So, we've had errata, theme and games a plenty since it happened, but here at last is a game using the list Carey requested. This seems relevant:
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRfg6D4I7VUbUibd4bmyIDUP_cNf9_zHvj6JZwP0jmO9dkDBEF_fomGRG8Wlye20ehFMXrj4QVehidn0Ye3My_UvjYsZ90XxXITCSIJR3eDrtGolA1HyQpet3i8efFwZ7dQyOlF1wdZqrl/s1600/xxx.jpg [/img]
Anywho, the list:
Shae1 - 3x Freebooter, Rorsh w/Brine, Dahlia w/Skarath, Wrongeye w/Snapjaw, Brun w/Lug, Anastasia di Bray, Comodore Cannon
I'm saved having to even pick an objective, for my phone has determined it shalt be three flags. I was essentially waiting for a Brun and Lug to emerge for purchase, as there's a limit to the amount of Proxies I'm happy to put on the table myself.
Into the at the time of writing run up for most Mark 3 games into, also flopping out some theoretically fluffy goodness.
Thyra1 (Guardians of the Temple) - Blood Of Martyrs, Vigilant, Castigator, 2x Daughters of the Flame, Flame Bringers, 2x Wracks, Temple Flameguard + UA, Pyrrus, Choir, 2x Vassal of Menoth
NO KICKY MONKS! GLORIOUS DAY!
Various odd benefits: There's a Daughter unit ambushing, Blood of Martyrs has apparition, Daughters gain Vengeance. It's cute stuff (i.e interesting, unsure if good).
I win the die roll, pick first in case there's double advance Deploy Daughters I have to deal with.
My side has a big hill, Rubble, Water and a trench. The line of flags is interspersed with a forest and fog, then has another large hill on the far right. The Menites get a wall near the left flag and an obstruction right in front of the middle flag.
There's some Legion infantry repping as the second Daughter unit and Rhyas as Thyra, I have a pair of Wardens in place of two Freebooters.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPcfeKKpP3zu6ru-nLysQ4aQ-GiBCqu3XoJbPPdEQyhbWtU-dHRaOPZ0TCxu2rTLNOic8-wEryUjrd5APj8RlZR3CkHKAFyjDzwdODk-xqP-DPc8oQc5VfQ5HPHwS-ZdGvHidVQivh_ubV/s1600/001+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Merc 1: My stuff runs up! Thrilling!
Snake puts up Counterblast and goes up the guts, as Mistwalker lets it terrain it up.
On the left we have the Bears, a Freebooter and the Pigs.
The right has Shae, though centrally placed, two Freebooters, Crocs and the Cannon.
Shae gets Stormrager, because I was unsure about how it might make me play to aggressive with Wrongeye and caster armour is usually good.
My thinking is the cannon has to be central due to ambushing lameness, and the right side of the board will be relatively open once the fog goes away. Passage means I might not get sweet jack slams, but i Can always set something on fire (Against Menoth, seems like a bad play.).
I did a rough calc that put Frebooters at 16 inch threat, so that was a welcome surprise. Obviously the piece I'm really unsure on is the Bear and Dwarf, Countercharge/Return strikes me as to opponent mistake dependent (My Countercharge theory: 1 model with is rubbish. 2-3 is cute. 4-6 makes it relevant. 7+ means bugger off Axis, tired of your shit).
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOY_VoIIRtts-G1luvqVRYqx0pDPCSwBSA4-OQDnQ-eZGkTbPBqsnHICxB9LE7sTQOWAzeyf8vHNyK4bq7YAHPxtYku9aySr8N54-IOqT37zO3D_7BfCQxvJzmPXsOhNbs2PJcX0rkyd4Q/s1600/002+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Menoth 1: The Flameguard and Jacks advance on the right side rather conservatively, including a Shield Wall, Passage on the jacks and Occultation on the unit. They also have Thyra with Gates of Death up (Her end of turn teleport).
The left is far more aggressive (Ignore the extreme left white based unit of daughters, they'll be ambushing later), the Daughter unit spreads out and goes out front, they make sure to stop outside counterblast/charge range of the Bear/Snake. The Flame Bringers and Nicia come up behind them, the cav have Silence of Death.
Going by the photos, one Daughter must have died to a Counterblast, as she's missing in the photo.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB8Y285ar7TbqIFh50UyNF3vJ8EzD6dmpy4m_zKFvtPORWfvaejkmCv7kohxOIZhRuJmTJrSY6W68fq5-x2XTnrmnz1dibz1jbdLI8qkK1PE1MeD6oBnG-Pf1alyeRZqZpPNuVVtIlcLhY/s1600/003+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Merc 2: The thoughts that informed my turns decisions:
* Freebooters have a threat advantage against the opposing list, assuming we both take into account our threat ranges
* The forest and Obstruction divide the Menites in a very particular way. All their jacks are on the right, meaning that if the snake fights for the left flag Dahlia can just sit around and play her harpsichord with no recourse
* With feat, the ambushing Daughters threat 15.5 from the edge (I think that was he conclusion I came to)
For a while during the Menoth turn I considered a glorious plan. The Cannon Slams a Flameguard (Needed to be that shot for the range 20"), freeing a space for a feated Buccaneer to zoom all the way up and kill the Castigator. It's a rubbish heavy for an average one, that then probably takes some important activation's to get rid off. The last minute Occultation casting smashed that, though at least it means this isn't a game where Stealthy Cav are singing the doom song and advancing on the Commodore.
In terms of what actually happened, I opt to wait another round. I've got a unit of Daughters to attack, I can easily contest with very minimal fear of retaliation, giving me the alpha on attrition or scoring next round.
Dahlia runs up, has Haunting Melody chuffing away. She get far enough for the snake to slither up and spray down two of the Daughters and the nearest Flame Bringer (Suck it Trebek).
The left most Warden/Freebooter moves up, gets a particular spot thanks to the magic of pre-measuring, throws a Daughter such that it hits two of comrades and wipes the unit. More on that later.
Left flag just has the Bear move to contest range.
Shae chills it in front of the water, puts a Veil of Mist over the rubble so that Ninja Pig and the Freebooter can get over the centre without issue (Yay pathfinder options!). Normally Ninja Pig would be hard flanking, but that's what Ambushers can do.
Crocs go and contest the right flag, Wrongeye puts up Star Crossed. No need to Submerge, as there are no guns around. Snapjaw is in Ambush Daughter charge range, but they are unlikely to kill him so that's fine.
Looks like the Commodore didn't move. Bold, Cotton, bold. By which I mean stupid, damn thing moves at the rate of Molasses uphill, it should move whenever it isn't shooting.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjraNpxeZALYgKE1xyM6XiectBYpEKsXKhVcrnQdnprOVcu7uvs6y0mLEz6GFurpdMKskoJic5nBl8vfVuGQJ0SQBL-1hq7mOWLYH04BTeio-uNP0EIZMb0z9ycWd_wLvvpgmKhZfwLk4H1/s1600/004+%2528800x450%2529.jpg[/img]
Menoth 2: The Daughter unit ambush in the bottom left of the table, from where they run in and threaten the Cannon, aside from the one who runs and engages Brun, so no Countercharge for me.
Left side wise, Nicia runs to the extreme left, then The Flame Bringers come in. One gets butchered by the Snake's Counterblast, one contests the centre flag, the other two start skinning the Bear for his coat, leaving his Grievously Injured with just his body left. Going to be a poor showcase for this duo's abilities. One then Repositions backward, stays contesting the left flag.
The right advances slowly up again, the Vigilant runs to contest the centre flag range. TFG Shield Wall and keep Occultation, Blood Martyrs behind them. Castigator goes on the right edge.
Couple of Mishaps here, Thyra teleports to far behind the obstruction and leaves teh Castigator out of control, the Choir activate late and can't passage Vigilant.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy_tvNBx4iSeS9hs1Cnm1Gtwbe3Sbvm7S49-rIRsy_CT2O2N0itpGT9AB4mFUcmataHGOwJYHFwqoAhlRHQVn4aicL_MzHxHzt7uSmkt7tRh-MC6cd3UwA9L3LsJsh_GKE6n5AnqNIxZkT/s1600/005+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Merc 3: Alright, time to start scoring and deal with these damn ambushers. If I can clear out miscellaneous pieces I can ride the left flag to victory hopefully.
Anastasia ambush in on the left, charges and kill Nicia like a boss.
The left most Freebooter goes in and kills the Daughter Cav engaging the Snake/Lug.
Dahlia runs up into the forest, tags the Officer of the Flame Guard with Haunting Melody. Snake charges and clears the Flame Bringer off the left flag.
Brine ends up running over here, didn't really have a great plan here. I'd been hoping to throw the Flame Bringers into each other, but they were to far apart for such shenanigans to occur.
Lug can't heal, so just sits and Pouts.
Brun turns around, does his spray, boosts twice to hit and lucks out to pop three of the Daughters.
Rorsh sits in the Wreck Marker, due to the Choir error the Commodore Slams the Vigilant, killing a few TFG and a Choir member.
Shae drops back into the water (Amphibious triggered, can't possibly now right?(. I put down a Veil of Mists to protect the Commodore Cannon from the Ambush Daughters charge.
Centre Freebooter goes to max contest on the centre flag, Snapjaw does the same on the right, in theory in charge range of the Castigator but being out of control means he should be quite safe.
I go to 1 CP. Wish I could have scored the centre, Brine could have popped the final Flame Bringer but I didn't think my order of activations through and I suspect would peat him in range to get killed by Blood of Martyrs, which would have been not great.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGJBDSFds1mE9zibD64RAu-M3rkD5imH4-W2ZTrVOG7APsdN8uAJ_xXnn1aQOwJ5llMPPkPBlkNrlErLtuwqZtIxlCuqSnNQdqFI5P-9Wc9L4oPJxHUUP4kwCGH4W96hDG3LtBwxCctj9w/s1600/006+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Menoth 3: So...remember how I wiped out that Daughter unit? Means I completely forgot about Vengeance. Alas poor Commodore.
One Daughter gets the angle, charges and guts two the Commodore operators. A sad RAT 4 future is born. The other Daughter runs to be only just poking into the photo.
The last Flame Bringer charges Skarath, injures him a bit and repositions toward the Menoth edge, contesting the left flag.
Thyra feats, Strangleholds the centre Freebooter and ports back to the Choir, who sing Battle.
TFG can't run due to Dahlia, so instead they advance up and Shield Wall (In hindsight they can't do that as Orders happen at the beginning of the Activation, I suspected this but wasn't bothered by it so it happened). Pyrrus charges the centre Freebooter, stabs him a bit with his spear.
Vigilant walks back to where he was previously slammed from.
On the right flag, Blood of Martys uses Thyra feat and Apparition to get into Snapjaw and brutally murder him, enough that he probably can't be made into a handbag, leather clad pen is the best you get. Castigator limps behind him to the flag.
Points now at 1 all.
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Merc 4: Snapjaw's death is unpleasant, but the plan is certainly intact, as the Menites remain 85% committed on the right.
On the left flag, I opt for Skarath to frenzy when he fails the Threshold check, as the Flame Bringer made itself the target. He goes in and easily kills it, though had he only hit Anastasia probably does the end work?
Brun, having cut for Fury, heals the Bear and goes to the flag, in case Dahlia somehow dies denying me the Snake score in the Menite turn. Lug riles up and runs to between next to the flag, threatening a Counter charge on an models that come to contest.
Anastasia runs up behind the wall, has a wrack in her sight for my next turn.
I don't really need my feat for any long term threatening, so the various small bonuses it gives me this turn will do. Feat pops, Shaw himself hangs in the water to camp up with Storm Rager on. Feat lets the Strangleheld Freebooter advance to engagement with Pyrrus, Commodore to shuffle, Rorsh to turn to get the aim bonus on the Daughters in my back field, the right Freebooter gets away from the two TFG engaging him without freestrikes. All relatively little for a feat, but combined it feels reasonable.
Rorsh then kills the Ambush Daughters.
The Centre Freebooter in the forest runs, more to shield Dahlia then anything else. Commodore shoots the Vigilant, only knocks it back an inch alas.
Freebooter on Pyrrus kills him without to many problems, Brine lends emotional support.
On the far right, the last Freebooter to activate and Wrongeye go into Blood of Martyrs, knock him down to one box and as a bonus kill a TFG.
Mercs go to 2 CP, it's all looking pretty good. A bit bemused by the end location of the most forward Freebooter, loooking at it while writing it looks like a very silly, wasted position. I can only assume I was concerned about the Vigilant going into Dahlia, like got haunting Melody Blinded.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3mvxdMFMriKnz8rUJt2zQwW_uooS28dGJPGGqAGEitVQ-micvonHbnXYSDkj_vZMxl84Y-H9-UpoR6JdG2Q2ZhKlvUE8seZrlAnEUtVtawILDwkYo7V_lcX4ZJ_qdlcg8pafVdGDgg4Vf/s1600/008+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Menoth 4: Thyra charges into the forward Freebooter, messes it up right up. I think she puts her Strength buff on the TFG? At the end of the turn she'll teleport to be between the middle and right flag.
The Vigilant manages to finish off that Freebooter.
The TFG charge the Wardenbooter below the centre flag, mess it up badly, leaving just the Cortex and right arm truckin.
On the right flag, the Castigator and Blood of Martys kill Wrongeye and otherwise due very little to that Freebooter.
Mercs go to 3 CP.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyRaDrNuKo5ooSBkWpoXu8G_A8VqCf1ETFMpqozy3HiBMuc-dGRvBpLre51K2F0Ot1rn8taaXsmisymXYxp7d6NckTGGJc9yF491_mtgDlJNIcp44MqtOycf039dsfpMhDLA5V3F4ZCx2B/s1600/009+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Mercs 5: I clock out a little here, I just have to keep Shae alive and otherwise kill everything. The Menites are losing army percentage at a surprising rate.
Shae stays in the water, keeping his distance.
Brine and the centre Wardooter kill TFG and fail to do much to the Vigilant, so I can't score the centre flag for the straight up win.
The jacks are Passaged again, so the Commodore tries the longest odds shot on Thyra that misses.
The right Wardooter finishes of Blood of Martyr's, does very little to the Castigator.
At the last minute, fearing I'd misread Thyra's threat range, Dahlia runs to be in the charge lane on Shae just in case.
Mercs go to 4 CP.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrwuycO2b5I6-wGsJAD9g6S-xeX0o01FjtN9iDKhEjeLvt3mKuzuf4MytgNfIYU0ucRbVJEn_oT4-zv662FBGxPXffuksN53_tZ5Hsly3zSpGHV1BwgjNFAHOlH4eYJiJ9vzJ2rh4oNLO3/s1600/010+%2528800x450%2529.jpg [/img]
Menoth 5: The Vigilant runs across to contest the left flag.
Castigator finishes off the right Freebooter.
Thyra goes cray cray, kills the centre Freebooter and Brine.
Menoth go to 3.
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Mercs 6: Dahlia runs back, the Snake tries to kill Thyra and fails
I opt the no risk approach, Lug puts up his animus, boosts his attack roll, pushes the Vigilant 3 inches away from the flag.
I win on CP, 5 v 4.
Obviously not a great test of the Brlugs, Flame Bringers are a problem for Zoo builds, too quick, deadly and Grievous Wounds is evil. That said I like the scenario clearing possibilities of Lugs Animus, though probably not enough to play it outside this list at the moment.
Anastasia is value, was happy even before she chewed up and spat out Nicia like she was Sauerkraut.
Shae with Freebooters definitely has chops, the dudes worth something, my problem is I don't know what he ought to do exactly in a pairing. Worth examining.
One more wish left Carey, with no promise of results anytime soon :p
