January 2015 Historical Games Day: Saturday, January 10, 12pm

We'll be doing the January Historical Miniatures Game Day on January 10, 12pm, at Guardian Games. I expect some SAGA, some Bolt Action, and maybe a few rounds of Disposable Heroes or Sails of Glory. (Sorry for the short notice, but that's scheduling for you.)

 

Guardian Games

345 SE Taylor St

Portland, OR 97214

December PDX Historical Miniatures Game Day

Four-way SAGA game in progress

The December games day was a success, especially considering how busy folks get around the holiday. We had a few games of SAGA go down, a game of Bolt Action, and a new player showed up with some of his family and ran a pretty sweet tank battle game using Disposable Heroes and some 1:48 (I think) scale Shermans, Tigers, and T-34s.

In the non-historical side, sort of, I played a game of Lion Rampant with Jared's 15mm fantasy figures and was duly impressed - it plays quickly and fun. We also had a few demo games of the new Robotech miniatures game.

As we were packing up the DBA guys showed up for a few games. Sadly, I couldn't stick around...

DBA armies being mustered

Battle Report: Ticket Takedown, December 6

I went to the Ticket Takedown at Salem's Haven Gaming yesterday and went 2-2... Which isn't as well as I expected, but still, not too bad. No pictures, sadly. The tournament was 50 point Steamroller using the SR2015 beta scenarios; two lists, divide and conquer, first place gets a ticket to Lock & Load 2015.

Here's what I brought:

Supreme Aptimus Zaal and Kovaas (T4 theme list)
* Cannoneer
* Raider
* Aptimus Marketh
Ancestral Guardian x4
Hakaar the Destroyer
Extoller Soulward x3
Immortals (max) x2

Dominar Rasheth (Chain Gang T4)
* Cannoneer
* Sentry
* Gladiator
* Krea
Paingiver Beast handlers (max)
Paingiver Task Master x2
Gatorman Posse (max) x2)
Agonizer x2

I'm pretty comfortable with the Zaal list. While the Rasheth list is held up as quite good, in my experience the gators die too quickly. Maybe I'm playing them wrong.

First game was against Brett's Cryx. I dropped Zaal versus his Goreshade 3. This was shaping up to be a good game, but I put Zaal about an inch too far forward, and he was able to pull off a top of 2 assassination with feat to stationary Zaal and then dropped a couple of Siphon Bolts and Leviathan shots onto him. Whoops.

Second game was versus JC's Skorne - not really a mirror match as we were both playing rather different lists. He dropped Makeda 3 versus my Rasheth. Since we both knew exactly what each others' stuff did, play went very quickly... He managed to set Rasheth on fire first turn with an Incindiarius shot, which made me die of shame a little. Luckily, the fire went out on the next turn. I ran my beasts up the middle and sent the gators along either flank. The Immortals on my right promised to be a serious problem for the gators, but I was able to largely neutralize the Incindiarii on the left with the other gator unit. Popped feat on second turn, ate the Incindiarii and did my best to tie up the Immortals. He came back, feated, and used Karn and Makeda to wipe out half the left-hand gators and then do considerable damage to the Sentry and the Gladiator. But he didn't kill either beast, so I was able to do a fast assassination on my third turn, since Makeda was in melee with both beasts, and that's pretty much a win.

After lunch, third game was against Kyle's Cryx, in Destruction (two flags, two objectives). He dropped a classic Asphyxious 2 lists - bane knight, bane thralls, Tartarus, and Satyxis Blood Witches. I dropped against that, and thanks to going second, I was able to put a boosted Cannoneer shot into Asphyxious on the second turn and drop him to half his health. Next turn, he immediately put Asphyxious behind a wall right on the edge of the kill box, and I left the Cannoneer in the middle of the board to keep him there. Under feat and a rather injudicious use of last stand, I was able to remove most of the Bane Knights and Blood Witches, and shifted hard to the right in an attempt to score. In the end it went to time; I was able to kill the objective, clear the flag, and dominate for two points with about two minutes left on my clock and ten seconds left on his; flipped the clock and he just let it go. A good game, even if it was a grind for both of us.

My final game was against Scott's Legion, in Incursion (three flags). He brought Saeryn, two Angelii, hex hunters, and (most importantly) the new Blight Blades, which he kept off the board to ambush. I dropped Rasheth, my usual anti-Legion tech. In retrospect, Zaal might have been a better choice. This game, the gators on the left (against the Hex Hunters) died very quickly to their spells, while the ones on the right did somewhat better and eventually tied up his left flank. The Sentry proved to be the most important piece in this game, with Locker tying up both Angelii for a couple turns. Sadly, it wasn't enough; even though I started scoring as soon as I could on the right flag, Rasheth has a hell of time running away from ambushing Blight Blades. I wasn't able to keep him alive long enough to win on scenario. If the dice had been a little more favorable, I might have cleared the center flag and been able to score there... but that just didn't happen.

So that's two wins and two losses. On the whole, I'm not displeased with my performance. I'm much happier with how the Zaal list played, while the Rasheth list is leaving me a bit cold. I'm going to change it up; I'm just not sure if I'll go for the full titan herd (six titans) or if I'll try the new Trident list that's going around (Gators, three titans, three Drakes).

December PDX Game Day: Saturday, December 20, 2014

Germans vs. Americans at Tanksgiving 2014

The next PDX Game day is planned for Saturday, December 20, 12pm, at Guardian Games. We'll be playing some SAGA for sure, and possibly some Bolt Action, Lion Rampant, and maybe even some Black Powder or Piquet.

Guardian Games
345 SE Taylor St
Portland, OR 97214

November Historical Games Day AAR

We had an excellent turnout this past weekend at the PDX historical games day. Special thanks to the guys who drove all the way from Seattle! The action was all SAGA and Bolt Action:

A German platoon faces off against an American force over a bombed-out village.

Welsh take on the Vikings

Byzantines and Vikings compete to capture an Anglo-Dane village

Vikings versus Normans

Defending the fort

The next game day will be December 20th. There's also a game day down in Salem at Haven Gaming on the 13th!

Painting Update: 15mm Blitzkrieg Germans

I didn't get a lot of projects done in October, because I was working on one big project: A 15mm 1940 German infantry company based for Flames of War, for a client through CGR Painters. I'm rather pleased with how much I painted in five weeks, and how it turned out.

The whole thing: 3 infantry platoons, 2 gun platoons, mortars, and machine guns.

Infantry Platoon

Heavy Infantry Gun Platoon

80mm Mortar Platoon

Machine Gun Platoon

November 2014 PDX Historical Miniatures Games Day - November 15, 12pm

The November PDX games day is scheduled for November 15, at 12pm. We're planning on having some SAGA and some Bolt Action/Disposable Heroes action, and we might just break out some armies for Lions Rampant. If you'd like to run a game, please let me know so I can arrange a table. Hope to see you there!

November 15, 12:00 - 5:00 pm
Guardian Games
345 SE Taylor St.
Portland, OR 97214

October Games Day

We had a small turnout for October's game day at Guardian Games on the 19th; I blame it being on a Sunday and the weather being absolutely gorgeous. Still, we got a few games of SAGA in and had fun. The game I played with Gabe resolved when both of our warlords killed each other on the same melee.

Battle Report: Masters Tournament

I played two games yesterday, at the Cog Collective Master's tournament at Guardian Games.

First was against Sean's Cryx - he dropped a Scaverous list with Deathjack, Bane Knights, and Croe's Cutthroats, plus some other stuff. The scenario was Outflank - two zones on either side of the table, which players attempt to control for points.

I ran the following:

Mordikaar

* Tiberion

* Basilisk Drake

* Basilisk Krea

Agonizer

Soulward

Willbreaker

Cataphract Cetrati (max)

* Tyrant Vorkesh

Cataphract Incindiarii (max)

Paingiver Bloodrunners

Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)

As it happened, this turned into a bit of a slap fight thanks to really poor dice on both our parts. He lined up a pretty decent run at Tiberion on Mordikaar's feat turn (top of two), and then failed to kill him with Deathjack. I had a superb assassination opportunity on Scaverous, who was out in the open and sitting on no focus, and then missed two out of four attacks - and failed to do any damage on one of the attacks that hit. In the end, he was finally able to bring Deathjack in to kill Mordikaar...

I made a couple of mistakes in this game which - dice aside - really cost me the game.

First, I should have put Fury points on the Agonizer on the first turn. Had I done so, I could have put Deathjack on the back foot from the second turn on.

Second, once my initial shot on the assassination failed, I should have given up on the assassination that turn, and gone for plan B: killing as much of his stuff as possible. Had I done so, I probably could have removed Tartarus, Deathjack, and the Bane Knights from the table, and still had a decent amount of stuff to survive the counterstrike.

Second game was versus Adam's Mercenary force in Close Quarters. He brought Magnus 2's theme force, with Sword Knights and plenty of ranged 'jacks, plus some Rangers.

I brought:

Rasheth (Chain Gang T4)

* Bronzeback

* Gladiator

* Gladiator

* Krea

Agonizer

Agonizer

Task Master

Task Master

Gatorman Posse (max)

Gatorman Posse (max)

Beast Handlers (min)

This one I straight up lost by scenario. I completely forgot about the scenario on my last turn and forgot to run something in to contest the flag he controlled, thus giving him enough points to seal the deal. Admittedly, it would have been difficult to do so, thanks to Magnus' feat and the rather slow speed of my army, but I still screwed up.

After those two games, I dropped, for two reasons: We'd have an odd number of players if I didn't, and I figured I'd rather go home in time for dinner than take the bye or have someone else do it. As it happened, I got distracted, but that's for another post...

October Portland Historical Miniatures Game Day

The October PDX HMG Game Day will be Sunday, October 19, from 12pm to 6pm. (Sorry about the Sunday timing; it’s pretty much the only available day at Guardian this month.)

We’ll have some 15mm WW2 stuff for sure, and probably some SAGA going on. If you’re interested in meeting other gamers, trying out new games, or just want to check it out, come on down!

If you want to run a game, please e-mail me at jesselowe (at) gmail.com so I can update this post.

Guardian Games

345 SE Taylor Street

Portland, OR 97214

Painting Update: Penultimate Seleucids

I finally finished painting - almost - the last two Seleucid units.

Argyraspides - elite "silver shield" phalangites

Cataphracts

I say almost, because I broke one of the silver shields, so there's a base in the back row with only three phalangites and no basing material on it. Need to get a replacement, and I'd like to add some command stands for all three phalanxes. It's a bit ahistorical, but I like the look.

PDX Games Day - September 27

I organized a historical games day at Guardian Games yesterday, and got a pretty decent turnout. Thanks to everyone who attended!

We had some SAGA...

Anglo-Danes repulsing a Viking assault

Some Flames of War (my Russian infantry battalion lost to the Germans)...

Russian infantry watch their armored comrades fall to German anti-tank guns

Some Blitzkrieg Commander II...

German defense of the village of Anatevka from the Red Army

And Ivan (Nordic Weasel Games) demoed Five Men in Normandy for a few folks:

A Soviet patrol mixes it up with a tiny German roadblock

I'm planning on another games day at Guardian on October 11. (Sadly, I'm missing out on Tactical Solutions out in Spokane...)

Battle Report: 35-Point Tiericide, September 21

The Cog threw a 35-point, three round, theme force required Warmachine tournament at Ancient Wonders this past Sunday. I went 1-2, and learned an important lesson: Know your list to beat the clock. Had a lot of fun, though.

First game was Incursion against Matt's Legion of Everblight.

Absylonia, Terror of Everblight (Winds of Change, tier 4)
* Harrier
* Raek
* Raek
* Shredder
* Shredder
* Ravagore
* Scythean
Spawning Vessel and Acolytes (max)
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
The Forsaken
The Forsaken

I countered with Skorne:

Dominar Rasheth (Chain Gang, tier 4)
* Titan Gladiator
* Titan Gladiator
* Titan Cannoneer
Agonizer
Agonizer
Paingiver Task Master
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)
Gatorman Posse (max)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

I went first (IIRC). The titan wall rumbled forward on the right and center, while the gators took the left flank. Between Rasheth's feat, Enrage, and Blood Mark, I was able to make pretty quick work of his heavies and deny him an effective feat. As you can see below, I was in a strong position...

But because I've never run this list before, and Rasheth only a couple of times, every turn took at least twice as long as it should have. I ran out of time while he still had about 22 minutes. Had I not clocked myself, I think I'd have won this one pretty handily - one of those Gladiators is nearly dead, and the other's pretty bruised, but the Cannoneer is untouched.

Second round was Close Quarters against Doug's Cryx.
Goreshade the Cursed (Heresy of Shadows, tier 2)
* Kraken
Bane Lord Tartarus
Bane Thralls (max)
* Officer & Standard Bearer
Bane Thralls (min)
* Officer & Standard Bearer

vs

Supreme Aptimus Zaal (Immortal Host, tier 4)
* Kovaas
* Aptimus Marketh
* Basilisk Krea
* Basilisk Drake
* Reptile Hound
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Hakaar the Destroyer
Extoller Soulward
Extoller Soulward
Immortals (max)
Immortals (min)

Again, I went first. I bricked up with a set of Krea animi and the convenient hill  in the center to defend against the Kraken's ranged shooting, and started filling up the AGs with souls from Zaal and the Extollers. He advanced, with his Kraken in the center, and was kind enough to give me Vengeance moves on both Immortal units. On turn two, I cleared off a few banes, killed Bane Lord Tartarus (which took a surprising amount of work) and failed a charge against the Kraken with an Ancestral Guardian under Last Stand. He went to work killing off Immortals with his banes on his second turn, but made a couple crucial mistakes: first, he allowed the LS'ed AG to take a Defensive Strike, which knocked out a bane and triggered the Kovaas' appearance, and second, he put Goreshade in charge range of the newly-created Kovaas. So on turn three I popped feat and used the Kovaas to assassinate Goreshade for an early win:

Round four was Destruction against Adam's Cygnar:

Major Victoria Haley (Stormbringers, tier 1)
* Stormwall
* Thorn
Stormsmith Stormcaller
Arcane Tempest Gun Mages
* ATGM Officer
Black 13th

I dropped Rasheth again. This actually took a bit of thought: while Rasheth's feat is useless against this matchup and Carnivore is pretty poor, I felt that double Agonizers plus Castigate would put a serious crimp in Haley's game plan. Conversely, the Stormwall would be able to munch through Zaal's Immortals pretty hard with Covering Fire and electroleaps.

So... Haley's a very rough matchup. Her feat is no fun at all, and the Stormwall's notoriously good. But! Turns out that not being able to arc spells (thanks to Castigate) or allocate focus to Stormwall (thanks to Agonizer) is really, really annoying. My beast brick went up the center, with Rasheth cowering behind a convenient wall to raise his ranged defense to a whopping 14. The Gators came up the right in a (failed) attempt to stay out Haley's feat. I was able to weather the feat, then take down Thorn, the Stormwall, and the enemy objective in exchange for both of my Gladiators. And then I ran out of time. Again.

We played out the rest of the game anyway, and Haley failed an assassination run due to some rather bad dice. Again, had I not clocked myself (and therefore played slightly more conservatively in the last two turns), I think I'd have been able to eke out a win here, just by controlling the zone and killing two or three gun mages a turn.

So that's this week's lesson: If you're going to play competitively, play a list you've practiced with.

Battle Report: Patton's Desert War...

Peter, Jared, and I decided we'd take a crack at Blitzkrieg Commander II, as an alternative to Flames of War. I refereed, since I have the most (two games) experience with the system, and set up a North African table for Jared's Red Army tanks to assault Peter's 101st Airborne. (I dunno, Alien Space Bats must have done something...)

This was quite a small game, actually, but it still took almost three hours before we called it - all that fumbling with new rules.

The US defended a hill with a half-company of Airborne backed up by a 57mm anti-tank gun, a pair of MGs, some off-board artillery, and a single 81mm mortar. The Russians came in through a village just north of the hill with five T-34/85s, an ISU-122, and some tank riders; unfortunately, they'd placed their single mortar too far away to effectively receive orders...

At first we thought the Americans would simply be steamrolled by the Russian tanks, but they proved to be surprisingly durable. BKC II's command system provided significantly more randomness than we're used to with FoW, especially since the Americans only had one commander; when he failed his command roll, that was it for the turn!

Second-to-last turn

One question we had was the command penalty for multiple orders to a unit. We're not sure if it applies to the entire formation that contains the unit, or only to that unit itself. Still, overall it was a good game. Next time we'll have to bump it up to around 3,000 points to a side...

Battle Report: His Majesty's Army vs. Some Damned Rebellious Colonials

I recently had a chance to participate in a game of Field of Battle 2 run by Victor at Guardian Games. (Also in attendance: Kevin, Andy, Dave, and Peter.) This was my second experience with a Piquet-based game, my first being at Enfilade 2014.

Victor presented us with a pretty straightforward scenario: The Continental army (under Andy & Dave) had seized a ridgeline overlooking a road. Our British army, commanded by an aristocratic poltroon (and under myself and Kevin), had chosen to press on without waiting for reinforcements to oust the rebel from this advantageous position.

The British mustered three command groups, each comprised of four regiments, with a small artillery battery. The Americans were likewise. However, the British were blessed with more consistently trained and disciplined troops, while having to deal with the aforementioned poltroon as their commander in chief; the Americans appeared to have the reverse situation.

As the battle played out, the guns on either side did little work; the British marched up, clashed with the rebels; and in the end, American morale broke first, and the British took the ridge.

Preparing for the game

British left and center, deployed, with the guns safely nestled in the woods.

American right, with a regiment held back in reserve.

The American center, anchored by a pair of guns.

British right at deployment.

The British left forming up neatly at the base of the ridge prior to the charge.

The British right slowly advances toward the American positions.

Results of the first clash on the British left; two regiments in rout, more entering the fray.

Action on the hill.

British left flank, Americans moving in to push them back.

Rather blurry photo of the British right flank.

Hessians fire at point blank range at the Americans, supported by the 64th foot (soon to be outflanked by rebels).

Overview of the British left flank late in the day. Three British regiments are in rout and one is out of command, but an American Regiment has been destroyed and two others are in rout.

British assault forces the rebels back, for the moment.

British assault forces the rebels back, for the moment.

British 64th Foot, outflanked by American rebels.

British guns firing from a forest.

On the whole, a very enjoyable game. Thanks to Victor for putting this on! Piquet played more smoothly than I expected, and I'll probably pick up a copy...

Battle Report: Warmachine 50-point Fully Painted Tournament

So I did (rather poorly at) a local tournament yesterday. This was the capstone event to our summer paint challenge, so naturally I forgot to take any pictures.

Here's what I brought:

Makeda and the Exalted Court
* Molik Karn
* Bronzeback Titan
* Titan Gladiator
* Basilisk Krea
Cataphract Incindiarii (max)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max)
Extoller Soulward
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Supreme Aptimus Zaal (Tier 4 Theme list)
Kovaas
* Titan Cannonneer
* Cyclops Raider
Immortals (Max)
Immortals (Max)
Aptimus Marketh
Hakaar the Destroyer
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Ancestral Guardian
Extoller Soulward
Extoller Soulward
Extoller Soulward

First game was against Asher, who brought Vlad 3 and Karchev. He chose to drop Vlad (with all the horses):

Vlad 3
* Drago
Khador War Wagon
Uhlans (max)
Uhlans (max) (and painted up in the Black Dragon scheme - very nice!)
Greylord Ternion Cav (max)
Drakhun
Kovnik Markov

This was a rough matchup. The war wagon can drop 4" circles of rough terrain, and my Zaal list has no pathfinder whatsoever. As a result, he was able to come in and use Zaal's feat for an alpha with no fear of retaliation, and managed to knock out about half my list - including Hakaar and Marketh, which really stung. The key spell of the game was probably Vlad's Dash - since he was able to ignore free strikes, my abundance of reach weapons were... not useful.

Still, Zaal's feat turn was pretty productive, and I was able eliminate about half his army, with much of what was left in less-than-ideal positions. Unfortunately, my dice were not kind to me this game, and that stacked with a few poor decisions such that he was able to charge in with an Uhlan. A crit knockdown later, and he shot Zaal off the table with a pair of Razor Wind spells from Vlad.

Of course, my worst mistake of the game was putting the Krea on the table out of sheer habit, despite her not being in the list. Thankfully she had no impact on the game before I realized it, and I lost anyway, but it was still terribly embarrassing.

Second game was against Scott, who was running Severius 1 and Feora 2. He dropped Severius:

Severius 1
* Blessing of Vengeance
* Vanquisher
* Devout (I think. The shield guard one.)
Vessel of Judgement
Zealots with UA
Temple Flameguard with UA
Choir (min)
3 Wracks
Paladin of the Wall
Hierophant
Vassal of Menoth

I might be missing a few models. Not sure.

At any rate, I dropped Zaal again. This was a rough matchup... for Severius. I still managed to lose. The first part of the game I was able to jam up into the zone and set the line of engagement just past the center. He hit my lines and knocked out around a dozen or so Immortals and one AG, and I struck back to wreck his Vanquisher, took out about half the Flameguard, and killed the objective. I did not manage to clear the zone, however. And then I got cocky and decided to take advantage of his slightly-too-bold positioning to try to ranged assassinate Severius, something that really only had around a 50% chance of succeeding. I failed, and left Zaal out in the open with no defenses or transfers, and he promptly ate several Zealot bombs and a couple spells, and exploded.

So... don't get cocky, kid.

After that, I dropped, since I'm pretty sure I was in last place and we had an odd number of players. Congrats to Asher on winning the tournament.

Painting Update: Seleucids

A couple more units join my Seleucid army:

Elephants

Skirmishing archers

Pretty quick to paint up, and elephants on the field are always interesting. All figures by Essex.

Battle Report: Makeda 3 vs. Kreoss 3

Scenario: Rally Point

Player 1: Jesse
Makeda and the Exalted Court
* Molik Karn
* Titan Gladiator
* Bronzeback Titan
* Basilisk Krea
Agonizer
Saxon Orrik
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Paingiver Taskmaster
Paingiver Beast Handlers (Leader and 3 Grunts)
Gatorman Posse (Leader and 4 Grunts)

Player 2: Danny
Intercessor Kreoss
* Reckoner
* Repenter
Holy Zealots
* Monolith Bearer
Exemplar Vengers (Leader and 4 Grunts)
High Exemplar Gravus
3 Wracks
Saxon Orrik
Gorman di Wulf
Madelyn Corbeau
Choir of Menoth (Leader and
Vassal of Menoth
Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt

Four points short; I'm not sure what I've missed.

Deployment

I won the roll and chose to go first. The board was as pictured above; note that the two green terrain patches are woods, while the brown one represents a hill. I deployed my beasts to my right and the gators to the left in order to prevent him from scoring in the near zone. Makeda and support went in the center and back.

Danny deployed his Vengers on his right to counter my gators; put his Zealots in the middle; and spaced his battlegroup with the Reckoner in the center and a Repenter on either side, among the Zealots. Aiyanna and Holt were deployed on the far left, to counter my battlegroup.

Skorne Turn 1

 I just ran everyone up the board. No special tricks or anything, but I was a mite more cautious than I should have been. I also found that my friendly objective was blocking my movement; this became a bigger problem on turn 2.

Protectorate Turn 1

 Danny did likewise.

Skorne Turn 2

 I ran the gators into the zone on my left, in an attempt to block most of his guys out of it; at the very least, I would be able to prevent his Vengers from charging most of the gators and the Bronzeback without eating a free strike. Bronzeback shifted over to toe into the left-hand zone. Karn had to do a bit of tricky movement just to get around the objective and set up for next turn. Gladiator just shuffled forward. Makeda and her unit shifted hard to the right; I sent one of the Court up the middle in hopes of picking up Battle Driven; she also served to Shield Guard Karn if necessary. The other ran through the forest to contest the right-hand zone. Agonizer also ran over to the right; I intended him to be ready to contest that zone if necessary, and be ready to zip in and deny focus allocation.

This turn was where my hesitation on Turn 1 bit me. If Molik Karn had been half an inch, maybe an inch further forward, I could have popped feat and probably eliminated a third of his army, or at the very least thrown his tempo off. As it was, I had to wait.

Protectorate Turn 2

Zealots charge in with mini feat up. They do some damage, but not as much as could be expected. Vengers move in and kill one gator, but fail to really make a dent on my left flank. He manages - after far too much work and some awful dice - to clear out the Court member standing in front of Karn, then charges a Repenter in to beat on Karn a bit. Karn remains fully functional.

Skorne Turn 3

 At this point, I feel like I've pretty much lost the time management game, since I spent an awful lot of time last turn on my clock. I decide to make this feat turn and see how much work I can get done around the Zealot mini-feat. Unfortunately, the answer is "not much." Gators munch on the Vengers a bit, but that side remains in contention. Karn moves in under feat and does a little work, but the mini-feat prevents him from really going to town; in the end I move him up to tie up Kreoss. I screwed up hard with Makeda, though, trying to keep beasts in my feat/control area; as you can see above, she's right near the edge of the right-hand zone and far, far too close to Kreoss and/or other assassination vectors. Should have moved her to the right-most side of that zone and kept Karn back as a threat that he had to deal with...

Protectorate Turn 3

So it turns out I forgot about the Madelyn move. Danny shifts Kreoss to one side for a clear charge lane at Makeda; charges and takes no damage from Karn's free strike; and ends the game with an assassination.

Mistakes were made, mostly by me. I should have been more aggressive to start with, and positioned my early game pieces (Karn and Makeda) to move around the objective. On the other hand, I should have been more cautious later, and kept Makeda out of assassination range. I also found that I jammed myself in a bit in regards to the Bronzeback and the Gladiator. Both can do a lot of work in the late game, but they need to be up near the center line by turn two in order to do that, thanks to that SPD 4 stat. So the lesson is: Practice deployment and first turn movement.

List-wise, I'm pretty happy with it. I'm still shaking the wrinkles out here, but I do find myself missing an Extoller Soulward for the Eyeless Sight on a stick. Being able to draw line of sight through forests is extremely useful.