Warmachine Battle Report: Morvahna the Dawnshadow vs. Vice Scrutator Vindictus

I recently took a swing at Morvahna2 thanks to a kind offer from one of my friends. He had not played her before and was pretty rusty at Circle (his primary faction is Cryx). But, I am in practice mode and needed the matchup experience. The first list I threw at him was my Vindictus Tier 4, Missionaries of War.

I took my sweet time getting around to writing this one, so it might be a little foggy / short on details.

Here are the lists:

Vice Scrutator Vindictus

 - Reckoner

 - Reckoner

 - Reckoner

Reclaimer

Reclaimer

Holy Zealots (10) + Monolith Bearer

Exemplar Errants (10) + UA

Exemplar Errants (10) + UA

Choir (4)

Morvahna the Dawnshadow

 - Warpwolf Stalker

 - Warpwolf Stalker

  - Gorax

Full Bloodtrackers + Nuala

Full Skinwalkers + Alpha

Shifting Stones

Shifting Stones + Stonewarden

Witch Doc Croc

Gallows Grove

Gallows Grove

I believe the scenario was Fire Support. Menoth wins initiative and elects to go second. I give him the forest for some stupid stupid reason. Maybe I thought the fence would be an issue? Basically, I forget what Prowl means.

DEPLOYMENT

He dumps all his guys right in the middle, with his Blood Trackers up from and Skinwalkers in the back. I put a unit of Errants on each wing and stick the Reckoners in the middle. I like to have the Errants split, especially now that they are each backed by a Reclaimer. Putting the Reckoners in the middle means that I don't leave one hanging on the wrong side of the engagement a couple turns in. The Blood Trackers declare one of the Reckoners as prey.

TURN 1, CIRCLE

Everything comes forward, the stones set up to do some teleport shenanigans next turn. The Trees get into the forests and become stealthy. The Blood Trackers are eyeing my front lines.

TURN 1, MENOTH

At the start of the game I was determined not to offer up both units simultaneously. I then proceed to launch both units at the enemy. I really need to stop doing this. My new goal is to wipe out the Blood Trackers completely before my opponent wants to feat. To that end, Vindictus decides to hold off on allocating or sacrificing anything. Instead he waits for the Reckoner in front to make a hole, drops Defender's Ward on the left flank of Errants, casts True Path, advances to the Reckoner, and feats. Everything else advances and/or runs while staying within Vindictus's control area. The Choir puts Shielding on the jacks. The jacks are positioned to let me piece trade effectively.

TURN 2, CIRCLE

With just about everything on the Menoth side of things untargetable by spells, and Penitence in play (feat), Circle does not have a ton of options. However, Morvahna doesn't care about losing models early. The Blood Trackers advance and target taking shots. Some hit and a few Errants and Zealots die … and so do several Blood Trackers. The Skinwalkers advance and scalpel out a few more Errants. One of the Warpwolves powers up and charges the lead Reckoner. He takes a few points of Penitence, but the Reckoner doesn't survive the encounter.

TURN 2, MENOTH

Vindictus camps his stack and drops Defender's Ward. The Choir puts Shielding on the remaining Reckoners. This means I am going to have to take out the Warpwolf without Battle. But I can't risk crazy spell bombs from Morvahna. The Zealots mini-feat, pray no spells, and advance. Several get bombs off and take out some Blood Trackers. The Errants advance and start cutting and shooting down the remaining Blood Trackers. When the dust settles, all of the Blood Trackers are dead, a skinwalker is no more, they bagged a Tree, and the Warpwolf has some cuts and bruises. The left Reclaimer loads up the next Reckoner in line and the Reckoner assaults the Warpwolf. He boosts to hit on the shot to get the DEF buff out. I figured that since I didn't have Battle up, I needed to stick the Condemner Shot. Between the shot (which rolled hot hot damage), the Charge attack, and one buy, the Warpwolf is dead. Vindictus puts Defender's Ward on himself and steps into the wreck marker.

TURN 3, CIRCLE

Still denied useful spell targets, Circle teleports a stone into the middle of the Menoth army and hammers it with a spell from Morvahna. The stone dies, but so do a pile of troops. The Skinwalkers flay the heck out of the left flank of Errants. The second Warpwolf charges in with Sprint and starts slicing away at the right flank of Errants. Self-sac blocks the Sprint from ever triggering, but many Errants died that day. The field is left pretty cluttered, even though a chunk of Menites have had their souls collected.

TURN 3, MENOTH

I have a Reckoner standing on a wreck marker with no good charge lane to the Warpwolf. There are stones forward, the left flank is folding, and Morvahna is waiting to pounce. I think if I can get the lanes a little clearer, I can get a Reckoner on the Warpwolf and keep the piece trade going in my favor. I think back to a game I played at TempleCon where Jay Larsen used his heavy to push Caine forward an inch and get range on my caster (that didn't end well for me, but it sure ended quickly). Vindictus puts a focus on the last Reckoner and upkeeps Defender's Ward on himself. I don't think I can get it done with just a Reckoner without Battle, but I am really hesitant to let a crack appear in my spell defense. But wait! I have a full loaded Reclaimer … sitting on the other side of a fence. True Path to the rescue! The left Reclaimer loads the front Reckoner. The back Reckoner sidles up to it and pushes it off the wreck (successfully). The Zealots get out of the way / fail to do anything useful with bombs or melee. Vindictus casts True Path and camps the remaining focus. He also bugs out as best he can. The Reckoner charges the Warpwolf and does the same thing as last time. Boost on the Condemner Shot. Without the extra scratches from the Errants, however, the Warpwolf lives. The Reclaimer charges over the fence and puts the beast down. Everything else is busy jamming the Skinwalkers … which have been Carnage healing Morvahna all game.

TURN 4, CIRCLE

The Skinwalkers try to get at the Reckoner, only one makes it, but puts a smashing hurt on him, leaving him with only a Cortex and a Right arm. The last of the Errants on the left die. And I do not remember what Morvahna does at this point, but she ends her turn in the forest.

TURN 4, MENOTH

Vindictus allocates three to the Reckoner. The Choir manages to get Battle on the lead Reckoner. The Errants activate (a leader and a standard bearer). The only one with a sword charges Morvahna and 4 dice weapon master puts some serious hurt on Gorax when she transfers. The Reclaimer charges in and hits for a bit, lighting her on fire. The Reckoner advances and hits her so hard that Gorax dies and the blowback kills Morvahna.

VICTORY FOR MENOTH!!

Thoughts about the match:

So, I played a tournament list that I have played over twenty times against my friend's first outing with a new caster … and I felt like I barely won. He made a pile of positioning mistakes and I stayed focused on my modified game plan. From the outset I knew I wanted to try to piece trade. I pulled off a lucky stroke in wiping all of the Blood Trackers off the board. We played a second game right after this (Kreoss1 vs Morvahna2) and he didn't make those kinds of positioning mistakes again. Not being able to clear Carnage off of the Skinwalkers hurt. I love my tier list, but it's lack of upkeep removal is a serious weakness. But, man, I love Vindictus. Also, this is the first game where I felt like the Reclaimers were super stars. They allocated a ton of souls and put the flaming hurt down when it was desperately needed. I suppose if I had the Seneschal version of my list, hunter would have helped solve a bunch of issues. I just don't know about this matchup going forward. That feat … that terrifying terrifying feat…

...anyway,

Thanks for reading!

Warmachine Battle Report: Harbinger vs Moshar the Desert Walker

I went down to a local game store before Christmas and participated in a "fun" Saturday morning tournament. It was 35 points and one of the scenarios was a playtest for an Iron Arena table at TempleCon. This is the report for round three, I won't report on the Iron Arena scenario until after TempleCon. 

In this round, my opponent played Circle. I have only played against Circle once before (a small 25 point game I played in New Hampshire in November). I looked over his lists and felt really good about either of them matching up against Harbinger. The scenario was an SR 2014 issue called Balance of Power. I had played this one the weekend prior and knew that it was … actually kind of crappy. By dominating your flag you subtract 1 CP from your opponent before any other points are scored. You cannot be taken below 0, but the reality is, scoring in this game is a nightmare.

Harbinger is my scenario caster, but I felt like I could hang back and force him to grind through my Bastions. He dropped Moshar the Desert Walker. I have never seen the caster before, but I remember listening to a podcast about him. He had a little bit of trickery but his feat was completely useless against my list so I wasn’t too concerned.

The Lists:

The Harbinger of Menoth

- Hierophant

- Devout

- Reckoner

Exemplar Bastion Seneschal

Exemplar Bastions (Max)

Exemplar Bastions (Max)

High Paladin Dartan Vilmon

Nicia, The Tear of Vengeance

Moshar the Desert Walker

Feral Warpwolf

Megalith

Gorax

Tharn Bloodtrackers (these things are cool!)

Nuala the Huntress (Bloodtracker UA)

Druid Stoneward and Woldstalkers (laser shrimp)

TURN 1

I won initiative and elected to go first. I ran right up the middle and stuck Harbinger on the flag. The Reckoner had her right flank. The Bastions had the center and left flanks. The outside Bastions were targeted as Prey by the Bloodtrackers.

He came running forward as well. The laser shrimp tried to get shots in but did not have range. The Bloodtrackers moved like bandits. They had Mirage placed on them and could Reform. Moshar tossed out 3 pillars of Salt. I did not realize that these are apparently not considered enemy models. They are just terrain which can be destroyed. But they can’t be charged and Nicia’s tricks do not trigger when they are broken … they are pieces of terrain. That caused me some activation issues on Turn 2.

TURN 2

Nicia advances through the ranks and wrecks a pillar, clearing a way for the Bastions. The Reckoner advances and shoots a Laser Shrimp. Vilmon advances and raises Impervious Wall. The Bastions run forward. Harbinger feats.

Circle advances with the Megalith and it takes 5 damage. The Warpwolf Stalker gets Sprint on it from Moshur, who also throws out more Pillars. The Warpwolf Stalker charges the Bastions and I teach my opponent how much I care… because I care … I care a whole bunch. The main effort is to prevent the Stalker from getting to sprint. He puts the HURT into the lead Bastion group and Harbinger Martyrs hard. The tactic works and the Stalker is left at full fury in my front ranks. The Bloodtrackers are placed with Mirage (during Maintenance), get off a ton of damage on their Prey (the back set of Bastions) and Reform backwards. The Laser Shrimp do nothing. Harbinger is at about 9 life (around 50%).

TURN 3

Harbinger allocates three to the Reckoner. The Bastions MURDER the Warpwolf stalker (five weapon masters are a thing!). The second unit of Bastions retreats. The Bloodtrackers are a problem, but moving out of martyrdom range would be bad. They are weapon masters with their spears but the range is only 7”. Nicia runs through some folks to the back edge of the linear obstacle, getting some cover, while still staying in martyrdom range. Vilmon destroys a salt pillar. Harbinger gets a few points of healing from the Hierophant and casts Crusader’s Call. The Reckoner charges the Megalith but comes up short. It opts to drop a gun shot into it instead, dealing about 8 damage.

The Megalith advances on the Reckoner and in a series of attacks puts about 8 damage into it. The Gorax slams the Reckoner and knocks it down while putting in another 10 or so in. No critical systems are damaged. All of it is superficial, but it is knocked down. The Bloodtrackers put the hurt into the Bastions, but the line holds. The Laser Shrimp focus on the Seneschal and manage to take it out. Harbinger has Martyred to 3 by the end of the turn. Three. Three hitpoints. If anyone asks you where I was today … you could accurately tell them the “Daannnnnnger Zooooone”. However… the Reckoner has not been neutralized and I am ahead on the heavy piece trade. The Bastions are teetering on the edge (one of the forward Bastions has been killed), the Seneschal has died, and Harbinger has nothing left for them.

TURN 4

This is the turn where I completely forget how Warlocks work. I haven’t played enough games against them and I certainly haven’t made enough assassination attempts against them. I think this is the turn where I am going to complete my assassination run. Words of wisdom: if you have the time, do all your other normal stuff … just in case. I did not have much time left, but I felt I should play out all my activations. Harbinger allocates 3 to the Reckoner. The Reckoner immediately burns a focus to shake knockdown, leaving it with two focus. I charged the Megalith with the forward Bastions and stick all four. The Megalith gets hammered into junk, clearing the way for the Reckoner to advance on Moshar. The second unit of Bastions charge the front ranks of the Bloodtrackers and get a few kills in. One Bastion charges off in the other direction to engage some Laser Shrimps (out of formation so he doesn’t get an attack, this was intentional). Nicia charges a Bloodtracker, kills one, misses her Quick Work and sprints back to safety. Vilmon advances on a Laser Shrimp, engages two and kills one. Harbinger advances to stick Guided Hand on the Reckoner. The Hierophant heals her for 2. Harbinger is at 5 HP, camping 5. She is current 14/19 with 5HP. The Devout moves forward to screen and stay within Shield Guard range. The Bastion activates and advances towards Moshar. This is going to be easy … BAM … take a pile of damage! Transfer? What? Ooohhhhhhhhhh right. Warlocks can transfer. Fortunately he only has the Gorax left. I buy an attack and have to roll a hard eight. BAM!! The Damage is absolute fire and the Gorax dies. No more transfers. I buy my last attack and have to roll a hard eight. I roll a 6. Ohhhhhhhh noooo. Also, I have about 45 seconds left on my clock. This does not look good.

There is a trick that Moshar has that I don’t know about. It is a pretty cool trick. The Laser Shrimp get a special placement during Maintenance or something that gets them out of engagement. This lets them aim. The first one shoots at Harbinger and misses, the second hits but does no damage and the third hits but also does no damage. The Bloodtrackers activate and move forward to engage the Bastions. I have no idea what my opponent is doing. Who cares about Bastions at this point? You need to run like crazy with Moshar to escape my Reckoner! I only moved my Bastions forward to engage because it seemed like the right thing to do. Well, he murders all but one of them (the last had just enough boxes to soak the last hit). The Bloodtrackers reform as far -forward- as they can. Now I am very confused. What is going on? All he has left is Moshar. I am plotting out how fast I can allocate to the Reckoner, Activate Harby, Move forward, Stick CC and GH on it and chase the guy down. Suddenly Moshar vanishes! And reappears where his most forward Bloodtracker was! What the what?! He is on the other side of my Bastion line and staring Harbinger in the face from about 7 inches away. He has a ton of fury. Ohhhhh noooooo. He cranks up a Crevasse and hits … but he only rolls 21 damage! Harbinger takes 2 and goes to 3 HP. All he has left is his spray … he shoots and MISSES!

TURN 5

Harbinger charges Moshar and cuts him down with Providence.

VICTORY FOR MENOTH (assassination)

I feel like nobody is ever going to score control points in Balance of Power. I really liked Moshar. He has some cool tricks. I feel like my opponent was thinking he would get more (anything) out of his Stalker. I denied him kills on Crevasse and his full fury load while he was on Sprint. That started the piece trade … although I guess I never really let him get any of mine until near the end. I martyred HARD in this game. I was dancing around in the red zone for most of it. If he could have stuck something on me, he probably would have had it. But that is what I spent all of my energy avoiding. I nearly dropped the ball when I forgot about transfers, but when I reflected on it, it makes more sense to force the transfers when the enemy only has one beast left. I splashed a pile of damage onto Moshar on the final transfer. Once again, the Bastions show their resilience. I really enjoy this list.

This was the third round of the tournament. I won twice and lost once, but because the person I lost to won the tournament I had the strength of schedule win and took second place. It was the first time I have ever placed in a tournament (of any kind). I had a good day.

Thanks for reading