I had eHaley, eCaine and Arkadius on hand. Lacking a preference, Edell suggested a dice roll with came up with Caine, Allister Caine.
eCaine - Centurion, Squire, Rangers, Boomhowlers, Gun Mages + Dude, pAlexia + Risen, Aiyanna + Holt, TAC, Piper, Reinholdt, eEiryss, Journeyman Warcaster
Objective: Effigy
I'd call this list as pretty much set in stone at this point. I enjoy playing it, has a good game plan, only issue is that it does an attrition slog with a lot of models and fiddly activation's that sees me generally on the bad side of the clock.
3Vlad - Ruin, 2x IFP + UA (One Black Dragon, one normal), Fenris, War Doge, Ragman, Gorman, 2x IFP Kovnik, Ponies, Saxon
Objective: Effigy
Rolled up Incoming.
Cygnar Deploy: I won the roll and picked first. Caine faced off the left side, the Gun Mages the right as either or will be needed to get rid of the Spray Ponies before they flat out wipe my list off the board. For my AD I put Eiryss across from Ruin and the Rangers across from the Ponies.
Khador Deploy: Ponies on the right, black IFP unit is, ironically, the regular IFP.
Cygnar 1: It all runs forward in an unexciting manner.
Boomies get Heightened Reflexes, I put Blur on the TAC as a whim but that wasn't going to stick. Arcane Shield goes on the Centurion.
Khador 1: Vlad throws out Infernal Machine on Ruin, Dash, Hand of Fate on the Ponies then falls the hell back away from Caine. The IFP Shield March/Pathfinder forward in triangles. Fenris/Ruin run up to be in front of the Khador objective. Gorman clouds for giggles. Ponies move up on the right.
Cygnar 2: Simple enough plan, jam up with Boomies on the left, pop Ruin with a disruptor bolt, use Caine to kill Fenris and do a Magic Bullet to kill Gorman.
I keep Heightened Reflexes and Arcane Shield going.
First up, Eiryss moves up and disrupts Ruin/drops Infernal Machine. Caine gets reloaded, moves up onto the hill and kills Fenris. He then has enough focus to throw two Magic Bullets on Gun Mages, so hopefully I can kill both Gorman and Ragman.
Rangers move up on the right, the try to shoot Ponies and don't do a lot. The Gun Mages move up, both Magic Bullet shots hit Pikemen but sadly I need to use both Magic Bullets to kill Gorman. The remaining shots kill two of the Ponies, which was saddening.
TAC/Boomies run into blocking positions.
Alexia runs to the right to collect Ranger/Gun Mage Corpses.
That Alexia movement was a mistake. The three murder Ponies that survived looked like they were positioned to wipe out the Rangers/Gun Mages and then I'd need to have other stuff in the zone (The bizarre thought process went something like "My warcaster is stuck on the left, I'll have my pseudo Warcaster take the other flank").
What would have been better would be to run Alexia and some Risen into the left. Vlads not coming forward while my feats on the table, so I can only really lose one control point if the right zone gets cleared. The Boomies are then in a Xanatos gambit, either they pass their tough rolls or I get corpses and can push the scenario aggressively. Also gives me an out for killing Ruin without burning my feat.
We forgot Ruins dispel affect at the time, but it also makes Heightened Reflexes somewhat pointless.
Khador 2: The Ponies walk forward and spray, they roll surprisingly badly even with hands of fate and only a couple Rangers die. They then light cav backwards.
Vlad feats, charges a Boomhowler, kills him and sprints behind the Khador Objective. Ruin then pops a couple Boomhowlers. The right Pikies flood into their zone, exploding a Gun Mage and Shield Walling on the way.
Ruin moves up, kills a Boomhowler and sidesteps into Greygore, killing him and Sprinting back (Well, more like a leasurely stroll really). The Black Dragons on the left zone mini-feat and cut down the Boomhowlers horribly, feeding Ruin to three souls whilst getting three of them into the zone.
Cygnar 3: I was surprised to not be down a CP, but the left flank was looking horrendously precarious. Above all else I wanted to kill Ruin, but the prospect of Black Dragons walking in and CMAing Caine to death meant that getting the aggressive dominate without a screening unit was a no go.
Aiyanna/Holt walk up and Harm Ruin, she takes three points of damage. Holt does no damage to Ruin. Caine aims, feats and burns all but one focus to kill Ruin, then kills a Pikeman. The TAC move up and throw Flame Bombs into the Pikemen, they all miss. Eiryss walks tot he hill and tries to kill a Pikeman, she ends up hitting a TAC and doing a point.
Centurion walks into the IFP on the right and misses its attacks. Alexia, Risen and the engaged Gun Mages go into that unit, they kill three. The rest of the Gun Mages and the remaining Rangers kill off the Ponies.
Junior moves up and puts Arcane Shield on Caine..
Ergh. This turns play was as sad as a Vegan based clown act.
Eiryss should have gone earlier and moved to a safe spot, I needed her to threaten vlad with a focus strip shot for an assassination now that Caines feat was off the table. Not like the list without Ponies was going to shoot her down. The TAC that died took exactly enough points to die thanks to the Eiryss shot, so that was some salt in my self inflicted wounds. Centurion should have just Polarity Shielded and moved to the left side of the right zone to start getting involved on the left where it was needed, and retained Arcane Shield.
The TAC threw firebombs because for some bizarre reason I decided crit fishing wish no to hit boost was a great idea (I was seduced by the idea of a shield walled unit being on fire dammit! Stupid 11% chances...)
Khador 3: Ragman moves into the right zone and Death Fields. The IFP on the right charge and use their mini-feat. They pop a Risen and knock off the Centurions left arm. That flanks Kovnik charges a Risen who toughs it out.
On the left zone the Black Dragons Shield March around, killing the TAC contesting the zone, Eiryss and the last Boomhowler.
Vlad runs into the wreck of Ruin, Doge follows him.
Khador go to 1 CP.
Cygnar 4: Under 15 minutes, so no pic. I feed the Centurion some focus and Risen spawn in the right IFP's back arcs. Plan was to clear out the right zone, kill the doge and try to hammer a scenario game somehow as Vlad was looking pretty safe. If I can move Alexia across I think I can flood enough to have a potential play.
Centurion gets three focus.
Holt toes the zone, Aiyanna harms the Black Dragons. Holt kills one Pikemen. The TAC try to kill the other Pikeman engaging Caine and much it up. I'm forced to charge Junior in to clear Caine (Unlikely, but a crit freestrike on Caine from a Pikeman would be game over).
Reinholdt runs to the right of the board. Caine walks to the right, shoots the Dog. Hits both times, first puts him to one box, he toughs the next shot. Caine curses and Gate Crashes into the right zone out of Vlad murder range.
Gun Mages/Rangers kill the right side Kovnik.
Piper moves to the left in the backfield.
Khador 4: No Pic. Vlad charges and kills Junior. IFP on the left stab the Centurion and do nothing. Black Dragons on the left clear off the TAC, Aiyanna and Holt. The left Kovnik moves across the zone.
Khador go to 2 CP.
Cygnar 5: No Pic. More Risen spawn on the Risen on the right. Time pressure is on, I measure my control area hastily, it looks like Vlad is just in slam range of the Centurion, so I give him a couple focus. Risen/Alexia/Gun Mages finally kill Ragman and the right unit of IFP.
The Centurion tries to slam Vlad, is about 2mm out. Dangit.
Caine gets Relaoded, moves up and shoots the Objective, boosts damage rolls but doesn't roll to well and does seven points before Gate Crashing back to the zone out of Vlad murder range.
Rangers charge Saxon and brutally murder him.
Piper gives tough to the Risen and runs to toe the zone.
Cygnar goes to 1 CP.
Khador 5: No Pic. Vlad does flashing blade attacks on Dougal. I think I tough five times? He then burns his stack to take out the Movement on the Centurion and falls back to teh Ruin wreck Marker.
Centurion gets a free strike.
I hit, do a hard spike on the damage to leave Vlad with two health.
The Pikemen hedge the zone, one gets to toe my zone.
Khador go to 3 CP.
Cygnar 6:Alexia and Risen get out of the way, she misses a shot on Vlad. Caine gets Reloaded, moves across, boosts to hit and damage. Vlad dies.
Me on the right.
Undeserved victory, seems pretty standard for my games with Ed.
