My Malifaux beginnings (second time around)

My proposed Warmachine break started with a bang as I finally got round to playing my second game of Malifaux. This game was scheduled for the week before but I had to bail out due to work. But I got there in the end and our resident Henchman Cunning Stunt (Aiden) showed me the ropes.

We played a relatively small game at 25SS so that there weren’t too many models on the table (a really refreshing change from fielding close to fifty Menoth models over recent months). Aiden chose to field his Ramos Crew (thingy, thingy, thingy and thingy) while I used my Von Schill box set (Von Schill himself, two Freikorpsmann, a Librarian, a Trapper and a Specialist – which comes to 22SS meaning I had 3SS to use throughout the game).

We chose a fairly simple scenario (Destroy the Evidence – three objectives on each half with one in the centre of the table) and chose to forgo strategies. Going through the first round or so was slow going as I typically ignored the fact that reading a rulebook is always a good idea. The game got easier to go through as it went on. Although there was on particular turn where everything I wanted to do seeded to always fail (just how many low cards are there in the deck?). Add to this, the fact that Ramos kept summoning an Electrical Creation to keep me occupied in the middle of the table. By the start of turn six, I had lost my Trapper, Librarian and a Freikorpsmann while Aiden had only lost his Electrical Creation (three times). I was slightly ahead on points (I had destroyed the centre objective while Aiden had destroyed one on my half of the table – the centre objective was worth more). I had already hurt Ramos by sending in Von Schill himself the previous turn and finished him off with a Freikorpsmann dealing a bit of damage (damn Ramos’s Armour) and then Von Schill finished the job. We played out the rest of the turn which saw Aiden placing his Steamborg Executioner on top of an objective to claim during the next turn. Unfortunately for me, this was well out of range of any of my crew for me to do anything about it. However, fortunately for me, there was to be no turn seven meaning Aiden couldn’t destroy his objective and that I won on points.

I really enjoyed the game (winning didn’t have anything to do with it, honest) and liked how it all progressed in a very fluid manner. Like any other game there are abilities that are less or more effective than others when it comes to dealing damage to your opponent. I think I lucked out a bit when choosing my crew, I could have chosen my Viktorias. If I had then they probably would have been a bit more susceptible to Aiden’s Electrical Creation (all Freikorpsmann are immune to the blast damage caused by its attacks). While I haven’t properly read up on all the actions and triggers my models have, I think maybe the Viks probably would have been a little more mobile. Hopefully I’ll get to see this when I get to play my next game.

Something a little different.

My enforced Warmachine/Hordes break will hopefully begin this coming Tuesday. I was hoping to begin right after the European Team Championships, but real life conspired against me.

On Tuesday I will be playing my second ever game of Malifaux. I will be using either the Viktorias or Von Schill as my Masters. It’s been a while since I bought my Malifaux minis (except for the Von Schill crew plus a few extras, I got these from a fellow club member) and have done absolutely zero with them. An online store was having a huge clear out with a huge discount. So I filled my boots with all the Outcast goodies I could get, which turned out to be quite a bit (I forget exactly what I bought). But since then I have only managed to play one game. Now that I’ve forced myself to pack away my Menoth and other factions, I have been able to concentrate on painting up enough Malifaux minis to be fairly flexible when it comes to selecting my crews.

I have also gotten round to painting up all bar one of my Infinity minis. Here is another system in which I have only played one game since I bought a couple of handfuls of minis.

I’m looking forward to the change in game mechanics

Breaking the Silence

It seems that I have fallen into one of those silences again. The last intended words here on 237 Dice should have been about the upcoming tournament season but I never got round to it. Well, the tourney season has mostly been and gone, and I met my objectives. Of course, those objectives was to actually better last year’s combined UK Masters/ETC record of 0-13 (previously I have mistakenly stated 0-12 because I just can’t seem to add six and seven properly).

Preparation this year was more solid I as I played my tourney lists week in and week out and made the necessary tweaks (but not too often). I made the decision to go back to my first Warmachine love – Menoth. Last year I took Retribution, and as my record suggests, I wasn’t that comfortable with them. As much as Dawnlord Vyros is one my favourite casters, I just couldn’t really make him, Ravyn and Kaelyssa work. So I literally went back to the drawing board and picked my first ever caster (or at least the epic version). This has been a good move for me (as it has improved my win ratio for the year (at time of writing I’m at 15-34 during 2012) but also because I have managed to get a heck of a lot of models onto my painting table and off again. I have a little spreadsheet which I try and use as a motivational tool to get things done and it shows me that I have fully painted 59.78% of my 184 Menoth minis so far with another 6.52% ‘almost finished’ (compared to about 11% at the start of the year).

This spreadsheet, coupled with these big events have helped me build up some tolerance for painting, An example of this would be the Slow Grow league our club ran at the beginning of the year, awarding an extra point for having a fully painted army for each round. My Gators are all finished apart from a Bull Snapper (who needs and arm) and a Spitter (not sure if I’ll ever get round to using him). More often than not, I usually end up packing away the paints and brushes or pick up my laptop and procrstinate. I didn’t mind that much before about fielding/facing an army that wasn’t fully painted, but that is changing slightly as I am enjoying painting a little more.

I’ve also found another reason to enjoy painting recently; a new games system. I’ve had some Malifaux (Outcasts) and Infinity (Combined Army) minis for some time now, and for a short period after ETC, I’m putting myself in WarmaHordes exile while I learn how to play these games. Over the last month I have fully painted fifteen Morat models to add to the six CA minis I had painted previously. I just have to finish of a Shasvastii Malignos and all of my Infinity models are finished. I’ve enjoyed painting these wonderful minis so much that I am a little upset that I’m done with them. I then moved onto my Viktoria and Von Schill crews, both of which are now done and will require some scenic bases. Most of these sixteen models were partially painted when I bought them so they didn’t need too much work. This means that I have enough Malifaux minis to play around with for a while before I get around to painting my Som’er Teeth Jones, Leveticus and Hamelin crews.

Next on the painting table I have my Flameguard Cleansers and UA, and a half-painted eFeora and Avatar to get ready for the upcoming Steamroller qualifier in the middle of August. I’m not going to hold out any hope of finishing in a qualifying spot (the top four will go on to a the big Steamroller final at the end of the year along with the top four from the other three heats) but will go along to have a final bit of competitive fun for the year. After that, I have now rigid gaming plans. I will try and use those casters that I haven’t used much or at all while attempting to keep up the painting. All the while, I shall be putting together a couple of 50 point Farrow lists. They should be ready by the start of next year.

All that is really planned for the near future is to just enjoy some gaming.

EPIC! Kreoss, EPIC! Doomy, EPIC! Feats, EPIC! game.

The preparations for Tourney season carried on against Cal and a formidable beast heavy list.

(EPIC!) Hoarluk Doomshaper, Rage of Dhunia
* Pyre Troll
* Troll Axer
* Dire Troll Mauler
* Earthborn Dire Troll
* Mulg the Ancient
* Trollkin Runebearer
Trollkin Runeshapers (Leader and 2 Crew)
Janissa Stonetide
Troll Whelps
Troll Whelps

Reinforcements:

Trollkin Scouts (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Trollkin Scouts (Leader and 5 Grunts)

I was originally going to take eFeora to give her her debut but Dark Sphere didn’t have the model for me to buy (or that I didn’t think her list would pack enough punch against what was likely to be a beast heavy list). So I went with a variation of my eKreoss list:

Grand Exemplar (EPIC!) Kreoss
* Fire of Salvation
Daughters of the Flame (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Exemplar Bastions (Leader and 4 Grunts)

Exemplar Errants (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Exemplar Errant Officer & Standard Bearer
Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Knights Exemplar (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & 2 Honor Guard
Exemplar Errant Seneschal
High Exemplar Gravus
Knight Exemplar Seneschal
Knight Exemplar Seneschal

Reinforcements:

Flameguard Cleansers (Leader and 9 Grunts)
* Flameguard Cleanser Officer

We drew up the scenario for the game which was Outflank, Outfight and Outflank with Reinforcements. Neither Cal nor I had gotten to use the Reinforcement rule yet so this was going to be a lot of fun.

Cal won the roll-off and decided to go first. eDoomy sat in the centre flanked by Troll Moses and Janissa with the Runeshapers in front. Cal placed the Mauler, Mulg and the Pyre facing my right flank and the Earthborn and Axer facing my left.

I set up with a front line of Bastions and both units of Knights (the Knights looking to make an early claim for the right hand control zone). eKreoss, FoS, Rhoven and Co and both Knight Sennys standing behind. The Errants, Errant Senny and Daughters Advance Deployed near the forest looking to take the left hand control zone.

Turn1

Cal ran everything forward as one with the exception of Doomy who threw Wild Aggression on the Earthborn and Refuge on the Pyre.

Kreoss goes first and puts Inviolable Resolve and Sacrosanct on the Knights (I forgot to use their Advance Move, probably just as well). Both sets of Knights run forward towards the control zone just about getting a toe in. The Bastions also run forward to try and clog up the middle of the field. The Daughters drift in from the left to the centre to see what the Runeshapers would do, While the Errants got cosy in the forest contesting the zone.

Turn 2

The fun began when Cal brought on his reinforcements. The first Scout unit deployed at the front of the reinforcement deployment zone, with the second unit just behind them. The first unit activated and Assaulted the Errants and made quite a big dent in their numbers (six Errants kicked the bucket), while the second Scout unit moved up in support. Cal’s next action was to get Moses to use Harmonious Exaltation on Doomy who had upkept his spells and feated. The Runeshapers move forward and try to blast the Daughters but can only kill one. The Earthborn, who had Rush cast on him by Doomy, charges into the Bastions taking three down, leaving the remaining two on one wound each. The Axer follows suit and threshers three Daughters. Having seen what was happening on the other side of the table, the Mauler decided to get in on the action and charge the Knights. This charge, thankfully, failed by the closest of margins. Mulg moved closer to the Control Zone and Janissa threw down a Rock Wall in front of the Pyre and Mulg. The Pyre also tried to Spew at the Knights but couldn’t cause any harm or make the fire stick due to eKreoss’ Elite Cadre: Aegis.

After a big turn from Cal, it was time for a big turn from me. I brought on my Reinforcements and deployed them as far as they could go. Kreoss kicked things off allocating one Focus to FoS and upkeeping his upkeeps. He moved forward and then feated (everybody auto-hits and get an extra attack each) keeping hold of the rest of his Focus. I started with the Bastions and charged the Axer. Credit goes to the Axer for staying alive on two points after four Weapon Master attacks. One of my Knights Senny (now with STR buff for Menites dying nearby) charged the Earthborn getting off his Chain Attack. This caused a lot of damage. Gravus (full up with souls of fallen Menites – love that double dipping) charged in and finished off the Earthborn. Rhoven moved up with his Honor Guard and used Negation to take a point of Fury away from the Axer (not that it made much difference to Doomy). The Errants struck back at the Scouts killing three from the closest unit and two from the other, their Quick Work ability not working to full effect). The two remaining Daughters ran past the Axer and took on the Runeshapers taking killing two with a total of six attacks. I tried to squeeze as many Knights around the Mauler as I could but failed as I so very nearly killed the big troll. In the end, the Cleansers had to pitch in with their sprays to kill the Mauler.

Turn 3

Cal started off with the easy bit and got his scouts to finish off the Errants and gain the first control point of the game (we both thought that I had score the first but after looking at the wording in the Steamroller pack, I only contested the zone as I had less than half the Errants in the zone). The Axer, who still had Wild Aggression upkept, then managed to kill the Knight Senny in front of him. Fortunately, Cal forgot about Restoration so the Senny came back after some nearby Knights were killed. The last Runeshaper ignored the Daughters in front of him and tried in vain to kill a Knight. Janissa showed him how it was done by killing two (and not getting knocked down from Sacrosanct like we thought as she was Steady). The Pyre activated next and knowing he was going to do didly-squat to the Knights, he gave his animus to Mulg to make him hit far harder than he should (in my opinion anyway). Mulg then did what he does best and SMASH!!! He took out a handful of Knights to clear some space.

Time for me to get a bit of a move on before I was wiped out by Mulg so I kicked off with Rhoven who got his Guard to charge the Axer to finally finish it off. Gravus gets a charge in on the Scouts and kills three, clearing the control zone as a result (I would score my first point at the end of the turn). I then charge one of the Daughters into Troll Moses while the other stays engaged with the Runeshaper. Unfortunately, they are unable to kill either Troll. The Knights then get charges in on the Pyre and the Whelp that is standing right next to Mulg. The Whelp dies, but the Pyre hangs on with a few points left. I then get the other Knight Senny at Mulg. Both initial attacks hit but I then fail with the Combo: Smite attack. Finally I bring in the Cleansers to start spraying Mulg, careful not to hit my guys. They pile on a bit more damage.

Turn 4 (queue missing pic for Cal's turn 4)

With both Mulg and the Pyre maxed out on Fury, Cal has to decide which beast is going to frenzy. He goes for Pyre who has the most uninspiring frenzy and fails to kill what’s in front of him. The Scouts make charge moves at the Errant Senny and Gravus. The Senny stands unscathed while Gravus only suffers five points of damage. Moses uses Harmonious Exaltation on Doomy who pimps his friend Mulg with Wild Aggression and the Pyre’s Flame Fists. This does not look good for FoS. Janissa then uses Tectonic Shift and moves both Daughters and the two Knights engaging the Pyre towards my table edge. Then Mulg goes for it. He Threshers both the FoS and the Knight Senny, causing FoS to lose two columns and kills the Senny. This activates FoS’s Righteous Vengeance. FoS moves in and whacks Mulg. Because of his Affinity with Kreoss, his weapons have Dispel meaning Mulg is now just normal Mulg. Mulg carries on buying attacks and leaves FoS with only his left arm (Open Fist) in working order.

The Knights Senny, Errant Senny and Gravus combine to kill three out of the four Scouts left on the board, the last one contesting the control zone. The Daughters finish off Moses and puts a few points of damage on Janissa. FoS gets a hit on Mulg causing a few points. The Knights charge the last Runeshaper (killing him), Mulg (more damage) and Doomy (left with only a few points but still with a couple of transfers). I then get the Cleansers to activate and half start spraying Mulg taking a few points at a time until they kill him and the rest spray Doomy with the same result.

The negative streak ends after an EPIC three and a bit hour, four turn game. I really enjoyed using reinforcements, they really changed the game. Cal’s choice of two units of Scouts was genius, coming on and making sure that things died with their Assault moves made my trusty Errants look quite flimsy. My Cleansers made quite an impact too. It had been a while since I last used them and enjoyed the extra dimension that the Officer (just purchased hours before the game) lent to them. My feat turn would not have been quite as devastating as it was if the charge of the Mauler had not failed, the Cleansers and others would have had to work that little bit harder. Everything in my list worked quite well. The Daughters get special mention despite losing four very early, they didn’t need to use Anatomical Precision that much to take down Cal’s support. The best thing about Rhoven was not his abilities which are quite situational at times, but it was his guard. Two MAT 8 Weapon Masters!!! If something needs to be taken down, Cassian and Gius can really make sure it is either done or make it easier for others to finish off. Kreoss was safe and FoS wasn’t really in any position to cause much harm, although he saved himself with his Dispel attack on Mulg.

All in all, I’m satisfied with my eKreoss list and not sure if I should change it to accommodate for a second unit of Daughters or not. I may not get to much time to test this out as I really should begin working with Feora (p or e) and Vindictus.

Post Slow Grow Tourney

Wooooooo!!! Two wins!!! Statistically impossible!!! This could be my year.

Ahem! Yes. I had a good event, which was run superbly by Lewis. The nicest thing was that it was super relaxed, well there were a few hangovers. It was great to see experienced players and noobs mixing so well. I played against three relative noobs and they all seemed to have fun.

I took a solid Maelok list, who after being pummelled by Luke’s ranged Retribution list again proved to be quite tough. Against Ben I had trouble getting through high DEF models (even with rerolling MAT 7’s), but if only I had gotten through the Nyss Hunters then who knows. But it was Major Tom and Sander who found my ARM buffing minions a nightmare therefore giving me two wins. Sander was finding it difficult with the timed turns but I’m sure that he’ll get used to it.
I still think that I could have played a bit more aggressively but can’t complain as I did win two of my games (both against noobs and both against pStryker – three out of my four wins this year have been against pStryker, hmmm).

Slow Grow Tourney - game 4

Game 4 threw another pStryker list in my face, this time led by another of CGC’s newer Warmachine players. Sander took the following:

Commander Coleman Stryker
* Defender
* Stormclad
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
Long Gunner Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts)
Sword Knights (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Lancer
Journeyman Warcaster
* Hunter

The Scenario for the last game was Sacrifice. I pretty much bricked again during set up leaving the Croaks to Advance Deploy closer to the Flag.










Sander managed to get everything on right on the edge of his deployment zone.

 

Turn 1

Everything ran forward towards the Control Zone with upkeeps and prayers except for the Croaks and W + S, who moved towards the flag.

Sander moved his ATGM and Rhupert around some intervening forest towards the flag. The Black 13^th, Sword Knights and Lancer entered the Control Zone with the Journeyman and Hunter in support. The Long Gunners, Stormclad, Defender and Stryker shuffled forward.

Turn 2

The Croaks entered the forest next to the Gun Mages and started throwing spears with little end product. My right hand GMP charge into the Sword Knights killing two. Everything else moved forward towards the centre of the table.

Sander then got his Sword Knights and Lancer to attack the Gators in the Zone only managing to kill one. The Black 13^th had a bit more luck as they shot down two more Gators. The Long Gunners then started taking shots at an ARM 20 Gator but couldn’t really do anything. The last action was down to the ATGM, but Sander ran out of time.

Turn 3

The situation in the Control Zone was looking a little bad for me so my Right hand GMP leader charged into to Knights and killed two while the other member of that posse killed another. Kaine the Wrastler charged the Stormclad but could not take it down. The other Posse charge the Long Gunners killing five but the last one stood his ground. W + S moved closer to the flag while staying submerged knowing that they would be prey to over half of the Gun Mages. In the final act of my turn, the Croaks failed to even hit a single Gun Mage.

Sander concentrated his efforts this turn on the middle of the board and the Control Zone. I took two Sword Knights and to kill a Gatorman after the Lancer had failed. The Stormclad hit back at Kaine but couldn’t do much to hurt him (I can’t remember if its arms were taken out or not). The Journeyman and Hunter moved closer to the centre while Stryker stayed hidden and feated. Finally the Gun Mages made a move on the Frogs but couldn’t do anything due to time running out again.

Turn 4

I started off with the Croaks who killed two of the Gun Mages at last. W + S moved up slowly watching the Croak/Mage battle while submerged. The right hand Posse (with only the leader left) polished off the Sword Knights. Kaine and his battle with the Stormclad was left unresolved for another turn after he lost an aspect in the previous turn (I had forgotten to heal him). Ray decided to declare a charge on the Defender but couldn’t scrap the jack. The Posse in the middle charged the Hunter and remaining Gunner. They killed the Gunner and put a lot of hurt on the jack.

Sander responded to this but there wasn’t a lot he could do with all of his jacks having faulty weapons systems. The Black 13^th took shots at the Witch Doctor to no avail. Once again, Gun Mages didn’t do anything due to time running out.

Turn 5

Again I started the turn off with the Croaks. The one amidst the Mage formation killed one, thus freeing up the others to throw spears at the rest killing one more. Maelok revived two Gatormen to help out in the Control Zone. Unfortunately, they didn’t even hurt the Black 13^th. The Gatormen in the middle spent the turn standing up after being knocked down in the previous round.

Sander got the Black 13^th to get rid of the Revived Gatormen while the ATGM finally felled one of the Croaks. His jacks still couldn’t give out much punishment.

Turn 6

My Wrastler finally did the job of dispatching the Cygnaran heavies much to my relief. It didn’t look like I was going to finish off the Lancer so Maelok feated and Revived a Gatorman allowing the right hand Posse to charge past the Lancer and kill the Black 13^th. W + S finished off the ATGM between them. The Croak turned around and caused a couple of points of damage on the Hunter. My last roll of the dice saw the other Posse charge the Lancer (still could not finish him off) and Stryker himself. I remember missing with the both Gator’ charge attacks, but they both made their second. Sadly, they didn’t kill him.

Sander was definitely in panic mode now. Games were finishing around us and Stryker had two gators in his face. So he activated Stryker first and took down one of the Gators. No sooner had that happened, then ‘Dice Down’ was called.

We totalled up the number of points destroyed as neither of us scored any control points.  I scored more and claimed victory.

This was one of heck of a grind. When both of our heavies took damage, which limited them in dishing out the pain, the game was definitely going to a tie-break. I can’t remember whether I had not healed my beasts or was worried about Fury management, or both.

I think what let Sander down was his indecision. He was taking a little too long to make up his mind about what to do which often meant running out of time. One of the things that would have helped him out was activating the ATGM. That would have really given me something to worry about and helped with scenario play.

Slow Grow Tourney - game 3

Game 3 pitted me against Major Tom once more. As we couldn’t make any changes from Round 5 of the League, Tom’s list was the same:
Commander Coleman Stryker
* Lancer
* Ol' Rowdy
* Squire
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer
Black 13th Gun Mage Strike Team
Stormblade Infantry (Leader and 5 Grunts)
* Stormblade Infantry Officer & Standard
* * Stormclad
Sword Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

This rounds scenario was Demolition. This time I had set up in a brick fashion. W+S set up away from the main pack and the Frogs Advance Deployed towards the zone in Tom’s half of the table. Tom set up his Sword Knights and ATGM directly facing my brick while the other half of his force was set on protecting his zone. (I must not have took a pic showing Tom’s setup)

Turn 1

Everything runs. My brick just falls short of my control zone. Maelok throws down the usual upkeeps and Spiny Growth spam, while the GMP’s sing their prayers. The Witch Doctor doe his business too. The Frogs come up short on Tom’s control zone but they are fairly safe sitting in the forest nearby. W+S run up behind the Frogs and Submerge just to be on the safe side.

Tom’s sword Knights advance and keep a forest between them and the Gator brick. The ATGM move up behind them. The rest of Tom’s force starts to flood their own control zone.

Turn 2

The Frogs make the first attack and use their Hunter ability to throw spears at the Stormblades. Only one hits and kills. W + S move begin to move into the forest to support the Frogs. The rest of my army moves into my control zone and sit fairly comfortably knowing that the Knights have to come around the forest to get at me…

…which they most surely do. They manage to kill one Gator and put a few points on a Wrastler. Then the Gun Mages move further out on the flank to distract me. The Stormblades run forward with two making charges at my Croak Hunters, but they are unable to hurt them. Stryker and his jacks move towards the flag in the middle of the table.

Turn 3

The Croaks get themselves out of trouble with the help of Snapjaw. My right hand GMP and Wrastler tuck in to half of the Sword Knights who remain resolute. The other GMP and Wrastler move closer to the flag.

The Knights remain engaged with their opponents leaving the rear of my line open to the Gun Mages who have moved in closer and try to shoot at what they can. Fortunately for me, they are unable to do anything. Tom sends in more Stormblades to take on my Croak Hunters who once again prove to be difficult to hit. Tom decided to feat here considerably boosting armour values all around him.

Turn 4

It’s time for me to finish off the Knights, so Maelok revives one Gator (this one actually charges the ATGM taking out a couple). The right hand GMP finish off the Knights freeing up a Wrastler. This one then charges into the Lancer but is unable to do much damage. Snapjaw kill one of the Stormblades in front of the Frogs who combined to kill another. My left hand GMP charge into the Stormclad and Ol’ Rowdy but unable to scratch their high armour. They do however, manage to kill a Stormblade.

The Cygnaran heavy jacks combine to cause mayhem amongst my Gators. First Ol’ Rowdy smashes a couple of Gators to clear the path for the Stormclad. The Stormclad then charges my Witch Doctor and kills him.  Buoyed by this, the Stormblades go to charge the immediate threat of the Gators but fail to do much. The Black 13^th seem to pop out of nowhere but needn’t have bothered when they all failed to hit anything (thank you high Gator armour buffs). The remaining Gun Mages also ail to hit the previously revived Gator staring at them.

Turn 5

With Stryker so near, it’s time for Maelok to feat. He also Revives another Gator bringing the right side GMP to full strength. They divide and conquer two of them go to work on the Black 13^th killing two (narrowly failing to kill the third) and two and chew through a few more Gun Mages (one was already engaged. The Leader stayed where he was to keep unit formation. Ray the Wrastler finishes of the Lancer while capturing the flag. The left hand GMP then move through the Stormclad with one of them killing just one Stormblade. Another Gator kills the other and plants a hit on Stryker for a few damage. Over on my left I have three Croaks and W + S eager to join the fray. I start off with the Frogs. The first makes a charge on Stryker managing to bypass his DEF and then ending the game by rolling a stupid amount of damage on four dice.

Quite a tough game again for Tom who just couldn’t do anything about my high armour values across the board. He did well to distract me with the Gun Mages and, to an extent, the Black 13^th. Tom was also unfortunate not to be able to do much with the aforementioned units who stayed quiet until they suffered casualties. I was pleased with the Croak Hunters who did their job satisfactorily, but I must say that I wasn’t sure that they would be the ones to pull off the assassination.