I'm going into Vledimir, who has the joy of being my most played opponent, so suffer once more he must (Game 22 in Mark3).
Now Divide and Conquer 1 is hitting me. If I don't unlock, then I'll be stuck into Gorten for the finals, which will either be Khador or Ret. Gorten can fight Khador, but typically isn't a fan of the pointy ears. Being SR2016, I calculate that our remaining scenario's are all friendly to the Dwarf aside from Incursion. The semi's, also Khador, is highly liekly to be Vlad2, as the other list is Legion of Skill that Thexus jsut outright destroys (Pikemen in shield Wall don't like being push and sprayed).
We rock up, to the dismay of the contestants the scenario is Line Breaker. The hell? This thing was even an option? Well, game 2 of Linebreaker it is. Should be dead enough that Gorten can be dropped, ergo we end up with:
Gorten1 - Earthbreaker, Anastasia, Orin, Ragman, Tinker, Harlen, Eiryss2, Dahlia + Skarath, Ninja Pig, 2x Kayazy Eliminator, Thor
vs
Vlad2 - Ruin, Marauder, Manhunter, Outriders, WRC + Rocketeers x3, Kovnik Joe, 2x Eliminators.
I didn't realise until I looked up Warroom to change my Gorten list just prior to typing this that I was over points, having added Tinker and Ragman due to mistakenly remembing their inclusion from my normal Gorten list of SR2016 :-(
Fortunately they didn't have an effect on the outcome, now owe some drinks. Incredibly stupid mistake to make.
Anyway, scenario isn't super live. Our table has one side with a pair of hills, two forests in the centre and a defensive wall on the other side. Plus some other terrain that doesn't matter. I win the roll, would have liked to take the wall side to deny it's feat safety net for Vlad, whilst I don't care about the hills with the Earthrbeaker Guns. Alas, I've played this iteration of Vlad enough to know that getting up the board early is good, so I pick first and duly get the side with the hills, the correct decision for the reds.
Counter deploying would also be nice, from our practice game both sides know that the Winter Guard have a limited range of potential targets, if I don't counter play that then I lose the Lesser warlocks and their beasts, which is pretty awful.
The net result of this is that my force is basically jammed up around the central Earthbreaker. The Khador counter is along a more sane front, woth Outriders left, Vlad and jacks central, Rifle Corp to the right.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZbG05NlX6Xgxw93YqjQc-CKJ5C52FzAvzTNOrXlIdsHP4X2-7zZ2Fr6KneBLuUBcgeMWWT8j9vN4dTUDVPBsMaHvRKpslFX4JyeiFJqWxdTnV6_DG16ciTM8euUo0lCW6qaM1a4jU_wId/s1600/001+%2528800x450%2529.jpg[/img]
Merc 1:Gorten Solid Grounds and charges forward, Earthbreaker has Strength of Granite and runs up beside him.
Eliminators, Anastasia, Eiryss and Saxon run up in a curved line, sticking in Solid Ground range. The Pigs go up the left side of the Colossal, the snake up the right. Solos are scattered behind the Huge base.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzx8b5DhOd_aJX6OiH1H4ubUiveQbpo3O24iZ8s_iK97plqgGJCOuhD5P-UkoMCM6Cp90XKdK37cAXKAbukJLkZni-O_gIv5kGYUejY_nNHmvQtmxC2J-S1wV1e_zNjabJE8zsvg_2BMfB/s1600/002+%2528800x450%2529.jpg[/img]
Khador 1: Vlad briefly considers feating on Outriders to wipe out the front line of solos, which I would be very happy with. He opts not to do, which I consider a successfull use of Taunt.
The entire Khador force makes a push on teh right, with the Outriders coming in from the left. The Rifle Corp get Hand of Fate and spread out. The Marauder gets Assaiil and moves up the centre, Ruin goes up behind a pair of Outriders keeping one of the forests between him and the Earthbreaker.
The Drakhuns come out front to be mean. One unit of Elimiantors stays on the left side. The Manhunter hugs the Bunker objective for Girded.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINuH1xvKrsUz9KflyUBVQS2wok1rPGW0SR57S5K0KuDvepKiUtAnQqBevMxxR7iW2ntCR4qMhtvmrMZNBqmNJUdTzyW8Z0m_CDAO0yqgQmfZm2GIpKTX3tSjuzJGUoFN07hOkDH0LDhzt/s1600/003+%2528800x450%2529.jpg[/img]
Merc 2: I'd really like to use the Earthbreaker to kill Outriders and knock down Ruin, then disrupt him with Eiryss. Alas, I conclude I can't get the distance and line of sight needed, so plan this turn is to pop at least one Drakhun, throw out a wall and wait for the impending Vlad feat (he can't hold it for to long, as Gorten will get up the board and drag the worthwhile feat targets in and murder them).
Earthbreaker (Now sans Strength of Granite, not going to need it this game, that's a habit cast more than anything else) gets Tuned Up, advances, kills the left Drakhun. I throw out a random rough terrain template for giggles, it bounces onto Vlad for no damage (It was the Tuned Up shot and I was hoping to get it into the nearby Outriders. Oh well).
Left side, Brine goes forward and Rorsh hangs back. The Big Pig will most certainly get charged by feated Elimiantors, however that shouldn't be enough to kill him, then I can heal what is needed and either counter kill the assassins or more likely put attacks into the Marauder.
On the right, everything pulls back, the Snake keeping away from early Rifle Corp death.
Eiryss shoots the Marauder, pinging Vlad for a point then repositiing back. I put up a wall to make it hard for a Drakhun to get to her, though I expect she'll die anyway it might take more time and effort.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwalQvUS3mVdWbpahPwTE4gC9s2JK2Z-H_xOMfAzjjnYsuOmIipGrT4OyFQUC__UvLaM2P8GjAG8fq8axGKjfkuvsB7fjYoPUohDWSrr6JTqsJI7yhlHwgE5-TLXNuLehx7qg48a1LBKHF/s1600/004+%2528800x450%2529.jpg[/img]
Khador 2: Sure enough, Vlad hangs behind the wall and feats, picking the left Elimiantors, the remaining Drakhun, the Manhunter and a random Outrider with a spare token.
Left wise, the Marauder moves toward Brine, who gets charged by the feated Kayazy. They maul him quite badly, though he isn't at death's door.
Right side, the Rifle Corp advance and don't do much.
The Manhunter charges Eiryss. Skarath has Counterblast and the Elf is doomed, so I trigger it to put some damage on the Khadoran. He kills Eiryss and misses the Manhunter, oh well. The Obejctive then gets thumped a bit.
The feated Drakhun charges in, misses an imapct attack on Saxon and guts an Eliminator.
The Outriders come to the fore, spraying down an Eliminator I put before the Earthbreaker to make charges annoying, kill the Obejctive and roll pathetically on Brine, leaving him with about 7 health and all aspects up. They then repo to positions on the leftish side of the board.
The un feated Eliminators run to my right flag.
Khador goes to 2 CP.
[img]https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhY7pEdCimueJ0byu_keoCRzbFt35-rVF08Gwiur_ubqQdDqBUmae-JFIsg1D2lHpK-ZvRBqmuo5uxlFEPj81t6S4bz-RX7dkt5g6GT0NwObtRYlBMe8Pk7d_YJSwyMCSQE8jDCuJNWwqi0/s1600/005+%2528800x450%2529.jpg[/img]
Merc 3: Vlads within 14 of the Earthbreaker. Let's try a quick recreation of Mark 2!
Earthrbeaker gets Tuned up and a max focus load. Advances, Tuned Up Knock Down Torpedo doesn't care about the wall, lands the needed attack roll on the dot. Vlad only has one focus from arcane might, I shoot him down with two unboosted shots to spare.
Well I'm never getting that again. Glorious asssassination!
My backup plan/if Vlad was 3 inches further back is to Gorten feat on Outrider/Ruin/Drakhun, use Versh to pop a few of them, have Orin and Ninja Pigs kill the left unit of Elimiantors and the Snake to kill the right, then grind out with a left flag capture in the next round.
Anyway, to my surprise I get into the finals and I'm not list locked, into glorious High Decibel version of Khador.
