Game 398 - Gorten vs 3Doomshaper

Now we roll into the glorious fifth round!

I'd hate for you to not see what you expect:

Gorten - Earthbreaker, Thor, Hawk, Madelyn, Gorman, Tinker, Anastasia, 2x Press Gangers, pAlexia + Risen, Gun Mages + The Dude
Objective: Effigy of Valor

Durgen - Gunner, Blaster, eEiryss, Rorsh + Brine, Dougal, Reinholdt, Rockbottom, Ragman, eAlexia, Acosta, Gun Mages + UA, Aiyanna + Holt, 2x Press Gangers
Objective: Effigy of Valor

This time a Wild Nickastapopulous throws down ye old Nerf victims with Outflank.

He's rocking Doomie3 and something else I didn't think he was going to drop, because immutability is perceived as gold against Gorten and Durgen is designed to take out one or two Hard targets,not multiple. Sure enough.....

3Doomy + Pyg slave (Tier level something)- Mulg, Earthborn, Mauler, Pyre, Axer, Flamey chargey burny dues, Stone + UA, half a dozen welps

I won the roll and had to think, having not played Doomy3 and Trollbloods being the faction I have the fewest games against.
Normally I'd go second, the intent being to score first. If they contest with a Colossal then I just kill it. A push immune group of Heavies defeats that. I reasoned what I needed to do was play a long game, have a strong hold on the scenarios, use distance and my feat to counter/wait out his feat and pick apart his pieces.

Merc Deploy: Fairly standard at this point.

Troll Deploy: Burney chaps advance deployed on the left side, other stuff in a single lump in the middle of the table.

Merc 1: I run my stuff. Figuring the only things getting to engage would be the Burney guys, I put Madelyn behind the forest on the left in the zone, pretty much intended to be the place of contesting for the game. Anastasia runs way out the right onto the hill in the right zone.

Troll 1: Sure enough, Burney guys assault in, killing a Press Ganger and the Communist Lass (Take that Proletariat!). The Troll beast Brick also gets pretty far up, enough for the Pyre troll to scatter and light some chumps on fire. This and every other turn would have Implacability up.
The Light beasts are leaning toward the left zone, heavies to the right.

Merc 2: Intrigue activates, I don't have anything meaningful to put it on though. I decide something squirrely is called for if I'm to pull through.
The Communists and Gun Mages get rid of the Burney chumps.
The Smurfs jam up and spread out.
Alexia and Gorman run to the right zone. Gorten plonks down a wall in a weird spot and charges off to the right. Earthbreaker follows after them.
Hawk runs acrobatically through the trolls and engages the Stone UA.

Not attacking with the Earthbreaker felt so weird, but there wasn't a good way to keep him both safe and have a meaningful activation.

Troll 2: There's a potential trample spot next to Gorten, between him, the Breaker, the wall and Alexia. I'd planned to make it smaller, but hadn't quite got the wall that well placed, hindered by the order of activations I had to go with.
Doomie feats and punches Hawk to death, casts his spell of non-moveness.
The Mauler goes for it, happily the landing spot doesn't work out and he ends up in the forest as his next legal placement.
The Axer, Mulg and the Earthborn slap down the blocking Smurfs.
Lastly the Pyre troll goes into the left zone and burns more Communists.

Merc 3: I could send the Earthbreaker into the Mauler, I likely kill it. The end positioning would be great though, I decide to block up, ensure the left zone can't easily be taken and jam hard.

That happens. The Gun Mages run and spread out in the left zone. Madelyn goes back to her hidey hole in the left zone. Both Press Ganger mobs surround the Beasts.
Gorman blinds the Mauler, just to make him shake. Wall goes up, Tinker runs to stop tramples to the Earthbreaker.

Troll 3: Pyre/Mauler frenzy. The Pyg slave pops his scroll of Signs and Portents on Warrior models. Kriel warriors take swings, but don't achieve much. Mulg and the Dire do actual work killing Press Gangers.

Merc 4: That was a low key turn, time to get some actual action from me. It's kill Mauler and feat delay turn. I give the Breaker two focus and upkeep Strength of Granite.

The Gun Mages advance around, they shoot down most of the Kriel unit. Gorman blinds the Mauler so the Earthbreaker doesn't miss.
Breaker walks to max melee, two hits the Mauler dead, then kills a spawned Welp.
Risen go into the forest, Alexia being near capacity at this point. Tinker blocks tramples again.

Mercs go to 2 CP.

Troll 4: Mulg move his one inch to kill a Press Ganger. The Dire Troll uses Goad to get into the right zone. Pyre and Axer keep stabbing in the left zone.

Merc 5: Carrying on the plan.
Gun Mages kill the Krielstone unit. Earthbreaker gets Tuned up for damage, kills the Dire Troll.
20 Risen surround Mulg.

Mercs go to 4 CP.


Troll 5: No Pic, at the end of my turn, to my extreme mortification, I hit the power button on the clock instead of the turn counter. I went to pick it up and reset it (I was at 25 minutes to Nickeons 34) and promptly dropped it onto the left zone.
Luckily only my gun mages were hit hard, we reset and I was subject to extreme grace from my opponent letting us carry on.

There was little he could do at this point, so he went army point hunting. He popped Gorman, Anastasia and a few of the Gun Mages, leaving Doomy int he middle of the Board.

Merc 6: I surround Mulg with Risen, Earthbreaker charges Doomy, first hit puts him down.
He then toughs every Earthbreaker attack.
Tinker walks up, point blanks him and gets the Warlock kill.
Never thought I'd type that sentence.

Definitely a round 5 game, I"m happy with my plan though will need to contemplate the execution.

And bam, that's my Clash of the Titans stuff done. I went 4-1 and came 3rd, was an awesome day. All my opponents were fun to play and I encountered zero issues that weren't self imposed. Would slap Titans again.

Game 397 - Gorten vs 3Makeda

As is natural with tournaments three and half hours away, you sooner or later meet a local who came up with you.

As always, a fascinating re-iteration of the War Dollies I have at my disposal for the purposes of shenanigans and screw ups:

Gorten - Earthbreaker, Thor, Hawk, Madelyn, Gorman, Tinker, Anastasia, 2x Press Gangers, pAlexia + Risen, Gun Mages + The Dude
Objective: Effigy of Valor

Durgen - Gunner, Blaster, eEiryss, Rorsh + Brine, Dougal, Reinholdt, Rockbottom, Ragman, eAlexia, Acosta, Gun Mages + UA, Aiyanna + Holt, 2x Press Gangers
Objective: Effigy of Valor

This time is was Paulzenschreiber, also the charitable fellow who bought me an exhorbitant water so I didn't tip over mid tourney (As a genius of packing, I brought stuff to eat but not to drink. By stuff I mean apples. ALL YOU NEED IS APPLES.). He had Makeda 3 and pZaal. I'd mocked Mak3 the week before at our LGS, knowing it was his current favoured list and having never played against it old Macky seemed the logical choice for him.

Then the scenario was Destruction, so it was Gorten and supreme confidence all the way! Sure enough Makeda came down.

eMakeda + Backup Dancers - Molik, Bronze Back, Archidon, Gladiator, Extoler, Willbreaker, Taskmaster, Pain Givers, Croak Raiders
Objective: Bunker

Four rounds and the first of the two factions I perceived as being the most popular at the start of the day (Skorne and Menoth, it must be something about burning wastelands).

Mercs Deploy: I lost the die roll (Dammit Anastasia!) and got given first, which makes my game plan more elongated. Not a huge issue, merely a slight aggravation.
That weird tiered hill thing on the right we called an Obstruction for the sake of my sanity.

Skorne Deploy: Macky picked the side with the ginormous hill, after game discussion revealed it was that the bottom of 2 is easier to manage than a top of 2 or 3 for the list. Croaks out front, Archidon to the right, every other beast to the left.

Mercs 1: I did some math while deploying, and my rough figure came out that the Press Gangers could move two inches and not be in Croak range. Sod that, I'll just accept the Risen. Everything runs forward, Solid Ground and Strength of Granite pop up per the usual. Anastasia runs out to the far left.

Skorne 1: Croaks advance, create three future Risen and leave a fourth potential on fire. The archidon goes to an aggressive spot on the right, Molik goes to the left and sits on the hill.

Mercs 2: I hadn't seen the Mak3 feat + Molik with Beat back, but I feared it, perhaps inordinately so. I resolved to keep Gorten safe, do the usual flood of the zone and rely on tough/spacing to absorb the Moliking shenanigans.
I Intrigue Alexia forward and spawn the thralls in front of her, with one at the extreme edge to make a Thrall missile.
The Earthbreaker tunes up for attack rolls, kills half a dozen Croaks and gets a shot into the Archidon for a few points (The beast was at the extreme range of the nip guns).
The Gun Mages then split into two halves, line up through the gaps and kill more Croaks, leaving one alive. The Intrigue move let Alexia grab their sweet sweet Corpses.
The Gangers charge forward, three go into the final Croak and fail to kill him, a single charge with gang on teh Archidon does the perfect amount of damage to take out the Spirit.
Hawk runs out to the far right to attack the Objective if I need it, unless the Archidon gets distracted by her.
Gorten puts down a wall and moves to be just in charge range of the zone.

I forget to activate Anastasia.

Skorne 2: Infantry mulching time.
Macky feats, charges a Press Ganger, kills him. Blood Boons Ground Zero to pop another few Press Gangers, becomes aware of Alexias double cost awesomeness so finishes with a four cost Fatewalker.
Bronzeback puts Beatback on Molik, who also gets Puppet Strings and Enraged.
Molik, intending to kill the Earthbreaker, charges the Thrall for zero, then does his sidesteps and beatbacks into my Press Ganger swath. His first bought attack absorbs the Puppet Strings, then tough rolls and not getting the 6's to hit causes the murder machine to stop about four inches into the zone.
Macky optimistically backpedals to the hill.

Mercs 3: Gorten being so far back meant that instead of the usual scenario play, assassination was the better choice, as the Bronzeback and Gladiator were possibly out of feat range and could still get into the zone, where, if they kill Alexia and the breaker somehow I've thrown the match away.

Alexia goes to maximum Risen. 
Gorten charges Molik. Feat drags in Makeda, Molik, one of her Dancing pals and hte taskmaster. I boost Forge Father out of optimism and get the crit, slamming Molik over Makeda, the Croak and the Taskmaster, killing the two drubs and knocking down the other two. least disturbance puts Makeda in the front, knocked down.

Press Gangers charge and kill the Objective for extra CP.

Earthbreaker gets Damage Tuned up, takes off the Transfers and the Shield Guard, leaves Makeda on a couple boxes.
Gorman and Gun Mages try to kill steal and fail. Alexia and the Risen horde go in and she does it with the charge attack.


Me on the left.

That played resoundingly in my favour, but I think there was an assassination he just didn't take. On his feat turn, if Molik just takes the Thrall free strike (obviously a risk, but a small one) to charge my objective, get a side step the Gun Mage going around the Objective, he then gets to Gorten off beat backs with three odd attacks, hitting on sixes, weaponmast dice off five. Good but dicey I think?

The proper play for me is likely to not claim the Croak corpses, but leave the Gun mages till last. Dirge them with Piper and spread them out in a blocking pattern to stop the Molik feat shenanigan, as Def 16 will force boosts.

Game 396 - Durgen vs uButcher

That slog done with, onto round 3!

Went into Chrisinger, one of those followers of Red. It's either Butcher 3 or eVlad.

My lists again, as they make exciting reading at this point:

Gorten - Earthbreaker, Thor, Hawk, Madelyn, Gorman, Tinker, Anastasia, 2x Press Gangers, pAlexia + Risen, Gun Mages + The Dude
Objective: Effigy of Valor

Durgen - Gunner, Blaster, eEiryss, Rorsh + Brine, Dougal, Reinholdt, Rockbottom, Ragman, eAlexia, Acosta, Gun Mages + UA, Aiyanna + Holt, 2x Press Gangers
Objective: Effigy of Valor

I didn't really look hard at the lists, there was no need. It was going to be Butcher 3 for sure, and in the odd case he doesn't do that I'm better off playing either list into Vlad.

The critical issue is that Butcher out threats Gorten and can camp through the whole list aside from the Earthbreaker, as I can't fit Eiryss into the list, which outside of this matchup hasn't bothered me yet. Butcher easily goes in, kill the Colossal, camps after feat and chortles.

For that reason I drop Durgen, with the intent to do a ranged assassinate, keeping my hard hitting pieces safe until I get the chance. It's Killbox, which works in my favour for that plan.

uButcher + Argii - Doge, 2x Juggernaught, Ruin, Regular IFP + UA, Madelyn, Raluk Moorclaw + Vanguard, Widowmakers, eAlexia
Objective: Fuel

Raluk and Vanguard were weird to me in place of the standard Bokur, but if this game shows anything it's that I can't especially question their inclusion in the tournament aftermath.

Merc Deploy: I won the roll and picked first. I want to position my pieces, and the linear in the wall is so dead centre sides don't affect it. The side I'm given slightly wedges my deployment between a forest and a building, but not in a meaningful way.
Rorsh is positioned on the AD line using the Highborn benefit to give Brine a Souie! move on turn 1. Because Ninja Pigs.

Khador Deploy: IFP and one Jugger on the left, Butcher, Vanguard and Alexia central, Jugger and Ruin on the right. Widowmakers go on the hill, I presume the reason he chose that side being that terrain piece, though of limited value this game.

Merc 1: Everything moves up the field, Primed goes on the right Press Ganger unit (Smurfs).
eAlexia runs up the left, anticipating soul collection off the IFP. Eiryss slinks into the forest on the right, hiding from any head hunters.

Khador 1: The IFP Spread out and Get Silence of Death from Butcher. Both Juggies go forward, Ruin hangs back. Widows go out on the hill and pot shot at Pressgangers, killing one and toughing out another.

Merc 2: Butcher is still to far away to assassinate at this point, so plan is to have a go at busting the painted Jugger in case Butcher ends up with a cautious game approach, something I'm not expecting but which has gotten me before. I'll also jam up, get Alexia souled up if I can and having range findered the Widowmakers I'll move my Gun Mages forward but out of range, so they'll have to leave the hill then have to fight aiming Gun Mages who win that contest.

Aiyanna tries to Harm the Jugger but is a couple mill short.Durgen advances, staying out of Butcher murder range, and pops out a Carpet bomb to feed two souls to Alexia (Had Harm Stuck I'd have done a boosted Armour Cracker into the Jugger). Both Press Gangers Units charge in, Alexia then rides across and throws down two Thralls who do little to the Jugger. Gun Mages advance as planned.

That was disappointing, but thankfully only bad for plan B.

Khador 2: The Juggers fluff around. Ruin walks up behind the Khador Objective and hits a Smurf, dispelling Primed (I struggle to remember that he does that, I should have Primed and spaced out the other unit to stop this shenanigan). Pikemen then go in and floor a bunch of Press Gangers, Butcher moves into the middle of his force. Alexia Hellfires and gains a couple Souls. A couple Widowmakers advance and do not much.

Merc 3: Bam, it's all set up for the kill turn. Plan is to knockdown Butcher, Durgen feat, Explosivo Eiryss strips focus (Vanguard is out of Shield Guard range), Acosta and Alexia Thralls finish off. Janky, but felt like the best game plan for me.
 
Savio Vengeance to be in front of the Linear obstacle.
Rorsh advances, pops smoke hitting Brine and Acosta (I mathed beforehand that the POW 6 blast couldn't kill Acosta). The Ninja Pigs then advance forward.
Brine turns into a green Proxy base, because though a model I love he's got some Skorne positioning issues. He then advances and two hand throws the painted Jugger at Butcher. The throw is successful, but I miss Butcher at the landing point (Got a 15 total, so War Dog bonus made it a miss). Jugger then scattered to the six one inch, causing Butcher to shift towards me and to the right.

This is the point I actually should have stopped the assassination run and played for a later game, saving pieces and my feat.

Gun Mages move out of the way, a few aim and kill two Widowmakers per last turns plan, they fail their command check.
Aiyanna then advances, Harms Butcher, Alexia burns a Soul to ignore it.

My next error, I could have harmed the forward Argus.

Holt does nothing relevant.
Durgen feats, Explosivo's Eiryss, Primes Acosta, clears out the Pikement blocking Butcher and does about six points or so to him.
Eiryss advances, strips off Fury.
Red Press Gangers move out of the way and kill some Pikemen.

That activation was the last one where I could save myself.

The issue is I didn't take into account the Vanguard Free Striking my assassination solos. I could have stopped early, or moved the Gangers to hem in his Line of sight (I lose the charge bonus on Acosta, pig whoop at POW 15 autohit weaponmaster).

Anyway, I have to accept the Free Strikes and pray they miss because Durgen is in death range.

Acosta charges, dies. Alexia rides up, spawns three Thralls as far out as she can, two are in Free Strike Range still and die, last does abysmal on damage just for a final poke in my eye.


Khador 3: Butcher shakes, stuff gets out of the way, Energises for one, charges Durgen and one shots him. My only chance was he flashing Blades first, kills Rorsh and Holt but not Durgen and Brine gets a Pigheaded Crit Knockdown. Alas, he didn't give me that.

Me on the left. Much time on assassination, but evidently not enough.

Had I spaced properly the turn before, moving my Warjacks to the right of the Linear out of Arcane Interference, they could have had focus and slammed the Argi into the Vanguard. Alas, win some....

Definitely highlights my relative lack of Durgen vs Gorten, though it was a cool plan of supreme convulution to throw together and attempt.

Game 395 - Gorten vs eHaley

Allrighty, round 2 on the joyous high of not getting knocked into the funsies bracket in round 1.

Last time this happened (Canberra SS Heat?) I then went into Frawl's Cygnar and got drubbed. Good times.

So anyway, Frawls round 2. With Cygnar. Blergh.

Scenario is Recon, to re-iterate my lists, as scrolling up to other posts is lame:

Gorten - Earthbreaker, Thor, Hawk, Madelyn, Gorman, Tinker, Anastasia, 2x Press Gangers, pAlexia + Risen, Gun Mages + The Dude
Objective: Effigy of Valor

Durgen - Gunner, Blaster, eEiryss, Rorsh + Brine, Dougal, Reinholdt, Rockbottom, Ragman, eAlexia, Acosta, Gun Mages + UA, Aiyanna + Holt, 2x Press Gangers
Objective: Effigy of Valor

Frawlzed is rocking Haley2 and 3, I think either of my lists can make it a game of sorts, but Haley 3 with trencher smoke clouds is no good for Durgen, so Gorten it is. Frawliest drops Haley 2, so we have a rematch from our last game.

eHaley - Stormwall(Bonded), Thorn, Squire, Gun Mages + UA + Sentinel, Aiyanna + Holt, Black 13th, Junior, eEiryss
Objective: Bunker

Recon is a bit of a saving grace for me, as that is a scenario I can make a play for, trade feats to keep it going and have enough pieces at the end to close out.

Merc Deploy: I win the roll and pick first, I want to get up the board as quick as I can before Haley feat slows me up.

Cygnar Deploy: Stormwall is facing off against Earthbreaker, a necessity as nothing else in the list threatens my Colossal (Though Time Bombs can make it super sad). Normal Gun Mages go on the left, Aiyanna/Holt and the Black 13th on the right. EEiryss hides in the forest on the right.

Merc 1: I run stuff up, not as far as I could/should have. Last time we did this dance I tripped and lost a lot of Press Ganger corpses by pushing too far forward, I did the inverse this time and compressed myself by about 3 inches. Gorten puts up Strength of Granit and Solid Ground, these are upkept most of the game.

Cygnar 1: Stormwall Temporal Accelerates to toe the zone and puts down Covering Fire. Gun Mages/Black 13th advance, add the Ryan cloud to the Covering Fire Line. Haley casts Deflection and Cruises in the back. Arcane Shield goes on the Stormwall, where it stays for a loooooog time.

Merc 2: Haley was holding feat, which was unfortunate. The earlier she pops it the sooner I can start making effective plays, when that happened this was set to be a long grind unless I died early.
The Earthbreaker had to do work, which means stopping the Stormwall from smacking it. I can use a wall to stop the direct assault, but Haleys Colossal gets such speed it can charge me in the side, which means relying on tough models jamming those locations.

My junk runs forward, Alexia is key to Pirate Grind so she hides behind Gormans Cloud. Gorten stays completely hidden behind the Objective and Earthbreaker to ensure TK death doesn't happen. I spawn a Thrall, who charges Thorn and miss (But hey, I got an attack roll, so that's something I guess).

Hawk runs tot he right of the Press Gangers, intent being for her to hunt Eiryss or at least Engage and threaten a Free Strike (Eiryss has a lot of trouble killing Hawk herself).

I keep my Gun Mages back, as with Deflection/Dead Eye they lose to the opposing Gun Mages early on and I'll probably need them to push back the Cygnar lights out of the zone late game.

Cygnar 2: Haley stays way back and Deflects again. Gun Mages/Black 13th/Holt shoot down Press Gangers, though in the opening turns my tough rolls are on fire. Thorn charges in and arcs a pair of Arcane Bolts into Alexia, I lose about six or so Risen but Alexia is undamaged.

Eiryss runs in and Arcane Interferences the Earthbreaker.

Significantly, Stormwall doesn't activate. That's terrible for Frawleon, but I try to make it up to him afterwards.

Merc 3: Haley still hadn't feated to my surprise, I presume it's because she hadn't attritioned me down enough with Alexia still ticking, but that's merely a guess on my part.

I'd been planning the half activations in my head, that ended up not being the case and Covering Fire wasn't hemmingme in so I had to take as much advantage as I could. Initially I was settling on moving around a little, using a Risen to Blast Damage Eiryss dead and leaving it at that.

Having a real turn, I aimed to kill Thorn and Eiryss and jam up as much as I could, still keeping the Earthbreaker screened.

The Smurfs (Right Pressgangers) charges Eiryss and engaged Holt and a Black 13th. They killed the Assassin, so that was one job out of the way.
Gorman moves across to "Can't miss range" and Blinds a pair of Communists (Red, left Press Ganger unit) and Thorn.
Communists on the left engaged the Sentinel and a Gun Mage (Should have been two, but I didn't ensure the model was in melee range). One Blinded Ganger also died to a Thorn free strike.
Thorn Tunes up for Attack Rolls, Earthbreaker moves up a knocks Thorn down, does a couple shots then I give up on those because it isn't going to do much (Unboosted 13's on 20 is sad, and clock is a resource I can't throw away in this matchup).
Gorten moves up behind the Colossal, shoots Thorn with a Combo shot for some damage and puts a wall in front of the Earthbreaker again.
Alexia charges Thorn, three spawned Risen go into his back. One Risen also stands in front of the Stormwall and screams COME AT ME BRO. Alexia burns a number of backfield Risen to pop the jack.
Madelyn runs onto the wreck marker, because she's all about that.


Cygnar 3:The swans had tired of my shenanigans, it was go time.
Haley moves up a bit and feats, then Temporal Accelerates the fully loaded Stormwall. She TK'ed a friendly model, I think Aiyanna but I don't quite remember.
Aiyanna and Holt walk up to the engaging Smurfs, Aiyanna Harms the Earthbreaker. Holt kills one Pressganger, but misses a Gunfighter gun shot and ends up killing Aiyanna.

RIGHTEOUS.

He passes his command check, so maximum hilarity isn't quite achieved. Black 13th clear off the one Risen in front of the Stormwall and clear out the Smurf blockade/Earthbreaker screen, my die rolls for tough balancing out for their earlier success.

The Gun Mages advance and clear out the Commies, leaving one Survivor, ironically the most forward bloke engaging one of them.

Go time, Storm Wall charges Earthbreaker on the right side of it. The Pod puts the Tinker on one box and fails to hurt Anastasia. The Stormwall punches the Earthbreaker, leaves it on about six boxes on the left side, with a single one left in Cortex. Electro Leaps from its attacks also kill Gorman and do three boxes to Gorten.

Squire and Sentinel shield Haley.

Merc 4: Frawls had measured his Control area to make sure he nabbed Anastasia in feat, this meant I knew that I had full activations out of my support pieces and the Gun Mages.

Simple plan at this stage, I was going to get a huge load of Risen, they'd gum up the opposing Gun Mages, my own iteration would ping out the Squire, Earthbreaker would try to take out the Stormwall.
I drop the wall at this point, it has served it's purpose. I fully load the Breaker.
Tinker advances and repairs the right arm, Thor tunes for Damage, Earthbreaker makes four attacks, hitting on fours, boosted damage +2. I miss an attack alas, if they all hit then on average I kill it, but Defence 10 can have it's time in the sun I guess. Stormwall loses one side and has about 15 to 20 boxes to go.
The small amount of Press Gangers fuddle around in sadness, the last few Smurfs (Obscured in the shitty photo by the Earthbreaker) block up the Stormwall, as does Anastasia.
Risen swarm the Gun Mages, they kill one them at least.
The Gun Mages advance, finally there is no deflection so they make shots to kill the Squire. I get five shots on the squire, one gets Shield Guarded by the sentinel, one puts it on one box and the other three miss. Swallow Sadness.

I forgot to activate Gorten, but he wouldn't have done much (This is not where I flub up in a way that makes up for the lost Stormwall activation). The Gun Mages should have aimed to kill Holt, he's a much more valuable piece late game. My real saving Grace is that the Tinker wasn't hit by Haley's feat, so he could advance and repair the crippled Earthbreaker arm.

Cygnar 4: Stormwall moves around a bit, Pod kills Madelyn and hits Alexia down to a box and kills some Risen. He kills the Earthbreaker, leaps kill Tinker, buys and boosts to slaughter Anastasia.
Black 13th toe the zone and fail to kill Alexia. Gun Mages clear off the Risen that are gumming them up, Haley casts Deflection again and stays hidden. I have no idea what Holt did.

Merc 5: I'd hemmed the Stormwall out of the zone, this meant The objective and Black 13th were the only things stopping me scoring. Simple enough, kill what I can, clear zone, start pinging the Stormwall with Gorten as he prepares to man mode life.

Alexia goes into the objective and kills it, other Risen kill another couple Gun Mages whilst a few more, with the last Smurf, gum up Stormwall.
Gorten moves into the Earthbreaker wreck for his mighty two inches, feats on Stormwall and pushes the Black 13th out of the zone. He does a Combi shot into the Stormwall for nothing, then casts double Molten Metal to chisel of about eight health and the right arm.
Gun Mages move into the zone, most go into wrecks. They kill the Magestorm tosser.
Thor scratches his head in confusion on his purpose in life.

Mercs go to 3CP!

Cygnar 5: Haley Deadeyes both units, casts Deflection.
13th kill off Alexia, Holt toes the zone as does the Sentinel, clearing off a Risen/Smurf blocking the Stormwall.
Gun Mages stab more Risen, shoot down a pair of the Amethyst Rose not in cover.
Stormwall toes the zone, pods into the back of the zone, killing Piper and inflicting a point to Thor.

Merc 6: Must keep chipping at Stormwall and try to clear zone! If Gorten stays in the zone even on no camp he's very survivable, so I have to use that to live on.

Gorten drops Solid Ground for the first time in....I have no idea.
He Aims, does a double shot into the Stormwall and boosts damage, then casts a Molten Metal and kill it.
Like a boss.
The Gun Mages aim/toes wrecks, they Thundershot the Sentinel out of the zone.
I declare that the Risen and Thor forfeit and declare the win (Note: Be classy, thank your opponent instead of saying you win, it's waaaaaaaaaaay less douchey).

This is the point I finally make it up to Frawlein, as he points out the pod I'd forgotten about at the back of the zone.
He starts his turn while I slap my face (Photo is before we removed the Stormwall model).

Cygnar 7: Gun Mages, Squire and Holt walk into the zone and kill a Gun Mage (The Wreck Markers save me a lot here). The Sentinel runs into a more central location of the zone. Black 13th run to the Stormwall wreck. Haley becomes the recipient of Arcane Shield and holds back.


Picture above is the final board state, it goes a for at least another three turns or so.

Merc turn 7, at this point my only plan is to clear out the zone and get that CP win I'm one Domiante away from.
Thor turns around and Flamethrowers the back pair of Stormpods down.
The Gun Mages push Holt and knock him down, Deflection keeps him alive. They also knock back the Sentinel toward the opposing Gun Mages.
Gorten then casts Eruption, killing four Gun Mages and dinging up the sentinel, whom he also does a Combi Shot into for more damage.

We play multiple short turns after this. He casts Deflection constantly and keep Haley back, this keeps his Squire, Sentinel and Black 13th alive against my Gun Mages, who slowly get whittled away. I thundershot the Sentinel out a few times, using Eruption and Combi shots to strip off his arms early on.

On the final Cygnar turn, Haley runs to the right flag to score a point and leaves the Sentinel, now with just it's Cortex Boxes left, and one Gun Mage in the Thorn Wreck Marker to contest. I have Gorten and one last Gun Mage (Also the Objective stopping Cygnar going for a Domiante plan in this last game phase).
The Gun Mage aims, Thundershots the Sentinel out with, then rolls Box cars to kill it for some insult to Injury. Gorten then casts Eruption at the Storm Pod next to the final contesting Gun Mage, killing him and giving me the game, 5 CP to 2.


Me on the right.
That was amazing. Some screw ups on both sides, the Stormwall being the most significant, but this is easily my favourite game of the year at this point and will struggle to be toppled.
Definitely a few solo positioning errors I have to watch for int he case of this matchup, mainly the Tinker/Thor package, which I think I manage by keeping my feat available to threaten Haley. I'd love a way to kill Eiryss prior to the interference bomb, but that's not achievable with this list currently (Not reliably anyway).
I think this is the first time I've had to cast Eruption, definitely the first time for Molten metal. It's probably the first match where I cast everyone of my Warnouns spells and it was the right choice to use it, though I should have Molten Metalled prior to doing the Gun shots, as that is more likely to remove systems by stripping armour boxes.

Game 394 - Gorten vs eLylth

Got in one last tourney before I start switching lists/faction to prep for the OTC (Oceania Team Champs). A glorious five rounder called Clash of the Titans.

Living in a glorified country town, I dragged myself out of bad at the sweet sweet time of 4am. Fortunately I was spared the greater part of driving by Adam Fortuitous-Compass-Point, who did the glorious 3 and half hours to get to Clash.

Ended up as about forty or so contenders, so it was going to be five rounds rolling into each other without breaks. Alas poor Troll players?

Rocked out my pairing, the caster I'm good with and the one I should have had more practice at.

Gorten - Earthbreaker, Thor, Hawk, Madelyn, Gorman, Tinker, Anastasia, 2x Press Gangers, pAlexia + Risen, Gun Mages + The Dude
Objective: Effigy of Valor

Durgen - Gunner, Blaster, eEiryss, Rorsh + Brine, Dougal, Reinholdt, Rockbottom, Ragman, eAlexia, Acosta, Gun Mages + UA, Aiyanna + Holt, 2x Press Gangers
Objective: Effigy of Raw

Hoping to go 3-2.

Round 1, into Tom Guan!

Bugger.

Running Lylth2 and Saeryn, out of those it was going to be the pew pew master for sure.

Scenario is Close Quarters, I drop Gorten because he survives much better than Durgen. This really comes down to how Lylth feats, either the early assassination, popping the Earthbreaker or completely styming/mauling my infantry, that choice dictating how I then play it, somewhat ameliorated by the fact that Close Quarters isn't super live for me here.

eLylth - 3x Ravagore, Naga, Succubus, Warspears + UA, 2x Shepherds, 2x Death Stalkers

I lose the roll and get given second. There's a convenient looking obstruction on wide side, so I take that. Rest of the terrain isn't going to be relevant.

Legion Deploy: Ravagores and Naga lean to the right side with a single Heavy on the left, Warspears in the middle.

Merc Deploy: Gorten lined up to get to that Obstruction.

Legion 1: Shadowpact up, everything moves up.

Merc 1: Bit of a dilemma here. If I throw out my upkeeps a single Ravagore will probably pop Gorten, if I don't I short change my long game.
Given the obstruction, and the fact that if my blocking scrubs get knocked down it's irrelevant if they tough or not as they won't block line of sight, I cast Solid Ground and run the Earthbreaker. Press Gangers spread out, important stuff tries to bravely hide behind the rock safety.

Legion 2: Lylth feats, moves up, kills a few of the Press Gangers in inconvenient spots. The Warspears assault and ping a few of the Gangers. The left Ravagore tries but fails to get Line of SIght to Gorten and kills some random stuff. The other two Ravagores advance and manage to get a bead on him, the first leaves him on 6 boxes.
There's a brief laser frenzy as we try to assess whether the middle Ravagore can both see Gorten and bypass the Cover, at some point I bump the terrain so we go with the Ravagore is in happyville.

Said Ravagore then misses both boosted shots, needing eights.

Technical survival!


Merc 2: Gorten is on fire, but it does sod all. It's virtually academic at this point, Lylth had to advance way up the field to get the job done, it's counter assassinate time. Lylth has three Transfers and Tenacity.

Madelyn intrigues him forward, Gorten feats Lylth in (Hits a bunch of other stuff that doesn't matter much). Gorten shoots her with a combo shot for some points. Thorbreaker gets Tuned up, advances into Stealth range after Press Gangers get out of the way, knocks the Elf down, strips of all her transfers and leaves her knockdown on a couple health. Hawk charges and gets the job done.


Me on the left, Clocks were counting in reverse (So we both had 45 minutes left).

In the morning walk around I'd seen a lot of Menoth, Skorne and Trolls, this wasn't a minority match that I expected. Normally Lylth2 easily gets the job done, Legion not being the best thing ever for Mercs, but sometimes dice happen.

You can ride luck to a tourney win right?