Slow Grow Tourney - game 2

Next up was Ben and his Mercs (and a bag choccies – which may or may not have played any part in the game).

Captain Damiano
* Rocinante
* Rover
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (Cylena and 9 Grunts)
Steelhead Halberdiers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (Leader and 2 Grunts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Ragman
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord

I lost the roll off and Ben opted to take the first turn. The scenario for this game was Incursion with three flags on the centre line of the field at the start of the game. After my first turn, one of them would vanish. I lost the roll-off and Ben opted to go first. Ben set up with a fairly solid core of Damiano, both jacks and the Halberdiers, the Nyss Hunters facing my left flank and the ATGM + UA on my right flank. The Halberdiers at the back looking to be dispatched to where ever they are needed most.

I set up with Maelok and both Wrastlers looking at the flag to my right, my Knot of Frogs looking at the flag on my left with both GMP and Wrongeye and Snapjaw looking towards the centre flag.

Turn 1

Ben makes a general advance; the Nyss approach the flag on my left after Damiano gives them Death March. The Halberdiers move towards the centre flag and the ATGM squeeze themselves between the Halberdiers and a bit of forest just behind Gorman and Eiryss.

I position both GMP either side of the centre flag ready to move depending on which flag vanishes. The frogs stay in the forest as they are quick enough to reposition themselves and help out the GMP where needed. Both Wrastlers move inside from my right.

Turn 2

The flag to my left randomly disappears much to Ben’s dismay. With no flag to capture, the Nyss bomb forward to engage my left hand GMP and my froggies. The Halberdiers come forward to support them, while everything else shuffles towards the flags.

The GMP and Croaks clear their lines from a few Nyss and Halberdiers. W+S have to give a bit of a hand here. My other GMP charge the ATGM before they get shot to pieces. Not much happens as a result of the charge as the ATGM are safely sitting in Gorman’s cloud.

Turn 3

Ben’s Nyss/Halberdier combo has a field day and take down all three of my croaks, three Gators and Wrongeye.  Sadly, Snapjaw leaves the table because of this. The Steelhead Cavalry come in from behind Ben’s lines to take down two more Gators. This allows the ATGM to move over and claim the centre flag.

It’s starting to look a bit miserable for me. On my left, the two remaining Gators take a few Nyss/Halberdiers. On my right, the other Gators take down two of the Cavalry and almost (grrr) take down the third while engaging the ATGM. Both Wrastlers then get in on the action and help out with some killing. Maelok is now open with only the Snapper for support.

Turn 4

The ATGM firstly get rid of the Gator that was contesting their flag. The last Cavalryman was having difficulty getting rid of his own Gator. The Nyss got rid of my left hand GMP and turned their attention to the Witch Doctor, who stood up to them. The Halberdiers then went after Ray the Wrastler, but couldn’t do so much damage. Rover came over to help, but Ray resisted much of the attack. Ben scored a second point from the centre flag.

I’m now on the back foot and try to do something radical. Maelok brings back two Gators and pops his feat. The two revived Gators kill one Gum Mage each. Kaine the Wrastler is looking to get past Rocinante and start chomping on Damiano. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the movement to get past the Merc jack. So he starts let his fists fly but doesn’t break the jack. With Rover just out of reach, Ray starts beating up Halberdiers. Unbelievably, he cannot even kill one. The same goes for the Witch Doctor. The Snapper does what he can and claims the right hand flag.

Turn 5

The Halberdiers finish off Ray and the Nyss finally take down the Witch Doctor. Eiryss comes forward to contest the flag with the Snapper. Rocinante does some finishing off himself and claims the scalp of my second Wrastler. Ben gives the final word to the ATGM who kill the revived Gators and claim a third point from the centre flag to win the game.

A tough game for me as in which I found it hard to kill infantry. To be fair, the Nyss were really hard to kill with Rhupert just behind them making them DEF 16. My Gators needed 9’s to even hit them. Even with their Cold Blood prayer giving them a reroll on attack dice, it was nearly impossible. The damage output from the Halberdiers was quite respectable with Death March on them late in the game really made fun of my Gators survivability. I also didn’t position myself well for flag capturing. I reckon that I should have concentrated on one flag and used the Frogs to contest the other. My positioning on the feat turn was also bad which meant I could not threaten Damiano. Ben defended his lines solidly and bossed the game with minimal losses.