Epic Test. Lylyth and Madrak go at it.

750 Points Legion vs Trollbloods

Regular readers will note that the only games that normaly appear in this blog are the ones between Myantek and myself. I thought it was time to change that because we do play other people, and in fact do so more often than we play each other.

Everyone wanted to try out the new epic warlocks so my friend (known as Indy on the PP forums) and I went at it with Legion vs Trollbloods in a straight up Mosh Pit scenario.

Legion

Lylyth, Shadow of Everblight

Carnivean

Seraph

Teraph

Shredder

Striders

Vassal + 9 Archers

Deacon & Ammo Porter Unit Attachment

Vassal + 7 Swordsmen

Incubi

Shepherd

Forsaken

Trollbloods

Madrak Ironhide, World Ender

Earthborn Dire Troll

Axer

Impaler

Bouncer

Champions

War Shaman + 7 Warriors

Kithkar + 2 Long Riders

Krielstone Bearer + 4 Scribes

Fell Caller

Set up

The table was the standard 4x4 with a mirror set up. Each side had a small hill coming out from the side, some trees and some pillars in the middle. This made for a field with open flanks, some concealment and cover nrear the centre, and an open area in the centre of the board to fight in. Right in the middle was a small platform but we counted that as decorative open terrain, an ideal marker for the scenario.

The scenario itslef was Mosh Pit, which meant that by the top of turn three both sides always had to have a model within 8 inches of the centre. Indy won the roll and decided to go first.

He began by putting the Long Riders on the flank, my far left. Going across were the Impaler, Champions, Bouncer, Earthborn and Axer.Madrak was set up behind and touching the Bouncer, and then surrounded by Kriel Warriors. The Fell Caller stood behind the Champions. At the very back of everyone was the Krielstone Bearer.

I set up my Swordsmen on my left flank opposite the Long Riders with the idea of trying to stall, if not kill them. Going across I set up the Seraph, Forsaken, Lylyth, and Shredder behind the trees. The Carnivean was set up next with an eye on holding the centre with the Teraph beside him and the Shepherd behind. Covering the open section of the field the Archers + UA were placed beside the Teraph. Indy had no advance deploy units so I then put the Sriders as far forward as I could on the far right to try get them into the trees on the opposite side.

Turn 1

Trollbloods

This was a redeployment turn for Indy. The Long Riders ran to the centre while the Earthborn, Bouncer, and Axer ran straight forward. The Champions then ran up behind the Long Riders followed by Madrak, who began the activation by dumping all his fury into the Kriel Stone. The Kriel Warriors followed at +2 movement with the Fell Caller beside them while the Impaler ran to take the hill. Lastly, the Kriel Stone unit walked and put up Protective Aura (+2 ARM to nearby models).

Legion

I began with the Striders, who moved towards the trees and took cover behind the stone arc, before putting a CRA into the Axer for 3 points of damage. The Axer could only reach one Strider on the charge and I was trying to lure him out of position and into an Incubi to the face.

After that I did alot of running myself. The Swordsmen moved up and spaced out, the Archers ran to the opposite hill to cover the centre, the Seraph moved into the trees, and the Forsaken moved around the trees to support it. The Carnivean and Teraph moved up to the stone pillars to cover the centre, with the Shepherd beside them behind another pillar. The Shredder then moved up and put Tenacity on the Shepherd. Last of all Lylyth moved up, but not into the trees because I didn't want to get too far from the Archers, and put Shadowpack on the Carnivean, giving both it and the Teraph Stealth.

Turn 2

Trollbloods

Madrak leeches for full and Indy gets a cunning plan. It starts with the Bouncer who Castles with Madrak. The Long Riders then run across the centre to threaten the Archers. Next, the Impaler moved towards the centre and cast Far Strike (+4 range) on Madrak. He also threw at the Seraph but was well out of range. The Fell call moved over and put War Cry (+2 to attack rolls)on Madrak.

Madrak then moved up onto the platform and took advantage of the fact that he couldn't see the Carnivean (due to Stealth) to huck his axe right into Lylyth's face. While he hit her there was no critical, so she transferd 9 points to the Shredder, destroying its Mind and Spirit. The axe Richochets and lopped the head clean off of the Shepherd before returning to Madrak.

After that is more running, as the Champions ran up beside Madrak, the Earthborn ran in front of Madrak, the Kriel Warriors ran up to surround Madrak, and lastly the Kriel Stone Bearer moves and puts up Protective Aura again.

Legion

Lylyth leeches and cuts herself for a point to get the fury she lost to transfer. The Striders moved into the trees and started shooting up Scribes to try and shrink the area of Protective Aura. They hit alright, but kept rolling low for damage and only two Scribes fall. They also whacked a Kriel Warrior beside Madrak but it means nothing as he made his Tough roll.

Next went the Carnivean. He went stomping forward and Slammed the Earthborn straight into Madrak. I had been hoping for a big distance roll to shove it straight through and kill off the nearby warriors, but instead it was just knocked down and took Madrak with it. Or so I thought. I then found out that part of Madrak's Grim Salvation is that not only does he use it to avoid damage, he also ignores the effects. At this point I was in the weird position of desperately hoping my collateral damage roll didn't hurt Madrak just so he would fall down. I did and he didn't. The Carnivean took a bite out of the Earthborn in frustration but between the Slam and bite the Earthborn has only taken 5 points of damage.

Lylyth now moved up to get the angle on Madrak. She started with a boosted Pincushion attack and tagged him with it. She feats and unloads, getting all six shots and killing all the Kriel Warriors while doing three points of damage to Madrak in the process. This left her empty of fury, but I figured that she was so exposed that next turn Madrak was going to kill her regardless, along with most of my army.

The Serpah now stepped up to the plate. Taking advantage of the + 4 inches of range from the feat it was able to aim before boosting to hit Madrak. Between the aiming, boosting, and Pincushion it was able to rip off about half Madraks life. The Teraph followed next and ground Madrak down some more with two ranged attacks, although only the first hit while the second deviated to bounce off the Axer and a Long Rider.

Now it was the Archers turn. Two were out of range but the remaining ones were more than sufficient to drag off Madraks final three damage points. Madrak made his tough roll but there was still enough firepower left to hit him until he stayed down.

Afterward

Defenstrator

Well I hung it out there but it all worked out. Which is good because if it hadn't then the Long Riders would have smashed my Archers, the Champions would have been given Open Road by the Fell Caller and charged my Seraph, the Earthborn would have killed the Carnivean, and Lylyth would have been trying to negotiate her surrender to an angry Axer and Madrak. As it was nervousness was taking hold toward the end. Madrak had sucked up being slammed, Pincushioned, shot up by my warlock, and shot by two beasts. It finaly took the unit of Archers using its mini-feat to take him down. In a more attrition based game finishing him off could cause real problems, especially when trying to simoltaneously deal with tough things like Long Riders and Champions.

Fortunately her feat paid off in spades. Epic Lylyth is all about the setup I noticed. You are trying to put your army in that sweet spot where the enemy is too far away to just run up to you but too close to stay out of range. Then you feat and mess them up. I went for the assassination this game but I can see others where you just tear up a chunk of the opponents force and then fight it out with a points advantage.

That said, this is a very squishy army. The Carnivean was the only tough guy in the bunch and things like Chain Lightening or big AOE attacks are going to really hurt you. You are also forced to dance around playing the run and gun game, and against very quick and tough opponents like cavalry you may find yourself in trouble quite quickly. Overall though I was happy with epic Lylyth. She brings shooty to the table in a non Serpah form that makes a nice change from my more typical beast heavy lists.

Crossed Lines: Kaya vs Vayl

500 points - Circle vs Legion

I like Kaya, she's the first 'lock I used and she's the one I always go back to. I've been slowly painting a Circle army for a long time now and it's nice to actually get some of the painted models on the table. I've been working on refining my Kaya list so now with some of the Evolution models actually assembled I thought I'd try fielding some of them.

Circle:

Kaya the Wildborne

Warpwolf
Warpwolf

Argus

10 Wolves of Orboros plus the Officer and Totem Bearer

Sentry Stone

Totem Hunter

Legion:

Vayl, Disciple of Everblight

Angelius

Teraph

Seraph

Harrier

Shredder

5 Warmongers

Forsaken

Set Up

In each corner of the table a low barricade was placed. On both the left and right sides was a stand of trees, the stand on the right being on a hill. An obelisk was placed in the dead centre of the table with stone arches facing it on each side. Small stones were placed on either side of the arches.

Since we were playing Crossed Lines (from Primal) we had to choose three deployments points and then place out our forces model by model at each of these points. Defenstrator won that roll and placed the first of his points on the hill, followed by in front of the near arch and finally in front of the far arch when he turns allowed. My first point was placed near the stand of trees on the left, followed by the far barricade on the left and then the near barricade on the left.

Once the points were placed we then alternated placing models. Defenstrator started by placing the Harrier on the hill and I placed my Sentry Stone as close to the centre of the table as I was allowed. The Teraph Dug In in front of the near arch and my Wolves were set up behind the far barricade. The Warmongers were placed opposite them near the far arch and the Argus was set up on the other side of the table in front of the near barricade.

For the second round of deployment points the Seraph was set up in front of the hill, Warpwolf 1 in front of the trees, Vayl was placed in front of the near arch, the Totem Hunter joined the Wolves in front of the barricade and the Shredder joined the War Mongers. Warpwolf 2 was placed near the Argus and the Forsaken was placed behind the Seraph. Finally, Kaya joined Warpwolf 1 and the Angelius joined Vayl.


Legion Turn 1

Defenstrator won this all important roll so he got to start moving models first. The Shredder began by going Rabid and then charging the Sentry Stone, but the little beasts sharp teeth were unable to find a purchase on the tough rock. Vayl cast Slipstream and then moved around the arch (dragging the Angelius forward). She cast Chiller on the Angelius and then decided to sit on 2 Fury and put up Cat and Mouse.

The Seraph moved between the Teraph and the Shredder and shot at Warpwolf 1 with 3 extra shots doing a total of 15 points of damage. The Teraph moved up in front of the Angelius and shot at the Warpwolf. His blast missed and deviated off to do no damage. The Angelius charged Kaya missed with it's Thrust attack and did 13 points of damage that were transferred to the Argus.

The Forsaken moved to the obelisk and took 1 Fury off the Seraph leaving the War Mongers to simply run to the Sentry Stone and the Harrier to run behind the arch.

Circle Turn 1


The Sentry Stone produced its first Mannikin in front of the Seraph and then started Devouring Magic. It got 1 Fury from the Shredder, the Forsaken, the Seraph, the Teraph and the Angelius. It only failed stealing from Vayl. The Mannikin put the Fury to use by Splinter Blasting Vayl for 3 points.

The Totem Hunter charged the War Mongers with Flying Steel and managed to kill one of them. As he did that the Teraph reacted to Cat and Mouse and moved to engage Warpwolf 2 and the Argus. The Wolves ran up to support the Totem Hunter so the Harrier moved in front of Vayl and the Angelius moved away from Kaya to engage Warpwolf 1.

To attack the Teraph the Argus had to move around a bit and that let the Seraph move to the Angelius. It was largely fruitless as the Argus managed to miss with both attacks. Warping to add 2" to his move Warpwolf 2 made a run towards the group around Vayl. The Teraph threw in a free attack for 8 points and the Seraph moved back to Warpwolf 2. That move put it close enough to reach the Warpwolf once Vayl's Dark Sentinel abilityactivated. It attacked in melee and with a critical hit the warpwolf was hurting after taking another 14 points of damage.

Luckily that didn't kill the beast and Kaya could use him as the point for her Spirit Door. She was placed just beside the arch and within reach of Vayl. She started flailing at the other warlock with Splinter. She did 8 points of damage and managed to get a critical hit to knock down Vayl then did 4 points, then 2 points damaging the warlock but not doing enough to risk transfer to a beast killing it and allowing Vayl to reeve the Fury. She let loose with Wild Mastery and the last two hits did... Nothing! Uh oh.

Warpwolf 1 riled to full Fury... Just in case.

Legion Turn 2

Vayl leached back the 6 Fury available to her and chose to upkeep Chiller.

Defenstrator has some sort of compulsion that doesn't allow him to finish the game in the most expedient manner possible, so rather than just make the move that will most likely win him the game (I mean, Kaya, no Fury, pretty much in the open), he moved the Harrier to the Sentry Stone where it was bounced off like the Shredder. The Seraph moved to the obelisk and allowed Vayl to Slipstream out of "danger" and it shot and missed Warpwolf 2.

He loves his Teraph so he tried to let it get the killing blow by moving it towards Waprwolf 2. The Argus managed to do 5 points to it with the free strike on its way by. The Teraph attacked Kaya and managed to do 8 points of damage with the one attack that hit. Vayl moved past Warpwolf 2 and cast Hoarfrost on the Teraph, which did 6 points to Kaya. Then, finally, the Angelius moved to the arch and brutally took her down.

Afterword

Myantek

I liked the tweaks to my army. I think this one works pretty well. I can't decide if being more or less aggressive with this game during Vayl's feat turn would have been better or worse for me. We were so close at the beginning that I think it really was a matter of the person going first had the better chance of a win but I probably could have kept the Totem Hunter and the Wolves out of Vayl's command range without changing things too much.

I wish I had gotten a bit luckier with some of the hits on Vayl. After Kaya managed to survive the Angelius on the first turn I thought she'd have enough luck to take down Vayl as well. All in all it was an interesting game. It's the first time I've had to deal with Cat and Mouse and I probably could have done it better but felt that we were so close that I needed to go all in to have half a chance.

Defenstrator

First off I have to say that I don't like the Crossed Lines scenario. The armies invariably start on top of each other and whoever goes first has a huge advantage. That said, I managed to lose this scenario with Haley against Kreoss with a little sloppy play, but I'd still managed to kill almost half his army before he assassinated her.

It was because of that experience I played a bit more conservatively with Vayl. Sure I got in Kaya's face right away, but I made sure to keep some fury and transfer options open. I was all too aware how easy it is to over extend when going first in this scenario. My prudence paid off when the Angelius whiffed its hit on Kaya. Not that I was expecting to kill her, (since she was full of fury), but I had hoped to force her to badly injure multiple beasts and spend a bunch of her fury before she could use it to hurt me.

As it was she still managed to get off a half decent assassination run, but the dice weren't with her and the final attacks did nothing. And while I might have done other stuff first, it's because scarring experiance has shown me that taking it for granted that you're going to win is a good way to lose when the dice don't go your way.

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.