News from the North - Khador Wolves of Winter Battle Report II

Time for another Warmachine Battle Report!

Sorry, but no pictures for this one. I wasn't planning on writing this, so I didn't snap any photos.

Khador Vlad2 Wolves of Winter vs Grymkin The Wanderer - Bump in the Night on Steamroller 2017 Scenario 2: Standoff (All the Zones + Objectives).

Army Lists:

Khador Army - 74 / 75 points
[Theme] Wolves of Winter

(Vladimir 2) Vladimir Tzepesci, The Dark Champion [+27]
 - Devastator [14]
 - Kodiak [13]
 - Marauder [10]
Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [5]
Greylord Forge Seer [0(4)]
Koldun Lord [0(4)]
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19]
 - Koldun Kapitan Valachev [4]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [13]
 - Greylord Escort [3]
Greylord Outriders (max) [20]

Grymkin Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Bump in the Night

(Wanderer 1) The Wanderer [+28]
 - Cage Rager [14]
 - Crabbits (2) [7]
 - Gorehound [6]
 - Rattler [8]
Cask Imp (2) [1]
Glimmer Imp [0(4)]
Glimmer Imp [0(4)]
Lord Longfellow [0(6)]
Trapperkin [3]
Trapperkin [3]
Dread Rots (max) [12]
Hollowmen (max) [13]
 - Lantern Man [3]
Hollowmen (max) [13]
 - Lantern Man [3]
Mad Caps [4]
Death Knell [13]

Arcana: Divergent Path (Trump), Ill Omens, Labyrinth

Some Background Info:

My opponent is new to the Grymkin faction, but has some beautifully painted models. Many models, and the Wanderer, especially, are Alice in Wonderland inspired. His roadmarker tokens all have hand crafted wooden signposts which read, "This way", "That Way", and "Over There". This game was fun just because I got to look at all his cool paint jobs.

If you were following along on the last battle report I wrote, this game happened immediately after. Feeling like my army didn't have enough beef to it, I made a few quick swaps. I reached into my bag for a trusty Marauder (10pts). In order to afford the extra warjack, I pulled out a Doom Reaver unit (13) and added a Greylord Escort (3) to the one remaining unit to make up the 3 point gap and get me back to the 2nd free model breakpoint.

My opponent won the roll, and elected to go first. I chose to swap table sides, so I was sitting where my previous opponent was.

Scatter Terrain Method Fog Bank in the middle closer to my side than his side, and slightly to the left of center.

I chose the side of the board with rubble, a forest, and an Acid Pool a little further forward. My opponent's side had a house on his right flank, with a wall in front of it bisecting his right zone, and a Water Feature on his left side of the board.

Deployment:

Grymkin: (From my perspective) Both Hollowmen units on the flanks, Dreadrots in the middle. Lord Longfellow to the left, a Trapper and a Glimmer Imp on each side. Wanderer went in the middle, along with the Cage Rager, and the Mad Caps. He deployed a light warbeast to each flank, Rattler on my left, Gorehound on my right.

Khador: I used mostly the same strategy as the last game. I deploy the Outriders hard flanking to the right as far out as possible (they begin the game affected by Hand of Fate). The Devastator (With Assail) is Centrally deployed, and the Kodaik is to the left ready to run through a forest. Vlad (With Arcane Might) is next to the kodiak so it can vent steam and get his Might of Kings going. The Nyss take up the center along with the solos.

Khador AD: My Doom Reaver unit deploys behind the forest to the left.

The Game:

This report is going to be a short one. Mainly its meant to showcase what happens in the opposite extreme as the last battle report. This is what can happen when Wolves of Winter goes into a match that is favorable for it.

Grymkin Turn 1: Everything Aparates and runs up. The pumpkins take up residence in the dense fog in the middle of the board. They have to move up pretty far in order to give enough room for his battlegroup and such to be able to advance up the board. The Wanderer casts Star Crossed, and Fog of War, puts up a Dodge Animus for free. I can already tell this game is going to be miserable... Then The Wanderer advances forward, and places his road markers in a shifting-stones-like triangular formation around him. There are some more imps created, and some of the other solos burrow. He riles and runs to make sure he's got fury for the next turn.

Khador Turn 1: Vlad allocates 1 to Kodiak. I run my Doom Reavers to be completely within the forest. One or two might be within range of a Hollowman shot, but they won't be able to aim! I I advance cautiously with the rest of my force, knowing that the Hollowmen have the same threat range as the Outriders, I line them up just outside his range. This gives me two options for the following turn. I can either aparate the doom reavers so they're out of the forest and free to charge his left flank Hollowmen, or if he doesn't advance with his right flank, I can apparate the Outriders and spray his front lines, at least. Eilish activates and gives the Kodiak Puppet Master (just in case I spike the damage roll really high), then he teleports into the zone. Kodak Vents steam on Vlad, boosting damage to make sure it sticks, I roll 6,5,5 for a 12 damage result on Vlad! Puppet Master it is!!! I re-roll the damage, and I STILL spike it. This time it's only a 6,6,2 for a 10 damage result. Vlad spends a focus to reduce it to 5 damage. Thanks buddy! The Kodiak runs with the remaining focus 10". Vlad Activates and heals himself for 4 points with focus and camps 1, wandering up near the zone still wondering what hit him. Nyss take position near the front of my zone staying out of range of the nasty bag men.

Grymkin Turn 2: More stuff runs. Both Hollowmen units advance and take some shots, but I don't suffer any meaningful casualties thanks to my conservative moves up the field. The Wanderer performs basically the same actions as before, making sure that we'll have to track ALL the dice math!

Khador Turn 2: Vlad gets a free upkeep and pays for the other two. No Allocations. Doom Reavers Apparate. Spray ponies manage to stay outside Star Crossed and dig REAL deep on my right side with HoF. They even get themselves a Lantern Man, and reposition to relative saftey. One pony pushes really far forward and puts up Winter's Wind just to discourage anything from getting to the rest of the unit. During this activation, my opponent Triggers Ill Omens, further complicating all the dice math. Vlad activates and swaps Hand of Fate to the Nyss. Most either Aim, or retreat to get out of Star Crossed and fire a few CRAs into the bag men in the middle. Most importantly, between the Nyss and Eilish's Bleed later in the turn I'm are able to remove two Dread Rots which block a lane between my Devastator and his Death Knell, which is exactly 9.5 inches away from my Jack. The Devastator Slams the Death Knell and boosts the damage roll, resulting in very little but getting itself into my opponent's zone to contest. The Doom Reavers get into the hollowmen. I send in about half the unit and keep the rest in reserve. The kodiak Tramples forward and vents steam near the edge of the existing fog bank so as to extend the LoS blocking Terrain. The Marauder runs up behind it to be a second wave.

I think the Nyss activation alone took me about 15 mins that turn just to try to avoid all the bad math I could, and the sheer numbers involved. Rolling extra dice, dropping the highest, dropping the lowest, -1 attack rolls, +2 from CRAs, etc. etc.

By controlling my friendly zone Vlad scores 1 control point.

Grymkin Turn 3:
At some point during this turn, my opponent clocks himself. We decide to keep playing because he's still learning his army and I have very little experience with Grymkin so I would like to see more of what his army is capable of.

Now things on my side start to die. But it's not enough things. Attrition is really going in my favor thanks to my berserks, sprays, and CRAs.

At the end of his turn, I score my own zone again, 2-0.

Khador Turn 3:
Somewhere during THIS turn MY clock runs out. "Eh."
Higlights: Feated Doom Reavers, and Feated Nyss do work. One Nyss walks up to the wanderer and stabs him real good thanks to a combination of the Feat, Hand of Fate, and boosts from Arcane Might. I ended up killing two crabbits this round from the transfers and grinding away aginst some of the other stuff in the zone.

The highlight of the game came later in this round when a few of my Nyss hunters shot his Mad Caps to death. Little did I know the little buggers would go off like fireworks! My opponent rolled box cards on the distance and a 1 for direction. They shot 15" across the board and landed right on Eilish's head! Hilarious!

I scored another point at the end of the round, 3-0. We decided to call it here because we just saw more of a dice grind coming and it was getting late.

Things I learned / Afterthoughts:

This is my fourth game with Wolves of Winter. This is exatly the type of army you want to see when you play it. An abundance of infantry, with few tough models. This is a good example of what can go right when you play this army. It's a shame this can't happen every time.

WoW is a delicate theme so far from what I've seen. Games can easily turn in the blink of an eye. Which, honestly doesn't give me much confidence including this army as a pairing. I simply think that I might have a place in No-Divide-And-Conquer Steamroller when the only time you play this army is when you see this type off massed light infantry or cryx swarm.

That's all for now, folks. Thanks for reading!

News from the North - Khador Wolves of Winter Battle Report

Time for another Warmachine Battle Report!

Sorry, but no pictures for this one. I wasn't planning on writing this, so I didn't snap any photos.

Vlad2 Wolves of Winter vs Zaadesh2 Imperial War Host on Steamroller 2017 Scenario 2: Standoff (All the Zones + Objectives).

Army Lists:

Khador Army - 74 / 75 points
[Theme] Wolves of Winter

(Vladimir 2) Vladimir Tzepesci, The Dark Champion [+27]
 - Devastator [14]
 - Kodiak [13]
Eilish Garrity, the Occultist [5]
Greylord Forge Seer [0(4)]
Koldun Lord [0(4)]
Cylena Raefyll & Nyss Hunters (max) [19]
 - Koldun Kapitan Valachev [4]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [13]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [13]
Greylord Outriders (max) [20]

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Imperial Warhost

Skorne Army - 75 / 75 points
[Theme] Imperial Warhost

(Zaadesh 2) Lord Tyrant Zaadesh [+28]
 - Agonizer [0(6)]
 - Agonizer [0(6)]
 - Archidon [10]
 - Basilisk Krea [0(7)]
 - Bronzeback Titan [18]
 - Titan Gladiator [15]
 - Titan Sentry [15]
Swamp Gobber Chef [1]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min) [5]
Siege Animantarax [17]
Siege Animantarax [17]

Some Background Info:

My opponent is the best Skorne player in our meta, in my opinion. I've never beaten him when he plays Zaal2.

I won the roll and decided to go first. Decision because the last time I played him he went first and jammed both of his battle engines so far down my throat I nearly choked. In that previous game, even Karchev's damage output couldn't handle the battle engines, so I thought it would be best if I brought the fight to him.

Scatter Terrain Method Fog Bank in the middle closer to my side than his side, and slightly to the left of center.

He chose the side of the board with rubble, a forest, and an Acid Pool a little further forward. My side had a house on the right, with a wall in front of it bisecting the right zone, and a Water Feature on the left side of the board.

Deployment:

Khador: I deploy the Outriders hard flanking to the right as far out as possible (they begin the game affected by Hand of Fate). The Devastator (With Assail) is Centrally deployed, and the Kodaik is to the left ready to run through the water. Vlad (With Arcane Might) is next to the kodiak so it can vent steam and get his Might of Kings going. The Nyss take up the center along with the solos.

Skorne: Turtles on either side to get through the forest and rough terrain. The Beast Handlers were just inside the battle engines. Zaadesh2 and his battlegroup deployed centrally.

Khador AD: Both Doom Reaver units deployed centrally.

The Game:

Khador Turn 1: Vlad allocates 1 to Kodiak. Doom Reavers both run. One unit stays behind the cloud wall, and take up position on the fence in the right circle zone so I can apparate either one of them and charge the following turn. Outriders run up the flank, but because the Battle Engine can threat so far, I choose to try to bait it forward with 1 Outrider while the others stayed back behind the doom reavers and spread out a bit. Kodak Vents steam on Vlad, boosting damage to make sure it sticks, dealing 4 points; then Kodiak runs with the remaining focus 10". Vlad Activates heals himself for 3 points with focus and wanders up a bit to stay just behind my zone.

Skorne Turn 1: Beast Handlers whip up the Battle Engines. Battle Engines move forward. The one on the right kills two Greylords, hard rolling the 8s each time. I'm sad. The other BE takes a good sized chunk out of the Kodak. Zaadesh and the battlegroup move forward to flank his objective. The Titan Sentry and Bronzeback are the furthest forward to either side of the objective. The Archidonand the rest are not far behind ready to counter charge anything that engages his front line. Zaadesh casts Battle Charge and puts up a cloud between the fog bank terrain and his objective, effectively blocking much of the central doom reaver's LoS to many of his models (even with Apparition).

Khador Turn 2: Here's where things go south. The central Doom Reavers apparate into the fog bank so they can charge out of it. Vlad pays for all his upkeeps, and hogs the rest of his focus. The remaining Outriders advance and try to spray the battle engine (Only thing in reach). They deal no damage and reposition a bit. Vlad activates, swaps HoF to the Nyss, walks into my zone and feats. I get the minimum 4 models, and go all in on the central doom reaver unit. Doom Reavers charge the battlegroup mostly. One on the left charges the unit of beast handlers hoping to remove them all, but Zaadesh counter charges himself and kills the feated doom reaver before he can do anything. One on the right charges the Sentry and dies to a counter charge from the Archidon (but makes a tough roll). The remaining doome reavers charge the Sentry, and the Bronzeback. Once the dust settles, I've dealt no damage with the entire unit of Doom Reavers. It was a combination of dice, debuffs from the screaming baby titans, and great positioning on his part forcing me into bad charge lanes, and where I couldn't get that much work done, or just got countercharged. One feated Doom Reaver even rolls snake eyes on his charge to add insult to injury. Nyss move into the fog bank, shoot some things, then Zephyr back behind it. Ternion advances to behind the fog bank and uses Wind Ravager to try and deter the left BE. Right unit of Doom Reavers try some charges, or run to bog down the battlegroup and the right battle engine, or set up for a later turn. Devastator runs forward, Kodiak Runs but can't get to the Battle Engine, just trying to zone it out.

Skorne Turn 2: Zaadesh's Feat turn. Between his own flashing blades, and the battlegroup, he's able to remove all my doom revers contesting his zone. The Siege Animatarax on the right side kills three doom reavers and two more Outriders(!!!). The Siege Animatarax on the left kills the Kodiak. The rest is all just positioning. He doesn't bother contesting my zone. We both score 1 point.

At that point, I forfeit. The feat was spent. I had two Doom Reavers, one Outrider, and my only remaining Jack was a Devastator. Facing down an unscratched Skorne Heavy Battlegroup and two Battle Engines with full health, I didn't see the point in rolling it out.

Things I learned / Afterthoughts:

This is my third game with Wolves of Winter. Two previous games were played under Old Witch 2 with a different army comp. In previous games, I went HAM on Doom Reavers taking 3 to 4 units. This game, I cut back on that to include a more combined arms element: The Nyss.

In each game, I felt that the army is a bit anemic, or as people have been saying online: "It has a bit of a glass jaw". My experiences so far back that up: You're already starting with a low model count because of the premium you're paying for your specialist infantry/mercs. There's usually a point in the game where you end up losing a few too many models and you can't punch back hard enough to see the game through.

Gone are the days of the Mad Dogs of War when you had a seemingly endless amount of Weaponmasters which could be dumped in waves on your opponents. Without several waves of Doom Reavers, the few units you can bring typically don't last long enough to have the impact they need to carry you to victory. These days, Butcher2 is not highly regarded, but you can run all the Doom Reavers you want with a different 'caster. Though, being able to bring a power hitter of a caster doesn't quite make up for the 50% reduction of Fell Blades in the army.

For this specific game, my opponent remarks that I spent my feat too early. However, previous games against his double battle engine setup have shown me that if I were to wait any longer, I wouldn't have much board space to fight for. Perhaps he's right, but it just wouldn't have felt very good if I had done nothing with my two units of Doom Reavers for another whole turn.

I'm going to keep testing and do some more iterations on this army because I still think that it has some game into certain armies and factions (Cryx, Grymkin, maybe others). I don't think this match was a favorable one, but it's a good indication of exactly how wrong things can go with this army.

Next up: 

I make some changes to the army on the fly with what's in my bag and rerack against The Wanderer (Grymkin)!

KGB of the Month 1.2 - Greylord Outriders

Hey Sportsfans!

Oh, sorry, wrong opening...

Greetings Komerades!

Here's another battle report for Outrider November. This one will be a little less detailed, because I actually remember to take pictures every round.

This game was played against the Retribution of Scyrah.

The armies:

Khador:

Obavnik Kommander Zerkova and Reaver Guard(*4points)
* Marauder(7points) (2015 League Model)*
Widowmakers(4points)(4models)
Greylord Outriders(9points)(5models)
Greylord Ternion(4points)(3models)
Great Bears of Gallowswood(5points)(3models)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt(4points)(3models)
* Koldun Kapitan Valachev(2points)
Kayazy Eliminators(3points)(2models)
Fenris(5points)
Manhunter(2points)
Man-o-war Drakhun(5points)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution(3points)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator(1points)

*During this game, the Marauder had the following abilities:

Raging Boiler – This model gains

Follow Up. (When a model with

Follow Up slams an enemy model,

immediately after the slam is resolved

the model with Follow Up can advance

directly toward the slammed model

up to the distance the slammed model

was moved.)

Piston Spikes – This model gains

Finisher. (A model with Finisher gains

an additional die on damage rolls

against damaged models.)

Arctic Aura – This model gains

Immunity: Cold and Absolute Zero.

(Enemy models within 5″ of a model

with Absolute Zero suffer –2 DEF.)

Retribution of Scyrah:

Adeptis Rahn(*6points)
* Chimera(6points)
* Phoenix(10points)
House Shyeel Battle Mages(5points)(6models)
Dawnguard Sentinels(9points)(13models)
* Dawnguard Sentinel Officer & Standard(2points)
* Griffon(4points)
Mage Hunter Strike Force(8points)(11models)
* Strike Force Commander(2points)
Stormfall Archers(5points)(4models)
Arcanist(1points)
Mage Hunter Assassin(2points)
Mage Hunter Assassin(2points)

Scenario:

Incursion - Steamroller 2015

The Game:

Ret won the roll, and chose their side, leaving me to deploy and go first. Here are two pictures of the Khador, then Ret deployment (after A/D).

Khador Deployment:

Retribution of Scyrah Depolyment:

Khador Turn 1:

I unpacked my army, for the most part. Everything moves up. Z puts Banishing Ward on the Outriders, and TM on one Eliminator.

Ret Turn 1:

He unpacks his army as well and puts up a few buffs. He kills some Widowmakers with his MGSF, and now they're out of command.

Khador Turn 2:

I smell Feat turn! I run a bunch of greylords to get them into position. Eliminators as well. The widowmakers advance. The leader take a shot, and the out-of-command grunt runs to be exactly 9" away from Z.

Z charges it, pops feat, and does all the Zerkova2 good stuff, holding her own feat spell until some of the dust has settled, finally dropping a Hoarfrost on the Chimera, since his MHA was nice enough to die to a random greylord spray. All totaled, the feat kills a bunch of battlemages and MHSF (though not enough for my tastes).

In keeping with KGB of the month, Outriders did exactly what they were supposed to here: Deliver 3d6 ice shotguns.

Remaining Greylords put up clouds for cover, and Fenris runs to block LoS. Right flank repositions. Eiryss being afraid of the remaining MHA, the Drakhun stays to guard her.

Ret Turn 2:

He's reeling from the punches, but still gets quite a bit done. The Chimera runs deep into my lines, eating a greylord freestrike. Big deal. The Phoenix charges in, and uses Combustion. It kills a Ternion, and my TM Eliminator, but can't clear the Outrider engaging him! The Battle Mages take care of that, though.

Rahn Activates, pops feat, Arcs a TK into the Chimera to free it up, and then Arcs a Force Blast through the Chimera to push Zerkova a bit closer to the MHSF.

MHSF take shots, dropping Zerkova to 4hp!

Dawnguard come after my Outriders, and a Doom Guard manages to protect one, by counter-charging a dawnguard.

Khador Turn 3:

Zerkova decides to GTFO! She allocates 2 focus to the Marauder.

The Marauder charges and comboslams the chimera back, using follow-up to get up the field. It dies to the combo slam, though, so The Marauder's second focus is useless!

Zerkova puts up Occult Whispers and reatreats to the forest as far as possible, taking her Doom Guards with her.

A+H Kiss the Phoenix and take out some Battlemages, respectively. Greatbears then unceremoniously tear the Myrmidon to shreds. With both arcnodes down, I'm feeling okay about my chances of survival.

Outriders polish off the remaining MHSF, and Fenris tries some ride by shenangans, but can't clear the Dawnguard over the wall with 2 attacks, so he's left out of position (I was hoping to get him onto the flag).

Reinholdt runs to the central flag. The Drakhun runs to the outside flag.

Khador 2; Retribution of Scyrah 0

Ret turn 3:

Dawnguard unseat Fenris with Vengence attacks. Rahn TK's the dawnguard closer to Z. MHA kills Fenris, Dawnguard pronto the Griffon, then charge my doom guards, killing them.

The Griffon walks up to Zerkova, and slaps the evil grin off her face thanks to 'jack marshall boosting his attack roll.

My opponent rolls exactly enough to kill her on damage.

If I hadn't mistakenly allocated too many focus to my Marauder the turn before, like a chump. I would have survived! That would have led to easily capping the remaining control points I would have needed to win the game. I'm so upset!

Lesson learned, I suppose.

Retribution of Scyrah wins by Assassination victory!

Khador 4; Retribution of Scyrah 0

KGB of the Month 1.1 - Greylord Outriders

Thanks to this thread on the Privateer Press forums, I bring you another battle report for Warmachine and Hordes!

The Khador Army:

Zerkova1 +6
- Marauder 6
- Vanguard 4
- Vanguard 4 (Proxied by Talon; my friend forgot to bring the Vanguard he said he'd let me borrow)

Greylord Outriders 9
Kayazy Assassins 8
- Underboss 2
Kayazy Assassins 8
- Underboss 2
Kayazy Eliminators 3
Kayazy Eliminators 3
Kayazy Eliminators 3

Widowmaker Marksmen 2

Gorman Di Wolfe 2

The Circle Army:

Baldur2 +5

 - Woldwrath 20

 - Woldwatcher 5

 - Woldwatcher 5

 - Megalith 11

Shifting Stones 2

Shifting Stones 2

Blackclad Wayfarer 2

Blackclad Wayfarer 2

Una the Falconer 3

 - Rotterhorn Griffon 3

The scenario: Two Fronts from the SR 2015 packet.

We decided to play accelerated deathclock (42) minutes because my opponent had 15 models and I was playing way too much infantry under a caster I'm not comfortable with. Read: I'm a glutton for punishment!

Khador Deployment:

Outriders, front and center! Zerkova and Gorman to the left next to a vanguard. The rest of her battlegroup ready to go around the other side of the large central forest. One unit of eliminators takes up postion behind Zerkova. Assassins and a unit of Eliminators to both sides.

Circle Deployment:

Woldwrath was predeployed in the center (didn't see that coming).
Baldur, a Blackclad, and Una in the center. On the hill: Megalith, and a Blackclad.

Khador A/D (Not pictured)
The Widowmaker Marksmen takes up a position in the large central forest

Circle A/D (Not pictured)
Both units of shifting stones clump up in a central position. The first in front of Baldur and Una. The second unit in front of Megalith and the Blackclad. The two Woldwatchers take up central positions, each one favoring one of the two zones.

Khador Turn 1

I moved everything up aggressively, relying on my stealth, and his slower that average (by Orboros standards) army to protect me from early retaliation. I'm planning on a turn 2 feat.

I forgot to allocate focus, like a dummy, but it didn't matter. With Kayazy flooding the field, my jacks had plenty of time to get into position.

I did cast Watcher, and Banishing Ward on the Outriders.

The marksman chances a shot at something but falls shot by an inch or two.

Spotlight on the Outriders: their first activation saw them advance, cast Winters Wind on themselves, and light cav further forward.

Here's what it looks like after turn 1:

Circle turn 1

The army wanders up. Blackclads take an aggressive position. One tries to throw a rock at my Outriders, but Banishing Ward protected him from am otherwise lethal spray.

The watchers move towards my opponent's zone. One connects with tree lasers and kills an Outrider.

Megalith backs them up.

Una and her bird stay back and stay safe.

The stones all stay clumped up near the beasts. Some in the zone, some not.

Baldur supports the army by placing a wall in his zone to deny the Kayazy any juicy targets.

The unbuilt wodwrath trundles forward.

Here's how the battlefield looks at the bottom of the first turn.

Khador Turn 2

Feat turn it is!

Zerkova hands out 1 focus to each Jack, and upkeep two spells.

The marksman pays for his points, by punishing that Blackclad for his insolence. Those who live in tree houses should not throw stones!

Outriders move up, hard, getting lots of sprays on his clump of stones. All totaled, 4 sprays may have killed one shifting stone. Light cavalry sees the Outriders jam hard. I'm hoping to keep my opponent out of the zones as long as possible. I know once he gets there, I won't be able to budge him.

Z walks up and throws aa spell at something to no effect.

***FEAT***

My Kayazy fan out, doing their best to keep Baldur, Una, and his remaining black class honest. I flood the right zone hoping to be able to claim his objective next turn. Three assassins do their best to block LoS to Z.

Pics or it didn't happen:

Circle turn 2

Megalith and Una kill most of my Outriders.

Wodwrath does some work on my Kayazy thanks to the AoE KD on its fists, but the positioning of the Kayazy did not allow it to push into the zone.

One of the Watchers wanders towards my zone in an attempt to contest, but Z's feat keeps him from charging / running to get the distance he needs. It does, however, manage to zap a Kayazy.

Baldur Activates

***FEAT***

He ensures his placement within the right zone. He continues to summon those pain in the ass walls.

Not much else of consequence happens.

Zerkova successfully Dominates the zone. Khador 1; Circle 0

Things were getting hairy. I was getting short on time, and my cell phone battery was starting to die. I forgot to snap a photo at this point. I apologize for the lack of Visual aid.

---

Khador Turn 3

Zerkova is feeling the heat. She upkeeps Watcher, hands out one focus to the Marauder and the Vanguard on the right, then Camps the rest.

Kayazy on the right flank do basically nothing this round because roots of earth on the objective is fair and balanced...

Eliminators on the right continue to flank hard getting behind his lines and onto the hill.

On the left, Assassins piddle around in the zone, not able to get much done. The left-flank Eliminators flank hard through the forest in an attempt to put more pressure on Baldur the following turn.

I lost one of the primed Eliminators in the left zone last turn to the Woldwrath and the remaining one failed a command check, so it just retreated to within 4" of my Effigy of Valor to rally this turn.

Not much else happens. Z backs up, casts something useless (I think I attempted to blase a shifting stone with razor wind) and camps 1.

The jacks on the right run into position for a follow up turn. The Vanguard on the left takes up a shield guard position to make sure Z can survive a shot from the Woldwrath if one comes her way.

Gorman moves up to Black Oil the Woldwrath, just to be a pain in the ass.

Zerkova Dominates again to bring the score to Khador 2, Circle 0

Here's what the battlefield looks like at this point:

Circle Turn 4

Baldur forces the Woldwrath to shake off Black Oil. I have a feeling that Gorman was much more worthwhile in this army before that errata!

The big events this turn are Baldur turning around to fight the eliminators in the forest. He moves over to Ground Zero, getting one, but missing the other, by the barest of margins.

Other things of importance are the WoldWrath attempting to trample into my zone, but clever positioning on the part of the kayazy deny him a landing spot, so the trample has to retreat to where he started!

Note: It was SUPER close. We used a proxy base to check any landing positions available. Even if I let him change the direction of the trample there would have been no place the Woldwrath could stand. He would have been stuck between the backs of my Kayazy, my objective, and the linear obstacle. He just couldn't stand anywhere. But it was only by the barest of margins. A quarter of an inch in some places. At this point, my opponent went on tilt pretty hard. He was so frustrated at the Woldwrath being unable to make it into the zone, and Baldur's Ground Zero falling just short of the second eliminator, that he was ready to quit. But as this was for a battle report, I simply paused the clock for a few minutes to let him cool off. When he was ready, we resumed his turn and kept playing.

Una finishes off the remaining painted Kayazy in the forest.

The remaining Blackclad sprays at some kayazy ineffectually.

Megalith polishes off my last Outrider.

Then one of the shifting stones, and a Woldwatcher nudge their way into the zone and contest. That signifies the beginning of the end for this fight!

Again, I forgot to take a picture here. What a terrible person I am!

Khador Turn 5.

Zerkova upkeeps watcher, loads up the Marauder, and camps the rest.

She starts the turn by moving to within 8" of the WoldWrath. She's behind my Effigy of Valor, and has a shield guard ready, so I believe her to be relatively safe. Using Ghost Stone, she casts Icy Grip on the Woldwrath. Something I should have done the turn before! But I learned my lesson. There was no way I was going to let it attempt another trample!

At this point, I think Una was getting too ballsy. The Marksmen shot her right in the head!

The star of the show is the Marauder. Charging, combo-slamming, megalith!

You go, Pusher-Robot! Make that pile of rocks remember you!

*Pusher-Robot is the league model. He's got follow up and finisher, so he puts out some extra hurt with bought attacks.
I'm unable to get the shifting stone and the wold out of my zone, so I can't dominate. The downward spiral continues.

The remaining Kayazy can't accomplish much in the zones. I'm burning time fast, so I forgo most of their attacks.

Pictures, yay!

The rest of this battle report is going to be pretty quick. I can't dislodge him from the zone because of his immovable models. I can't kill him fast enough with the time left on my clock. I just don't have the time to roll all the dice.

The rest of the battle sees me trying ineffectually to dislodge him, while he pushes steadily further forward.

Zerkova begins to run away from the WoldWrath as the Kayazy Eliminators begin to chase Baldur from behind...

But he does a good job of blocking charge lanes, while scrapping my leftmost Vanguard (eyeing up my objective for next turn)...

But he never gets the chance. I lose to deathclock that turn.

Circle Orboros Wins by Deathclock Assassination!
Control Points:
Khador 2
Circle 0

In closing, I'm not entirely sure that I would have come out on top of this if I had more time. I managed to take down megalith, and my jacks were all still basically at full health, but the Woldwrath was still very much in play. Even though it was Icy Gripped, (and you could be sure I'd never forget to upkeep that) it would still be a pain in the ass to take down. Baldur, or the Woldwrath would have been more than capable of scrapping any of my jacks, as well as the objective at this point (given the amount of wyrm tokens he was holding).

Neither of my assassin units ever had a chance to use Killstroke. There weren't enough enemy models to have to weave through, and there was never a time when my opponent left any good landing spots near his important, linchpin models that I couldn't already get to with a regular charge attack. I was holding the killstroke for the painted Kayazy unit until such time as an opportunity presented itself. Perhaps if I had more time, that could have been my path to victory, but that's not how this one played out.

I think his army was a bit of a 'hard counter' to mine. Z1 relies partially on being able to clear zones and objectives with her spells, and pushing models around. She can't do that to immovable models. But that's they way the cookie crumbles sometimes. No sense complaining about your matchup. I played the best game I could. I think the empress would be proud!

Final thoughts for Outrider November:

The Outriders did a great job of bringing early threat to the table. They accomplished what I wanted them to do. They were a pain in the ass in the early turns, and managed to keep Baldur, and Una honest long enough for me to bring my real threats to bear. In a different army, they may fulfill a different purpose. But in this army, that's what I wanted out of them and that's exactly what I got: A fast, flexible unit!

Your Ruin Awaits!

This will be a short post. Anyone who's actually viewed my blog knows I have next to no time to actually update it, sadly.

Oh well, down to business. For the last few years, I've been playing Warmachine as you can tell from previous posts, I'm sure. For those that don't know it's a war game involving moving little bits of pewter around a table and throwing dice at your friends.

Part of the hobby involves painting those little bits of pewter. I used to suck at this part of the Hobby, but I'd like to think I've gotten much better since ~2011. Recently a new, really cool, figure came out for my faction: Khador. It's name is Ruin, and I'd like to think that all my painting experience has led me to this point. I'm really proud of how I did on this one, and I thought it would be nice to share it. Here's the teaser blurb from the company that made the model to whet your appetite as you scroll down, waiting for the best part. The delicious eyeball stimulation!

Ruin is a blend of engineering and black magic, an unsettling fusion that has resulted in a malevolently aware machine. Ruin’s scarred chassis is festooned with powerful Orgoth relics that possess a willful hunger to harvest souls and whisper incomprehensibly directly into the warjack’s cortex. Orsus Zoktavir has been entrusted to exploit Ruin as a weapon for the Motherland, whatever the cost. - Privateer Press; Ruin

Enjoy! Your Ruin awaits! :)

All photos in this post courtesy of Melissa Joy Colon. 

(Click here to put more of her work in your eyeballs!)

I spent a lot of time on the rivets this time (and all the finer details, really). I used a brighter red for the Khador symbol on the top of his Chassis to make sure it'd stand out. I spent some extra time detailing the Orgoth Seal on his arm. I wanted that particular glowy magic bit to stand out.

Dat Wolf Pelt! Guys, I'm super proud of how well that wolf pelt came out! Just like a proud son of the Motherland to kill himself a giant, blood-crazed werewolf and then wear it's skin!

  

This is the business end of Ruin, his Black-Iron Mace!

If you're seeing this side of him, you're probably dead. As such, it seems you've made some poor life choices.

Sometimes these giant robots, or Warjacks as they're called in the Warmachine universe are paired with, or "Bonded" to a Warcaster (A powerful, battle-wizard). Typically, it's a person who uses that Warjack frequently in battle, or a person who shares a certain personality trait with the Warjack's artificial intelligence. Here's Ruin with his Warcaster, Orsus Zoktavir, or as he's better known: The Butcher!

All the funny names in this post are owned by Privateer Press. Blah blah legal stuff.

Kovnik's Kommunicae SR 2015

Kovnik Komuniqué: Tournament Summary

SR 2015

Today I played in my first Steamroller in 2015! I took first place after 4 grueling rounds. Each nearly going to time. Here's the run down:

The two lists I brought were:
List 1: Butcher3


Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed (*4pts)
* Spriggan (10pts)
* War dog (1pts)
Greygore Boomhowler & Co. (Boomhowler and 9 Grunts) (9pts)
Greylord Ternion (Leader and 2 Grunts) (4pts)
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt (4pts)
Winter Guard Mortar Crew (Leader and Grunt) (3pts)
Winter Guard Rifle Corps (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire (4pts)
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution (3pts)
Goblin Tinker (1pts)
Gorman di Wulfe, Rogue Alchemist (2pts)
Kell Bailoch (2pts)
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich (2pts)
Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan (2pts)
Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor (2pts)

--Specialists--

Great Bears (5pts)
Ogrun Bokur (3pts)
Saxon Orrik (2pts)

List 2: Butcher2 Tier List: Mad Dogs of War Tier 3

Kommander Orsus Zoktavir (*6pts)
* Conquest (19pts)
* War dog (1pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Doom Reavers (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Fenris (5pts)

--Specialists--

Greylord Escort (2pts)
Yuri The Axe (3pts)
Manhunter x2 (4pts)

My first round matchup was against a Cryx player, which I am ALWAYS excited to see...

Game 1: CryxHe was running a Goreshade3 army, and Goreshade2 tier list which he dropped on me:

Goreshade the Cursed (*5pts)
* Deathripper (4pts)
* Deathripper (4pts)
* Defiler (5pts)
* Skarlock Thrall (2pts)
Bane Knights (Leader and 9 Grunts) (10pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard (0pts)
Bane Thralls (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
* Bane Thrall Officer & Standard (3pts)
The Withershadow Combine (5pts)
Bane Lord Tartarus (4pts)
Pistol Wraith (3pts)
3 Scrap Thrall (1pts)
3 Scrap Thrall (1pts)

Cryx List 2:


Goreshade, Lord of Ruin (*5pts)
* Deathripper (4pts)
* Defiler (5pts)
* Harrower (10pts)
* Skarlock Thrall (2pts)
Bane Riders (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts)
Satyxis Blood Witches (Leader and 9 Grunts) (6pts)
* Satyxis Blood Hag (2pts)
Soulhunters (Leader and 4 Grunts) (9pts)
Darragh Wrathe (4pts)
Warwitch Siren (2pts)

He was running it opposite a Goreshade3 army, and at the risk dropping a swarm of living models (Mad Dogs of War) into Heresy of Shadows, I dropped Butcher3. Here's a match that I would have much rather had Alexia1 for. Her epic form did almost nothing for me all game, but she did effectively tie up two arcnodes thanks to her large base.

There was a GIANT forest right smack dab in the center of the board, so I swapped in Saxon Orrik from my specialists (for Kell, because most of his stuff had stealth).

The Scenario was Two Fronts. I went second. I think I killed off his objective in my second turn after some Boomhowlers gave it the business. On the other side, my Mortar Crew was mopping up banes, until Goreshade arced a Hex Blast into it, killing it. My spriggan was using targeting flares to allow my Rifle Corps to actually shoot Tartarus, which by god they succeeded at killing! Spriggan finally trampled over a bunch of banes to the back edge of his zone, (it was either let it die where it was, or let it die in the backfield). Even though he eventually turned my Spriggan into a Seether with a combination of bane thralls and the Withershadow Combine, it was still totally worth 10 points! And to add to the fun, he only had enough banes to make it happen because he popped feat to refill one of his units, so at least I didn't have to fear any crazy threat ranges after that point! Hilariously enough, after he rebuilt it into a cryx jack, it couldn't do anything because it ringed by the combine and banes. Gorman just sauntered up, hit it with Black Oil, and splashed the whole lot of them! :D

I'd popped my feat much earlier in the game. There was a round when butcher had been forced to wade into the forest to deal with the bane knight problem. I'd spent all my focus trying to kill a ton of banes while energising around, so I had popped feat then. I was worried that the six or so Bane knights left in play would be able to chop down the random infantry and 2-3 Boomhowlers I'd shoved in front of butcher almost as an afterthought with their vengence attacks, then be able to just walk right up to him (if not charge), and just tear him to shreds because they could ignore any remaining free strikes. My opponent ended up FORGETTING to vengeance that turn, and butcher didn't see a single swing come his way. But at least I was safe about it! I didn't have the time to run the numbers in my head of what they'd be capable of so I just popped feat, camped it, and hoped for the best.

Ultimately, the only control points were gained by destroying the objectives in this game. The rest of it was a damn slog fest! I barely made any tough rolls on my Boomhowlers and he was stacking up the banes like crazy. The greylords, and rifle corps were both champions in this game. I think that I chose the right list to drop on my opponent. I think I just got lucky near the end.

The game was coming down to time for BOTH of us. He tried for an assassination on Butcher with Goreshade. He connected with the charge attack, making me stationary, but couldn't quite kill butcher who was on full camp. I think it would have been very easy for him to clock me. We were both under a minute or so left, but with both zones heavily contested, I think that if Goreshade had just sat back and camped, I probably would have clocked myself. But I'm glad he didn't because this gave me the first win of the day!

Game 2: Minions: Thornfall Alliance
This might have been a tier list, but I don't know Helga or pigs that well. I do know he had:

List 1: PIGS!!!

Helga The Conquerer (*6pts)
* Gun Boar (5pts)
* Gun Boar (5pts)
* Razor Boar (2pts)
* Road Hog (9pts)
* Road Hog (9pts)
* Targ (2pts)
Farrow Brigands (Leader and 5 Grunts) (5pts)
Farrow Razorback Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (3pts)
Farrow Razorback Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (3pts)
Farrow Razorback Crew (Leader and 1 Grunt) (3pts)
Farrow Slaughterhousers (Leader and 5 Grunt) (6pts)
Saxon Orrik (2pts)

I just saw pigs all over the place and called up the local butcher (3)!

Second game was against PIGS! Helga was running 3, count them, THREE razor back crew! And it was pretty effective! There's not much else to write home about in this game. Scenario was Fire Support and I felt pretty well in control of the scenario most of the game. I goofed near the end and it nearly cost me. I had spent my feat, +1 focus killing both the Road hogs, then meant to energizer an extra inch away from Helga, and be base to base with his flag to dominate it, but I FORGOT. It almost cost me the game: My opponent moved in a slaughterhouser to try to grant gang fighter to Helga when she went for the assassination on Butcher3, I counter charged with my war dog to kill it and deny her. Good thing, too. After I took a few gun boar shots (Rage Howler for Boomhowler helped keep me alive here) and some damage from the razorbacks, Helga managed to drop butcher to 2 health (I was camping 5 at the time). Gang Fighter would have allowed her to pull it off.

Game 3: Skorne

List1:
Void Seer Mordikaar (*5pts)
* Basilisk Krea (4pts)
* Despoiler (10pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Keltarii (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Praetorian Ferox (Leader and 4 Grunts) (11pts)
Tyrant Commander & Standard Bearer (3pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Tyrant Rhadiem (5pts)
Void Spirit (2pts)

List2: (not the full list, this is just what I saw on his sheet; I was pretty sure he was going to drop Mordikaar anyhow)

Archdomina Makeda (*5pts)
* Archidon (7pts)
* Molik Karn (11pts)
* Titan Gladiator (8pts)
Cataphract Cetrati (Leader and 5 Grunts) (11pts)
Nihilators (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts) (2pts)
Agonizer (2pts)
Extoler Soulward (2pts)

Third game against Skorne. I dropped Mad Dogs into Mordikaar. Scenario was Outflank. On that same damn table with the huge forest in the middle!

He jammed hard and feated bottom of turn 1. While I had some charges on him turn 2, I ultimately killed maybe 5 models. Two Ferox, and three Keltarii.
Turn3, Agonizer was crying so I couldn't allocate to Conquest. Feated with butcher2 and killed two of the Ferox (and one doom reaver) with a charge into the back side of the left zone (rolled a two for focus and sat on all of it)! My conquest charged into the forest LoS to one of my doom reavers to get reach onto the Despoiler. Cracked it good with his second initial. 7 rage tokens total. Gave conquest 3, and two each to two doom reavers that had pressed forward hard on butcher's side of the table. 3 Rage tokens and MAT 8 were enough to let the Conquest kill the Despoiler. The doom reavers with the rage tokens pressed onward and went after Mordikaar. One was just a hair away from being able to engage him. The two together were able to kill of the TyCom and Flag. Other doom reavers had cleared the zone butcher was camped in, so I dominated on turn 3. He eventually contested with a Beast handler.

Meanwhile the left zone was a MESS. The Keltarii were doing SEROIUS work against my doom reavers. Undead, Tough, Inspiration, Parry, it was a mess. My doom reavers were just wiped out over there, only managed to continue contesting because conquest was in the zone. His gladiator tore into conquest but was was unable to fill the left grid entirely (did get his arm, though). Next turn, Butcher rolls up 5 focus, puts three on conquest, boosts a blunderbuss into the Beast Handler to trigger conferred Rage. Conquest goes to town on the Gladiator killing it with his two initials (despite one arm being broken), and 3 bought attacks. Butcher dominates for a second round and I go to 4 control points.

My opponent resurrects two beast handlers, then puts an upkeep on them making the Undead and Tough, before backpeddling Mordikaar toward his own deployment zone. The Beast Handlers charge them into the zone, killing some doom reavers. Luckily, they're all within range of being butchered! With seconds left on my clock, butcher rolls up about 4 focus, wades in, and just dices up all three of them. It took two bought attacks to get through the tough rolls, but I dominated once again for the win.

Game 4: vs Legion
He ran:

Lylyth, Reckoning of Everblight (*5pts) (Lylyth3)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Shredder (2pts)
* Zuriel (10pts)
* Scythean (9pts)
* Typhon (12pts)
Blackfrost Shard (5pts)
Blighted Nyss Striders (Leader and 5 Grunts) (6pts)
* Blighted Nyss Striders Officer & Musician (3pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd (1pts)
Succubus (2pts)
The Forsaken (2pts)

He had a second, eThagrosh list, but he'd told me he was going to run Lylyth and I believed him (because he's a standup guy like that).

Scenario was Recon. I dropped Butcher 3 into this game one last time. I didn't regret it. I think Lylith would have shot all those doom reavers off the table.

I swapped out the Rifle Corps for Great Bears, and Kovnik Joe for Saxon Orrik (to deal with the giant pond in the middle of the table).

This game was strange. Everything in my army did it's job reasonably well. The mortar took apart my opponent's objective, as well as a shepherd and a few Striders along the way! Fantastic. These SR 2015 objectives for artillery are Great!

On his feat turn, he laid down the death chill on a bunch of models. Spriggan, trolls, a War Argus, etc. My next turn is slightly blunted. Butcher gets up on a hill, two of the great bears get charges on Zuriel doing about half his grid in damage, the other one hangs back for a charge next turn. The Boomhowlers Jam. Eiryss peels off upkeeps...

The MVP of the game was Corbeau. Zuriel at one point got a spray on to a bunch of my models, including Corbeau. She suckered it onto one of Butcher's puppies who was already nearly dead, and it killed off the puppy triggering Vengence. Breathing a dejected sigh he says, "Oh man, I think that just caused me to lose the game." He tries jamming with some stuff but it didn't end up mattering.

It took just about every single model I had to Kill Zuriel who was in Butcher's way... But with his last gunshot, Holt pulled it off! Butcher Energizes into position (after his corbeau move, and Vengeance moves) and charges through two free strikes from Shredders to kill Lylith. All in all this was a good game, and I'm not even going to call shooting at corbeau a mistake, really... But it did cost him in the end.

A great tournament. A great day for the Motherland!

Kovnik Komuniqué - The Iron Fist of Khador

Hello again, Komrades! Last time, I head a good deal of calling for a battle report featuring Strakhov. He's the leader of Khador's Black Ops squad, a total badass, and probably one of my favorite warcasters. He's a ton of fun to play, and hopefully this battle report will show you that he means business when he takes on the Circle Orboros.

Kovnik Komuniqué: Battle Report

Khador: Kommander Strakhov vs. Circle Orboros: Baldur the Stonecleaver

This battle report was a scenario battle against a friend of mine at our FLGS. We played a Steamroller 2014: Balance of Power. The map is pictured below, and it's first to five wins as usual with the following scoring opportunities:

• Friendly Flag: Dominate = Opponent loses 1 CP before players score CPs this turn (minimum = 0)

• Zone: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP

• Enemy Flag: Control = 1 CP, Dominate = 2 CP

(No death clock this game; we were keeping things casual)

The Army lists were as follows:

Khador (Played by Dan):

Kommander Strakhov (*6pts)
* Beast-09 (11pts)
* Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (2pts)
Great Bears of Gallowswood (5pts)
Iron Fang Pikemen (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Black Dragon Officer & Standard (2pts)
Fenris (5pts)
Goblin Tinker (1pts)
Iron Fang Kovnik (2pts)
Kovnik Andrei Malakov (3pts)
* Spriggan (10pts)
Man-o-war Drakhun (without dismount) (4pts)
Manhunter (2pts)
Reinholdt, Gobber Speculator (1pts)

Circle (Led by Paul):

Baldur the Stonecleaver (*6pts)
* Megalith (11pts)
* Pureblood Warpwolf (9pts)
* Warpwolf Stalker (10pts)
Druids of Orboros (Leader and 5 Grunts) (7pts)
* Druid of Orboros Overseer (2pts)
Shifting Stones (2pts)
* Stone keeper (1pts)
Tharn Bloodtrackers (Leader and 9 Grunts) (8pts)
* Nuala the Huntress (2pts)
Lord of the Feast (4pts)

The Battlefield:

We set up a rather balanced scenario bord. The flags were near forests, but not so close they could be abused. There were also hills in the opposite corners, and linear walls just outside the zone. Again, so they couldn't be abused by toeing the zone and getting cover.

Setup:

Circle won the go ahead roll (bad news for Strakhov), and decided to go first. This is always something to watch out for when playing against circle. Many of their models and units get advance deploy. So, not only is it easy for them to counter-deploy against you, but it also means giving up the first turn will see Circle swarming the scenario zones before you can do much of anything about it. During regular deployment, my oponent deploys a whopping four models including his Warlock:

I used to own a circle army, and I don't like his deployment because I know the druids and bloodtrackers are going to be in my face faster than you can say, "Damn Treehuggers!" :P

In almost complete contradiction, most of my troops go down on the regular deployment step:

This was meant to highlight Strakhov, so I'll be a little more descriptive about the early steps: Strakhov goes down right behind the flag. And all his viable upkeep targets go near him: Beast-09, Great Bears. The Caster support goes directly behind: Sylys, Reinholdt. My Dragoons deploy on very wide flanks. The pikemen and the Iron Fang Kovnik take up the vanguard position as I plan to jam the zone with them early on and use them to clear charge lanes in later turns. Malakov and 'Rustputin' (My rusty, old, Spriggan model. One of the first in my collection) take up the other flank, and the Gobber Tinker is right behind.

Now comes Circle's AD, and I'm already sweating:

My AD was a single Manhunter on the left side in front of Fenris. I didn't bother with a Picture because the placement was simple. The Bloodtrackers declare Prey on the Great Bears and off we go! 

Circle Orboros: Turn 1:

The Bloodtrackers run to jam the zone good and hard. The druids run to the wall. The Stalker, and Pureblood run to take up position just outside the zone. Measuring control, Paul determines that Megalith would be too far away from the BloodTrackers to give them Stoneskin via Geomancy, so he just runs. The stones teleport into place, threatening to tele-drop any one of his heavies into the zone if I put anything valuable too far up front.

Baldur activates, and my Paul informs me he'd made a mistake waiting so long. If he'd activated Baldur (Or even Megalith) before the Blood Trackers, he'd have been able to put Stoneskin on them this turn in preparation for dishing out some nasty damage next turn. Now, however, he was too far away. Baldur simply advances, and places Stoneskin on the Stalker. The lord of the feast runs into the forest and looks quite menacing.

If you didn't believe me before about Circle's ability to really threaten a scenario jam if they get the first turn, maybe this visual aid will help. This is why I wanted to go first!

Khador: Turn 1:

Paul's put me in a bad spot. I consider my options and actually discuss a turn 1 feat. Ultimately, I decide that's a bad idea. His heavies are well protected. A turn 1 feat just wouldn't quite get me the damage that I was looking for. I decide to bide my time and begin making other plans.

It's apparent that if I don't get something into that zone right now, I may not be able to do it at all. So, I decide to give up the Iron Fangs. That's what infantry's for isn't it? No need to Shield March, so I save the Kovnik's activation for later. The Brave Black Dragons declare Iron Zeal and make a run for it! They manage to engage the first few Bloodtrackers. Just what I wanted. This would make them a pain to dislodge!

Their Kovnik follows up behind them and makes it to the wall. The Great Bears run to the treeline near the flag. The Drakhun hugs the table edge and threatens to charge the druids next turn if they don't do something about him. Fenris takes up a vantage point on the hill. The manhunter makes a mad dash for the Lord of Feast's forest, declaring it to be Khadoran land. Orboros be damned!

Malakov casts Redline on Spriggan and moves off to the side. The spriggan runs for free and gets his toes behind the wall. The Tinker gives him a hug!

Strakhov finally activates. He casts Superiority on Beast-09 and Occultation on the great bears. Then advances to the flag. Reinholdt gives him a hug and sylys dances a jig.

The board after the first turn:

Circle: Turn 2

Paul, ever the optimist, tells me that he thinks his Bloodtrackers are screwed. He takes a few minutes to look over the board and decides he has a plan, and upkeeps Stoneskin on the Warpwolf Stalker.

The druids activate. A few use clouds, the leader puts up anti-magic, and the UA decides to cast the devouring on an Iron Fang Pikemen, who Paul woefully discovered was engaged, making him DEF 17.

The devouring missed, scattering back into the lines of the IFP, claiming only one life instead of three. The final few Druids tossed out a few force bolts to minimal effect. All of them maintained their defensive position behind the wall.

The lord of the feast activated. He walked through the forest to just outside reach distance of my Manhunter and let loose his crow. It missed. Things weren't going well for Paul's plan!

And then, this happened:

With some of the best shifting stones placement I've ever seen, he gets the stalker in between two of his blood trackers. It looks like he was REAL close to nudging models from the picture, but trust me, I checked. Twice. His Warpwolf entered the fray with barely millimeters to spare. I had to applaud him there. It looked like my jam tactic was about to come apart at the seams!

The stalker unloaded on my Pikemen. He claimed the lives of Four Khadoran troops (using his animus for sprint somewhere along the line) before turning on the two brave Bloodtrackers he'd teleported next to. Sprint saw him shuffle to one side to engage what was left of the Black Dragon's front ranks.

Later, Paul admitted this was another mistake. He determined the better play would have been to use sprint to push the Stalker forward so that it engaged with my Spriggan and the Black Dragons hanging behind the wall.

Next up was Megalith, taking a hop skip and a jump around one of the shifting stones as if it were a maypole, the druidic monolith spread peace, love, and Stoneskin among the Bloodtrackers. He'd managed to disengage the majority of the unit. However, he didn't like their chances of hitting the BDP behind the wall (even aiming, they'd need 9's to hit for an above average chance to kill at P+S 11 weaponmaster against Arm 18). He opted, instead, to devote half the remaining Bloodtrackers to take out the Black Dragons remaining mid field. The remaining 8 Bloodtrackers and Nuala managed to kill a grand total of two pikeman which the Stalker had left behind. The pureblood advanced, and sprayed through the gaps at the ones behind the wall, catching just 1 BDP in his 10" spray (but no friendly models either). The fury mechanic sealed his fate.

Baldur activated, advanced, and placed a forest in front of him as a LoS blocker. Then, Baldur ended his activation. Remember this moment. We'll come back to it later.

Here's the board at the end of the turn:

Khador: Turn 2

It's turn two, so we'll begin calculating Control Points at the end of the turn.

It was now, or never. The all important Strakhov feat turn.

Control phase: Strakhov drops Occultation, and upkeeps Superiority for free thanks to Sylys Wyshshhshnlllhhllyyyylrrr and his goofy socks. Malakov upkeeps Redline. Both warcasters load up their respective warjacks to the max.

I always like to get the easy things out of the way early when it's my feat turn. The Manhunter, who wouldn't need the speed boos from the feat charges, and kills the Lord of the Feast. "My Forest!" he says.

The Gobber Tinker sat and repaired last turn's damage from Redline on the Spriggan bringing it back to full.

Now the difficult part. I wanted to activate Strakhov. But I couldn't. The trick to playing him is to hold the feat as long as possible during your turn until your important charge targets become clear, and you've identified beyond all doubt, what specific model will be your warjack's Overrun Trigger. That means, I had to clear some charge lanes before he could activate.

The Iron Fang Kovnik sits behind the wall and declares that the Black Dragons Shield March. The Black Dragons activate, and damn if they don't get work done! Ordering for Shield Wall, the three in the center press as far forward as possible while remaining in the melee range, and LoS of the Stalker. The ones on the left traipse toward the left side of the zone to engage the Blood Trackers on the left. And the Iron Fang officer follows up the ones in the center flank. 

This very specific movement wasn't without forethought mind you. Let's take a moment to talk about why I'm doing this. It's a Strakhov battle report, after all and this activation was likely the most important one of the game for me. Take another look at the board:

To the left of the stalker are five Bloodtrackers in a triangle formation. The two at the back I don't care about. The three that make up the front of the triangle (the ones circled in the picture) absolutely have to die right now. Only then, will Spriggan have a charge lane to Megalith. But perhaps even more importantly, I have to eliminate those models while keeping that future charge lane clear of my own models.

The Black Dragons make fantastic use of their CMA ability. On the right, there are two CMA's (the second one originating from the Unit's Officer) where the Black Dragons need 6, and 5 to hit respectively. I roll a six. P+S 15 kills automatically. I roll a five. P+S 15 kills automatically. Then on the other side, the pikemen ignore the far left Bloodtracker and CMA the remaining lane blocker. I need 6 to hit the last all important attack roll. The dice come up 3, and 3 causing me to breathe a sigh of relief.

One last piece of bookkeeping: Reinholdt activates, uses Spyglass on Strakhov and he measure's the distance between the Spriggan and the Pureblood (I can't quite see Megalith, otherwise I would have used him). I know that Spriggan will have a 15" threat range after the factoring in Strakhov's feat and Redline. The Pureblood is about 12" away, and using that educated guess I am sure that I'll have the distance I need to charge Megalith.

Now, it's time.

Strakhov activates and declares that it's time to show the enemy the Iron Fist of Khador! But again, the trick to playing Strakhov is identifying the key targets before you pop your feat. First and Foremost, I know that Beast-09 is going to be my Overrun trigger, killing the Stalker to make Strakhov back peddal at the end of the turn. That means Beast-09 needs to activate last, and I need to leave the Stalker alive until he does. Measuring control, I know that the Great Bears will have the distance they need to charge the Pureblood, but I need to clear that lane still. Spriggan will have Megalith, of course. And Strakhov? He's eyeing that Bloodtracker in front to trigger his Sprint ability. If everything goes my way, Paul won't have any beasts left at the start of his next turn! Now the hard part: Actually pulling all that off.

Strakhov starts his activation with 3 focus. Two of it immediately goes to casting Overrun on Beast-09. Then, Strakhov charges the Bloodtracker, staying on the right side of it to avoid the Stalker's reach threat. He boosts to hit, and connects, giving the Bloodtracker it's well deserved comeuppance. Strakhov pops his feat, and ends his activation. He retreats just enough so that he doesn't block the lane for either the Great Bears, or Beast, and yet can still tag Megalith with his Feat. He ends up about midway between my flag and the Stalker. But we're not out of the woods yet.

Spriggan takes off like he's shot out of a gun. Poor Rustputin's gears begin screeching and grinding under that strain of Redline. He barreling across the field shrugging off a free strike from the Bloodtracker on the left. Skewering Megalith with the charge, he pauses to bash another Bloodtracker with his shield. Then, I buy an attack on the shifting stone. Because in the off chance that I can't quite kill Megalith with a few more P+S 20 hits, I want to make absolutely sure that Paul can't send him halfway across the battlefield with his damn hippy magic. The stone dies, and Rustputin delivers two more punishing blows to Megalith after that. I botch the damage roll on my first bought attack, rolling only a four. The last attack puts another decent wad of points on the construct, but leaves him at one single box! No!

Malakov saunters up the the wall, but can't quite reach Megalith with his gun, so he takes a pot-shot at the Pureblood and misses.

The Great Bears activate. I quickly notice that even though I cleared the Bloodtracker out out of the way, the Stalker's line of sight is going to be a problem. Yarovich takes one for the team an charges the Stalker such that the back half of his LoS gets blocked, and the lane becomes freed up for his brothers in arms. Volkov and Kolsk both take the initiative and move 13" downfield to give the Pureblood the business end of their sharp pointy objects. Yarovich nearly gives me a heart attack, rolling almost max damage against the Stalker almost killing it on the charge attack. If he had, Beast-09 would have not had anything to attack, and Strakhov would have been left hanging in the winds. The other two make short work of the Pureblood.

The Drakhun crashes into the druids. The clouds prove effective causing both of his impact attacks to miss, but the charge attack lands, taking of their leader's head. Fenris activates, and charges the one Bloodtracker remaining on the left that had taken a free strike at Rustputin.

Beast-09 finally activates, charging the Stalker, and taking it apart with the first swing. That's three wasted focus on him, but you can never be too careful when you absolutely have to trigger Overrun. The spell goes off, and Strakhov backpeddals to just behind the friendly flag, dominating it (just in case).

Unfortunately, my last activation: Sylys isn't enough to dispatch the last few Bloodtrackers in the zone, for Control points, so I just keep him safe behind me and end my turn.

Circle: Turn 3

Paul, gracious as he is, decides to call the game. He's down, but not out, but doesn't feel the need to let the game drag on. He didn't expect Strakhov's threat ranges to be quite so long as they were! We shake hands, clean up our models, and part as friends.

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Now, remember that moment I said I'd come back to later on?

The next day, I received a text message from Paul: "I forgot to feat! I just realized it! God damn!"

Sounds like Paul should be listening to more of a certain podcast! But yes, if Paul had used Baldur's feat during turn 2, it certainly would have been a game changer. The stalker probably still would have died. But Megalith would certainly be right as rain, and I might not have killed the Pureblood either!

Lesson learned, Paul, don't forget to feat!

Until next time, Komrades!