So last week, before the tournament (which is going live in a few hours now… should be up before I finish this!), Ozzie and I got together for a few quick games. Originally, I was hoping to get some practice in for the tournament, but Ozzie’s back had been injured earlier in the day (something to do with moving air conditioners out of a truck) and he wasn’t up for anything long or complicated. So instead, we played a pair of 15 point games pitting Legion against the Protectorate for our part in the Charsaug League!
Game 1
The first game I decided to drop an eFeora list. It was:
Feora, Protector of the Flame (eFeora, Feora2)
– Reckoner
– Redeemer (Bonded)
– Hierophant
Choir of Menoth (min)
Vassal of Menoth
High Paladin Vilmon
Simple, clean, to the point. And the first time I ever used my Redeemer!
Ozzie’s list, however, made my look downright complicated!
Absylonia, Terror of Everblight
– Archangel
That’s it. 2 models total. The very heart of simplicity!
We rolled for initiative, which I won. We decided to play one of the new scenarios for one of the regions we hadn’t fought over yet: Basically, if your warcaster was in the central zone:
– Purists can take 1d6 damage points to earn 1d6 Control Points,
– Opportunists can take 1d6 damage to gain 3 Control Points and… something else, like +2ARM or something. I forget. Either way, first to 10CPs wins!
I set up my small force across the table from Ozzie’s stuff, and we were off!
Menoth Turn 1
Feora allocates 1 Focus to each warjack and camps the rest.
The Hierophant sings Harmonious Exaltation.
Feora moves forward, casts Escort on herself and “Ignite” on Vilmon.
The Vassal gives “Enliven” to my Reckoner, and the Choir sings “No Spells”.
Both Warjacks run forward, the Redeemer heading up the hill with the Reckoner heading straight downfield.
Legion Turn 1
Well, at least Ozzie’s turns will be quick!
Absylonia casts “Forced Evolution” on the Arch Angel and moves forward slightly.
The Arch Angel moves up and opens fire on the Reckoner, hitting it a few times and inflicting moderate damage, but not crippling anything. It’s got a respectable gun on it, though… thankfully, I have two relatively powerful guns!
Menoth Turn 2
Feora allocates 2 to the Redeemer, 2 to the Reckoner, and upkeeps both her spells.
The Choir goes first and sings “Battle” on my warjacks.
The Reckoner goes next, boosting to hit the Arch Angel, hitting, and boosting damage, and inflicting about 8 points.
The Redeemer, now with an actual chance to hit, opens fire. All three shots impact on the small dragon, inflicting moderate damage… it’s at about 1/2 health at this point, and on fire!
The Vassal gives the Reckoner “Enliven”.
Lastly, Vilmon moves up and drops into Impervious Wall.
Legion Turn 2
Absylonia pulls in her Fury back to maximum and upkeeps her spells for free.
The Archangel goes first, opening fire on the Reckoner, hitting and inflicting light damage. Now I have to choose to Enliven back towards safety (out of range), or to move up so that next turn I can wreck some face… I decide to move up to the Arch Angel. The Archangel finishes its shots, hitting the Reckoner twice more but not crippling anything.
Absylonia goes next, and immediately drops a Blight Field on my Reckoner… ah. Right, forgot about that spell… damnit.
Menoth Turn 3
Fine! I don’t need Focus to beat up this thing! Feora gives all 4 to the Redeemer and upkeeps both spells.
The Choir sings battle, but I can’t get up close enough to the Reckoner to have it affected.
The Reckoner takes a swing at the Archangel but can’t connect against the DEF13 warbeast (from Forced Evolution, I believe). No surprise there!
The Redeemer activates, sending rocket after rocket into the Archangel… one shot misses and happens to scatter directly onto Absylonia! I light her on fire and inflict 7 or 8 points of damage!
The Vassal activates and gives the Redeemer another shot, which also careens into the Archangel. I’ve crippled the Body and reduced the warbeast to about 1/3rd health… close… so close…
Feora toes into the zone, and elects to take 1d6 damage (4) to earn 1d6 CPs (4).
Legion Turn 3
Did I say I was close to killing the Archangel? Funny thing about playing against Absylonia…
She pulls in her Fury, goes first and pops her Feat, healing herself back up to full and then taking a single point of damage to heall the Archangel fully. Oh joy. She moves up next to the Archangel and drops a Blight Field on my Redeemer. Perfect.
The Archangel moves into the middle of the zone and leisurely pulls my Reckoner to pieces.
Menoth Turn 4
Decision time… I can try to just hold off the now freshly minted Archangel for long enough that I win by CPs… tricky, but not impossible I suppose if Feora’s on a full stack (ARM25)… or I can pop her Feat, draw in 2 Focus, cast Ignite on herself, and try to wreck the Archangel single-handedly.
That sounds like more fun. So Feora camps her full stack, dropping both spells.
Vilmon goes first. I decide against charging the Archangel, at the time because I decided to try and keep him alive, but in retrospect mostly because I’m an idiot. Whatever, Vilmon walks up and drops into “Magic Weapons Only” stance.
Feora goes next, walking up to the Archangel after confirming there was no way to get a spray through it to hit Absylonia (too far away on the other side, although not by much!). So I cast Ignite on Feora, pop her Feat to draw in 2 more Focus, and start swinging.
6 Focus later, and the Archangel lays slain!
Feora elects to take the 1d6 damage (3) to try and win the game on the spot… but only gets 2 more CPs, bringing me to 6 total.
Lastly, the Redeemer opens fire on Absylonia, but can’t catch her in any of the blasts.
Legion Turn 4
The fires on his warlock can’t go out, but I also don’t inflict enough damage to kill her (I needed a 10, I think).
Absylonia charges Feora, and although it takes her ENTIRE stack of Fury, she JUST barely manages to kill my warcaster on her last blow.
Victory to the Legion of Everblight!
Post Game Analysis:
Well, not attacking with Vilmon was stupid and probably lost me the game… the Archangel was on 2 boxes when Feora was on her last Focus, and camping EVEN 1 Focus would’ve been enough to save her (since Ozzie rolled *exactly* the amount to kill her on his last blow). Silly of me. Small comfort to know that I’m sure Vilmon struck Absylonia immediately afterwards!
Game 2
Again going with the “let’s keep this short” mantra, we played another 15 pointer. This time I took the Harbinger…
The Harbinger of Menoth (Harby)
– Reckoner
– Redeemer
Choir (min)
Vassal of Menoth (x2)
Ozzie’s list is a little more complicated than last time, but not by a lot…
Thagrosh, Prophet of Everblight (pThags)
– Ravagore
– Scythean
Ozzie certainly knows which warcasters to bring for low-point games… being able to resurrect a heavy in a 15 point game? Pretty awesome!
The scenario (another Charsaug) has 2 burning forests and 4 burning walls (shown by sandbag walls in our case). Any model ending its activation in a burning forest is lit on Fire (Continous Effect) on a roll of 1 on 1d6… if your warcaster/warlock is in a burning forest which is not contested (no enemy models also within it), you score 1CP and gain a special power:
Purists get to make 1 model within CTRL immune to Fire
Opportunists get to light 1 model within CTRL on Fire.
Unquestionably the Purists have the advantage in this case, but these scenario’s aren’t supposed to be balanced, just fun!
We roll for initiative, which I win, and choose to go first. Ozzie takes the same table-side he already was on.
I set up Harbinger closer to the zone on my right, with the Reckoner in the middle of the table and the Redeemer on the left. My Choir went near the warjacks, as did the Vassal. No surprises there.
Ozzie sets up Thags on the far left corner (bottom right in the picture below), with his two heavy pets nearer the middle of the table, and we were ready to go!
Menoth Turn 1
I start simple… 1 Focus to both warjacks. The Choir moves forward and sings “No Shooting”, while the Harbinger camps her full stack and runs forward. The Vassals give my warjacks “Enliven”, just in case.
Legion Turn 1
Ozzie likewise doesn’t see the need for much subtlety. Thags lobs around some Animi and Draconic Blessing (I didn’t bother keeping track of which was which, knowing I was going to Purify most of it away) and moves forward. His warbeasts rile and run forwards.
Menoth Turn 2
Time to start getting some hurt onto his stuff. I allocate 2 to the Reckoner, 3 to the Redeemer, and camp the rest.
The Harbinger goes first. She measures very carefully to make sure she’s out of the Charge range of the Scythean and out of walk-plus-shoot range of the Ravagore. She casts Purify, removing all the upkeeps, and then camps the rest of her stack (just in case!).
Choir goes next and sings Battle.
The Reckoner moves up and fires a shot at the Scythean… boosts to hit, sadly misses. But I also confirm that I’m out of range of it charging me on his turn (woo!).
One of my Vassals moves up and gives the Reckoner an Ancillary Attack. It shoots at the Scythean again, and pings it for a handful of damage.
The Redeemer goes next, walking forward slightly and opening fire on the Scythean. All the shots miss, but one of them clips it with blast, which I boost… but inflict no damage. Curses!
Lastly, my other Vassal gives my Reckoner “Enliven” just in case.
Legion Turn 2
So my initial volley has singed but not blunted his warbeasts. Thags fills back up less one, and his athanac gives him that last Fury for free.
Draconic Blessing goes back on the Scythean. Thags moves up into the forest and is NOT lit on fire.
The Ravagore goes next and opens fire on the Harbinger… she’s safely out of range, as I said, and the scatters do not go in Ozzie’s favour.
However, he does score his first CP, but none of my models are within CTRL range to light on fire. Phew!
Menoth Turn 3
Okay, Ozzie started scoring early, but with only 15 points on the map, that’s not too big a surprise. But I’m pretty sure I’ve got this game in the bag… 1 Focus to the Redeemer, 2 to the Reckoner, and we’re off.
The Choir spreads out to avoid the inevitable AoEs that will come raining down shortly and sing Battle again.
The Harbinger goes, casting Purify again (goodbye upkeeps!), and then moving into just toe into the other forest. Sadly, it DOES light her on fire. Oh well… she’s still at full health.
The Reckoner goes next, moving up and firing on the Scythean. It hits this time, boosts the damage, and inflicts enough that I’m satisfied… I still activate the nearby Vassal and take another shot, which sadly misses.
The other Vassal gives the Redeemer “Enliven”… I briefly consider whether to walk the Redeemer into the forest and shoot, but I’m not positive its within 7″… and then I remember that I’m using the Harbinger, who does NOT have Escort, and not Feora. Whoops! No worries, though… the Redeemer spends its one Focus to run and toe into the zone.
If it weren’t for Eyeless Sight, it would be completely safe… as it is, it’s going to be in a lot of trouble, probably.
I score my first CP, and make the Reckoner immune to fire.
Legion Turn 3
Now Ozzie has a serious problem… I’m scoring on my side of the table, and he has only 3 models total! He’s got to wreck my Redeemer (slightly trickier due to Enliven) and contest the forest the Harbinger is chillin’ out in…
The Scythean goes first, walking up to the Redeemer and headbutting it to the ground. So much for Enliven! It takes a full stack of Fury, and the Redeemer yet stands! Barely, but stands!
Thags charges it and quickly puts the light warjack out of its misery with his first blow.
Aside: Thags hits like a Mac truck! Insane!
Lastly, Ozzie runs his Ravagore towards the forest… but it’s too far away! He can’t contest!
I score my 2nd CP and make the Harbinger immune to Fire, and Ozzie lights one of my Vassals on fire with his 2nd CP.
Menoth Turn 4
First, the fire on the Harbinger does not go out, and does inflict a few points of damage on her. No worries.
Easy-peazy. Just have to contest his zone and score mine. I give 1 Focus to the Reckoner and we’re off.
First, the Reckoner runs into Ozzie’s forest. Step one, check.
Technically, I could just end the game now… but out of curiousity (and with Ozzie’s blessing), I want to see if Harby can take out a full-health warbeast on her own…. last game Feora took down a full-health Archangel, but I think that would be swinging out of Harby’s weight-class.
She charges forward, automatically hitting and rolling at dice – 6 damage. Buy, boost damage, buy, boost damage, buy, boost damage… dead Ravagore. Nice!
I end the turn, scoring my 3rd CP and taking the game!
Victory to Menoth!
So that was almost a little unfair to poor Ozzie… I had enough models to contest both zones, and a CTRL range that let me do so with my warjacks. But such is life sometimes!
A huge thank you to Ozzie for the games, and for “Forbes Games” in Cambridge for the neat game space and terrain!
Combo Smite 