pReznik +6
-Heirophant -2
-Templar -8
-Vanquisher -8
Avatar of Menoth -11
Min choir -2
Vassal of Menoth -2
Vassal Mechanic -1
Max TFG with UA -8
Min Zealots with UA -6
Wracks -1
Gorman Di Wulfe -2
eEiryss -3
Saxon Orrik -2
Madelyn Corbeau -2
Objective: Effigy of Valour
The game I originally had prepared fell through and so Nick of Solid Ground Studios (http://solidgroundstudios.co.uk) being the consumate gentlemen he always is stepped in to play me again. I always enjoy my games with Nick and playing him has really forced me to up my game. I couldn't ask for a better opponent to see out my Menoth for Legion. Especially since Nick plays Legion and moved to them from Menoth himself! Nick has been really focusing his attention on his ETC lists (eThagrosh and eLylyth) and so he's been playing them almost exclusively for several months now. He decided to take a break for a little bit, to make sure he didn't feel stale with them. He decided to try a new caster and so went for eVayl in Tier 4. His list comprised of Vayl, two Angelii, two Ravagore, a Scythean, a Seraph, and a shredder as the battlegroup, along with two sheppards and a max unit of Spawning Vessel. This is a fairly standard tier 4 eVayl list and Nick was interested in trying it out.
We set up the board and rolled for scenario, getting Two Fronts. Nick was happy as this gave him opportunity to use his new zone markers! Despite the tier benefit from Vayl I won the roll to go first and picked first turn. Nick chose the side of the board with the more defensive terrain, sacrificing the hill on my side. I deployed with Reznik central, the Avatar and Templar on the right side of him and the Reckoner on the left. The TFG set down with Orrik on my extreme left flank, the Zealots on the other flank. Nick then put his Pot opposite the Zealots and the mass of heavies central.
My first turn was pretty straight-forward and generally involved a lot of running forwards. The TFG ran into the zone on their board edge. The zealots ran up the opposite flank too. Reznik gave Ignite to the TFG and Iron Zeal to Avatar and advanced up the board.
Nick used his turn to start killing things. The Angels both got Tenacity and one each got Refuge and Occultation then advanced further up the board. The Seraph used Slipstream and moved up, taking a Ravagore with it. The Ravagore moved up and blasted 4 of the TFG off the board. The second Ravagore also took a shot, it missed due to the distance and deviated forwards still killing two of the Flameguard.
On my turn I allowed Ignite to drop from the Flameguard since they'd been halved since last turn. I debated taking a run on the Angel closest to Reznik, concerned about the threat its Armour Pierce posed. In the end, though, I decided the distances would likely be out. The zealots started the turn running towards the other angel and the zone, using Greater Destiny to prevent them from being removed. The TFG shuffled around the scather templates and turtled up with Shield wall and Iron Zeal. The Templar and Reckoner both shuffled up the board but the Avatar advanced up and into the zone and used Gaze of Menoth. The Vassal advanced and put Enliven on the Avatar. Reznik and Madelyn advanced further up the board to get out of kill box.
On Nick's turn the Seraph used its Strafe attack on the objective, boosting until it was dead. The Ravagores took shots at the TFG but these only managed to kill a couple of the Flameguard, setting another two and Saxon Orrik on fire. The Refuged Angelius charged the Avatar but only managed to do a couple of boxes despite being dice +2 on the charge before he enliven'd away. The copy-cat Angelius then also moved back behind the forest thanks to Refuge. Vayl then used her feat before putting out a couple of tenacities. He then Purified, not realising this would remove his own Animi and put out the fire on the two Flameguard. She then fired an Oraculus into the Angelius in front of her and then arced her free Obliteration into a zealot, but was just short. It deviated but still hit and killed one of them. Vayl then put Occultation on herself and Admonition on the Scythean, ending her activation by putting out Refuge on the arc noded Angelius. This Angelius then charged the TFG in the zone, boosting the hit roll, but thanks to set defence he failed to hit. Nick then used the Animus, hoping to push them through the scather templates. This worked on one of them, but the others were bulked together, with the farthest ones out of animus range, meaning they were just pushed into each other and couldn't move. Nick prepared to refuge away until I pointed out that he hadn't actually hit anything this turn, meaning it was stuck there. The spawning vessel moved further into the zone.
Since the Angelius hadn't been able to move it was still in Corbeau's command range and so she let Reznik move 3" right towards Vayl. I checked my Control area but was still just short of her. I decided I still wanted to try and so had the intervening models shift out of the way and allowed the Avatar to push Reznik another inch diagonally, but he was still out. I knew this was my best chance to take an assassination run and decided to just go for the spell assassination run. I was debating this for a while until Nick pointed out that he had Occultation on Vayl. Instead (thanks to some help from Nick) I decided to run a zealot in front of Vayl and charge it in the back with Reznik. So that's what I did. I charged up and instantly killed the zealot. Before I could cast, though, the Scythean used its Admonition move to shift directly in front of Vayl. I sighed and recalculated again. Now it was tight and I was dead if I failed. So I used hex blast on the Scythean, directly hitting to strip it and Vayl of their tenacities and upkeeps. I boosted the damage on Vayl but only did a few points. I then shot a Perdition into the Scythean, using the granted action to move the Reckoner up and take a shot down a tiny line between the Scythean and an obstruction. I rolled a double 5, setting her on fire and rolled at dice plus one. But I'd forgotten to feat and so he just transferred it off. Just what this turn needed. I then declared my feat. The Reckoner then activated and took another shot at Vayl, managing to hit thanks to the flare. I rolled an 11 on the damage leaving Vayl on two boxes. It was likely that fire would finish her off next turn but if not I would lose. Then I remembered I had one last chance. The Templar moved up and out of Eiryss' way allowing her to advance up and take a shot on Vayl rolling exactly enough to finish her off and win me the game.
Nick said that he deserved to be assassinated because he felt that he had completely misplayed his previous turn and not taken full advantage of the feat. In a more serious game I probably would have played this out a little longer to try and get a more likely chance to deliver Reznik to Vayl. Since this was a fun farewell game, though, I went for something more fun and luckily it paid off.
This was a really fun if slightly crazy game and demonstrated exactly why I like Reznik, almost all of my games with him come down to a 'ah, fuck it' moment where I decide to go for a weird assassination run. This was exactly the sort of game I was hoping for and as always Nick delivered a fun and exciting game.
So for now I'm shelving the Menoth, though they'll definitely be back, and moving my attention finally to Legion.
I'm going on Holiday now for a week and a half so it'll be a little bit of radio silence for a while but don't worry I'll be back with a vengence. Keep an eye out for a bumper edition of Cogs in the Theory Machine about my planned Legion lists when I get back!
As always like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for more updates and photos. While you're at it check out the range of Warmachine specific terrain and bases at Solid Ground Studios!
-M
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