Strakhov
- Torch
- Black Ivan
- Berserker
Alexia & the Risen
- Valachev
Nyss Hunters
Croe's Cutthroats
Widowmaker Marksman
Kell Bailoch
I played against Gru and his Minions. With the reduced model restrictions Gru was running a whole bunch of new models that he wasn't familiar with yet. For now there were some proxies being used.
Rask
- Blackhide Wrassler
- Ironback Spitter
- Bullsnapper
- Bullsnapper
- Targ
Wrongeye
- Snapjaw
Nyss Hunters
Croak Raiders
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Pre-Game:
We rolled the scenario with two flags and two objectives. Gru won the roll and chose to go second, picking the side with the forests. I chose the Effigy of Valour (that lets models stand up for free) and he chose the objective that heals beasts and lets you tank hits with your heavies.
Deployment:
I deployed Strakhov in the middle with his jacks around him. The Risen went on the left with the Nyss behind them. He deployed his battlegroups in the center, and his Nyss opposite mine.
I put the Cutthroats as close to the left flag as possible, and one sniper on each side (Kell got the side with the nearby forest). His Croak Raiders then went opposite the Cutthroats.
Round 1:
Superiority went on the Berserker. Everything ran up and spread out. I actually screwed up here and put Strakhov too far from models that he wanted to put upkeeps on; not very smart on my part.
Gru moved everything up. A few of his Croaks got close enough to shoot my front line of Cutthroats, killing a few models. He put a Veil of Mists cloud in front of my Widowmaker.
Round 2:
OK, it was time for the jank to begin! Last turn Alexia had stepped out Valachev's command range, leaving her out of formation; this meant the unit no longer had Spellward, allowing Strakhov to cast Occultation on a Risen! Alexia was then able to step back into formation, allowing me to upkeep the spell. My Stealthy Risen were now invincible!
Strakhov also put Overrun on the fully-loaded-up Berserker. The plan: to Overrun off a Croak and destroy the objective. Unfortunately, there were two problems with this plan: first, the Objective could not be attacked yet. Second, the Berserker whiffed all four of his MAT 7 attacks against the Croak. Impressive. Well, at least he passed his Instability check.
The Widowmaker stepped into the could and shot down a Nyss Hunter, likewise Kell stepped forwards and killed a Croak. The Cutthroats moved up to attack the Croaks, killing a few. The Nyss Hunters took a few shots at Warbeasts (I think).
The Spitter killed my Berserker. The Croaks killed Kell and some more Cutthroats. The Nyss Hunters charged up and killed the Marksman and the front line of Risen. The Snappers charged some Nyss Hunters and whiffed. I think Wrongeye cast Starcrossed.
Round 3:
My Nyss Hunters gunned down most of his and the Risen killed one or two more, giving me a stack of corpses. Alexia created a Thrall who charged the nearby Snapper, leaving it on one box. Strakhov swapped Superiority over to Torch, who charged the Spitter. Sadly he couldn't finish him, meaning Sprint didn't trigger. I think Black Ivan shot the objective, but rolled crap for damage.
The Spitter frenzied, smacking Torch with a respectable hit considering he had lost some aspects. Rask tried to shoot Torch but missed, pinging the Spitter but doing no damage. The Wrassler put Rage on Snapjaw, who then charged Torch and proceeded to roll an amazing number of 3s. Even with the Ancilliary Attack from Targ, Torch was left with 5 boxes. What's more, Gru had been quite unlucky with his damage rolls, leaving all of Torch's systems running.
His Nyss Hunters killed Valachev, meaning Alexia would not be able to benefit from Strak's feat. The Croaks finished off the Cutthroats and starting pinging Black Ivan. One Spitter whiffed against a Nyss Hunter again, but the second killed the Thrall.
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| This photo was taken at the start of Round 4, after I had converted my corpse tokens to Risen. |
Round 4:
Torch finished off the Spitter and turned his attention to Snapjaw, but left him on two boxes. I succumbed to temptation and took a shot at Rask with Ivan, but missed. Risen did nothing as I needed them all on the flag, but Alexia killed a Nyss Hunter with a boosted hand-cannon shot. Nyss Hunters... didn't do very much. Something killed a Snapper. I finally scored a point on the right flag.
Snapjaw shuffled over a bit to base the flag before finishing off Torch. The rest of his models killed a few Nyss Hunters and Risen and continued pinging Ivan down, after Rask disrupted him. I scored a second point.
Round 5:
Alexia was amassing a nice big horde of Risen at this point, enough to seriously threaten the Wrassler should he get too close. She did spend one to kill another Nyss Hunter though. Strakhov gunned down the remaining Snapper while Black Ivan shot at the objective again, not doing very much without focus. I scored again, putting me at three points.
Using Boundless Charge and Veil of Mists, Gru was able to get Snapjaw into Alexia. I burned the Risen to try to keep her alive, but it was all for naught. He wasn't quite able to kill the last Risen though, so he didn't actually score this turn. I think Black Ivan lost his cortex this turn.
Round 6:
Black Ivan took another shot at the objective, putting a few more points of damage on it. Then Strakhov cast Overrun on himself and moved up to finish it off. After my first shot hit however Gru passed it on to the Wrassler. Oh yeah, I forgot the objective could do that. Strakhov used his second shot to hit Targ, but he toughed. This was a problem, as Strakhov was standing completely unprotected out in the open and needed to trigger Overrun. Luckily the Cinder Bomb scattered in the right direction and reached Targ; a boosted damage roll finished him off and let Strakhov move back behind Black Ivan.
Meanwhile the Nyss Hunters charged Snapjaw, but Wrongeye had Star Crossed up and two missed. Cylena herself was out of range and landed a hit, but it wasn't enough.
Snapjaw killed two more Nyss Hunters, Snacking giving him back a couple of damage boxes. Rask and the Croaks shot Ivan, putting some damage on him - he was getting low on boxes now. The Wrassler moved up to threaten my stuff.
Round 7:
Cylena put a couple of points of damage on Snapjaw. Black Ivan shot the Croaks in front of him, but many tough rolls were made. Strakhov then used his gun, cinder bomb, and magics, but many more Tough rolls were made and in the end one Croak was still left contesting the flag.
The Wrassler killed Black Ivan. Snapjaw killed Cylena. The Witch Doctor charged Strakhov, rolling high and putting seven damage on him despite my spending two focus to reduce the damage. Gru scored the flag on the right this turn, giving him one point.
Round 8:
Strakhov moved out of engagement with the Witch Doctor while still basing the flag - luckily the free strike missed - and gunned the Croc down along with the Croak. Ram pushed the Wrassler just far enough to clear the flag. We both scored this turn, bringing me to four and him to two.
Wrongeye moved up to base the right flag while Snapjaw charged and destroyed my objective. The Wrassler ran around the forest to bast the left flag, which Strakhov doesn't contest. This meant Gru scored three points this turn, bringing him to five and winning the game.
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| That Nyss Hunter at the bottom had actually been trying to destroy the objective for several turns but was not getting the damage rolls he needed. |
Post-mortem:
That was a very long game, but I enjoyed it a lot. Our lists were quite well matched: we both had two beatstick heavies, a shooty heavy, and two shooty units, with some other bits and pieces on the side. His heavies hit harder, but I had better threat ranges, and also Alexia winning me the war of attrition on the infantry side (until Snapjaw happened).
I made some mistakes, but probably nothing too major; the biggest one was probably forgetting that he can pass off hits to the objective and trying to destroy it at range rather than focussing my fire on his warbeasts. Letting Alexia die was a shame; she had accumulated a lot of Risen, enough that things were looking good for me for a bit there.
Rask seems like a good Warlock: Boundless Charge and Veil of Mists are great for getting to important models, and Fury gives his army the armour cracking that Gru's lists have tended to lack. All that and also a boostable RAT 7 gun that removes upkeeps, disrupts warjacks, or steals Focus? Sounds good to me. The Wrassler getting the Rage animus feels like a really good thing for Minions too, something that they probably needed.
I love the Spitter's model, but it has some of the worst defensive stats on any heavy I've played against: DEF 10 ARM 18? Any yet Torch didn't kill him on the charge (and my dice weren't bad). That P+S 17 is kind of depressing; I'm not happy about it anyway. Torch went from a decent beatstick with a lot of situationally useful abilities, to a mediocre beatstick who is also a mediocre gun platform who has a lot of situationally useful abilities; it kinda feels like a more dedicated jack would be more valuable (especially with Strakhov wanting to alpha and all that). His bond with Strakhov is so good that I can't help but take him though.
Putting Occultation on Alexia was entertaining and might have helped force the Nyss Hunters to come to me, but after that turn it wasn't important and I dropped it for the focus. I probably should have re-cast it on Strakhov, but I figured he was immune to most of the shooting that was still on the table.
So far the Berserker has just not been working out the way that I keep feeling he should. He is a cheap way to start the piece trade however, which is not such a bad thing.
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