Purple Protectorate of Menoth - The Warcasters

I have been working to repaint my Protectorate of Menoth models from their original "fire truck red!" schema over to a more nuanced purple and copper. I have made a ton of progress since the fall of 2015. I have a bunch of models I need to finish up and I'll continue to update as I complete new ones.

The Warcasters

Intercessor Kreoss

Grand Exemplar Kreoss

High Reclaimer

Harbinger

Feora, Protector of the Flame

Anson Durst, Rock of the Faith

Warmachine Battle Report: Anson Durst vs Butcher Unleashed

Another week, and my Khador friend and I are able to get another game in. This time, he pulls out his favorite Butcher Unleashed plus multiple Heavies list. I received and painted my second Judicator in the past week (wooo), so I wanted a chance to see both of them on the table in a non-proxy form.

Here are the lists:

Anson Durst, Rock of the Faith

(Tier 3: DEFENDERS OF THE WALL)

- Judicator

- Judicator

High Paladin Dartan Vilmon

Paladin of the Order of the Wall

Paladin of the Order of the Wall

Vassal of Menoth

Vassal of Menoth

Vassal Mechanik

Choir of Menoth (4)

Temple Flameguard (10)

- Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard

Tier Benefits:

1: Paladin solos gain FA +1 for each unit

2: Free Temple Flameguard Attachment

3: Paladin solos gain Advance Move

Kommander Zoktavir, The Butcher Unleashed

- War Argus

- Juggernaut

- Juggernaut

- Ruin

Iron Fang KOvnik

Ragman

Ogrun Bokur

Koldun Lord

Greylord Ternion

Ironfang Pikemen + Black Dragon UA

Kayazy Eliminators

Widowmakers

We rolled up Destruction as the scenario and set up the table. I won initiative and elected to go first. Khador selected the side with the linear obstruction and the forest. My deployment was similar to the last time, except I spread the Judicators out a little further. The put the IFP on one flank and his battlegroup just off center towards the other flank. The Marksmen took station in the woods and the Koldun Lords set up shop in the backfield.

DEPLOYMENT: KHADOR

DEPLOYMENT: PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH

THE BATTLEFIELD:

We used a linear obstacle, a trench, two hills, and a forest. There was a horizontal zone in the center and we were each using the Fuel Cache objective.

TURN 1: PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH

The Paladins advance moved from the Tier bonus. No allocations, because the Judicators generated the one they needed. The Paladins advanced and stanced with Impervious Wall. Then the TFG ran forward and spread out. I intensely dislike the Widowmaker Marksmen (and anything with Sniper), so I wanted to do what I could to avoid losing 4 models a turn. The Judicator's ran forward, the Vassals advanced and gave each Judicator an Ancillary Attack. None of the deviations went my way. The Choir advanced and Passaged the Judicators because they didn't have anything else interesting to do. The Mechanik ran forward. Durst advanced, cast Deflection, cast Wall of Steel, sacrificed his attack to Rampart Guardian Stance and ended his turn base to base with the purple Judicator.

TURN 1: KHADOR

Butcher allocated a focus to Ruin and one of the Juggernauts. The Koldon lord Power Boostered the other Juggernaut. The Kovnik Shield Marched the IFP. The IFP advanced under Shield Wall along a straight line towards the purple Judicator. The Heavy Warjacks ran forward, then the Greylords put clouds around them. After that the Butcher energized everything into a cleaner wall of clouds and advanced. The Marksmen moved up and snipered out two TFG. The Kayazy ran down the flank.

TURN 2: PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH

The TFG attempt to command check the Marksmen by running. They also minifeat and spread out to screen. My goal this turn is to prevent a large alpha and hold my feat until Turn 3. The Paladins advance and stance again, Vilmon parks it in a trench with a double stance. The Choir Battle the Judicators. The Kayazy are getting closer and the Choir are starting to sweat. The white Judicator advances and shoots. Deviations go all over. One settles on Ragman, it gets boosted, and Ragman dies. Two Marksmen are killed, but the rest pass their command check. The purple Judicator advances and shoots. That one kills a TFG and three IFP. Unfortunately, that TFG was supposed to be the stumbling block for the IFP. Now there is a lane for them to get through without having to have something else spend an activation freeing them up. Durst advances and casts Deflection again. It isn't the most useful spell right now, but I am feeling safe enough to spend the focus. I am comfortable enough with the board state that I can hold my feat. Both Vassals use Ancillary Attack but absolutely nothing interesting happens.

TURN 2: KHADOR

(no picture)

The Kovnik Shield Marches again and the IFP trickle in with a Shield Wall advance and Iron Zeal. They scalpel out a number of TFG, opening up the front lines a bit. Ruin charges the Objective and destroys it. The Kayazy engage the Paladin and clutter up the lane for the Judicator to get access to Ruin. Then the Butcher energizes and the Juggernaut and Ruin effectively swap places. Now Ruin is tucked away and the only thing that can get to him is a Paladin, however the Juggernaut is exposed. The Marksmen attempt to free themselves from the TFG but can't get it done. More clouds go down from the Koldun Lords.

SCORE: PROTECTORATE 0, KHADOR 1

TURN 3: PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH

Durst hands out four focus, two to each Warjack. He upkeeps Wall of Steel and camps one. This is going to be feat turn. The Choir battle the Judicators. I try to extract the Paladin by having a Vassal Ancillary Attack the White Judicator who attempts to spray down the Kayazy. He fails to hit, but manages to fry the TFG holding down the Widowmakers. Off to a great start. The Paladin decides to risk it, and charges Ruin. The Kayazy free strike kills him. The other Paladin sacrifices his movement to Impervious Wall and attempts to kill an IFP. He fails to break armor (mistake: I should have waited to see if the Judicator could use extra attacks to free the target from Shield Wall before activating the Paladin). The White Judicator charges the Juggernaut. He opens up with two massive hits, but then his dice cool off a bit and it takes all four attacks to remove the Khador Warjack from the table. The TFG light two IFP on Fire. Then the other Judicator charges the enemy Objective and takes it off the table in one hit. He spends his other focus smashing IFP. Durst advances into the back of the Judicator, gains Cornerstone, and feats. The Mechanik is a fit of idiocy, decides he should, on feat turn, run halfway between each Judicator and ends his activation hanging in the breeze. The Vassal advances towards the purple Judicator, doesn't quite make base contact, and Ancillaries the warjack. The Judicator should have sprayed down the IFP and lit them all on fire … however … for some reason I cannot identify, I choose to shoot a meaningless rocket, meaninglessly off into the distance. Vilmon advances into the white Judicator and sacrifices his attack to gain Impervious Wall.

SCORE: PROTECTORATE 1, KHADOR 1

TURN 3: KHADOR

The Kayazy dive into the back ranks of the Protectorate support staff. The Mechanik dies. The Vassal is just out of reach. The Widowmakers advance and plink a Choir Member. Butcher casts Energizer to move some things around, and get an Argus forward far enough to advance on the Judicator. Ruin comes in with a charge and hammers the colossal for a pile of boxes even through feat. Several TFG die to load Ruin up with souls, and he swings and swings into the Judicator. After all the attacks, about half of one side is caved in. The IFP murder the TFG bannerman and fail to break armor on the Judicator. One IFP winds his way past the Paladin on the flank and tries to kill the Vasal, but misses. Clouds go up and Khador passes turn.

SCORE: PROTECTORATE 1, KHADOR 1

A Closer Look at the Zone at the end of Turn 3:

The zone contains Ruin and four IFP. It should be relatively straight-forward to clear the zone, as long as my dice on Ruin are average or better.

TURN 4: PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH

I have a couple issues. One is that I would like to score 2 points this turn by dominating the zone. The danger there is the risk of giving Butcher an opening pre-feat. If I place Durst at the wrong spot, the Juggernaut and Butcher and remaining support could suddenly shift to the purple Judicator, wreck it, feat, and smash Durst down. But I fully expect to lose at least one of my Judicators next turn. Even then, effectively trading a Judicator for Ruin, a Juggernaut, and I suppose Ragman means I made my points on the model. Second major issue is something sneaky from the Kayazy. Third thing is the Kovnik. My opponent has a lot of small tools littered about the battlefield that could present a serious danger to Durst if left unchecked. I decide to unleashed the second Paladin and have him occupy the Kovnik. Durst is going to load up the Judicators again and attempt to screen himself from the Kayazy with a cloud. This means settling for only one control point, unfortunately. Not ideal, but safe. A little voice in the back of my head is trying to remind me that "safe" against the Butcher is an ephemeral state. The Choir Battle the warjacks. The TFG moves deeper in to the enemy ranks and spikes an IFP. The white Judicator sidles away from the Argus (who scratches the untarnished side for two boxes), and smashes Ruin into junk. The Vassal on the purple Judicator ancillary attacks it and a spray takes two more IFP out of the zone. Then the Judicator advances and pastes the remaining IFP in the zone. Vilmon goes off leash, at charges a Widowmaker in order to buy the Choir at least one more round of life. The other Vassal misses an Arcane Bolt at the remaining Marksman. The remaining Paladin charges the Kovnik but rolls complete garbage on four dice and fails to kill. Durst slides up near the IFP who was harassing the Vassal, explodes him and creates a cloud that should deter the Kayazy from charging. The zone is clear, but it is only controlled for one point.

SCORE: PROTECTORATE 2, KHADOR 1

TURN 4: KHADOR

(no picture)

At this point, I again forget to take a picture. This appears to happen the most when I am excited to take my next turn. Oh well. My opponent commits everything except the Butcher into destroying the white Judicator. The remaining Widowmaker advances and shoots the TFG Officer. He spikes the damage roll and takes the model off the table. The assault on the Judicator is open, but with all the wreck markers in the way, it takes an energizer to adjust the angle of the Juggernaut. This forces his warcaster unit to make a charge/run, forcing the Butcher to charge off through the woods. He had to charge because he cast a spell. Butcher feats to stay safe in case the Juggernaut can't get it done and heads off towards the remaining Marksmen (A small mistake we probably made at this point in that I am not sure the Butcher could see his charge target). To make matters worse, we realize at the start of my next turn that Butcher is out of the killbox. Well, if he had charged towards the zone, a full loaded Judicator would be there to hug him. Between the Argus attacks, The Juggernaut, the Bokus, and the last remaining IFP, the Judicator gets scrapped. One of the Argus charged Vilmon, but missed. The Kayazy charge and kill a Choir. One of them runs to stay in formation and to face back upfield looking for a new target. Damn. I was certain he was coming for my caster. I feel like I really wasted an opportunity to score an extra point now. Then again ... Butcher. Oh, the Kovnik absolutely one shots the Paladin, so I still have that threat off the starboard bow.

Unfortunately for Khador, by killboxing himself, the score has now shifted dramatically in my favor.

SCORE: PROTECTORATE 4, KHADOR 1

TURN 5: PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH

I kept my Choir alive which means I can fully load a Hymn of Battled Judicator and complete the last trade. Because I think maybe I might live to meet up with my Judicator again, I upkeep Wall of Steel. The Choir battle the Judicator and the warjack advances up behind the Juggernaut, also trying to close off any weird charge angles towards my caster. Another pile of attacks and the Juggernaut is wrecked. The Vassal ancillary attacks the Judicator, and the spray kills two Greylords hanging out in the back of the zone. Vilmon walks around the War Argus and swings at Butcher but fails to do any damage. However, it is one more thing for my opponent to have to deal with. The other Vassal attempts to Arcane Bolt a Kayazy but misses. Durst charges the Kovnik and puts him into the ground. Hilariously, this means he is facing away from everyone, because I wanted to be toeing the hill for the defense and I had to avoid the killbox. I should have ditched the hill and kept my front arc towards the fight.

SCORE: PROTECTORATE 4, KHADOR 1

TURN 5: KHADOR

(no picture)

Surprise, surprise, I forget to take a picture again at the end of my opponent's turn. He is trying to figure out how to get Butcher onto the Judicator, but all of the math is coming up about a half inch short. He is in a forest. The straightest line to the Judicator is through the forest edge, meaning a three inch Energizer would give him one and a half inches. He is pathfinder on the charge because of Relentless Charge, which means his maximum threat range is ten inches. The Judicator is twelve inches away. If he Energizes out of the forest on the best angle, he is still going to come up about eleven inches away from the Judicator. It is frustrating, but he can't commit the Butcher to the zone and a failed charge. The first thing that happens is the Kayazy charge Vilmon and put him down. Then the IFP gets out of the way, then the Boker charges the Judicator and hammers him for ten boxes. The warcaster unit activates, Butcher charges a Kayazy and the Argus charge the Judicator. They combo strike for tons of damage, leaving the colossal on about a third of its boxes. A mistake we made at this point is that the Argus were way outside of command, Butcher would have had to commit to the zone to keep them in. The Argus attacks take out the left arm of the Judicator and the Reliquary. Khador passes turn.

SCORE: PROTECTORATE 4, KHADOR 1

TURN 5: PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH

Durst loads up the Judicator, the Choir battle (one swings at the Bokur but rolls snake-eyes). The Judicator splats an Argus with his right arm. Boosts to get to two dice and splats the other Argus with his left arm. I couldn't adjust his facing without risking a free strike from the remaining IFP. Actually, looking back on it, the smarter play would have been to advance Durst to the IFP, turn him into a cloud, THEN adjust the facing of the Warjack to put his good arm in reach of the Bokur and other Argus. As it turned out I had to spend the rest of my focus buying and boosting to hit. However, three attacks, three enemies, three splats and the zone is clear. After the fact, my opponent realized that he should have flooded the zone with the rest of his models. It was pretty late at this point, and we were both getting tired. All that aside, it was an awesome game and a ton of fun to play.

SCORE: PROTECTORATE 5, KHADOR 1

Victory for Menoth!!

Thanks for reading!

Warmachine Battle Report: Anson Durst vs. Supreme Kommandant Irusk

Got a game in with my Khador friend earlier this week. We each prepped two lists and shared them, then declared our drops ahead of time (so we could jump right in when I showed up). I was showing Durst, Tier 3 Defenders of the Wall and Kreoss2, Tier 4 Crusaders of Sul. He showed Butcher2 Mad Dogs of War and an epic Irusk list. I told him that Mad Dog lists terrify me and I would be dropping Durst. He said that the Butcher2 list was a head fake and he was dropping Irusk. We rolled a random scenario and it came up Recon. We added a few forests, a hill and a linear obstacle to the battlefield and got started.

Here are the lists:

Anson Durst, Rock of the Faith

(Tier 3: DEFENDERS OF THE WALL)

- Judicator

- Judicator

High Paladin Dartan Vilmon

Paladin of the Order of the Wall

Paladin of the Order of the Wall

Vassal of Menoth

Vassal of Menoth

Vassal Mechanik

Choir of Menoth (4)

Temple Flameguard (10)

- Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard

Tier Benefits:

1: Paladin solos gain FA +1 for each unit

2: Free Temple Flameguard Attachment

3: Paladin solos gain Advance Move

Supreme Kommandant Irusk

- Sylus

- Spriggan

Iron Fang Kovnik

Iron Fang Kovnik

Kovnik Joseph Gregorovich

Orgrun Bokur

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Winter Guard Mortar Crew

Iron Fang Pikemen + Black Dragon UA

Iron Fang Pikemen + Black Dragon UA

Winter Guard Rifle Corps

DEPLOYMENT

Khador won initiative and selected the table side with the hill. I predeployed my Judicators with about an eight inch space between them. The Paladins went up front, the Temple Flameguard filled in the gaps. All the support got dropped in the back to stay as far away from his long guns and airstrike spell as possible. Durst tucked in behind the TFG.

Khador spread his forces across his deployment line. The IFP up front, the WGRC in the back. The Spriggen and Irusk were set central in his army.

PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH, TURN 1:

Paladins Advance Move after Deployment ends. I activated each Paladin, moving them forward and using Impervious Wall. Looking over my opponent's list, I realized that he didn't have many options for removing Impervious Wall Paladins, so my plan is to shove them down his throat. I wanted to go first because I just wanted to run everything forward and worry about blast deviations on turn 2. The TFG run forward and build two pockets for the Judicators. The Judicators run forward, the choir has two of their number advance and sign Hymn of Passage for kicks. My other plan is to keep my support as far back as possible. I didn't want the mortar crew arcing shots into my support and I didn't want to let his caster deep enough into the field to place an airburst over them. Durst cast Deflection and Wall of Steel and charged the Mortar Crew. I felt pretty safe and just wanted to get him up the field a little bit in case the Judicators were able to advance any significant distance on turn 2.

KHADOR, TURN 1:

He Shield Marches both IFP with the Kovniks, Irusk hands out Tactical Supremacy. Both units of IFP advance in Shield Wall eight inches up the board. The group on my left reforms forward three inches at the end of the turn. All of his other stuff moves up a bit. The Mortar Crew run up on the hill.

PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH, TURN 2:

Even though I know my opponent put the Mortar Crew in his list to try them out, they were one of the only things beyond his caster that were a threat. One deviation into my support and I would be in trouble. So they became my top priority. Second priority was to keep screening my Judicators. Durst allocates a focus to each Judicator and upkeeps Wall of Steel. The Paladins and Vilmon advance and Impervious Wall. I should probably have considered moving the left Paladin towards the flag to contest and take scenario completely off the table, but I was more interested in messing up any charge lanes I could reach. The TFG used their minifeat and advanced under Shield Wall. The Choir sang the Hymn of Battle and the left Judicator activated. It advanced and started launching rockets down field. Four pie plate deviations later, the Mortar Crew was dead, Sylas was on 1 box, eIrusk had taken 6 points of damage, and an unlucky IFP or two ate boxcar and almost boxcar damage. The Vassal's ancillary shot went astray, so it was on to Judicator number two. I moved the Judicator up and forgot to drag my focus along with the model. Shots from this one drifted all over. I forgot to boost any of them and I think somehow managed to kill one more IFP. Durst advanced and cast Deflection again.

KHADOR, TURN 2:

Understandably, my opponent is a bit upset that I scapeled out his long range gun. I think he only has one way to deal with the Paladin situation - to burn most of his stack AirBursting a target. That would leave him open to concentrated Judicator fire. Instead he comes up with a funnier thing to try. The IFP on the right advance in Shield Wall with a Shield March bonus from their Kovnik. Then the Rifle Corp advance and, for the first time ever according to my opponent, use Suppressing Fire to surround Vilmon with a hail of bullets. If he stays there, it will have a low percentage change to kill him, because it doesn't count as an attack. Irusk moves up on the hill and puts Battlelust on the left IFP unit. Those IFP advance under a Shield Marched Shield Wall and managed to kill a several TFG. They also minifeat with Iron Zeal making their armor pretty terrific. The Spriggen runs forward.

PROTECTORATE OF MENOTH, TURN 3:

Well, here we are at turn three, which means I am going to feat with Durst and get two turns of murder. The plan is to charge the Spriggen (it is close, but I think I have it) with one Judicator and to Power Attack Sweep with the other Judicator. I knew earlier in the afternoon after studying the matchup that a Sweep was going to happen at some point. Iron Zealed IFP under Shield Wall are only getting removed by the scything arm of a giant robot. Durst upkeeps Wall of Steel and allocates two to the "Judicator". The Choir sing the Hymn of Battle and the TFG get out of the way. Well … several of them conspire to light several IFP on fire as well. Then the "Judicator charges … and fails by about ¼". Sigh. That is frustrating. I should have risked Vilmon to clear the lane a little more. I knew I was going to be safe from direct attacks on the next turn. This realization didn't come until just now. Oh well. That activation is over. Vilmon double saccs and gains both stances, the Suppressing Fire does nothing. The proper Judicator advances and adjusts his left field of fire enough to sweep through four IFP and a poor TFG (who almost dodged!).Then the Vassals advance and each Judicator gets an Ancillary Attack which they use on Flame Throwers. That lights a pile of IFP on fire. The Mechanik tucks in and Durst advances, casts Deflection, and Feats. I pass the turn.

KHADOR, TURN 3:

We roll fire and about 2/3rds of the IFP that were burning are consumed. At this point my opponent looks at the time, looks at the board, realizes that he has no way to take two Judicators off the table with what he will have left after my next turn, and concedes. We talk tactics and shop while we pick up the game, which was a relaxing way to end the evening. All in all, it was a brutal matchup for eIrusk. Special thanks to Gaston for sharing the list with me. Here is the final board state.

Victory for Menoth!!

Thanks for reading!

Warmachine Battle Report: Anson Durst, Rock of the Faith vs. Major Markus "Siege" Brisbane

Anson Durst, Rock of the Faith vs. Major Markus "Siege" Brisbane

It was a "bring something you want to have fun playing" night. I had recently finished this guy for Durst and wanted to get him on the table:

Plus I have a disproportionate love for Paladins of the Order of the Wall:

So, I decided to table my Tier 4 Durst list:

Tier 4, Defenders of the Wall

Anson Durst, Rock of the Faith

- Templar

- Templar

- Templar

High Paladin Dartan Vilmon

Paladin of the Order of the Wall

Paladin of the Order of the Wall

Paladin of the Order of the Wall

Paladin of the Order of the Wall

Vassal of Menoth

Vassal of Menoth

Choir of Menoth (max)

Temple Flameguard (max)

- Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard

Temple Flameguard (max)

- Temple Flameguard Officer & Standard

My opponent (Shamrod) came at me with Siege and a pile of fun stuff for him:

Major Markus "Siege" Brisbane

- Squire

- Stormwall and Pods

Reinholdt

Journeyman Warcaster

Stormsmith Stormcaller

Stormsmith Stormcaller

Stormsmith Stormcaller

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Rangers

Arcane Tempest Gun Mage Pistoleers

- Officer

Greygore Boomhowler & Co.

- Captain Jonas Murdoch

The scenario was Incursion. Cygnar won initiative and elected to go first. Protectorate selected the side of the table with a hill and a trench.

DEPLOYMENT

The Stormwall was placed across from Cygnar's enemy zone. Boomhowler took the center, the Gun Mages lined up across from the friendly zone. Siege centered himself on the battlefield. [the picture isn't great]

Protectorate dropped a pair of Paladins on each side, lined up a unit of TFG across from each zone, had Durst take up a position slightly left of center, and gave him two Templars. The third Templar lined up opposite the enemy zone. The Tier grants Paladins Advance Move and gives all of my Templars a free focus on the first turn.

.

TURN 1: CYGNAR

Everything runs. No surprise here. Stormwall comes charging up the field. Protectorate has zero guns on his side. Siege even gets in on the action.

TURN 1: PROTECTORATE

Almost everything runs. The Paladins advance and Stone & Mortar Stance because there are so many magical weapons on the other side that +5 Armor seems to be the better move. First mistake of the game, the TFG elect not to mini-feat. In retrospect, considering the feat, a defensive mini-feat is probably a good idea. Durst casts Deflection and Hallowed Avenger as well as sliding into his Rampart Guardian Stance. The Choir chant No Spells on the Jacks. My main focus on positioning was trying to mitigate all the Thunderbolt pushing, I figured ARM 21 would probably keep me safe all game. I should have baited out the feat with the TFG and saved the Paladins for after the feat was gone. Instead, I offered up just under half of my army to Siege.

TURN 2: CYGNAR

Surprise, surprise. Feat turn for Siege. He catches most of the Protectorate army under his control thanks to the Squire. The Stormwall rolls garbage dice, however five attack later, it has splatted 2 Paladins. The Pod disrupts a Templar and zaps a TFG dead. For some wonderful reason the Pod counts as a Stormcaller for Triangulation and Shamrod manages to drop two Triangulations into my TFG ranks. Combined with ATGM attacks, by the end of the turn There are six out of 24 TFG still alive - the UA + Leader. The only ruts in the road for Cygnar was that Eiryss botched her attack roll and the Rangers fail their command check from engaging the TFG. Also, Shamrod killed so many Protectorate troops that there were plenty of lanes to get at his Stormwall. Hallowed Avenger was useless because the only "attacks" that qualified for it happened before all the non-attacks. There was nowhere for the Templar to go. From the picture below, it looks like Cygnar has a firm grip on the zones.

TURN 2: PROTECTORATE

The Stormwall has to go. It is the absolute number 1 priority. That thing gives Cygnar so many options and the last thing I want is for Siege to pack up, back up and spend the rest of the game feeding the Stormwall focus. One Templar is disrupted but is next to the Fuel Cache Objective. The other Templar is a bit further out and will almost definitely need a Boundless Charge. The plan for the left side of the equation is to accept the jam and just see what can be smashed. When in doubt, attrition. Oh and this turn both TFG mini-feat.

The right side TFG charge, one into Eiryss (miss) and one into the Stormwall (a scratch!!). The Choir puts out the Hymn of Battle and mostly tries to get out of the way. Mistake #2: I completely forgot about the Pod!! The disrupted Templar free charges into the Stormwall and manages two moderately ok attacks. Durst activates and backs up after casting Boundless Charge on the loaded Templar. The loaded Templar smashes into the Stormwall and after five attacks comes up about 3 boxes short (one of the damage rolls was well under par). This is very bad. But wait! I had planned for this. All the Choir got out of the way so the Vassal could advance and Ancillary Attack a Templar. Bam. The Stormwall is a wreck!

On the left side, the TFG and the other Templar (and another Ancillary Attack) manage to take out four Boomhowlers and leave 1 on fire. Vilmon stays put in the trench under double stance.

TURN 3: CYGNAR

Forgetting the Pod meas more Triangulations and two disrupted Templars. Between that and the AGTM pushing the left Templar around, Cygnar manages to clear the zone although the mini-feated TFG prove to be sticky enough to require many attacks to do so. Unfortunately, Siege forgets to preemptively move into the zone. Eiryss is engaged and whiffs. The Rangers fail to rally. (At this point we were both looking askance at Shamrod's dice.) The hero of the fight against the Stormwall (the Vassal) is blown apart by Siege. Cygnar's hold on his enemy zone is wavering, although he has a Ranger, Stormsmith, and Eiryss inside it. His friendly zone is clear, but he isn't doing any damage to the Templar (just pushing it around).

TURN 3: PROTECTORATE

Ok. Those Stormsmiths have to go. There is just too much disruption on the table. Also, I need to start clearing a zone if I want to get anywhere because now Siege is just camping a ridiculous amount of focus. Fortunately I have made it to Turn 3 without needing to Feat. That means it is time for a solid Durst Feat turn. The left side Templar gets fully loaded. The closest Templar to the Pod backs up and smashes it. I use the BeatBack to reposition forward slightly. The Choir run around trying to get out of the way. I don't have any good way to reach more than the Templar on the left, but that is going to force the entire unit to shift hard in that direction. Oh well. Mistake #3: I leave a bunch of Choir just out in the open. Durst charges far off target to go Base to Base with a Templar. The loaded Templar goes to town on Boomhowler himself and the Stormsmith on that side. After pasting the Stormsmith, It takes all the remaining attacks to finally get Boomhowler to fail a tough check. Vilmon and Vassal button up with the Templar. Vilmon drops a Boomhowler, but it toughs. The Vassal Ancillary Attacks the Templar who hits another Boomhowler, but that one toughs as well. The TFG Leader and Officer Combine Melee and manage to kill Eiryss2. The forward Templar waddles forward and pastes another Stormsmith. If I had been able to reach the lead Templar, No Spelling it, instead of Battling the other, would have been really cool.

TURN 4: CYGNAR

With the Feat up and my important pieces bunkered into Templars, all the AGTM and Siege can do is take out whatever Choir I left in the breeze. They do manage to kill the Choir leader in the trench. By the end of the turn, I have one Choir member left. Siege also manages to Force Hammer the forward Templar. He knocks it back into a Ranger which gets turned into jelly. Maybe this is what snaps them back into focus, because the Rangers manage to rally. All the Boomhowlers manage to do is stand up. Siege gets into the zone by the end of his activation.

TURN 4: PROTECTORATE

I have big plans for this turn, but I have a small focus issue. I need to allocate enough to the lead Templar to give it up and into the Objective, but I can't afford to overcommit. I want to put Durst deep into the flank of the zone. I need the Stormsmith dead. On the other side, I need to keep the ATGM and the Boomhowlers tied up working on that Templar. I don't have a ton of models on the table, but three Templars is still three really heavy jacks. The goal is to contest as hard as I can and move towards a scenario victory.

Durst puts one focus on the center Templar, two focus on the lead Templar, one is used to shake Knockdown. The TFG manage to kill the Stormsmith, and position themselves in such a way that Durst can charge them to extra distance. The Choir can't reach the lead Templar, so he moves into the Zone and Battles the center Templar. That Templar charges a Ranger, smashes it, moves forward with a BeatBack, hammers a second with the shield, then buys an attack to crush a third Ranger and BeatBack backwards to cover the path towards the zone.

Mistake #4 … Durst needs to cast Boundless Charge on the lead Templar … therefore he can't fail a charge. He has to opt to advance into the Zone, cast Boundless Charge on the Templar, and Rampart Stance camping 1. The lead Templar charges the Objective for free (Boundless Charge) and rolls GARBAGE on damage. After three attacks the objective is left at 2. This is the Templar that almost gets it done all game. Almost on the Stormwall, almost on the Objective. Whelp. The only other thing I can do is attempt to Arcane Bolt it with the Vassal. The Bolt hits but fails to break armor. Le Sigh. Vilmon and the left Templar successfully murder two Boomhowlers, but the third makes a tough check. At least that will gum up any sort of Assault. Durst manages to score a Control Point.

SCORE: CYGNAR 0, PROTECTORATE 1

TURN 5: CYGNAR

Siege charges Vilmon and misses on the swing. He buys an attack but fails to break armor and then decides to stop attacking. Rangers run to contest zone. The second Vassal killed by ATGM who then proceed to push the Templar out of the zone. Some of them scratch up the Objective. Arcane shield gets swapped to Siege.

SCORE: CYGNAR 0, PROTECTORATE 1

.

TURN 5: PROTECTORATE

The goal here is to clear the zone and grind down as much of the rest of the Cygnar forces as I can while still giving Siege a clear and present danger to consider. So far, Shamrod has not been able to free up his ATGM to come across the field and cause trouble on the other side. In a previous game we played, he was able to use Thunderbolt to deny me access to a zone late game and he won as a result. I need to get ahead far enough that he won't be able to manage to do that again.

The left Templar kills the two Boomhowlers engaging him. Sadly, sort of unsurprisingly at this point, the Boomhowlers fail command. Durst advances and blows up Rangers contesting the zone to clear it. Since the Gunmages have Truesight, Durst casts Deflection (the Cloud isn't going to help him). Durst in melee is so much fun, but you have to earn it by playing a tight opening game. The lead Templar smashes the Objective and follows-up by trying to remove the Squire (Dice off 3 and it gets left on 1). The Choir sings No Spells on central Templar who runs around the obstacle to contest zone. Vilmon swings at Siege but doesn't break armor (Dice off 10). Vilmon is not moving so he can stance up to 21 Armor. The Objective is gone and Durst dominates his Zone giving the Protectorate forces two more Control Points.

SCORE: CYGNAR 0, PROTECTORATE 3

TURN 6: CYGNAR

The ATGM push Vilmon and the Templar out of the Zone in a hilarious series of slightly differently angled shots such that he gets moved something like seven inches but is only 2.5 inches away from the zone. One of them shoots the last Choir member, Deflection doesn't save anyone today. Reinholdt runs to contest. Siege backs up to the edge of the zone. Junior moves to the back of the zone as well. Poor Boomhowlers fail to rally. However, Cygnar has managed to clear the Zone and score a Control Point.

SCORE: CYGNAR 1, PROTECTORATE 3

TURN 6: PROTECTORATE

Look at that picture up above. That straight line from Vilmon to Siege is so tasty. All the Thunderbolts pushed the Templar into Durst's Control (it also pushed Vilmon into Deflection). Durst hands out some focus. Vilmon charges Siege and manages to deal ten points of damage even at Dice off eleven. The Templars smash everything on the near side of the Zone to prevent anything from running to contest. The TFG (supertroopers at this point in the battle) engage Reinholdt, he fails command … of course he does, and then he dies to the flaming spears of the Temple Flameguard. Durst backs up to take any sort of Hail Mary assassination off the table. Durst scores the fourth Control Point for Protectorate.

SCORE: CYGNAR 1, PROTECTORATE 4

TURN 7: CYGNAR

Unable to run anything into the far zone, Cygnar concedes the battle to Protectorate.

SCORE: CYGNAR 1, PROTECTORATE 5

Victory for Menoth!!

This game was a blast. We played on the clock, but Shamrod and I play a 90 minute clock instead of a 60. That way we won't accidentally play a four hour game, there is still some time pressure, but we can focus on having a good time. Both of us dislike games that go to time, but we both see the need to have some time element in play. Overall, it was a good back and forth. The opening salvo from Siege was almost enough to break my forces (or at least it felt that way). The Templars really shine with Durst and I even managed to run the list ok without any focus assistance. Shamrod's dice were … below average when he really needed to roll high and above average when he needed to roll low. Even with the ups and downs of dice, he still managed to push me pretty hard. Thanks for the game, Shamrod!