so I would score 1-0 for Cryx this turn.

Other than that, Mechanithralls just shambled about and Asphyxious advanced under full focus camp. Skarlock cast one Breath of Corruption cloud to the middle just for kicks - and hopefully to block one wound infantry advancement.

Turn 4 is rather annoying. Opponent didn't have too much time left on his clock, so he went hellbent on assassination of Asphyxious. First he had to clear the charge lanes, and then successfully charge with two heavy warjacks. Cipher had easy enough charge lane, but Inverter needed a bit more work. Eventually one Mechanithrall or Stitch Thrall or something was left standing in-between, so Inverter had to charge that guy. Asphyxious was just out of 2", so assassination attempt failed and opponent's clock ran out.

I would've wanted to play that game properly, since the situation was rather interesting - not clearly in anybody's favor, though I think I was slightly on the losing side because of the strong attrition that Enigma Foundries brought.

But tournaments are tournaments. Oh, and the last picture looks like that since I was too slow to take a picture. We had already began removing models from board.

Venethrax Hard Mode

Week ago on Monday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine. It was against the same opponent as last game, and the same list also. I used a few Specialists because Nyss Hunters had been so useless last time I tried them versus full stealth army...

So. My list was:

Lich Lord Venethrax
- Seether

Minimum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Bile Thralls
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Withershadow Combine
Madelyn Corbeau
Ogrun Bokur (Venethrax client)
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Objective: Effigy of Valor

I was against:

Ravens of War tier 4
Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight
- Naga Nightlurker
- 3x Ravagore

Strider Rangers

Strider Rangers + free Unit Attachment

4x Strider Deathstalker

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Scenario was Two Fronts. I'm slowly getting tired of Two Fronts. Anyway, Cryx started game. I decided to run forward as fast as possible with just about everything I got. First picture is from the end of Legion turn 1, and see what's missing? Everything!

Well. At least my offence made Lylyth to use her feat right there on turn 1. I had been thinking if I should use Venethrax's feat also, but I had not been actually planning around on Lylyth using her feat so early.

I guess it could have been worse. The feat took off only, what... almost twenty points from my roster?

Turn 2 I continue to push stuff down opponents throat and Venethrax uses his feat. He makes a nice smoke screen for him from two Bile Thralls. I was aiming for some kind of scenario game here. Last turn Ravagores had been making some heavy shooting against Snapjaw and destroyed his Spirit. My grand plan of getting both under Snapjaw's animus was foiled by me forgetting to heal Snapjaw first. I was certain that it was over now for Snapjaw...

One Ravagore frenzies, but its anger is sated by eating just one Strider. Actually, make that two, since I see only five Striders on the left at the end of Legion turn, but there were six of them at the end of my turn.

Unpainted Striders on left tried to kill all Bile Thralls. Deathstalkers were busy with wiping off the remaining Satyxis. For no good reason two Bile Thralls survived the enemy turn, which was kind of miraculous.

The unexpected frenzy of two Legion warbeasts made it look like it's a possibility for Snapjaw to survive. Naga Nightlurker tries to land a final shot on the heavy alligator, but fails to kill. Last Ravagore that did not frenzy tried to shoot Snapjaw dead, but missed its shot. And obviously the template landed almost directly on Wrong Eye. "Yay" for Snapjaw's animus.

Now. Things did not look too bad at all when my turn 3 started. Well, okay, maybe it looked bad but I still had a game worth playing.

Two Bile Thrall purges killed three Striders and three Strider Deathstalkers. Well, one of the Deathstalkers was reduced to one hit box remaining and corrosion, so technically it was Venethrax's caustic presence that killed the third Deathstalker.

Bane Thralls and Snapjaw killed enemy objective and Naga Nightlurker. This time only Snapjaw had its animus on and Wrong Eye didn't, since he had to heal Snapjaw for two. I wanted to have one Fury for damage transfer, so he healed for three instead. I don't have a good explanation why I rather had damage transfer available, since only a couple of Striders could have charged Wrong Eye. It's a shame I couldn't figure out any way to kill the Strider musician on enemy zone... if I could have killed it, scenario would have went 3-0 for Cryx in one turn. Now it was only 2-0.

I didn't take any pictures (minus the very last one) after this, but the game went so that scenario was 2-1 for Cryx, 3-1 for Cryx, 3-2 for Cryx, 4-2 for Cryx and then suddenly opponent grabbed point situation to 4-4 stall. My scenario game had looked a real possibility and I didn't think twice about the chance that opponent might get to even scores. I completely forgot to bring any kind of contestant near to enemy zone, so we would score to 5-5 on my turn and then opponent essentially just needed to end his turn to go to 5-6, or the game would end on my turn to 4-5 for Legion if I didn't kill the Ravagore who was contesting.

There was no other option than to attack Lylyth and kill her with two Hellfires. Since she had three Fury for transfers, that would have required quite a few sixes on the damage rolls. There were no sixes.

Oh, and about the title.

Since his release back in 2010 I've played Dragon Slayer completely wrong. For some reason I had been thinking that you wouldn't be able to go over you Focus via focus points gained from Dragon Slayer. At some point during this game I re-read Dragon Slayer and much to my amazement I didn't find anything that would deny focus points over seven. I thought I must have missed something, forgotten perhaps. After the game I started to do some research on the subject, and turns out that there is indeed no limit.

During my research I also found out that Dragon Slayer is not restricted to melee attacks only. If Venethrax kills a warbeast with Hellfire or Blood Rain, those fury points get stolen also. Heck... Dragon Slayer doesn't even specify warbeasts as the targets you can get focus points from. Hello there Agonizers and Forsakens. And Krielstones and Sentry Stones too, though I doubt latter two will ever end up as focus for Venethrax.

Voodo Dolls

Then a week ago I played two games of Warmachine.

I knew I would be playing against Skorne which I assumed would have a lot of beasts since opponents collection is new.

In my excel statistics my Wraith Witch Deneghra had never played against Skorne, and she is lagging behind on number of games played. And as probably we all know, she received a nerf that brings her feat to much more tolerable levels. It was all but written in stone which warcaster I would pick, then.

And this was my 35 point list:

Wraith Witch Deneghra
- Defiler
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Minimum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Opponent had:

Master Tormentor Morghoul
- Aradus Soldier
- Titan Gladiator
- Cyclops Brute
- Cyclops Savage

Minimum unit of Beast Handlers

Maximum unit of Nihilators
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Agonizer

Objective: Bunker

Scenario was Two Fronts, and Cryx started game.

Game ended quite prematurely when Morghoul gave all of his remaining Fury to Agonizer. Enemy Arm 13 warlock was there with no Fury for transfers. I was still a bit hesitant to launch Deneghra all over the Skorne. Of course pre-errata there would have been zero reasons to hold back, but now I had to actually consider what would happen if the dice failed me.

But I decided to try nonetheless, since Deneghra could go Incorporeal. Only enemy model who had magical weapons was Morghoul himself.

Warwitch Siren gave focus for Defiler, who then ran into position. Deneghra advanced and used her feat. Then she cast Hellmouth on a Def 10 Beast Handler via Defiler, who dragged Morghoul to his doom. Deneghra boosted the damage on enemy warlock, and it was enough to bring Morghoul to, what... two boxes remaining?

I had originally been planning on using the last remaining two Focus for +2 Arm, but since Morghoul was ripe for picking, or at least seasoning by Venom, I decided to give it a go. We'd have time for another game if it ended here.

But 7+ is a fickle thing to roll on 2d6. This time it worked, and damage was enough to kill Morghoul.

Game 2:

I really wanted to see how much starting roll affects Wraith Witch Deneghra's play. Same scenario, same sides and same lists, but Skorne started. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1.

Aradus Soldier had Admonition on it.

Not taking chances any more, opponent activated "no channeling" cry on Agonizer and ran it forward. Then Skorne have me a jump scare when Abused and Rushed (or only Abused?) Cyclops Savage charges Black Ogrun unit leader. I somehow didn't remember Mortitheurge Willbreaker also has Beastmaster ability, so control area wasn't an issue in this charge. Thankfully I hadn't wasted Focus foolishly for giggles, and Deneghra had six on her for armour. Still she took seven points of damage, which is enough to discourage some of the more daring actions. Like advancing and using a feat, for example.

Oh wait.

Deneghra did go incorporeal, advance and used feat. This time she didn't get whole Skorne army under her feat. Quite a few Nihilators would be free to charge next turn. Then Deneghra casts Hellmouth on the Mortitheurge Willbreaker. Mortitheurge and a Swamp Gobber die. The last gobber fails command check and flees. But as Deneghra didn't have that many damage boxes left any more I panicked and camped the two remaining Focus. I probably boosted the attack roll.

The reason I got so worried was Morghoul's Torment spell. Scoring 11+ to hit and 11+ to damage was well within the realms of possibility. Not that 13+ is that uncommon, but it still feels much safer for a required roll to lose your game.

Then I considered that if Deneghra is knocked down somehow (I guess I failed to remember she was incorporeal... slammed models would just go right through her.) Morghoul might still risk the 13+, so I started building a meatwall around her.

The Cyclops Savage needed to be taken down first. And damn was it hard. Wrong Eye doesn't kill it, and neither does Warwitch Siren. Bile Thrall takes an aiming bonus and shoots at the Cyclops, but still no death for the beast. Five damage and a corrosion on Black Ogrun did happen, though.

Bile Thralls also sprayed one Nihilator dead who was right behind Agonizer. That was a bummer, since I really wanted to spam Influence on it with Wrong Eye and kill Agonizer with style. From side view it looks like the other Nihilator behind Agonizer might have had the baby titan in Reach, but I didn't want to risk that much for style. Wrong Eye went to whack the Cyclops Savage instead, and succeeded.

Nightwretch advances in front of Deneghra and shoots at objective. Black Ogruns charge next. Two tried to destroy the objective, which was left at one box remaining. Two go to block LoS to Deneghra, aligned behind Nightwretch in such a manner that if something... say... a Titan gladiator, perhaps? was to slam the bonejack, it would just knock the Ogruns down and not Deneghra. Who wouldn't have been knocked down anyway. C'est la vie.

Banes just generally failed at anything they tried to do. I think Skarlock had cast Ghost Walk on Black Ogruns in case everything would have failed and Ogruns would have needed to take free strikes from it in order to block LoS to Deneghra.

Turn 3 everything except Cyclops Brute shakes off Shadow Bind. Abused and Enraged Aradus Soldier casually breaks Snapjaw in just a few hits. Those jaws... they hurt.

Morghoul uses his feat, and Titan Gladiator positions itself (presumably) to protect Morghoul and still be in range to smash things next turn.

Nihilators kill a couple of Bane Thralls.

I'm quite confident I can take the Aradus down with Bane Thralls, Black Ogruns and last and least with the Wrong Eye. How wrong I was.

First Bile Thralls get rid of Nihilators and take a couple of shots at the Aradus. That was a complete waste thanks to Arm 23 vs shooting. But hey... corrosion.

Skarlock gives Ghost Walk for Bane Thralls, who then get a charge order. Only two get into contact with Aradus. One misses. Yay. At least death toll on Nihilators and Agonizers was satisfying.

Black Ogruns charge next and two get to Aradus. Rest try to wrestle with the objective. The succeed... the ones with Aradus don't. I'm starting to get a little desperate here, and send Warwitch Siren to attack the Aradus. She scores a hit and Shadow Binds it.

This might be the first time in recorded history when I had a real opportunity to use Wrong Eye's Voodoo Doll spell. I actually had wild fantasies of getting it on both the Titan Gladiator and Aradus Soldier. Damage rolls had been so poor against the Aradus that I couldn't rely on Wrong Eye taking it down even with four Fury. So. Voodoo Doll on it, and Spirit was gone. Gladiator required a 8+ to hit, which failed. But you can dream, right?

Deneghra runs to my friendly scenario control zone, camping full focus. Morghoul's feat made pretty much any other action pointless.

So. Scenario was now 2-0 for Cryx.

Turn 4 Cryxian casualty rate is high. Disturbingly high. If first impressions are what sticks with you, then I will be forever afraid of even a Spiritless, Shadow Bound Aradus. Every initial attack hit and killed. Especially the loss of Bane Thrall Officer was a harsh one. Their formation was now completely messed up, as the actual unit leader had been merrily beating Nihilators on the other side of the board.

Titan Gladiator removes all three Black Ogruns who had been busy with the objective. Morghoul charges a Black Ogrun and sprints to dominate his friendly zone.

Cyclops Brute kills Warwitch Siren and Wrong Eye.

Beast Handler goes to contest my friendly zone along with the Swamp Gobber who was finally able to act again.

Game was 2-1 for Cryx.

Now that I'm looking at the picture I don't realize why I didn't bring Nightwretch to contest Skorne zone? Had Nihilator beaten it so badly that I didn't believe it would make it through one Nihilator and one Beast Handler free strike? I don't remember. It's also fully possible I didn't even think of it when I activated the bonejack... Wait. It gets worse.

I try to bring two Bile Thralls to contest enemy zone, but Spd 5 just doesn't cut it. And I couldn't run, because I needed the unit leader to Purge my zone clear. Now. Here's the fun fact: as an added bonus the Purge took the two guys who were engaging Nightwretch. Well spent activation with the Nightwretch there. Did it try to bash a Beast Handler or what?

Deneghra healer herself and moved to relative safety of my objective.

Game was 3-2 for Cryx. I'm looking at you, Nightwretch! No, don't reflect my own image back to me. Damn. I need to use more matt varnish.

Turn 5 Cyclops Brute throws the game. It fails a Threshold check and Titan Gladiator was closest target for it to charge.

I don't know how the game would have played if it had succeeded, but now opponent wouldn't be able to get anyone to contest my zone.

As a final defiant gesture Morghoul runs to stare Deneghra intensively and menacingly.

As warlocks and warcasters don't contest zones, game went 4-2 for Cryx and 5-2 right next on my turn.

Well. What to say. I like it how after the errata Wraith Witch Deneghra actually has to consider defending herself during her feat turn even against a full melee army. I imagine it will be much more distressing aspect against a list that has arcable spells and/or magical shooting on warjacks and warbeasts that you earlier could ignore if you got within right distance to use Web of Shadows.

Venethrax Doesn't Bother with Small Print

Last Saturday I played a 50 point game of Warmachine.

I thought to toy around with Venethrax since he's up in Active Duty Roster. If some sort of tournament comes around later this year, I might take part with Venethrax/Asphyxious1 list pair.

So this was my list:

Venethrax
- Seether

Minimum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Nyss Hunters
Withershadow Combine
Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Satyxis Raider Captain
Ogrun Bokur
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Opponent was playing:

Northern Crusade tier 2
Hierarch Severius
- Judicator
- Reckoner
- Blessing of Vengeance

Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment

Rhoven & Honor guard
Covenant of Menoth
Hierophant
Vassal Mechanic
2x Vassal of Menoth

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

Turn 2 Blessing of Vengeance enters the... uh... right side? Upper? scenario zone, and Severius starts flinging spells. Most notably he just cast Influence repeatedly on Ogrun Bokur, who, as it looks like, still retains client bonuses even if he is controlled by the enemy. I guess Ogrun Bokur hastily showed up some sort of contract to Venethrax, who didn't even bother to read who had signed the contract. I bet he could have seen the shaky handwriting of the old man Severius on that paper.

Well, Ogrun Bokur single-handedly killed Snapjaw. Then Severius cast Fear of God on Seether, which came as a bit of a surprise. Somehow you'd think you can only cast that spell on units, but no, there is no such requirement.

I don't remember who eventually killed Ogrun Bokur, but its only use for me was to Shield Guard a shot against Wrong Eye. Wow. I didn't realise it then, but that Bokur truly was such a jerk. He shielded Wrong-Eye from damage all the while beating the crap out of Wrong Eye's pet alligator.

Temple Flameguard charge to engage Satyxis. They use their minifeat as Satyxis would ignore Shield Wall anyway. Satyxis passed their Command check.

Venethrax had cast Soul Harvester on Satyxis, and this was one of the first times for a long, long time where that spell was actually useful. But I'm getting ahead of things.

First Bane Thralls charge Blessing of Vengeance, but only two get into contact with it. Defensive Strike downs the other one, but it passes Tough check. I was thinking of using Admonia to get rid of Fear of God and possibly even Holy Ward on Temple Flameguard, but 6" move and 5" range fell about a quarter of an inch short from disbinding Seether, and almost two inches short of cleansing Flameguard. What a waste.

Now Seether could only go and punch Blessing of Vengeance once with no serious damage being done instead of performing a double handed throw and starting to score control points.

Venethrax advanced forward and camped some focus. He also had Dragon Slayer on. I wanted him mid-field to use his Feat.

Then Satyxis activated and used Power Swell. I should have probably saved that one for later, but somehow I was thinking the Sea Witch could die next turn somehow. Well, this yielded four souls for Venethrax and quite a few cloud effects.

Nyss Hunters sacrificed one of their own to cause a cloud effect close to Venethrax. They also shot one or two additional Flameguards, but that was all.

Wrong Eye advanced so that if it died next turn, he'd explode into a cloud that hopefully would block Line of Sight to Venethrax.

Turn 3 Severius used his feat and chose to kill Bane Thralls with it. Only Bane Thrall Officer died, though. Everybody else passed their Tough rolls. Next Severius casts enough Influences on a Bane Thrall so that it wrecks Seether. So now I had lost 18 points worth of models to attacks made by my own models. Oh well. At least Bane Thralls continued to roll Tough rolls like crazy - Bane Casualties for that turn were only the Officer and one other Grunt - and three that were knocked down.

I think only one Satyxis died to Flameguard, and Wrong Eye got pasted by Judicator.

But I needed to take some drastic actions now to stay in the game. Both Seether and Snapjaw were gone, and most of Bane Thralls wouldn't be charging this turn.

But the Banes that are able to charge, charge Blessing of Vengeance, and even Judicator. I thought I might as well try to bring -2 ARM for Judicator, even if the chances were really low as the thrall in question needed to survive a free strike from Blessing of Vengeance. Didn't make it, as expected.

Nyss Hunters charge next, and five get to Judicator. The rest just try to look like they're doing something, even if they are not. Damage against Judicator is a bit on the poor side, but luckily they are not the only models I've got reserved for charging the colossal!

Then I activate Satyxis Raiders. I get four of them to charge Judicator, and the rest attack what's left of Temple Flameguard. It was a risk, since Satyxis would need to make another Command check. But I didn't want to waste, what, four or five Satyxis and their attacks just becauseI was afraid to engage Temple Flameguard. So... instead I wasted the whole activation of Satyxis Raiders. yup. Command check was double fives. Why, Toruk... Just why??

This time Admonia succeeded in bringing down Holy Ward, and Tremulus gave Puppet Master for Venethrax.

Would P+S 16 Venethrax bring down a lightly injured Judicator with 10 Focus?

Nope. Even with Puppet Master he leaves Judicator to two hit boxes. Two hit boxes... Such a low number was the dice gods truly rubbing it in my face with Satyxis failing their command check. After all, four P+S 9 +3d6 attacks, with possibility for a couple of horns + lacerator Combined Melee Attacks would have most likely scored at least two damage. Cortex and Movement were the systems that were still fully functional for Judicator.

Turn 4 and it was Protectorate's time to repair Judicator just one point and end the game. Choir sang hymns of battle, and Vassal Mechanic proceeded to roll the repair check. This time the Mechanic was as skilled in his craft as Satyxis were in their leadership - the check failed. Was there a glimmer of hope I see, now?

Probably not, since Severius cast Awareness, and started removing Bane Thralls with help from Blessing of Vengeance. Bane Thralls had passed approximately around 60% of Tough rolls they had needed to make during the game. So this is how it goes. Pass a maximum of 2 Tough rolls for three games, and then balance it with being right next to immune to damage for one game.

Reckoner takes aiming bonus and tries to shoot Venethrax. Intervening models are no problem thanks to Awareness. RAT 9 vs DEF 19. About 50% chance of spelling doom for Venethrax - and the roll fails. Imporant bit here is that Venethrax didn't suffer Flare penalties. MAT 7 Judicator tried to punch Venethrax next. It needed 8+ to hit the Lich Lord, but since its weapon systems were broken, a boost meant it had only two dice to try and reach that elusive 8+. Which never came.

But I couldn't sigh from relief just yet. Rhoven & Honor Guard charged Venethrax. Though only Gius or Cassian got into contact with him, that tiny knight had Blessed on his halberd. One swing took nine points off from Venethrax.

And last but not least, even the Temple Flameguard officer charged Venethrax and survived a free strike by some random Satyxis. He scored a hit, but dealt only two additional points. But worst part here was that Venethrax was now set on fire...

Well then.

Looks like I still have a turn to play.

Venethrax backs off like the powerful and fearless supervillain he is. But not before the Nyss butcher up Judicator, and Satyxis Captain takes care of Gius or Cassian. Last Bane Thralls and two charging Nyss finally wreck Blessing of Vengeance. Shame that I got no solos nearby to run to the zone and start controlling.

Turn 5 Severius seizes scenario game. Bane Thralls had finally stopped passing Tough rolls, but not before Severius had expended his last focus point in clearing the zone.

Because game had already lasted for quite a while, and control points were 0-2 in the favor of Protectorate, I thought it'd be best to try and assassinate the hierarch once and for all, and not try to whittle down enemy troops and hopefully contest enemy zone for many turns to come.

Five Nyss get to shoot Severius, but fail to kill him. He had been left with, what, two or three damage boxes?

Tremulus had one soul from earlier kills and he used that one for attack boost against Severius. It's a hit. Five or six for damage and Severius would be dead. It would have fit the big picture if that damage roll would have failed, but it didn't. Tremulus exchanged the soul of Vassal of Menoth to that of Severius.

Had that failed I guess I would have tried to charge Venethrax as far as possible and hope for a good deviation from Blood Rain. But that would have been quite a stretch.

Yet again a very close and very awkward game. So many game changing moments, where dice just went awry or critical distances were misjudged by quarter of an inch.

Enraged lil' doggie

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

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

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

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

Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

Opponent had:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Directly from Ghyrrshyld himself:

I played a game of Warmachine today at local gaming shop.

I knew I would be facing Retribution, so I thought it'd be a nice and ironic thing to bring Goreshade the Bastard to the field.

Here was my list (50 pointer, scenario plain caster kill):

Goreshade the Bastard
- Malice
- Nightmare
- Ripjaw

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + 1 Brute Thralls
Necrosurgeon & Scrap Thralls
Cephalyx Overlords
Bane Lord Tartarus
2x Warwitch Sirens
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Gorman diWulfe
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

And opponent had:

Kaelyssa
- Discordia
- Phoenix

Maximum unit of Houseguard Halberdiers + Unit Attachment

Maximum unit of Mage Hunter Strike Force + Unit Attachment
2x Arcanists
Fane Knight Skeryth Issyen
2x Mage Hunter Assassins
Epic Eiryss
Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios
Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker

And if I'm not forgetting something it seems my opponent played with two points down. Well, more glory for him, then.

Opponent won the starting roll and went first. I was left with the board side with a river. How did I miss Ghost Walk... Anyway. First picture is taken from the end of my first turn. Banishing Ward had been cast on Halberdiers and Phantom Hunter was on Kaelyssa herself. Looked like I would be doing little else except for Shadowmancer.

I had picked up Discordia to be Nightmare's prey.

Next turn opponent backed up a little and used Kaelyssa's feat, obviously waiting for me to close in. Which I did. I did try to have enough "counters" for possible charges, like having all of my sprays close by and mechanithralls within charge distance of anything that tries to engage Nightmare.

If only things were that simple!

Mage Hunter Assassins charge Nightmare. First one misses. Second one does 20 points of damage and cripples both of its arms. Well, I still have Necrotech, I thought. Well, then Kaelyssa shoots the 'tech. Halberdiers advance in shield wall and reform closer so they're engaging both Nightmare and Malice.

Discordia fried my Gorman, which was an insult to injury. More often than not Gorman defies all fate and probabilities and whatever and stays on board. Now he died to first shot ever made against him.

Bane Lord Tartarus (who luckily survived a boosted spray from Discordia), what was left of Nightmare and two Venom casting Warwitches later halberdiers had been mostly beaten down, and the only one who didn't suffer from corrosion was the standard bearer.

Cephalyx overlords managed to kill Narn. Good.

But then, this was about all I did with my turn. All three halberdiers suffering from corrosion died at the start of opponents next turn.

When I was uploading pictures I had to double check if the following picture has only opponents next turn included and not, for example, one complete round in between.

Nope.

If you take a close look, Goreshade hasn't moved a bit and is camping same amount of focus. Can't have missed any turns.

Well, it was a bit brutal to lose 10 mechanithralls + brute thrall, Necrosurgeon + 3 scrap thralls, Nightmare, Bane Lord Tartarus and a Warwitch Siren during a course of just one turn.

All of my heavy hitters gone. Really, this called for desperate measures next turn. I didn't expect THIS heavy losses, though it was obviously to be expected that it would be a turn that could hurt. But 24 points?

No time to cry any longer. No tears left.

I tried some kind of an assasination and did some funny shenanigans.

First, Cephalyx Overlords use Influence on Skeryth Issyan, who kills the houseguard halberdier.

Next, Warwitch Siren comes over and seduces Skeryth Issyen, who walks up and tries to skewer the mage hunter assassin that was close to Malice. Sadly the attack misses. Would have been so awesome to kill two enemy models with their own solo in one turn. Ripjaw then walks to the back arc of mage hunter assassin and kills her off.

Now Malice is freed from melee and is loaded up with souls. It charges Phoenix and beats it around and eventually possesses it. It walks up and tries to kill Eiryss (though misses), but is now within charge distance of Snapjaw. Snapjaw comes and wrecks the jack.

So the morale of the story is that if you lose all of your army, use enemy models. Oh, and if it still doesn't work, pull models out of thin air.

Because then Deathwalker runs close to Eiryss and Goreshade charges the elf mage hunter. He barely hits Eiryss and kills her and then uses Dark Summons, calling bane thralls to the field. Four of them charge Kaelyssa, one charges arcanist and one charges Discordia.

However, first he needed to use all remaining focus to shoot off Sylys Wyshnalyrr, who was standing in a wrong place. That meant no Shadowmancer this turn.

Despite needing 10+ to hit, two of the charging bane thralls score a hit. First rolls extremely poorly with 4 dice, dealing only four points in though it was rolling 4d6 with only dice -2 (she was boosting power field with one focus)

Second hit went a bit better and scored 8 points in, but still way below average. And now Kaelyssa was left with two points of health, and Goreshade was... uh, without stealt, within 12" of 11 mage hunter strike force members and one heavy warjack who had not lost any weapon systems yet.

But still it took everything opponent had to bring the bastard down. Strike force shot him down to 2 hit boxes. Hey, what's that noise? Is it karma or something? Anyway...

Discordia walks to Goreshade and rolls absurdly high damage roll for first attack. Deathwalker restores Goreshade and Discordia has one final initial attack left.

Hits and scores a few points in when Goreshade has only one.

Damn tough and exciting game and a perfect example how you always have a change even if you lose 47% of your army in one go. This time applying more banes didn't solve the problem, but if the game was this exciting I don't think it's an actual loss anywhere else except in my statistics! :P

Oh dear. Did I actually use a smiley? Must be the first time ever in this blog.

Need to get used to weeping

I played a 50 point warmachine game today.

I was playing with Scaverous and my list had:

Scaverous
- Nightwretch
Warwitch Siren

And opponent had:

Witch Coven of Garlghast
- 2x Nightwretches
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock

I won starting roll and first picture is taken from the end of opponents first round. Picture quality leaves much to be hoped for, but enemy is there far away and my troops are closer to camera.

Coven pretty much advanced as far as possible and used their feat. And it was a good choice, really, as it limited my options quite a bit.

But I did try something, warwitch siren power boosted a nightwretch of mine and it ran close to Bane Lord Tartarus. Scaverous casts Feast of Worms on a nearby bile thrall who was sitting in a forest. Needs 5 to hit. Double 2's. Feast deviates so Bane Lord Tartarus is just out of Area of Effect.

I had planned that once Tartarus had -2 arm I would've cast Excarnate on him. Probably wouldn't have killed him, but well, didn't need to worry about it no longer. I opted to cast Telekinesis on Tartarus instead and turned it facing it's old mates in the woods, the Bane Knights.

Then it was opponents turn.

Warwitch Siren power boosted an opposing Nightwretch and Skarlock cast Infernal Machine on it. Then it ran within 10" of Scaverous. And then first Stygian Abyss without a hit boost scores a critical hit, giving -3 def and inability to move for Scaverous.

And not a single damage roll after that scored less than 14 with 3 dice.

I don't know.

When I play with Scaverous, even the damage rolls I receive aren't average.

That warcaster must be cursed, I say, cursed!

Of course it was a bit foolish of me to throw focus around like that, especially after my initial plans failed. But funny thing was - if I had camped up those 3 focus the Telekinesis cost Scaverous, he still would have lost on a roll of 4+. We counted up the damage, and given +3 armor on all Stygian Abysses Scaverous would have left alive with 2 hit boxes left with the last damage roll of 6, 6, 2. Now, the 4+ this time comes from the fact that Coven hadn't used Tremulus' Puppet Master re-roll.

Iron Aggression (now, what a cool name for a podcast, right?)

A couple of days ago I played a game of Warmachine on Vassal with a friend of mine.

We played a 50 point game with the scenario Incursion.

I played, well, with Scaverous.

My list was:

Scaverous
- Reaper
- Ripjaw
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus
Skarlock
Gorman diWulfe
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Pistol Wraith
Warwitch Siren
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

And opponent had:

High Executioner Servath Reznik
- Templar
- Castigator
- Reckoner

Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard
Maximum unit of Exemplar Cinerators
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Vassal Mechanic
Vassal of Menoth
Hierophant
Vessel of Judgement


Opponent won the starting roll and first picture is taken from the end of my first turn. As it turned out, the random flag that was removed was the one where all of my Bane Thralls were stationed.

Anyway, next turn things started rolling. First of all, I began to build a little nausea for Vessel of Menoth.

It fired up its Admonisher cannon at my Ripjaw, boosting attack roll and damage roll and both damage rolls on two of my stealthed guys there... Warwitch Siren and Tremulus. Luckily Tremulus survived, but still. The Vassal Mechanic repaired 4 damage, which meant that Vessel was undamaged again.

On my turn I decided to actually use Scaverous' feat.

I positioned Ripjaw so that I could cast Telekinesis on Vessel and Wrong Eye and Snapjaw. That made it possible for me to charge the battle engine, and thanks to god-like damage rolls the engine was destroyed before it did any more harm for me.

For some unknown reason I totally failed at tactics when my Pistol Wraith wanted to desperately flank up opponent rather than collect a control point for me, but what can you do... Pistol Wraiths are a stubborn bunch...

Other feat spells went to Feast of Worms and Icy Grip on Temple Flameguard.

Results were all nice and sweet, but they encouraged me to try to do a Tartarus + a couple of Death Tolled Bane Thralls charge... which failed completely.

Tartarus killed one Flameguard and couldn't make it into a thrall because I couldn't place it in unit coherency. Templar took 9 points of damage in, but it didn't break anything. Good riddance, Tartarus.

Maelovus and Tremulus killed a couple of Flameguards too, who eventually failed their command check. I guess that was about all that happened during Scaverous' feat turn.

Opponents next turn didn't go all that well.

He tried to charge Reaper with Templar, but the charge fell short. Though now there was a arm 21 warjack controlling the central flag.

Reckoner and Castigator killed a couple of Bane Thralls and Tartarus. A bit sad thing, but at least Scaverous wasn't shot to pieces.

Now, I did a little bit of a fail thing on my turn. I cast Telekinesis on Templar, which triggered Witch Hound, which caused the aforementioned Templar to run away. Ah well. Then it took the combined efforts of Reaper, Snapjaw and two withershadow combine members to wreck the warjack.

Bane Thralls then charged the two warjacks on right side, but not managing to wreck either one of them. Some systems broke, actually most of the systems broke, but in the end Bane Thralls were destined to die.

Now, the most horrible blunder on my part was the fact that Wrong Eye wouldn't be able to leach fury from THR 8 Snapjaw... But I did score two control points.

Opponent does a ballsy move on next turn, then.

Bane Thralls are pretty much obliterated by a Combustion and whatever Reckoner could come up with. Cinerators rush forward to contest the leftmost flag, and Reznik himself lunges forward and uses his feat.

Now, use of Reznik's feat probably saved my Wrong Eye though.

Anyway.

I needed to either kill Reznik or score a point.

Well, killing a warcaster is always awesome, so I tried to do that.

So I needed to stack an effect upon effect upon effect.

First Gorman threw Black Oil on Reznik and Necrotech. That meant -4 defense.

Then Scaverous cast Feast of Worms on my controlling Necrotech to give Reznik -2 arm.

Then Bane Thrall Officer ran next to Reznik, so all in all the executioner had -4 def, -4 arm.

So only now I felt confident enough to March Snapjaw to munch on Reznik.

And the beast succeeded, at last possible boost.

Could this be possible? Scaverous won his first game!

Ultimate Downfall

Today I played a game of Warmachine.

And, umm. I played with Scaverous. And it's starting to look like whenever I say "I played with Scaverous" it can be auto-corrected to "I lost". Yeah, now, well I spoiled the result of the match now.

Anyway, we played a 35 point game with scenario "Killbox" from Steamroller 2011.

My list was:

Scaverous
- 2x Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Withershadow Combine
Skarlock
Bane Lord Tartarus
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw

And opponent had:

Epic Thagrosh
- Typhon
- Carnivean
- Scythean
- 2x Shredders
2x Nyss Shepherds

Opponent won the starting roll and first picture is taken from the end of my first turn. You can't see too much behind the tower, but there I have the Combine, Scaverous himself, one nightwretch and Wrong Eye & Snapjaw.

Funny thing, really.

You'd think I'd forgotten to take a picture for one full round when you take a look at opponents next turn.

I had left Scaverous sitting with only one focus and Death Ward on, so he was at arm 20.

Opponent decided to make a ballsy move and ran all of his beasts forward and Epic Thagrosh cast Manifest Destiny and used his feat.

Scythean and Carnivean bit Scaverous down to 6 health and Typhon, well, Typhon pretty much failed there, but still it was a heavy warbeast in middle of my lines.

Now, I wasn't exactly worried yet. If I managed to chew through all three heavy warbeasts, I would almost be guaranteed a victory. But your warcaster at 6 health is always a bit of a risk... anyway.

For starters Snapjaw proceeded to beat up Typhon, and did rather nice damage. But after that came the grand stars of that particular fight - the scrap thralls. Both of them charged at Typhon and both managed to hit. Now, it was a bit sad that their death burst attack has been errata'ed to not being boosted even with a charge attack. But anyway, two POW 16 attacks dispatched the 12 point character beast. Good job for a couple of 0,33 point models.

But, another funny thing here - the pow 8 blasts did one point damage to Snapjaw and five points to Nightwretch.

Then Tartarus cursed Scythean and moved away a bit. Three Bane Thralls got a charge off at Scythean and could have killed the beast, but one of them managed to miss the beast with double 1's. Additionally they killed one of the Shredders.

Now Wrong Eye goes to show some Voodoo Doll to the Carnivean. With boosted attack roll the Carnivean lost his Mind. Now, thinking back, maybe I should have knocked off its Body instead, because Manifest Destiny gives even a MAT 6 beast a fair chance to hit def 14 model.

Then Scaverous decided to activate and use his feat. He used Thresher and killed what was left of Scythean (but didn't gain a soul... grumble...) Then he missed the attack against def 11 Carnivean. That's how far MAT 6 goes.

Anyway, then Scaverous cast Telekinesis on Carnivean and placed it so the two Withershadow members could charge its back arc. Also, really wanting to kill it, Scaverous cast Feast of Worms upon it. Nightwretch shot and two Withershadow Combine member charges later Carnivean was still left with 2 boxes in Spirit and one in Body.

Somehow this sounds all too familiar...

Now, a Carnivean with three boxes left isn't probably going to survive a free strike from Maelovus while being under Feast of Worms. That's why opponent ran one of shepherds to align a perfect spray from Thagrosh, then moved Thagrosh forward and did his thing.

He actually rolled a critical hit against Maelovus, meaning that he actually froze before being burned alive. Go figure.

Now, Thagrosh cast Manifest Destiny and mindless Carnivean went and tried to bite some Scaverous. Thanks to Manifest Destiny Carnivean scores a hit, and you can see the boosted damage roll in the picture. Very much ouch indeed.

Now, we talked a bit about the game then, and started listing casualties just for giggles.

What was curious that despite me killing 23 points worth of models and opponent killing two warrior models and my warcaster, we killed equal amount of models from opposing army (yeah, I remembered that Thagrosh actually killed the Shepherd by himself only after editing the picture, so she stands in the wrong place...)

Now, what was a bit hilarious was that two of my own models just blew up and one bane thrall died in a thresher attack by Scaverous.

There must be some mystic meaning in this three sets of three, but I'll leave that to someone more familiar with Kabbalah.

Anyway, good game and maybe some day I'll witness the elusive thing called "victory" when I play Scaverous.