Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist

This is my Gorman Di Wulfe. He was painted to fit both my Highborn Covenant Merc army and with my Cygnar force.

Merc Ogryn Bokur

I feel bad. I've been getting stuff painted and eventually even photographed, but haven't been posting it on the blog. Posting stuff is what a blog is for so if I don't post, why have a blog.

Anyway, here is my Bokur. I did him in Games Workshop Terracota, highlighted up to Kommando Khaki. He has been painted to go with my mercenary Highborn Covenant army.

Ashlynn vs Kaya on Contested Ground

500 Points Mercenary Highborn Covenant vs Circle Oboros

The Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) is coming and I (Defenstrator) will be going. Myantek, unfortunately, will not. I decided that I was going to keep the pressure off myself to try and win big and instead take the warcaster that firmly staked me into this game, Ahlynn D'Elyse. I had been playing Cygnar before her, but she was the first caster whose back story really captured me. Cygnar is my largest faction and the Legion probably my most played, but my Mercs have the most paint on them so they're going to represent.

This means I need some practice and list tweaking to get back to speed.

Highborn Covenant

Ashlynn D'Elyse
Mule
Mariner
Sergeant + 8 Steelhead Habadiers
Rhupert Carvolo, Piper of Ord
Gorman Di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist
Ogryn Bokur
Gudrun the Wanderer

Circle Orboros

Kaya the Wildborne
Warpwolf
Warpwolf
Argus
Huntsman + 9 Wolves of Orboros
Wolves of Orboros Officer and Toem Bearer Unit Attachment
Sentry Stone
Totem Hunter

Scenario

The scenario was the Steamroller 4 Contested Ground. The board is divened into four equal sections, north to south acoss the board. Starting on turn two, if you have an entire model/unit in the zone and your opponent does not you get a victory point. First one to 5 VPs or caster kill wins.

Set Up
The board had forests on the left, hills in the centre of each of the deployment zones with an arch centre table, and a large hill with ruins on the right. Set up from left to right the Cricle forces were the Wolves of Orboros behind the forest, Warpwolf 1, Kaya in the centre, Warpwolf 2, with the Argus and Totem hunter opposite the hill.

Facing them were the Steelheads, Rhupert, Mule, Ashlynn in the centre, and Mariner.

The Sentry Stone was then advanced deployer to the board centre while Gudrun was placed on the far left flank and Gorman (the Highborn spy) was placed on the right flank with his Bokur bodyguard.

Turn 1

Circle
The turn starts with a Mannikin popping out of the Sentry Stone. Kaya casts Cloak of Mists on Warpwolf 1and Rager on Warpwolf 2 before moving forward. The Argus moves to the base of the hill with the Totem Hunter running parallel to it. Warpwolf 1 riles for 2, takes +2 ARM, and moves to the trees while Warpwolf 2 also takes +2 ARM but runs towards the hill. The Wolves move up to the woods.

Highborn
The Mule and Mariner each get one focus. They both run forwards. Rhupert moves up and puts Dirge of Mists (+1 DEF and Terror) on the Steelheads. Ashlynn puts Quicken on the Steelheads, moves up, and shoots the Mannikin, killing it. Gorman moves away from the Totem Hunter and throws smoke on the path up the hill. The Bokur moves in front of him. Gudrun takes coever behind a broken pillar.

Turn 2

Circle
Kaya leeches all and upkeeps both spells. A Mannikin appears beside the Halberdiers. Warpwolf 1 takes +2 ARM, moves forward beside the woods, and riles for 2 fury. The Totem Hunter moves onto the hill. The Argus chooses to back away from the path up the hill instead. Kaya moves forward again and launches a Spirit Fang at the Bokur, but bounces of his 17 ARM.

Warpwolf 2 now swings into action and takes his +2 inches of movement. This is enough to let him walk up the hill path, through the smoke, and into melee with the Bokur. A free Rager headbutt power attack knocks the Bokur down and two boosted damage attacks kill him. The Mannikin suicides and sprays at the DEF 14 Steealheads, getting lucky and killing the lead two. Myanteks' turn ends with the Wolves moving into the forest and her receiveing +1 victory point since the Totem Hunter is the only thing in his zone.

Highborn
Ashlynn upkeeps Quicken and assigns 1 Focus to the Mule and 2 to the Mariner. Ashlynn then moves forward, uses her feat Roulette, and shoots Kaya who is standing in the open. She hits her but rolls a 5 on 3d6 for damage. Kaya takes the 4 points. Rhupert moves up and Marches the Steelheads for +2 inches movement. The Steelheads charge Warpwolf 1, but thanks to more suck damage rolls only do 7 points of damage to it. They also kill a straggling Wolf of Oboros. Gudrun runs to engage the Wolves of Orboros. The Mule moves forward but finds that he is just short of Kaya, and his shot deviates onto nothing. Gorman takes advantage of Roulette to Black Oil Warpwolf 2 and then rapidly retreats with Bushwhack. The turn ends with the Mariner moving forward to touch Ashlynn and shooting Warpwolf 2 for 10 points. I recieve +1 victory point since Gudrun is entirely in his zone but the Wolves are not.

Turn 3

Circle
Kaya leeches and upkeeps Rager while a new Mannikin appears. Wolves surround and stab Gudrun, knocking him down with one wound due to his Hangover. The Sentry Stone tries to steal the focus on the Mule but fails. The Mannikin then sprays at Ashlynn, missing her and the Mariner due to Roulette. The Totem Hunter moves up to threaten Gorman.

Now Kaya goes for the kill. She charges Ashlynn, who is still protected by Roulette and can't be knocked down because she is touching the Mariner. Kaya misses her charge, misses, misses (just), misses, and misses. Kaya uses her feat Wild Mastery, refilling herself with focus. She then misses again (go Roulette!) before casting Spirit Door on Warpwolf 1 and camping on one fury. I had thought myself relatively safe between the Mariner and pillar,but Kaya is just close enough to squeeze Warpwolf 1 into Ashlynn's back arc. Warpwolf 1 takes +2 STR and is getting +2 to hit since he began his activation in Ashlynn's rear arc. Even so it starts out promising enough when Warpwolf 1 misses with his first attack, but the second hits and with an evil damage roll (4, 5, 6) kills Ashlynn in one blow.

Defenstrator

Hmm. Not too promising a begining. Normally I field Alexia with Ashlynn but I'd been trying out different solos and wanted to see how Gudrun did. I can't complain since he did his job, but having some Risen around to screen Ashlynn would have been nice as well. My biggest mistake was that I got a bit too confident with Ashlynn. Playing Legion I'm always paranoid and looking out for the Kaya assassination run. With it being Ashlynn's feat turn, her having cover from the pillar, and being immune to knockdown due to the Mariner, I thought I was relatively safe. But a Warpwolf starting in your back arc is going to mess up your day no matter what you're doing. I'll be more careful in our rematch for sure.

Myantek

And that's the way a Kaya assassination run is supposed to work! Aside from the pile of misses. Roulette certainly makes it alot harder to actually get that hit in. I don't know if I would've charged Ashlynn if I'd really realised exactly how much that feat makes things harder to hit.

I'm a little disappointed that I gave Defenstrator the victory point on the Wolves' flank. I just lost track of where they all were and forgot to keep them all on one side of the line. I'm also not quite used to the range that Warmachine armies can sometimes bring to the table. I thought I still had some time before we started to get stuck in. I probably should have held back another turn and pulled in another victory point rather than going for the kill but Defenstrator is usually so careful about limiting places for Kaya to Spirit Door to the caster that if I see it and I think I have a chance I should probably take it. Sometimes it pays off.

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.