What happens when Malice lends a harpoon from a Black Ogrun?

This 75 point game of Warmachine is what happens.


Master Necrotech Mortenebra & Deryliss

- Malice
- Leviathan
- Harrower
- Defiler
- Stalker

Maximum unit of Satyxis Raiders + Sea Witch
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Satyxis Raider Captain
Bloat Thrall
Orin Midwinter


Ragnor Skysplitter
- Bomber
- Mauler
- Axer
- Impaler

Maximum unit of Krielstone Bearers
Maximum unit of Sluggers
War Wagon
Fell Caller Hero
Totem Hunter

Scenario was Entrenched. Trollbloods started game.

I brought Satyxis Raiders to the front - with Sea Witch just a tad too close to the Totem Hunter. He managed to get the witch within 2" and rolled well enough to destroy the blast damage immunity. And then there was this AoE 5 war wagon to activate... uh, it was ugly.

Best use I could figure out for the Satyxis was to charge Ragnor himself, who had also used his feat. Admirably the raiders dealt five points of damage.

Though, first I made a mess out of Mortenebra's feat. Somehow I figured out using her feat to destroy one heavy warbeast would be worth it. I did shenanigans, and Malice was able to take an aimed shot at Dire Troll Bomber so that dragging would take it outside of Ragnor's feat. Neat, except that attack roll was double 1's. Lucky thing I had used the feat. Next, with a boost, Malice needed 7+ with two dice to deal at least one point of damage. Well. Result was double sixes - a total of six for the first damage roll, and a total of six for the re-rolled one.

Trollblood warbeasts had been running hot, and Dire Troll Bomber failed treshold check. It ate a slugger. All in all damage opponent did this turn wasn't devastating - Defiler lost arc node and all the Satyxis died. Worst thing was that Ragnor could start dominating his friendly zone now.

Next I see a clear chance for an assassination - Mortenebra casts Overrun on Malice and Leviathan. Overrun would move Harrower close enough for a Tuned Up charge attack against Ragnor.

I chose a greedy path and tried to harpoon Bomber to Malice, finishing it off with Leviathan. Harpoon rolled double 1's again, so I abort the plan immediately and take aimed shots at Sluggers instead. I jinxed myself when I said "and now I will roll only one shot and the slugger passes Tough" because that was exactly what happened.

Harrower tries to scrape War Wagon a little bit instead, then.

Stalker and Defiler do what they can against opponent's objective, and leave it with three hit boxes and Corrosion continuous effect.

Ragnor was able to clear the zone and dominate a second point. He had only one fury point for transfers.

Trollblood forces wreck both Malice and Harrower.

I had ran so low on my model count that I didn't try a scenario any longer. I figured out a plan for assassination once more - Leviathan rolls three shots and spends focus points directly from Mortenebra via Interfarce (honest typo at first, but I decided to leave it for giggles.)

All good otherwise, but Leviathan rolled only two shots. Both hit and dealt respectable damage, and Ragnor was left with two hit boxes.

Well, then there was Deryliss with Doom Spiral. My last chance for 7+ hit and 8+ for damage on two dice victory.

In the end I paid for my vast number of bad choices, and dice did not save me in this way. Nor any other way. Opponent only had to kill a Necrosurgeon and Defiler and objective to get three points in one go. It proved to not be a particular problem. Scenario loss for Cryx.

Not Quite Asphyxious

A 75 point game of Warmachine.

Lists were:

Lord Arbiter Hexeris
- Tiberion
- Aradus Soldier
- Archidon
- Basilisk Drake
- Agonizer

Maximum unit of Venators + Command Attachment
Maximum unit of Beast Handlers
Tyrant Commander
Extoller Soulward
Maximus

Bane Witch Agathia
- 2x Slayer
- Reaper
- Nightwretch

Maximum unit of Bane Warriors+ Command Attachment

Maximum unit of Mechanithralls + Skarlock Commander
Maximun unit of Satyxis Blood Witches
Withershadow Combine
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech

We were trying out a scenario that was stitched out from bits of information about the new steamroller. I think Cryx started game.

Both armies were pretty much just running forward for the first round, and I felt quite tool-less when Agathia used her feat on turn 2. After all most of my volume of attacks was in Reivers, that would be getting engaged right next.

I just did some useless shuffling, and then opponent removed Agonizer from the board and dealt heavy damage to Basilisk Drake, yet not killing it. Satyxis Blood Witches didn't reach all that many Reivers as I had feared.

Damage wasn't overwhelming, but I was intimidated by the sheer number of Cryxians. And as Agathia had used all of her focus on removing Agonizer, I thought that I wouldn't get a better chance at assassination. Maximus tried to clear some Bane Warriors so that Archidon was able to fly into position without taking free strikes.

My warbeasts do random things to get some fury on them, and then Hexeris throws Hellfires at Agathia, uses his feat and throws Hellfires again at Agathia.

Out of four Hellfires three hit, and left Agathia with two hit boxes. Well, bummer.

Next I tried my best at unjamming Venator Reivers, and four or so were able to get within shooting distance and line of sight to Agathia.

A hit was scored and the witch lay dead.

Boo, skip this

And now for two rounds Skibbo with five players. Exciting, isn't it?

(Let's make that extra two rounds for two sessions.)

(And a couple weeks later let's add three rounds so this blog isn't getting littered with this long skip-bo reports.)

No yacht for you today, little one

Just a moment ago finished two rounds of Yatzy.

Premiere Grenadiere

Last Tuesday I played this 75 point game of Warmachine. Since I had just finished painting new Gorax Rager and Wild Argus, I wanted to give them at least one game on the tabletop. Even if I loathe the new Gorax Rager sculpt, technically it's a beauty when compared to the old metal one. I pretty much bought the new Circle Battlebox just to get rid of my old metal Gorax. Anyway, here are the lists:

Krueger the Stormlord
- Gorax Rager
- Wild Argus
- Woldwyrd
- Pureblood Warpwolf
- Rip Horn Satyr

Shifting Stones
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Tharn Ravagers (max)
Tharn Ravager Shaman
Bloodweaver Night Witch
Blackclad Wayfarer
Gallows Grove
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew
Hutchuck, Ogrun Bounty Hunter

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Opponent had:

Agathia
- Nightwretch
- Reaper
- Slayer

Bane Warriors (max) + Command Attachment
Mechanithralls (max) + Skarlock Commander
Satyxis Blood Witches (max) + Hag
Withershadow Combine
Bane Lord Tartarus
Warwitch Siren

Objective: Bunker

Scenario was Recon and Circle started game.

Turn 1 wasn't much else other than running closer for a hug for both sides. Krueger tried to cast a couple Lightning Storms to block Mechanithralls and Blood Witches from positioning correctly, but area that was covered by the templates was rather small. Both deviated to same direction, with only 1" difference in distance.

Turn 2 Slayer had Hellwrought on it. New and improved Woldwyrd with Wraith Bane left it with only four hit boxes. Krueger cast this old Stormwall, I forget what name it has nowadays. Wind...storm? Anyway, that one which gives -5RNG for enemy models. One Lightning Storm takes a couple of Blood Witches with it.

Hutchuck made his lamest limp so far - he arrived on scene, and missed the knock down grenade with double 1's. He had tried to lob it over a Bane Warrior to knock down Nightwretch.

Tharn Ravagers charged Nightwretch anyway, I thought that two additional Bane Warriors from their minifeat might be a worthy trade for the only Cryxian arc node. Only one Ravager hit and dealt tons of damage, but to exactly wrong columns. Only systems that were left were the arc node and movement.

Then Cryx activated. Windstormwall messed the activation of Reaper, and that retaliatory spellcasting attack from Woldwyrd killed Skarlock Commander that was using Battle Wizard. Bane Thralls got three extra members from two Ravagers and Hutchuck - so the bounty hunter entered play, missed with double 1's and got turned into an extra model for enemy weapon master unit. Good use of 6 points, I must admit.

Turn 3 would have nearly clocked me out if it was a tournament. I got whole enemy army except for one Bane Warrior under Krueger's feat.

First, however, Night Witch kills two Mechanithralls and a Satyxis with a killing spree. Shifting Stones teleport Rip Horn satyr to wreck Nightwretch and assorted Bane Warriors. Ravagers kill as many Bane Warriors as they can (all the contesting ones was my main objective) and then Gorax uses Primal on Pureblood Warpwolf. Warpwolf assaults Reaper and the assault spray kills Tremulus. Reaper has lost all but cortex, so Pureblood gets extra attacks against enemy Bunker. Both damage rolls give five points of damage. I wasn't excessively happy about that.

Krueger activates, advances and uses feat. Then he attack enemy objective with his lightning bolts, and damn those last five boxes were a nasty bunch. They took all three shots, with boosts to boot. Sure it was dice -6 with two dice, but I had hoped that one bolt could have been directed against either Reaper or Slayer. Oh well. At least it was three control points.

Woldwyrd messes up big time. I had planned on it to finalize Reaper and Slayer, but even wrecking Slayer proved to be a job that it barely succeeded. I guess that's how it goes sometimes. Last turn - 24 damage in. The next turn: five was out of reach.

I was quite confident in this game now, but Cryx offered some terrifying resistance. Both Pureblood and Rip Horn were destroyed along with the Woldwyrd that was mauled beyond uselessness (lost spirit and either mind or body), and quite a few Bane Warriors had entered the zone to contest. Agathia also used her feat, so all enemy models had Stealth now.

Sweat pearls started to form up when Ravagers got ill from eating Bane hearts - every attack missed except for one - and opponent passed Tough roll.

Shifting Stones teleported Gorax to kill three Bane Thralls. I hadn't passed a single Tough roll in whole game, and looked like the only way I got through enemy Tough was knocking them down first.

Blackclad Wayfarer was a game-saver when the spray killed Warwitch Siren, plus Reaper and a Bane Warrior.

Gorax or Argus or something killed a contesting Blood Witch, and all Krueger was left to do was to charge last remaining Bane Warrior.

When I lost both of my heavy warbeasts it was quite apparent that I had no longer any chance at playing attrition game. Had Krueger not succeeded in destroying the Bunker, most likely I would have lost under the overwhelming swarm of witches and banes.

Dice: the most cruel lash of them all

Since errata and all that, it was good time to give first game for my Skorne in new edition. Since Hexeris1 with whom I started Skorne, he was all but solidified choice for my list. Of course he receiving quite a few changes in errata had a kind of an impact here. Anyway, it was a 75 point game.

Lord Tyrant Hexeris
- Agonizer
- Archidon
- Basilisk Drake
- Tiberion
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
Praetorian Swordsmen (max) + Command Attachment
Venator Reivers (max) + Command Attachment
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Hutchuck, Ogrun Bounty Hunter

Effigy of Valor

Opponent probably had:


Theme: Operating Theater

Exulon Thexus
- Subduer
- Warden
- Wrecker
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt + Dominator
3x Cephalyx Mind Bender & Drudges (max)
Cephalyx Mind Slaver & Drudges (max)
2x Cephalyx Overlords
2x Cephalyx Agitator

Effigy of Valor

Scenario was Entrenched and Skorne started game. Death March is on Praetorian Swordsmen and Soul Slave on Archidon. I bunched up my infantry in the middle and tried to use Hexeris' feat way too early. Which was turn 2. I had thought that I might have chances of removing some 8-10 drudges at least, but damn they were good at passing Tough checks this time. Hexeris' feat gave Skorne only one extra... knockdown.

Opponent dealt less damage than I had anticipated. Only a few Swordsmen died, but opponent secured two scenario points - one from dominating their zone and one from destroying my objective. Could have been three, though, because opponent had no-one to control it.

Next turn I wanted to have an assassination or something, and used Tiberion to kill a monstrosity and Praetorians who used Power Swell to kill another - which had been knocked down by Hutchuck. Exulon went down with the bomb, too. Praetorians got the monstrosity down to one hit box remaining after Basilisk Drake had sprayed around a little with it's eye. Spray attack was sacrificial pawned on the last monstrosity, too.

But Sacrificial Pawn works while knocked down, so Venators removed the knocked down monstrosity and had pawned damage roll on the last one.

Hexeris with Puppet Master cast two damage boosted Sunder Spirit's at Exulon, and dealt seven points in total. Exulon had two focus points remaining and Deceleration on. Now Hexeris had no fury, three beasts on maximum fury and only a few contestants on both zones. Whee.

Because of some bad dice rolls (namely with Telekinesis and three misses on equal to Magic Skill 8 ) Hexeris survived. But first things first. Master Holt took shots at Hexeris, one of which was shield-guarded by Tiberion. Not sure what triggered such a terrible hatred and frenzy on Tiberion, because next moment he attacked Hexeris, dealing enough damage to bring Hexeris to nine boxes remaining. Cause was Rampager from Exulon Thexus, of course. Immovable object is not that immovable any longer.

Well, then Exulon Thexus was sitting there in the middle of Skorne army with no focus points, already being injured. At three control points, though.

I felt like I should have lost the game. I made so many ridiculous mistakes (wasting my feat, not contesting my zone with, for example, immovable Tiberion, fooling around in the middle with no transfers...)

Opponent conceded, as there was no chance for def 14 arm 14 target to survive Venators, Basilisk Drake, Hexeris with seven fury points and what was left of Archidon.

Length of seventeen focus

These are two 50 point games of Warmachine against Trollbloods that were played recently. Trolls had the same list in both games, but I tried a different list in the second game. Both games were played with Recon scenario.



Ragnor Skysplitter, The Runemaster
- Dire Troll Mauler
- Troll Axer
- Troll Impaler
Trollkin Sluggers (max) (pre-errata)
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (min) + Stone Scribe Elder
Stone Scribe Chronicler
Trollkin War Wagon

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Game 1 list:

Lich Lord Asphyxious
- Desecrator
- Corruptor
- Slayer
Bane Warriors (max) + Command Attachment
Bane Lord Tartarus
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech
Soul Trapper

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Game 2 list:

Asphyxious the Hellbringer
- Harrower
- Corruptor
- Nightmare
Mechanithralls (max) +2x Brute Thrall
Necrosurgeon & Stitch Thralls
Warwitch Siren
Necrotech

Objective: Bunker

First game was quite straightforward Asphyxious2 game, at least for me: Bane Warriors ran first to get themselves killed, while heavier targets tried to hide behind Caustic Mists. Opponent was hesitant to bring models too much forward. I guess it was an oversight when there was only the objective and a krielstone grunt contesting middle zone at the start of my turn 3. Well, it didn't really help that one major contestant had lost it's activation to a failed threshold check - Dire Troll Mauler had eaten a krielstone bearer grunt to help with some sort of problems with anxiety or stage fright.

As hopeful as I had been with the acquisition of Tough for Bane Warriors once more, the War Wagon was a terrifying piece to negate that precious Tough - as knockdown happens before damage is being done, it negated Tough altogether.

Impaler had been really proficient at rolling for criticals. I don't think it rolled any non-critical attacks in this game?

Anyway, once an ARM 17 warjack goes down to def 5, Sluggers are suddenly rather a scary prospect. But there must be some sort of hidden ammunition type special rule for them. Every time they rolled three shots, there was only one or two points of damage, or none at all. And every time only one shot was rolled, they must have been some sort of depleted uranium shells from the grim distant future, because of their high damage.

But there were no warjack casualties. Desecrator and Corruptor both had suffered heavy damage, but weren't quite dead yet. Necrotech kept their systems functional.

I didn't even go for actual enemy models during Ragnor's feat - I dedicated everything to destroy the objective. Which succeeded even if it wasn't easy. Bane Thrall with it's Dark Shroud gave the required extra punch for Slayer to destroy objective. And then Cryx went straight to three control points.

Next opponent caused some impressive damage on Cryxian forces, and I lost any desire I could have had at playing any kind of attrition.

There was Mauler, Impaler and Slugger contesting the central zone. I had Tartarus, Asphyxious, movement-less Desecrator and Asphyxious' feat. It was all-out onslaught, which did succeed in removing trollblood troops and giving Lich Lord those remaining control points.

Game 2:

Last game had evolved Asphyxious2 into Asphyxious3.

Beginning wasn't that grand, when I advanced Corruptor to take a shot at War Wagon. I had thought that I might have done some 4-5 damage points in, perhaps, and then make enemy deal with the heavy warjack and any Mechanithralls I would be running up the middle zone. But opponent didn't need to expend any extra resources at all - everything was just shot off the board. Damn that knockdown cannon. Oh, and the Necrojector shot was triple 1's.

Then I brought Asphyxious up to feat, and had Mobility up. Nightmare had Ashen Veil.

I had trusted Nightmare to deal with War Wagon, but damage rolls were pretty terrible. Charge attack even missed the DEF 9 target.

Hellfire from Vociferon missed one krielstone grunt that was contesting the zone.

Harrower, Necrotech and Brute Thrall were what it took to remove enemy objective - and then I noticed I had completely forgotten about that contesting krielstone grunt. Mentally I had already dealt with it with the Hellfire. Three control points denied.

I lost pretty much everything on next turn. Buffaloes knocked Nightmare down, and suddenly Ashen Veil stopped doing, well, anything at all. Dire Troll Mauler wrecked Harrower and Axer came to finish off Nightmare. At least post-nerf recursion had kept Mechanithralls on the board. During course of the game six extra grunts had been reconstructed to offer some bullet practice targets for Sluggers.

At least that turn yielded ten extra focus points for Asphyxious - and opponent forgot to use feat. Well, at least that still kept me in game, though gaining advantage over such memory lapses don't feel clean.

There were only a Slugger and a krielstone grunt contesting the zone. Absolutely everything I threw against them failed miserably.

Mechanithralls weren't doing anything either. I guess it fits some sort of archetypal "worthless minions, must I do everything by myself" trope.

Asphyxious had to cast Mobility to get to Dire Troll Mauler, which was annoying. He then charged and bought an extra attack against Slugger, killing him and casting a boosted Hellfire at the krielstone grunt via Blood Boon. At least that much succeeded.

Then he cast Calamity on Dire Troll Mauler and started swinging his blade.

All the attacks had terrible rolls. Six was the most common damage roll for the attacks that even managed to hit a def 10 target. I wonder if Asphyxious was hitting the troll with his sword's handle instead of the blade.

Ten focus and the charge attack was what it took to kill a def 10, arm 18 heavy warbeast with MAT 6 and P+S 16. Asphyxious had zero focus point in camp.

But karma (sometimes) has this fickle way of balancing things out.

Opponent wasn't much better at rolling dice on his next turn. First, and most importantly, Ragnor missed the knockdown spell. He got scared then and ran off to the hills all the while listening to Iron Maiden.

War Wagon scored only one Mechanithrall kill. Spray missed both the Siren and Vociferon, and I don't remember at all what it was that the knockdown cannon tried to shoot. Axer scored only one hit against Asphyxious that dealt something like six or seven damage points. Impaler had been busy removing remaining Mechanithralls, and the whole unit was indeed wiped out that turn.

But - Asphyxious was miraculously alive, and there were only War Wagon and Axer on the zone. And Ragnor had still not used his feat.

Asphyxious destroys War Wagon and casts Calamity on Axer via Blood Boon, and proceeds to finish the light warbeast, bringing Cryx yet again to five control points.

Now, this game was solely won because of opponent forgot to use his feat twice in a row. Though, of course he had left the scenario zone way too uncontested in both games. But whatever the case, I felt kind of weaponless in both games. Enemy had a low model count, but still I was unable to reduce that count all that much. Corruptor that I usually take as a form of crowd control mechanic felt rather useless now, when POW 10 AoE would be stopped by a 5+ tough roll, and even if it did succeed, krielstone aura made it require 7+ or 8+ to kill any extra models.

Cataclysm Characters

Finally it happened.

All five figures from Cataclysm expansion for Talisman are now painted.

Sadly my camera is all messed up and shows these strange vertical lines when not using flash.

I kind of got bored with the Scavenger in the end. That miniature is so full of tiny little details that painting them was almost a frustrating experience, considering that two years or so might actually pass before she gets even one game. And that's optimistic guess.

But as far as Talisman miniatures go, I'm quite content with this batch. Almost happy, even.