Once more unto the breach: WTC 2022 with Team Switzerland

After the VTC and the Belgian Masters, I played a few more online events and was planning to play some tournaments in Belgium and Germany over the summer. I didn´t apply to play for the German WTC team as I was aware that I wouldn´t be able to take part in their training weekend as my work begins before that and I did not want to burden them with a less trained player, as the three German teams had ambitions for decent standings.

However, after talking to Wout from the Belgian Masters TO team, I decided to apply to become a judge as I felt that I could appropriately prepare for that and get to experience WTC that way.

Then three things happened: our family unexpectedly became bigger and that put the kibbosh to all my gaming time over the summer. Then Mk4 was announced and with it the big reboot of the competitive tournament format, meaning that most old-school characters would go away or be relegated to second fiddle. This would especially impact all mixed-faction and mercenary characters. Finally, team Switzerland send a post on page5 that they needed a fifth player. I got in touch with their captain and he assured me that they were mainly there to have fun, not to win the event, so after consulting with my wife, who assured me that she could hold down the fort for three days, I joined their team.

My lists

For nostalgia´s sake, I decided to go for Stryker1 as he was the caster I first played in international events and Haley2 because I have so many fond memories of really mastering the game with her.

Stryker1 ran a Galleon, Jakes with a Gallant, two Thamarite and a Morrowan Archon, some Precursor Knights with CA and a Battle Priest, some Battle Mechanics, Ragman, a Hermit, Alexia2 and Gabriel Throne.

Haley2 ran a Squire, Brickhouse, Thorn, a Firefly, Nemo4 with a Mangler, a Storm Strider, Alexia with the Risen, min Storm Lances, 2 Stormsmith Stormcallers and two Storm Towers.

Stryker was pretty basic with Jakes running a second heavy, two Thamarites because they are broken as all hell and some Precursors to clear out anything left over. The plan is to ram the Galleon down the centre, sit out the enemy attack and then counterpunch with it.

The Haley2 list was called ´looks like someone took a Nemo3 list and changed the caster midway´, which I guess is an accurate description. I wanted it to have multiple sources of disruption to deal with Karchev2 and other jack bricks, while still bringing Haley2´s assassination and scenario potential.

Friday

I left midday on Friday to be there well in time for the 6 o´clock check-in time, but I had forgotten one crucial detail: Belgium is full of Belgians, especially the roads around Brussels. I managed to get to the venue by 8 due to a truck having rammed a wall in a tunnel on the Ring around Brussels.

After checking in, having sandwiches with some of the Belgian players and finally meeting my team face-to-face, I played a game against one of the players of Norway Hugin because one of the Belgians had called all the Norwegians´ mums trolls and now needed people to back him up on the tabletop. As I had played exactly 0 games since 4th July, I was happy to shake off some of the rust and dropped Haley2 into Crucible Guard, not that I fancied my chances into that faction at all.

It was a big back and forth and my opponent forgot to switch the clock to himself or run it again after a rules question, so we decided to count two minutes off his timer. Anyways, I managed to withstand his firepower for 5 turns but was falling behind on scenario when his time ran out. As we had both made sloppy plays (better that day than the days after), we decided to call it a draw, which also turned the Norway vs Belgium grudge match into a tie. Fair enough.

After nearly falling off a children´s cot in our team apartment, I got a few hours of sleep before the next day.

Saturday

Round 1: Toms of Finland on Invasion

Like in most rounds, I was dropped early to take a problem matchup away from the rest of the team. This round I got Circle with Kromac1 and Wurmwood and as both lists ran big(gish) battle groups, I decided to drop Haley2. My opponent dropped Wurmwood and went first.

We traded back and forth but the old adage holds true that if both players have a defensive feat, whoever feats first will be at a disadvantage. I killed all of his heavies and most of his armies, but we both had one cleared out circular zone we were scoring on. However, he was on less than a minute starting round 5 and I still have 12 minutes to go, so he let the clock run out and conceded.

My team went 1-4 this round, so off to the beer bracket with us. Well, that should mean we won´t have to play top teams anymore. Right?

Round 2: Germany Gold (Split Decision)

So much for that idea.

I get paired into Nicci, playing Circle (sigh). We had played on the same VTC team this spring, but never actually met in real life, so that was great. He played Krueger 2, which was less fun and also made Haley2 significantly less attractive to play.

Early game, he killed a Thamarite with some rather lucky dice turn 2, but my other one was sniping solos on his flank, which was also near the circular zone. As Krueger was quite far towards the centre of the table, I decided to ram an Arcane Shielded Galleon down his throat and feating. I had also come 6 boxes short of killing a Warpwolf Stalker with the now dead Thamarite Archon and the Galleon, but Hordes being Hordes, anything over 1 damage box is functionally the same.

He obliged and had two Warpwolves and a Woldwarden charge the Galleon after a River Raider and his Hermit had dropped its armour to a mere 23, but his dice shat the bed (plus Hermit negated a charge attack from a Wolf) and he came 24 boxes short. He also feated here. This let me take his 3 heavies and two Death Archons off the table, but unfortunately I could not kill the River Raider who was contesting my flag, nor a Shifting Stone contesting the circular zone, so unfortunately he only had to kill my objective with his last Woldwarden and Krueger2 to win the game on scenario.

My team went 1-4 this round, with our Circle player winning his game.

Round 3: Netherlands Vermeer Recon 2

Their lists looked just as casual as ours and all looked well, so I got dropped into Cryx. He dropped the Witch Coven and as both lists had a fair number of warjacks and Haley can clear out infantry quite easily with all the Lightning Generator models, I dropped her.

He went first and rushed Barathrum with Infernal Machine behind a building, then had Deathjack and Kharybdis a bit further behind, but all in the left zone. Asphyxious and his Inflictor went right and there were some McThralls with 3 Brutes on the table and another set in Ambush. I funneled my army into the centre.

Turn2: Roberth Barathrum ghostwalked through the building and into melee with the Mangler. He felt that he should be able to take it, but come up very short. It didn´t help that he had to move it in 6″ of Nemo4, so the Mangler got to smack it first with a fully boosted attack thanks to Watcher and ripped off an arm. The rest moved up and the Coven feated on my entire army. However he decided to keep the Thralls in ambush and Asphyxious stayed far back in cover.

This is where I reached peak Haley bullshit level. Nemo´s assistants fixed the Mangler and Super Tuned Nemo, who then shot Barathrum and knocked it down, so the Mangler stomped it into oblivion. Haley cast Telekinesis and Temporal Manipulation on Brickhouse, which also had 3 focus. She also feated on all his warjacks and Asphyxious. Brickhouse then walked into 2″ of Deathjack and a Deathripper, killed the arc node and punched Deathjack once because there was nothing else to do with its focus. A Storm Tower that was not in the feat aimed and disrupted Kharybdis.

He brought in the McThralls on his right and they killed all the remaining Risen (two were now Thrall Warriors and engaging his other Thrall unit), but not anyone else. Asphyxious postured a bit and tried to shoot a Stormcaller off my flag, but missed. He wanted to Ghostwalk Deathjack out of melee with Brickhouse, but then I read him Brickhouse´s Magnahold rule and he realised that unless someone went and killed Brickhouse, it would just be able to whale on Deathjack without DJ ever being able to retaliate. Kharybdis flailed at Brickhouse, but without focus there wasn´t much it could do.

The Storm Strider and Nemo4 casually finished off the unit of McThralls in my rear and the Mangler walked into the other unit and cleared most of them with a Thresher and electro leaps from Lightning Shroud. My Lances and Thorn beat up Kharybdis and Brickhouse smashed bits off Deathjack, who lost his movement, so my Storm Tower disrupted him. With that, the writing was on the wall as Asphyxious 4 could not kill the Mangler without risking being shot be Nemo4 or the Storm Strider (I had the True Sight objective and warped in a Gun Mage Captain Adept to apply Flare too in case he was Occultated) and his two heavies were disrupted and also running out of boxes. His Inflictor tried to clear out Brickhouse, but as it was still on nearly full boxes and too far away for any initials bar the two-inch Stinger, no systems broke, so I won on scenario while also having 13:07 minutes to my opponent´s two minutes.

My team mates broke their curse and we won the round 3-2.

Sunday

Round 4: Sweden Super Trouper (King of the Hill)

I got paired last and got the Dreamer. My opponent picked Ruin, Sacrifice and her trump. I rolled higher and went first.

The Dreamer advanced a bit, but stayed in 3″ of an Arcane Vortex from a Cage Rager and with a Crabbit in 3″ too. She also dropped to two Fury and created a wall of rough terrain in the centre with the help of the two Defiled Archons.

Unfortunately, she also stood in the perfect place for my Firefly to walk into 5″ of her, then Thorn ran to get line of sight to her and be in 8″. Haley cast three TKs to get through Ruin and the Arcane Vortex, but the third one turned the Dreamer around and moved her into the open, 3.2″ from the Crabbit and with her back against my army. Haley2 also cast Temporal Acceleration onto the Storm Strider and feated on all the heavies and Archons, so even if the assassination run would fail, there would be no serious retaliation. The Storm Strider walked into 10″ of the Dreamer so now I had +2 to hit and damage on her, so she got unceremoniously dumped by the Storm Strider and a final shot from a Storm Tower. Nemo4 would have been able to shoot her too if necessary.

My team was ahead 2-0 after my 20-minute game and another early assassination, but then unfortunately lost 2-3.

Round 5: Hungary (Spread the Net)

I got dropped into a Cygnar mirror into Sloan with all the lights. I went first and decided to be cute and give the Galleon Snipe instead of Arcane Shield to pick off lights next turn.

He saw that as a golden opportunity to kill the Galleon turn 1, so he feated and pumped a ton of shots into it, but came 7 points short thanks to the Hermit and the Morrowan Archon. After that, the game was functionally over as I feated on him and contested his zone whilst clearing the middle circle. Eventually, my Thamarite Archon on the right started scoring that flag too after Gabriel Throne had charged and killed Caine0 who had been hiding behind a wall on that flag.

In the end, he ran out of time and Stryker ended the game by standing with one leg and ball in the central circle and his other leg and ball in my square zone.

Maybe I lucked out (Oddsmachine has his odds of killing the Galleon at about 50%), or maybe I am just a masterful baiter.

Sadly, my team went 1-4 again.

Round 6: Netherlands Rembrandt (Bunkers)

I was paired into their first player, but they decided to leave me on the table, so I got Skorne in the end. My opponent was Duane from South Africa, whom I had played against during the first VTC. He brought Xekaar and Jalaam, both with some beasts but no serious beatsticks, so I felt that Stryker1 ramming a Galleon into his lists was better than Haley2 having to get through Force Auras, Lightning immune beasts and other shenanigans. I went first into Xekaar.

There were only some clouds in the centre of the table, so I went with an Observatory, moved forward, put Snipe of the Galleon again, Blur on the Precursor Knights and Arcane Shield on a Thamarite Archon because I had never tried that.

He had little shooting beyond Chiron´s spray (which can however threaten about 21 inches with Assault and stuff) so he had to cautiously move up and couldn´t do much more. This opened him up for a cheeky 14″ Harpoon shot on his Rhinodon after Ragman turned on his Deathfield on the Galleon. It promptly clowned the Rhinodon and also dealt some chip damage with its nipple guns to a Basilisk Drake. As I was still far from him, the rest of my force took some potshots and I did not feat.

All he could reach was an Archidon that could charge the Thamarite Archon in the middle, but missed on its second attack after only dealing 9 damage on the first one plus Vorkesh and a single Cetrati on the same Archon after it dodged out of melee with the Archidon. They missed it due to the Morrowan Archon´s aura and it dodged further to the side to line up shots into their back arc after they repositioned with their mini feat. Xekaar feated, covering most of his army.

The Hermit walked into his army and opened the gate for -2 ARM. Gallant managed to kill three Cetrati as it could just stay out of feat range. The Thamarite then killed the rest of the unit by shooting them in the back and exploding them into each other. The Galleon got Arcane Shield and killed Chiron with the help of the Precursor Knights, which also killed the Archidon after the Morrowan Archon had blinded it.

As he was down to his caster, a Death Archon and his support models against my ful army under feat, he threw in the towel, especially as I was able to score both flags and also start contesting his flag next turn.

Due to some not very kosher moves of one Dutch player, we lost the deciding game to end up with 2-3 in the round and a final 1-5 for the WTC, while I went 5-1 in my individual games.

Conclusion

I would like to thank the judge staff for running a tight ship, the Belgian logistics team for saving the event and dealing with 250 nerds and the Swiss team for letting me play for them.

Pointy ears and penis jokes: Playing Retribution of Scyrah at the Belgian Masters XXX

I was lucky enough to be able to play at the Belgian Masters last weekend and it was great to be back to playing a convention level event after all the Wartabling of the last years. As always, I salute the people who designed Wartable and still work on upgrading it, but the experience of playing in person is vastly superior and I loved every minute of it.

I would also like to thank Wout, Tim and the rest of the staff for running the event. Everything went smoothly, the events ran on time, the terrain was great and there was a great ambience. I also apologise for that ´AAAARGHCHON´ pirate joke.

There are also no pictures as I don´t like stopping games to take pictures and also want to avoid putting other people´s faces online without their consent.

Lists

I decided to take my two boxes of Elves with me and see what I was going to play, as there was a plethora of events, from Brawlmachine, to regular Steamrollers, to team events to ´Bad´ caster events, although I quickly realised that I don´t actually own any of the ´bad´ casters in the Retribution roster. My main goal was to play Falcir and Kaelyssa and maybe try out some of the other casters too, especially if I wanted to play Brawlmachine were both of the aforementioned are banned.

Lists played
[Theme] Defenders of Ios

[Kaelyssa 1] Kaelyssa, the Night’s Whisper [+29] with Harpy [9], Manticore [14], Manticore [14] and Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker [4]
Aelyth Vyr, Blade of Nyssor [0(5)]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber [4] with Harpy [9]
Ghost Sniper [0(3)]
Ghost Sniper [0(3)]
Hermit of Henge Hold [0(5)]
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress [3]
Priest of Nyssor [4]
House Vyre Electromancers [5]
Ryssovass Defenders (max) [15] with Soulless Escort (1) [1]
Ryssovass Defenders (max) [15] with Soulless Escort (1) [1]

A rather bog standard Kaelyssa Defenders list. I have removed the Aeternae again and put the Manticores back in because I prefer the board control they give me and actually prefer their guns to do consistent work instead of one spectacular shot. I tried a version that swapped out a unit of Defenders for Nyss Hunters, but I was thoroughly let down by them. It could have been the match-up too, but I wasn´t convinced by them.

[Theme] Forges of War

[Falcir 1] Falcir, the Merciless [+28] with Chimera [8], Discordia [18], Manticore [14], Manticore [14] and Fane Knight Guardian [3]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber [4] with Harpy [9]
Hermit of Henge Hold [0(5)]
House Shyeel Artificer [3] with Griffon [8]
House Shyeel Arcanists [0(6)]
House Shyeel Arcanists [0(6)]
Dawnguard Trident [16]

Ah, Falcir, how I love thee, let me count the ways. She wants to be a big bully that controls the board, but then she ends up assassinating people on turn 2 a lot of the time. Let´s see how she did in Belgium.

[Theme] Forges of War

[Issyria 1] Issyria, Sibyl of Dawn [+29] with Chimera [8], Discordia [18], Griffon [8], Griffon [8], Harpy [9] and Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker [4]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Arcanist Mechanik [2]
Hermit of Henge Hold [0(5)]
House Shyeel Artificer [3] with Griffon [8]
House Shyeel Arcanists [0(6)]
House Shyeel Arcanists [0(6)]
Dawnguard Trident [16]
Dawnguard Trident [16]

I have to admit that I have never played Issyria before, barring one game of Solomachine. But I wanted to expand my horizons and what better place than a competitive event? The list tries to hit people hard and fast, while also giving me an out for powerful ranged attacks, such as Crucible Guard Vulcans.

Friday: 4-round Steamroller

I played Falcir and Kaelyssa in this event.

Game 1 vs Dean: Bethayne2 (Recon2)

He ran Bethayne with double Scytheans, there was also a Angelius and a Seraph on her or a Blight Archon, a Raek, a Crok Pot and a Pasta Pot, a Mechanoshredder and Thagrosh0 with Typhon.

He went first and took up board space, I tried to move up without eating his alpha, but forgot that he didn´t just have Slipstream, but also Full Steam for a potential +4 to charges on constructs. This let him kill a Griffon and a Manticore, but doing so exposed Bethayne, who had 4 transfers from fury and her feat, but she also was in charge range of Falcir, who did Falcir things and killed her.

Game 2 vs Fabien: Karchev2 (Invasion)

He ran Karchev2 with 3 Desecrators and 2 Inflictors, Asphyxious with a Scavenger, min Thralls with 3 Brutes in ambush and a few support solos.

We skirmished back and forth for the first three turns, I cleared out an Inflictor plus his objective and did some chip damage to the other jacks, but he was unwilling to commit his feat or caster, so I decided to put Falcir a bit forward to lure him out. However, I forgot to put Falter Courage on the two heavies that could reach her and as a result, his low odds assassination was not that low after all, so Falcir died despite camping 7 Focus.

Game 3 vs Ryan: Gearhart (Split Decision)

He ran the typical Ass Experiments list.

It was a very long dragged out game where Falcir killed a ton of Assault Troopers and Experiments, but I could not crack the Vulcan on account of some Assault Troopers with Ascended Mentalists BS where I couldn´t charge unless I rolled 11s to kill the screening Assault Troopers first. This meant that he could take over the zone and flag in the zone, so even though I cleared both flags and killed his objective, I could not keep up with scoring and lost at the end of round 7.

Game 4 vs Stijn: Skarre1 (King of the Hill)

He ran Skarre1 with 4 Stalkers, double Wraith Engines and double Bane Knights, plus support.

Stijn is a true scholar and gentleman, but Skarre1 doesn´t really play well into Kaelyssa as he had to continuously walk into my guns while I sandpapered off his frontlines. Kaelyssa also easily removed a Stalker each round without having to expose herself, so once I had weathered his feat without losing too much, I could clear out his forces until he was down to his caster and conceded.

I was a bit let down with my result of 2-2, especially as I had been 11-0 on Belgian soil beforehand, but I could see that the first loss was due to being careless and thus felt that I learned at least something from the experience.

Saturday: 4-round Steamroller

Game 1 vs TLH: Makeda2 (King of the Hill)

He ran Makeda2 with full Cetrati, Ferox Riders, double min Praetorian Swordsmen with CA, a Krea and Shaman and some other support. I ran Issyria and Kaelyssa in this event, Kaelyssa with the Nyss Hunters in this event.

This was a weird game as he by rights should just had tried to push me out with a mass of survivable models until I had to commit or lose the scenario. He also had Makeda2 with Deflection and the Force Auras from the Krea and the Shaman behind a wall in the centre of the table, but for some reason he walked Makeda2 over the wall into the central circular zone, then screened her with Cetrati. This meant that I would feat, use a Griffon to slam a Cetrati over her (in all fairness, my opponent thought that the Praetorian behind the Cetrati would stop him when slammed, so the fact that smaller-based models don´t stop slams caught him off guard). This meant that the Tridents just had to slam a few Praetorians to clear line of sight to Makeda and then shoot her to death. It is always a bit sad to win or lose a game because one player misread a rule, but it was my only out, so I took it.

Game 2 vs Fabien: Karchev2 (Recon 2)

Same list as the day before, I ran Issyria again.

As I began this game and easily outthreatened him, even with the feat, he tried a ballsy move of casting Locked Horns, Full Throttle and Death Ward on Karchev (using Meat for the Slaughter by having Barathrum kill a Griffon to save three focus), then moved everything up as far as he could, engaging my Tridents and warjacks with his Desecrators and Barathrum while the two Inflictors stood in front of Karchev, with Karchev and one of them in a trench to boot. Unfortunately for him, I first engaged Barathrum with a Chimera to avoid Countercharge shenanigans, then moved up the Hermit with his -2 ARM aura. Issyria then feated, used Discordia´s spray to give everyone in the trench -2 DEF, before one Trident slammed the Hermit into the trench and unloaded into Karchev. Discordia then slammed an Inflictor over Karchev, the Trident slammed away the other Inflictor to make room for at least one Griffon and put even more bullets into Karchev before the Griffon took a free strike from a Desecrator, but survived it with all systems intact to take out the foul Cryxian Khadoran amalgamation.

Game 3 vs Ben: Feora3 (Bunkers)

Yes, that is the ´won every major event at least once´ Ben from Germany. He ran Feora3 with a Judicator, both juniors with 3 Redeemers between them, two Archons and support. I ran the Kaelyssa list with the Nyss Hunters.

He got to choose sides and chose one with a huge Squall, so he could park all his important models in there and bombard me with Redeemers. Unfortunately, my Nyss Hunters learnt that lesson the hard way and got shot to bits bottom of round 1. I put up a brave fight and killed the Judicator and both Archons, as well as some more models, but the Squall meant that I could never really threaten his warcaster, even if he hadn´t had that silly Living Covenant to pull her back each turn after putting up an Incite bubble. I conceded when I was basically tabled.

Game 4 vs Thomas: Kromac2 (Invasion)

He ran Kromac2 with Ghetorix, Stalker and some Goat, Krueger0 with a Woldwyrd, Una1 with a Storm Raptor, some outflanking Wolves with CA and support. I ran Issyria.

I was able to Blinding Light the Storm Raptor bottom of one, so he had to feat defensively turn 2. He also wanted to charge the ambushing Wolves into a Trident, but the Wayfarer missed the Hunter´s Mark he needed to let them reach it. However, he put his Satyr in a position where I could slam it over Krueger0 in my feat turn, then shoot the prone Krueger0 and Una1 to death, as well as clearing out the Wolves in my flank. This meant that I could take over the game and remove most of his game pieces. He still managed a pretty convincing assassination run on Issyria with the Storm Raptor (after Kromac had taken it over the turn before) as I had misplaced Discordia a bit too far from her for comfort. Fortunately, I was able to reduce the damage by fifteen with Focus and Issyria survived on two boxes. My opponent clocked out at this point too.

This meant I was 3-1 and 4th out of 16 as my first two opponents had dropped early on to play another event. I was happier with my performance this tournament, though I made some mistakes against Ben that didn´t help against that calibre of player.

Sunday: 2-round 3-man team event

I teamed up with two chaps from the UK, Dan playing Retribution (Kaelyssa and Garryth2) and David playing Shae Pirates. As I could not play Kaelyssa and was also a bit too tired to deal with infantry armies, I simply put together Falcir and Issyria.

Game 1 vs Stijn: Scaverous (Split Decision)

Stijn again, this time with Scaverous against my Issyria. He ran the Deathjack, 2 Rippers and Barathrum, Aiakos ran Kharybdis and Asphyxious ran a Talon, plus some solos and a Thrall squad with 3 Brutes in ambush.

Unfortunately for Stijn, he was too conservative and while he killed one Trident with Barathrum, my counterattack killed Barathrum, a Deathripper and Kharybdis, which meant that his second attack only managed to remove the second Trident (after TKing it into the ambushing Thralls) and a Griffon. Crucially, he hadn´t put a model on his flag to score in my second turn and not put a Machine Wraith in the zone to score the flag or contest the zone, so as I was 2-1 starting my third turn (he played first), I only had to move the Hermit up to contest his flag and put -2 ARM on the objective, kill that with the Harpy and Discordia (potentially having another go with Issyria´s Ancillary Attack), run a Mechanic to the flag in the zone, a unit of Arcanists to score the zone and move Issyria over to my flag to score 4 points and win 6-1 on scenario.

Unfortunately, my team mates could not win their games.

Game 2 vs Cathol: Lylyth1 (Split Decision)

He ran Lylyth1 with an Archangel, Golab, a Bolt Thrower, an Archon with an Angelius, some Striders and Deathstalkers, a Hellmouth and solos. I dropped Falcir.

He went first, I moved up but avoiding the Angel´s threat range. I also slammed Golab into the objective with Force Hammer through the Chimera just out of spite. Golab could reach the Chimera under Full Steam after a Deathstalker had shot it for a point to trigger Finisher. Golab killed it and dinged up a Griffon too. Lylyth had to move up a bit to keep Golab in her control area. She also shot a Manticore to put Parasite on it and boosted a damage roll into it. Finally, the Archangel moved up and killed the Manticore before repositioning next to Lylyth. Which was a mistake as it meant that Elara could put Ghost Walk on Falcir, the Trident placed her two inches further up, then she used Vanish to flicker 3 inches forward and then she charged the Archangel to get Lylyth into her melee range. She feated, put up Full Throttle and then carved up Lylyth.

My team also won their games, so we went 3-0 that round.

So my weekend started with Falcir eating an alpha and then killing a Legion caster, then ended with her doing the same in the tenth game. I am happy with my lists and think my overall performance was good, but with room for improvement. More importantly, I am still eager to play Retribution, though I might try some Protectorate too over the next few weeks.

Nothing is sexier than statistics: A summary of my games in 2021

I haven´t really been keeping my blog going over the last few months, as I have had a lot of work to do as well as spending a lot of time with the family as we have some exciting family-related projects going on. I have however been playing quite a few games since summer and I have been keeping a game log, so here is one for the chart-crunchers, table lovers and Excel acolytes among you.

ALL MY GAMES IN 2021!

I am keeping a log of all my games, including casters played, scenarios, wins, losses, win conditions, and so forth and I thought it might be nice for me to reflect on my performance, using my notes. I hope you find this entertaining or useful. If not, see if I care.

SOLOMACHINE (26 games)

Obviously, in Solomachine, as I was playing myself, I have a 100% win or loss record, depending on how you want to look at it. Or 50% if you want to be weird.

I looked at the scenarios, but as I sometimes just kept the same one for two or three games as I was too lazy to rearrange the table each time. So not much can be read from it.

Regarding the victory conditions, I got:

Scenario	4
Assassination	6
Attrition	16

My thoughts on these are: the division between scenario and attrition might be a tad artificial, as all but the most dramatic scenario wins are due to attrition giving one side a free flank or flag to score out on. It is also hard to play both sides in a way that leads to really surprising plays where one side can combo out a scenario win, apart from the most extreme scenario casters like Magnus2. Likewise, you tend to be less able to assassinate if you play both sides and know the tricks on both sides. This means that games often result in grindier attrition games.

Winning casters:

Ashlynn2	2
Skarre2	1
Goreshade2	1
Agathia1	1
Cyrenia1	1
Irusk1	1
Aurora2	1
Rahera1	1
Damiano1	1
Garryth1	1
Severius2	1
Gorten1	1
Falcir1	1
Issyria1	1
Haley3	1
Vlad3	1
Magnus2	1
Nemo3	1
Deneghra1	1
Kaelyssa1	1
Sturgis1	1
Asphyxious1	1

Maybe I should concentrate on fewer casters, but I have too many casters still waiting to be played. Ashlynn2 is obviously broken as the only caster with two wins.

Losing casters

Shae1	3
Maddox1	2
Siege2	1
Feora4	1
Ossrum1	1
Gastone2	1
Agathia1	1
Deneghra1	1
High Reclaimer1	1
Agathon1	1
Gorten1	1
Severius2	1
Kozlov1	1
Aurora1	1
Goreshade3	1
Cyrenia1	1
Goreshade4	1
Nemo3	1
Thyra1	1
Ashlynn2	1

Poor Shae, I just don´t seem to be able to play you well. Quite a few casters are both on the winning and the losing side at least once. I re-racked a few games and got two different results with that.

Played factions and results

	Total games	Wins	Losses
Cryx	9	6	3
Mercenaries	14	6	8
Menoth	7	2	5
Khador	3	2	1
Retribution	5	4	1
Cygnar	7	3	4
Infernals	1	0	1

As I began the game with Cygnar, I have always considered myself to be a Cygnar player, but apparently I am not. Likewise for the Protectorate with a disappointing 2-5 result. Mercenaries have so many themes that I am not surprised I played them so often, but I would have thought they were stronger. It´s obviously me, not them.

Cryx on the other hand seems to be a faction I like in this format, I guess that they lend themselves well to attrition plays with their plethora of debuff casters.

WARTABLE GAMES PLAYED (71 games played)

I probably should have edited this a bit, as it includes anything from casual games over leagues to tournaments such as VTC, where I played for Germany this year.

I scored 35 wins and 36 losses, so a very balanced final result. However, I am a bit disappointed by my 1-4 performance at the VTC, especially two games that I should have won if I had played better or been less relying on dice. On the other hand, my results in the second half of the year have been picking up, I even managed to win a three-round league in December. I have been focusing on Retribution since deciding on playing for Germany again, though this time not in the first team, as I have less time to spend on preparing for the event and don´t want to let my team down.

Scenarios won and lost

	Wins	Losses
Spread the Net	7	6
Bunkers	8	7
Anarchy	4	5
Invasion	3	8
Brawlmachine	8	3
Recon	2	1
Split Decision	4	1
King of the Hill	0	4

I am a bit surprised by my dreadful performance on Invasion and King of the Hill. Maybe I need to work harder on my attrition play as these are scenarios that are slower and often reward a heavy attrition approach. I seem to be good on Split Decision, a scenario where you can score 4 points in one turn without having to really extend a lot. The rest looks balanced.

Win and loss conditions

	Wins	Losses
Assassination	10	6
Scenario	10	12
Attrition	12	15
Deathclock	3	2
Tilt		1

All seems to be roughly even, I played a lot of Aurora2 early on and often tried to assassinate casters, so I have more assassinations early in the year and hardly any towards the end of the year. I guess that shows progress as it is often better to go for a grindier than a riskier approach.

The one game I lost on tilt is something I want to talk about, I was playing a very nice opponent in a Brawlmachine league and I had a 93% assassination on Shae with Deneghra1, as well as a strong attrition out, both obviously due to the feat. However, my dice utterly crapped the bed and both the assassination and the attrition plays failed as I could not roll over a five on 2d6 for a whole turn, so I told my opponent that they had done nothing wrong and had been a very nice opponent, but that I was not really in a state where I would continue the game, especially as a concession would give them maximum points, so I wasn´t stealing any points for them. Sometimes you have to realise that you are not in a state in which the game is a good experience for you or your opponent and just walk away.

Winning and losing casters

	Wins	Losses
Aurora2	9	14
Falcir1	4	5
Bartolo1	4	2
Fiona1	3	1
Deneghra1	3	1
Kaelyssa1	3	2
Magnus2	1	1
Goreshade4	1	2
Vlad2	1	1
Malekus1	1	0
Garryth1	1	0
Ravyn1	1	0
Stryker1	1	1
Haley1	1	1
Vyros2	1	0
Zerkova2	0	2
Siege1	0	2
Sturgis1	0	1

I chose to run Aurora2 and Fiona as my VTC pair, so that explains the number of games I played with them. Aurora´s win rate is frankly embarrassing, especially considering that she was one of the best casters pre-balance update and I probably should have done much better with her as a result of the number of games played. On the other hand, I did run her a lot into my teammates so in the end, they had quite a lot of practice against her, which explains a few of the losses, but still I should have done better with her.

Bartolo was my caster in a Brawlmachine team league and he is awesome in that format.

As I have been playing a lot of Retribution in the second half of the year, it explains my number of wins and losses with them. I had to learn them first, which is why I lost more games with them in summer than later in the year. I also lost the 100% identical list game of Falcir vs Falcir versus Daniel Bergström, probably one of the best Retribution players in the world. It was also my first game with Retribution and he won the roll to go first, but enough excuses.

Winning and losing factions

	Wins	Losses
Mercenaries	17	18
Retribution	11	9
Cryx	3	1
Cygnar	2	5
Menoth	1	0
Khador	1	3

Turns out that my stats are worse for the three factions I played for fun and I can be close to even or positive the more often I play a faction. Who would have thought it?

TOURNAMENT GAMES (4 games played)

I played in one real-life tournament and you can find a report of it in the previous article. I went 4-0 and am still undefeated on Belgian soil with 11-0 now.

I played all games with Falcir 1, so she is 4-0 this year. This is to a great extent due to my opponents not really being prepared for her, as none of them had played against her. I won 3 games by assassinating the enemy caster the second turn and the last one by tabling my opponent the third turn after he had left the kill box to avoid dying on the second turn.

The scenarios were Split Decision, Spread the Net, King of the Hill and Invasion, but they didn´t really matter as only the last two reached a stage where points were scored.

CASUAL GAMES PLAYED IN REAL LIFE (21 games played)

Before going into the results, I do not mean the term ´casual´ as being disparaging, some opponents have played on the VTC or WTC stage, but in the main, these were league games, pick-up games and so forth, not cutthroat tournament games.

My win-loss record is 17-4, because apparently I am a try-hard. Many of my opponents have not played on Wartable, so they haven´t had a lot of practice since the first lockdown and as a result, they were a bit rusty and Warmachine is still a game that punishes sloppy play, even though we would often discuss the plays or allow takebacks.

Wins and losses by scenario

	Wins	Losses
Invasion	3	1
Spread the Net	3	0
Brawlmachine	2	0
Split Decision	2	1
Oblivion campaign	2	1
Longest Night	2	0
King of the Hill	1	0
Bunkers	1	1
Introduction	1	0

Yeah, I know, you are supposed to let the newbie win the introduction game, but they (and their coach) made some questionable plays and tried to assassinate Malekus1 on a three-camp with Maddox1 without feat (having used it before). It didn´t go down well and Malekus clubbed her to death. The Cygnar box is also a lot weaker than the Menoth one in my opinion and we were given the factions by our host and the new player chose. So I take no responsibility. They also still play the game, so I don´t think I scarred them for life.

Wins and losses by casters

	Wins	Losses
Goreshade4	2	0
Sorscha1	2	0
Scaverous1	1	0
Skarre2	1	0
Fiona1	1	0
Ossrum1	1	0
Deneghra1	1	0
Agathia1	1	0
Shae1	1	0
Garryth1	1	0
Falcir1	1	0
No caster (Oblivion)	2	0
Malekus1	1	0
Kozlov1	1	0
Maddox1	0	1
Nemo2	0	1
Ashlynn2	0	1
Kaelyssa1	0	1

Nothing really sticks out here.

Wins and losses by win condition

	Wins	Losses
Assassination	6	1
Scenario	5	3
Attrition	6	0

So, this was a rundown of all my games last year. I highly recommend keeping a log and looking at your games, especially the ones you lose or win by a narrow margin to improve your game play.

Was it good for you too? Playing Falcir (and Goreshade4) at Steamroeselare3

As Covid restrictions are easing up in Europe, the first in-person tournaments are being organised and as I have been a nice husband recently, or so I was told, I was given leave to travel to Roeselare in Belgium where the incomparable Tim Bossuyt organised a 16-person (or 19 as he just decided to let the three people on the waiting list play too because it would be shitty otherwise) Steamroller.

As I have been enjoying playing Retribution of Scyrah a lot recently, I decided to run a pair of Goreshade4 in Defenders of Ios and Falcir, the Merciless, but wasn´t convinced what theme to run her in. Previously I played her in Defenders and Forges of War on Wartable and in real life, but also wanted to test her in Shadows of the Retribution. The only issue was that the 22 Mage Hunter Strike Force I had were not painted or even assembled as the person I bought them from forgot to include the cross parts of their crossbows. Fortunately, Niels and Xavier from Belgium both lent me a unit each, so I ended up with two full units. Still, I wasn´t sure if I should run that list, but Tim made the valid comment that if you borrow models, it would be rude not to play them, so I went with the Mage Hunters army.

My lists were

• Falcir, the Merciless + 28
  • Manticore 14
  • Manticore 14
• Void Archon 8
• Void Archon 8
• Nayl 3
• Narn, Mage Hunter of Ios 0 (5)
• Scythe 0 (6)
• Mage Hunter Assassin 4
• Arcanist Mechanik 2
• Arcanist Mechanik 2
• Mage Hunter Strike Force (max) 16
  • Officer 4
• Mage Hunter Strike Force (max) 16
  • Officer 4
• Mage Hunter Infiltrators (min) 8
  • Eyriss, Mage Hunter Commander 0 (6)
• (Shadow of the Retribution)

• Lord Ghyrrshyld, the Forgiven + 28
  • Manticore 14
  • Manticore 14
  • Chimera 8
  • Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker 4
• Scythe 0 (6)
• Hermit of Henge Hold 5
• House Ellowuyr Warden Executioner 0 (6)
• 2 Ghost Snipers 0 (2*3)
• Arcanist Mechanik 2
• Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress 4
• Aelyth Vyr, Blade of Nyssor 5
• Ryssovass Defenders (max) 15
• Ryssovass Defenders (max) 15
• House Ellowuyr Wardens (max) 14
• (Defenders of Ios)

The main list would be Falcir, as it can bully scenario very well, as well as being a decent control list. Goreshade was there to secure matchups that relied on spells or could deal with significant amounts of Stealth models easily.

GAME 1

My opponent was bringing Crucible Guard, both lists in Prima Materia, one with Syvestro and one with Lukas. I brainfarted a bit there, as in hindsight, Goreshade has a great matchup into Lukas by being able to Arcane Vortex Lukas´s spells on key models and Syvestro can make himself comparatively immune to Falcir´s shooting by using his Inpenetrable Haze Super Cloud and have all attacks coming from more than 5 inches away. Still, I picked Falcir and he correctly picked Syvestro to avoid playing Lukas into Goreshade.

Falcir wins the die roll thanks to the theme reroll. Everyone runs forward. In their turn one, Crucible Guard kills 5 Mage Hunters but Syvestro has to use Super Fuel to do it.

In my second turn, Falcir walks over to engage a Failed Experiment, hits it, puts Execute on Syvestro, feats, puts Prey Upon on him and Force Hammers him. The damage from the slam, Eyriss4´s shot and a Void Archon are enough to finish him. We played it through with the Super Cloud and Admonition, but she still gets to charge him to force him out of the cloud and then he dies.

GAME 1 1/2

‘

As the first game only took fifteen minutes, we agreed to play our other lists to give my opponent some practice into Retribution as he has no Retribution player in his local meta, as well as giving me more practice with Goreshade in general. This was a bit of a grind, but I was able to use the Ghost Snipers and the Manticore on the right to kill his Prospero on his flag, which only made the Suppressor on that flank inert.

Goreshade´s feat made his Archon stationary when it counterattacked, so I could pick it up easily and collapse that flank while my Hermit picnicked on my flag. Thanks to some Revives fueled by the feat and the Defenders being able to take out a few Failed Experiments with their Dying Breath attacks, I also overwhelmed the left flag and was able to score both flags and the circular zone to score out the scenario.

GAME 2

My second opponent brought Haley2 in Storm Division and Stryker 2 in Flame in the Darkness. He felt that Goreshade would negate Haley2´s spell list as well as having too many Weaponmasters for her to handle with her reduced feat. Likewise, she would be too fragile to avoid being shot to death by Falcir´s Mage Hunters. So he picked Stryker2 and being uncreative and a bit worried I wouldn´t make it through a long attrition game against Legion of Lost Souls with all these living models in Goreshade´s list, I went for Falcir.

I went first again and ran my whole army up 12 inches. Stryker2 left the deployment zone and put up Deceleration, which was a mistake as most of my models had Blessed ranged weapons. Unfortunately, that left him a bit short on focus.

In turn 2, Falcir charges a Legion of Lost Souls model, feats, puts Prey Upon on the Legion and Stryker2, as well as dropping a few extra tokens just for the heck of it. She hits her charge target and puts Execute on Stryker as well. She then Force Hammers a Legionnaire over Stryker2 to knock him down and deal some damage to him at dice off 4. The first two Mage Hunters remove his Shield Guards and the fifth one kills him. If he camped all 6 focus, I would have probably needed the whole unit to kill him but the odds were strongly in my favour, especially as Eyriss3 could also have shot him once the Shield Guards were removed.

GAME 3

My third opponent ran Sorscha1 in a Winter Guard list and Vlad2 in Doom Reaver spam. As both lists consisted mainly of light infantry, I immediately decided to drop Falcir as her Mage Hunters can drop them comfortably and quickly. As my opponent was inquiring repeatedly about Goreshade´s cold immunity, I assumed he wouldn´t drop Sorscha, but was willing to take the risk as Falcir is also immune to being made Stationary. In the end, he decided to go for Sorscha anyway.

I didn’t get first turn for once and he advanced aggressively, which let me clear off some guys and repo out of threat. Falcir stood half behind a building, so 19/17 immune to stationary and camping 7, so that assassination was not happening.

In his turn two, his Ol´Grim killed Narn on a lucky roll and his Gun Carriage aggressively charged into the left Mage Hunters, killing three. However, he then made a mistake and killed Nayl with his caster, losing all focus on Sorscha and her battle group, so he prompty ended his turn and conceded as his caster is in Falcir´s Cyclone and charge range without focus.

We played it through if he didn’t kill Nayl and feated or just fell back with Sorscha1, but then I would attrition his army as the Gun Carriage and Ol´Grim were killed by the Ambushing Infiltrators and a Void Archon while the Strike Forces and the other Void Archon killed off more Winter Guard, letting me score three scenario points easily, while also curtailing his remaining forces with the Manticore´s Covering Fire templates.

GAME 4

As there were three undefeated players at this stage, there would be a pair-down and the other two undefeateds would play each other. It turned out that I was not paired down, but would play against the Protectorate of Menoth, run by a WTC level player to boot.

He brought Cyrenia and Severius1, but in Faithful Masses. At this stage, I was really confident in Falcir, so I decided to drop her again, while my opponent dropped Severius as he would be able to stay further back and avoid being assassinated.

Falcir went first thanks to the reroll and her entire force ran forward, apart from the Ambushing Infiltrators with Eiryss3. On his first turn, Sevy1’s Judicator missed one boosted 12 (hitting the other) on a Void Archon, leaving it on 5 boxes. The Judicator also got a Bounty token.

In turn 2, Falcir feated, putting Execute and Prey Upon on the Judicator, Prey Upon on a Menite Archon and dropped some more tokens, then she cast Cyclone to move back behind a building. The wounded Void Archon could kill an Initiate (it had a soul token from an Arcanist dying to the rockets fired at the Archon by the Judicator) after the other Void Archon had softened the Initiate up, so it could teleport and punch the Judicator twice, then 11 Mage Hunters casually removed it, as it was ARM17 under Dark Shroud, and the Mage Hunters were PoW12 with Prey Upon, a reroll to damage and 3 damage dice thanks to Jack Hunter. My Mage Hunter Assassin hit the Preyed Upon Menite Archon (first attack he hit in 8 games), one-shooting it (Weapon Master dice off 8 Decapitation). The other Archon died to Scythe and a Manticore (it was in cover and angry, so ARM21, but I had Mark the Target and Prey Upon, so Scythe needed 7s and the Manticore aimed to an 11), then I cleared off that side with Mage Hunter Infiltrators and Strike Force.

This meant that Sevy had to stay out of the killbox and needed to try a spell assassination with Blessing of Vengeance, but against a 19/17 Falcir with 3 Focus, that was never going to happen. As I controlled one square zone, I went 3-0 there and then.

In my third turn 3 I swept away all of his army barring Sevy, a Hermit and a mounted Paladin and won 7-0 on scenario.

AFTERMATH

As the paired-down player also won his fourth game, it went to tie-breakers to see who won the event and as he had better strength of schedule (or opponent score, whichever term you prefer), he deservedly took first place and I came second. However, as I am more concerned with my score than standing, I was perfectly happy with an undefeated result and an overall second place.

Tim and Anya ran a great event and it was great to play events in person again. Everyone respected the Covid restrictions (you had to wear a mask inside unless you were sitting down) and everything went down without a problem. Tim also had the great idea to set up fixed scenarios on the 12 tables he had set up, then assigning players to different tables each round, so instead of players having to handle terrain and scenario elements each round, they could move from table to table and leave the tables relatively untouched. I will try this out too should I run another event after the pandemic.

THOUGHTS ON FALCIR

I have been playing Falcir in three online leagues as well as some solo games over the last few months, but I was still surprised by the sheer amount of impact she had on the table during the tournament. The theme force lets her go first relatively often, which means that she usually sits at the 19-inch line and can then threaten another 17 inches after this, meaning that any model leaving the deployment zone by 2 inches and/or entering the killbox is potentially in danger of being charged by her. Moreover, she doesn´t even have to do the deed herself, as she can use Force Hammer from that forward position to knock down the enemy warcaster, then have the Strike Force and Eiryss finish them off.

If that doesn´t work, she can leverage her firepower under feat to either remove most infantry or eliminate the heaviest-hitting models in the enemy force while still bullying the enemy warcaster. She will definitely be a caster I will keep in my tournament bag.

If its ears are / aren´t (delete as applicable) round, put it in the ground: Major Beth Maddox vs Garryth, The Blade Of Retribution (Solomachine)

Welcome to this week´s battle report! After the VTC, I decided that it was time for a new faction and as the new elves looked quite cool and there was a used lot for sale in my meta, I thought why not? While it was tempting to start straight off with Garryth2, Issyria and the new hotness Falcir, I felt more compelled to look at the freshly-updated Garryth1 as my starting point. Facing off against them will be a Beth Maddox list in Heavy Metal that I was using quite a bit recently.

NOTE: The Arcantrik Force Generator is a proxy for a Trident, as mine are still somewhere in America and estimated to arrive by the end of the month.

I decided to use more 3D terrain, let me know if you like it or not.

DEPLOYMENT

The Cygnaran forces won the die roll and decided to go first because they had 4 upkeep spells they wanted to put in play early on. The army consisted of: Beth Maddox with a Squire and two Stormclads, Archduke Arlan Strangewayes, two Morrowan Archons, Anastasia di Bray, Grand Master Gabriel Throne, Journeyman Warcaster with Firefly, 2 max units of Sword Knights with Officer and Standard, min unit of Field Mechaniks. It is all in the Heavy Metal theme.

The Retribution forces: Garryth1 with Sylys Wyshnalyrr, Phoenix, Manticore, Chimera and Moros, Elara, Tyro of the Third Chamber with Gorgon, 3 Arcanist Mechaniks, House Shyeel Artificer, Scythe, House Shyeel Arcanists, Cylena Rafyll and the Nyss Hunter (max), Trident in the Forges of War theme.

Side view

ROUND 1

Beth Maddox put Assail on the right Stormclad and Snipe on the left one, then Dauntless Resolve on the right unit of Sword Knights. Runewood gave that unit Pathfinder.

Throne gave the other Sword Knight unit Pathfinder too and the Journeyman cast Arcane Shield on them. The rest of the Cygnar army ran forward. The Archon nestled in each unit to cover them with their aura and make them virtual DEF17 in melee.

The Chimera got loaded up with Focus for its Phantasmal Field ability, then ran forward. It even got place another two inches forward by the Trident after the Trident repositioned back. The Trident kept one power token for next round. Sylys told Garryth an Arcane Secret and then he cast Crippling Grasp on the left Sword Knights. He then cast Mirage on himself and repositioned forward.

Elara cast Silence of Death on herself. The Trident had a Force Barrier up.

The Artificer cast Force Wall on the Nyss, who then ran forward, staying out of the reduced threat range of the Sword Knights. The Manticore put up a Covering Fire in front of the right Sword Knights.

ROUND 2

Despite being DEF 15 against shooting, the Chimera took a boosted shot from the Firefly, followed a lucky hit from Throne, who also gave the left Sword Knights Tough, which took out the Generator and thus the Phantasmal Field. The Stormclads advanced a bit, getting a free focus activating next to Maddox thanks to Accumulator Storm Knight, then shot the Chimera down easily.

Never one to miss an opportunity for a cheap kill, Anastasia tried to shiv the Artificer, but fell one short of killing him.

The Sword Knights on the Cygnaran right shuffled forward due to Crippling Grasp, whereas their colleagues on the left ran around the Covering Fire and into the round zone.

The Artificer staggered around and walloped Anastasia, killing her with one swipe of his Megamittens.

The Gorgon sprayed over three Sword Knights, hitting two, but one toughed. It then moved back thanks to Speed of Death.

Scythe and the Nyss unloaded into the Sword Knights. There are some lucky Tough rolls and the Archon also took a shot in the process, but in the end only four Sword Knights were still alive.

The Trident got back to three Power Tokens, moved forward and dragged the Phoenix forward into charge range of the left Stormclad, then fired all its guns into the Archon, leaving it on two damage boxes. It then repositioned back.

The Arcanist squad of doom fueled up the Phoenix and gave it Concentrated Power, as well as pumping focus into Moros. The Phoenix charged the Stormclad and left it on for damage boxes, but knocking out everything but the Cortex. Moros moved to the centre and shot the Archon with a fully boosted shot, banishing it back to Morrow´s realm (the shelf, Morrow´s realm is the shelf). More repositioning happened.

Garryth took out the Stormclad with two boosted handcannon shots. The Manticore threw down a Covering Fire in front of it, as the Sword Knights had fanned out all over the zone to limit good Covering Fire placements. They also regretted not having a jack nearby to procc Flank of.

No points are scored this round.

Cygnar 0 – Retribution 0

ROUND 3

The Sword Knights tried to avenge the Archon and killed two Nyss Hunters.

The Stormclad managed to score five telling blows onto the Phoenix, leaving it nary a box, so Throne took it out.

The Morrowan Archon charged the Manticore, but not doing much more than denting its Power Field. The Firefly took two swings at Moros, but DEF14 made it hard for the Firefly to land a telling blow.

No points are scored again.

Cygnar 0 – Retribution 0

The Manticore was fully loaded, braved a free strike from the Archon into its reloaded Power Field to walk behind the Archon and kill it, but then could not hit the Sword Knights around it.

The Nyss Hunters killed every Sword Knight bar the leader, who remained standing on one damage box. They also dealt some damage to Throne and a Stormclad.

The Artificer cast Magno Bolt on the Officer, pushing the Nyss in melee away before dealing damage, so only the Officer died.

The Gorgon wounded Throne severely, but had to kill a Nyss Hunter to get the shot. Scythe also shot Throne, but missed him on the second shot.

Sylys told Garryth another secret (´Don´t miss now or you are fucked!´) and he cast Crippling Grasp on the second Stormclad, then shot it with his two guns before moving back 3 inches. The Trident then does Trident things, charging the Firefly to slam it into the house, then shooting it with its right guns, as well as taking huge chunks out of the Stormclad from the other two sides. Happy with its work, the Trident fell back.

Moros used a focus point to activate its Fleet ability, then walked over the Firefly, cut down the Stormclad with two swipes, stabbed Throne with its third strike and then carved a bit out of the objective as an encore.

Seeing how the Firefly could get back up again and potentially kill Garryth, Elara charged over the objective and finished off the Cygnar light.

The Nyss Hunters scored the left zone.

Cygnar 0 – Retribution 1

ROUND 4

Seeing how there is no point holding back, Maddox feated. The Journeyman put Arcane Shield on her and Maddox camped six to be as safe as possible (oh well, Garryth´s feat being Garryth´s feat and all…)

Aided by the feat, the Sword Knights cut the Manticore apart.

Runewood ran into the zone to contest it. The Gobber Mechaniks initiated Operation Gobber Shield. The Sword Knights scored the left zone.

Cygnar 1 – Retribution 1

The Trident charged into the Sword Knights, placing Garryth forward with a Telekinetic Wave.

It sprayed all around itself, killing four Sword Knights in total.

The Nyss Hunters killed Runewood and began scoring the zone again.

Elara put Ghost Walk on Garryth.

The Gorgon and Moros used all their attacks to kill the objective.

Scythe cleared out all four Mechaniks in one fell swoop.

With all the swagger in the world, Garryth charged Maddox, used his feat to prevent her from reducing the damage and then went to town on her, but ended up not killing her! Oh the shame! Retribution scored the middle zone, the left one and got a point for destroying the objective.

Cygnar 1 – Retribution 4

ROUND 5 (SHORT VERSION)

Turns out that without being able to spend focus, Maddox had no chance to hit Garryth and the Sword Knights could not destroy the Trident, so the Journeyman and the Squire had to run to contest and nothing else happened.

In the Retribution turn, the Trident killed another six Sword Knights, with only the Officer surviving. The Gorgon killed the Journeyman and the Nyss scrapped the Squire.

Wanting to end it all, Moros charged and paralysed Maddox before Garryth finished her of on the last attack as she now had seven focus points to prevent damage.

Cygnar 1 – Retribution 6

ASSASSINATION AND SCENARIO WIN FOR THE RETRIBUTION

Henge Hold revisited: Captain Damiano vs Agathon, The Voice in the Darkness (King of the Hill)

This week´s game sees Captain Damiano face off against Agathon, the Voice in Darkness, in another humdinger of a game. I was initially a bit reluctant as having a troop-heavy list face off against a caster with Hellmouth seems to be a recipe for disaster, but we will see if those fears were justified.

Damiano won the roll-off and went first. His list consisted of: Damiano with Sylys Wyshnalyrr, Nomad and Rocinante, Anastasia di Bray, Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye, Alexia2, Stannis Broker, 2 Death Archons, max Steelhead Cavalry, 2 full units of Steelhead Halberdiers, min Steelhead Riflemen and a Steelhead Volley Gun.

Agathon brought: Agathon with Roget d´Vyaros, 2 Tormentors, Soul Stalker, 3 Foreboders, Infernal Gate, Princess Regna, Hermit, Wretch, Runewood2, Eilish2, Umbral Guardian, Nicia2, Lynda, max Cultists with Orin2, min Cultists

Something, something, sideview

ROUND 1

The Steelheads ran forward. Death March went on the Halberdiers on the left and Sure Foot on the ones on the right of the screen.

Nicia was moved forward by the Gate, which missed its own shots (they had to scatter anyway as nobody was in 12 inches) and killed a Halberdier, giving a soul to Agathon.

Agathon dropped another two Steelheads with Dark Fires, taking their souls too. They then summoned a Desolator, which moved backwards after placing a cloud. The Wretch got sacrificed for it. Regna summoned a Shrieker and the Infernal forces ran forward.

ROUND 2

Rocinante tried to shoot the Soul Stalker, but the Umbral Guardian appeared and took the shot, but died from it.

Anastasia came in from Ambush and stabbed Nicia in the back, using her Backstab ability, you know, for backstabbing.

The Death Archon who had collected the corpses of the three dead Halberdiers used two for Annihilator and Spectral Fucker, erm Flicker, charged the Foreboder and then placed into melee with the Tormentor (which had elected not to countercharge as it would otherwise have been in range of all the Halberdiers and gunners on that side). The second attack finished off the Foreboder and dealt a disappointing 4 damage to the Tormentor, even after being boosted to 4 dice.

Never the less, some Halberdiers managed to charge the Tormentor and also engage the Shrieker.

Damiano gave the Volleygun and Riflemen a coin each for Moneyshot, which enabled them to kill the Tormentor. The Riflemen used their War-Tempered ability to deal the killing blow.

The Halberdiers on the left were on fire and killed the Soul Stalker easily.

At the end of the turn, the Steelheads were very much in the face of the Infernals.

Regna and Agathon each ate one Cultist from the leftmost unit.

Lynda the Forgotten had been forgotten by Anastasia and she ambushed the Ambusher, backstabbing the backstabber … OK, I´ll see myself out now.

The Cultists flailed about ineffectively at the DEF15 Halberdiers, but Orin killed two with an Annihilation spell, gaining two souls in the process.

Roget d´Vyaros had to kill one of the Cultists as it was in the way of the Tormentor.

Roget then got turned into a Tormentor. Agathon also feated this turn. They also cast two Hellmouth spells, avoiding targeting models in 3″ of Alexia. That killed two Heavy Cavalry models, the second Death Archon, some Halberdiers and dinged up the Nomad, though not destroying any systems.

As Eilish Garrity missed his Hex Blast spell even with Agathon´s additional feat dice, the Tormentor had to boost his attacks and only killed two Halberdiers.

The Infernal Gate shot into the Halberdier unit and killed 3.

The Shrieker shrieked and killed the last Halberdier in the way to make space for the Desolator.

The Desolator charged the Archon and finished it easily.

The Infernal counterstrike killed many Halberdiers, but didn´t really get to the models behind them. The Infernals scored the rightmost square zone.

Mercenaries 0 – Infernals 1

ROUND 3

Alexia dropped a Thrall, which then ran into the zone, but missed the Foreboder.

Damiano feated and hung back in the trench. The Halberdiers charged the two Tormentors to stop countercharges, then Rocinante walked in melee with one and finished it off, using Quick Work to blast Orin and two Cultists. Orin used a meat shield to avoid dying, but that meant his unit died apart from him.

The Nomad charged the Tormentor and dealt some damage to it, then made the stupid decision to try and kill the Arc Node to protect Damiano, but missed it twice.

Stannis casually finished it off and went base to base with the central flag.

The Cavalry rode in, killing the Tormentor thanks to their Flank (Steelhead Halberdier) ability and also riding down Alain Runewood.

This triggered Revelations of the Outer Dark and Agathon cast another Hellmouth, killing a Halberdier and hurting both Riders, though the bonus armour from the feat kept them and the Nomad mostly safe.

The Halberdiers (two of whom had been returned by Dr. Nick, though those didn´t attack of course) dealt some hefty damage to the Desolator, then the Volleygun and Riflemen, once again motivated by some coins, shot it down.

At the end of the turn, the Mercenaries had pushed hard, killing all Infernal heavies and occupying most of the terrain. They also scored two points for the centre flag and the central zone.

Mercenaries 2 – Infernals 1

Orin killed two Halberdiers by blasting them with Annihilation.

The Infernal Gate shot two Halberdiers with its first shot, then three Riflemen as an encore.

The last Cultist on the left (his friend got eaten by Agathon) failed to kill a Halberdier), but Regna killed one in melee, using his essence to cast a Hellfire at his friend.

Regna repositioned into the left zone, then her Shrieker advanced and killed two Halberdiers with its ranged attack.

The Hermit walked into the middle of the round zone and cast Whispers at the Gate. Eilish cast Puppet Master on Agathon, who then killed the single rider with a Dark Fire, then the other two with a Hellmouth, before walking away, muttering about the match-up being lopsided and Mercenaries being cheating gits.

Lynda ran into the central zone to contest it. No scenario elements were scored as the Foreboder could not kill the Thrall Warrior.

Mercenaries 2 – Infernals 1

ROUND 4

Rocinante killed the Foreboder in the left zone, then used Quick Work and Powerful Attack to fire into Orin, who used his last Cultist as a Sacrificial Pawn again.

Thanks to being fully fueled by Damiano, the Nomad hit the Hermit five times to kill him.

Stannis rode down Lynda and the Cultist. In return, he ate a Dark Fire from Agathon.

The Volley Gun unloaded into the Shrieker with Damiano´s last coin dropping it to one damage box, then the Riflemen shot Regna. Even transferring one damage to the Shrieker, she died.

Alexia charged Orin, but he used the souls of his cultists to avoid being killed. At the end of the turn, Damiano´s toe had toed into the central zone
and Dr. Nick scored the flag.

Mercenaries 4 – Infernals 1

Eilish finished Stannis with a Hex Blast and teleported into the central zone.

The Infernal Gate killed all four Riflemen with two shots.

Agathon summoned a Tormentor from the remain of Eilish, then cast a couple of Dark Fires into the Nomad. No points were scored this turn.

Mercenaries 4 – Infernals 1

ROUND 5

Rocinante and the Thrall Warrior destroyed the Infernal objective.

After she had failed to hit Orin the round before and he had returned the favour the turn after, Alexia feinted with her sword to draw out the last soul token on Orin, then trampled him into the dirt.

The Volleygun softened up the Tormentor, then the Nomad wailed on it until it went back from whence it came. Damiano then casually strolled to the central flag, scoring another two points for the Mercenaries, in addition to the other two they scored for the Infernal objective and the left zone.

Mercenaries 8 – Infernals 1

SCENARIO WIN FOR THE MERCENARIES!

AFTERTHOUGHTS

I am a bit of two minds about Agathon. I love what they bring to the table, but there is no armour breaking in the list. Maybe the Soul Stalker should have been a third Tormentor and the summoning button should be firmly locked on Tormentors too, but where is the fun in that?

The Steelheads look a bit like an army from a different age, as they really want to play a fair game in a meta that dislikes fair games. I guess a version that is lighter on actual Steelheads might be better, but again, where is the fun in that?

´I like my models like my steak, medium rare.´ The High Reclaimer vs Captain Rahera, Terror of the Wailing Seas (Solo Machine) (King of the Hill)

This week, I am going to try a new layout, so I am curious as to how you respond to the new layout or whether I should go back to the old format.

The premise of this battle report is to use some of the less played models that would otherwise rot on the shelf, especially medium base infantry from the Protectorate and Cryx that rarely see the table. Hence the groan-inducing pun in the title.

Menoth wins the roll-off and goes first.

Menite deployment

The list is: The High Reclaimer with a Hierophant and a Judicator, a Bastion Seneschal, High Exemplar Gravus, a Wrack, min choir, 2 max units of Exemplar Cinerators with CA, a max unit of Exemplar Bastions.

Cryx deployment

Cryx is bringing: Rahera with a Kraken and a Blood Priestess, Axiara Wraithblade, Ragman, 2 max units of Black Ogrun Boarding Crew, 2 max units of Black Ogrun Smog Belchers, a unit of Black Ogrun Ironmongers and a unit of Sharde Dirge Seers.

Side view

The High Reclaimer puts Hand of Fate on the Judicator, then the whole Menite army pushes forward.

Rahera casts Escort and Rough Seas.

The Ogrun and the Kraken rush to the centre to take up shooting positions.

ROUND 2

The Judicator gets full focus and has the Hymn of Battle sung on it, then goes to town on the Kraken, even with the range penalty from Rough Seas.

The Exemplars take up screening positions and get ready to weather the storm. Both Cinerator units use their mini-feats to get Reposition 5 and Shield Wall.

Rahera feats and the Ogrun go to town..

One of the Cinerators unfortunately gets dragged into melee with Ragman, who has put up Death Field…

At the end of the feat attacks, the whole right unit of Cinerators has been killed. The one in melee with Ragman is unceremoniously dispatched by Axiara Wraithblade. Rahera then repositions backwards than to the Special Orders Axiara has given her. The orders probably are: ´Don´t die!´

Rahera hasn´t had any charge targets, so she cannot cast Manifest Destiny. This makes the odds of the Kraken being able to kill the Judicator very bad, so it instead walks into the five remaining Cinerators on the left and kills them all, finishing off the last one with its Kill Shot ability. The Ogrun Ironmongers repaired it for 8 boxes before going in.

No side scores any points.

Protectorate 0 – Cryx 0

ROUND 3

Even after allocating and upkeeping Hand of Fate, the High Reclaimer still has a pile of focus points left.

The Shrine shoots the Ogrun twice, killing one on the second shot. The spray misses two Ogrun but kills a Dirge Seer.

The Bastions charge and bring the Kraken down to 5 boxes, as well as killing a Boarding Crew Ogrun.

The Bastion Seneschal then finishes it off.

Casting Ashes to Ashes twice, the High Reclaimer kills two Ogrun and another Dirge Seer, then puts a cloud in front of himself.

The Choir Master sings the Hymn of Battle again and the Choirboys kill each other and the Vassal Mechanic to put some soul token on the Shrine after it shot.

The Judicator sprays and shoots rockets at Rahera, killing the models around her thanks to Sucker! until a lucky rocket deviation hits the Blood Priestess, so Rahera has to take the last shot to the face, taking 8 damage even with Escort up and focus reduction.

No side scores a point, but there is a Judicator-sized problem facing down Rahera.

Protectorate 0 – Cryx 0

Ragman casts Death Field again. The Boarding Crew charges the Kraken, then all the Smog Belchers light it up. In the end, it is the humble Deathripper that brings it down.

The Ogrun who is engaged in melee kills a Bastion.

Still no scoring happens.

Protectorate 0 – Cryx 0

ROUND 4

The High Reclaimer casts Hand of Fate on the Bastions. The Bastion Seneschal heals the Bastions, who have taken a bit of damage at this point, and kills the Ogrun engaging them. Yes, technically they only heal when they activate, but that will happen right now.

The Bastions charge the Deathripper and the Smog Belchers. The first one deals 14 damage to the Deathripper, but not destroying its movement, so the second one manages to actually miss it with the roll above…

… they also put down a Smog Belcher, though she toughs on the first attack.

The Murder Church kills an Ogrun and deals spray damage to the rest of them.

Still no scoring and both sides start running out of models.

Protectorate 0 – Cryx 0

The Dirge Seer charges to eat the Defensive Strike.

One Boarder (?) harpoons a Choir member, the other one shoots the Hierophant and drags him closer, but cannot hit him in melee, so the Deathripper finishes him off.

Rahera charges the last Bastion, loses 5 boxes after focus reduction of the Defensive Strike, but kills the Bastion in return. She puts up Rough Seas and sprints behind the wall.

The second unit of Smog Belchers have also done something this turn, but I am not sure what. However, there are finally points being scored as the Boarding Crew scores the central zone.

Protectorate 0 – Cryx 1

ROUND 5

Gravus charges a Smog Belcher, but the Impact does not deal enough damage and the Ogrun toughs against the charge attack.

The Choir Leader charges Raggedy Mandy in the rear, hits her, then fails to roll high enough to kill her.

The Shrine of the Lawgiver kills one Ogrun and another one with the spray attack.

The High Reclaimer goes ham, killing the Deathripper, Raggedy Mandy and the last member of the Boarding Crew.

He also returns all the dead Choir boys as there is no point not feating.

As no unit is completely in the zone, no points are scored again.

Protectorate 0 – Cryx 1

Rahera puts Black Spot on the High Reclaimer to reduce his DEF, then shoots him with her handcannon. Axiara shoots him too, as does the last Smog Belcher on the right. Finally, the Smog Belcher charge the High Reclaimer and kill him.

Protectorate 0 – Cryx 2

ASSASSINATION VICTORY FOR CRYX!

´Call yourself a pirate? You don´t even have a ship, only two colossals!´ Captain Bartolo Montador vs Skarre, Admiral of the Black Fleet (Solo Machine)

As I have recently been on a pirate theme, I have decided to continue it in this battle report with a battle between Skarre3 and her pirate ship on one side and Broadsides Bart and his two Blockaders on the other side (note a Galleon stands in for the second Blockader, I have not made enough blogging money yet to afford to buy colossals for one-offs, I am still short, well, all of it as I have not monetised my blog).

The Mercenaries win the roll-off and go first. They bring:

Bartolo Montador: 2 Blockaders, a Talon, 3 Powder Monkeys, 1 Death Archon, First Mate Hawk, a Swamp Gobber River Raider, 2 min units of Press Gangers, the Commodore Cannon, Sharde Dirge Seers.

A big brick of ARM with some support and small units to support them.

Cryx is bringing:

Skarre3 with a Satyxis Blood Priestess, Kharybdis and a Slayer, General Gerlak Slaughterborn, 2 Death Archons, Axiara Wraithblade, Misery Cage, Asphyxious 4 with a Talon, max unit of Trollkin Marauders with Jussika, max unit of Black Ogrun Boarding Crew, Black Ogrun Ironmongers.

A solid list, shameless cribbed off the VTC list website.

Obligatory side view

ROUND 1

Bart puts up Hot-Shot on the left Blockader, Batten Down the Hatches and charges towards the wall.

The rest of the Mercenaries run forward.

Skarre casts Deceleration, Draconic Blessing on the Marauders and Dash, then moves forward. She also creates the mother of all traffic jams in front of her.

Cryx´s forces run as far as they can. The Boarding Crew are stymied by the barrage granted by the Talion Charter theme force.

ROUND 2

A Press Ganger unit comes in from the right, hiding behind a building.

The Powder Monkeys fuel up the right Blockader and both Blockaders focus fire on Kharybdis, both thanks to Deceleration, it stays in play on 8 boxes.

The Archon flies forward with Mortal Fear up, the Dirge Seers put clouds in front of Bart, who cast Batten Down the Hatches again and feats. The Talon runs to contest the left zone, staying barely in Bart´s control range. The Commodore Cannon dings up a Death Archon.

Asphyxious and his servitors run to enable one of the Servitors to get within melee range of the left Blockader and in formation. Asphyxious has to stay back as he would be dropped on his shiny metal ass by Bart´s feat otherwise. Then Kharybdis charges it, followed by some Marauders too.

The Blockader after the beating.

Cryx is coming in hard on the right, but the left looks dangerously overstretched.

Mercenaries 0 – Cryx 0

ROUND 3

The right Galleon is fueled by Bart and some Powder Monkeys and kills Kharybdis with ease…

… then drops the Talon too.

The Press Gangers move forward to score that zone.

The second unit of Press Gangers comes in from the left, adding a Marauder to their crew.

On the left, the Blockader pummels the Marauders, but being Tough and Steady avoids most of the damage. The Commodore Cannon slams Asphyxious backwards and kills the Misery Cage. The Death Archon charges into the pile, but cannot reach Asphyxious, killing Marauders instead. The Talon also charges forward into the pile.

Bart puts up Batten Down the Hatches and the Dirge Seers hide him.

End of Mercenaries turn 3, they score the right zone.

Mercenaries 1 – Cryx 0

The Marauders use their Vengeance moves and attacks kill a few Press Gangers.

Gerlak Slaughterborn kills off most of the Press Gangers, but misses one. Axiara Wraithblade finishes that one off later in the turn.

Asphyxious and the Death Archon drop the Talon and the Death Archon. The Death Archon also does some damage on the Blockader.

Between the Death Archon and the Marauders, the Blockader goes down.

Skarre feats, switches Draconic Blessing to the Slayer and fires her guns into the second Blockader, then repositions thanks to Axiara´s battle plans.

The Boarding Crew charge the second Blockader, doing negligable damage but setting up the Slayer to charge in and blowing up a half of the second Blockader.

End of the round, nobody scores a point.

Mercenaries 1 – Cryx 0

ROUND 4

The Blockader drops the Slayer and two Boarding Crew, but cannot kill the last one still contesting the zone. One Press Ganger can charge him and another runs up to give Gang, but the Ogrun passes his Tough check.

The Powder Monkey uses Ancilliary Attack, but disappointingly no models are hit.

The Commodore Cannon knocks down Asphyxious again and First Mate Hawk charges him, killing the Iron Lich!

The Dirge Seers try to kill Ogruns, but Ashen Veil blunts their attack and only one dies.

Bart, to the surprise of nobody, casts Batten Down the Hatches.

Nobody scores any scenario elements.

Mercenaries 1 – Cryx 0

The Death Archon, using the power of geometry, zooms to the one spot where it can hit the Blockader and both Press Gangers but not the Annihilation Servitor that got promoted to leader when Asphyxious died, putting the pirates into the dirt and doing some amount of damage to the colossal, which is on its last legs.

Continuing my casters´ tradition of killing off colossals, Skarre lights up the Blockader with all her guns and, thanks to the ARM debuff provided by the Annihilation Servitor, destroys the colossal.

The Ogrun and the other Death Archon overrun the zone, killing a Powder Monkey (which sets the Cryxian objective on fire), two Dirge Seers and Hawk, but leaving the objective on a few points.

Obviously my soon to be quadrigenarian hands can no longer bear the excitement and they shake too much as I finish the Cryx turn. The Ironmongers are in the right zone, scoring it for Cryx. No other elements are scored.

Mercenaries 1 – Cryx 1

ROUND 5

Bart is getting tired of this shit and he goes on a murder spree, kiiling an Ogrun and both servitors in melee and also killing another Ogrun with Deadweight to prevent the Archon from attacking him.

The Commodore Cannon sprays over the Death Archon and a Marauder, killing them both.

The Ogrun score the right zone again.

Mercenaries 1 – Cryx 2

Gerlak takes a swing at the objective, then the Marauders, after getting a 3″ Vengeance movement, kill the Commodore Cannon.

The Death Archon puts up Mortal Fear and flies in Bart´s way as Deadweight weighs it down. Skarre toes the central zone.

Mercenaries 1 – Cryx 5

ROUND 6

Bart kills the Ogrun in the left zone and the Death Archon, dropping to two Focus unfortunately.

It is all in vain as Cryx scores 2 points to one for the Mercenaries.

Mercenaries 2 – Cryx 7

SCENARIO WIN FOR CRYX!

In a final act of spite and to show that a pirate without own boat is not a real pirate, Skarre3 charges Bartolo, knocks him down with her ship´s ram and then shoots and stabs him until he stops twitching.

AFTERTHOUGHTS

I have to say that I was a bit let down by the Bart list, as it looks stupid and fun on paper, just pushing around huge bases. The addition of the Archon for Mortal Fear should make the colossals even harder to kill. However, maybe their resilience cannot keep up with the amounts of damage some modern armies can put up. To be fair, not every army has whole units that cannot be knocked down.

Skarre on the other hand is still awesome fun to play, provided you don´t accidentally traffic jam your whole army. She feels like a model that can contribute each round and still be protected at the same time.

How many Death Archons??? Captain Phineas Shae vs Kommandant Irusk (Solomachine Double Feature)

Today I am going to be doing something slightly different by playing the same casters twice in a row, but allowing for list alterations between games. I also wanted to test the new Death Archons, so I decided to run at least one theme that allowed two of them, in this case the Talion Charter Mercenary theme force, and one that might be more obscure but also benefitting from them, in this case the Armoured Corps theme for Khador.

The lists were:

Captain Phineas Shae: Blockader, 2 Death Archons, Bosun Grogspar, First Mate Hawk, Lord Rockbottom, Doc Killingsworth, Stone-Cold Black Bella, 1 Powder Monkey, one max and one min unit of Press Ganger, a max unit of Sea Dog Boarding Crew with 3 Riflemen and Mr. Walls, the Commodore Cannon.

A ton of solos, two large and one small unit and a colossal to back it all up. The Pirates won the roll-off and decided to go first. The min unit of Press Gangers goes into ambush.

Kommandant Irusk: Grey Lord Adjunct, Destroyer, Juggernaut, Death Archon, Man o´War Kovnik, 2 Suppression Tankers, 2 max units of Man o´War Shocktroopers with Officer, max Man o´War Demolition Corps with Dragos Draganovic.

A big bad brick of Man o´War with a solid commander behind them.

The two 3″ templates are the bombardment from the Talion Charter theme benefit. Not really great against heavy armoured Men o´War to be fair.

View from the side

The Man o´War units and Suppression Tankers make their Advance Move.

ROUND 1

Shae casts Storm Rager on the right Death Archon and Phantasm on the Press Gangers.

The Mercenary army tries to take ground and set up for a counterattack once their frontlines have been overrun. Nobody said it was easy being a pirate.

Irusk put up Iron Flesh on the right Shocktroopers, Superiority on the Destroyer (thanks to the +2 inches of range from the Adjunct) and Inhospitable Ground to slow down the Sea Dogs and Press Gangers. He also gives the right Shocktroopers the Special Orders battle plan so they can move 4″ in Shield Wall, then reposition another 3″.

The Destroyer drops a Bombard shot into the Sea Dogs, but all bar one pass their Tough checks. This will be a theme of the game. The Suppression Tankers drop two Covering Fire templates before the Sea Dogs.

ROUND 2

The smaller unit of Press Gangers runs unto the table to tie up the Destroyer and Suppression Tanker.

The Sea Dogs advance around the Covering Fire and achieve very little with their pistols. The Death Archon, now with two Corpse Tokens activates Annihilator, then charges into the Shocktroopers, promptly rolling a triple 1 on his charge attack. Unsurprisingly, it bounces off the ARM23 infantry, killing only one of them, ironically the one it missed with the first attack by rolling 17 on the second swing.

The Commodore Cannon tries to dislodge a few Man O´War, but doesn´t even hurt them with some very poor rolls.

Stymied by the Covering Fire, the Sea Dogs press on to claim more board space and force the Khadorans into the threat range of their colossal and Archons.

After upkeeping Iron Flesh for the Kommandant, the Adjunct decides to prove his worth by using his frost shotgun to kill two Press Gangers and knocking two more down.

With two Focus from Irusk, the Destroyer walks behind the Press Gangers and kills the Lass and two Press Gangers, one of whom was knocked down.

Never one to refuse free gifts, Irusk shoots the last knocked down Press Ganger and feats. He also gives the left Shocktrooper unit Pathfinder. He also puts Battle Lust on those Shocktroopers.

The Shocktrooper Officer rolls the double 4 to freeze the Archon, so the other easily kill it off. The unit is still in Shield Wall.

Bulkhead kills three Press Gangers with his Shotgun, missing one twice though.

The Death Archon uses Annihilator and charges forward, killing the Lass in the first swing, uses Spectral Flicker to move forward (I played this before the ruling that you had to spend a corpse token before attacking to make the place after the attack) and kills Hawk as well as dealing some damage to the opposing Death Archon. The Sea Dogs pass quite a few 4+ No Knockdown Tough rolls here. The Archon puts up Mortal Fear.

The Shocktroopers charge and kill the Death Archon. They also deal 15 points of damage to the Blockader. The Suppression Trooper killed a Press Ganger and also chipped in some damage on the Archon.

The Armoured Corps is forcing its way through the centre, but no points are scored.

Mercenaries 0 – Khador 0

ROUND 3

The Blockader kills the Death Archon and a disappointing one Shocktrooper with its 5 attacks and an Ancilliary from the Powder Monkey. 4+ Toughs are bad on both sides.

Shae casts Storm Rager on Bella and shoots a Shocktrooper, who ignores the shot. Bella then charges and makes her Blood Reaper Attack, killing one Shocktrooper, while two others tough.

With a lot of effort, the Sea Dogs kill a single Shocktrooper.

The Commodore Cannon drops another Shocktrooper and forces another Tough check.

Still no points are scored and things are looking grim for the Mercenaries.

Mercenaries 0 – Khador 0

The Suppression Tanker cuts through the Sea Dogs.

The Destroyer lobs a shell into the Sea Dog, then the Shocktroopers kill the last two Sea Dogs.

The Juggernaught kills Bella.

The Demolition Corps flattens the Blockader and the Suppression Tanker kills the last Press Ganger.

Irusk runs behind the building in the right zone so that he cannot be attacked by the last few pirates.

Seeing the writing on the wall, the Mercenaries run away.

KHADOR WINS BY CONCESSION!

GAME TWO

NOTE: The second game took place a week later, after VTC lists had been published. As the pirates had had a rather disappointing showing the first time around, I decided to use a modified list, based on a VTC list I found to run instead.

The Khadoran list is still the same and they deploy first this time around. This is after the advance moves.

Shae´s list this time:

Phineas Shae: Galleon, 2 Death Archons, 3 Powder Monkeys, 2 Swamp Gobber River Raiders, First Mate Hawk, Lord Rockbottom, a min unit of Press Gangers, Lady Aiyana and Master Holt, max Sharde Pirates and Officer, max Sea Dog Boarding Crew with 2 Riflemen and Mr. Walls.

Sideview: confusingly before advance moves.

The awkward moment when I deploy Aiyana and Holt after all other deployment is over…

ROUND 1

Never one to be cowardly, Irusk casts Inhospitable Ground, Iron Flesh on the Demolition Corps, which also gets Pathfinder and Superiority on the Destroyer, then charges towards the Galleon. He has his eyes on the biggest prize it seems.

The red onslaught. Note that the right Suppression Tanker has put down a Covering Fire template in front of the Demolition Corps. Irusk is also safely nestled behind multiple layers of Man o´War troopers.

Fortune favours the bold or so Shae thinks, feating bottom of one and casting Coup de Main (that e at the end of Coupe is a mistake) to speed up the pirates. He also drops Storm Rager on the Archon next to him.

With the No Quarter mini-feat and Overtake plus boosted melee attack rolls from a coin as well gaining an additional damage die from First Mate Hawk, the Sea Dogs surge forward, killing three Shocktroopers on the left …

… and two on the right. The Death Archons collect corpses.

The remaining pirate forces push forward, but trying to stay out of charge ranges if possible.

ROUND 2

The right Shocktroopers show their worth by missing two attacks and the third one being negated by a Tough check. The Suppression Tanker exacts bloody vengeance by spraying down four Sea Dogs, though one toughs.

The Adjunct tries to spray a gap to open room for the Death Archon, but misses the one that can actually make a free strike against the Archon.

The free strike misses of course and the Archon drops into position, killing Hawk and a Sea Dog on the first swing, as well as damaging the opposing Archon with a boosted attack.

The second swing finishes off Walls, who had Toughed on the first one as well as a Sea Dog and knocks down another Sea Dog. It also scratches the Archon some more. The Death Archon puts up Mortal Fear.

Irusk puts up his ´Do I have to do everything myself?´ face, shoots the offending Sea Dog that holds up traffic, gives the Demolition Corps Pathfinder and uses his Feat.

The Demolition Corps uses its mini-feat Bonds of Brotherhood to spread out damage if necessary, charge 9″ thanks to the Kovnik giving them Desperate Pace and kill the prone Sea Dog, knock down a Sharde Pirate and also, as a little aside, kill the Death Archon on their right.

The Destroyer lobs a shell into the Sharde Pirates, killing two while 3 Tough. For heaven´s sake, it is only on a 5+!!!

Bulhead kills three Sea Dogs and nearly a Shocktrooper. Who the hell gave that guy a P+S 16 shotgun? #powercreep

The Khadorans put up a solid wall of red steel, let´s see how the Mercenaries will respond.

Lady Aiyana for once manages to hit a 3+ and puts Kiss of Liliss on the Demolition Corps. Holt celebrates that rare occurence with a shot into the air, so only one of his two pistols actually does damage.

Rockbottom tosses a coin at the Sharde Pirates to make them all stand up.

The Pirates charge the Demolition Corps and between Assault shots and their charge attacks, they drop one, as well as forcing quite a few Tough checks. They also kill one of their own, but thems the breaks.

Missing its first boosted attack roll on the Death Archon, the Blocader needs all its Focus to kill the Archon, then pummels a Demolition Corps Man o´War into the dust with an Ancilliary Attack.

The last Death Archon kills Dragos and two Shocktroopers, then puts up Mortal Fear.

The Press Gangers charge the Suppression Tanker and Juggernaught, but do little real damage. No points are scored as all scenario elements are contested.

Khador 0 – Mercenaries 0

ROUND 3

The last Demolition Corps soldier and the two Shocktroopers work together to kill a Sharde Pirate. What value!

The Destroyer charges and kills the last Death Archon.

The Adjunct sprays down the two Press Gangers that have engaged the Suppression Tanker.

The Suppression Tanker drops the Swamp Gobber that shot him and jumped behind him.

Irusk puts Battle Lust on the Shocktroopers and gave them Pathfinder, then the Kovnik gives them +2 Speed and they charge the Galleon. The Juggernaught trampled over the Press Gangers, killing one and knocking down two.

Still no scoring, but both sides are running out of models quickly. Can the Galleon deal with the Juggernaught next turn before the Destroyer can charge it?

Khador 0 – Mercenaries 0

The Powder Monkeys use an Ancilliary Attack to kill the Shocktrooper Officer, then fuel up the Galleon.

The Sharde Pirates kill the last Demolition Corps and whale ineffectively at the Shocktroopers in Shield Wall.

The Galleon kills the Juggernaught.

With the Juggernaught down, Shae puts Storm Rager on himself and moves into the right circular zone.

Khador 0 – Mercenaries 1

ROUND 4

The Suppression Tanker guns down two Sharde Pirates.

The Shocktroopers kill the last one, controlling the left zone for Khador.

The Destroyer fired a boosted shot into the Galleon, then the Kovnik and Bulkhead open up on it too, dropping it to 3 damage boxes in the end.

True to his reputation as a gloryhound, Irusk takes aim and finishes off the Galleon.

As an encore, he casts Airburst on the three Powder Monkeys, killing them all, while also re-enacting the phrase ´Have a plan blow up in your face´ as two of them land on top of him with their Catastrophic Explosion rule, costing him two focus points to prevent most of the damage, but ending up on fire, as is the Kovnik next to him.

(picture missing here): The last two Shocktroopers charge the objective, destroying it and also being able to redirect an attack into Lord Rockbottom and killing him. The Suppression Tanker on the right runs through the forest into the right circular zone to contest it.

Khador 3 – Mercenaries 1

Shae charges the Suppression Tanker, finishing it off. Lady Aiyana casts Kiss on the Shocktroopers in the centre and Master Holt kills the Officer.

Khador 5 – Mercenaries 2

ROUND 5

The Destroyer stays at 12.1 inches of Master Holt to avoid being hit by a Quick Draw shot, then lobs a shell onto him, killing him and Aiyana.

Looking pleadingly at Irusk, the Kovnik asks: ´May I?´ The Kommandant nods and the Kovnik runs to slam into Captain Shae, but the nimble warcaster avoids being hit by the lumbering Man o´War.

Khador controls all three zones to win the game.

Khador 8 – Mercenaries 2

SCENARIO WIN FOR KHADOR!

Suffer not the Bane Witch to live! High Exemplar Cyrenia vs Bane Witch Agathia (Solo Machine)

Another week, another game. Well technically two weeks as I missed last week due to playing quite a lot on Wartable to prepare for VTC in a month.

As I really enjoyed Agathia last time, I wanted to play her again. To oppose her, I brought a Cyrenia list with a big unit of Idrian Skirmishers and a bucketload of Paladins. The plan is to push up with Idrians, fuel up all the solos and jacks with their souls and their deaths, then smack the Cryxians hard. Agathia´s plan was to sit it out with high armour and up to -4 to enemy damage rolls.

The forces were:

Cyrenia with 2 Sanctifiers and a Dervish, High Paladin Dartan Vilmon, a Paladin, 2 Champions of the Order of the Wall, 2 Menite Archons, Hand of Silence, a Wrack, a min Choir, a max unit of Idrians plus CA, 2 units of Initiates.

Agathia brought the same force as last time.

DEPLOYMENT

Cyrenia rolled a 4 to Agathia´s 3 and decided to go first. Agathia chose the side with the building to hide behind.

Cyrenia deployed behind a screen of Idrians, with strong solos on each side and trying to ensure that all of the models that benefit from a model dying have multiple Idrians in effect range.

Agathia deployed in a solid ball of death with the Bane Knights poised to absorb the first charge.

ROUND 1

Cyrenia put Inviolable Resolve on the right Archon, then cast Dash on herself, advanced, put up a Rock Wall and repositioned thanks to her Special Order battle plan.

Thanks to Dash, the Menite forces rushed up the table and threatened to alpha really hard next turn.

Agathia and the Banes used Apparition, then cast Hellwrought on Barathrum. She moved up to extend her Death Shroud more aggressively than last game. Darragh cast Mortal Fear, then repositioned further up.

The Banes used their mini-feat then moved forward. All in all, the Cryx forces still stayed in a compact formation. Only Severa ran to a flank.

ROUND 2

Cyrenia upkept Inviolable Resolve on the Menite Archon, moved up a bit, raised a new Rock Wall, cast Dash and feated. She also took a Focus from the Wrack, which didn´t explode. The plan was to ram her forces as deep into the Cryxian lines as possible.

The Archon with Inviolable Resolve charged the blue Toro and ate a Countercharge from the turquoise one and a Defensive Strike from the rearmost Bane. Turns out that DEF15 is not that great and they both connected, doing 11 damage to the Archon. It then swung its flail, killing a Bane Knight and doing moderate damage to both Toros.

Seeing as they were hit by a -4 debuff on damage, the Idrians decided that they were most useful as sacrificial lambs, so 4 of them died to Defensive Strikes from the Banes, which let the heavies behind them move closer and also made both Menite Archons angrier and filling up Hand of Silence with souls.

The Menite Archon killed 3 Bane Knights and even dealt some damage to Barathrum, but the damage reduction hurt its output a lot. Hand of Silence sprayed into the melee, setting Barathrum, Darragh Wrathe and a Bane on fire. Well, actually it was Agathia but she Suckered it to the Bane.

Don´t put Baby, erm I mean Agathia, in a corner. The Menite forces constricted the Cryx forces in their own deployment zones.

Seeing how the flag Severa wanted to take was now contested by three Initiates of the Order, she aimed at the Sanctifier, shot it twice, then hit it with the Chain Attack Vortex and pulled the Archon and Idrians in, killing the Idrian grunt and the Chieftain. The Archon and warjack were fine.

Agathia allocated to both the Inflictor and Barathrum, then feated to give the whole force Stealth and Ghost Walk. Both Toros were allocated Focus and the blue one walked around the Archon, then started wailing on the Sanctifier, surprisingly killing it with its 5 attacks.

The second Toro killed the Menite Archon with a boosted attack and also killed an Idrian.

Asphyxious hung back on two focus, while his Annihilation Servitors killed two more Idrians.

The Inflictor spent all three focus to kill off the second Menite Archon. It then teleported to the side.

Barathrum killed the Sanctifier and teleported forward.

The Cryxian counterpunch had hit hard. Both sides controlled their zones, scoring a point a piece.

Cyrenia 1 – Agathia 1

ROUND 3

Cyrenia put Positive Charge on the Dervish and allocated two to it. The Paladin solos and Initiates start clearing out the last Banes with their Vengeance and regular attacks.

With its way open, the Dervish moved through the Cryx lines and ended up killing Darragh Wrathe to improve the Menites´ odds of killing some heavies.

The Champions and Dartan charged bu,t even with Mortal Fear being gone, the heavies shrugged off their attacks for the most part.

Plenty of Cryx models were removed from the table, but they still had 4 functioning heavy warjacks. Both sides again score their home zones.

Cyrenia 2 – Agathia 2

Barathrum, aided by the Satyxis Blood Priestess smashed the Dervish and then murdered Dartan Vilmon as an encore.

The Toro murdered the Champion of the Order of the Wall to make room for Asphyxious.

The second Toro killed the Paladin on the rightmost flag.

Asphyxious used the gap opened by the Toro to claim the soul of Hand of Silence and all the other souls that the Hand could no longer protect.

The Inflictor unhorsed, then killed the Champion on the right, though he managed to pass his Tough check twice before dying.

With Severa on the leftmost flag and both sides again scoring their zones, the score went to

Cyrenia 3 – Agathia 4

ROUND 4

The Choir ran to engage the Toros to keep them from Countercharging.

In spite, Cyrenia tried to at least kill Asphyxious, but to no avail.

Cyrenia 3 – Agathia 6

Asphyxious unceremoniously dispatched the upstart High Exemplar, even surviving her Dying Breath attack.

Cyrenia 3 – Agathia 8

ASSASSINATION AND SCENARIO WIN FOR CRYX!