Desperate Times - Scenario 1, Pit Fight

Desperate Times is another offering from Privateer Press. This time it's a mini-campaign with winter terrain rules from No Quarter No. 9. This is our first attempt at a campaign for Hordes (well, we've played the first scenario of this one but didn't get any further) so we talked about some ground rules before we even started.

The first would be that whatever army we started with would be the army we carried through the campaign. This makes it a little more challenging because you can't tailor your force to the scenario and your opponent has a pretty good idea of what they will be facing.

Second, we decided that we'd use the optional Escalating Conflict varient. It shows the progression of small-scale skirmishes into full-scale war. The game sizes alter as follows:

• Scenario 1-2: 500 points
• Scenario 3-4: 750 points
• Scenario 5: 1000 points.

Since we were keeping the same armies this meant we would use the same force for the first two games, then add 250 points to that army for the next two, and then 250 points more for the final 1000 point game. The scenarios have to be played in the order presented because each scenario builds on past results.

Each scenario includes rules specifying the victory conditions and turn limits for that scenario.

Each scenario includes a list of scenario rewards. Most of these rewards are bonuses for the victorious player, but some scenarios also grant benefits to players who complete certain objectives whether they win or lose. Reward descriptions indicate whether the reward must be used in the following scenario or may be used in any one subsequent scenario of the campaign. Players must declare the use of a reward before the start of a scenario and may use multiple rewards during the same game.

We're looking forward to experimenting with bigger forces. Defenstrator has had some experience with 750 and 1000 points playing Warmachine but has only recently purchased enough Legion to do the same with Hordes. I've mostly stuck to 500 point games with my Circle.

Scenario 1, Pit Fight 500 points

Description

For many years betting on the results of pit fights was a favoured sport in the rugged town of Axbridge, at the eastern base of the Dragonspire Mountains in northern Cygnar. Rugged trappers and rangers of the town would spend months stalking and capturing wild beasts such as gorax and trolls and bring them bleeding but alive to set against one another in the fighting pits. Remnant of an ancient if somewhat sordid tradition, the town has at times drawn spectators from Corvis and Point Bourne to witness the savage contests. Now, with the roads choked by snow and hoping to liven up the monotony of winter, the town has made the mistake of capturing beasts they should not have touched. They have attracted the attention of heavily armed forces from the wilds eager to reclaim their wayward warbeast. The inhabitants abandoned the village and fled. Too terrified of the attacking forces to bother collecting thier belongings, leaving valuable spoils for opportunistic forces to come into the region.

Special Rules

A 6" x 6" square was marked off in the centre of the board to represent the fighting pit before the start of the game. A fence with ARM 14 and 10 points of damage per inch surrounded the outer edge of the pit as well as covered it to make it a cage. Unlike a larger structure the fence would not collapse after a certain portion is destroyed and would not leave rubble.

Each player put a light warbeast in the pit during deployment. The warbeast could not be forced or transferred damage to while completely in the pit. A warbeast could move out of the pit without penalty through any hole in the fence large enough for its base, in this case two inches.

Set Up

The cage was in the centre of the table and each side had a building looking down on it. Four forests were placed in each corner of the table.

Beginning

This scenario uses normal deployment rules.

Victory Conditions

A player wins immediately when the enemy warlock is destroyed or removed from play or when his or her warbeast that starts the game in the pit reaches his or her table edge.

Rewards

Fresh Meat - If a player's warbeast that started the game in the pit is not destroyed or removed from play by the end of the game that player gets a 25-point discount on a single warbeast (to a minimum of 0 points) during any one subsequent Desperate Times campaign game.

Tactical Advantage - The player that wins this scenario decides whether to go first or second in Scenario 2, Raiders. The player who goes first sets up first as usual.

Composition

Circle:

• Kaya, the Wildborne
• Argus x 2
• Warpwolf
• Woldwarden
• Wolves of Orboros - Huntsman + 9 Wolves
• Shifting Stones

Legion:

• Lylyth, Herald of Everblight
• Carnivean
• Seraph
• Teraph
• Harriers x 2
• Blighted Swordsmen - Vassal + 6 Swordsmen
• Forsaken

Deployment

Defenstrator won the roll and he chose to set up and take the first turn. The Seraph went into the cage and Lylyth was placed on the 10 inch deployment line, a bit to the right of the centre building. The Swordsmen were on the far left with Harrier #2 supporting them to their right. The Harrier #1 was placed as far to the right as the control range would allow. The Teraph and the Carnivean flanked Lylyth on either side (right and left respectively) and the Forsaken was placed beside the Carnivean.

I placed one of the Argus in the cage with Kaya getting as close to him as she could, taking cover behind one of the structures of Axbridge. The Wolves went to the left of the deployment zone and the second Argus and the Woldwarden flanked Kaya (left and right respectively). The Warpwolf hovered behind the Argus and the Stones were placed behind Kaya in the hope that Defenstrator wouldn't just kill the Argus in the cage in the first turn.

Legion Turn 1

The Seraph took aim and shot the Argus sharing its cage getting 4 extra shots. Without the ability to boost it managed to do only 8 points to the Argus.

Lylyth cast Slip Stream and moved forward, dragging the Carnivean up two inches. She then used Arcing Fire with boosted hit and damage rolls to blow the Argus away. I couldn't win by getting it to the other side of the table now and I wouldn't get the extra points in the next scenario. The Carnivean charged the cage and blasted a 1" hole in it with its breath attack.

Harrier #1 on the far right was now out of Lylyth's control range and so could only walk forward off the hill. The Teraph ran up behind the buildings beside the cage and riled for it's full Fury. The Swordsmen ran to the cage wall. Finally, the Harrier #2 ran up behind the Swordsmen.

Circle Turn 1

The Woldwarden walked up beside the building and cast Spirit Fang at the Seraph. Even boosting to hit the spell failed to connect. The Stones telaported themselves to surround the Woldwarden and the Wolves ran up behind the beasts.

Kaya walked over to the Stone and attempted to Spirit Fang the Seraph as well but she wasn't close enough. She did pull over a Cloak of Mists to protect herself from anything Lylyth tried to shoot at her in the next turn. The remaining Argus was pretty blocked in by it's fellow Circle members so could only walk behind the Wolves.

Legion Turn 2

After Lylyth reaved off the 5 Fury built up last turn the Swordsmen attacked the cage and destroyed another 3". This left a 4" hole that was more than big enough for the Seraph to fly out over their heads. It only moved 6" since it couldn't be forced yet, so there was still a chance to catch it.

Harrier #2 (who'd been hanging out with the Swordsmen) simply sidled over so it can be closer to Lylyth. On her activation she moved away from it and up beside the Carnivean, cast Taint on the Harrier and discarded a Fury.

The Teraph continued to move around the outside of the cage until it reached the top corner where it could Dig In and set up it's Counter Blast. The Carnivean let loose its Spiny Growth and the Forsaken ran to stand in front of Lylyth at the top corner of the cage.

Circle Turn 2

The Stones started the turn by telaporting the Woldwarden the full 8" forward towards the Legion lines. Good thing the Woldwarden is so tall. He still had a view of the Seraph trying to get out of the cage and off the table! He once again used Spirit Fang and with boosts to both the hit and the damage pools he managed to do 10 points of damage. More importantly, he managed to slow it down so that I might still have a chance to catch it.

Kaya used Spirit Door to move herself up to the Woldwarden. She then cast Spirit Fang on the Seraph herself but missed by one. Using her Wild Mastery feat, and feeling kind of out in the open with the current state of the field, she used Spirit Door on both herself and the Woldwarden to move back to join the Warpwolf.

The Warpwolf warped to give itself +2" in movement and then ran around the outside of the building on the right side of the cage. He riled for 2 more Fury.

The Wolves had to move to get out of the Argus' way so they snaked around the Stones towards the Teraph. Finally, the Argus could run around the building to join the Warpwolf.

Legion Turn 3

Lylyth reaved Fury and decided to upkeep Taint. The Teraph then came around the cage corner to shoot at the Wolves. It killed 3 of them and then boosted to damage the Woldwarden for 2 points.

As it was hit last turn with Spirit Fang the Seraph could only move 4" towards the Legion table edge. Harrier #2 with Taint on it then charged the Woldwarden but fell short, keeping the Abomination effect over 3" from the Wolves. The Swordsmen charged the Warpwolf. Only one managed to get the charge but missed, with the rest being forced to run.

Lylyth walked around the cage and shot at the Woldwarden twice. Her first shot was a roll of double one, but the second time she hit and boosted the damage to 6 points. Then she cast Bad Blood on it leaving her with no Fury. The Carnivean moved up to screen Lylyth while giving itself Spiny Growth to end its activation. Finally the Harrier #1 ran in behind Lylyth and the Forsaken moved up beside her to drain 2 points of Fury off the Carnivean. Lylyth now had figures on three sides and the cage wall on the fourth. Defenstrator wasn't taking any chances on letting Kaya get an assassination run.

Circle Turn 3

Kaya decided to take the 2 point hit from Bad Blood and so reaved all the Fury she had access to. The Argus that had joined the Warpwolf against the Swordsmen decided that this was the turn to completely suck out. With 3 attacks, 2 of them boosted, and only needing 9s to hit the Argus rolled 8s instead. It did manage to move into 2 Swordsmen to help tie them up. As for the Warpwolf, it spent all of it's Fury and managed to kill 2 Swordsmen. Underwhelming to say the least.

On the other side of the building the Woldwarden attacked the Harrier that had attempted to charge it. It hit with both of it's Rune Fist attacks doing 13 points of damage but missed with its Druid's Wrath Chain Attack, leaving Harrier #2 at 1 point.

That left Kaya to kill the Harrier, which she promptly did by hitting it over the head with Splinter. She cast Spirit Fang at one of the Swordsmen killing him and then used the Woldwarden's animus to create Undergrowth around the two of them to attempt to get a little more protection.

The Stones telaported into the alley between the cage and the building to attempt to block charge lanes to Kaya and the Woldwarden and the Wolves ran into combat around the Teraph to avoid it's charge in the next turn.

Legion Turn 4

Lylyth reaved to return to full Fury points for what could be the final turn. The Seraph was the first to activate. If it was close enough to the table edge the game could be over. It forced and ran as far as it could but was just short of being able to get off the board. The game would continue.

Now Defenstrator could concentrate on killing my army. The Forsaken started things off by casting Blight Shroud with the 4 Fury it had built up. This killed 4 of my Wolves causing them to do a rout test. For once this game I was thankful of the poor dice rolling that had been going on as they deciding to keep fighting. The Teraph took it's turn on them with a boosted bite attack that killed one and a tail strike that killed another. The extra attack missed so there was still a Wolf in combat.

The remaining Swordsmen walked around to the remaining Argus and managed to do 16 points of damage in two hits.

Harrier #1 simply moved out of the way of Lylyth and the Carnivean to allow for as much damage as possible. Lylyth moved beside the building and behind Harrier #1, using it to block charge lanes from the Woldwarden and Kaya. She tried shooting at the Woldwarden twice but missed both times. The Carnivean charged the Warpwolf and killed it.

Circle Turn 4

This turn would be do or die time for me. The Seraph was going to make it off the table in the next turn, there was nothing I could do about that, but I might be able to kill Lylyth this turn so I'd still get the win, if not the extra points for a subsequent game. I thought that Defenstrator may have misjudged distances a little in his quick turn to try and get rid of both of my heavies so Kaya reaved all the Fury she could.

Starting with the easy side of the battle the remaining Wolf tried to damage the Teraph but failed.

The Woldwarden moved into the Shifting Stone ring and cast Spirit Fang on the Harrier with a boosted hit and damage roll for 7 points. The Stones then teleported it beside the building that Lylyth was trying to use as protection.

Kaya opened a Spirit Door to the Woldwarden and, thanks to the reach of Splinter, was able to attack Lylyth. She got an excellent damage roll and Lylyth was forced to transfer the damage to the Harrier. The Harrier died and sent 5 points back onto it's mistress. That was the best I could do.

The Argus killed the leader of the Swordsmen to end my turn.

Legion Turn 5

This was actually my last hope. The Seraph had to retain Fury as it had moved out of Lylyth's control range. There was a small possibility that it would frenzy and run towards the battle rather than away from it. After reaving the Teraph still had some Fury on it so Defenstrator would have two rolls to make. To increase the tension he rolled for the Teraph first. It frenzied and killed the last of my Wolves. The Seraph did not frenzy and calmly walked off the table to give Legion the win.

After Game Thoughts

Myantek - Can I blame the loss on crappy dice? Honestly, I admit I was hoping for a bit of luck this game. Going first I could have won in the second turn, I was hoping that Defenstrator wouldn't be able to kill the Argus in the first turn and in the end I was hoping for the Seraph to frenzy and just give me that one more turn.

Unfortunately, I seem to be making very small mistakes that Defenstrator is able to capitalize on. The biggest this game was putting the Warpworf just a little too far forward which allowed the charge by the Carnivean. I may also not be playing quite aggressive enough. If I'd just given the Argus up for dead in the first turn and positioned the Stones to really throw the Woldwarden around I might have had a better result. I wasn't displeased with the beginning of the game, I think I made a fair accounting of myself, I just couldn't get around the cage or the buildings to finish things off. Lylyth had no reason to come closer to me because all she had to do was to get the Seraph off the table. The cage can be broken in to on the first turn so going first is a big advantage in this scenario.

Defenstrator - I think big advantage is a gross understatement. In the Circle's case at least going first equals an auto-win. If Kaya stands on the edge of her deployment zone and the caged Argus at the back of the enclosure she can teleport him out of the cage first turn, two inches behind her into the Shifting Stones, which then teleport him a further eight inches back to the edge of the table. That puts the Argus in a position to walk off at the begining of Myantek's turn two, and there would be nothing I could do to stop it. I'd still be just trying to break through the cage wall, so the fact there even is a battle report is because I won the die roll to go first and I killed the Argus before it could be teleported away. After that though Myantek was forced to fight through my army to catch the Seraph, and I was in the envious postion of being able to force her to come to me. The next scenario looks a bit more balanced though, so we'll see how it goes.

Fight for the Stones: The Rematch

We decided after our last game that a rematch was in order. We both felt that we had learned some things in order to better defeat the other and wanted to test them out.

Strength of Stone - Scenario from No Quarter No.6

The armies are predetermined for this scenario.

Legion-
Thagrosh
Carnivean
Seraph
4x Shredders

Circle -
Baldur
Woldwarden
Warpwolf
2x Argus

Special Rules
There are 3 Wardstone markers on the board, each set up 10 inches from the table centre. They form a triangle with the traingle "bottom" being nearest the Legion deployment zone. The Legion deployment zone is a 6" strip along one table edge. Each stone is ARM 20 with 10 Damage Points and treated as a structure. While Circle players are within 2" of a stone they gain +1 to MAT and ARM. Additionaly, if Baldur is destroyed the Circle beasts do not go wild.

Setup
Forests were placed in a circle around the stones with a piece of forest terrain in the centre of the table. No terrain was within 6" of a Wardstone.

Begining and Victory Conditions
The Circle player sets up first, deploying his models within 2" of the Wardstones. The Legion player then deploys and takes the first turn. The Legion player wins when all the Wardstones are destroyed. The Circle player wins when Thagrosh is destroyed.

Deployment
Myantek deployed her forces at the back stone again. Baldur was in the centre flanked by the Argus, with the Woldwarden and Warpwolf in front. I (Defenstrator) set up with the Carnivean directly opposite the right stone. The Seraph to its left, then Thagrosh in the centre, and finaly the Shredders lined up on the far left opposite the other stone.

Turn 1
Legion- The Seraph activates first and advances forward while Slipstreaming the Carnivean. The Carnivean charges and destroys the right stone with its first bite attack. Thagrosh advances and casts Death Shroud and Draconic Blessing on Shredder No.3. He then discards his remianing fury. Shredder No. 1 activates, is forced to go Rabid, and charges the stone, bouncing off its rocky form. Shredder No.2 does the same but damages it for 3 points. Shredder No.3 activates but despite Draconic Blessing still only does a further 3 points. Shredder No.4 walks forward.

Circle- Woldwarden moves first, casts Earth Spikes, gets the critical and knocks down Shredders 1 & 2, destroying No.2's Mind. The Warpwolf moves forward to stand behind the trees in the centre of the table. Baldur moves up behind the Woldwarden and casts Rapid Growth in front of the Shredders and Stoneskin on the Woldwarden. Argus 1 moves moves to beside the Woldwarden. Argus 2 moves to behind Baldur.

Turn 2
Legion- Thagrosh reaves off the Carniven, the Seraph, Shredder 3 and Shredder 1. Draconic Blessing on Shredder 3 is upkept. Shredder 1 & 2 test for frenzy. Shredder 1 is fine but Shredder 2 fails and attacks Shredder 1, missing because of his lack of mind. The Carnivean again activates first, casting Spiny Growth on upon himself and then charging the Warpwolf. He is short (as was expected) but the spray attack hits.... for no damage to the ARM 18 Warpwolf. Shredder 1 then activates doing a point to the Wardstone, followed by Shredder 3 who manages to finally destroy it. Thagrosh then activates and casts DeathShroud and Slipstream. He moves forward and to the right of the centre trees, Slipstreaming the Seraph, and then casts Tenacity on himself and the Seraph. The Seraph moves forward to just behind the centre trees and shoots the Warpwolf through the trees for a 6 and 3 point hit. Shredder 4 walks over to block the charge lane to Thagrosh.

Circle- Baldur reaves all and upkeeps nothing. The Woldwardern moves forward and uses its Undergrowth animus, catching the Seraph in it. It then Earth Spikes the Seraph for 6 points. The Warpwolf pulls back and heals itself for 3 points. Baldur moves toward the centre and casts Stone Skin on himself. He then casts Rapid Growth in front of Shredder 4, blocking Thagrosh from the left side of the table, and heals the Warpwolf for 1 point. Finally he Feats while holding 1 fury. Both the Argus move towards the centre of the table with Argus 1 behind the Woldwarden and Argus 2 behind the Warpwolf.

Turn 3
Legion- Thagrosh reaves from the Carnivean and Seraph. Shredders 1-3 make frenzy checks. Shredder 3 is fine but Shredder 1 frenzies and promptly kills the wounded Shredder 2. The Seraph casts Slipstream and moves the Carnivean over. He then shoots up the Woldwarden, but does limited damage. The Carnivean moves in a circle route but is still able to walk over to the Warpwolf and beat on him. Due to its high DEF the Carnivean is unable to finish it off however. Shredders all move up and spread out. Thagrosh moves up again (damn he's slow) and casts Death Shroud, followed by Tenacity on himself and the Seraph.

Circle- Baldur reaves fully and upkeeps nothing. He starts by charging the Carnivean, getting some solid boosted hits in and lowering its DEF by 3 with his sword. The Warpwolf then activates and kills the Carnivean off. Argus 2 tries to slam the Seraph and misses. The Woldwarden charges the Seraph (for free due to Baldur) but misses due to Tenacity. Its second attack hits and destroys the Seraph's Spirit. Argus 1 moves back behind the centre trees.

Turn 4
Legion- Thagrosh uses the Carniveans death as an opportunity to finally get all that fury off the Shredders. Shredder 4 goes Rabid and charges the Woldwarden for solid damage. Shredder 3 does the same. Thagrosh then charges the Woldwarden and kills it on his second attack. He then casts Death Shroud and sits back with no fury on him. I then prompty forget to feat. Doh! The Seraph backs off from Argus 2 and shoots him up, but destroys no aspects. Shredder 1 moves over to get in the action.

Circle- Baldur reaves but can't get all the fury. Argus 2 then frenzies out and kills the Seraph with its two boosted attacks. Lucky-lucky. Baldur casts Earth Spikes at Shredder 3 but misses. He then moves and casts Stone Skin on the Warpwolf. The Warpwolf then moves in front of Baldur and Riles for 3 fury. Argus 1 moves beside the Warpwolf.

Turn 5
Legion- Thagrosh reaves all and casts Draconic Blessing on himself and charges Argus 2, making sure he is at the max 2" his reach allows. Argus 2 explodes and creates a cloud effect blocking LOS to Thagrosh. Thagrosh then feats and brings back then Carnivean beside him. I considered the Seraph but discarded the idea pretty quickly since POW 12 shots were not going to do much to that ARM 20 Warpwolf. Shredders 3 & 4 go Rabid and charge Argus 1, badly hurting him but destroying no aspects. Shredder 4 manages to also engage the Warpwolf when doing this. Shredder 1 runs to get back in the action.

Circle- Baldur reaves and upkeeps Stone Skin on the Warpwolf. Argus 1 activates and kills Shredder 3 in one massive bite. The Warpwolf then activates and is the complete opposite, missing with all its attacks against Shredder 4. Baldur casts Earth Spikes at the Carnivean but misses due to the cloud effect. He then moves away to behind the Warpwolf on the right side of the board.

Turn 6
Legion- Things seem to be tipping in Legions favour now. Thagrosh reaves all and upkeeps his Draconic Blessing. Shredder 1 goes Rabid and charges and kills Argus 1. Thagrosh charges to the side of the Warpwolf and catches him with reach, getting a big hit. He then starts missing alot and spends all his fury. Not to worry, the Carnivean can squeeze past since Thagrosh is so far over and charges into the Warpwolf, killing it.

Circle- Baldur is now alone. He casts Earth Spikes and hurts Thagrosh and Shredder 4, knocking them down, but is unable to follow up.

Turn 7
Thagrosh reaves and recieves +1 fury from the Anthanc. He upkeeps Draconic blessing. The Carnivean runs to the last Wardstone. Shredders 1&4 move up. Thagrosh moves and casts Death Shroud.

Circle- Baldur misses with Earthspikes.

Turn 8
The Carnivean destroys the Wardstone.

After game thoughts.
Defenstrator- Whew. That was a bloody game. Sure I had the Carnivean at the end, butI'd brought him back. Basicly Myantek killed everything except 2 Shredders and I had returned the favour. Neither of us seemed to be able to get that assassination run in on the enemy warlock though. I thoroughly cursed myself for forgetting my feat that game. I was just lucky that there was no time limit and that Myantek wasn't in the position to capitalise on my mistake. I definetly made better use of Thagrosh that game. He was alot more active getting the finishing blows on the Woldwarden and Argus 2, plus softening up the Stone Skined Warpwolf. On the other hand he had to be since this game Myantek did a much better job at cutting me off from the objective.

Myantek- Bleh. Lost again. And I'm not even sure where I went wrong this game. I was pleased with how I was really able to funnel the Legion force around the table. Denfenstrator had much more difficulty in just walking forward and getting what he wanted. I still need work with Baldur's feat. I had expected that the Warpwolf would be relatively safe where I'd placed him but he still got hit for quite a bit. I guess Baldur should have been even further forward. I was upset with the turn that the Argus killed the Shredder but the Warpwolf completely whiffed.

I'm used to the opposite happening. I'm thinking what it comes down to in this scenario is that Circle is going to take it in the face. If you set up safe at the back then you're going to lose at least one Wardstone in the first turn with the second falling in the second turn. If you set up near the front then Legion can still choose to go all out on a stone or can do serious damage to the army. I'm thinking setting up at the back and really controlling the lanes is still the best way to go. I just need to get a little better at it.

The Argus

After about a year I've finally managed to actually get a model finished. Two models actually.



Argus #1

Argus #2

I was really happy with the way their fur turned out when I got it done. Just the right colour and it had the definition that I was going for. Then they sat for a long time while I thought about what to do with their armour. I ended up just doing a green wash over the Boltgun Metal that I had laid down on the plates. I had to do some extra shading on the faces (especially the one where the head was howling) but I'm pleased with how it all worked out.

Now on to the Warpwolf.

Battle Report: Strength of Stone

So having just caught up on my No Quarter Magazine reading I found that issue No. 6 had a scenario for Circle and Legion called "Strength of Stone". I play Circle, Defenstrator plays Legion it all seemed so perfect so off we went.

Senario:

Everblight is aware that the Circle can use wardstones at Vescheneg Headlands as a method of finding the main body of his forces in the area. He sends Thagrosh to eliminate the threat.

Thagrosh must destroy all three wardstones before Baldur can stop him.

Composition:

Circle:

• Baldur
• Woldwarden
• Warpwolf
• 2 Argus

Legion:

• Thagrosh
• Carnivean
• Seraph
• 4 Shredders

Special Rules:

Three Wardstone markers approximately 2" in diameter (We used unadorned medium bases for this.) are placed in a triagular pattern 10" from the centre of the table. The stones have ARM 20 and 10 damage points.

While within 2" of a Wardstone, Circle models gain +1 ARM and +1 MAT.

If Baldur is destroyed, the Circle Warbeasts do not become wild and are activated normally.

The Legion player wins when the last Wardstone is destroyed.

Set Up:

Defenstrator set up the table with 6 terrain features (rocks and trees). No piece of terrain could be placed within 6" of a wardstone, within 3" of any other feature or in the Legion deployment zone (6" aloong one long table edge). This formed a circle of terrain around the Wardsones with a single rock formation in the centre of the table.

Beginning:

Circle sets up first, deploying models within 2" of the Warstones.

Legion then deploys and takes the first turn.

Victory Conditions:

Legion wins when all Wardstones have been destroyed.

Circle wins with Thagrosh is destroyed.

The Battle:

I've had too many battles lately where I've lost one of my heavies close to the beginning because of poor placement so I was mindful of that when I clustered the army around the stone at the back. In an arc around the back stone I placed an Argus, Woldwarden, Warpwolf and the second Argus. Baldur fell in behind.

Defenstrator placed the Carnivean, Seraph and Thagrosh on the right of his deployment zone and all four Shredders on his left.

Legion Turn 1

Thagrosh activated first and cast Draconic Blessing on the Carnivean and then turned his attention to the Wardstone. He moved forward into charge range of the stone and cast Obliteration on it managing to damage it for 3 points.

The first three Shredders went Rabid and charged the stone on their side of the field doing 6 points total.

The Carnivean charged towards the stone and managed to get close enough to do his breath attack for 1 point and the Seraph did another 3 points through shooting. All that was left was to move the last Shredder forward to keep up with the group.

Circle Turn 1

I was pretty sure I was going to lose both the stones on the other side of the field the next turn so my best bet was to try and thin out the Shredders so I could get a better position on Thagrosh.

Argus #1 moved up the field and Baldur ran behind it, I just burnt 2 Fury off his total to let the beasts do some damage this turn while still having the ability to have full Fury resources next turn as well.

The Woldwarden moved up and used his Spell Strike ability to cast Baldur's Earth Spikes at the Shredders. With boosting I did a good amount of damage, 8 to one and 7 to the other caught in the blast.

The Warpwolf moved up to use the rock in the centre of the table as cover and the second Argus moved up to join him.

Legion Turn 2

Defenstrator decided to upkeep Draconic Blessing on the Carnivean and then activated Thagrosh who cast Death Shroud and used the Shredders' animus to put Tenacity on the Carnivean and on the Seraph. He charged the Wardstone and destroyed it.

The first two Shredders had to shimmy around the stone to stay in Thagrosh's control range so that they could still boost their attacks but between the damage they'd taken and some bad luck did nothing to the stone. The third Shredder didn't have that problem and with the Pack Mentality in effect did 7 points to the Wardstone destroying it.

The Seraph took a shot at the Warpwolf and got 2 additional shots. Only the first one counted for 6 points while the extra shots missed.

The last Shredder and the Carnivean had no targets this turn so they just moved forward into a better position.

Circle Turn 2

I miscalculated how much Fury I was going to use in the first turn and ended up having to leave one on the Woldwarden. I wasn't worrying about him frenzying (because he can't) but it would have been nice for him to have a full Fury pool.

Baldur moved up again and cast Earth Spikes on the Shredders. He missed. Those Shredders were proving harder to kill than I gave them credit. He then cast Stone Skin on himself.

The Woldwarden cast Earth Spikes on the Shredders again, finally killing one of them but doing nothing to the second.

Now the Argus could try their luck. The first walked up and barked at the wounded Shredder but missed by 1! The second Argus was able to paralyze him. Nearly my entire army had a go at the Shredders and all they managed to do was kill one and paralyze the other. That could have gone better.

The Warpwolf felt it was in his best interest to retreat so he pulled back a bit to get out of the line of fire.

Legion Turn 3

Thagrosh continues to upkeep Draconic Blessing. The fist activation is the Carnivean who charged the Woldwarden and just got him with the breath weapon for 4 points of damage. The Argus using the Woldwarden for cover didn't even get singed.

This is where Defenstrator's run of getting lots of extra shots from the Seraph began. He took aim at the Woldwarden and shot off the original attack plus 5 more! He did nothing with two of those attacks but managed to really hurt the Woldwarden with 15 damage.

Thagrosh moved up between the Carnivean and the Seraph and cast Obliteration on the Woldwarden and caught the Argus for just a bit of damage. One of the Shredders had to move in for the kill but the big guy finally fell.

That left just the two other Shredders to move around to reposition themselves.

Circle Turn 3

Baldur dropped Stone Skin from himself because he ws going to need all the movement he could get this turn.

The first Argus engaged a Shredder and killed it, then the Warpwolf engaged a different Shredder and ripped it to pieces. The second Argus tried to bark at the Carnivean but missed.

Baldur pulled back a bit more, cast Stone Skin on the Warpwolf, healed him for 3 points of damage (making him nearly unscathed) and then used his Broken Earth feat to make sure nothing could come any closer.

Legion Turn 4

Thagrosh continued to upkeep Draconic Blessing and then much discussion occured about what Baldur's feat actually meant. Much measuring was done and multiple measuring tapes were employed to make sure that no one was getting closer than they should be. Except by Slipstream.

The Seraph circled around Baldur, Slipstreamed Thagrosh into Baldur's control range, and shot the nearest Argus. Once again Defenstrator rolled 5 extra shots, again only failing to damage with 2 of them.

The Shredder cast Tenacity on the Seraph and just stayed put while both Thagrosh and the Carnivean ran in a curve around the outside of their distance from Baldur to get closer to the third and final Wardstone.

Circle Turn 4

No upkeep spells for Baldur this turn either.

This turn was about positioning for me. The next turn had to make it or break it. If I could get in a good spot to kill Thagrosh next turn I could win this game. If not, well, unless Defenstrator decided to kill my army rather than his objective I might still have a chance. So with that in mind I moved the Warpwolf around so that he could easily get into combat with either the Carnivean or Thagrosh if they moved closed to the Warpstone. I had one Argus move between the Carnivean and the Warpstone. I was hoping I could get it to engage but didn't have quite enough movement, the second Argus moved around from behind his rock near the centre of the table to maybe have the chance to throw into whatever melee combat happened next turn.

Baldur then cast Stone Skin on the Warpwolf to protect him right out in the open and then cast Earth Spikes at the Carnivean. He only managed to do a little damage but I got lucky and rolled a critical for knockdown.

I declared my turn over and then, just as Defenstrator started moving models, I noticed my mistake. I'd forgotten to rile up the beasts so I'd be able to reave some Fury for the next turn. My big plan of taking out the win was going to be in jeopardy because Baldur was only going to have 2 Fury to work with!

Legion Turn 5

After upkeeping Draconic Blessing Defenstrator had some frenzy checks to make. He'd left Fury on the Seraph, Carnivean and the last of his Shredders. Only the Shredder frenzied and he charged the nearest model, which happened to be my heavily damaged Argus. Luckily for me he missed.

The Seraph shot at the same Argus and once again got 5 extra hits, however, with all the extra Fury sitting on him, he only connected once since he couldn't boost.

Thagrosh Slipstreamed the prone Carnivean towards the Warpstone, attacked the Argus and then cast Death Shroud.

The Carnivean stood up, got Spiny Growth going and moved towards the Warpwolf, attempting to cut it off from Thagrosh.

Circle Turn 5

Baldur dropped Stone Skin, with only 2 Fury for the turn he'd need every bit he could get.

One of the Argus attacked Thagrosh and did some damage that he opted to keep rather than to spend his lasy Fury to heal. The Warpwolf warped to get the +2 SPD and gingerly walked around the Carnivean to attack Thagrosh. He did great with the first hit but then missed the next two.

Baldur used his two Fury to heal the other Argus who then attempted to run in and attack Thagrosh as well. This left him open to free strikes from the Shredder and by the time he got to Thagrosh he'd lost a combat die from losing the Body spoke of the wheel. He gave it a good try but missed with both attacks. My turn was over and Thagrosh had only 3 points of damage left.

Legion Turn 6

For the last time Thagrosh maintained Draconic Blessing on the Carnivean who then calmly walked up to the Wardstone and pounded it into the ground. That ended the game with a win for the Legion

Wrap Up

Myantek: I liked this scenario. It felt pretty well balanced and lent itself well to maneuvering and really getting around the table rather than just blundering forward into one another. This was only the second time that I'd used Baldur and I think a did a better job with thim that I had before. I like all his spells but when you're fighting against models that have Pathfinder and Eyeless Sight in the majority the creating of forests doesn't matter as much. As for what I would have done differently, well, I would have remembered to make sure that Baldur was going to have all the Fury he needed for the turn that I needed to win the game. Otherwise, I probably should have attempted to head butt Thagrosh with the Argus so the Warpworth didn't have to waste Fury boosting to hit, just do the damage and extra attacks. I think I need to read through the special attacks section again.

Defenstrator: I thought I was going into this game with a big disadvantage. After all, I'm spending my time hitting the stones while Baldur is trying to kill my warlock. Setting up second and going first helps a great deal though. The Circle player doesn't dare set up at the forward stones for fear of losing half his army in the first turn, or at least enough to cripple him. Even their counter attack would only be so effective. With Thagrosh's feat Legion can afford to play the attrition game. My biggest mistake was not bothering to measure how far away I was from the Seraph and Shredder on the turn Thagrosh ran. I didn't get rid of fury as I assumed I had run out of control range. As it was it turned out they were both in range so I had to make those fury test because of my own stupidity. Still, my end run at the objective paid off in the end. An exciting game all around we plan to play a rematch to see what we learned.

Introduction

Welcome to the Crash Room! When I was searching for a name for the blog I tried to think of something that could link my various hobbies together. What I discovered was that I am not an inherently creative person. I like to think I am but writing for fun and pleasure is probably not my strongest suit. So what to do? I stole the name from university days.

The Crash Room: where hours were wasted talking about the newest games, the strategies, the plots of the role playing session, and painting. All those things designed to keep us from going back to our rooms or the library and actually doing some work. I think it's a good name to share my latest miniature painting projects or the battle report from the last game.

For the time being this blog will probably be mostly about Hordes from Privateer Press. That's what I'm working on right now and I'm notoriously slow in getting things done. We're managing to get a weekly game in of Circle vs Legion because that's what we've got the time for. I'd love to be playing Warhammer Fantasy Battle from Games Workshop but I don't have the 3 hours that game needs. Warhammer 40,000 (also from Games Workshop) is really the last of the miniature games that I might play, but the game of choice right now is Hordes or Warmachine (Privateer Press). I only play Hordes because I don't like giant robots.