50 point Steamroller - Game 3 - eVayl vs. eMakeda

eMakeda

Molik Karn

Titan Gladiator

Titan Gladiator

Archidon

Min Incendiarii

Max Nihilators

Min Beast Handlers

Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Extoller Soulward

Once again, down a point

Again, I am down a point on his list and I’m not sure where. Oh well! I won the roll off and chose first turn. My opponent chose the side with a forest in the center and a wall on my left just a little ways out of his deployment. I got the side with a hill in the middle and a house to the right side. I place two Angelius on the left side at the edge of Vayl’s control. The Ravagores and the last Angelius deploy to Vayl’s right. Vayl goes just right of center. The Hex Hunters go to the center left with their attachment, the Spawning Vessel. My opponent placed the Archidon and Molik Kharn to my left. Makeda goes in the middle with the Nihilators and the Incendiarii. The Titan Gladiators went to the right side. The support was spread around the back. On to Legion turn 1!

Turn 1 – Legion

I ran both Angelius up the left flank one behind the other, hoping to remain out of Kharn’s threat range. I activate Vayl and place Refuge on the nearby Anglius and Admonition on one of the Ravagores. She puts Occultation on herself and charges forward onto the hill. My Hex Hunters activate and run forward and spread out. The Spawning Vessel gets carried up behind them. The Refuge Angel flies up on the right. The two Ravagores run and place themselves in front of Vayl. The Shepherds run up behind. The Spell Martyr runs forward.

Turn 1 – Skorne

My opponent thinks Kharn has range on my Angelius. I’m surprised because I am quite a ways out. Makeda goes and casts Leash on Kharn and the spell for +2 movement for everything. She then walks forward into the forest. The Nihilators run straight forward and spread out. The Incendiarii run and spread out, and a key thing is that one goes in front of Makeda to block line of sight. One of the Gladiators goes and walks over to Kharn, putting Rush on him. The other Gladiator moves close to Makeda. The Beast Handlers move forward, removing some Fury and giving the +2 strength and free charge buff to Kharn. The other solo’s move up. Kharn goes and gets a charge on my front Angelius in my line. He only hits with one initial, and after 3 bought attacks puts the Angel down. He then decides to Fatewalker rather than attack the other Angelius, and uses it to walk over the nearby wall.

Turn 2 – Legion

I leach Fury and upkeep all spells. I start with the Refuge Angelius. It kills some Nihilators and Refuges into the right zone. I then activate the Hex Hunters, doing a run charge on the Nihilators, killing a large portion of the unit. The Spawning Vessel then moves up and pops out a Shredder. The Shredder walks over near the left Angelius. Vayl goes and shoots the Shredder in the back and arcs a Refuge onto the Angelius. One of the Ravagores goes left, boosting a fiery shot into Molik Kharn for some nice damage and lighting him on fire. The Angelius goes next, and after an Armor Pierce and some bought attacks, Kharn goes down. The other Ravagore walks forward and boosts a fiery shot into the Incendiarii right in front of Makeda. It kills the Incendiarii and lights a Beast Handler, Makeda, and the Archidon on fire. I boost blast damage on Makeda and do about 5 points. The Spell Martyr was actually used for an Icy Grip into the Nihilators from Vayl I think. That’s how my Hex Hunters were able to hit them relatively easily. Shepherds wipe some fury. Over to Skorne!

Turn 2 – Skorne

My opponent is on his back foot now, with Kharn being dead and my beasts in position to score some points. To make matters worse, the fire does not go out on Makeda and does another 6 points of damage. The Beast Handler burns and the fire on the Archidon goes out. His turn basically revolves around boosting the speed of the Archidon to crazy levels and getting into Vayl. He misses most all his attacks, needing hard 9’s. With that, my opponent concedes, as I score two control points in his turn and would gain another 2 and very likely 3 as Vayl could easily dominate if I can kill off the Archidon. Legion victory!

Post game thoughts

  I think my opponent made a few mistakes this game. He really should have held Molik back until the later game, as it was unlikely he would kill to Angelius in one round (but far from impossible!). It is crazy how far eMakeda can throw her beasts though! Man I was not ready for that first charge from Molik! I think I played against these crazy threat ranges well though. I made my opponent pay for throwing Molik out there, and that set the tone for the whole of the game. With that victory, I am off to final table! My next opponent: Mercenaries!

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 tomorrow

Hello all!

Tomorrow I have a big 50 point steamroller tournament in preparation for Warmachine Weekend (Which I will not be able to attend). It will be timed turns, which is going to certainly be interesting. I think it is the least disadvantageous to Legion of all factions, as we tend to have fewer models than most any other opponent. It is a two list format, and I will be bringing epic Absylonia and epic Vayl. I think they make for a solid combination. Abby can skew for extreme speed versus slower lists, picking them apart before they can retaliate. Vayl pairs well as the all-comers warlock, able to overcome even poor match-ups that Abby just doesn't want any part of. Here are the two lists I plan on bringing:

eAbby - 50+5 pts
Scythean
Ravagore
Ravagore
Shredder
Raek
Raek
Naga Nightlurker
Succubus
Forsaken
Forsaken
Shepherd
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker

eVayl - 50+6 pts - Tier 4 Machinations of Shadow
Ravagore
Ravagore
Angelius
Angelius
Angelius
Max Nyss Hex Hunters
Max Spawning Vessel
Spell Martyr
Shepherd
Shepherd

The Vayl list is pretty typical tier 4 list. I like the triple Angel's with her, as it allows me to trade one and still have enough armor pierce's remaining to threaten any heavy.

As for the Abby list, I've tried the melee centric list built around a Carnivean and a few Scythean, and even with Typhon, and I just haven't been a fan. They have some tremendous killing power, but I have little in the way of ranged attacks to pressure my opponent into my claws/teeth. This list also kind of remains in one big clump, with very little board presence.

I've found I really enjoy a mixed list with Abby. The ranged firepower of the Ravagore's add a lot in the early game. They can mess up charge lanes for single wound infantry and light swathes of infantry on fire if my opponent isn't careful. Plus they are always great at sniping important solo's or higher value infantry, such as Cavalry. Then as the game progesses, I can really crank up the power of the Ravagore's on Abby's feat turn. They are in effect, able to contribute what many other heavies are able to at a higher volume of attacks and much higher threat ranges. Plus, they may not seem to get much benefit from conferred rage on non-feat turns, but that extra 2" of movement lets them threaten 22" up the board. That is really quite scary.

So hopefully my games go well! I will post up results and battle reports sometime this weekend! And Happy Halloween!

Warmachine/Hordes Battle report - eVayl vs. Vlad 2 - 50 points

This is a 50 point steamroller prep match with a local player. We played the scenario, Outflank. We have two casters each, eVayl and eAbby for Legion, and Vlad 2 and Butcher 3 for Khador. We were playing timed turns, with 10 minutes per side and a 5 minute extension. We had a bit of list chicken going here, as eVayl was not going to be Vlad 2's friend, while Butcher 3 could present eVayl with problems. eAbby doesn't want to see Vlad 2 across the table, as he is one of the rare casters that can out-threat her. She does not mind Butcher 3 nearly so much, as Fortify can nullify one of his biggest advantages. I ended up choosing eVayl and she can play into even unfavorable matchup's and come out on top, where eAbby doesn't have that flexibility. My opponent chose Vlad 2, as I had been playing eAbby quite a bit lately and he must have thought I would stick to her. Now here are the armies:

Vlad 2

Demolisher

War Dog

Max Uhlans

Max Outrider’s

Max Doom Reaver’s

Max Doom Reaver’s

Max Winterguard Infantry

UA, 2 x Rocket attachments

Kovnik Joe

eVayl

Angelius

Angelius

Angelius

Ravagore

Ravagore

Max Hex Hunters

Max Spawning Vessel

Shepherd

Shepherd

Spell Martyr

Deployment

I won the roll off. I chose sides so that I could pick the one with two walls about 6-10 inches from my deployment zone. My opponent then went first. Mission is Outflank. He deployed the Outriders to my far left. Vlad was central behind a small forest. The Uhlan’s were just right of him. The Winterguard were to my right. I deployed two Angelius’ to my left, followed by a Ravagore and Vayl. Then I placed half the unit of Hex Hunters on each side of my Spawning Vessel right in the middle of the table so they could freely move through the hole between the two walls. To the right of them was my second Ravagore followed by my final Angelius. My opponent advance deployed a Doom Reaver unit to both the middle right and middle left. I advance deploy a Shepherd and Spell Martyr to my left by my Angels and the wall. One Shepherd goes on the right near my Ravagore and Angelius on that side.

Khador – Turn 1

My opponent activates Vlad, casts Transference on himself, assail on the Demolisher, and Hand of Fate on the Uhlan’s. He then charges forward into the forest. The Doom Reaver’s activate and both units run forward and spread out throughout the zone. The Uhlan’s activate now and run forward in a big clump so they all benefit from the +2 armor. My opponent realizes he got too close to his Doom Reaver’s so takes an abomination check and just passes. Joe and the Winterguard Bob and Weave and run up behind the Doom Reaver’s and pass their abomination check. The War Dog runs up behind Vlad. The Outriders run way up on my very far left and spread out. The Demolisher charges an Angelius. And with that over to Legion!

Legion – Turn 1

I started off my first turn by activating the Hex Hunters and running them forward between the walls in roughly a three row deep formation. I was dumb and moved the leader first and furthest to the left so that limited my movement capabilities. I suck at playing infantry…. Next the spawning vessel trundled forward between the walls. I now activate my left Ravagore, which walks up next to the wall, casts its animus, and boosts a shot into the front Uhlan. I score a direct hit and vaporize that Uhlan while lighting three of the four remaining members on fire. I actually score one point of blast damage on one with a roll of box-cars. Next up is Vayl. She casts Admonition on the furthest Angelius on the right and Refuge on the nearer one. She then drops two Fury and walks forward but is not within an inch of the wall. My left Angelius with Admonition activates and flies 9 inches forward into the left zone and boosts a shot into a Doom Reaver on the hill at the edge of the zone. It hits and blows the Doom Reaver away. The Angelius with Refuge moves forward and boosts a shot into a Doom Reaver in the same unit and once again blows it up. The refuge move brings it back to standing up against the left side of the wall. My right Angelius moves up near the right wall and boosts and kills a Doom Reaver. The right Ravagore moves up to the right wall and tries to take a shot at the right Uhlan in the block and ends up a half inch short. The scatter lands on the Uhlan but blast damage fails to break ARM. The Shepherd on the left gets behind the Ravagore and wipes its Fury. The Shepherd on the right goes behind the Angelius and wipes its Fury. I forget the Spell Martyr but my opponent lets my run him over behind the left wall. He has a lot of Spell Warded and Immune to Cold models so I don’t have a lot of spells to arc this game. On to Khador!

Khador – Turn 2

My opponent starts off the turn by upkeeping all his spells and rolling fire. None of the fires go out. I cause a point on one and four points on another. This leaves one undamaged, two at four boxes, and one at one box remaining. The first to activate is Vlad. He moves to the other side of the forest and pops his feat. He rolls up 5 guys gaining super powers. He powers up three of the Uhlan’s and a Doom Reaver from each unit. The right Doom Reaver unit then activates and get a run charge order. Two get charges into my Hex Hunter and one runs up to the wall trying to engage my Ravagore and failing and the last two just hang back in the zone. The Hex Hunters pass command thanks to Vayl being nearby. The super powered Doom Reaver hits and kills three Hex Hunters with Berserk. My pot gets filled to the brim. The second Doom Reaver misses and kills nothing. Next up is the Ulhan’s. They get a run charge order. One Uhlan managed to impact kill a Hex Hunter and successfully charge Vayl. The second Uhlan tries the same and kills a Hex Hunter but can’t reach Vayl since she was about an inch and a half from the wall. The third couldn’t fit in so just ran up into base contact. The fourth charges a Hex Hunter deep in my lines, but failed to hit the impact attack on the Hex Hunter on the way in so he got stopped. He still manages to just barely reach the Hex Hunter so he took his attack and still missed. My Hex Hunters pass their break test for casualties. The Uhlan that got the charge on Vayl easily hits her with a boost and Hand of Fate. He boosts damage and does a monstrous 20 points of damage to her. I transfer the damage to my left Ravagore and it cripples his body. The left unit of Doom Reavers get a run order and spread throughout the left zone and the super powered one engages my Admonition Angelius. I don’t use Admonition and sit tight. The outriders swoop deep into my territory on the left side with a run move. The War Dog walks up by Vlad. The Demolisher charges up into the left zone. The Winterguard Bob and Weave move up into the right zone and take some pot shots at my Spawning Vessel ladies, killing a few. And with that it was over to Legion!

Legion – Turn 2

Well I have to admit, that went far better than I could have hoped! Sure, my opponent got a solid hit into Vayl, but all his highest value models are right next to me and easily within attacking range of most everything I’ve got. Plus I only lost 5 Hex Hunters and a few Spawning Vessel members. Not bad at all! Now time to do some work. I pull in Fury and realize I miscounted and have to cut for one. I drop Admonition and upkeep Refuge. I make a mistake right off the bat this turn and activate Vayl. I have her move to her right to be clear of the wall and cast and Icy Grip at the Uhlan right in her face. I forget the fact that it no longer has reach but is engaged by one of my Spawning Vessel members, so I’m looking for a 12 to hit. I boost but miss. Dang. I really should have moved my Spell Martyr around the wall and I would have had an easy target onto one of the back members who had no cover and was not engaged. Oh well. Vayl casts Admonition on herself and that finishes up her activation. Next I activate my left Ravagore, forgetting entirely that it is damaged. I move him up 6 inches over the wall and try to take a shot on Vlad. I have him by about a half an inch. I cast my animus and boost to hit, looking for a 10 and getting a solid 14. I boost damage and roll a 10, causing 6 points of damage and lighting him on fire. I then realize he is damage and think I messed that whole activation up! But it was only his body that was crippled, so he could shoot unhindered! Phew. Next I activate the left Angelius with Refuge, and it flies up as far past the Doom Reaver engaging my other Angel that it can without taking a free strike. I boost to hit my armor pierce into him and get the hit and kill him. It then overtakes forward and just engages another Doom Reaver. I buy an attack and miss. I buy another hit and kill. I overtake to the right and barely engage the second to last Doom Reaver. I buy miss. Buy, hit, kill. I then take my refuge move and fly back to just in front of the left wall. Now unengaged, my left Angelius charges forward into the Demolisher and gets a brutal armor piercing attack of something like 14 damage on dice +1, crippling its movement. No more slams for you! I don’t bother trying to do anything more against its armor 25. My right Angelius now activates and move into the middle of the clump of Doom Reavers near my Hex Hunters. I max out its Fury buying attacks and overtaking through 2 Doom Reavers. Two remain in the unit, one of which is super powered. I activate my Hex Hunters and they get a run/charge order. Two get charges on the super powered guy, one is already engaging the other, and the final two guys charge the weaker Reaver. My first charge attack on super dude hits needing a 9, but then I roll a 7 for damage, needing an 8 to kill. Doh! The second guys misses super dude. The guy already engaging the other Doom Reaver goes, hitting and killing himself. I don’t have any target for battle wizard so that finishes the Hex Hunters activation. My right Ravagore moves up and boosts a shot into the Winterguard Infantry in front, hitting and killing him and a Komrade from blast damage. The left Shepherd moves up and heals 2 points on the Ravagore, and the right Shepherd moves up and removes the fury from my Angelius. Finally, the Spawning Vessel activates and I shuffle the ladies in from of Vayl, blocking off the Uhlan’s. I pop out a Stinger behind the front Uhlan. The Stinger activates, walking up to the Uhlan and boosts to hit him, needing an 11, and I hit! Oh happy day! I boost damage, and along with poison, send that Uhlan back to wherever Khador believe their dead go. And with that, I pass turn.

Khador – Turn 3

My opponent was quite shocked at the infantry clearing I did last turn. Even if an opponent spreads out, Angels can do work on infantry units! The fire on each Uhlan stays lit and I think one died to the flames. The fire on Vlad goes out. Poo. Vlad drops Assail and Hand of Fate and upkeeps Transference. The right Doom Reaver activates and the two remaining dudes move to engage all my Hex Hunters. The first guy hits with boosts from Vlad, killing two Hex Hunters from Berserk. The second Doom Reaver misses on the first guy even after a boost… Ouch…. That leaves three Hex Hunters on the board. The last Reaver on the left charges into my Angelius engaging the Demolisher and causes something like 6 damage on a bad roll. The Demolisher activates and walks by the Angelius, pushing it out of the zone with its Bulldoze ability. The Uhlans activate and kill a few Spawning Vessel ladies. The Outriders swing forward and get some sprays on my left Angelius by the wall and a Shepherd. The Angel is untouched, but the Shepherd is not so lucky. On the right, Joe activates and shoots one of the Doom Reavers engaging my Hex Hunters. I’m not quite sure why, but he was in the way for something. The Winterguard Bob and Weave and try to shoot up my Angelius, doing relatively minor damage. Vlad activates and runs on top of the hill at the back of the left zone, dominating for two points. And with that, it was Legion turn.

Legion – Turn 3

As I begin this turn, the owner declares that the store is closing so we need to finish up our game. We decide to call it, but I figure I’ll make one move to assassinate just to see if I could. I move my Ravagore to get a clear shot, cast my animus, boost to hit, needing 13’s on the hill, hit! Boost damage, roll 6,6,4, finishing off Vlad. Victory to Legion!

Post-Game thoughts

Well, that was not how I would have expected that game to end! It was a really good game that was going back and forth, barring a few crappy rolls for my opponent. I think had the game continued, I had my opponent on the back foot as he was running out of units that could really do much of anything to deal with my beasts. His heaviest hitters died before really doing much of anything after his feat turn. He did put me in a poor position for scenario by dominating the zone early. However, Vlad had little to protect him from my two Angelius and Ravagore eventually catching him and putting him in the dirt. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this battle report!

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.

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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.

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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