On Sunday at Ropecon I played a four player game of Battle Sheep.
Battle Sheep is actually rather a good game after having about ten hours of sleep for three days combined, with those precious few hours being slept on concrete floor with Hans Christian Andersen's collected stories -book as your pillow.
Each player gets a few terrain tiles and places them in succession on the playing surface as they see fit. Then everybody takes their stack of sheep, and starts anywhere on the board. Your turn consists of picking half of your stack of sheep, picking a direction and continuing in that direction as far as possible, and placing the new halved stack there.
There was surprisingly plenty of tactical possibilities, and yet the rules were easy enough to follow when your attention span has dropped to alarming levels.
Beginner's luck proved itself here, as I somehow won the game. Shame we didn't get to play more.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Practise makes regret
Before I was off to Ropecon 2015, I played once more with experimental drag themed list for Deneghra1.
List consisted of:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- 2x Nightwretch
- Defiler
Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Reaper
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock
Machine Wraith
Madelyn Corbeau
Ragman
Objective: Arcane Wonder
Opponent had:
High Executioner Reznik
- Vanquisher
- Templar
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Initiate Tristan Durant
- Reckoner
Hierophant
Reclaimer
2x Vassal of Menoth
Wracks
Madelyn Corbeau
Scenario was Destruction. We practised with Death Clock. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 3, I think. As usually happens, I kind of forget to take pictures when there's clock running.
So far Reaper has dragged a Vanquisher to its demise, and I'm quite certain that this is the turn Deneghra used her feat. Bastions had had Crippling Grasp on them, but Reznik shot Hex Blast on them. I was a little bit too afraid of Witch Hound when I was attempting to spray targets, or maybe casting Scourge. Somehow it escaped my mind that Reckoner doesn't trigger Witch Hound, because it's in Tristan's battle group.
Protectorate turn 3 was uneventful, thanks to Deneghra. Temple Flameguard had some models able to charge, and they yielded some bile thralls and Bastions killed a black ogrun.
Cryx turn 4 I thought I figured a good way to get a clear charge/trample/whatever lane to Reckoner with both of my heavy warjacks - drag the front Bastion away, and kill it. Well. It might have worked without the damage re-allocation process of Bastions. Now the initial target suffered no damage, so no drag either. Other possibility is that I placed the ogrun dedicated for this so poorly that Bastion didn't move at all because it was right next to Reckoner.
Ragman advanced into a position to cast Death Field, and then various models wrecked Protectorate as hard as they could. Annoying thing here was the fact that my side was so damn crowded that I didn't get to make too many charges. The greatest disappointment was that the enemy objective just refused to die, no matter what I threw against it. Had I destroyed it with other models, Slayer could have charged plenty of Bastions, but now I needed it to finalize the objective and only one Bastion.
I was afraid of dominating the zone with Deneghra, so she backed off a little. Perhaps controlling it would suffice.
Well. Reaper didn't do much to Reckoner, not even with Dark Shroud from Ragman, so that helljack just signed its own death sentence.
Next turn Templar gets me caught by surprise by trampling and beat-backing right next to Deneghra. Only one attack hit, but it was doing something like dice +5 damage already. Deneghra got to four damage boxes remaining or so.
Reckoner and pals wrecked Reaper.
I was running low on clock, so I somehow tried to destroy both heavy warjacks and hope for a scenario victory. Turned out that I got neither, and clocked myself.
Movements were so pain to try to optimize that it ate a lot of time. I tried to tear down the Templar with Deneghra and mechanithralls, and when they failed, every ranged weapon at my disposal tried to shoot the remaining damage points off. Nope. Not today, little one. Well, at least the flail had been destroyed.
Slayer and Aiakos fared just as badly against Reckoner.
We still played the game till bitter end, which came fast. Templar had lost cortex and flail arm, so it boiled down to if Templar could roll 8+ to hit with two attempts (iron aggression + one initial attack + ancillary). It could. Boo!
Both games with this list were difficult with the clock, and I had been continuously blocking my own movements. So I constructed two different Deneghra & Scaverous list pairings and played one game on Friday at Ropecon with the modified Deneghra.
List consisted of:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- 2x Nightwretch
- Defiler
Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Reaper
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock
Machine Wraith
Madelyn Corbeau
Ragman
Objective: Arcane Wonder
Opponent had:
High Executioner Reznik
- Vanquisher
- Templar
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Initiate Tristan Durant
- Reckoner
Hierophant
Reclaimer
2x Vassal of Menoth
Wracks
Madelyn Corbeau
Scenario was Destruction. We practised with Death Clock. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 3, I think. As usually happens, I kind of forget to take pictures when there's clock running.
So far Reaper has dragged a Vanquisher to its demise, and I'm quite certain that this is the turn Deneghra used her feat. Bastions had had Crippling Grasp on them, but Reznik shot Hex Blast on them. I was a little bit too afraid of Witch Hound when I was attempting to spray targets, or maybe casting Scourge. Somehow it escaped my mind that Reckoner doesn't trigger Witch Hound, because it's in Tristan's battle group.
Protectorate turn 3 was uneventful, thanks to Deneghra. Temple Flameguard had some models able to charge, and they yielded some bile thralls and Bastions killed a black ogrun.
Cryx turn 4 I thought I figured a good way to get a clear charge/trample/whatever lane to Reckoner with both of my heavy warjacks - drag the front Bastion away, and kill it. Well. It might have worked without the damage re-allocation process of Bastions. Now the initial target suffered no damage, so no drag either. Other possibility is that I placed the ogrun dedicated for this so poorly that Bastion didn't move at all because it was right next to Reckoner.
Ragman advanced into a position to cast Death Field, and then various models wrecked Protectorate as hard as they could. Annoying thing here was the fact that my side was so damn crowded that I didn't get to make too many charges. The greatest disappointment was that the enemy objective just refused to die, no matter what I threw against it. Had I destroyed it with other models, Slayer could have charged plenty of Bastions, but now I needed it to finalize the objective and only one Bastion.
I was afraid of dominating the zone with Deneghra, so she backed off a little. Perhaps controlling it would suffice.
Well. Reaper didn't do much to Reckoner, not even with Dark Shroud from Ragman, so that helljack just signed its own death sentence.
Next turn Templar gets me caught by surprise by trampling and beat-backing right next to Deneghra. Only one attack hit, but it was doing something like dice +5 damage already. Deneghra got to four damage boxes remaining or so.
Reckoner and pals wrecked Reaper.
I was running low on clock, so I somehow tried to destroy both heavy warjacks and hope for a scenario victory. Turned out that I got neither, and clocked myself.
Movements were so pain to try to optimize that it ate a lot of time. I tried to tear down the Templar with Deneghra and mechanithralls, and when they failed, every ranged weapon at my disposal tried to shoot the remaining damage points off. Nope. Not today, little one. Well, at least the flail had been destroyed.
Slayer and Aiakos fared just as badly against Reckoner.
We still played the game till bitter end, which came fast. Templar had lost cortex and flail arm, so it boiled down to if Templar could roll 8+ to hit with two attempts (iron aggression + one initial attack + ancillary). It could. Boo!
Both games with this list were difficult with the clock, and I had been continuously blocking my own movements. So I constructed two different Deneghra & Scaverous list pairings and played one game on Friday at Ropecon with the modified Deneghra.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
Lucant vs Deneghra
Played a 50 point Warmachine game last Friday. I played another game before Ropecon, but writing that up just will have to wait.
I'm testing around an idea that's probably a stillborn tragedy... but that doesn't stop me bringing a dead fetus to a tournament.
So, my list:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- 2x Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls
Minimum unit of Bile Thralls
Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Reaper
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
Madelyn Corbeau
Ragman
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Machine Wraith
Objective: Arcane Wonder
Opponent had:
Father Lucant
Iron Giants tier 4
- Cipher
- Monitor
- Inverter
- Corollary
Maximum unit of Eradicators
Maximum unit of Reciprocators
Minimum unit of Perforators
2x Enigma Foundry
Objective: Fuel cache
Scenario was Two Fronts. Strangely that's been a bit of a rare scenario for me here in my home town. Anyway, Convergence started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1, though Convergence has already made a few activations. I was measuring my own time with a chess clock, and worrying about time always makes me forget taking pictures.
Cipher shoots a couple of rough terrain batches to middle of the board. Slayer takes surprising damage from Perforators, and I believe Lucant used Clockwork Reinforcement this turn.
Cryx mainly repositions, too, because engaging didn't feel like a good idea. Deneghra cast Scourge on... Eradicators, I think? Only two got under the template, though, but that would be two less chargers at least.
Bile Thralls just huddle forward and try to look like a threat. And, well, that's it.
Turn 3 I'm missing a picture from the end of Convergence turn. But mainly just Nightwretch on the right and my objective got destroyed. Lucant has at least Deceleration on, which was making my ranged game suffer throughout the whole game.
I had grand plans of crippling Reciprocators (they're the shield wall unit, right?), but in the end everything else died. Deneghra walked up and used her feat, nearly getting whole enemy army under. Just a few Eradicators on the right were a bit off.
She cast Crippling Grasp on the Reciprocators, and left two Focus to boost armor.
Bile Thralls advanced and made three or four purges, killing all the Perforators. Enigma Foundry took some damage also, but nothing to write home/blog about.
Black Ogruns then attempted to start messing up shield wall formation, but then reality dawned on me in a cruel way. Field Marshal: Shield Guard made any dragging against Reciprocators nearly impossible. Instead the Ogruns shot a couple of Eradicators, and Mechanithralls charged the rest. Reaper went and killed possibly two Eradicators on the hill.
It was a good turn, after all. Getting two medium based units dead before Enigma Foundries started manufacturing additional troopers was a harsh blow for Convergence.
Turn 4 Lucant cast Purification with his diminished focus pool, but it was more than enough to make yet another casting of Crippling Grasp useless. Other than that there was not much for Convergence to do. Reciprocators advanced in shield wall and killed a couple of Mechanithralls. Enigma Foundry on left kept on contesting the control zone.
My clock was starting to run out. Though we weren't actually playing the deathclock, I decided to do what I'd have to do in a tournament. Slayer charged Lucant, and hoped he'd go down. If this had been a real tournament game, I'd have lost there and then, because Slayer just couldn't take the few remaining damage boxes off of Lucant. I think Lucant was left alive with four or less boxes.
The rest of Cryx then proceeded to maul the shield guard infantry, but failed to kill the very last one. Thing's didn't look too bad as of yet.
Turn 5, however, Convergence breaks both Slayer and Reaper and most of the Mechanithralls. Suddenly there was not enough attacks to cut through Convergence heavy warjacks. But to me it looked like that there was a charge lane for Deneghra to assassinate Lucant. And because Deneghra had Parry on herself anyway, she wouldn't need Ghost Walk to get to Lucant, right? So Skarlock can cast Ghost Walk on Black Ogruns just for giggles? Right?
Well, somehow it escaped my thoughts that Parry doesn't ignore rough terrain. Deneghra had to cast Ghost Walk on herself for premium price instead of a free cast by Skarlock. Luckily Lucant was already so damaged that four Focus points were enough to kill him, but damn it. How can I ever hope to fare in the upcoming tournament if I'm already making mistakes like these without the dehydration and sleep deprivation that's bound to happen at Ropecon?
I'm testing around an idea that's probably a stillborn tragedy... but that doesn't stop me bringing a dead fetus to a tournament.
So, my list:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Slayer
- 2x Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Mechanithralls
Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Aiakos, Scourge of Meredius
- Reaper
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
Madelyn Corbeau
Ragman
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
Machine Wraith
Objective: Arcane Wonder
Opponent had:
Father Lucant
Iron Giants tier 4
- Cipher
- Monitor
- Inverter
- Corollary
Maximum unit of Eradicators
Maximum unit of Reciprocators
Minimum unit of Perforators
2x Enigma Foundry
Objective: Fuel cache
Scenario was Two Fronts. Strangely that's been a bit of a rare scenario for me here in my home town. Anyway, Convergence started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 1, though Convergence has already made a few activations. I was measuring my own time with a chess clock, and worrying about time always makes me forget taking pictures.
Cipher shoots a couple of rough terrain batches to middle of the board. Slayer takes surprising damage from Perforators, and I believe Lucant used Clockwork Reinforcement this turn.
Cryx mainly repositions, too, because engaging didn't feel like a good idea. Deneghra cast Scourge on... Eradicators, I think? Only two got under the template, though, but that would be two less chargers at least.
Bile Thralls just huddle forward and try to look like a threat. And, well, that's it.
Turn 3 I'm missing a picture from the end of Convergence turn. But mainly just Nightwretch on the right and my objective got destroyed. Lucant has at least Deceleration on, which was making my ranged game suffer throughout the whole game.
I had grand plans of crippling Reciprocators (they're the shield wall unit, right?), but in the end everything else died. Deneghra walked up and used her feat, nearly getting whole enemy army under. Just a few Eradicators on the right were a bit off.
She cast Crippling Grasp on the Reciprocators, and left two Focus to boost armor.
Bile Thralls advanced and made three or four purges, killing all the Perforators. Enigma Foundry took some damage also, but nothing to write home/blog about.
Black Ogruns then attempted to start messing up shield wall formation, but then reality dawned on me in a cruel way. Field Marshal: Shield Guard made any dragging against Reciprocators nearly impossible. Instead the Ogruns shot a couple of Eradicators, and Mechanithralls charged the rest. Reaper went and killed possibly two Eradicators on the hill.
It was a good turn, after all. Getting two medium based units dead before Enigma Foundries started manufacturing additional troopers was a harsh blow for Convergence.
Turn 4 Lucant cast Purification with his diminished focus pool, but it was more than enough to make yet another casting of Crippling Grasp useless. Other than that there was not much for Convergence to do. Reciprocators advanced in shield wall and killed a couple of Mechanithralls. Enigma Foundry on left kept on contesting the control zone.
My clock was starting to run out. Though we weren't actually playing the deathclock, I decided to do what I'd have to do in a tournament. Slayer charged Lucant, and hoped he'd go down. If this had been a real tournament game, I'd have lost there and then, because Slayer just couldn't take the few remaining damage boxes off of Lucant. I think Lucant was left alive with four or less boxes.
The rest of Cryx then proceeded to maul the shield guard infantry, but failed to kill the very last one. Thing's didn't look too bad as of yet.
Turn 5, however, Convergence breaks both Slayer and Reaper and most of the Mechanithralls. Suddenly there was not enough attacks to cut through Convergence heavy warjacks. But to me it looked like that there was a charge lane for Deneghra to assassinate Lucant. And because Deneghra had Parry on herself anyway, she wouldn't need Ghost Walk to get to Lucant, right? So Skarlock can cast Ghost Walk on Black Ogruns just for giggles? Right?
Well, somehow it escaped my thoughts that Parry doesn't ignore rough terrain. Deneghra had to cast Ghost Walk on herself for premium price instead of a free cast by Skarlock. Luckily Lucant was already so damaged that four Focus points were enough to kill him, but damn it. How can I ever hope to fare in the upcoming tournament if I'm already making mistakes like these without the dehydration and sleep deprivation that's bound to happen at Ropecon?
Sunday, May 3, 2015
End of Riven Bonds
A week and a half ago I played to Riven Bonds league games. They were the last games of our two month long league attempt - or at least they were, for me. Games were 35 points.
I used same list in both games, and it was:
Cassius the Oathkeeper and Wurmwood, Tree of Fate
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Gorax
- Woldwatcher
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Minimum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Chieftain
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers
2x Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer Hero
Objective: Effigy of Valor
First game was against Protectorate of Menoth, and the list was:
Hierarch Severius
- Vanquiher
- Reckoner
- Blessing of Vengeance
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Hierophant
Reclaimer
Vassal of Menoth
Paladin Hero
Objective: something
Scenario was Fire Support, and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Protectorate turn 1. So far Severius has cast Fear of God on Tharn Ravagers. Oh joy. They just lost most benefits their Unit Attachment gives.
It was scary to realise how Awareness mitigated Cassius' feat. I decided to use the feat right there on turn 2 to get at least some use out of it. While Severius' battlegroup might see through the forest, they wouldn't be able to get Pathfinder from anywhere! But first some random models tried to tickle Blessing of Vengeance first - namely, Blackclad Wayfarer and Pureblood Warpwolf with their sprays. Then Cassius activates, casts a Hellmouth on Blessing of Vengeance via Gallows Grove, taking a few Flameguards with the spell. And finally a Ravager walks within reach distance, and takes a swing at Blessing of Vengeance. Now look at that... the thing nearly broke. I don't remember how much damage was actually dealt, but Arc Node malfunctioned from just the Pureblood and Wayfarer sprays. Too late to save the Ravagers, though.
Severius used feat and converted five or so models from my side to fight for his. I hadn't considered that there might have been a possibility of assassination - despite having next to no Pathfinder, Severius could make full use out of my Pathfinder. Lucky me that none of the Ravagers had Line of Sight to Wurmwood, or there could have been a rather embarrassing ending. But since Wurmwood had already collected some souls for armor, and Ravagers would not get the boosted damage from charge, they just killed each other. Hey... I forgot to collect heart tokens from Ravagers to Ravagers. How... heartless.
Anyway, other than that the turn was fairly uneventful. Vanquisher and Reckoner didn't reach their full potential. What was left of Blessing of Vengeance ended the life of Gallows Grove.
Turn 3 I started stressing out from the two heavy warjacks. Most of my army had already been set on fire, and Primaled Pureblood had a chance of taking out Vanquisher with some assistance from other models, but then Reckoner would just make some very tender dog steaks out of my only "heavy" hitter. Perhaps there might have been some possibilities with correct play and target prioritising, because I did out-threat Protectorate in just about every way. But screw that. I took the easy way out and tried to assassinate.
First Blackclad Wayfarer advanced into melee with Vanquisher and casts Hunter's Mark on Severius.
Then Cassius charges Vanquisher and casts Hellmouth on a choir member, pulling Severius closer to Pureblood Warpwolf. I nearly did panic when I actually pulled Reckoner to a position that might have blocked charge from reachless Pureblood. Cassius boosts damage, and even casts Stranglehold on the old man, too. Damage rolls were pretty good, and I thought I might have a chance of finishing Severius with spray from Pureblood... if it would hit.
But since it was all-in assassination attempt with no hold backs, I brought Woldwatcher intro fray just for fun. It'd probably miss anyway. Oh, it didn't. Well, surely POW 12 wouldn't be enough to finish Severius. Oh... 5,5,6 or something like that.
Fertilizer from Woldwatcher kicks in and... Is this how new Gallows Groves are being made?
Game 2:
Second game was against Convergence against a warcaster I've never played. Whee. That's always a special joy for me.
Anyway, the list was:
Axis, the Harmonious Enforcer
- Converser
- Inverter
- Corollary
Optifex Directive
Maximum unit of Reciprocators
Maximum unit of Eradicators
Accretion Servitors
Steelsoul Protector Hero (with Shrapnel Field. Ouch.)
Convergence started game, and scenario was Close Quarters.
This second game took considerably longer, which often seems to be the case with Convergence. My lists just aren't that good at cracking single, large targets with damage boxes and some armour.
First picture is from the end of Circle turn 1, and there's not much to tell. Convergence advanced slowly and steadily. I'm not entirely certain on this, but I think Iron Aggression was on Inverter.
Turn 2 the wall of steel continues to push forward. Axis casts the razor wall spell or something like that, and uses feat defensively. All but the Wolves of Orboros are caught. Important bit here is the -2SPD that prevented Circle from charging.
Well, I reply in kind and use Cassius' feat. This time opponent had easy access to Pathfinder, but had difficulties with LoS blocking element of forest terrain. But all in all everything that happened on the right side of the board was just shuffling and repositioning. If anything happened, it happened on the left, where Wolves of Orboros charged these... things. Damn it. I just checked which unit it was, Reciprocators or Eradicators.
Oh well. Wolves used Power Swell and killed two. I think it was combined effort by Woldwatcher and Pureblood that killed the third one. Yay. Three casualties. Cassius snatched a control point from friendly flag.
Turn 3 Convergence struggles to make any meaningful attacks, too. Inverter got Pathfinder from Optifex Directive and trampled to Gorax. What was one of the bigger impacts to the game was that macropummeler attack missed with double or triple ones. This caused Gorax to survive that turn with four or so damage boxes remaining.
Converser killed a swamp gobber and Gallows Grove.
The shield wall medium based unit engaged Tharn Ravagers and started something that might pass as good British slapstick humor. Because that was what happened there for the next turns. They were slapping each other. With sticks. Nobody died, unless someone else intervened.
Some outrageous damage rolls by charging Ravagers, Gorax and I don't know who else... Cassius himself, perhaps? Wrecked Inverter. Primaled Pureblood on the other hand was next to useless against Converser. Well, damage was fine but systems didn't break. Woldwatches has probably shot an Optifex into a forest, judging from that random 3" AoE behind Convergence's front lines.
To me it looked like Converser was more than contesting the flag, so Cassius abandoned his position. Wolves of Orboros kill the rest of the leftmost medium base unit. Oh, and that Ravager Shaman there was just lending his toten staff for Wurmwood last turn to keep the tree from falling over.
Turn 4 some ravagers finally die to combined melee attacks by the other medium base unit. Pureblood Warpwolf and Gorax defy death, though I don't think more than one of the infantry models tried to attack it. Pureblood not dying was an unexpected bonus, but it'd waste its activation next turn to a mandatory frenzy.
On my turn Wolves started to control enemy flag, and Converser died.
I wasn't sure if the closest enemy infantry model that's closest to the camera was within 4" of the flag, and trying to dominate a flag when there's enemy warcaster almost right next to you is usually a bad idea. So Cassius chickened out and stayed on the hill.
Turn 5 Convergence finally kills Pureblood Warpwolf. This is done personally by Axis, and seeing all those misses was quite painful, even as the opponent of my opponent.
Tharn Chieftain dies, and it looks like one medium base infantry model is still contesting my friendly flag, and the nearly unkillable Steelsoul Protector might be within 4", too. So it didn't help me much that I controlled a third scenario point during opponents turn, and scored fourth on my own turn. I was torn between trying to assassinate or trying to going for scenario victory. And as it has been over a week since this game was played, I have to admit that I don't actually remember how game ended. Did Cassius charge Axis and kileld him, or was Convergence unable to contest their flag? I don't know if we'll ever know for sure.
I used same list in both games, and it was:
Cassius the Oathkeeper and Wurmwood, Tree of Fate
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Gorax
- Woldwatcher
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobbers
2x Gallows Grove
Blackclad Wayfarer Hero
Objective: Effigy of Valor
First game was against Protectorate of Menoth, and the list was:
Hierarch Severius
- Vanquiher
- Reckoner
- Blessing of Vengeance
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Hierophant
Reclaimer
Vassal of Menoth
Paladin Hero
Objective: something
Scenario was Fire Support, and Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Protectorate turn 1. So far Severius has cast Fear of God on Tharn Ravagers. Oh joy. They just lost most benefits their Unit Attachment gives.
It was scary to realise how Awareness mitigated Cassius' feat. I decided to use the feat right there on turn 2 to get at least some use out of it. While Severius' battlegroup might see through the forest, they wouldn't be able to get Pathfinder from anywhere! But first some random models tried to tickle Blessing of Vengeance first - namely, Blackclad Wayfarer and Pureblood Warpwolf with their sprays. Then Cassius activates, casts a Hellmouth on Blessing of Vengeance via Gallows Grove, taking a few Flameguards with the spell. And finally a Ravager walks within reach distance, and takes a swing at Blessing of Vengeance. Now look at that... the thing nearly broke. I don't remember how much damage was actually dealt, but Arc Node malfunctioned from just the Pureblood and Wayfarer sprays. Too late to save the Ravagers, though.
Severius used feat and converted five or so models from my side to fight for his. I hadn't considered that there might have been a possibility of assassination - despite having next to no Pathfinder, Severius could make full use out of my Pathfinder. Lucky me that none of the Ravagers had Line of Sight to Wurmwood, or there could have been a rather embarrassing ending. But since Wurmwood had already collected some souls for armor, and Ravagers would not get the boosted damage from charge, they just killed each other. Hey... I forgot to collect heart tokens from Ravagers to Ravagers. How... heartless.
Anyway, other than that the turn was fairly uneventful. Vanquisher and Reckoner didn't reach their full potential. What was left of Blessing of Vengeance ended the life of Gallows Grove.
Turn 3 I started stressing out from the two heavy warjacks. Most of my army had already been set on fire, and Primaled Pureblood had a chance of taking out Vanquisher with some assistance from other models, but then Reckoner would just make some very tender dog steaks out of my only "heavy" hitter. Perhaps there might have been some possibilities with correct play and target prioritising, because I did out-threat Protectorate in just about every way. But screw that. I took the easy way out and tried to assassinate.
First Blackclad Wayfarer advanced into melee with Vanquisher and casts Hunter's Mark on Severius.
Then Cassius charges Vanquisher and casts Hellmouth on a choir member, pulling Severius closer to Pureblood Warpwolf. I nearly did panic when I actually pulled Reckoner to a position that might have blocked charge from reachless Pureblood. Cassius boosts damage, and even casts Stranglehold on the old man, too. Damage rolls were pretty good, and I thought I might have a chance of finishing Severius with spray from Pureblood... if it would hit.
But since it was all-in assassination attempt with no hold backs, I brought Woldwatcher intro fray just for fun. It'd probably miss anyway. Oh, it didn't. Well, surely POW 12 wouldn't be enough to finish Severius. Oh... 5,5,6 or something like that.
Fertilizer from Woldwatcher kicks in and... Is this how new Gallows Groves are being made?
Game 2:
Second game was against Convergence against a warcaster I've never played. Whee. That's always a special joy for me.
Anyway, the list was:
Axis, the Harmonious Enforcer
- Converser
- Inverter
- Corollary
Optifex Directive
Maximum unit of Reciprocators
Maximum unit of Eradicators
Accretion Servitors
Steelsoul Protector Hero (with Shrapnel Field. Ouch.)
Convergence started game, and scenario was Close Quarters.
This second game took considerably longer, which often seems to be the case with Convergence. My lists just aren't that good at cracking single, large targets with damage boxes and some armour.
First picture is from the end of Circle turn 1, and there's not much to tell. Convergence advanced slowly and steadily. I'm not entirely certain on this, but I think Iron Aggression was on Inverter.
Turn 2 the wall of steel continues to push forward. Axis casts the razor wall spell or something like that, and uses feat defensively. All but the Wolves of Orboros are caught. Important bit here is the -2SPD that prevented Circle from charging.
Well, I reply in kind and use Cassius' feat. This time opponent had easy access to Pathfinder, but had difficulties with LoS blocking element of forest terrain. But all in all everything that happened on the right side of the board was just shuffling and repositioning. If anything happened, it happened on the left, where Wolves of Orboros charged these... things. Damn it. I just checked which unit it was, Reciprocators or Eradicators.
Oh well. Wolves used Power Swell and killed two. I think it was combined effort by Woldwatcher and Pureblood that killed the third one. Yay. Three casualties. Cassius snatched a control point from friendly flag.
Turn 3 Convergence struggles to make any meaningful attacks, too. Inverter got Pathfinder from Optifex Directive and trampled to Gorax. What was one of the bigger impacts to the game was that macropummeler attack missed with double or triple ones. This caused Gorax to survive that turn with four or so damage boxes remaining.
Converser killed a swamp gobber and Gallows Grove.
The shield wall medium based unit engaged Tharn Ravagers and started something that might pass as good British slapstick humor. Because that was what happened there for the next turns. They were slapping each other. With sticks. Nobody died, unless someone else intervened.
Some outrageous damage rolls by charging Ravagers, Gorax and I don't know who else... Cassius himself, perhaps? Wrecked Inverter. Primaled Pureblood on the other hand was next to useless against Converser. Well, damage was fine but systems didn't break. Woldwatches has probably shot an Optifex into a forest, judging from that random 3" AoE behind Convergence's front lines.
To me it looked like Converser was more than contesting the flag, so Cassius abandoned his position. Wolves of Orboros kill the rest of the leftmost medium base unit. Oh, and that Ravager Shaman there was just lending his toten staff for Wurmwood last turn to keep the tree from falling over.
Turn 4 some ravagers finally die to combined melee attacks by the other medium base unit. Pureblood Warpwolf and Gorax defy death, though I don't think more than one of the infantry models tried to attack it. Pureblood not dying was an unexpected bonus, but it'd waste its activation next turn to a mandatory frenzy.
On my turn Wolves started to control enemy flag, and Converser died.
I wasn't sure if the closest enemy infantry model that's closest to the camera was within 4" of the flag, and trying to dominate a flag when there's enemy warcaster almost right next to you is usually a bad idea. So Cassius chickened out and stayed on the hill.
Turn 5 Convergence finally kills Pureblood Warpwolf. This is done personally by Axis, and seeing all those misses was quite painful, even as the opponent of my opponent.
Tharn Chieftain dies, and it looks like one medium base infantry model is still contesting my friendly flag, and the nearly unkillable Steelsoul Protector might be within 4", too. So it didn't help me much that I controlled a third scenario point during opponents turn, and scored fourth on my own turn. I was torn between trying to assassinate or trying to going for scenario victory. And as it has been over a week since this game was played, I have to admit that I don't actually remember how game ended. Did Cassius charge Axis and kileld him, or was Convergence unable to contest their flag? I don't know if we'll ever know for sure.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Flight of the Griffons
Last Thursday I continued to play Riven Bonds league games with Circle Orboros. It was a 50 point game.
My list was:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Scarsfell Griffon
- Gorax
- Winter Argus
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Shaman + Chieftain
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Blackclad Wayfarer Hero (Electrical Augmentation, Crown of the Wild, Wilting Totem, Mark of the Omnipotent)
2x Gallows Grove
Tharn Ravager White Mane
War Wolf
Opponent had:
Grand Scrutator Severius
- Avatar
- Templar
- Blessing of Vengeance
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Daughters of the Flame
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Minimum unit of Flameguard Cleansers
Gorman diWulfe
Paladin Hero
Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Hierophant
Scenario was Incoming. Both armies had Arcane Wonder objective. Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Protectorate turn 1, and Defender's Ward is on Daughters of the Flame. Vision is on Avatar of Menoth, and Eye of Menoth ogles around the battlefield like a dirty old man. Morvahna tries to hide from the Eye inside Fog of War, and Carnivore is on Tharn Ravagers to make fighting Daughters a real possibility.
Turn 2 I thought that getting a critical freeze on the Paladin and killing Gorman diWulfe would be good use of Winter Argus. So Shifting Stones teleported the wolf thing forward, and then it took double sprays at Gorman. Gorman died and the Paladin died the first time to a lucky damage roll (he had the Greater Purpose upgrade, or something.) Winter Argus didn't score critical hits to the Paladin, and surely enough it would have done nothing - that damnable Covenant had forbidden stationary effects.
War Wolf ran to engage Avatar of Menoth just to act as a general nuisance.
Morvahna cast Death Knell on Daughters of the Flame and Cleansers. Two Cleansers and a Daughter died.
Protectorate engaged Tharn Ravagers with Daughters of the Flame. They also got rid of the Gallows Grove on left. Blessing of Vengeance ran forfward for Severius to cast Ashes to Ashes. Ashes spread to four additional targets, one of which was a Shifting Stone. A damage roll of triple sixes broke Circle's teleportations for the rest of the game.
Bastions and Avatar kill the Winter Argus, while Flameguard Cleansers shoot a combined ranged attack over themselves, setting a 4" diameter patch of ground into fire. Go figure, they're Protectorate... I guess they like stuff like that.
Oh, Vassal of Menoth had cast Enliven on Blessing of Vengeance.
Turn 3 I'm a bit afraid to engage warjacks in melee with warbeasts, especially when the closest of them had repulsor shield and enliven. I tried to navigate through this by spraying Blessing first with Blackclad Wayfarer, but he didn't score a critical hit. He did, however, score exactly one damage point, which was enough to trigger enliven.
Pureblood Warpwolf also tries to spray Blessing, and does some damage.
Wolves of Orboros charge all over, mostly just to block enemy advances.
Morvahna had cast her first Purification to remove Defender's Ward, and had re-cast Carnivore on Ravagers. Though she had three Fury available, she didn't cast Fog of War back on. Blessing of Vengeance still had fully functional arc node, so I wanted to save a few Fury for damage transfers.
Ravagers butchered all of the Daughters of the Flame.
All in all situation didn't look that bad... but I had some serious doubts if I'd ever be able to chew through Avatar and Templar, plus what was left of Blessing of Vengeance.
Exemplar Bastions then remove a bunch of Wolves of Orboros from board. Templar smacks the standard bearer dead and beat backs forward to take an attack against shifting stone. The 1" advance isn't quite enough to take Templar to melee with the stone. Templar now blocked a direct charge from Avatar to Scarsfell Griffon. But still the Avatar charged and got to the second Gallows Grove. Thankfully Griffon was out of reach, though it did get set on fire from Flame Burst of Avatar's sword.
Blessing of Vengeance killed Stone Keeper, which broke unit coherency of Shifting Stones. Severius cast Ashes to Ashes somewhere, but if I remember right attack roll was double ones.
Cleaners probably shot somewhere, but their most important function was contesting the zone. Covenant also brought its ancient and fragile holy scriptures right next to flamethrowers.
Turn 4 Ravagers just advanced into better position. Their last turn's charge/run against Daughters had messed up their facings, and the Shifting Stone on left was out of coherency, so I couldn't teleport it out of the way. So... Ravagers just advanced. Shaman was the only one who got to make any attacks at all.
Since Pureblood had done good enough damage to Blessing last turn, it attempted the same again and targeted Templar with the spray. Thanks to poor judgement the template didn't touch Blessing of Vengeance, and did perhaps one damage point in to Templar.
Avatar of Menoth had activated the Gaze, so retreat with Griffon was not an option... nor could Gorax back up. But Gorax could use its animus on Griffon, who then went to make a futile gesture of defiance. Or at least that was how I thought it'd go. Instead, I swear, the dice set themselves on fire right there on my hand. I still have the burn marks on my palm. Griffon alone tore down the shield from Avatar, and took, what, half of its damage points.
There was only two Wolves of Orboros alive any more - the officer and the leader model. I still hadn't used Power Swell, so I guess I was expecting I'd use it somewhere post-feat. But... hey. Griffon had almost wrecked the Avatar... perhaps last remaining Wolves might finish the job? So, officer ensues Power Swell and charges Avatar... alone. The other Wolf tried to run to safety so that I'd still have a unit to feat more models into.
And I swear the Wolf of Orboros officer set itself on fire right there on the table! Ah well, Avatar didn't exactly die altogether, but after a damage roll of something like 5,5,6,4 it had only a few damage boxes left, with movement system broken down along with the shield. Sadly there still was boxes left in the sword system, and Avatar doesn't have breakable Cortex to begin with. But impressive job from a 5 point beast and a lone unit officer, anyway.
But then the Exemplar Bastions charge Griffon and the heroic officer dead. Avatar advances into melee with Gorax and beats it with just a couple of swings.
Blessing of Vengeance hits Pureblood with halberd, and positions the arc node. Templar advances and Severius then charges Templar to get into the scenario zone. Afterwards he tried to shoot two Immolations at objective, but barely failed to destroy it. He casts Defender's Ward on himself
So Protectorate jumps to two scenario points.
Turn 5 I guess I had the option of trying to win with scenario, but since Protectorate already got such a headstart, I decided to try an assassination instead.
First Shifting Stones teleported away from blocking movement. Pureblood Warpwolf warped for Ghostly, and advanced forward with its back arc to Covenant of Menoth. It used its animus on itself, and sprayed on Severius. Attack was a hit, and damage was done.
Phase two was to shoot Templar with Hunter's Mark from Blackclad Wayfarer, but he missed. Oh wait, I was playing epic Morvahna. The Hunter's Mark hit instead.
Ravagers got a charge order. Shaman assaulted Severius, and a few ganged up on Blessing of Vengeance. Three attempted to maul Covenant of Menoth, but three attacks aren't nearly enough to deface the book by drawing crude pictures on its pages. Blessing of Vengeance was finally wrecked, so Morvahna wouldn't have to be afraid of any free strikes.
Morvahna charges Templar, and gets within 2" reach of Severius by doing that. But without Hunter's Mark this wouldn't have been possible.
So Morvahna would have to break a frail, almost a hundred years old DEF 16 ARM 16 grandpa with her seven Fury.
I've complained of it before and I will continue to complain about it, but Life Trader is completely unnecessary and excessive rule on epic Morvahna. Anyway, the attack that hit and was boosted and was life traded caused 1,1,2,2 damage. Oh wait, I was playing epic Morvahna. It was 5,5,3,6 instead. And then Severius died.
My list was:
Morvahna the Dawnshadow
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Scarsfell Griffon
- Gorax
- Winter Argus
Maximum unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Tharn Ravagers + Shaman + Chieftain
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Blackclad Wayfarer Hero (Electrical Augmentation, Crown of the Wild, Wilting Totem, Mark of the Omnipotent)
Tharn Ravager White Mane
War Wolf
Opponent had:
Grand Scrutator Severius
- Avatar
- Templar
- Blessing of Vengeance
Minimum unit of Choir of Menoth
Daughters of the Flame
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Minimum unit of Flameguard Cleansers
Gorman diWulfe
Paladin Hero
Covenant of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Hierophant
Scenario was Incoming. Both armies had Arcane Wonder objective. Circle started game. First picture is from the end of Protectorate turn 1, and Defender's Ward is on Daughters of the Flame. Vision is on Avatar of Menoth, and Eye of Menoth ogles around the battlefield like a dirty old man. Morvahna tries to hide from the Eye inside Fog of War, and Carnivore is on Tharn Ravagers to make fighting Daughters a real possibility.
Turn 2 I thought that getting a critical freeze on the Paladin and killing Gorman diWulfe would be good use of Winter Argus. So Shifting Stones teleported the wolf thing forward, and then it took double sprays at Gorman. Gorman died and the Paladin died the first time to a lucky damage roll (he had the Greater Purpose upgrade, or something.) Winter Argus didn't score critical hits to the Paladin, and surely enough it would have done nothing - that damnable Covenant had forbidden stationary effects.
War Wolf ran to engage Avatar of Menoth just to act as a general nuisance.
Morvahna cast Death Knell on Daughters of the Flame and Cleansers. Two Cleansers and a Daughter died.
Protectorate engaged Tharn Ravagers with Daughters of the Flame. They also got rid of the Gallows Grove on left. Blessing of Vengeance ran forfward for Severius to cast Ashes to Ashes. Ashes spread to four additional targets, one of which was a Shifting Stone. A damage roll of triple sixes broke Circle's teleportations for the rest of the game.
Bastions and Avatar kill the Winter Argus, while Flameguard Cleansers shoot a combined ranged attack over themselves, setting a 4" diameter patch of ground into fire. Go figure, they're Protectorate... I guess they like stuff like that.
Oh, Vassal of Menoth had cast Enliven on Blessing of Vengeance.
Turn 3 I'm a bit afraid to engage warjacks in melee with warbeasts, especially when the closest of them had repulsor shield and enliven. I tried to navigate through this by spraying Blessing first with Blackclad Wayfarer, but he didn't score a critical hit. He did, however, score exactly one damage point, which was enough to trigger enliven.
Pureblood Warpwolf also tries to spray Blessing, and does some damage.
Wolves of Orboros charge all over, mostly just to block enemy advances.
Morvahna had cast her first Purification to remove Defender's Ward, and had re-cast Carnivore on Ravagers. Though she had three Fury available, she didn't cast Fog of War back on. Blessing of Vengeance still had fully functional arc node, so I wanted to save a few Fury for damage transfers.
Ravagers butchered all of the Daughters of the Flame.
All in all situation didn't look that bad... but I had some serious doubts if I'd ever be able to chew through Avatar and Templar, plus what was left of Blessing of Vengeance.
Exemplar Bastions then remove a bunch of Wolves of Orboros from board. Templar smacks the standard bearer dead and beat backs forward to take an attack against shifting stone. The 1" advance isn't quite enough to take Templar to melee with the stone. Templar now blocked a direct charge from Avatar to Scarsfell Griffon. But still the Avatar charged and got to the second Gallows Grove. Thankfully Griffon was out of reach, though it did get set on fire from Flame Burst of Avatar's sword.
Blessing of Vengeance killed Stone Keeper, which broke unit coherency of Shifting Stones. Severius cast Ashes to Ashes somewhere, but if I remember right attack roll was double ones.
Cleaners probably shot somewhere, but their most important function was contesting the zone. Covenant also brought its ancient and fragile holy scriptures right next to flamethrowers.
Turn 4 Ravagers just advanced into better position. Their last turn's charge/run against Daughters had messed up their facings, and the Shifting Stone on left was out of coherency, so I couldn't teleport it out of the way. So... Ravagers just advanced. Shaman was the only one who got to make any attacks at all.
Since Pureblood had done good enough damage to Blessing last turn, it attempted the same again and targeted Templar with the spray. Thanks to poor judgement the template didn't touch Blessing of Vengeance, and did perhaps one damage point in to Templar.
Avatar of Menoth had activated the Gaze, so retreat with Griffon was not an option... nor could Gorax back up. But Gorax could use its animus on Griffon, who then went to make a futile gesture of defiance. Or at least that was how I thought it'd go. Instead, I swear, the dice set themselves on fire right there on my hand. I still have the burn marks on my palm. Griffon alone tore down the shield from Avatar, and took, what, half of its damage points.
There was only two Wolves of Orboros alive any more - the officer and the leader model. I still hadn't used Power Swell, so I guess I was expecting I'd use it somewhere post-feat. But... hey. Griffon had almost wrecked the Avatar... perhaps last remaining Wolves might finish the job? So, officer ensues Power Swell and charges Avatar... alone. The other Wolf tried to run to safety so that I'd still have a unit to feat more models into.
And I swear the Wolf of Orboros officer set itself on fire right there on the table! Ah well, Avatar didn't exactly die altogether, but after a damage roll of something like 5,5,6,4 it had only a few damage boxes left, with movement system broken down along with the shield. Sadly there still was boxes left in the sword system, and Avatar doesn't have breakable Cortex to begin with. But impressive job from a 5 point beast and a lone unit officer, anyway.
But then the Exemplar Bastions charge Griffon and the heroic officer dead. Avatar advances into melee with Gorax and beats it with just a couple of swings.
Blessing of Vengeance hits Pureblood with halberd, and positions the arc node. Templar advances and Severius then charges Templar to get into the scenario zone. Afterwards he tried to shoot two Immolations at objective, but barely failed to destroy it. He casts Defender's Ward on himself
So Protectorate jumps to two scenario points.
Turn 5 I guess I had the option of trying to win with scenario, but since Protectorate already got such a headstart, I decided to try an assassination instead.
First Shifting Stones teleported away from blocking movement. Pureblood Warpwolf warped for Ghostly, and advanced forward with its back arc to Covenant of Menoth. It used its animus on itself, and sprayed on Severius. Attack was a hit, and damage was done.
Phase two was to shoot Templar with Hunter's Mark from Blackclad Wayfarer, but he missed. Oh wait, I was playing epic Morvahna. The Hunter's Mark hit instead.
Ravagers got a charge order. Shaman assaulted Severius, and a few ganged up on Blessing of Vengeance. Three attempted to maul Covenant of Menoth, but three attacks aren't nearly enough to deface the book by drawing crude pictures on its pages. Blessing of Vengeance was finally wrecked, so Morvahna wouldn't have to be afraid of any free strikes.
Morvahna charges Templar, and gets within 2" reach of Severius by doing that. But without Hunter's Mark this wouldn't have been possible.
So Morvahna would have to break a frail, almost a hundred years old DEF 16 ARM 16 grandpa with her seven Fury.
I've complained of it before and I will continue to complain about it, but Life Trader is completely unnecessary and excessive rule on epic Morvahna. Anyway, the attack that hit and was boosted and was life traded caused 1,1,2,2 damage. Oh wait, I was playing epic Morvahna. It was 5,5,3,6 instead. And then Severius died.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Party like a pirate
Here's two Warmachine games played within the course of one week (and a day). Lists for both participants are almost the same. Both games were 35 points.
Since I've locked my league faction to Circle of Orboros, I wanted to take Cryx out for some fun and games. I've been wondering if it's any good to stack as much drag options to Cryx army as possible, plus other kinds of movement shenanigans. I guess I will be testing some aspects of the idea in 35 point games until I eventually play with a full 50 point list in Ropecon tournament later this year.
But enough with that. My list was:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Reaper
- 2x Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Black Ogruns
Minimum unit of Bane Thralls
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
(Necrotech) & Scrap Thrall... funny thing, really. I made a big fuzz about remembering the Scrap Thrall and moving it around... yet I forgot to deploy Necrotech at all.
Pistol Wraith
Saxon Orrik
Gorman diWulfe
Madelyn Corbeau
Opponent had:
Forward Kommander Sorscha2
- Beast-09
Maximum unit of Winterguard Infantry + Unit Attachment + 2x Rocketeers
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Greylord Ternion
Kayazy Eliminators
Kovnik Joe
War Dog
Gorman diWulfe
Epic Eiryss
Scenario was Incursion. Cryx started, and didn't do much else other than running. Khador has Iron Flesh on the Winterguard Infantry. Cryx had just ran forward.
Turn 2 a Nightwretch ran into position to cast Crippling Grasp upon Winterguard Infantry. Idea here was that perhaps their DEF would became tolerable when combined with Crippling Grasp and Deneghra's feat. But first Deneghra needed to hit with the spell. And she hit.
Other than that Cryx turn was just positioning.
I was fairly sure I'd lose the Nightwretch who ran to cast spells on Winterguard, but much to my amazement it survived - but everything else died. I'm exaggerating of course, but I failed to see that if Beast-09 charged a black ogrun, my other Nightwretch would be within Beast's reach, too. So I lost both of the arcnodes in one turn. But that was not all. Combined ranged attack against Warwitch Siren killed her, and random sprays from Winterguard and Greylords killed all but one remaining Black Ogrun.
Before that Eiryss had shot off the Crippling Grasp - otherwise Winterguard wouldn't have been able to make special attacks. Kayazy Eliminators ran to rightmost flag.
Turn 3 situation is quite grim, but perhaps Deneghra's feat alone might turn the tide? Let's see. Deneghra activated, moved into base contact with center flag, used feat and sprayed all over the battlefield, and was left focusless. Deneghra failed to kill one of the greylords, and I was being paranoid about Sorscha's feat. You know... it just might happen that one magic skill 7 and POW 12 would kill Deneghra. After all it required only a damage roll of 10.
Then Saxon Orrik gives pathfinder for Bane Thralls. Then it looks difficult to get one Bane Thrall into contact with Beast-09, so Skarlock slaps Ghost Walk on them. A bit of a waste...
Gorman lobs blind grenade on a Kayazy Eliminator, and then Bane Thralls charge. They kill the Eliminator and injure Beast. Reaper has to come and finish the job on Beast, and luckily it did - otherwise I'd have a DEF 5 duck sitting in the middle of my army.
Instead of contesting left flag with Pistol Wraith, the ghostly solo advanced and shot the last remaining greylord very dead. Second initial attack dropped a Winterguard. Last Black Ogrun charged last Winterguard that might be contesting middle flag, and killed him. Scrap Thrall runs to engage a group of Winterguards.
There wasn't much to do for Khador. Sorscha advanced behind Great Bears of Gallowswood, and Winterguards formed a firing squad that removed last Black Ogrun and the Pistol Wraith. Kayazy Eliminator charged one bane thrall dead.
Turn 4 looked like I needed to assassinate now or never. First Gorman diWulfe advanced to throw blind oil on Sorscha, but was interrupted by counter charging War Dog.
Skarlock gave Ghost Walk for Bane Thralls, who then charged the War Dog dead. They also attempted the same to Great Bears, but failed miserably. Because Bane Thralls couldn't remove a bear who was blocking lane to Sorscha, I ditched the attempt to assassinate. Reaper just charged to destroy the bears, but it was just as efficient as Bane Thralls. Deneghra got scared of the upcoming sprayfest from Winter Guards, so she cast Ghost Walk on herself and abandoned the center flag. Now everything was left to fate.
Khadorans kill all the Bane Thralls and Skarlock. I don't remember how badly Reaper was mauled, but my guess is that pretty damn bad - possibly it's a proxy for wreck marker.
Gorman survives a shot by Eiryss. He takes only four points of damage. That's my Gorman! Key to my victory.
But then Sorscha advances and casts Cyclone and ends her turn at the flag on the right - just engaging Gorman. She also casts Iron Flesh on herself.
Turn 5 Deneghra kills Sorscha, slicing her steaming intestines to the ground while smiling sadistically, and Khadoran army covers in fear and flees away.
Well, at least in some parallel dimension. Since Skarlock died, Gorman had to take a free strike from Sorscha. He had expended all of his luck when facing Eiryss, so he just died. Then Deneghra needed to kill Sorscha all by herself. She didn't score even one hit.
Then Sorscha applies hammer to Deneghra's skull.
Game 2:
Second game I played with a little more refined list. I really don't understand why Saxon Orrik was in earlier list, when Deneghra has Ghost Walk. It seemed like a good idea at the time...
Anyway, my second list:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Reaper
- 2x Nightwretch
Minimum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Skarlock
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
2x Warwitch Siren
Gorman diWulfe
Madelyn Corbeau
Opponent had:
Forward Kommaner Sorscha2
- Beast-09
Greylord Ternion
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Maximum uit of Winterguard Infantry + Unit Attachment + 3x Rocketeers
Kayazy Eliminators
Kovnik Josef
War Dog
Epic Eiryss
That comes out as 34 points, as there was no suitable 1 point models to fill the last remaining point. Opponent didn't own Gobber Tinker or the infamous Speculator.
Scenario was Outflank, and Cryx started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 2, and what has happened so far is that Cryx just ran forwards, and Khador has Iron Flesh on Winterguard Infantry. Both players had a nasty bottleneck blocking early movement, but Khador had AoE's - and Cryx didn't.
Khador spread its forces all over the board. They were still close enought for Deneghra to get them all within her feat (well, except for Eliminators and last remaining Winterguards), but I didn't have too many options where I could place Deneghra to do that. Most notable thing probably was Eiryss shooting Reaper disrupted.
But turn 3 that was exactly what I did, anyway. I had decided to kill Beast-09 this turn, but those pesky Winterguards somehow found their way to block drag from Reaper. So before feat a Nightwretch advanced into position, and then Deneghra unleashed The Withering, followed by a Scourge on the winterguards and Beast-09. It was a direct hit even when Deneghra couldn't spare to boost the attack roll. Both winterguards died, and Deneghra cast Ghost Walk on the Reaper.
A Warwitch Siren uses Power Boost to give Reaper a focus point, and then Reaper advanced and dragged Beast-09 to its doom. And got to say... that warjack bond on epic Sorscha is rather nasty, since it's not tied to melee range. So it works even if Beast is knocked down. So Reaper became stationary.
Since it looked like I'd get a maximum of two Bane Thralls to charge Beast, Skarlock didn't bother to cast Ghost Walk on Bane Thralls. It cast Parasite on Beast instead. Bane Thralls charge/run, and in the end only one Bane Thrall makes it into melee with Beast. The other thrall missed a few critical, but quite clear millimetres.
All this took off Beasts open fist, and nothing else. Scared of what Beast might do next turn as I was, I ordered Gorman do lob Black Oil on Beast. So there was a huge blob of pretty damn useless metal right there. Beast-09 that was knocked down and blind, and Reaper and two Bane Thralls who were stationary and blinded.
A Warwitch Siren charged to kill a bear, but failed... or should we say that the bear succeeded at a Tough roll. At least she scored a hit and shadow bound the bear. And again I was terribly scared of Magic Skill [7] of the Ternion, whose POW from the sprays wouldn't be lowered by Deneghra's feat. Instead of charging or advancing and shooting, Black Ogruns just ran. One ran to engage one of the potential sprayers, and the rest formed a screen for Deneghra.
And when it was Khador turn I finally realised that all of my stress I had built up during both of these games had been for nothing. That frost bite spell spray is a special attack, which are spesifically forbidden by Deneghra's feat. Oh dear.
Next turn Sorscha casts Shatter Storm on Winterguard Infantry, advances and casts Cyclone, and uses her own feat. This was a grave mistake, when all of the stealth ignoring sprays weren't allowed. Only the rocketeers could try to injure focusless Deneghra with blast damage, but all two boosted RAT 3's missed DEF 12 Black Ogrun they were targeting. One of the deviating AoE's even had the arrogance to drift on Sorscha, and deal one point of damage to her. The unit itself blasted Reaper away in two Combined Ranged Attacks. Even during Deneghra's feat it isn't too difficult to hit a frozen, blinded heavy warjack.
Then Eiryss tried to come and shoot Deneghra, too, but even she missed.
At that point it was pretty much game over. Madelyn Corbeau advanced Gorman a little, and Skarlock cast Ghost Walk on Gorman. Gorman then advanced and threw black oil on Sorscha. Black Ogruns did a combined melee attack on Sorscha and pulled her closer. Damage roll for the CRA was pretty high, so Deneghra had to just make one fully boosted attack to end the game.
But now is time for some butting!
Because I think it'd have been interesting to see how game would have developed, if it wasn't for the oversight of bringing Sorscha forward and then being unable to do much. In first game Khador had been able to shoot a lot of people dead(er) from my side before Deneghra used her feat. It's reasonable to assume that Reaper would have taken heavy damage from Winterguard even without Sorscha's feat, but perhaps the heavy wouldn't have been completely wrecked.
If I could have taken Beast and Eiryss down next turn and cast Crippling Grasp on Winter Guard to block the grapeshot sprays, Cryx would have still had a strong game even if my options at mass infantry removal were quite limited. Well, I guess getting rid of Beast was the least important of those three goals. Failing to kill Eiryss or missing Crippling Grasp on Winterguards would both have most probably spelled Deneghra's doom, since at least some boosted RAT 5 would have to hit DEF 16 Deneghra, and Winterguards would have been only dice -4 against her armor. With (or heck, possibly even without) Sorscha's feat there would have been a real chance for a casterkill.
Though of course if killing Eiryss of hitting with Crippling Grasp would have failed, I'd have blocked as much Winterguards as possible with the remainder of my forces. But hey, butting can go on forever. So I better stop now.
Since I've locked my league faction to Circle of Orboros, I wanted to take Cryx out for some fun and games. I've been wondering if it's any good to stack as much drag options to Cryx army as possible, plus other kinds of movement shenanigans. I guess I will be testing some aspects of the idea in 35 point games until I eventually play with a full 50 point list in Ropecon tournament later this year.
But enough with that. My list was:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Reaper
- 2x Nightwretch
Maximum unit of Black Ogruns
Minimum unit of Bane Thralls
Skarlock
Warwitch Siren
(Necrotech) & Scrap Thrall... funny thing, really. I made a big fuzz about remembering the Scrap Thrall and moving it around... yet I forgot to deploy Necrotech at all.
Pistol Wraith
Saxon Orrik
Gorman diWulfe
Madelyn Corbeau
Opponent had:
Forward Kommander Sorscha2
- Beast-09
Maximum unit of Winterguard Infantry + Unit Attachment + 2x Rocketeers
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Greylord Ternion
Kayazy Eliminators
Kovnik Joe
War Dog
Gorman diWulfe
Epic Eiryss
Scenario was Incursion. Cryx started, and didn't do much else other than running. Khador has Iron Flesh on the Winterguard Infantry. Cryx had just ran forward.
Turn 2 a Nightwretch ran into position to cast Crippling Grasp upon Winterguard Infantry. Idea here was that perhaps their DEF would became tolerable when combined with Crippling Grasp and Deneghra's feat. But first Deneghra needed to hit with the spell. And she hit.
Other than that Cryx turn was just positioning.
I was fairly sure I'd lose the Nightwretch who ran to cast spells on Winterguard, but much to my amazement it survived - but everything else died. I'm exaggerating of course, but I failed to see that if Beast-09 charged a black ogrun, my other Nightwretch would be within Beast's reach, too. So I lost both of the arcnodes in one turn. But that was not all. Combined ranged attack against Warwitch Siren killed her, and random sprays from Winterguard and Greylords killed all but one remaining Black Ogrun.
Before that Eiryss had shot off the Crippling Grasp - otherwise Winterguard wouldn't have been able to make special attacks. Kayazy Eliminators ran to rightmost flag.
Turn 3 situation is quite grim, but perhaps Deneghra's feat alone might turn the tide? Let's see. Deneghra activated, moved into base contact with center flag, used feat and sprayed all over the battlefield, and was left focusless. Deneghra failed to kill one of the greylords, and I was being paranoid about Sorscha's feat. You know... it just might happen that one magic skill 7 and POW 12 would kill Deneghra. After all it required only a damage roll of 10.
Then Saxon Orrik gives pathfinder for Bane Thralls. Then it looks difficult to get one Bane Thrall into contact with Beast-09, so Skarlock slaps Ghost Walk on them. A bit of a waste...
Gorman lobs blind grenade on a Kayazy Eliminator, and then Bane Thralls charge. They kill the Eliminator and injure Beast. Reaper has to come and finish the job on Beast, and luckily it did - otherwise I'd have a DEF 5 duck sitting in the middle of my army.
Instead of contesting left flag with Pistol Wraith, the ghostly solo advanced and shot the last remaining greylord very dead. Second initial attack dropped a Winterguard. Last Black Ogrun charged last Winterguard that might be contesting middle flag, and killed him. Scrap Thrall runs to engage a group of Winterguards.
There wasn't much to do for Khador. Sorscha advanced behind Great Bears of Gallowswood, and Winterguards formed a firing squad that removed last Black Ogrun and the Pistol Wraith. Kayazy Eliminator charged one bane thrall dead.
Turn 4 looked like I needed to assassinate now or never. First Gorman diWulfe advanced to throw blind oil on Sorscha, but was interrupted by counter charging War Dog.
Skarlock gave Ghost Walk for Bane Thralls, who then charged the War Dog dead. They also attempted the same to Great Bears, but failed miserably. Because Bane Thralls couldn't remove a bear who was blocking lane to Sorscha, I ditched the attempt to assassinate. Reaper just charged to destroy the bears, but it was just as efficient as Bane Thralls. Deneghra got scared of the upcoming sprayfest from Winter Guards, so she cast Ghost Walk on herself and abandoned the center flag. Now everything was left to fate.
Khadorans kill all the Bane Thralls and Skarlock. I don't remember how badly Reaper was mauled, but my guess is that pretty damn bad - possibly it's a proxy for wreck marker.
Gorman survives a shot by Eiryss. He takes only four points of damage. That's my Gorman! Key to my victory.
But then Sorscha advances and casts Cyclone and ends her turn at the flag on the right - just engaging Gorman. She also casts Iron Flesh on herself.
Turn 5 Deneghra kills Sorscha, slicing her steaming intestines to the ground while smiling sadistically, and Khadoran army covers in fear and flees away.
Well, at least in some parallel dimension. Since Skarlock died, Gorman had to take a free strike from Sorscha. He had expended all of his luck when facing Eiryss, so he just died. Then Deneghra needed to kill Sorscha all by herself. She didn't score even one hit.
Then Sorscha applies hammer to Deneghra's skull.
Game 2:
Second game I played with a little more refined list. I really don't understand why Saxon Orrik was in earlier list, when Deneghra has Ghost Walk. It seemed like a good idea at the time...
Anyway, my second list:
Warwitch Deneghra
- Reaper
- 2x Nightwretch
Minimum unit of Bane Thralls + Unit Attachment
Maximum unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Party
Skarlock
Necrotech & Scrap Thrall
2x Warwitch Siren
Gorman diWulfe
Madelyn Corbeau
Opponent had:
Forward Kommaner Sorscha2
Greylord Ternion
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Maximum uit of Winterguard Infantry + Unit Attachment + 3x Rocketeers
Kayazy Eliminators
Kovnik Josef
War Dog
Epic Eiryss
That comes out as 34 points, as there was no suitable 1 point models to fill the last remaining point. Opponent didn't own Gobber Tinker or the infamous Speculator.
Scenario was Outflank, and Cryx started game. First picture is from the end of Cryx turn 2, and what has happened so far is that Cryx just ran forwards, and Khador has Iron Flesh on Winterguard Infantry. Both players had a nasty bottleneck blocking early movement, but Khador had AoE's - and Cryx didn't.
Khador spread its forces all over the board. They were still close enought for Deneghra to get them all within her feat (well, except for Eliminators and last remaining Winterguards), but I didn't have too many options where I could place Deneghra to do that. Most notable thing probably was Eiryss shooting Reaper disrupted.
But turn 3 that was exactly what I did, anyway. I had decided to kill Beast-09 this turn, but those pesky Winterguards somehow found their way to block drag from Reaper. So before feat a Nightwretch advanced into position, and then Deneghra unleashed The Withering, followed by a Scourge on the winterguards and Beast-09. It was a direct hit even when Deneghra couldn't spare to boost the attack roll. Both winterguards died, and Deneghra cast Ghost Walk on the Reaper.
A Warwitch Siren uses Power Boost to give Reaper a focus point, and then Reaper advanced and dragged Beast-09 to its doom. And got to say... that warjack bond on epic Sorscha is rather nasty, since it's not tied to melee range. So it works even if Beast is knocked down. So Reaper became stationary.
Since it looked like I'd get a maximum of two Bane Thralls to charge Beast, Skarlock didn't bother to cast Ghost Walk on Bane Thralls. It cast Parasite on Beast instead. Bane Thralls charge/run, and in the end only one Bane Thrall makes it into melee with Beast. The other thrall missed a few critical, but quite clear millimetres.
All this took off Beasts open fist, and nothing else. Scared of what Beast might do next turn as I was, I ordered Gorman do lob Black Oil on Beast. So there was a huge blob of pretty damn useless metal right there. Beast-09 that was knocked down and blind, and Reaper and two Bane Thralls who were stationary and blinded.
A Warwitch Siren charged to kill a bear, but failed... or should we say that the bear succeeded at a Tough roll. At least she scored a hit and shadow bound the bear. And again I was terribly scared of Magic Skill [7] of the Ternion, whose POW from the sprays wouldn't be lowered by Deneghra's feat. Instead of charging or advancing and shooting, Black Ogruns just ran. One ran to engage one of the potential sprayers, and the rest formed a screen for Deneghra.
And when it was Khador turn I finally realised that all of my stress I had built up during both of these games had been for nothing. That frost bite spell spray is a special attack, which are spesifically forbidden by Deneghra's feat. Oh dear.
Next turn Sorscha casts Shatter Storm on Winterguard Infantry, advances and casts Cyclone, and uses her own feat. This was a grave mistake, when all of the stealth ignoring sprays weren't allowed. Only the rocketeers could try to injure focusless Deneghra with blast damage, but all two boosted RAT 3's missed DEF 12 Black Ogrun they were targeting. One of the deviating AoE's even had the arrogance to drift on Sorscha, and deal one point of damage to her. The unit itself blasted Reaper away in two Combined Ranged Attacks. Even during Deneghra's feat it isn't too difficult to hit a frozen, blinded heavy warjack.
Then Eiryss tried to come and shoot Deneghra, too, but even she missed.
At that point it was pretty much game over. Madelyn Corbeau advanced Gorman a little, and Skarlock cast Ghost Walk on Gorman. Gorman then advanced and threw black oil on Sorscha. Black Ogruns did a combined melee attack on Sorscha and pulled her closer. Damage roll for the CRA was pretty high, so Deneghra had to just make one fully boosted attack to end the game.
But now is time for some butting!
Because I think it'd have been interesting to see how game would have developed, if it wasn't for the oversight of bringing Sorscha forward and then being unable to do much. In first game Khador had been able to shoot a lot of people dead(er) from my side before Deneghra used her feat. It's reasonable to assume that Reaper would have taken heavy damage from Winterguard even without Sorscha's feat, but perhaps the heavy wouldn't have been completely wrecked.
If I could have taken Beast and Eiryss down next turn and cast Crippling Grasp on Winter Guard to block the grapeshot sprays, Cryx would have still had a strong game even if my options at mass infantry removal were quite limited. Well, I guess getting rid of Beast was the least important of those three goals. Failing to kill Eiryss or missing Crippling Grasp on Winterguards would both have most probably spelled Deneghra's doom, since at least some boosted RAT 5 would have to hit DEF 16 Deneghra, and Winterguards would have been only dice -4 against her armor. With (or heck, possibly even without) Sorscha's feat there would have been a real chance for a casterkill.
Though of course if killing Eiryss of hitting with Crippling Grasp would have failed, I'd have blocked as much Winterguards as possible with the remainder of my forces. But hey, butting can go on forever. So I better stop now.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
There's a muton under my coupon!
Last Thursday the Deadzone campaign also saw an additional game played.
It was fourth mission out of total of ten.
And it was fourth mission in row with Infiltrate goal - a duplicate of the mission where you only get points from infiltrating. Oh my.
My 70 point Strike Team was:
1x Stage 3A Ethereal General
4x various Stage 3A Muton troopers
3x Plague Hounds
1x Muton HMG Heavy Plasma with Extra Ammo
2x Plague Celatid Swarms
I only wish my mutons were as good in infiltrating in actual game as they are infiltrating into strike teams. There's one extra Stage 3A trooper there that should've been left home. But I guess all is well, for in the end that muton paid for its trespassing with its life. As did plenty of other plague models, too. Survive 7+ Plague Swarm makes every first generation infected evil masterminds cry.
Enforcers had:
1x Sergeant
1x Assault Enforcer
2-3x Enforcer
1x Enforcer Engineer
1x Recon Drone
Extra ammo?
Enforcers didn't get caught in the pictures so much that I could have easily backtracked their exact composition, but it was something like this. Their mission was kill plus infiltrate, so not that easy either.
Plague started activations, and since there was this big hill in the middle of board I thought it'd be a good idea to go hide behind of it with just about all of my troops. The hail of bullets that came down from the other side of the table was quite staggering. Most, if not all, Enforcers made a Blaze Away attack at various cubes, suppressing pretty much everyone. There's a pretty picture about it. Now, if I only had had some Steadfast cards things might have went differently.
Stuck as I was in the middle of board there was little I could do other than hope for a turn where my troops weren't distracted by snails and ants. One Stage 3A muton trooper managed to get to melee with some Enforcer, and eventually killed him. Considering my earlier achievements during this campaign, I was happy to kill one model.
Right after killing the Enforcer and taking a free move action to move into cover, the heroic muton was summarily executed.
Second picture shows very few models - but they're not dead yet, I swear! You can see the pincers of one of the swarms in the middle, as well as a tiny portion of another swarm's base!
Commander had founda grenade at this point. Oh, and one muton at the upper side of the board found another grenade earlier in the game. That grenade injured Assault Enforcer. But yeah, about the commander. He found a grenade. Yay, a grenade.
Once my HMG muton took position at a vantage point, things started to go a little better. Though the Ethereal commander managed to lob the grenade way off from it's target, finally Enforcers started to get pinned and suppressed. And I had finally drawn a Steadfast card, which enabled Plague Swarm (with Brawler skill) to start killing stuff at last.
It killed two Enforcers right away, and that only made it angrier! And first time ever I actually did infiltrate some models. But math told me that I couldn't win the mission with my objectives any longer. I was torn between abandoning mission and killing the three remaining Enforcers for points or trying to continue to infiltrate with commander (2 points) and plague swarm (3 points.)
I don't remember what the perceived threat to the commander was, but I thought that he'd never make it if swarm didn't come to help. If Swarm would have infiltrated off, commander would have had to dance to the sound of bullets by three Enforcers.
So I abandoned mission and wanted to kill the last remaining three Enforcers, and gain roughly as many points as continuing the actual mission.
That just didn't go too well. Swarm did kill the already injured Assault Enforcer, but once it got to fight the two Enforcers on top of the blue building, the 3+ attack dice just started failing. Oh well, that's not too bad. Swarm would kill them next turn, no big deal. And then we ran out of time, that is, Enforcers drew their last card from their battle deck.
I'm not entirely sure what the heck happened at my post-game resolution. The muton who hijacked my Strike Team died, of course. Such is the price of going stowaway sometimes. His buddy lost a point of shooting skill. I guess he's not going to be the sniper with a skill of 7+.
Celatid swarm that goes by the name of "bleeder" lost another point of survival skill, so that's 7+ survival with Really Tough being the only means of protection. Both Celatids gained Veteran Dice.
Then there were my beloved dogs... Spot is a rank two dog now, and Lucky and Rumpy gained their third ranks. Lucky lost a point of melee, which is kind of a bad thing for a disposable horde type melee unit... but hey, Lucky isn't complaining. Rumpy lost another point of melee, so that's a 7+ melee beast right there.
All three dogs gained a new skill. They're becoming the academics of my strike force. They're all missing their next game. Spot took AP1 skill, Lucky became a fierce Brawler, and 7+ melee skill Rumpy got Spotter. Hey, at least now Rumpy will have even some sort of function in an operation, right?
Well. Until now this is by far my best mission in the campaign. I got five reputation points and opponent six, or something. At least not full ten points. It's almost a victory.
It was fourth mission out of total of ten.
And it was fourth mission in row with Infiltrate goal - a duplicate of the mission where you only get points from infiltrating. Oh my.
My 70 point Strike Team was:
1x Stage 3A Ethereal General
4x various Stage 3A Muton troopers
3x Plague Hounds
1x Muton HMG Heavy Plasma with Extra Ammo
2x Plague Celatid Swarms
I only wish my mutons were as good in infiltrating in actual game as they are infiltrating into strike teams. There's one extra Stage 3A trooper there that should've been left home. But I guess all is well, for in the end that muton paid for its trespassing with its life. As did plenty of other plague models, too. Survive 7+ Plague Swarm makes every first generation infected evil masterminds cry.
Enforcers had:
1x Sergeant
1x Assault Enforcer
2-3x Enforcer
1x Enforcer Engineer
1x Recon Drone
Extra ammo?
Enforcers didn't get caught in the pictures so much that I could have easily backtracked their exact composition, but it was something like this. Their mission was kill plus infiltrate, so not that easy either.
Plague started activations, and since there was this big hill in the middle of board I thought it'd be a good idea to go hide behind of it with just about all of my troops. The hail of bullets that came down from the other side of the table was quite staggering. Most, if not all, Enforcers made a Blaze Away attack at various cubes, suppressing pretty much everyone. There's a pretty picture about it. Now, if I only had had some Steadfast cards things might have went differently.
Stuck as I was in the middle of board there was little I could do other than hope for a turn where my troops weren't distracted by snails and ants. One Stage 3A muton trooper managed to get to melee with some Enforcer, and eventually killed him. Considering my earlier achievements during this campaign, I was happy to kill one model.
Right after killing the Enforcer and taking a free move action to move into cover, the heroic muton was summarily executed.
Second picture shows very few models - but they're not dead yet, I swear! You can see the pincers of one of the swarms in the middle, as well as a tiny portion of another swarm's base!
Commander had founda grenade at this point. Oh, and one muton at the upper side of the board found another grenade earlier in the game. That grenade injured Assault Enforcer. But yeah, about the commander. He found a grenade. Yay, a grenade.
Once my HMG muton took position at a vantage point, things started to go a little better. Though the Ethereal commander managed to lob the grenade way off from it's target, finally Enforcers started to get pinned and suppressed. And I had finally drawn a Steadfast card, which enabled Plague Swarm (with Brawler skill) to start killing stuff at last.
It killed two Enforcers right away, and that only made it angrier! And first time ever I actually did infiltrate some models. But math told me that I couldn't win the mission with my objectives any longer. I was torn between abandoning mission and killing the three remaining Enforcers for points or trying to continue to infiltrate with commander (2 points) and plague swarm (3 points.)
I don't remember what the perceived threat to the commander was, but I thought that he'd never make it if swarm didn't come to help. If Swarm would have infiltrated off, commander would have had to dance to the sound of bullets by three Enforcers.
So I abandoned mission and wanted to kill the last remaining three Enforcers, and gain roughly as many points as continuing the actual mission.
That just didn't go too well. Swarm did kill the already injured Assault Enforcer, but once it got to fight the two Enforcers on top of the blue building, the 3+ attack dice just started failing. Oh well, that's not too bad. Swarm would kill them next turn, no big deal. And then we ran out of time, that is, Enforcers drew their last card from their battle deck.
I'm not entirely sure what the heck happened at my post-game resolution. The muton who hijacked my Strike Team died, of course. Such is the price of going stowaway sometimes. His buddy lost a point of shooting skill. I guess he's not going to be the sniper with a skill of 7+.
Celatid swarm that goes by the name of "bleeder" lost another point of survival skill, so that's 7+ survival with Really Tough being the only means of protection. Both Celatids gained Veteran Dice.
Then there were my beloved dogs... Spot is a rank two dog now, and Lucky and Rumpy gained their third ranks. Lucky lost a point of melee, which is kind of a bad thing for a disposable horde type melee unit... but hey, Lucky isn't complaining. Rumpy lost another point of melee, so that's a 7+ melee beast right there.
All three dogs gained a new skill. They're becoming the academics of my strike force. They're all missing their next game. Spot took AP1 skill, Lucky became a fierce Brawler, and 7+ melee skill Rumpy got Spotter. Hey, at least now Rumpy will have even some sort of function in an operation, right?
Well. Until now this is by far my best mission in the campaign. I got five reputation points and opponent six, or something. At least not full ten points. It's almost a victory.
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Argus, Argus Everywhere!
Last Wednesday I played a 15 point game of Warmachine and a game of Deadzone, but that's a blog post for another time, another place.
My list was:
Kaya the Wildborne
- Argus
- Winter Argus
- Scarsfell Griffon
- Gorax
Blackclad Wayfarer Hero (Electrical Augmentation, Crown of the Wild, Wilting Totem)
Feralgeist
Opponent played:
High Exemplar Kreoss
- Dervish
- Revenger
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Paladin Hero
We didn't play any scenarios, but used Mangled Metal rules so that game ends either by caster kill, or killing everything else but the caster. In the first picture Protectorate has ended a turn. Let's call it turn 1, as I don't remember who actually started.
Paladin Hero in in Stone and Mortar stance and has Defender's Ward also cast on him. Kreoss had cast Lamentation on turn 1 and upkept it throughout the whole game.
To open the game somehow Winter Argus advanced and attempted to Critical Freeze the Paladin - and succeeded doing that!
I think it was Scarsfell Griffon, who charged one of the Bastions dead after Blackclad Wayfarer had cast Hunter's Mark on it.
Kaya cast Spirit Door to get the Griffon back, and since freezer operation had succeeded, she didn't cast another one.
I don't have a picture from the end of Protectorate's turn, but mostly it was just Revenger charging Winter Argus and not killing it. Dervish ran to engage.
Turn 3 starts with a great botch on my part. By now I should remember such trivialities as Repulsor Shield. Oh well. Anyway, Gorax cast Primal on Scarsfell Griffon, who charged Revenger next. Damage was okay, but I got to make only one attack. Fun fact: griffon could have charged a bit farther, and blocking the push with Winter Argus.
Winter Argus then blocks push with Griffon and tries to bite and chew the light warjack, not doing much. Kaya decided to pull Winter Argus back and leave the bird to die. Thanks to useless Primal the Griffon would just frenzy next turn.
Blackclad Wayfarer probably had already tried to Critical Knockdown the Revenger, but it's not possible to score two critical hits in one game. True story.
Argus paralysed a Bastion. Whee. I guess the Bastion was paralysed because it saw someone actually fielding arguses.
Next turn Kreoss used his feat. At least I think so, though judging from the pictures it's possible it was saved for later. Scarsfell Griffon dropped dead instantly, and Blackclad Wayfarer died, too. Revenger charged Gorax, but somehow managed to fail the kill.
Turn 4 spelled doom for Revenger. Gorax almost tore it to pieces even without animus. But not quite, and that's where Winter Argus had to come and align its sprays against Kreoss, slightly clipping Revenger but not hitting Gorax.
Regular Argus paralysed three Bastions. The sight of Argus and Winter Argus in the same battle was too much to bear.
But say what you may. Both arguses were the last warbeasts I got alive. Take that, mainstay Gorax and situational Scarsfell Griffon!
Gorax fell to Bastions. Feralgeist had offered some utility during this game, but it's performance was far from exceptional.
Turn 5 Winter Argus and Kaya try to maul Dervish dead, but sad as it is... they fail. Kaya uses her feat and spends all Fury from her second pool to teleport to safety. I was pondering if I should try to assassinate here by moving Winter Argus forward and Critical Freezing Kreoss with first spray and boosting damage, and boosting damage for the second spray - and then casting one damage boosted Spirit Fang. It was a lot to expect from three boosted POW 12's. But in the end I didn't even try, because it looked so difficult to get Winter Argus within spraying distance. Damn that Reach.
Circle lost only regular Argus and the Feralgeist next turn. Oh my! Did I actually get one more chance of attempting some outrageous assassination?
Not really.
Turn 6 Winter Argus was nearly dead, and engaged by Paladin, and any path to Kreoss was blocked by medium bases. So I opted to inflict as much casualties as possible as a gesture of futile defiance.
Kaya and Winter Argus did manage to wreck Dervish and kill the Paladin hero.
After Bastions fail to kill Winter Argus, Kreoss personally ends the game by killing the pup.
It was a fairly long game for a 15 pointer, and I guess I have now learned my lesson that you never ever run Circle with just light warbeasts and nothing else.
My hero got second Arm Fracture injury, meaning that he is only marginally stronger fighter than Swamp Gobbers now.
But experience was enough to get Potent's Mark upgrade. Crown of the Wild + Potent's Mark seems to be a rather disgusting combo, to be honest.
My list was:
Kaya the Wildborne
- Argus
- Winter Argus
- Scarsfell Griffon
- Gorax
Blackclad Wayfarer Hero (Electrical Augmentation, Crown of the Wild, Wilting Totem)
Feralgeist
Opponent played:
High Exemplar Kreoss
- Dervish
- Revenger
Maximum unit of Exemplar Bastions
Paladin Hero
We didn't play any scenarios, but used Mangled Metal rules so that game ends either by caster kill, or killing everything else but the caster. In the first picture Protectorate has ended a turn. Let's call it turn 1, as I don't remember who actually started.
Paladin Hero in in Stone and Mortar stance and has Defender's Ward also cast on him. Kreoss had cast Lamentation on turn 1 and upkept it throughout the whole game.
To open the game somehow Winter Argus advanced and attempted to Critical Freeze the Paladin - and succeeded doing that!
I think it was Scarsfell Griffon, who charged one of the Bastions dead after Blackclad Wayfarer had cast Hunter's Mark on it.
Kaya cast Spirit Door to get the Griffon back, and since freezer operation had succeeded, she didn't cast another one.
I don't have a picture from the end of Protectorate's turn, but mostly it was just Revenger charging Winter Argus and not killing it. Dervish ran to engage.
Turn 3 starts with a great botch on my part. By now I should remember such trivialities as Repulsor Shield. Oh well. Anyway, Gorax cast Primal on Scarsfell Griffon, who charged Revenger next. Damage was okay, but I got to make only one attack. Fun fact: griffon could have charged a bit farther, and blocking the push with Winter Argus.
Winter Argus then blocks push with Griffon and tries to bite and chew the light warjack, not doing much. Kaya decided to pull Winter Argus back and leave the bird to die. Thanks to useless Primal the Griffon would just frenzy next turn.
Blackclad Wayfarer probably had already tried to Critical Knockdown the Revenger, but it's not possible to score two critical hits in one game. True story.
Argus paralysed a Bastion. Whee. I guess the Bastion was paralysed because it saw someone actually fielding arguses.
Next turn Kreoss used his feat. At least I think so, though judging from the pictures it's possible it was saved for later. Scarsfell Griffon dropped dead instantly, and Blackclad Wayfarer died, too. Revenger charged Gorax, but somehow managed to fail the kill.
Turn 4 spelled doom for Revenger. Gorax almost tore it to pieces even without animus. But not quite, and that's where Winter Argus had to come and align its sprays against Kreoss, slightly clipping Revenger but not hitting Gorax.
Regular Argus paralysed three Bastions. The sight of Argus and Winter Argus in the same battle was too much to bear.
But say what you may. Both arguses were the last warbeasts I got alive. Take that, mainstay Gorax and situational Scarsfell Griffon!
Gorax fell to Bastions. Feralgeist had offered some utility during this game, but it's performance was far from exceptional.
Turn 5 Winter Argus and Kaya try to maul Dervish dead, but sad as it is... they fail. Kaya uses her feat and spends all Fury from her second pool to teleport to safety. I was pondering if I should try to assassinate here by moving Winter Argus forward and Critical Freezing Kreoss with first spray and boosting damage, and boosting damage for the second spray - and then casting one damage boosted Spirit Fang. It was a lot to expect from three boosted POW 12's. But in the end I didn't even try, because it looked so difficult to get Winter Argus within spraying distance. Damn that Reach.
Circle lost only regular Argus and the Feralgeist next turn. Oh my! Did I actually get one more chance of attempting some outrageous assassination?
Not really.
Turn 6 Winter Argus was nearly dead, and engaged by Paladin, and any path to Kreoss was blocked by medium bases. So I opted to inflict as much casualties as possible as a gesture of futile defiance.
Kaya and Winter Argus did manage to wreck Dervish and kill the Paladin hero.
After Bastions fail to kill Winter Argus, Kreoss personally ends the game by killing the pup.
It was a fairly long game for a 15 pointer, and I guess I have now learned my lesson that you never ever run Circle with just light warbeasts and nothing else.
My hero got second Arm Fracture injury, meaning that he is only marginally stronger fighter than Swamp Gobbers now.
But experience was enough to get Potent's Mark upgrade. Crown of the Wild + Potent's Mark seems to be a rather disgusting combo, to be honest.
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