Thagrosh and Legion's Light Beasts vs Kaya's Fuzzies

Legion vs Circle 500 Points

We have been playing hard but not much has been getting stuck on the blog. Saturdays we've been introducing some new players and have actually gotten hooked on quick 350 point round robin action. Short, sweet, and brutal. Mondays tend to be the 750 point serious games. This is a 500 pointer that Myantek and I squeezed in during the week. It was a quick assassination game with two play for fun lists. Kaya and some classic Primal vs Thagrosh and all the Legion light beasts out there. I tried to fit in the Harrier but couldn't quite squeeze it in, but was alright with it because it still fit the theme.

Legion

Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight

Seraph

Teraph

Nephilim

Raek

Shredder

Vassal + 6 Swordsmen

Forsaken

Swamp Gobbers

Circle

Kaya the Wildborne

Warpwolf

Warpwolf

Argus

Argus

Huntsman + 8 Wolves of Orboros

Totem Hunter

Set Up

The terrain was two forest templates on the right side, each about a third of the way up from the edge of the board. Some small walls near the deployment zones were centre, while the left was dominated by a temple complex in the middle of the board.

Myantek went first and set up the Wolves behind the temple. Warpwolf 1 was to the right with the Totem Hunter beside him. Continuing right, beside and behind the forest were Warpwolf 2, Argus 1, Kaya, and then Argus 2 on the other side of the forest.

I set my Legion up in a more central position. Holding the left flank was the Teraph, with the Swordsmen lined up beside him. Continuing in a tight line were the Nephilim, Swamp Gobbers, Shredder, Thagrosh, Seraph, Raek, and lastly the Forsaken a good distance from the Swamp Gobbers.

Circle Turn 1

The Wolves run to the temple outskirts where they are joined by the Totem Hunter. Kaya puts Rager on Warpwolf 2 and moves forward into the forest. Argus 2 runs into position between the two forest templates. Both the Warpwolves add two to their ARM and move forward. Argus 1 riles and runs in front of the trees.

Legion Turn 1

The Teraph moves up and shoots at the Wolves. Out of range the AOE deviates onto nothing. Thagrosh activates and begins by casting Death Shroud, Draconic Blessing on the Nephilim, and Slipstream. He then walks forward and Slipstreams the Seraph forward. The Seraph then activates and casts Slipstream, moving Thagrosh up as it advances. The Serpah then unloads on Argus 2, destroying its Spirit. The Shredder starts by going Rabid and then walks forward eight inches before putting Tenacity on Thagrosh while the Nephilim riles and then runs up beside it. Next the Forsaken moves up and around the forest before grabbing the fury off the Seraph, after which the Raek runs to put itself between Thagrosh and the Circle army. Carefully skirting around the Forsaken the Gobbers put a 5" Cloud in fron of Thagrosh and on both the Raek and Shredder. The Swordsmen then run to the outskirts of the temple, keeping it between them and the wolves.

Circle Turn 2

Kaya leeches all and upkeeps Rager. The Wolves run, circling around the temple to flank. The Totem Hunter pushes forward to join them. Warpwolf 1 keeps the high ARM and walks back almost to where he started, while Warpwolf 2 runs behind the forest. Argus 1 also runs behind the forest while Kaya heals Argus 2 for two life, before it too runs behind the forest.

Legion Turn 2

Thagrosh leeches all and gets his final fury from the Anthanc, before upkeeping Draconic Strength on the Nephilim. The Seraph goes first and moves up to shoot at Warpwolf 1, but is just short. The Shredder puts Tenacity on Thagrosh and advances. Thagrosh then casts Deathshroud and Slipstream. He moves forward to drag the Seraph back before turning left so that he'll keep the Teraph in range after it advances. Now it's the Teraph's activation and it moves up and hunkers beside a stone pillar, before squeezing off a shot and annihilating the Totem Hunter and a Wolf of Orboros with boosted rolls. The Swordsmen run into the temple ruins edge and cause a stand off, since neither side can effectively charge each other.

The rest is positioning. The Raek runs to a forward position by the Temple while the Nephilim moves up to support the Swordsmen. The Gobbers move up some more and put the 5" Cloud AOE down to block line of sight to the Seraph and Thagrosh. Lastly the Forsaken grabs a fury off the Shredder.

Circle Turn 3

Kaya leeches all and upkeeps Rager on Warpwolf 2. Having sucked a large chunk of my army away from the heavy hitters the Wolves fall back to their starting side of the temple. On the other side the Circle moves out, with Argus 2 running to the open centre between the forests. Warpwolf 1 takes +2 movement and runs to position beside Argus 2. Warpwold 2 takes +2 ARM and runs through the trees to come out in front of the forest. Kaya moves up behind Argus 1 and Warpwolf 1 and then heals Argus 2 for three more points.

Legion Turn 3

Thagrosh leaches all and upkeeps Draconic Blessing. The Teraph walks into the temple and shoots at another Wolf. It's short, but the scatter gods are with me and another Wolf dies to a boosted AOE. The Seraph aims, blows the Body off of Argus 1, but then misses all three of its strafe attacks. The Shredder goes Rabid again and circles round Thagrosh before putting Tenacity on the Seraph. Thagrosh casts Slipstream, Deathshroud, and moves to and away from the Seraph to drag it away from the front. I quickly count up Fury current and to come and realise I risk frenzy next turn, so Thagrosh then hits the Seraph with Twisted Form (-2 fury)which deals with that problem. The Swamp Gobbers block line of sight to Thagrosh and get the Seraph in the cloud. The Raek moves up beside a temple column and casts Shadowstalk at the Wolves of Orboros to try and stop them from getting away, while the Nephilim runs to beside the Shredder to block access to Thagrosh. The Swordsmen run through and into the temple while the Forsaken moves up behind the Seraph.

Circle Turn 4

Kaya leeches all. The Wolves circle some more and the Raek activates Shadowstalk to move after them. Argus 2 runs forward to the Swamp Gobbers with Warpwolf (at +2 SPD) right behind. Warpwolf 1 chrages the Seraph but falls short thanks to Slipstream. Argus 1 walks forward followed by Kaya. Her movement puts her back into control range of Argus 2 and she goes for the assassination run. Within two inches, as opposed to completely within, lets her hop over the Gobbers and into range of Thagrosh. She starts pounding with boosteed hit and damage rolls. Pops feat, keeps pounding, gets a Critical and knocks Thagrosh down, but due to Death Shroud just can't finish him.

Legion Turn 4

Thagrosh leeches and upkeeps Draconic Blessing. The Nephilim charges over Thagrosh to whack Kaya for fourteen points of damage. Thagrosh then stands up and explodes her into a cloud of ash.

Afterward

Defenstrator

That was a game of manuever followed by sudden death. I felt there was good play on both sides of this one. My Slipstream antics managed to keep the Seraph just out of charge range while still being able to shoot stuff up, keeping the Circle back out of effective range. On the other hand I had a Teraph, Raek, Nephilim and unit of Swordsmen hunting a unit of Wolves and a Totem Hunter, so Myantek was basicly doing the same to me on the other side. Even my one actual kill that was worth victory points, the Totem Hunter, came about because I got lucky with an above average damage roll, so I can't say I outplayed her on this one.

Basically it came down to Death Shroud. When Kaya got in I was sure I was dead since I'm so used to playing the lower ARM ladies of Legion. I think Myantek thougt the same thing. Instead we were both surprised as a combination of Death Shroud and lowish damage rolls meant that most of Kaya's attacks did minimal damage, setting her up to be killed next turn.

I do think that Myantek could have been a bit more aggressive with her main force. Craming two Warpwolves down someones throat is tough for anyone to deal with, and with her Argus she had ample transfer targets to weather the Seraph. If it had been Kaya doing the charging and then teleporting in a Warpwolf it would have been all over. On the other hand, it was because she withdrew for a turn that the rest of my army got so out of position chasing the Wolves, so who knows?

Myantek

I wanted to play the force that I've been painting, just to see how it works before adding in some of the Evolution goodies. Defenstrator has been converting a second Waprwolf for me so it's only been relatively recently that I've gotten to use the two of them together. I still feel pretty rusty (not having played quite as many games recently as Defenstrator has) so I'm playing to keep with this army for a bit to really get a feel for it. That said, I do think I need to change up the playing style a bit if I hope to get some victories.

Defenstrator was right. I needed to be more aggressive with this force. I was happy with the way the Wolves were dealing with thier flank but, once again, I lost position of the Totem Hunter and he died before he got to do anything. I know this guy is much better than my use of him.

As for Kaya, I shouldn't have used her for the assassination. I sort of forgot that Deathshroud was up (when I shouldn't have, Thagrosh always has Deathshroud up) but I felt it was the time to make my move. Defenstrator is very careful when playing against Kaya to avoid getting any space for something to jump in to so when I see the moment he's left the space, especially with no transfer options the thing that leaps to mind is assassinate. I felt my chances were OK but Kaya just couldn't get past the -2 STR. I probably should have just given the Warpwolf some speed and charged the Seraph to play the yoyo and removed some of Thag's Fury potential, and the shooting on that flank. Hindsight is 20/20.

Thralls and Alexia

These are some more in depth shots of Alexia, along with two Thrall Warriors. I use her infrquently with my Cygnar but they are a staple in my Merc army. So much so that one friend calls it the Alexia army, that just happens to have a warcaster in it as well. I have to admit, she really is almost that good.

The Risen

I (Defenstrator) also play Warmachine. Alexia here does double duty in both my Highborn and Cygnar lists.

Harriers and Shredders

These are my lesser warbeasts for Legion, 4 Harriers and 4 Shredders. You may note that in the picture there are only three Harriers. That's because one fell to the floor seconds before I was about to take the photo, breaking off both wings and chipping him. He's all fixed now though.

Warlock Debut! Rhyas vs. Kromac

Legion vs Circle 500 points

We had a Hordes/Warmachine Christmas this year. Both of socks were full of pewter goodness. Not alot of it is put together quite yet so we haven't been able to try out that much stuff from Evolution but we decided to face each other with untested warlocks. Just staight up assassination but neither of us had used either Rhyas or Kromac so we wanted to keep it simple.

Armies

Legion

Rhyas, Sigil of Everblight
Carnivean
Teraph
4 Warmongers and Apostle
9 Blighted Swordsmen and Vassal
The Forsaken
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Circle

Kromac the Ravenous
Warpwolf
Warpwolf
Woldwatcher
5 Tharn Ravgers and Beast Lord
Lord of the Feast

Set Up

The table was pretty even with a large hill on each short end of the table and a stand of trees in each half on the right hand side. Opposite the tree Defenstrator placed a large flat hill that had limited access points.

Legion won the die roll and chose to set up and go first. The Teraph was chosen as the centre model and everything deployed around it. The Warmongers were to the left with the Swordsmen clustered in front of them. The Forsaken and Rhyas set up nearly behind it and the Carnivean placed itself in the trees to the right. Bringing up the rear wither the Swmp Gobbers being very careful to stay far enough away from all the fearful abominations.

With Circle I decided to stay on the troop side to try to avoid the Carnivean as long as possible. The two Warpwolves were placed side by side near the entrance of the valley with the Ravagers to their right. Kromac chose to start the battle in human form and was behind the Warpwolves. With advance deploy the Woldwatcher and Lord of the Feast were tucked into the lee of the hill.

Legion Turn 1

Rhyas started the game by casting Rapport on the Teraph and then Dash to cover everyone. She acrobatically leaped over everything in front of her to land at the base of the large central hill.

Taking advantage of Dash the Swordsmen and the Warmongers ran. The Swordsmen moved to fill the valley while the Warmongers established the Legion on the central hill. The Teraph ran to the central hill and the Forsaken moved next to Rhyas and drew off the Teraph's Fury. The Carnivean was riled and then ran from the trees to beside the hill. The Swamp Gobbers moved close (but not too close) to Rhyas and the Forsaken.

Circle Turn 1

My turn began with simple positioning. Warpwolf 1 moved to the hill on the far left and riled and the Woldwarden moved closer to the central hill and put his animus on the Lord of the Feast to give him Vigilance. The Lord then moved closer to the construct. Warpwolf 2 moved closer to the Lord and riled as the Ravagers moved to fill the space between the Warpwolves.

Kromac moved in behind Warpwolf 2 and cast Howling Pit at the Sworsmen. It was short and deviated uselessly toward the central hill. He then cast Brutality on the Lord of the Feast.

Legion Turn 2

Rhyas leached from the Carnivean and chose to upkeep Rapport. She cast Dash again and moved to join the Teraph.

The Teraph moved to the front of the hill and shot at the Lord of the Feast, boosting both its hit and damage rolls, for 6 points. The blast also caught the Woldwarden and Warpwolf 2 but did nothing to them.

The Carnivean continued its move around the hill and the Forsaken ran to join it. The Warmongers ran to the front of the Ravagers but were only able to engage 2 of them. The Swamp Gobbers moved up and Concealed the Warmongers as the Swordsmen continued to move down the valley.

Circle Turn 2

Kromac leached to his full Fury and chose to upkeep Brutality. He moved away from the valley and towards the central hill then cast Howling Pit at the Teraph. It missed with the deviation moving into an open space for the second time.

The Woldwarden moved and attempted to shoot the Teraph but missed as well.

More repositioning as the Lord of the Feast moved up behind the Woldwarden again, Warpwolf 1 moved in front of Kromac, Warpwolf 2 ran in front of the Lord of the Feast and the Ravagers spread themselves out a bit but mostly attempted to prevent flanking from the troops coming down the valley.

Legion Turn 3

Rhyas started the turn by reaving from the Teraph, upkeeping Rapport and casting Dash and Mind Ripper. She attacked Warpwolf 1 and while her attack bounced she managed 2 points with the spell.

The Carnivean assaulted Warpfolf 1 but its spray missed. It did do 3 points of damage to the Ravager standing behind the beast and then cast Spiny Growth in anticipation of the coming payback. The Teraph moved up beside the Carnivean, shot the Woldwatcher and boosted damage to destroy its Mind aspect, then gave itself the Counterblast animus.

The Warmongers charged the Ravagers but missed. Warpwolf 1 was also caught in their charge but they missed it as well. The Swordsmen charged the Ravagers and managed to kill two of them. The Swamp Gobbers put a 3" smoke template on the Forsaken and Rhyas.

Circle Turn 3

Kromac reaved up to his full Fury and chose not to upkeep anything..

The Lord of the Feast charged a Warmonger, got 2 attacks with Wurmblade and managed to turn his target into Carrion. The Woldwatcher had lost its Mind so simply pulled back as it was nothing more than a Vigilance battery. Warpwolf 2 charged the Carnivean causing the Teraph's Counterblast to engage. Its poisoned tail lashed forward but missed its target. The Warpwolf savaged the Carnivean but was unable to finish the job when it missed with it's Chain Ripper attack. Spiny Growth inflicted decent damage in return.

Kromac charged the Warmonger but used the reach of Dusk and Dawn to avoid getting in the way of anything that might want to get through the space he was hopefully about to leave. He did kill the Warmonger, using all of his current Fury to do so and then used his Dominance to steal the Fury off the Legion beasts. He cast Brutality on the Ravagers and used Vigilance on Warpwolf 1.

The Ravagers then charged into the Swordsmen and killed 5 of them, while also not killing any of their fellow Ravagers. Warpwolf 1 walked up the to Carnivean and almost, but not quite, kills him. He also takes a bunch of damage from the spiney Carnivean.

Legion Turn 4

Rhyas is forced to cut herself for 5 Fury. She doesn't use it to upkeep any spell.

The Forsaken moved behind Warpwolf 1, however, the beast's Vigilance allows it to activate and it casually moves over and kills the Forsaken.

Rhyas takes stock of the situation, leaps over the Carnivean and the Warpwolves to charge Kromac. Before attacking she pops her Feat, Tide of Blood. She boosts and her first hit gets Critical Decapitation and cuts deep for 14 points of damage, transforming him into his beast form. But that's not enough to prevent her from killing him as she boosts and gets another Critical Decapitation with her second blow.

Afterward

Myantek - So I had one good turn. I was very happy with how I used Kromac's feat. I was able to do lots of stuff that ended up killing several Warmongers and the Forsaken (I hate those guys) and caused Rhyas to damage herself if she wanted to do anything the next turn. Of course, what she wanted to do to me the next turn was kill me so it wasn't a total win situation.

I sort of threw the army together without much thought, every time I was constructing Kromac lists in my head I was using models that I didn't have yet. I didn't think Defenstator wanted to do the Kromac/Rhyas battle the night we did so I was planning to field the Kaya force I've been painting. As it was, I'm pretty happy with the way the army worked. Once I learn how to better use some of the models in it, I rarely field the Woldwatcher or the Lord of the Feast, it'll go a bit better. I think it's a pretty tight little group.

Things I learned:

1. Kromac's spells are cool, need to cast them at better times and targets.
2. Kromac's feat is nifty against Hordes.
3. Brutality + Ravagers = Yummy
4. Vigilance does work!
5. Don't lose track of Rhyas.

The last turn probably could have turned out a bit better if I'd actually been thinking. That last Fury Kromac was holding probably should have been used to transfer to the Woldwatcher. The 14 points that Rhyas did to him might have been enough to kill the Woldwatcher and give Fury back that I could have used to transform after the next hit. I still think she would have killed him, but it might have made it a bit tougher.

Defenstrator - That was an interesting game. I've been playing mainly Warmachine as of late so it was nice to play the speedy Legion again. As descibed, Rhyas is a bit of a one trick pony but her one trick is really good.

I took the win with it but I'm not sure that things went the way they should have. As pointed out, if Myantek had played her Fury differently Rhyas may not have been able to power all the way through the mound of muscle that is Kromac. Had things been different I might have been better off playing more conservatively and using Rhys to kill off a Warpwolf. With Critical Decapitation and her feat I think most of Myantek's army would have been killed that turn, and with Rhyas Invisible would have been safe from Kromac's counter attack. With most of my army left I could have dealt with him much more safely the following turn. As it was I felt my butt really hangning in the wind. If Rhyas had rolled poorly the next turn would have probably been her doom.

It was also different to play with so many troops. Normaly I run very beast heavy with only one warrior unit. Having two full units on the table made for an interesting experience with Legion, although they felt a bit unsupported. In Warmachine I'm normaly spoiled for buff spells so only having Rhyas's Dash felt a little lacking. I had to remind myself that it is her Feat and own abilities that really make her army flow, but the game ended before I could really see it all in action. I was also reminded that Vigilance is awesome and Counterblast.... isn't. I don't think that's news to anybody though.

We've been doing stuff (but at least my Terpah is done).

It's been way too long since we posted on the blog. We have been doing stuff. Really. Games have been played and models painted. But life has been busy so things were neglected. Hopefully we can get back on track and get some more games posted. In the meantime you can see how I spent some of my time.

My Legion hasn't been getting a whole lot of love unfortunately. I'm devoted to getting my Warmachine Merc army fully completed and that's been taking the bulk of my time not devoted to terrain or video games. The Teraph jumped in just because I really wanted to paint the model. While only a so-so beast I think the model is one of the best in the whole Hordes range and really needed to get him all done up.

Baldur vs Thagrosh Battle of Assassination

Legion vs Circle 500 points

Description

This is a straightforward 500 point game with caster kill as the only objective.

Set Up

Readers of our other reports will notice that the table and terrain have changed. This is my new table which I have built so we can have two games going at a time. On it is terrain all from the new GW terrain package, as at the moment I have more money than time.


The table was set up in essentialy a mirror fashion. A large hill down (my) left side, a forest a third of the way up from each table edge, and then a hill with some ruins on top of it.


Forces

Legion:

• Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight
• Seraph
• Seraph
• Harrier
• Harrier
• Shredder
• Shredder
• Apostle + 4 Warmongers
• Forsaken
• Forsaken

500 points.

Circle:

• Baldur the Stonecleaver
• Woldwarden
• Woldwarden
• Woldwatcher
• Beastlord + 5 Tharn Ravagers
• Shifting Stones

500 points.

Deployment

Myantek (Circle) won the roll off and decided to go first. Baldur was placed in the centre of the table with the woods on his left. The two Woldwardens flanked him with Woldwarden 2 facing the ruined hill and Woldwarden 1 behind the forest. The Ravagers were placed behind the forest to its right.

I responded by putting Thagrosh down nearly opposite Baldur. Seraph 2 and Harrier 2 were placed to his right facing the ruined hill. Progressing left I placed the Warmongers in the gap between the ruined hill and the forest with Forsken 2 behind them. Continuing left came Shredder 2, Shredder 1, and Seraph 1, all set up beside the forest. Forsken 1 was at the forest edge, ready to move up around it.

Myantek then advance deployed the Shifting Stones in front of Woldwarden 2 and the Woldwatcher into the forest.

The Battle

Turn 1, Circle

Circle opens with the Woldwardens. Number 1 moved into the forest and used its animus Undergrowth while number 2 moved forward into the Shifting Stones and did the same. The Ravagers then crowded into the forest. Baldur moved up to join them and cast Stoneskin on himself and Rapid Growth in the open space in front of the Warmongers, then sits on 2 fury. The Woldwatcher hunkered down and went into Stone Form while the Shifting Stones just sat there.

Turn 1, Legion

The Warmongers run forward as fast as their stubby legs can carry them. Shredders 1 and 2 then each go Rabid, walk forward through the forest, and use Tenacity on a Warmonger. Seraph 2 then Slpistreams Thagrosh forward 2 inches while advancing up behind the ruined hill. Harrier 2 dashes forward to lurk amongst the ruins on the hill. Thagrosh then walks forward to stand behind the Warmongers and casts Death Shroud and Tenacity on the remaining 3, holding one fury for himself.Harrier 1 riles for 2 and walks into the forest beside the Shredders with Seraph 1 moving up beside it. Forsaken 1 then moves up beside the forest using it as cover.

Turn 2, Circle

Baldur leeches 4, drops Stoneskin, and upkeeps Rapid Growth. Woldwarden 2 in the Shifting Stones decides to Earth Spikes Harrier 2. I have elevation and cover. Oh wait, it ignores those so I have nothing. Looks like it isn't just Legion that ignores stuff. Boosted hit and damage rolls mean Harrier 2 gets knocked down by the critical and loses its Body aspect. The Woldwatcher then moves forward out of the trees and shoots at Harrier 1, but misses. Woldwarden 1 then moves up and Earth Spikes at Harrier 1. It is short and so misses but the template deviates onto it anyway and Seraph 1. Both take 4 points of damage from boosted rolls. The Ravagers move up partially out of the trees. Baldur then walks through the trees to beside Woldwarden 1 and puts Stone Skin on himself.

Turn 2, Legion

Thagrosh leeches 6 fury. Harrier 2 gets up and moves forward to flank Woldwarden 2. Seraph 2 Slipstreams Thagrosh over and moves up. Unfortunately it can't quite clear the bases of the Warmongers and so lands behind them. This puts it just out of range of Woldwarden 2. Thagrosh then walks past the Warmongers and casts Obliterate at Woldwarden 1. He does 8 points to it and a point to Baldur with boosted damage rolls, before ending his activation with 1 fury. Forsaken 2 moves up and grabs the 2 fury on Seraph 2. The Warmongers, desperate to get stuck in before Baldur feats, chrage Woldwarden 1. Two manage to squeeae past the Rapid Growth template to make the charge and do 14 points to Woldwarden 1, knocking off its Body aspect. Seraph 1 moves out of the trees and unloads a devastaing Blight Strike on the Woldwatcher. With 5 extra shots the construct is destroyed in one hail of fire. Forsaken 1 them moves behind Seraph 1 and grabs the 3 fury. Shredder 1 goes Rabid, moves up, and puts Tenacity on Serpah 1. Shredder 2 does the same except to Thagrosh. Lastly, Harrier 1 tries to screw up the Ravager chrage by flying straight across the field and engaging the first two Ravagers.

Turn 3, Circle

Baldur leeches 4 and upkeeps nothing. Woldwarden 2 begins the turn by charging the Warmongers. His charge attack kills one and second attack kills another. Baldur then activates and heals Woldwarden 1 for a point of Body, restoring that aspect. He then Forest Walks over to Harrier 1 which he promptly beats to death, freeing the Ravagers. He then casts Rapid Growth in front of the Warmongers and uses his feat Broken Earth. The Ravagers, their line of sight not blocked by forests, charge through the Rapid growth into the Warmongers, killing 2 more. Woldwarden 1 then Earth Spikes the Warmonger Apostle, criticaly hitting him and knocking down both him and Shredder 1. Happy at how things are going Myantek then forgets to move her Shifting Stones.

Turn 3, Legion

Thagrosh leeches. Seraph 2 aims and unloads on Woldwarden 2, but only gets 1 extra shot and does minimal damage. Shredder 1 stands up, shuffles left around Baldurs control zone, and puts Tenacity on Seraph 1. Seraph 1 slides right and shoots at Woldwarden 1 but does mediocre damage with some rolls missing and others bouncing off. Forsaken 1 walks up and Blight Shrouds Woldwarden 2 for 23 points of damage while Forsaken 2 moves up and grabs 2 fury off Serpah 2. The Warmonger Apostle then stands up a pokes Woldwarden 2 for a couple of points. Desperate to make one of these constructs die Thagrosh Obliterates Woldwarden 1 again and kills him, and does a couple of points of damage to a Ravager as a bonus. As an insult to injury he then casts Twisted Form on Woldwarden 2, reducing it to 1 fury. Baldur reaves the fury produced. Harrier 2 finishes the turn by skirting back closer to the action.

Turn 4, Circle


Baldur leeches the 1 fury remaining, putting him at five. Baldur casts Earth Spikes at Seraph 1, gets the critical yet again, and knocks it down along with the Apostle. The Shifting Stones move up closer to Woldwarden 2. Woldwarden 2 tries to Earth Spike Thagrosh but misses, and the scatter hits nothing. The Ravagers then charge, killing the knocked down Seraph 1 and Apostle, as well as Shredder 1 from which Thagrosh reaves 2 fury.

Turn 4, Legion

Thagrosh leeches and combined with the Anthanc is at full fury. Seraph 2 moves over and Slipstreams Thagroahs clear of the forest before shooting up Woldwarden 2. Forsaken 1 moves up and grabs the Seraph's 3 fury. Forsken 1 then Blight Shrouds, but does little, just plinking the Woldwarden and Ravagers. Harrier 2 charges the Woldwarden and manages to inflict a couple of points of damage. Shredder 2 then shows how it's done. He goes Rabid, walks up, kills Woldwarden 2, and then a Ravager with his second attack. Baldur reaves the 1 fury off the Woldwarden. Thagrosh hefts Rapture and charges the Ravagers. He kills two with blows and two more from Eruption of Ash. He tries to finish the unit with a Mutagenisis at the Beastlord but only wounds him. He then uses his feat Dark Revival to bring back Seraph 1 beside him.

Turn 5, Circle

It's the do or die turn for Circle. Baldur cuts himself for five fury. The Beastlord charges Thagrosh to avenge his pack but misses. He buys a second attack with the heart token he had remaining and this time connects heavily. Thagrosh spends his fury and transfers the damage to Seraph 2. Baldur then Forest Walks into the woods Thagrosh is standing beside. He savagely beats Thagrosh until he is dead, dead, dead.

Afterward

Defenstrator

This was a good game. Lots of killing and a close finish. My man of the match was Seraph 1 who vaporised the Woldwatcher and put down a pretty solid hail of fire throughout the game. My other Seraph did well, using Slipstream to get Thagrosh into position time and time again while adding his own firepower to the fray. I'm still getting a sense of this army but it is definately a kind of brick. I actually think of it as a mobile fortress. The Warmongers and Thagrosh form a keep while the Serpahs act as the defenses guns, pounding the approaching foe. The Harriers and Shredders can sally forth and attack as needed.

My biggest mistake was not keeping the main plan going. My first turn I had the brick in solid shape with Death Shroud and Tenacity. Then I dropped it all to dash forward, which left the Warmongers hanging in the open ready to be savaged by Myantek's counter attack. I think I felt rushed because of Baldur's feat. Those Earth Spikes were chewing me up and I was worried that the army would be destroyed at range while my Warmongers were unable to close. Instead I rushed up to engage and got them slaughtered. Fortunately they bought me enough time for my own shooting to soften up the Circle.

I also didn't see coming Baldur's last ditch Forest Walk beside Thagrosh. I had been watching out for that move all game but Baldur had always been too far away to accomplish it. In my rush to charge the Ravagers I didn't realise I had put myself that much closer to Baldur, a fact which Myantek capitalsed on to end the game when I had been counting on the Eruption of Ash templates to block LOS and keep him safe. Unfortunately my beasts either had full fury or no fury so I had no way to kill one and keep the transfer process going. Something else to watch for next time, especially as I could have prevented it just by putting my revived Seraph in that spot.

Myantek

I was really happy with the way the Ravagers worked out for me this game. I'm getting a bit better at keeping thme out of danger until they can make that charge. Maybe I'll learn how to do that with the Woldwatcher someday.

I felt like a lot of the battle I was just a little bit further away than I'm used to. I've gotten pretty used to Kaya's mobility, and Baldur's just a bit... slower. My plan was to ignore his hard wall and try to pick off some of the smaller beasts (the Harriers and the Shredders) before having to deal with the harder , tougher things. That didn't quite work as Defenstrator's force was just that much faster than mine. On the positive side, Baldur's army is so compact that it's easy to throw support to either side. I never really feel in danger of being flanked.

I had planned to pop the feat on the second turn but I'm glad that I waited until the third. In the end it worked out a lot better for me. I probably should have used the Beastlord's heart token to boost the charge attack but I didn't think he'd have a problem with his +2 to hit bonus and was trying to use up the Fury before Baldur walked in. To my great surprise, the assassination run with Baldur actually presented itself. It was tight but there was just enough room to put Baldur both completely within the forest and completely within his control range while being close enough to Thagrosh to hit him. I didn't feel like the game was really ever out of control but I knew that last turn was do or die. I knew that if Baldur had to cut himself for Fury that he only had one turn to get it done.

No, we can't believe it happened either.