pButcher v Menoth (Durst)

After my win vs. Josh, we re-racked immediately, both dropping different lists. I like this Butcher list, but am still tinkering - here trying min Uhlans, and throwing in Ragman and Great Bears to see what they'll do. I'm also running Boomies without Valachev, as I like him in my other list, and they're more there to gum things up than kill things in feat turn.

Anson Durst, Rock of the Faith
-Hierophant
-Reckoner
-Reckoner
Avatar of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Reclaimer
Exemplar Errants, Officer & Standard
Holy Zealots, Monolith Bearer
Choir of Menoth
Visoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard

pButcher
War Dog
Demolisher
Beast 09
Boomhowlers
Iron Fang Pikemen, Officer & Standard
Iron Fang Konvik
Iron Fang Uhlans (min)
Great Bears
Ragman


Scenario: Line Breaker (2016)

I was even slacker with photos in this game. I lost the roll, so went second - this photo is after Menoth turn 1. My right flank was a disaster from the start - I'm not sure why I thought putting Great Bears against the Zealots was a good idea. 

My turn 1, moving up. I spread the Uhlans out, hoping to avoid blast damage. The Great Bears turtled up, not quite knowing what to do.

Top of 2 - Zealots killed 2 of the 3 Uhlans with bombs. A couple of Boomies got picked off.

My next turn, and I was feeling pretty ineffectual - pretty much steeling for the hit.

Things got really interesting from there, so of course, I forgot to take photos. One of the Reckoners got into Beast 09, leaving him on only a couple of boxes. The Avatar moved up, activating Menoth's Gaze (all enemy models within 8 inches can only advance towards it). I got tricky, and used the Demolisher to throw the Reckoner and knock down the Avatar. I then feated and climbed into the Avatar with the Pikemen, killing it, with the help of the above dice roll (a 1/7776 shot apparently).

this was looking like a tough-fought attrition run, and I wasn't thinking much about scenario. The trolls were doing a good job of gumming up the middle (even though they barley made a tough check). The Great Bears gave up on the left flank and headed into the middle. 

The left flank turned into a warjack graveyard, but besides Butch and the Ironfangs, Khador was losing the attrition fight. 

Things continued to grind. We were both under serious death clock pressure by this time. 

It ended like this. My objective is destroyed, and we thought this turn ended in 3 CPs, giving Menoth 5 and the win. In retrospect, the Menoth friendly flag shouldn't have given a point. I was inconsequential though, because there was no way I was getting Menoth off that flag in my next turn.

This is what the clock looked like at the end of the game. We got our money's worth out of this one!

Another good game. I was always on the back foot, and never really felt like I was going to get out of this one. Menoth dominated the table from turn one. It was really nice to get a throw off that actually worked!

pVlad v Menoth (eSeverius)

Two games in a row against Menoth. I think I like Menoth. I know I hate Zealots.


Severius 2
-Reckoner
-Revenger
Avatar of Menoth
Vassal of Menoth
Reclaimer
Choir of Menoth
Holy Zealots, Monolith Bearer
Idrian Skirmishers, Chieftain & Guide
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt
Visgoth Juviah Rhoven & Honor Guard

pVlad
-Conquest
Battle Mechanics
Winter Guard Rifle Corps
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Yuri the Axe
Nyss Hunters
Koldun Captain Valachev
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Scenario: Entrenched (2016)

This is my second game with the Conquest on the board (my first was a win against Skorne that I didn't blog). I really, really like that big stompy robot, and can't wait to get it painted. For my setup, I put the Nyss Hunters (Proxied by Kayazi) behind the Riflemen. Josh tried to tell me this was a bad idea. I didn't listen. I had dreams of "waves", like what I've been encountering with Cryx. It was a bad Idea. I lost the roll and went second. 

This is the end of turn 1. I put down Creeping Barrage in front of the Idrians, and Suppressing Fire in front of the Zealots, hoping to slow things down and allow me to pick off some bad guys before they got close. I shot toward the Revenger with the Conquest's main gun, falling short by less than an inch. I got a kind deviation, and, having allocated 2 focus, was able to boost damage on the Vassal and the Reclaimer, taking them both out with solid rolls. A pretty good start whcih gave me control on the left flank. I tried to take out the defense-silly Idrians with the Widowmakers - in retrospect it would have made more sense to back off and make them come through the Barrage.

Menoth turn two - the Zealots mini-feated (Greater Destiny), making them immune to non-spell damage for one turn. The Idrians wiped out the Widowmakers, but hung back due to the barrage.

I started to get a bit slack with photos. Here the Idrians were wiped out with ranged attacks, while the Zealots contested the zone. The Nyss were stuck uselessly in the back, an nice fat AOE target for the Zealots.

A couple of turns later, and the board looks very different. The untouched Conquest had control over the left flank, taking out the Avatar. Yuri came in from the right flank to help the remaining Riflemen and Nyss clear out some zealots. I was losing on scenario points, so moved the mechanics over to help hold the zone. 

And here it ended. He moved Severius up to dominate the zone, getting to 4 control points. This left Severius very exposed, and he is pretty squishy. The Marksman and Riflemen finished him off pretty quickly for a win by assassination. 

So, a nice win - those don't come around very often. I made things harder for myself than I needed to by burying the Nyss. If they'd been on the left flank it might have been more comfortable. The "two waves" idea might have legs with this list if I go first, but going second, it was a waste of resources. I don't have a good answer for the Zealots yet - they are really scary against 1-box infantry. I'm enjoying the Colossal - so far he's mainly been a big scary threat throwing out ranged attacks - but it was good to get him in melee against the Avatar.

pButcher v Legion (Vayl 2)

So, another game against Amir's Legion. Still beautiful, but only a matter of time before I hate it, I'm sure. After my last game against these guys, I'm really worried about the Angelius'. They really cut me to shreds. Armor piercing is gross.

Vayl 2
Angelius
Angelius
Ravagore
Seraph
Typhon
Shredder
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Blighted Nyss Shepherd
Spell Martyrs
Spawning Vessel
Blackfrost Shard

pButcher
War Dog
Demolisher
Beast 09
Boomhowlers
Valchev
Iron Fang Pikemen, Officer & Standard
Iron Fang Konvik
Iron Fang Uhlans
Gobber Tinker

I go second - no surprises in my deployment. He has the 2 Angelius' on one flank, the rest on the other. 

Top of one, and the two Angelius' move in to contest the zone, the caster putting Admonition (free move when enemy ends a move within 6) and Refuge (if the model hits an enemy, it can make a full advance ignoring free strikes). Both are upkeep spells.  The Ravagore puts down some type of nasty AOE, but it drifts back.

I shimmied up, pretty nervous about the big uglies in from of me. I was going to mini-feat with the pikemen, but for some reason changed my mind. I was feeling pretty good about the Uhlans having charge targets next turn.

Top of 2 - the Angelus' did their thing, putting some big damage on the Demolisher, and pinging off a bunch of Pikemen. The Ravagore put in another AOE, that really got in my head.

Here is where i feel like I made a dog's breakfast of things. I charged the Angelius on the right flank with an Uhlan, so he Admonitioned I was expecting this, but felt like I'd be able to get other strikes on it. I couldn't - I'm not sure if it was impossible, or if I was just way to scared of the AOE on the ground. The Trolls charged in and did nothing, the Demolisher opened up and did nothing. 

Next Legion turn. The Typhon came in and attacked the Demolisher. A crit meant he could automatically throw - perhaps not the best thing to do, but too much fun for Amir to resist. The Pikement were wiped out.

Next Khador turn, The Tinker came good and healed up the Demolisher. Butcher moved up, Feated, and smashed the Typhon. Beast 09 took out an Angelius. The Boomhowlers stood around being Boomhowlers.

I clearly missed a couple of photos here, as this was the endgame. I'd managed to get rid of the other Angelius, and somehow had got myself back in the game. However, an assassination attempt my the Seraph put and end to things, with the help of some pretty strong dice (22 on 4 dice was the first damage roll). I simply need to do a better job at seeing where an assassination threat might be coming from. 

All in all, another game that I feel like I played pretty poorly in, but still got close. Amir started on fire, playing really well, but we'd both made some pretty odd decisions by the end of it.

eSorscha v Cryx (Skarre 2)

So, after my last quick loss, we decided to rack again. Eric kept the same list, I switched to my "Cryx drop", Sorscha, to see if that would make any difference

Skarre 2
Deathjack
Deathripper
Satyxis Raiders, UA, Captain solo
Bane Thralls, UA
Bane Lord Tartaris
Mobius
Bloat Thrall
Saxon Orrik

Forward Kommander Sorscha
Sylys Wyshnalyarr, The Seeker
Spriggan
Winter Guard Infantry, Officer & Standard, 3 Rocketeers
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
Kayazy Assassins, Underboss
Kayazy Eliminators
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Great Bears
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Lady Ayana and Master Holt

Scenario: The Pit

I lost the roll (again). Against this list, that seems particularly bad. It seems like if I was moving first, I could at least position to strike first, rather than having to take the first hit right at the back of the zone. I've been thinking about playing the snipers further back, but against this list, wanted to try to pick off as many Raiders as possible at the bottom of 1.

Cryx turn 1. Eric took an "if it ain't broke" approach, and again raced across the board. This time, that horrible Deathjack was across the other side of the table.

I moved up and spread out. Normally I'd run forward with the WG, but in this instance, it seemed to make more sense to bob and weave ASAP. The snipers pinged off a few of the Raiders with stand and shoot. Not quite as many as I'd have liked.

Cryx turn two. You can see the big hole created by the Bile Thralls. Also 2 of the Great Bears went down, as did many Kayazy and snipers.

So, big gaping holes in my line, but all is not lost. I loaded up the Spriggan with focus, cleaned out most of the Raiders, then moved Sorscha back and feated, expecting the Spriggan to be able to get through the Deathjack.
It was here that I learned about a spell called admonition.

 "Upkeep spell. When an enemy model ends its movement within 6" of target model, the affected model can immediately advance up to 3" and then Admonition expires. The affected model cannot be targeted by free strikes during this movement."

So, I charged the Deathjack. He quietly stepped away. Not quite the big dent I'd anticipated.

A lot happened on this turn, but I lost most of it in a sea of salt. He spent a lot of time cleaning up the board, feated, and made some kind of move that got the Deathjack in front of Sorscha. I knew a charge on Sorscha was coming, but couldn't quite see how. I'd buried her in the forest, deeper than 3 inches. To get around this, he charged the Kayazy in the front of the forest, running past him and into melee with Sorscha. Bang, bang, dead.

So that was the end of another less than satisfying run-out. I clearly still have a lot to learn. On the positive side, I now know how Skarre 2's feat and admonition work (though I'm yet to figure out how I could deal with them). Admonition in particular gives me headaches just thinking about it. 

pButcher v Cryx (Skarre 2)

Normally, I would take Sorscha against Cryx, but with my Butcher list already on the table, I thought "how bad could it be?"
Turns out - pretty bad.
The only change I made was swapping out the Demolisher and Tinker for Ruin - a borrowed model I thought I might as well give a run.




Skarre 2
Deathjack
Deathripper
Satyxis Raiders, UA, Captain solo
Bane Thralls, UA
Bane Lord Tartaris
Mobius
Bloat Thrall
Saxon Orrik

pButcher
-War Dog
-Ruin
-Beast 09
Boomhowlers
Valchev
Iron Fang Pikemen, Officer & Standard
Iron Fang Konvik
Iron Fang Uhlans

Scenario - The Pit

 I lost the roll, so went second. I set up in an almost identical fashion to the last game. Same scenario, so why not?

And then this. End of Cryx, turn one, and they're right in my face, almost completely through the zone. I remember this from a smaller point game with Klaus earlier in the year. Though he didn't have Deathjack (proxied here) tagging along. I didn't really have a clue how to handle this.

In retrospect, having the Uhlans in the center would have been a much better way to start, as they were stranded on the flank. I shuffled up and spread out, mini-feating with the Iron Fang, figuring that I needed to brace for the first strike, then try to get some work done.
Q: Butcher is fine there, right?

A: No, not really.
The raiders crashed into the Pikemen, pinging a couple of points off Butcher in the process (with static?). They also got on top of Beast 09. Then the Deathjack got into the action, smashing though the Boomhowlers and getting on Butcher. Whack whack whack. Butcher on 2 health. Still, 2 health is better than none, right? Still a chance? I was thinking things through - Butcher to take out the Deathjack. Ruin and Beast to wipe through the raiders, Boomhowlers to push up and block the flag. Uhlans coming in from the right as a second wave, maybe also putting pressure on his flag.
Then Skarre feated. That feat is brutal. She either shuts down my models from attacking, or her models from being hit. So, Deathjack is now unhittable, and Butcher, Ruin, Beast 09 and the Kovnik can't hit anything. In a word, game. Technically I could have mucked around a bit, and made Eric take a turn 3, but there was little point.
So - positives? It was over quickly.

pButcher v Convergence (Father Lucant)

Played my first games since the tournament today - 3 in total. Welcome back to earth.
The first was against Josh's Convergence, with a caster I hadn't seen before. I ran the same Butcher list I took to the tournament.


Father Lucant
-Corollary
-Inverter
-Cipher
Enigma Foundry
Enigma Foundry
Steelsoul Protector
Eradicators (5)
Perforators (5)
Reciprocators (5)

pButcher
War Dog
Demolisher
Beast 09
Boomhowlers
Valchev
Iron Fang Pikemen, Officer & Standard
Iron Fang Konvik
Iron Fang Uhlans
Gobber Tinker

Scenario - The Pit

The setup. I lost the roll and went second. My plan is what is currently standard for me on the pit. Hold my flag with Boomhowlers and Demolisher. Hit the middle zone with Pikemen and Spriggan. Sweep his flag with Uhlans. There are a couple of proxies here - I have the Malifaux goblin in as Tinker, he has Menoth models in for Perforators.

Convergence turn 1. Tromping forward. Shield walls in front. This is looking tanky.

End of Khador turn 1. I was being pretty cagey with the Pikemen - very wary of getting charged. No surprises here really.

I missed a photo, so this is after bottom of turn 2. He had feated (+4 armour for everyone), meaning he was on armour silly. I had a bit of a poke at them with the Boomhowlers, to zero effect, then used Valachev to bring them back with Zephyr. After that, I pretty much turtled up - I didn't see much point in bouncing off him - better to stay in formation and weather the storm. I ran the Uhlans around the back to contest his zone and give him something to think about. 1 scenario point for me.

End of Convergence turn 3. He managed to use the Perforators to clear out 3 of the Uhlans. I was OK with that, until the remaining models managed to fail a command check. I was pretty disappointed with this - until that moment I'd been pretty happy with the way the board was looking. He tried to work through the Boomhowlers to contest the zone. I thought I had it covered, but in the end He got a guy a couple of mm inside 4 inches. It turns out you're allowed to measure that 4 inches at any time - I must do that next time I'm trying to hold a zone. A few Pikemen went down, but they held reasonably well.
At the start of my turn, I spent a long time staring at the board. It felt like a puzzle I had to unpick. I thought I had a chance of clearing out at least the Eradicators (left hand side), but I had to get the order of activation right.

It turned out to be more of a struggle that I'd hoped, but I got what I wanted to done, more or less. I'd feated and started to try to pick apart the Eradicators - unfortunately the dice weren't with me and I fluffed a lot of rolls. The Decimator had to come across to help clean up. I'd come close with the Reciprocators as well, but the models outside of my feat range couldn't get it done. My big problem was the 2 heavies coming in - now able to ignore the right flank, trusting in the Perforators to finish the job on the terrified Uhlan.

In his next turn, he brought back a Reciprocator to tie up the majority of my Pikemen, cleaned out the Uhlans, and Wiped the floor with the Decimator. He brought up an Enigma Foundry (they have Pathfinder) to contest my flag. At this stage, he was on 3 scenario points, I was on two. I did another deep bout of board staring, then conceded. At the bottom of his next turn, he would have had 5 control points, and there was little I could do to stop it. In a tournament setting, I could have cleared my flag to gain 1 more point, but in a friendly game, there was little point.

Yet again, a fun game that I felt like I was in, until I wasn't. These are both pretty tanky lists - I think it is a pretty good matchup. This is the first time I've played around with Valachev's Zephyr - that is a really powerful action, that has a lot of potential - a free 3 inch move can cause all kind of interesting interactions.

BZ Tournament Round 3. eSorscha v Iron Mother (Convergence)

Round 3, and I was up against Convergence. Time to roll out Sorscha. This is a list that I've had a bit more experience with (apart from the Great Bears) - pretty much an extension of the All-in-one box (what a deal that was - but it has ended up costing me a lot of money!).
Asker is also an inexperienced player - I'm pretty sure this was his first tournament too. His army had some AOEs that could 1 shot (puncture I think) all of my 1 box infantry, so I wasn't feeling great about the matchup.

Iron Mother
List to come.....

Forward Kommander Sorscha
Sylys Wyshnalyarr, The Seeker
Spriggan
Winter Guard Infantry, Officer & Standard, 3 Rocketeers
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich
Kayazy Assassins, Underboss
Kayazy Eliminators
Widowmakers
Widowmaker Marksman
Great Bears
Eiryss, Angel of Retribution
Lady Ayana and Master Holt

This time, I won the roll. There was pretty much no terrain on my side of the board, except for a forrest in the center. My plan was to contest the left zone with a well spread out Winter Guard unit, and aggressively go for control on the right flank. I was hoping I could snipe out most of the mines before they could cause too many problems.

First turn, and I spread out as deep and wide as I could. I pretty much stuck to the plan - the only mistake might have been not repositioning the Widowmakers to ensure 5 good shots in the next turn.

Bottom of turn 1 - Convergence came forward and spread out. I was worried about the mines, but pretty happy about what looked like a pretty even split of his forces.

I missed a turn or two of photos here, but basically, everything was going to plan. The Mines were all gone, through a combination of sniping, and running low-cost models in to take the hit. I had the Winterguard spread across the left zone, bobbing and weaving and generally being hard to hit. It was going to be pretty hard for the Heavies he'd sent that way to clear them all out. On the other flank, the assassins and great bears had cleared the zone, and I was dominating for two points.
Asker was being patient here. I was taking my time, trying not to make any silly mistakes, and it  was frustrating for him to see me so spread out and hard to hit. 

One turn later, and I'd feated and cleared the zone again, meaning I was on 4 control points. But it was here that I made that one silly mistake that might have cost me a game I was dominating. I tried to get cute, freezing-gripping the jack on the hill. I've had some success locking down units with freezing grip in previous games - it hadn't occurred to me that a jack could just shake it off. But the really sill part was where Sorscha had ended up. I'd not been thoughtful about it at all - she's not even in this photo, sitting by herself with no focus in the back of the zone. Suddenly I was worried that he could pull out some tricks with his jack and assassinate me. 

This is how it ended. I missed a photo on his turn again, but he got his jack in to contest the zone, and popped off some shots at Sorscha, doing a bit of damage, but not really coming close. I then had 6 minutes to clear the zone again. a combination of the Spriggan and Sorscha did that pretty comfortably, and it was a win for me, 5 points to 0.

So all in all, a pretty comfortable win for me, though I did manage to make a mistake that made it more interesting than it should have been. It was a tough match-up for Askir. I think he's used to playing against jack-heavy Khador lists, so this was very different for him. I think he'd play it differently if we played this matchup again.

The tournament ended up going to 4 rounds, but unfortunately I'd misunderstood, and made a commitment that meant I had to leave before the last round. 

All in all, I was really pleased with 2 and 1. 3 great games that were all very different and a lot of fun. The whole tournament had a great feel to it. Lots of smiles, minimum saltiness. I really liked the format, and I'm looking forward to more opportunities to play in events like this. A big thanks to Eric for organizing it - thing went super smoothly.

BZ Tournament Round 2. pButcher v Makeda2 (skorne)

Game 2, and I drew Skorne for the second game running. This time against Raj, who I'd played recently at a Battlezone game night. At this stage, it looked like the tournament was going to be 3 rounds, so choosing Butcher again would mean I was locked into Sorscha for the 3rd round, but I'd felt so good about the Butcher list in the last round that I had to put him in again.

Makeda 2
Molik Karn
Archidon
Bronzeback
Tyrant Zardesh
Titan Gladiator
Etoller Soulward
Hakaar
Nihilators
Paingiver Beast Handlers

pButcher
War Dog
Demolisher
Beast 09
Boomhowlers
Valchev
Iron Fang Pikemen, Officer & Standard
Iron Fang Konvik
Iron Fang Uhlans
Gobber Tinker

Scenario - The Pit

 I won the roll, but decided to go second. Skorne is Skorne, right? If it ain' broke....
I've played "the pit" a few times now. My plan was to get Butcher on my flag in turn 2, protected by Decimator and the Boomhowlers. I'd attack the center zone with Beast and the Pikemen, and try to sweep his flag with the Uhlans.

This is the end of turn one, and I'd already made the mistake that would eventually cost me the game. I'd put everything where I wanted, then activated Butcher. For some reason, while moving him, I decided I'd like to put Iron Flesh on the Pikemen. I have no idea why I thought that was a good idea, but I moved Butcher towards them (instead of directly towards the flag and a mountain of cover). And I was still to far away to put Iron Flesh on the Pikemen. Oh well, how bad could it be?

Really bad it turns out. Raj had been up front with me before the game, telling me his list was all about speed. He wan't kidding. It turned out my silly move had set me up for a turn 2 assassination. His army flew up the board. The Nihilators got stuck in, most importantly taking out the Boomhowler in front of Butcher. The Bronzeback and Gladiator played bowling ball through the pikemen. Worse was to come. Molik Karn got into Butcher's face from way, way down town, killing the dog, and smacking Butcher about (down to 6 boxes I believe). Ouch.

All was not lost. In the next turn, Butcher feated, smooshed Karn into a bloody pulp, and took cover behind the Demolisher, his plan to dominate the flag forgotten. Beast 09 took out the Warbeast in the middle, and the Uhlans took the flag for 1 control point. When I look at this now, things don't look terribly bad. 

Skorne's next turn was a confusing one. Beast 09 was thrown from one warbeast to the other, getting pretty beaten up, losing both arms. A lot of Boomhowlers went down, and Paingivers moved in to contest their flag. The extoller (proxied - in the middle of the zone here), had ghost shot, which meant that Butch wasn't quite as safe as I'd thought he was, and took another few points of damage, leaving him at 2. Raj had soaked up a lot of time - I had close to 30 minute left, while he had 3:30. I had a lot of options. I felt there was a decent assassination option on the cards (as long as the tinker could heal up Beast 09), I could go on the offensive and try to take out much of the left flank and the warbeasts, or I could turtle up and hope he couldn't get to Butch in 3 1/2 minutes.

I acted like a wimp, and chose to turtle up. I did it poorly. It was the wrong option.

The Nihilators and Hakaar slashed throug the Boomhowlers, and Hakaar put an end to Butcher. Win to Raj, with about 30 seconds left on the clock.

This game was a lot of fun. It was wide open right until the end, even though I'd put myself on the back foot early. My inexperience really showed through here - on reflection I made at least 3 pretty poor decisions. I cant get too cut up about it though - I'm still learning, and this game was very good for me. 

Raj would go on to win the Tournament at 4:0.