Warmachine & Hordes Battle report 50 points - Epic Thagrosh vs. Prime Haley

Hello everyone,

Today I am bringing a battle report with the newly built and painted leader of the Legion, Thagrosh the Messiah! I am taking a list that Ben Leeper ran at the WTC as I think it is brilliant and would like to see how it plays. So here is my list:

eThagrosh
Scythean
Scythean
Raek
Raek
Seraph
Succubus
Max Legionnaires with UA
Max Spawning Vessel
Shepherd
Forsaken
Spell Martyr

My opponent today was playing his Cygnar and his favorite caster in faction, pHaley. Now if I would ever in a tournament and saw my opponent brought pHaley, I don't think eThags would ever be my drop. Really, he struggles with a lot of what Cygnar brings to the table with their long range shooting that can often ignore defensive tech like concealment and stealth. But I really wanted to bring the big boss man out so he was going to be used no matter what. Plus, it never hurts to practice playing into the difficult matchups in case a scenario comes up where you get locked into the match!

So here is my opponents list:

pHaley
Stormwall
Squire
Journeyman Warcaster
eEiryss
Guns Mages with UA
Max Tempest Blazers
Black 13th
Aiyanna and Holt
Gorman Di Wulf

A Haley list at its finest. A metric shit ton of shooting that get cranked up even further on feat turn. It was going to be a brutal list to face, but hopefully my overall high ARM can give her some fits.

The mission was the SR 2014 one with a friendly and enemy rectangular zone and an objective right in the center on each side.

I deployed with a Scythean on each side of Thagrosh and a Seraph on the left and both Raeks on the right. The legionnaires were all intermingled in between beasts in the battle group. The Spawning Vessel went behind. The solos went where needed.

My opponent had the Stormwall dead center with his Gun mages and Aiyanna and Holt on the left and his Tempest Blazers on the right. Haley, squire and the B13 were right next to the Stormwall on the right. eEiryss was placed in front and to the right of Stormwall (Big mistake).

I spent my first turn running and Slipstreaming everything forward and killing legionnaires to pop out a Shredder. He countered by running most everything forward but the Blazers, who advanced to just touch the enemy zone. eEiryss moved up behind his objective, and the Stormwall moved just to the left of the objective, so he was unable to allocate it focus the next turn. Haley cast temporal barrier and arcane shield on the Stormwall and moved up behind it. The journeyman put up arcane shield on the Tempest Blazers.

My opponent moved the Stormwall up too far and even though it was affected by Temporal Barrier, I had a Scythean within Slipstream walking range. I start off moving the Swamp Gobbers forward and put up a big cloud right in the middle of the table. My legionnaires were outside of Temporal Barrier range so they all ran forward and mini feat. Most the unit went into my friendly zone while one went in front of my objective and a few went behind. Thagrosh cast Slipstream and charged my Legionnaire, exploding him with ease. I now had clouds protecting Thagrosh from the right. My Scythean moved forward two inches. I cast Manifest Destiny and put Tenacity on both my Scytheans. I pop feat. My Shredder and Succubus put Tenacity on both Raeks on the right. The Seraph flies into the middle of the Legionnaires and tries to take a shot at Aiyanna, but fell short by about an inch. My Scythean activates and walks up to the Stormwall and engages a Blazer as well. Full stack of fury later, and I leave the left side with like six boxes. Other Scythean walks behind some legionnaires and the cloud the Gobbers made. One Raek moves forward and leaps to engage eEiryss, a Blazer, and all B13 members. It kills Ryan and misses the rest of its attacks. The other Raek leaps into two of the other Blazers and misses. With feat attack, the Scythean leaves the left side of the Stormwall on 2 boxes. Raek shifts forward and engages Haley, hitting her for like 4 or 5 damage. Other Raek is outside of control so no attacks. Seraph moves back behind the Legionnaires.

My opponent is flustered by not being able to allocate to Stormwall, but as we find out, he hardly needs it. Haley, B13, and eEiryss go first all taking shots at my Raek after putting up Temporal Barrier and feating. He has to activate the Tempest Blazers to finish off that Raek, and he fails to kill the other, leaving it with around 6 boxes. Stormwall goes, punching my Scythean and leaving it on about 10 boxes. The Gun Mages go and shoot Crit Knockdown shots at the Legionnaires and injured Scythean, pushing them back a way and knocking down my Scythean. Now Aiyanna and Holt go, Harming the Scythean and leaving him on like 4 boxes. He should have started with Aiyanna and Holt and my Scythean would have stood no chance. Live and learn though! Oh I forgot I had a Spell Martyr up behind a building on the far right and he moves the only Tempest Blazer around and picks the poor guy off...

So I have a lot more beasts around than I would have expected after a Haley feat turn. And having both Scythean's is bad news for my opponent. My Legionnaires vengeance forward into the Gun Mages and whiff. The Gobbers go up to a forest near the enemy zone and drop a cloud, creating a nice large area of no line of sight. Legionnaires go and kill a couple gun mages. One Legionnaire runs over near the forest in the enemy zone. The Seraph casts slipstream and flies into the middle of the board and kills a Blazer and damages the objective. I slipstream Thagrosh back a hair and within 2 inches of my undamaged Scythean. I moved him back to get out of Temporal Barrier range. Shredders activates and charges the Tempest Blazer than killed my Spell Martyr and was sitting in the enemy zone. He does 3 points of damage. Darn! I wanted to clear the zone to dominate. Thagrosh activates and heals both systems on the Scythean and one system on the Raek. He casts manifest destiny and slipstream and charges my Legionnaire by the forest, exploding him into a could. Thags is on zero camp but has about a 5 inch line in front of him that my opponent can't see through. My undamaged Scythean moves forward 2 inches from Slipstream. The two Scytheans put the Stormwall down. The Raek kills a Tempest Blazer. The Succubus puts Tenacity on Thags.

My opponent is completely on the ropes now. He goes for an unlikely assassination with the eEiryss knocking off Tenacity first, then all Tempest Blazers moving up and taking a shot at Thagrosh, doing about 7 points and spawning a Harrier. At this point my opponent concedes.

Thoughts on the game: Thagrosh has a lot of defensive tech that can keep him quite well protected. Even against the heavy shooting capability of Cygnar. Although a Naga would have been extremely valuable in this scenario, I don't think I would ever drop Thagrosh against Cygnar if I have the option. That much shooting and their caster control abilities are just not easy for him to deal with. And besides Cygnar, there aren't a lot of other armies with a lot of defensive buffs that need to be ignored. Overall I think I played the matchup well and capitalized on my opponents mistakes. I need to work on my deployment and keep the Spell Martyr in a more threatening position and more well protected. I look forward to playing the boss man some more!

50 pt Steamroller tournament Battle Report - eVayl vs. MacBain

MacBain

Galleon

eEiryss

Gorman

Orin Midwinter

Ragman

Rhupert

Alexia and Risen

Max Greygore Boomhowlers

Max Kayazy Assassins w/ UA

Kayazy Eliminators

Mission is incursion. I chose eVayl because I felt more comfortable with her facing off against a caster I have never faced. In hindsight, eAbby may have been a bit better against MacBain, but she doesn’t much care for Incursion with her limited control area and small army. Anyways, I lose the roll off and my opponent chooses the side. There were two houses to his left and right outside of his deployment zone, and a decent sized forest right in the center of his table half. He said he wanted that side so that I couldn’t hide Vayl within the forest. In reality, with occultation, I wasn’t very worried about any assassination attempts against this list. On my side I had a house dead center, with a hill on my left and a wall on my right. I did not realize houses are infinitely tall, so I can’t fly over them. This would come back to bite me in this game. He deploys his Galleon right in the middle. I deploy Vayl to the left of my center house. To her left go two Ravagores and an Angelius. The other two Angelius go to her right with one being placed on the right side of the house. The Hex Hunters and the Spawning Vessel deploy to my right side with the wall about 9 inches in front of them. From my point of view, MacBain goes to the left of the Galleon with Gorman, Orin, and Rhupert kind of crowded around the colossal. Greygore and his Boomhowlers go to the far left and Alexia and the Risen go to the left behind the house. On the right goes the Kayazy. The Eliminators were deployed somewhere by the Boomhowlers and Alexia. I place my Spell Martyr in front of my Hex Hunters and the Shepherds in front of my Ravagores. eEiryss is then deployed near his house on my right. And with that, Turn 1 Legion!

Turn 1 – Legion

Vayl starts off, putting Refuge and Admonition on two Angelius and Occultation on herself, then she charges ahead to end up to the left side of the house. All three Angels run forward, not going the full distance but getting out in front of Vayl and the far right one getting in front of the house. Both Ravagores run forward onto the hill. The Shepherds run up behind. The Hex Hunters run up and spread out. The Spawning Vessel walks forward. The Spell Martyr runs forward behind the wall.

Turn 1 – Mercenaries

1 focus goes to the Galleon. MacBain goes first, putting Failsafe on the Galleon and Countermeasures on the Eliminators (which I should have really read closer when looking at his cards). I think that was it, then he walked up behind the left house. Boomhowler cries for 4+ tough and runs forward on the left. The Eliminators run forward, getting up close to engaging some of my stuff. Alexia and her Risen run up behind the Boomhowlers. Rhupert gives the Kayazy pathfinder and they all run forward spreading out. eEiryss moves forward and kills my Spell Martyr (DAMN!). The Galleon runs forward and gets most of the way through the forest. Ragman moves up behind. Orin says no spells. Gorman moves up by MacBain behind the house. We roll for flags and the one on my left disappears… Damn….

Turn 2 – Legion

With losing the left flag, I’m in a very bad spot. I only have Hex Hunters and a Spawning Vessel trying to hold the right side flag, which really isn’t enough. In hindsight, I should have spent this turn running to crowd the right side of the field. I am faster than my opponent, and if I brought my whole battlegroup to the right side, I would have really put my opponent into a bad position for scenario. Ah well, live and learn. Instead, I try to cut the heads off of the two units to my left (Boomie and Alexia). I succeed in neither…. I start off by upkeeping spells. I move my Refuge angel forward and find a lane to take a shot at Alexia. That’s when I discover I can’t shoot when near a model with Countermeasure… Great… That is an Angelius activation wasted. Next I activate Vayl and cast Refuge on the other Angelius. She shoots the Angel that wasted its activation in the back and arcs an Icy Grip onto the Boomhowlers. Then the Angelius charges the Galleon and puts some decent damage into its right side. It then uses its refuge move to fall back onto the edge of the hill. The last Angelius also charges the Galleon and misses its armor piercing attack with a triple 1… Ugh… Both Ravagores take some shots at the front few Boomhowlers, putting scathers in front of them and preventing charges into my beasts. The Hex Hunters move forward and put a few Hex Blasts into some Kayazy. One gets into combat with eEiryss and misses. The Spawning Vessel moves forward. Shepherds wipe Fury, over to Mercs!

Turn 2 – Mercenaries

My opponent upkeeps both spells and allocates 3 to the Galleon. The Galleon goes first and spends its activation pummeling my Angelius, but with some bad dice my opponent misses all but one or two attacks and my Angelius still stands. MacBain goes and pops feat, protecting Gorman, Alexia, Boomhowler, Ragman, Orin, and a Boomhowler because Rhupert is out of his control area. He does a Jackhammer with Galleon and misses my Angelius. Gorman moves forward and tries to Black Oil my Angelius, but misses. He moved close enough that he can’t scatter off my Angelius, but he catches the Galleon as well. The Eliminators run forward, one engaging my two Ravagores and the other engaging an Angelius. The Boomhowlers shuffle around a bit but can’t do much of anything, but Boomhowler does the howl where I get -2 to attack rolls. They do manage to engage an Angelius. Alexia and her Risen run forward and she makes a Thrall Warrior, which charges and puts some decent damage on a Ravagore. Rhupert gives the Kayazy Dirge of Mists. The Kayazy get a run charge and several Hex Hunters die. Eiryss swings at my Hex Hunter engaging her and kills him (Doh!). Ragman and Orin move behind the Galleon.

Legion – Turn 3

I pay to upkeep Refuge and drop everything else. The Refuge Angel activates and kills the Eliminator engaging it. The other passes command. The Angel Refuges in front of Vayl. Vayl goes and pops feat, casts purify, puts occultation on herself, Refuge on another Angel, Admonition on one of the Ravagores, casts Icy Grip on the Boomhowlers again, and throws an Obliteration at one of the Boomhowlers, knocking it down. She then casts another Obliteration and has to pay one extra I think for it because of Alexia being nearby. She kills a Boomie. The Spawning Vessel goes and spawns a Harrier, which I fail and place out of my control area, so it can’t cast its animus… It goes and tries to hit the UA and whiffs. The Hex Hunters get a run charge and kill several Kayazy between charge attacks and Hex Blasts. Not enough to stop them from likely destroying my unit next turn. My Angelius engaging the Galleon goes and cripples the right side with its Armor Pierce. My other Angelius tries to attack Boomhowler, as he is engaging it and doesn’t do enough to knock him down. I should have just repulsed and flew over to the Galleon and put an Armor Piercing attack into it and bought a boosted attack against Gorman. Really would have made a huge difference in this game, but again, Hindsight is 20/20. My Shepherds both charge the Thrall Warrior to get him off my Ravagore, but both whiff their attacks needing a 6. The Ravagores both walk and take some free strikes, trying to disengage themselves. One Ravagore gets its spirit crippled. Both shoot some Boomhowlers and kill two.

Mercenaries – Turn 3

1 goes to Galleon. The last Eliminator goes and runs up by my Angelius engaging the Galleon and turns towards Gorman. Gorman goes and Black Oils the Eliminator, catching the Angelius. MacBain activates and Jackhammers the Angelius until it is dead. The Galleon moves up and touches the center flag and tries to shoot my Angelius near Vayl. It misses. Boomhowler and his buddy take some swings at my Angelius for some solid damage. The Kayazy clear off my Hex Hunters and Harrier and the Underboss charges my Spawning Vessel and rolls crazy high, one hitting it. That leaves that objective completely open. Eiryss moves over to control it. Ragman and Orin move further forward in the forest. Alexia can’t get to my beasts due to the scathers so she crafts another Thrall. The Thralls kill off my Shepherds. Score goes to 2-0.

Legion – Turn 4

The details of the last turn or two are a bit fuzzy here. One Ravagore aims and boosts a shot into the Boomhowler engaging the Angelius. I kill it but can’t quite knockdown Greygore. The other Ravagore one hits Alexia. The engaged Angelius can’t afford a free strike, so spends its activation killing Boomhowler. The other Angelius kills the Galleon and Refuges onto the center flag. Vayl moves up near the center flag and tries to shoot Ragman, who is contesting the flag. Unfortunately, he gets cover from the Galleon wreck and I can’t kill him. My opponent scores a point and goes to 3-0.

Mercenaries – Turn 4

My opponent moves some Risen forward. Most are out of command now. Everything else just kind of shuffles around aimlessly as most of his hard hitters are out of the game now. He scores another point and goes to 4-0

Legion – Turn 5

I have to try to stop the Kayazy and Eiryss from scoring again. Both Ravagores walk over and I hope I have range for a shot on some Kayazy, but I fall short and both shots scatter in the wrong direction and do nothing. My Angelius can’t run far enough to engage. I accept I can’t win and shake. Victory Mercenaries!

Post-Game Thoughts

Well, that was just a very poorly played game on my part. I played my Angelii terribly. The left flag disappearing really hurt me. My opponent deserved his win, he played very well. But had I played smarter, I feel like I would have won that game. As for the tournament as a whole, I certainly can’t be upset! This was my first “real” tournament, as my only other experience was in a beginners journeyman tournament. I ended up taking third due to tiebreakers from strength of schedule. Overall, I think I played well until that last game. Vayl can play through a lot, whether it be poor matchups or new casters that an inexperienced player has never faced. I hope you enjoyed my reports, and there will be more to come!

50 point steamroller - round 2 - eVayl vs. Goreshade 3

eVayl vs. Goreshade 3

Goreshade 3

Skarlock Thrall

Deathripper

Max Bane Riders

Max Blackbane’s Ghost Raiders

Max Satyxis Raiders w/ UA

Max Soulhunters

Darragh Wrathe

Pistol Wraith

Warwitch Siren

Looking at this in Warroom, I think my opponent was down a point. That, or he had something that I can’t remember. I chose eVayl as my Cryx drop, as she has amazing hit and run ability and can mulch through infantry. The scenario was 7: Incoming. I won roll-off and chose sides so I could take the wall. There was a forest right in the front middle of his deployment There is a wall on the far right in the middle of the board. There is a hill in the middle about 10 inches from my deployment, and a wall about 9 inches on the left. My opponent deployed with Goreshade dead center. The Bane Riders were on the far right (all from my point of view). The Soulhunters and Darragh went on the far left. Blackbane went just to the right of Goreshade. The Deathripper went on the left of him with the Skarlock Thrall, pistol wraith, and Warwitch Siren. I deploy Vayl behind the wall just a bit left of center. I put two Angels just to her left. The two Ravagores go to her right straight from the hill. The other Angelius goes to the right of the Ravagores. The Spawning Vessel is sandwiched in the Hex Hunter unit. He then advance deploys his Satyxis right in front of Goreshade and in front of the forest. I put both Shepherds in front and right of the Ravagores. The Spell Martyr went way to my far right.

Turn 1 – Cryx

My opponent starts off forgetting to allocate focus to the Deathripper. The Satyxis Raiders start off the action, running forward and spreading across the middle of the table. The Soulhunters move far up my left flank with Darragh following behind. Blackbane’s Ghost Raiders run up to the right of the Satyxis Raiders. The Bane Riders run up on the right behind the Satyxis and Blackbane’s Ghost Raiders. The Skarlock moved up by the Soulhunters and gave them Scything Touch. Goreshade moves straight forward behind my opponent’s objective. The Deathripper moves up next to him. The Siren runs up in the big blob of Blackbane’s and Satyxis.

Turn 1 – Legion

I start my turn activating Vayl. She casts Refuge and Admonition on the two Angelius near here. She then charges forward behind the wall. My Angel with Refuge moves up behind the wall and boosts a shot into a Satyxis Raider. She dies. The Angel with Admonition moves up to Vayls right behind the wall. It boosts a shot into another Satyxis and misses. Both Ravagores moved up and shot the front most Satyxis in front of Vayl and one in front of the Ravagores, placing the scather so that it protected my caster and beasts from a Satyxis charge. The Hex Hunters all run forward into the right zone with the Spawning Vessel following up behind. Both Shepherds move up behind the Ravagores and the Spell Martyr ends up tucked into the Hex Hunter blob. Over to Cryx!

Turn 2 – Cryx

The Satyxis all shift to my right, charging and running to engage Hex Hunters. A few Hex Hunters die in the resulting combat, filling up the vessel. Blackbane’s Raiders run to the center of the board, placing two engaging my Ravagores and the rest standing in the middle and a few in the right zone. The Soulhunters run forward, two engaging my Angels and Vayl, two standing further back in the left zone. Darragh moves up behind the rest of the Soulhunters. The Bane Riders shift up on the right. Goreshade moves up a bit further towards the center of the board. The Deathripper moves up next to Goreshade again. The Skarlock Thrall moves up into the forest and puts a spell I can’t remember out.

Turn 2 – Legion

I leach fury back to full, drop Admonition on one Angel and upkeep Refuge on the other. I start off using the Refuge Angel, moving about the wall so that he can engage two Soulhunters. It puts an armor pierce into the Soulhunter by the wall, easily blowing it up. The Angel buys an attack into the next Soulhunter and with a boost to damage, puts it down. The Angel then Refuge’s right back to where it came from. The other Angel flies forward and armor pierces another Soulhunter, killing it easily. I activate the Hex Hunters and give a run/charge order. They charge several Satyxis, killing roughly half the remaining unit and Hex Blast a few Blackbane’s and the Satyxis UA. The pot moves up and pops out a Harrier. The Harrier activates, casts its animus, and charges the Siren, killing her and sprinting to engage some nearby Satyxis. The right Angelius activates and charges a Bane Rider, easily killing it in one shot. I buy and boost damage on a second attack, killing a second one. One Ravagore activates and tries to move over the Blackbane engaging it, triggering a free strike and forcing the Ravagore to remain where it was. I have to use the Ravagores activation killing that single Blackbane. I am smarter with the second Ravagore, walking around the Blackbane, which he decides not to take a free strike with. I get a shot into Goreshade, doing about 6 damage and lighting him on fire. I also catch the Deathripper and boost blast damage, rolling box cars and knocking out his head. Not bad! Both Goreshade and the Deathripper are on fire. I activate Vayl and she casts Admonition on herself and tries to shoot a Satyxis and misses.

Turn 3 – Cryx

We roll for fires and the fire on Goreshade goes out (Doh!) but the fire on the Deathripper sticks and I roll high again, knocking out its Arcnode. Hell yeah! The Satyxis go first and move to engage my Angelius, Harrier, and a Hex Hunter. Goreshade then goes and pops feat, forcing my models to be stationary. He then walks forward a hair and Mockery of Life’s back a Bane Rider and a Soulhunter. Things get a bit messy here and I forget some of the details of his order of operations here, but basically one remaining Soulhunter charges Vayl, one moves to the far left edge of the left zone, and the newly spawned one holds tight. The Soulhunter I think hit with the charge and I transferred the damage to an Angel. The stationary Angelius gets charged by a Bane Rider or two, 3 Blackbane’s, and the Pistol Wraith and takes some heavy damage, but remains standing due to some terrible rolls for my opponent. The Harrier also lives after being charged by 2 Blackbane’s. The other Bane Rider charges into the Hex Hunters and misses his impact attack so gets stuck on a guy but still have reach on his target, killing him. Some Blackbane’s get charges on Hex Hunters, killing a few and spawning more Blackbane’s. Darragh moves up behind the Soulhunters. The Skarlock Thrall pretty much holds tight. The Deathripper attempts to move to engage the Angelius but can’t quite get there.

Turn 3 – Legion

I leach fury and drop all upkeeps. I start off with Vayl and she walks over the wall, still engaging the Soulhunter and manages to just toe into the zone. She pops feat, purifying off Scything Touch. She casts Refuge on one of the Angels, Admonition on herself, and Icy Grip on the Blackbane’s. She then casts and Obliteration into the Soulhunter she is engaging, killing him. She heals her damaged Angel and Harrier, then shoots a Blackbane boosting damage and killing. She ends her activation. Each Angelius now goes, killing the final remaining Soulhunter and Darragh. The Refuge Angel flies back in front of Vayl. The before damaged Angel activates and armor pierce kills a Bane Rider and then kills the Pistol Wraith and Deathripper with bought attacks. My Harrier goes and kills a Blackbane. My Hex Hunters kill a few more Blackbane’s between melee attacks and Hex Blasts. The Spawning Vessel moves a hair forward and pops out a Shredder. The Shredder fails to do anything to the Bane Rider. Both Ravagores move close to the hill and try to shoot Goreshade, but I didn’t realize he was within an inch of the Deathripper and so has cover. One shot hits him and the other scatters off into nowhere. I roll okay and plink off another 5 or 6 damage. I dominate to go up 2 - 0

Turn 4 – Cryx

Once again, it is a bit of a mosh pit on the right side of the board. One Bane Rider charges and one shots my Spawning Vessel, taking all the ladies with him. The other kills a few Hex Hunters with impact attacks, but whiffs on the last guy, and also whiffs the attack. The Blackbane’s get a run charge order, with the ones charging my Hex Hunters killing all but the leader, who subsequently breaks, leaving only my Shredder in the zone. The other half of the unit runs into the left zone to stop me from dominating. One engages my Angelius by eVayl. Goreshade goes, considering an assassination attempt, but decides against it. He charges my Shredder in the right zone, avoiding my Angelius threat range of 12 inches. He obliterates the Shredder (Figuratively, not with the spell) and dominates the zone. Score goes to 2-2. With that, over to Legion!

Turn 4 – Legion

I am confident I can end it here on scenario, so I Leach fury and get the show on the road! The big question is, can I hit and kill with all 3 of Vayl’s gun attack. We shall see! I start by activating Vayl and walking around the Angelius. I start off putting an Icy Grip into one of the unengaged Blackbane’s. I hit only needing a 4 or 5. I take my first shot with the gun at the hardest target, the guy engaging my Angelius. I boost to hit and get the hit! I boost damage and kill. I buy and hit only needing I think a 4. I boost damage and kill. I buy, boost to hit, boost damage, and kill the final Blackbane in the zone, leaving it open for domination. I charge my now unengaged Angelius into the objective, and one bought attack later I kill it. I move a Ravagore to toe his zone and end turn.

5-2 scenario victory to Legion!

Post game thoughts

I got lucky in that one. Not because I was in any really bad position on either scenario or attrition, but because I ended that turn with less than a minute left before dice down. Phew! I have to admit that his dice also really hated him, and that cost him some important rolls. Either way, I am very happy with the victory, and I don’t often win by scenario so I’ll take it! Next up, Skorne!

50 point Steamroller tournament - Game 1 - Legion vs. Mercenaries

eAbsylonia vs. Damiano

So for my first game I faced Mercenaries. My opponent was running a Gorten list with the Earthbreaker and all the fixin's and a Damiano list shown below. I decided to start off with eAbby as I think she has a lot of game against many Mercenary armies. Her list has the tools to ignore tough, prevent knockdown and pushes, and always threatens some crazy assassinations.

Damiano

Rocinante

eAlexia

eEiryss

Rhupert Carvolo

Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters Max

Greygore Boomhowler and Co. Max

Kayazy Assassins Max w/ UA

Kayazy Eliminators

Press Gangers Max

I lose the roll off and choose the side with a nicely placed hill about a charge distance out of my deployment zone. There is a forest just outside his deployment on my right. There is a hill about 8 inches from my deployment zone right in the center. There is a house on the right. There is a forest just outside my deployment on the left. I deploy Abby right in front of the hill. I put the Scythean to her left, followed by a Raek, the Shredder, the Shepherd, the Succubus, and finally the Naga. To her right are the two Ravagores followed by the other Raek and the two Forsaken. My opponent deploys Damiano dead center across from Abby. Rocinante goes to his left (all from my point of view). The Kayazy deploy on the right side of the line with the eliminators on the outside of that. Rhupert deploys behind the Kayazy. Cylena and the Hunters deploy to the far left with the Boomhowlers deployed right next to Rocinante. I advance deploy my two Strider Deathstalkers in front of my right lines across from the Kayazy. My opponent advance deploys his Press Gangers just in front of the Kayazy. 

Turn 1 – Mercenaries

Basically everything runs straight forward. Damiano casts Sure Foot on Alexia and Death March goes on the Kayazy. The Kayazy are by the right zone and the Press Gangers fill up the right zone. The Nyss are pressing forward on the left with eEiryss. Damiano only walks forward. Boomhowlers are at the edge of the left zone. The Eliminators are on the far right pretty far forward. Oh and Rhupert gave the Kayazy tough and fearless. Wise.

Turn 1 - Legion

I start with Deathstalkers. They both walk forward and toe the right zone.  The first one pops the Lass and a Ganger. The other pings a Ganger but it toughs so no snap fire. Boo. I activate Abby and she puts Tenacity on both Raeks, Fortify on the Scythean, then charges Damiano. Fail the charge. So its going to be this kind of game.. ;) My two Raek’s go running up, one into the right zone, and one on the hill in front of Abby. The Scythean goes and runs in front of Abby. The Ravagores both go running up and rile for 4 fury each. The Naga goes and runs into the left forest. Both Forsaken go and take the fury from the Ravagores. Shredder walks up and puts Tenacity on the Scythean. Succubus moves up and puts Tenacity on Abby.  The Shepherd just walks forward.

Turn 2 – Mercenaries

All spells are upkept by Damiano. He forgets to allocate to Rocinante. The Press Gangers get a charge run, with a few charging the Raek and the rest running to engage the Deathstalker’s. The Kayazy get tough and run into the right zone, with many engaging Raek’s, my Scythean, and my Deathstalker’s. The Eliminator’s move up further on the right. The Boomhowlers call 4+ tough and run up in the left zone and in front of the wall in front of Damiano. Damiano charges forward to avoid Kill Boxing himself, and ends right behind the central wall. The Nyss run up further on my left, along with eEiryss.

Turn 2 – Legion

So I leach fury up to full and free upkeep Fortify with the Succubus. I think this is feat turn, as well as game. I start with each Forsaken moving up and Blight Bombing the huge clumps of Kayazy and Press Gangers surrounding all my stuff. I kill all the ones engaging Ravagores, Raeks, and Deathstalkers. I activate the Deathstalkers and pop a few inconsequential Kayazy and Press Gangers. Next I activate Abby, pop feat, cast Slaughterhouse on myself, and charge one of the three Boomhowlers between my beasts and Damiano. She has to buy one attack in the end, but kills all three. She then Teleports back onto her hill, making sure she is far enough forward that I can force beasts near Damiano. I activate my Raek on the hill. It casts its animus on itself and flies over the last Kayazy over there and a Boomhowler behind the wall. I boost a headbutt and knock Damiano down. I activate each Ravagore, boosting shots into the now knocked down caster. He is on like 4 boxes. I activate the Scythean and charge and put him in the dirt.

Victory for Legion!

Warhammer 40k tournament tomorrow

Hello everyone, Andy here. Tomorrow I have both my first tournament, as well as my first games since moving down to the Twin Cities.

It is an 1850 point tournament, and I really have no idea what to expect. I have no idea what armies are played around here are anything, so I am really going on blind. And since I am, I decided I'm just going to bring a ragtag army of all my favorite units from both the Ultramarines and Eldar. That way, even if I lose, at least I will have fun with the armies I have to play!

So without further ado, here is the list!

Eldar
HQ - Farseer
Troop - 6 Dire Avengers
DT - Wave Serpent - Scatter Laser, Shuriken Cannon
Troop - 5 Dire Avengers
DT - Wave Serpent - Scatter Lasers, Shuriken Cannon
Fast Attack - Crimson Hunter - Exarch
Fast Attack - 8 Warp Spiders
Heavy Support - Wraithknight

Space Marines
HQ - Marneus Calgar
6 Honour Guard -  Thunderhammer, Relic Blade
DT - Drop Pod
Troop - 10 Tactical Squad - Melta Bomb, Plasma Gun, Missile Launcher, Combi-Plasma
DT - Rhino - Dozer Blades

So I know this list isn't optimal by any means, but they are models I love and have all painted and enjoy playing. I've found 40k is a lot less fun if you take it to seriously, so I'm going to go out there, throw some dice, and have a good time.

I'll give results and hopefully some pictures tomorrow!

- Andy

Andy's new project - Menoth

Hello again, Andy here to talk briefly about my new project I've been working on, Menoth.

As you may have seen, I've been thinking of trying Menoth and after a few battle box, I couldn't resist.

I bought the Menoth portion of the two player battle box and got started painting up pKreoss. I wanted to do an evil looking Menoth, as I don't like painting white, and I thought Menoth can look pretty menacing in dark colors.

Kreoss was painted using a mix of blacks and reds, with some bronze and gun metal to pick out details. It was a really simple paint scheme that made for a good effect. I also tried out the gamesworkshop technical blood paint and man does it look nasty. I added plenty to his flail, and then flicked it all over his chest and face as perhaps you can see.

As for story, I want them to keep their name, but I don't think "high exemplar" fits with his theme haha. So I decided to call him "Kreoss the Blood Quenched". Bad ass, no? Maybe a bit cliché but whatevs haha.

Now for tactics. I think Kreoss is an awesome caster. Purification, along with his feat can end games, and end them quickly. However, I recently played a battle box game against convergence and learned some very important lessons. First, their heavy vector, cipher, is steady. No knockdown for me! He hid his caster behind it and there was little I could do about it. Second, their light vector,... I forget what it's called, has an aoe gun that can knock down. Third, Menoth jacks are very very easy to hit, and when your opponent has an aoe knockdown gun, it is best not to have your caster in base to base with those low Def jacks. Fourth, Kreoss is very soft. Without Defenders Ward and a solid focus camp, he is really easy to kill. And that is just what happened in that game. I got knocked down and assassinated with ease. Oh how the tables turned! Oh well, live and learn.

Well that's it for Kreoss, hopefully I get my jacks all painted up real soon!

- Andy

Battlebox Battle Report – Menoth vs. Legion

Hello all! Andy here and I have a battlebox battle report with me trying out Menoth for the first time against my friend playing my Legion battlebox. I have always enjoyed the aesthetics of Menoth and have wanted to try out a warmachine army, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity! I have to admit, using focus feels like so much more work than using fury haha. So without further ado, here are our armies!

pKreoss - +5

Crusader – 6

Revenger – 6

Repenter – 4

pLylyth - +6

Carnivean – 11

Shredder – 2

Shredder – 2

Shredder – 2

Shredder – 2

I won the roll-off and decided I should go first, as I know my army is going to be pretty slow. I deploy with the Revenger and Crusader to pKreoss right, and the Repenter to the left. My opponent deploys pLylyth right behind a forest with a line of shredders to her left. The Carnivean is deployed at the maximum range of her control.

My first turn is pretty quick, as is the norm with Warmahordes. I pass out focus to everyone so they are able to run, then I put Defenders Ward on the Revenger and walk Kreoss towards the wall directly in front of him. Everyone else activates and basically runs straight ahead.

My opponent’s turn saw him making 3 Shredders go Rabid and walk forward. The last Shredder simply walked behind the rest. The Carnivean advanced directly forward. Lylyth just walked into her forest and cast Tenacity 3 times.

Now things become more interesting. I upkept Defender’s Ward and ran my Revenger forward. My Crusader simply walked forward. My Repenter walked in behind the Revenger. Kreoss just walked up behind the wall.

My opponent now decides he doesn’t much care for that Revenger standing in the front of the rest of my army. Lylyth starts things off by Bushwacking, popping feat, then shooting the Revenger. She casts Parasite on it with her auto-hit from her bow. She drops the last two fury she has. Next up is the Shredders. Each activates and free charges the Revenger due to Blood Lure on Lylyth’s bow. They put some serious damage on the poor Revenger. The Carnivean comes in to finish the job with an assault charge. The spray does a bit of damage to my Repenter. The Carnivean puts the Revengers down with ease. 

Following the devastation of the previous turn, I allocate 3 focus to my Crusaders and two focus to my Repenter. I start off the turn by activating Kreoss (Actually I started with the Crusader, then realized I wanted to feat and to do such a thing, I probably want to activate my caster first. Luckily, it was just a learning game and my opponent was fine with the mulligan). So Kreoss pops feat and shoots a Shredder with an Immolation to soften it up. Then I activate my Repenter and turn towards the two Shredders sitting in front of it. I shoot and boost damage on the closest Shredder and kill it. The second suffers minor damage. I now have a charge lane for my Crusader. My Crusader activates and charges the Carnivean. My Crusader takes the Carnivean down to 7 health. That ends my turn.

My opponent answers, and he answers with a vengeance. He spends fury to stand up his remaining Shredders. My opponent starts by activating Lylyth. She Bushwacks and boosts a shot into my Crusader. He hits my whopping Def 14 in melee no problem. He then casts Parasite and spends her last two to heal the Carnivean. Next the Carnivean activates. It sacrifices its movement to stand up. My now arm 16 is nowhere near enough to save me from a Carnivean and my Crusader gets trashed. The now unengaged shredders charge my Repenter for minor damage.

For my turn, I allocate a full 3 focus to the Repenter. I start off activating pKreoss. He walks forward and beats down both the Shredders. He then tries to fire off a Cleansing Fire and whiffs with double 1’s…. The Repenter activates and charges the Carnivean… And rolls a 1 and 2 to hit…. From there I did a bit of minor damage.

My opponent had no problem smashing my Repenter to pieces with the Carnivean at this points. Victory Legion!

So my first game with Menoth was a struggle. The Crusader not being able to one round a knocked down Carnivean was pretty disappointing. I should have tried to get Kreoss into the Carnivean’s face and take some shots on him. Without the Carnivean, my opponent would have been seriously hindered. I also realized at the end I never casted Lamentation…. It would have disallowed Lylyth from casting Parasite in my control area.

In my opinion, the Menoth battlebox is solid. I don’t really like the Revenger much, but it isn’t bad. It would probably be much more useful if I remembered it was an arc node... The Crusader is quite slow and can hit pretty hard, but needs a bit of help from another jack or the choir. The Repenter is a solid little jack that makes short work of Shredders. I don’t know how well it would perform against light or heavy jacks.

I would much prefer the alternate battlebox from the 2-player starter set. I think some ranged firepower like the Vanquisher would be great (Plus I really like continuous fire). I have the Menoth portion of the box in the mail so hopefully I’ll have it in hand and start painting it soon! I plan on going dark Menoth.

I hope you enjoyed!

- Andy

Andy's first Warmahordes tournament

Now that the Journeyman League had come to an end, it was time for a small 35-point 2-caster steamroller tournament. I was not entirely prepared for a 2-caster event, as I had largely been playing pThagrosh and I hadn’t played Warmahordes in an entire month. Bethayne and Belphagor had intrigued me near the end of the league, so I had those models on hand. I decided to go with B&B and prime Thagrosh as my two casters for the event.

pThagrosh +5

Carnivean – 11

Scythean – 9

Ravagore – 10

Max Hex Hunters – 8

Shepherd – 1

Feralgiest – 1

Bethayne +3

Belphagor – 0

Scythean – 9

Ravagore – 10

Raek – 4

Max Hex Hunters – 8

Forsaken – 2

3 x Spell Martyrs – 3

Strider Deathstalker – 2

I stuck with my pThagrosh list from the Journeyman League as I was comfortable with it and it had worked well for me. My B&B list, however, was just a hodge podge of models I threw together with no knowledge of how they would work with her as I had never played her. I knew she liked Hex Hunters and Spell Martyrs, so they went into it first. From there it was just random pick and choose. I intended for my Thagrosh list to be my brick list that can crack armor, while Bethayne will be my anti-infantry list.

vs.  

Game 1: Bethanye vs. pButcher

Game 1 set me against a seasoned veteran that helped me learn the game quite a bit. He brought his Khador with him (Which is an army I had not beaten up until this point). I was nervous and knew very little about most of the units in both his armies, but I knew that Khador generally favors infantry so I tried out Bethayne. My opponent chose pButcher. This game went by in an agonizing blur, so many of the details are hazy.

So I won first turn. I ran my whole force forward as far as I could. My opponent did the same. I made a charge order with my Hex Hunters and a few engage his widowmakers and kill a few. I move my Scythean into the zone. I move a Spell Martyr up and get counter charged by Man O’ War Drakhun. A little piece of advice, look at cards for models you don’t know about before a battle. B&B are just outside the zone. My opponent is now in charge range of my Scythean with his Drakhun and charges and mauls my heavy. A Marauder charges the Scythean and slams him back into my objective, killing my Scythean. He moves a Demolisher into the zone. His Shocktroopers kill a bunch of Hex Hunters but they hold. My turn comes around and I pop feat and try to kill some stuff off but I have lost my most heavy hitter in the Scythean so things aren’t looking good. I try to block Bethayne from his Demolisher with my Feralgiest, only to find that everything can move through incorporeal models with no penalty. Needless to say, Bethayne didn’t live very long after this.

I was pretty discouraged after that thrashing. I didn’t feel like I could go back to Bethayne after that. I just didn’t know her spells well enough. Lucky for me, I didn’t need to.

vs.

Game 2: pThagrosh vs. pLylyth

My second game was against another new Warmahordes player. She only had her battle box along with a few additions. I felt confidence in this matchup, as I actually knew what it was I was facing, and I knew pLylyth pretty well. My opponent won the roll-off and took first turn.

Her first turn saw her simply run everything forward. She had Raptors on one flank, Striders in the center by a wall, and pLylyth on the other flank with some Shredders and her Carnivean. Lylyth and her battle group were in a nice little forest. My turn I did the same. I didn’t run the Hex Hunters all the way forward, as she did not yet have the Strider UA for hunter. My beasts just followed behind the little wall of infantry. My opponent tried to stand behind the wall and shoot with the striders, but with stealth was unable. The raptors took some shots at beasts, but unfortunately she didn’t roll too well and did minimal damage. Shredders shot out in front of her force. Now it was my turn and everything was well within range of charges. My Hex Hunters went into the striders and caught two raptors as well. I did minimal damage to both. My Carnivean and Scythean charged into the striders and killed a couple. The Ravagore took a shot at Lylyth and missed. Lylyth tries aid her striders. Her Carnivean charges in and kills my Scythean. Nothing else major. I now think my Carnivean is within walking range of Lylyth. I take two free strikes from striders, not even scratching me. I make it to Lylyth and munch her. Legion (mine) victory!

Although this match was against a new player with a minimal collection of models to choose from, I still felt good that I was actually able to win a game.

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Game 3: pThagrosh vs. eThagrosh

Game 3 was another Legion on Legion match, this time against a veteran player. I was feeling good after getting a win under my belt. But I was worried as he had the Archangel (I had never faced a colossal/gargantuan up to this point). My opponent won first turn.

First turn he runs everything forward aggressively. The AA is dead center by eThags, with a Scythean nearby. He has some Shredders nearby, as well as a Raek off on a flank. I deploy my brick center with Hex Hunters on the flank opposite the Raek. My brick advances slowly as I was worried what he may be able to do if I move into charge range. My Hex Hunters run up the flank to a flag. My opponent manages to charge my Scythean with the Archangel and annihilates it. It is also close enough to be engaging my Carnivean. The Raek advances. The Scythean runs into reach melee range with my Carnivean. Now I’m on my back foot and not sure how to save my poor Carnivean. I decide to buff my Ravagore and charge it into the Scythean. I leave the Scythean on one box. I charge my shepherd in and finish off the Scythean. My Hex Hunters run and engage eThagrosh and a few shepherds and a shredder. My Carnivean beats on the Archangel some. The Archangel then proceeds to end the Carnivean. eThagrosh kills a bunch of Hex Hunters. Then his shepherd fails its abomination check for being by eThagrosh. Whoops! The Raek leaps and engages pThagrosh and pokes him a bit. pThagrosh then proceeds to cut the Raek to pieces. I pop feat and bring back the Carnivean and it moves to engage the AA and eThagrosh. My Ravagore charges the Archangel and kills it. At this point my opponent has only a few minutes and deathclocks. Legion (mine) victory!

Another really fun game. Although my opponent deathclocked, I am pretty confident I would have assassinated eThagrosh in my next turn with either my Carnivean or Ravagore or even my swarm of Hex Hunters.

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Game 4: pThagrosh vs. Syntherion

My last game was against a caster that I actually had a bit of experience playing. Unfortunately, my opponent brought a list with two Prime Axiom colossals. Although they were pretty intimidating, I felt pThagrosh was the guy to take them down. My opponent gets first turn.

My opponent runs Axiom’s forward, one to a wall and one to the edge of a small hill. Syntherion moves up and casts Hot Shot (I think that’s what it’s called) on the Axiom to my right. The shield guard solo moves up next to him. I have my Hex Hunters deployed center with my Scythean, Carnivean, and Thagrosh direcly behind them. The Feralgiest is to my far right and Ravagore with shepherd to my far left. I run the Hex Hunters straight forward. My Feralgiest runs towards the flag on my right. The Ravagore runs towards the flag on my left. Thagrosh casts Fog of War, free spiny growth on himself, and Draconic Blessing on the Scythean, then charges a Hex Hunter and fails. My Carnivean runs forwards. My Scythean runs forward and a bit right towards that Prime Axiom. My opponent starts his turn by passing out focus to his right Prime Axiom. He stands and shoots the right Prime Axiom at a Hex Hunter, forgot about stealth and missed. It then used its other shot to shoot the Carnivean for minor damage. The other Prime Axiom activated with some convectioned focus, tried to shoot a Hex Hunter and auto-missed because of stealth.  It then tried to shoot the Ravagore and missed a fair number of shots due to Fog of War. He then remembered to spawn his little mine thingy, which charged a Hex Hunter and killed it. Syntherion and his shield guard just chill a bit back. I upkeep all spells. I activate the Hex Hunters and run charge, mostly bringing the unit to the left Prime Axiom, not doing any damage. My Carnivean charges the right Prime Axiom and manages to engage. It does a fair bit of damage. My Scythean then charges and engages the Axiom and the enemy objective contesting the right flag. The Scythean trashes both the Axiom and the objective. I then run the Feralgiest to capture that flag. My Ravagore shoots and kills the shield guard thing. Thagrosh just wanders towards the right flag. I score two points. My opponent starts by activating Syntherion and gives Hot Shot to the left Prime Axiom, along with focus. The Prime Axiom activates and tramples over my Hex Hunters. It shoots at Thagrosh with all of its right side shots, hitting every one and doing major damage. Thagrosh is down to about 8 health. He then tries shooting with his left side and misses every shot! Lucky, lucky Thagrosh. He passes turn and I see that the Prime Axiom did not get close enough to contest my left flag, so I move my Ravagore to capture it, move Thagrosh to dominate the enemy flag and end turn, scoring 3 to win the game. Victory Legion!

I got a bit lucky that Thagrosh survived all those shots from the Axiom. He also had some hot dice for the first 3 shots, so it kind of balanced out. I also got lucky my opponent really didn’t pay attention to scenario, and would have struggled regardless with only two models to really contest. I still felt like I had the game from the start with my heavy melee beasties.

So with that the tournament ended. Wins and losses were tallied and I was tied with another player for second. We went to points destroyed for the tie-breaker and I had a total of 96 points destroyed, netting me second place! For my first tournament, I was pretty dang excited. I had to thank pThagrosh for the victories, without him I would not have stood a chance.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Andy