Tourney Tales - Jaunce in July

Hey wargamers, and welcome to the latest edition of Tourney Tales! As I mentioned in my last couple of battle reports, I've been preparing for a tournament, which I just finished! Jayke from Hall of Legends and I headed down to Sheffield together. The tournament was The Outpost's Jaunce in July. It was a 50 point D&C1 steamroller with ADR. The lists I took with me were the two I've practiced over the last couple of weeks:

eLylyth +5

-Succubus -2

-Ravagore -10 

-Ravagore -10

-Typhon -12

-Naga Nightlurker -5

-Bolt Thrower -6

-Shredder -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Shepherd -1

Shepherd -1

Foresaken -2

Objective - Bunker

And

Saeryn +5

-Angelius -9

-Angelius -9

-Scythean -9

-Scythean -9

-Raek -4

-Shredder -2

Foresaken -2

Foresaken -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Spell Martyr -1

Spell Martyr -1

Maximum Spawning Vessel -3

Objective - Fuel Cashe

I feel like these two lists cover match ups really well and have some cool tricks and tech that I can play around with. The field at The Outpost was pretty varied but had some very competitive players in the game. My goal was to field test my Legion lists and see how they played in a tougher situation under a clock. Because it was quite a frantic day with timed turns I didn't get chance to take photos of the games. This also means I don't remember the play by play and so you'll have to manage with a summary of the games...

Round One 

My first round pairing was Matt 'Golly' Golliver, an internationally ranked player and part of the England WTC, as well as the winner of the Welsh Masters this year and Tiebreaker's 4th highest ranked player in the country. On top of that he was also a Legion player! Not only had I been dreading the mirror match I was playing it against someone way more experienced with the faction and the game than myself. He was using p and e Vayl in his two lists. Looking at the two lists I was pretty certain that he was going to drop eVayl. My plan was to drop eLylyth into the mirror but looking at the eVayl list I thought that he would be more than capable of tearing my Lylyth list to pieces. I elected to drop Saeryn and, like I thought, he dropped eVayl. The list was tier 4 (of course) and contained three Angelii, two Ravagores, two shepherds, a spell martyr, max Hex Hunters and a max Spawning Vessel. 

I lost the roll for the start of the game, even without Vayl's tier bonus. The first round was Destruction and I picked the table edge with a wall just outside kill box. Golly ran his Hex Hunters up, taking a commanding position in the zone, moving all the beasties up to threaten. I followed up by jamming into the zone and using my feat. There was still a lot of shooting and magic in his list, though, and so he was able to wear down most of my beasts despite missing multiple rolls. I had some poor die rolls taking out one of the Ravagores and managed to quickly lose the advantage on the piece trade. He quickly cleared all my beasts off the table, but not before I managed to get a control point by destroying the objective. As well as controlling the zone he also managed to repulse Saeryn from he wall with an Angel and then kill her with shots, completely clearing me off the table and getting more than 100% VPs thanks to the Vessel who'd spawned a Harrier. So my first round ended with a pretty comprehensive schooling from a real veteran. Oh well, on to Round Two!

Round Two

In Round Two I was paired up against a Cygnar player. This time around we were playing Recon. His lists were an eCaine build and an eStryker list. I decided to drop eLylyth as my Cygnar drop to out threat him and go for assassination where possible. He elected to play his eCaine list which was made of a squire and Hunter in the battlegroup along with Reinholdt, Gorman, Carvolo, Eiryss, max Boomhowlers, Gun Mages and UA with two marshalled Hunters and two units of rangers. I won the roll and chose to go first, while he gave me the edge with a forest in front of my deployment zone for Lylyth to hide behind. The Boomhowlers jammed pretty hard but took a beating on feat turn. His list struggled to take out my heavies, removing an over-extended Typhon early in the game but struggling to take out anything else once his things had been whittled down. 

Throughout the game he was very cautious with Caine, taking almost no shots and not feating at all. On one turn late game he moved up towards one of the flags to dominate and put pressure on. Lylyth shot into melee to take out some Boomhowlers and free up the Ravagores the first used animus and missed a shot (he had elevation) doing a few points from blast damage and setting off the cont. fire on his low arm caster. The second Ravagore cranked the boosted hit roll and caught him, stripping almost all of his boxes, leaving him with only a handful left. Unfortunately the fire went out on his turn, saving him, and giving him chance to run away. We attritioned a bit longer and I lost all my models except Lylyth, a shredder and a Ravagore. He then felt secure enough to move up again for the flag on the other flank, getting toe in on a forest. Not that my Ravagore cared about that. Lylyth shot out the last Boomhowler in the way and then the final Ravagore moved up, threw up the animus and then took the shot. It missed but the blast clipped him, I boosted the blast damage (he was on a 0 camp) and got him down to 3 boxes. This time fire stayed up and I rolled 4 on the damage, just enough to finish him off and secure me an assassination win!

Round Three

In round three I was paired up with a local Khador player in Incursion. He was using a pairing of a tier 4 Butcher2 Doom Reaver spam and Butcher3. Khador, along with the mirror, was the one faction I'd been uncomfortable with, since my drop could go either way depending on the lists. Looking at what he had, though, I decided that Saeryn was the best choice. He picked Butcher3. The list was merc heavy and included Ruin, Beast 09, Juggernaught and a war dog, as well as eEiryss, a Gobber Tinker, Gorman, Kell Bailoch, a Bokur, Aiyana and Holt, the TAC corps with Valachev, and a unit of Widowmakers. 

I won the first turn and ran everything up the board, taking a commanding presence, and he followed up grabbing some more real estate. On my second turn I had both Angels charge the Juggernaught, destroying it. Meanwhile the Deathstalkers started pinging shots off the Widowmakers, killing a couple. The Scytheans continued up towards the central flag. Then I feated, keeping my guys safe. Despite the feat he managed to shoot one of my Scytheans to death, using almost all of his models' activations. One of the most important activations was Gorman throwing Black Oil at my remaining Scythean, missing and deviating back onto all of the TAC corp, who were the only models contesting the middle flag. 

On my post-feat turn I moved my Raek to control the flag on my right which had nothing contesting it. The pot produced a Harrier who used animus and charged one of the contesting Widowmakers on the other flank, the Deathstalker removing the other, letting me control that flag too. The Scythean advanced to B2B with the centre flag, also getting reach on all of the TAC, clearing them off to secure that flag too, giving me 3 points in one turn. On the Khador turn Butcher moved up and used impending doom and flashing blade to kill my last Scythean and both Angelii. Beast 09 moved in to contest the Raek flag and two widow makers and Eiryss moved to contest the other flank, failing to hit the Deathstalker, though. On my turn the Harrier, totally out of control and on two fury, frenzied, charged and killed one of the contesting Widowmakers. The Deathstalker finished off the other Widowmaker but couldn't hit Eiryss. The pot stepped up, killing its own guy into the pot, producing another Harrier who animus and charged Eiryss, killing her and securing the flag, putting me on 4. On the other flank a moderately damaged (two armour pierce attacks last turn) Beast 09 was contesting my other flag preventing the win. I decided to go chips in. Saeryn moved up and chucked two Hellfires at it, boosting one damage. The Shredder then went rabid and advanced into melee, taking two double boosted attacks, followed by the loaded Foresaken who took 3 boosted damage attacks on him. Finally the Raek moved into melee, using all of its attacks to just manage to scrap the heavy, netting me the 5th, winning, control point, saving the game!

Round Four

Moving into round 4 I was on 2 and 1, putting me back into a competitive position. I was the pair up this round, being matched with Adam Bell with his Menoth. Remember back in round one when I got paired with the 4th highest rated player in the country? Adam is the 5th highest and top Menoth player, as well as another England WTC player. [sarcasm] Yay [/sarcasm]. I was also knackered by this point and was pretty tired but luckily Adam's a great guy and really fun to play against, even if he's a fantastic player who definitely plays to win. The scenario was Fire Support this round. He was playing Anson Durst and (I think?) eSevvy. eLylyth was my Menoth drop so my decision was pretty much made. Adam decided to drop Durst. I was pleased with that, not because I thought I'd be any good against it, but because I wanted to see, as a Menoth player (recovered), how the new guy played. Turns out it's pretty well. The list he was running was a Reckoner, Fire of Salvation, a Templar, a Devout, a hierophant, Nicia, eEiryss (again), Gorman (again), a Vassal, Corbeau, a reclaimer, a min choir and a max unit of Zealots with UA. 

I won the roll to go first and took the first turn, giving up the board edge with the trench. The game didn't last long and was one of the first of the round to be finished. I had trouble doing enough damage with Durst's awesome spells and abilities. He took a huge chunk of board space with running Zealots under mini feat which I couldn't shift, and then I had to burn my feat to clear them out. He managed to destroy my objective and control the flag for two points. I then derped trying for a very long shot assassination and failed to contest on my turn, getting him the 3rd point and so he was able to run Durst up to the flag for the scenario win. This was a disappointing but not unexpected loss and, as I said, Adam's a really fun opponent to face across the table and he made getting my ass kicked enjoyable. 

I ended up finishing 2 and 2, and was the highest ranked in that bracket thanks to my high SoS, placing me 7th overall. Given my inexperience with the faction as a whole and my lists in particular I was pretty happy to do that well. Especially with a win for each list. 

While I was more comfortable with my Lylyth list than my Saeryn I think that the Saeryn list is pretty solid and I just need more experience with it. I think I want to adjust the Lylyth one though, to replace Typhon with a third Ravagore, since he really wants to be further up the board than the rest of my army and gets isolated and killed early. 

I had a good time, overall, even if I was exhausted by the end of the day! I'm looking forward to playing some more with these lists and letting you know all about it!

As always thanks for reading, and don't forget to check out the Facebook page and 'like' for regular post updates, photos and more at www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis 

Also check out Hall of Legends for Jayke's analysis of his games!

-M

Tourney Tales - Learning Legion Fun, Quick and Dirty

So welcome back, everyone, to my latest report. This week our PG decided to run a mini hardcore tournament for us at our LGS. The rules were simple. One 20 point list. 5 minute timed turns. No extensions. Hardcore scenario. It was called Fun, Quick and Dirty and that's exactly what it was. The six people who attended had all taken the dirtiest lists they could think of. I decided to stick with pThagrosh especially since his feat can give a substantial swing at such a low point value. The list I went for was:

pThagrosh +5

-Succubus -2

-Carnivean -11

-Scythean -9

Shepherd -1

Deathstalker -2

The plan for the list was to spam Spiney Growth try and to get a powerful alpha with some Draconic Strength juggling and then feat a beast back if I lose one to maintain the attrition advantage. Because of the strict time limits and the overall rush of the night I wasn't able to get any pictures, unfortunately. That also means I'll only be able to recall a quick summary of the games I played. 

My first game was against Jayke of Hall of Legends using his Cryx. He'd decided to use Mortenebra at tier 4, which got him 4 Slayers and two warwitch sirens. This meant that he was 4 points up because of his tier, a healthy difference at 20 points. I won the roll to go first and started with my first turn strategy, which consisted of casting Spiney Growth on each of the beasts, as well as putting Draconic Strength on the Scythean then charging up the board with Thagrosh. The beasts then ran up B2B in front of him, screening him, then the Succubus moved to put Spiney Growth on Thagrosh while the Deathstalker began a wide flank. Jayke had all of his Slayers up into the zone, getting as far up as possible. This gave me the opening to get a nice Alpha. The Scythean charged one of the Slayers reducing it to only a few boxes. The Canivean charged another Slayer and wrecked it. On Jayke's turn, rushed and unused to running jacks, he forgot to allocate any focus, seriously blunting his ability to retaliate. Despite this he managed to combine Mortenebra's spells and feat to pretty seriously ding my beasts up. On my turn the Shepherd healed up the Scythean, allowing it to kill the Slayer it failed to kill the turn before as well as a second one that Jayke had moved in to engage it the turn before. The Carnivean, similarly, was able to wreck the Slayer engaging it too, leaving him with no jacks. On his turn Jayke went for the long shot assassination, trying to spell assassinate Thagrosh, but only managed to get one point on him. Dice down was called and since neither of us had any Pressure Points the second tiebreaker was Army points destroyed and so I won the first round of the tournament. 

In the second round I was paired up with a Cygnar player, Mark, who was using eCaine. Urgh. His list included a Squire, a Hunter, eEiryss, Gorman di Wulfe, Taryn di la Rovissi, Reinhold, the Black 13th and a unit of rangers. It was pretty clear what the plan was for this list. Assassination all the way. And it was looking like it was going to be very good at it. I won the roll to go first again and used the same opening gambit of charging Thagrosh up the board and using the beasts to screen him while putting out all my buffs. Mark's first turn and my second basically involved moving further up the board, though I did manage to kill Eiryss with the Deathstalker on my turn two. On his turn Mark had Taryn disappear my Carnivean but missed the Scythean. The Black 13th hit Thagrosh to rob him of concealment from Fog of War and then Caine moved up and feated, shooting the hell out of Thagrosh, forcing me to transfer to the beasts repeatedly and reducing me to only a handful of boxes before Gatecrashing back out of my threat range. Gorman also managed to black oil my Carnivean, also managing to hit the Succubus and the Scythean with the AOE.  

On my turn I was pretty hurt by the black oil. I had the Scythean advance into engage a ranger and the black 13th, locking them in and forcing two terror checks from Draconic Strength, but he managed to pass them both. The Carnivean moved up and then Thagrosh advanced and sprayed Gorman and Taryn, killing him but missing her, meaning no more Black Oil shenanigans. Mark then took some shots with his Hunter and Rangers, forcing some more transfers. Caine then moved up and reduced Thags to one box, meaning I had to transfer every following hit. He then took a whole bunch of shots, but managed to roll low on a few damage rolls, meaning that at the end of the turn Caine was sat on nothing. Thagrosh was sat on one box and no transfers. The Black 13th then moved to get a line on Thagrosh, taking free strikes from the Scythean. Two of them died, leaving Ryan with the two guns needing to do a single point of damage to win the game. But he failed the massive casualties check and fled before he could take a shot. I had managed to survive by sheer luck. The Scythean advanced into Caine and killed him with a single double boosted hit, giving me a second win. 

The third round paired me against Nick from Solid Ground Studios who was taking a break from his regular Legion to play some Khador. Specifically Butcher3. The tournament was called dirty for a reason I guess. His list included the wardog, a Devastator, an Iron Fang Kovnik, max Iron Fang Pikemen with Black Dragon UA and Madelyn Corbeau. This was the championship game for the mini tournament. I knew that luck had been a big factor in my wins while Nick is a skilled player playing a very good caster. Which spells trouble for me. I won the roll for first turn again and took turn one. I used the same opening moves turtling up near the zone. Khador advanced up, with the IFP running up the board out of Shield Wall since they were facing a sniper who wouldn't care about their high ARM. Nick, as usual, was careful to place his models just out of my threat ranges. On my turn I moved the Scythean, which was closer to the IFP, out of most of their threat ranges. The Carnivean moved across and into the nearby forest and the zone. Thagrosh then advanced up behind him and the forest hoping that the forest blocking LOS to Butcher would help keep me in the game for a little longer. The Deathstalker took out the IFP standard bearer and one of the regular troopers using sniper and snap fire. Nick had two of the IFP charge the Deathstalker (killing her easily) and two charge the Scythean (forgetting to take attacks), the rest advancing up and into the zone. Butcher sauntered into the zone, sending one of his Arguses (Argii?) to run up and engage the Carnivean. The Devastor moved up minimally to just toe in the zone. On my turn I had the Scythean move up into the zone and kill the two IFP who'd engaged him and the Carnivean destroyed the Argus engaging it, while Thagrosh moved further behind the forest, trying to keep away from the Butcher as much as possible. Nick then started his turn with a Vengence and Intrigue move with Zoktavir, moving him much closer to the forest my caster was hiding behind. He then charged my Carnivean in the forest and then paid one for an energiser move into melee with Thagrosh behind the forest. This moved him out of the Carnivean's front arc but it managed to miss its attack roll for the free strike! Butcher put up Silence of Death and then Slaughtered the Prophet of Everblight in a couple of hits. 

The end result put me in second place overall, which was pretty impressive considering these were my 2nd, 3rd and 4th games since fully starting the faction! The format was really great fun and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to get a few games in a single night. It was high pressure with the time but with the small lists it wasn't oppressive. We managed to get the whole 3 round mini tournament done in just over 2 hours, 3 including the 'awards' at the end. 

I'm still really loving Legion and I'm absolutely looking forward to playing some more games with them soon!

As always check out the Facebook page and 'like' for regular post updates, photos and more at www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis 

-M

Mitsuharu on Bat Reps - Learning Legion Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight vs Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Champion

Hey guys welcome to my latest bat rep, and my first with Legion! Finally! This is likely the most I have looked forward to a game in a long time and I was pretty psyched to get models on the table. I was using my pThagrosh practice list that I wrote about in my last CitTM article:

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight +5

-Succubus -2

-Ravagore - 10

-Angelius -9

-Scythean -9

-Seraph -8

Nyss Shepherd -1

Nyss Shepherd -1

Forsaken -2

Deathstalker -2

Deathstalker -2

Max Legionnaires -6

Spawning Vessel -3

Objective - Fuel Cashe

I managed to get a game with Mike, who usually plays Trolls but was trying out Khador for the first time. His list consisted of eVlad with a wardog, a Destroyer, Juggernaught and Drago as well as the Great Bears, a unit of Widowmakers, a max unit of winter guard with UA and three rocketeers and Kovnik Joe, two Mortars and a Manhunter. Nick found us a scenario using http://www.rollforscenario.com/ and we got Fire Support. We rolled for first turn and I got a 6, giving me the first turn. 

I deployed with my battlegroup to the right of centre with my Legionaires and Spawning Vessel to the left. Mike set up with his battlegroup in the centre and his Winterguard package to my left. I then popped my Deathstalkers on either flank while his Manhunter and Widowmakers went on his flanks. 

On my first turn I had the Legionaires charge up the board, with three of them killing their brothers to fill up the pot, who then popped out a shredder. The battlegroup then ran up, with the Seraph using Slipstream to shift Thagrosh up slightly. The Deathstalkers advanced up the flanks and Thagrosh moved up, putting out tenacities on all of the battlegroup except the Angelius, casting Fog of War and giving Draconic Strength to the Scythean. 

On Mike's turn he ran up most of his army, the Widowmakers nestled up behind a wall, but were out of range to do any damage. The Manhunter ran into the forest for protection. The Mortar on my right flank advanced up to take a shot at the Legionaires, but it was half an inch short and deviated back, missing everything. The battlegroup ran up and the Winterguard used Bob and Weave and advanced. 

On my turn I had the Legionaires run up towards the Widowmakers followed up by the Spawning Vessel. The seraph used its animus and then moved across the Ravagore around the Obstacle, pushing the Ravagore two inches closer to the Widowmakers. The Seraph then took a Strafe into the Manhunter, killing him but nothing was in range for the second shot from the strafe. The Ravagore, now a bit closer, sacrificed movement to aim a boosted shot into the Widowmakers, killing three of them. The Angelius moved up to the edge of the forest, but was just short on its gun to hit the Destroyer, annoyingly. The Deathstalkers continued to move up the flanks. Thagrosh started his work as the tenacity fairy and started putting out the animus onto most of the battlegroup including himself. 

Mike had been hoping that his Widowmakers and Manhunters would have gotten more work done before dying and so moved the remaining Widowmaker back towards the Mortar and out of the way of the winter guard. The winter guard then moved up and used sprays from the UA to kill a handful of the Legionaries. The Juggernaught and Drago ran up towards my lines while the Destroyer took a shot at the Scythean, sticking a bit of damage on it. Vlad advanced up, out of kill box, hiding between the Great Bears. The mortar on my left took a shot at the Legionaires, but missed, scattering back to kill one of the pot, which was full of dead Legionaires at this point, and hit the Ravagore but failed to damage. 

I started my turn by reaving in all of my fury and taking my Vengence move to reposition the Legionaires to get them better charge lanes on the Winter Guard. The Seraph took a strafe shot on the Juggernaught, only rolling two this turn again, chipping the paintwork but doing minimal damage. The Ravagore then moved up and took a shot at a bundle of Winter Guard, catching a clump of them with the AOE. Only one failed their tough check, though, however the animus set the survivors on fire. The remaining Legionaires charged the closest winter guard and remaining Widowmakers, missing all but one attack thanks to poor dice rolls. The Pot then spawned a Stinger who moved up and sprayed but completely failed to kill anyone. The far right Deathstalker continued its extreme flank, killing the Mortar on that side. The Ravagore and Seraph were running hot and so the Shepherds took the fury off them. The Scythean then charged Drago, moving to also get the Juggernaught in melee. He then proceeded to hit Drago twice, triggering the Chain Attack, getting a hit on both the Juggernaught and Drago. When the smoke cleared and he was out of fury Drago was left with only a couple of boxes. Not wanting to fall shy on the piece exchange I flew the Angelius in to finish it off with an armour pierce charge, then the foresaken came up to take its fury off, giving her two. Thagrosh continued to dole out Tenacity to everyone and camp on a healthy stack of transfers. 

On Mike's turn he continued to whittle down my forces. The Winter Guard on fire all died as it didn't go out. Joe started by moving up and shooting at one of the Legionaires. Since the Legionaire was engaged he missed and ended up shooting one of his own Winter Guard in the back, but they passed their tough roll. The Winter Guard then took some shots and sprays into the Legionaries and the Stinger, killing two of the troops but missing the lesser with all of the shots. The Destroyer charged the Angelius but had trouble hitting its high DEF and only got one solid hit, which did a moderate amount of damage. Vlad then went and feated, affecting himself, the wardog and the Great Bears before running out of the way of the nearby beasts. The bears then activated and charged the Scythean, killing it with ease. 

On my turn I had the Ravagore move across the board and take an optimistic animus and shot at Vlad, but this missed despite the boost thanks to the feat bonus, deviating forwards to utterly miss everything, leaving a scather behind the caster. The Angelius took a double boosted Armour pierce hit on the Destroyer, doing a high amount of damage, but was then unable to damage it much more afterwards. The Foresaken also charged the Destroyer, but only managed a few points of damage to the high ARM Jack. The Seraph continued to plink shots into the Juggernaught, rolling a full 4 shots, boosting damage on all of them, but only doing a middling amount of damage to it. The Pot then produced a second Stinger, who joined the first in spraying over the Winter Guard, killing the UA and two of the Guardsmen between them. The Legionaires' Vengence and charges killed another couple of Guard, but Joe passed his tough to survive another turn. The Deathstalker on my left flank took out the other mortar, and the other one did a few points of damage to the objective. Thagrosh then moved up to the objective to get a line on the friendly flag to dominate next turn and then feated (not shown in the below pic) to put the Scythean back in play in front of him. 

Unfortunately at this point Mike had to call the game as he needed to leave to get home. This was a shame as I'd been enjoying the game and had wanted to play it out, but since we were new to our factions the game had taken a bit longer in the tank than usual and so it had gotten quite late. We discussed the game while packing up and Mike felt that I had a significant upper hand in attrition that he wouldn't be able to come back from, especially with me in position to dominate my own flag next turn. You can never rule out a Hail Mary assassination run with Vlad though!  

I thoroughly enjoyed playing Legion. I was slightly worried going into it that I'd be disappointed with them after building them up in my head so much. I really think that their play style is much better suited to my preferred approach and they're a much better fit for me. 

In terms of the game, retroactively I probably should have moved Thagrosh across into a position to dominate a turn earlier to allow me to start scoring sooner. I also probably shouldn't have taken the shot on eVlad in my final turn and continued to wear down the Winter Guard. Mike's remaining two Jacks were beat up enough to not pose too much of a threat to my beasts but I'd have enjoyed seeing where he went from there. I feel like I got to explore all of the models I had in the list pretty well. The Spawning Vessel is an awesome psychological tool since it really takes the sting out of your guys being butchered if you get to benefit from it later! 

This game has only whetted my appetite to play more Legion and I'm excited to get them back on the board! 

Hope you've all enjoyed my first foray into Everblight because there's plenty more to come!

As always check out the Facebook page and like for regular post updates, photos and more at www.facebook.com/Mitsuharuonminis 

-M

Mitsuharu on Bat Reps - Grand Scrutator Severius vs. Vladimir Tzepesci, the Dark Prince & Hoarluk Doomshaper, Shaman of the Gnarls

Hi guys, welcome back to the latest battle report. This week I actually managed to get two games in with my new pSeverius list that I wrote about in my CitTM article last week. For those who didn't read it or need a reminder the list comprised of:

pSeverius +6

-Heirophant -2

-Blessings of Vengence -7

-Reckoner -8

-Templar -8

Vessel of Judgement -9

Vassal Mechanic -1

Vassal of Menoth -2

Wrack -1

eEiryss -3

Gorman Di Wulfe -2

Saxon Orrik -2

Max Choir of Menoth -3

Max Temple Flameguard with UA -8

Objective - Bunker 

I was looking forward to giving it a nice test on the table. The first game I managed to play was against Mark and his Khador who I've played several times before. He was also trying out a new list, this time using pVlad. His list included Behemoth, a Spriggan, an Iron Fang Kovnik, a Koldun Lord, Kovnik Joe, a max unit of Assault Kommandos with a Flamethrower attachment, the Great Bears, a max unit of Winter Guard, and Aiyanna and Holt with Koldun Kapitan Valachev. We rolled off for scenario and got Fire Support from the 2015 scenario packet. I won the roll to go first and pre-deployed my Vessel left of centre and the battlegroup to the centre, with the TFG off to my right flank. Mark deployed his jacks and Vlad around the centre, while his units took up each flank. 

On my first turn I put a focus on each of my jacks and then had Sevvy place Eye of Menoth on himself and Defender's ward on the TFG, who also got pathfinder from Orrik. After which everything ran up to varying degrees, since I was concerned about his threat ranges. Eiryss ran into the forest and Gorman advanced to throw out smoke. Sevvy and his Heirophant moved up behind the wall, annoyingly still inside the kill box. 

On the other side of the board things went quite similarly. Behemoth received one from Vlad and then everything ran up, with the Koldun Power Boosting the Spriggan allowing it to run, ending behind the objective. 

On my turn it was time to start killing things. The Templar moved up and away, freeing the Vessel to move up and zap the Winter Guard, killing two. The Blessings of Vengence ran over towards the winter guard too, allowing Sevvy to move up, out of the kill box and then arc an Ashes to Ashes onto the Winter Guard, killing another handful, though one passed his tough check. The TFG got pathfinder from Orrik, and then advanced up with shield wall and iron zeal to make them DEF 15 and ARM 23 with Set Defence. The Reckoner advanced up to take a shot at the Spriggan, damaging the paintwork but little else. Eiryss moved over to shoot the Spriggan but rolled a 2 after I stupidly said 'anything but double ones'. Gorman moved up and threw out smoke again. 

Mark was prepared to retaliate. He advanced Vlad up to just behind the Behemoth and cast Signs and Portents to improve his rolls. The Assault Kommandos advanced through the difficult terrain and shot at the TFG but failed to hit most of them, with only one hit, taking no damage but getting tagged with a flare. Following that the Great Bears charged in with Backswing but only managed to kill one Flameguard. The Spriggan moved up and used its targeting to hit Eiryss, robbing her of Stealth and then killed her with his second shot. The Kovnik then tried to charge the Objective but was just too short. Aiyanna and Holt moved up, the elf was too far to nail Kiss on the Vessel and Holt pinged a couple of shots of it. The Winter guard got an additional attack die from Joe and then moved up with most of them taking shots at Sevvy, but the first one missed despite having 4 dice, drop the lowest, the rest of them only doing a couple of points of damage between them. 

On my turn I realised that Vlad had moved up to get out of Kill Box and was camping nothing. I allocated one each to the Reckoner and BoV, and upkept EoM but let DW drop. The Vessel moved up and fired its zap at the Winter Guard and managed to kill 3 of them. The Reckoner then advanced up and boosted a shot into Vlad to get the flare on him. This shot was dice damage but I only rolled a 3. I'd been hoping for more and now I wasn't too sure on my ability to finish him this turn. But then I remembered my Vassal, who had to move around my poorly placed choir and used Ancilliary attack to get another shot, thanks to Flare I was able to hit again and rolled a much bigger load of damage. BoV then ran across the board to get Vlad into his LoS, allowing Sevvy to arc a boosted Immolation into him, finishing him off, netting me an early assassination win. 

This was a short game and as we discussed after the game Vlad's positioning could have been better to block me out a bit more. I rolled quite low on my Ashes to Ashes and Admonisher bounces but it was still awesome blowing up his winter guard. The TFG with Defender's Ward demonstrated how indestructible they can be when everything lines up for them. 

Since the game had ended quite early in the night our (brand new) PG Dave asked me if I wanted to have a game against his Trolls. I agreed, congratulating him on the future win. He was playing a pDoomy list which was (shockingly) a tier 4 Runes of War list made up of pDoomshaper, Mulg, an Earthborn, a Mauler and an Axer, a max unit of Krielstones with UA and 4 units of Runeshapers with Jannisa. Dave won the roll to go first on Incursion and took the first turn. He deployed two units of Runeshapers on each flank, with the stones and battlegroup central. I deployed with most of my army off to my left flank, with the Vessel and the Reckoner on the right flank, Sevvy and support left of central and the TFG on the far left with Orrik. 

Dave went first and ran his Runeshapers up the board followed up by the battlegroup and the stones, with Doomshaper and the Trolls throwing out some defensive animi, and Doomshaper putting Banishing Ward onto one of the Runeshapers. Jannisa threw out a wall in front of the battlegroup. 

On my turn I moved up a bit (Spoiler Alert: not nearly far enough!) the Vessel moved up, trying to get in range of the Runeshapers but was too far away. The TFG turtled up into Shield Wall and shuffled up the board. Orrik ran up the board. The jacks ran up to get some more board. Just like last game Sevvy put out DW on the TFG and EoM on himself again. Gorman advanced up and popped smoke. Eiryss, not wanting to waste her a second time, ran across and back. 

Dave then ran his Runeshapers up, with one unit camping on the flag and the other screening them, setting him up to score next turn since I hadn't moved up far enough to properly contest the flags. The battlegroup and Doomshaper advanced further up, behind a wall Jannisa threw out, putting out the defensive animi again. Finally Doomshaper feated. 

On my turn I needed to clear the Runeshapers off the flags. I upkept both my spells and put one on each of my heavies. The Vessel stood still to aim and then shot the nearest Runeshaper, arcing to 3 others, forcing a passed tough on the initially hit model, but killing the other three that got hit. BoV moved up, across the wall to line up for an Ashes to Ashes. Sevvy arced into the Troll on the flag, killing two, and he then moved towards the Vessel to keep the Reckoner in EoM. Eiryss aimed and shot Banishing Ward off the Runeshapers. The Reckoner then advanced to the side and shot the Runeshaper on the flag, who passed a tough check, but I used an ancilliary to clear him off finally. The Templar advanced into the maximum reach range on one of the Runeshapers and killed it, before using Beat Back to back away. The TFG moved up, with three clumping into the nearest Runeshaper, with the rest moving up and using Iron Zeal. The three on the Runeshaper did a bunch of damage but didn't finish it off this turn, but did set it on fire. Gorman threw black oil onto another of the Runeshapers. 

On the following turn the Runeshaper on fire died. The remaining regular Runeshaper on my left flank advanced up to throw a rock at the TFG, but with all their buffs it missed and the blast wasn't enough to hurt them. Doomshaper moved up and put Transmutation on himself and then advanced to get Sevvy into his Control area and then purified, clearing off his own buff. This left Doomy exposed, but he then moved up his battlegroup to hide him, with the Earthborn getting onto the flag, putting out his Defensive buffs again, and having Jannisa drop a wall. The Runeshapers on my right flank moved back up into the flag, then chucked rocks to kill my choir near the Reckoner. The blinded Runeshaper stumbled away from Gorman, presumably trying to get the black oil off himself only to walk into the Mauler who hefted him back at Gorman, killing them both. Dave ended the turn, scoring two points. 

On my turn, and with the scenario pressure high, I allocated one to the Reckoner and a full three to the Templar. Sevvy, with a little help from the Heirophant got my upkeeps back out on himself and the TFG, and moved slightly off to the side. The Vessel stood still to aim and shot the Runeshaper in the forest, with the Admonisher allowing it to kill both models on that flag. The Reckoner then ran over to control the flag on my right. The TFG advanced up to the left flag, planning to attack in groups of three, but the first group killed the Runeshaper. The Mauler was also contesting the flag and so I charged in with the Templar, getting lucky with the dice and one-rounded it, using the Beat Back to move slightly further away. I ended the turn and gained 2 points, while Dave secured his third. 

 

Dave went into some serious consideration at the start of his turn, measuring Doomshaper's control area multiple times to check if the Earthborn would be in charge range of Sevvy. He decided he wasn't but had another plan to get at him. Mulg activated first, charging the Templar to get out of the Earthborn's way, trashing my heavy, but not moving in to contest the flag, despite being able to goad. The Earthborn then activated and charged a choir member thanks to rush, goading from the kill into Sevvy and, thanks to fortune, smushed him into the dirt securing Dave the win. 

I thought this game went better than I expected it to and I ended with 3 control points to 4 (the Reckoner was on the right flag so would be inert when Sevvy died) which was ok, but as Dave pointed out he would have moved his stone up to contest my left flag and I would have had a hard time clearing his trolls out thanks to self-sacrifice on the stone, but I did have a high volume of attacks from the TFG and so I might have managed to close it out, but we'll never know. I held back way too much in this game and should've been contesting the flags much earlier. I let Dave lock me out of Scenario and then failed to take opportunity to come back in and contest when I did have the chance. 

Both of these games were great fun and I feel like they helped put the list through its paces. I'm excited to get it on the table at the tournament, but I should have another practice game battle report next week first. 

Don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for updates and more!

-M

Tourney Tales - Valentines' Massacre

Hi again everyone, the dust has settled on the Valentines' Masscre tournament at my LGS so I'm here to tell you all about it. This is the tournament that I've been preparing for for the past few weeks so I was looking forward to it. Right up until the actual morning of the event, that is, which is when the cold I'd had brewing exploded into a full on head cold and I felt awful. Despite that though, I dragged myself down to play some Warmachine. (See how I slipped my excuses in early). Because of this illness I didn't get any photos like I said I would, and my memory of the games is foggy at best. Because of this I'll just write up a quick summary of the games I played for each round rather than a turn by turn. 

The lists I took were the two I'd been practicing with:

List One:

Intercessor Kreoss +5

-Vanquisher -8

-Reckoner -8

Min Choir -2

Vassal of Menoth -2

Nicia, Tear of Vengence -3

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord -2

Covenant of Menoth -2

Wracks -1

Vassal Mechanic -1

Daughters of Menoth -5

Max Exemplar Vengers -11

Max Exemplar Errants with UA -10

List Two:

eFeora +6

-Bonded Judicator -18

-Reckoner -8

Vassal of Menoth -2

Wracks -1

Vassal Mechanic -1

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution -3

Dartan Vilmon -3

Saxon Orrik -2

Gorman Di Wulfe -2

Min Choir -2 

Max TFG with UA -8

Min Zealots with UA -6

Round 1

My first game was against Will whose Mercs I'd had a practice game against last week. This time around, though we both decided to use our other lists, with me taking Intercessor Kreoss and him electing to take Magnus the Traitor. His list consisted of two Renegades, a Max unit of Nyss Hunters, eEiryss, Carvolo, Dougal MacNaile, Ayanna and Holt and probably most importantly Gastonne Crosse with a Galleon. From my part this game was a complete flop. I managed to allow Will to 'live the dream' with the list, getting a turn 2 assassination to win the game. A re-rolled deviation (thanks to Dougal) on a Renegade shot knocked Kreoss down, allowing the Galleon to pump him full of shots before hitting the drag (Double powder rations) and using the free melee to stomp on Kreoss' head. Not an especially auspicious start to the day, with me only managing to score 3 army points of damage for the whole game by killing Eiryss. 

Round 2

My second round game was against a Cryx player who was using Sturgis the Corrupted. I elected to drop eFeora to handle the infantry that was in both of his lists. His list comprised of Sturgis himself with a Harrower, a max unit of Boomhowlers, Gerlak Slaughterborn, a full unit of Bloodgorgers, a full unit of Bloodwitches with the UA, Orrik to give them pathfinder, Ragman, a Warwitch, two pistol Wraiths, and a min unit of Bile Thralls. It was a meaty list with lots of tough and other shenanigans to make it hard to get through. The game was pretty back and forth, and was fairly balanced throughout. Mainly because we were both really unlucky, failing to get off multiple things. The Bloodwitches and the zealots traded mini-feats to ensure that neither did anything for two turns. There was a turn when he passed no tough rolls, including the 4+ Boomhowlers, and then the following round not a single troll failed. We both took critical chain attacks but missed the second hit despite needing 3s to hit. Throughout the game Sturgis got work done, moving up the field with Relentless Charge to kill a bunch of stuff before yo-yo-ing back with teleport. This left his caster pretty bare for most of the game, and so he took a pounding from blasts from the Judicator. The Judicator was his main priority, putting all of his efforts into killing it, but missing the mark by around five damage boxes. In the end the blast damaged and the fact that fire never went out was what won me the game. despite being outside of Feora's Caustic Presence, the fire stayed on and the pow 12 was enough to finish off the former Cygnar caster and win me the game, making me one for two. 

Round 3

My third game of the day was against one of the youngest players in our meta. Despite his age, however, he's a canny opponent who generally practices against some of the best players we have. He was using Cygnar and had made a commitment to destroying a colossal for the day. Because of this he dropped a Siege list, and I obliged by dropping eFeora. His list included a Defender and a Squire with Siege along with a unit of Gun Mages marshalling a Hunter, a max unit of Tempest Blazers, Jakes with a Stormclad, accompanied by Arlan Strangewayes. The list also included Rienholt, Gorman and Pendrake. 

I spent the majority of the game sniping out the key support solos in the army, and using blasts to overcome the Cygnaran high DEF and take out a bunch of models. A lucky deviation from the Stormclad landed right on Jakes, killing her and making it inert. To overcome this he moved his Gun Mages into the zone and thunderstruck his own Jack backwards towards Arlan so he could reactivate it. This pushed the Jack out of the zone, following which the zealots and the Judicator managed to clear the zone and score a point. We both attritioned well but he found Passage'd jacks frustrating for his list and couldn't clear them from the zone, while I couldn't reach his caster for a reliable assassination run on him. In the end we got to dice down on a very unclear point in the game where there was no certainty which way it might have gone (his feat turn could have crippled me, or left him exposed to a solid assassination run) and since I'd scored one point I won on tie breaker. Putting me at 2 for 3 for the day. 

Round 4

The final round saw me paired up with Mark, the Khador player who I faced a couple of weeks previously during my iKreoss test games. Much like with Will we both ended up using our alternative lists. I played eFeora and he was locked into Vlad 2. The list included Sylys Wyshnalyrr, a Spriggan two units of Doom Reavers, Fenris, a max unit of Uhlans, along with the solo, and a max unit of IFP with Black Dragon UA. 

This game was good, and much like last time I massively out attritioned him, killing all but one of the IFP and Uhlans respectively, and leaving only two or three Doom Reavers by the end of the game. Despite this he put a bunch of pressure on me, moving across the board quickly and locking me out of contesting his flag. He made several attempts at an assassination run on Feora but she proved too hard to kill. He scored defensively on his own flag for 2 rounds, forcing me into a long shot assassination run. I hit with a double boosted rocket pod, wiping out half his boxes, and doing a couple more with the secondary blast. I then boosted the second rocket pod and would have hit if not for the Might of Kings bumping up his DEF, doing a bit more damage with the blasts. The Reckoner then managed to get a line on him and took another shot, but didn't have any focus for boosts, and even though he managed to hit, didn't roll enough to kill. He was left with a handful of boxes and on fire, but managed to score the final point for the win, leaving me on 2 for 4 overall for the day. 

The games I played were really fun, and apart from the first game I felt like I was always able to take control. I would have enjoyed myself a lot more if I wasn't feeling so sick, but nonetheless it was a good day, and I'm already looking towards the new casters I want to try out...

Stay tuned for more, and don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for regular updates and more!

-M

Mini Thoughts - Colossals Wave 2

I'm sure by now everyone has seen the new colossal designs put out by Privateer Press at the Adepticon 2015 Keynote. Being British and employed I wasn't able to live stream the keynote as I was in the middle of a Friday at work. Thankfully I've managed to catch up through the video posted by Privateer Press of the Colossal announcement (available on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10152618645627050&id=74721417049). First off I'm pretty psyched. I know there's been a bit of negativity from what I've seen, but I'm pretty excited to see the full, proper rules for these bad boys. For anyone who hasn't yet seen the concepts for these guys here you go:

Hurricane

Ok, first off Cygnar. The new colossal for Cygnar looks awesome. No questions. It doesn't have the Storm pods of its predecessor according to the video but since it's Cygnar you can bet that they'll more than make up for that. As it stands so far they've announced it will feature a pair of powerful shots that can also push affected models, making it a great piece for controlling zones and clearing models from flags. Also it has an arc node. A Colossal Arc Node. Let that sink in for a moment. Knowing Cygnar it'll also be able to arc whilst engaged in the same way that a regular colossal can shoot while engaged. 

Victor

The Victor swaps out the heavy cannons of the Conquest for a new gun that fires (at least one) AOE 5 template that cause all kinds of bad juju for your opponent including rough terrain, reducing DEF and cont. fire with its Siege Mortar. the art has some nice secondary weapons like the Conquest but for now it's not clear how, if at all, they'll differ from the Conquest's guns. 

Revelator 

Ok, I'll be honest here's the one I'm most excited about personally, as a Menoth player (I'm bias, sue me). This big guy has the flamethrower nipples like the Judicator but seems to have a much bigger version of the Vanquisher's Flame Belcher (AOE 5, please) on each shoulder. Yowza. It's no secret that the Vanquisher is one of my favourite Protectorate Heavies and ends up in most of my lists, so a mega version? Fine by me. On top of all of that goodness this colossal ignores one of the biggest pains in the game for a ranged list: Stealth. As a Menoth player who frequently faces Cryx across the table I can tell you that ignoring stealth is huge in and of itself. But! But, cherry on the cake? He has some kind of ability that lets your other models ignore stealth too! I'm in love. 

Sepulcher 

Sepulcher is the only Jack to get an actual photo of its model, suggesting that it's likely to be the first to be physically released. This one is described as a 'walking necrofactorum' that collects corpse tokens (probably) to put out even more guys. It's like the giant robot version of a Necrosurgeon that can also tear the enemy apart. I like to think it'll probably have a rule that gets you d3 models for each corpse token or something so you can dudespam your heart out like a good Cryx player. On top of that while the unicorn cannon from the kraken is gone there is still a little gun up on there that probably kicks out some oomph too. 

Helios

Helios is the new Retribution Colossal and the only Colossal (so far) without a 'real' ranged attack. Instead Helios gets a tractor beam that lets it move an enemy model 3" in any direction. Basically it's a super-heavy jack that can cast telekinesis. For free. But better. Plus I doubt those massive fists are ornamental either. On top of that it also has mysterious 'Force Gate' abilities that weren't really explored but sound pretty badass. Shenanigans galore!

Prime Conflux 

The new Convergence goodie is all about electricity. The Prime Conflux is voltaic all over sporting electrical 'defences and offences'. That's not really discussed in any detail on the video. Presumably it's immune to electrical damage. It seemed to imply it would have some kind of shield, perhaps that deals lightning damage to models that attack it? And it also has some intimidating looking cannon on its shoulders. On top of that, like it's older brother, the Prime Axiom, the Conflux can launch servitors. Unlike the Axiom the Conflux has it's own flavour of servitor called 'Ionisation Servitors' that increase electrical damage around them. It's not clear how (cumulative +2? Additional die? Cumulative additional dice? Do they have to be near the shooter like choir or the target like rangers?) but either way it'll help the Conflux to smash face more effectively. 

Summary

Personally one of the most interesting things to note about the new colossals is that they are all more utility pieces than their predecessors. The Conflux's servitors, the Sepulcher's spawning abilities and the Revelator's anti-stealth help to assist your force in doing their thing. Meanwhile the pushes from Helios and Hurricane and the variable AOEs from Victory help to create some very nice board control for their armies. I'm really pleased to see that in these colossals, since the 20 (ish) point investment is much easier to swallow if the result not only has terrifying attacks but also adds synergy with the rest of the field! Hopefully at least one of these monsters will be spoiled in the next NQ and we can see some rules! 

And to add to all that the announcement ended with a promise of a Hoards reveal for Smogcon! New Gargantuans? Let's hope so! And that they and these colossals will be just as awesome as they're promising to be right now!

Don't forget to like Mitsuharu on Minis on Facebook for regular updates!

-M

Mirsuharu on Bat Reps - Intercessor Kreoss vs Orsus Zoktavir the Butcher of Khardov

Hey everyone, welcome back to Mitsuharu on Bat Reps and my latest practice game with the Intercessor. This week I faced off against Khador and the prime incarnation of Butcher. My list was the one I theory-machined out last week:-

Intercessor Kreoss +5

-Vanquisher -8

-Reckoner -8

Min Choir -2

Vassal of Menoth -2

Nicia, Tear of Vengence -3

Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord -2

Covenant of Menoth -2

Wracks -1

Vassal Mechanic -1

Daughters of Menoth -5

Max Exemplar Vengers -11

Max Exemplar Errants with UA -10

My opponent was using a tier 4 pButcher Claws of the Dragon tier list. This included 3 max units of Black Dragon Iron Fang Pikeman all with Black Dragon UAs. An IFP Kovnik, The Great Bears of the Gallowswood, a Manhunter and Butcher brought 2 Devastators and a War dog as tier requirements. This was a good game but we both attritioned pretty hard and the whole game was a harsh grind throughout. The clock was also tight for both of us. His list was comparatively simple to use, and his strategy was straightforward, but the numbers of models meant that each turn took a lot of activations, wearing down the clock. On my side of the table my list was smaller and didn't require as many activations or time spent, but did require a lot more thought on target priority and activation order, meaning I was spending a lot of time on my turn considering options. 

The scenario this time was Fire Support and Khador got the first turn and the advance moves put the army at around the midline from turn one. I put out my usual buffs (Ignite to the horses, Holy Ward to the Daughters, and Warpath on Kreoss) on my turn and had the daughters turtle around the Bunker objective and everything else shuffled forwards. Following this one unit of IFP moved onto my flag and the other two units advanced to engage my Errants who were sat in a forest opposite his flag. 

For the rest of the game the Vengers and Daughters held my flag, grinding out the IFP on that flank, while the Errants managed to survive the entire game against both units of the IFP, neither being able to kill the other decisively. The Errants with Rhupert and the Covenant plus the fact that I got a stupidly high number of toughs and the unfortunate to hit rolls from the IFP kept them in the game, whereas the sheer volume of bodies on the IFP took too long for the Errants to kill. The Great Bears and the third unit of IFP killed off half the Vengers and killed most of the objective, but both got wiped out after multiple grinding turns and couldn't hit the DEF 17 Daughters. 

I played far too preciously with Kreoss again, and allowed my concern about assassination to keep me back, not utalising him to the maximum since he's a hard-hitting and survivable caster. This also led me to kill box myself on the side of the board, as I'd forgotten this rule in my rush to protect him. This set me back on scenario, giving my opponent the upper hand. Following this I dominated my own flag twice, having to Force Hammer one of his jacks out of contesting on my last turn. Butcher also managed to dominate his flag before it could run my Daughters clear across the board to contest. My Force Hammer slam had unfortunately moved the Devastator next to my objective (which only had two points left on it) and he sacrificed movement to stand and then took out the objective for the final point he needed to win the game. 

This was a hard game on both our sides but I feel a lot more comfortable with this list incarnation than previously, as I feel it can handle a lot more attrition and still dish out some serious damage. I need to play much more aggressively with it though, as I allowed my opponent to dictate the board to me, and was too cautious with my caster who could have been dominating my flag much sooner if I'd moved up more aggressively. I also need to be focusing more on challenging for the scenario more as I felt that cost me in this game too. 

I'm looking forward to using this list again in the tournament in a couple of weeks, and in the meantime I'm planning to practice my Feora list a couple of times too. 

Stay tuned for more!

-M