Brief Summary of Tournament - 4 Rounds – 50pt SR2014 – Divide and Conquer

First event of 2014, at Travelling Man Leeds, one of my regular tournament venues. 2 lists and knowing that there is usually a high proportion of Menoth, Trolls, Legion and Cygnar I needed answers for all of them. List one was going to be pSorscha, current list based on work I did late last year and the “new tech” of Croe’s, this should give me some game against Cryx, Trolls, Legion and most general lists. The movement of the flags in Incursion has made the Kossites awesome!

Kommander Sorscha (*5pts)
* Spriggan (10pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (Alexia and 9 Risen Grunts) (5pts)
Croe's Cutthroats (Croe and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Kossite Woodsmen (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard (2pts)
* 2 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeers (2pts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

 I now needed to be able to deal with Menoth and Cygnar, my best bet was probably a pVlad list similar to Jamie Ps, I removed the Spriggan and the 2 sniper solos for Boomhowler, eEiryss and Valachev who I added to the TAC. This would increase the jamming capacity of the list, provide more movement for the TAC (potentially Zephyring back out of the clouds), and allow them to benefit from SnP.

Vladimir, The Dark Prince (*5pts)
* Behemoth (13pts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Greylord Outriders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Tactical Arcanist Corps (4pts)
* Koldun Kapitan Valachev (2pts)
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Koldun Lord (2pts)

Game 1 – Mark Peyton – Trolls – Balance of Power

Grim Angus (*6pts)
* Troll Impaler (5pts)
* Dire Troll Bomber (10pts)
* Earthborn Dire Troll (10pts)
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (1pts)
Trollkin Fennblades (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Trollkin Fennblade Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Trollkin Scattergunners (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Trollkin Scattergunner Officer & Drummer (2pts)
Janissa Stonetide (3pts)

I won the first turn, deployed the WGI centrally, Croes on my left with Alexia between, IFP on the right and Sorscha and Spriggan to the right of the WGI. He deployed Nyss to my right, Scatter Gunners right of the centre, Fennblades in the middle, Janissa, Grimm and the battlegroup to the left. It was a pretty standard pSorscha game, killing a unit a time with Freezing Grip, the IFP and Kossites tied up the Nyss in melee, Croe’s and WGI firing into units/beasts. The game ended with a Boundless Charged Alexia getting into Grimm with about 18 risen in play. Assassination victory.

Game 2 – James Boosey – Legion of Everblight – Close Quarters

Kallus, Wrath of Everblight (*5pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
* Ravagore (10pts)
Blighted Nyss Hex Hunters (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Blighted Nyss Raptors (Leader and 4 Grunts) (10pts)
Annyssa Ryvaal, Talon of Everblight (4pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
1 Spell Martyr (1pts)
Strider Deathstalker (2pts)

I have played Boosey a couple of times in the past and chat to him at most events we go to. He dropped the Motherland last year for Legion and the current score was 1-1, who would take the lead? I won the first turn again, and chose the Vlad list, crucially forgetting that legion beasts ignore clouds, which would be pivotal later in the game. I deployed the Boomhowlers on my left, WGRC in the centre left, Vlad, Behemoth, TAC, GBs centre right and the Greylords right. He then deployed HH & Deathstalker opposite Boomhowlers, Kallus, Battlegroup and support in the centre, Legionnaires centre right, with Raptors and Annyssa on the right, prey on the outriders.

Both advanced in first turns, my second turn I set up vlad and Behemoth behind my cloud wall (after behemoth managed to do about 20 damage to a Ravagore using 2 focus), Boomies ran to engage the HH, Outriders came forward and killed a few legionaires. It was at this point I remembered that legion beasts ignore clouds and Vlad was pretty close to being in range of both Ravagores, with only one focus, this could be over very quickly! Boosey looks at the board and figures only one Ravagore is in range and sets about killing a bunch of stuff. Over half the Boomhowlers go down, couple of rifle core, 4 of the Outriders, a single TAC, prey transfers to the Great Bears. He shoots the one Ravagore at vlad, misses and deviates over 2 legionnaires and a TAC, setting both legionnaires on fire! Kallus Feats. Having earned a reprieve I decide to make the most of it, Boomhowler Rage Howls, causing a Sheppard to flee, and forcing one of the Ravagores to have to move to escape the -2.  Vlad puts up SnP and Windwall and feats, sends Behemoth into the closest Ravagore with one focus from the Koldun. Practicaly cripples the Ravagore (But doesn’t kill it). TAC kill some legionnaires, WGRC kill some hexhunters, incubi and a shepherd. Boosey is eying up behemoth wondering if he can get enough to it to kill it, but without committing Kallus he isn’t sure. So the Raptors come in and kill the Outriders and switch prey to GBs, Annysa kills one GB, another TAC dies. Hexhunters continue to be frustrated by the 2 remaining Boomhowlers, kill a couple of WGRC. Ravagore in melee with the Behemoth wrecks both arms, but leaves the movement and cortexes intact. My turn Vlad puts up Boundless charges a GB, charges a Raptor kills it, puts SnP up and uses the bloodboon to cast windall, putting him in B2B with the flag. GBs charge up and kill the Ravagore engaging Behemoth, who then repositions and shoots, kills shepherd. TAC charge and fail to kill the last Raptor who is contesting my flag. Boomhowler Rages again and kills a HH, more skirmishing on that side with the HH and WGRC. Boosey now needs to kill both GBs and then send in the Ravagore to kill Behemoth, he will then be pretty safe to dominate his flag and start to score. The upshot of this turn is that tough can be a really nightmare when it goes against you, he dedicated a whole pile of stuff to killing the GBs and tough blocked it all. Meaning I could kill his Ravagore if it killed Behemoth, and then the GBs would threaten Kallus. In my next turn the GBs charged and killed Annysa, the TAC killed the last Raptor, Behemoth repositioned for a charge on the Ravagore, I score 1 point. Just as Boosey starts his turn Dice Down is called and I win on 1 CP. Not the way I wanted to win the game, but a win none the less. Win by Scenario.

Game 3 – Tom – Retribution of Scyrah - Incursion

Adeptis Rahn Shyeel (*6pts)
* Banshee (10pts)
* Phoenix (10pts)
Dawnguard Sentinels (Leader and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard (2pts)
House Shyeel Battle Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Stormfall Archers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (5pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
Arcanist (1pts)
House Shyeel Magister (2pts)
Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)
Mage Hunter Assassin (2pts)

I selected Sorscha and won the roll to go first again, this being a running theme of the day. I deployed IFP on the left then Alexia, WGI, Sorscha, Spriggan, A&H, AD Croe’s. He deploys Stormfalls and Assassins on each flank, Banshee, Arcanist, Magister left, Rahn, Madelyn, Sentinels, Battle Mages centre, Pheonix, Arcanist, right. So both advance on the first turn, right side flag disappears. Kossites come on the left and kill the Assassin and 2 Stormfalls! Sorscha advances, freezes the Sentinels, Wind Rushes back. Croes advance on the right and kill 3 more stormfalls an a couple of sentinels, WG put the pain on the sentinels killing about 7-8, Alexia advances into the centre, catching most of my models in her command. BDP advance Iron Zeal and Shield Wall onto the flag. With his centre fairly decimated he advances and starts to thin out my troops, setting 6 BDP on fire, Assassin charges and misses Croe. Battlemages and Rahn slam the Spriggan around like a pinball killing some WGI, narrowly missing Alexia. Looking at the position on the board I check Sorcha’s control and it looks like I can cap Rahn with her feat, so I charge a WGI, pop feat, put a wind rush into Rahn for about 8 damage, wind rushes back to safety. Croe’s advance down the flank and 3 get in range of Rahn and 2 finish him off. A pretty quick game, and one that highlighted the lethality of attacking stationary targets, and the massive range of Sorcha’s threat. Win by Assassination.

Game 4 – Paul Gibbon – Mercs – Fire Support

Drake MacBain (*6pts)
* Galleon (18pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen (Alexia and 9 Risen Grunts) (5pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Press Gangers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Press Gangers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Sea Dog Crew (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Bosun Grogspar (2pts)
Doc Killingsworth (2pts)
First Mate Hawk (2pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord (2pts)

So I found myself on the top table playing Mercs for the final! Hi lists where the above and a Madhammer list with an Earthbreaker, Kayazy, Nyss. I knew that the Vlad list wouldn’t be able to handle the Drake list, too many unkillable models would push me out of the game. So I opted for Sorscha and he dropped MacBain. The game went pretty much as I hoped with him feating first turn, (I won first turn again). My counter feat locking him in place while I sprayed over them into the back lines. In the following turns it turned into a massive grind, with freezing grip being the deciding factor, essentially eliminating one unit at a time. I killed the Galleon over 3 turns with Kyss of Lyriss and BDP. The Alexia’s filled the centre of the board with thralls for about 4 turns. I managed to push him back enough to score 2 CPs, my next turn I cleared the flag near Sorscha and scored 3 to take the win. It was a tough game and a couple of errors on my opponent’s side in a pivotal turn allowed me to close the deal earlier than I probably would have done. Win by Scenario.

So Sorscha proves that she can take many opponents and I am glad I have spent time learning her threats and manoeuvrability. The small unit of BDP where much better than I thought, they where able to deal enough damage to key targets and it’s a lot easier to get 8 guys within 4 of a flag than 12. The Kossites proved kings of jam and surprise! Incursion really is the scenario for them, coming on to threaten the flag that has remained.

Vlad did some work, my mistake nearly cost me the game, but I am confident I won’t make the same one again. Great Bears with SnP are amazing, as are Outriders. Rifle Core do not like stealth units, means they have to get way too close.

More catch up..... thoughts on Khador

So things have progressed well with Khador this year. Feeling a lot more comfortable with them as a faction compared to the Swans. Thought I would do a quick summary on some of my favourite units/jacks/casters.

Old Witch - Plays very different to some of the more "Axe to Face" Khador casters, she is a battlefield control caster.
Feat - Pretty much total area denial, should allow you to threaten scenario early on and probably get the first hits on an opponent.
Spells - Murder of Crows produces a large cloud that blocks line of site, and does a low pow hit, pretty good for blocking charge lanes. Iron Flesh, great for all the usual reasons! Weald Secrets, fills a gap in the faction allowing for some good defence against shooting and jacks/units with pathfinder. Avatar of Slaughter, Hidden Path, these spells both focus on the use of OW and Scrappy, allowing for unparalleled movement, and a great buff to either her or Scrappy in melee.
She is my go to caster against Cryx, her feat and area control really make life difficult for a faction reliant on infantry and being able to charge, it is probably one of the best ways to stop eGaspy. Her ability to buff our infantry to ridiculous def with both IF and WS, makes her a great support caster.

Kayazy Assassins - These guys have won me countless games, and it is no wonder they are in the top 5 infantry units in the game. With no character restrictions to worry about, they feature in the majority of top flight Khador lists. They have stealth, high natural defence, high mat, and a reasonable p+s for infantry, the latter 2 increased significantly with gang. Of course this all gets more insane when you add the UA to the mix, giving them a further buff to def in melee, and a once per game ability to ignore models for the purpose of making charges (LOS & Movement).
They fit in pretty much any list, become truly insane with any caster that has a damage or defence buff, and really scare people!

Spriggan - Again a staple favourite of the Khador community, one of the premier non-character warjacks in the game. Armed with the usual Khador speed, def and armour, what stands out in this jack is that it is the only non-character jack in Khador with reach. With a MAT boost on the charge, a p+s 18 spear, and a formally (damn Rhuls) Khador only ability to shove models out of the way make for a great assassination piece.

Behemoth - Unique to the game, in that it has 2 cortexes! One for fighting and one for shooting. The Behemoth sports the best in killing tech, 2 rng 14 pow 14 bombards, 2 P+S 12 armour piercing fists, with the ability to fight and shoot due to the 2 cortexes. It has armour 21 and all the boxes, durable, deadly and another piece that inspires fear in your opponent!

Winter Guard Infantry - Probably the top synergy package in faction, if not the game. This is what happens when a cheap mediocre infantry unit gets stackable buffs. With a low MAT and RAT, Avg Def & Arm, short range good power gun & low P+S melee they would be not much to write home about. However they gave them a good UA, adds combined attacks, the ability to turn their guns into spray attacks in exchange for 2 Pow, and an order that gives them a def buff when they advance. Then they gave them a weapon attachment, you are allowed 3, they are essentially regular troopers but with the additional option of firing a rocket, at increased range and aoe instead of their guns. So now we are cooking? So currently 15 guys for 11 points with a good spread of abilities. Then steps in Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich, the Winter Guard Hero! Like a true legend of the war, Joe can inspire nearby troopers to amazing feats of bravery in the service of the homeland! He can give them fearless & tough, +3 Str or boosted attack rolls! This is what really makes the difference, and anyone who has faced off against this will testify that its highly unpleasant!

I plan to do some similar updates to this in the coming weeks, remember these are not tactica articles, just my thoughts on some of the units.

Well this went well.......

So I haven't been very active with my blog... quite a few reasons for this, but I won't go into them!

My plan is to do a few posts over the next week or so in some form of catch up.

Firstly the ETC!

This was a eye opening event for me, my team mates (Luke, Paul, Kenny) where great fun over the weekend and my various opponents from around the UK & Europe where a pleasure.

My final list

Zevanna Agha, the Old Witch of Khador (*3pts)
* Behemoth (13pts)
* Black Ivan (10pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Kayazy Assassins (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Kayazy Assassin Underboss (2pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Winter Guard Infantry (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Winter Guard Infantry Officer & Standard (2pts)
* 1 Winter Guard Infantry Rocketeer (1pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (2pts)

To summarise;

Game 1: Friday Night

First match up was against a Danish Team. I got drawn against another Khador Player (They had 2) with a pIrusk list very similar to the one I had played for before deciding to go with The Old Witch. I knew his units and this would prove to help out. It was a hard pressed game, but in the end his greater experience and a well timed feat won through. And i lost my first game, my other team mates other than Luke also lost, so the Team was 0-1 down as was I.

Game 2: Saturday Morning

First match of the day against Team Epic Slayer, I got possibly the work match up with eHaley Dual Stormwall, with my infantry heavy list and the covering fire templates the Stormwalls locked me out of the game. My opponent was very sporting and said at the start of the match that he felt sorry for me!
The Team also lost putting us on 0-2.

Game 3: Saturday Lunch

I was a bit frustrated by this point as was Team Captain Paul, neither of us or the team had a win yet and our optimism was failing. We where drawn against another northern team, this one from closer to by old home town, Sunderland.

Paul used our team feat this round to secure to solid match ups. I was placed against the Skorne Fatman Rasketh. I secured the first turn and advanced aggressively, my opponent followed suit, I then advanced again and feated, this was decisive and caused me to have 2 turns of attacking several of my opponents key pieces, and eventualy Rasketh fell to the blows of my Kayazy Assassins. A pretty solid win and a great boost for my confidence!

Game 4: Saturday Evening

Last game of the day, and I dearly wanted to finish the day on even win to loss ratio. Drawn against one of the York teams, Paul was keen for us to put them in their place (Paul being from York!). I was paired against the troll player with epic Madrak. I fancied my chances hear as I have played trolls myself and play against them pretty regularly. Again the feat was decisive allowing me to kill all the Tuffaloes and a Diretroll before the lines really engaged, putting me up on the attrition, and eventually Madrak died to massed fire.
Team also won, putting us both on 2-2!

Game 5: Sunday Morning

Old Witch Mirror Match! This was an interesting game, i had gone for a less traditional OW list in that i had 2 Jacks totalling 23 points. My opponents list was far more optimised, and as such i was forced to feat first to defend the scenario, which would ultimately seal my fate. Luckily the team had a better round putting me on 2-3 and the team on 3-2.

Game 6: Sunday Afternoon

This was the match-up i had been waiting for, Cryx with eGaspy. A truly sick caster, but i had one of the few feats in the game that can prevent his from working. Sadly i would not get to play the game out, as my opponent didnt move his caster far enough forward in the second turn and died to the effects of the Kill Box artifice. The team did not fair so well, and we both finished on 3-3, and bang on target for what we wanted in our first ETC!

So I had an awesome weekend! Both from playing games against new and varied opponents, and from spending some quality time with my gaming buddies! We shall never speak of the late night shopping channel again!

Flames of War - German Panzergrenadiers Vs Russians

So my first foray into FoW since my games against Leigh at new year. Playing Alan in a 1500pt late war game.

My list was pretty balanced
HQ, 2 6 squad platoons and a 4 squad platoon, my three new Pumas, 2 Tiger Es + 3 Panzerwerfers with Pak40 AT support.

Alan had a big infantry platoon, a 12 piece artillery platoon, 7 T34s, 4 big tank hunters.

We where playing length ways down the board with me defending. I set up one of the 6 squad platoons with attached panzershrek, the Pak40 and the Panzerwerfers, with the Tigers in Ambush. I had rolled "Schnell" for my Ace Skill allowing me to stormtropper move on a 2+.

Alan deployed his armour to my right and his infantry to the left with the artillery at the back.

Alan won in the end but it was damn close, here are the highlights.

Alan turn 2, his infantry are pinned by the werfers and he roles to un-pin, 3 failed roles later and the troops aint moving and they have killed their Commissar! The following turn say them take massive casualties as the MG teams opened up, with Alan failing 10 of 13 3+ saves, it was starting to look shaky for the Allies.

The T34s advance quickly down the right side, take up position behind a hedge and destroy one of the Tigers. In my following turn my plucky Pumas show up and destroy 2 and bail one! The return fire managed to bail them all, in my turn they all got back in and killed another 2 tanks! The exchange carried on, resulting in them destroying Alans CiC and then finally Pumas broke leaving 2 T34s remaining!

The game was decided by the Russian infantry assaulting the depleted platoon (my reserves showed up 1 turn too late) with the tank hunters in support, pushing me off the objective to allow Alan a victory.

A truly awesome game and Alan as always was a pleasure to play against. Hopefully I will get to play some more of the FoW gamers in the coming weeks.

New Warcaster - Kharchev the Terrible!

So i played a couple of games last night with my recently acquired Khador army.

Having played Khador as my first faction in Mk1 and having been very impressed with some of the new models they are getting i kept my eye out for some second hand bargains, and picked a good selection up over the last 2 weeks.

Karchev was one of the casters I didn't use in Mk1, and I have always loved the idea of a warcaster built into the body of a Jack!

So my 35pt list was as follows.

Karchev the Terrible

Destroyer

Juggernaut

Juggernaut

Juggernaut

Spriggan
Which as you can see is Jacks only! wanted to get to grips with his powers as soon as possible so threw myself in the deepend!

First game was Sacrifice against Josh playing Broadside Bart. Josh was fielding a mix of pirates including his newly acquired Rover. My list is not really geared for this scenario, with you needing to control a zone while placing a model in b2b with a flag. Now this seems easy enough, but not when you realise that the model in b2b takes a pow 20 magic hit, is flung 3 inches and knocked down!

I ended up winning this game by caster kill on about turn 4, I learned that Sidearms stops you from being knocked down, Bulldoze is really good and popping handbreak turns with Kharchev to aim Jacks at people is hilarious.

Next game was against Nick playing  Menoth's own Optimus Prime (Xaal). Having seen Nick play this list for the first time a couple of weeks ago, i knew the danger of Mr Khan and Xaal's feat. I made a couple of slight errors with movement and positioning but left me with a chance to kill Molik Khan bottom of turn 2. I went for it, using my Spriggan to bulldoze modles out of my way, however due to not checking the line first i hit a model and then contacted the same model again, left a tantalising 4 inches away from the Khan! I knew this game was over and sure as apples are apples, Khan manoeuvred himself into combat with Kharchev and wailed on him with POW 5d6+15 attacks....

Luckily for me Nick played Kharchev alot when he mainlined Khador. Got some really good tips about facings, trampling, spell order and useful changes to the list.

Looking forward to playing this metal monster more!

Warmahordes 35pt Steamroller Tournament - Bolton

One of my mates Jason became a Pressganger late last year and runs monthly tournaments at the Portcullis Gaming Store in Bolton. Having been told about these for some time we had the opportunity to go (along with combining the collection of a few models, to be covered in a different post). We recently introduced a mate from LARP, Kipper to the game and he has developed a rapid love for all things Troll! So me, Mehmet, Kipper and Josh left sunny Hull at 7:00am on Saturday to head to Bolton.

The venue is very deceptive! We arrived to a smallish store front packed with gamers talking lists and gluing models. Kipper had inside information about some of the models in stock and proceeded to buy Skaldi, the Troll Cavalry Box and their Dragoon. We set to gluing these pretty swiftly as they where in his list! The shop owner Brian is very friendly and was chatting to us as soon as we arrived, they stock a MASSIVE selection of miniatures, pretty much every system is supported in some way with a large FoW and WW2 section, some GW, Privateer, Malifaux, Ancients, card games, board games, etc. I think you get the picture.

We where then shown upstairs where 6 tables where laid out with scenery and space for a couple more, so they can comfortably hold 16 player tournaments. So without further ado, i will show you my list and then what i went up against.

Commander Coleman Stryker

     Thorn

     Ol' Rowdy

     Squire

Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team

Sword Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts)

Archduke Alain Runewood

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Journeyman Warcaster

Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator

Stormsmith Stormcaller

Stormsmith Stormcaller

This is pretty much the list i have been playing a while now, with a change of the Storm Guard for the Black 13th and some Stormcallers. Its a pretty robust list with some nice synergy and damage potential, in both normal turns and feat turns.

Game One
Fox - Lich Lord Terminus
Scenario - Overrun, which now has the added fun of Kill Box!

Lich Lord Terminus

   Defiler

   Erebus

   Seether

Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts)

Mechanithralls (Leader and 9 Grunts)

Bane Lord Tartarus

Pistol Wraith


So imagine my joy to see Terminus across the board for game one, i mean its not like i play this guy much...... The terrain had a house with a walled garden in the middle, some woods to my right and some walls over to the left.


I deployed pretty centrally with the Sword Knights with Rowdy on my right, B13th and Thorn on the left, and Stryker in the middle. Terminus set up slightly to my right with Erebus and the Defiler on the left, Seether and Banes on the right. My plan was to draw Terminus forward while maintaining a healthly distance with Styker, my threat range was higher but i would have to shoot off his focus first with Eryss.


First turns as usual, advance cast spells (Deflection/AS on SKs), Terminus moving right towards the house/forest funnel. Second turn saw my forces engage on the left Thorn with PC charges the defiler and did some serious damage, Eryss advanced and shot at Erebus but missed, Sword nights engaged the defiler and trashed him. Right saw some more positioning with the Stormsmith disrupting the Seether. Terminus cast berserk on Erebus loaded him with focus, activated feat and charged to my right beside the house. I knew my plan had worked i just had to hold him there while i dismantled his army! Erebus advanced into 2 SKs and killed both but his overtake did not allow him to engage anyone else, Fox said he should have trampled! I think if he had the game may have gone the other way! Seether charged Rowdy and smashed his Hammer, then to my surprise chain attack threw him at Styker! He hit and Rowdy sailed through the air, however due to their affinity, as soon as he came B2B with Stryker, Stryker becomes immune to knockdown.

Turn Three, time for Strykers feat! This would be the turn to cause as much damage as possible to the enemy. Stryker allocated some focus out to the jacks, then he moved away from Terminus, popped his feat and cast positive charge on Thorn. Thorn then engaged Erebus in the side, hit him a few times and brought him to about 1/2 health, Rowdy walked over to the Seether and hit him with his hammer and fist doing a bit of damage. Runewood went next and gave the SKs path to victory for +2 charge attack rolls. The SKs then charged in, this is when they come into their own! 3 engaged Erebus, the others charged to engage Banes and Mechthralls in front of Terminus. The ones on Erebus gained both Flank and PC bonuses, putting them on effective MAT 12 4D6+12 damage! Erebus however would not be killed easily, broke both his arms and his cortex, leaving his movement and hull intact, I figured i would kill him with my feat attacks. the rest of the unit killed about 5 models on the right. Black 13 continued to blow Mechthralls away to reduce the number of sacrificial pawn targets. I moved about engaging more infantry and failing to kill Erebus! missing the extra D6 for the charges made some poor rolling do zero damage! With my feat turn over, i had thinned the infantry and pushed hard into the enemy lines. Stryker was clear of Terminus for another round and i was feeling like i could have a shot at winning. The cryx turn saw Erebus damage Thorn, Terminus charged Rowdy and scrapped him, the Pistol Wraith killed the squire, some Mechthralls dodged the mage storm in front of them, the remaining Banes and Tartarus killed off the SKs on the right.


The rest of the game saw Stryker kiting Terminus around the building while i tried to take out the sac targets within 3 inches for a Eryss assassination run. Both armies ground each other down, and dice down was called before i decisive win could be determined. As neither of us scored any SPs it came down to kill points which i won 35 to 32. A damn close game, that i won largely to knowing all about the giant winged menace!


The next game saw we up against a caster i had not played before eButcher!

Kommander Orsus Zoktavir

    Berserker

    Juggernaut

    Juggernaut

    Spriggan

Battle Mechaniks (Leader and 3 Grunts)

Man-o-war Shocktroopers (Leader and 4 Grunts)



I had a look at his cards and did not like the look of a lot of free charging heavies! Didnt ready the feat quite well enough and this would tell later.......


Playing Incursion scenario with a small building on the left, wood in the middle and far right, walls on the right, I would go first. Same deployment as last game, Eryss in the central wood.

 Usual first turns, advance up and cast spells. I opened up on the shock trooper on the left with the black 13th killing 2! Eyrss disrupted the Spriggan, more advancing from the Khador player, the shocktroopers charges the black 13th, one made it and missed his atttack.


My third turn once again saw my feat! There was a good chance i would be able to get at least one SK and a PC Rowdy in base with Butcher. My opponent had placed a Juggernaut, Spriggan and Butcher in a B2B triangle, due to the line i had with Rowdy a Slam would send the Juggernaut into both models knocking them down, so i loaded Rowdy with 3 focus and sent him in! He slammed into them knocking them all down and doing a couple of damage to an arm 21 Butcher. Eryss went next and shot of his focus! The SKs recieved a charge/run order and engaged all across the front, damaging the Berserker and killing the remaining shock troopers. Strkyer then advanced and PC Rowdy activated his feat. Rowdy then went round and smashed Butcher with a boosted pow 20 hit! leaving him on 3 health! the SK then moved in, 3D6+12 damage, i needed 9 on the dice to win, rolled a seven! The Butcher had survived and just as i was about to move stryker back 3 inches the clock ran out! I thought i may be in trouble but hoped for my high def to keep me out of trouble. Now this is when Butcher pops his feat, i was unaware that when you spend "Rage" tokens then allow you to move and attack not just attack, so you can imagine my surprise as the 2 KD warjacks managed to get some hits on stryker! My Op was lucky on his first roll and crit froze stryker, i i really though this was it...... poor damage rolls, left me on 5 health! Both warcasters had survived against the odds! Rowdy then put the boot in and killed Butcher.


This saw me on the top table for the final round, however i had failed to score any scenario points and i knew that i had to win to place!


As i had feared i was paired against Josh with his Shae list, the scenario was destruction you had to destroy an arm 20, 20 health monolith to score points. With the Commodore in Josh's list i knew i was in trouble it would be able to sit far away and take the target apart.

Captain Phinneus Shae

    Freebooter

    Mariner

Commodore Cannon & Crew (Commodore and 3 Crewmen)

Lady Aiyana & Master Holt

Sea Dog Crew (Leader and 9 Grunts)

    Mr. Walls Sea Dog Crew Quartermaster

    1 Sea Dog Crew Rifleman

Bosun Grogspar

Dirty Meg

   Buccaneer

Doc Killingsworth

First Mate Hawk

Lord Rockbottom

I am not going to go into too many details on this fight as i have played this list alot. We both had some pretty poor rolls with both WCs failing to have a big impact on the game, both feats caused minimal damage, Josh took out an objective with the Commodore as predicted, i had just lined up a run on Shae when the round was called, Josh played for the scenario win and pulled it off!

This SP put Josh above the other player on 3 wins and into first place! More of a shock was our new player Kipper, winning 2/3 games scoring 3 CPs and coming third! A cracking result for him, i think the new cavalry caught a lot of people out! I placed 5th in the end, with Mehmet in 8th.


I learned that you shake effects in the maintenance phase, and that if Strykers survival is dependant on moving away during feat turn, then do that early as possible!

A great day out and got to meet some new gamers, introduce a mate into the tournament scene (he is thinking about framing his certificate!)

Warmachine Doubles Match vs Nic and Luke

So in order to provide Luke and Nic some practice prior to their tournament and Maelstrom in Jan, me and Mehmet bravely stepped up to the task.

We knew that Luke would be taking Circle and Nic would likely be using one of the Sevvys so we would be up against some serious movement ability and some hard hitting resilience. We decided to go for Siege and Terminus, Mehmet is very comfortable with his list and i wanted to be able to support his list with a non-faction specific feat. I wanted to try out a battle engine and decided that with all of Mehmet's infantry this would be a good time to give it a bash.

So the battle lines deployed and we where faced with eKrugers tier list of Tharn, Pureblood, Stalker and extra deployment/advance moves, supported by pSevvy, Avatar, Blessing of Vengeance, Errants, Temple Guard and the usual Menoth Jack cheerleaders.

We deployed the bulk of our force in the middle and right of the table with the Bane Thralls, Seether and Hunter on the left. The Strider held with middle, with the Rangers out front to provide the much needed +2 hit for the Strider and Siege. Our plan was to advance with Terminus and 20 Mech Thralls to threaten the flag hard and then provide back up from the Withershadow and Gunmages.

So we all advanced on our first turns and put on buff spells, etc. Then on their second turn it went pretty wrong for us! The area in red was full of Mech Thralls at the end of our turn with no easy lines for the Menites to advance into. Kruger came and ruined that with his feat, pushing all the thralls into tight packs perfect for the AOE 4 flame cannon to blast apart, the remains where being mopped up by the Errants as I took this picture. The Avatar and Warpwolf Stalker leapt at the change to kill Terminus and put the Lichelord down hard. I will say that Mehmet had truly appalling luck with his tough rolls, passing only 1 in 18 kills.....
We then learned why the Lord of the Feast loves battle engines, he shot his bird at the strider and then placed himself behind it to thresher it and 2 of the Withershadow Combine! Sevvy advanced and used his feat to put Siege on no focus for my turn, i still have the Squire and Reinholdt, with the Strider on 3 power tokens. At this point i stopped taking pictures, in equal measures of having had a couple of beers and really wanting to salvage some pride from what looked like a total rout!
I decided that i could kill Sevvy if i was lucky and went for it!
Siege went first, advanced and used his feat followed by a boosted ground pounder on Sevvy doing about half his health. Again Mehmets luck continued with a half armour charge on the Avatar with the Withershadow resulting in 4 damage! The gunmages went next and moved the lord of the fiest out of melee with the Strider, allowing it to advance into range of the Errants and Sevvy, with the help of the ranger i had ran forwards scored a couple of good hits on the unit to clear a space for the defender to shoot through. The defender advanced and boosted to hit with Crit Brutal from the Gun Mages, hit with a crit! 3 Dice +1 needing 11 to kill! The dice came up and Sevvy was left with a cannonball where his head should have been! The next turn was the remaining Menites and Tharn clearing us from around the objectives and winning the game.
It was a really fun night and a refreshing way to play the game. We will get you next time!