Game 184 - CID SR2017 Thexus (Drudges) vs Vayl1

75 point game using the PIT2 and Cluster terrain deployment. Not throwing this one up on CID as the terrain doesn't comply. Plus the necessary non-random comment nature of testing batreps just don't interest me that much to write at the moment.

I watched a stream game of a Thexus Drudge spam with the player doing things that annoyed me, ergo I had to flail myself with my squidheads in a vague attempt to develop some empathy.

Thexus1 (Operating Theatre) - 2x Wrecker, 2x Agitator, 3x Mind Slaver and Drudges, 2x Mind Bender and Drudges, Alexia1 + Risen + Dominator, 2x Overlords
Objective: Effigy of Valor
vs
Vayl1 - Carnivean, Angelius, Seraph, Ravagore, Hex Hunters + Bayal, 2x Death Stalkers, Forsaken
Objective: Bunker

Pit2, so Circle/Warrior zone in the centre, then a rectangle/battlegroup zone on either side of it with aligned objectives in the latter.
Shout out to Lazy Peon's http://scenario.lazypeon.net/scenarios/sr2017_cid/index.html scenario generator site.

The end terrain is a centre fogbank,then a spread of forest/trench/hill trench versus a couple forests and a wall. Where the terrain fails the setup rules is that elevation is not present on both side of the board, which is a rule I find implicitly done. Truly asymmetrical terrain is the easiest means of making the choice of second a valid tactical option.

As it was, I won the dice roll and desperately stared at the table trying to conjure a reason to go second. I failed. My basic expectation is that Thexus has to cower from a Vayl magic assassination with distance while the Drudges swarm up and do all the work. Scoring options are very limited for me by dint of the minimal battlegroup.
Legion correctly chooses the side with the pair of forests. I have defensive terrain options, all are to far up the board for my liking and there's enough Drudges that non-terrain def boosted targets are easily acquired by Legion.


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Round 1: Thexus casts Decel and advances directly forward. The Wreckers then run in front of him. The Drudge Swarm runs up either side, Overlords go up on the far flanks.
Alexia creates a Thrall that goes behind the cloud.

In response, the Hex Hunters spread out in the centre and right zone, the various Legion bests move around behind them, left to right it's the Carnivean, Angelius, Ravagore, Seraph.
The Ravagore got Slipstreamed, advanced up and took a pot shot at the Slaver Drudges on the hill. He's half an inch shy, scatter directly forward 6 inches. Fails to break one Drudges armour, causes another to tough out and most importantly kills the Cephalyx Slaver unit leader. Sweet joys of Command 4 and no Prep for Surgery alas.
The Carnivean also gets a Leashed move and puts up Spiny Growth.
Also Deathstalkers have a good time plinking off Drudges. I assume they do it "Party in the USA", as Everblight is essentially a deific force of evil.



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Merc 2: Thexus, having come forward more than a millimetre into the killbox, finds it not to his taste and what the situation rectified. Immediately. Got a weird sitcom image of Cyphon being Thexus' dogsbody. Moving on...

I plonk ambushers on the top right of the board, as they can attack several warrior models and engage the Seraph.
Left wise, one Overlord gets into spray range on that sides Deathstalker and promptly misses. The lives of two more Drudges are on his hands. He doesn't care that much.
The liberal side of the board features that sides Benders/Slavers running up out of Thexus' ways.
Exulon casts Deflection, TK's a Bender Drudge on the right, then walks back and to the left back to just peeking out of the killbox where he belongs. The Wreckers then run to be in front of the feeble warcaster.

The right Benders move around, hampered by the Scather template. The Drudge that got TKed gets up into the fog bank and Concussion Pulses, killing two Hex chumps.
This allows another Thrall to be made by Alexia, the two created chaps then charge the Carnivean, one bounces off while the other gets a spike and puts some damage down.
The Slavers on this side run up, punch down a Hex Hunter.

The ambushers then go in, two am the Seraph, three get a CMA on the Deathstalker and miss. Dangit.
I activate the right Overlord unit later than I should, they spray down some Hex Hunters I wasted time engaging with Drudges. Oh well.


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Legion 2: Vayl walks into one of the forests, feats, spells down some Drudges.
The Angelius clears off the Carnivean, who then assaults up and sprays down some Drudges and the left unit Cephalyx Slaver. He also hits the Cephalyx Mind Bender unit leader, but alas only puts it on one box.

The left Deathstalker snake eyes a shot on a Drudge. Gambling involving dice was quietly removed from the future planning of the Legion player.
The Hexhunters clear off some Drudges, procing some magic pew pews that make the Risen sneer at the weak defensive stats of Drudges. Glass house guys, Jesus.....

The Seraph has to stabs some dudes, which it is successful at.
The Ravagore shoots and kills the Cephalyx Slaver on the ambush unit. STOP THAT! First game where I really wished Stealth was fobbed off for Sac Pawn [Drudge losers].
Right side Deathstalker stabs futilely at an ambush Drudge.

Feat moves see all the Legion models fall back out of the way.


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Merc 3: I'm not optimistic of killing Vayl, so I have to start shuffling with the end intent of scoring on the left zone, then speed rushing the round and clock timer.

The left Overlords and Pink Slavers pop the opposing objective.
Few Green Drudges remain, so the three that are left gang up on one Hex Hunter and murder him.
Yellow ambush Drudges go in, they damage the Ravagore and Seraph while gutting the Deathstalker.

Risen charge in, four on the Carnivean, three on the Ravagore. They do single CMA's on each, actually manage to get some damage on.

Thexus TK's a Wrecker, moves to the left. TK Wrecker goes up into the Carnivean in an Instigate bubble, high spikes finish it off with the initials. Other Wrecker stays planted in front of Exulon.

Mercs go to 1 CP.


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Legion 3: There's no assassination or scenario vector, so Legion have to clear models off and aim for a clock win.
The Angelius kills off the forward Wrecker without to much issue, the Ravagore and Seraph bit and claw as much as they can. The Deathstalker kills an Overlord.


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Merc 4: Need to score, have about 13 minutes left so should be able to ride it out. Still have feat after all.

Drudges move in, Dark Sentinel moves the Angelius back and out of Alexia murder range. They do some damage to different warbeasts, one somehow hits Vayl for 5 damage.
Risen blob moves up and in, do some random attacks. One gets a hot on Vayl somehow and does 7 damage. Madness. Alexia herself kills the Ravagore.

Thexus runs into the left zone, shielded by the forest and remaining Wrecker.
I go to 2 CP.


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Legion 4: Everything makes attacks trying to kill Alexia, she ends up toughing the Angelius armour pierce attack then spreading the rest out to Risen.
Legion, lacking any conceivable way to win, concede.


If SR2017 has good qualities, they are not on display here. It was a long grind, the "Mercy" rule utterly failed to prevent a miserable end, "scenario" was irrelevant. It was an attrition exercise with only a few key decisions ("Can Thexus stay away? He can? Game done.").

Game 183 - CID SR2017 - Haley2 vs Morghoul2

A quick SR2017 run through the trench. Kind've. I played Haley, so if anyone is repping the evil empire today its me. I DENY YOU YOUR FLUFF IRON KINGDOMS.

Haley2 (Storm Bringers) - Stormwall, Thorn, Squire, Laddermore, Stormlancers (1 min, 1 max), Junior with a Firefly
vs
Morghoul2 - Molik, Gladiator, Archidon, Extoller, Farrow Brigands with Warlord, Slingers, Feralgeist, Master Tormentor, Blood Runners, Marketh

Test scenario is "Spread the Net", so a flag/rectangle zone on wither side with a circle zone in the centre. Terrain has was done only partially with the CID Cluster method, due to a desire to get the game going. As my first game in the new SR with not much personal reflection on it this was more about grappling with the ideas than providing Dev feedback (It's been some time with the game, I think this is the first night I've started seeing the Matrix as it were).

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Skorne have a left leaning in their posturing, they run up the field. Bloodrunners on the left face off against the 5 man Storm Lancer unit, Molik and Slingers are across from the Stormwall with the Archidon on the right against the min unit of Lances. The watcha-call-it incorporeal upkeep spell goes on Molik.

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Cygnar 1: Plan is to advance minorily and plink at what's available.
Haley Accelerates the Stormwall and TK's the Firefly forward, arcing through Thorn.
The Steeeermweeellllll then moves up, puts down covering fire and a pod on the left side in front of the bloodrunners. I make a basic error (Sideswiped by Future Rob) and didn't put focus on the Colossal, so three shots into Molik achieve nought.
The Pod placement gave the necessary range extension for the Max Lances to advance, shoot it and kill the Master Tormentor and four Runners with electro leaps.
Courtesy of the TK the Firefly has the range to go into the cloud and zap down three Slingers.
The Min Lance unit goes far right to see if htey pull out the Archidon, long term they'll ensure no Skorne plans to get the right Rectangle zone.
Arcane Shield is on the Stormwall.

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Skorne 2: Morghoul charges the Lightning Pod, feats on Laddermore, the max unit of Lances and the Stormwall, then Sprints back to safety.
I was careful in general, with the exception of the Firefly, who proves to be in the Archidon's threat range. The Dinosaur charges in after an enrage, maxes Fury and crushes the tin can.
Other than that, everything just moves around. Gladiator hang ways back, Molik gets into the centre zone behind the Slingers.

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Cygnar 2: It's my feat turn, I eyeball that if the Stormwall kills Molik he'll take a round of shooting, then the next turn I'll kill the Gladiator and it'll be hide-Haley-until-inevitable-win time.
Min Storm Lances Press forward, doing a couple assaults on Slingers while one charges the Archidon for a bit of damage. This lets Thorn run around to an arc location on the right side of the circle zone.
Haley then goes, TK's Molik around. Haley feats, unfortunately the various Blinded models are hard to bypass and I don't get the gladiator in her control area. Doh. He'll need to rush himself in any event, I do a gut feel that the Stormwall should survive with about 10 boxes and I'll still be fine attritionally, ergo the Colossalcharges in and kills Molik, plonking down a pod to contest the Skorne Rectangle zone.
The Blinded Lances just futz around.

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Skorne 3: Morghoul Mortalities the Stormwall, kills a Stormlancer and Sprints to be in the Skrone Rectangle zone behind the trench (Inside that terrain was to close to Lance charges).
Blood Runners gum up the left Storm Lance unit.
Slingers are all engaged, so they just gum up nearby pieces.
With Brigands and a high spike Gladiator attacks the Stormwall dies. Whoops. Danger, danger, High voltage!
The Archidon tries to kill the unbuffed Stormlancer that charged him. Leaves him on one box. Just Cygnar things.

Skorne get a point off Morghoul in their zone. The fiends.

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Cygnar 3: Well, Stermwell be gone, so assassination it is.
After some mapping out, I start with the min unit of Lances who clear out the Slingers jamming Thorn.
Thorn then runs, taking a free strike from Marketh that takes out no systems. He ends with 5 of Morghoul.
Laddermore charges a Brigand, falls short but gets out of the way and kills a Brigand with the Assault shot.
Haley then goes, she TK's Morghoul forward through Thorn, then advances herself, TK's herself, does two more TK's on a pair of Stormlances on the left unit.
I then get three Stormlance charges into Morghoul who has no valid transfer targets, they easily get the job done.


Haley remains Haley, even when her controller screws it all up. Had no business dropping the Colossal like that, he could have stayed perfectly safe had I loaded up early on and just shot Molik off the board over two round.

This opening game did not leave me enthusiastic for SR2017. Scenario is no longer a win condition to my mind, it's just a timer. Hopefully more experience will elucidate the grand scheme, it's starting to emerge to me I think.

Widgetgate was a unfun experience for me this game, primarily when the assassination run was being lined up it made it much more clumsy to arrange and get opponent consent. The various posts and PP responses have also been lackluster.

This packet is probably enough for me to bin Gorten. The scenarios are to broad and the scoring to low, in a world of pure assassination/attrition Ossrum is, sadly, the better caster. I'm finding that pill quite bitter.

Game 182 - Thexus1 vs Calaban1

Monday Dolly Wars, seeing how loads of smucky infantry go into a caster that is theoretically bad for it.

Thexus1 (Operating Theatre) - 2x Wrecker, 2x Agitator, 3x Slavers/Drudges, 2x Benders/Drudges, Mama Alexia/Papa Dominator/Puppy Risen Horde, 2x Overlords
Objective: Bunker
vs
Calandra1 - Wrastler, Spitter, Gremlins, 2x Efaarit Scouts, Razorback Crew, Meat Thresher, Croak Raiders, Swamp Gobbers, Slaughterhousers
Objective: Effigy of Valor

The Minion list is basically testing out various things to see how they go. It's not my style, because I'm lazy, own a bunch of Posse and Blindwater Theme now exists. Plus I feel zero need to substantiate my statement that Slaughterhousers suck.

Scenario is Recon, I lose the roll and get given second. Notable terrain being some scattered walls, an obstruction on the Minion side of the left flag and a double forest/cloud wall that goes from the zone to above the right flag.


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Minion 1: Effarits move up on either flank, they do not fall afoul of any Stormtroopers. Croaks go out front.
Slaughterhousers move up the left with the Wrastler behind, Calaban trots up toward a wall at the Minion side of the zone. Meat Thresher trundles up to the right side of the Minion objective. Spitter and Targ hang out on the right.


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Merc 1: Forward my pretties! Where's my flying Drudge or Monstrosity model anyway?

Thexus hides behind the Wreckers/Objective, as I'm paranoid about Calaban feating and spelling him to death. Otherwise the Swarm moves up in standard blob formation, Overlords either side. Alexia spawns a Thrall that runs up to be behind the obstruction beside the left flag.


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Minion 2: Gremlins run super far out to the right, thankfully if there's an army that has no issues dealing with those sodding Stielberg Warts its the Squidheads (Magic sprays for daaaaaaays).
The Croaks move up again as the front line, shoot down some Drudges and Risen. The Slaughterhousers move up further back, the front one engages the Thrall Warrior.
Calaban stays backfield, tries a shot at a Drudge for some Arc Nodey goodness and misses. It was the start of a Minions run of Fortuna hurling into their collective hats.


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Merc 2: I have a theoretical assassination here. Thexus can TK the Wrckers forward, TK Calaban out and go to town. However, he's camping a reasonable stack of Fury, one Wrecker was heavily impeded by the forest and ultimately I dislike pinning the entire game on a boosted 10 which, if it fails, means Thexus doesn't even get a chance to whimper before Calaban magic smashes him into his component atoms.

Instead, Thexus and Wreckers pretty much stay where they are with Decel up, he feats to bunch everything up and arcs a TK to get the Thresher back and facing the wrong direction before it kills a stack of Drudges.

Top left sees the Yellow Slaver Drudges ambush, they eat that sides Effarit and engage a Slaughterhouser/Razorback Crew member.
Various Sprays from overlords and Bender unit kill the Razorback gun, most of the Croaks and the Gremlin Swarm. Slaver Drudges get up in their and polish off a few more. The units are reduced a few members each. I spawn another Thrall because I can and lack a reason to not do so.


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Minion 3: Calaban feats and pops a Drudge for Arc Nodey goodness. It doesn't help a great deal alas, as I've already killed a great deal. The Slaughterhousers kill some Slaver Drudges, the Meat Thresher does a doubletake to get back into the zone and fail to kill any Drudges with its gun, the Spitter gets two shots on a line of five Drudges and fails to kill any of them.


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Up to Merc 4: I don't manage to clear the zone, so it grind out a bit more before I kill Calaban. I keep Thexus super far back and out of Line of Sight, a Wrecker kills the Meat Thresher as Drudges swamp around the Beasts.


Slaughterhousers! Back on the shelf with you! Come on POOOOOSSSSSEEEE!

Game 181 - Gorten1 vs Vayl2 Local SR Round 4 Limited Write Up

The table mat makes the models/terrain tricky to distinguish and it's a relatively uninvolved game, so sloth report.

Playing up, so chance for reasonable placement in the ladder,though I'm not super optimistic as it's into Legion who are a mystery in this day and age in my local.

Vayl2 is there, so I'm not keen on dropping Thexus and having him spelled to death, ends up as Gorten into the expected magic pew pew lady. Take and Hold table, with forests on the surrounds and water/walls in the centre.

The scenario not being super live is awkward for me. The opposing list is Oracles theme, with a couple Ravagores and a bunch of flying beasts that out threat me to the point of severe inconvenience.

The Sorcerer's reliving their teen skaterboard careers on Hellions prove to be super annoying, as Gorten forts up with his jacks and Rock Wall they hide in the forests and stop the various gun shots I want to do.

A Blaster gets chipped at by shots, I foolishly use it in the fort when the Drillers should have become the blocking pieces, Vayl feats and manages to strip off Gorten's camp with arced Chasten attacks, a Neraph charges in and easily kills him. Alas.

Random Ding Quotes to add something from someone who knows what they're doing in this game:
"Haley2 is my line. She's to easy to win with, it's not even a game"
"I brought Legion out just for today, putting them away again for when the exemplar theme comes out" (Going 4-0 didn't meet the standards required)
"Vayl2 is rubbish now"

Game 180 - Local SR RND3 - Thexus1 (Op) vs Butcher1(WGK)

Round 3 of sweet SR-age.

It's Extraction into the partially Reds. With some Pink. And white. And Bare metal. Anyway, it's Khador.

The opposing pairing is Butcher1 and Vlad2. I'm expecting Vlad, which is a list I've played into a couple times. I'm confident with Gorten into it, ultimately though I needed more practice with Thexus so down he goes.

Thexus1 (Operating Theatre) - 2x Wrecker, 2x Agitator, 3x Slavers/Drudges, 2x Benders/Drudges, Alexia1/Risen/Matrix Escapee, 2x Overlords
Objective: Bunker
vs
Butcher1 (WGK) -Ruin, Juggernaught, 3x Marauder, WGRC + 3x Rocketeer, WGI + UA, 2x WGI Mortar, WGI Field Gun, Kovnik Joe
Objective: Bunker

Well, that was a surprise. At least Thexus doesn't have to live in fear of super dooper Kayazy Eliminators coming a knocking.
I lose the roll, get given first. We've got some green templates spread around as forests, a cloud between two of those tree lots for a wall of line of sight block and a massive central hill with an obstruction on it next to the left flag. Khador side also gets a wall.


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Merc 1: Nothing super exciting. Drudges run forward. Overlords are on the extreme left and inter meshed with the drudge blob on the right.
Thexus cowers in a forest bravely.


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Khador 1: Khador stuff sticks away from the flanks, corralled by Trebor's favourite ambush unit, Slaver Drudges.
Marauder leads out on the left, Juggernaught behind. Rifle Corp behind them shoot down a front Risen.
The second Marauder moves up the centre, with the third iteration on the far right behind the forest in which the right flag makes its home. The WGI infantry are spread out between and behind that centre and right side Marauder, with Ruin behind the wall behind them to not be subject to my feat. Butcher is dead centre, Iron Fleshes himself. The various artillery pieces all charge up for their big move of the game.


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Merc 2: Plan this turn is to holdfeat and dent up the Marauders. I opt to not bring in the ambushers, expecting them to be better off when the lines are more engaged.

The Mind Bender units both Adrenal the Slaver unit next to them, Alexia creates a Thrall on the hill.

The Wreckers run out to either side to be arc nodes. Lacking a Sac Pawn target, Thexus maneuvers in the forest to not be in the line of sight of anything as I pictured Butchered feated Rockets and blast damage disintegrating him. Exulon pops Decel, which gives Drudges the vague resemblance of defensive stats against guns. I then TK one of the left Overlords and place the right most Marauder outside of Butchers control and turned around.

The Green Slaver Drudges on the left charge the left most Marauder, spiked rolls take out the Cortex and right arm.
Also on that side, the Overlords move up, two remain behind the forest, the last gets up the board and Influences a Mortar, who takes a shot at the Field Gun (Damnable minimum range! All those Rifle Corp......). The Mortar misses, scatters back, kills the Field Gun Crew and hits Joe. I roll the damage. Joe toughs. So close to glory.....

Other Overlords wiggle around in the centre, waiting to Physic Assault the WGI when they come up and spray down my stuff.

So......the screw ups. Oh God the screw ups.
I placed a Drudge in the way of the Thrall, so he hangs on the hill instead of charging the left damaged Marauder.
One of the Agitators didn't activate.
The need for one Wrecker to go far across to arc on the right most Marauder meant that the Adrenal Drudges couldn't charge at all, so I wasted three Mind Bender Drudges to casting spells for no reason.

Most damning of all though......I killboxed myself. Pretty sure my internal scream nearly broke the glasses in the bar next door.

Khador goes to 2 CP.


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Khador 2: With the inevitably of Wile E Coyote realising he's treading on air, the Khadorans load up and start the scoring mission. Butcher hangs back near his objective.

The Various Artillery pieces kill Slaver Drudges around the place.
On the left, the Rifle Corp advance. Six form a literal firing line, assemble a Rail Gun together and explode the Thrall who was hiding on the hill behind the obstruction. The rest do various mulch shots around the place, clearing Drudges contesting the flags.

The left Juggernaught kills a Drudge, tries and flails at the Overlord who Influenced the Mortar. The Marauder goes up to the flag.

On the right, the WGI pop their mini feat, come up and spray away. They aren't super successful, but have enough attacks to clear the flag and pop the Slaver running the Pink Drudges. Command 4 time!
Ruin stays up behind the wall.

Khador goes to 4 CP.


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Merc 3: Being down on Scenario with Thexus feels utterly surreal.
It's not all bad though, I think I can pull this off. If Butcher had held his feat I'd be screwed, as is my mission statement just becomes grind it out and bank on a Decelled Bunker not being liable to die to ranged attacks.

Thexus moves his floaty carcass forward, pops feat to bunch up infantry. I wasn't super enthused for this, as I wanted it to stay as an option against Ruin, ultimately I didn't have that luxury as as many things needed to die as possible at this point.
I cast Decel, which is now mandatory rather than nice. I TK the right Marauder again, I'm going to kill it with a Wrecker and use the forest as a shield from Ruin getting in and killing him.

On the left, the Ambushers come in. One runs to engage the left side Mortar, which I know will lead to the whole "Take Up gets around engaging with a single model interaction". Damnable rules. I get one two man in on a Rifle Corp, triggering a Prep for Surgery. A few charge into the Juggernaught, they don't do especially well.
The Overlords move up around the Juggernaught, one does an excellent spray, the other two Influence Rocketeers who find the centre Marauder really hard to hit and consequently do sod all. Imph. Imph I say!

Around the left flag, the Wrecker goes to max contest range, needing to stay away from the Juggernaught charge as that would be game ending. He attacks the damaged Marauder, sadly without an Instigate buff caused by last turns non-activation. Does a chunk of damage, leaves him with a few boxes. The Green Drudges come in and manage to get it done.

The central Overlords move up, spray down a bunch of the WGI that my feat bunched up.
Wrecker on the right manages to bin the right side Marauder, burning all his focus.
The Pink Drudges run up and join the right flag contesting party, forced to crowd anyway by their leaders mighty Command 4.

I get on the scoreboard, now 4 to 1 for Khador.


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Khador 3: Sure enough, the left Mortar uses Take up to get out of the way. The various Artillery bits plink away, killing some Green Drudges on the left and rolling flat out awful on the Pink Drudge blob, for whom the Mortar got an excellent shot.

The Juggernaught kills two of the Overlords on the far left, Rifle Corp futz around and kill two of the centre Overlords.
The remaining Marauder comes up, fails to kill an Agitator. The few remaining WGI spread out contesting the right flag, tough out some of the Pink Drudges.

The last move is the clincher and easily the biggest problem. Ruin and Butcher move up, the Jack in charge range of the Objective. Eep.


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Merc 4: Biggest issue is Ruin, plan is to flood the front of the Objective to deny him a landing place, the Drudge Horde can seize the left side in future turns while I trade out a Wrecker to kill Ruin, then I'll be able to Telekinesis Butcher and turn him around while I slowly score up and just jam him out for the endgame.

Left wise, the Yellow Ambush Drudges charge in. Two go into the Mortar, ones in the back arc so I stupidly don't bother to CMA and promptly miss twice. Hmm. Several Rifle Corp die and I Prep Surgery another couple times.
The Wrecker on this side moves toward the centre for the Murder Ruin if he comes forward plan, contesting the left flag and being outside of the Juggernauts threat range.

Thexus casts Decel, TK's the Marauder up to get in my Wreckers Line of Sight and free up the Agitator, who moves to the right flag and Instigates. Said Wrecker then kills the Marauder.
The Pink Slaver unit kills a couple WGI and other just sit around the flag waiting to be souls for Ruin.

Last, every remaining model runs in front of my objective. One dies to a counter charging War Doge. I sadly have once again failed to place any Risen, making my screen far more anemic than it needs to be.


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Khador 4: Butcher, Winter Guard and Artillery attacks clear out a space, Ruin charges in and one shots the Objective, Khador get the deserved 5th point. Khador had 6 minutes, I had 10, so I'd probably need to win in about three rushed rounds.


While discontent with my Killboxing, I did quite enjoy trying to pull that one out. With only the relatively minor screw ups (Relative to Killboxing, so not exactly small errors) I think this matchup fairly easily goes to Thexus.

Game 179 - Local SR RND2 - Gorten1 vs Rahn1 - Not Written

Tom killboxed self, screwed up assassination run, tilted out.

Game 178 - Local SR RND1 - Gorten1 vs Durst1

Local tourney day! Well, I say Local, more than half the attendees were travelers from beyond Bureaucratic Stars of the Federal Government Federation.
It's Gorten Zoo and Thexus Drudge Spam for some sweet list asymmetry.

As is the way with this style of tourney attendance, I inflicted myself on a poor local who has to deal with me all the time.

It's into Menoth with Durst and Testament, scenario is Outlast. I'd intended to play Thexus most of the day, this round however I made the mistake in the pairing up process of remembering Mark 2 Durst with a dim image of his battlegroup being immune to pushes, plus no TK from Choir meant I had no shenanigans into that whilst having to super fear Testament doing a magic assassination run. Ergo Dwarfy times. This paragraph is a mess.

Gorten1 - 2x Driller, Blaster, Gunner, Tinker, Wrongeye/Snapjaw, Rorsh/Brine, Aiyanna/Holt, 2x Eliminators, Acosta
vs
Durst1 - Blood of Martyrs, Templar, Reckoner, Cinerator, 2x Wrack, Exemplar Errants (Max), 2x Wracks, 2x Kicky Monks, Choir, Daughters of the Flame, 2x Vassal

I lose the roll, get given second. I take a side with offensive terrain. To explain that, all the important terrain is on the Menoth side in a way that is restrictive to them or potentially abusable by me.
For the left zone, there's a very large forest taking up a quarter of the zone towards the Menites. This matters because the opposing Jack based Pathfinder is limited to Boundless Charge, so the forest will slow them up and if I place appropriately to block Line of Sight then the Jacks have to slowly slog through.
Meanwhile in the right zone there's a wall and a pair of Obstructions that are eminently abusable with Rock walls once I use feat to push the Menites back.

Deployment wise, the Daughters go left, Battlegroup central, Errants on the right.
The Crocs/Pigs are set up to contest the left zone, Gorten and battlegroup on the right for the sweet wall of rocks.


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Menoth 1: The Daughters and Errants run into each zone, the Kicky Monks move up the guts and go into Shifting Sands. I watched High School Musical the other day, that causes me less agony that thinking about Shifting Sands Kicky Monks for 90 minutes.
The Battlegroup advances up loosely, Hallowed Avenger goes on Blood of Martyrs. Cinerator/Blood are on the left, the Templar/Reckoner on the right, though they are near enough to each other that it wouldn't be the most Gargantuan of tasks to move those Jacks around.


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Merc 1: On the left side, the Crocs move up and pop Star Crossed. No guns over here, so I don't need to bother Submerging which lets Snapjaw run into a good spot to stop Daughters getting a charge on Wrongeye. Rorsh and Brine move up but don't go into the zone, Rorsh has max transfers having used Smoke drop to simulate running for both models. One unit of Eliminators and Acosta run into the left zone under Star Crossed. Ragman hangs in the vicinity of this area.

Right side wise, the Gunners advance and plink down a couple of Errants. Gorten throws out Solid Ground and Strength of Granite, charges up, Blasters run in front of him. Tinker and the other Eliminators hang in the backfield, intent being for the Eliminators to clear off jammers.


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Menoth 2: Left side wise, the Daughters charge into the Eliminators, CMA's off backstrikes manage to blow up the Star Cross Defence and kill them both. Unfortunate, Acosta gets Vengeance triggered.
The Cinerator runs into the forest, contests this side alongside a similarly placed Kicky Monk in Bullshit Pulvis Mode.

The other Kicky Monk moves up the centre next to a wall, assumes Beach Underwear Experience Form. He's not in the right zone, so that's a nice headache to avoid.

The Errants spread out in the right zone, one runs up to each Blaster and engages them.

Rest of the Battlegroup advances, doesn't get into a zone at all, choir Battle them to have the Reckoner pop a shot into the Strength of Granite Driller to take out a column and a half.


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Merc 2: I'm in a good position here, as no Jacks are contesting the right zone I can clear off the Errants and score without having to contemplate feating, which I''m not keen to do prior to Dursts feat.

Left wise, Acosta and Snapjaw contest the zone and kill four of the Daughters. Wrongeye hangs back and Star Crosses. The Pigs don't go into the zone, they sit near Wrongeye waiting to potentially avenge Snappy who is in Boundless Charged Cinerator range.

Right side, the Elimiantors clear off the engaging Errants, Sprays and random Hand Cannon shots finish the Errants off. The Gunners move around, blow through the Templar Shield Guard to kill the Vassal. Gorten toes the zone and puts a wall between the terrain wall and one Obstruction t make it painful for the Menoth jacks to get to my important stuff.

Mercs go to 2 CP.


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Menoth 3: Left zone wise, the remaining pair of Daughters try to CMA Acosta in Star Crossed, they fail to duplicate their previous success and one dies to a Riposte. The Kicky Monk and Cinerator continue to hang out in the forest contesting it up.

Blood of Martyrs, the Templar and the Reckoner all get up the middle of the board, killing a Gunner and popping another shot into the damaged Driller to make the Tinker sad as his repair work falls apart. Durst hangs back and feats.

 A pair of Choir and the remaining Vassal contest the right zone, hanging behind the Obstruction.


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Merc 3: There's a formation that Durst, as a Steady model, and a jack can take that forces me to do an attrition based Scenario play.  That wasn't taken, so I can do the feat/can't contest scoring win.

This does require dealing with the contesting models behind the obstruction, I do that first, get the right line of sight and get sufficiently lucky with the damage rolls to clear those guys out.
Holt has to die to a Kicky Monk Freestrike, this lets Aiyanna Harm Blood of Martyrs, who gets the Strength of Granite Driller go into him at Dice +1 on Dursts feat. Alas, it's a Dice dependent series of attacks and doesn't do a great deal.
That done, Gorten shuffles in the zone, feat pushes all the Warjacks models to the left, they now cannot get back into the contesting zone. The Blasters run in front of G-Dorf, as his death is my lsoe condition at this point.

Acosta kills the remaining Daughter, the Lesser Warlocks/Beasts run around and do little.

Mercs go to 4 CP.


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Menoth 4: The Protectorate are pretty screwed, so it's try to finish off some models for points time.
The Cinerator flails at Snapjaw, hurts him but doesn't get into the luggage industry. The Kicky Monk kills Ragman.
The jacks futz around, we call it as I can't be stopped from going to 5 CP.


Went well for me, avoided the first round morning flub run so the day's looking good. Think this isn't a good Menoth pairing in terms of Gorten answers, particularly on a terrain layout that favours me this much.

OTC Prep - Game 177 - Gorten1 vs Butcher1 WGK

OTC practice, testing of Kapitan's Butcher into my pairing. I didn't especially feel like Drudging and the amount of Heavies was going to be fairly involved, each needing multiple Adrenal Drudge charges whilst Ruin mucks up the Telekinesis plan so dwarfdom it is.

Gorten1 - 2x Drillers, 2x Blasters, 2x Gunners, Wrongye/Snapjaw, Rorsh/Brine, Ragman, Tinker, 2x Eliminators, Acosta
vs
Butcher (Winter Guard Kommand) - Ruin, 2x Juggernaught, 2x Mad Dog, 2x Mortar, Field Gun, WGI + UA, WGRC + 3x Rocketeers

I lose the roll, Khador take first. Talked it out after the game, I consider this the primary mistake in the matchup, as the Butcher list doesn't get up the board offensively enough to force me to feat on the defence, so I can save it to try to win out the scoring game. I'm not super down for attrition in the matchup, as Butcher is one of the rare dudes the Dwarf doesn't want to go toe to toe with. Lola says no.

Scenario is Outlast, in that convenient middle ground that is neither The Pit nor Incursion.
Terrain wise, the Khadoran left zone has a blob of water, a small hill in their Advance Deploy line, then between the zones a blob of Rubble, lastly an obstruction on the top edge of the right zone.
On my side of the board, the left zone has a large forest on the bottom right "corner". Across from the forest on the same point of the right zone is a pair of walls in a T formation, some of the wall poking into the zone. The extreme right edge of said zone has a Trebor style trench (As in, it's a combination of Trench and Water).

Deployment wise, the Mortars go either flank with the Field Gun in the centre. The jacks evenly spread out, Ruin in the centre then a Juggernaut either side, Mad Dogs on the left and right edge of the formation. The Rifle Corp go on the left, Infantry on the right.

I essentially select the relevant side as it denies the best anti Gorten feat option, being the T shape wall formation. I swap around my initial deployment plan, as the Rifle Corp will blow up the Rhulic jacks over a couple rounds. Ergo Wrongeye/Snapjaw go on the far left where Submerge will be difficult to deal with, everything else goes on the right. Various bits go centrally (Ragman, kayazy, Gunners, Aiyanna, Tinker), then Gorten and the rest of the battlegroup are placed to only slightly telegraph my push for that zone, Pigs and Acosta go on the far right. The Acosta/Tinker placements aren't especially good, the Gobber should be a bit further right. Acosta is only on the edge in order to not die to an early WGRC CRA.

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Khador 1: All the jacks Advance Move. The left most Mad Dog, the one liable to go into Snapjaw, receives Fury. Butcher gets Iron Flesh. Ruin charges up to get into the Rubble, leaning toward the right zone. Everything otherwise just runs forward, the Field Gun goes up on the hill in the Khadoran backfield.

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Merc 1: Set up to push for the right zone. Wrongeye moves up and Submerges, I opt to have Snapjaw charges a far right Winter Guard chump, ending up Submerged and part of the Centre group.
Stuff runs up, Red Eliminators stay Central with one of each Rhulic jack, Ragman and Aiyanna behind them.
Gorten, other half of his jacks, Green Eliminators and Pigs move up to the edge of the right zone. Acosta runs into the water logged Trench.

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Khador 2: The Fury'ed Mad Dog runs up into the left zone, using the forest to stay out of Snapjaw's charge range. One Juggernaut follows up behind.The Rifle Corp then move up behind them, the Rocketeers along with the right Mortar dings both Drillers for some surface damage.
Butcher toes the left zone.
Ruin moves outside of the Rubble, stays out of Gorten walk and feat range.
The WGI run up, the officer stays in the Rubble, five Grunts go into the right zone as does the other Mad Dog while the Juggernaut on this side toes the zone in the vicinity of the obstruction. The Mad Dog is careful stay just shy of Driller charge range.

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Merc 2: Apparently my face went all Duran Duran in the middle of the Khadoran turn based on a mistake being made. I find that a fascinating observation, because I wasn't particularly thinking such at the time, indeed it was at the point prior to more models coming in to contest the right and I thought my initial impulse wasn't doable. Ends up looking manageable though, the ultimate plan being that if I can clear the right zone this turn without feating I've conceivably won flat out, providing I don't make any silly mistakes.

Simple plan, shoot down the Mad Dog, kill the five WGI Grunts and use Brine to throw or Slam the Juggernaut out of the zone. Leave Gorten last and feat to score instead if necessary, though I'd really prefer not to I have found not having a backup plan for these single roll make or break things is awful.
Aiyanna moves up, misses the Harm on the Mad Dog. Well, damn. Holt, Gunners, Blasters all do shots, popping off a couple WGI and leaving the Dog on 6 boxes.
Gorten then moves behind the wall, uses a Molten Metal to kill the Dog and pings the Jugger.
One Eliminator unit goes in, kills the remaining WGI in the zone.
Pigs go, Rorsh pops smoke to get Brine up. Big Pig then advances to and throws the Juggernaut toward the right Mortar, outside of Butchers control area.

Left side wise, Snapjaw turns to face the zone and otherwise doesn't move as Wrongeye stays out of Mad Dog charge range. The leader of the Red Eliminators runs into the forest and contests the left zone as the Grunt runs into the backfield to contest in the future.

Mercs go to 2 CP and it's already looking good.
I commit a few errors here. I got greedy with Gorten and didn't time his activation as an appropriate failsafe. Brine could have just Slammed without the Strength roll risk for the Throw, though putting the Jugger outside of the Khador Control Area and knocked down was inherently better.
I contemplated throwing down a wall, decided that my primary lose condition was assassination and camped two instead.

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Khador 3: Butcher barely moves, upkeeps the relevant spells and pops his feat.
The remaining Mad Dog in the left zone tramples into the forest over my contesting Eliminator, boosts to hit and easily kills her. The Juggernaut on this side run a up to my edge of that zone, presenting an imminent threat to the Crocs.

The Rifle Corp move up as a blob to be above the forest, combined with the Mortar and Field Gun they shoot a Driller off the board and take out a Gunners movement.
The remaining WGI kill off one of the Green Eliminators, feeding a Soul to Ruin.
The Jugger dusts himself off and walks back, just managing to toe the right zone.
Ruin charges in, toes the right zone as well and obliterates a Blaster.

Scores level at 2 apiece.

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Merc 3: By the numbers at this point, feat to clear and delay contesting, win out on control points.
The Green Eliminator walks away from the Jugger, kills the two WGI in the right zone. Aiyanna then harms that Jack, Holt kills two of the Rocketeers. The Movement lacking Gunner shuffles, kills the third Rocketeer. Those guys needed to die anyway, their deaths also conveniently allow Ruin to be feat pushed as desired.
Rorsh with aimed shots, the other Gunner and Acosta all shoot/charge the Jugger and mess it up pretty badly.
Gorten then moves up and pushes Khadoran stuff across to the left, the Jacks end up in a forest/Rubble and will be unable to contest, I also get a bunch of the Winter Guard. Gorten's death being the primary win method for Khador is now hyper obvious so he camps four and keeps Solid Ground ticking over.

On the left I need something to contest and Snapjaw is no longer in the position to be Coy about his involvement, so he gets Ragman to Death Field then charges into the left side Jugger, knocking out the Cortex and right arm. Wrongeye Star Crosses and Submerges. The remaining Red Eliminator runs into the left backfield, her services not yet being required.

Mercs get the leg up 4 to 2.

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Khador 4: Khador's leaves have turned Brown, so everything shuffles at best and shoots at Gorten. Rifle Corp CRA, Mortars and the Field Gun take pot shots, Butcher double boosts an Obliteration, Joe fires his Handcannon. When the dust blows over Gorten has spent two focus and taken three damage.
As a last ditch screw you the crippled Jugger and Mad Dog try to kill Snapjaw, it doesn't work out.

Gorten still good, does great against those unable to stop him bullying them. More world shattering news at 9. Few niggling things I'd change, otherwise content. I'd venture that Butcher probably didn't need to feat when he did and should have kept it for the assassination run, though in that circumstance I hopefully have the awareness to run Jacks in front of him to block line of sight. The Driller should have done that anyway, so not super impressed with that decision to have him float around pointlessly.