Khador vs. Mercs - Butcher 3 vs. Drake MacBain (35 Points)

Tonight was the second time I delved deep into the world of miniature table top wargaming, or as normal people call it, playing with my little plastic friends. Rob, the owner of Table Ready Terrain (tablereadyterrain.com) found me on Facebook and challenged me to a 35 point Steamroller 2015 match up.

For this game we played Outflank which has 2x circular zones that can be controlled for 1 point or dominated for 2.

Rob from Table Ready Terrain getting ready to deploy after winning the starting roll.

For my list I decided to bring Khador and flex my Butcher 3 muscles. He is definitely a fun caster to play but has his share of bad anti magic match ups.

Khador - Butcher 3 - Butcher Unleashed

Warcaster: Butcher 3  (-4)
Warcaster Unit: War Argus
Warcaster Unit: War Argus
Warcaster Attachment: War Dog (+1)
Warjack: Ruin (+10)
Warjack: Juggernaut (+7)
Unit: Kayazy Assassins (+8)
Unit Attachment: Kayazy Underboss (+2)
Unit: Aiyana & Holt (+4)
Solo: Saxon Orrik (+2)
Solo: Widowmaker Marksman (+2)
Solo: Ogrun Bokur (+3)

Butcher is the driving force in this list. He won't start the fight but he sure will end it. The goal is to use the Juggernaut to initiate a piece trade and end that transaction with Butcher smashing face. The Kayazy are MAT 9 with Gang and DEF 16 in melee. They are there to jam while Aiyana & Holt are there to assist them against higher ARM. The Ogrun is just for security because Butcher sometimes gets shot off the table. Shield Guard allows him to dodge a silver bullet.

Mercenaries - Drake Macbain

Warcaster: Drake MacBain  (-4)

Collosal: Galleon (+18)

Unit: Press Gangers (+6)

Solo: Bosun Grogspar (+2)

Solo: Wrong Eye(+9)

Warbeast Snapjaw(+9)

Warbeast: Bullsnapper (+3)

Solo: Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile (+2)

Rob brought a Galleon ARM skew list. MacBain's Fail Safe (+2 Armor, Warjack doesn't suffer crippled effects) and the Bullsnapper's Spiny Growth (+2 Arm) brings the ARM total of the Galleon to an impressive 23. The Press Gangers are there to jam and buy time while the Galleon drags heavies to their scrap metal death.

Rob wins the roll and elects to go first

Rob casts Fail Safe on the Galleon and runs everyone up. He ends his turn with casting Spiny Growth on the Galleon making his ARM total 23.

On my turn I run most of my units up but I cast Energize with Butcher 3 to get my battlegroup and Warjacks up 3 more inches. I almost screw everything up because I forgot that Ruin had Abomination instead of Terror which forced command checks on my Kayazy and Ogrun Bokur. Lucky for me they both passed. 

After that debacle I offer up the Juggernaut to the Galleon hoping he'll spend a turn killing it while I set up Ruin and Butcher for a counter attack. I tried to block the Juggernaut from being dragged by some Kayazy and the War Argus but forgot the Galleon had blast damage on his rapid fire guns.

End of Turn 1

Rob upkeeps Fail Safe on the Galleon and allocates it 3 focus. He then charges in with his Press Gangers but unfortunately isn't able to kill any Kayazy. He then activates Galleon and after a 3rd party confirmation and a laser line check, he is able to drag the Juggernaut to his death. He ends the turn casting Spiny Growth on the Galleon.

Yes! He took the bait! Now I just have to close the deal... but wait... am I too far? Uhh... I think I'm just a hair shy from Ruin and Butcher wreaking havoc on him! I activate Aiyana & Holt and cast Kiss of Lyliss on the Galleon but I'm about a half inch too far and miss. I am able to kill the Bullsnapper with Holt though which really helps. My plan was to get the -2 ARM Debuff on Galleon and charge in Ruin to remove Fail Safe, then finish him off with the Butcher. Unfortunately, I have to activate Butcher first and cast Energizer to make sure I am in charge range for everyone.

Butcher then charges and I roll incredibly bad on 6 hits, not damaging any systems. I have 3 focus left after popping my feat and I have a decision to make. Should I spend the 3 and take a shot at killing the Galleon and then set myself up to be Ganged by MacBain? No. I decide to camp the last 3 focus. 

I activate Ruin and he charges in with 3 focus. I almost forgot about Dispel on his weapon but that was crucial to remove Fail Safe. After Ruin's activation, Galleon has a crippled Left Side but still has his massive Trident.

I pop the Kayazy mini feat and charge them through the Press Gangers and get a couple shots at the Galleon only doing about 5-6 damage to him. I run the War Dog and Ogrun Bokur to help the Butcher against his final stand and end my turn. 

I do end up moving into position and scoring 1 point for controlling one of the zones.

Mark 1 - Rob 0

Mercenary Turn 3

Rob goes in the think tank for quite a while. He's trying to decide the best way to handle the situation. The War Dog is a huge problem for him as it bumps Butcher's defense to 16. In the end he decides to allocate 3 to Galleon and smash away. He boosts to hit on all of his shots and hits 2 out of 3 leaving Butcher on 6 health. He then buys 3 Jackhammer shots needing hard 10s to hit and misses them all.

He moves his Press Gangers in and try to take out the Kayazy but fail. He also tries to charge Bosun Grogspar at Butcher but eats 2 free strikes from the Kayazy and dies. Wrong Eye and Snapjaw are able to handle Ruin and leave him a steaming pile of wreck marker. MacBain, sensing impending doom, moves back since the scenario is not Killbox and ends his turn.

Mark 2 - Rob 0

On my turn, instead of risking being left wide open after killing the Galleon I decided to wipe out the Press Gangers instead. Those nasty pirates tough the hell out of their rolls and force me to use everything I've got. In anti-climactic fashion I am able to kill over half his unit forcing him to make a tough check. They fail and there's no one to contest the zone. I simply toe the zone with Butcher and dominate for 2 points and have Aiyana & Holt with the Widowmaker Marksman control the other bringing my total to a game winning 5 points.

Mark 5 - Rob 0

End of the Game - Khador Victory by Scenario

Overall a very good game. It could have gone either way with just a simple dice spike. Rob did a hell of a job almost killing Butcher. I got pretty lucky on making the call to camp the 3 focus instead of trying to finish off the Galleon because without it, Rob would have had exactly enough to kill Butcher.

Final Thoughts

I made a couple of huge mistakes this game. My first mistake was thinking Ruin had Terror instead of Abomination and forcing myself to make command checks on both my own Kayazy and Ogrun Bokur.

The second mistake is that I placed 2 Kayazy base to base with the Juggernaut trying to stop the drag, forgetting that the Galleon had AOE which wiped them out like nothing when the attack targeted my easy to hit Juggernaut.

I wouldn't change too much of the list at 35 points. If I were playing this in a two list pairing for Steamroller I might take out Aiyana & Holt so I can get better use out of them in another list. I'm pretty comfortable with the Kayazy and their mini feat really catches a lot of people off guard and is hard to plan for. I could try Iron Fang Black Dragons but that isn't my play style. I could also switch for some Nyss Hunters but lately I haven't had too much luck with them other than just being a contesting jam unit. I might put in the Widowmakers instead to help clear a path for Butcher and his Jacks.

I do love Butcher 3 and his pups. There's a tournament at GMI Games on Saturday and if I go I'll most likely play him with either pVlad, pSorcha, or Old Witch. There's a lot of Trolls in the Inland Empire meta though so I need heavy hitters.

Till next week!

Mercenaries vs. Trollbloods - Bartolo Montador vs. pGrissel

I was lucky enough to get 2 games in this week at a game store called GMI Games in Riverside, CA. I had never played at a store before so I was quite nervous till the league organizer, Joe, welcomed us in.

I had only ever played games against five other factions (Cygnar, Cryx, Retribution, Legion and Trollbloods) and I was excited to get a chance to play against something new. I ended up playing two games against Trollblood (doh) but the list was something I had never encountered.

The first game I played was my Mercenaris vs. pBorka in a 50 point mach up which you can read about here.

The second game was 35 points against the League organizer, Joe, and his pGrissel list.

(35 points) Bart's Batten Down The Hot Shot

Warcaster: Bartolo Montador (-5)
Warcaster Attachment: Slys Wyshnalyrr, the Seeker (+2)
Colossal: Galleon (+18)
Unit: Kayazy Assassins (+8)
Unit Attachment: Kayazy Underboss (+2)
Unit: Aiyanna & Holt (+4)
Solo: Master Gunner Dougal MacNaile (+2)
Solo: Ragman (+2)
Solo: Saxon Orrik (+2)

My goal with this list was to set up Galleon as a Hot Shot Colossal turret in the middle of the field while Bart gives him Batten Down the Hatches for +3 armor and gives him a second turn of shooting with his knockdown if moved into control area feat.

The Kayazys would jam while Ragman hid behind the Galleon using Death Field (-2 Armor) to make sure that anything the Galleon dragged in would be blown to smithereens.

Aiyana & Holt would be able to clear paths for the Galleon and Kiss of Lyliss (-2 ARM) would give allow the Kayazys (POW 12, Mat 9 with Gang) to take down some of the other Warbeasts and tough units.

(35 points) pGrissel List

Warcaster: Grissel Bloodsong, Fell Caller (-5)
Warbeast: Earthborn Dire Troll (+10)
Warbeast: Dire Troll Bomber (+10)
Warbeast: Troll Impaler (+5)
Unit: Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes (+4)
Unit Attachment: Stone Scribe Elder (+1)

Unit: Trollkin Fennblades (+8)
Unit Attachment: Fennblade Officer and Drummer (+2)

Turn 1 Mercs - I gave the Galleon Hot Shot (Upkeepable Boosted Ranged Damage Rolls) and charged Bart up the field. Everyone else just ran and spread out a bit. I didn't know what was about to come.

In the middle of Trollbloods Bottom of Turn 1

Turn 1 Trollbloods - My opponent used his mini feat on his Fennblades (+2 Speed) and ran them up 16". He then ran up everything else and had pGrissel pop her feat which allowed her entire army to make a full advance. This meant he was 34" into my zone with the Fennblades. He was able to engage my Kayazy and my Galleon and built a nice wall of Fennblades blocking his Earthborn Dire Troll, Bomber, and Impaler.

 Round 2

Turn 2 Mercs - I was pretty shocked and didn't see that coming. I figured since I went first I'd dictate the line of battle with my Kayazy and then use a Hot Shotted Galleon to pick everything off one by one. At the beginning of my turn I kept up Hot Shot on the Galleon and gave him 3 focus. My goal was to find a way to get Galleon a path to drag in his Earthborn Diretroll any means possible.

The first thing I did was activate my Kayazy and used their mini feat which allowed them to move through other models. With this I was able to charge my Kayazy at the Fennblades blocking his Earthborn Dire Troll. With their MAT 9 and POW 12 (+2 to both due to Gang) I was able to clear most of the way for my Galleon.

Aiyana was unable to get Kiss of Lyliss (+2 to all damage taken) on the Fennblades and they were too far to get it on the Earthborn. Holt was able to pick off one of the Fennblades by aiming (RAT 10) vs. their 16 defense (+4 for being in melee). The Fennblades' reach really screwed with my shooting.

I then activated Ragman and had him cast his Death Field and hide behind the Galleon so I would be sure to crush the Earthborn. The Galleon went it and rolled fire. He was able to pop 5 shots into the Earthborn to soften him up and 1 into the Krielstone. He then used his Trident to drag the Earthborn to him and crushed him with melee attacks.

I rolled very well this turn and I almost felt bad. Most of my die rolls were 5-6 through the whole activation. It didn't matter too much because most of my attacks only needed 5's to stick and damage. I was also rolling +3 damage against the Earthborn which made quick work of him.

Before I ended my turn I was dumb and decided to put Bart on a hill and surround him with Kayazy thinking he'd be safe. I was wrong. I ended my turn casting Batten Down the Hatches (-2 DEF +3 ARM to Battlegroup)

I was also too eager and nervous and forgot to pop my feat which would have sealed the game right then and there.

Turn 2 Trollbloods - This was an all or nothing turn for my opponent. He really needed to get the assassination off because he had nothing left to take the Galleon.

His first move was to give Snipe to his Bomber (+4 Range) and then move him up so he could see Bart. I totally forgot that my Kayazy didn't block LOS because they were stealth! He made sure he outside of 5" of them but still within range of Bart and lobbed 2x RAT 5 POW 16 shots which were both boosted and hit bart for a total of 6 damage. I got off pretty lucky.

His Fennblades attacked my Kayazy (DEF 16 in melee) which missed a lot and only manged to get 2. He then moved up pGrissel behind the Bomber and launched Rift at the Kayazy, killing 3 and forcing me to make a tough check which they failed.

Turn 3 Mercs - I kept up Hot Shot on the Galleon and gave him 3 focus. I tried really hard to find a way to kill pGrissel but I couldn't. She was camping transfers and I couldn't get a good angle to her for a drag so I changed my plans to kill the Bomber.

My Kayazy run backwards to protect Bart from charges and rally at the end of their activation.

Aiyana fails to land Kiss of Lyliss on both the Bomber and the Galleon (whew) and Holt was able to take out 2 Fennblades with his guns.

Ragman moves up and gives himself (and Galleon) Death Field.

The Galleon then Activates and I roll fire again and was able to demolish the Bomber which left pGrissel wide open.

Dougal charges a Fennblade but fails.

I forget to feat again! I cast Batten Down the Hatches which was a horrible idea because it dropped my DEF by 2 boosting my ARM 3 but it cost me 3. There was nothing on his side of the board that could have taken Galleon anyway so I just nerfed myself 2 DEF.

Round 3 - Final

Turn 3 Trollbloods - pGrissel ran her beasts hot last turn so she was stuck making a frenzy check on the Impaler which failed. The Impaler charged and killed his own Fennblade.

I thought I was pretty safe vs, his army but I forgo that pGrissel has a spray and Rift. It was all or nothing again for my opponent and he moves up and casts a Rift needing a hard 9 to hit and it stuck. Bart takes a boosted POW 13 against his 19 armor which he takes 7 damage taking him to 4 health.

After that, pGrissel shoots her spray 8 at Bart needing 10's. He boosts and is able to hit and Bart takes a boosted POW 12 to his 19 ARM. My opponent rolls a 10 which does 3 damage leaving Bart on 1 box.

The store was about to close and pGrissel was sitting on no fury in melee with the Galleon so he conceded and shook my hand.

Final Thoughts: I definitely almost handed this game to my opponent by stick Bart on tht hill. What I should have done was to hide him behind the Colossal and he would have been just fine. I also forgot that the Kayazy had stealth which hurt me because they didn't block LOS. I also had 2 chances to Feat (Knockdown any enemy models that end movement within Bart's control and gives them -3 attack) which would have sealed me the game but I totally forgot to do it. I also shouldn't have casted Kiss of Lyliss against a Fennblade that was engaged with my Galleon but I was lucky I missed both.

Looking at the picture, Galleon might have had reach so pGrissel wouldn't be able to make her Hail Mary shot but I can't really tell.

It was really fun to play something and someone new. Joe, my opponent, knew what my models did and didn't have to sit and read my cards which was really nice. I'm looking forward to going back to GMI next week.

Finished Mercenaries Colossal: The Galleon Conversion!

The Galleon Crushes his Cygnarian Foes

The Galleon has been my most sought after model after picking up Mercenary pirates in a trade. His giant crane claw and his pointy stabby trident harpoon makes me all giggly and squeely. My hatred for Cygnar is shown in hte model. He is crushing an Ironclad and clamping down on a Lancer. I also wanted to give him more of an animated pose so it wasn't so boring.

/a>

I was able to trade a bunch of D&D stuff for a majority of the Pirate Boat and the Mercenary paints from my friend, Jeremy. I went for a dirty dry brush rusty metal look which I'm happy with
The Galleon has a nice set of guns but the Trident is the absolute best for crushing Warjacks/Warbeasts. You get a 15" threat range with it (including movement) and you can suck up an enemy warjack (maybe even out of their warlock/warcasters control area) and if you're loaded up with 3 Focus you can smash a POW 15 range attack and 4 normal POW 21 which is enough to wreck almost any Warjack.
This is by far my favorite looking model and I've definitely enjoyed playing it.