Warmachine Battle Report: Feora, Protector of the Flame vs Durgen Madhammer

Recently I played a pair of games in anticipation of the arrival of Tristan Durant and the upcoming tournament at PAX East. My first game (the battle report is here) was against Cygnar, my second game was against Mercs - specifically Durgen.

Here are the lists:

Feora, Protector of the Flame - Protectorate Epic Warcaster

- Templar (bonded)

- Vanquisher

Initiate Tristan Durant (played by the esteemed Dartan Vilmon)

Redeemer

Vassal of Menoth

Saxon Orrick

The Covenant of Menoth

Choir of Menoth (min)

Temple Flameguard + UA (max)

Specialists:

Visgoth Juvian Rhovan & Honor Guard

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Wrack

Gorman Di Wulfe

Durgen Madhammer – Rhulic Mercenary Warcaster

- Wraughthammer Rockram

- Basher

MacNaile (the Doogs)

Rhupert Carvolo

Reinholdt

Thor Steinhammer

pAlexia

Nyss Hunters

Tactical Arcanist Corp

Specialists:

Aiyana and Holt

Taryn

Anastasia

Gorman

The scenario was Supply and Demand (the ammo dump). Menoth swapped the Vassal for Gorman, Mercs made no substitutions. Menoth won initiative and elected to go first.

DEPLOYMENT:

Menoth was eying a convenient linear obstacle near the zone and therefore parked the Vanquisher and Feora on the left. Tristan took up the right flank, with the Redeemer eyeing another piece of terrain. The TFG planned on moving right up the middle with the Templar backing them up. The Mercs deployed in a brick with the TAC on their left flank. No one was interested in the forest.

TURN 1: MENOTH

The Redeemer gets Fortify and runs for the linear obstacle. The Vanquisher moves up. Feora casts escort and puts ignite on the TFG. She moves up. Gorman advances and puts up a cloud. The TFG shield wall and advance six inches. Everything else tucks in behind.

TURN 1: MERCS (not pictured)

Everything advances. Durgen attempts to drift some deviations … lots of deviations but nothing sticks. The TAC drop clouds. The Basher heads for the center of the field. The Nyss Hunters get Primed which is a sick and evil thing to do. Rhupert makes them Fearless and they all spread out nicely. Alexia holds up the rear.

TURN 2: MENOTH

The Redeemer gets a full load from Tristan. Feora upkeeps two spells, gives one to each Jack and camps a few. The Choir battles the Jacks. The Redeemer attempts to drop some shots into the Nyss, cleans out a few, but doesn’t accomplish much. The TFG mini-feat and run to get some sort of jam going on those Nyss. Menoth makes a mistake by accidentally engaging one (while they are Fearless). The Templar runs up behind the TFG and toes into the zone.

TURN 2: MERCS

Mercs activates the Nyss before Alexia or Rhupert. If they had not been engaged they would have had to pass a terror check when they started run/charging past the TFG front line. Menoth weighs some options, decides to attempt the lethal free strikes. Some hit (exploding the Nyss and the TFG), some don’t (letting the WM charges land). One of the Nyss runs to engage the Redeemer. Many TFG are killed. The Basher attempts a slam but fails. There are some explosive shenanigans and move TFG die as well as a Nyss. The exploding Nyss boxcars damage on the Basher dealing 7! Durgen and his friends demolish the Objective for a point. The TAC hide Durgen again. Alexia makes a Thrall … it advances and kills a TFG.

SCORE: MENOTH 0, MERCS 1

TURN 3: MENOTH

The Templar gets three focus, the Redeemer gets two focus. Tristan upkeeps Fortify and camps 1 (to boost later on). Feora drops Ignite, upkeeps Escort, and gives one to the Vanquisher (for boosting damage), camping 1. The Choir advance and battle the Jacks. The Templar beats the Basher into the ground and takes out another Nyss (and a TFG from the exploding Nyss). The TFG declare a shield wall and fail to kill anything. Saxon advances and murders … something important? The Nyss leader, perhaps? Alexia is finally starting to get corpses. Tristan activates, advances and drops the Nyss jamming the Redeemer. The Nyss explodes … and against an armor 19 Redeemer, manages to hit it for 7 … in the 1. There goes the Rocket. Craaaaaap. The Redeemer aims and tries to take out a few Risen … poorly. The Vanquisher tries to drift a shot into Durgen, but fails. If the Templar can withstand the next round, things will turn around. If not, the Vanquisher can finish the piece trade and things will still turn around. Gorman advances and tries to obscure Feora with a cloud, aware that a Nyss hunter is out there on the loose. Feora tucks in near the Vanquisher to keep her armor high.

SCORE: MENOTH 0, MERCS 1

TURN 3: MERCS (not pictured … it’s getting late)

The Rockram gets three focus. Durgen scratches the paint on the Templar for 2. The Rockram gets Redlined and charges the Templar and needs at least one roll to go above average on damage. The assault misses. The charge hits and deals below average damage. The first buy misses (hope!!), the second buy hits and does average damage, but takes out the shield (noooo), the third buy (Redline meant the charge was free) hits and the damage is absolute fire. Hits the Templar for 17 of its 17 remaining boxes. Le Sigh. It’s ok, Menoth can one round it with a Vanquisher … maybe. Then the Mercs go to work figuring out how to clear the zone. The Nyss run/charge and the two engaged TFG are murdered. The free Nyss runs around the zone to engage Saxon. Then the TAC activate. One advances centrally and pots the TFG standard bearer. One puts up a protective cloud near Durgen to block the attack vector from the Vanquisher, and one shoots the Nyss hunter in the back, which explodes killing Saxon and clearing the zone. Alexia and the Risen run into the zone and look around. Durgen has a toe in and so the Mercs dominate for two.

SCORE: MENOTH 0, MERCS 3

TURN 4: MENOTH

There are a number of lanes open to Menoth to get at Durgen, but none of them are awesome. The Redeemer gets a full load, the Vanquisher gets two. Feora upkeeps Escort and camps three. The Choir Battle the Jacks. The Redeemer sidles out from cover and draws a line on Durgen … but can’t hit because even with Boosting the RAT is crap. The shot goes sideways and the followup goes even more sideways. That’s ok, the Redeemer was a chance thing anyway. Next the Vanquisher attempts to out vector the cloud … and it does, but it comes up 11 inches away from Durgen. Rolls for deviation, and floats it onto the dwarf! Boost damage! *sad trombone* The Vanquisher only scratches him (poor damage roll on blast damage). But everything else is on fire. The Vanquisher uses the second focus to boost damage on the Doogs, killing him. Now its time for Feora to try to close it out. She advances into the zone and feats, bringing her up to 6 focus. She spends 1 to boost the hit and 1 to boost damage on her spray. She hits for a moderate amount. She casts her nuke, boost to hit and damage and … Rolls a five. Durgen is left at 5. (These damage rolls were so very very sad). But he is on fire and cranking the fire damage roll might do it. The Book advances to contest, Gorman advances to contest and cloud? Menoth passes turn and warms up the fire dice.

SCORE: MENOTH 0, MERCS 3

TURN 4: MERCS:

Menoth rolls a seven on the fire damage, dealing two points of damage bringing Durgen to 3. Gorman is murdered, the Book is murdered. Mercs dominate the zone and win on scenario.

SCORE: MENOTH 0, MERCS 5

VICTORY FOR THE MERCS!

It was a fun game. My opponent suggested that I should play Feora more aggressively, and he is correct. I am not used to having a caster who doesn’t die instantly if they get hit. It turns out that keeping a cloud around and Escort up means that Feora is kinda difficult to hit and difficult to damage. Plus if you get near her, that’s when the party starts. The fire party. Overall I like this list enough to play it several more times as is. I think I need to start playing Tristan and the Redeemer more centrally. I did not give myself enough targets with the Redeemer. Primed Nyss Hunters are freaking evil…just...evil. I felt like I was handling the heavy piece trade well, but I shorted myself on pieces to contest the zone and fell behind. I need to get fire on my opponent’s caster sooner and overall I need to be slightly more aggressive without just walking into my opponent’s charge range.

Thanks for reading!

Warmachine Battle Report: Feora, Protector of the Flame vs. Captain Allister Caine

I have decided to get back into the habit of capturing games for reports. I played 18 games at TempleCon, took pictures during every one, and can only remember enough details for a couple of them. Last night, I met up with a few friends for a pair of friendly games. We are practicing 35 point lists with specialists for PAX East. Since I am going to be in the possession of Tristan Durant by the time PAX hits, I decided to roll up a few lists with him and give it a try. As much as I want to give him a Templar, I am concerned about his defensive stat line. I could mitigate that concern with Harbinger, but I instead opted to make him a Redeemer feeder and run some Feora2.

My first opponent of the night was playing Cygnar and running Caine2. Here are the lists:

Captain Allister Caine - Cygnar Epic Warcaster

- Squire

- Rowdy

Reinholdt

Gunmages + UA

Boomhowlers (min) + UA (Capt. Jonas Murdoch)

Forgeguard Hammer Dwarves (min)

eEiryss

Lady Ayana & Master Holt

Feora, Protector of the Flame - Protectorate Epic Warcaster

- Templar (bonded)

- Vanquisher

Initiate Tristan Durant (played by the esteemed Dartan Vilmon)

Redeemer

Vassal of Menoth

Saxxon Orrick

The Covenant of Menoth

Choir of Menoth (min)

Temple Flameguard + UA (max)

Specialists:

Visgoth Juvian Rhovan & Honor Guard

Eiryss, Angel of Retribution

Wrack

Gorman Di Wulfe

I swapped Saxxon and the Vassal for eEiryss and the Wrack before the start of the match. The scenario was Outflank (two circular zones … pretty standard stuff). We dropped a knit ball in the middle of the battlefield prior to determining the scenario. It represented a big, impassible rock. Menoth won the initiative and elected to go second and chose the side of the board with more central terrain features.

DEPLOYMENT

Cygnar deployed heavily towards his right flank. Eventually placing Eiryss in the woods on his left. Menoth deployed centrally, but put Tristan and the Redeemer on the right flank. The thought here was to be able to cover most of the board with ranged templates while angling Feora for the pocket in the woods.

TURN 1: CYGNAR

Cyngar runs the Gunmages to the wall and the Boomhowlers into the zone. The Hammer dwarves do their best to catch up. Everything else advances. The Boomhowlers get Heightened Reflexes, the Gunmages get Blur.

TURN 1: MENOTH

Tristan puts Fortify on the Redeemer and advances to the wall. The Redeemer advances and attempts to deviate a rocket towards the Gunmages, but fails. Eiryss slips up behind the big rock. The TFG shieldwall and advance. Feora breaks left, heading for the pocket near the forest. The TFG get ignite and she raises Escort. The Templar and Vanquisher advance. The Book says “No Knockdown” and the Choir advance and sing “You need Magical Guns to target the Jacks”.

TURN 2: CYGNAR

The Boomhowlers advance deeper into the zone. Eiryss repositions eying the other Eiryss (or at least where she thinks the other Eiryss is as forests are dense). The Gunmages consider advancing beyond the wall but decide against it. They come up short on shots at the TFG. The Dwarves tuck into formation behind the Boomies. Caine advances and then Gatecrashers forward. Threatening Feora’s flank. Rowdy rowdies on up the field, looking good.

TURN 2: MENOTH

Menoth is wise to Caine’s tricks after getting shot in the head during TempleCon (Thanks for the lesson, Jay). Feora needs to find a slightly safer position. Unfortunately the Vanquisher is about an inch and a half outside of her control range. She upkeeps Escort and Ignite and chooses to camp hard. Tristan upkeeps Fortify and loads up the Redeemer. The Choir advance and battle the Redeemer and the Vanquisher. Eiryss feints out to the edge of the zone, gauging the 12 inches she needs to stay safe from her evil twin. The Redeemer advances into the zone and starts floating shots across the board. A Boomhowler dies and the shots at the Gunmages go astray. The Vanquisher lights a Boomie on fire, but then the TFG mini-feat and charge/run. Two confirm charges, one fails and the rest run. The flaming Boomie goes down and the Hammer Dwarves fail their command check against the Terror. The Templar moves up and the Book says “No Knockdown”. Feora repositions and pulls of the Wrack, camping 5. She is keeping as much forest between herself and Caine as possible. Menoth controls the right zone and scores a point.

SCORE: MENOTH 1, CYGNAR 0

TURN 3: CYGNAR

Lady Ayana puts Harm on the TFG. The Gunmages lose Blur and start shooting down TFG. Boomhowlers assault and cut deeper into their ranks. When the smoke clears, about half the unit is dead. Caine moves up to the edge of the forest and Rowdy backs him up. Eiryss tips into the zone while keeping one foot in the forest, contesting the point. The Dwarves rally.

SCORE: MENOTH 1, CYGNAR 0

TURN 3: MENOTH

At an extraordinarily high DEF, Eiryss is going to be a pain to dislodge. Thoughts of grinding out a scenario win start to fade, as Menoth realizes there isn’t any cover from the Gunmages if Feora were to switch sides. Instead Feora upkeeps Escort and lets Ignite drop. She allocates three (holding back the extra, just in case) to the Templar. The TFG press into the Boomhowlers, but Tough checks keep them going. They manage to kill the UA. The Choir advances and Battles the Templar. The Templar charges 4.5 inches through the forest and gets Caine into reach range. Rowdy attempts to counter-charge but can’t fit his base between Caine and the end Boomhowler. The Templar boosts to hit on his charge attack, buys, boosts to hit and damage, and Caine falls.

SCORE: MENOTH 1, CYGNAR 0

VICTORY FOR MENOTH!!

It was a fun battle. We have started to experiment with making one side of the field more interesting that the other side to give the initiative more weight. I played on the clock and felt like I did alright with my time management. Getting jammed on the counter-charge sucked (as did losing an activation of dwarves), but that stuff happens. Tristan provided a nice little package, even though I didn’t much in the way of points off the table. I think I killed a grand total of three models (two Boomies and Capt. Jonas Murdoch). I like the list. Having the second heavy feels really good. The Specialist selections are going to be critical, and finding a comfortable way to swap in Rhovan for a stealth out is going to be interesting.

Thanks for reading.

Warmachine Battle Report - eFeora vs the Witch Coven of Garlghast

And now for something a little different ... one of my Cryx playing friends (and an especially devious one) went toe to toe in a series of three matches in mid November. We were practicing our death clock play, but we weren't ending the game if someone went over.

There are a number of proxies in this match on the Cryx side of things. Until writing the up, I didn't know what the Witch Coven looked like.

The scenario was Outflank and I have mentioned before that I am reasonably comfortable with this one (after having lost some of my earliest matches in spectacular fashion). Two zones, standard SR2013 zone scoring rules.

The Lists:

eFeora

  - Judicator (bonded)

  - Vanquisher

  - Castigator

  - Repenter

  - Repenter

Temple Flame Guard with UA

Vassal of Menoth

Choir (max, which is rare for me)

Vassal Mechanik

Witch Coven of Garlghast

  - Egregore

  - Skarlock Thrall

  - Defilers x3

  - Harrower

  - Seether

two Warwitch Sirens

a Pistol Wraith

a max unit of Satyxis Raiders with Sea Witch

and the Satyxis Raider Captain

I am incredibly concerned about feedback. Also, my opponent is a devil with arc nodes and is the Cryxiest Cryx player in my meta.

Menoth wins initiative and elects to go first. Cryx remains on the side with the big multi-elevation hill.

DEPLOYMENT

Menoth: 

The Judicator pre-deployed centrally. I have made mistakes on this scenario before and knew I wanted to try to march the Judicator straight up the pipe. The TFG are represented by the Errants.

Cryx: 

Cryx messed up their deployment, reversing where jacks needed to be. The harrower is up on the mountain when he should be over by the woods to take advantage of pathfinder and ghost shot. Instead, the seether is over by the woods. In the image Egregore is being represented by the unpainted Gerlak Slaughterbane and the witches are the figures surrounding him.

TURN 1

Apparently I forgot to take a picture for turn 1 and Feora forgot to allocate anything. Those were indicators that food was needed and I ordered us some pizza from the shop next door. Feora cast escort and put ignite up on the TFG. The Judicator advanced 6”, everything else moved forward … forgetting to use the extra two inches for escort. The TFG ran. Menoth definitely had serious concentration problems at the start of the game.

Cryx raced forward and engaged the left zone. The Raiders bounded ahead on the right and popped into the Menoth forest. The Coven advanced some. Spells went out. Being able to cycle +2 spd upkeep spell on 4 already fast jacks is pretty fantastic.

TURN 2 - MENOTH

Menoth upkeeps both spells and moves forward with the Judicator. Since the Satyxis are immune to blast damage, the Judicator attempts to lob deviations into the Coven. A Defiler gets a deviation and catches on fire. The heavy jack contesting the zone catches on fire from the Vanquisher. The Repenter advances and contests the left zone, the Castigator advances and contests the right zone. The TFG redeploy / run to the right to slow the approaching Raiders. The Right flank Repenter sprays a couple sacrificial Raiders.

TURN 2 - CRYX

The left zone heavy jack throws the Repenter into the Vanquisher, but it still has a toe in the zone. The right side jack advances into the zone. The Raiders charge in against the TFG, pass their command check against Terror, and kill several. Some of them do huge end runs to enable them to eat Menoth with free strikes if the TFG move or turn. The other Defilers advance. The Coven advances, hits the Castigator with a spell that crits and shadowbinds the Castigator so it can’t advance, and then drops a cloud between the Castigator and themselves and then feats reducing the LOS limit of all of the Menoth models in their control range to five inches. All zones contested, no points scored. If you look carefully at the picture below, you will see the Menoth army ringed by Raiders and arcnodes. As I said, my opponent is a Cryx devil.

TURN 3 - MENOTH

Feora allocates three to the Castigator and two to the Judicator. Some of the TFG attempt to charge and murder Satyxis to little effect. Then the show starts. Menoth looks up some rules to double check some things and Cryx looks up some rules to make sure everything is going to happen the way Menoth thinks. The Judicator activates and advances. It sacrifices its initial attacks and spends a focus to double-handed throw the Castigator. We decide from looking at the rules that you do not need a target to throw at (just a direction). All the Judicator needs to do is hit and beat the Castigator on a strength test. The Judicator boosts to hit to make sure, and throws the Castigator 8.5 inches on to the Coven. We actually forget to do the proper deviation, but when we looked back over our notes, there was only a very small chance it would have resulted in a different outcome  The Coven are all pushed aside via least disturbance … and take POW 17 Collateral Damage hits, snuffing them out. The Castigator didn’t even get to activate and use his powers!! (Which, upon reflection, would have been a challenging activation because it would start knocked down and is shadowbound. Hooray for Collateral Damage!)

Victory for Menoth via Assassination

This is the first time I had ever defeated my Cryx friend, and I felt like I did it in a super cool way (akin to how he often gets victories). I was really psyched. I had recently listened to the Chain Attack Dojo podcast about power attacks and knew I had double-handed throws in my tool kit for this list. The Castigator gets bad press because for the 8 points you could select a Reckoner or almost any other excellent Menoth Jack. In truth, it was the Judy that got the work done, and I am ok with that. Of course, if it didn’t work, Feora was gonna die the next turn. If you look at the last image you can see why, 3 arc nodes totally in range of Feora.