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[bloodybenjamin]

29 April 2019

Tonight I played went down to the Games Store as per tradition and got 2 games in; 1 with a new Wurmwood list and 1 with the Mohsar list I’ve been playing. Both games I got myself assassinated. The first game I actually did nothing of value, and the second game I did a few things, thought I had protected Mohsar, and was wrong. So instead of writing batreps that you or I won’t get anything out of, I’m going to chronicle my mistakes, which will at least be helpful for me.

Bunkering Up

In both games, the scenario was Standoff, and I had my warlocks in my rectangles when they died. In both situations, I had bunkered up behind friendly models.

While it’s wise to zone your warlock so they’re not standing out in the open, a mistake I’ve made countless times is thinking one layer of Circle Orboros models, even heavies, is a good screen. It’s not. It’s not nothing, but because of the more fragile nature of Circle models, the screen falls apart very easily. It’s less about a wide screen and more about a deep screen; multiple layers of models that can’t just be trampled through or strolled past.

In the Wurmwood game, I have no idea what I was thinking. I thought an Aradus Soldier was unlikely to kill a Gnarlhorn Satyr and that was so foolish. It happened, and the Bronzeback walked right over and exploded Wurmwood, even through his Ghost Shield.

The Mohsar screen was a little better; I had 2 pillars, a Wolf Rider, a Pureblood, and a Feralgeist between Mohsar and the closest heavy. But 2 pillars side by side isn’t the same thing as 2 layers of pillars, and a Wolf Rider free strike means very little to a heavy. There was some opponent luck involved for sure; an Alchemist cleared the Feralgeist with a 1 inch scatter and a good damage roll, but it doesn’t matter because this screen wasn’t good.

Deep screens, not wide screens.

Deployment

In the 1st game, Wurmwood versus Zaadesh 2, I put my Bloodtrackers in front of Aradus models they couldn’t possibly damage, even with Prey. I misunderstood the math, which is fine, but I should have done that at deployment instead of during turn 2 Bloodtracker activations. I need to be more diligent about understanding the enemy models.

Artillery And Spray Mitigation

In the 2nd game, Mohsar versus Locke in Crucible Guard, my Bloodtrackers and Blood Pack got punished by incoming fire from the Vulcan. There’s a temptation to advance all of your troopers as far as they can go to be ready to attack as soon as possible in the greatest numbers, but then you’re giving away models.

The solution here is to not just spread wide, but spread deep. My Bloodtrackers did this, but my Bloodpack did not. I was overly concerned with not being able to utilize all of them in the upcoming turn, so they advance in 1 rank instead of 2. I have repeatedly failed to remember in my 3 years playing the game that models that have to act in 2 turns are infinitely better than dead models. I lost 5 Bloodtrackers (okay) and 3 Blood Pack (not okay).

Game Plan

This is something I’ve gotten a lot better at, but still fail to do, especially when using new models I’m focused on learning. It is absolutely crucial to have a plan and to stick to it (until you can’t), and to not just flail around while you learn the cards. This wasn’t so much a problem in the Mohsar game, but in the Wurmwood game, I didn’t have a plan and was too focused on doing Wurmwood things. This always gets better over time as you learn a new Caster or Warlock, but there’s no reason to neglect this early on.

Anyway, that was mostly for me, but I hope you got something out of that. I still went and had dinner afterwards with my opponents, and you should too. And talk about the game afterwards!

[bloodybenjamin]

(25 April 2019)

Tonight I played my Mohsar list (recent Wolf Rider variant) into another King Of Nothing in Dark Menagerie list, but a different player. I ended up assassinating them in the bottom of the 2nd round. If you’ve been reading these recent battle reports, you know that this is my 5th Mohsar assassination in a row, and I’ve only played it 6 times. Am I awesome? No. Because all of these players either misunderstood what the list does, or straight up didn’t understand in the first place what it does, despite my game opening introduction on what my Mohsar is trying to accomplish.

So instead of writing another battle report that doesn’t help me and doesn’t help you, I’m instead going to detail exactly what this list does so that you can understand the vectors. You might be wondering “Why?”. Because there is little to no pleasure in winning with gotchas. Now if my opponent knowing how it works completely stops it from working, then it’s either not a good list in the first place, or I need to find newer, more valuable vectors. So here we go!

Mohsar Himself

Let’s talk a little bit about Mohsar first. First of all, his stat line is a bit horrifying; he’s SPD 5, DEF/ARM 14, 15 boxes, MAT 5, and RAT 6. He is extremely easy to kill, and before spells, is kind of a joke as a combatant. But he is a whopping Fury 8, and with Maltreatment, he is always playing with 9 Fury.

It’s the 16 inch control range and the huge stack of fury for spells that this assassination is built on.

The Spells

The entire thing starts with the spell “Sands Of Fate.”

So any living faction trooper model (which means not any solos and not any Minions) within 21 inches can removed from play and suddenly there’s a Mohsar standing in its place. Note that he can’t advance after, but can before, which is why it’s 21 inches instead of just the control range of 16. And he can do it multiple times. This is before any other threat extenders.

What I’m looking for here is a landing zone for any of my myriad troopers models within 2 inches of the enemy caster. SPD 7 Bloodtrackers and Bloodweavers on their small bases are great for this. SPD 9 Wolf Riders that can move 9 inches, jump 5, and Reposition 5 more are incredible for this. They activate first, land near the enemy caster, and then Mohsar has appeared in its face. He then casts the Wild Argus’ animus “Doppler Bark.”

This is an extraordinarily powerful animus. It is crucial to note that it is 100% automatic upon cast. There is no dice roll to make, it just happens; your living or undead enemy caster (the vast majority of them in the game) are now DEF 5. At DEF 5, it doesn’t matter if the enemy caster is in a trench, or under the affect of a DEF buff, or in melee. Anything that targets them will hit.

From here, Mohsar still has 5 fury to play with, or even 6 assuming the Tharn Blood Shaman Gabe him Harmonious Exaltation. So there are a couple options depending on which enemy caster is being dealt with. Usually, this now means Mohsar is casting “Curse Of Shadows” on them.

In this context it is simply an -2 ARM reduction, but that still means any incoming damage from this point on is more meaningful. Mohsar is now free to make his initial attack, and then use his remaining 3 to 4 fury. If it’s a squishy caster that has been brought down to 12 or 13 ARM, I will have had the Tharn Blood Shaman use her Blood Ritual ability to give Mohsar Divine Inspiration (add a dice to attack and damage melee rolls and drop the lowest) before he activates, which means he probably take out the caster himself, depending on their camped fury/focus. But usually, he takes his initial, buys one more attack, and then Sands Of Fates back out so that the enemy caster is now standing out in the wind at base DEF 5 and -2 ARM.

The Clean Up

At that point, I am utilizing ranged attacks from my force to finish off the caster. SPD 7 Bloodtrackers can now advance and throw RNG 7 weapon master Spears. If Nuala is still alive, it at this point I pop her feat to transfer their Prey to the enemy Caster, making them P+S 11 with 3 dice damage. The Tharn Blood Pack can now advance 6, and shoot RNG 12, POW 14 arcing fire shots right over intervening models and into the enemy caster. SPD 7 Brighid can now advance and shoot a RNG 12, POW 12 weapon master bow (or POW 14 if the enemy caster is her prey). The SPD 6 Pureblood can now charge something and his POW 14 boostable assault spray. SPD 9 Wolf Riders can now advance and utilize their RNG 7, POW 9 weapon master Spears. And if the Lord Of The Feast it still around, he can now do his thing once the shooting is done.

Corner Cases

If the enemy caster is being affected by an ARM buff of some kind, the Pureblood’s animus now comes into play.

That only lands on a single model, but it will be cast on whomever stands the best chance of putting the highest quality attack(s) into the enemy caster. If the enemy caster has stealth, the Argus Moonhound’s animus now comes into play.

This is potentially applied directly by the Moonhound, but is mostly likely applied by Mohsar once he gets into the enemy caster. Note that Doppler Bark and Hunting Howls can be used in conjunction, as Doppler Bark is a pulse and Hunting Howls is an Aura. Doppler Bark simply needs to be cast first.

What if the enemy caster is a construct, and isn’t affected by Doppler Bark? Well the good news here is that outside of Zaal 2, who is already low DEF, the only construct casters with high DEF are Convergence casters that max out at 15 DEF. At this point I use the Moonhound to apply its passive RNG attack debuff.

It’s still difficult, but not a waste of fairly accurate ranged attacks against a DEF 13 (max) enemy Convergence construct caster.

Counterplay

The important section! Assuming you are playing a living or undead enemy caster, here are the things you can to stop this assassination in its tracks.

Block the landing zones so that my trooper models cannot run into your caster. It’s not pleasant, but means you can now play your game and force me to play on attrition or scenario, which probably isn’t great for me.

Kill the Wild Argus. Easier said than done, for sure. But without the Doppler Bark, I am not relying on my crappy Moonhound to get within 5 inches of your caster to make my ranged attacks MAYBE hit. MAT 5, P+S 10 Mohsar simply cannot do the work himself.

Deny Mohsar his ability to land his spells via Arcane Vortex, Spell Ward, or any other form of spell denial you might have access to.

Jam, jam, jam. Bloodtrackers, Bloodweavers, and even Wolf Riders cannot take free strikes and expect to live. If my troopers can’t mobilize, it all falls apart, because there is no universe in which Mohsar is on the front line and ready to charge your caster.

Pick off the key combatants, like the Lord Of The Feast, Brighid and Caul, and the Wolf Rider Champion, who are prone to making the key attacks that finish off your caster.

I hope this is helpful! I don’t feel like exposing the game plan automatically shuts me down, as their are a lot of moving parts and it’s very hard to plan around this assassination. But as I said before, I want to win knowing that you were conscious of what needed to happen so you can plan accordingly.

[bloodybenjamin]

(22 May 2019)

I got to play Mohsar into King Of Nothing in Dark Menagerie tonight! I made one big change to the list; I replaced the Ravagers and the Chieftain with Wolf Riders and a Wolf Rider Champion. I was curious about their extremely high non-linear mobility as a way of delivering Mohsar’s to the caster.

Mohsar 1 (Devourer’s Host) - Tharn Blood Shaman

- Pureblood Warpwolf

- Argus Moonhound

- Wild Argus

Max Wolf Riders

Max Bloodtrackers

- Nuala

Max Blood Pack

Brighid & Caul

Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron

Lord Of The Feast

White Mane

Wolf Rider Champion

Feralgeist

vs

King Of Nothing (Dark Menagerie)

- Baron Tonguelick

- Skin And Moans

- Cage Rager

- Cage Rager

- Rattler

- Rattler

- Gorehound

- Clockatrice

- Crabbit x6

Min Dread Rots

Gremlin Swarm x4

My opponent won the dice roll and choose to go first. I choose the side without the large obstruction on the backside. The Bloodtrackers prey landed on the Gorehound, and Brighid and Caul’s Prey went right onto the King Of Nothing. I choose a magical weapon objective, and my opponent choose a healing objective, along with the Pandemonium and Labyrinth arcana.

Turn 1 (Opponent)

My opponent ran their force very aggressively to put pressure on the table. The King Of Nothing put Scything touch on the Clockatrice, and puts down 3 Burning Ash clouds.

Turn 2 (Me)

I don’t think it’s wise to play this one for scenario, as I don’t have enough magical weapon in the list to deal with the Gremlin Swarms. So my plan is to play a conservative attrition game until the assassination presents itself.

The Cauldron loads up the Lord Of The Feast and The Blood Shaman used Harmonious Exaltation. Mohsar puts Mirage on the Bloodtrackers, Sunhammer on himself, and put down 2 Salt Pillars right under his clouds to block charge lanes. I then advanced very conservatively, not yet ready to give anything away.

Turn 3 (Opponent)

The Gorehound runs into the Blood Pack to jam them up. Gremlin Swarms are now all in the circular zones. Dread Rots run out around the Salt Pillar to jam up my frontline, and the Cage Ragers start creeping forward for arcing in subsequent turns.

Turn 4 (Me)

There’s no assassination yet, so I’m still intent on playing a low-risk attrition game. The Blood Pack shimmies around to attack the Gorehound, but also to leave the White Mane room to work on it as well. As they do this, Labyrinth is popped. The Blood Pack does good work to it and kills a Crabbit, and then the White Mane finishes off the Gorehound. Prey shifts over to the Dread Rots, and the Bloodtrackers take all but 1 out, and then reposition back.

Mohsar puts Curse Of Shadows on the right Cage Rager through the Gallows Grove, and has to cast it twice to eat the 1 Arcane Vortex it has. The Pureblood casts Wraithbane on the Wolf Rider champ and puts good damage into the Cage Rager with the spray. Brighid then puts some damage into it. The Champ jumps over the Wolf Riders and melees 1 Gremlin Swarm into pieces, takes the other nearby Gremlin Swarm out with her ranged attack and repositions out of the way. The Wolf Riders charge the Cage Rager and take it out and reposition back and out. Everything else is staying on the backline. We each score our rectangles.

Turn 5 (Opponent)

The Skin and Moans, Clockatrice, and right Rattler clear out all but 1 Wolf Rider, and the Rattler has jammed up that final Rider. The left Rattler takes out a few Bloodtrackers, and a huge Ashes to Ashes through the Cage Rager leaves only 4 Bloodtrackers and Nuala left. Tonguelick moves forward to spell slave an Ashes to Ashes into my backline but whiffs. The left Rattler tries to mulch through my remaining Bloodtrackers but the kill 1 and don’t have the range to get into another. The final Dread Rot runs into my zone and aCrabbit jams up my frontmost Bloodtracker.

Turn 6 (Me)

The assassination is now on the table. Mohsar drops both upkeeps.

The Pureblood aims and sprays down the Dread Rot, Baron Tonguelick, and the Crabbit jamming up my Bloodtracker. Prey gets moved to the King of Nothing, who pops Taste Of Ashes. The Blood Pack advance and take out 2 Crabbits, including the one directly in front of the King Of Nothing, barely surviving Taste Of Ash. The Wolf Rider champion jumps behind the left Rattler, backstabs it to pieces, and repositions out of the final Wolf Rider’s way. The Wolf Rider advances, jumps, and repositions into the King Of Nothing’s face. The Blood Shaman slits her own throat to give Mohsar divine inspiration. Mohsar Sands into the Wolf Rider, Doppler Barks into the King Of Nothing, puts Curse Of Shadows on him, puts two good attacks into him (burning his 1 camp) and then Sands back out. The 3 remaining Bloodtrackers advance out of the woods and kill the King Of Nothing with their thrown spears.

Circle victory via assassination.

Closing Thoughts

It would appear that the Mohsar assassination is very hard to plan against. There were definitely a few important mistakes made by the opponent, most crucially, getting Baron Tonguelick into the fray instead of hugging the King Of Nothing with Parlay up. I still think my opponent played well, and it’s always nice to see Grymkin player actually use their Arcana. I’m still working on my ideal order of activations in order to get Mohsar running at peak efficiency, but I think I’ve got a good handle on the assassination at this point. GG!

[bloodybenjamin]

(16 May 2019)

Mohsar game 5 is in the bag and shocking news:I am only falling more and more in love. Tonight I got a game in at the games store with an opponent I like playing Immortals, a list I don’t like. Historically, my Circle lists have always struggled into Immortals, but I also don’t usually play with this many guns. I went in with the intent to weather the alpha and get more intimate with gun play, and of course to keep my eyes peeled for the assassination. I’m currently 4-1 with Mohsar!

Mohsar 1 (Devourer’s Host) - Tharn Blood Shaman - Pureblood Warpwolf - Argus Moonhound - Wild Argus Max Ravagers - Chieftain Max Bloodtrackers - Nuala Max Blood Pack Brighid & Caul Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron Lord Of The Feast White Mane Tharn Shaman Swamp Gobber Chef

vs

Zaal 1 (The Exalted) - Kovaas - Mammoth Supreme Guardian Max Immortals - Extoller Advocate Max Immortals - Extoller Advocate Max Immortals Haakar Ancestral Guardian x3

My opponent won the dice roll and choose to go first. I choose the side with a back central forest to hide, as I’d rather have concealment for Mohsar instead of elevation. We both choose healing objectives. Brighid and Caul’s Prey landed on right Immortals (which was an error) and the Bloodtrackers Prey landed on the center Immortals.

Turn 1 (Opponent)

My opponent ran their force aggressively. Zaal put souls out on all his Soul Takers, puts Inviolable Resolve on the left Immortals, and advances towards the trench.

Turn 2 (Me)

The Cauldron loads up the Lord Of The Feast, and the Tharn all run to just outside of Immortal charge ranges. Mohsar puts Mirage on the Blood Pack, but not does not cast Sunhammer, as d3 damage to a Mammoth every turn is a waste of fury. Thanks to maltreatment and harmonious exaltation, he is then able to put up 3 pillars and camp 2 in case the Mammoth scatters onto his old man body.

Turn 3 (Opponent)

The Mammoth is able to aim into a Blood Pack and hit him, taking him out and one of the other Blood Pack in the AOE. It had 2 shots and should have done more but dice were cold. The Supreme Guardian scatters a shot into the Bloodtrackers but it scatters into nothing. Left Immortals run aggressively into rectangle, jamming up some of the Blood Pack, middle Immortals run conservatively, and right Immortals do the same with a few on the front line to eat charges.

Turn 4 (Me)

There is an assassination on the board, but only if the Pureblood can take out Hakaar and the Immortal in front of Zaal. So the Gallows Grove gets out of the Pureblood’s way and he steps forward, but doesn’t kill ARM 21 Hakaar. So it’s on to a normal turn where I attempt some meaningful attrition.

Since the Blood Pack apparitioned back out their jam, they take 2 shots into Hakaar and 2 into Immortals. Immortals go down but Hakaar doesn’t care. Mohsar steps forward, puts Curse Of Shadows onto the left Immortals, and feats, barely catching the Mammoth in the bubble. Bloodtrackers then advance aggressively, kill a few of their middle prey Immortals, and then Nuala moves prey over to the left Immortals, and the rest of the unit takes a few more out of the rectangle. Ravagers clear the Immortals the opponent gave them, and the rest of the unit hangs back. The Lord Of The Feast receives Puppet Master, and shifts into the middle Immortals and threshes down 3 of them without using corpses. This turn ended up going okay, but okay is not good enough into Immortals.

Turn 5 (Opponent)

My opponent then proceeds to have an incredible Vengeance turn. The Lord Of The Feast, 2 Blood Pack, 2 Ravagers, and a handful of Bloodtrackers die before the control phase has even started. But because the Wurm has not forsaken me, the Mammoth frenzies and smashes into Zaal. He whiffs, which is unfortunate, but my opponent is still down a 35 point gargantuan this turn.

However, Zaal then pops feat, puts Last Stand on Hakaar, and the carnage continues. Hakaar kills the Pureblood, left Immortals kill all but 1 Pureblood, central Immortals kill all but 1 Bloodtracker and Nuala, and right Immortals then kill all but 2 Ravagers and the Chieftain, even through Hunter’s Grace from the Shaman. Hakaar explodes, and the Kovaas takes its place.

Turn 6 (Me)

That was a really bad turn and I’ve lost both attrition and scenario. I’ve got to go for the assassination. The final Blood Pack is knocked down, and can’t Mirage to a position in which he can shoot at Zaal. So it’s up to Mohsar, but he only stands a chance if Brighid can get into Zaal, and she is surrounded by Immortals and an Ancestral Guardian. Mohsar drops both upkeeps.

The Moonhound charges the Ancestral Guardian, but leaves him on 3 boxes. Nuala charges it, takes it out, and then Quick Works one of the Immortals in Brighid’s Way. The Wild Argus then charges 1 of the remaining 2 Immortals jamming up Brighid, and takes it out. The Cauldron then boosts a Spirit Lash into the final jamming Immortal and lands it through the In Melee DEF bonus. Brighid then runs into Zaal. The Blood Shaman destroys herself to give Mohsar Divine Inspiration. Mohsar maltreats the Moonhound, sands into Brighid and is engaging Zaal. He Doppler Barks, and then puts 6 Divine Inspiration attacks into Zaal, killing him to the box on the last attack.

Circle victory via assassination.

Closing Thoughts

For the 4th game in a row, Mohsar took back a game that was being taken from him. Immortals proved once again to be an absolute thorn in my side, but a few miracles brought me to victory. My opponent played a very good game despite 1 or 2 mistakes, but to their credit, it’s hard to see how exactly Mohsar exploits the board state. GG! Here’s to the next couple months of Mohsar games.

[bloodybenjamin]

(11 May 2019)

Mohsar game 4! I am absolutely loving him. I’ve still got some blood in my mouth after that game 1 against Old Witch, but this was against Bump In The Night (an admittedly weird list but this opponent does what they want and I respect that) and I knew it would be a little less uphill.

Mohsar 1 (Devourer’s Host) - Tharn Blood Shaman - Pureblood Warpwolf - Argus Moonhound - Wild Argus Max Ravagers - Chieftain Max Bloodtrackers - Nuala Bloodweavers - Haruspex Brighid & Caul Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron Lord Of The Feast White Mane Tharn Shaman Wolf Rider Champion Swamp Gobber Chef

vs

The Dreamer 1 (Bump In The Night) - Phantasm - Skin & Moans x2 - Cage Rager Death Knell Max Hollowmen - Lantern Man Max Piggybacks - Officer Max Piggybacks - Officer

I won the dice roll and choose to go first. My opponent choose their side. We both choose healing objectives. Both of my Prey’s landed on the left Piggybacks. Because my opponent deployed unusually, my plan was to take control of the left side and actually attempt a scenario victory on this weird CID scenario, but of course be ready for the assassination opportunity.

Turn 1 (Me)

Mohsar puts Mirage on the left Ravagers, Sunhammer on himself, and places two Pillars to the right of the central forest. Bloodtrackers flood the middle zone, Bloodweavers fill the midline, and the Ravagers are set to hold the left side.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

My opponent’s Piggybacks pop their mini feats and get really far up the frontline with all their ARM and gross Impervious Flesh. The rest of the force runs semi-aggressively.

Turn 3 (Me)

Mohsar Sands up into a Bloodtracker, puts Curse Of Shadows on the left Piggybacks, drops a Spray into them for a couple points of damage, puts a Pillar in front of the Hollowmen, and Sands back into a Bloodweaver I positioned in a backline forest. Bloodtrackers and Brighid take a couple of the left Piggybacks out. The Lord Of the Feast charges the right Piggyback, and uses his corpses to boost the damage on a big thresher that takes 3 of them out.Ravagers position themselves to act next turn and the Wold Argus gets into the left rectangle.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

The Cage Rager squashes the Lord Of The Feast, and the left Skin and Moans takes out a 3 or 4 Bloodtrackers. The Hollowmen run out from their awkward position behind a wall and a Salt Pillar, which saves me some shots. Piggybacks on both sides flail into nearby models without much luck, and The Dreamer ends up creeping forward a bit to do something...I don’t remember what. But there is a running lane for a Bloodweaver other that avoids free strikes from the Hollowmen, which is what I have marked at the beginning of my turn.

Turn 5 (Me)

Mohsar drops his upkeeps, and a Bloodweaver runs into The Dreamer’s face. The Blood Shaman uses Harmonious Exaltation and The Wild Argus riles. Mohsar maltreats, Sands into her, Doppler Barks, applies Curse Of Shadow, takes 3 good swings into her, and Sands back into a Bloodweaver. Bloodtrackers then pop their mini-feat, move Prey to The Dreamer, and finish her off with ranged attacks.

Circle victory via assassination.

Closing Thoughts

r does it again. My opponent did a good job of keeping The Dreamer back, but neglected the running lane of the Bloodweavers. I think they saw my Pillar and positioned against it, maybe not realizing in the moment it goes away and opens that space up.

This Mohsar list does a great job of ignoring the general rules of the game and utilizing 1 Bloodweaver to profoundly debug the enemy Caster. Thus far, it has only taken a few attacks to take out a Caster Mohsar has dropped his package on. I worry about the opponent who deeply understands what Mohsar does and prevents his payload, but until then I’m having a great time practicing his game plan.

[bloodybenjamin]

(10 May 2019)

Time for round 3 with Mohsar! I’m starting to get a feel for what he wants to do, and how to move all his delicate parts around. I wasn’t super stoked about going into Gravediggers for the 2nd game in a row, but I’ll take what I can get in my most exciting data collection run in a while.

Mohsar 1 (Devourer’s Host) - Tharn Blood Shaman - Pureblood Warpwolf - Argus Moonhound - Wild Argus Max Ravagers - Chieftain Max Bloodtrackers - Nuala Bloodweavers - Haruspex Brighid & Caul Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron Lord Of The Feast White Mane Tharn Shaman Wolf Rider Champion Swamp Gobber Chef

vs

Siege 2 (Gravediggers) - Triumph - Defender Max Trencher Commandos - Officer - Scattergunner x2 Max Trencher Infantry - Officer Express Team x2 Captain Finn Anson Hitch Patrol Dog Trench Buster x2 Lynus & Edrea Master Gunner

We were testing the 2019 Steamroller scenario King Of The Hill. I choose a healing objective and my opponent choose the re-roll objective. I didn’t really have a way to take a scenario lead via rectangles on account of my small battle group, and neither did my opponent, so I wanted to make sure I simply had some contesting models near the rectangles in case they got desperate and made a run for it.

Turn 1 (Me)

Mohsar puts Mirage on the Ravagers, Sunhammer on himself, and places Pillars Of Salt on each side of the forest. I can’t be super aggressive with my Bloodtrackers/weavers as they have a lot of guns and a Patrol Dog, so everything runs, but not nearly as far as I’d normally like to. I few things are in range in case Siege feats, but nothing critical.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

Commandos end up in charge range of Ravagers if they advance at all, so my opponent sets up a screen with 3 of them. With the help of the Patrol Dog, Infantry takes out a couple Bloodtrackers, and dig in. The rest of the force advances aggressively and takes shots at a few things but nothing happens.

Turn 3 (Me)

I want to get the Ravagers on the back line of the Commandos, but will need to clear out the screen of 3 commandos. S the Gallows Grove moves up and Mohsar arcs a Crevasse through it to the left most Commando, who toughs. Mohsar then does it again, takes out the fallen Commando, and the other 2 survive with a dodge and a tough.

3 Ravagers are able to get into the backline of Commandos and are halted in their tracks after 3 kills with 5 toughs. I hate my life and this game at this moment. Bloodtrackers spread out and take out the Patrol Dog. Lord of The Feast whiffs the bird. The Wild Argus is running towards the left rectangle and the Bloodweavers are in a holding pattern.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

My opponent feats. They kill all but 1 Ravager, including the Chieftain, most of the Bloodtrackers, a couple Bloodweavers, and almost killed the Lord Of The Feast. This feels like an attrition loss at this point, and there’s no way scenario is going to become relevant in this game. But since Siege got involved with the Ravagers before jumping out he was only camping 1, and Mirage is still on that last Ravager...

Turn 5 (Me)

...and he is able to slide 2 inches north and see Siege. The Lord Of The Feast unjams the last few Bloodtrackers locked up by Finn and the Infantry. Bloodweavers run/charge into midline trenchers, while I is able to run 14 inches into Siege’s face. Mohsar Sands in, Doppler Barks, applies Curse Of Shadow, takes 1 good swing, and Sands back out. Brighid gets 1 decent shot into him, eating his 1 focus. The Pureblood is able to Assault Spray Siege him for good damage. The Whitmane unjams the Ravager, who charges Siege over Lynus and Edrea and just kills him with his 1 corpse attack.

Circle victory via assassination.

Closing Thoughts

This was the second game in a row that Mohsar stole back a game after a big attrition loss. In both of these games (which happen to be 2 Gravediggers games in a row) Trenchers get spread out and forward in order to utilize their ranged power, which thins out the backline and leaves landing zones for Bloodtrackers/weavers. Mathematically, Mohsar is unlikely to secure the assassination himself, but this is why the list is filled with guns that can be used to finish the job. This situation was a bit of a miracle in that the Ravager was able to Mirage into LOS of Siege, but I’ll take it.

Even though this was an extremely harrowing and frustrating game, my love for Mohsar has only increased.

[bloodybenjamin]

(8 May 2019)

Game 2 with Mohsar! With a bit of a grip on the moving parts, and into a matchup that didn’t seem automatically bad, I had some confidence.

Mohsar 1 (Devourer’s Host) - Tharn Blood Shaman - Pureblood Warpwolf - Argus Moonhound - Wild Argus Max Ravagers - Chieftain Max Bloodtrackers - Nuala Bloodweavers - Haruspex Brighid & Caul Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron Lord Of The Feast White Mane Tharn Shaman Wolf Rider Champion Swamp Gobber Chef

vs

Caine 3 (Gravediggers) - Hellslingers - Ace - Charger - Grenadier - Grenadier Max Trencher Commandos - Officer - Scattergunner x2 Min Trencher Infantry Express Team x2 Captain Finn Anson Hitch Patrol Dog Trench Buster x2 Combat Engineers Chain Gun Crew

My opponent won the dice roll and choose their table side. Brighid and Caul put Prey on the Trencher Infantry and the Bloodtrackers put Prey on the Commandos. I choose a healing objective and my opponent choose a pathfinder objective.

Turn 1 (Me)

With my just concluded Mohsar game, I start out a little cleaner. Thanks to Harmonious Exaltation and Maltreatment, Mohsar puts Mirage on the Bloodtrackers, puts up Sunhammer, puts two Pillars in front of the Bloodtrackers, and is camping 2. The Cauldron loads up the Lord Of The Feast and everything runs to just outside Mage Sight/gun threat range.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

My opponent starts their play with a massive Grenadier shot into my right ladies, taking out 3 Bloodtrackers and the Wolf Rider champion. Woof. Infantry puts up a cloud wall and everything else advances conservatively.

Turn 3 (Me)

Bloodtrackers apparition forward. Mohsar sands up into a Bloodtracker to Crevasse the trenchers in the clouds, but whiffs, then whiffs his boosted gun shot, and Sands back. Mohsar is old and achey tonight. Haha! I want to take a scenario position here, so the Bloodtrackers get into the right circle and take out a couple commandos, and Ravagers get into the left circle. A Bloodweaver crashes into the cloud wall and explodes the middle trencher, but the blast fails to kill one and the other toughs. The rest of the unit is crowding the middle. The battle group advances conservatively in front of Mohsar.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

My opponent pops feat and has a pretty scary turn. They take out all but 2 of the Bloodtrackers, the objective, the Blood Shaman, my Moonhound, almost kills my Wild Argus, cripples my Pureblood, and are in both circles. This is bad. However, Caine does step forward...

Turn 5 (Me)

There is a tiny space in front of Caine between the Charger and the objective, and I have a Bloodweaver in running distance of Caine. Mohsar drops his upkeeps, and the Bloodweavers run. Crucially, one Bloodweaver runs around a Trencher and into that pocket.

The Wild Argus riles, and Mohsar maltreats, almost killing it. He then Sands into that Bloodweaver, Doppler Barks on Caine, and cuts him down. Had this failed, Brighid had a shot, the Pureblood had a shot, and the Lord Of The Feast could have gotten in.

Circle victory via assassination.

Closing Thoughts

This came down to a critical positioning error on the opponent’s part but they were very gracious about it. And I was very excited to perform the Mohsar assassination!

This game was falling back on me in a real way. The Ravagers would have done good work on the left flank, but would have halted once they got to the jacks. Mohsar was running out of places to hide and against that many guns Pillars wouldn’t have kept him particularly safe. It seems like this is what Mohsar wants to do; take back a game being taken from him. These were 2 great games tonight against 2 great opponents, and I’m in love with Mohsar. I might be playing him for a while.

[bloodybenjamin]

(8 May 2019)

It is finally Mohsar time! After years of looking at his card and not really understanding it, I finally have reached a point where I can dimly see what it is he wants to do. And I needed a salve for the burning disappointment of my short lived Morvahna 1 run. So I put something together that is a little bit competitive and a little bit me, and took it out.

Mohsar 1 (Devourer’s Host) - Tharn Blood Shaman

- Pureblood Warpwolf

- Argus Moonhound

- Wild Argus

Max Ravagers

- Chieftain

Max Bloodtrackers

- Nuala

Bloodweavers

- Haruspex

Brighid & Caul

Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron

Lord Of The Feast

White Mane

Tharn Shaman

Wolf Rider Champion

Swamp Gobber Chef

vs

Old Witch 3 (Dark Menagerie) - Skin & Moans - Skin & Moans - Cage Rager - Gorehound - Rattler - Rattler - Clockatrice - Crabbit x3 Gremlin Swarm x4 Kariana Rose Max Dread Rots

I won the dice roll and choose to go first. Brighid and Caul put Prey on the right Rattler and Bloodtrackers put Prey on the Dreadrots. We both choose Healing objectives.

Turn 1 (Me)

I knew going in this was going to be a very difficult list to effectively position with and correctly utilize, so this game was all about hurrying up and getting the stumbling over with. Mohsar puts Mirage on the Ravagers and casts Sunhammer, and puts two Pillars in front of where my ladies will run. Everything else runs.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

My opponent puts up Windwall and Respawn on the right Skin and Moan, and their forces advance outside of my threat. They have some flexibility, as Bloodtracker can only shoot from 2 inches away now.

Turn 3 (Me)

I realize I’m not doing much with my Bloodtrackers this turn, so I prepare for a strong next turn. Mohsar sands into a Bloodtracker on the front line and puts Curse Of Shadow on the Clockatrice, then Sands to a Bloodweaver on the back line. Brighid and the Pureblood put some damage into it, and the Lord Of The Feast attempts to bird onto a Dreadrot adjacent to the Clockatrice but whiffs. So the Bloodtrackers spread out and flood the front line and everything else gets into position.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

My opponent pops feat, puts Windwall back up, puts Boundless Charge on the Clockatrice, and puts Curse Of Shadows on the Bloodtracker through the Cage Roger. The beasts crash in. The Gorehound walks through the house and wrecks my Wolf Rider champion, the Clockatrice flies through the Bloodtrackers and drops a huge spray into the Pureblood, Moonhound, and Blood Shaman, the Cage Rager slams into the Ravagers, and Gremlin Swarms flood the board. I lost a lot of ladies this turn and I’m in a bad place but might be able to get into a scenario lead next turn.

Turn 5 (Me)

Ravagers put some damage into the Cage Rager with Vengeance, and then apparition backwards to have a charge. Mohsar pops feat, which is good, as most of these beasts are running hot. He whiffs a crevasse, shoots at the Gremlin Swarms in the middle, doesn’t kill them, Sands into the back line, and puts a pillar in front of him. Not great. I the. did a monumentally stupid thing giving magical weapons to the few remaining Bloodtrackers instead of the Ravagers. I wanted them to clear the Gremlin Swarms even though I was not clearing the middle zone that turn. Big goof.

The Ravagers take out the Cage Rager and hugely mess up the right Rattler. Had I remembered to buy attacks with their corpses they could have finished it off, and had I give them magic weapons, they could have cleared out the right Gremlin Swarm and I could have scored the right circle. But nope. My brain was bogged down.

I clear the left Circle though! But when the Pureblood goes to kill the Clockatrice, it gets crippled and teleports into the left circle. Sooooo I’m not scoring any points and I’ve done very little attrition work.

Turn 6 (Opponent)

Old Witch blinds my Moonhound and Pureblood, and they both promptly get killed. I concede, as my fury economy is broken.

Grymkin victory via concession.

Closing Thoughts

Wow! I really messed this game up! But, I expected that. Mohsar is super complicated, and managing the order of activation and properly using his abilities is a heavy mental feat. I regularly managed his fury wrong, cast spells inappropriately, had bad order of activations, and etc. Granted, it’s a bad match up, but that’s data collection. With all that being said, I still LOVE him. It’s why I immediately jumped into a second game with a different opponent.

[bloodybenjamin]

(1 May 2019)

The downside of an all-comers test run is that sometimes you crash into a bad bad matchup. I already don’t really wanna see Champions, but Madrak 1’s champions are the worst. It was a rough game but still a valuable data point.

Morvahna 1 (Devourer’s Host) - Brennos - Loki - Gorax Rager Well Of Orboros Max Ravagers - Chieftain Max Ravagers - Chieftain Brighid And Caul Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron Lord Of The Feast Swamp Gobber Chef

vs

Madrak 1 (Band Of Heroes) - Runebearer - Mountain King Max Champions - Skaldi Max Champions Max Fennblades - Fennblade Officer & Drummer Min Krielstone - Stone Scribe Elder Fell Caller Hero Trollkin Champion Bellows Crew

I won the dice roll and choose to go first. My opponent and I both choose healing objectives and Brighid and Caul put Prey on the Fennblades.

Turn 1 (Me)

Morvahna put Harvest on herself, and put Restoration on the left Ravagers, who were going to be dealing with Skaldi’s Champions. All Ravagers ran, and beasts got in front of the Well. The Well didn’t bring anything yet but I was pretty sure I was bringing in a White Mane to help the left Ravagers hit the Champs. The Cauldron loaded up the Lord Of The Feast, who got outside the Fennblade’s charge range. Brighid and Caul did the same.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

My opponent put the Fennblades front and center to eat the alpha strike, and everything else conservatively advanced outside of Ravager’s charge range. Madrak put up Even Ground and loaded up the Krielstone.

Turn 3 (Me)

I wanted to clear out the Fennblades using as little Ravagers as possible, because I needed them fighting champs and couldn’t afford to give many up. So Brennos advances and casts Ravaging Wind into some Fennblades, taking one out. Morvhana pops feat, and outs Mortality onto the Fennblades. The Well explodes a couple Fennblades and summons in a White Mane on the left. Loki slams a hook through a Fennblade, and the Feat explosion takes another out before the Lord of The Feast and Caul take out all but 2. Ravagers on the left clean ‘em up. Prey shifts to the right Champions. Note that the feat did very little. Right Ravagers crowd the circle and Left Ravagers are doing the same.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

A few of the right Champs are able to get onto the Ravagers and take ‘em out trivially as per the theme benefit of takedown. The left Champions take out the front line of Ravagers AND Brighid & Caul. Madrak pops feat to prevent charges onto the Champions, which I didn’t even know was part of the feat. At that point I realized this game is probably over. The rest of the enemy models shimmy forward, bored.

Turn 5 (Me)

I need absolutely miraculous dice this turn in order to even stand a chance. Morvhana gets Mortality onto the left Champs and the Ravagers walk into them. There are no miracle dice, shockingly, and no Champs go down. The Well explodes a Gobber, giving The Whitemane a corpse, and he uses it to take out Skaldi.

The right Ravagers walk into the right Champs and there are no miracle dice, shockingly. Nothing happens here at all. I needed some luck here and got the opposite. #warmachine

Turn 6 (Opponent)

Champs annihilate all but 1 Ravager, and the remaining Gobber gets out of the Mountain King’s way. He then charges Brennos and smashes him to pieces. Loki can kill the Mountain King but then Champs kill Loki, so I concede.

Trollblood victory via concession.

Closing Thoughts

This is an absolutely horrific match up that I’ll never play again. Madrak 1 feat takes away the charge damage Ravagers need to threaten the Champions, and even if that weren’t true, the Takedown on all enemy warriors mean Ravagers very trivial die. Furthermore, there is no Restoration to perform as my Ravagers get removed from play. And to add insult to injury, Mortality does nothing to Madrak’s Champions that are skewing their defensive states in a really oppressive way and utilizing Sanguine bond to just never get boxed. Never again; I was completely impotent.

With that being said, it was still a good data point. This was the 2nd game in a row that Morvhana 1 didn’t have a feat, and I’m very very concerned about this. So we’ll see what happens in the next handful of games.

[bloodybenjamin]

(4 April 2019)

I’ve been really excited for this Morvahna 1 list, but had a paint queue to get through. It’s finally all painted, it came together tonight, and I had a great fight against Makeda 3 in Imperial Warhost where I earned a razor thin victory. I plan on drilling deep into this list, and will produce a list write up soon if it doesn’t collapse.

Morvahna 1 (Devourer’s Host) - Brennos - Loki - Gorax Rager Well Of Orboros Max Ravagers - Chieftain Max Ravagers - Chieftain Brighid And Caul Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron Lord Of The Feast Swamp Gobber Chef

vs

Makeda 3 (Imperial Warhost) - Exalted Court - Molik Karn - Gladiator - Archidon - Agonizer - Brute - Brute (Proxied by Menoth light jack) Zaadesh - Krea - Aradus Sentinel Siege Animantarax Max Beast Handlers Feralgeist

I won the dice roll and choose to go first. A forest had landed in the middle of the table and another one was off the side, so I didn’t care feel the need to pick side. My opponent choose the side with the wall and we both choose healing objectives. Brighid and Caul put Prey on the right Brute.

Turn 1 (Me)

Morvahna put Harvest on herself, and put Restoration on the right Ravagers, who were going to be dealing with Animantarax gun fire. All Ravagers ran, and beasts got in front of the Well. The Well brought in a Shaman to give Sigil Of Power to the right Ravagers. The Cauldron loaded up the Lord Of The Feast, who got outside of Animantarax trample shooting range. Brighid and Caul hung back.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

Makeda puts Bulwark up and the Battlegroup advanced conservatively. The Gladiator gives the Sentinel Rush, and it walks up and explodes my left Chieftain. Big mistake on my part; I forgot that gun was Poisonous. Harsh but good reminder! The Animanatax tramples up and puts some damage into the Well (I think my opponent was trying to avoid triggering Vengeance on the right Ravagers) and then backs up.

Turn 3 (Me)

Brennos advances, and throws a Ravaging Wind into the mess of models clumped up near the Animantarax, but it drifts away. Morvahna pops feat and puts Mortality on the Animantarax through Brennos. 4 of the right Ravagers charge the Animantarax and take it out. The Lord Of The Feast, who was ready to finish off the battle engine, instead flies deep into the Paingivers and all but 1 out. Loki pulls in the left Brute and takes it out.

The left Ravagers charges the Sentinel and leave it on 1 box, and a couple Ravagers are between Molik Karn and Loki. I know nothing came from the feat this turn, but there was never going to be a good feat turn in this matchup.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

Makeda is real mad. She pops feat, annihilates all but 1 of my Ravagers, and sprints back behind the Exalted Court. At this point I’m not too worried because I know Morvahna can bring back most of those Ravagers. But then, an enraged Archidon kills Brennos, the Sentinel kills 3 left Ravagers and unjams Molik Karn, and Molik Karn kills Loki and Fate Walks back. This is real real bad. Fortunately, Makeda ignored The Lord Of The Feast and the Brute fails to take him out.

Turn 5 (Me)

Because of that devastating attrition swing, I decided to go all in on the assassination. Morvahna drops both upkeeps, steps forward, puts Mortality on Makeda via the Exalted, and puts a couple points of damage into one of the Exalted with an Eruption Of Life. The Well finishes off the damaged Exalted. The Blood Shaman cuts open the Shaman and gives Caul Divine Inspiration, who in range of the other Exalted. The Lord Of The Feast turns around and Threshes, finishing off the remaining Exalted and putting a couple more points of damage into Makeda. Caul has lost his charge target, so he runs into Makeda so Brighid can charge her, but she WHIFFS. So the Cauldron loads up that last right Ravager, and he barely finishes her off with his last corpse attack.

Circle victory via assassination.

Closing Thoughts

I really like this list! I made some big big mistakes, but that’s to be expected when taking something new and complicated out for a spin. I played a lot of Maelok back in my Gator days to deeply love and respect Mortality, and having Brennos and a Blood Shaman makes its application a much sweeter proposition. The one thing I’m concerned about is the feat, as I really really dislike situational feats. But it’s possible this Mortality delivery package makes up for it, and it’s worth a run of all-comers games putting that to the test.

[bloodybenjamin]

(13 April 2019)

I finally but the bullet on Ravagers and took ‘em out for a test drive tonight. Kromac 2 might seem like a weird way to play ‘em but I wanted some familiarity. And I really like the idea of Ravagers under Carnage. Also, Loki is one of my favorites Hordes models/cards ever, and I’ve been wanting to put him under Kromac 2 for a very long time.

Kromac 2 (Devourer’s Host) - Ghettorix - Loki - Stalker Brighid And Caul Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron Max Ravagers - Chieftain Max Ravagers - Chieftain Gobber Chef Lord Of The Feast

vs

Harkevich (Jaws Of The Wolf) - Victor - Konquest Max Mechaniks Min Mechaniks Widowmakers Widowmaker Marksman Kayazy Eliminators Forge Seer Forge Seer Yuri The Axe Harlan Versh

My opponent won the dice roll and choose their side. They told me after the game they felt disadvantaged and that the side didn’t matter, which on this table was probably true. We both took healing objectives, and prey lands on Yuri The Axe.

Turn 1 (Me)

Ravagers run but spread out because I know all about Victor and Conquest guns. Battlegroup advances a little conservatively, with the Stalker getting into rubble. Kromac puts Awakened Spirit on Loki and Vengeful on Ghettorix, while the Cauldron loads up Lord Of The Feast.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

Enemy forces advance aggressively, and the collosals, benefiting from Mobility, are able to take shots. The Victor wants to kill Brighid and Caul, so shoots at the Stalker and rolls boxcars. Loki shieldguards, which meand only Brighid and Kromac gets hit. Loki and Kromac take some a couple points of damage but Brighid melts. The Conquest lands a crit devastation against a central left Ravager, blasting 2 of them back 6 inches. But the Ravager directly hit toughs.

Turn 3 (Me)

I know taking out the collosals is going to be rough, but since they shot instead of running, I’ve got a big scenario play to go for. Kromac advances and puts up Carnage. I get the right Ravagers into the Widowmakers and take a couple out, and Loki takes one more out with a ranged hook. The left Ravagers take out 1 of the Eliminators. The Lord Of The Feast teleports onto the Conquest and kills Versh and the last 2 Widowmakers. Ghettorix and the Stalker take actionable positions. I know I can’t score yet, but I’m now in control of the circles and my rectangle.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

Mechaniks repair, Forge Seers load up the Conquest, and collosals advance slightly to take out the forward Ravagers with melee attacks. Harkevich pops feat. Unfortunately, my opponent made a crucial error and forgets to contest the right zone. It is now 2-1 me.

Turn 5 (Me)

Kromac pops feat. Ravagers clear out the final eliminator in the left zone, and get pushy on the opponent’s edge. Ghettorix, Loki, AND the Stalker get onto the Conquest, and do what they can into it, but don’t finish it off. Luckily, Ghettorix got a toe into the enemy rectangle. Right Ravagers are able to finish the Conquest off with some huge damage spikes. It is now 5-1 me.

Turn 6 (Opponent)

My opponent needs a miracle here; they need to be able to kill both Ghettorix and the one Ravager inside their rectangle, and whiffs their initial attacks. Opponent concedes.

Circe victory via scenario.

Closing Thoughts

This was, in all fairness, a bad match up for my opponent. Their list simply doesn’t have the volume of attacks to deal with that many fast boxes. I think it could have been a different game had they put both collosals into contesting positions, but they opted for the initial round of shooting. And it was a good round of shooting! But is ultimately let me take control of the board.

In any case, I really like Ravagers under Carnage, and it was why I was able to take out the Widowmakers and Eliminators. It was a good, fun, game, and Kromac 2’s Ravagers did well.

[bloodybenjamin]

(15 February 2019)

My good friend and opponent wanted to get a Kromac 2/Zaal 2 re-rack after our game in Vegas, and I was happy to oblige. I needed to see what would happen when my opponent was more alert and energized (bless them for going hard in the LVO Master).

Kromac 2 (Call Of The Wild) - Ghettorix - Feral - Stalker - Argus Moonhound Una 1 - Storm Raptor Blackclad Wayfarer Lord Of The Feast Shifting Stones Shifting Stones Spirit Cauldron & Boilmaster

vs

Zaadesh 2 (The Exalted) - Canoneer - Canoneer Supreme Guardian Ancestral Guardian Ancestral Guardian Ancestral Guardian Haakar The Destroyer Feralgeist Max Immortals - Extoller Advocate Max Immortals - Extoller Advocate Max Immortals

I won the dice roll and choose to go first. If there’s anything you can count on Immortals to suck at, it’s being fast. So I put my Raptor on the left side of the table to inflict big ranged pressure from the other side of the trees.

I know in this game the Raptor wants to bait out a huge Pulse, but can’t do it during Zaal 2’s feat turn. So this would be a long and complicated dance. I choose the healing objective and my opponent choose the pathfinder objective.

Turn 1 (Me)

I advanced very aggressively, with my Raptor just out of Cannoneer/Far Strike range (even adjusted for Flying High it’s still a 15 inch threat). Kromac puts Vengeful on Ghettorix and Awakend Spirit on the Feral.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

My opponent advanced -extremely- conservatively. Everything is out of Pulse range and most things are out of Lady Of The Feast’s bird range. He can’t really avoid the Raptor’s standard ranged attack and is fine with it. However, Zaal advances as well, albeit with 3 transfers. Aura Of Power goes up.

Turn 3 (Me)

I have no reason for big commitments here, as my opponent (at the risk of scenario disadvantage down the road) has chosen not to give me much. And I’m okay with that. However, I notice my Raptor can cast Skyfire, get within 10 of Zaal, shoot him, and reposition back outside the charge threat of the left Immortals. The shots will be transferred, and that’s fine, but it’s better than directly shooting Cannoneers at ARM 19. So the Raptor does just that, and 2 huge transfers go into each Cannoneer, and the Spirit gets knocked out on the left one.

The rest of my forces get into defensive positions in all the zones, outside of Immortal charge threat, and wait for the inevitable Zaal feat turn.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

My opponent puts row after row of Immortals in the left circle, doing their best to spread out and deny me a high quantity pulse. The feat ARM is going to prevent most of them from dying, but reducing the targets was still good.

Immortals on the right screen the Supreme Guardian after the right Cannoneer exploded my poor Wayfarer. Zaal pops feat and hides in the forest behind the objective and puts Vision on the Supreme Guardian.

Turn 5 (Me)

Instead of taking a hugely ineffectual pulse against ARM 22 Immortals, the Raptor backs waaay up and takes more shots at Zaal. A little more damage gets spread out into the Cannoneers, along with a couple points into Zaal. Kromac pops feat, takes out some Immortals on the right to give Ghettorix some room, and sprints behind the central obstruction.

The Stalker is able to get into 6 left Immortals and berserk through them thanks to the feat STR, and sprints in deeper to screen the Raptor. The Moonhound follows suit by getting into Hakaar’s face. Ghettorix pops off a few more right Immortals and puts some good damage into the Guardian, and the Feral primals itself and finishes it off. The Lady of the Feat birds into the last few Immortals in the right circle and is able to boost them dead with corpses, but does nothing to the Ancestral Guardian.

Turn 6 (Opponent)

The huge clump of Immortals on the left has to take down Stalker, and they end up in a big pulse ready pile. The Ancestral and Cannoneer on the right take down the Feral. Hakaar flies into Ghettorix, whiffs his combo strike charge, buys an attack, does a couple points of damage, and then a MASSIVE retaliatory strikes destroys Hakaar. It was rough to watch. Zaal bolts away from Ghettorix behind a wall, and finally un-cripples that left Cannoneer, but unfortunately she doesn’t really have a shot to anything.

Turn 7 (Me)

I’ve only got about 10 minutes left on the clock, so instead of going in for the big pulse and taking that big attrition swing, the Raptor just goes in for Zaal who has 1 transfer. Zaal in cover is DEF 14, so the Raptor gets her shot just barely inside the range of Skyfire and takes him out.

Circle victory via Assassination.

Closing Thoughts

It’s hard to say at this point whether or not I have the advantage in this matchup but I feel like maye I do. It’s hard to keep that many grunts away from that big pulse, and as long as feat isn’t up that’s very very bad. So the opponent has to play this painfully conservative and distant game in which I eventually take it over with my speed. But I will say that this matchup is actually very fun, and I will gladly re-rack it anytime.

[bloodybenjamin]

13 February 2019

Finally got to play into Kruger 2! I’ve never played him ever (not a lot of Circle in my area until recently) and I’ve had a hunch that Kaya’s Shadowhorns do okay into it.

Kaya 3 (Call Of The Wild) - Gorax -Shadowhorn -Shadowhorn -Shadowhorn -Shadowhorn -Shadowhorn -Scarsfell -Scarsfell -Scarsfell -Scarsfell Blackclad Wayfarer Blackclad Wayfarer Shifting Stones Shifting Stones

vs

Kruger 2 (Secret Masters) - Woldguardian - Woldwarden - Pureblood - Woldwyrd - Woldwyrd - Woldwyrd Farrow Valkyries Farrow Valkyries Shifting Stones - Stone Keeper Gallows Grove Gallows Grove Stoneshaper Wayfarer

I won the dice roll and choose to go first. There was a defensive feature on each side, which was fortunate for me, because Kaya 3 is very scared of Woldwyrd’s, but can’t just opt out of her upkeeps. My opponent and I both choose a healing objective.

Turn 1 (Me)

It’s incredible how far Kruger’s Woldwyrd’s threat. I advanced very aggressively as per usual, but 3 goats took careful steps back to stay out of Woldwyrd threat, because I was willing to give let them take some damage in order to have Woldwyrd’s pull up. Kaya puts up Fog Of War.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

I learned a hard math lesson this turn. My opponent advanced carefully and cautiously, but ended up committing a Woldwyrd to one of my forward Shadowhorns with Telekinesis. Unfortunately, having Elusive up on all my goats meant that I wasn’t going to dodge a Woldwyrd shot, taking away 1 or 2 shots, it meant they were definitely going to hit, even through Fog Of War. Boosted 9’s are too reliable for this gambit, and after a spike or two, I lose a Shadowhorn. Lesson learned.

Turn 3 (Me)

Knowing a feat is coming up, and that there isn’t enough of my opponent’s forces forward enough, I cozy everything up to the front line, pop feat, and be ready for the next turn.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

My opponent pops feat as expected, and my dumbass gets everything but two models on the extreme right pushed right out of the zone. I knew this is what Kruger did, and somehow still goofed this! But I also realized that Shifting Stones are a great way to protect from this; by putting them behind your keys models, they can’t get shoved back. So it’s in my pocket now.

My opponent destroys most of my Shifting Stones, and distributes a good amount of hurt among my Shadowhorns. It is now 2-0 opponent.

Turn 5 (Me)

Soooooooo this is when I realized I forgot to put my Gorax on the table. Haha! I decide to eat it goof and deal with it. Don’t do this!

On the left, I deal with the Valkyries, a Woldwyrd, and the objective, and secure the left zone. On the right, I completely fail to kill 2 roughing Valkyries with toes in the zone. Eesh. Kaya had to move up for all this to happen, so 2 Shadowhorns hug the central obstruction in order to block line of sight to her. It is now 2-2.

Turn 6 (Opponent)

Those obnoxious right Valkyries do incredible work taking out a Scarsfell and damaging another. The Woldguardian steps forward to finish it off, and my last Shifting Stone as well. Kruger lands a Telekinesis on a left Shadowhorn, and makes it chargeable by the Pureblood, who barely doesn’t kill it. Unfortunately, Woldwyrds take out a Shadowhorn on the right. The Woldwarden gets teleported into the middle to take out another Shadowhorn on the right. No points are scored.

Turn 7 (Me)

A frenzying Scarsfells slaps the Pureblood and begins Synergy. Kaya uncripples her beasts and takes out the final left Valkyrie. The other left Scarsfell puts some hurt into the Pureblood. The left Shadowhorn leaps over the Pureblood with max Synergy and finishes it off, then repositions aggressively. With Synergy maxed, the 2 remaining Shadowhorns take out the Woldguardian.

Turn 8 (Opponent)

The opponent forces finish off the remaining Shadowhorns and I concede.

Closing Thoughts

Despite my HUGE mistakes here, I do believe this list has game into Kruger. I didn’t think I’d win this without having experienced Kruger before, but it went a lot better than I thought it would.

I definitely want a re-rack here, as I think I can do much better now that I’ve seen it for myself what Kruger 2 can do.

[bloodybenjamin]

9-11 February 2019

My LVO games were fascinating! I got 5 games in and won them all. However, they were largely exploitations of opponent mistakes on a macro and micro scale.

On one hand, it is exciting and fun that I am at a skill level where A. I’m not making the crucial mistake, B. I have the foresight to identify and exploit an opponent mistake when I see one and C., it helps “the win rate”.

On the other hand, a win rate is infinitely less meaningful than your growth rate. While it feels good in the moment to capitalize on an error, it’s a fleeting pleasure. In the search for the dopamine of a white knuckle, toe-to-toe slug, it pales in comparison.

With that being said, I’m going to juice the insight out of these experiences as best as possible so I (and maybe you) can glean.

Read about Game 1 here!

Game 2

This was a game against a super friendly human who was getting into the game. They only had 50 points of Menoth on them, and seemed eager to learn. So I made a 50 point Kromac 2 list and we threw down. We agreed to maintain a learning environment, so I approached this game a specific way; instead of just showing them how to lose to a more experienced player, I instead made decisions that gave them interesting choices, and said out loud what my intent was. During their turn, I presented them with options, and gave them tactical suggestions.

I found that declaring my intent out loud was useful to me too, as I found myself discovering things my habitual motions sail over. Furthermore, I was thinking a few turns ahead about what my opponent wanted to do, as opposed to my usual “what -I- want to do based on what happens”. This was revelatory.

In any case, I did slowly take over the game, and I hope my opponent got to see the value of making key decisions and playing a more patient game instead of slamming as much as you can into the frontline in round 2.

Game 3

Game 2 was against my good friend and Warmachine regular. They had finished their Main tournament run and had a little juice left in them for a brawl. So I asked to put Kromac 2 and the Storm Raptor into their Zaal 2 Immortals.

Long story short, they made a big big mistake, largely on account of their fatigued state. What was probably supposed to be a feat turn was not. My opponent would tell me that they didn’t necessarily forget about their feat, but they had a dynamic update to the game state goof up their turn plan. So in the top of 3, the Storm Raptor took out 12ish Immortals, Ghettorix took out another 6ish, and my Stalker took out a Supreme Guardian. It was a massive attrition swing.

It’s hard to dig for precious minerals in this one because of the scale of the goof. My opponent acknowledged they were taking a gamble, and it happened to come up snakes. But I can say this; I played an uncomfortably careful game in my 2nd turn due to my respect for both my opponent and the Immortals. Apart from the Raptor taking some shots at the right Canoneer, nothing else happened outside of slightly repositioning everything a bit more intelligently into actionable positions. In no stranger to this at this point, but the temptation was strong to start picking things off and I managed to avoid it.

Game 4

I got to play against a really sharp and sophisticated opponent who had traveled in from California with their Cygnar. We discussed our lists and after identifying a list-chicken situation, we just agreed to the funnest sounding match-up, which was Stryker 2 into my non-Storm Raptor Kromac 2 list.

My opponent did an awesome job of explaining what Stryker did and how he interacted with the list, and also asked good questions about what my list did. It was clear they wanted a good, informed game, and I very respect this!

My takeaway from this game was that I actively kept a Warmachine adage in my head and acted upon it every turn. It goes something like “Look at the table, find out what kills your caster, and then don’t do that.” It seems like common sense but evaluating the whole table against this condition and then making decisions through the temptation of action was new! I kept Kromac waaaaayyy far away from Stryker at all times, even when Kromac had a juicy jack to go take down, or a perfect little group of warrior models to eat up. Doing consciously was good exercise!

This game was a grind for sure. It was on Recon II and there were 2 max units of Storm Lances breathing down my neck the whole time.

Ultimately, my opponent got very aggressive in an attempt to squeeze the worth out of the feat. And while a Stalker did go down, the enemy forces ended up bubble wrapped around my heavies. Kromac pops feat, and I took out almost all of the Storm Lances and Storm Guard Infantry. From that point on, the game was mine to lose, and I had to push it back far enough while not giving anything to Stryker I didn’t have to. Stryker did take down a Feral before it was all said and done, but by that point the game was all but lost for my opponent.

Awesome game! It was neat dealing with Stryker 2 for the first time and I’m very glad I met this person and played Warmachine with them.

Game 5

I had the tremendous pleasure of running into a person I met last year at LVO 2018! They are a human of great radiance and joy, and they happen to be a Circle player. After an extremely enjoyable conversation about our explorations into modern Circle, we decided to have a Storm Raptor Duel. So I dropped my Kromac 2 Raptor Variant into their Una 2 Raptor menagerie! In addition to their big lightning girl, they had griffons, goats, ragers, and more.

I went first, and my opponent very delightfully deployed their Storm Raptor opposite mine. Haha! We clearly wanted the same thing. Unfortunately, their lady ended up in range of mine at the bottom of 2, and I badly wanted to know if a Storm Raptor could kill a Storm Raptor in melee. And it turns out that through Carnage, Primal, and Dog Pile, it certainly can! And it was close! Mathematically, you want all 7 melee attacks, you want them at plus 1 or 2 damage, and you want them all to hit. On averages it happens, but we all now how dice work. And ohhhhhh boy does it feel fuckin’ WEIRD putting Primal on a 35 point gargantuan. Haha!

The rest of the game was an absolutely slug fest, and I’m lucky enough to have been in the ring for this one. My opponent clocked, and without saying a word we continued for 20 more minutes to see it through. These are the kinds of games that put premium gas in the tank. Much love, opponent.

Closing Thoughts

Be conscious. Take what you can from every game. Have fun!

[bloodybenjamin]

8 February 2019

First game of LVO was against one of my regulars!

Kromac 2 (Call Of The Wild) - Ghettorix - Feral - Stalker - Pureblood Una 1 - Storm Raptor Blackclad Wayfarer Lord Of The Feast Shifting Stones Shifting Stones Spirit Cauldron & Boilmaster 

vs  

Lord Arcanist Ossyan - WJ: +28 - Fane Knight Guardian - Imperatus - Harpy Dawnguard Trident Ghost Sniper Ghost Sniper Arcanist Mechanik Arcanist Mechanik Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios House Shyeel Artificer House Shyeel Artificer Mac Dawnguard Sentinels - Officer & Standard MaxDawnguard Sentinels - Officer & Standard I won dice roll and choose to go first to exert ranged pressure with the Raptor. My opponent took a pathfinder objective and I took a healing objective. 

Turn 1 (Me)

I advanced aggressively with the Raptor and Moonhound on the right. Kromac put Awakened Spirit on the Feral and Vengeful on Ghettorix. Ghettorix and the Moonhound are in rubble because I respect Ossyan’s Trident.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

My opponent advances aggressively, and the Trident pops off a Shifting Stone before sliding backward.

Turn 3 (Me) 

The Raptor aims and shoots at the Trident, and does a bunch of damage to it before sliding back a bit but staying in the zone. The rest of my forces cozy up into the frontline in ready positions, as my opponent hasn’t put quite enough in front of me to warrant an alpha.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

The opponent pops feat, puts the Trident into my Raptor, but only gets 3 of its 3D3 shots. It does about 18 points of damage before having to reposition back. Sentinels on the right swarm the bird and Ghettorix, and the 2 successful charges kill my other 2 Shifting Stones on the right. They pop mini feat, making them unkillable to the Raptor pulse under Ossyan’s feat. Sentinels on the right rank up and crowd the zone and an Arcanist gets on the left flag. It is 1-0 opponent.

Turn 5 (Me)

I consider assassinating Ossyan but don’t want Kromac to die to Eiryss and left over guns if I fail. So I decide to take a big attrition swing. Una gets on the flag and shoots down the Sentinel jamming up Ghettorix. The Raptor has to back up to get out of the feat so it can hurt the Trident, and almost finishes the job. Kromac pops feat, and takes out the 2 Sentinels jamming up the Stalker and Feral. The Lord Of The Feast and the Moonhound make room for Ghettorix (Eiryss dies in the process), and Ghettorix cleans up the Sentinels around the Trident and finishes off the Trident itself. It is sitting inside the right rectangle with Spiny Growth up. The Stalker crashes into the left Sentinels and berserks down 6 of them before Sprinting into the central forest.

Turn 6 (Opponent)

My opponent puts an extraordinary amount of effort into killing Ghettorix, and leaves him on 7 boxes. With way too many models committed to the still-standing Ghettorix, my opponent concedes.

Circle victory via Ghettorix.

Closing Thoughts

That last line was a bit of a goof, but not untrue. Ghettorix under Kromac feat and Spiny Growth is absolutely horrific to deal with. These days, my feat turn is dictated largely by Ghettorix’s action timing! Once I know Ghettorix can end his activation in an un-ignorable position after getting a lot of work done, it’s feat time.What consistently happens is what happened here; an enormous commitment to take down the monster that doesn’t pay off. And with Spiny Growth and Vengeful, enemy models get lost and damaged in the process. Kromac 2’s Ghettorix, is himself, a victory condition.

[bloodybenjamin]

(1 February 2019)

I realized after this game I had cheated! Haha! I made a slight change to my Kromac list from this week in which I removed a Wayfarer, added Una 1, and then put the Storm Raptor on her. When I hit the table with my usual boys I instinctively put down and played with 2 Wayfarers! I have had 2 of those buckos in my list for like 45 games. So I apologize to my opponent! I’m writing it out anyway because I was executing on recent feedback and want the BatRep for posterity.

Kromac 2 (Call Of The Wild) - Ghettorix - Feral - Stalker - Pureblood Una 1 - Storm Raptor Blackclad Wayfarer Lord Of The Feast Shifting Stones Shifting Stones Spirit Cauldron & Boilmaster

vs

Karchev 1 (Jaws Of The Wolf) - Reinholdt - Juggernaut - Juggernaut - Juggernaut - Kodiak - Kodiak - Kodiak Yuri The Axe Forge Seer Forge Seer Widowmaker Scouts Widowmaker Marksman Kayazy Eliminators Min Mechaniks Min Mechaniks

I won the dice roll and choose to go first, as I would have been fine on either side of the table and didn’t feel the need to counter deploy.

My plan going into this game was to take it slow, and not take the huge attrition swing I usually take with Kromac. I wanted to get ahead by 1, play a patient game to round 7, and not endanger Kromac.

Had I not cheated with an extra Wayfarer, I would have deployed the one on the left, but not the one on the right. So we’ll call that right Wayfarer the cheater.

Turn 1 (Me)

Kromac put Awakened Spirit on the Feral and Vengeful on Ghettorix. I advanced very aggressively with Una and the Raptor on the right flank. The Cauldron puts 3 corpses on the Lord Of The Feast.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

My opponent also advanced very aggressively. Widowmakers take out a right Shifting Stone and Eliminators are flying down the right side of the table.

Turn 3 (Me)

I see a big big Pulse, but don’t want my Raptor being counter-charged by that right Juggernaut. So the Cauldron gives the Lord Of The Feast Puppet Master, and shifts onto that Juggernaut, preventing its counter-charge. The Lord puts a couple points in but most importantly, kills Yuri (and a mechanik). The Raptor then gets a huge pulse into every Widowmaker, both Eliminators, and the Juggernaut. All of those grunts die and the Juggernaut takes some more damage with reloads. The Raptor repositions back and is in my rectangle.

Both Ghettorix and the Stalker can get onto the Kodiacs on the frontline, but in the interest of taking it slow, I decide to hold Ghettorix back, and let the Stalker take out the middle Kodiak and sprint back to safety. So I do it, but the left Kodiak countercharges! It does some damage, but is now a lot closer to my side of the table. So the Stalker shifts its focus to the countercharging Kodiak, takes it out, and sprints back. Ghettorix then charges the middle Kodiak, who took some damage from the Stalker charge, takes it out, and Overtakes back into the woods. He’s now positioned to do his obnoxious Ghettorix thing, so he casts Spiny Growth and says come at me.

Kromac pops feat ahead of schedule, and hangs back with his Feral. My legitimate Wayfarer gets on the left flag, and my cheater Wayfarer waits. My Moonhound takes a long run to get between the left Juggernauts and Ghettorix, and the Shifting Stones crowd the warpwolves for Serenity. The right Shifting Stones get between the right Juggernaut and into flag contesting distance.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

While the Juggernaut is better equipped to take on Ghettorix, he is stuck behind the Lord Of The Feast. The Kodiak can’t take out the Lord without taking a free strike, so my opponent is in a rough spot. The Juggernaut has to deal with the Lord, and does so trivially, but the Kodiak has a very bad time trying to hurt Ghettorix, even after Karchev knocks him down and pops feat. ARM 21 Ghettorix with Spiny Growth frequently means that after Rapid Healing, more damage has been done to the attacker than to Ghettorix. This was true here. 

One of the Left Juggernauts explodes the poor Moonhound, and the other is able to contest the left flag and hold their rectangle. A Forge Seer gets on their right flag. The opponent was unable to destroy the contesting Shifting Stone so it is now 1-1.

Turn 5 (Me)

Sticking to the game plan, I’m intending to be careful and get ahead by 1. Una puts some damage into the Forge Seer on the flag with “Birds That Are Also Guns™️”. The Raptor puts up Skyfire, advances a bit, and pulses on the right Forge and the right Juggernaut. It finishes off the Forge Seer, reloads some damage into the Juggernaut, and repositions back into the rectangle. The cheater Wayfarer runs onto the right flag. The Feral then puts Primal on the Stalker and it finishes off the right Juggernaut and sprints into the Mechanik’s face.

Ghettorix finishes off the last Kodiak and puts some damage into the central Juggernaut. Kromac is hanging back. The Spirit Cauldron tries to hit the left Juggernaut with a Spectral Lash to pull it out of the zone (which Karchev stepped out of to spray Ghettorix), but whiffs. The left Wayfarer stays behind the flag to keep the rough terrain between himself and the Juggernaut. It is now 2-3 me.

Turn 6 (Opponent)

At this point it’s looking pretty bad for my opponent, but I’m also running low on clock so they do the smart thing and play it out. The left Juggernaut is still able to get on my Wayfarer (oops) and destroys him. The flag was already dead and will remain dead so this isn’t a big deal. He does go into the Cauldron though, which is emotionally unfortunate.

The remaining Forge Seer contests the right flag, and Mechaniks start crowding the circular zone. Karchev backs into his rectangular zone. It is now 3-5 me.

Turn 7 (Me)

My Stalker frenzies into a Mechanik. The Raptor shoots down the Forge Seer on the right flag, taking it out. My Feral casts Primal on itself and charges the last Juggernaut, taking it out. Ghettorix warps murderous and overtakes through all the Mechaniks. The Cauldron and Kromac start advancing on Karchev, and Una is ready to cover the flag so the cheater Wayfarer can go work next turn in the event I don’t clock myself. I am able to move quickly and end my turn with a couple minutes left. It is now 4-7 me.

Turn 8 (Opponent)

My opponent tries his damndest to inflict some pain and stay in the game, so Karchev shoots at Ghettorix but doesn’t do much. Reinholdt runs onto the left flag, and the last Mechanik gets into the circle. At the end of the turn is 6-10 me, so I’m able to pass the clock back for a 12-7 victory.

Circle victory via scenario.

Closing Thoughts

So while I did cheat (I’m sorry again, opponent!) I was making a point to act on my previous opponent’s feedback, and I think I was successful. I was only thinking 2 turns ahead, but in a much more meaningful way than I normally do, wherein I’m too often taking as big a swing as I can for attrition and scenario value in THIS turn, and wantonly contesting with “throwaways” like Wayfarers and Shifting Stones. Well if I’m going to continue to play delicate beast heavy lists the way I want to, it most certainly pays to be a little more careful. What a game!

The Las Vegas Open is this weekend, and I’ll be there. Please say hi and by all means, let’s throw down!

[bloodybenjamin]

(30 January 2019)

After really enjoying Kromac & Storm Raptor combination, I decided to try it out again tonight at the game store.

I ended making one change after the fight last night; I removed the Pureblood and added an Argus Moonhound, the Lord Of The Feast, and a Boilmaster & Spirit Cauldron. The Lord of the Feast projects so much threat right now and it justifies a Cauldron that Kromac can use. And I wanted to play with ranged accuracy support for the Storm Raptor.

Kromac 2 (Call Of The Wild) - Storm Raptor - Ghettorix - Feral - Stalker - Argus Moonhound Lord Of The Feast Boilmaster & Spirit Cauldron Blackclad Wayfarer Blackclad Wayfarer Shifting Stones Shifting Stones

vs

Locke 1 (Prima Materia) - Liberator - Toro - Toro - Toro - Vanguard - Vindicator Mechanik Gorman Di Wulfe Prospero - Suppressor Trancer Trancer Dragon’s Breath Rockets Combat Alchemists Combat Alchemists

I won the dice roll and choose to go first. I would have been fine on either side so I wasn’t concerned about deployment. I considered taking the side with the trench, but having a forest to be invisible behind is also good. So I choose turn 1 ranged pressure.

Turn 1 (Me)

Kromac put Awakened Spirit on the Feral and Vengeful on Ghettorix. I advanced very aggressively, keeping the Raptor just out of range of Red Lined Toros.

Turn 2 (Opponent)

The opponent forces advanced conservatively and put most of their models behind cloud walls to protect them from Raptor gunfire.

Turn 3 (Me)

With nothing else to shoot at, I decided to play it safe with the Raptor. The Moonhound cast Hunting Howls and charged at the right Combat Alchemists in order to break their stealth. The Raptor then picks 2 of them off and the Lord Of The Feast picks off the 3rd. The Stalker picks off two of the left Alchemists and Sprints back. Everything else takes conservative positions and Shifting Stones cover obvious charge lanes.

Turn 4 (Opponent)

My opponent puts a couple jacks forward; 2 Toros in the center and a Liberator in their rectangle. The Vindicator gets behind the Liberator and puts a couple points of damage into the Stalker and adds a fury. The blast damage plinks on the Feral, triggering a short Hyper Aggressive movement. Gorman then blinds the Feral. The opponent is doing a good job of messing up my Fury economy. Locke pops feat. It is now 2-0 opponent.

Turn 5 (Me)

Luckily, Shifting Stones are able to peel off the excess fury. Kromac pops feat and kills Gorman with a Primal Shock. The left Wayfarer gets on the flag and the Stalker goes into the Liberator zoning the left rectangle, and is toeing in. Unfortunately, the feat makes the Liberator way too difficult to take out and it doesn’t happen.

The Raptor casts Skyfire and puts good damage into the central Vangurd from outside the Locke Feat. The Feral is then able to Primal itself and finish it off before too many feat tokens accumulate. The right Wayfarer tries to make a big scenario play by killing both Trancers from a contesting position but whiffs, so Ghettorix finishes off the Trancer and stays back. It is now 2-2.

Turn 6 (Opponent)

The Liberator walks away from the Stalker (taking an unremarkable free strike), and kills the left Wayfarer. The Vindicator then gets in the Stalker’s face but is unable to do much to him, and without adequate backup in that part of the table, the Stalker will remain the zone!

When the Dragon’s Breath rockets whiffs on the Wayfarer, the Trancer on the flag charges him but also whiffs. The scenario situation is now going pretty badly for my opponent with these miracle survivals happening.

A Toro finishes off the Feral, another Toro crowds the middle circle, and the 3rd Toro (carrying only 1 power up focus), charges Ghettorix, and does 3 damage after Rapid Healing. Ghettorix then does a whopping 15 damage to the poor Toro between Retaliatory Strike and Spiny Growth. No scoring happens this turn.

Turn 7 (Me)

My goal at this point is to run with my scenario lead. We’ll come back to that in the closing thoughts though. Kromac puts up Carnage and charges the Vindicator, kills it, and is now sitting on the flag with 2 fury. Ghettorix then takes out the Toro that charged him, and the central Toro zoning the circle, and is towing into my rectangle. The bird then smashes into the final Toro, leaving it alive but disrupted. My right Wayfarer finishes off the Trancer and is ready to either start scoring next turn or take on the Dragon’s Breath rocket if it decides to contest.

Unfortunately, my Stalker goes hard into the Vindicator in his face, but doesn’t do enough. Movement is out, which is good, but this Stalker is probably now dead. It is now 4-2 me.

Turn 8 (Opponent)

The remaining Combat Alchemist, with the help of Prospero’s Suppressor, Ice Cage the Stalker Stationary, and the Vindicator has just enough room to walk into Kromac, where he gets Jackhammered to death.

Circle loss via assassination.

Closing Thoughts

I consider this a big victory because my opponent is extremely experienced. I’ve never beaten them or really threatened them. And in this game we actually danced, and they told me I made them work very hard. So that’s excellent!

They also had 2 extraordinary useful critiques; the first is that I became in control of the game, and clearly didn’t recognize it. I have an issue where I generally never feel like I’m in the driver’s seat, and as a result, will take risks I absolutely don’t need to in order to obtain a perceived advantage. Like getting my warlock involved when I most certainly don’t need to. This is always exacerbated by Kromac, who is so good at getting work done that I feel an unhealthy compulsion to put him forward. The exact same thing happened last night, and plenty of times before!

The other was that I need to be able to recognize that some games need to be played out for 7 rounds. When that is established, I simply need to maintain a 1 point lead for a bottom of 7 victory. Had I seen this, I wouldn’t have bothered putting Kromac onto that left flag, as nothing in that part of the map was going to score that flag, regardless of whether the Stalker was there or not. While that was a kick in the intellectual balls, it is completely correct.

All in all, this was a very very good game! Shout outs to my opponent who took the time to point out my bullshit and help me improve.