Cryx Double Header

After a good first game of the year, I had two fairly bad games (not the opponents, gents as always, but more for the bad match-ups). Coincidentally, they were both against Cryx. I had six games against them in 2012 winning only one (against pDenny, I lost against pGaspy, pGoreshade, Scaverous, pSkarre and someone/thing else that has been omitted from the records). However, I have to point out that the win against pDenny was due to Plod deciding to charge the caster into mine (Barnabas) and fail the assassination, leaving my head Gator an easy job.

vs Plod (Terminus)

This was such a horrible match up. I didn't have the denial tools I needed to cope with what was in front of me. If my army had been set in virtually a mirror image of what it was, then maybe I could have put up more of a fight. Indeed selection could have been a little better with me lowering the number of jacks on the table and maybe adding in another unit.
Kreoss3, and his feat especially, requires some proper thought throughout a game. In order to get the most out of the feat, placement is key. It will be about getting him to a place where he can begin to affect things with more authority. To help him out, I did pick up a Guardian so spells have that extra range.

vs Ed (eGaspy)

It's always intimidating coming up against Bane Spam, even more so when it's against Ed. I was pleased with how my new toy (fully painted, although I do need to put some grass on the base) performed. Ably assisted by Visgoth Rhoven and a choir, Judicator laid down a fair bit of fiery death. I need to be able to position my screening troops in front of it a lot better but, then again, there isn't a lot you can do about eGaspy's feat. One of the things I actually could have done was got the choir to make Judicator immune to magic. That would have saved a fair chunk of damage boxes, meaning it would easily have been ready for another round of dishing out flaming goodness.
Overall, I have to say that I'm quite please with the list I put out and will happily use it again. There are just a couple of placement issues that require refining, but that should easily be fixed.

Fancy a double?

After the success of CGC’s Iron Cross mini tourney, it was decided to carry on the fun with a doubles league. So six teams were assembled with a nice spread of factions (meaning less Khador for this event). We will be playing each other team twice (home and away) using the Kill Box scenario, and each player bring 25 points to the table.

I didn’t want to use Menoth as, as I have said before, they are on indefinite leave. Also no-one else uses Retribution at the moment and my Trollblood force is not big enough yet. So that left Skorne. While I don’t have a varied and flexible force yet, I can still field different looking forces. Having said that, I did go and buy Xerxis purposefully for this league. He just looks mean and plays mean too!
So I teamed with Oli, our resident Press Ganger to bring ultimate subjugation to our enemies. First off, we came up against the combo of Vish (Cryx) and Nick (Four Star Syndicate). We set up like thus:

Then we begun the mentalness. Vish pulled off some crazy manoeuvres while Nick steadily pushed forward with his shooty jacks. This was something Oli and I mirrored with Oli speeding his force forward and me moving my Xerxis brick slowly and surely. Once Nick had me in his sights, he took a shot at Xerxis and promptly knocked him out of the Kill Box scoring a point for Team S.P.E.C.T.R.E.. Some more mentalness…

happened and eMorghoul press forward and killed some stuff but not his intended target. Unfortunately, he would die soon after despite a ridiculously high Def. Xerxis took some more punishment, but laughed at everyone as he survived with a single point of damage. Vish’s caster decided to hide and Nick’s Magnus remained behind his lines making it a difficult task for Oli and I to take either of them. The Skorne were staring at the prospect of losing. The final turn proved to be quite tricky and demanded everything to go as planned (the planning took some time as well). This involved a Titan Gladiator picking up Nick’s Nomad (I think it was a nomad) and throwing it at Magnus and hopefully pushing the Merc caster out of the Kill Box and earning a draw. The was executed, but the flying jack deviated away from Magnus.

C’est la Vie! This was a great game and I cannot wait for the return leg for which we’ll be ready. You’ll probably have noticed a lack of quality (and diminished amount) of pics in this batrep. That’s because so much happened in the game that I wasn’t prepared for. It’s also the reason for highlights as opposed to a lengthy report. But I promise something a little better for next week against the Trolls. Just to make up for it, here’s a pic of the totally awesome cake celebrating four years of Cross Gaming Club. Happy Birthday!!!

Tanelorn Campaign Weekend - game 5

Ok! Last game of the weekend. A win is not too much to ask for is it? I’d basically like anything other than a loss. At this stage during the Scrap Metal II tourney a few months ago I had broke my losing streak with a draw against a Sorscha led Khador. The chances of me getting a win were reduced by the fact that my last game would be a three-way and not a two vs one like my first two games. I was up against a guy called Nick (Retribution) and Nigel (Cryx – the guy who beat me an hour or so before). Nigel took roughly the same as he did previous game while Nick fielded Garryth with two units of Stormfall Archers, some Mage Hunters and other bits and pieces. We all had one objective which was to claim the ‘ploughed field’ in the centre of the table.

To face the double threat a familiar face took to the battlefield:

The High Reclaimer (*6pts)
* Redeemer (6pts)
* Castigator (8pts)
* Vanquisher (8pts)
Exemplar Bastions (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
Holy Zealots (Leader and 5 Grunts) (4pts)
Vassal Mechanik (1pts)

I thought that I should take the Bastions again and surround my caster so that other warjacks cannot just ‘appear’ next to him.

First turn and Nigel sent a large part of his force to meet me (and my warjacks) head on (and tie me up again, especially with my slow speed).

I was aware of the silly Scrap Thrall threat and shot half of them down with my Redeemer/Vanquisher combo. The smaller Zealots ran towards the objective and everything else just shuffled along.

Nick advanced and both units of Archers let loose on the Cryx jacks on his side of the table. His Mage Hunters took several successful pot-shots at my Zealots and made the turn on their heels after taking out half of their number.

Turn two saw some more sneaky Cryx tricks and a Helljack just appeared in my Vanq’s face. The Menoth jack weathered the attacks. The Scrap Thralls joined in and engaged my Castigator. Nigel used another of his jacks to engage both units of Archers.

The Cassy got rid of the Scrap Thralls while the Vanq laid down some pain on his opponent. The Redeemer laid down some more covering fire and partially damaged another Helljack.

Nick’s Mage Hunters moved forward towards the objective while having his Mage Hunter Assassin keep an eye on the Cryx Warcaster. Those Archers that were not in Melee, targeted another Helljack and promptly destroyed it.

Turn three saw Nigel send yet another Helljack my way taking out two Zealots. He sent another to the objective while doing his best to occupy the angry elves.

The Vanq and Cassy deftly destroyed what was in front of them. I was no where near contesting the objective yet, so I got the High Reclaimer to feat and resurrected 6 Zealots who promptly made their way to the centre of the table while taking down a couple of Mage Hunters and the Assassin (this upset Nick as the assassin had been in threat range of Mortenebra and most likely would have killed him).

Nick made up for this by using the remaining Mage hunters to clear the objective of all things Menite and Cryxian, thus gaining enough control points to win the game.

Loss? Second place? It certainly wasn’t a win, but it was a very exciting game and a good way to finish the weekend. The three-way was a lot of fun and challenging, especially when you had to consider an additional opponent. I will hope to play more three-ways in the future.

Tanelorn Campaign Weekend - game 4

Sunday morning. Good breakfast, good journey (no delayed/cancelled trains) etc, etc. Today I was going to show Tanelorn Wargames Club my Menoth ninja skills. I had left my case at the venue so my models spent the night soaking up the battle atmosphere.
Game 4 saw me pitted against the nasty, sneaky Cryx being handled by a guy called Nigel. I played Nigel in a one day tourney also held by Tanelorn about this time last year. I remember losing that time, so I wanted to even up the score.
Although the High Reclaimer didn’t die, I opted to take:

Vice Scrutator Vindictus (*6pts)

* Crusader (6pts)

* Vanquisher (8pts)

* Vanquisher (8pts)

Exemplar Bastions (Leader and 4 Grunts) (8pts)

Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)

Paladin of the Order of the Wall (2pts)

Vassal Mechanik (1pts)

Vassal of Menoth (2pts)

The heavy jacks were vital as Nigel would be taking Mortenebra. My team captain saw that on Saturday his list was filled with heavy jacks. To add some more punch, I took a full unit of Bastions for a change. We both had to capture the central objective as well as a nearby flag.

Once again I lost the roll-off and Nigel seized the day in turn one and went hell for leather towards the objective. Everything moved so fast due to Morty’s spells which was truly frightening.

I wanted to make sure that my flag was secured first so my Zealots turned on the speed. The Bastions made their way slowly towards the main objective.

In turn two, Nigel’s Scrap Thralls saw the Bastions and went to tie them up for a bit. They were spaced out which would make taking them out a drawn out affair. Three of the Cryx jacks made towards my flag with one of the them looking to pick on my faithful and trusty Zealots. Fortunately, this one came up short of melee range.

This was an opportunity I couldn’t miss. After the Zealots used their bombs to soften up the enemy, my jack went all out to hurt their Cryx counterparts. Both Vanquishers led the attack with one boxing the Cryx jack closest to my flag and the other putting down some heavy damage on the one with the harpoon thingy (you know I’m not good at names). The Crusader simply waited in line for the next wave of enemy. The Bastions took down the few Scrap Thralls that they were engaged with but couldn’t do more. My Paladin sat on one edge of the objective while waiting for his moment to attack.

Turn three saw some ouch! come my way. With the Bastions tied up, my Paladin hiding, my jacks engaged and out of the way, Nigel came up with an assortment of spells and feat (pictures do aid the remembrance of games, but they do not make note of the specific spells and stuff) to place a Warjack in Vindy’s face. Game Over.

Once again, I was undone by some foolish positioning. This was certainly a very quick game. I thought things were looking fairly good. The Bastions eventually would have gotten through the Scrap Thralls so they could contest the objective. My jacks were coping with the Cryx jacks with a little support from the Zealots. I did feel confident. But I didn’t expect such an end. I should probably start reading my opponents cards when I start games so I’m not caught out.

Tanelorn Campaign Weekend - game 2

The second game saw me double teamed again, but this time by Cryx and two of their handlers (also attendees of Cross Gaming Club) Jon and Rob. As I had lost the High Reclaimer in the last game, he would be lying down in a tent somewhere having his wounds tended to. So Vindictus had decided to help me out this time:

Vice Scrutator Vindictus (*6pts)

* Crusader (6pts)

* Vanquisher (8pts)

Avatar of Menoth (11pts)

Holy Zealots (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)

* Holy Zealot Monolith Bearer (2pts)

Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)

Vassal Mechanik (1pts)

Vassal of Menoth (2pts)

Jon was using the Coven while Rob took Skarre and they opted to go first.

They moved like lightning (compared to Menoth anyway) and their claim on both objectives.

I made my move a made my claim on one of the objectives with my Vanquisher, the Zealots would move up behind.

Turn 2 saw the Bane Knights move closer to my line along with a big scary Helljack (it’s been said before, I’m not good with names). Rob’s Nightmare harpooned my Vanq and pulled it closer in order to smack the crap out of it. Then Skarre feated, meaning that my Avatar and Crusader couldn’t attack while a few of their jacks couldn’t receive damage. Not cool.

Leaving a stalemate in front of me, I decide to get the Zealots to do what they do best and launch some bombs at the Nightmare and Bane Knights who happened to be nearby. My Knights Exemplar took down a couple of Bane Knights also.

 Turn 3 was absolutely gobsmacking! The Cryx player got Skarre to cast Ghost Walk and well… the pic shows what happened, I don’t need to say anything.

Again, I am undone by the positioning of my caster. My whole positioning during set up was kind lame as well. I think I really need to read up on the many enemies at some point. Again I was probably too conservative with some units. The Knights probably could have done more as could the Crusader and AoM.

But hey, there was still some more time to show what Menoth can do…

Occupied Llael - round 1

Before I forget, I had a game on Tuesday which thankfully broke up the monotony of painting. This was one of our campaign games at the club and I played Jon and his Cryx force. I’ve played against Jon twice before but sadly never beat him. I think in the first game, I stood up pretty well, whilst in the second my behind was handed to me on a plate. This time we would see how things went. I was using a lot of new stuff including warcaster. I took the following list:


High Reclaimer (new)
Devout
Castigator (new)
Zealots - full strength
Zealots – full strength
Monolith Bearer
Deliverers – minimum strength
Flameguard Cleansers – minimum strength (new)
Reclaimer
Covenant (new)

We picked out a scenario where (and here I forget the name) a player had to take one (or both) control points for two whole rounds. After setting up, Jon got the first tun, during which he piled forward and took control of one of the points with on of his (I seriously cannot remember the name of it ) light ‘jacks. The rest of his force made a general advance. Jon’s heavy ’jack took a shot some of my Zealots at killed a few (which generated some souls for the Reclaimer to pick up).

My turn saw my Cleansers try a flanking manoeuver on the same control point. They let loose with their flamers but couldn’t get around the ‘jacks high DEF of 15. I did realise after their activation that I should have mad a Combined Ranged Attack as the leader was in range (with four out of five grunts in range, they could have got +4 to their roll to hit). Everything else moved on including a Focus heavy Castigator which went straight for the heavy Cryx warjack. It laid down some damage but left itself open for some smackdown undead style. Both units of Zealots went forward to lay down some firery hell on the undead but didn’t cause much in the way of damage (again I didn’t think about the most efficient way of dealing damage as I forgot to get the Zealots the sing the Prayer of Fervor). They did howeve manage to contest Jon’s control point.

Jon needed to get rid of the Zealots that were bearing down on him. He arced a nasty spell (...) through his light ‘jack and took out the four Zealots that were contesting the control point. Game over. But first, he got his Mechanithralls to take down my Castigator with such ease that the Heavy ‘jack didn’t even get a chance to flex it’s mechanical muscles.

This game was over too quickly. I would have felt good in the next turn if the game went on. My Cleansers might have made a nuisance of themselves. I’m really glad that I was was in charge of two units of Zealots and not facing them. They also might have been a very useful Soul bank, either through dying in the name of Menoth or having the High Reclaimer popping one off here and there for Sacrificial Lamb. The Covenant would have proved useful with it’s high CMD and useful buffs, I will be looking forward to using it again in the future. The Deliverers were never in range to do anything useful, but it would have been a matter of time before they rained hell from the skies.

Overall, I was pleased with the list I picked, but do wish I let some Zealots move out in front of the Castigator. Having chacked the club forum, my next game in the campaign is against Marcus and his Khador. A win would be good in order to claim some new territory and not be left behind. Marcus is curruntly occupying a territory I had my eye on. I’ll have to see about taking it from him.

Battle report catch up.

I have been a bit lazy recently. I owe you two battle reports.


The first against Marcus and his Khador was an interesting run-out for my 50 point Scrap-Metal II list. It has only had a very minor tweak dropping the Revenger for a Devout and reducing the size of the Choir.
The game itself was a huge challenge as at the start I left my prized Errants fairly vulnerable during set-up. They promptly got smooshed by Scrapjack (who I have a deep hatred for, I still have nightmares from the first time I faced it) who just gained attack after attack after attack. The rest of the force did ok. Maybe I could/should have used my Vanquisher more aggressively. More pot-shots into enemy lines is always good plus it could have controlled one side of the table a lot better. Marcus’ Kayazy Assassins with Underboss proved to be a difficult obstacle and made a bee-line straight to Kreoss. Kreoss was then forced (no pun intended) to choose between overboosting his own power field or buying and boosting extra attacks to get himself out of the predicament he found himself in. In the end, buying extra attacks worked in getting rid of the Assassins, but then the door was left open for … (I’ve totally forgotten who or what) to put Kreoss down. Discussing the game afterwards with Marcus, I could have used my set-up a whole lot better to force Marcus into changing his battle plan. As it was, he was able to get his force to concentrate on destroying parts of my army before moving in for the kill.

The week after was a game against Rob and his Cryx (Rob was playing only his third game with his Cryx force). I used the same 50 point Kreoss list. After Advance Deploying my Errants, I let them bomb forward straight towards the enemy. They succeeded in pulling one of Rob’s units to one side and occupy them. They pretty much wiped each other out while the Errant Officer remained standing. While remaining where he was in a forest, he also pulled out another unit. The Vanquisher did most of the work for the force. It successfully shot with it’s Flame Belcher every turn suitably aided by a Vassal (Ancillary Attack) and a Choir (Prayer of Battle). This left the rest of the army to trundle forward. The FoS pushed forward but then got sidetracked by a light Cryx warjack, while my Bastions provided an immobile shield for Kreoss (they were unable to advance too far as they kept getting knocked down). The Knights, Knights Senny and the Bastions didn’t cause a single point of damage between them which was really disappointing (but totally my fault as I was so undecided as to how use them effectively). In the end it was the Vanquisher/Vassal/Choir team that got me the win. After putting a large hole in one unit then boxing one of Rob’s heavy ‘jacks, the team turned their attention to the enemy caster pDenny. Now she was hiding behind the second heavy ‘jack, plus I couldn’t target her as she had Stealth. So I just shot at the ‘jack. The vanquisher loaded up with Focus hit the ‘jack and because of it’s 4” AOE hit Denny. I boosted her damage roll to add to the Choirs’ Prayer of Battle and got a nice healthy 15. As she was still not dead, the Vassal used Ancillary Attack on the Vanq. The Vanq, once again, boosted the damage on Denny this time causing 13 points of damage. If the game had gone on a couple more turns, we both would have used our feats which would have been interesting. It would have been a case of who popped theirs first. I might have dreaded Rob getting his in first as mine would have been ruined, or at least less effective. But still the feat wasn’t needed, and I gained a slightly better idea about my Scrap Metal force.

More Big Scary Black Things.

Here is another report that is a week late. Last Tuesday (25th May) I had a great game against A Bomb (Oli) and his Cryx. Once again, I have probably forgotten quite how things happened and exactly what Oli brought with him, so you won’t see a detailed account. I can certainly point out what I learned last week.

The game was set at 50 points so I took my solid 35 point Severius list and added a few things. Here, in full, is what I fielded:

pSeverius
Blessing of Vengeance, Crusader and Vanquisher
Reclaimer, Vassal, Exemplar Seneschal, Dartan Vilmon and Rhupert Carvolo
Choir (full strength), Zealots (full strength plus Monolith Bearer), Exemplar Errants (full strength) and Temple Flameguard (minimum strength).

This was a very tense game in which we both stretched each other’s forces out to the limit. My Errants got tied up on my left flank by a unit of Mechanithralls that kept coming back, while my Seneschal, accompanied by my Vanquisher and Vassal, kept an eye on the right flank (only for two turns or so before he got killed). My Temple Flameguard stuck to Severius, at the rear of my battle line, like glue with their Shield Wall action. The spearhead consisted of my extremely trusty Zealots, BoV and Crusader (with Reclaimer, Rhupert and Dartan in support).
I have to say that the Zealots did their job very well as usual despite the Monolith Bearer being taken out. Rhupert did step up and bolster their resolve with his songs. Dirge of Mists (+1 Def and Terror) and Heroic Call (Fearless and Tough) really helped with the loss. I realised that if the Monolith remained on the table, the Zealots would have been even more of a pain than they usually are. I will have to try and experiment with that combo a little more.
One mistake I made during the game was with the placement of the Seneschal and Dartan Vilmon. I realised that I should have placed Dartan on my right protecting the flank with his Impervious Wall. As soon as anything came within his charge range, he could have unleashed a MAT 9 4d6+15 hit. The Seneschal, as against Carlos previously, should have lurked behind my main force and gone ‘jack hunting. Dartan did go ‘jack hunting himself but his one hit wasn’t enough to destroy his opponent (the big scary deathjack thing (I probably should start remembering the names of things) that met my spearhead and pretty much took out the BoV and Crusader.
With my right flank left a little exposed, it was the perfect way for Oli come after Severius. Sadly I couldn’t hide behind my TFG Shield Wall and my greater Control Area, and the Old Man got smooshed.

It felt ok stepping up from 35 to 50 points (from 578 to 778 in old money), although it was a little bewildering at times. I’ve got the 35 sorted out so now hope to get the 50 nailed. But then this will be affected by this months purchases – Paladin of the Wall, Avatar of Menoth, Orin Midwinter (I’m interested to see how he would work for me), Exemplar Errant Officer and Standard Bearer and a unit of Nights Exemplar. I really need to sit down now and think about my massive addition to the force.

Defeat of Big Scary Black Things / Defeated by Big Scary Black Things.

What a good night on Tuesday! This was a double-header that saw mixed fortunes.


First of all, was a game of Warmachine against Carlos and his Cryx. We agreed on 35 points so I used the same Severius list (with just a small change) I’ve been using for a couple of weeks now.
Severius
Vanquisher
Blessing of Vengeance
Exemplar Errants (full strength)
Zealots (full strength and Monolith Bearer)
Choir (full strength)
Reclaimer
Exemplar Seneschal
Gorman di Wulfe (in place of a Vassal - Gorman would accompany the Zealots and aid them with his Rust and Black Oil grenades.)

Carlos fielded:
Pirate Queen Skarre Warcaster
Corruptor - Helljack
Seether - Helljack
10 Satyxis Raiders + Satyxis Raider Sea Witch
10 Mechanithralls
Skarlock Thrall
Warwitch Siren
Pistol Wraith
Necrotech
Scrap Thralls

I’m writing this a week after, so you won’t actually get a blow-by-blow account of the proceedings, but I’ll try to lay down the main flow of the game. I think that because of the way the terrain was set-up, Carlos’ force ended up in a bottleneck between patches of wooded terrain (which was good for me). I got my Errants to outflank him with Advanced Deploy which worked to a degree until I had to call them back to help protect Severius. Pretty much everything in my force performed well with the exception of Gorman. In Gorman’s defence, he did tie up the Necrotech plus I left him behind the Zealots which left out of range for the game. It might be a little easier for me to list the achievements unit by unit from here on in.

Severius: Performed well and managed to pop his feat at a crucial time (Skarre had been able to generate a horrid amount of Focus). He also utilised his BoV well, using it’s channelling bonus on Ashes to Ashes (I hit the first target, a Satyxis Raider, (now pow 13 because of the BoV’s bonus and Eye of Menoth) and then rolled a 6. All but one of the remaining Raiders survived their own pow 13 hits.) and being in the right place at the right time to channel Immolation a couple of times on Skarre.
BoV: Used it’s Bushwhack Imprint and Defensive Strike ability well when the Satyxis raiders charged.
Vanquisher: Strode forward and got in the way of the Helljacks coming towards it. It’s Flame Belcher was also effective against the Mechanithralls before it got taken down.
Errants: Advance Deployed on my right flank to pick off the Scrap Thralls with their Crossbows. Ran back to take on one of the Helljacks and stop it from charging Severius.
Choir: Very solid as they sang their songs of Prayer and kept giving my warjacks their buffs.
Zealots and Monolith Bearer: There will never ever be a reason NOT to take Zealots to the battlefield. As usual, they proved themselves taking out the Mechanithralls and putting a huge dent on one of the Helljacks (I can’t remember which one, they both had claws and were scary). The Monolith Bearer squeezed off his mini feat at probably the right time.
Reclaimer: Collected the souls of the Errants and Zealots that did die and ably gave them to my ‘jacks.
Exemplar Seneschal: Stayed behind everyone until the right moment where he took out one of the Helljacks in spectacular style. With all of his benefits (+2 for two or more Errants dying in his Cmd range, + 1 from Eye of Menoth, Weapon Master and his charge) the Seneschal boxed his opponent with 4d6+14 followed by 3d6+14 which was followed by his Smite chain attack for 2d6+14. Smite then knocked the Helljack back into Skarre, knocking her down. This made it easy for Severius to Channel Immolation through the BoV.

I was pleased how everything came together and pleased that I had worked on my forces synergies. I was caught unaware by Carlos’ tactic of Skarre bolting forward to cast Backlash (Warcaster suffers one point of damage when Warjacks in his/her battle group suffer damage) on BoV, and then getting the Satyxis Raiders to charge it. As the Raiders have Backlash on their whips, Severius was suffering two points of damage each time the BoV was hit. Severius took a lot of damage before I could shake off the raiders. Also I didn’t like the way Skarre was able to generate lots of Focus with Ritual Sacrifice which Carlos used to good effect. The Pistol Thrall scared me enough to take Gorman away from the Zealots and let them engage each other. All in all, I thought that this was a very good game and that both of us learnt a few tricks for our respective forces.

The second part of the night saw my Ratskin gang take on big scary Spiders in their campaign action. After last week shameful attempt at exploring, they were ready to give it another go. Again, the objective was to kill 10 big scary spiders and then I would gain another territory (of which I am losing at a steady rate to the house gangs). Things started off well with the gang starting in groups of 3-4 attempting to use numbers in their favour. I think I got first blood, but then the kill ratio was quite even. Eventually the spiders upped their killing and caused me to bottle after I had killed seven of the arachnids. So no territory for me, but I did collect a decent bounty for each of the spiders killed. However, this bonanza of credits was spent on replacing the two Ratskins who had rolled a ‘Dead’ result on the Serious Injuries Chart (and this is despite Ratskins being Resilient).
So I now go into the next campaign turn making a third attempt at driving out the spiders.

London Riots

Sunday, November 1st - Tanelorn Wargames Club, Wanstead.

Woke up bright and early for my first Warmachine/Hordes tourney (not counting Charing Cross Crush which was squeezed into half an evening). Living some way aways from Wanstead, I had plenty of time during the bus/DLR/Tube ride to psych myself up for my first win. I stepped out at Wanstead Tube a little early so I decided to walk to the venue. After what seemed like a minute, a very light shower turned into a heavy shower. All my good thoughts went down the drain at that point, not a good sign. I arrived at the venue very much soaked. Everything I wore was totally drenched. Thankfully my t-shirt was only about 20 percent wet. And this was only 0940 in the morning. I had to spend the rest of the day playing with wet feet. With all the greeting and rules laid out by Tanelorn's John Snape, we got down to the gaming.

The day was pretty hectic and I didn't take any notes (also have a shit memory) so there won't be much detail.

The rules stated that we had to pick a 450 point list without a Warcaster/Warlock. Instead, we had to take three warcasters/warlocks and rolled ramdomly for each game.
My list consisted of:
Feora, Kreoss and Severius
Crusader, Devout and Revenger
Exemplar Seneschal
Zealots (full strength plus Monolith Bearer) and Exemplars Errant (x7).

My tactics throughout the day was for the Errants to try and outflank whenever possible, while the warjacks, caster and Seneschal would advance behind the Zealots. I stuck to this plan pretty rigidly for most of the day, which was good as it meant that I didn't listen to the voice that wanted to live dangerously.

My first game was against a guy called Jay and his Skorne.
This was a pretty frustrating game as Jay for the most part used a spell (I forget what it was called) on his troops which meant that when if my attacks against them missed, they could move for free without backstrike. I could hardly scratch anything. Jay bided his time and certainly made his move on Feora. Loss!

Next up was against a guy called Jon and his Asphixious-led Cryx.
This was bad. No good memories from this game at all. All my 'jacks were taken out by two units of Drudgers (?) with the scary ability Headbutt. This left Severius particularly vulnerable when surrouned by these aforementioned units. Loss!

Following this, was a game against Richard and his Legion.
This was a fun game against a fun player. My Revenger got chewed apart my two Shredders in an extremely slow manner and didn't really hit back hard enough. Seneschal took a Hydra down to a single point only to be smooshed by the said beast when it was fully healed. Feora went in to show how it was really done but was then let down by her troops when they couldn't stop her from dying. Loss!

Last game of the day was against another Jon (who beat me in three turns the week before last) and another Asphixious-led Cryx force.
Jon's Zombie pirates threw me off-guard. My Zealots were pretty much taken apart. Seneschal made good progress on a Leviathan leaving it only able to attack with it's tusks. Time was called before Asphixious could take advantage of his good position and kill Feora. Draw!

Still no win! I had a lot of fun but still no win. Overall, I wasn't generally happy with my gameplay. My Zealots proved why you shouldn't leave home without them. At times they caused quite a bit of damage to the enemy, and thankfully not much to themselves this time. I don't think I used my Errants as best I could. They were victims of hit and run attacks by Richard's Legion, torn apart by Jon's (last game) Cryx and left dumbfounded by Jay's Skorne. Special mention goes to the Seneschal. He had Feora's Ignite on him for three of the games and was pretty dangerous. Causing 4d6+13 damage on his first hit, 3d6+13 on his second and then 2d6+13 on his chain attack, he dealt a fair bit of death. Feora also proved to be a combat machine with Engine of Destruction. I didn't utilise my 'jacks much all day, I was pretty conservative with them. But the worst performer out of the lot was Kreoss! He never deigned to show his face even once.

This day left me pretty much exhausted. This seemed to be a fairly laid back tourney, so I would have to pull myself together if I want to attend something a bit bigger. But thats something to think about in 2010 as I'm going to go back to 40k and play with my equally unlucky Necrons.

Another Warmachine Double Header 20/10/09 (part 2).

The second game of the evening was against Jon (aka Dancingmonkey) and his Cryx. There was quite a contrast in the make-up of both armies with mine troop heavy and Jon's 'jack heavy.

My force saw Feora leading the following:

Jacks: Devout and Revenger
Units: a Choir (full strength), Zealots (full strength with Monolith Bearer), Exemplars Errant (full strength) and Temple Flameguard (x 8).

Feora came up against Mortenebra who led:

Jacks: Nightmare, Harrower, Deathripper, Defiler and Cankerworm.

We played using the Bodyguard scenario, which meant neither of us had to mess around with capturing objectives and simply go for a 'caster kill.

We rolled for set up and first turn. I won the roll and opted to go first. For set-up, I placed my Zealots to the left of my deployment zone and my Flameguard, 'jacks and Feora on my right. If Jon had wanted to get a 'caster kill, he would have to come down my right-hand side. This would be ideal as my Zealots could just run around the hill in the centre of the board and out flank the Cryx force. Jon set all of his force on my right except for Cankerworm, who was placed in the centre of his deployment zone. After that, I had my Errants advance deploy on the hill in the centre of the table facing the right. What I wanted was a gauntlet for Jon to run down, coming through crossbow fire before hitting the Shield Wall of my Flameguard. With set-up finished we went to turn one.

TURN ONE

A quiet turn for both players. I set about a general advance. The Errants moved slightly further up the hill followed by the Revenger. The Flameguard did the same while staying in tight formation. Feora and the Devout kept pace with the Flameguard and stayed behind them. The Zealots ran halfway across the battlefield in order to skirt the hill. At this point Feora had decided to sit on all of her Focus, giving her DEF 15 and ARM 23!
Jon moved his Harrower towards my Errants, Nightmare towards my Flameguard and Cankerworm towards the oncoming Zealots.

TURN TWO

The Zealots continued running. In fact they reached the opposite deployment zone and found the the Cankerworm sitting in a shallow pond. They couldn't do anything more as they collected their breaths and thier thoughts. The Errants decided to use their crossbows to open fire on the Harrower. This didn't prove to be particularly effective as only a handful of points worth of damage was casued. The remaining units all stayed where they stood. Once again, Feora kept all of her Focus.
Jon took the offensive line by having the Cankerworm, Harrower and Nightmare charge the Zealots, Errants and Flameguard respectively. Cankerworm held up the rushing Zealots by killing three. The Harrower laughed off the pitiful display of shooting and charged into the Errants. Only two of the Exemplars fell as a result, but had used Bond of Life to keep engaged with the Harrower. Jon was only building up the carnage as he loaded Nightmare with Focus in order to cut a path through the Flameguard towards Feora. Five of the Flameguard fell leaving only three to guard their leader.

TURN THREE

After the witness the slaughter of the rightous Menites, I decided to take action. The Monolith Bearer used Greater Destiny, so that his followers could disengage from the Cankerworm without harm and do waht they do best. Once at a safe distance (within range, of course) they launched their Firebombs. Cankerworm exploded as it was subjected to seven POW14 blasts. The Errants didn't fare so well. Those that could engage did resonable damage but not enough to seriously hurt the Harrower. Not even the Revenger, who decided to help out and charged the Harrower from behind, could take down the enem Helljack. This left the small matter of the Nightmare. The Flameguard went forward to engage with a combined melee attack and did as much damage as they could, which turned out to be not much. The Devout charged in as well, again just causing minor scratching. After watching her forces do so badly, she decided to show them how to do things. She cast Engine of Destruction, which boosted her own decent stats (+2SPD, +4Strength, +2MAT), and threw herself at the Nightmare. While causing considerable damage, the helljack remained on its feet.
There wasn't much for Jon to do as he had Feora in sights (melee range). All he needed was for Nightmare hack Feora to pieces. Which it did, despite Feora sitting on two points of Focus.

END OF GAME

Jon was kind enough to point out that in the last turn, Feora should have bought extra attacks with her two remaining Focus. This could have finished off Nightmare allowing me to regroup slightly. Other than that, the Zealots could have made it accross the table to Mortenebra and try to soften him up. The Errants may have taken out the Harrower with numbers and then gone on to support the Zealots. Also, while drawing up some notes on the train (the batteries in my camera had already run out), I realised one very important thing I should have done. In the second turn, the Errants decided to fire their crossbows at the Harrower. I remember measuring to see if they were in range, that the distance between them and the Helljack was nine inches. CHARGE RANGE! 10 Errants (or maybe only as many as can fit around the Harrowers base) with Weapon Master and charging would have caused 4d6+10 damage each! That would have put a bit of pressure on Jon at that point and made the game a bit closer. The cagey start made it look the the game was even, but in the end two well place 'jacks controlled the game.
Thats just another thing that I will have to remember for other times.