Engaging mission oh-god-dodge-popular-factions didn't stop one last practice bout:
Gorten1 - 2x Driller, 2x Blaster, 2x Gunner, Wrongeye + Snapjaw, Rorsh + Brine, Acosta, 2x Kayazy Eliminators, Ragman, Aiyanna+Holt, Tinker
Objective: Bunker
Inflicting ourselves upon poor Tyrant Jezaar once more (Odds of us now playing round 1 at the tourney taking place 3 hours away have risen to 83%).
Hexeris2 - Mammoth, Brute, Gladiator, Razor Wurm, Karax, Blood Runners, Pain Givers, Willbreaker, Hutchuck
Rolled up Baseball diamond, both played that enough to re-rack into Incursion.
My concerns were feat stripping my Lessers and killing them and Hutchuck doing a sneak ambush to threaten the same. One of these was alleviated quite quickly, as Hutchuck elected not to ambush, so my lesser could happily fight over the flanking flags as Gorten goes up the guts.
I won the roll, picked second to get the initial score in. One flag will likely be contested by the Mammoth, So Gorten and Drillers will need to go across from that to ensure its demise.
Terrain wise I picked a side with a trench/hill far back and an incidental forest, more to the point I avoided an awful forest placed in front of the deployment zone. Skorne gets a wall to play around with, but I think it is positioned well enough for me that I can feat around it. I also get a tiny obstruction.
This lack of Pathfinder is getting me down. Unless Gorten does extremely well on Saturday the odds are strong of me looking for an alternate Thexus pair, wrong as that feels (It's a me, Bart with Galleons!).
Deployment wise Ninja Pig and Ragman go far left, across from them being the Blood Runners and Hutchuck. Centre is most of the Skorne force, notably the Mammoth sits behind the forest of doom, they face Gorten and all my Jacks. On the right side is the Karax facing off against the Crocs, Acosta and Eliminators.
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Skorne 1: Out of frame is the Pigs on my far left.
All the Skorne models advance up, no particular matchup changes. The right side conflict is fairly distinct from the left and centre flag matchups, which will be fairly involved.
Cloak of Ashes goes on the Blood Runners.
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Merc 1: Functionally my biggest concern is Ashes to Ashes and the Hexxy Fury feat strip. Even if the Lessers live, cutting for 3/4 on 8 box models feels bad man.
These factors cause me to move out in some weird ways, The Ninja squad (Bacony fellows and Raggles) hang way back on the left, 5 inches to the right of them sit Aiyanna and Holt who I hope to get at least one relevant Harm off.
Gorten and jacks brick advances up, Strength of Granite goes on the right Driller and ......um.....the thing with the no knock down upkeep goes up. Whatever it's called.
Tinker hops into the Trench for some sweet Cover redundancy I guess?
Acosta runs up and into the Christmas forest (Girl look at dat tree).
The Crocs Submerge and charge up, keeping out of Karax threat range. The Eliminators awkwardly space themselves in a half circle around him at 5 inch intervals, far enough that three of them are out of frame.
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Skorne 2: Blood Runners Apparition forward, lose Cloak of Ash as they face an uncaring metal wall.
Hutchuck moves up, tries for a scattering Rust Bomb that sadly doesn't pan out.
The Beasts all advance a little, Brute pops Animus and goes behind the end of the wall. Gladiator gives Rush to Mammoth and also goes behind the linear safety barrier.
The Razor Wurm moves to an arcing position behind the centre flag.
Mammoth moves up, doesn't contest the centre flag but instead goes to max range of the Gunner shielding Gorten, thankfully rolls minimum shots but still lands some decent hurt on it.
Hexy goes, pops a couple Hellfires, first one finishes off the Gunner, second kills Acosta. he then feats and pull Fury off, gives himself the Brute Animus and puts Cloak of Ash on the Karax. I think he then does another Hellfire onto the remaining Gunner and rolls abysmal damage?
Paingivers advance, whip some Fury on the Mammoth.
Bloodrunners run up and jam, one gets a cheeky charge on Gorten that fails to break armour.
Karax advance and form up in three man shield wall pods.
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Merc 2: Feat's used, Lessers can now act with impunity. Plan is to get up, counter feat, early score intending to close out next turn.
Aiyanna/Holt continue to hang around in the backfield, he goes on the hill and pops a Blood Runner.
The Blasters do some futzy movements to spray clear some of the Blood Runners.
The left Driller, allocated an extra focus and without Strength of Granite, walks behind Gorten and punts him forward with a throw.
Gorten feats, nabbing Hexxy, all the beasts, Hutchuck and the surviving Bloodrunner, pushes them all back. He then walks backward and puts up a wall, leaving a gap for the Gunner and Strength of Granite Driller to run up and shield him whilst threatening the Mammoth if he contests next turn.
Tinker runs up to join the wall, as I had no camp and feared the Razor Wurm getting Line of Sight on Gorten.
Ninja Pigs run up, Rorsh hangs back as Brine goes up to claim the flag. I ensure he's in range to pop smoke, learning from that Reznik2 game (I've adapted! Giant flying space cube he we go!). Raggles hangs way back out of Ashes to Ashes fear, ultimately ends up so far back he isn't going to get input in the game unless we go to round 4+.
Leaving just the right flag. Alas, my fear of Ashes to Ashes meant the Kayazy were way to far back to achieve anything. Snapjaw charged up, Eats two Karax. Wrongeye moves up behind him and Star Crosses, camping one. Feeling quite same, as the Razor can't get close enough for Hexxy to arc spells directly and the Eliminators all run into jam locations, so Karax shouldn't be able to get around for Ashes to Ashes action.
Mercs go to 2 CP.
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Skorne 3: The left most Blood Runner, courtesy of Apparition, manages to get to contest range of the left flag. Sadness.
Brute and Gladiator futz around at their new low speed, pop Rush on the Mammoth.
Mammoth and Razor Wurm advance and contest the centre flag, the former shoots at Brine but fails to land (RAT 1 POWER!), Brine is incidentally but not intentionally just within Gortens control area and thus immune to the blast damage. The Latter digs in.
Hexy limps back a bit, throws down the Brute Animus, finally casts the spell I fear. Ashes to Ashes hits the Driller, does little aside from torching the Tinker.
Karax Shield Wall again, try some big CRA's but fail to achieve anything.
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Merc 3: Simple enough, carry on the plan. Aim is to clear out all three flags.
Left flag is quite simple, the left Blaster advances, this the Spray attack and removes the last Blood Runner.
Centre wise, Aiyanna and holt advance from way in the backfield, Harm the Mammoth as he was Banishing Warded, Holt does some scratch damage.
After some pre-measuring to leave room for the Pig if needed, the Strength of Granite Driller goes into the mammoth. I low roll on most of the damage, being dice +4 I still leave it on a mighty eight boxes.
Gorten retreats, the other Driller and Blaster then shield him.
The Gunner, having received an extra focus, slams the Razor Wurm. hits, gets enough distance to push him out of contesting range (Though I think at worst I needed a 2).
Ragman tries to shoot Brine to give free charges with some damage, snake eyes the to hit roll.
Ninja Pigs pop smoke, Rorsh goes to the left flag, Brine moves to the predetermined spot, charges Mammoth. Charge attack misses. I decide offhandedly that I'm better off buying Gore attacks than boosting the Claws, so do unboosted other initials. First Claw lands, rolls boxcars and kills the Mammoth exactly. Wootness.
At this point it becomes apparent I've made a terrible mistake, as I've not left anything to control the centre flag.
I'm instead forced to clear out the right flag minus a unit of Eliminators who will have to run to score.
Snapjaw, needing to stay base to base with the flag, can only reach one Karax who he noms.
The Green Eliminators (That's right, they're Turkish communists) move in to stab the remaining four contesting Karax. The first kills two. The second kills none, as I stabbed the Karax she was engaging forgetting she would need to sidestep off him.
I had to kill two Karax, so Wrongeye charges up. Needs a 10 on the charge, I opt to not boost as I'd rather buy initial attacks needing 8's. I hard roll the 10 anyway, boost the reach attack to kill the Karax and I go to a sweet 5 CP win.
Everything went better than expected?
Those Eliminator activations were shameful. Gortens position is also bad, he should be a little closer to allow the back Driller to threaten the Mammoth if it lived or the Gladiator had it killed Brine and the forward Driller.
Had I failed to get the scenario win, I think I still comfortably pull through. Had I failed to score the centre and right flag this turn, then it's a bit more of a game but I think I manage. Skorne can try a low odds Hellfire run on Gorten, the Brute can contest the left flag well and the Gladiator/Razor Wurm can have a try centre wise, but ultimately the right side is mine.
A Hexy feat next turn would ironically have been a nightmare (Brute Riles/Runs), Razor Wurm moves over. Hexy throws down some magic whatever, feat strips Rorsh, kills him via the Brute, Ashes down the Eliminators, Karax CMA to finish off Wrongeye, Gladiator kills one Driller, Paingivers block other Driller.
In any event, mammoth contesting a turn earlier would have slowed me down, or if I get the side with the big forest I have a pretty awful time unpacking in the early turns.
