Warmachine Battle Report: Khador (Vlad 3) vs. Khador (Old Witch) - Steamroller 2016: The Pit

Here's today's Lists:

Warcaster: Old Witch
Warjack: Scrapjack
Warjack: Behemoth
Unit: Kayazy Assassins
Unit Attachment: Kayazy Underboss
Unit: Winter Guard Rifle Corps
Unit Attachment: Rocketeers x3
Unit: Widowmaker Scouts
Solo: Widowmaker Marksman
Solo: Kell Bailoch
Solo: Alten Ashley
Solo: Eiryiss 1

Warcaster: Vlad 3
Warjack: Conquest
Unit: Iron Fang Uhlans
Unit: Greylord Outriders
Solo: Iron Fang Markov
Solo: Fenris
Solo: Man-O-War Drakhun

Old Witch - The Old Witch has some unique abilities, first being Field Marshall: Apparition. This is going to allow Warjacks in her Battlegroup to reposition 2" during the Maintenance phase. The goal would be to use Apparition along with Gallows to give Behemoth some extended threat ranges while shooting and charging.

She can also pull off some fun tricks herself with her Unseen Path spell which allows her to be placed completely within 2" of Scrapjack.  You can use her to take out some infantry and collect souls and Yo-Yo her back to Scrapjack.

The other significant spell is Iron Flesh. We're going to try this on the Kayazy Assassins and hope that with Stealth and no blast damage, that they'll get behind enemy lines and push the line of battle up on the opponent's side and when the time comes she can give them Battle Lust so they can wreck face.

Wield Secrets is kind of interesting and we may put it on the Rifle Corps to allow them to ignore Cover. It also might help a little against tables with lots of terrain since it gives Pathfinder.

Her Feat seems fairly useless as it got nerfed into the ground from MK2. This Feat will keep some infantry back for a turn but she normally has no problem with dealing with them anyway. We'll see how it plays out.

Vlad 3 - Vlad 3's army is my current fun favorite list to play but I just can't seem to get any real work done on his Feat turn.  Now that he'll have a ton of Infantry to fight against we might get to see some good Sprint positioning. The Sniper line might give his Cavalry a hard time but I think the Conquest will help close out the game once the Behemoth has been dealt with.

Deployment - Vlad 3 wins the die roll and opts to go 2nd. Old witch deploys her Rifle Corp to the bottom and the Kayazy in the Center. The Old Witch and Behemoth deploy toward the middle as well. Eiryiss, Kell Bailoch, Widowmaker Scouts, Marksman, and Alten Ashley advance deploy to try to stop the Greylord Outriders from spraying all their infantry to death.

Vlad 3 deploys toward his friendly flag in hopes to score first. He puts the Uhlans toward the bottom to help protect it and the Greylord Outriders towards the top to spray down on the Kayazy. Conquest holds the center.

Top of Turn 1: Old Witch - The Old Witch activates and casts Iron Flesh on the Kayazy Assassins giving them +2 ARM and immunity to Blast Damage. She casts Avatar of Slaughter on Scrapjack which makes +2 MAT and +2 STR along with giving him Berserk and Overtake. Then she casts Wield Secrets on the Rifle Corp which gives them Pathfinder and allows them to ignore Cover & Concealment.

Everyone moves up but not too far up because some of the Cavalry can run 20" up the board and engage them.

Bottom of Turn 1: Vlad 3 - Vlad 3 activates and casts Dash giving all his Warrior models +1 SPD. He gives Infernal Machine to Conquest which gives him +2 SPD and Murderous (Extra die to attack vs. living models) and Hand of Fate on the Greylord Outriders which gives them an extra die, dropping the lowest on attacks and damages.

The Uhlans run up and get base to base so they get their +2 ARM bonuses. Vlad moves behind his friendly flag and the Greylord Outriders set up just so they are out of range of the Kayazy Assassins. Conquest runs up 12" and tries to get into the center zone.

Top of Turn 2: Old Witch - The Old Witch upkeeps Iron Flesh for free on the Kayazy Assassins because of her Great Power ability, Wield Secrets on the Rifle Corps, and Avatar of Slaughter on Scrapjack. She also allocates 1 to Behemoth. The Kayazy Assassins charge in and easily destroy an Uhlan and position themselves outside of the Greylord Outrider's sprays.

Kovnik Joe gives the For the Motherland speech which gives the Rifle Corps boosted attacks. The Rifle Corps then make a 7 man CRA on one Uhlan hoping to kill it but leave it on 2 boxes. The other 3 take their CRA and damage another. The Rocketeers finish off the remaining boxes and end up kill 2 Uhlans.

Behemoth moves in and launches 2x shots against Conquest softening him up. The Widowmakers, Marksmen, Kell Bailoch, and Eiryiss also take shots at Conquest further weakening him.

The Old Witch moves up next to her friendly flag and pops her feat making it so if anyone ends their movement within 14" of her they take an unboostable POW 14 and if any Warrior models take damage, they become knocked down.

Bottom of Turn 2: Vlad 3 - This is going to be a rough round for Vlad and his Cavalry because of the Old Witch's Feat. Vlad upkeeps Hand of Fate on the Greylord Outriders and Infernal Machine on Conquest. He then allocates 2 to Conquest and moves up next to his friendly flag and casts Wind Wall which makes non-magical ranged attacks automatically miss him. He pops his Feat which gives Warjacks and Cavalry Side Step and Sprint and ends his activation.

Conquest moves up and clears out 3 Kayazy Assassins and Side Steps up. He's pretty banged up from the snipers and Behemoth so Vlad 3's goal is to use him as a road block so he can win on Scenario.

Most of the Cavalry can't do anything because of the Feat. If they try and move up to spray or charge they will take a POW 14 and become knocked down. It's definitely much harder to deal with than the Harbinger's MK3 Feat. The Man-O-War Drakhun however can handle that so he runs towards Old Witch's flag and contests it. Fenris is also outside of her Control area and he moves in to kill 3 Rifle Corps.

Score: Vlad 1 - Old Witch 0

Top of Turn 3: Old Witch - Vlad 3 has the points advantage so the Old Witch has to get aggressive. She lets Wield Secrets drop on the Rifle Corp and Iron Flesh on the Kayazy Assassins but keeps Avatar of Slaughter on Scrapjack.

Her goal this turn is to take out Conquest and push to get a point on her friendly flag and hopefully set up to dominate the center in future rounds.

The Rifle Corp activate and CRA on Fenris, easily dismounting him. The Rocketeers finish him off. Scrapjack activates next and kills off a Greylord Outrider. They Kayazy Assassins put some hurt on an Uhlan, killing it and also dismounting the Drakhun. The Drakhun dismount is just outside of contesting the flag.

Behemoth then activates and along with help from the snipers, they are able to take out Conquest.

Score: Vlad 2 - Old Witch 1

Bottom of Turn 3: Vlad 3 - Unfortunately I'm missing a picture for this turn. Vlad 3 upkeeps Hand of Fate on the Greylord Outriders and activates. He casts Wind Wall again protecting himself from the Rifle Corp and Behemoth. Two of the Uhlans charge into Behemoth and cripple his right arm. The Greylord Outriders activate and put some heavy casualties on the Kayazy Assassins and also kill Eiryiss 1 in the process. The dismounted Man-O-War Drakhun is able to kill a single Kayazy Assassin but moves a little closer to contest.

The Turn ends with Vlad 3 dominating his friendly flag

Score: Vlad 3 - Old Witch 1

Top of Turn 4: Old Witch - The battle for scenario is becoming very tight. The Old Witch can win if she can figure out how to contest her enemy flag while also dominating the center zone twice.

The Old witch lets all of her upkeeps drop except Avatar of Slaughter on Scrapjack. The plan is to use Scrapjack to take out the two Greylord Outriders that are contesting the center zone, use Behemoth to take out 2x Uhlans and have the Rifle Corp CRA on the last contesting Uhlan so she can Dominate for 2.

Everything goes according to plan and her army is able to clear the zone. The Widowmakers, Marksman, Kell Bailoch, and Alten Ashley stay put as backup for next round when they need to clear out the remaining Outriders to win the game. The remaining Kayazy Assassins run toward Vlad 3 and contest their enemy flag.

Score: Vlad 3 - Old Witch 3

Bottom of Turn 4: Vlad 3 - Vlad 3 is too far from the Old Witch to attempt an assassination so his only option is to hope that the Old Witch won't be able to take out the two contesting Greylord Outriders. He casts Hand of Fate on himself and Flashing Blades the Kayazy Assassins blocking his path. He then charges into Behemoth and Kell Bailoch just to take away some potential weapons. He is able to easily kill Kell and really hurts Behemoth but is unable to take him out.

The Greylord Outriders move into the zone and miss two shots on the Marksman.

Score: Vlad 3 - Old Witch 3

Top of Turn 5: Old Witch - The Old Witch allocates 2 focus to Behemoth and Scrapjack and upkeeps Avatar of Slaughter on Scrapjack. She then tries to kill Vlad 3 who has +3 ARM from Blood-Quenched but he tanks it like a boss. Behemoth with no arms is also unable to kill him. It's all up to Scrapjack.

Scrapjack moves in is easily able to kill both Greylord Outriders with no issue and The Old Witch wins on Scenario.

Final Score: Vlad 3 - Old Witch 5

Final Shot - If Vlad 3 had sat on his Feat he would have had a shot at killing the Old Witch. All he needed was that Side Step and he'd be in her face. Unfortunately, he popped it earlier just because in the previous two matches, he waited too long for it to be relevant. It's a fairly weak feat but if he had saved it he would been able to easily kill the Old Witch on average dice.

Old Witch's MK3 feat is still actually great vs. Infantry and Cavalry. The problem is that you won't see so much of them in MK3. I'm not sure how well it plays into Thexus and his 60 Drudge spam but it might be a good counter.

She's got a cool toolbox and a great scenario game. I look forward to playing her more often.

Warmachine Battle Report: Khador (Vlad 3) vs. Menoth (Harbinger) - Steamroller 2016: Outflank

Vlad 3 and his Cavalry

Harbinger and her Followers

Here's today's Lists:

Waracaster: Harbinger of Menoth
Warjack: Vanquisher
Warjack: Crusader
Warjack: Redeemer
Warjack: Avatar of Menoth
Unit: Exemplar Errants
Unit Attachment: Officer
Unit: Choir of Menoth (Min)
Solo: Vilmon
Solo: Paladin
Solo: Paladin

Warcaster: Vlad 3
Warjack: Conquest
Unit: Iron Fang Uhlans
Unit: Greylord Outriders
Solo: Iron Fang Markov
Solo: Fenris
Solo: Man-O-War Drakhun

Vlad 3 is coming off a decisive win against a Harkevich Jack Spam. Today he faces Harbinger who was a monster MKII. Can she get the job done?

Khador wins the roll and chooses to go second. Menoth deploys their Warjacks centrally with Vilmon and the Paladins holding the bottom. They also match up the Errants with the Uhlans in hopes that their Sac Pawn will help against Cavalry charges.

Khador deploys with the Outriders at the bottom and the Uhlans and Fenris up top. The Drakhun, Vlad, and Conquest hold the center.

Top of Turn 1: Menoth - Harbinger and her forces run up. The Errants get in a tiered formation to help against the Uhlan charge. Harbinger moves behind the Vanquisher and Crusader.

Bottom of Turn 1: Khador - Vlad 3 activates first and casts Dash giving his Warrior models +1 SPD. He also casts Infernal Machine on the Conquest which gives him +2 SPD and Murderous which gives him an extra die on attack vs. living models. He finally moves up and gives Hand of Fate to the Greylord Outriders which gives them +1 die to their rolls, dropping the lowest one. The rest of his army runs up.

Top of Turn 2: Menoth - The Errants activate first and they are able to kill the Uhlan in the Zone. They position themselves in 3 layers hoping that their Sac Pawn will give them the advantage they need. Uhlans really need to charge to be effective.

The Paladins run up and try to block a charge lane to the Avatar while everyone else gathers around Harbinger to protect her.

The Harbinger casts Purification, removing Hand of Fate from the Greylord Outriders.

Bottom of Turn 2: Khador - Conquest is allocated 2 Focus and Vlad 3 Upkeeps Infermal Machine on him. Vlad 3 activates first and gets Hand of Fate back on the Outriders. He pops his Feat which gives his Cavalry and Warjacks Sidestep (2" movement on initial hit) and Sprint (Make a full advance after killing an enemy model in melee). He then parks himself behind a giant tree waiting to pounce.

The Outriders activate and unleash a devastatingly effective spray killing 3 Errants and both Paladins. Harbinger chooses not to use Martyrdom which would allow her to suffer D3 damage to save them because of the volume of attacks.

The Conquest moves up and unleashes his big cannon into the Vanquisher dealing damage to his left arm. The Uhlans charge up and kill a few more Errants, clearing the zone. Fenris is able to finish the last 2 up with Berserk. Vlad 3's feat was pretty useless because Sac Pawn denied the Uhlan's kills.

Score: Vlad 1 - Harbinger 0

Top of Turn 3: Menoth - The Harbinger allocates 2 focus to the Redeemer, Vanquisher, and Crusader. The Choir sings their Battle Hym and move into position. The Crusader activates and charges into an Outrider, killing it. He purchases attacks and is able to kill another Outrider and an Uhlan.

The Vanquisher aims and boosts and is able to kill an Outrider giving a charge lane for the Avatar to Conquest. The Avatar rolls a D3 for Focus and gets 2 total. He charges into Conquest and after his activation, he has destroyed its right side. The Redeemer takes 3 boosted shots at Fenris and fail to hit him. The Errants attack and move into the zone to contest.

Harbinger moves up and pops her Feat which makes it so anyone that ends their movement within 10" of her takes an unboostable POW 14.

Score: Vlad 1 - Harbinger 0

Bottom of Turn 3: Khador - Vlad 3 lets everything drop and gives Conquest 2 Focus. He also activates and gives him Hand of Fate and moves towards the top zone along with casting Wind Wall to protect himself against any ranged shots. A fully loaded Conquest with a working hand is able to easily destroy the Avatar with attacks to spare.

The Uhlans clear the zone of Errants and are careful not to be within 10" of Harbinger. Fenris moves toward the back of the zone and controls it. The Outrider misses his spray against Vilmon.

Score: Vlad 2 - Harbinger 0

Top of Turn 4: Menoth - Now that the Avatar is gone, there is desperation in the air for Menoth. The Crusader and Redeemer are allocated 2 and tasked with bringing down the Conquest with the help of Vilmon. The Choir sings their Battle Hymn and Crusader charges into the Conquest leaving it with 20+ boxes. Vilmon goes in and gets Conquest down to 15 boxes.

This leaves no room for the Redeemer to charge so he decides to finish off the last Outrider. The Vanquisher launches a shot at the Conquest but fails to do work. The Errants move to contest the zone and block charge lanes for the Uhlans. Finally, Harbinger moves towards the bottom zone to prevent any Cavalry charges against her hopefully to set up a domination when the Conquest goes down.

Score: Vlad 2 - Harbinger - 0

Bottom of Turn 4: Khador - Conquest still has his right side functioning and is allocated 2 focus. Vlad 3 upkeeps Hand of Fate on the Conquest and moves into the top zone with Wind Wall. The Uhlans clear the zone which Khador now dominates.

The Conquest unleashes a Sweep Power Attack damaging the Crusader and killing Vilmon. He purchases more attacks and gets Crusader down to 1 Cortex box.

Score: Vlad 4 - Harbinger 0

Top of Turn 5: Menoth - This is the last ditch effort for Menoth. They need to contest the top zone and take out the Conquest to have any shot at winning the game. The Crusader only has 1 Cortex box and is allocated 2 Focus along with the Redeemer. 

The Vanquisher with 20+ boxes turns around and runs into the top zone so Khador can't dominate. The Choir chooses not to sing and instead spread out in the top zone to help contest. The Crusader activates and does a few damage to the Conquest leaving it with 9 boxes.

The Redeemer charges in and fails to kill the Conquest. This leaves Harbinger and her trusty sword to finish the job. Unfortunately she is unable to kill the Conquest with multiple boosted POW 12s.

Score: Vlad 4 - Harbinger 0

Bottom of Turn 5: Khador - The top zone seems difficult to clear so Vlad 3 decides to work a different strategy. He allocates 2 to the Conquest and upkeeps Hand of Fate. The Conquest then activates and does a Power Sweep, killing the Crusader. He then uses the rest of his Focus to finish off the Redeemer.

This leaves only Harbinger in the zone and since Warcasters can't contest, Vlad 3 runs into the bottom zone and Dominates it.

The Final Score: Vlad 6 - Harbinger 0

Overview: Because of the lack of availability of models for Menoth, there wasn't a lot of synergy in the list. There is a definite difference in how Harbinger plays now that her Feat and Martyrdom are reduced to her Command of 10". The Feat did help deter lots of Cavalry charges but was easily avoided. The Avatar's random focus is hard to plan for and without Power Up, it feels like he didn't scale well in MK3.

The mobility with Khador Cavalry is amazing. With Dash they can run 18-20". Conquest with Infernal Machine can run 12" giving Vlad 3's a strong chance at the alpha strike. Vlad 3's Feat still puzzles me and it might not be the best for the list I'm running. The Feat in the previous match vs. Harkevich was hard because of the Jack spam. This time it was hard because the Errants kept Sac Pawning. I'll have to see if I can better use it in his next match.

Vlad 3 is currently on a 2 game win streak. Stay tuned for his next match up!

Model Spotlight: Karchev

I hated Karchev's old pose and wanted to give him a more aggressive look. He's super fun to play and I really enjoy running a ton of Warjacks with him.

I recently played Karchev in a Journeyman League at GMI Games. He does such amazing work with the help of Widowmaker Scouts after they trigger Road to War giving a Warjack a 3" advance.
He has a surprisingly effective Knockdown Spray which can really help with annoying models with high DEF.

His other spell is Battle Charged which gives Warjacks Counter-Charge. With the right positioning you get a 2-3 Counter-Charges off on an enemy model charging in hopefully crippling a system or maybe even destroying it.

His Feat gives boosted Attack and Damage rolls for your Battlegroup and is devastating when you get close enough to use it. A Juggernaut swinging with 4x Boosted MAT 7's with Boosted POW 19 and a Boosted POW 15 is ridiculous. Behemoth with Armor Piercing can easily solo an ARM 20 Colossal with average dice on Karchev's Feat turn.

He's definitely not the most tricky caster to play but it's sure fun to ram some jacks down your opponent's throat.

Model Spotlight: Harkevich

Harkevich is pretty awesome in MK3. Mobility is so great with a Jack spam and his Reposition 3" for all Warjacks comes in handy. There are two really strong list builds for Harkevich, abuse Mobility and the Feat or abuse his Reposition + Broadsides. I've found that Broadsides is pretty weak with RAT 4 guns but is pretty good vs. Infantry as most Khador Jacks have AOE 4. I prefer a Melee centered list and getting Warjacks as far and as fast up the field as possible.

Model Spotlight: Fenris

I got Fenris off of Bartertown.com and he was already converted in a pose which I didn't like. I ended up cutting off his body and repositioning him to the more original pose. He was really hard to paint because off all the detail. The model itself was a little beat up because of the conversion but I do like the final outcome.
Play wise, I've never really had much success with Fenris. I own 2x Doom Reaver units and try to have him with them to be thematic but everyone usually gets shot off the table before they can do anything. There might be a better way to use him. I'm going to see if I can get work done with him with a Vlad 3 Cavalry list.

Model Spotlight: Vlad 3

I normally go with a gold color scheme for my Khador but I switched Vlad 3 up to match the Uhlans who match the Black Dragons. Vlad 3 has a great spell list and is a blast to play.

Model Spotlight: Uhlan Kovnik Markov

I'm not sure how good Markov is right now but he's a fun solo to play. It might be kind of nice to charge over some Black Dragons with your Uhlans. I do like the model and it plays nice in my Vlad 3 list.

Model Spotlight: Iron Fang Uhlans

Iron Fang Uhlans

I finally finished painting my Iron Fang Uhlans and I was really happy playing them with an all Cav/Jack list with Vlad 3. I really want to try them out with Butcher 1 + Fury + Feat. On a charge, they would be hitting boosted attack and POW 19 with 4 dice for damage. The problem is delivering them. They have ARM 19 when base to base which helps vs. infantry but not vs. a strong gunline.

Warmachine Battle Reports - Khador (Harkevich) vs. Khador (Vlad 3) - Steamroller 2016 Incursion

Here's today's Lists:

Warcaster: Vlad 3
Warjack: Conquest
Unit: Iron Fang Uhlans
Unit: Greylord Outriders
Solo: Iron Fang Markov
Solo: Fenris
Solo: Man-O-War Drakhun

Warcaster: Harkevich
Warjack: Behemoth
Warjack: Black Ivan
Warjack: Destroyer
Warjack: Devastator
Warjack: Decimator
Warjack: Juggernaut

Harkevich is on 2 game win streak (Win vs. Drake MacBain / Win vs. Lord Koslov) and is looking to crush some Cavalry this battle report. He's bringing his 6 heavies and relying on Mobility (+2 SPD & Pathfinder) to get him up the field and tank his way to a victory.

He faces off against Vlad 3 with his Calvalry army ready to Alpha Strike his way to a victory. I'm really happy to get my Iron Fang Uhlans and Markov off or BarterTown.com. I found someone who gave me such a good deal that I couldn't pass it up.

Deployment: Harkevich (right side) wins the roll and chooses to go second because he wants to hide behind the center obstruction. Vlad 3 (left side) deploys with the Greylord Outriders and Fenris on top while the Iron Fang Uhlans and the Man-O-War Drakhun hold the bottom. Conquest and Vlad 3 hold the center.

Top of Turn 1: Vlad 3 - Vlad 3 activates first and casts Dash which gives all Warrior models (including Cavalry) +1 SPD. He then casts Infernal Machine on the Conquest which gives him +2 SPD and Murderous which gives an additional die to attacks vs. Warrior models. He then casts Hand of Fate on the Iron Fang Uhlans which gives them an extra die when rolling attacks and damage, dropping the lowest one. He moves up along with the Uhlans who run 18".

The Greylord Outriders run their 20" and set up to flank behind Harkevich next turn to possibly get some sprays. Fenris joins them. Conquest runs his 12" and the Drakhun runs his 14".

Bottom of Turn 1: Harkevich - Since the Cavalry is so far up, Harkevich decides to put up some shots to see if he can take a few out. He gives 1 Focus to the Behemoth and one to the Destroyer and then casts Mobility which gives all his Battlegroup +2 SPD and Pathfinder. He moves up to get behind the center obstruction.

The Juggernaut, Demolisher, and Decimator run up to block charge lanes to the shooty jacks.

Behemoth activates first and dose some damage to Markov. He tries again and fails to kill him but does 3 damage to another Uhlan with the blast. Black Ivan is able to finish off Markov and do some more damage on another Uhaln. The Destroyer activates and fails to kill anything after missing his shot.

Top of Turn 2: Vlad 3 - Vlad 3 Upkeeps Hand of Fate on the Iron Fang Uhlans and Infernal Machine on the Conquest. The Iron Fang Uhlans charge into the Juggernaut knocking it down and severely cripple it. They also do a couple damage to Black Ivan. The Conquest moves up and is able to finish the job and remove the Juggernaut. The Man-O-War Drakhun looks to tie down Behemoth and runs up next to him hopefully trying to survive with his dismount in the following turn.

The Greylord Outriders ditch the Demolisher and Decimator and run their 18" into enemy lines hoping to get some back-arc sprays next turn against Harkevich.

Fenris charges in on the Decimator and is able to do a few boxes of damage.

Bottom of Turn 2: Harkevich - Harkevich allocates 2 to the Behemoth and 1 to Black Ivan. He camps 3 because he fears the Outriders coming to spray him with their magic. Behemoth activates first and easily dispatches of the Man-O-War Drakhun and his Dismount. He repositions up 3" so the Iron Fang Uhlans can't charge him next turn. The Decimator moves up and tries to kill the lone Greylord Outrider but fails so it makes it difficult for them to score. The Demolisher easily kills Fenris and his dismount and repositions back to the flag.

Harkevich moves base to base with Black Ivan and pops his feat giving his Battlegroup +3 ARM for a round to help weather the storm of Cavalry.

The round ends with the score 0/0.

Top of Turn 3: Vlad 3 - Vlad 3 upkeeps Infernal Machine on the Conquest and Hand of Fate on the Iron Fang Uhlans. He gives Conquest 2 Focus. The Iron Fang Uhlans activate first and since they are further than 1" away from Behemoth two of them charge away from him and into the Destroyer, knocking him down. They other just moves slightly to make room for Conquest. The Uhlans do some damage to the Destroyer but don't cripple anything.

The Greylord Outriders run deep behind Harkevich threatening an assassination next turn, one takes a Free Strike and dies to the Decimator. They just don't have the firepower to do it this turn vs. Harkevich's feat which makes him DEF 16 - ARM 21.

Conquest activates and gets base to base with Behemoth and the center flag. He unloads 5 melee attacks but rolls snake eyes on 2 of them leaving the Behemoth on a few boxes. Vlad 3 ends the round by running and Dominating the bottom flag.

Score: Vlad; 1 - Harkevich: 0.

Bottom of Turn 3: Harkevich - Harkevich gives Behemoth 2 focus and Behemoth unleashes 5 deadly armor piercing shots against the Conquest. It cripples his left side but leaves him with his right side.

The rest of his Battlgroup fails to do much damage to the Cavalry. The Demolisher is able to move base to base with the flag and scores a point. Harkevich turns around and hides behind the rock hoping to withstand the deadly cold sprays next turn.

Score: Vlad: 2 - Harkevich: 1

Top of Turn 4: Vlad 3 - Conquest is quite beat up and probably won't last much longer so Vlad decides to play a positioning game vs. Harkevich. He upkeeps Infernal Machine on Conquest and Hand of Fate on the remaining Uhlans. He loads up Conquest with 2 Focus and unleashes him on the Behemoth easily destroying him. The Iron Fang Uhlans charge into Decimator and takes out more of his systems.

Vlad 3 then decides that instead of ordering an assassination attempt with the Greylord Outriders, he tells them to run back to the flag with the Demolisher so that they can contest it.

Score: Vlad: 3 - Harkevich 1

Bottom of Turn 4: Harkevich - There's not much hope for Harkevich now. He is can't contest flags and his Battlegroup is too far away from the bottom flag to do anything about it. They are able to kill a few of the Cavalry and Harkevich himself moves up as close to the flag as he can and ends the round Vlad: 4 - Harkevic 1. Vlad quickly ends his turn for a Turn 5 victory.

Over View: It was really fun to play the Cavalry, especially with Vlad 3 because he gave them all +1 Speed. Have the Alpha Strike was very important and setting the line of battle in enemy territory gave Vlad 3 a huge advantage.

Vlad 3's feat was kind of wasted because he didn't really need it. It should have been popped on the 2nd turn when they had their Alpha Strike. This would have allowed them to push up a little bit further and gotten into Harkevich's face. Sprint wasn't very effective because there weren't any small models to kill.

Harkevich maybe could have also popped his feat on turn 2 and took the chance that the Juggernaut would survive the Uhlans and Conquest (not likely) but I don't think it would have made much difference.

Vlad 3 is very fun and his spell list is great. I think I need to work on his feat timing. I think I usually sit on it too long waiting for the perfect moment when I should just do it earlier and get some attrition swing.

Next Battle Report we'll see how Vlad 3 does vs. a Butcher!

Warmachine Mini Battle Report - Cryx (Asphyxious 1) vs. Cygnar (Jeremiah Kraye)

Ryan playing his Cryx vs. a rag tag bunch of Cygnar

This was the second game of our Warmachine game night and I had already been berated for how un-fun it was to play against Zerkova 2 so when Austin left, I decided to throw together a mishmash of Cygnar that he had in his cabinet.
Here's today's Lists:

Warcaster: Jeremiah Kraye
Warjack: Stormwall
Warjack: Stormclad
Warjack: Ironclad
Unit: Tempest Blazers
Unit: Long Gunners

Warcaster: Asphyxious 1
Warjack: Kraken
Warjack: Slayer
Warjack: Shrike
Warjack: Cankerwor
Warjack: Deathripper
Warjack: Defiler
Unit: Satyxis Raiders
Unit: Satyxis Raider Sea Witch
Unit: Bile Thralls (Min)
Unit: Long Gunners

Austin just finished painting his Jeremiah Kraye and I've been hearing how horrible he is so I wanted to try him out. The list doesn't have much synergy as I had no clue what Kraye did. I most likely would have brought a strong gun line that would benefit from reposition 5.

The game went horrible for Cygnar. The Tempest Blazers were able to do some work and work on controlling the right most flag but were no match for Parasite, Gaspy's feat of POW 5 damage and a popping Bile Thrall. The Long Gunners got jammed up by 2 Satyxis Raiders and were never able to shoot again. Stormwall couldn't take out the Kraken and was Parasited and destroyed the following turn.

I ran Stormclad into melee with Asphyxious but too a free strike from a Satyxis Raider which rolled thee 6's and took out his right arm which made him useless. Kraye charged and missed a Slayer and didn't get to score because of it. On my final Hail Mary I moved in a fully loaded Kraye with 6 focus into Asphyxious and he only hit once.

People are right. Kraye is absolute garbage and I got to try it out myself. POW 11 gun, 1" POW 13 melee with MAT 6 and no offensive boosts. Pure junk.

Now that I know what he does and if I had more options I would pair him up with some Defenders, Chargers, Hunters, and whatever else shoots and see if I could blow something off the table and reposition into safety. Other than that, worst caster ever.

Austin fairly upset playing against Zerkova 2

I brought Zerkova 2 for game day this week which was a swing in the other direction from the list of Armor Skew I brought last week but never got a chance to play because Austin and Ryan had a 5 hour game. I figured it'd be nice to play an assassination list since it's not normally my play style and it would be something new.

Here's today's Lists:

Warcaster: Zerkova 2
Warcaster Unit: Doomreaver Guards
Warjack: Behemoth
Unit: Greylord Outriders
Unit: Greylord Ternions
Unit: Kayazy Eliminators
Unit: Winter Guard Rifle Corp
Unit Attachments: 3x Rocketeers

Unit: Aiyanna & Holt
Unit Attachments: Valachev

Solo: Kovnik Joe
Solo: Eiryss 1 (accidentally brought Eiryss 2)

Warcaster: Siege
Warcaster Attachment: Squire
Warjack: Stormclad
Warjack: Defender
Warjack: Defender
Warjack: Hunter
Warjack: Hunter
Warjack: Charger
Unit: Storm Knights
Unit Attachment: Storm Knight Officer

Austin and his Cygnar won the roll and chose to go second.

Turn 1: Khador: I move up with Zerkova 2 and cast Telgesh Mark on a Kayazy Eliminator which makes her an Arc Node. I run up my first turn and get into position to pop and feat on turn 2. Austin's Warjacks are densely packed to the left side I move Eiryss 1 to the right flag in case the assassination goes wrong. The Winter Guard Rifle Corps try to the same with center flag but they're mainly a road block for right flag.

Turn 1: Cygnar: Austin moves in on my army. First thing he does is to take both Hunters and uses them to try and kill my Greylord Outriders. He kills 1. He runs up his Sword Knights to try and set the line of battle and then makes a wall of Warjacks to block LOS to Siege when he advances. Siege moves up and boosts a Ground Pounder on the Greylord Outriders and kills another. I'm down to 3.

Turn 2: Khador: I run my 3 Greylord Outriders and Greylord Ternions in position base to base with his guys. I then move Aiyanna & Holt up to see if she can get a Kiss of Lylss on Siege but she's too far. Eiryss claims a flag and the Rifle Corps block a path to her and contest the center flag.

The Kayazy Eliminators run up within 8" and LOS of Siege.

Zerkova 2 activates and casts Occult Whispers which gives all her Friendly Faction Models boosted Magical Attack rolls. She then pops her feat and arcs a Hoarfrost into Siege, boosting it giving her 4 dice to hit. She crits which makes him Stationary (around 72% chance). She cranks the damage roll and he has to use a focus to negate damage. The Greylord Outriders cast their spells next and 2 of them crank it as well and are able to easily kill a stationary Siege. I still had 3x Greylord Ternions that would have casted 3x Pow 12s at him.

Overall Austin was pissed and rightfully so except I have no pity for man who played Kara Sloan his last 8 games. Zerkova is fun but if you know her assassination is coming you can plan for it and she's pretty much a one trick pony.

I think having a Reinholdt would be a good inclusion for the reroll to her Hoarfrost. You're most likely going to connect with 4x D6 but you might want a reroll to shoot for the crit stationary. Unfortunately I do not have any more magic slingers or I would replace the Rifle Corp and Joe and make the list totally super jank.

Austin did not have fun but I sure did.

Khador - Man-O-War Drakhun Painted

Just finished painting my Man-O-War Drakhun. I'm trying to finish up all my Cavalry for my All Cav/Jack list with Vlad 3. I still have to paint his dismounted version. I've also got a list for an All Man-O-War army. I'm just waiting to get 2x of the Shocktrooper UAs.

Model Spotlight - Khador Greylord Outriders

Khador Greylord Outriders are super fun to play. They've got the super speed, re-position and the 8" spray. They make great Hand of Fate and Signs & Portents targets for Vlad, does some awesome work with Sorscha and Freezing Grip, and is crazy amazing with Zerkova 2. They are some of my favorite sculpted models.

Warmachine New Models: Lys Healer and the Northkin Shaman

Northkin Shaman - 12/15 - Cost 4 points with FA 2. Cold immunity, Pathfinder and Tough + Battle Wizard.

• Cold Snap - While within 2" of the model, enemy models suffer -2 DEF unless they are immune to cold.
• Freak Storm - Center a 3" AOE cloud and then place this model anywhere completely within 5". 
• Frostbite - Spray 8 Magical POW 12 Cold damage attack

Freak Storm looks amazing. Being able to throw out a cloud wall and move behind it for 4 points is pretty dang useful. He's also FA 2. Makes the Greylord Ter

Lys Healer - 13/11 - Cost 3 Points FA 2. Can heal a living model D3+1.

• Power of Faith - No knockdown or stationary within 5" of this model for 1 round.
• Purifying Prayer - Animi and Continuous Effects expire within 8" Command

Move to Assist - If a friendly Faction warrior model was damaged by an enemy attack in her command range last round she can make a full advance in the Maintenance phase.

Soul Ward - Enemies can't gain soul tokens from models within her command range

Not sure how much you'll be healing Ret guys but that's some really cheap sweet tech against Sorscha 1 and Kreoss 1.

Warmachine Battle Reports: Khador (Harkevich) vs. Khardor (Lord Koslov) - Steamroller 2016 Entrenched

Harkevich and his steam powered army has come to wreck some face! He's just finished wiping the blood of Drake MacBain off of his shoes (View his battle report vs Drake MacBain) and is ready to take on Lord Koslov and his band of Man-O-Wars.

Here's today's Lists:

Warcaster: Lord Koslov
Warjack: Ruin
Warjack: Beast 09
Unit: Man-O-War Shocktroopers
Unit: Man-O-War Shocktroopers
Unit: Man-O-War Bombardieers
Unit: Widowmaker Scouts
Solo: Widowmaker Markman
Solo: Man-O-War Kovnik

Warcaster: Harkevich
Warjack: Behemoth
Warjack: Black Ivan
Warjack: Destroyer
Warjack: Devastator
Warjack: Decimator
Warjack: Juggernaut

Top of Turn 1: Harkevich - Harkevich smells dirty Man-O-War blood and casts Mobility which gives his Battlegroup +2 SPD and Pathfinder and moves up the field. His wall of metal runs up as far as they can.

Bottom of Turn 1: Lord Koslov - Koslov activates and casts Tactical Supremacy which gives Reposition 3 on the Man-O-War Shocktroopers at the top of the battlefield and Fury which gives +3 to POW to the Shocktrooper unit on the bottom. He then moves up. Ruin and Beast 09 run up to give him some cover and the Widowmakers + Marksman set up and snipe 7 damage on the Juggernaut.

The Man-O-War Kovnik activates and gives the Shocktroopers on the top Desperate Pace which gives them +2 Movement. The Shocktroopers run up the battlefield 10" and pile in as best as they can. The Bomardiers move up and the bottom Shocktroopers run to try and contest their friendly zone.

Picture is of End of Round 2 

Top of Turn 2: Harkevich - The goal for this turn was to take out a threat with the massive firepower of the Behemoth, Black Ivan, Decimator, and the Destroyer. Harkevich uses Mobility again and moves behind the forest. His Battlegroup moves up and unleashes a barrage of Boosted POW 14s and with some good dice, they are able to kill Ruin.

The Devastator runs up and engages the unit of Man-O-War Shocktroopers and the Juggernaut does the same at the top of the battlefield.

Bottom of Turn 2: Lord Koslov - For some reason I'm missing a picture of this turn but it was quite uneventful. Koslov upkeeps Fury and Tactical Supremacy on the two units of Man-O-War Shocktroopers. The bottom unit of Shocktroopers plink away at an ARM 23 Devastator and do 5 damage. The top unit of Shocktroopers put some more hurt on the Juggernaut. The Bombardiers do a Combined Ranged Attack and finish off the remaining boxes on the Juggernaut.

The Widowmaker Scouts and Widowmaker Marksman block a charge lane from Behemoth to Beast 09 and put 7 damage in his column 4. Beast 09 sets up to charge Behemoth next turn.

Top of Turn 3: Harkevich - If Behemoth can hold his own for a round then it's looking like an easy Scenario win for Harkevich. Harkevich moves towards the enemy zone and pops his feat giving his battlegroup +3 ARM and free charges.

The Devastator is able to push and kill one of the Man-O-War Shocktroopers while the Destroyer just barely finishes off the Objective giving Harkevich 1 point. The Decimator charges in and kills another Man-O-War Shocktrooper which allows them to Control the enemy zone for another point.

Black Ivan drops his bomb on Beast 09 doing a few damage to it. Behemoth decides to go for the grouped up Widowmaker Scouts and Marksman because they'll be much harder to deal with since they are fast and can easily contest. He drops his first shot killing the Marksman and 1 Widowmaker and decides to switch strategies and takes a shot on Beast 09 which hurts him pretty good.

Bottom of Turn 3: Lord Koslov - This was a rough round for Koslov because of Harkevich's feat. Koslov upkeeps Fury on the bottom Shocktrooper Unit which is down to 3 models. He lets Tactical Supremacy drop off the top Shocktrooper unit and they charge into the objective easily taking it out. They are also able to put a few damage on Behemoth.

Koslov pops his feat and charges at Behemoth doing some more damage on him and Sidesteps backwards. A fully loaded Beast 09 charges Behemoth and gets him down to 4 boxes. ARM 23 is a tough nut to crack. The Bombardiers launch a CRA at the Decimater and do some damage on him but nothing significant.

At the end of the round the score is Harkevich 2 and Koslov 1.

Top of Turn 4: Harkevich - Harkevich does the math and sees a chance to win. He needs to allocate just enough so that his Battlegroup can finish off the remaining Man-O-War Shocktroopers at the bottom and then run into the zone. The Battlegroup does their job easily and at the end of the turn the score is Harkevich 3 / Koslov 1. If he can clear the zone next turn he'll have a Scenario win.

Bottom of Turn 3: Lord Koslov - It's looking pretty bad for Koslov but he might be able to pull off a Scenario win if he can just contest for 2 turns. Koslov has no Warjacks to allocate to so he camps his full 6. The Bombardiers perform a Run/Charge order and get one charge off on the Decimator which does no damage. The rest of the Bombardiers run to hopefully contest.

Beast 09 is quite far away so he just runs up toward his friendly zone. The Widowmakers Activate and run their 12" in to strategic spots that hopefully will make it tough for Harkevich to clear the zone. One of them runs and engages Harkevich, another engages Black Ivan and the Decimator and the last one runs towards the corner.

The turn ends at Harkevich 3 / Koslov 3.

Top of Turn 4: Harkevich - This is a do or die round for Harkevich. If he can clear the 3 Widowmakers he wins by Scenario. If he fails to do so, Koslov wins. A fully loaded Destroyer turns around to take out a Widowmaker and fails to roll a 7 on Boosted dice twice. Black Ivan turns around and takes out the other Widowmaker. The Decimator takes a free strike to try and get a shot on the furthest Widowmaker but loses his left arm when he tries to move away.

It's all up to Harkevich. He's got to kill 2 Widowmakers with 2 boosted MAT 7 shots. He moves in position between them with his 1" melee range but takes a free strike which does 4 damage. He then boosts both shots and kills both Widowmakers ending the game with a scenario win Harkevich 5 / Koslov 4.

Final Shot - This was an interesting game. Any other Scenario and I think Koslov is at a huge disadvantage for attrition. Man-O-Wars just don't do enough work vs. ARM 20.  The scenario was just spread out enough that it gave him a shot.

Koslov would have a better chance if he had popped his feat on turn 2 and charged Beast 09 into Behemoth. He also would have probably won if he had spread out his Widowmakers on the very last turn. Harkevich's bad dice would have made it very hard to kill an out of reach Widowmaker.

The best move of the game was when Behemoth decided to shoot an AOE into the Widowmakers instead of taking a shot at Beast 09. It cost him his life but he made it harder for Koslov to contest with the Widowmakers.

Harkevich needs a good solo killer and contester. It might be worth it to swap a Decimator for another Juggernaut and take a 4 point solo. Harkevich is on a 2 game win streak. Who will he fight next? Stay tuned!