Protectorate Vs. Cygnar (Martha), 35 points, 'Caster Kill
Protectorate Force: High Exemplar Kreoss, Heirophant, Revenger, Crusader, Vanquisher, 6 Knights Exemplar, 5 Exemplar Bastions, 4 Choir, Knight Exemplar Seneschal.
Cygnar Force: Commander Coleman Stryker, Squire, Lancer, Thunderhead, Gunmage Captain Adept, Journeyman Warcaster, 3 Stormsmith Stormcallers, 6 Sword Knights, 10 Storm Guard
The table was set up "competitively", but we ended up fairly symmetrical, with a bit of a road running down the center. This was where most of the bloodshed was going to take place, with a bit more right around the church.
Turn 1 was pretty uneventful for both sides. I went first, with most of my army advancing and Kreoss setting up a couple of upkeeps- Lamentation on himself, and Defenders Ward on the Knights Exemplar, preparing them for a flank run towards the Sword Knights. Martha's force did much the same thing- Stryker set up Arcane Shield on the Stormguard and Blur on the Lancer, to buy it a turn safe from the Vanquisher shelling it, while the Journeyman Warcaster gave the Sword Knights his own Arcane Shield.
Turn 2 started a little bit of violence. The Choir set up the Vanquisher for a fire mission with a little Hymn of Battle, his Flame Belcher killing off 3 of the Storm Guard. The Crusader and Bastions advanced, preparing to meet the remaining Storm Guard head-on, while the Knights, Seneschal, and Revenger continued to position themselves.
The Cygnarans had a bit more going on. The Stormsmiths set up a nice chain of electrocutions on the Knights Exemplar, but only actually managed to kill one of them for their trouble. Stryker attempted to Earthquake the Bastions, but failed (forgetting the ability of the Squire to re-roll a casting roll once per turn). The Storm Guard charged into the still-standing Bastions, killing 3 of the 5, thanks to Sanguine Bond allowing the ones next in line to be hit to be killed instead, minimizing the impact of the Storm Guard. The Gun Mage Captain Adept took a potshot at the Vanquisher, but only hit it for two points, only managing to make it angry.
Going into Turn 3, the Menites were getting ready to bring some pain. The Vanquisher obliterated the Gun Mage Captain Adept with a well placed Flame Belcher shot, smearing his remains all over the underbrush in the copse of trees he was attempting to hide in, while the Crusader smashed a pair of Storm Guard into the sand with his Inferno Mace. He probably only really needed one focus, if any. The Bastions failed to hit anything, probably too busy laughing at the two warjacks massively over-killing their targets. The Seneschal dropped one more Storm Guard, while the Exemplars split their charges amongst the Stormsmiths, completely (and hilariously) destroying them. Old men are not well-equipped to tangle with the finest soldiers in the Protectorate.
Cygnar's response was fairly quick in coming. The Sword Knights managed to kil two of the Knights Exemplar, while Stryker cast Snipe on the Thunderhead, allowing it to zap the Crusader for five points of damage.
Turn 4 was the clear turning point of the game. Dropping all of his upkeep spells and only allocating one point to the Vanquisher, keeping the rest for himself, Kreoss activated his feat, knocking down all of the Cygnarans but Stryker, his Squire, and the Journeyman Warcaster. A blast of Cleansing Fire killed a pair of Storm Guard, while Purification stripped the Sword Knights of their Arcane Shield and the Thunderhead of Snipe. The Bastions and Crusader handily saw off the helpless Storm Guard, as the Knight Exemplar Seneschal took a run (and a Smite) at the Thunderhead, but not hitting him hard enough to knock him into Commander Stryker. The Knights Exemplar tried striking back at the Sword Knights, but even knocked down they were only able to kill two of them.
Reeling from Kreoss's feat turn, the Cygnarans spent this round mostly in damage control mode. The Thunderhead and Lancer each spent focus to shake off their knockdowns, with the Thunderhead managing to zap Kreoss with a 6-point bolt of lightning. Stryker himself managed to hit the Crusader with Arcane Bolt, splash damage hitting the Bastions. The Journeyman Warcaster re-cast Arcane Shield onto the Sword Knights, who then failed to damage the enraged Knights Exemplar.
The fifth turn was the Protectorate's best shot at bringing down Stryker. With an open charge lane due to the Thunderhead ignoring him, he bore down on Commander Stryker, managing to pummel him for 15 points of damage, not quite enough to bring him down, even with the slam taking him straight into the Squire. The Revenger moved to screen Kreoss from the Thunderhead, allowing the High Exemplar to channel a couple of Immolates into it, not doing much damage, but managing to light it on fire. The Bastions charged the Thunderhead, doing a bit of damage, while the Vanquisher took a shot at the Lancer, blowing its shield arm off. The Crusader advanced towards Stryker, while the Knights Exemplar only killed a single Sword Knight.
Another damage control turn for Cygnar, the Thunderhead lucked out on his Fire roll in turn 5, the flames going out without doing any damage. The Sword Knights finally got the best of the Knights Exemplar, but they were still far from the rest of the fight. The Thunderhead managed to catch both the Bastions and the Revenger with an Energy Pulse, for a single point of damage to each, but then crushed one Bastion with a Shock Fist attack. Stryker cut the Seneschal in half for daring to hit him, but again forgot to activate his feat.
Round 6 was really the end. The Crusader beat the Lancer into scrap, while the Vanquisher, aiming for Stryker and missing because of his wooded cover, blew up the Squire. The remaining Bastion managed to destroy the Thunderhead's right arm. Even with it in combat, Kreoss managed to light the Thunderhead on fire again before the Revenger moved to engage it, keeping it from making a run at Kreoss at the buzzer. With the Thunderhead burning up during her Maintenance Phase, Martha surrendered at the start of turn 6.
There were a couple of key mistakes this game (Does everyone forget Stryker's feat?), but overall it was pretty damned close until Kreoss's feat turn cracked the midfield open. The Storm Guard were fairly brutal, though not nearly as dangerous against the tough Bastions as I'm used to them being against softer infantry. The Bastions' ability to move damage around in the squad is much more interesting than I'd thought at first glance- it's not just about keeping more of the squad alive longer, it can very effectively prevent the enemy from having targets to hit in the first place, especially heavy hitters like the Storm Guard. This game did do what I needed it to- remind me that Warmachine is actually a game worth playing occasionally, rather than just a few hundred dollars worth of models sitting in a dusty case. I also just picked up the new Privateer token set, which may merit a review of it's own.
Coolness. Did you paint those Cygnar models or did Martha? I don't think I've seen them before.
ReplyDeleteI'm having trouble seeing the angle where your Crusader squished one Stormguard with his Inferno mace, but did you have a trample angle there? The advantage of trample in MK2 is that none of the models that you trample, including ones you miss, can freestrike your 'jack.
Lovely battle report. I prefer smaller terrain features than the GW forest in hills, if only because then you're not able to hide an entire army inside of them. I'll have to set up a game sometime with you when I'm not busy with work, hobby, and moar hobby. Oh yeah, and videogames...
I'm actually borrowing most of my Cygnar stuff from John Komala - I wanted to learn how to play with them while I bought pieces slowly, because I am poor. The Stormsmiths and the squire are my paint job, but John painted everything else.
ReplyDeleteYou can kind of see the setup in the Cygnar-2 pic of the center- the Crusader shuffled a little to the left, beat down a Storm Guard, realized he had too much focus, and bought another mace attack to smite another one. I didn't think of Trample... in my defense, it didn't exist for half of my Warmachine career, but that may have been possible- I don't know if he was too snuggled up to the end of the fence to have a straight line move.
ReplyDeleteOn terrain, I kind of see what you're saying, but the rules do specify that hills be bigger than other elements (I think?), and the way forests behave in Warmachine, it drives me nuts when people use the little skinny LOS-blocking forests that don't appreciably slow them down. Plus its weird if a "forest" is smaller than a church, and my church (Miniature Scenery Australia) is goddamn huge.
Hmm, can't find the "terrain size rule". Thought it was in Steamroller, might be a holdover from Mk. I Steamroller or maybe Confrontation. On the plus side, by the definition of Elevation, the GW hills are really only hills on the upper section- the very top of the sloping part is 1", but you can't get a model high enough to count as elevated without being on the top "mesa" portion, and since models don't count for anything in Warmachine, it's pretty much a 10"x5" hill with attractive edges.
ReplyDeleteI just think of the forests as tree lines or tree areas as opposed to straight up forest. I doubt it made a major difference in a menoth/cygnar duel, but you might reconsider should you ever have to deal with Circle/Khador/Legion.
ReplyDeleteMartha: Well done on the Squirrel and Smiths. What are you planning on using when you're done?
Also, please pass on the message to John. I like the green effect on his Lancer. OSL?
Bill: What church terrain is that?
Then it's house rules, instead of what's in the rulebook... :) Dealing with Cryx armies that go shrieking through narrow woods is why I only have two forests in the terrain collection here (and one of the GW Battlescape 40K piece).
ReplyDeleteThe Lancer Martha used is actually one of John's original battle box pieces, I think. He was originally doing his Cygnar dark green with blue and gold trim, the part that I think you're referring to is just a smooth fade over the upper carapaces. If you ever get a chance to see his Hunter, he has a few figs with some really beautiful blends.
The church is from Miniature Scenery Australia/CNC Workshop. The footprint is pretty big, 8.75x4.5, pretty close to the same as the GW wood. It went together very quickly, it was just sitting unfinished because I couldn't decide how I wanted to finish the roof (which is actually a blogpost I'm about to write!). Here's a link to the CNC Workshop page on it: http://www.miniaturescenery.com/ProductPage.asp?Code=CHRCH
Yeah, I've always wanted to make a large order from them. Maybe if I ever live in a place large enough to field a table.
ReplyDeleteThank you! The Smiths are about 3/4 done - the detail in the front needs work, but luckily you can't really see that in these photos.
ReplyDeleteSo far, everything I've used I've really enjoyed. My next two Cygnar purchases will probably be the battlebox and a full unit of Stormguard, on account of them being awesome.