Kallus had flawless eyesight. He was sure he was the first of his army to spot the mechanika abominations across the other side of the burning village. Even the eyeless beasts under his command had not perceived the rapid advance of the Cryxian helljacks yet. Kallus had not spotted what was commanding them, but there were few of the undead elite capable of effectively control so many ‘jacks. He counted at least four heavies and three light ‘jacks. He would need to show control his own beasts and troops as forcefully if he was to win the day.

The pace of the helljacks was stunning. The legend that is Deathjack slammed into a Nephilim Soldier he sent forward to intercept it. The beast was devoured body and soul, fueling Deathjack’s seemingly boundless rage. Kallus commanded the Warmongers and his Carnivean to shore up the right flank. A Harrower hurtled into a group of Legionnaires on his left and carved through four of them before he even had a chance to react. He focussed everything on the left flank to destroying it. As he did Deathjack plowed forward into the Ravagore. It smashed aside several Legionnaires along its path, Incubi instantly exploding from their flesh. The abomination struck home with unerring accuracy, but failed to fell the beast. Kallus again had to focus all of his energies on his left flank if it wasn’t going to falter. He commanded everything he had to attack Deathjack, bolstered his own power and charged into the fray. Deathjack seemed to phase between the real world and some other plane. Several of Kallus’ blows failed to meet his target. Things were not faring much better on the right. He was struggling to control the Carnivean and the Warmonger numbers had been depleted.

Deathjack was quick to retaliate, striking down the Ravagore, a Foresaken and a Shredder in a whirlwind of violence. Kallus redoubled his efforts as his army began to dwindle. He swung again and again at Deathjack and a Slayer which had arrived. Again he failed to connect with his targets. The combined blows of Deathjack and the Slayer wore him down, until his armour failed, he fell to the ground and the world went black.

This was a fun game, but I barely got into the fight. I overstretched on my right flank and my dice failed on the left flank. That said Peter played well and got several ‘jacks on top of my army early. Had I been able to connect with Deathjack and deal even semi-respectable damage I may have been in with a chance, but it wasn’t to be. That said, one of my Warmongers on the right flank managed to charge Mortenebra reducing her to just three boxes. The Deathstalker had just missed her too, so a flukey win could have been mine! Peter suggested I write this battle report as -

Today I hid behind a shed for ages until I got bored and decided to try hitting Deathjack. That didn’t go too well and a Slayer snuck up destroyed my shell. Could’ve been worse though, at least I didn’t get corroded to death like that Ogryn!

Until next time,

Owen

No related posts.

My main focus in 2011 was campaign play and I see that continuing in 2011. I’ve played campaigns in Warmachine, Horde and Flames of War. I’ve also done quite a bit of painting this year. Here are a few samples -

I didn’t make that much terrain last year. I made the Jailhouse, some Fences and some fortifications for Flames of War. I’d like to improve on that for next year.

I also did the Wargames Audit which was a great exercise. On the back of it I am determined to concentrate on my three core games of Warmachine/Hordes, Flames of War and Malifaux in 2012. I don’t see myself starting any new armies other than adding to my US WWII army. I have good faction coverage in Warmachine (Khador, Mercs and Cryx) and Hordes (Legion) and until I get more games of Malifaux played there is no point adding more models. I have the Puppet Wars models and the Dead Justice crew to paint anyway. My painting list is under control and I’m happy with the progress I’ve made.

In 2012 I’m looking forward to extending the Malifaux VASSAL module and getting more Malifaux played. I’d also like to run a Flames of War campaign based on some of the fighting in the Hürtgen Forest. I’m going to focus my Press Ganger activity on a new store that opened in my home town recently. I think the IK RPG may pique my interest in 2011 too, but I’m not really a roleplayer!

Happy New Year,

Owen

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Owen

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Myself and Phil got a 50pts 4 hour(!) game in on VASSAL last night. We played the scenario for the Hordes: Domination release event (PDF) (which Phil kindly did up a map for). If you flick through the images above, you’ll get a good sense of what happened. I managed to drop some damage at range on to Baldur and I kept Kallus well back until the endgame. Scenario points are scored for having Warbeasts/Warjacks or Warcaster/Warlock is on your opponents side of the board.

This was a very high attrition game with very little from either force surviving the game. Phil looked to be in a pretty solid position about half way through the game with his wall of Wolds advancing up the middle and making good use of the boulders. He narrowly failed to kill my Carnivean with Megalith (thanks to Spiny Growth) and that was probably the turning point in the game. The Carnivean had no problem dismantling the character Wold. Then things were a little more even. It went on to take out another Wold and the final one was carved up by the Ravagore (which was killed) and Kallus. I needed to make each of these kills to deny Phil scenario points. With the heavy damage from early game on him (and being on fire!) Baldur was up against it. The deathblow came from a Raptor’s arrow. Quite fitting as they served me very well this game, killing things at range and then acting as a speedbump. The unit leader was the only Raptor to survive, but he held his nerve and made the shot that counted.

It was a good game and a really fun scenario. If you get a chance download it and give it a go.

Until next time,

Owen

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… is coming. I haven’t roleplayed in years, but I’m really excited for this.

Owen

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Here are some more shots.

I’ll do a video on how I painted it in the next week or so.

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I will be running a 35 Point Warmachine/Hordes Tournament on Saturday, 10th December in Gamer’s World Dublin. Full details are:

What: Steamroller 2012 Beta Tournament
Where: Gamers World, Dublin
Date & Time: 10/12/2011. 11am hard start, registration begins at 10:15 AM.
Entry Fee: €10.
Points: 35 points, two lists (optional). Lists must be written. If taking a theme force, players are required to bring a copy of the theme rules. Note: Reinforcements will not be used in this tournament.
Restrictions: Models or Units with FA:C cannot be in both lists. For the purpose of regular versus epics, epic models are considered to be different characters than their regular versions.
Timing: 10 minute timed turns (standard for 35pts is 7 minute timed turns, but I’m relaxing it for this one)
Tie-breakers: For the tournament, if there is no outright winner, Control Points will be tiebreaker. Second tiebreaker will be Army Points.
Scenarios:“Gauntlet”, “Destruction”, “Outflank, Outfight, Outlast”, “A Flag Too Far”, “Restoration”, “Command and Control”. The scenario for each round will be randomly chosen from the list above. Each scenario may only be used once. NOTE: The ‘Reinforcements’ artifice will not be used.

Prizes will include best general, 2nd place and a few spot prizes.

See you all there.

Owen

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#3 The Shepherd that scored two control points on the right flank. Nothing particularly impressive about that – she had nothing better to do after the Ravagore was decimated (more on that below).

#2 The Swamp Gobbers who blocked a charge lane from eMadrak to Kallus and survived 9 missed attacks to effectively win the game for me. DEF 15 is pretty sweet!

#1 The shining stars of the game were the Pygmy Burrowers. Anthony dug them in on turn 1. When they popped up eMadrak put Blood Fury on them and then something amazing happened. There was a Carnivean with its animus up and a Ravagore in charge range, so four Digmys charged into each and showed what an extra damage dice can do! Both beasts were totalled. Later on they managed to put a load of damage on Kallus too. Not enough to win the game, but more than I expected. At 6 points they are severely undercosted!

The game went to me on scenario, but I only had four models on the board at the end of the game! It was the narrowest of wins.

Until next time,

Owen

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We have a new wargames shop here in Maynooth called Gamers Hub. It opened a couple of weeks ago and stocks Privateer Press (Warmachine and Hordes), Games Workshop (Warhammer, 40k, etc.), CCG (Magic The Gathering and all that nonsense!), board games and plenty of other things. Ethan, the store owner, can order in anything you need, so just let him know what you want.

The shop is located just off Main St. near Equestrian World (just on the left from this Street View). The shop also has its own Facebook page, so check it out. They have two 4′x8′ tables, so enough room for four Warmachine/Hordes games at a time. There is also a small painting area for those looking to get some miniatures ready for the tabletop.

They are running a Warmachine/Hordes slow grow league at the moment, so now is a great time to share a 2-player battlebox with a friend and start playing!

Owen

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Enjoy!

Owen

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October’s challenge is to paint a SPD 6 (or higher) model. eAlexia or my Gun Carriage? Hmmmm…

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Running the tournament yesterday was a pleasure – 16 enthusiastic and skilled players turned up and played four very competitive games each. Every game was played in a spirit of camaraderie and any questions I had to answer were genuine rules queries – the players made my job easy. I first advertised the tournament about a month in advance and it was great to see such a good turn out.

The players began appearing at around 10:15 at Gamers World and Stuart, another of our local PGs, was good enough to help me get terrain sorted while I registered players and checked lists. As far as factions go we had 4 Cygnar, 2 Cryx, 2 Trollbloods, 2 Mercs, and then 1 of Skorne, Legion of Everblight, Circle Orboros, Retribution of Scyrah, Protectorate of Menoth and Khador. My friend Phil (from the Subject to Stupidity blog) flew in from Hamburg the day before and used my Khador, rocking a Karchev list in all four rounds.

The first round kicked off just after 11am. I printed five different Steamroller scenarios and randomly chose one for each round. I rolled high for the random element of the round time and let the players know that the clock was running. About this time last year Stuart bought a load of cheap timers from eBay and we use them to track turn times. One or two of the games that round ran long (as people took time to get all of their armies sorted), but none reached the time limit. As the results trickled in I entered them into the (excellent) Dohyou software. It really made my job easy.

And so each round went. As there were 16 players we needed 4 games to sort things out and by 5pm (or so) we had a result (I run a tight ship). I had prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, fully painted (randomly chosen) and also for last position. I decided to go with Minions and Mercenary blisters as the prizes.

Gerry scooped Calaban and a Minions token set as the top prize. He used Rhyas in every game and showed all of his opponents just how competitive she can be! He’s a great guy to play against and is a great example of how the game should be played. Jason and his beautifully painted Cryx picked up second place of Aiyana and Holt and Gorman de Wolfe (as well as the randomly assigned painting prize – 2 speciality brushes). Robbie picked up third and the Piper of Menoth! (I’m sure he has uses for Cygnar too). Conor came in last place and was a little unlucky having fought some tight games. Everyone who played him agreed he was a great opponent too, effectively making his prize of Eiryss a prize for sportsmanship!

Thanks again to everyone for making it such a good day.

Owen

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Enjoy!

Owen

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You can check out more of his work at CMON or on Facebook.

For anyone interested in having an army as beautiful as Tomek’s the good news is he has set up a painting service – Coldren Minis. If you are interested in owning some gorgeously painted models drop him an email (coldrenminis [at] gmail [dot] com) and he’ll get back to you with details.

Owen

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I will be running a 35 Point Warmachine/Hordes Tournament on Saturday, 8th October in Gamer’s World Dublin. Full details are:

Steamroller 2011 Rules
35 points
2 lists allowed
10 Minute Turns
Registration begins at 10:30 am
Entry 10 Euro
No painting requirement (though there may be painting prizes!)

Prizes will include best general, 2nd place and a few spot prizes.

See you all there.

Owen

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Game 3

For the third game we were playing with 35pt forces over the Demolition scenario. My army was a Tier 4 Absylonia Theme force comprising the following:

Faction: Absylonia – Winds of Change
Points: 35/35
Tiers: 4
Absylonia, Terror of Everblight (*5pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Stinger (2pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Carnivean (10pts)
* Carnivean (10pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)
Feralgeist (Free: Benefit from winning Game 2)

Phil went with a Moshar led force:

Mohsar the Desertwalker (*5pts)
* Gorax (4pts)
* Woldwyrd (5pts)
Druids of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
* Druid of Orboros Overseer (2pts)
Druids of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
Stoneward and 5 Woldstalkers (5pts)
Stoneward and 5 Woldstalkers (5pts)

If you know the Harlem Globetrotters theme music, now might be a good time to start humming it!

Enjoy!

Owen

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Warmachine and Hordes

In the last year the majority of the games I’ve played have been of Warmachine and Hordes, and I definitely consider it to be my main game. I currently have Khador, Mercenaries (mostly Privateers), Cryx and Legion of Everblight factions. Here’s an overview of my collection of models -

Oh yeah, I have a proxied Circle Orboros force too! As you can see I pretty much have everything painted that I own. In the last year the Mercenaries have seen quite a lot added to them, as have Legion. To Khador and Cryx I’ve added the odd model here and there.

In terms of play time Khador and Legion are still my primary factions and I think that will continue, though the Mercenaries are getting a decent amount of play. I’ve done well in competitive play this year with all three of those factions, so I think my standard of play is pretty good. I’ve also played a lot of campaign games, both physically and over VASSAL. I’m really enjoying Warmachine and Hordes and that is set to continue.

In the coming year I’d like to do a couple of things from a painting and modelling perspective – add the Gun Carriage and some more infantry to Khador is one of my main priorities. For the Gun Carriage I’d love to create a diorama base. I have some ideas – more on that in the next month or so! Legion is ticking over quite well. I see myself adding just a few bits to Legion when Domination comes out, maybe Kallus’ character beast and the Legionnaire’s UA. I’d also like to add some models to Cryx to do Skarre’s new theme force from a recent No Quarter. I don’t plan on expanding the Mercenaries this year, though I can seem myself adding a Freebooter warjack to complete the Pirate ‘jacks!

From a gaming perspective I’d like to increase my Press Ganger activity – family life has been pretty hectic with Ciarán’s birth this year, but I’ll hopefully have more time in the coming year. I plan to run the Journeyman Slow Grow League this side of Christmas as well as running a couple of tournaments. I’m going to keep up the campaign play as it’s just silly fun! I’ll probably expand the ANNIHILATION system next year, though I’m not sure what direction to take it in yet. One other thing I’d like to do is to reflect on how much MkII game time my Warcasters and Warlocks have seen. I definitely have my favourites, but I need to consciously try to use my less competitive models.

Next up in the audit: Malifaux!

Owen

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In Kallus’ force I had a Ravagore, Carnivean, Shredder, Shepherd, Deathstalker, max Warmongers and max Legionnaires. This was my first game with Kallus and I wanted to see how he fared with a mixed force. His abilities mostly seem to support infantry, but Dark Guidance is a great spell on beasts too. It is expensive for a 6 Fury warlock… Incite gives the Legionnaires decent punch and they, along with the Warmongers will also benefit from Dark Guidance. The Shredder is there for his animus and a damage transfer if needs be.

It was a good game, but I didn’t learn too much about Kallus. The +2 DEF on his feat for soulless models is great. It protected him from Skarre and made the feat Incubi tricky to hit. Dark Guidance is pricey – between greedily casting it and leaving Kallus on zero Fury I nearly lost the game. I needed to repair the Carnivean after some decent Leviathan ranged attacks, but I should have let Incite drop to leave him with a transfer. He will always be short on Fury when casting Dark Guidance, but the Carnivean did make six attacks including its charge and hit with all of them thanks to the extra die to hit. It was a thing of beauty! The Incubi are useful, but like most defensive feats rely on your opponent, so a canny opponent can minimise the impact, or plan to take out the Incubi created.

I think Kallus could be very solid. I’m looking forward to getting more games in with him.

Owen

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The is the second game in a four game campaign. I brought Saeryn out to play this time against Phil’s Baldur list. The winner of this 25pt game would get a free Feralgeist in each of the subsequent games (this doesn’t impact theme forces) as well as campaign points, so there is something to fight for.

Owen

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Here are the photos I took while painting him. The base still needs to be done – I’ll get to it over the weekend.

Owen

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On turn one I predictably cast Tow after allocating a focus to each ‘jack (Beast-09, Devastator and Juggernaut). Karchev charged a random target in the distance moving 9″. Obviously you can’t Power-slide with this, but it nets you a few extra inches movement. The ‘jacks then all run from behind Karchev, leaving a gap for him to run through on the next turn.

On my final turn I kept all of the focus for Karchev (he had no ‘jack that he could allocate to) and again cast Unearthly Rage. He feated and charged the Angelius, smashing it to pieces. Beast-09 changed facing (thanks to the feat), charged for free (thanks again to the feat) and hit Absylonia with a boosted hit (Unearthly Rage) and one shotted the Legion Warlock.

Owen

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On my turn Absylonia put Forced Evolution not the Ravagore and granted herself flight and reach to make it into the Warwitch for the kill. Next up the Ravagore charged into the Ripjaw, one shotting it. This let the Shredder go Rabid and finish off the Necrotech in the middle of the control zone. The final part of the plan involved the Carnivean, which had reach thanks to Playing God, totalling the Slayer. It charged in and scrapped it. That would be a control point with Peter a little out of position to challenge the scenario.

I had Mortenebra’s per Skarlock and Deathjack to deal with in order to win the Scenario. Absylonia cast Forced Evolution on the Carnivean, to buff his strength, and then charged Deryliss to take him out. The Carnivean then performed a Double-handed Throw on Deathjack to get him out of the zone. The game was mine.

That was a fun game. Beasts and ‘jacks make for an impressive spectacle.

Owen

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It pitches Legion and Circle against each other in a struggle for control of the Rustwood, a traditional stronghold of the Orboros druids. The area has strategic importance to Everblight as his forces seek to keep the specific locations of the remaining two pieces of the Scourge Bringer secret. By extending their control into the Rustwood they can protect the eastern approach. Everblight has tasked Absylonia and Saeryn, accompanied by a beast heavy force, to this task.

The campaign will be played using VASSAL and last four games – 25pt, 25pt, 35pt and 50pt. This gives each player 108pts (80% of the total) for their starting force. Remember, in ANNIHILATION casualties carry forward, reducing your pool of available troops. Each of the four games is a standard SR2011 radial scenario which Phil has written custom fluff for. Here’s the battle report for the first game.

Game 1

For the first game we were playing with 25pt forces over the Sacrifice scenario. My army was a Tier 4 Absylonia Theme force comprising the following:

Faction: Absylonia – Winds of Change
Points: 25/25
Tiers: 4
Absylonia, Terror of Everblight (*5pts)
* Harrier (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Stinger (2pts)
* Angelius (8pts)
* Carnivean (10pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

In a recent tournament I saw how effective the Angelius is with Absylonia. Forced Evolution gives it an impressive DEF 16 and P+S of 16, which is Armor Piercing. I have a choice of either Carnivore or Playing God as the upkeep on the Carnivean, but as Phil’s force had few living models Playing God made a good choice. The only real advantage it gave was Reach, but a Carnivean with Reach is amazing as it affects all three of his melee weapons!

Phil went with a Moshar Tier 2 force:

Faction: Mohsar – Sandstorm
Points: 25/25
Tiers: 2
Mohsar the Desertwalker (*5pts)
* Gorax (4pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
* Woldwarden (9pts)
Sentry Stone (Leader and 3 Manikins) (3pts)
Stoneward and 5 Woldstalkers (5pts)

Deployment
Phil won the starting dice roll and deployed in the bottom right. He repositioned the Woldstalker unit thanks to a tier benefit after seeing my deployment. All of my lessers were advanced deployed and the two heavies got to advance move thanks to tier benefits. It was obvious from deployment that neither of us were going to make a serious play for the scenario. I had options with the placement of my Forsaken and Harrier, but the POW 20 from the Sacrifice would kill them. In an attrition-based campaign that’s undesirable!

Round 1
On his first turn Phil pushed forward aggressively and put out a load of Pillars of Salt. Pillar of Salt is great against Legion as it blocks Eyeless Sight, which specifically hurt the Angelius’ offensive punch. After casting the spells above I also pushed forward fast with the Angelius moving down the right and the Carnivean moving towards the control zone. I put its aniums up and dropped Blight Field in front of it to prevent Phil from smashing it up too badly if he chose to charge in with a Woldwarden.

Round 2
On his next turn Phil laid into the Carnivean at range. He first cast Curse of Shadows (via a Woldwarden) on to the Carnivean, effectively neutralising its animus, and then shot it up with the Woldstalkers. This did a lot of damage, but not enough to take it out. Again he dropped down several Pillars, primarily to thwart my heavies. He also put Sunhammer up to damage my beasts as the moved in Moshar’s control area. The Sentry Stone snuck in to steal a fury from the Carnivean.

On my turn I reckoned I could sneak the Carnivean around the Pillar in front of it to get Reach on the Woldwarden that had cast Curse of Shadows against it. First I needed to get Absylonia moving. I was afraid of losing branches on the lessers to Sunhammer and since the Carnivean had a good bit of damage on it I feated. I also cast Blight Field where I expected the Carnivean to end up and camped the remaining three fury in anticipation of Moshar’s feat. The Carnivean did indeed have enough movement to creep around the Pillar and Sentry Stone to get into Melee with the Woldwarden. With only DEF 10 I hit with every attack and totalled it. The Forsaken came up to remove the Fury from the Carnivean. The Angelius flew over the Pillars in front of it and used Overtake to strike and kill four Woldstalkers. It managed to engage the rest of that unit and the Gorax. Finally I flew the Harrier in to harrass the remaining Woldwarden.

Round 3
This round is where things really hotted up. Phil did indeed feat and placed more Pillars of Salt. He then decided to focus his energy on destroying the Angelius. The Gorax pummeled it, but failed to destroy it. It’s high DEF and inability to be knocked down saved it. On the right the Woldwarden almost one shotted the Harrier – the second hit did the job. The Sentry Stone managed to fill up on Fury, warped into a prime location and produced three Mannikens. These were placed in front of Absylonia and the Forsaken and Stinger near her.

On my turn I couldn’t leech any fury, but I saw an opportunity to put a lot of hurt on Moshar. With only the Woldwarden as a viable transfer target (Gorax was full of Fury) I hoped to destroy it with the Carnivean. Before all of that I had to take some Frenzy checks. The Angelius passed (pretty amazing given it had 4 Fury on it!) and the Shredder nearest the Stoneward frenzied, but failed to hit him (rolling 5 on 3D6). With the Angelius free to activate the plan was on. The Carnivean again crept around the edge of a Salt Pillar to engage a Woldworden and again he totalled it. Absylonia activated next, she healed the Angelius for 1 point, bringing it back to fully functional, she then dispatched two Mannikens with her claws and finally cast Blight Field defensively. The unengaged Forsaken moved up and removed a Fury from the Angelius (for once I was thankful of the Sentry Stone – it stole a Fury last turn which allowed him to do this!). The Angelius swung around and (boosted) hit Moshar with a P+S 18 strike dropping him to about 4 boxes. The second Forsaken killed the third Manniken and the Stinger hit the Sentry Stone for 6 damage at range.

Round 4
Phil was very much on the back foot and in his turn he was trying to protect Moshar, but this was nearly impossible. The Gorax and Moshar double teamed on the Angelius is a bid to destroy it, but again its high defense kept it (just about) alive. The Sentry Stone warped back to place three Manniken between the Carnivean and Moshar.

In my turn I activated Absylonia first, she again healed the Angelius and then walked over to the Sentry Stone and destroyed it. This left both the Angelius and Carnivean in position to take the Furyless Moshar down. The Angelius took the final swing of the game felling the Circle warlock.

This was a fun game and my first time using Absylonia. I have to say she is great fun! ‘m pretty pleased with how this game went. I should have used the Shredder to destroy the Stonewarden as every death counts in an ANNIHILATION campaign, but taking out the Gorax may have left me unable to kill Moshar.

Roll on Game 2…

Owen

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