Turns 1-3:
As usual I went first so I could demonstrate the basics. I brought in some units and demonstrated combined attacks against some buildings, failing to do any damage. For their first turn Black and Wheatley brought in some units and, not wanting to destroy any buildings since Terrasaurs are the good guys, they secured them instead. In my monster turn I demonstrated stepping, and finally blew up a building for a power die, firmly establishing GUARD as the bad guys in this conflict.
Turn 4:
Terra Khan ran up, punched Defender X in the nose, then ran and hid behind a building.
Turns 5-7:
I brought in a repair truck and used it to put out the fire in the building I had destroyed. I also whiffed a couple more unit attacks. Notorious MiB and Oately reinforced their power base. In my second Monster turn I was finally able to demonstrate what the game is really all about, as Defender X grabbed Terra Khan and threw him into the building he had been hiding behind, doing a full 3 damage, before stepping back.
Turns... I lost count...:
Understanding how power attacks worked now, The MiB and Wheatos were faced with a difficult moral quandry: toss Defender X into two buildings for 5 damage, or stick to their morals and avoid deliberately causing collateral damage to the city. In the end it was decided that sacrifices had to be made for the greater good; after all, 5 damage is 5 damage! I responded by rebuilding the first building that I had knocked down, seizing the moral high ground. I also tried to put some damage into Terra Khan with my tanks, but that didn't go so well:
The Bellowers had no such difficulty chipping away at Defender X, so I retaliated with Mr. Tank, who finally managed to get through Terra Khan's scaley hide. At this point Defender X was in Hyper mode, so I was able to use Beat Back on his blast attack to knock Terra Khan into another building. I ran two Monster turns in a row to weaken the Terrasaur's power base with a stomp attack.
Turn Schfifty Five:
With Defender X at one health, a combined attack from four Bellowers and a Spinodon failed to knock off his last point of damage. Irritated with his underlings, Terra Khan picked up Defender X and body-slammed him onto two of the Bellowers to make an example out of them, winning the game in a surprising heel turn. I guess Nolan was right: you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
We were joined mid-game by another newcomer, The Painted Man. After the Monpoc game I took the opportunity to demonstrate Warmachine. I had a Sorscha2 Brawlmachine-legal list I had put together at the behest of some forumites. It has Doomreavers to actually do work, Beast 09 because he's a beast, a Destroyer because it's a safe pick, Reinholdt and the Koldun Lord for rerolls, and Alexia1 to make up points and put some bodies on the table.
(Khador: Wolves of Winter)
[Sorscha 2] Forward Kommander Sorscha [+28]
- Beast 09 [16]
- Destroyer [13]
- Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator [3]
Koldun Lord [0(3)]
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen [8]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10]
- Greylord Escort [3]
I gave Painted Man a Kozlov list I had carelessly thrown together earlier. Since Kozlov is low on speed buffs but heavy on damage buffs, I went for two shooty jacks; the Demolisher's high ARM should help ensure it has the opportunity to counter-punch if the army eats an alpha. Nyss Hunters are one of the better units I own for intro games as they are simple and are decent at both ranged and melee; with Valachev and Kozlov's buffs they could potentially crack a lot of amour on the charge. The Forgeseer and Wardog would make up the points, enable Gang, and had the rare distinction of actually being painted.
(Khador: Wolves of Winter)
[Kozlov 1] Lord Kozlov, Viscount of Scarsgrad [+28]
- Decimator [15]
- Demolisher [16]
- War Dog [2]
Greylord Forge Seer [0(4)]
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [16]
- Koldun Kapitan Valachev [4]
Pre-Game:
We were playing on a rather small table, just under 30" across, so I used a 3' mat. I threw down some simple terrain around a 12" zone in a vague approximation of a Mosh-Pit scenario, with the simplified ruleset of "any model can score if it's in the zone and no enemy models are in the zone, starting from the second player's second turn".
Deployment:
I put Sorscha's battlegroup in the center, the forest on the left forced my DoomReavers to my right (the lines were too close for advanced deployment to make sense), and the Risen brought up the rear. My Koldon Lord went nowhere, because I forgot he was in the list. TPM put his jack in the trench and Nyss in the forest.
Round 1:
I ran everything forwards except Alexia and the Destroyer. The Destroyer put some damage onto the Forgeseer, and Alexia created a Thrall who ran up to obstruct the Nyss.
The two jacks shot down most of my Doomreavers, leaving one knocked-down survivor who passed his Tough roll. But the Forgeseer cut him down, using Battle Wizard to cast a Hoarfrost that scattered onto a couple of Risen. The Nyss circled my army and put a big CRA into Beast, who used Hyper-Agressive to close the distance. Valachev meanwhile killed the Thrall and was able to Frostbite Reinholdt to death. Kozlov advanced behind the Forgeseer.
Round 2:
Beast 09 casually murdered most of the Nyss with a couple of swings. The Destroyer charged and killed the Forgeseer. Alexia took a double-boosted shot at Kozlov but only did 3 damage, which he ignored using Focus. The Greylord Escort cast Frostbite at Kozlov, missing him but killing the Wardog.
I pointed out to TPM that he might have an assassination vector on Sorscha: running Valachev to engage her, knocking down the Destroyer with the Decimator, and then Sidestepping Kozlov off a Risen would get Kozlov into Sorscha. TPM had other plans however.
Valachev walked and Zephyred over to engage the Destroyer, while the remaining three Nyss walked around Beast 09, giving him a wide berth, in order to cut down Alexia. Kozlov retreated and cast Fury on the Decimator, who charged the Destroyer, crippling his cortex and right arm. The Demolisher advanced slightly and but some boosted shots into Beast 09, doing a fair bit of damage but not crippling any systems.
Round 3:Unable to charge the Demolisher as it was in his back arc, Beast 09 instead opted to finish off the Nyss. With no Focus and a crippled axe arm, the Destroyer whiffed his only attack on the Decimator. The Greylord Escort once again failed to Frostbite Kozlov. Sorscha rolled 3 attacks on her quad-iron and put all three into Valachev, somehow leaving him with a single box! I should mention here that I forgot to give Valachev the defensive bonus for being engaged in melee. Oops. Anyway, Sorscha then cast Cyclone to withdraw.
The Decimator finished off the Destroyer. Valachev attacked Beast 09 but at dice-11 he predictably did no damage. Kozlov swapped Fury over to the Demolisher and popped his Feat. The Demolisher then charged Beast 09 and finished him off with a single attack.
Round 4:
Sorscha charged the Decimator; her second attack crit and left him stationary, but even so she was only able to cripple his buzzsaw.
The Decimator shook Stationary and tried to step out of melee range so he could knock Sorscha down with his gun, but the free strike crippled his other arm. Boosting the attack rolls for two dice wasn't enough, and Sorscha remained on her feet... until the Demolisher charged in alongside Valachev and put her down with his third MAT 8 P+S 21 attack.
Post-Mortem:
The games were a lot of fun, more so than most intro games I've held. I was impressed by how quickly everyone picked up the rules and started making strategic decisions.
I find it interesting that in several of the Monpoc intro games I've held, new players were intially confused by my eagerness to destroy buildings despite playing a "good guy" faction. Obviously I'm doing it initially to demonstrate the game mechanics. Guess I need to hurry up and get some Destroyers on the table.
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