22.9.2010 - Jyväskylä Fantasiapelit - Down with Hexeris!

Sad thing, really. I forgot to take my camera with me and I played a memorable game of Warmachine.

I played Skorne and my 25 point list was:

Hexeris
- Basilisk Drake
- Basilisk Krea
- Bronzeback Titan

Minimum unit of Cataphract Cetrati
Minimum Beast Handlers

Bloodrunner Master Tormentor
Swamp Gobbers

Opponent had (you may remember this list from earlier reports):

Kreoss
- Repenter
- Revenger
- Crusader
- Dervish

Minimum unit of Exemplar Errants

Vassal of Menoth
Paladin
Wracks

I won starting roll. I chose the less crowded board edge because I was thinking that neither Skorne nor Protectorate had much pathfinder available, so Protectorate would have to either slog around or divide forces.

Well, the front lines within first few rounds emerged as paladin & errants versus bloodrunner master tormentor and bronzeback titan that had Soul Slave on.

Bad positioning of errants combined with master tormentor and even Hexeris' feat resulted in annihilation of errants and paladin. One of the errants actually turned to my model through my feat and killed the paladin.

Bloodrunner was killed in the action too.

Then it was almost the Kreoss' warjack brick versus my beasts and cetrati.

Game went on and on because both of us could take a severe beating. If I had been wondering if the Cetrati were worth their huge point cost I didn't any longer. Their staying power is awesome.

Anyway, situation was the Cetrati versus Revenger and Repenter. Dervish and Crusader were a bit farther away, as were my beasts.

Kreoss' feat did suprisingly little - I lost only one cetrati and basilisk drake directly because of it. Oh, and the swamp gobbers.

Cetrati were beating Revenger and to be honest - they did some damage. Only to totally wrong columns. I think both column 3 & 4 were gone and some bits and bobs of damage were spread elsewhere too.

But I guess my mistake that cost me the game was counter charging my Bronzeback to crusader. I guess it was a valuable lesson to learn - no matter how huge the actual model is it just can't survive THAT much. Crusader and Dervish demolished my poor little elephanty beast.

I was left with only basilisk Krea, a few Cetrati, beast handlers and Hexeris himself.

Opponent had Kreoss and all the jacks still going strong.

I decided it was my time to go berserk and charged Crusader with enraged Krea and Hexeris, even if Dervish was just next to me.

Well, things got interesting.

Dervish didn't manage to kill Hexeris, though it did over ten points of damage. By this time the opponent had managed to mop up all the Cetrati.

Next turn enraged Krea charged Dervish and Hexeris beat the warjack as much as he could. Both arms were gone. Hexeris was sitting at one hit point.

Dervish moved away and died to a free strike.

Revenger charged in but did only one good hit whichs damage was transfered away.

Next turn, Krea and Hexeris beat Revenger to ground. Hexeris still standing at one hit point.

Then came in Repenter and sprayed so that the flame jet hit both Hexeris and Krea.

Krea was left with one point in the Body branch and Hexeris survived.

My next turn came the roll for fire. Both fires continued. Basilisk Krea died to flames but Hexeris, who would have died to a roll of 5+ on two dice, survived.

Remaining few beast handlers charged Kreoss and one even Repenter itself. They did nothing.

Hexeris in flames and in one hit point and with only two fury charged Repenter.

Well, the when you picture that ending in mind it's rather... should I say, epic? Could have been more epic if Hexeris had hit his charge attack.

Then Repenter killed Hexeris. Woe.

Awesome and thrilling game and I learned a bit that maybe - just maybe you don't need to use a model's special ability such as Counter Charge only because situation allows it.

18.9.2010 - Hankasalmi - Warmachine at my place

I happened that we arranged rather ex tempore a warmachine game at my apartment today.

We played a 35 point game, my list was:

Epic Krueger
- Megalith
- Feral Warpwolf

Druids of Orboros
Bloodweavers

Lord of the Feast
Wilder
Blackclad Wayfarer

Opponent's list was:

Strakhov
- Behemoth

Minimum unit of Ironfang Pikemen + Unit Attachment
Greylord Ternion
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Widowmakers

Drakhun with dismount
War Dog
Gorman diWulfe

I had camera with me so I got to take plenty of pictures again.

I got to start the game. I guess I can drop the first picture from the end of round 1 here because it tells the situation much better.

So what had happened there was that I ran forward with almost everything. Lord of the Feast had stealth so I wasn't too worried about it. In case you're wondering what Bradigus Thorle does there, well, he's the Wilder in this game because I don't have the official model painted yet.

I had moved Blackclad Wayfarer a bit too forward and Widowmakers killed it.

Next turn I moved forward again with everything. Lord of the Feast moved towards Ironfang Pikemen and threw his raven at them. That resulted in five deaths, one of which were the officer. Megalith moved as close to pikemen as it could and killed one more with Gallows.

Situation was a bit difficult because of that impassable stone formation that was nearby. I couldn't drag Behemoth to me because of it and on top of that Behemoth had Superiority and one ice cloud on so it was sitting nicely at defense 14 against shooting. I decided to use my feat and do whatever else I could. I put on Storm Wall and shot Drakhun as much as I could. If I remember right I did six damage. As Ironfang Pikemen didn't seem to be much of a threat any longer I ran my Bloodweavers to other front.

Opponent backed off. Behemoth shot my Warpwolf that took unnecessarily much damage. Remaining pikemen killed Lord of the Feast and the end of round 2 looked like this:

During my third turn I was still far away from the opponent and couldn't strike decisively. At this point I realised that my Wilder served no purpose in this list - I hadn't taken enough warbeasts to make use of Wilder's abilities!

So I charged the remaining iron fang pikemen. Wilder actually hit and killed the standard bearer.

Megalith moved forward and tried to pull the Drakhun closer and managed to do exactly that - Drakhun was pulled five inches.


Then druids medicated Warpwolf (and on it's activation Warpwolf regenerated) and pulled Drakhun even closer. Some of them even did some damage.

Then Krueger himself shot Drakhun's mount to pieces, teleported two inches away and put up Storm Wall again.

Dismounted Drakhun was destroyed by Bloodweavers.

But then was Strakhov's time to use his feat. First he moved Behemoth up and was pondering if he should attack Megalith or epic Krueger. Now when I'm writing this I don't remember if we measured if Behemoth was actually in range because of Storm Wall.

Anyway, he decided to bring the hurt to Krueger who had no fury left for transfers.

He needed thirteen on three dice to hit Krueger. And, he did.

Luckily boosted damage roll was sub-par and gave only seven points of damage.

Second attack missed.

Thinking now, it might have been better to shoot Megalith instead, but there was a possibility for Krueger to bite the dust. Didn't work out, though.

Then came in Strakhov and feated. Then Great Bears of Gallowswood were flinged from the other side of the board to my Megalith.

Spirit broke down and mind was left with one damage point even if the damage rolls weren't impressive. Round 3 picture is here and if you're wondering about that cloud template over one of the greylords, there's Gorman diWulfe hiding beneath.

The last iron fang pikeman killed my wilder, by the way.

My fourth turn started with Megalith getting rid of Great Bears of Gallowswood. Luckily they didn't make too many tough rolls!

After that my bloodweavers charged Behemoth and one greylord member. One bloodweaver ran to engage Widowmakers.

The point was to dispel Behemoth's Superiority and they succeeded.

Then the path was clear for Warpwolf to do what Warpwolf does best. It walked next to Behemoth and started beating. Damage rolls were pretty amazing. Behemoth lost everything except one hand.

So opponent had lost his hardest hitter and it was looking pretty distressing for him. However, Behemoth had only defense 11 against shooting and my Warpwolf had warped strenght for it so it was pretty vulnerable to Gorman walking in and throwing Black Oil on Behemoth. Naturally both of my Bloodweavers and Warpwolf were affected too.

Remaining greylords sprayed Warpwolf and did some damage. Strakhov walked in then and sealed the deal and killed Warpwolf with two focus used. Picture from end of round 4:

Strakhov had armor 20 and defense 17 in melee because of War Dog.

I did, however, have one fully functional warbeast within walking distance to Strakhov, one that has awesome penalties reserved for defense value.

Also, in case you didn't notice here's a little detail of one brave fella that tried it's best no matter the odds...

Then my fifth turn started.

And you might say that I... MAYBE I overreacted a bit to that lone pikeman. Anyway, I got nothing better to do with my druids and I had received seven damage from Behemoth's bombardments and had to cut for three more. Also Megalith was damaged already so I couldn't risk a free strike. Anyway, the situation:



Remaining Bloodweavers killed Strakhov's War Dog. Add an insult to injury?

So, after I had dealt with that pikeman threat of sorts I moved Krueger as far as I could. Then I used Telekinesis to bring him even a little bit forward. After that I used Megalith's animus to lower Strakhov's defense and shot him a few times with Krueger's spear.

Then Megalith moved up and smacked Strakhov down. End of story. The last moments were made immortal with camera:

14.9.2010 Fantasiapelit Jyväskylä - Warmachine

Today was that promised Tuesday when I played Warmachine with real models.

I took pictures more than ever to illustrate better what happened.

It was a 25 point game against Protectorate of Menoth. I was playing Cryx.

My list was:

Venethrax
- Defiler
- Seether
- Cankerworm

Full unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Warwitch Siren

Opponent was playing:

Kreoss
- Dervish
- Crusader
- Revenger
- Repenter

Minimum unit of Exemplar Errants
Vassal of Menoth
Paladin of the Order of Wall
Wracks

Opponent won starting roll and chose table edges. We both had quite a bit Advance Deployment this time. I need not write that much now, let the picture speak for itself!

Second turn started by Errants shooting at Satyxis. There were few good rolls so two Satyxis actually died which was more than I was thinking, heh. Kreoss had put on Lamentation and Defenders Ward on Exemplar Errants.

On my turn Siren first moved and gave a focus point to Defiler. Defiler then ran to position to kill a Paladin that was moved to position my plans didn't like. Or, for Venethrax to kill the paladin, actually.

Venethrax sent Hellfire through Defiler's arc node to paladin and got it killed. Then he put on his feat.

Satyxis charged different targets, mostly Exemplar Errants but also the light warjacks that were on the other side of the board. End of turn 2 looked like this:

Then Dervish charged my Cankerworm. Opponent took risks and decided to roll attacks separately and didn't boost even charge attack. And the risk paid off. Cortex went down which was pretty impressive as it's the most difficult system to break from Cankerworm.

Opponent's other army was clogged down by my Satyxis, though two of them got killed. But that price could be paid.

On my turn I tried to attack Dervish with Cankerworm. I managed to hit with Armor Piercing attack and did some decent damage but that was everything I could do with it.

Then I tried to walk Seether into melee with Vassal and one Exemplar Errant. Six and half inches weren't just enough so I got only one errant dead. I knew Seether would get pretty mauled but I couldn't get any real threats under it and I was all the time fearing Kreoss' feat.

Next I charged Venethrax to Dervish.

To be honest I expected a damaged light warjack to be wrecked by a warcaster with six focus to spend.

However, there were two rolls that went something along lines: to hit: 6, 6. To damage: 1, 1.

Not all the while, though. Venethrax managed to miss attacks too even with his melee attack score of 8. So in the end, Dervish survived, but luckily without cortex and only one functioning weapon. Venethrax didn't have any focus.

Satyxis did what they could which wasn't much. They had lost their momentum once they were in melee too and without their Power Swell.

End of round 3:

After that Crusader beat Seether to the ground and Satyxis continued to get themselves killed.

Satyxis continued to plink Revenger for little damage. At this time Kreoss had taken five points of damage through Feedback. I don't remember who killed Dervish, was it Venethrax or Cankerworm, but anyway I decided to stay where I were with Venethrax.

I moved Warwitch Siren to hill and tried to get a spray off on Kreoss but he didn't quite get under and I managed to kill only one errant.

End of round 4:

Then it was time for Kreoss to use his feat. It resulted in absolute annihilation of my remaining forces. Only arc node and Venethrax were standing after.

However, those two models were the key models needed for victory. And here's one last picture to illustrate a funny situation:

Indeed, Kreoss was positioned rather... badly.

On my turn I stood up with my Defiler and moved it to position.

Venethrax stood up too and walked away from Kreoss' Lamentation. I shot one Hellfire at Kreoss (who had ten damage boxes remaining) and boosted the attack roll.

Another Hellfire was shot but I placed it on defense 5, armor 10 Wrack that was behind Kreoss. It was easier hit without boost and gave the same damage as Hellfire would have. Of course it could have been foiled by bad rolls but no, Wrack exploded and took Kreoss with it.

Irony?

Vows are spoken to be broken?

Well, in the future you can trust not to trust my holy promises. Another Vassal game in again, but I have a good reason. Next Tuesday (that's tomorrow?) I will get a "real" game played with real models.

Same opponent as last time, 35 point game. Lists involved were:

Circle Orboros (me):

Morvahna
- Argus
- Gorax
- Feral Warpwolf

Full unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Bloodweavers
Shifting Stones

Blackclad Wayfarer
Lord of the Feast
Tharn Ravager White Mane

Protectorate of Menoth:

Epic Severius
- Redeemer
- Revenger
- Reckoner

Maximum unit of Choir of Menoth.
Daughters of Flame
Maximum unit of Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment

Wracks
Rhupert Carvolo
Vassal of Menoth

So, game started.

First turn was rather boring, I cast Restoration on warpwolf and put on Harvest. Opponent put Holy Ward on Daughters of Flame and Rhupert played +1 defense and terror on Daughters. Then he tried all kinds of stuff, like shooting with Redeemer but shots deviated and tried to Hex Blast my warpwolf but managed to miss even with Severius' focus 8.

Second turn, however, was interesting to the extreme.

I was thinking that I'd launch my Bloodweavers to Daughters and dispel Holy Ward. I didn't remember that Rhupert had buffed them and was thinking that with two attacks I had a chance of getting even one hit.

But Terror from Rhupert called for a command check. I would have hit the Daughters had that command check been my attack roll... Anyway, Bloodweavers got scared.

Thus I didn't really want to risk all my other melee potential against defense 18 models. I really was thinking of killing nearly whole unit with White Mane and Lord of the Feast.

Well, situation called different approach, then. I teleported Lord of the Feast with Shifting Stones so that I could shoot my raven at Redeemer. I hit and placed Lord so that I snatched one choir boy to my melee range as well. I didn't do much but at least engaged Redeemer.

Then I ran White Mane close to Revenger. Put on Gorax's animus on Warpwolf and Warpwolf charged Revenger so that White Mane blocked the push effect of Revenger's shield. Warpwolf totally decimated Revenger, my damage rolls were quite excessive too. Well that meant sacrificing 12 points worth of models to a 6 point arc node.

Warpwolf was behind the wreck of the Revenger it had destroyed so was in cover against Severius' second Hex Blast. Missed. I rejoiced.

Choir of Menoth sang protectorate warjacks to hit and damage better.

I didn't rejoice that much when Reckoner assaulted Warpwolf. It managed to Flare my wolf but luckily didn't destroy it outright. Restoration that had managed to stick on my wolf despite two attempts at Hex Blast seemed to save it's life. Not that it mattered anything because of Goraxs' animus made Warpwolf to frenzy automatically.

Then Redeemer beat Lord of the Feast to ground.

Daughters of the Flame attacked then but didn't do actually anything. They attacked my Bloodweavers but every single roll missed them. One daughter hit twice White Mane but gave damage only in form of anatomical precision.

Rhupert gave daughters terror again and temple flameguard, hiding behind a forest, did nothing.

After this things looked rather good for me, in a way. At least the potential I saw in situation was nice.

Warpwolf frenzied and put 11 damage to Reckoner, which was about the only thing that succeeded on my turn.

Bloodweavers managed to regroup, which was nice. Then I brought Morvahna up and used my feat. Daughters were nicely close packed and temple flameguard were withing walking distance.

Well, I got only four Wolves of Orboros to combine a melee attack against centermost daughter so I needed 8 to hit. I rolled 3.

Then I got four Wolves at different positions in tightly packed flameguard. One hit.

Everything else I did that turn also missed and I found that I had done an illegal move (sprayed daughters with my Blackclad Wayfarer but they had Holy Ward on so I shouldn't have been able to target one with a spell) - luckily it resulted in nothing.

Next turn opponent smashed both White Mane and Warpwolf and punished a bit wolves.

Daughters of Flame killed two bloodweavers and put some hurt to my argus.

Then began the first turn that gave any real casualties to either of us.

First, remaining bloodweavers tried to charge Daughters of Flame to get that nasty upkeep off but, you guessed it, they failed their command check again and got scared.

Then I launched both of my remaining beasts against daughters and argus managed to eat one of them despite their defense 18 and Gorax just went wild and killed two. Morvahna advanced boldly and throwed an Eruption of Life to Redeemer, giving enough damage to cripple it's melee weapon.

Then my wolves sneaked very sneakishly. They gave one huge combined melee attack to daughters, killing one of them. Still there were two remaining... two wolves advanced to engage Redeemer and three engaged temple flameguard. One, however, moved behind flameguard and punched a hole in the only remaining wrack.

Wrack was destroyed and thus it exploded and nailed three flameguard in the process.

Situation startet to look good when opponent failed to kill two engaging Wolves with the Redeemer. It meant that it couldn't throw an ancillary attack to my huge pack of wolves that were combined melee attacking the daughters.

But then Reckoner slowly advanced into melee with my Argus. Choir had sung to hit better so the little doggie bit the dust. That one really hurt.

Little things happened here and there, most of them failed, but then Severius moved up a bit and used his feat. That killed few Wolves.

It was my turn then again. Regrowthed Wolves were again at full strenght and I popped few of them behind shield walled flameguard. But all they ever did was killing two flameguards and engaged redeemer again. Even two dice +12 combined melee attack wasn't enough to bring one daughter down and Gorax did no better. All in all I killed two flameguards and one choir acolyte in my whole turn and did six damage to Reckoner by a courageous charge with Morvahna. (Well maybe it wasn't so courageous as I could teleport her away to safety...)

Then came a decisive turn. I lost my last warbeast and opponent got rid of my Regrowth with Hex Blast.

I was left with six Wolves of Orboros, a lone bloodweaver, shifting stones and Morvahna who had already had to cut herself a bit.

Opponent had Reckoner, Redeemer, Vassal, Rhupert, Choir, four Flameguards and two Daughters. Severius had taken two points of damage.

It was all-out then. I teleported shifting stones out of the way and charged Morvahna to Reckoner.

I was close enough to fling Eruption of Life's to Severius and it was my only chance, really. At first we played wrong and I won the game. Then I happened to look the Reckoner's Ashen Veil rule which gave Morvahna minus to attack rolls and I hat hit Severius at exactly 7's.

So, my desperate victory was turned into bitter defeat. Old man Severius came and beat up Morvahna personally in melee.

Old foes meet again

Played a game of Warmachine on Vassal. I also made a promise that next few games must be played with real miniatures instead of pixels.

It was a 35 point game versus Protectorate of Menoth, against a friend with whom we have always played close games.

My list was:

Warwitch Deneghra
-Nightwretch
-Nightwretch
-Corruptor
-Slayer

Full unit of Mechanithralls
Withershadow Combine

Bane Lord Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
Skarlock Thrall


Opponent was playing:

Amon
-Dervish
-Dervish
-Devout
-Repenter
-Scourge of Heresy

Full Temple Flameguard + Unit Attachment
Full Choir of Menoth

Reclaimer
Paladin Dartan Vilmon


I won starting roll and rushed everything forward. Seeing as the opponent didn't have any real ranged threat I thought why not. There was a small forest at the center and I piled my forces around in there.

Opponent did the same, though he wasn't too aware that Deneghra has a nasty spray spell. He lined up Temple Flameguard rather... awkwardly.

However, came my turn. I messed up absolutely EVERYTHING I could. I ran one of my arc nodes to other side of Flameguard and was thinking of making one arc node from the Flameguard itself by Corruptor.

Nice plan and all, but Corruptor was in that forest and couldn't get LOS to Flameguard. I could have easily gotten it if I had cast Ghost Walk on Corruptor with my Skarlock, but I cast Crippling Grasp on Temple Flameguard instead.

Well, I moved Deneghra as far as I could to get that other arc node to my control range. Failed again. Then I spammed Influence on Flameguard because that was all I could do with all my focus. I managed to kill two Flameguards.

Opponent then punished me quite a bit. Two Dervishes combined with Mobility and Amon's feat and upkept Synergy walzed to my Slayer, destroyed it and the last bugger even managed to kill Tartarus by side-stepping next to it.

Flameguards did nothing impressive but were still quite far in my lines engaging stuff.

Both of my heavy hitters were gone (well, you can call Mechanithralls heavy hitters too but they were engaged) and opponent was still sporting five warjacks, one of which was a heavy warjack.

It was time for either Amon to die or get myself roundhouse-kicked away from the virtual playing board.

Luckily a scheme emerged. I had a free arcnode that was out of Deneghra's control range. But my Warwitch Siren still lived so she went and gave the bonejack a focus point, which it spent to ran next to Amon.

Then Withershadow Combine put Puppet Master on Deneghra and Skarlock spelled her with Ghost Walk.

Deneghra advanced into that much maligned forest that earlier had caused my first EVER usable situation to use Psycho Venom to fail.

I feated and all except Vilmon was beneath. Most importantly Amon was under.

I had full seven focus to use and Puppet Master re-rolls to be used as required. I decided to take a risk first and not boost the attack roll. I managed to hit and boosted damage. Damage roll was high, gave 11 points in to Amon.

Next I thought I'd use one Venom, this time with full boosts. I hit again and boosted damage, this time giving in just enough damage points to leave Amon sitting at one health and corrosion. Even though it would have been beyond cool to leave the opposing warcaster to melt into nothingess I decided to use Puppet Master rerolls here. I rolled all the bad dice again but I rolled still bad. However, just enough to kill Amon right there on the spot.

7.9.2010 Jyväskylä - Friend's place

Played a game of Smallworld, this time with all available expansions.

Tales and Legends had little impact on this game, however, First two cards that were drawn were one that denied going In Decline (not many are going In Decline on second round of the game...) and the second card that came into effect on turn three gave some give & take bonuses from In Decline races. Also one card made spaces with Lost Tribes more valuable to conquer but at time there were no longer Lost Tribes around...

Anyway, I won the starting roll and bought an amazing race combo. Hordes of Amazons. That meant 13 amazon race tokens with additional 4 tokens on conquests.

Other race combos that entered play were Heroic Goblins (hey, how's that possible?) and Seafaring Ghouls (Well... maybe they didn't sail on ships, they rather walked on the bottom of the ocean?)

Three player map made those two hero tokens quite important. Against only one player (for example if the other one is far away) they can make nasty blockades.

Hordes of Amazons went into decline on turn three and it got me thinking that amazons are an annoying race. They can spread over almost the whole map and go in decline quite easily with the situation that you have one token per region. It's difficult for opponents to conquer those regions and they're giving the controlling player nice amounts of victory coins, often more than what your active race brings! Anyway, I had placed my "Hordes of" tokens and lost two regions because of it when I went to decline.

I chose Merchant Ratmen as my new race and it proved to be a killer combo too. Merchant power gives only two race tokens but Ratmen got dozens of them already. These two races scored me staggering amounts of victory coins... but there was a price to pay on turn to come.

Somewhere here Ghouls went into decline too and were replaced with Hill Orcs.

Goblins were ditched too (I think it was Summer of Love when they did so) and Swamp Kobolds were raising their ugly head.

Well, about that time there was this Tales and Legends card "Bling bling" that forced players to count their points and reveal them to other players. Well, I had the most points at that time because my merchandise (I just wonder what the heck ratmen are selling that the other races so enjoyed? Well, on the other hand... other races were Ghouls and Goblins) had gathered me quite a many points.

Next turn all but one ratmen... or ratman, should I say? were wiped off.

So I went in decline with that lone token and got Berserk Halflings to wander about. I scored one point that turn.

Hill orcs and Swamp kobolds started to score over ten points per turn then.

Halflings were a funny story, though. They managed to do only two succesful Berserk rolls in the whole game if I remember right. First one they made when they entered the playing field - imagine a whole nation of bloodthirsty, red-eyed Halfings bursting from the ground. Then they played a couple of turns not succeeding at any rolls. Last region they conquered in the whole game was a Hills region that was empty. Other player pointed out that there were sheep pictured in the space.

My poor Berserk Halflings were brave enough, barring the outburst, only to mess up with sheep.

Swamp Kobolds and Hill Orcs scored steadily but I think they didn't embrace going into decline enough. Well, Hill Orcs had ghouls in decline that had managed to capture all water regions so it's understandable that the player didn't want to lose them. (The ghouls were funny, though. They had four tokens and three spaces - they tried to conquer one occupied region every turn, but mostly failed. Funny imagining that too - zombies rise out of the water, only to be kicked back.)

Anyway, final score board was:

Hordes of Amazons/Merchant Ratmen/Berserk Halflings: 99
Seafaring Ghouls/Hill Orcs: 86 or 88
Heroic Goblins/Swamp Kobolds: 83 or 84

Warmachine on the internet (again)

I decided to play a game of Warmachine on Vassal again since it's been too long since I played a real game.

(Oh, and a mental note to me - never again paint six models simultaneously! Seems I'm bound to lose interest in such a task...)

Anyway I was playing Circle Orboros again and Mohsar was my warlock. I would have wanted to play some other for a change but we both didn't have too much time on our hands. Other warlocks I have got things on them that make the games last a little longer.

My list was (we were playing a 25 point game):

Mohsar
- Gnarlhorn Satyr
- Gorax
- Woldwyrd

Full unit of Wolves of Orboros + Unit Attachment
Shifting Stones
Tharn Ravager White Mane

My opponent's list was something like:

Skarre
- Reaper
- Cankerworm

Full unit of Bane Knights
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls

Bane Lord Tartarus
Skarlock
3x Scrap Thralls

The game was rather short.

My opponent started game and rushed forwards with everything. Even Skarre ran.

My response was cautious advance. I cast Mirage on Wolves of Orboros and put up three salt pillars (to achieve this I maltreated Gorax). I tried to position my models and pillars so that if my opponent wanted to get a charge in he would have to destroy my pillars first, getting only few charges off. And if he actually went to destroy pillars in melee he would be left with badly positioned models.

Well, on his turn he moved Skarre a little closer and tried to throw two Blood Rains on my wolves. He was a bit out of range so they deviated automatically. Luckily deviations were to my favour. Only two or three inches straight forward would have destroyed a whole bunch of my Wolves.

It was not to be, however. Opponents biggest mistake, I think, was not using Skarre's feat defensively. Of course that's sub-par use of her feat but it just might have saved her life.

He did rush models to block the Wolves' charge but Woldwyrd and one Crevasse from the blind man itself cleared the charge line.

I got four Wolves to attack Skarre, rest engaged Tartarus. I managed to pass the command check that was caused by Tartarus.

I decided to take a bit of a risk and roll all four rolls separately, meaning I needed 8's to hit. I scored two hits and rolled way above average with first damage roll and still above average with the second. Skarre ended there.

Skarre was badly positioned, but had Wolves suffered casualties from blood rain spam who knows what would have happened?

Soloing Evil

I decided to play a solo game of Touch of Evil because it seems that I won't get to play this game for a little while. But I'm trying to do a good narrative for this one. Pardon me but English isn't my native language so mistakes are bound to happen.

I tried to give hints within story text what were the exact mechanics that happened. "Possessed by Madness" and of course "Murder" and "Evil is on the move" are expressions that I put into text just to make it clearer what happened in game terms.

I decided to use three heroes and a certain villain I have wanted to play since it was published...

Randomised heroes were: Captain Hawkins, Inspector Cooke and The Scarlet Shadow.

So let's start:

Captain Hawkins' journal:
12.12.1797

Curse this town! This snowfall caught our militia regiment by suprise and now it seems we can't get absolutely anywhere until there's at least some visibility on the roads. Luckily Lord and Lady Hanbrook have been kind enough to have arranged lodgins for my men.

There are other things, too, it seems. Something is not quite right... there is a certain tension in town. I don't like being here.

I was amazed to find, however, that my dear friend inspector Cooke is in Shadowbrook too. We saw each other but didn't have time for too many words, but I gathered as much that he had followed some kind of a lead here. If these weathers continue maybe he will entertain me with stories of his.


Captain Hawkins' journal:
13.12.

Today I met inspector Cooke again. I heard that he was going to visit the magistrate and asked him if he could ask questions there for me too. He made me promise that I keep my eyes open in town and try to hear what people are talking. I wonder what's the matter.

Regardless, I visited the Hanbrooks' manor today and met a charming young lady. She was no other than the daughter of Lady and Lord Hanbrook. I really enjoy her company and she asked me if I could accompany her to town because of the bad weather.

I would've been a fool not to agree!


Nameless journal:
13.12.

I knew I shouldn't have stayed at the inn near Echo Lake. They're on to get me, I've heard of captain Hawkins.

Anyway, what happened was beyond me. I know not what happened. But when I had rented a room I was attacked. Window came crashing down and I fell down. I thought it was an ambush from the law enforcement, so I'd be running into a trap if I take my flight from the door. I jumped from the now broken window.

Nearby I saw a wooden cannon. Very fine and very beautiful, but definitely wooden. But I was on the third floor and fell wrong. I had to retreat at once to my secret hiding place.


Cooke's Inspections:
14.12.

It looks like the Hanbrook family is somehow connected to all this. I'm having a really bad hunch, I really am...

I visited the windmill and found the diary of Lucy Hanbrook. That girl knows something, something that she is too scared of to put even on paper.

I for one don't want to fall to foreigner hate, but Lucy has taken same notices as I have done. In town there has been some toymakers that make fabulous toys beyond imagining, as is appropriate for Christmas season. But something looks odd, I must say.

Miller here told that he had seen a caravan of sorts on the fields nearby. Seems they are stuck in the snow, or why haven't they arrived in town yet?

I must have a talk with Hanbrooks, especially Lucy. And the toymakers.


Captain Hawkins' journal:
14.12.

We left the manor early today, and Lucy told me things that I couldn't believe, or I didn't want even to try to realise what she was trying to say.

She's certain that there is some great evil in all the toymakers about the town. And that there is someone, in a way, controlling them. And that there is something wrong in the toys they make.

I thought it was all foolish. Then we talked a lot about her mother, and I found out things I didn't really want to. She's a good person for certain, but unable to listen her daughter and drinks strong spirits in secret. Call it intuitive hunch if you wish.

But that is all not of any concern. When we arrived in town there was gunfire about the church. Road bank close to us exploded into cloud of snow. I thought it was a musket, firing at us on nearby thicket of woods. I figured it would take time to load the gun so I ran there. But then came another shot that send me off balance. I fell to ground and strained myself badly. I tried to crawl to safety, but still closer to the enemy.

There in the woods was a small, wooden cannon. No-one was operating it and there were no marks on the snow around the toy cannon either. I didn't feel threatened any longer, as if the cannon didn't work if it was on sight.

Lucy came to me and said: "Do you believe me now?"

And I did.


Captain Hawkins' journal:
15.12.

Inspector Cooke has sent me a letter filled with grief. He said he had decided to go to nearby fields to check the situation there, and I almost can't believe what he found there. A full blown festival! There was a mysterious caravan and common townsfolk were there, looking at grandiose shows. Also, toys were being sold and it seems that they're even being gifted for free. Cooke himself acquired a set of scientific tools.

Truly evil is on the move! There is almost no place in this town where you can't find those wretched toys! And yet I cannot forget what I saw in the woods. I just can't go and say that people, do not take the toys, they're evil. You know what they will think of me then.

But I did what I could, I went and showed my leg to the doctor. He patched me up and I should be well by tomorrow. I also dispatched a detachment of my militia to guard town hall, just in case.

I also heard disturbing news that something has been occasionally shooting the monastery with heavy ammunition. I'm afraid what they will find when they will look into it...

Also, I saw a certain person who was wearing almost nothing but red going to stables. During my years in military I can say that this person needs to be looked up, I wouldn't be suprised if he was even the legendary outlaw Scarlet Shadow.

I need to ask tomorrow if anyone bought a horse there.


Captain Hawkins' journal:
16.12.

Today was a perplexing day. I sent my militia to protect the monastery and results were again very... unnatural. My men heard gunshots but when they proceeded to search the surroundings one wooden cannon was found, again.

I moved to magistrates office to find out if there was anything I could do. While I was there that red clad stranger approached, and he did indeed arrive on a horse. I ordered some guards to arrest him but he fought bravely against them.

Townsfolk, however, saw this quarrel and overreacted. They attacked the magistrate. They were claiming that us, here in office, had brought evil to town. They throwed objects at us and broke some windows. I'm quite bruised now, such was the beating I got.

This, however, allowed Scarlet Shadow, for I'm sure the stranger was him, to escape. But I managed to re-assure that no-one should succumb to a mass hysteria. I lied as best as I could, however. Their fear is more than justified.


Cooke's Inspections:
17.12.

I've been snooping around the manor for some time now. I overheard that the noblemen of the town were going to have a festive ball at the manor that night and they asked me if I could stay as a nightwatch.

I agreed, I could do no other. But things I learned there were horrible. The caravan I saw has started moving. People are restless, but don't know who or what to blame. I do know this, however. Late at night a messenger came from the direction of windmill. There had been a case of death. A person was found dead with an opened gift wrapping in front of her.

From what I can think of this was indeed a murder.


Captain Hawkins' journal:
17.12.

I had to visit the doctor again because of the injuries I had while surviving the angry mob. That's not important, though.

What's important is that I've realised what we're facing. Wooden cannons I thought could have been crafty pranks, tricks that would make you frightened.

But... it feels so foolish even to write about this. I saw three, about to my knee height, toy soldiers marching. It was an unholy sight and I must admit I was terrified. They had small rifles with them that had bayonets attached to them. They were like a mockery of my own militia detachments.

I got myself thinking that they were clever clockwork creations and I loathed them. I attacked them and broke them all to pieces. Anger gave me much needed power, because after I had dismantled the bunch I observed their parts. And they were absolutely not working only on some mechanism. Something more sinister is involved in this matter.

I've told my men to keep an eye for Scarlet Shadow, too. No-one has sighted him. At a moment like this we really don't need him breaking the law about.


Captain Hawkins' journal:
18.12.

Things have been going very wrong. Inspector Cooke was delivered to Town Hall in state of emergency. He was delusional for sure, but in this current situation I can't know how much was his fancy and what was real. Surely he can't have been attacked by a stuffed bear?

Anyway, I heard that Scarlet Shadow was sighted near the marsh. Near marsh is an abandoned keep that I thought could very well be his hiding place. I ordered one of my militia squadron to keep an eye on magistrate. After that I went to abandoned keep.

But I found no Scarlet Shadow there. Instead there was a gift box. I opened it but it was empty. Then the horror started... I'm sure a spectre was tormenting me. It must have come from the gift box. I couldn't stand it and I had to take my flight away from the keep.


Cooke's Inspections:
19.12.

Things are starting to look clear. This thing is big, in a really big way.

I'm not sure what the heck attacked me at windmill. To me it looked like a stuffed bear. It knocked me unconscious and a friendly person hurried me to town.

I went to manor as fast as I could only to notice that I had been left a gift there. It was a book of riddles. But there were two self written riddles on the last page. I don't know who wrote them, but I ripped the page off and put it in my pocket. They included some grave accusations towards reverend Harding and magistrate Kroft, almost blaming them from everything that has happened.

And something has happened. Doctor Manning was found dead early today.

Also I'm not sure about lady Hanbrook. She happened to pass me by and noticed I had that book of riddles with me. She said that she had been looking for that one for some time now, she was afraid someone had stolen it and she was happy that I had been able to find it. She took it back right away.

I heard too that she had commanded her daughter to return at once.


Cooke's Inspections:
20.12.

I could not resist skulking around windmill again. And there I saw it. It was sitting outside. A stuffed bear. It didn't move so I closed in. I was too transfixed on the thing. It could have been my imagination, but I dare say that hellish creature WINKED it's eye on me! That's all I remember, someone hit me in the head then and I lost my consciousness... again.

I woke up later in town hall again and we exchanged information with captain Hawkins.

Hawkins has always been a man of reason. His story of how a volgovian nutcracker had attacked him was almost talk of a madman, but I'm inclined to think that there must have been some truth in his words too.

Stories are spreading how gifts that were opened too early have had serious consequences and toys acquired seem to be haunted in some way. Other disturbing tales tell of toy soldiers marching at night, pulling wooden cannons near Echo Lake.

As we were talking we heard gunfire coming from far away, we guessed that something happened there in the marsh. Hawkins sent off a squad of militia to manor.


Captain Hawkins' journal:
21.12.

Cooke left to manor, though I would have adviced him not to had I then known what I know now. I don't know what has happened to him.

I somehow unrealistically blamed the Scarlet Shadow for all this and I ventured back to abandoned keep. And there I found him, tending his injuries that were suffered I don't know from where.

I think now that I we must have been possessed by madness. Even injured, Scarlet Shadow was a force to deal with. We had a short fight. He hit me in the head once and stunned me and said that he wants to have a talk.

So I accepted.

That conversation easily held back the darkness that had almost consumed me, and dare I say whole Shadowbrook?

Scarlet Shadow has been making investigations of his own and now I know that if we're going to catch the one behind all this, we need to check the manor.

Our enemy is pushing us, though. The caravan arrived today to town for the first time, staying near magistrate's office.


Captain Hawkins' journal:
22.12.

I told Scarlet Shadow about Cooke and Hanbrooks. Then I left abandoned keep. I knew there were movement along the road to Shadowbrook from Echo Lake. I decided it would be best if I went through the old wood there was. I trusted to leave a note to Scarlet Shadow that he'd leave to one of my officers. I was calling for backup.

There I saw a stuffed bear. I suspected this was one of those that had caused Cooke's demise. It was, however, lifeless and did nothing. I still thought it best to burn it.

About this time the militia squad I was asking for appeared and not a moment too late. A small army of those knee-height toy soldiers launched an assault at us. I can't but think that the bear was a bait of sorts.

I injured badly during that fight. Two of my men transported me back to town hall. I guess my men are still fighting there as I write this.


Cooke's Inspections:
22.12.

I conversed with Lady Hanbrook, whom I trust wholly on this matter now. I think she's not holding any secrets from me. She's just a weak person - drunkard and a coward. She was, however, concerned about her husband, lord Hanbrook. She was afraid that something might happen to him. So she showed me a secret passage from manor to the monastery.

I arrived just in time. There was some kind of a secret ritual going on. There were people tied up and lifeless husks of toy soldiers there and masked humans. Me arriving sent the ritualists fleeing and I saved everyone there, including lord Hanbrook.

Lord Hanbrook pledged his alliances to me and proclaimed himself the hero of the people. Any time we would need him he would come. I could read from his expression that he was going to put up a fight now. Even if the manor kept it's secrets, Lord Hanbrook was totally open to me.

Shortly there after a person who had red clothes on appeared to us. He didn't tell us his name, but said he had been in contact with captain Hawkins and told us he believed the answer to this hell of a Christmas would be found from the manor.

Here Lord Hanbrook spoke that it was true indeed and he would provide us with any information we needed. He would gladly accompany us during the final confrontation but there were pressing matters we needed to know.

When we were talking we saw the caravan arriving to the yard of the monastery.

There was indeed dark and sinister things moving about. At the center of it, as Hanbrook told us, was volgovian nutcracker. It must be the same Hawkins saw a while ago.

It has magical powers and has made a mess out of the living in manor. Some of the village elders, reverend and magistrate for sure, are in league with it. So situation has been difficult for Hanbrooks alone. Now we need to find a plan how to destroy it.


Cooke's Inspections:
23.12.

I followed the secret passage back to manor and grabbed a nearby saber. Scarlet Shadow took an oath of the hunter.

I noticed something was wrong with lady Hanbrook when I returned. There had been another Christmas ball that had been attended by both reverend Harding and magistrate Kroft. I could not tell if something had changed. But definitely there was a new secret.


Captain Hawkins' journal:
24.12.

It was a slaughter!

I decided to expand the search and declare a full out war against toy soldiers, but there was indeed an army of them. I lost four squads of militia, managing to vanquish only one clear detachment of toy soldiers. There were too many. But then Cooke came to town and explained to me that we were going to launch an assault against the volgovian nutcracker that had conquered the manor.

Lord and Lady Hanbrook stood by our side and gave us direction. We were all there, me, Cooke and Scarlet Shadow. Lady shower quite an inner strenght in coming to fight. I had a pistol and a sabre Cooke had given to me, and Scarlet Shadow had a small hand crossbow.

We are going in now.


Memorial written by Lord Hanbrook
25.12.1797

It saddens me greatly that three great heroes gave their lives in defending our small and remote town.

Captain Hawkins went down first. In fact it seems that volgovian nutcracker was already waiting for us, as well as Harding and Kroft. Supernatural power that was in nutcracker's bite caught Hawkins by suprise. He was crippled and later bled to death.

We managed to tackle both Harding and Kroft, but three bodies were too horrible sight for my dear wife, who fled.

Next went down inspector Cooke, though he survived one attack that would have definitely cut him in two earlier. But instead a book he was carrying was knocked away.

Scarlet Shadow fought bravely. He had been fatally wounded and tricked the nutcracker to attack him in order to deal killing blow to that monster of a toy.

This horrible nightmare is over now and me and my wife were the only ones who survived that fight.



... phew.

It's amazing how, when you sit down and think things, games like this have a strong story going on. In my opinion I haven't stretched out imagination too wide in any part of that story. Things that happened on board made perfect sense.

This solo game kinda told me a nice story.

And the ending was heroic indeed, I managed to score last hit to 24 wound nutcracker on the last possible turn.

I would have wanted that Scarlet Shadow alone survived the nutcracker, that would have been a thrilling storyline too. But didn't happen so.

So, on with the statistics:

Villains played:
Volgovian Nutcracker: 1


Heroes played:
The Scarlet Shadow: 1
Captain Hawkins: 1
Inspector Cooke: 1