Myrmidon Mayhem, Dice Disappointment and You!

[Kallas]

Well folks I'm here to natter at you aimlessly again. This time, I'll be focusing on how our warjacks run, how they hold up under battlefield stresses and what we can achieve with them.

This is not here to compare the warjacks as a primary focus, but some mention will be made (likely, "I would've rather had X here.") and it is required to show what works well where.

I currently have two gaming nights: Tuesdays irregularly (usually each week though not always) and Wednesdays every week. Thus I'll be updating around those days. Sometimes I'll get a random game in, but they'll be an exception.

So, to begin, I'll examine the two games I played today. Those who have read my Kaelyssa thread will be accustomed to the format, though I'll be doing more of a synopsis than blow-by-blow report.

The first was 35pts, Ravyn vs Asphyxious1, caster kill. I took a pretty radical list, when it comes to Ravyn:
Ravyn
- Discordia
- Manticore
- Phoenix
Sylys
2x Arcanists
1x Magister
MHSF + UA (min)

Most like to take much more infantry than this to maximise her feat potential, but I took a slightly more finesse approach: use it to cut out a significant portion of the enemy force.

Asphyxious1
- Stalker
- Stalker
- Deathripper
- Deathjack
Skarlock Thrall
Mechanithralls (min)
Bile Thralls (min)
Withershadow Combine
Warwitch Siren

I won the turn order and opted to go second. The defining feature of the battlefield is a large obstruction across the centre of the table. It was closer to my side of the table, however, and became the pillar of my defence. There is a small rubble portion over which a model can advance.

First turn, Gaspy runs his forces up, unsurprisingly. Ravyn puts snipe up on the MHSF and they do a little damage to the Deathjack and pop a couple of thralls. Discordia sprays a Stalker on the right but misses.

Round two, the Deathjack hides behind the far left of the wall. One Stalker runs into the rubble at the centre. Withershadow moves to the Stalker/Discordia side.

Ravyn feats, Locomotions Discordia 2" who walks forward, fails to kill Maelovus (1, 1 and 2 on the damage, bleh!) but does kill Tremulous, triggering Swift Hunter and engaging the Stalker. MHSF don't get to shoot the Withershadow Combine so kill the Skarlock and put decent damage on the Deathjack. The Phoenix sets it on fire and adds a little damage. Manticore disuades advancing with a Covering Fire template.

Round three, the Deathjack Hellfires a Mage Hunter, causing them to fail their command (le sigh...) and the Stalker, backed up by the Siren put some more damage on Disco. The WSC dark fire one Mage Hunter as the central Stalker charges the Phoenix. Captain Hammer charges the Stalker, but unfortunately misses. Discordia almost scraps the Stalker with two boosted attack rolls (dice+3 is nice, but I roll low.) The MHSF rally and the Phoenix healed a few points of the few it had taken. The Manticore walks up and two handed throws the Stalker at the Deathjack, just as a roadblock, but it deviates badly away, but at least away from most stuff. The MHSF kill a couple more Thralls and ping the DJ a little.

Round four, the Siren walks round, spraying one MHSF. The Stalker does a little more damage and the WSC advanced around behind her, crippling her arm and movement. A Bile purges, killing Admonia, Captain Hammer, one Mage Hunter and finishing the Stalker. The Deathjack walks around slightly, Gaspy teleporting to him after feating, killing two MHSF only. Deathripper causes a little damage to the Phoenix. The Phoenix combusts on the Deathripper, but does minimal damage. The Manticore and Arcanist move back towards Ravyn (who had moved further right to support Discordia) and she stabs the Siren, shooting Maelovus in the back. Discordia moves back, spraying a Bile Thrall. The last two MHSF shoot down a Bile Thrall and a Mech Thrall.

Round five, Gaspy charges the Phoenix, not quite destroying it, though it's on its last legs. The Manticore gets Locomotion for 3" and charges to be sure. Boosted charge and boosted attack on the second initial see Gaspy gaspin'!


So, thoughts on how the jacks performed:
- Discordia was unlucky to not kill the entire Withershadow. Had she, I would've been able to deal with the Stalker more easily and had a heavy jack moving to surround him/spray across the wall.
- Both the Phoenix and Discordia took a pounding and were still standing. Shyeel chassis can survive repeated battering from lights, even boosted Pow 13 attacks (the Deathripper) and the Phoenix was alive after Gaspy hit him with 3-4 Pow 15's, including a charge! Without the Phoenix Field, it would have been boned.
- The Manticore finished the game with Gaspy splattered all over his codpiece. One boosted, one unboosted Pow 17 attack was more than enough and I know from previous experience just how capable he is against Cryx heavies.

Frankly, I think she ran the jacks well. At gun range, the Arcanists were providing enough to sustain considerable damage output and Ravyn with Locomotion gives a great threat range, especially with her feat to back up a good shot with boosts and swift hunter.

I think she'd struggle with any more, and without the wall it would have been much more difficult. Though being able to engage the Deathjack straight up with the Manticore would've been much better, for me, than the wall, leaving the MHSF to annihilate the infantry.


The second game is, unfortunately, irrelevant: 15pts, Mangled Metal, Kaelyssa (I randomised, for fun) vs...Karchev.

Yeah. I'm not going to bother with the report. I injured his Marauder, requiring both Jacks and Arcantrik Bolt and lost both immediately. But then, it's Karchev.

Yes, I did call him out on it. He also tried to use it against a guy learning Skorne... But my badgering got him to change. At least I get the moral victory of not being a ******...

Field...

[Kallas]

...Analysis

Now, I've heard that some people are rather unappreciative of the Force Fields we get on our Shyeel jacks. So I've decided to examine these and how they affect the damage we take.

For comparison purposes, I will be comparing the Manticore, Daemon, Ironclad, Juggernaut and Vanquisher.

Situation one: ranged damage.
1.1; one boosted damage Defender shot. Assuming a hit (we're comparing damage, and we're harder to hit than Khador/Protectorate and the equal/better of the Ironclad/Centurion)

Three comparisons: 13, 10 and 7; above average, average and below.

Manticore (-3): suffers 10, 7 or 4, none to the Grid.
Daemon (-4): 9, 6 or 3, potentially losing either arm system.
Ironclad (-3): 10, 7 or 4, potentially losing either arm system.
Juggernaut (-5): 8, 5 or 2,no potential loss.
Vanquisher (-4): 9, 6 or 3, left arm loses two boxes, but no loss.

Shyeel retains systems on par with Khador and Menoth.

Situation one: ranged damage.
1.2; four boosted Pow 12's.
Damage roll: 11, 13, 8 and 10.
Location: 3, 1, 6 and 5.

Manticore (-6): 5, 7, 2, 4. Potential to lose any system. With those location rolls (actually rolled), loses right arm on last shot.
Daemon (-7): 4, 6, 1, 3. Potential to lose any system. Rolled: loses nothing
Ironclad (-6): 5, 7, 2, 4. Potential to lose any system. Rolled: loses right arm. Again, on last roll.
Juggernaut (-8): 3, 5, 0, 2. Potential to lose left arm. Rolled: nothing.
Vanquisher (-7): 4, 6, 1, 3. Potential to lose any system. Rolled: nothing.

Khadorans survive best, as we all expected. Vyre chassis comes after Menoth, but only due to 2 less boxes. Manticore and Ironclad are worst off.

Situation one: ranged damage.
1.3; two boosted Pow 14's.
Damage: 15 and 10.
Location: 4 and 6.

Manticore (-4): 11, 6. Potential: any. Rolled: none.
Daemon (-5): 10, 5. Potential: any. Rolled: right arm.
Ironclad (-4): 11, 5. Potential: any. Rolled: right arm and cortex.
Juggernaut (-6): 9, 4. Potential: any. Rolled: none.
Vanquisher (-5): 10, 5. Potential: any. Rolled: none.

The Ironclad comes off worst, losing two and having the fewest boxes (joint with Vyre) and the Shyeel loses its arm too. The Vyre keeps its system by merit of its armour. Menoth and Khador both survive fully operational (like a half built battle station...)

Situation one: ranged damage.
1.4; 8 unboosted Pow 12's.
Damage: 8, 4, 10, 6, 7, 3, 12, 9.
Location: 6, 6, 1, 2, 6, 5, 2, 3.

Manticore (-6): 2, 0, 4, 0, 1, 0, 6, 3 = 16. Potential: generator and arms. Rolled: none.
Daemon (-7): 1, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 5, 2 = 11. Potential: any. Rolled: none.
Ironclad (-6): 2, 0, 4, 0, 1, 0, 6, 3 = 16. Potential: any. Rolled: left arm.
Juggernaut (-8): 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 4, 1 = 7. Potential: none. Rolled: none.
Vanquisher (-7): 1, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 5, 2 = 11. Potential: arms. Rolled: none.

Unsurprisingly, Khador is nonchalantly striding through those kinds of attacks. The Ironclad is again worst off, though the Shyeel is more resilient to system loss than the Vyre.

So, when it comes to ranged damage, the Field is by far most effective shrugging off single powerful hits. The higher armour of the Vyre myrmidons helps most when boostable small arms come into play.


Situation two: melee damage.
2.1; two charging P+S 12 Weapon Masters.
Damage: 9 and 15.
Location: 1 and 4.

Manticore (-6): 3 and 9 = 12. Potential: none. Rolled: none.
Daemon (-7): 2 and 8 = 10. Potential: arms. Rolled, none.
Ironclad (-6): 3 and 9 = 10. Potential: any. Rolled: none.
Juggernaut (-8): 1 and 7 = 8. Potential: none. Rolled: none.
Vanquisher (-7): 2 and 9 = 10. Potential: arms. Rolled: none.

Ironclad bottoms out again. The Shyeel has better system protection than both Vyre and Menoth.

Situation two: melee damage.
2.2; 1 boosted Pow 15, 5 unboosted (Warcaster charge)
Damage: 8, 6, 9 / 12, 10, 9.
Location: 2, 1, 2 / 6, 4, 1.

Manticore (-3): 5, 3, 6 / 9, 7, 6 = 36. Dead. Against initial three: none threatened or lost.
Daemon (-4): 4, 2, 5 / 8, 6, 5 = 30. Dead. Against initial three: all threatened, left lost.
Ironclad (-3): 5, 3, 6 / 9, 7, 6 = 36. Dead. Against initial three: all threatened, left lost.
Juggernaut (-5): 3, 1, 4 / 7, 5, 4 = 24.
Initial three: none threatened or lost.
Full six: all threatened, left lost.
Vanquisher (-4): 4, 2, 5 / 8, 6, 5 = 30.
Initial three: arms threatened.
Full six: all threatened, left, move and cortex lost.

All take a significant battering.

Against three, the Field holds well and is safer than the Vyre and Ironclad.

Situation two: melee damage.
2.2; Light, two boosted Pow 13.
Damage: 11 and 12.
Location: 4 and 4.

Manticore (-5): 6, 7 = 13. Potential: none. Rolled: none.
Daemon (-6): 5, 6 = 11. Potential: arms. Rolled: none.
Ironclad (-5): 6, 7 = 13. Potential: any. Rolled: cortex.
Juggernaut (-7): 4, 5 = 9. Potential: none. Rolled: none.
Vanquisher (-6): 5, 6 = 11. Potential: arms. Rolled: none.

Shyeel beats all but Khador.

Situation two: melee damage.
2.3; Heavy (18/14; Ironclad) with one focus (main, off, main.)
Damage: 8, 12, 4.
Location: 1, 5, 5.

Manticore (-0/-4): 8, 8, 4 = 20. Potential: any. Rolled: right.
Daemon (-1/-5): 7, 7, 3 = 17. Potential: any. Rolled: left and right.
Ironclad (-0/-4): 8, 8, 4 = 20. Potential: any. Rolled: left and right.
Juggernaut (-2/-6): 6, 6, 2 = 14. Potential: any. Rolled: none.
Vanquisher (-1/-5): 7, 7, 3 = 17. Potential: any. Rolled: none.

Shyeel again survives well, better off than the Vyre chassis. I will not bother with Heavy/3 focus. Spoiler alert: both Shyeel and Vyre are destroyed!


So, this is all a load of rambling. The point of this is to examine certain specific battlefield situations that are likely to occur. Both of our chassis' have advantages, but I hope to have demonstrated that the Field is not to be dismissed! And none of these situations look further than the initial event, where additional attacks, repairs and regeneration muddy the water greatly.



Anyway, I hope people can glean some useful insight into these words of a madman. Discuss, shout, wail, please.

[Watchtower]

Intresting. Looks like Sheel is not as fragile as many make them out to be.

[bouncymischa]

Now I'm tempted to modify my warjack damage spreadsheet to see how often systems get damaged. Hmmm...

EDIT: Bah, it's difficult to keep track of column damage on a spreadsheet. Now I wish I knew a way to use Java or C on my home computer...

[Hoc Est Bellum]

Very interesting! It's about what I expected; the field is effectively 10 extra boxes in any column hit, making it useful against bigger hits. Khador tanks tiny hits like a boss.

I'm surprised you didn't have a category for 'one massive, boosted melee hit', say a juggernaut charge. I think in that situation the Manticore actually comes out better than even the rugged jacks of Khador!

[Kallas]

Situation two: melee damage.
2.4; Heavy, charge attack with Fury (Juggernaut, +3 melee damage) no other (crippled fist we'll say misses.) Two examples, for interest's sake.
Damage: 10 / 11
Location: 6 / 1

Manticore (+4): 14. Potential: none. Rolled: none.
15. Potential: left arm. Rolled: left arm.
Daemon (+3): 13. Potential: any. Rolled: left arm.
14. Potential: any. Rolled: left arm.
Ironclad (+4): 14. Potential: any. Rolled: left arm.
15. Potential: any. Rolled: left and movement.
Juggernaut (+2): 12. Potential: any. Rolled: none.
13. Potential: any. Rolled: left arm.
Vanquisher (+3): 13. Potential: any. Rolled: left arm.
14. Potential: any. Rolled: left arm.

Shyeel survives as well as Khador, only losing a left arm, as do all, but the Field equates to a better resolution against the grid overall.



Onto my next game then. I only played the one tonight, against Khador. I technically lost this game, and I frankly couldn't care less: my dice suck so much fun out of my games by f*****g me over so often.

So, 35pts caster kill.
Vyros
- Discordia
- Manticore
- Phoenix
Sylys
2x Arcanists
2x Magisters
Narn
Mage Hunter Assassin

Sorscha1
- Beast 09
- Kodiak
Sylys
War Dog (I realise he cheated just now as I write.)
Koldun Lord
Yuri
Widowmaker Marksman
Widowmakers
Ragman
Drakhun with Dismount

The first picture is the battlefield. I am deploying on the closest side first. It's a pretty symmetrical field and I honestly got pissed off at the clutter.

I also have a shot of my army there. The keen eyed may notice the Khadoran heavy jack head adorning the base of one of the Arcanists. Yes, that is Captain Hammer.

Deployment is clustered around Vyros mostly. His deployment is fairly similar, Widowmakers out in front naturally.

Opening moves, I rush up and show my threat ranges off, keeping him from getting good board position. First couple of turns are trading shots with his dice rolls being typically high, causing me to have lost a significant chunk out of the Manticore and repairs being pathetic. This is the situation, roughly, during round three or so. I control more of the centre and have control over the melee game.

That is until Beast manages to Push the Kodiak forward half an inch in the forest who then Boundless Charges Discordia, breaking an arm and her generator. This is my response: utter dice fail.

The Manticore did fourteen damage on four attacks, automatically hitting thanks to Discordia headbutting it. That's right. Fourteen, one four, 14, dix-quatre, vierzehn. Yep. Then Vyros charged, with Flank obviously. Surely 4d6-6 will do ok? 4 damage.

This is how I felt...
On an unrelated note: that is actually my unhappy microwave...

So, Sorscha feats, catching all my important stuff (since the Kodiak is knocked down) and both Discordia and the Manticore go down. I supposedly lost at this point (he had intended to shake KD on the Kodiak and walk up to beat on a focusless Vyros) but thinking about it now, he wouldn't have been Stationary (since the Kodiak would've blocked LoS) and the Kodiak had a busted left arm, so three swings at P+S 16, needing 9's to hit, or a two boosted to hit, with the busted arm being unable to hit. Probably not enough.

Anyway, getting back to the point: This is before the Kodiak activates, and this is a turn or two after. Yep, my dice hate me: it took all three heavies and Vyros twice to kill a single Khador heavy... Sigh.

The game progresses and I've almost lost: Beast is in charge range of either Vyros or my Phoenix and I'm pissed off, when my mate asks what Stranglehold does. Suddenly, it clicks: Wyshnalyrr whispers dirty Elven seekrits to Vyros and a double boosted spell whacks Beast right in his stupid face. Game saved, the Phoenix begins mopping up the Khadoran infantry.

At this point, the Phoenix has been suffering a good few damage points every round from the Marksman, Sorscha's hand cannon and the other Widowmakers. This is where the Phoenix field really shines: he took at least twelve damage and by now he is still 'unscathed' as it all gets healed. He took roughly fifty damage to kill, but that's a spoiler!

After a few turns of keeping Beast away, the Widowmakers managed to kill Sylys, denting my ability to halt Beast greatly. Eventually, I fail to damage Beast (having had to move Mr Burny forward to enable the arc) and Beast just failed to scrap him. This is with Ragman countering Invioble Resolve to boot!

So, Vyros nuts up, charging Beast and avoiding a Dog counter charge by a couple of inches and proceeds to...roll miserably. Charge damage was weak, a couple of attacks were minimal damage and the last attack rolled marginally above average to cripple all but the cortex and three hull. But! Mr Burny had torched the Llaelese ****** and set Beast on fire, causing another three...just shy.

Beast proceeds to wail on Vyros, bringing him to something like six boxes. Vyros survives and finishes Beast (requiring another three focus!) and camps one with IR up. That last picture should have another wreck marker for the Phoenix and then one for Beast: all five heavies died within a single AoE 5!

Now began a (very d*ckish on my part, but I was royally annoyed) game of 'OHGODRUNAWAYANDHEAL' for Vyros. After about three turns of running and healing 5 at a time, Vyros begins to move back, fully healed and angry. Driving full throttle at Sorscha who uses Wind Rush and Tempest to cost Vyros 1 focus or no action each turn as he slogs across the board.

By this point it is: Vyros vs Sorscha, War Dog, Sylys and the Marksman. Big V takes a few points from the Sniper but eventually cuts down the damn dog (who passed one tough check...), soaks Sorscha's retaliation on two boxes and just finishes her off after killing literally everything else.

The end of the game has Vyros alive, just, and absolutely everything else dead.


Sigh... So, thoughts on the Myrmidons:
- My dice suck and this is the price of failure!
- I REALLY WISH MY DICE WOULDN'T HATE ME! I guess they know who's in charge now...

- The Phoenix is an incredible tank. Playing the keep-away game is really possible with Vyros, especially with Sylys and against costly heavies and the resilience of the Ph'ix is damn impressive! No shadow of a doubt, that heavy took at least fifty damage over the course of the dozen or so rounds and took Beast 0-freakin'-9 to finish off. Without the Field, the Widowmakers would have picked it apart in only a few rounds. Take that Vyre!

- Bird's Eye is a fantastic ability: it allowed me ignore models a good couple of times (mostly on Vyros though, due to the short range on the Myrmidon guns here) and even the forest once or twice.

- Covering Fire, whilst not as useful as normal (there not being massed infantry) was still useful. It was used early to force the Widowmakers and Marksman to keep moving, stopping them camping in their forest and getting the aim bonus. Not perfect but it helped my few infantry survive quite a lot.

- The Cyclone Cannon was damn useful outside the Covering Fire, shooting down half of the Widowmakers before the 'Kodiak Incident.'


That's all I have for now. I would love to hear about how others fair, how people view Myrmidons (enemies and allies alike!) and what people think of these reports (especially with the pictures!)

Thanks for reading,
Tom.

[Demeritus]

My thanks to you for posting these Kallas, they have given me some more to think about. With Ravyn, I probably could go a bit more jack heavy with her as I find that I'm generally camping 4+ focus normally. I generally do not run more than 2 warjacks with my Ret (outside of the Vyros NQ theme force) but I may give it a shot in the near future.

[Kallas]

It is a pleasure Demeritus! I like seeing people try abnormal things. I think people really focus on Ravyn's feat far too much and miss a lot of tricks (like the Locomotion charge for great 12"+ threat!)

I've not used her for ages, paint stripping accident melted her base, but she was my first warcaster so it was good to see her doing well with a bunch of jacks who, according to some on the Retribution forum, are terrible because of various silly reasons.

Anyway, glad I can get you to try new/different things

[NEoJoe]

Holy crap that Vyros game is fun to read. I've done the like ten turn game with him before too, repairing and regenerating a phoenix from dead to full as well as Vyros while my enemy ran around and shot me. And I love it when some caster or another loses their whole army, then comes back with a vengeance and brutally murders everything the enemy has because screw them.

The Ravyn thing isn't that surprising to me. I don't often get to use her focus as much as I think I should when I play her with just one Jack, but I feel like I need all that other non-Jack stuff. It's been a hard balance. I can't wait till I get to sit down and really work on her.

[The Buoyancy of Water]

Am I allowed to make a quess as to who the Khador player has been..? Grats on the wins! When you getting vassal?! You'd like my pSorscha list if you're trying out strange combinations...

Cheers,
Dave

EDIT: Oh, and check your fb messages...

[SevenSins]

nice reps and thoughts, thanks for sharing.

That is the way to show those dice, throw one in the blender and let the rest watch. The die reading "elg" whats that? Elg is the norwegian word for elk/moose

[Kallas]

[elg] is the Edinburgh League of Gamers, a club I frequent every Wednesday (and for some bizarre reason I am now Club Secretary of!)

[Kallas]

Another week, another game. This time we have a 35pts caster kill (shock!) with Vyros vs Stryker2.

Vyros
- Discordia
- Phoenix
- Phoenix
Sylys
2x Arcanists
2x Magisters
Eiryss2 (proxying with Eiryss1)

Stryker2 (proxying with Stryker1 model)
- Ol' Rowdy
- Stormclad
- Centurion
Stormblades + UA
Horgenhold Forge Guard (min)

Terrain was fairly simple, a couple of small hills in the middle, with forests. Tank traps were rough and cover. Buildings/ruins were obstructions and cover.

First turns were pretty basic. I put Invioble on Discordia as I expected her to take some damage from range, but none actually appeared. Everything ran up, jacks dominating the centre. He cast Deflection and walked up (basically ceding control of the board!)

This is the bottom of my second turn. I have pretty much full control of how this goes, I'm commanding his forces through a bottleneck...with three heavies and two solos. This turn I killed five of the Horgenhold; one to a Magister Whip Snap on the left (after the first tugged him away), one to an Arcane Secret-boosted Eliminator, two to Discordia's spray and one to a Halo Cannon shot.

His response is walk up slowly... Not exactly a glorious counter attack, but it's the guy's first game with Darth Stryker, so we can give him a little bit of slack.


My next move is to hit Rowdy with Stranglehold, to protect Mr Burny, then pop my feat. The set up is great, but the reality is less inspiring.

One Combustion on five Stormblades yields...two focus. Yup, three survived dice-3. My dice didn't learn their lesson fully. So, that Phoenix kept one, and stabbed two more before missing to keep the pseudo thresh going, giving two to the other Phoenix. Hmm. I'd been hoping to fully load both Phoenixes, wail on both Rowdy (at Reach range and unable to retaliate with Grudge and under Stranglehold) and the Centurion.

Discordia sprays over one of the Stormblades and their Officer, killing the grunt but missing the Major, annoyingly. Eiryss ran to the middle the turn before, now moves up to snipe the Stormblade Standard and is just able to catch both the Stormclad and the Centurion in 5". Score!

As it was, the other Phoenix moved up, locked the shield arm and pummeled the Centurion for decent damage, actually disabling the shield itself! Importantly, it kept it from advancing on a focusless Vyros.

Darth Stryker and co retaliate. Rowdy forfeits his movement to advance in, Stryker moves up and swings a couple of times. The Major charges the right most Phoenix, doing decent damage. The Centurion stabs the Phoenix locking it after breaking out, doing some more. Rolling Thunder is heard and both Magisters are squished, Eiryss gets a shock but gets a lucky low roll, surviving the Electro Leap. Both Phoenixes have taken a battering, but only the right has lost a system; his sword and cortex.

I rweap my rewengy! Next turn, Vyros thunders into the flanked and battered Centurion, taking it down in two good rolls. Discordia piles through the hill-forest and destroys the Stormclad in one turn from fully healthy!

Mr Burny burns Rowdy, Stryker, the Major and sets the Phoenix on fire: he now burns for the rest of the game whilst smashing with his damaged sword, earning him the moniker 'Burning Doom.'

Darth goes to town with his lightsaber at P+S 25,but fries himself in turn for eleven damage. It's all but over, with Rowdy getting disrupted and having Stryker down to roughly eight boxes. But he violates my jack before Discordia puts that dog down.

Thoughts:
- The Phoenix-Discordia-Phoenix trio is very potent and though they have short range guns, the speed and control Vyros provides through Mobility, Bird's Eye and Stranglehold really mitigates the threat of enemy heavies, or at least reduces their potency.

- Eiryss really messed with the enemy ability too, giving Vyros even more of an upper hand.

- The power of the twin Phoenixes in melee really put on the pain and locking the shield was really worth it: two straight damage rolls took out it's shield for V himself to finish off next turn.

- Discordia is no slouch either, taking down a fully healthy Stormclad in a turn is no easy thing.

- My opponent made a lot of mistakes, admittedly, which really handed me the game. But harsh lessons create lasting memories!

I'm out of major thoughts. Let me know what you think and thanks for reading. Tomorrow should see a fifty point game vs the dreaded Storm Strider!

Cheers,
Tom.

[NEoJoe]

That's how you use Eiryss. Her little agonizer trick is so brutal, and best at letting our jacks survive a risky engagement.

[Kallas]

And another game under the Retribution belt. Man, I really want a belt with the Retribution symbol as a buckle...

Anyway, it was a 50 pointer vs Haley2, new theme, in a Break the Line scenario from Prime.

Vyros
- Discordia
- Phoenix
- Phoenix
Sylys
2x Arcanists
2x Scyirs
2x Ghost Snipers
1x Magister
Invictors + UA (max)

Haley2
- Stormclad (bonded)
- Thorn
- Firefly
3x Stormcallers
1x Storm Tower
Stormblades + UA
Storm Strider
Field Mechanics (min)
ATGM + UA

Forgot to take pictures, but it was a much better battlefield than against Khador last week. Three forests spread about, a hill in the middle on the left, two buildings diagonally opposite and another hill on the right. A few walls just outside my deployment.

Strider deploys on the far left (from my pov) and the Mechanics are just next to it. Blades, clad, Thorn and Firefly in the middle ATGM on the right, but still barely past the middle and a Stormcaller over on the right.

I lose the game. Because I deployed horrendously badly. I think I must have had a stroke or something, because my Invictors went opposite the Strider, Discordia went opposite the ATGM and the Phoenixes were between them. Vyros was in a forest on my side of the table just left of Discordia.

Turn one had the Strider Advance Move up, get Temporal Acceleration and killed five Invictors, then rested on a hill with Deceleration running. Everything else was running up.

I had a Phoenix take a boosted shot, missing and the Invictors put a little damage on the Strider. In hindsight (the clearest kind of sight) I would've rather had the Phoenix run (after it got Invioble Resolve) and whack it next turn. As it was, it now had three tokens and a bit more than half of its boxes remaining. With my deployment, I was horrifically out of position for the scenario and had lost a bunch of my infantry. The Invictors really should have gone on the right, more than capable of dealing with the Stormcaller then slowly slogging through the high Def of the ATGM.

As it was, turn two Haley dominated the non IR Phoenix, spinning it around, though it currently had Bird's Eye going. The Strider put some damage on the IR Phoenix while getting fixed a little. The clad batters the dominated Phoenix, crippling it's sword and cortex with good damage, though it did miss two of four sword swings and Haley popped her feat,though she'd forgotten to cast Deceleration.

Not a great position to be in, both Phoenixes, a Scyir and the Magister were in the Feat bubble. The busted up Phoenix went first, hitting the Stormclad for a little damage. The other Phoenix was forced to go next, forfeiting movement and hurting the Strider a little again. The Magister went then, Whip Snapping the Phoenix forward 3". The Scyir moved up behind the busted Phoenix.

Now I had the rest of my stuff to do and I had to get something to my right hand zone or lose, basically, as that bugger of a Stormcaller was running over there. Discordia sprays over the ATGM, missing the four under the template. Vyros gets told secrets and fires and Eliminator at the Blades on the hill. It is in with pretty much nothing to spare! Thanks Magister. It kills three of the four hit, thanks to Sylys and he hoofs it into the other zone...far from his jacks. The Invictors, Ghosts and the Scyir finish off the Strider, though if Deceleration had been running, I doubt it would've gone down.

The clad trashed one Phoenix, damaging the other, Discordia got pushed around and Thorn was a pain.
Vyros is buggered really. Captain Hammer is running toward the Stormcaller to hold the zone, so Vyros feats, charges a pair of ATGM and Eliminators them at point blank, netting Discordia two more focus (after she got power boosted) before he engages the Dude. Discordia sneaks back around the building, spraying the Firefly, Stormclad and a Stormblade, killing the last and badly damaging the other two before putting up Kinetic Field for the hell of it.

The Stormblades beat the other Phoenix into the dirt as the clad destroys Discordia comfortably and Captain Hammer gets fried. Such a disappointment after he's survived two boosted Charger shots... Sylys gets ATGM'd and I'm ****ed.

Vyros Eliminators, again! This time killing two ATGM, causing them to flee, and a Stormcaller, getting 6" of movement and charging the Firefly in the back, finishing it, the Stormblade Major and the Sergeant.

The clad gets focus and squashes Vyros.

Thoughts:
- Boy, did I mess up royally on deployment. That was duuuuuumb. That's not to say that I would've won otherwise, but I wouldn't have been scrambling to recover for the whole game...

- I honestly don't have any insight into the jacks this game. I was just so badly out of position that I did nothing proactive with them.

- Eliminator, however, is bloody awesome when it works! Three times I cast it that game, that's probably triple the number of times I've ever cast it before. I got 16" of movement from it!

Ahh well...maybe next game I won't be a total moron...

Thanks for reading,
Tom.

[leo_neil316]

Quick thoughts from me.

Ghost snipers are ****ing awesome: Bar one way high damage roll from the invictors they did more damage to the strider than anything else. Almost half it's damage all told, and that was only 'cause they missed one of the four shots they sent it's way.

Considering the strider has the joint second highest battle engine boxes AND discourages shooting at it I reckon the ghosts are a pretty solid choice if you're expecting battle engines considering their stealth and threat range and low low cost.

In that list, pair the Scyirs with Discordia: Having them run behind the Pheonixs didn't seem to be working for you, they never really had LOS to anything. Litterally standing just behind Discordia's shoulders however they would have been running around at DEF 15 ARM 17/19 vs range and making life really unpleasant for anything that tried to engage her, or anything she had just engaged. Overall they seem like very solid models.

Pheonix are bloody tough: Especially thanks to their DEF 12 and regenerating field, they seem to pretty much hit just the right spot for a hull when it comes to defences, buffs like IR make them harder to take down than juggernauts. Incidentally if I hadn't spun the pheonix it wouldn't have been able to target the scyir with it's gun as it doesn't have 360 los while being dominated. Something for you to remember.

[ChristianAas]

Kallas: You have got me interested in Retribution again. Both this thread and the Gorgon-compilation. Thanks for thinking outside the box.

I've read this thread over and over again. Today it's Tuesday again, so hopefully I got some new rapport for tomorrows breakfast-coffee?

Keep it up!

[Kallas]

Thanks Christian! Unfortunately no dice (were rolled) Tuesday, but I do have a twofer today! I will admit that I have my go-to models (Magisters, for example) and some models I think Retribution absolutely need to be competitive (Arcanists) but I like to think that several 'underpowered' models are simply misunderstood.

Unfortunately, my pictures seem to be going funny, so apologies if they're not working proof.



So, game one tonight was 35pts caster kill vs Darius. I was back on Rahn and I must admit I wasn't very jack focused this game.

Rahn
- Phoenix
- Phoenix
Sylys
2x Arcanists
2x Magisters
Narn
MHSF + UA (max)

Darius
- Thunderhead
- Cyclone
- Grenadier
Journeyman
- Sentinel
Horgenhold Forge Guard (min) + Murdoch

Cygnar, end of turn one. A little mess up with Thead, getting stuck behind the Forge Guard. Thead got Fortify, making Force Hammer less useful, and the Sentinel got Arcane Shield, for some reason.

My deployment. Turn one, surprisingly, was mostly pelting forward hell for leather. Rahn put Polarity Shield on the right Phoenix, TK'd a few things and followed. This is the end of turn one.

Turn two had the Cyclone cover many fires and the Thunderhead zapped my Polarity Shielded Phoenix for a few points.

My second turn saw Rahn spin the Cyclone and shoot him with it's own bullets! On honestly not sure how it happens...but well. The MHSF and co make short work of it after it shot itself, and the Thunderhead got spun away. Narn continued his jaunt around the back, distracting the Sentinel and Journeyman.

Things are beginning to look pretty grim for Cygnar here. Some advice and Crane action later, the Thunderhead rolls badly and my Phoenix (barely) survives the battering.

Obviously annoyed at the uppity humans and their stupid mechanika, the MHSF and my dice team up, violating Mr Thunderhead. Seriously, I has hot dice: one bit of damage prior to this (about five or so) but otherwise fine and about six MHSF kill him dead! The previously engaged Phoenix (who'd been TK'd prior to Thead) now charged the Grenadier, scrapping it in two hits! Yowza!

Things are really bad for Darius now, so he decides to go down in a blaze of glory, slapping the damaged Phoenix into the dirt.

Obviously, it is to no avail, as, even with Arcane Shield from the Journeyman, Mr Burny walks up and squished him after Murdoch and the halfjack had been Force Blasted out of the way.

So, Darius is popped like an overly armoured spot and the Retribution does a dance. Or something.

Thoughts:
- Rahn is awesome at control.
- The Phoenix really is a tough bugger. They're didn't have to soak too much, but they still took a heavy to the face before serious damage was taken.
- Arc Nodes are glorious.


So, after the triumph over the Swan, it was time to face down the...er, triangle. 35pts again, this time it was No Man's Land (8 band across the centre, 3vp to win...though I was going off the Prime version...)

Same Rahn list (it's been awhile and I'm thinking of going to a tournament in Glasgow, so, practice!)

Irusk2
- Torch
Sylys
Gun Carriage
Kayazy + UA (max)
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Mortar

Same board and side! There is a fair amount of shooting on his side and a good amount of blast to boot.

I kicked off the game, everything running up, Rahn putting Polarity Shield on the MHSF and getting Force Field running.

The Kayazy get in my face with Tactical Supremacy after a few shots kill a couple of MHSF (one Airburst hit and got two) and a pair of rough terrain templates landed.

My previous string of luck against Cygnar haunts me as Narn misses both attacks, two three MHSF CMA's miss and he passes multiple tough checks. The Phoenix gets Polarity Shield and burns two Kayazy, one being Tough. Not a great turn, mostly due to terrible dice or annoying Tough ("Oh, a heavy warjack just hit me with his huge flamey sword that's bigger than me? Nah, I'm fine thanks.") Sigh. I dislike Tough.

Irusk feats and gives the Kayazy the more-stabbity spell (Battle Rage) and I very nearly forget Polarity Shield: I did, then realised, so we rewound. It died from three Kayazy and a Torch spray. Screw Kayazy, yay Polarity Shield! Instead, half my MHSF die as do several solos.

Sighing with relief at the Phoenix being alive, Rahn Force Hammers Torch into the Gun Carriage as the MHSF, Phoenix, Magister and Narn clear up the Kayazy, even though the bloody Underboss has passed four Tough checks. Sigh. The other Phoenix attacks the knocked down Torch but rolls ok, only damaging hull, however.
The MHSF get pummeled and the Kayazy Underboss-Mage Hunter fight gets Airbursted. Torch kills the Phoenix.

Torch gets slammed over Irusk for a little damage and I try to mop up his infantry (couple of Widowmakers at this point.)

Gun Carriage keeps lobbing rough terrain, and not insignificant damage, at the Phoenix as Torch picks himself up.

Rahn spins Torch and blasts a Widowmaker. The Phoenix enjoys being an arc node.

Torch lights the Phoenix on fire (since the burning jack of burning is not immune to fire...) and the GC keeps up its barrage. Despite the Phoenix Field holding the damage well, it's slowly getting eaten.

By now, I've claimed a victory point and slams Torch out of zone for my second. I was working from the Prime version by my opponent assumed VP's. I claimed moral victory for actually knowing what the hell I was doing...

Torch picks himself up, gets energizer'd closer and scraps the Phoenix after an Artifice of Deviation allows it to charge through the terrain. The Gun Carriage attacks Rahn, doing nothing but making rough terrain.

Rahn picks up the Gun Carriage, tossing it out of the zone (it had charged Rahn and was basically on my side of it) before slamming Torch for a mighty 5" and claiming his last VP, all on his lonesome in the middle.

Thoughts:
- Rahn is awesome, especially when AoE's come to play.
- The Phoenix can really take a pounding. Similar to my last game against Khador, my Phoenix took an enormous pounding until Torch got closer and finished him off. Without the Gun Carriage continually blasting him, it would've been even more resilient to a single flamethrower each turn.
- Kayazy are annoying.


Well, that's me out of higher brain functions, thanks for reading and please leave some of your thoughts and comments,
Tom.

[NEoJoe]

Fun reading as always. Keep doing these, like, forever.

[ChristianAas]

+1

Another good read. I do find Rahn to be a bit boring. Not sure why, 'cause his options are very wide. It must be the fact that I find telekenesis to be to effective in it's simpleness. Just a simple switcharoo to turn the opponent to loose LOS (and thus unable to charge) and provide backbonuses for your army is just so good - and that's just the easiest ways of using it.

Thanks for posting. You are providing me the perfect entertainment during breakfast.

Be sure to do a report of the tournament. When is it due?

[Githerzai]

Cool battle reports, though it makes me sad to see Darius lose... One question though, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that Battle Engines could not be slammed, knocked down, thrown or placed by any means. Is this not the case?

[Hoc Est Bellum]

If I remember correctly, they cannot be slammed, pushed, knocked down, made stationary... but they can be placed.

Good battle reports! I must admit the twin-Phoenix configuration seems really resilient! I always assumed they were fragile once you got through their field, but I don't think anyone's ever destroyed both against you in these reports.

You are frequently very, very low on infantry, though. I can't help but wonder if this causes problems? If I run too jack-heavy the local cryxians tear me to bits, and having so few models to block charge lanes leaves me open to assassination. I do play Khador though; perhaps it's different for Ret.

[joelker41]

I would definitely advise more infantry in a tournament. Tarpit is essential to gunline casters.

[Kallas]

@Christian:
The tournament is next Saturday (Nov 5th) though I'm not 100% certain of attendance (money mostly) but if I do go, rest assured I'll be reporting on it!

@Githzerai: (damn, Gith. I know you're not a 'yanki, but still... Green bugger :P)
To be fair, the Darius player is relatively new and I've been playing for longer... The learning process is long, hard and full of total mongings.

Battle Engines can be placed, and Haley2 (TK and Temporal Acceleration) and Darius (Crane) can both do silly things with it.

@Hoc:
Heh, the Phoenix twins are tough puppies, but I have lost them both. Against Haley2, with the Storm Strider, and my terrible, horrific deployment cost me all of my jacks eventually. The latest game against Khador had Torch finish my second one after Artifice of Deviation charging through a building. Though I technically won about four rounds earlier :P

Infantry-wise, I agree (I'll put up my lists in a moment) it's just that the purpose of the thread here was to see just how much jack I could jam into my lists before they stopped working. I didn't report it, but I did play two games against Cryx. Skarre2 absolutely hoses jack heavy (the enemy portion of her feat, we both decided, is broken. Protecting her own stuff is still crazy good.) as she did against Kaelyssa before a stupid MAT 8 non character jack tore her arms off. Against Gaspy2, I faired better with Vyros, the Twins and Discordia, killing more than a dozen Banes on my feat, but losing both Phoenixes to his feat. I sort of threw the game (by accident) in disgust, with Vyros charging into the middle of about five Bane Thralls and using all his focus...

My opponent and I came to the conclusion that Banes make Cryx boring and that Skarre2's feat (enemies part) is borked.

But well, they were his Steamroller lists that he was testing.




So, about the tournament. If I go (likely) then I'm definitely taking Rahn:

Rahn
- Phoenix
- Phoenix
Sylys
2x Arcanists
2x Magisters
Eiryss2
MHSF + UA (max)

The reason I'm running MHSF and not lots of HSBM is because I think making Rahn one dimensional is...dumb. Rahn makes MHSF hit and hit well, so tears up jacks. Against Hordes, they rip apart the infantry and support whilst Rahn slams and places the beasts before his jacks rip them a new one. Eiryss is obvious, Narn is a powerful bugger and with a TK'd target has a 12.5" threat at effective MAT 10, with two P+S 11, Arcane Assassin, Weapon Master swings. Or can hunt annoying officers really well. And Sylys with Rahn is just funny. He really doesn't need the naughty Elven seekrits, but they make Rahn even more awesome.

Oh, and MHSF clear out Druids really well. As does Eiryss (sniping the leader to shut down Counter Magic.)

My second list I'm undecided on. I love both Garryth and Kaelyssa, but I'm not certain which I'd rather have backing up the Rahnmeister.

Kae
- Discordia
- Phoenix
Sylys
2x Arcanists
Magister
Eiryss2
Narn
MHSF + UA (max)

This Kae list works pretty well against everyone and has the advantage of being able to zap annoying stealth stuff from miles away (six focus on three range 10 Pow 12's ignoring stealth at up to 25" away? Yum! That's RNG 10, plus channelling from 14" and an inch or so for the base.)

Really helps get the drop on things like Tartarus and co. Sylys helps immensely against Warmachine, making Arcantrik Bolt really reliable (especially when boosted) and free upkeeps are always good. The MHSF do a similar job with her as with Rahn, though they take a bit more of the weight, seeing as Kae has less overt control. But against Warmachine we have anti magic and AB and against Hordes we have anti magic and Fury stripping, which can be funny. Narn and Eiryss are both as useful as ever and the Magisters I love.

or

Garryth
- Discordia
- Chimera
Sylys
1x Arcanist
Eiryss2
Narn
HSBM
MHSF + UA (max)

I'm not entirely sure this is the best set up for him, but I like it. Discordia keeps Garryth moving where he wants to move to use his Arcane Assassin hand cannons (of Awesome) and to get into the thick of things. HSBM can really piss off heavies and can pull something in to get Garryth and Discordia jumping up and down on it, or just shunt big nasties away. MHSF again, simply because after feat turn, Halberdiers lack the necessary punch against warcasters, and MHSF can wreck all sorts of support.

I'm leaning majorly towards Kaelyssa, but advice would be useful, or pointing out glaring weaknesses. I'm aware that MHSF aren't the be all and end all, but their utility in this size game is what's keeping them in each list.

Anyway, thanks for all the replies folks, glad to know people are enjoying reading!

Tom.

[Hoc Est Bellum]

I think I'd lean towards the Kae list as well, on the basis that if you go with Garryth you are relying solely on Discordia to deal with Stealth. Also, Backlash + MHSF is something I never want to see across the table from my warjacks...

As a quick question, if Kae has Phantom Hunter on herself do her channelled spells ignore LOS?

[Kallas]

Yeah that's fair enough.

With Phantom Hunter, it works like this:
The node requires LoS, regardless of who has Phantom Hunter (since PH only works when making an attack) but the caster ignores Concealment/Cover when making the attack.

And because it's Kae making the attack, she ignores Stealth, but the node doesn't. So if she was attacking Tartarus behind a jack with Occulation, the node, if outwith 5", would ignore the jack for LoS but Kae wouldn't auto miss.

Tricksy, no?

[Kallas]

No gaming yet, but I should have some stuff to talk about tonight.

[The Buoyancy of Water]

[whispers]vassal[/whispers]

Cheers,
Dave

[Der Tod]

What happened to the tournament? I was eager to read about that. If transporting stuff round the UK wouldn't be so annoying in terms of things have to reglued I'd even force you to some games as I am studying in NCL from February on again and I really do like your batreps which seems like fun, knowing how scots do drink

[Kallas]

Well folks, no games tonight, I've been Shanghai'd into becoming a Press Ganger! Oh the delicious irony!

I'm not a sanctioned one yet, still need to grab battleboxes and go get approved by my LGS then apply to PP, so not guaranteed, but I'm the one who's been teaching some new folk the ropes.

Had a new Menoth start and a new Cryx start, so some good news for faction diversity (my meta consists of: Cygnar x3 (one has a small Legion force), Khador x3, Legion x3, Menoth x3 (one is one of the Legion players), Retribution x1 (me), Cryx x3, Circle x1 (one of the Khadorans) and that's about it, it think.)

Not all are therefore a lot of the time, and some I see less often. My usual meta is (Khador or Circle x1, Cygnar x3, Legion or Menoth x1, Cryx x1.) So diversity is good. Potentially getting a new Skorne player too.

Anyway, should be getting a game on Sunday and apologies for not gaming (I wanted to!)

@Der Tod:
Hah, yeah. Information for you I'm a Manc, not a Scot Though at my club there is a bar downstairs...

The tournament is Saturday, not certain if in going yet (not heard back from TO and money is essentially non-existent in my life at the moment) but if I do, rest assured I'll be reporting.

If you ever do head up to Edinburgh, give us a bell, and have a look for the Edinburgh League of Gamers. Quality club. And apparently I'm the Secretary, so there you have it!

[Kallas]

Sigh, no games yet. No attendance for me at the tournament, sorry folks; money + transportation problems = no tournament for Tom

Should be getting a game tomorrow night, hopefully, which will mean I finally get my fix. It's been far too long...

On a brighter note, over a thousand posts! Huzzah!

[Scowling-Koldun]

Uh sorry mate:

Gun Carriages cannot be slammed or thrown....I think.

[Kallas]

Uh sorry mate:
Gun Carriages cannot be slammed or thrown....I think.

I'm well aware. I only ever used Telekinesis on the Gun Carriage. Torch, on the other hand, got slammed a lot.

And yes, before anyone else incorrectly 'corrects' me, it can be placed.

[NEoJoe]

Go on a vacation?

[Kallas]

No, just a lack of proper games
My club hasn't had many people in recently and I've mostly been helping new starts.

[Kallas]

Well folks, it's been too long and I'm back with a vengeance! So here's my three inch move and weapon master attack:

Tournament Report;
Bitter Conflict Livingston, 26th November.
50pts, Two lists, Divide and Conquer.

List A;
Kaelyssa
- Discordia
- Phoenix
- Phoenix
- Chimera
Sylys
2x Arcanists
2x Magisters
Narn
MHSF + UA (full)

List B;
Vyros
- Discordia
- Phoenix
- Phoenix
- Chimera
Sylys
2x Arcanists
2x Magisters
MHA
MHSF + UA (full)

A few thoughts on the lists. Going in, I was well aware of the limitations of having such similar lists. Coming out of it at the end, I hold it was a good decision. The primary factors of them were:
- my knowledge of how they operate
- my experience with the models
- my preference with regards to playstyle
- and a fair whack of internal balance.

I don't think I really came across anything I couldn't deal with, but I will explain later. If I had to change anything, with hindsight, I would drop Vyros's Chimera and put in a minimum unit of Sentinels as a counter attack unit.

Game 1, Frazer (PG for Edinburgh/Aberdeen and who came down to stay with me for it!) with Trollbloods;
Scenario: Revelation (#6, Dual)
Caster: Vyros (first use)

Borka Kegslayer + Pyg Keg Carrier
- DT Mauler
- DT Bomber
- Impaler
Champions + Skaldi (full)
Champion Hero solo
Fell Caller Hero solo
Stone Scribe Chronicler solo
Krielstone Bearer + Stone Scribe Elder (minimum)
Pyg Burrowers (full)

Trollbloods deployment.
End of my first turn.
End of my second turn.
MHSF kill off the Keg bearer.
End of my third turn.
Borka + face = no face.

Rundown:
- MHSF pop the Keg pretty early.
- Pygs with Mosh Pit knockdown my Phoenix and Chimera.
- Champions on feat get Skaldi and one into Vyros with Rage on each, but bad dice see the first three attacks miss. Lucky for me, and I just flat out forgot to check what his feat did before the game.
- Stranglehold on the Bomber stops it bombing my MHSF effectively.
- MHA dodges a pair of Pyg free strikes to cripple the Impaler's Spirit in one go!
- Left Phoenix burns a bunch of Pygs to fuel Discordia and the other Phoenix.
- Phoenix on the right takes a free strike from a Champ (not disabling anything) so he can clear two Champs and the Champ Hero with Feat focus (already loaded with three) but first three sword swings miss and the Hero makes his tough check (after the first Champ died)
- Hero makes another million tough checks/MHSF fail to break his armour. Tough/low rolls cost me a CP, but after the Champ-Vyros predicament, that's fair.
- I left Vyros too close, utterly forgetting to check Borka's threat and not being properly switched on; Head smooshing ensues.

Victory Trolls.

Thoughts:
- Gameplan was fine but my mind was not engaged properly and I made a couple of errors; when Vyros retaliated against Skaldi and his mate, I should have moved him to the max engage of both, and had Discordia block the line, but hindsight is perfect. - Bad dice on both sides, notably the Champs on Vyros and my retaliation: Vyros needed four focus and flank to kill a single bugger and my Phoenix missed three of five attacks.

Crowning Moment of Awesome:
Champion charges Discordia, taking a free strike from the Disco Magister. Whump! Clotheslined the Champ and one shotted the bugger!



Game 2; Kev with Khador
Scenario: Gauntlet (#12, Distant)
Caster: Kaelyssa (first use)

Kommandant Irusk (Irusk1)
- Behemoth
- Juggernaut
War Dog
Alexia Ciannor and the Risen + Valachev
Great Bears of Gallowswood
Kayazy Assassins + UA (minimum)
Winterguard Rifle Korps (full)
Kovnik Grigorovich
Aiyanna and Holt
Manhunter

No pictures I'm afraid! I completely forgot this time around...

Rundown:
- Early mistakes from Kev: not understanding how 'Target' on spells works and forgetting to allocate focus hindered his ability early and gave me a significant edge. (Had it been someone I knew to be uncertain of the rules I would have let them off, but Kev is experienced; no Iron Flesh for your WGRK when the Great Bears are blocking LOS.)
- Narn deals with the Manhunter easily after it flubs against MHSF, getting Narn behind his lines.
- Feat shuts down much of the Khadoran army for a turn giving me time to decimate his force. MHSF kill off many Risen and WGRK.
- Discordia gets an aimed spray off on Alexia, destroying all but one Risen, catching Valachev too. Both big enemy units are basically gone.
- Bombard shot lands on Kaelyssa, doing 8 damage.
- Kaelyssa shoots down Aiyanna.
- Narn kills two Great Bears.
- Fully loaded and buffed Phoenix and Discordia hit Behemoth and do 19 damage, crippling nothing. This loses me the game as...
- Behemoth, stuck in melee at RAT 2, lands a Hail Mary shot on Kaelyssa, rolling exactly enough to finish her.

Victory Khador.

Thoughts:
- Cry.
- If a game can be stolen, Kev is the epitome of a thief.
- Bad decisions/head not in the game should have cost him the game, as he had: Irusk, Behemoth, Juggernaut, War Dog, 2 Kayazy and the Underboss. I had lost 5 MHSF and an Arcanist.
- Behemoth survived better than he ever should have. Phoenix missed an attack (that's fine against DEF 12) as did Discordia, but even factoring in misses, I should have done roughly 35 boxes. I didn't take out a single system... Sigh.
- I wouldn't have done anything different, except maybe have moved Kaelyssa to >14" from Behemoth.

- Really demoralising.

Crowning Moment of Awesome:
Captain Hammer spent the entire game calmly dodging Bombards and rifle shots. Should have charged him into Behemoth...

[Kallas]

Game 3; Jonathan with Retribution
Scenario: Process of Elimination (#5, Dual)
Caster: Kaelyssa (second use)

Vyros
- Phoenix
- Chimera
- Gorgon
Scyir
- Griffon
Sentinels + UA (full) + 1 Soulless
Invictors + UA (full)
Halberdiers (minimum)

Opponent deployment.
My deployment.
The Board.
End of his turn one.
End of my turn one.
End of his turn two.
End of my turn two, my feat turn.
End of his turn three, Vyros's feat turn.
End of my turn three.
End of his turn four.
Captain Hammer, cheekily holding onto the zone.
End of my turn four.
End of my turn five, with my two heavies failing to kill Vyros. With three focus each. Gah.
Final capture moment.

Rundown:
- I kill the Soulless, forgetting it also triggers Vengeance, but he outright forgets Vengeance for half the game.
- Sentinels get Inviolable Resolve.
- MHSF ding up his Phoenix and fail to kill the non-Shield Wall Halberdiers.
- Narn kills a pair of Sentinels. I'd wanted to get the UA, but I couldn't have reached. Sprinted to set up for next turn.
- Chimera moves into position and Kaelyssa arcs into the UA. Boost and Sylys against the officer yields 3 damage. Fire a second, miss, fire and third, 1 more damage. Gah.
- MHSF and Halberdiers flail at each other. I get a good number of hits but roll consistently low and remain mostly tied up.
- Left Phoenix charges into the Invictors.
- Scyir, Griffon and Invictors surrounded the Phoenix, generally ignoring Defensive Line too, and get set on fire for their troubles, killing the Scyir and most of the Invictors.
- My feats sees his Phoenix walk up and shoot at Kaelyssa and failing. He realised later he might have been able to trample up.
- Vyros aids the Invictors with the Phoenix and would take the CP, but Captain Hammer is being both cheeky, awesome and utterly invisible!
- Discordia wrecks his Phoenix as the Disco Magister slams the Chimera over a Halberdier into the Gorgon.
- Right Phoenix burns Sentinels for a while, they batter it. Narn helps. Eventually the Phoenix and Narn win.
- MHSF scrap the Gorgon and Discordia finishes off the Chimera.
- Vyros charges into Discordia, not taking out anything important.
- Fully loaded and buffed Phoenix and Discordia hammer Vyros. Discordia: boost left, miss, boost right miss, buy right, miss. Phoenix: trample (no LOS for charge), buy sword, boost, miss. GAAAAAH!
- Invictors spread out over the two zones (he thought I could capture the first twice) leaving two in the left zone. Vyros doesn't toe in, to my relief.
- MHSF and Kae kill the two Invictors,scoring that second CP.

Victory Retribution (duh) to me.

Thoughts:
- Why do my dice hate my heavies?!? Seriously, two games in a row, two fully loaded heavies should get the job done but must dice really hate them. I just don't understand...
- Sentinels are tough, especially with low rolls.
- Captain Hammer kept me ahead in the game and really shouldn't have survived the Invictors.

Crowning Moment of Awesome:
Probably has to go to the Burning Doom. True to form, he got to burn things, namely 7 Invictors, a Scyir and a Griffon!



Game 4; Marty with Skorne
Scenario: Close Quarters (#3, Center)
Caster: Vyros (second use)

Morghoul theme force; Everything gets Pathfinder turn 1, AD Arcuarii and additional 2" deployment.

Master Tormentor Morghoul (Morghoul1)
- Bronzeback Titan
- Titan Gladiator
- Titan Gladiator
- Titan Sentry
PG Beast Handlers (minimum)
PG Beast Handlers (minimum)
PG Bloodrunners
PG Master Tormentor (now the MT)
Cataphract Arcuarii (minimum) (Arcs)
Cataphract Arcuarii (minimum)

He appears to have been playing 3pts down. Perhaps he just forgot to get a model out, I didn't realise until I began writing up.

Deployment.
End of round one.
End of my second turn.
Middle of my third turn/end of Skorne second.
End of my fourth turn.
Gladiator crush!

Rundown:
- He takes second and the Arcuarii and Bloodrunners start really far up.
- Magisters go left, Phoenix, Chimera and MHA with them. MHSF go for the forest, surprisingly.
- The Bloodrunners, MT and right Arcs run forward. That extra-AD is really, really amazing. Bronzeback gets Admonition.
- Vyros Mobility's up and Strangleholds the Gladiator, allowing the Phoenix to get forward, burn an Arc and three Bloodrunners. Bought swing missed the Arc unfortunately.
- MHSF flub their CMA against the MT and the Arc. A couple of shots do decent damage though. MHA goes for the Gladiator but low dice see something like four damage. Should've gone for an Arcuarii instead.
- Right Arcs kill a couple of MHSF, a couple more die to the MT (who also flubbed two rolls) and Bloodrunners. Left Arcs overkill the MHA.
- Bronzeback gets Rushed, Abused and Enraged and fires into the Phoenix, destroying it without a single Fury spent...
- Other Titans waddle up.
- MHSF advanced, triggering the Admonition/Counter Charge (something I intended to trigger before Discordia went in) getting one smooshed. The others put more damage on the Arcs and give focus to the Phoenix and Discordia with feat
- Discordia batters the Bronzeback, taking it down with exactly enough damage. Phew!
- Phoenix rolls miserably (seeing a pattern here) against the Sentry.
- Magisters get ignored, good.
- Left Gladiator gets Abused and Enraged and Rushed... Yeash. Smacks into the Phoenix after the Sentry frenzied on it, finishing it. Other Gladiator charges the MHSF Commander, chewing him up before washing him down with some ridiculousness...
- Vyros sees an opportunity and goes for it but I'm not able to get Discordia in for the flank. Charge boosted hits for 17, gets transferred. Buy, boost,miss, buy, miss. Discordia gets power boosted and sprays over Morghoul and a couple of Beast Handlers, getting a CP for my Magisters.
- Gladiator gets ridiculoused and fires Discordia over Vyros and beats down.

Thoughts:
- First time against Skorne ever, missed a couple of opportunities but don't feel I did too badly.
- Looking at the board at the end, I think I could have pulled a tricky CP win by throwing the right Gladiator at the other two, putting them all facing the wrong way and bunched up, allowing Vyros, the Magisters and Discordia to capture a second time. Might not have worked. Meh, I didn't expect to win...
- If I'd had the Sentinels, I'd have been much better off. Even a min unit can put out the hurt and would have punished the second firing of beasts quite well. The Chimera never really did a lot for Vyros. A little, but not enough.
- Skorne are NOT slow!
- Arcuarii are scary, but actually aren't all that, unlike the Cetrati who're tough as nails. But they are damn good! And cool.
- This was a very entertaining game, as at the start I had expected an enormous mauling and it was actually quite close.

Crowning Moment of Awesome:
The Magister Twins. One Arc decided he would kill them. One dodged behind the wall before combo smiting the bugger as the other Whipped and Snapped his face before they then grabbed a cheeky CP!

No-one expects the Magister Slam!



Anyway, it is good too have something to report, I hope you enjoy reading half as much as I enjoyed the tournament, as it was great fun. All kudos to PG Azhdeen (Alan) and Frank (owner of Worlds At War who hosted) and all of their effort. Met some great folk and had a good laugh, even as I got my face stomped, particularly by that most brutal of bastards; Dice! *shakes fist*

Oh, and a point of interest, the joint most numerous faction (3/14) was Retribution! Hah, Elves are eating your face! Y'know, when we're not all losing...first round, all three of us lost... But shut up!

Look forward to reading some critical analysis, thanks for reading,
Tom.

[kroe]

Sounds Like some tough breaks in a few of those games.

Have to say I'm not too surprised behemoth survived to ruin your day. I've charged him with 3 slayers and hes still walked away mostly fine.

Was a good read though

Luke

[NEoJoe]

Critical Analysis Light: Tons of Info.

The 3" move and weaponmaster attack made me laugh more than it should.

At first was excited to hear tales of how the Chimera served Vyros.

Then hope was quickly crushed.

The rest you're gonna have to coach me on...

First game: Looking at the 'end of turn three' and 'borka ate my face' pics, it seems obvious that Vyros moving there (presumably only arm 17) was gonna get him killed. Why is he there? I know you already admitted that Vyros was too close, but I want to know what he did? Did he move there to counter charge, kill something, or just because you thought it was safe?

Game Two: No pics, so not much I can say that you already haven't said. Sucks that Kae got lucky bombed. As much as you might hate it, file this under "maybe artificer"

Not much for game three.

Game Four: Yeah. Skorne can be pretty quick. I'm sure you've heard of the Molik Missile, and eMekeda and all that. Morghoul has a pretty good buff increasing speed and str. Then there's the zoo keepers. Glad you got to play against skorne, they're damn fun to fight. And yes, heavies can kill poor Vyros. It seem that with such a heavy centric list with him you can't camp very often.

Glad you had fun. It's about time this got updated

[SevenSins]

nice writeups and such, sounds like fun was had which is the main thing

maybe artificer indeed (love the model)