Battle Report, Minions vs Mercenaries, 4/12/18 [Warmahordes]

Whew, took a long time to post this!  Lots going on in my life, so having time to sit in front of the computer has been tough.  But hey, finally have it written up and posted.

This game was against Joey again.  I wanted to put some new stuff on the table, and figured I'd try a caster I haven't used in MkIII- Jaga-Jaga.  To further my effort to try something new, I decided to finally try another Minions theme.  I don't own enough Farrow to actually do the Thornfall Alliance, so with a few last minute purchases, I went with a Will Work for Food list.

https://conflictchamber.com/#cb201b_-0PjP4c4djTjMjWk7jSbOjV7Fk64n2N

Minion Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Will Work for Food

[Jaga-Jaga 1] Jaga-Jaga, the Death Charmer [+27]
 - Blackhide Wrastler [16]
 - Bull Snapper [5]
 - Dracodile [36]
 - Ironback Spitter [14]
 - Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)]
Croak Hunter [3]
Gatorman Husk [3]
Gatorman Witch Doctor [4]
Kwaak Slickspine & Gub, Croak Sorcerers [4]
Rorsh [15]
Thrullg [0(5)]
Totem Hunter [0(6)]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]

Plenty of stuff new to me in this list.  Like I said, I have never tried Jaga-Jaga in any edition of the game, let alone the current one.  The Gatorman Husk was a new purchase for this game (as I needed to fill the final three points).  And Rorsh/Brine were a completely new model for me, also purchased the day of the game (you may notice the lack of assembly on them in pictures below).

I also bought new dice for this game.  I'm sick of my old dice.

Anything more exciting than a picture of DICE?

Joey took his usual list:

https://conflictchamber.com/#c6201b_-0mb_9494949393it98iriripipiEhX

Mercenary Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Hammer Strike

[Ossrum 1] General Ossrum [+28]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps (max) [16]
 - Hammerfall High Shield Officer & Standard [0(5)]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [0(6)]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [0(6)]
Horgenhold Forge Guard (min) [10]
Horgenhold Forge Guard (min) [10]
Tactical Arcanist Corps [7]
Hammerfall Siege Crawler [18]

Pretty solid, dependable list.

We rolled up The Pit II, and per the usual, I lost the roll to go first (and Joey elected to have me go first).

Deployment:

Minion Deployment

Mercenary Deployment

I had my Husk Ambush onto the board from my left (Joey's right) right next to one of his unit of Forge Guard.

Turn 1:
I run everything forward, trying to keep the Dracodile out of range of the Siege Crawler (I don't want to deal with Stagger quite yet).  Jaga-Jaga casts Battle Host, and casts Death Wind on the Wrastler, and advances forward.

Joey moves his Dwarfs ever so slowly forward.  I think they are running, but it's hard to tell *chuckle*.

Ossrum puts Fire for Effect on one of the Artillery, Snipe on the Battle Engine, and advances up behind the wall on his side of the board.  The FFE'd Artillery takes a shot at the Spitter, and deals four damage.  Joey then spends a few minutes thinking about how he's going to handle the Dracodile, who can really screw with his Siege Crawler (with the spray).  He decides that having the Siege Engine staying too far back isn't going to help him, and moves it forward to shoot at the Spitter as well, dealing an additional four damage, and Staggering it.

Turn 2:
The Husk ambushes on Joey's side of the board, on my left, and manages to kill a Forge Guard.  The Totem Hunter then kills another, and sprints behind the building where he can't be seen.

The Dracodile heads up, sprays the Battle Engine for 10 damage, as well as Blinding it.  One less thing to deal with on my next turn.  The Croak Hunter in the center begins to try to chip away at that High Shield unit, and kills one.  Thrullg deals a few damage to the Gunner who ventured up to the forest, and I put a smoke screen on my right with the Swamp Gobbers to get Rorsh and Brine a bit closer to the action.

Joey starts hit turn by dropping Snipe off the Battle Engine (who can't shoot anyway), and allocating two focus to a Driller.  Joey's primary goal this turn is to drop the Dracodile, and he juggles Fire For Effect onto the Artillery pieces, shoots at the Dracodile with both Artillery pieces, Ossrum, and charges a unit of Forge Guard and a Driller into it.... but it stays standing (although not by much).  Elsewhere, the High Shields and a Gunner attempt to handle Rorsh, but the killing shot causes him to go Tough, which keeps him alive and impossible to shoot, meaning Brine is going to be able to get into the action on my turn.

Realizing he can't kill the Dracodile with his remaining pieces, Joey attempts to handle some of the support pieces, shooting at Kwaak, but only dealing two, but managing to kill Thrullg with his other unit of Forge Guard.

Turn 3:
I get to work, since everything in my army is basically where it needs to be.  The Spitter kills two Forge Guard, The Wrastler kills a Driller and badly damages another, who the Dracodile finishes off (although critically, I can't get a spray off to blind anything).  Brine charges into the Gun Corps, killing a few.  The Totem Hunter gets to work on one of the Artillery.

Really, even with getting basically optimal work from everyone (thanks to Jaga-Jaga's Signs and Portents), I don't really feel like I've taken a big chunk from his army.  Ugh.

Ossrum upkeeps Fire for Effect, allocates a few to the remaining Driller, and the artillery takes a shot at the Dracodile, doing some damage.  That's enough for the one remaining Driller to charge it, killing it.  He has a few focus remaining, and uses it to attack the Wrastler, dealing a few damage.

His artillery attempts to clear the Totem Hunter off them, but are unable to, so Ossrum moves backwards to kill the Totem Hunter, then casts Bullet Dodger on himself.

The Gun Corps figure their best bet to handle Brine is large CMAs, and attempt one... but roll double ones and miss.  However, they are saved from stressing too much, as the nearby Gunner has no problem killing Rorsh (I think some unengaged Gun Corps shot at him first, to remove the fury he was holding).

With the Dracodile gone, the two Forge Guard in the left hand unit charge the Dracodile, killing it, and the game is basically over except for cleanup (which Joey manages to do next turn).

Minions lose!

Thoughts:
I figured this would probably be an uphill battle, as I was running a caster I haven't used before (Jaga-Jaga), and a new theme.  But even with experience... I don't know how I could win against Hammerstrike with this theme.  It just doesn't seem to generate the volume of attacks I would need to handle all the bodies.  I suppose for this matchup, I'll need to stick with Blindwater Congregation for the Hammerstrike matchup, and try WWFF against other opponents.  It'd probably be better if I had some more lesser warlocks as well, which I'm working on ordering. 

I rolled well, didn't play too too terribly, I think, so I just got outplayed and out-attritioned, which I can live with.  I really liked Jaga-Jaga, even though she didn't really do all that much but cast S&P every turn.  But heck, I really loved having that available.  I don't know that I missed many attacks at all this game!

I've played two more games since this post, both against Rob, only one of which was played to conclusion (against Primal Terrors).  I am slowly getting my Minions 'tournament pair' fully completed, and once that's done, I'll work to getting a new army up and running- so look out for that in the near-ish future.

Battle Report, Minions vs Mercenaries, 2/8/18 [Warmahordes]

Managed to get another game of Hordes played (third this year!), this time bringing my Minions at 75 points, the most I've ever swung with this faction!

I played against Joey, who also managed to get his army up to 75 points, and was eager to play his first ever game at the points value.

I decided to try out Maelok, who I enjoyed in Mk2, and was eager to see how he'd play in Mk3. After weeks of working hard at assembly, I brought the following:

Minion Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] The Blindwater Congregation

(Maelok 1) Maelok the Dreadbound [+28]
- Blackhide Wrastler [16]
- Bull Snapper [0(5)]
- Ironback Spitter [14]
- Gatorman Soul Slave [0(5)]
Gatorman Witch Doctor [4]
Gatorman Witch Doctor [4]
Thrullg [5]
Totem Hunter [0(6)]
Gatorman Bokor & Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers [10]
Gatorman Posse (max) [16]
Gatorman Posse (max) [16]
Gatorman Posse (max) [16]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]

My beast complement is basically unchanged from any other game, as these are the only beasts I have assembled. I realize I really need to get hold of a Blind Walker- Maelok and Calaban can really make good use of it, I think, but I didn't have time to grab one. I ordered one unit of Gatormen Posse from my local Game Store (Games and Stuff), but it didn't arrive in time (despite assurances to the contrary), so I'm also proxying a unit of them this game with Cryx miniatures.

Otherwise, my thought with this list is that 120 health of Gatormen Posse would be really tough to deal with, especially with the great armor from Unyielding and Death Pact. The Witch Doctors would be there to sacrifice Shamblers if I could find good targets, and speed up Posse units where needed. I figured that I could win by assassination (Mortality + Posse to the caster, or something), or grind down an opponent (and I could Revive Posse, if needed). So yeah, I'm pretty happy with this list.

Joey currently only runs Rhulic Mercenaries, but has been building and painting diligently, and was able to drop a 75 point army for the first time. He brought the following:

https://conflictchamber.com/#c6201b_-0mb_9494949393it98iriripipiEhX

Mercenary Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Hammer Strike

(Ossrum 1) General Ossrum [+28]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps (max) [16]
 - Hammerfall High Shield Officer & Standard [0(5)]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [0(6)]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [0(6)]
Horgenhold Forge Guard (min) [10]
Horgenhold Forge Guard (min) [10]
Tactical Arcanist Corps [7]
Hammerfall Siege Crawler [18]

More of the same, really... aside from the Siege Crawler. I didn't really didn't give it too much though- I figured that once I had to deal with it, I'd find some way to do so, with the Blackhide, the Posse, and Mortality in some combination. Regardless, this is a tough list to eat through- his army has a lot of staying power, and with Ossrum's feat, can get where it needs to be.

We rolled for scenario, and rolled The Pit II (the Championship Belt), and Joey won the roll to go first, and elected to go second, choosing the side that would ensure he had good shooting lanes.

Deployment:

Gator deployment

My deployment spread out across the board, with a Witch Doctor behind each of two units of Posse, one on my left, and one on my right. You can probably tell that on the right, I have that unit of Gatorman Posse proxied by Cryx minis. I actually was eager for them to get killed, just to have Minion only minis on the board, haha.

Dwarf Deployment

That Battle Engine sure does take up some space!

Turn 1
My turn basically involved running almost everything in my army but Maelok up, and casting Death Pact and Soul Harvester onto the unit of Gatorman Posse on my left.  I figured with two units of infantry staring at them- the Gun Corps and Forge Guard- they'd have ample opportunity to generate some souls for Maelok over the course of the game.

Mid Turn 1

Joey starts the turns by having Ossrum cast Fire For Effect on the Siege Crawler and Snipe on one of his Artillery, then advances forwards. The Battle Engine moves up, and with no better targets, shoots at the objective, dealing 11 damage to it.  The Siege Crawler also uses its Periscope ability to target the Totem Hunter, on the other side of the board, removing its Stealth.

The Snipe'd Artillery takes a shot at the Ironback Spitter, somehow misses, and scatters to no effect.  The other Artillery moves up, and decides to go after the objective, and finishes it off, giving him the first (and our only!) scenario point.

On my left, the Gunner moves up and kills my Totem Hunter, and the Gun Corps move up and Shield Wall, so they can threaten that left zone on the next turn.

The rest of his army runs forward.

End Turn 1

Turn 2
I have the Soul Slave start the turn casting Soul Harvester onto the rightmost unit of Gatormen Posse, who are able to charge and get a few attacks on his rightmost artillery.  I'm able to get attacks on two members of the unit, which manages to effectively remove the artillery (the piece isn't close enough to the last model in the unit for Take Up to trigger).  This gives two souls to Maelok.

I have the Spitter move up to get into the zone, and shoot at the Battle Engine, dealing three damage.  Honestly, I don't know why I bothered shooting at that instead of infantry.  Got distracted by the size, I guess?

I have the Swamp Gobbers move up and drop a cloud to give my left-hand unit of gators something to hide behind, move everything else up, and have Maelok cast Death Pact and Soul Harvester back onto that left unit of Posse.

Middle of Turn 2- blood beginning to flow

Joey allocates two focus apiece to his left-most and right-most Drillers, and upkeeps Fire for Effect.

He decides to activate the Siege Crawler first, with a lot of targets around. He gets 3 shots on the Quadcannon, and shoots, killing a Gatorman and one of the Shamblers.

The Gunner on my left activates, aims and shoots at the Gatorman in the cloud, and drops five damage onto it. His remaining artillery piece shoots at the Bokor, which ends up removing quite a few Shamblers.

Ossrum follows up by feating, advancing, and killing the last Shambler.

With the feat up, his models get a lot faster, and he rushes things into combat.

The Driller on my right charges the Ironback Spitter, leaving him at 4 health. Driller on my left charges the Blackhide Wrastler, and leaves him at 2.

The Gun Corps move up, shoot at a bunch of Gatormen, killing one, and causing another one to knockdown from Tough.  The Forge Guard on the left charge, killing a Gatorman, and killing the Bokor.

The Forge Guard on my right charge the Posse on my right, and kill two of them, and is joined by the Gunner, who shoots and kills a third.  With that, he ends the turn.

End Turn 2

Turn 3
Well, that went a little worse than I expected- I was hoping for fewer dead Posse members, and at least some of the Shamblers to be around.  Plus, both my heavies are pretty badly damaged, which is bad news.

I decide that there's enough of a chance for me to try to kill Ossrum that I go for it (more on this later). I activate Maelok, who moves up, pops his feat, cast Mortality on Ossrum, and heal my beasts so they have all of their aspects.

Going in for the kill, I have the Spitter move out of combat (Incorporeal), and shoot at Ossrum, dealing five damage.

I look around, and realize that I really can't get much else there- it's either too far, or can't draw a line of sight. Still, throwing some damage on him could be helpful anyway, so I have my left Gatorman Posse unit activate- one is able to see Ossrum and is in range to charge, and does so. I get decent rolls, and Ossrum ends at 2 health (two pips away from a glorious win!). The other Gators in that unit kill maybe three Forge Guard.

I don't have anything else really available to go after him though, and get to work on dealing with the rest of his army.  I use the Thrullg to disrupt one of the left Drillers, and have the Blackhide Wrastler destroy the other one (barely, due to Ossrum's feat). My right Gatorman Posse kill a few Forge Guard as well.

Overall, I did a bunch of damage to Ossrum, a bunch of damage to his Forge Guard, but I'm down to only a single Fury on Maelok (although I have a few souls).  If I survive the turn, I feel like I'm in pretty good shape.

Mid Turn 3

Joey sees an opportunity to go after Maelok here, with only one Fury on him, and decides that's a good path to go.  He starts by upkeeping Fire for Effect on the Battle Engine, allocating some focus on the Driller on my right, and begins the turn by activating his artillery to shoot at Maelok. The shot misses, and scatters to no effect.

The Driller turns around and kills the Ironback Spitter and one of the Posse members. The Disrupted Driller swings at the Blackhide Wrastler, but doesn't do any damage.  The Gun Corp move up and kill the Witch Doctor on my left.  The Forge Guard on my right activate, and kill a single Gatorman.

The Gunner on my left aims, and shoots at the Gatorman engaging Ossrum, hoping to clear him off.  He shoots and hits, and I pass my Tough check, but Ossrum then finishes him off with a melee attack.

The Battle Engine aims and shoots at Maelok, causing me to transfer quite a bit of damage to the Bull Snapper, and taking a bit, but it leaves Maelok alive, and Joey passes the turn.  Ossrum was camping two focus, I believe.

Turn 4:
I decide to keep going for the kill! With the souls generated last turn, I have 9 Fury.  I decide my best best is to start with a boosted Mortality, and then Venom twice (boosting damage on one).  I have another Gatorman Posse that can get to him as well, and that should be enough to do the job.

I start the turn, move Maelok up, boost on the Mortality, needing a seven... and roll a five (on three dice).  Crap.  I debate what to do, and decide to attempt the Venoms, hitting with one, and boosting it to do five damage (which Ossrum negates with Focus).

I activate the Posse, bringing the one member into contact with Ossrum... and miss both attacks.

I spend the rest of the turn killing models, but Maelok has no Fury, and I'm not on position to protect him.

On Joey's turn, the Corrosion expires, the Battle Engine activates, and finishes Maelok off.

Minions lose!

Thoughts:
Overall, that was a fun game, and felt like it was a lot more dynamic and movement filled that our previous games. Scenario didn't really come up a whole lot, but we certainly were playing with it in mind.

I honestly feel like I was in great position to win- had that Mortality on the last turn hit, I certainly would've won the game, and if my Gatorman had rolled a tiny bit better on some of their attacks, that probably could've done the trick too.

Looking back, I have to wonder if I wouldn't have been better off ignoring the assassination attempt, and instead going for attrition. With the Forge Guard already committed, and with Mortality giving me a really good way to deal with them, I really think I could've waited the turn out, killing Drillers, healing my beasts, and maybe reviving a Posse member each of those last two turns, and eventually Joey would've run out of troops to win the game. Next time I'm in that position, I'll really consider that better.

I really liked Maelok- I love the threat his feat gives, and I love Death Pact's ability to really up the armor on my troops. Normally, that would give them a great chance to survive charges, I think, and then Mortality + the awesomeness of Posse would wear most armies down.

Definitely looking forward to trying him again, but first, I'm going to try Barnabas1. Hopefully before the end of the month!

Battle Report, Minions vs Mercenaries, 1/16/18 [Warmahordes]

Got another game of Hordes onto the table this past week, playing a 50 point game against Joey, his first game at that point level!

I decided I'm going to focus on getting my Minions built and legal and playable for Mk3, so decided to take them in this game. Turns out, I don't actually have all that much assembled for them, but did have enough to put 50 points out. Here's the list I took:

https://conflictchamber.com/#cb200O_-0vcr4c4djMk7k64nkckc2N

Minion Army - 50 / 50 points
[Theme] The Blindwater Congregation

(Rask 1) Rask [+27]
 - Blackhide Wrastler [16]
 - Bull Snapper [5]
 - Ironback Spitter [14]
Croak Hunter [3]
Thrullg [5]
Totem Hunter [0(6)]
Gatorman Posse (max) [16]
Gatorman Posse (max) [16]
Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew [2]

Really, this is basically all of my assembled Minion miniatures so far.  I chose Rask because he has a great feat, and great spells (and importantly for this game, Fury), and his gun is pretty handy.  One thing to note, even though I put a Croak Hunter in the list... I completely forgot about it, and didn't actually put it on the field. Oops! 

Otherwise, I wasn't too unhappy with what I had available- Gatormen can take a bunch of damage in Blindwater, and Snacking will help keep them on the field.  The Blackhide Wrastler will give me some extra game against Heavy armor.  I don't know, feels like a good mix of stuff.

Joey fielded everything he had assembled:

https://conflictchamber.com/#c6200O_-0mb_94939395it989hiririq

Mercenary Army - 50 / 50 points
[Theme] Hammer Strike

(Ossrum 1) General Ossrum [+28]
 - Ghordson Driller [10]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Grundback Gunner [6]
 - Wroughthammer Rockram [14]
Hammerfall High Shield Gun Corps (max) [16]
 - Hammerfall High Shield Officer & Standard [5]
Herne & Jonne [5]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [0(6)]
Horgenhold Artillery Corps [0(6)]
Horgenhold Forge Guard (max) [16]

From my perspective, the Wroughthammer was new, as I've never seen it on the table before, but reading it, I wasn't overly concerned. Of much more concern was the second Artillery Corps- that thing can do a ton of damage to my army, and seeing a second one was not very exciting.  Ugh.

We roll up our scenario, getting Spread the Net.  That gives me a slight advantage, as Joey has no solos for the flags, and tends to want to keep his caster central, and not babysitting one.

Joey wins the roll to go first, and elects to go first.

We deploy!

Deployment

Nothing too notable about the deployment. There's a forest in the middle of the table, which will help keep our casters safe, and if I can park my warlock near there, I can support both sides with Fury as needed. That's the plan at least!

Turn 1:
Joey runs most of his things up. Ossrum goes around the rock and casts Fire For Effect on one of the Artillery units, and Snipe on the other Artillery.

The Dwarves advance...

I also run many of my things forward, getting into the zone on my right, getting the Totem Hunter B2B with the flag on my left.  I have the Ironback Spitter advance and shoot, hoping for a favorable scatter, and get lucky, as the AoE scatters onto the High Shield Gun Corps, killing one (and taking another down from Corrosion at the beginning of his next turn). First blood!

I advance Rask up behind the forest, cast Fury on the Gatormen Posse on my left, Admonition on my Wrastler, and cast Veil of Mists for the heck of it near the forest. I give it some thought, and decide to pop my feat. That'll help keep my army alive for my next turn, when I can get my teeth into his army. The feat ends up covering everything but a Gatorman on my right, and the Totem Hunter on my left (who has Stealth, so I'm not super worried).

End Turn 1

Turn 2:
Joey decides not to upkeep Snipe, since his artillery is basically in range. He spends a bit trying to plan what to do, with most of my army difficult to attack, but decides to go for the easy target first, and has his one Artillery Corps shoots at my lone unprotected Gatorman, killing it, then Repositions up.

Ossrum activates and cycles Fire for Effect onto the other Artillery, casts Energizer to get his jacks further up, then pops his feat and advances out of the Killbox.

With the feat, his army has the speed to advance up and get some damage on my army, and he gets to work.

Herne & Jonne advance up and put Artillerist on the left-side artillery, who attempts to shoot at the Totem Hunter, hoping to control the deviation enough to kill the solo and clear the flag.  Unfortunately, none of the scatters were helpful, and instead he has to advance the nearby Gunner into range, which shoots at the Totem Hunter, putting 6 damage on it.

The other Gunner hops into the forest, and tries to shoot at the Thrullg, but fails to hit. The Driller decides to finish the job, advances into the forest, and kills the poor Thrullg. Poor Thrullg! :(

The Rockram moves up and shoots at a Gatorman, forcing him to take a Tough check, which he passes.

The Forge Guard on my left run up to contest the flag the Totem Hunter is on. That'll be a blast to try to clear.

The High Shield Gun Corps, on my right, advance up to get within 5" of the Gatorman, and start shooting, eventually killing two Gators, as well as a Swamp Gobber. He then passes the turn.

The armies get stuck in...

I upkeep Fury, then have the left-side unit of Gatormen Posse charge into the Forge Guard, killing five, as well as Jonne. Pretty good activation!

The Ironback Spitter moves into the rectangular zone on my right, and shoots at the Gun Corps, failing to kill any, but corroding a whole bunch of them. I then send the remaining two Gatormen Posse in, but they fails to kill any because of Ossrum's feat.

I activate Rask, and have him cast Fury and Rage on the Wrastler.  Then I move up, and shoot at the Rockram, disrupting it. The Blackhide Wrastler then moves up to the Gunner and Rockram, and begins to beat on them.  I have some poor rolls, and coupled with the feat, I can't quite get it done, but I spread out my attacks, and satisfy myself crippling all of the weapons on both the Rockram and the Gunner.

I pass turn, and score a net of one point because of the Spitter in my right zone- he had moved his Gunner out of his corresponding zone, giving me an early 1-0 scenario lead.

End Turn 2

Turn 3:
Corrosion triggers on the High Shields, killing two of them, and knocking two others down.

Ossrum upkeeps Fire for Effect allocates a bunch to the Driller, and activates first, casting Energize, trying to free the Driller from the forest to get back in the action.  Unfortunately, he can't figure out a way to get the Driller to the Blackhide Wrastler, even with this and potential Bulldozes.

He tries to move the Gunner from out of combat with the Wrastler, but my free strike destroys it.

The High Shield Gun Corps on my right throw some attacks into the Gatorman Posse, but can't do any damage. The Driller, freed from the forest by Energize, attacked one of the Gatorman on my left and wasted it.

The Rockram, with its disabled weapons, figures it can't hurt the Blackhide, and instead moves around and throws an attack at the Gatorman, but again, fails to break armor (yay Unyielding!).

Herne, without Jonne to do major damage, charges into another of my left-hand Gatormen Posse, and throws one damage onto it. The Forge Guard follow up and begin attacking that unit as well, but only manage to bring one down. The Gunner, however, moves back to control its zone, and kills another Gatorman, meaning both of my Gatormen Posse units are down to two members apiece.

The Artillery throw some shots around, one at my left-side Gatormen Posse unit, and one on my Ironback Spitter, but neither deals damage.

Joey ends his turn, and we both control our rectangular zone, so the score remains unchanged at 1-0.

Mid Turn 3

Unfortunately, my Snapper frenzies, charging the Ironback Spitter, and dealing two damage. A small inconvenience.

I upkeep Fury, then start my turn by activating my Totem Hunter, who kills on Forge Guard, getting me ever closer to clearing the flag, and putting extra scenario pressure on him.

On my right, my two Gatormen Posse manage to kill one High Shield Gun Corps.  I have the Spitter start working on the nearest artillery, killing one member of the unit. The Wrastler finishes off the Rockram, freeing himself for causing some havoc next turn. I send Rask around the outside of the Forest, and have him shoot at the Driller, disrupting it, and casting Fury on the two Gatormen Posse members on my left, who kill three of the Forge Guard, but unfortunately still don't clear enough for me to score the flag.  The score remains 1-0.

End Turn 3

Turn 4:
Ossrum upkeeps Fire for Effect again, then moves up and attempts to cast Stranglehold on the Wrastler, but fails to hit. He's understandably nervous about it, but unfortunately, has to figure out a different way to handle it with Strangehold missing.

Both of the Artillery fire at the Spitter, dealing a total of 16 damages, destroying its Mind and Body aspects.  The High Shields on my right attack Gatormen, as does the Gunner and the Forge Guard on my left, but they aren't able to kill any of my mighty Gators. The Driller moves in front of Ossrum, hoping to protect him, and since none of the scoring situation has changed, he passes the turn, with the score still 1-0.

A lot less on the table as the game winds down

The Gatormen on my left finally clear the flag, killing Herne and the remaining Forge Guard. Rask then moves around, spends Fury to heal the Spitter, and casts Boundless Charge onto the Blackhide, who rages itself and charges and kills the Driller.

The Spitter fires at the previously shot at Artillery, and manages to kill off the entire unit.

The Gators again chew on the High Shield Gun Corps, but don't make any progress.

I pass the turn, but this time, I'm scoring one from my rectangular zone, and one from the flag, putting me at a net plus one, putting the score at 2-0.

End Turn 4

Turn 5:
The Gunner shoots at the Wrastler, dealing five damage, and Ossrum charges in, dealing 17 more, which unfortunately leaves the Wrastler alive, although pretty heavily beat up.

The Artillery was engaged by the Swamp Gobber the previous turn, and decided to try to clear him off with melee attacks, but fail to hit his high DEF.

The High Shield Gun Corp move around my gators to contest the circular zone.  Once again, I score a net plus one, and am up 3-0.

On my turn, I can win by clearing the center zone, or contesting the far rectangular zone... but instead I have Rask heal the Wrastler, cast Fury on it, have the Wrastler use Rage on itself, and killed Osrrum in one attack.

Minions win!

Thoughts:
This was a slog for both of us.  Two tough sets of infantry getting stuck in with one another, gradually working to wear the other down... whew, what a tough time.  I focused on going for a scenario approach from the beginning again, which again was the right choice. I'll have to make sure to bring something able to handle all of the scenario elements in the future, which will be a challenge in the jack/beast heavy lists, I think.

Anyway, I'll try a different warlock next time I run Minions, but I'm curious how Bloody Barnabas would handle this- he doesn't have a way to boost the damage of his army, how would I break all of this armor?  Hmmm...

Something to consider for the future.  I'll probably run Maelok next, as he'd be good with the models I currently have.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Gaming on 12/4/2013 (Maelok vs Syntherion)

Ben and I played a game last night.  I've been trying to throw a lot of new casters on the table, just to get some exposure to them, and yesterday Maelok the Dreadbound was my guy.  I haven't used him yet, but I've enjoyed playing my Minions in general, so I expected that to continue. I only have a limited selection of models, so we played 35 points.

My list:
Maelok, the Dreadbound
* Bull Snapper
* Blackhide Wrastler
* Ironback Spitter
Gatormen Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt)
Croak Hunter
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Thrullg
Totem Hunter

Again, I only have a limited selection.  With that said, pre-game, I wished I had owned a second unit of Gatormen Posse (something I feel more strongly about post-game).  I'd have no problem dropping a few solos even for a min unit of them.

Ben decided to take Convergence.  His list (and I may have some things wrong):

Forge Master Syntherion
* Diffuser
* Mitigator
* Cipher
* Inverter
* Monitor
Obstructors (Leader and 9 Grunts)
Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex
Attunement Servitors

Ben is a little limited on choices as well, since all of the releases for Convergence aren't out yet.  I feel like I may have some of the jacks messed up, but I think I'm close.  It was definitely 3 heavies and 2 lights.

Ben won the roll, and chose to go first.  I chose the side of the board with a wall just inside the Killbox (we were playing the first scenario- Destruction, I believe?).  Ben's side of the board had a nice large hill.

My game plan was basically to get the Gatormen stuck in early, pop my feat soon after, and charge the Gatormen past Ben's first line into his caster, hoping for the kill that way.  I could use Revive to bring back a Gatormen or two, should they fall, and put them in great position for the feat turn.

Our first turn was pretty boring.  Ben ran everything forward and put Reconstruct on his Inverter, and Hot Shot on the Monitor.

I ran forward as well, putting Death Pact on the Gatormen Posse, and Malediction on Maelok.

Ben's Obstructors were a bit concerned about the Totem Hunter facing them (on my right), so spread out to limit here I could go.  He spent his second turn taking a lot of shots at the Gatormen, with unfavorable deviations, and did no damage.  He also cast Synergy, in preparation for getting engaged.

I start my turn by putting the Totem Hunter into the Obstructors, killing two.  My Spitter shot at one of his Light Inverters, hoping to catch the Algorithmic Dispersion Optifex who was standing behind him.  I hit the Inverter, and deal a lot of damage, but with the boost, I only manage to get 3 damage on the Optifex (not enough to kill him with the potential Corrosion damage).  My Gatormen Posse charge into his lines, dealing pretty minor damage to his jacks, but killing a few more Obstructors (I killed 5 of them this turn).

Overall, I felt like I was in pretty good position.  My Gatormen were mostly engaged, as well as Zombified.  ARM 20, multi-wound models with Tough- should be tough to get rid of all of them.

Thrullg was in position to charge in as well, and my Bull Snapper and Maelok were right behind as well, spreading out a few Spiny Growths on the Gatormen.

Ben starts off by popping his feat, giving his army Weapon Platform, as well as free charges.  He then proceeds to start beating Gatormen down. By the time he's done, he's managed to wipe out the unit.  He even had attacks to spare!  Not good.  After considering conceding, we continue on.  His Obstructors kill the Totem Hunter easily, and he shoots some more, to no real effect.

I'm a bit unsure how to proceed at this point.  I don't really have a good way to fight his heavies- the Wrastler could kill one, maybe, but I'd lose him next turn.  My beasts haven't taken any damage thus far, however, but I decided my best bet was to try for the caster kill.

I start by activating Maelok, who pops his feat, walks forward towards one of this light inverters, kills it with a melee attack, and then casts Venom at Syntherion, dealing a few points of damage.  Thrullg then charges through his army at Syntherion, dealing a bunch more.  My Spitter activates, walks forward, and shoots at Syntherion as well, dealing even more damage!  At this point Syntherion is down to about 6 health, but he's Corroded.  Unfortunately, I'm out of attacks to throw at him.

I have my Wrastler charge one of his heavies, hoping to wreck it and keep Maelok safe.  I fail to kill him, however, and the systems I knock out just get auto-repaired away.

However, Ben's inverters are really slow, and can't get to Maelok.  They do manage to kill the Wrastler without a whole lot of effort, however.  He throws the Obstructors around the Spitter and Maelok, trying to tie me up so I can't make another play at Syntherion, while his jacks get into better position.

Well, I'm still desperate at this point, although I'm pleased I have another turn to do try for the win.  I start by having the Witch Doctor Sac Strike (using a Swamp Gobber) an Obstructor off the table, giving me room for the Spitter to walk out and attempt a shot at Syntherion.  Unfortunately, he misses, hurting my plans.  I have Maelok throw a double boosted Venom at Syntherion, bringing him down to about 4 health.  With 2 fury left, I debate my options.  If I try for the Venom, and fail, there's not much doubt his inverters can kill me.  But even with the fury on him, it's looking bleak.

I decide to go for it.  I need to roll a 9 to hit, which I get.  He's got 4 health, but it's also dice-8 for damage.... but then I roll an eleven on two dice, bringing him down to one!  With Syntherion corroded, it's just a hope that the effect doesn't expire...

...which it doesn't.  Syntherion dies, and I take the victory.

This is the first time I've ever killed a caster by Corrosion, but yeah, it was a really really long-shot victory.  With that said, I did have a lot of fun using Maelok, and I'm genuinely excited whenever I see Convergence on the table.

This matchup was really tough though- I mentioned before the game that I thought this would be a really really tough matchup, which still feels true.  I could have definitely played better- when I lost all of my Gatormen, it's because I threw all five up them up into the engagement.  Had I kept one back, I could've revived some over the course of the game, which may have dragged the game out longer, but certainly have kept it more even until the end.  Next time I put him on the table, I'll keep that in mind.

After this game, we played a game of Hordes: High Command with Rob and Brad.  I ended up taking Skorne, and I came BADLY into last place.  I'll talk more about that at my LCG blog, Kneel, Exhaust, Corrupt.

Finally been working on miniatures!

For the first time in some time, I've finally been working on assembling some miniatures!

Here's the proof!





Not much, but it's certainly a start. The Paingivers are going to be really nice, to give me a way to manage the fury on my warbeasts. I'm not really sure how the Totem Hunter is going to fit into my army, or if there's a role I really need him for, but I have him, so may as well use him!

My Warmachine/Hordes direction

Moving right along (yes, I'm trying to press these forward for a reason ;) ).

I currently play Cryx and Skorne. Two very different styles of play, although I have no idea what Skorne's 'style' is. I kind of suck with them. Cryx I have down pat. Set up, combo up for the assassination.

My next factions are likely to be Retribution and the Legion of Everblight. Two different elf armies? Heck yeah! I love elves. I also LOVE the background for the two armies. An army who marches to war to help save their dying god by killing the magic users of the world, and one that fights because their lord dragon, hiding from his father, directs them too for his own sinister ends. Heck. Yes.

Alright, medium amount of interest. Cygnar, Khador, and Minions. Cygnar are the 'good guys', and get so many cool toys that I will always have fun things to do. Plus, I really want to paint them orange, for some reason. Like big ugly pumpkins. I never seem to have reason to use orange paint. They are my target for doing so. Khador are the stereotypical Russian army, with a TOUGH TOUGH army to cool and some of the coolest casters in the game (one is BUILT INTO a warjack!). As for minions... random war animals fighting? So many fun painting opportunities.

Aaaand I have no interest in Trollbloods, Menoth, Mercenaries, or Circle. Boring, hate the theme, boring, and hate the theme. In order. Just bleh.

Alright one more post!