Mark III Journeyman Battle 4

Magnus vs Helynna - Mangled Metal 10 Points

 

   That last game was a bit quick. It hammered home the lesson that you should always protect your warcaster, but wasn't the most exciting play experience. Consequently we decided on a re-match instead of expanding out to 25 points.

Army Lists

Magnus the Traitor
Mangler
Rover
Renegade

 vs

Magister Helynna
Manticore
Griffon
Chimera
Gorgon

Scenario

   We continue to battle it out until the first warcaster is dead.

 

 

 

Set Up

   Myantek won the roll and decided to go first. I picked my side because there was less stuff in my way on the approach. With all her guns and the ability to slow me down I felt the need to close quickly.

Turn 1

Retribution

   The Chimera Apparated (place completely within 2" during the upkeep phase.) forward. All the Myrmidons ran into the ruins except the Griffon. Helynna cast Rhythm of War (Warjacks in the battlegroup can advance 3 inches after all models have activated) and then cast Deceleration (+2 ARM vs Ranged and Magic attacks.), then advanced behind the Gorgon. All the jacks then advanced 3 inches.

Mercs

   Magnus cast Death Ward (+2 ARM and pick hit locations) on the Mangler, Snipe (+4 Rng on target model.) on the Rover, and Blur (+3 Defense against range and magic attacks.) on the Renegade. Magnus then charged the Griffon, ending his activation in cover. The Mangler and Rover ran to flank Magnus while the Renegade ended up behind the Mangler.

Turn 2

Retribution

   Helynna upkept Rhythm of War and assigned two focus to the Manticore while the Chimera Apparated. The Manticore advanced and rolled three for its number of shots. The first shot struck home with a boosted to hit roll, and the damage roll was 6,6,4, doing 10 points of damage to the Renegade and crippling its left arm. The second shot was also boosted to hit but bounced, while the third shot missed.

   The Chimera and Gorgon ran, while Helynna and the Griffon advanced. Helynna cast Deceleration again and then the jacks rearranged themselves using Rhythm of War, with the Manticore attempting to tuck itself behind the ruins.

Mercs

   Magnus upkept his spells for free due to his Resourceful ability, and gave two focus to the Mangler and one to the Renegade. Magnus activated first and moved base to base with the Renegade, then used his Repair ability to fix 4 points of damage, bringing the arm back on line. He then cast Iron Aggression (Target warjack may run, charge, or slam for free. Melee attack rolls on the warjack are boosted.) on the Mangler. Lastly he used his feat, Hit and Run (Models in battlegroup gain Parry. After all models have activated all the models in his battlegroup can run for free.).

   The Renegade aimed at the Manticore and shot its Obliterator Rocket. A boosted roll hit it and knocked it down, but a mediocre boosted damage roll only did 5 points to its field. The Mangler then charged it for free thanks to Iron Aggression. I had been worried the Obliterator might miss and the boosted to hit rolls would be needed, but no such worries. With the Manticore knocked down the Mangler hit with all its attacks, destroying the Manticore with its last blow.

   Lastly the Rover advanced towards the Griffon, shooting it and doing 4 points to its field. After that the feat activated. The Mangler ran base to base with the Chimera, while the Rover and Renegade formed a wall with Magnus behind them.

Turn 3

Retribution

   Helynna dropped Rhythm of War and assigned two focus to both the Chimera and Gorgon. Helynna advanced, boosted to hit, and cast Hand of Destruction  (Models in battlegroup get and additional die, them drop the lowest, for attack and damage rolls against this model.) on the Mangler, leaving her at zero focus. She then used her feat Arcantrik Aptitude (+3 ARM to friendly models. Remove all damage from warjack power fields. Ignore the effects of crippled systems for one round.). The Chimera then used Combo-Smite (*attack. Make a melee attack and double the weapon POW when before adding to warjack STR.) and smashed the Mangler for 10 points. It bought an attack, hit, and boosted damage to do some more. The Gorgon then charged and also did a Combo-Smite. It also bought and boosted damage, leaving the Mangler at 1 point in its movement system.

   The Griffon then ran to engage Magnus, the Rover, and the Renegade.

Mercs

   Magnus upkept everything for free and assigned two focus to the Renegade and one to the Rover. The Rover activated first and did a head butt power attack on the Griffon. It boosted to hit and knocked the smaller jack down. Magnus then cast Iron Aggression on the Renegade, leaving himself at one focus. The Mangler then activated and did a Thresher attack (*attack. This model makes a simultaneous melee attack against all models in range with this weapon.) but didn't do anything thanks to his arm being crippled.

    Lastly the Renegade charged Helynna, for free thanks to Iron Agression. It smashed into her and hammered away, but Helynna's feat saved her, the +3 ARM being enough to keep her alive at 2 points.

Turn 4

Retribution

   After a lot of pondering Myantek did not have Helynna upkeep Hand of Destruction. The Gorgon and Griffon were both assigned two focus. The Chimera activated first. More pondering ensued as Myantek decided whether to use the Chimera's one focus on the hit or damage roll. She eventually decided on the to hit roll as she needed a five to hit there and only a four for damage. It hit, and she rolled enough to do the single damage point needed to destroy the Mangler.

   Helynna activated next and cast Hand of Destruction on Magnus through the Chimera's arc node. She boosted and it hit. The Gorgon activated next, and charged Magnus. It hit Magnus and did five points of damage. The next attack did ten points and Magnus spent his last focus point to reduce it to five. The last attack did nothing.

   The Griffon stood up and swung its shield at Magnus and did two points. The spear then missed. It bought an attack, hit, and the boosted attack reduced Magnus to 2 points. It bought its final attack, hit, and managed to kill Magnus.

Afterward

Defenstrator

   Well that didn't go quite as planned. When Myantek messed up and left the Manticore in charge range of the Mangler I thought I had it in the bag. I specifically made sure that Magnus couldn't buy it and that the Chimera couldn't escape by Apparating.

   Little did I realise that escape was not her plan.

   I suppose I could have beat up the Griffon instead. But it was ARM 21 with the feat up, and I didn't think I'd be able to do it. And if I went for the more dangerous jacks I'd be leaving the Griffon way to close to Magnus. Instead I tried to end it. In hind sight think I might have been better off just taking the free strikes from the Griffon and trying to shoot Helynna with the Rover. But I was paranoid about the Renegade getting its right arm crippled from a free strike, so I went for it and failed. Then Myantek went for it and succeeded.

Myantek

     I was pretty sure he had me after he got the Manticore.  Facing down two heavies with none is very daunting.  I thought I'd left the thing out of range too.  Then it really became an all or nothing gambit.  Activation order was key.  Figuring out which thing had to act when and playing the odds.  I'm still experimenting with how far apart things can get and where I want these guys placed.  I won this game but I definitely don't have it figured out.  Frankly, I'd like another couple of games at this level to just worry about the battle group.

Mark III Journeyman Battle 3

Magnus vs Helynna - Mangled Metal, 10 Points

   It's been fun so far, but now it's time to increase the points. We each had ten points to spend, which could only be added to the battlegroup. For me it was easy. Magnus is the only one that can take his unique Renegade light warjack, and it is ten points exactly so it went straight in. It stands out on a number of levels. It's the Mercs only arc node, it can really grind through things in melee with both Critical Shred and Sustained Attack, and it has a one shot Rng 14, POW 16, AOE 4, auto-knockdown gun.

   Myantek decided to add more control aspects to her army with a Gorgon. Anything shot by it becomes -2 SPD, which should give her even more options with all the movement shenanigans she already has.

Army Lists

Magnus the Traitor
Mangler
Rover
Renegade

 vs

Magister Helynna
Manticore
Griffon
Chimera
Gorgon

Scenario  

    At 10 points the scenario continues to be Mangled Metal. We fight until the enemy caster is dead.

 

 

Set Up

   I won the roll and decided go first. Myantek decided to pick the side with the trees to hide behind.

Turn 1

Mercs

   Magnus put Snipe (+4 Rng on target model) on the Rover, Blur (+3 Defense against range and magic attacks) on the Renegade, and Death Ward (+2 ARM and pick hit locations) on the Mangler. He then charged the a Retribution jack and moved 8 inches before his turned ended with the failed charge. The Mangler, Renegade, and Rover all ran.
   This probably sounds familiar to the other games but he's an upkeep caster. It's what he does.

Retribution

   The turn started with the Chimera Apperating (place completely within 2" during the upkeep phase) forward. Helynna cast Rhythm of War (Warjacks in the battlegroup can advance 3 inches after all models have activated) and Deceleration (+2 ARM vs Ranged and Magic attacks.) and advanced. The jacks all ran forward and the used Rhythm of War to shift around a bit.

Turn 2

Mercs

   Magnus upkept his spells for free thanks to his Resourceful ability. I decided to go for it and try and live them dream, and assigned one focus to both the Rover and Renegade. After doing some measuring to see if everything was in range the Renegade advanced and shot its Obliterator shot at Helynna. It hit directly and knocked her down doing 13 points of damage. Helynna spent a focus to abosrb five damage.

   Magnus then cast Arcantrik Bolt (Cost 2, Rng 10, POW 12, A warjack damaged becomes stationary for one round) through the Renegades arc node, boosting to hit and then damage. Helynna took 11 more damage points and spent her last focus to reduce that to 6 and live.

   Finally the Rover advanced and shot Helynna with its boosted POW 14 gun and that was that.

Afterward

Defenstrator

   Well I went for it and it paid off. Myantek had made sure she wasn't in charge range of any of my models and was planning to start shooting me up next turn. But Helynna was hanging out in the open and I was able to put all my shots into her. The lesson? Assassination wins games
    It wasn't a great game though, so we're going to be playing it over again next week and put the lessons learned into action.

Myantek

   This game can be best summed up with a Penny Arcade Warmachine quote. Well that's bullshit, and you're bullshit, and your whole army is bullshit, and this whole table is bullshit, except my side which is balanced.
https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/02/14

Mark III Journeyman Battle 2

Magnus vs Helynna - Mangled Metal, 0 Points

   Our last game was fun but there was definitely a sense that neither of us knew quite what we were doing with our casters, so we decided to play another 0 Point game before expanding our lists.

Army Lists

Magnus the Traitor
Mangler
Rover

vs

Magister Helynna
Manticore
Chimera
Griffon

 

 

Scenario

   Assassination. Kill the enemy caster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set Up

   Myantek won the roll and chose to go first. I decided to pick my side because with no pathfinder that crater looked like a pain to deal with. Myantek set upon her left hand side while I set up on my right with an eye to getting on the hill.

Turn 1 

Retribution

   The Chimera Apparated forward (place this model anywhere completely within 2 inches). Helynna cast Rhythm of War (Warjacks in the battlegroup can advance 3 inches after all models have activated.) and Deceleration (+2 ARM vs Ranged and Magic attacks) and then advanced. The Griffon, Chimera, and Manticore all ran, then the whole battlegroup advanced another 3" thanks to Rhythm of War.

Mercs

   Magnus put Blur (+3 Defense against range and magic attacks.) on himself, Snipe (+4 Rng on target model.) on the Rover, and Death Ward (+2 ARM and pick hit locations.) on the Mangler, then advanced up behind the hill. The Mangler ran on to the hill, but the Rover didn't have quite enough movement to get on and ended up behind it.

Turn 2

Retribution

   Helynna paid one focus to upkeep Rhythm of War. The Chimera Apparated forward another 2". The Chimera, Griffon, and Manticore all advanced, with the Chimera 10" away from the Mangler. Helynna cast Obliteration (Cost 4, Rng 10, AOE 5, POW 15) though the arc node at the Mangler, but a low damage roll meant it bounced off thanks to Death Ward. The jacks then all backed out of retaliation range thanks to Rhythm of War.

Mercs

   Magnus upkept everything for free thanks to his Resourceful ability and assigned one focus to the Rover. The Rover advanced and shot at the Chimera, boosting to hit and damage. A good roll did 13 damage to the jack, blowing off its power field. Magnus and the Mangler simply advanced.

Turn 3

Retribution

   Helynna upkept Rhythm of War and assigned two focus to the Manticore. The Manticore advanced and rolled 1 for the number of shots it had this turn. It shot at the Mangler with a boosted to hit roll but with bad dice it missed due to the elevation bonus of the Mangler being on the hill. The Chimera and Griffon moved back and Helynna advanced forward and fixed 4 points of damage on the Chimera. The Manticore then used its Rhythm of War move to back up out of charge range.

Mercs

   Magnus upkept all his spells and assigned one focus to the Rover. The Rover advanced and with another good damage roll crippled the Chimer's right arm system. The Mangler then advanced into charge range of the Manticore, daring it to come in. Magnus advanced off the hill behind the Rover.

Turn 4

Retribution

   Helynna again upkept Rhythm of War. Helynna activated first and used her feat (+3 ARM to battlegroup. Remove all damage from warjack power fields. Ignore the effects of crippled systems for one ). She then cast Obliteration though the Chimera at the Rover doing 5 damage. Magnus spent a focus to shrug off damage from the blast. The Manticore aimed and shot the Rover doing another 6 points of damage. The Chimera and Manticore then retreated using Rhythm of War while the Griffon advanced forward.

Mercs

   Magnus upkept all his spells and assigned one focus to the Rover. It advanced and shot the Chimera for 7 damage, breaking its just fixed power field. The Mangler moved back into charge range of the Manticore. Magnus advanced to the Rover and fixed 3 points of damage.

Turn 5

Retribution

   Helynna upkept Rhythm of War and assigned two focus to both the Manticore and the Griffon. The Manticore spent a focus to (Gain +3 STR) and charged the Mangler. It hit but a bad damage roll meant it only did 4 which I assigned to column three thanks to Death Ward. The Manticore hit again with its second initial attack but bounced, bought an attack and did 3 more.
  
   The Griffon then charged the Rover and did 6 damage. The shield attack bounced, but it bought and boosted a second attack and did 5 more damage. Helynna advanced and fixed 5 more damage on the Chimera, which at this point between the repairs and feat had 15 damage points fixed on it so far. The Chimera then advanced thanks to Rhythm of War.

Mercs

   Magnus upkept his spells again and assigned two focus to both the Rover and Mangler. He then advanced, used his feat Hit and Run (Models in battlegroup gain Parry. After all models have activated all the models in his battlegroup can run for free.) and fixed 3 more points on the Rover. Last he cast Iron Aggression (Target warjack may run, charge, or slam for free. Melee attack rolls on the warjack are boosted.) on the Mangler.

   The Mangler then advanced and used its Thresher *attack (This model makes one attack against every target in its melee range and LOS. Thresher attacks are simultaneous.). This did 8 damage to the Griffon and crippled its shield. Between the Manglers two initial attacks and three more bought attacks it wrecked the Manticore.
  
   The Rover then attacked the Griffon. It missed its initial Axe attack, hit with the Shield for 2 points, missed with its Point Blank (may make a melee attack with its ranged weapon with a .5" melee range) gun shot. It then bought an attack and did 3 points, bought and missed, bought and did 4 points more. The whole battlegroup then ran, with the Mangler engaging Helynna and the Chimera, and the Rover getting close with Magnus behind it.

Turn 6

Retribution

   The Chimera Apparated behind the Mangler. Helynna assigned one focus to the Griffon. She then cast Obliteration though the Chimera at Magnus needing to hit DEF 17 thanks to Blur. A boosted roll made it and hit Magnus for 7 points of damage. She then risked the free strike from the Mangler to shoot at him and took 13 points of damage, reducing her to 3 points. Her shot missed.

   The Griffon then advanced and was just in melee range of Magnus. A solid hit did 9 more points of damage leaving him at one. The Chimera then advanced and made it to melee range. Spending its focus to boost to hit it did, and managed to do the 1 point of damage it needed to kill Magnus.

Afterward

Defenstrator

  There were two things to blame for that loss. The first was the Rover. As the saying goes, you had one job. The Griffon was sitting in front of it, damaged with no Shield, and it had six attacks. Could it close the deal? Nope. That left the Griffon around to deal the big smack to Magnus that put him in danger range.

   The other problem was me screwing up. I had a plan for the turn, which was kill the two jacks and then put pressure on Helynna, and followed it even though the Griffon lived. What I should have done was use my feat to reposition and trap the Griffon, making sure I could kill it next turn while keeping Magnus safe. Then it would have been Magnus and his two heavies against Helynna and her one light.

Myantek

   I got lucky.  He says that there are key things he did wrong, etc.  I got lucky.  I figured there wasn't a whole lot of options on my last turn.  He was going to catch me no matter where I went to hide so I went for it and did just enough damage to get the win.

  

Ashlynn vs Kaya

Highborn Covenant vs Circle Oborus - Sacrifice, 35 Points


   It's been a while since Myantek and I did a battle report, and we figured we should get back in the swing of things.

Army Lists

Highborn Covenant

Ashlynn D'Eleyse
Mule
Mariner
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters - Cylena and 9 grunts
Steelhead Halberdiers - Leader and 9 grunts
Harland Versh, The Illuminated One
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
Gorman di Wulf, Rogue Alchamist
Ogryn Bokur

vs

Circle Orboros

Kaya the Wildborne
Purblood Warpwolf
Feral Warpwolf
Feral Warpwolf
Argus
Wolves of Orboros - Leader and 9 grunts
Wolves of Orboros Unit Attachment - Cheiften and Standard Bearer
Alten Ashley

Scenario

Sacrifice

  This is a radial scenario and is played from corner to opposite corner. On the centre line between the two deployment areas a 12" circular zone is on one side and a flag is on the other. Starting on the second players second turn, if a player controls the zone and one of his models is touching the flag he scores a point. The first player to score 2 control points wins the game. When a point is scored any models touching the flag suffer a POW 20 magical damage roll, are pushed 3" away from the flag, and are knocked down.

Setup

   We rolled off and Myantek decided to go second so that she could try to score first. I set up with the Mariner and Mule in the centre. The Nyss were setup centre left so they coiuld go for the trees with the zone, with the Halberdiers centre right so they could cover the centre and flag. It isn't a good idea to get too near the edges of a radial zone because you end up having to move a lot further to get anywhere. Ashlynn stood behind the jacks. When I advance deployed my solos thanks to the Highborn Covenant rules I put Rhupert in the centre beside Ashlynn to cover the units, while Harland Versh, the Bokur, and his client Gorman were put in the ruins.

   Myantek put the Argus on my left to cover the forest, with Feral 1 beside it. The Pureblood, Kaya and Feral 2 held the centre, while the Wolves took the right flank to head towards the flag. Alten Ashley advance deployed opposite the woods.

Turn 1

   I assigned one focus each to the Mule and Mariner. They then began the turn by running forward to get out of the way. The Nyss then run towards the trees. Ashlynn put Quicken (+2 SPD and +2 DEF vs ranged and magic attacks) on the Steelheads and advanced. Rhupert moved up beside her and played Dirge of Mists (+1 DEF and Terror) on the Steelheads. The Bokur, Gorman, and Harlan Versh all ran into the ruins, followed by the Steelheads who zoom forward to cover the centre.

   The Wolves of Orboros start the turn by running towards the flag. The Argus riled for a fury point and then ran towards the forest, with Feral 1 warping for +2 ARM and doing the exact same thing. The Pureblood warped for Spellward (can't be targeted by spells) and ran up to join them, followed by Feral 2 who also warped for +2 ARM. Kaya then activated, advanced, and cast Spirit Fang at a Steelhead but is just short. She then cast Spirit Door to teleport over to Feral 1. Myantek, realising she has accidently given herself too much fury she burned the last one on Kaya. Alten Ashley then activated, shooting at and missing a Steelhead thanks to their current DEF of 16 vs shooting.

Turn 2

   I saw an opportunity and decide to go for it. Kaya has teleported back, but there is a gap between Feral 1 and the Pureblood.  I upkept Quicken on the Halberdiers and gave two focus to the Mariner. Ashlynn advanced and used her feat Roulette. Now for a turn all attack roles in her CTRL area roll an extra 2 dice and then discard 2 dice, and I get to decide which ones are discarded. Ashlynn then puts Admonition (if an enemy model ends its movement within 6", the target model can make an advance while ignoring free strikes) on the Mule. The Nyss Hunters then advanced through the woods, and thanks to Hunter (ignore forests for LOS ) and positioning, most of the Nyss are able to see Kaya. Two combined ranged attacks later and she's dead.

Afterward

Defenstrator
  
   Well that was rather abrupt. To be honest we thought of doing the re-match then and there, but we had already started pretty late. I was lucky the Nyss Hunters were able to pull it off, because in my eagerness to set them up I'd blocked LOS to Kaya for the Mariner, which was the model I was actually expecting to do the job. I thought Myantek would put Occultation (grants Stealth) on the Wolves while she blitzed with the heavy beasts, but she didn't use Occultation, and didn't form enough of a pocket with her heavies to hide in. I was expecting to have to whittle her heavies down before my jacks went in, which is risky with her ability to have the heavies charge in and then be teleported back. So when I had a chance to go for the heart I took it.

Myantek

Oops!  I thought I had blocked LOS to Kaya with the Pureblood, but there was just enough space to be picked off.  I've had a lot of bad luck regarding Frenzy checks lately so I really didn't want to have to leave any Fury on any beast. 

It sort of disappointing because I felt I was on the right track.  I don't think the radial scenarios are ones that this army can win on scenario.  My best bet is to try to keep my opponent from sccoring points until I can get the assassination.

Aiyanna & Holt

These two show up in a lot of my lists. Whether playing Cygnar or Mercs being able to ignore things like Safe Passage, Wind Wall, etc, plus being able to shoot incoporeal models, is just great. Plus they are one of the few damage buffs Cygnar and Mercs have access to. Holt adds some nice shooting as well. Hard to complain about RAT 8 handcannons.

The colours reflect the armies I have. Purple and grey for my Highborn, and blue and yellow for my Cygnar.

Harlan Versh

Been a while since I posted. Familyand Christmas were an excuse for December, but for January I've just been too lazy to get all the photos off the camera and too busy playing video games to do much painting.

Harlan Versh is a fun guy to play and was pretty fun to paint. He has my standard merc leather coat with black hat, with purple from my Highborn force and blue and yellow from my Cygnar. My hardest time was with his face, and I can't say that I'm really that pleased with it. I may go back and try to touch it up at some point.

Anastasia

I've been using Anastasia with Epic Stryker alot. Combined with his feat you can really tear the guts out of your opponents army, and people have started to go out of their way to kill her. I find that trying to bring her on a table edge hasn't worked out that well. Better to hide her in the middle of the army right opposite the enemy warcaster, and use her Acrobatics to get where she needs to. She has some Llael purple on her but unfortunately none of the army scheme's terracota.

Epic Eiryss

Epic Eiryss is both handy on the battlefield and a dramatic looking model. Unfortunately there's that whole chimney thing. So that had to go and I built up the base with cork and gravel. She's a bit of an experiment in brown, but I like the raw leather look for my mercs cloaks/coats, and the rest of her didn't seem conducive to brighter colours.

Older Highborn Stuff

Putting up the Talon reminded me that there are a bunch of figures that I painted for my Highborn army that never saw the light of day. These are old figures but I decided to put them up for sake of completeness. There is also a group shot of all my mercenaries so far.

The Nomad

The Mule

Battlegroup and Army

The Talon

I took a small break from my Cygnar stuff to paint up my Talon. We've been playing a bunch of new players lately, and this has meant alot of battlebox games. Since some of them play Cygnar I have been playing my Highborn against them, and wanted a fully painted battlebox set. I also painted up the matching light wreck marker for my merc force as well.