Warmachine Painting Update and Tournament Report

Painting!

Been doing a bit of Circle Orboros lately:

L-R: Woldwyrd, Megalith, Woldwatcher

Pureblood Warpwolf. Not terribly happy with the paint job.

Wrong Eye (L) and Snapjaw (R)

Una the Skyhunter

Tournament - Nexus Games, Gresham, January 22

A little casual tournament with twelve players; I went 2-1, which isn't terrible for playing two new lists and a lot of new models. They are:

Wurmwood, Tree of Fate & Cassius the Oathkeeper
* Ghetorix
* Pureblood Warpwolf
* Feral Warpwolf
* Argus Moonhound
Gallows Grove
Lanyssa Ryssyl, Nyss Sorceress
Efaarit Scouts
Efaarit Scouts
Swamp Gobber Chef
Shifting Stones
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Tharn Bloodweavers

Baldur the Stonesoul (Baldur 2)
* Pureblood Warpwolf
* Feral Warpwolf
* Megalith
* Woldwyrd
* Woldwyrd
Wrong Eye & Snapjaw
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Sentry Stone & Mannikins
Shifting Stones
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Round 1

Versus Jacob's Convergence of Cyriss. He had Father Lucant and Mother Directrix, and dropped Lucant into Wurmwood.

I went second and picked the side of the table with all the forests. As the game developed, the rough terrain in the center of the table proved much to my advantage. I still managed to run out of time on the clock despite pretty well jamming him out of scenario.

Round 2

Versus Josh's Protectorate of Menoth; Amon ad Raza or the Testament of Menoth, of which he chose Testament. This was a pretty rough matchup, since Testament has a completely overpowered feat. I clocked myself again, since I played Baldur 2, a completely new list, and spent way too much time looking things up mid-activation.

Even with the clock problems, I was still running behind on attrition; his feat brought back nearly all of his infantry, despite my best efforts to remove them from play or eliminate entire units.

Round 3

Versus Quinn's Protectorate of Menoth: Feora 3 or Tristan 2. He ran Tristan 2 into Baldur 2.

This one I managed to play rather well, I think. Quinn didn't push hard enough in the first two turns, so I was able to score three points on my third turn and feat to keep him from pushing me off the flags.

Warmachine Tourney Report

After last week's unpleasant tournament, I stewed for a bit and then decided to stick with it, and signed up for a tourney this Sunday at the Portland Game Store. I took the same two warlocks, Wurmwood and Tanith, but tweaked the lists significantly. (It didn't hurt that the Leyline Podcast from Hand Cannon Online put out a Tanith list I could crib. Like I've said, I dislike list building. )

This was a much nicer experience. The location was a bit nicer - PGS is on a walkable street with some nice restaurants nearby, and only twenty minutes from my house. It was considerably cooler weather. OTOH, I'm fighting a cold, so that's a minus. But mostly, I played better. I still only went 1-2, but I'm much happier with how I played. If I hadn't clocked myself on the second game, I might have gone 2-1.

So. Glad I went.

Circle Orboros Update

Well, I'm making progress with Circle Orboros, sort of. I still haven't won any games with the faction, but I'm selling on my warlocks to focus on: Wurmwood, Krueger 1 and Krueger 2, and Tanith. That's two for Champions format and they should all work reasonably well for standard Steamroller formats. Unfortunately, much as I love the game play of Warmachine, this whole experience is reminding me how much I don't care for the list building part of... well, any game. It's one thing I much prefer about historicals. Ah well... give it a few more months and the community will have come up with some decent lists I can copy, and then I can just focus on table time.

Painting Update - June 2016

Been a bit slow on the painting front lately. With Warmachine Mk III coming out, I've decided to drop Skorne for the foreseeable future - every time I look at the new cards, I'm just disappointed. Instead, I've been working on Circle Orboros. Though, to be frank, I'm not sure I'll continue with Warmachine - I'm much less interested in the list building and competitive aspect of wargaming than I was a few years ago, and I simply don't have the time to stay competitive anyway. Still, my first game of Mk III was pretty fun, and reminded me how much I do enjoy the game itself. So here's my latest batch of cannibal druids and their monsters:

Kaya the Wildborne, Warpborn Skinwalkers, Gallows Groves, Gnarlhorn Satyr, and Feral Warpwolf

Tournament Report: Ticket Takedown, December 5 2015

Yesterday was the annual Ticket Takedown at Haven Gaming, the first prize being a ticket to Lock & Load 2016. I forsook Circle for this event and went back to Skorne; just can't stay away from the elephants. I'm just more excited about the Skorne lately than I have been about the Circle stuff, even if Circle is seen as a more powerful faction. The tournament was Master's format, so I was able to take advantage of ADR. Here's what I brought:

Master Tormentor Morghoul

* Aptimus Marketh

* Mammoth

* Titan Gladiator

* Titan Sentry

* Cyclops Brute

Agonizer

Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Extoller Soulward

Orin Midwinter, Rogue Inquisitor

Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)

Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)

VANGUARD

Aradus Sentinel

Basilisk Krea

Cyclops Raider

Mortitheurge Willbreaker

Swamp Gobbers Bellows Crew

Objective: Effigy of Valor

Zaal, the Ancestral Advocate

* Tiberion

* Basilisk Krea

* Cyclops Shaman

Hakaar the Destroyer

Ancestral Guardian

Ancestral Guardian

Cataphract Arcuarii (min)

Cataphract Incindiarii (min)

Nihilators (max)

VANGUARD

Basilisk Drake

Nihilators (max)

Immortals (max)

Objective: Arcane Wonder

Morghoul is one of my favorite casters, and I'm pretty happy with the Mammoth attached to him. Of course, for this event, I forgot the Mammoth at home as it's too big to fit in the bag and usually has to sit in the passenger's seat. Luckily, another player was kind enough to lend me his model...

Zaal 2 is the new hotness, or he would be if he hadn't gotten such a lukewarm reception from the Skorne community. Most people who haven't played him think he's crap; those who have played him think he's not that bad. I'm still on the fence, but he's definitely got some interesting facets. Most of the community, myself included, is disappointed that his playstyle is more of the same "ax to face" that Skorne has had throughout Mark II. We were hoping for a bit more variety.

Round 1

Scenario: Recon

Kommander Zoktavir, the Butcher Unleashed

* War Argus

* War Argus

* War Dog

* Ruin

Madelyn Corbeau, Ordic Courtesan

Saxon Orrik

Iron Fang Kovnik

Kovnik Andrei Malakov

* Spriggan

Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios

Ogrun Bokur

Iron Fang Pikemen (max)

* Black Dragon Officer and Standard

Widowmakers

Greylord Ternion

Game End: Ruin has just finished squishing a prone Morghoul. The big white disk is the Mammoth, model removed for ease of play.

I took advantage of ADR and swapped the list around so that I had the ranged battlegroup instead of the melee-focused one, planning on trimming down his infantry and support with boosted blast damage from the Mammoth and the Sentinel before sending in the Mammoth to clean up and either dominating the zone or trying to kill Butcher with whatever was left - probably Morghoul, the Brute, and the Krea. In retrospect, the Zaal list might have been a better choice.

I won the roll and went first, and advanced about as aggressively as I could. Under Abuse and Rush, the Mammoth moved up quite far to set up for some round 2 shooting, while the rest of the army clustered around him. Doug advanced pretty far, but a little more cautiously.

Second round, I got very aggressive and was able to pick off some of his infantry with the Mammoth and the Sentinel - critically, a lucky shot managed to take Madelyn Corbeau off the table. I then ended the turn by pushing Morghoul up into the center of the zone under feat and Admonition, and camping three transfers. I figured he was pretty safe; without the ability to spend Focus and unable to target him with Combined Melee Attacks, the Khadoran forces were extremely unlikely to be able to kill him.

Unfortunately, I neglected to have the Brute put Safeguard on Morghoul, so he could be knocked down. And both Malakov's Spriggan and the Ogrun Bokur can Slam without needing Focus. So he was able to position a War Argus, lower its defense with the Greylord Ternion, and then use the Ogrun Bokur to slam it over Morghoul, knocking him down. After that, it was just a question of putting enough attacks into him, and that was game.

Aside from that mistake, I was pretty happy with how this game went; I felt like it was at least a 50/50 matchup, and if I'd played a bit more carefully, I could have won.

Round 2

Scenario: Destruction

Captain Victoria Haley

* Squire
* Stormwall

Stormsmith Stormcaller

Journeyman Warcaster

The Black 13th

Tempest Blazers

Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers

* Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Officer

Lady Aiyanna and Master Holt

Tactical Arcanist Corps

End game: Mammoth in mid-swing on the Stormwall, Morghoul lurking at the bottom of the photo, and Haley hiding behind the wall in the upper left.

With a Stormwall in one of my opponent's lists, I felt like I had to drop the Morghoul list. When James did, indeed drop the Stormwall list, I chose to do the same swap I did last round, mostly to pull the Krea in. Under the Krea bubble, the Mammoth and Sentinel are extremely resistant to shooting, and most of the shooting in his list was POW 10 - practically worthless in this matchup.

I lost this game on clock. Had I moved quicker on my second and third turns, I'd probably have won. The picture above, at game end, shows the Mammoth tearing into the Stormwall; I'm up two control points, and if I'd had time to clear the zone, all that he'd have had left would have been Haley herself. In return, he only killed four models - two Beast Handlers, a Willbreaker, and the Extoller, and that on his last turn of the game. He did manage to set Morghoul on fire with the Tactical Arcanist Corps on round three, though. That was a little exciting.

Aside from time management, this is the game I where I felt I played my best. But that's a pretty big caveat.

Round 3

Scenario: Close Quarters

Kromac, Champion of the Wurm

* Druid Wilder

* Warpwolf Stalker

* Ghetorix

* Riphorn Satyr

* Pureblood Warpwolf

* Gorax

* Winter Argus

Gallows Grove

Shifting Stones

* Stone Keeper

End game: Kromac, sans all his heavies, base to base with the Skorne flag. Morghoul has just used Admonition to back out of range of Kromac's ax.

I dropped Morghoul again, but this time I stuck with the melee loadout. Becky's a newer player, and she lost on clock in this game. I made some rather bad mistakes, though; forgot to feat on the turn where it would have made the biggest difference, forgot to take the Agonizer's Gnawing Pain aura into account while she was killing the Mammoth, and should have boosted to hit rolls when I sent the Mammoth after Ghetorix and the Stalker. Dice didn't love me either; to get around Cricle's high DEF, I tried to head butt most of the beasts before buying attacks on them, and failed every attempt but one. Had Becky played a bit more aggressively, she could have taken the Mammoth off the table in exchange for Ghetorix or the Stalker, and used Kromac and the surviving beasts to assassinate Morghoul. So... not my greatest game.

Round 4

Scenario: Fire Support

Saeryn, Omen of Everblight

* Succubus

* Zuriel, Champion of Everblight

* Angelius

* Angelius

* Harrier

* Harrier

* Shredder

* Nephilim Bloodseer

Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion

Blighted Nyss Sorceress & Hellion

Strider Deathstalker

Strider Deathstalker

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

Blighted Nyss Shepherd

End game: Saeryn dominating her friendly flag, with most of the Skorne army jammed out by the winged beasts. The lone Arcuarius in the upper center has run over to contest in order to deny one last control point before time.

This was my last game, and I was getting pretty tired by this point. Since I was 1-2, I figured I might as well drop Zaal, regardless of what Scott was putting down. This resulted in a bad matchup; once again, the Morghoul list, with ranged battlegroup, would have been a better choice. Also, Scott's a pretty solid player. His list relies on a combination of Saeryn's feat preventing melee attacks against her battlegroup, and the Nyss Sorceresses preventing ranged attacks to jam out the scenario and dominate toward a victory. If I hadn't run out of time, this probably would have worked, too.

This was my first time to put Zaal 2 or the Arcuarii on the table. I chose not to swap anything in the list. It was a learning experience more than a serious game from my perspective, so here's a quick list of lessons:

• Nihilators should have been deployed close to the center instead of on the flank, so they could run up, jam, and get killed early for those sweet, sweet souls.
• Zaal 2 is shockingly durable, even at DEF 10. I don't think Scott made any serious attempts to assassinate him.
• The list really does depend on melee + Transference, so Saeryn's feat was a real problem. I also did not boost via Transference when I should have - mostly on to-hit 
• Zaal himself is no great shakes in melee. He made a fair number of attacks this game out of necessity, but I probably should have kept him back and tried to do more work through Transference/Sunder Spirit.
• The Big One: For years I've been playing Ancestral Guardians as if they had Ghost Shield. They don't. Oops. Lesson: read the entire card...

Anyway, a good game in the sense of learning stuff, not so much in the sense of playing well. About what I expected. Scott's battle plan worked very well, though I did throw him off his stride a little by threatening with Tiberion and a Guardian on turn 2 and forcing him to turn back to deal with them. Wasn't enough to get me up on the attrition game.

Final Thoughts

Pretty good experience, though I do wish the local meta started events a little earlier. I dropped before round five as I had no desire to get home at midnight. Thanks to Lucas for running it and to Haven for hosting it, and to all my opponents for a set of fun games. As for the pairing... well, I'm actually happy with it. Morghoul's an old favorite, and Zaal 2 looks to be interesting to mess around with. They'll be seeing more table time together.

Painting Update: Circle Orboros and Samurai

Finally finished some personal figures, and a commission for a friend - the first of many samurai for Ronin.

Perry Miniatures samurai in civilian clothes

Circle Orboros figures for hordes - that's two units of Shifting Stones, a Gorax, Warpwolf Stalker, Druid Wilder, and Stone Keeper.

Cog Collective Open & Field of Battle: Italy, 1859

Yesterday saw the Cog Collective Invitational and the accompanying Cog Collective Open at Guardian Games, a pair of Warmachine tournaments. The Invitational was the culmination of a year's worth of tournaments, with the best players in the Portland and Salem metas competing for bragging rights and a Cephalyx army. Congrats to Adam for taking first.

I, on the other hand, played in the Open and came in dead last. But I did have fun. I brought Circle Orboros, pairing Krueger 2 and Kaya 2.

Round 1: Krueger 2 vs. Siege Brisbane. Lost on assassination after a failed assassination run.
Round 2: Krueger 2 vs. Haley 2. Lost on assassination after a failed assassination run.
Round 3: Kaya 2 vs. Kromac 2. Lost on assassination after a failed assassination run.

You may notice a trend... Ah, well. To be fair, my dice did kind of fail me on round 2, but I didn't play terribly well, either. At this point, I think I'll just finish painting my Circle force in time for the Ticket Takedown in December, and then flip back to Skorne for 2016. I'm looking forward to messing around with the new Skorne Active Duty Roster - Hexeris 2, Morghoul 1, Makeda 3, and Zaal 2. (I'm also probably going to swap out Kaya 2 for Morvahna 2 so I can have some sweet, sweet dice-fixing in Circle.)

After the Open, I sat in on Victor's Piquet Field of Battle game, taking on the left flank of the Imperial Army in the 1859 Italian War of Independence.

Austrian center, as seen from the left, at deployment

Italian cavalry threatening the Austrian center

Austrian and Italian centers move into rifle range

It's a fun system, and Victor's 10mm Pendraken figures are almost enough to sell me on the scale. Unfortunately, I didn't get to do much due to the vagaries of Piquet and and the need for an early departure. I think Piquet - Field of Battle specifically - is better suited for one-on-one games instead of team games, just due to speed of play and the likelihood that one flank (i.e., mine) may end up rolling rather badly for activation and thus not do anything for two hours. C'est la guerre.

Painting Update: Summer 2015

It's miserably hot in Portland right now, which means I'll be spending as much time as possible in the basement, where it's cool, painting. The 2015 summer Cog Collective painting challenge is in full swing, so I'll be working toward that as well as polishing off a few unfinished projects that have been taking up space for far too long.

Cog Challenge

For this year, I'm limiting myself to just four projects, and I don't even expect to finish one of them. They are:

Essex post-Mongol Japanese army for DBA

Old Glory Crusaders, for SAGA
These probably won't get done, because I need to order spears and that probably won't happen till August

Krueger the Stormwrath, a Pureblood Warpwolf, and a Shadowhorn Satyr
These are for the summer Journeyman league, and about the only Warmachine models I plan on carrying out from start to finish this summer.

Battlefront WW2 Hungarian infantry, for a commission

As for unfinished projects, they are legion. In order of priority, more or less:

• Skorne Mammoth. Really need this for an anti-Cryx list.
• Kings of War Undead army. Interest in KoW is rising in Portland thanks to the imminent release of 2nd edition as well as GW's release of the very different Age of Sigmar to replace Warhammer Fantasy. This will invovle some rebasing, something I swore I would never do...
• Assorted Minion models for Warmachine - Gatorman Posse, Bog Trog Shamblers, and Efaarit Scouts.
• Not quite unfinished so much as not yet begun, but I have an army of Essex Attalid Pergamenes that I want to get finished so as to have something to throw against my Seleucid force in Field of Glory.

So that's a summer's worth of work, easily. We'll see how much actually gets done.

Battle Report: Cherry City Iron Gauntlet Qualifier

This past Saturday, I competed in an Iron Gauntlet tournament down in Salem, a qualifier for the Cherry City Invitational. Short version: Had a great time, went 2-2.

Long version!

Here's what I brought for my three lists:

Dominar Rasheth (Chain Gang theme force, Tier 4)
* Titan Gladiator
* Titan Sentry
* Titan Sentry
* Basilisk Krea
Agonizer
Agonizer
Paingiver Task Master
Paingiver Task Master
Gatorman Posse (max)
Gatorman Posse (max)
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)

Supreme Ascetic Naaresh
* Molik Karn
* Bronzeback Titan
* Titan Gladiator
* Basilisk Krea
* Cyclops Brute
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Nihilators
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max)


Void Seer Mordikaar
* Tiberion
* Basilisk Drake
* Basilisk Krea
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Nihilators (max)
Paingiver Bloodrunners
Cataphract Cetrati (max) + Tyrant Vorkesh
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer
Paingiver Beast Handlers (min)

Round One

Faced off against Sean playing Circle Orboros. The scenario was Two Fronts, and he chose to drop a Morvahna 2 list. I dropped Rasheth - my usual Circle choice.

Turn two begins

This was a straightforward game; Sean's list wasn't one he was practiced with, while I'd played against Morvahna 2 a couple weeks ago, run by a very good Circle player, with this exact same Rasheth list. So... his dice weren't doing him any favors either. The game ended with a Titan squashing Morvahana and 6 control points for me.

Final positions

Round Two

I was up against Brett, one of the better Legion of Everblight players in the area. He dropped Abyslonia 2 against my Naaresh list in Incoming.

Turn two under way

As you can see, he's sporting an Archangel in this list. It didn't do a whole lot this game, and he found its chief disadvantage was that he kept bumping into the wings as he leaned over to move models...

Regardless of this disadvantage, he went for an early assassination after I moved in to try for some control points on Naaresh's feat turn. I screwed up a bit, lost my Fate Walker move, and was unable to move Naaresh back to a safe position; he was able to walk his Scythean up and kill Naaresh. A good, quick game, though I'm still kicking myself over the error.

Final position, Naaresh gobbled up by a Scythean

Round Three

Circle Orboros again, this time played by Jeremy. He put down Morvahna 2, and I chose Rasheth again - locking myself into Mordikaar for round four.

This was a much tighter game than the first match. He went for a top of turn 2 assassination using War Wolves returned to play by Morvahna's feat, and damn near did it; it's only the fact that War Wolves can't use Sic 'Em if they're in melee that saved Rasheth from becoming dog chow.

After that, the game settled into an attrition slog in which I had the advantage. I managed to remove his Wold Wrath from the table on turn three or thereabouts, and slowly eliminated almost all of his units. He finally went for a Hail Mary: Morvahna had Blood Mark on her, but he was able to get a single charging Skinwalker on Rasheth, who transferred to Morvahna and thus killed her. Luckily, the blowthrough damage didn't kill Rasheth...

Final position - Rasheth transfers charge damage to Morvahna, killing her.

Round Four

Last game, I was up against Adam running Minions. Usually they're not a problem, but he was locked into a really solid matchup against me, with Maelok the Dreadbound versus my Mordikaar list.

Adam's first turn under way.

At first glance I thought this would be a pretty straightforward match, but it was actually extremely difficult. I feated coming up the board, as usual. That was a bit of a time walk, but I found I simply couldn't put out enough high-value attacks to remove three units of Tough Gatorman Posse all sitting at around armor 20 or so. After his feat turn, I had lost very nearly all my models, so I conceded and we called it a night.

Final position - Mordikaar has almost nothing left to swing with.

I had an excellent time, and I'm growing very fond of the Iron Gauntlet rounds. Doesn't hurt that I won a $20 gift certificate in the post-tournament raffle...

Just A Games Con Masters Tournament, April 18

I drove all the way down to Corvallis yesterday - ninety miles of gorgeous weather through farm country. Might have been the best part of the day, which tells you something about the games. I was attending the Just A Games Con for a small Warmachine Masters Tournament. It ended up with nine players, myself being the ninth, and I got the bye in the first round. So I only got to play two games...

First game was against Chadd's Circle Orboros. He was the only player at the tournament running with the Active Duty Roster, and was playing Mohsar/Cassius. The scenario was Recon, but that proved irrelevant for our game. He dropped Mohsar versus my Zaal list, and after adjusting with his ADR specialists, produced the following matchup:

Supreme Aptimus Zaal and Kovaas
* Aptimus Marketh
* Cyclops Raider
* Cyclops Shaman
Hakaar the Destroyer
Extoller Soulward
Gatorman Witch Doctor
Saxon Orrik
Paingiver Task Master
Gatorman Bokor and Bog Trog Swamp Shamblers
Venator Slingers (max)
Nihilators (max)
Immortals (max)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Mohsar the Desert Walker
* Ghetorix
* Megalith
* Gorax
Alten Ashley
Saxon Orrik
Gallows Grove
Gallows Grove
Shifting Stones + Stone Keeper
Tharn Bloodtrackers (max)
Farrow Slaughterhousers
Farrow Slaughterhousers

Mohsar won the roll and elected to go second. This was probably the right choice.

This was a bad matchup for four reasons:

1. Chadd's a good player, one of the best in our meta.
2. He just got into Skorne as a side army, so he knows what my stuff does.
3. He was able to swap out a heavy and put in the two units of Slaughterhousers to negate all the Tough I had on the field, plus add in some Remove From Play to prevent my Shambler Engine from working at full capacity.
4. I'd never played this Zaal list before.

So things didn't go well for the Skorne Empire. He was able to use the Pillars of Salt and the Bloodtrackers to dictate the terms of engagement in the center of board. First round he dropped pillars to prevent me from engaging the Bloodtrackers with much of anything; second round he used the Bloodtrackers to clear a space and did it again. Third round he went for a teleport assassination with Ghetorix and won the game. (I'd almost killed one of the stones on the prior turn, but the dice failed me!)

I had issues with deployment and unpacking my army - Hakaar never got into contention simply because he was jammed up, for example. The Slingers might have been very useful against the Pillars of Salt, but because I'd deployed first and put them off on one flank, they weren't able to get into effective range before they were killed off by Bloodtrackers and Slaughterhousers. Immortals, too, were pretty well jammed out of the fight by my own models.

So, some thoughts from this game:

• Practice! Have to practice deploying and unpacking first turn.
• This list probably wants to go second, just for some extra room in the deployment zone and for the ability to react to the opponent's deployment.
• I should probably drop Saxon and the Swamp Gobbers for a Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer. The extra 2" of movement from Press Forward will extend the threat range of the Slingers and help alleviate some of the unpacking issues.
• The Slingers and Immortals might end up being replaced, probably with Swordsmen or Karax and Venator Reivers or Keltarii (or a second unit of Nihilators). That'll have to wait for a few more test games in better matchups, though.
• Might want to drop the Gatorman Witch Doctor for an Ancestral Guardian. Again, needs some more games before I decide.

The second game was against Scott's Legion of Everblight. Scenario was Close Quarters, terrain was largely irrelevant. He'd lost both games in earlier rounds, so he went with his experimental Kallus list instead of Lyllyth 2. He also won the roll and went second. The lists were thus:

Makeda and the Exalted Court
* Molik Karn
* Bronzeback Titan
* Titan Gladiator
* Cyclops Brute
* Cyclops Brute
* Cyclops Shaman
Agonizer
Mortitheurge Willbreaker
Paingiver Beast Handlers (max)
Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew

Kallus, Wrath of Everblight
* Succubus
* Nephilim Soldier
* Zuriel
* Afflictor
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Fyanna the Lash
Strider Deathstalker
Strider Deathstalker
Totem Hunter
Blighted Nyss Legionnaires + Captain Farilor & Standard
Strider Blightblades
Spawning Vessel
Blackfrost Shard

This was a straight mash up that Scott lost on clock, as he'd never played this list before and it has a lot of moving pieces. If he'd not timed out, he probably would have won. At any rate, I went with the usual approach for Makeda's Brute Squad: Run up the table, then jam with the brutes and threaten with Makeda, Karn, and the Bronzeback. It would have worked, too, if not for Kallus' feat and the ambushing Blightblades. He advanced a bit more cautiously up the table, with his Legionnaires under their mini-feat and in Defensive Line, plus Unyielding from Kallus, putting them at a respectable ARM 22.

I put Makeda into position to dominate the near flag and jammed the left and right sides with a Brute each - not enough to tie up everything, but tying down about half his models and presenting him with targets that had to be dealt with. Karn killed off the Deathstalker on my left, then Fate Walked back, and here's where I made a critical mistake: I left him with 4 Fury and Makeda with 3. She wouldn't be able to leach him to empty. Everything else moved up to threaten.

His second turn he brought the Blightblades on to contest my flag, preventing me from scoring. They didn't do anything else during the game, but that was enough, since I had to deal with them. He killed of the Brutes, as expected, and it takes a considerable effort to do so, as expected. Then he popped feat, so any warriors I killed became Incubi - and, incidentally, that shuts down Makeda's feat as well, since her feat triggers on destroyed and Kallus' feat triggers on disabled. Third turn co9mes around and I rolled boxcars on Karn's frenzy check, essentially losing me the game - without his ability to kill scores of infantry, I can't chew through enough to overcome Kallus' numbers advantage. I gave it a shot anyway, and fail; at the very last, I trampled the Bronzeback through the Legionnaires to get to Kallus, but they knocked out his Spirit with free strikes so that was a bust.

He went for an assassination himself on his turn, with about six or eight minutes left on the clock, but it failed and he timed out. I might have been able to squeeze out a win, but it would have been dicy at best.

Lesson from this one:

• I probably should have been more aggressive. A few extra inches up the board on the first turn might have brought Karn and Makeda into position to feat on the Legionnaires on second turn, and thus remove them from the table, before Kallus got a chance to bring his feat into play.
• If not, perhaps I should have been a little less aggressive with the Brutes. If he'd had to charge them to eliminate the, Set Defense would have brought their DEF up to 15, which is quite a bit better...