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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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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Owen

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Owen

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The Armies

My force consisted of Saeryn, an Angelius, a Ravagore, a Raek, a max unit of Warmongers, a Warchief, a Shepherd, a Deathstalker, two Spell Martyrs and the Swamp Gobbers. I’ve wanted to field the Ravagore and Raek since I painted them. The rationale behind the whole list is survivability – the multi-wound Warmongers make a great screen and allow Saeryn to operate forward if needed and here feat coupled with the Swamp Gobbers make her hard to kill. The Angelius and Raek are great Blight Bringer targets. The Ravagore can either operate forward or back of the main line – it’s decent in melee and has one of the best ranged attacks in the game.

Anthony’s force was made up of pDenny, a Ripjaw, a Deathripper, max Bane Thralls plus UA, max Satyxis Raiders plus UA, Banelord Tartarus, two Warwitches, a Pistolwraith and a Skarlock. That’s a very competitive list and everything in it can fulfil multiple roles. Thankfully I’m familiar with most of the list, so I knew what was facing me across the table.

The Battle

I won the starting roll and opted to go first. Probably a mistake as the scenario kicks in on the 2nd Player’s 2nd Turn, but I pushed the army forward and cast Respawn on the Ravagore. Already I started to get into caught up in the terrain. This generally isn’t a problem for Legion, but we were fighting in an abandoned mining town. Pathfinder and Eyeless Sight weren’t a whole lot of use and my medium based infantry began tripping over each other. I needed to move my army up to contest the control areas, so a flanking deployment wasn’t really an option.

Deneghra’s feat caught most of my army apart from the Saeryn, the Gobbers and the Raek. Saeryn used the Raek’s animus to move out of melee with the raider, turned and killed her with a thrown knife. She then cast Blight Bringer defensively on the Angelius. The Raek moved to block line of sight to her (as much as was possible) as did the Spell Martyr. The Ravagore moved back slightly (it had an effective SPD of 2″!) and dropped a surprisingly accurate AoE killing three Banes.

Owen

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Joe and I played out a 25SS game between Lady Justice and McMourning this evening. Joe had the “Destroy the Evidence” strategy and I had “Deliver a Message”. We’re both still learning the game and we had to consult the rules a fair bit, but it was great fun! Here’s an attempt at a narrative battle report…

The heat was almost unbearable. No air moved in these old deserted warehouses. Lady Justice could taste the sweat on her lips. She had a message for McMourning and as her crew quietly closed on the master of the morgue she was going to deliver it and then end him. His indiscretions in this patch of industrial wasteland had not gone unnoticed and the ambush was almost set.

McMourning knew they were on to him and that the evidence must be disposed of. The Flesh Construct towering before him lurched forward as the incriminating pieces of the puzzle came into view. As it plodded forward shots rang out and slammed into its reconstituted form. The distinctive report of Peacemakers could not be mistaken. They were on to him alright… they were here.

Lady Justice holstered her pistols and drew her Greatsword, it sang as she removed it from its scabbard. She glimpsed her quarry, through holes in the decaying concrete. He moved forward without caution, but she could sense the hidden others of his crew nearby. Sebastian, McMourning’s vile assistant, would most likely be scavenging for any body pieces he could find. A twisted nurse in his employ would no doubt be strutting along close behind.

A Witchling Stalker moved forward and blasted wildly at McMourning – the shot clipping him in the shoulder. Samael moved forward and managed to miss the master with his Colt .45. That was disconcerting; he rarely missed. McMourning must be packing a lot of Soulstones and was using them to thwart their efforts. The Death Marshal to her right unloaded into the Flesh Construct and felled it.

“Where the hell was Sebastian?” he thought. A coarse half-bark sounded from behind him as if answering his question. “Damn it Sebastian, there are more important things to attend to than making new pets!” As McMourning turned to look at the canine a shot from another Guild weapon blasted it to the ground. He knew he’d have to finish this himself. He moved swiftly to the remains of the Flesh Construct and began greedily snatching up the pieces when he saw her. With the agility of an arachnid construct he lunged towards her, his surgical tools flickering through his fingers.

Before Lady Justice could react McMourning was standing toe-to-toe with her. His precision tools began to cut into her flesh. She could feel her cache of Soulstones dissolve to prevent the worst of the damage, but still she flinched from the blows. Recomposing herself she grabbed him by the lapel, leaned in and whispered her message. His eyes widened and for a moment he dropped his guard. She sliced the Greatsword across his gut.

“How could she have found out?”, a thought flashed through his mind. He clutched at his side and recomposed himself to deal with Lady Justice. He focussed his energy and drove the surgical tools towards her throat. Justice stumbled aside and the weapons narrowly missed their mark (Ed: Black Joker). It seems like Lady Luck had betrayed him too! His quarry swung back in riposte, but almost unbelievably did not connect (Ed: Another Black Joker!). His mind slipped into a most comfortable mode – that of a master dissector! His hands worked feverishly and Lady Justice fell to the ground in a bloody mess. He looked up from where she lay, an uncontrollable grin spreading across his face. The grin disappeared under the combined blows of Justice’s minions. The world went black.

Owen

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Merlin, a Malifaux Henchman from Cork, kindly traveled up to Gamers World in Dublin to give a few of us some demos of Malifaux. He and I played a 35 soulstone encounter while he was there. I used my Guild crew led by Lady Justice and he had a Lilith led Neveborn crew.

The first thing we did was flip for our strategies which is one of the really nice features of Malifaux. Each crew may have different objectives to complete (Destroy the Evidence for me and Claim Jump for Merlin) and they really shake up the dynamic of the game. It was quite strange to play a game where the death of a Master (or Warcaster!) does not mean game over.

I thoroughly enjoyed this game and Merlin was a great opponent. I thought when Lady J was killed that it was all over, but the game came alive when I drew ridiculously good hands. My card luck went from terrible to amazing and I had some exceptionally well judged (read lucky!) ranged attacks! I’ll be playing more Malifaux – it’s a fun, dynamic and challenging game.

Owen

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GAME 2: AFTER ACTION REPORT
Dog and Fox companies had successfully stalled the German advance as they strategically withdrew earlier. This gave Easy time to detach some Bazooka teams for form an ambuscade and prepare a PIR platoon in an ambushing position.
SETUP
For game two the 4′ x 6′ board represented further along Route d’Auvers, closer to Carentan. The road ran lengthwise and was surrounded by hedgerows and fields. Much of the American force was either held in reserve, or was preparing an ambush. The forces that were deployed were dug in in prepared positions and were keeping their heads down. The Germans would enter from the south and attempt to seize key objectives before the American reserves could react. This game was set at about 1500pts with Paul playing an armour supported German Fallschirmjager force and me playing American paratroopers, with some Shermans in reserve.

The German force consisted of -

• Fallschirmjager Company HQ (2 SMG Teams) supported by 2 Panzerfausts and a Mortar Detachment
• Fallschirmjager Platoon with three Rifle/MG squads and a HQ with Panzerfaust
• Fallschirmjager Platoon with three Rifle/MG squads and a HQ with Panzerfaust
• Fallschirmjager Mortar Platoon with four 10.5cm NbW35 and HQ
• Panzergrenadier Platoon with three squads and a HQ with Panzerfaust
• Panzer Platoon with five Panzer IVh tanks (including HQ)
• Assault Gun Platoon with three StuG III G tanks (including HQ)

A combination of elite troops supported by hard hitting and heavily armoured tanks. Given that all of the German force could deploy and did not rely on fickle reserves they presented quite a formidable challenge to the few American paratroopers that would actually start the game deployed on the battlefield.

My paratrooper force consisted of -

• PIR Company Command Carbine Team and 2iC Command Carbine Team with three HQ Bazooka Teams (detached as Ambuscade) and Sniper (held in Ambush)
• PIR Platoon with three Squads (Cmd R/MG, 6x R/MG, 1x 60mm Mort, 1x Bazooka)
• PIR Platoon with three Squads (Cmd R/MG, 6x R/MG, 1x 60mm Mort, 1x Bazooka) (in Reserve)
• PIR Platoon with three Squads (Cmd R/MG, 6x R/MG, 1x 60mm Mort, 1x Bazooka) (held in Ambush)
• PIR Mortar Platoon with two Sections (Cmd/Crb, 4x 81mm Mort, 1x Bazooka) (in Reserve)
• PIR Field Artillery Battery with two Sections (Cmd/Crb, Staff, Obs/Crb, 4x 75mm PH)
• Medium Tank Platoon with four Sherman Tanks (2nd Armoured Division) (in Reserve)

The Germans deployed towards the southern end of the road with the Panzers on the (American) right flank and the StuGs on the left. Each was supported by a platoon of Fallschirmjager. Paul detached several Panzerfausts into an infantry-based tank hunting platoon and deployed them in the middle beside the mortar platoon.

The Americans were mostly in reserve or held in ambush. Only a single PIR platoon and the Howitzers were visible on the battlefield. The PIR platoon was on the left flank with the artillery behind them. The infantry held one of the two objectives, with the other further back in their deployment area (I had plans that my ambushing PIR platoon and reserves that came on would protect it). With most of my army off the battlefield I felt seriously undermanned. All I could hope for was that my reserves would arrive early and the Bazooka ambuscade could stall some of the German armour.

THE BATTLE
I videoed the game took loads of photos. Here’s a turn-by-turn video combining the footage and photos -

AFTERMATH
The American paratroopers looked to be in real trouble for most of the battle. Their artillery and tanks were mostly ineffective against the German armour. The ambuscade bailed out two Panzers, but that platoon soon got moving. Paul’s decision to mount the Fallschirmjager on the tanks proved costly. He lost a platoon before they could even get into the battle on the left flank. The StuGs more than made up for this loss as they nearly rolled the whole flank.

The timely arrival of all of my reserves helped me to plan the battle. The Shermans were intended to repel the Panzers and looked like they ere doing a terrible job of it until the last turn. With three active tanks (one was bailed-out) I scored three hits, bailing one Panzer and destroying two. This was the turning point as the other platoons went on the offensive. The PIR that had appeared in ambush assaulted the second Fallschirmjager platoon and another assaulted the ad-hoc Panzerfaust platoon. This was enough for the German morale to be tested and again Paul’s dice failed him.

It was a fun game, but I think had Paul been more aggressive with his armour he could have overwhelmed my forces as the reserves were still arriving.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS

Standard disclaimer – I am not a historian and I do not claim that everything written in this article is factually accurate, although I strove to ensure that it is. The battle report is fictitious and does not represent the events of the 13th June 1944.

Owen

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Round 1

My army was made up of two Defilers, 10 Bane Knights, Tartarus, 10 Mechanithralls, a Skarlock and Skarre. My first turn was quite pedestrian. Everything ran up except the Skarlock which moved up to cast Ritual Sacrifice on one of the Mechanithralls.

Even at this stage things weren’t going that well. Tartarus was out on the flank and I was using terrain to screen my Banes versus an army with Eyeless Sight! Speaking of Eyeless Sight, why was Skarre up there and not behind a ‘jack!

Joe’s army was comprised of a Ravagore, an Angelius, a Nephilim Bolt Thrower, a Shredder, two Shepherds and a Spell Martyr. That was led by Saeryn, who is one of my favourite warlocks. She has a stunning feat and a great spell list. Joe started with her and cast Respawn on the Angelius and Banishing Ward on herself. The Ravagore moved forward, put its animus up and took a shot at Tartarus. It just missed and scattered off behind Tartarus. The Angelius and Nephilim moved up the threaten the right flank. The Shredder moved up and put Tenacity on the Ravagore.

Round 2

At the start of my turn I rolled 5 for Ritual Sacrifice giving Skarre 11 focus. I decided to leave it on her and bring some pain to the Ravagore. The closer Defiler moved up and took a shot it. I missed, but at least I was sure I was in range for a few Hellfires. It took all of the focus, but I managed to do a whopping… Nah, it wasn’t that whopping, I just about managed to do half of the boxes on it. Tartarus moved up and Cursed it, but the Bane Knights were out of range, so they just moved up.

On the right the Mechanithralls moved around Skarre to try to give a bit of protection and the Skarlock again cast Ritual Sacrifice.
This was Joe’s big turn. He moved the Ravagore up and took an Eyeless Sight shot at Skarre, but just missed. The scatter, however, took out the Mechanithrall screen. Saeryn attempted the Breath Stealer Skarre through a Spell Martyr that moved up into position, but the shot just missed. Saeryn feated. The Nephilim then moved up and sent a bolt straight at Skarre scoring a critical hit! It did a load of damage and knocked her on her ass. The Angelius ran up to engage Skarre (thankfully, just out of Saeryn’s control area).

Round 3

I was in quite a bit of trouble now. All of Saeryn’s army except the Shepherds and the Angelius were immune to melee attacks, so that pretty much neutered the Banes. I started my turn with Skarre and feated taking five more wounds. This left her on one. I forgot completely that her feat adds to strength as well as armour. This mattered as it would have been an extra 20 boxes on the Angelius after Skarre hit it four times! As I’d forgotten it the Angelius wasn’t destroyed. I also forgot she was knocked down, so I should have shaken effect too. Doh! Mistakes lose games. I arced another Hellfire at the Ravagore and shot it with the Defilers for little damage. The Mechanithralls tried to finish off the Angelius, but failed. The Banes moved up to surround the Ravagore.
Joe could see the end in sight. He firstly moved the Nephilim across to take a shot at Tartarus. It struck home and killed him outright. The Shepherd then moved out of Saeryn’s way, so she could get as close to the Angelius as possible. This gave her range to cast Blight Bringer. With her last Fury, she boosted the damage on Skarre, ending the game. Nicely played Joe!

It was good game. In retrospect I should have moved my army up in waves with the Banes leading the way. Skarre’s feat would make them vicious on the charge and quite survivable to the counter attack. They are a little too slow to go the long way around.

Owen

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Game 1: Smash and Grab

Clay and Dan picked me up from my Condo and we headed to Phoenix Games (in West Orlando) for the first game of the campaign. After a quick recap of the rules we setup and got stuck in. Dan’s three piece circle force (Kromac, Feral Warpwolf and Warpwolf Stalker) got the first turn and he craftily used a push and his speed to get the Feral Warpwolf right up to the Scourge Bringer marker. Gabbing the marker and taking it to the Southern edge of the table was one of the possible victory conditions. I slammed the Warpwolf back a few inches with my Teraph and moved my force up (pThagrosh, Carnivean, Teraph, Shredder, Shepherd, Feralgeist) apart from the Shredder who moved towards Clay to discourage his Manhunter who Advance Deployed towards my force. Clay moved up slowly (his Kahdoran force couldn’t do much else!) and the Manhunter ran to engage the Shredder.

Game 2: King of the Hill

We headed across town (after a slight detour for lunch to Hamburger Mary’s) to the Amorous Armadillo in East Orlando for the second game. I only took one picture here as I forgot about the camera (duh!). It was another closely contested game, but there was a problem with the scenario (or how we played it) that made it too easy to win on scenario points. Dan and I got into it quickly with Dan making a charge at the Carnivean with Kromac. He just filed to kill it and left himself exposed to a countercharge from Thagrosh. The Legion warlock took him down and that left the game to just me and Clay.

Game 3: Earth Quake

Thagrosh was wounded and his force decimated, but he walked away with the Scourge Bringer…

Owen

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Enjoy,

Owen

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Yesterday Harry and I played out a 75pt game (No Mans Land scenario) of Hordes. Here’s a 9+ minutes video battle report -

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Control Area and Feats: All warcasters have a control area which is a circle that radiates 2 x FOC from their base. In Rahn’s case that’s a radius of 16”. Only in this area can warcasters allocate focus to ‘jacks, so you need to move your ‘caster if your ‘jacks are advancing. Many spells and feats, a unique once per game mega-spell, effect this control area. A player may measure from his warcaster to any point in his control area at any stage.

Not a lot of damage done to either side so far, but Steve’s next turn would change all that. He allocated focus to the Chimera and Manticore and set about causing some mayhem. The Chimera charged the Drakhun and destroyed the horse. This left just the rider. The Mage Hunters zeroed in on the Juggernaut ‘jack and caused 15 points of damage with their crossbows (they get boosted damage rolls against warjacks) and disabled its left arm. Rahn activated next and feated. His feat is called Arcane Alignment and gives friendly spell casters +2” range on their spells and boosted attack and damage rolls for the turn. He then cast Telekinesis on the Devastator to spin it around so its back was facing the Battle Mages. The Battle Mages focus their attention on the Great Bears and the Manhunter (my assassination solo) and destroy them all. That’s the power of the feat. Ouch! The Manticore activates and puts 4 more points of damage on the Juggernaut with his Cyclone Cannon, taking out its movement.

Okay, I really need to respond before my whole army is gone. The Butcher loads up the Devastator with three focus and then he activates. He casts Full Throttle (three focus) allowing all of his ‘jacks to run, charge, slam or trample without spending focus and it also gives them boosted melee attack rolls. The Butcher shoots a Battle Mage for good measure. The Devastator activates and tramples towards Rahn. The trample is free because of Full Throttle, but uses the warjacks initial attacks, i.e. it counts as having attacked. Focus can be used to gain more attacks, so the Devastator makes three attacks at Rahn. Despite them being boosted (again because of the spell), he only connects with one causing 8 damage points. Rahn has 16 damage starting the game, so I’m only half way there. My Mechaniks run to engage the Battle Mages, in order to prevent them retaliating on their turn. Meanwhile the dismounted Drakhun does 13 points of damage to the Chimera tearing off its left arm.

It’s down to a slugfest at this stage and unfortunately for Steve his dice luck abandons him. The Mage Hunters only manage another 5 points of damage to the Juggernaut and the Battle Mages kill two of the four Mechaniks. As this is 50% lost in a single turn they must make a command check, which they pass. The Manticore manages to kill the War Dog. Rahn, loaded with focus, however only managed 14 points of damage on the Devastator. He could be in trouble next turn.

Time to finish this. I put three focus on the Devastator and activate the Butcher. He casts Full Throttle again (it isn’t an upkeep spell) and uses his feat, Blood Frenzy, which gives all models in his control area an additional die on damage rolls. The Devastator activates and does a special attack called Rain of Death where it lobs short ranged grenades. Everyone in base-to-base contact with it suffers a POW 18 blast hit! That would have finished Rahn except that the Force Field spell makes him immune to blast damage. Damn! I use a focus on the Devastator to buy an additional attack. It is boosted to hit because of Full Throttle and boosted damage because of the feat. Rahn is squished by the towering ‘jack.

The Aftermath

This was a pretty small game, but I hope it highlights some of the cooler aspects of Warmachine. It is a game of brutal damage and devastating effects, but it is pretty well balanced and no faction is considered vastly superior to any other. Steve played like a true gentleman in this game. He had a chance to finish things early on by hitting the Butcher with all of those Mage Hunter attacks instead of the Juggernaut. It would have been a much shorter battle report had he taken the easy kill, so if you suffered through the report this long you have him to thank!
Hordes is the feral cousin of Warmachine that features fantastic warbeasts and their warlock handlers. It has a completely different magic mechanic, but is fully compatible with Warmachine. Next time I’ll write about this other cutthroat game from Privateer Press. Whatever you play, remember to “play like you’ve got a pair!”.

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The nation of Khador has been expanding their borders aggressively, having consumed the country of Llael and encroached into northern Cygnar. Their warcasters have been at the forefront of this empire building, leading massive armies to conquer their former neighbours. This activity has not gone unnoticed by the stealthy Iosans and their rapid armies have moved to intercept and assassinate these human warcasters. The Retribution of Scyrah cares little about the wars of other nations. It is the scalps of those warcasters that they seek.

The Protagonists

This battle report is aimed at giving an overview of how the mechanics of Warmachine combine to make a compelling, tactical and exciting wargame. Steve Coleman and I lined up two 25pt armies with a very simple mission – assassinate the opposing players warcaster. 25pts is a smallish game, but sufficient to show the main aspects of the game. I had my beloved Khadorans led by the walking beatstick that is the Butcher of Khardov. This warcaster lives for the sound of battle and the smell of blood. He is an unstoppable monster that can support his troops with his potent magic and push his warjacks to excel in combat. The rest of my force was comprised of two warjacks, a Juggernaut and a Devastator, a couple of small units and a couple of solos. The ‘jacks of Khador have the most formidable armour in the game also have the ability to absorb as well as dish out a lot of damage. They are typically slower than the ‘jacks of other nations, but what do you expect of constructs that are over 10 tons in weight!

Focus: this represents magical ability in Warmachine. Every warcaster has a Focus stat and this finite resource is what they use to cast spells, boost attacks and support their warjacks. It is replenished every turn, but there is never quite enough to go around!

Facing the might of Khador would be Adeptis Rahn, an arcanist beyond compare. His ability to manipulate magic and support other mages in his force is stunning. He has amazing spells to support every element of his army and blast his enemy with arcane blasts while doing so. He has one of the highest focus stats in the game, so he can put out a lot of support and/or hurt every turn. Making up the rest of Steve’s army was made up of two myrmidons (warjacks to you and me), a the much feared Mage Hunter Strike Force with Commander, a unit of Battle Mages and a couple of solos. The warjacks of the Retribution tend to be more specialist and nimble than those of Khador. They also sport an Arcantrik Field that can absorb damage before the ‘jack itself is damaged. Nifty! One of Steve’s warjacks was a light ‘jack named a Chimera. This ‘jack has a couple of nice tricks, but it also has a feature known as an arc Node. All factions (apart from Khador, doh!) have access to arc nodes that allow warcasters to bounce their spells through the ‘jack. This are very useful in keeping your ‘caster out of harms way. Remember, the mission in this game is to assassinate the opposing ‘caster.

The Game

Warmachine is usually played on a 4’ x 4’ battlefield with deployment in 10” wide on opposing sides. Steve’s Retribution force deployed between a wood and hill with the large Manticore myrmidon in the centre of his army. It was surrounded by Battle Mages who had Rahn in their midst and a Soulless Escort capable of absorbing enemy magic attacks attached. The Iosans view the phenomena of Soulless being born as a true sign that Scyrah is dying. To the left of this unit is the Chimera and beyond it is a Magister, a veteran Battle Mage. deployed. The Mage Hunters and Commander are advance deployed (up to 6” beyond the standard deployment zone) to the front and right of the rest of the force. Finally, an Archanist, a Retribution mechanic deployed beside the Manticore.

Casting Spells: Every spell has a Focus cost and this is deducted from the wascaster’s total when cast. If the spell is cast on a friendly unit then only the range needs to be checked. If it is in range it’s cast. If a spell targets an enemy the ‘caster check range and then must roll to hit. They player rolls 2D6 and adds their focus (FOC). If this total equals or exceeds the enemy’s defense (DEF) it is a hit. Spell effects are then resolved.

Across the table my red Khadorans deployed beside a hill with the warjacks up front. Just behind them was a unit of Mechaniks, the Butcher and a War Dog. The Mechaniks, as their name suggests, are adept at repairing ‘jacks in the heat of battle. The War Dog offers protection to a ‘caster through counter charging the enemy if he gets too close and increasing the ‘casters Defense stat in melee. In my previous article I mentioned the stats briefly, but I’ll go through the basics of combat when the action kicks in. On the far right flank a mounted Drakhun was ready to chase down whatever came near it. On the left flank stood the formidable Great Bears of Gallowswood, a trio of battle hardened veterans with the capacity to utterly destroy both ‘jacks and units.

Steve won the dice off, so the first Turn would go to him. He allocated one focus, from Rahn’s eight, to the Chimera to allow it to run on its activation. Warjacks function like any other unit, but they can be allocated up to three focus to allow they to run, charge, boost attacks and perform power attacks, such as slams, throws, and headbutts. Rahn cast Force Field (three focus) which allows him to control the direction of missed blast shots. He also cast Polarity Shield (two focus) on the Battle Mages which prevents them from being charged. The remaining two focus are left on Rahn and they boost his armour. He then advanced forward. The rest of his force moved rapidly forward and the Arcansist assigned one focus to the Manticore to allow it to run.

On my first turn I allocated one focus to each ‘jack and then ran most of the army forward. The Butcher walked up behind them and cast Iron Flesh (two focus), from his total of six, onto the Great Bears, which added +3 to their DEF. I was afraid of the Mage Hunters firing their crossbows through the wood at my precious (and expensive) unit. The Commander with the Mage Hunters granted them the Phantom Seeker ability allowing them to ignore line of sight when targeting. Of course I forgot they have an ability to also ignore the focus boost to armour and spells that add to DEF and armour (ARM). They are Mage Hunters after all. Doh!

On his next turn Steve had Rahn upkeep both spells. Some spells can last from one turn to another. The ‘caster must spend one focus at the start of the turn to keep a spell of this type in play. Again his army advanced up, thankfully he wasn’t in range of the Great Bears. On his left flank he moved the Chimera up to arc spells at the Drakhun. Rahn first cast Chain Blast, an offensive spell, through the arc node. He hit the Drakhun with ease. This spell has a power (POW) of 12, so Steve would normally roll 2D6, add it to the 12 and compare that to my ARM. If the total exceeds my Drakhun’s ARM it does the amount of damage it exceeds by. The Drakhun’s ARM is 19, so Steve decided to boost the damage roll giving him an extra D6. Thankfully he only rolled 9 on the 3D6 and only managed to do two points of damage. The Drakhun has ten boxes of damage. Since that wasn’t enough Steve used the Telekinesis spell to move the Drakhun 2” and spin him around. This is important as models need line of sight (LoS) to charge. They can still walk into combat, but they don’t get a movement advantage or cause more damage on their initial attack. The Magister charged the Drakhun, but failed to cause any damage. He missed with his first attack and the second just bounced off of its armour.

The Drakhun got his revenge on my turn; he spun around and smashed the Magister, but the Chimera was still lurking nearby, so his vengeance was going to be short-lived. Again the Khadorans advanced forward. The Devastator is the most heavily armoured warjack in the game so it ran right up close to the Battle Mages. It couldn’t charge them due to Polarity Shield spell. The Butcher decided to send his Obliteration spell towards the Mage Hunters. I knew it would miss as they have the Stealth ability (all ranged attacks originating from more that 5” away automatically miss), but I was hoping for a lucky deviation. Attacks with a blast template scatter when they miss, just like in Warhammer, and I was hoping for a lucky deviation. However, I forgot Force Field allowed Rahn to decide the direction of deviations in his Control Area, so he sent it harmlessly away from the Mage Hunters.

Part 2 of the battle report continues here.

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Overview

Malifaux is a little different to other wargames. For one, there are no dice. It uses cards, pretty much the same an ordinary deck of cards, as the random element. This would be like rolling a 13 sided die apart from one crucial difference – you can cheat the flip with a card from your hand.

The second big difference is the game setting. Because Wyrd had an interesting line of miniatures before the game was launched they had a lot to incorporate. The resultant merging of Victorian, steam punk, gothic horror and old west seems implausible. Somehow Wyrd have managed to weave all if these elements into a cohesive game background. The world of Malifaux is the result.

The third selling point is its small scale. Games have at most about ten miniatures per side. These ‘crews’ are centred around a powerful Master (or two) and each model acts autonimosly.

Anyway, enough of the background – what does the game play like.

Battle Report

Steve and I played a Warmachine game on Tuesday night and documented (lots of photographs and notes) it for an upcoming battle report for the Uplink magazine. Afterwards we decided to play a 25 soulstone game of Malifaux. Soulstones are used like points to select your crew. The Master is free and will have a soulstone cache which can be used in the game. Unspent soulstones from the force selection are added to this cache.

The game was to be a ‘battle box’ game with Steve using Ortegas, a gunslinging Guild crew, and me fielding another Guild crew lead by Lady Justice. My crew have a decent ranged ability, but Lady Justice is a melee monster so getting her up close to the enemy is a priority. I think a little narrative-style battle report is called for.

Since the opening of the Hollow Marsh Pumping Station smaller pumps like this one had fallen into disuse. Somehow everything seemed to rot and decay quicker in Malifaux. Seems fitting that this is were the Ortegas will meet some justice. Sell-swords, or sell-guns in their cases, should never be trusted. They take the Guild script willingly, but then blatantly cooperate with the Union, The last three times they had been sent after Union prey they had failed to deliver. To Lady Justice this reeked of treachery. The relationship between the Guild and the Ortegas has succumbed to the same rot and decay as everything else here.

So that’s it. Malifaux is a nice skirmish level game that reminds me a lot of Inquisitor (which is the game that go be back into wargaming). Each character has a role to play on the battlefield and it seems that Malifaux would be well suited to narrative driven campaign play.

Owen

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Honouring the fallen

The scene was one of devastation. The Menite crusaders were all fleeing the battle, inert ‘jacks abandoned and the injured left to die where they lay. The Khadoran jubilation was short lived. Yes, the enemy had been vanquished, but the cost has been high. Irusk lamented the death of every Khadoran soldier. Their blood had been spilt on Khadors own soil and he could think of no more noble death than to die defending this great empire. Still their loss hurt him.

Irusk ordered a nearby Mechanik to return to the camp to fetch medics to see to the wounded and get more Mechaniks to reclaim the damaged ‘jacks. He could sense the confusion felt by the Marauder. Both of its arms had been disabled in the battle and it moved around looking for a target. He could hardly believe it was over himself. The intensity and ferocity of the Protectorate’s attack had been extreme. Had they really expected to bring their crusade to these lands without the Khadoran army reacting? Either way, the last two days had been bloody and costly for both sides. A unit of Widowmakers lay dead in perfect formation to his right and he was surrounded by dead Machaniks who had rushed forward to reach the damaged Marauder. Who knows what the final death toll would be? All of these valiant sacrifices would not be forgotten.

Game 4: 50pt / Break The Line

It all comes down to this. I was ahead on campaign points with 6 against Peter’s 1.5, but with this game worth 5 ultimate victory could go either way. Both of us were suffering from the losses in the earlier games. I had several units that were down on numbers, but thankfully most of my ‘jacks were available and both of my ‘casters were viable for this game. Break The Line is a tough scenario requiring the army to fight on a broad front. Looking at my remaining pool I’m a little light on units. The loss of the Great Bears in the last game was particularly painful. Here’s what I had left before this game and the units marked in red were chosen to fight for Khador in this final battle -

Peter wasn’t faring a whole lot better. With Game 3 going down to a ‘caster kill Epic Severius wasn’t a viable choice for this game. He was still doing okay for units. Two units of Bastions, coupled with the High Reclaimer’s feat, could be game winners. Anyway, here is what Peter had to choose from, with the units marked in brown being chosen for this final game -

As you can see there isn’t a whole lot of army left for either faction! The attrition from the previous games was really dictating our army choices. Between the compromised army selection and the fact that the campaign win was still up for grabs I wasn’t feeling confident. In fact, they’re not the reasons I wasn’t feeling confident; it was Peter’s two units of Bastions…

It all comes down to this …

Break The Line is a tricky scenario; the battlefield between the two deployment zones is divided into six areas. From turn three if either player ends his turn controlling two areas in his half of the board and one in his opponent’s, he wins. To be sure you don’t give away an easy win you must context all three areas on your half of the table at least. The battlefield had two farmhouses in the centre, with some hills and a forest surrounding these. Peter won the dice roll, but let me go first. My deployment was divided into three battalions – the IFP and manhunter on the left; the Koldun Lord marshaling two Destroyers in the middle; and Irusk’s battlegroup and Widowmakers on the right. The remaining elements were positioned to be a little flexible to move between the middle and right areas. I had to proxy a couple of Mechaniks as I only own four.

Peter put the full unit of Zealots (with Monolith Bearer) and a Paladin to challenge my left (not shown in this photo). The bulk of his force was concentrated spanning the line between the middle and left areas with the High Reclaimer in the centre, ready to do what he does best – reclaim the souls of the fallen. In this group were two units of Bastions, two Choirs, a small unit of Zealots and a Paladin. Peter had the Redeemer positioned slightly towards the right area, the Blessing of Vengeance in the middle and the Dervish to the left. He also had to do a bit of proxying with Trollkin Scattergunners representing a unit of Bastions, some TFG representing Zealots and Deliverers pretending to be a Choir!

My turn one was unremarkable with everyone pushing forward and Irusk casting Superiority on the Juggernaut. Peter’s first turn should have been equally unremarkable were it not for the amazing shots from the Redeemer at the Widowmakers. He managed to hit one directly and deviate another shot onto two more making three dead snipers.

Turn two is when the jockeying for position really began. The IFP had been badly stung by the Zealots in our last game, so I was determined not to let that happen again. They moved forward into Shield Wall, but kept their distance from the Zealots. On the right the Juggernaut moved up to go around the back of one of the farmhouses to try to slow the approaching Zealots on that side. The Drakhun and War Dog moved up for potential counter charges while the Destroyers bombarded the Blessing of Vengeance from afar, doing some damage. Irusk activated and cast Inhospitable Ground and cast Iron Flesh on the Drakhun (stupidly denying him the potential of a counter charge!).

Peter pushed everything forward on his turn. On the left the zealots moved up and lobbed bombs at the IFP. Luckily (for me!) they proved to be out of range or mostly inaccurate. Those that struck (or deviated onto) the IFP did no damage. The Zealots on the right threw their bombs at the Juggernaut dealing little damage. After the amazing luck with the REdeemer in the first turn Peter’s dice luck seemed to have abandoned him. In the centre the Bastions moved up menacingly and the High Reclaimer cast Ashes to Ashes through his arc node at the Marauder. It bounced into Irusk and the War Dog. Irusk and the Marauder were unharmed, but the dog was reduced to single box of damage.

Turn three had to be about killing Bastions for me. I doubted I could take out both units so I decided to concentrate on the one coming towards Irusk’s battalion. I hit them with the Destoyer’s Bombards, charged them with the Drakhun and War Dog and had the Juggernaut trample over the Zealots to get into them. After all that I had killed four of the five and reduced the last man to two points of damage. There was nothing else I could throw at them and with the Reclaimer’s feat still to come, and the additional focus from the souls of the dead I knew next turn was going to hurt. Irusk cast Inhospitable Ground and feated, hoping to mitigate some of the damage next turn. I charged the Blessing of Vengeance with the Marauder, but forgot about its shield. He used defensive strike to hit me with it and bounced the Marauder back 1″.

On the left the IFP ran up to the Zealots and then used Defensive Formation to ensure their B2B triangles provided them with Shield Wall. I hadn’t damaged the Zealots (they were Invulnerable this turn anyway), but at least they were nearly all engaged by the 2″ reach of the Blasting Pikes. The Manhunter pushed forward a bit on that side too.

As expected Peter feated on his turn and returned the Bastions to full strength and added a Zealot to the unit that was trampled. The Bastions proceeded to demolish the Drakhun and the War Dog and deal some decent damage to the Juggernaut. The Paladin and Redeemer charged the Juggernaut as well. It’s movement was knocked out, but it was otherwise functional. There from other unit of Bastions charged the Marauder and managed to barely scratch it. Peter’s damage dice (4D6 on a charge) were appalling.

On the left the Zealots maneuvered with the IFP killing a couple with bombs and the Paladin. A well placed bomb took out the Manhunter.

On turn four I needed to stall Peter’s army. The Marauder and the Destroyers (one with range the other in melee) got stuck into the undamaged Bastion unit and dealt a lot of damage to it. The Juggernaut took a couple of wild swings, but was ineffective. The Mechaniks moved up to get close for a combat repair if needed and block charge lanes to Irusk. He cast Inhospitable Ground again, but was beginning to feel the heat. The Widowmaker Kaptain who had been taking pot shots at the Zealots on the right continued to do so. On the left the IFP killed a lot of Zealots, but not enough for them to flee, and took out the Paladin.

On Peter’s turn four he moved the two units of Bastions in to take out the Juggernaut and deal some substantial damage to the Marauder. I didn’t spot it at the time, and thankfully neither did he, but in moving the Bastions he had left a firing lane open for Irusk. He cast Ashes to Ashes onto the Mechaniks, killing all bar one and dealing four points of damage to Irusk. The Redeemer fired another miracle shot to kill the Widowmaker Kaptain who was in cover (effectively DEF 20!) with a double 6s. On the left the Dervish and choir moved towards the IFP. The Zealots proved ineffective in melee.

I needed to finish it in turn five as Peter really had me on the ropes. The Juggernaut was gone, the Marauder was badly damaged and the left flank wasn’t going to hold much longer. I left all focus on Irusk with the intention of putting two Swordcannon shots into the High Reclaimer. Before I did that I decided to fire the unengaged Destroyer at him. It was marginally out of range, but the deviation drifted onto the Reclaimer. The boosted blast damage roll was high. The other Destroyer stepped back from combat with two Bastions to take a shot. The free strikes caused a lot of damage, but no systems were taken out. His shot was in range and on target. The damage roll was again big and the High Reclaimer went down. Arcing fire Bombards are a thing of beauty! Irusk didn’t need all of that focus in the end. Khador wins.

Not quite the final thoughts

Wow, Khador may have won, but it was at a high price. When you look at the remaining Khadoran forces I’m not sure I could field a viable 25pt army from the 100pts that started the campaign.

The win in this game gives me the campaign win by a decisive margin, but every game was close. The result could have easily gone the other way. Peter and I will write up some concluding remarks for the campaign and I’ll post them soon.

Owen

Update Concluding comments can be found here.

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The Khadoran Avalanche…

Irusk’s attempt to blunt the early enemy advance had been less than successful. To add insult to injury he had lost the only Devastator in his force to a rare moment of impetuousness. Severius had brought confusion to the Khadoran ranks, something Irusk was not accustomed to and had managed to sieze the high ground. The first battle had not gone well.

With the momentum back in his beloved Khador’s favour it was his turn to deal damage to the enemy. Severius was again trying to push forward on his damne crusade. Now was the time to bring the Khadoran avalanche to bear. These Menites would have to retreat of be buried by it’s might.

With a win apiece things were close. I was marginally ahead in the campaign points and had sustained slightly fewer losses. Things start to hot up with Game 3 which is a 35pt game played using the Killing Field scenario. I had a win from the last game so I could nominate one unit to gain Advance Deployment. Peter’s Protectorate of Menoth army was led by Epic Severius as in the first game and I had Irusk commanding my force. I’m hoping to avenge Irusk’s loss from the campaign opener.

Game 3: 15pt / Killing Field Scenario

Peter’s force comprised a unit of Bastions, a unit Zealots and Monolith Bearer, a Choir, a Vassal, the Blessing of Vengeance, a Revenger and a Templar and was led by Epic Severius. My army was commanded by Irusk and contained a Marauder, a Juggernaut, a full unit if Iron Fang Pikemen and UA, a unit of Mechaniks, a unit of Greylords, the Great Bears, a War Dog and a Drakhun (with dismount). It was a toss up between the Great Bears and the IFP for my bonus advance deploy unit, but I opted for the IFP.

Killing Field has three objectives marked along the centre line and players receive a point at the end of their turn for each point they hold. The first to 7 points wins.

I had my IFP and Great Bears deployed on the left to contest that objective marker. The bulk of the rest of my army was in in the centre. Irusk cast Iron Flesh on the Great Bears and Superiority on the Juggernaut (which was upkept until the last turn). The advance deployed IFP charged up (through rough terrain) to take the left hand objective. The Juggernaut moved towards the right hand objective with the Mechaniks following close behind.

The Greylords moved up behind them. Meanwhile the War dog moved up behind Irusk and the Drakhun moved out in front of him. Opposite this main part of the Khadoran force stood the Templar, Vassal, Choir and eSeverius. Across from the IFP and Great Bears was a Revenger and a load of Zealots. I was confident that I could keep that flank, but my confidence would be short lived…

The Zealots moved up cautiously as did the Revenger. It arced Influence onto a couple of IFP and had them kill their comrades. On my turn I saw a chance to charge the Revenger with Great Bears. Unfortunately only one could make it in. His dished out a load of damage, but the bounce back pushed him out of melee range. Severius responded by arcing everything he could at the Great Bears and IFP. This coupled with the Zealots’ bombs wiped out the Great Bears and decimated the IFP.

On the right things weren’t looking a whole lot better. The Bastions advanced forward to take the objective on that side and the Blessing of Vengeance moved up to arc spells towards the advancing Khadorans. I had little to realistically counter them, so when the opportunity presented itself the Juggernaut moved into the arc node and threw it towards the Bastions. Unfortunately the throw went a little long and it landed behind them. The Greylords moved up to spray the Bastions, dealing some damage and then the Mechaniks ran between them and the Bastions.

In the middle the Marauder slammed into the Templar and put it on its ass. Unfortunately it only went back 1″. A few more inches and it would have been an unpleasant surprise for Severius! While the Templar was down the Drakhun charged in (with Battle Lust cast on it) to deal a load of damage. The War Dog ran forward to make Severius second guess his movements. Irusk moved up and popped his feat primarily to protect the warriors on the right flank. With my warcaster, a warjack and a Drakhun in close proximity Severius was under real pressure.

On the left the remaining IFP charged the Revenger and nearly totalled it. I sneakily left the standard bearer on the objective. At this point it was 4:1 to me. Peter responded by Hex Blasting Irusk for only a small bit of damage and then feating, hoping to pit my army against me. He began to advance one of my Greylords into a position to spray Irusk, but I opted to free strike him. Poor dice rolls conspired to ensure that that was all the feat really did. The Bastions charged the Juggernaut and the troopers on the right. They dealt some damage to the ‘jack, but tough rolls and misses meant the majority of the troops survived. The Templar stood up and moved to engage the Marauder. The Choir charged the mutt killing him.

Things were going south quickly. The flanks were collapsing and Peter was soon going to start picking up control points. I slammed the Templar back again, but failed to take it out. The troops an Juggernaut on the left took swings at the Bastions, but didn’t do enough to kill them. Having kept all of his focus he moved into a position to shoot Severius. Two boosted shots later and he was down. Game 3 to Khador.

Peter: Looking at the scenario for Game 3 I was fairly confident that I could win it. The combination of a large control area and Sevvy’s upkeep spell that gave an extra attack and damage dice seemed like they put me in a great position. Then I realised the spell had a range of self and things started to look a little bit shaky.

My plan was to try and contest all three of the objectives, so I had a Templar in the middle with beat back to shift things off the marker, and two Revengers with their repulsor shields to help keep things away from them. Zealots and Bastions were stationed on each flank as they could act without focus.

Of course, the plan did require me getting to the objectives first which just wasn’t to be. Owen got first turn, plus the bonus from the last game meant he could advance deploy a unit. Then Inhospitable Ground went up and I was going to be finding it very difficult to get into the middle of the table without setting myself up to be charged and destroyed.

In the end I took a chance at an assassination and left Sevvy out in the open and was punished for it, but I did take a few positives away from the game. Getting rid of the Great Bears was just fun, and clearing out a good chunk of Iron Fangs will hopefully limit the amount Owen can play outside his control area (I’ll quite happily send a unit of Bastions against a marshalled jack). I think the most important thing is that I only lost one choir member in the whole game, so I’ve now got lots of infantry choices for the final game meaning I can cover a lot more area than the High Reclaimer’s control area.

Owen: Wow, that was a tough game. Losing the Great Bears and pretty much all of the Iron Fangs is really going to hurt in the next game. Failing to take out the Templar and the Revenger was disappointing, but taking out Severius was quite nice! Irusk is a great scenario ‘caster, but when he needs to finish things he’s more than able. An outcome of the game is that Irusk has developed a bond with both of his ‘jacks.

My losses are starting to mount up. I can field a viable force for the last game, but it is going to be ‘jack heavy. This win puts Khador in the driving seat, but everything is still left to play for. I’m really looking forward to Game 4; the empire will either send the Menites packing convincingly or the Protectorate will gain a toe hold in southern Khador.

Owen

Update Game 4 can be found here.

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Every war starts somewhere…

The chanting was what annoyed him the most. Let them worship however they choose, but the incessant murmur was what grated on him. The Menites were numerous as they approached this small Khadoran hamlet. It was typical of southern Khador, a homestead with fields of wheat. Irusk wondered how much of it would be left when he expelled these pious invaders.

There were at least two enemy ‘casters guiding the army and there were several ‘jacks. This was no expeditionary force. This was a crusade meant to do in Khador what they had done in Llael. Kommander Sorscha Kratikoff had been sent to protect his right flank. The mighty Maxkrad river offered effective protection to his left.

The delirious chant intensified as a small part of the enemy force broke towards a farm house on high ground. If they held it they would have a commanding vantage point over the entire battlefield. Irusk summoned the Devastator from his army and yelled at some Shocktroopers and Widowmakers to join him. He looked forward to spilling Menite blood on his beloved home soil. They will feel the might of the Khadoran empire.

Okay, enough talking about the campaign. Time to get stuck in. Peter and I are going to play out the ANNIHILATION campaign exactly as described in the PDF. Peter assembled a 100pt Protectorate of Menoth army lead by Epic Severius and the High Reclaimer. My army had Irusk and Sorscha leading from the front. Tonight Peter and I played out the first two games and already the losses are starting to hurt. Before I get into the battle reports let’s look at the full armies. Peter’s army is made up of -

My army comprises -

It’s really tough composing the complete army while trying to anticipate loss. You want to have spares, but you don’t want redundancy. The ‘jacks are potentially quite durable (in campaign terms) as they have to be completely destroyed to be taken out of action. That said destroying them is necessary in MkII games as even a heavily damaged ‘jack can be dangerous.

The other factor in choosing a force is what scenarios will be fought. I’ve generally found Khador to be a good scenario faction as their ‘jacks and units can be difficult to budge from objectives.

Game 1: 15pt / Mosh Pit Scenario

Peter’s force for the opening battle of the campaign was led by Epic Severius and comprised a unit of Bastions, Zealots and the Blessing of Vengeance. My army was commanded by Irusk and contained a Devastator, some Man-o-War Shocktroopers (min unit), a unit of Widowmakers and a Manhunter.

Mosh pit forces the armies to draw together and the Menite force moved into the centre quickly. As the Khadorans advanced Severius moved the Blessing of Vengeance up to arc some disruption with two Shocktroopers falling to friendly blades. The Bastions advanced up behind it and the Zealots swarmed towards the Mosh Pit.

Devastator advanced into the Blessing of Vengeance and used a double handed throw to hurl it towards the nearby Bastions.The It’s throw overshot them leaving the Devastator very exposed to a counter charge. The lone Man-o-War moved into the Mosh Pit and the Widowmakers chanced a few shots at Severius, but missed (he was behind cover). Irusk cast airburst at the Zealots killing four and shot his Sword Cannon to drop a fifth. They held steady.

With the Devastators armour wide open he was very vulnerable. The Zealots threw their bombs at it causing minor damage. When the Bastions charged however they totalled it. This only left the Man-o-War in the Mosh Pit. Severius moved up and feated. He moved the Man-o-War out of the pit and proceeded to attempt to get the Widowmakers to shoot their komrades, but only killed one. The Mosh Pit was in Menite hands. Game over.

Owen: Ouch! That really hurt. Not only did I lose the scenario, but I also lost my only Devastator. The double-handed throw was the wrong option. Rain of Death into the Bastions would have been a better. I could have (coulda, shoulda, woulda!) contacted three of them with Bulldoze and boosted 2/3 of the POW 18s. Even with their wound sharing shenanigans I could have taken out a couple of them. The loss of the two Shocktroopers effectively makes that unit unfieldable as I’ll need to pay the min points just to field the single remaining Man-o-War. That’s make him a very expensive solo. Between these losses and the loss of a Widowmaker I’m down about 16pts. I only killed 6pts of Zealots! That could really hurt later in the campaign.

Peter: Well, I don’t think I could have asked for a better scenario for Epic Sevvy, everyone needs to get into the middle of the board, well within his control area, and with the limited number of models available at 15 points it was always going to be relatively easy to clear out the Mosh Pit with Sevvy’s feat. Being able to use the Shock Troopers to kill each other was great too.

I’m not sure Owen could have done much more damage to me by using Rain of Death on the Bastions, as I would have only lost a single trooper at most, and if the Blessing of Vengence hadn’t been thrown he could have charged in with four dice on the charge and three for any extra shots.

Sadly I couldn’t take out any extra Widowmakers, they always seem much better shots when they aren’t on my side. I’ll take the win though, and be grateful that I only lost a few zealots.

Game 2: 25pt / No Man’s Land Scenario

For the second game Peter decided to mix things up and go with the High Reclaimer instead. Here’s his list – a full unit of Temple Flame Guard, Vilmon, a Castigator, a full unit Bastions and a Revenger. I decided (after Irusk’s disgraceful defeat) to use my alternative ‘caster, Sorscha. My list had two Destroyers, a unit of Widowmakers, the Great Bears of Gallowswood, a War dog and a Man Hunter.

No Man’s Land would force the two armies into close proximity, but on a broader front than the previous scenario. Peter automatically ‘won’ the starting roll as he won the first game, but he decided to give me the first turn. I pushed my ‘jacks forward in the middle, advanced the Manhunter and Great Bears rapidly up the left flank and moved the Widowmakers forward in a wood.

On Peter’s turn he moved the whole army up and cast Burning Ash to screen them. The Castigator moved towards the Great Bears on Peter’s right. The Temple Flame Guard were in the centre of the advance followed by the Bastions and the High Reclaimer. Vilmon moved up into a wood to guard against the flanking Manhunter and the Revenger followed up alongside its ‘caster.

On my second turn I moved the ‘jacks up into No Man’s Land and followed up with Sorscha and the War Dog. The Great Bears spread out in the hope that the High Reclaimer would struggle to protect the Castigator with Burning Ash clouds. The Manhunter pushed up into the far end of the wood Vilmon was in and the Widowmakers were left with only him to shoot at, but they missed.

The Castigator launched itself towards a Great Bear, but failed to hit with its attacks. In the middle the Temple Flame Guard charged the Destroyers, slightly damaging one of them. The Bastions pressed forward to the edge of No Man’s Land and the Revenger followed up. The High Reclaimer cast a few Burning Ash clouds. Peter forgot to activate Vilmon (which would prove costly).

My turn three would be the last action of the game. I gave each ‘jack a focus and started proceedings with Sorscha. She moved up between them and feated, freezing almost all of Peter’s army. She struck down a TFG and cast Razor Wind at the High Reclaimer doing a few damage. The ‘jacks activated next and trampled across the TFG killing all bar one. The Widowmakers moved up and took out the final one. That was the scenario win, but since I still had a couple of units to activate it I decided to try to do some more damage. The Great Bears charged the Castigator and totalled it and the Manhunter advanced into Vilmon. I got lucky with his damage rolls and took out Vilmon.

Peter: Wow, what a difference 3 focus makes. I went with the High Reclaimer for this match and I think I panicked into keeping everything inside his control area. This meant I only managed to get a unit of TFG into the scenario area in turn 2, and they were depressingly easy to despatch once Sorscha had made them all stationary. Losing them also means I won’t be able to use their attachment in any upcoming games, wasting a couple of points in my full army list.

My original plan for the game had been to set up on one side of the table, run everything into the middle and then work my way along the zone keeping smoke up for cover. I think this would have been far better as a plan, and I honestly don’t know why I changed my mind at the last minute.

The mistake with Vilmon is the most upsetting thing, since he would have been incredibly useful for holding points in the next couple of scenarios, and also losing the Castigator limits my crowd control options in the same way as Owen losing his Devastator. Who knows what effect that will have when trying to clear the larger zones in the final game.

The biggest worry now is making it through the next game without suffering too many losses, I’m getting low on infantry at this point and the next scenario looks fairly punishing if it drags out.

Owen: I almost felt bad dishing out the damage at the end of that battle. The game was won, but I still went after all of the targets I could. This is where the campaign makes you think a little differently. The Devastator was a big loss from the first game and it was nice to see the Great Bears repay the favour. Peter was unlucky to lose Vilmon as had he activated him he’d surely have been impervious to the non-magical attacks of the Manhunter. The Tramples from the Destroyers were a thing of beauty.

The campaign is really hotting up and it is starting to live up to it’s name. With over 85 points still to field (excluding ‘jack points) in the remaining two scenarios we may struggle to field whole armies in the final game!

Two down and two to go. I’m barely ahead in the campaign and we’ve both suffered significant losses.

Owen

Update Game 3 can be found here.

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Okay, this is my last Learning to play Hordes article. Did I hear a collective sigh?! Anyway,I think I’ve got a measure of Saeryn, or at least she’s not a complete mystery to me. I had a game on Tuesday night and everything clicked. My dice luck was poor, but I managed to get a win. Anyway, this article is about that game and some of the hordes tips I picked up along the way. Of course I’m no expert, far from it, but I don’t feel like a complete newbie now!

Lenny had a Haley led force comprising a Centurion, Lancer, Hunter, a full unit of Long Gunners (with UA) and a minimum unit of Stormguards. My army was the same as last time, but I dropped the Legionnaires and replaced them with a minimum unit of Warmongers. I also dropped the Nephilim Soldier and added two Harriers instead.

Here’s a shot of Lenny’s army advancing across the table. He kept the ‘jacks close to Haley accompanied by the Stormguards. The Long Gunners are to the left of the picture.

The Striders clipped the Hunter with a CRA, but the action was about the kick off. The Shepherd moved up to heal the Carnivean just before it hurtled across the terrain into the Lancer and managed to knock out it’s Arc Node. The Angelius flew over the wood and managed to swing it’s tail towards Haley who was behind the Centurion. He missed, but at least had her in melee range. No other damage was done, but Saeryn moved forward and feated. This protected the beasts from the Cygnaran backlash.

What I’ve Learned…
Saeryn needs her beasts front and centre. She has a spell to debuff her enemies and one to wipe out groups of infantry. The beasts are exceptionally powerful on the feat turn. Immunity to melee attacks makes them practically invulnerable just when it’s needed. It can be used offensively and defensively. Saeryn’s defense itself can be boosted, but she needs the fury on her to transfer damage.

Saeryn’s army doesn’t get a lot of support from her, other than the beasts. If the beasts are the hammer, then the rest of the army needs to absorb and stall the opponent. The Striders are a great harrying unit and the Warmongers can soak up a lot of damage. Both have the ability to deal out a lot of damage to troopers and beasts/’jacks.

The Shepherd, Gobbers and Feralgeist are great supporting solos/units. The Shepherd extends the threat range of the fast moving beasts. The Feralgeist makes it very hard to finish off beasts particularly with Respawn in play too. The Gobbers bring just a little extra ranged protection.

So, I’m no expert, but at least I feel like I can play Saeryn without embarrassing myself. I’ll play her a bit more and then I’ll try some more of the delicate warlocks.

Owen

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