Stryker Painted

I still have to paint the heads, and I haven't yet based the model, but the paintjob and sealing on my new MK4 Cygnar Stryker warjack is pretty much done. Check it out.

 

Battle Report: Mercenaries (Gorten) vs Trollbloods (Ragnor)

This was a 75 point game between two friends of mine on a Friday night. The scenario was King of the Hill 2021. Interestingly, both sides had bashers. A troll basher vs a Ghordson basher.

Gorten Grundback (Hammer Strike)

• Gorten Grundback
• Wroughthammer Rockram
• Wroughthammer Rockram
• Ghordson Driller
• Ghordson Driller
• Ghordson Driller
• Ghordson Basher
• Ghordson Basher
• Harlowe Holdemhigh
• Ogrun Bokur
• Ogrun Bokur
• Thor Steinhammer
• Horgenhold Forge Guard (max)
• Stone Lord Guvul Godor
• Holgenhord Artillery Corps
• Tactical Arcanist Corps

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Trollbloods (Power of Dhunia)

• Ragnor Skysplitter, the Runemaster
• Trollkin Runebearer
• Dire Troll Blitzer
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Slag Troll
• Pyre Troll
• Storm Troll
• Troll Impaler
• Troll Basher
• Troll Axer
• Troll Axer
• Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes
• Stone Scribe Elder
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Dhunian Knot

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Deployment 

The terrain consisted of a dust devil and knocked-over train obstruction on one side, and a building and pipe-wall on the other. The other outlying terrain was mostly inconsequential.

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Trollblood Turn 1 

Trolls run up, the leaders hiding behind the building and the pipe-wall.

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Rhulic Turn 1 

The wall of metal advances, the tactical arcanist corps spacing out and forge guard hiding behind. Bashers take the outlying zones, hoping to slam anyone foolish enough to claim said zone right on out of it.

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Trollblood Turn 2 

The pyre troll has a great time setting four heavies on fire, doing minor damage.

Ragnor feats, meaning Rhuls will do one fewer die of damage next turn.

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Rhulic Turn 2

The fire does nothing to the heavily armored Rhulic jacks. One jack takes one point of damage. After some thought, Gorten decides he likes that idea, and tells his army to sit back and do nothing. After all, with that feat up they won't do much damage.

Gorten puts up a rock wall. He scores the end zone which isn't contested by the Troll's objective.

(Trollbloods 0, Mercenaries 1)

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Trollblood Turn 3 

The blitzer charges forward and kills a driller. The impaler then gets rage and assaults the rockram, slamming him nowhere. The pyre troll drifts fire into Harlowe Holdemhigh, setting him ablaze. A slag troll kills one member of the tactical arcanist corps, and flubs an easy roll on the second.

Ragnor knocks down the Ghordson Basher, and the Axer charges it, nearly destroying it. No scoring this round.

(Trollbloods 0, Mercenaries 1)

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Rhulic Turn 3 

Gorten chooses not to maintain his rock wall. A driller lays into the blitzer, needing sixes to hit, and misses three times. The TAC kills a whelp.

The other driller damages the blitzer, and the wroughthammer finishes it off. The other wroughthammer staggers the impaler.

Gorten energizers to give the basher the correct angle, and then the basher slams the close axer into the storm troll, and neither is actually damaged. However, the goal has been achieved in that mercenaries will now score the zone.

The artillery shoots the troll basher. Two forge guard get charges and put some damage on the slag troll. Harlowe Holdemhigh kills both a whelp and a member of the Dhunian Knot.

The Rhuls score their second point.

(Trollbloods 0, Mercenaries 2)

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Trollblood Turn 4

The trolls are left with lots of fury, and the impaler frenzies, which was just as well since he'd been crit staggered by the wroughthammer.

A Dire Troll Mauler charges the Wroughthammer with rage and pulverizer, totaling a +5 strength boost. He rolls snake eyes on the charge, but kills it anyway, and then puts some damage on the driller. The basher and the slag troll then charge the other driller, damaging it.

A storm troll zaps one forge guard, and a dire troll mauler kills two other forge guard and one member of the tactical arcanist corps, despite two successful Rhulic tough checks.

The troll axer rolls exceedingly well, and kills the basher in the far zone, and then a krielstone grunt runs into the close zone to contest. Trolls score their first point.

(Trollbloods 1, Mercenaries 2)

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Rhulic Turn 4 

Lots of dwarves are on fire. Thor Steinhammer burns down to one box. Gorten finally feats, pulling the Trollblood army closer.

The Rhulic artillery fires on the trolls, and forces a tough check on the troll axer and two krielstone grunts, killing one.

The driller with strength of granite murders a dire troll mauler and nearly kills the slag troll, leaving it on one box. An orgren bokur finishes it off.

The other driller attacks the dire troll mauler, taking out half its boxes, and then a wroughthammer attacks it, crit stalling it.

The forge guard charge, killing the mauler and the basher.

One of the forge guard is now in the basher's way, so it walks up and kills a krielstone grunt.

Each side scores one end zone.

(Trollbloods 2, Mercenaries 3)

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Trollblood Turn 5 

Trolls are now in a difficult spot.

The axer walks behind the wrecked train and threshers, killing the wroughthammer, but missing Harlowe.

The pyre troll, feeling amazing about how he's been performing this battle, throws fire at a forge guard and sets everything on fire.

The Axer threshers Guvul, but Guvul rolls tough. The axer hits a second forge guard with the thresher attack, but that second forge guard toughs. Then, the axer hits a third forge guard, but the third forge guard rolls his tough check. The fourth forge guard though? That fourth one dies. Then the axer buys an attack and kills Guvul. The storm troll hits the Ghordson basher.

Trolls score another point, tying it up.

(Trollbloods 3, Mercenaries 3)

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Rhulic Turn 5

None of the fire on the dwarves expires, but only a single forge guard is killed.

The Holgenhord Artillery Corps hits a krielstone grunt and does four hundred and seven damage, but the grunt rolls tough.

A driller charges the storm troll, doing 17 damage and killing it. The other driller kills the troll axer.

The forge guard hit the other axer hard, and kill a whelp and a krielstone grunt. A bokur kills a krielstone grunt.

Harlowe shoots the surviving axer, lighting him on fire but doing no damage.

Both sides score.

(Trollbloods 4, Mercenaries 4)

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Trollblood Turn 6 

A very brave krielstone grunt charges the ogrun bokur and rolls 4,6,6 for damage, killing it.

The pyre troll throws fire at Gorten, setting him on fire. The impaler hits Gorten for 9 boxes, which are burned down to only 4 with focus.

The trollkin runebearer hex blasts strength of granite off of the driller, and then Rangor kills a forge guard with another hex blast.

Both sides again score a point.

(Trollbloods 5, Mercenaries 5)

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Rhulic Turn 6

Much of the fire on the dwarves goes out this turn, but Gorten takes a point from the flame, and one forge guard dies from it.

The artillery shoots the impaler, and then the bokur charges it and kills it.

The driller attacks the pyre troll, killing that, and the forge guard charge the krielstone unit, killing the stone scribe elder.

The other driller kills a whelp, and then Gorten runs and hides behind two of his heavies.

Harlowe Holdemhigh shoots the axer, wounding it.

Both sides score one point.

(Trollbloods 6, Mercenaries 6)

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Trollblood Turn 7

Trolls' final turn. The axer threshers, killing both the bokur and Harlowe.

The krielstone unit hacks away at forge guard, but is unable to damage them.

The runebearer casts shockwave, hurting a driller.

Both sides score a point.

(Trollbloods 7, Mercenaries 7)

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Rhulic Turn 7 

The forge guard take out the last of the krielstone unit, but one toughs. The driller comes up and finishes it off, then kills the runebearer and the Dhunian knot.

Thor runs to the flag, securing an extra point.

Trolls score their zone, but the dwarves now score two zones, plus the flag.

(Trollbloods 8, Mercenaries 11)

(Mercenaries Victory!)

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Final Thoughts

• This was an incredibly long and grindy game, well-played on both sides, with some big important dice swings on both sides.
• The pyre troll was an outstanding piece, and the whelps were also very good as per usual. On the merc side, I feel that Harlowe Holdemhigh was excellent.

Cygnar Courser Painted

Warmachine MK4 is right around the corner - it's just a week or two until the rules drop. I've now got all my models assembled, and Cygnar's new voltaic light warjack is the first model on which I've completed the painting. Check out all the majesty.

Battle Report: Skorne (Rasheth) vs Trollbloods (Ragnor)

We played this game at my friend's house, during the day on a Friday - a rare treat. The scenario was Recon 2.

Skorne (Masters of War)

• Dominar Rasheth
• Aptimus Marketh
• Desert Hydra
• Basilisk Krea
• Agonizer
• Extoller Soulward
• Extoller Soulward
• The Wastelander
• Croak Raiders (min)
• Cataphract Incendiari (max)
• Praetorian Keltarii (min)

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Trollbloods (Power of Dhunia)

• Ragnor Skysplitter, the Runemaster
• Trollkin Runebearer
• Dire Troll Blitzer
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Dire Troll Mauler
• Storm Troll
• Storm Troll (proxied by disco troll)
• Troll Axer
• Troll Bouncer
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Troll Whelps
• Krielstone Bearer and Stone Scribes
• Stone Scribe Elder

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Deployment

Terrain was deployed using the quadrant method, which must have the fewest pieces of terrain of any of them. One side had a lake and the Khador ruins, the other had a forest and some more water. The fence, outer forest, and quicksand ended up not being very relevant.

My opponent won the roll and chose to go first. I picked the side with the Khador ruin so that I could move my gargantuan up against it and have lots of cover. This may have been a mistake.

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Troll Turn 1

Trollbloods run forward.

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Skorne Turn 1

Rasheth walks up, putting carnivore on the keltarii, and casting a sandstorm. The croaks oil and burn the blitzer. Keltarii run up the side as they like to do. Incendiari run up the other side.

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Trollblood Turn 2

Skorne has once again been incautious on turn one, and the blitzer is in range to charge the hydra. It does, and the hydra takes a lot of damage, but survives. The blitzer and a storm troll do manage to kill almost the entire unit of croak raiders though.

The two maulers run up, ending on either side of the hydra, ready to annihilate it next turn. The other storm troll shoots out an incindiarii, but it toughs. Ragnor pops his feat.

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Skorne Turn 2

Rasheth pops his feat in an attempt to counter Ragnor's, then channels blood mark onto a mauler. The incindiarii all throw fire at the mauler, doing some little damage, then a soulward and Aptimus Marketh shoot it. The hydra bites at the blitzer, and scores a crit grevious wounds, but can't kill it through the feat. Keltarii run to block the other mauler from killing the hydra.

Trolls score their flag.

(Trollbloods 1, Skorne 0)

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Trollblood Turn 3

A mauler tramples over a croak raider and four keltarii, killing nearly all of them. It then attacks the hydra. The other mauler and the blitzer also attack the hydra, but leave it with a few boxes left.

An axer kills one incindiarii, and scores both the flag and the zone which the hydra couldn't reach.

(Trollbloods 3, Skorne 0)

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Skorne Turn 3 

The hydra eats one mauler, but can't take out any other beasts, due largely to the whelp annoying it. Probably three more hits would have landed if not for the whelp. It does leave both grievously wounded such that they cannot heal.

The incindiarii throw fire into the krielstone bearers, lighting everything on fire.

To prevent the trolls from scoring the zone, the wastelander runs into the zone to contest.

(Trollbloods 4, Skorne 0)

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Trollblood Turn 4

Trolls kill the wastelander and score two more points for the win.

(Trollbloods 6, Skorne 0)

(Trollblood victory!)

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Final Thoughts

• We both had some pretty awful dice at times. At least the terrible rolls were balanced between both players.
• The whelps were troll MVPs. One scored most of the trollblood points, and another gave a -1 which resulted in many attacks missing that would otherwise have hit.
• I really need to remember that when I go second, I need to watch the placement of the hydra on turn one - I can't always have it run the max distance.
• At least I remembered to roll tough on the incindiarii this game.

Battle Report: Skorne (Rasheth) vs Crucible Guard (Syvestro)

We had time for another game recently, and there isn't too much longer until we all switch to MK4 games, so I brought my favorite Rasheth list and took on Syvestro again, hoping that he wouldn't one-round my hydra this time.

Dominar Rasheth (Masters of War)

• Dominar Rasheth
• Aptimus Marketh
• Desert Hydra
• Basilisk Krea
• Agonizer
• Extoller Soulward
• Extoller Soulward
• The Wastelander
• Croak Raiders (min)
• Cataphract Incindiarii (max)
• Praetorian Keltarii (min)

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Crucible Guard (Prima Materia)

• Aurum Adeptus Syvestro
• Toro
• Vindicator
• Trancer
• Trancer
• Trancer
• Prospero
• Suppressor
• Crucible Guard Rocketmen (min)
• Rocketman Gunner
• Rocketman Gunner
• Rocketman Gunner
• Crucible Guard Rocketmen Captain
• Containment Operatives
• Combat Alchemists

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Deployment

The terrain for this game was placed using the Clashmachine method, and there was a lot of terrain. 12 pieces plus scatter. Two obstructions in the central zone, a lake touching it, and a nearby rubble terrain piece which ended up being very impactful. One rectangle zone contained a forest, and the other had a wall and a nearby long narrow tall grass piece. The scenario was King of the Hill 2021.

My opponent won the roll and chose the side with lots of cover - two walls and that rubble. I went first.

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Skorne Turn 1

Skorne runs forward as far as possible, the croaks settling nicely in the water, the desert hydra behind the tall grass, Wastelander on the wall, and the incindiarii carefully staying out of range of Crucible Guard shooting.

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Crucible Guard Turn 1

The containment operatives take the wall and shoot three incindiarii, corroding them and killing one. A trancer runs up, engaging an extoller soulward and a croak raider. Rocketmen hide above the rubble and Syvestro hides behind it. Prospero hides behind a small bush, reminding us all of the Monty Python sketch How Not To Be Seen.

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Skorne Turn 2

The extoller soulward engaged by the trancer moves away, takes a free strike, and gets fatally slammed into an incindiarii, who is quite put off by the annoyance. One croak raider moves and dies to a trancer free strike, then the other croaks throw fire at the trancer and enjoy the explosion.

Two incindiarii launch a CRA at the suppressor, doing some damage, but the suppressor cannot catch on fire. Due to overwhelming distraction, I forget to have the other incindiarii throw fire at the combat alchemists. There were kids in the room and at least two other conversations, so it was difficult to focus.

The keltarii sneak around the side of the map and one gets a charge on a rocketman, whom he misses. The rocketman dodge-flies over and behind the keltarii before he can make a second attack. Dodge plus flight is a powerful combo.

Rasheth channels a Blood Mark onto the Toro. The hydra edges up an inch and a half, hoping to not get charged and one-rounded by the Toro like last time. The soulward is stupid and doesn't toe the zone.

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Crucible Guard Turn 2

The combat alchemists move into the forest and throw acid bombs at the incindiarii, killing many. I am distracted and forget to roll tough checks. The suppressor moves up and sprays, killing the objective and more incindiarii. A trancer moves onto the flag.

Rocketmen kill all but two keltarii. Crucible guard scores four points. Two for zones, one for the flag, and one for the objective.

(Crucible Guard 4, Skorne 0)

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Skorne Turn 3

Skorne's goal right now is to not lose on points. After a number of false starts in which I realize that the hydra cannot hurt Syvestro with corrosion sprays and that the incindiarii and croak raiders cannot hurt the combat alchemists or the suppressor with fire, I decide to send the hydra after the Toro. Damn Crucible Guard immunities.

Rasheth feats and hides behind the train, casting two breath of corruption spells to kill some rocketmen. The hydra walks up, spraying the Toro and the objective. I roll terribly, mostly ones and twos, and the Toro is left on about six boxes. Had I thought to boost damage, I could have gotten the job done.

Keltari charge and miss some more rocketmen. The incindiarii throw fire at the single rocketmen in the zone and miss. Then we realize that the rocketman is out of formation and can't contest anyway. Croaks run to contest zones.

Skorne scores two zones and one for the objective.

(Crucible Guard 4, Skorne 3)

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Crucible Guard Turn 3

Syvestro feats. The containment operatives shoot weird healing bullets at the Toro, which then charges and leaves the hydra on one box. A rocketman gunner finishes it off. Skorne is sad.

The combat alchemists and the suppressor finish off the incindiarii (I forget tough again) and all but one croak raider.

Crucible Guard scores two zones.

(Crucible Guard 6, Skorne 3)

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Skorne Turn 4

With few options and fewer models, Rasheth goes for the long-shot assassination. The krea boosts a paralysis gaze at Syvestro and misses. Rasheth walks up and channels a Blood Mark (miss), a double-boosted sunder spirit (hit), and an unboosted sunder spirit (miss) at Syvestro, doing some damage. The extoller soulward then misses with a boosted attack, and I've got nothing else.

(Crucible Guard 7, Skorne 3)

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Crucible Guard Turn 4

Crucible Guard ends its turn and wins the game.

(Crucible Guard 8, Skorne 3)

(Crucible Guard Victory!)

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Final Thoughts

• Bringing an army where my gargantuan has corrosion damage and two units have fire damage against an army with fire and corrosion immunity is really tough.
• I do have to fault myself rather than the lists for the loss. Despite my terrible rolls, had I only boosted damage on the Toro turn three, things would have been very different.
• I also forgot that the keltarii had parry, I never made any tough rolls for the incindiarii, and I forgot to reposition the keltarii most of the game. I'd have done a lot better had I been able to focus.