Game 358 - eCaine vs eKromac

El Chibucapbra reappears.

Business as usual for me.

eCaine - 'Ol Rowdy, Squire, Rangers, Boomhowlers, Gun Mages + Dude, pAlexia + Risen, Aiyanna + Holt, TAC, Piper, Reinholdt, eEiryss, Journeyman Warcaster
Objective: Effigy

Originally it was going to be eMorv, a forgotten foam tray saved me and it instead ended up being Kromac2. For a given value of "saved".

eKromac - Pureblood, Stalker, Ghetorix, Gorax, Wilder, Druids + UA, Stones x2 + UAx1, Blackclad Wayfarer, Alten Ashley
Objective: Fuel

Depressing early thought: My minions list would handle this so much better.

Moving on from that note...

Incoming strikes.

Circle Deploy: I lose the roll and get given second (I think that's happened at least the last five times, maybe I should start adding more terrain to table to make second an equally valid choice, unless people just want to mess with Caine throwing out upkeeps which might be true). That lonely model on the right is the Blackclad, he's going to be lonely most of the game.

Cygnar Deploy: That centre obstruction is  a problem, as at this point I expect Chibontasauros will hide his stuff behind it and I'll have to dive up to go around it. The Circle heavies are all bulked up on the side of his friendly zone, so the Centurion faces that way as does the bulk of my stuff. Eiryss is on the far right because I don't expect a huge amount of use out of her.


Circle 1: The Cloud wall of doom starts coming! Alten Ashley caps a Ranger and giggles in the forest. Aggravator goes up, Awaken Spirit slaps on the Pureblood.


Cygnar 1: Magic Bullet + the Ranger Risen caps a Druid, good enough for me. Boomies run up, Greygore behind the Obstruction and mostly to the left, Alexia with tough behind him. Heightened Reflexes on the Booms and True shot on Caine, who alongside the TAC goes to the right of my Objective toward my friendly zone. Eiryss sprints way to the right, hoping to be useful in turn 4 or so.


Circle 2: Kromac feats. Most of the Boomhowlers die to Circle Heavies. The Pureblood spray puts Alexia down, Ghetorix teleports forward to kill Greygore. Cloud return. Kromac sits on two Fury.


Cygnar 2: I seriously contemplate the assassination. Upkeeps all drop and I tap the Squire to charge up Caine. The odds aren't great, so I want to move Ghetorix out of the way so Aiyanna can land a harm on Kromac.
Rangers whirl up the left, one goes into the opposing zone and engages Alten. The Gun Mages knock Ghetorix down, Aiyanna moves up to harm, Chibster crushes my dreams by pointing out the Druidic counter magic.

NEW PLAN NEEDED STAT. It was a bad plan anyway. Time to try for the slow scenario grind.

Caine gets reloaded, puts True Shot back up, kills a pair of Druids and does three damage to a stealthy zone then Gate crashes onto the hill in the right zone. Risen and remaining Boomhowlers jam, Risen in the guts, trolls on the right edge of Circle's zone. TAC move up as fast as they can and try to shield Caine with clouds. Squire sprints toward Caine. Eiryss runs up the board edge again to get behind the Black Clad sitting in the trench.

Cygnar goes to 1 CP.


Circle 3: After the Pic and turn was ended Chibimon remembers he has to activate the Blackclad, who runs and engages Eiryss.
Stalker clears out Risen then Sprints back, Ghetorix moves up and kills Aiyanna/Holt. Kromac/Pureblood wipes out the Boomhowlers aside from the one I forgot to move up on turn 1, sitting back at my Objective like he knew this was going to happen.
A stealth stone ports to contest my zone.
Druids hang about. Alten fails to kill the Ranger to clear the zone.

Slinky.


Cygnar 3: True Shot stays. Rangers wonder around, one stabs Alten for a couple points (POW 7 makes the mighty not tremble). The TAC charge the contesting Stone and kill it, then Battle Wizards a flameburst to do 2 points to the enemy Objective.
Gun Mages kills the Wilder and and a another Druid, one also procks Ghetorix' Aggravator advance.Centurion has a couple focus.

This is the point where
a) I run out of pics
b) Come back to writing after my weekend of driving to and back from Brisbane and drinking in between
Producing the formula:
A+B=My first car, a 1986 Barina. So to our surprise we might get their, but hills are the devil, acceleration is a dream, someones going to dent the entire length of the roof by walking on it, egg shells and other assorted detritus will choke the fuel line and I will name it the "Crap-ti-con".

Anyway, Centurion headbutts Ghetorix down. Piper charges him, DOES EIGHT POINTS OF DAMAGE LIKE A POW 9 BOSS. Boomhowler shoots, Junior advances and does a boosted damage shot.

Ghetorix has a box left. 

Caine walks across, kill steals the Werewolf Ax munchkin then teleports back. The Gun Mages scream thanks while Junior and Piper are dissapointed.

Cygnar goes to 2 CP.



Circle 4: No Pic. Pure blood walks into the right zone, sprays down a TAC, hits Caine and puts him down to four boxes. Dammit Caine.
Stalker gets Primalled, goes into the Centurion and lops off both arms. Kromac.....smokes a cone? Another stone ports into my zone.

Circle goes to 1 CP.



Cygnar 4: No Pic.
The TAC kill the stone in my zone, throw a flameburst at the objective to do 2 points (Pureblood was Spell warded like a jerk).
Caine aims, feats and shoots down the Pureblood. Last pair of Rangers walk in to the left zone, stay in the forest. Gun Mages kill remaining Druids and Alten.
ancillary pieces move around, the Boomhowler runs up.

Cygnar goes to 3 CP.



Circle 5: No pic, Circle well ahead on time.
Stalker Frenzies, misses the Gun Mage Officer. Gorax runs then gets ported into the right zone engaging the TAC, Kromac kills a Ranger who fail their command check.

Circle go to 2 CP.



Cygnar 5: Circle zone has Kromac and two stones in it, easiest win condition is to pop the stones and get Caine in their (Otherwise have to kill the Gorax and Objective).
Gun Mages do Crit Brutals, they all shoot one stone and so nothing. The Boomhowler screams revenge, charges a Stone and explodes it.
Squire runs, Caine charges it, Gate crashes into the left zone in melee with the last Stone, boosts damage on initials to kill it for the win.

Cygnar finish on 5 CP.


Me on the left. Sweeeet. Loads of Circle heavies are problematic. Moops suggestion for the druids being behind the battlegroup would have been problematic.

Kromac is loads funner to play than the Morvs.

Game 357 - eCaine vs Ossrum

Into the Robisan, who has returned once more departed the dead wankers to come back to his coin loving home.

Theoretical mix is my normal pair vs Ossrum/Cyphon.

Look, it's Caine all right? We all know that's going to happen. I've just made a slightly different Stryker list I'm actually enthused to play out, but won't get around to that for a bit (Got one more Caine game in storage, but I'll be spending the next week or so getting tanked in Brisbane on other nerd business).

eCaine - 'Ol Rowdy, Squire, Rangers, Boomhowlers, Gun Mages + Dude, pAlexia + Risen, Aiyanna + Holt, TAC, Piper, Reinholdt, eEiryss, Journeyman Warcaster
Objective: Effigy

Ossrum - Earthrbeaker, Thor, Dougal, Gun Mages + Dude, Nyss, Herne and Jonne, pEiryss, Aiyanna + Holt, Reinholdt, Gastonne
Objective: Effigy

Reconing we are.

Pretty sure Rob-don could have dropped either of his lists and had a game, but out comes the Thorbreaker. I reason this'll be another hide off, I'll need to leverage the Cloud Dwarves to live. I also have to have the Clouds forward enough that the opposing Gun Mages don't hit a dwarf, knock him to the edge of his cloud and put Caine in blast range of the Earthbreaker's AoE 4, because Caine has the survivability of a depressed Lemming who believes in that fake documentary about them running off cliffs.


Merc Deploy: Rob wins the deploy roll, that's pEiryss trying to balance on her base behind the forest. Gun Mages to the left, Nyss to the right, Ossrum stuck in the middle with you.


Cygnar Deploy: I had the choice of putting my Gun Mages opposing their traitorous twins or the Nyss, I picked the Nyss which didn't take into account that Snipe would give them plenty of Range to chill out in a trench. I initially had Caine in the dead centre, then threw him to the left so he wouldn't be flooded by friendly infantry that would be blast targets.


Merc 1: The Mercs advance, between Fire Effect on Herne, Snipe on the Nyss and Artillerist I lose three Rangers, which was not ideal. Eiryss/Gastonne run behind their objective.

Really should keep Rangers back in the ranged matchups, the Marked Target ability was worth a lot more than trying to get work out of them without good Prowl areas nearby.


Cygnar 1: A pair of Risen spawn, one is way out the front. The Boomhowlers run forward, the Risen spread out, the Centurion gets Arcane Shield and just walks. Caine puts Heightened Reflexes on the Boomies, Blur on the TAC and Magic Bullet on a Ranger.
TAC move as far as their stubby legs will take them and cloud. The Gun Mages spread out in a wasteful manner. The Ranger with Magic Bullet pops the Risen and kills Eiryss.


Merc 2: Fire for Effect/Snipe upkept. Aiyanna/Holt move up to the friendly objective and Harm the Boomhowlers.  The Nyss and Gun Mages plink some Boomhowlers, including a Thunderstrike to push Greygore next to Alexia. Ossrum feats and cycles Snipe onto the Earthbreaker, who kills Greygore, half a dozen Risen and Alexia.


Cygnar 2: Ossrum feat made my choices reasonably easy. I couldn't get a bead on Ossrum and the Erthrbeakers extra armour meant I didn't want to have a go at killing it just yet. Plan was to keep Aiyanna back, jam/kill what I can, next turn harm, feat and take out as much of the Earthbreaker as possible, then repeat the turn after without the feat to finish it off and ride Caines gun blazing with High Def TAC cloudage to a win.
Blur sticks around.Caine goes up, Magic Bullets to kills Aiyanna and Gastonne then Gate crashes back. Gun Mages kill a Nyss, which is better than nothing by about the length of a Millipedes leg. Boomies run forward as is their wont. Piper Dirges the TAC. Centurion trundles into the zone and Polarity Fields.


Merc 3: Earthbreaker puts rough terrain on the Centurion and kills Boomhowlers, leaves one survivor far off to the left. It also misses the TAC three times. Herne walks forward and blows up the Objective and scatters onto Aiyanna and killing her, which was....unfortunate.
Nyss put in their official application for squatters rights to the trench and shoot more Gun Mages and the last Ranger down.

Mercs go to 2 CP.


Cygnar 3: Plans are to kill Herne, Cyclena, the Gun Mages and move Caine a bit more toward the zone to plan out the assassination. No Aiyanna makes the Earthbreaker a leap to far.
Blur continues because it is hilarious. Caine Magic Bullets a Gun Mage and shoots down some Gun Mages. Two of the TAC cloud up, one throws a fire bomb to kill a pair of Gun Mages on the hill. The last Boomhowler walks over and kicks a Gun Mage down. Risen pathetically run into the zone and whimper. Centurion crawls back to the zone and Polarity Fields. Gun Mages hit Herne, the Magic Bullet kills Cyclena, but they leave the Ogrun on one box. Eiryss sprints into my back field. Holt does sod all.



Merc 4: Earthbreaker kills the Boomhowler and the Risen. The last in command Gun Mage pushes the Centurion out of the zone. Dangit. Herne and the Nyss kill my last few Gun Mages. Ossrum goes into the back edge of the zone to Dominate.

Mercs go to 4 CP.


Cygnar 4: Assassiante or bust. Holt runs up, Caine charges him, Gate crashes into Ossrum. Boosts his to hit rolls after feating, flubs it and Ossrum Dodges away.

Sadness. Caine then gets smooshed by Herne.


Me on the left.

Interesting threat range off, though Mercs have the distance. This game sold me on the TAC. I misdeployed the Gun Mages, they would have been better off on the left with the Rangers to outshoot their opposing number while Caine should have been in the middle focusing on Magic Bulleting from turn 2 onward. The Centurion also needed to run turn 2 to get into the guts of the zone unless I can pop out enough of the opposing Gun Mages.

I played a game after this, but again won't be able to throw it up for a week or so.

Game 356 - eCaine vs eZerkova

Slamasm continues, into the Edwardian.

eZerkova/3Butcher, I think he can drop either and I naturally continue with the Iron Kingdom James Bond.


eCaine - 'Ol Rowdy, Squire, Rangers, Boomhowlers, Gun Mages + Dude, pAlexia + Risen, Aiyanna + Holt, TAC, Piper, Reinholdt, eEiryss, Journeyman Warcaster
Objective: Effigy


eZerkova + Love Slaves - Berserker, Malakov + Behemoth, Murder Ponies, 2x Ternion, Kayazy Eliminators, pEiryss, Reinholdt, Silly Wishnailer
Objective: Effigy

Playing on two fronts, my expectation is someone will be assassinated on turn 2. I want to kill the murder Ponies as quickly as possible.


Khador Deploy: The Reds win the dice roll and pick first, which means he'll have the proper alpha in all likelihood. There's three Winterguard models representing the second Ternion unit.


Cygnar Deploy: Rangers/Gun Mages slanted to the left to go against the Ponies, if they redeploy to the right side I reason they'll then fall to Caine instead.


Khador 1: Everything runs forward, Behemoth gets Red Line, an Eliminator gets Telgesh.


Cygnar 1: Caine puts Heightened Reflexes on himself and hides behind clouds camping three after pulling off the squire. A Ranger tries to Magic Bullet to pop the Telgesh Eliminator, but I screw up the distances. In hindsight I needed to put the Magic Bullet on a Gun Mage. Alexia gets tough and hides behind the wall. The Centurion makes a sad panda face and limps forward. Boomhowlers 4+ tough, get Arcane Shield and run up.


Khador 2: I forgot the pic, so whoops.
Behemoth tramples forward, scatters like a god and kills Holt, leaves Aiyanna on one wound. Half the Rangers and a few of the Boomhowlers get sprayed, casualties are not terrible. Eiryss falls back a bit.


Cygnar 2: Obviously not pictures as I would like, but there was a pony placed perfectly to Magic Bullet into Malakov. Caine keeps the Heightened Reflexes, advances, Magic Bullets himself, hits the offending Pony and Bullets into Malakov. Andrei sadly only takes two boxes and the Pony dies so I can't try again. Caine Gate crashes backwards instead.

Recovery mode is Eiryss disrupting Behemoth, Gun Mages/Ranger combo caps another two Ponies and the Eliminators. Risen/Boomies move to blocking spots, TAC cloud. Aiyanna runs to hide behind that right side forest.


Khador 3: Zerkova toes the right zone and max camps, her love slaves cap the Risen in that zone. Ternions Stationary the Centurion on the right, then with the ponies on the left they clear out a bunch of Boomies. Malakov heals himself and Redlines Behemoth, who then goes intot eh Objective and puts it on two health and causes Greygore to tough. Eiryss then Deathbolts the Objective down.

Khador go to 2 CPs.


Cygnar 3: A pair of Risen bravely spawn as the advance guard, the Centurion shakes and the Squire gets emptied.
Risen get Toughed, then run around. One dies to a Zerk minion counter charge, who then dies to a different charging Risen. The forward pair of Risen run to be within 4 inches of Malakov.
I keep Heightened Reflexes on Caine, who walks forward, cackles lightly and shoots a Risen to Magic Bullet into Malakov and kill him.
Centurion walks into the zone and Polarity Fields. Eiryss disrupts the Berserker.

This is the point I realised I forgot to Gate Crasher and went from a good position to "Dear god, Caines going to be lightly stroked which is enough to bend his spine in on itself".

Rangers, Boomies and TAC clouds desperately try to hide Caine, Gun Mages kill one unit of Ternion.

Cygnar go to 1 CP and sadness.


Khador 4: Holt knocks down Greygore, Aiyanna lands the 11's to hit Caine with Harm. Remaining Ternion unit run into the clouds. Zerkova feats and Telgeshes Aiyanna, throws her uber attack spell with Lucky Charm and Occult Whispers to hit Caine and put him on four boxes. Ternion then do their feat sprays, first misses, next one lands it and Caine goes down like something something Convergence.


Me on the right.

Gah, was really happy with how it was going until I screwed up that gate crash. I was amazed Edwardian didn't pull that trigger earlier, in hindsight I ponder whether I should have not bothered with Reflexes and should have just Arcane Shielded Caine, but ultimately distance is the surest survival method unless I decide to cock it up, though 20 odd inch threat even off Ternions is tough to deal with.

Game 355 - eCaine vs pHexeris

Then we'll be slammin, just for one day.

Slam being a highly mutable format, this time around it was 2 list DC 0. I brought out eCaine/eStryker, then promptly didn't use the electric match stick at all.

eCaine - 'Ol Rowdy, Squire, Rangers, Boomhowlers, Gun Mages + Dude, pAlexia + Risen, Aiyanna + Holt, TAC, Piper, Reinholdt, eEiryss, Journeyman Warcaster
Objective: Bunker

Round one, first time into Jeffster, one of the newer players on his first game with a clock on ye old Close Quarters.

pHexeris Tier 4 - Bronzeback, Gladiator, 2x Razor Worms, Hakaar, Ancestral Guardian, 2x min Swordsman, Cetrati, Incindarii, Paingivers, Marketh

Cygnar Deploy: I won the roll, fairly symmetrical table so I was content to go first. Splitting the Boomhowlers on deploy isn't my favourite thing to do, but seems to unpack the way I want aside from when I forget a couple of them and leave them waaaaaay behind their buddies.

Skorne Deploy: Hakaar and the Guardian each have a Swordsman unit to babysit feed embrace lovingly.

Cygnar 1: Onward! Heightened Reflexes on the Boomies with super tough, True Shot not needed with no opposing stealth or concealment. TAC head toward the Incidarii side, as I live in fear of Caine being caught on fire.

Skorne 1: One Worm with Spell Slave on it from the Tier benefit runs forward to be a node, Hexy blasts down a Boomhowler. The left Swordsman unit has a couple sacrificial Rangers that they duly munch on. The left Swordsman unit has Death March on it.

Cygnar 2: Piper Dirges the Trololols.  Boomies run in, they kill the forward Razor Worm and watch the Swordsman pass their Dirge command checks, the Paingivers flee from Rage Howl. Caine walks up, kills the other Razor Worm in the back field, knocks the Ancestral Guardian down to a few boxes and Gate Crashes backwards. One TAC throws a Flame Burst to try to kill the Ancestral Guardian but buggers it up, the other two cloud. The Centurion Positive Charges, Eiryss strips off Death March.

Skorne 2: Swordsman, Cetrati move up a little and cut down a couple Boomhowlers. The Gladiator and Bronzeback go in on the Boomhowler clump and I roll an unreasonable amount of Toughs. The Pain Givers fail to rally.

Cygnar 3: Skorne heavies front of me, got to go for it. I contemplate feating to kill them, and decide it is better to try to hold it and just feed the Centurion. Aiyanna Harms the Bronzeback, between Caine boosting damage shots, Holt and some cranking dice the Bronzi goes down. Centurion charges in, hurts the Gladiator a fair bit, then Alexia goes in and finishes it off. TAC cloud. Left Swordsman unit gets put down by the Rangers/Gun Mages.

Skorne 3: Hexy feats and puts Death March on the Cetrati. Hakaar butchers some Gun Mages, Cetrati kill some Boomhowlers and Alexia. Incindarii/Swordsmen clear out more of the trolls, only a pair of Boomhowlers now live in the midst of the Cetrati. The Paingivers fail to rally.

Skorne go to 1 CP.


Cygnar 4: The beasts are gone, priorities this turn are to get rid of Hakaar and the Incindarii, making the Arcane Sheilded Centurion very hard to get rid of and cease that annoying screaming in the back of my mind going on about Caine being set on fire.
Centurion gets a few focus, charges Hakaar and blats him. Caine walks across, feats and clears out the Incidarii and most of that sides Swordsman unit. The remaining two Swordsman are charged by the TAC who delightfully miss. The Gun Mages try to wing Hexy and do nothing.


End of Game: Time was short after that, so no pics. I chose the hyper cautious route, the Centurion killed off the Cetrati while Caine hid in the trench. The Swordsman/TAC had a few turns of ineptitude before the last Dorf left standing could clowd in front of Caine. The Paingivers failed to rally a few more times, Hexy tried to get stuck in but after a couple turns cutting couldn't do much. Piper got to the enemy flag and I finally went to 2 CP, at which point Jeffner conceded.

Me on the right. Was ahead for most of the game, but as my last turns started involving more activation's I slowed up.

Game 354 - eStryker vs eHexeris

It was a time of peace and tranquility. Some magic cards flicked back and forth between a pair of amicable intelligence's, whilst dulcet tones echoed through the store as it calmly explained that custom dice needed to be bulk ordered, something something Nurgle sucks.

Or in other words, I nabbed in a surprise Thursday game and discovered people made their way to Jolt a bit later than they do at 3D6 :-/

Hadules arrived and there was battle.

Scenario is Outflank, by the power of Circles! (SR2015 is an official statement by PP that Triangles are awful)

Ended up with eHexeris vs eStryker. Both my lists have loads of dudes, so either way Ashes to Ashes was going to get some money printed.

eStryker - 'Ol Rowdy, Lancer, Squire, 2x Sword Knights + 1x UA, Hammer Dwarves + Murdoch, Gun Mages + UA, Journeyman, Runewood, Tinker
Objective: Effigy of Valor

eHexeris - 2x Aradus, Drake, Raider, Brute (Bonded), The Crushinator, And Sally (That is, 2x Animantaraxes). 2x Will Breaker, 2x Paingivers

White boards, unfortunately, aren't conducive to photos, so they're worst than normal (Mayhaps we can call them Sweet Potato pics?)


Skorne Deploy: I lost the roll, picked the side with a slightly better Linear to hide behind. The Traitor Storm Lance Models are in place of the Aradus. Otherwise it's a flanking Animantarax, Beetles out front and everything else lumped in the middle.


Cygnar Deploy: Gun Mages went wide, as they weren't going to get good targets early in the game I reasoned they'd go up a flank then start killing the support/pushing models out of the zone. Hammer Dorfs went in the dead centre, Sword Knights went to either side. Stryker leaned toward the right side to hide behind the small Linear.


Skorne 1: It all runs up. Such tactics. Such wow. Paingivers whip it good on the Animantaraxes.



Cygnar 1: It all runs up. Not as good Tactics. less wow. The Gun Mages are so far left that only one is in the pic. Runewood gave Pathfinder to the left unit of Sword Knights, who also got Arcane Shield and run up and clump into threes. The Hammer Dwarves run up, Murdoch charges and backstabs one to tell them to go to Ground (Hindsight: Should have runt eh dwarf 2.9 inches from Murdoch, stopped the charge bonus and probably not killed him with a POW 9 attack). Stryker/Rowdy hide behind the wall with Deflection up, right Sword Knights spread out in the right zone.


Skorne 2: The cascade of death begins. Aradii, Animantarax and the Brute channeling an Ashes to Ashes splat eight of the right Sword Knights and the most forward three on the left. The Raider chips Rowdy for a few points.


Cygnar 2: Welp, Andrew didn't advance in nearly as much as I thought. Shooty Skorne isn't a thing in my head space yet. Plan was to run everything up, then feat to get attacks in. Arcane Shield flips to the Hammer Dwarves.
The Sword Knights, Hammer Dwarves and Positive Charged Rowdy go in and achieve little. The left Animantarax is hurt a bit, but otherwise it's mostly an attempt for the Swans to give the Skorne models a pleasant shave.

Whether or not there is a better plan that I didn't see, my execution left a lot to be desired. I kept my models so far back that there was minimal disincentive for the Aradus/Battle Engines to not tow the zones, so I didn't double up with regular attacks before the feat, the Lancer/Rowdy were badly placed the turn prior and couldn't give the Knights the bonus they need to actually do real damage.



Skorne 3: Animantaraxes get whipped, Beasts shoot, Hexy feats and throws out a bunch of Ashes to Ashes. I end up with the Gun Mages, the Lancer, 3 Hammer Dorfs and a few bits and pieces left alive.


Cygnar 3: Well, it's either run Stryker in at full camp, prey he doesn't die or try to clear out the left. I try to clear out the left, but it's looking bad either way.

Gun Mages push the left Aridus out of the zone, fail to take off the last few boxes of the Animantarax. Stryker arcs a Lightning storm at him, leaving And Sally on two boxes. I sigh.


Skorne 4: Stryker gets gunned down with ease.


Stryker currently feels like a colour I've never seen, so that's annoying. I'll hold off on list changes for another couple games, though so far literally everyone has decried the poor Sword Knights....