Mitsuharu on Bat Reps - High Executioner Reznik vs.

Hi guys, welcome to Mitsuharu on Bat Reps and my last Menoth Bat rep for a while as I retire my Scrutator mask and take up the Blight with Legion. Since this was my farewell game with the faction (for now) I wanted to play something a bit more fun. I was debating playing a Thyra list I knocked together with Flamebringers to try but in the end I decided to use my favourite Menoth caster, Reznik. The list I decided on was:

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

Mitsuharu on Bat Reps - High Executioner Reznik vs. Madrak Ironhide, Thornwood Cheiftan

Hey guys, and welcome back to Mitsuharu on Bat Reps. This week I was having real trouble finding a game (everyone was already spoken for) but luckily I managed to get a game at (almost) the last minute (my last minute is quite a bit longer than most people's) against one of the developing players in our meta who plays Trolls. I decided not to play Harbinger against him since I felt that would be unfair. Instead I decided to play my favourite Menoth caster: Reznik! I've written in the past about my love of Reznik but needless to say he's the caster I have the most fun with every game. The list I cooked up was:

pReznik +6

-Heirophant -2

-Crusader -6

-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

I was umming and ahhing about whether I should swap out Gorman for Anastasia Di Bray for a while. Ultimately though I decided that Black Oil would be more beneficial than Espionage, since the body of the list is not designed to do loads of damage but instead to jam. On the other hand a Black Oiled heavy is still a real upset. I decided on Effigy of Valour to make sure that the TFG would be less likely to flee and ruin their jam. Obviously the solo package is geared towards delivering Reznik to the opponent's caster. 

My opponent was playing a pMadrak build. Most of his games so far have been at the 35 point level and so (he told me) the list he played was an expanded version of one of his 35 point lists he'd bulked up to 50 points. It consisted of pMadrak with an Impaler, Bomber and Mulg, a max unit of the Krielstone with UA, a unit of Runeshapers, and two max units of Warders. We were playing Two Fronts from the 2015 packet (for anyone keeping count I promise I am randomising the scenario each time. I have no idea why Two Fronts keeps coming up). I won the roll to go first and set up with Reznik just to the left of the centre of my deployment zone with the TFG and Orrik on my left flank, the jacks and support staff centrally and to the right of centre, and the zealots and Gorman on the right flank. On the other side of the table the Trolls all set up more centrally. 

I took my first turn, using Orrik to give pathfinder to the TFG to allow them to run into the zone despite the intervening forest, and everyone else ran up the board, meanwhile Reznik put Ignite on the TFG and Iron Agression on the Avatar. 

Things went very similarly on the other side of the board, with the Fell Caller putting pathfinder on one of the Warder units, allowing them to advance through the forest, with everything else running forwards as well. 

I continued to move up the board on my turn. The Flameguard and Zealots moved into their respective zones, using their mini feats to secure stronger defensive positions. Gorman moved into the zone and threw Black Oil at Mulg, hoping for a lucky deviation, but went off to the middle of nowhere. My Jacks moved up the board, trying to stay out of Mulg's threat range while also trying to nudge the Avatar close enough to get the alpha on him later. Reznik moved across into my zone, behind the Flameguard along with Madelyn Corbeau and Orrik. 

The Trolls then took their turn, and started to tentatively attack my army. The Warders on my left flank charged my TFG, but only two of them were able to get in, and both missed their attacks thanks to Set Defence. The bomber threw at the TFG also, but only hit one of them, with the blast damage not being able to crack their Iron Zeal/shield guard armour. On the other flank the Runeshapers intentionally missed a choir member in my backfield, managing to get a lucky scatter into my zealots, with the first blast killing two zealots and rolling exactly enough to kill Gorman as well. Mulg, the stones, Madrak and the Fell Caller all shuffled up the board, with the Warders on my right just toeing into the zone. On my turn I retaliated by having the TFG CMA into the two warders, killing both of the trolls who'd connected. Eiryss took a shot down a crack between the Impaler and bomber and hit Madrak to strip him of Sure Foot. The Vanquisher (who'd been allocated 1) moved up to start my run on Mulg. My plan was, with battle, to hit him with a boosted POW 16 from the gun. I needed 4s to hit... The deviation when I rolled 3 didn't hit anything. I was not sure of my threat range on Mulg with the Avatar, but with the Vanquisher missing I decided it wasn't worth risking being out. Instead the Avatar just nudged up slightly to be definitely in next turn. The Zealots moved up, throwing bombs at the Warders and Mulg. One of the blasts hit the Warder but failed to do enough damage. The other two zealots hit Mulg, not doing much damage. Importantly, however, the Stone had moved up right behind Mulg, meaning it was caught in the blast and died. The positioning of the rest of the unit wasn't ideal, however, and he was forced to self-sacrifice a regular grunt, then the second blast forced him to kill the UA to keep the stone alive. Reznik moved back up in the zone. 

Because this was a Menoth vs Trolls game we'd both been really hesitant to commit, which is why so little stuff had died so far. This turn was when the trolls came into it. Madrak started the turn by feating and throwing his axe at a zealot. He rolled snake eyes and failed to hit. The warders on my left started eating through the TFG thanks to the feat, however he made a real error and overtook past the melee range of one of my flameguard, dying to the free strike. The other two warders' killing spree didn't last as long thanks to poor dice, but did manage to get another couple dead. The Impaler took a boosted shot at the Vanquisher, hoping for the crit, he hit but not crit, and did a couple of points of damage. Mulg then charged the Vanquisher and scrapped it, filling up on Fury. The Warders on the other flank then killed all the zealots under feat apart from the Monolith, who was knocked down to 1 box, ending that spree. The Bomber moved into stealth range and threw at Eiryss, but failed to hit her high DEF, the deviations failing to kill anything. 

The first big commitment had happened and now the game was heating up. The Vassal gave Enliven to the Avatar, who rolled 3 focus and charged Mulg. The Avatar managed to kill Mulg handily and still be able to take an additional Attack on one of his other beasts. The TFG moved into the remaining Warders in my zone and did a reasonable amount of damage, but didn't kill them. The Crusader moved into the objective but despite Battle only managed to bring it down to 2 boxes. Eiryss was in melee with a warder and so wasn't able to shoot and needed ridiculous dice to even do a single point of damage in melee. Orrik gave pathfinder to Reznik to allow him to move right across the zone, choosing to run, followed up by Madelyn and the Hierophant. 

The bomber was locked up by the Avatar and so couldn't shoot at Reznik on the Troll turn. Hoping to remedy this three of the warders charged Avatar, the first one failing to damage, and the second one only  doing a couple of points of damage, activating enliven, allowing me to move out of their threat, but keep the Bomber in melee with him. The rest of the warders took a few boxes off the Crusader. On the other flank the other warders took attacks on the TFG again. The runeshapers continued to move up, finishing off the monolith bearer. The Bomber activated and took a two handed throw on the Avatar, to my surprise, chucking it into Eiryss, killing her. The stone moved up to keep the coverage, and then Madrak advanced directly towards Reznik, throwing Rathrok at him. This critical hit, but failed to damage. This set up Reznik to apply sword to face. On my turn I had the TFG kill one of the Warders (who was potentially in the way) Avatar paid one to stand up and then used the rest of his stack to kill the bomber. The crusader beat on a Warder and finished off the Objective to score a point. Reznik then activated and charged Madrak. Madrak had been upkeeping sure foot, meaning I got the extra dice for purgation. I used my feat to wipe off his 5 fury, hit Engine of Destruction with Harmonious Exaultation and bought attacks until there was nothing left of his caster. 

I had a really great game, and I always enjoy playing with Reznik since he's always fun. The Avatar with Iron Agression is offensive and Reznik is awesome to play with. Next week I will likely be playing Harbinger again (with a very slightly different list) and I'll be sure to write it up for you next week!

As always don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for regular updates!

-M