Warmachine / Hordes battle report: Mercenaries vs Khador (75 points); 23Jul2020

Allan and I got together via Wartable for another round of Warmachine. I did ask if he wanted to avoid yet another game into Fiona but he was happy this time.

Game 7 – King of the Hill (scenario 1) vs Allan’s Khador

https://conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-24oHnV9vpb7jplfi7AnvnvnsnsiBiB62

Mercenaries
[Theme] Soldiers of Fortune

[Fiona 1] Fiona the Black [+27]
– Blockader [33]
– Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker [4]
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire [0(7)]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Dez [4]
Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye [4]
Stannis Brocker [0(7)]
Steelhead Arcanist [4]
Steelhead Arcanist [4]
Steelhead Cannon Crew [0(6)]
Steelhead Cannon Crew [6]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (max) [18]

This is more of the same; I’m very happy with the way that the list plays together despite a few missing options (mainly I seem to miss repair) so I’ve not changed anything. I’m tinkering with an Ossrum list in Soldiers of Fortune but I can’t get it to line up quite right and I’m not really sure that it answers any different match-ups anyway. Also, I’m not really good enough at the game to assess what is or isn’t a good match-up yet. Note that I accidentally clicked Volley Guns instead of Cannons when we played so the pictures are slightly wrong. It’s kind of embarrassing to have proxied models in a browser version of the game.

https://conflictchamber.com/?c3201b_-1m7akTkTkTkTkTkT8fhFhFlOkZoM6ichch

Khador
[Theme] Jaws of the Wolf

[Karchev 1] Karchev the Terrible [+30]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– Marauder [11]
– War Dog [3]
Greylord Forge Seer [0(4)]
Greylord Forge Seer [4]
Kovnik Apprentice Kratikoff [4]
– Rager [10]
Thamarite Archon [8]
Alexia Ciannor & the Risen [10]
Kayazy Eliminators [0(5)]
Kayazy Eliminators [0(5)]

This, or at least some variation on it, is Allan’s list to pair with a swarm of Doom Reavers. It certainly asks very different questions, specifically ‘can you chew through all these boxes at ARM20?’ I was really interested to see how this game would go.

I win the roll-off but decide that I prefer to lumber Allan the side with all the annoying terrain; he takes the first move. My vague plan is to gum up his Warjacks on Halberdiers for as long as possible and score scenario until I win. Looking at the right side of the board I reckon that I can jam up his Warjacks with that house and keep them out of the zone to hopefully rack up a decent score elsewhere. The Halberdiers on the right are Cultists.

Turn 1: Khador
Everyone runs! Slightly to my surprise, Sorscha also runs instead of casting any spells. Karchev casts Battle Charged and makes sure to stay close to the Rager, though I doubt I can get anywhere near him.

Turn 1: Mercenaries
All my stuff also runs. Allan’s limited threat ranges mean that I can just go full speed ahead with the Halberdiers as long as I don’t trigger Counter-Charge; even if any Marauders can get into a Halberdier I don’t really care. Fiona puts Roth’s Mercy on the Halberdiers on the right and eventually I end up putting Occultation on the Cavalry as the only things in range are spell-immune Risen.

Turn 2: Khador
Karchev upkeeps Battle Charged but nothing is allocated. The Risen run and the Thamarite Archon shoots them in the back to create a cloud wall on the left. Over on the far left the Eliminators kill a couple of Steelheads, but they’ll be back. I forgot to take a screenshot.

Turn 2: Mercenaries
The Cavalry and Halberdiers on the right kill off one Eliminator; annoyingly, I roll triple 1 on a damage roll for the other to leave her alive. The Cannon on the left takes a shot at Karchev which of course is Shield Guarded onto the Rager; Dez and the other Cannon knock down a couple of Marauders. The Blockader gets powered up by the Arcanists and immolates both Eliminators on that side and takes out the objective. Fiona uses her Feat but I forgot to note if she did anything else of interest. I score both the left zone and the objective for 2 – 0, but if I’d been playing a bit more cleverly I could have had the central zone (with one of the Cannon crews) and the flag (with Sylys or Dez). Annoyingly my screenshot didn’t save properly so I can’t upload it.

Turn 3: Khador
Battle Charged is dropped and three Focus are allocated between Marauders 2 and 3. The Thamarite Archon kills a few of the blocking Halberdiers on the left and Karchev picks off another but not enough to prevent anything going into the Blockader from having to sit in Fiona’s Feat. Karchev uses his own Feat and casts Jump Start to sort out those Warjacks that I knocked down last turn. The Marauder that can get into the Blockader cripples its right arm. Alexia creates a Thrall that rather helpfully misses it’s attack in the centre and most of the Warjacks on the right have to run to contest. No scoring so we stay at 2 – 0.

Turn 3: Mercenaries
The Blockader clears the left zone. All my firepower goes into the Marauder sitting by the flag but I can’t finish it. I was hoping to kill it and sit something on the flag, then run Fiona to the right zone and just win the game there and then which is why I didn’t Befuddle or Curse of Veils the big lump. In the end, the Steelheads on the right mess about and still fail to deal with the Eliminator and then Fiona just runs to the zone camping 7. I’m hoping that between that and the sea of Halberdiers that she’ll be safe from the Warjacks over there. I score the left and right zones; 4 – 0.

Turn 4: Khador
Allan’s in a tricky position here because he needs to get enough work done on my army without just ceding the scenario entirely. In the end, he allocates two focus to Marauder #6 and one to #1. The Thamarite Archon kills one of my Arcanists and a hatful of Halberdiers on the left. Sorscha puts Boundless Charge on Marauder #1 and it tramples into the Blockader killing three Halberdiers in the process. A second Marauder leaves my colossal on two boxes and the Forge Seer finishes the job with Hoarfrost. In the centre the last Risen and Thrall fail to kill the Halberdier, then various Marauders kill a bunch of Halberdiers but Roth’s Mercy ensures that the ones I need to stay alive are indeed alive. Karchev moves to the zone and tries to kill Dez but misses. We both score the outside zones; 5 – 1.

Turn 4: Mercenaries
I just move to contest the left zone and score the right again; 6 – 1. Mercenaries win by scenario.

That was a very fun game, and it was nice to have a game where it felt like I really had the tools to do everything needed. I think that I’m quite advantaged against this kind of list as I can snarl up the Marauders for ages with recurring Halberdiers and having a small number of quality melee attacks is exactly what I want to have stuck on Fiona’s Feat.

Things I learned:

• I spent a lot of time messing about on the left in turn 2 deciding how to get around the cloud wall before eventually giving up. I forgot that I could have just used the Steelhead Arcanist to cast Wind Thrower to make them all go away.
• Also in my turn 2 I missed a gifted chance to get up to 4 – 0 at the cost of only Sylys (who wasn’t really doing a great deal) and maybe a Cannon crew. I think that would have made the game unplayable for Allan as he would have had to spend much more effort stopping me from just winning outright on scenario.
• This list is really going to struggle against high armour as I just don’t have the hitting power outside the Blockader. On the other hand, I do have some good control in the Cannons, Dez and Befuddle, although Karchev’s Jump Start rather negates some of that.

Painted Ultron

Here’s Ultron from Marvel Crisis Protocol. Ultron’s a bit different from the other characters because not only can he be used in the normal game play but also there is a special mission where Ultron fights alone against a full crew of Supers; there is even an AI checklist so that two real players can team up against him. We haven’t actually tried that though.

The miniature has a nice pose but is slightly boring to paint since Ultron is pretty much all one colour. In this case my son had done about half of the work before losing interest and handing him back so I just tidied up, added the red flashes and sorted out the base. Quick and easy.

Next on the painting table: Geishas.

Painted Grundback Blasters

These are a pair of Grundback Blasters to go in my Warmachine Mercenaries army. They’re basically just Grundback Gunners with a different weapon, in this case a machine gun that fires a spray template. This combined with their Powerful Attack ability makes them very good for clearing out jamming infantry. Blasters are tough enough to be resilient to small arms fire but they don’t last long if something serious gets launched at them; luckily they’re cheap and self-sufficient so I’m never too worried if something wrecks them.

Like the Gunners, I wanted to give the Blasters a fairly standard, factory-made look so I’ve kept a simple and consistent colour scheme which matches the other Rhulic Warjacks. I’ve just acquired another few of these little cuties so I might have to start adding in some more variations with the next batch.

Next on the painting table: Ultron.

Warmachine / Hordes battle report: Mercenaries vs Protectorate of Menoth (75 points); 18Jul2020

Marc and I arranged another game of Warmachine / Hordes via Wartable. We ended up rescheduling a couple of times before finally getting online at the same moment but it was worth it. Being able to scratch my wargaming itch without even leaving the house is an unexpected upside of this global pandemic.

Game 6 – Bunkers (scenario 2) vs Marc’s Protectorate of Menoth

https://conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-24oHnV9vpb7jplfi7AnvnvnsnsiBiB62

Mercenaries
[Theme] Soldiers of Fortune

[Fiona 1] Fiona the Black [+27]
– Blockader [33]
– Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker [4]
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire [0(7)]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Dez [4]
Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye [4]
Stannis Brocker [0(7)]
Steelhead Arcanist [4]
Steelhead Arcanist [4]
Steelhead Cannon Crew [0(6)]
Steelhead Cannon Crew [6]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (max) [18]

I’ve stayed again with the same list. I feel like its biggest weakness is going to be against gunlines that can take my force apart without dealing with Fiona’s Feat and tinkering with the solo loadout here isn’t going to improve that match-up.

https://conflictchamber.com/?c2201b_-1q1b1q1X3ImelUlUoRoLoLlM1q3C3z3z3B2_3G3H

Protectorate
[Theme] The Creator’s Might

[Reznik 1] High Executioner Servath Reznik [+28]
– Dervish [7]
– Guardian [15]
– Scourge of Heresy [16]
– Hierophant [3]
Exemplar Warder [0(5)]
Exemplar Warder [5]
Hermit of Henge Hold [5]
Menite Archon [8]
Menite Archon [8]
Scrutator Potentate Severius [0(6)]
– Dervish [7]
The Covenant of Menoth [4]
Vassal of Menoth [0(3)]
Vassal of Menoth [0(3)]
Wrack [1]
Choir of Menoth (min) [4]
Idrian Skirmishers (max) [15]
– Idrian Skirmisher Chieftain & Guide [5]

Marc’s stated goal here was to remind himself that Reznik1 is a bad Warcaster. I think I’ve only faced Reznik1 a single time before (also under Marc’s control) so I’m not in much of a position to comment, but anyway my experience with Warmachine in general has been that good players can beat me even with ‘bad’ Warcasters so it might not matter anyway.

Anastasia helps me win the roll-off and I pick to go first so that I can get my spells out and claim some board space before the Idrians get in my way. That house right in the middle of my zone makes deployment a bit awkward as I either need to leave a huge gap in my lines to pass it, or spend some of my turn 1 movement getting round it laterally. In retrospect I possibly should have had Stannis and some more Steelheads in that area so at least they wouldn’t have jammed each other up. The Halberdiers on the left are my Cultists. Both Warders have an Archon as their Client and the Idrians choose my Cavalry as their Prey. The Idrians start with Ignite.

Turn 1: Mercenaries
To no-one’s surprise, everything I have runs forward. Fiona casts Roth’s Mercy on the left Halberdiers and Occultation on the Cavalry; being able to Channel spells through my Cultists is really useful.

Turn 1: Protectorate of Menoth
Reznik Allocates two to Scourge of Heresy. Most of Marc’s force runs up fairly circumspectly and I wonder if I can jam him out of the centre entirely and just keep the Archon on the right busy by contesting that Flag all game. Severius casts Road To War. The Vassals give Enliven to the Guardian and Scourge of Heresy and the Choir sing Passage.

Turn 2: Mercenaries
The Halberdiers on the right run to get in the way of the Archon without giving away too many of themselves to a Thresher. I make sure that at least one is tucked in behind the house to contest that Flag while being annoying to remove. My Cannon shoots the Guardian, knocking it down along with Scourge of Heresy and the Dervish. I’m feeling a bit more like I can bully with the Blockader now so it gets Empowered by the Arcanists and stomps up to immolate Severius’s Dervish (leaving it on a handful of boxes) and also put some damage into the Covenant. The Halberdiers on the left run to jam and one makes sure to engage the Archon. The Cavalry go in so I can get a full Flank charge attack into the Menite Archon but it doesn’t even manage to hit. I do take out a few Idrians in the way, but this was rather half-hearted as I was originally hoping to avoid boosting the Archon’s armour until I realised that I probably couldn’t even get a single attack without killing at least one Idrian. Fiona Arcs a fully boosted Soulfire into Severius but sadly I roll low on damage and leave the old man alive. I’m feeling fairly safe in the centre and my Feat won’t really stymie the Archons as the Halberdiers are spread too wide so I decide not to use Fiona’s Feat.

Turn 2: Protectorate of Menoth
The Archon on the left kills one of my Steelhead Cavalry with Vengeance. All the Warjacks shake Knock Down. Reznik Allocates two to Scourge of Heresy and both he and Severius drop their upkeeps. The Vassals Empower Scourge and the Guardian, the Choir sing Battle and the Hierophant uses Harmonious Exaltation. The Hermit strolls forward and uses Telemetry. Reznik casts Engine of Destruction, uses his Wrack (which explodes) and boosts a Perdition into a Steelhead. I kill a different Steelhead with Roth’s Mercy and Marc realises that his plan has failed. We rewind to have the Menite Archon knock Roth’s Mercy off the Halberdiers and eventually Reznik Feats, kills the blocking models and Scourge of Heresy is launched forward toward my zone. The terrain means that it has to waste the charge attack pulverising Dez and only one attack actually hits Fiona; it’s not enough so Marc concedes as there is no way he can stop the Blockader from flattening Reznik next turn. Mercenaries win by concession; it seems that I forgot to take one final picture.

That was a fun game, if unexpectedly short. In retrospect, I think that Marc was always and only aiming to go for the jank assassination sending Scourge of Heresy across the board from downtown so once he saw his opportunity he just went for it. If I had used Fiona’s Feat in my turn 2 the assassination would have been (even more) impossible and I’m not sure if he had enough firepower to really make inroads into my force without just having the Blockader bully the centre.

Things I learned:

• Feating in turn 2 might almost always be the right play as it can stop some crazy assassinations as well as protect my army.
• Knock Down from the Cannons (and Dez) is really fun when the other army isn’t loaded down with Shield Guards, Steady, Rise etc. Just wasting a focus to shake the effect makes it worth it, even if I can’t get more attacks in.

Painted Spider-Man

This is the ever-youthful and iconic Spider-Man for Marvel Crisis Protocol. In the core box he’s ‘just’ another hero but I know that there is a forthcoming ‘Web Warriors’ affiliation that he is presumably part of. This particular one is Peter Parker and I’m not sure if the leader of the Web Warriors will be him or Miles Morales. Or, for that matter, one of the numerous other linked heroes / anti-heroes from the comics; my preference would be Madame Web.

It felt good to paint Spider-Man; he (along with the X-Men) was my Saturday morning cartoon of choice way back in the dim and distant past and I feel like he’s come out of the various films since then quite well. The paint scheme itself was quite easily selected; despite the many alternate costumes Spider-Man has had, there is only one classic to use. As with the other Crisis Protocol miniatures, I’ve kept a bright, primary colour-heavy style to fit in with the comics and cartoons.

Next on the painting table: Grundback Blasters.

Painted Hinamatsu

This is Hinamatsu, a Henchman for my long-neglected Malifaux collection. It is strictly a part of the Neverborn faction but has a keyword that allows it to join an Qi ang Gong crew in Ten Thunders which is where I am aiming for now. However, I haven’t actually played any meaningful amount of Malifaux lately so I’m not sure how Hinamatsu fits into the wider game. In M2E it was a hilarious blending machine with those four katanas so I’m hoping that M3E has been similarly kind.

I absolutely love the sculpt for Hinamatsu; it just oozes grace without being over-stated. I deliberately kept a straightforward colour scheme with the greens for clothing and brown for the mannequin as I just felt that this was the kind of character that should be classy and avoid ostentation attire. Hinamatsu was a joy to paint and came out just the way I was hoping.

I dedicate this post to Azazel‘s Jewel of July blogging challenge. As a leader of a crew (or Henchman in most cases), Hinamatsu fits as a jewel of my collection. Thanks, as always, to Azazel for organising these blogging challenges.

Next on the painting table: Spider-Man.

Warmachine / Hordes battle report: Mercenaries vs Khador (75 points); 15Jul2020

I found another free evening (funny how clear my social calendar seems to be at the moment) to get in a game of Warmachine with Allan over Wartable. I was planning to put down a list with General Ossrum but got side-tracked and didn’t want to delay further so I stuck with the same Fiona list in Soldiers of Fortune since there is still a lot to learn with it.

Game 5 – Anarchy (scenario 5) vs Allan’s ‘Khador’

https://conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-24oHnV9vpb7jplfi7AnvnvnsnsiBiB62

Mercenaries
[Theme] Soldiers of Fortune

[Fiona 1] Fiona the Black [+27]
– Blockader [33]
– Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker [4]
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire [0(7)]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Dez [4]
Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye [4]
Stannis Brocker [0(7)]
Steelhead Arcanist [4]
Steelhead Arcanist [4]
Steelhead Cannon Crew [0(6)]
Steelhead Cannon Crew [6]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (max) [18]

No change to the list for the last few games. I’m really enjoying it; there are choices to make every game, and opportunities for me to get order-of-activation wrong.

https://conflictchamber.com/?c3201b_-1Gp9lVjCjCoR3E8p8poLoL3z3z3B2_nini

Khador
[Theme] Warriors of the Old Faith

[Reznik 2] Servath Reznik, Wrath of Ages [+29]
– Judicator [35]
Champion of the Order of the Wall [8]
Champion of the Order of the Wall [8]
Hermit of Henge Hold [0(5)]
High Paladin Dartan Vilmon [0(6)]
Man-O-War Drakhun [9]
Man-O-War Drakhun [9]
Menite Archon [8]
Menite Archon [8]
Vassal of Menoth [0(3)]
Vassal of Menoth [0(3)]
Wrack [1]
Choir of Menoth (min) [4]
Initiates of the Wall [7]
Initiates of the Wall [7]

Allan is using ‘Khador’ this time, by which I mean Protectorate with a pair of actual Khador cavalry in it. It would in theory be paired with a proper Khador list but it amuses me that it could also be paired with another Warriors list and therefore be categorised as either Khador or the Protectorate depending on what the player wanted to call them.

I get to go first and Allan gives me the bottom side so that I have to work with that house in the middle of where I want my army to go. I put one unit of Halberdiers on that side and figure that I’m pretty much going to abandon them to their fate. Everything else goes on the left of the house with the Cavalry on the very far left in the hope that I can push through and take the centre if the game goes on for a long time. I pick the Eyeless Sight objective so that I can shoot through the big central cloud if needed. The Halberdiers on the left are my Cultists.

Turn 1: Mercenaries
I run forward to set the line of the game as high as I can. Fiona casts Roth’s Mercy on the left Halberdiers and Occultation on the Cavalry.

Turn 1: Khador
The Vassals Empower the Judicator and the Choir sing Passage on it. It strides forward and explodes a couple of Halberdiers. This is fine for me as it gives Alexia a couple of Souls for next turn and Sgt Nick can just bring them back anyway. Reznik casts Lamentation and puts Death March on the Initiates on the right.

Turn 2: Mercenaries
The Halberdiers on both sides run and spread out to block off as much space as possible. The Cannon on the right dismounts the Drakhun on that side. Alexia creates a pair of Thrall Warriors that run to apply Mark Target in the centre, then the Blockader walks up and knocks both Champions off their horses (the Hermit prevents one attack but I had enough to bring them both down anyway). Fiona misses an Arcane Secrets Soulfire into Reznik. I was hoping to keep him a bit on the back foot by sticking some early damage onto him, plus I didn’t want to trigger all the various forms of Vengeance attacks in case I actually did kill something. She puts Curse of Veils onto the Judicator, also in the hope that it will keep it a bit further back so that I can bully more effectively with the Blockader, then she uses her Feat. I took the screenshot before I moved the Halberdiers on the right.

Turn 2: Khador
Reznik upkeeps both spells and the Vassals and Choir do their thing. The Hermit runs to get in the way of my Blockader. Reznik applies his Curse to the left Halberdiers but otherwise stays well back. The solos in the middle kill a few of my disposable infantry though the Menite Archon knocks Roth’s Mercy off the Halberdiers. The Judicator rains fire and rockets across the battlefield, killing a good number of Halberdiers, then the Drakhun and Initiates move to make it hard to get into effectively. On the right, the Menite Archon kills another couple of Halberdiers. Allan scores his flag; 1 – 0.

Turn 3: Mercenaries
Anastasia comes in on the right. The Steelheads over there make a couple of good CMAs into the Menite Archon, leaving it on only a single box. Anastasia follows up with a back-strike and then fails to break armour. I am sad, but this is going to make for an epic Thresher attack next turn. After a lot of wangling I get Dez to shoot the Hermit, slamming him clear of the Blockader. It walks forward and shoots Reznik by targeting the Menite Archon but between low rolls and the many Focus Reznik had available I don’t end up doing a great deal. The Halberdiers and Cannon put a little damage onto the Judicator; I really want to get the Cavalry in there with the Flank bonus but Allan has played well to block landing spots. I do use them to take out a couple of the Initiates on that side. Alexia creates some more Thrall Warriors and they run to take up as much space as possible. I score my flag with Dez; 1 – 1.

Turn 3: Khador
Various Vengeance attacks kill some the lead Thralls and Halberdiers. Reznik upkeeps Lamentation but drops Death March. The Vassal and Choir power-up the Judicator again, and the Hermit stands up and uses his -2 ARM aura. The Menite Archon and the Initiates put some tasty damage into my Blockader. Reznik Feats, Curses the Halberdiers, charges into the Blockader and scraps it easily. He then hilariously misses a couple of swings into Halberdier, wasting his Focus. The Menite Archon on the right gets the world’s greatest Thresher, killing Anastasia and all of the Halberdiers bar 1; one of them was killed by a Feat explosion. The Drakhun saunters over and stabs the survivor. The other Drakhun clears some space for the Judicator and it walks up and immolates Alexia to the box and then kills the Cannon crew on the left with a perfect shot of the rocket pods. Neither of us score.

Turn 4: Mercenaries
Reznik is definitely killable this turn. The surviving Cannon gets Eyeless sight and shoots Reznik but I forgot that Vilmon is also a Shield Guard so he gets exploded instead. Dez shoots Reznik and my dice roll crazy high. Fiona backs out of Lamentation Range and channels a couple of Soulfires into Reznik, and Stannis contributes with his handcannon now that Reznik has used up his Focus. The last couple of Halberdiers go in and finish the job; even if that failed I had a Cavalry who could probably have made it, and also a surviving Thrall Warrior. Mercenaries win by assassination.

That was a highly satisfying game. I would almost have liked to have ‘saved the game’ at the start of my turn 3 as I really wonder if a better move with the Blockader would have been just to shuffle around and immolate the Hermit, Drakhun and Initiates instead of putting some fairly unexciting damage onto Reznik.

Things I learned:

• Arcanists handing out magical weapons to Steelheads in their command range is really nice if you have Cannons that you want to shoot into Reznik. Admittedly, that feels like a rather specific niche but it’s rather nice for plenty of other cases too; being able to keep Incorporeal models in check is good on a model that I’m mainly just taking to Empower the Blockader anyway.
• I still don’t have a good way to deal with Menite Archons. Their defensive stats are really high and even once I get through those they have a lot of boxes. This is hardly new news but I really had it brought home to me after the Archon on my right took a full Steelhead unit and Anastasia, survived and then wiped the lot out next turn.
• I’m really finding it hard to get work out of the Blockader. Perhaps unsurprisingly, other players are keen to box it in with chaff and then when I do move it up I almost always lose it. I guess that this is probably OK if, as here, it forces something big to come in to do the job and let’s me get them in return. But I’m always left with the feeling that I could have had it do more.

Painted Baron Zemo

Here is Baron Zemo, one of the baddies from Marvel Crisis Protocol. I wasn’t really aware of Zemo until the MCU film in which he appears, and even with that I didn’t really link him to the comic book character presented in Crisis Protocol. I think that is partly because of the relative lack of popularity of Captain America (and hence his associated baddies) here during my youth, or maybe it was just a timing thing; I know that my uncles had a lot of those comics.

Being unfamiliar with the character I went with a direct copy of Zemo’s costume as presented on the stat card for the game. I have no idea why he wears a purple flannel and crown combo over his head but sometimes supervillains just like to set their own styles. It was quite nice to paint the contrast between the normal jacket, trousers and boots and then the purple stuff he wears over his skin. I read once that Marvel in particular tended to use red and blue for the goodies and green and purple for the baddies to make it easier to tell who was on which side, so perhaps that it part of the explanation.

Next on the painting table: Hinamatsu.

Warmachine / Hordes battle report: Mercenaries vs Khador (75 points); 13Jul2020

Allan and I got together again via the magic of Wartable for another Warmachine match-up. We use a group Discord channel for the voice which is quite fun as we sometimes get other friends joining in to heckle and/or change the names of our objectives to something amusing.

Game 4 – Bunkers (scenario 2) vs Allan’s Khador

https://conflictchamber.com/?c6201b_-24oHnV9vpb7jplfi7AnvnvnsnsiBiB62

Mercenaries
[Theme] Soldiers of Fortune

[Fiona 1] Fiona the Black [+27]
– Blockader [33]
– Sylys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker [4]
Alexia, Mistress of the Witchfire [0(7)]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Dez [4]
Sergeant Nicolas Verendrye [4]
Stannis Brocker [0(7)]
Steelhead Arcanist [4]
Steelhead Arcanist [4]
Steelhead Cannon Crew [0(6)]
Steelhead Cannon Crew [6]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Halberdiers (max) [11]
Steelhead Heavy Cavalry (max) [18]

This is the same list as before and I’m really enjoying it. Not everything plays well in each game but I do feel that all the pieces have their place. For example, Dez could easily be one of the numerous other good Merc solos but there are times when being able to reach out and slam someone around has been very handy.

https://conflictchamber.com/?c3201b_-1S787p7phFhF8h8hoMpipinfnfnfnfnn
Khador
[Theme] Wolves of Winter

[Irusk 1] Kommandant Irusk [+27]
– Destroyer [14]
– Destroyer [14]
Greylord Forge Seer [0(4)]
Greylord Forge Seer [0(4)]
Koldun Lord [4]
Koldun Lord [4]
Thamarite Archon [8]
Void Archon [8]
Void Archon [8]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10]
Greylord Ternion [0(7)]

Allan is back on the Doom Reavers in his endless quest to apparently play them with every Warcaster apart from the one that they are famous for being good with. This time I’m up against Irusk1.
Despite Anastasia’s assistance I once again lose the roll-off and Allan chooses to go first. I give him the side with the houses in the hope that it’ll cluster up his onrushing swarms of Doom Reavers enough that I can actually do something to them on the way to me. I go for a somewhat symmetrical deployment with the Blockader near the objective so that it can get Eyeless Sight and attack through those clouds and the Cavalry on the right to take advantage of the slightly wider spaces. I end up with a cluster of solos in the centre which is probably not ideal but I’ll aim to spread them out a bit as I unpack on turn 1. The right unit of Halberdiers are Fiona’s Cultists.

Turn 1: Khador
Everything runs right at me, probably screaming in the case of the Doom Reavers. Irusk puts Superiority on the left Destroyer.

Turn 1: Mercenaries
I run up too; I’m tempted to try to stay out of ‘walk and stab’ range of the Doom Reavers but that will cede far too much board space to Allan so I just spread out with the Halberdiers as much as possible to limit the number that can go down to a single Berserk chain. Between the various shots I can send downrange I do drop a few Doom Reavers though more than I’m comfortable with pass Tough checks and hence require a second attack. The Cannon on the left takes Eyeless Sight from the Objective and shoots the Destroyer on that side but I sadly am informed that Superiority prevents knock down. Oh well, the damage is quite good. Fiona uses her Feat to blunt the incoming Doom Reaver avalanche and badly hurts the right Void Archon with a channelled Soulfire. The blast damage helpfully kills the Koldun Lord on that side, then she finishes by putting Roth’s Mercy on the Cultist Halberdiers.

Turn 2: Khador
Superiority is dropped and the Objective gives Irusk Eyeless Sight, though I am not really sure why. The Forge Seers Empower both Warjacks, then Irusk moves forward (just outside of Fiona’s Feat, in fact) and uses his Feat. He shoots a Steelhead, casts Inhospitable Ground and then uses Airburst to get another couple of Halberdiers. The right Destroyer lobs a shot forward and kills Dez to the box. The Void Archon sprays to kill more Halberdiers on the right, then teleports to safety behind the building. The Thamarite Archon kills some Steelheads on the left, turning two of them into clouds of ash, and the other Void Archon strolls up to sit on the left flag. Doom Reavers come forward to take out what is left of my front line of Halberdiers, leaving them looking rather depleted. Finally, the Koldun Lord moves up to just catch the Blockader under Wind Ravager.

Turn 2: Mercenaries
Clearing out a substantial number of Doom Reavers will be needed here and that could be dicey under Irusk’s Feat. On the other hand, Irusk is within range to be barbecued by the Blockader if I can make a bit of space so it gets Eyeless Sight. The Halberdiers and Cavalry on the right strip back most of the front line of Doom Reavers, though this is made harder when Allan passes the first 8 Tough checks in a row. Ironically, it’s completely unnecessary since I was only doing it to get a clear path for some Thralls to Irusk for Mark Target but because of Inhospitable Ground they can’t get remotely near him. The Cannon on the left shoots the Koldun Lord to remove Wind Ravager. The Cannon on the right takes an opportunistic shot at Irusk and it’s my turn to be lucky, getting the hit and rolling like crazy for damage; sadly Irusk is Steady due to his Feat. Fiona hears Arcane Secrets from Sylys and the Arcanists Empower the Blockader. I might as well use Fiona so she slings a fully boosted Soulfire into Irusk for some very tasty damage and follows up with a Curse of Veil just because by this point I was all-in on the assassination. The Blockader strolls over and immolates Irusk with the first flamethrower; it turned out that he was only on a single box by that point. He does not pass his Tough roll. Mercenaries win by assassination.

Many thanks to Allan for being a fun opponent. We were having a good chat during the game and I was a bit sorry in that sense to bring the game to an end with an assassination that, had it not worked, would have surely had me counter-assassinated the following turn. Still, it was quite gratifying to find that my list had a lot of tools for putting damage onto a Warcaster. I got rather lucky with the dice to shoot Irusk with my cannon but even with that missing I had plenty of things that could put more damage around. If I’d gone for attrition, I’m not sure how well I might have fared. The Doom Reavers need a lot of attacks to handle under 4+ Tough and Steady and even without them there is the small matter of three Archons and two Destroyers.

Things I learned:

• Fiona has a lot of tools that I’m not really using well. I struggled to work around Inhospitable Ground and only realised this morning that I could have used Chasten to get it off Irusk. That alone would probably have given me more tools to deal with the Doom Reavers by applying more Halberdiers to the problem.
• Thinking back on it, I wonder if it was right to use Fiona’s Feat in turn one. In the end, Allan killed everything he went for and I think that most of what survived was out of reach anyway. So possibly I would be better to save it for one more turn where the lines really clash. On the other hand, perhaps the fear of the impact of the Feat kept Allan from committing into my second line and did save some of my models.
• Having to choose between shooting Dez’s bazooka and using Dig In is really hard. This time I managed to slam two Doom Reavers into each other which was probably worth it but almost every game I have a moment when I wish I had chosen the other option.

Painted Ogrun Ironmongers

These are Black Ogrun Iron Mongers for my Warmachine Cryx force. They’re basically very tough mechanics within the Scourge of the Broken Coast theme force but as a small unit they would certainly have a place scoring circular zones in the late game too. I have to admit that I’ve never played them or even really thought much about doing so; I got this unit as part of a second hand lot and painted them up as I have plenty of time on my hands in the evenings during this pandemic.

I really enjoyed painting the Iron Mongers; they’re a very characterful unit and I quite like the modest poses to go with their relatively unassuming role in the game. The boys have fish hanging from their belts and that’s the kind of little detail that can bring a miniature to life for me. The leader is my favourite though; I love the nonchalant way that she’s chewing on that cigar. She in particular would make a good Shadowrun character. The gas-masked Iron Monger is using a spare head from Hutchuk; the original head rolled out of sight during assembly and I swapped Hutchuk’s in before I eventually found the proper one. Somehow I find it fitting in Warmachine that a welder would go bare-chested but don a full gas-mask.

Next on the painting table: Baron Zemo.