Buoyancy's Battle Blog

April Fuel Daze Tournament Report

One of our PG's decided that we should have two 2-day events a year (Scottish Masters being the other) and so we had our first April Fuel Daze on the 1st and 2nd of April. The format was six groups of four play the other three in their group on day one, then on day two the winners play a six man SR, as does the second places and so on. Lists were all submitted before anyone knew which group they were in and I went with the following two lists:

Winter Guard Kommand
Butcher3
-Argus
-Argus
-Juggernaut
-Kodiak
-Kodiak
-Ruin
Gun Carriage
Kovnik Joe
WG Field Gun
WG Field Gun
WG Infantry (Min)
-WG Officer & Standard
-3 x WG Rocketeer
WG Mortar
Effigy of Valor

Winter Guard Kommand
Karchev
-Destroyer
-Devastator
-Devastator
-Juggernaut
-Juggernaut
-Kodiak
-Kodiak
Battle Mechaniks (Min)
WG Mortar
WG Mortar
Armory

Sadly lists were submitted just before the new themes dropped, so there was no chance to play them. Sadly, one person had to drop from my group, leaving me with a group of three for day one, with opponents fielding Cryx and Khador.

Game 1: Butcher3 vs Mortenebra, Incursion

After a bye in the first round I was up against Cryx with Mortenebra and Denny3. I went for Butcher3 and ended up against Mortenebra running something like:

Morenebra
-Deathjack
-Deathripper
-Deathripper
-Scavenger
-Stalker
-Stalker
-Another Heavy
2 x Pistol Wraith
Machine Wraith
2 x War Witch Siren
Repair Thrall

The main piece of terrain for this game was a forest surrounding the central flag. I lose the roll and my opponent chooses sides. That's fine for me since I want to go first with Butcher3 in Winter Guard Kommand. I deployed the gun carriage on my right flank with a mortar and field gun just inside of that. Butcher and his jacks took up the center with a kodiak on either side, then Ruin and the juggernaut inwards and Butcher in the middle. The winter guard infantry followed behind and the other field gun was on my left. Cryx skewed hard to my left with almost everything, though the heavy, a deathripper and a war witch siren were pretty central. Deathjack ADed on my left and I advance moved my jacks forwards.

Turn 1:
My jacks run up the board, though stay out of Deathjacks melee threat. I Energizer up and put Silence of Death on Ruin before he charges up the board too. Gun carriage runs up my right flank and the infantry and artillery all run up too, the infantry getting tough from Joe.

Everything runs up the board as expected! A light jack goes right up to the flag on my left and the Deathjack receives an armour buff.

Turn 2:
Upkeep Silence of Death and allocate out a couple to the kodiak on my left. It goes into the lead chicken, killing it and contesting that flag. The gun carriage tramples up, puts out some gun shots before repositioning to the right flag. The more central kodiak runs to the central flag and the juggernaut and Ruin move left to threaten a counter attack. Butcher and the winter guard stay safe.

Deathjack goes into the kodiak and kills it with a little help from the heavy before the scavenger runs to control the flag. Support solos make a general nuisance of themselves and the remaining bone chicken runs over to my right, but doesn't manage to contest. Nothing contests the middle either.

Khador: 2 Cryx: 1

Turn 3:
Through Energizer and the bond I can get both Ruin and the juggernaut into the Deathjack and scavenger on my right. Ruin removes the armour upkeep from Deathjack, then kills the scavenger and heavy thanks to Silence of Death. Butcher recasts that onto the juggernaut, then feats to cast Energizer before moving to my right away from two flanking stalkers. The remaining kodiak charges the chicken on my left, getting into its back arc and managing to kill it before the juggernaut goes in and kills the Deathjack. The gun carriage kills the central war witch siren before repositioning back to the flag.

Khador: 3 Cryx: 1

The remaining lights and solos try to stick some damage on Ruin and the juggernaut, doing about half to both of them.

Khador: 4 Cryx: 1

Turn 4:
I clear out the left flag to control it.

Khador: 5 Cryx: 1

Victory to Khador!

Pleased with how that went overall. My opponent didn't put enough on my right flank, which let the gun carriage and a kodiak bully that area and control the flag a little too easily. The jack rumble on the left was a lot of fun! Dispel and Silence of Death really swung that in my favour though.

Game 1: Butcher3 vs Zerkova1, Close Quarters

Time for the Khador-off! Normally I would like Karchev into Khador, but seeing Irusk2 and Zerkova1 with doom reaver spam I figured the only choice was Butcher3. I was against:

Zerkova1
-Juggernaut
-Ruin
Fenris
5 x Doom Reaver Swordsmen

I lose the roll again, but my opponent chooses sides to get the one with the wall in a nice spot to prevent drags, giving me first turn again. The gun carriage deploys on my left and the battlegroup is fairly central, slightly leaning towards my right to guide Butcher to his flag. Kodiaks again take the outside of this set up. Infantry follow behind in the middle, there's a field gun on my left and both the other artillery pieces on my right. My opponent puts Zerkova and her jacks central ready to get up behind the wall and Fenris on my left flank to counteract the gun carriage rough terrain. The doom reavers advance deploy right across his front and I advance move my jacks forwards.

Turn 1:
Silence of Death goes on Butcher and he Energizers then charges up the board. The kodiaks lead the way, running up to just outside doom reaver threat range. Ruin moves up behind on my left and the juggernaut runs up on my right. The gun carriage tramples up and sticks down some rough terrain (also killing a doom reaver with blast) before repositioning. Infantry run forwards in the middle with tough and the artillery run up.

Doom reavers run up! Some engage the lead kodiaks on either flank while the rest spread out behind. Zerkova and her battlegroup get up behind the central wall and Fenris stays out on my left flank. Zerkova puts up four clouds, blocking line of sight to various models on both flanks.

Turn 2:
I upkeep Silence of Death and allocate out some focus. The kodiaks both vent steam and trample to take out several doom reavers each. The juggernaut also tramples over a couple and the artillery kills or knocks down several more. Ruin charges into a couple blocking the gun carriage before Butcher casts Energize to move him out the way and reposition the other heavies. The gun carriage then charges into the doom reavers, impacting through a couple and blowing up others point blank with its cannons before repositioning over to my left, getting between one of the only remaining reavers on my left and Ruin.

Both jacks get loaded up with focus and go to work on the kodiak on my left and juggernaut on my right. Both are killed with a little help from doom reavers. Fenris and the last doom reaver on my left attack the gun carriage, halving its boxes. Otherwise on my right doom reavers put solid damage onto the kodiak and generally contest. A single doom reaver has a line to charge Butcher, but he cancels the damage.

Turn 3:
Vengeance kills the doom reaver next to Butcher and Silence of Death upkept and Butcher keeps his focus. Ruin before Butcher moves to my flag, drags the juggernaut to him and kills it before feating back to full focus. The kodiak continues to trample and vent steam around the place, killing more reavers or at least making them tough. A field gun knocks Ruin down and some rockets stick some damage into him before my Ruin converts some souls into focus and charges in, not quite killing his doppelganger but removing it's mace and cortex before killing a nearby reaver to get a soul. The gun carriage goes mad and kills Fenris and the last doom reaver.

Khador: 1 Khador (Impostor): 0

Nothing can get to my flag to contest, but hero Ruin and the gun carriage are killed.

Khador: 2 Khador (Evil Twin): 0

Turns 4 onward:
There's a couple more turns, but basically nothing can stop me scoring my flag and I have the guns available to clear out evil Ruin and the remaining doom reavers before they can do much.

Khador: 5 Khador (with Cygnar cousins): 0

Victory to Khador!

I was initially worried that the doom reavers would be able to swamp me and force Butcher to get too involved, but in the end the army proved it can handle a fair amount of advance deploy weaonmaster infantry quite nicely!

With that, I'm into group one for day two.

Game 3: Karchev vs Kreoss3, Entrenched

I previously tried Karchev into Menoth and it worked ok, so decided to give it another go against the following.

Kreoss3
-Vassal
-Light that shoots 3 rockets
-Light that shoots 3 rockets
-Melee light
Wrack
Choir (Min)
Flamebringers (Max)
Rhoven and Co.
Vengers (Max)
Vengers (Max)
There might be some other stuff missing..?

I lose the roll and get handed second. Opponent deploys Kreoss centrally and his jacks ready to move towards my zone. There's a unit of vengers on each flank and the flamebringers are to my left. I deploy a devastator ready to go to each zone and a mortar on each flank. The remaining jacks and Karchev are all central with mechaniks behind. I advance move the two devastators.

Turn 1:
Assail goes on the light melee, Ignite on the vengers to my left and Arcane Ward on the flamebringers before Kreoss makes his way up field. Everything largely runs.

I run full speed with the devastators, following with most other jacks. The destroyer boosts a shot into a flamebringer that got too close, killing it before a mortar scatters about and does two damage to a venger on my left as well. Karchev casts Battle-Charged and tramples up the board.

Turn 2:
Upkeeps stay up. My opponent spends a very long time trying to decide what to do and eventually goes for mostly backing off, except the ranged lights to get battle and full focus and start firing into a juggernaut on my right. One shot scatters and lands on the right mortar, killing it. The vengers on my right run up, staying out of threat and one of the toeing my zone behind a house where I can't really reach it. I kodiak is Force Hammered back as well, catching Karchev but not doing any damage.

At this point I have 52 minutes to approximately 30 on my opponents clock. So I take a pretty quick turn to put the pressure back to my opponent. I upkeep Battle-Charged and position Karchev behind a forest in safety. The devastators both run, getting well into each zone while the other jacks follow. The destroyer tries to shoot a flamebringer, but misses I think. Same with the mortar. Mechaniks repair some damage to the juggernaut that got shot before it advances up the field.

Turn 3:
Upkeeps stay up. Seeing the time issue, things get a bit quicker. Kreoss takes some focus from the wrack, which explodes and kills a venger (don't worry, instant karma incoming for me) before Force Hammering a kodiak. The loaded up ranged lights finish the juggernaut and the melee light does some damage to a kodiak. The cavalry charge in where they can and put some damage on the jacks. He's unlucky and leaves a kodiak on my left on three boxes, so tries to charge past the devastator with one of Rhoven's guards. With minimal attacks left I freestrike to kill it before the other guard charge the now open devastator for a bit of damage. Something kills my objective.

Khador: 0 Protectorate: 1

Battle-Charged is upkept and some focus is allocated. The devastators aim to stay shut and simply slam/headbutt this turn. The barely alive kodiak boosts a vent steam to kill a venger then moves up and attacks another in melee, killing it with the good arm. The destroyer boosts a shot on a flanking flamebringer, misses and scatters perfectly onto the remaining mortar, killing it and re-balancing the wrack. The juggernaut on my left moves over to kill another flamebringer and the second kodiak kills the melee light. Karchev stays safe behind his forest. A jack kills his objective at some point.

Khador: 1 Protectorate: 1

Turn 4:
Time is really short now. I believe upkeeps stay up and vengers finish off a devastator out of spite before time runs out.

Victory to Khador!

My opponent spent much too long on their turn two and that's not the first time I've seen it happen when playing Karchev and sticking up Battle-Charged. Kreoss could have moved up and feated to remove it for a turn and when talking it through afterwards we thought that would be the better turn two. Come forward and feat to drop Battle-Charged, then charge in and do as much damage as possible with the cavalry. Only issue is keeping the momentum to continue doing decent damage each round.

Game 4: Butcher3 vs Doomie3, Recon

A current thorn in my side in my meta. Doomie3 is really strong and after a test game last week my Karchev build really doesn't like it, so I drop Butcher3 instead. Sadly the scenario doesn't even necessitate spreading out the beasts.

Doomie3
-Axer
-Bomber
-Bouncer
-Mauler
-Mauler
-Mulg
Shaman
Shamn
Whelps
Stone (Max)
-UA
Fuel Cache

I lost the roll, so got second. Opponent deploys his battlegroup centrally with Doomie slightly to my right. The axer is also on that flank. Two whelps start on the table and the rest wait for later. I deploy with Ruin opposite Mulg and the other jacks slightly to my left. Infantry follows behind Butcher in the middle and artillery is spread around. The gun carriage is on my right flank.

Turn 1:
Stuff runs forward! Admonition is on Mulg unsurprisingly. Fury gets dropped into the stone.

I stick Silence of Death on Butcher and everything runs up, staying out of melee threat range. The gun carriage runs further round on my right to a flanking position. I put the juggernaut within ten of his objective to force something to stop me getting a scenario lead.

Turn 2:
Admonition gets dropped. Doomie feats this turn and puts Admonition on a mauler before getting his beasts in position in the zone. The bomber puts some damage on a kodiak. Doomie also casts Implacability and uses his Arcane Suppression scroll, catching Butcher.

I hate this feat so much. Silence of Death stays up and I keep everything else. The first kodiak walks up to the mauler, which Admonitions away, still blocking the juggernaut. The second kodiak then walks up and throws the mauler into Mulg for some damage. Ruin follows closely behind and Butcher casts Energizer to move stuff a little. The juggernaut charges the objective and leaves it on one box. I'm not sure why the mortar didn't shoot it... Winter guard and field guns take pot shots at any whelps or anything they can see and the gun carriage manages to tag a random stone member.

Turn 3:
Admonition goes up on Mulg and Implacability is cast again. The beasts do all out, killing the juggernaut, a kodiak and Ruin, plus about half boxes on the other kodiak. Mulg is able to then cast Arcane Suppression while within ten of Butcher. Support moves about. My objective is also casually one-shotted by Mulg.

Khador: 0 Trollbloods: 1

I upkeep Silence of Death for two focus again. The gun carriage runs to limit Admonition moves, so Mulg uses it to get back within the stone aura. The winter guard move, but one of them is in an awkward spot. They ping some damage around. The mortar kills the objective and the field gun do a little damage I think. The kodiak fails at hurting much at all. Butcher then charges Mulg, killing him with one focus left. Because of the winter guard in the way he can't then start killing the mauler, so uses that focus to kill a whelp before feating and Energizing to reach the mauler. He then fails to kill it after using all his focus.

Khador: 1 Trollbloods: 1

Turn 4:
Butcher is stood in front of a mauler who regens to fully operational thanks to the field marshal before killing Butcher easily.

Victory to Trollbloods

Bit disappointed with how that finished! Doomie3 is a real problem for me right now, though I'm hopeful the Legion of Steel will finally help me deal with it. So far every time I've tried to play against it has been a pretty miserable battle unfortunately. Butcher rolled terribly against Mulg and the mauler, he should really have been camping a little at least. However that winter guard model was right in my way, so poor positioning on my part there.

And since I was the pair down that was it! Overall I came 5th and got best in Khador, which was great! It was a really good event and I thought the format used was really cool. It seemed to keep everyone really interested on both days since. I definitely recommend folk try it.

On my lists, Karchev is certainly done in this set up. I think Jaws of the Wolf looks great for him and I've been playing about with a couple ideas. I still really like my Butcher3 list, so will leave it as is and see how it fits in with my other lists once I have a better idea of what they are.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Dave

Yep there'll be photos for future ones

Except tonight's game, that will be on Vassal...

Cheers,
Dave

I'm actually good friends with the player, just his Doomie3 list infuriates me no end! And yeah I feel I could say "well dice happened" with Butcher attacking beasts, but I think there were some bits to learn instead. Most notably blocking Butchers landing spot with my own winter guard model and not allocating to the juggernaut to be sure he got the job done on the objective.

I think I have a solution for it, so might get to test it at some point in the not too distant future.

Cheers,
Dave

Irusk1 vs Caine3, Outlast

Finally time for a report with photos! And what better than two painted armies to boot! I was keen to try out Legion of Steel and got to drop it into some filthy swans. I'm not 100% sure that's the correct scenario name, feel free to correct if that doesn't look right. Onto the lists:

Legion of Steel
Irusk1 +27
-Conquest -37
Iron Fang Kovnik -0
Iron Fang Kovnik -0
Ulhan Kovnik Markov -7
Black Dragon Pikemen (Max) -17
-Black Dragon Officer & Standard -0
Great Bears -9
Iron Fang Pikemen (Max) -15
-Iron Fang Officer & Standard -4
Iron Fang Ulhans (Min) -12

Caine3 & Buddies
-Ace
-Grenadier
-Grenadier
-Stormwall
Trencher Master Gunner
Trencher Master Gunner
Lady Aiyana & Mater Holt
-Trencher Attachment Guy
Trencher Cannon

I win the roll to go first so take it. Terrain and everything can be seen in the deployment photos below. Sorry, some are a bit blurry.





Turn 1:
Nothing gets allocated out. The normal iron fangs run round the forest on the left flank, followed by a kovnik sneaking in among them. Irusk gives Special Orders to the black dragons, sticks Iron Flesh on them and Superiority on the conquest before advancing up behind the forest slightly towards my left. The black dragons shield wall up the board, using Iron Zeal as well. Conquest runs up to start bullying the right zone. Ulhans flank on my right. Markov, the other kovnik and the Great Bears run up centrally.



Cygnar advances up fairly slowly. The trencher models all group up, dug in and on the hill. Some long range shooting goes into the black dragons and a couple die. Stormwall puts down some covering fire templates.



Turn 2:
Both spells are upkept and nothing is handed out. The black dragons again get Special Orders and Irusk feats from behind the forest. The regular iron fangs advance and use their mini-feat, all but two of them staying in control range of Irusk (I didn't realize the feat had changed from MKII). The black dragons also advance up in shield wall, repositioning forward again. Conquest advances into the right hand zone, threatening the whole zone now. It lays out some creeping barrage templates to restrict access to the right zone. Ulhans run into the zone too. Solos and Great Bears all position further up the board and in the feat bubble.

Focus gets handed out to the battlegroup. Aiyan, Holt and their attachment go, but Aiyana misses the Kiss on the iron fangs and only a couple die to shooting. Caine goes and sticks up his feat. Between his unit, the battlegroup and some trencher shots most of the black dragons die. Stormwall puts covering fire in front of Ace, who is contesting the left zone, before sticking a pod somewhat in the way in the middle of the zone.



Khador: 1 Cygnar: 0

Turn 3:
I upkeep Superiority and drop Iron Flesh. Irusk puts reposition, Iron Flesh and Battle Lust on the regular iron fangs. A kovnik charges the storm pod to get it out the way before Markov charges Ace through the covering fire. He gets the crit. and knocks him down, doing solid damage too. He repositions a little. The iron fangs then shield wall, one of them providing a buff to a couple others that walk through the covering fire and finish off Ace. Black dragons charge, doing damage to the stormwall and killing a trencher master gunner. Conquest continues to use creeping barrage to dissuade anything coming into it and the ulhans run into the forest for some concealment.

Focus gets allocated out again. A load of stuff is cleared out from the middle before the stormwall charges into the left zone (putting a pod in the right zone too) and killing some more things. Markov, both kovniks, a Great Bear and about five iron fangs are killed, plus several more black dragons.



Khador: 3 Cygnar: 0

Turn 4:
Keep focus again. Conquest smashes the pod and the ulhans charge in, killing a grenadier. The iron fangs get Battle Lust again and they attack stormwall (represented by the huge base in the photo) along with the remaining Great Bears, doing reasonable damage. The black dragon officer charges the other grenadier for some damage.



Cygnar kills off all the remaining iron fangs except the standard bearers and an ulhan before the stormwall runs into the right zone, dropping a pod.



Khador: 4 Cygnar: 0

Turn 5:
Superiority is upkept and conquest is given two extra focus. Irusk shoots the storm pod before conquest finishes off the stormwall.



Khador: 5 Cygnar: 0

Victory to Khador!

Pleased with how the list performed! Irusk1 protected the army well on the way in and gave them some buffs once they arrived. While most things died, it meant that by the late game my opponent still had a conquest with Superiority to deal with, meaning it could pretty much do as it wanted at that point.

Legion of Steel
A solid theme list I think. The advance move lets pikemen get up the board faster while staying in shield wall, which is great. Counter charge was more of a general deterrent, but I can see it being really effective against some lists. Like the other themes, the restrictions are not too strict that the list isn't really usable, but is restrictive enough that playing out of theme is still equally tempting.

Irusk1
Seemed to really fit in with this list well. Solid buff for the colossal, an ARM buff on the unit most likely to be soaking the incoming fire, a great feat and some solid abilities and other spells that give him some utility. Inhospitable Ground can still mess up some armies badly too.

Conquest
Was great! Superiority is obviously nice, but the ranged game it brings was more important. Having creeping barrage really helps a melee focused list like Legion of Steel and the potential critical with the main cannon is something opponents have to be very wary of.

Iron Fang Kovnik
Nice solos for threatening counter charges through pikemen, plus the precision strike and no sleeping on the job bubbles are really nice.

Ulhan Kovnik Markov
Tactician seems really important with this list and he's a serious counter charge threat. Cavalry models with crit. knockdown are nice, being MAT8 P&S16 makes him even better.

Black Dragon Pikemen
Took a beating this game! But did their job very well, lasting a long time. Great unit, though the lack of pathfinder can hurt (though Irusk1 can sort that).

Great Bears
Seem good with counter charge. Irusk1 also helps them out nicely.

Iron Fang Pikemen
Compared to MKII they actually have a place alongside black dragons. Overall they seem in a good spot really. Relentless charge is very good to have and the mini-feat is excellent. Meant all my iron fangs were arriving at the same time under Irusk1's feat.

Iron Fang Ulhans
A strong flanking unit. Didn't get up to much in this game really, but they combine with Irusk1's buffs nicely.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Dave

Zerkova1 vs Fyanna2, Extraction

A lot of Extraction lately! After trying Legion of Steel with Irusk1 it was time to try it with a different caster. Fortunately, one of my favorite casters when I first started Warmachine has a good time with Legion of Steel, so it was time to try Zerkova1! I didn't play the Seattle list, instead basing it on what I have available and can get before a tournament at the end of the month. Game was on vassal, so no photos sadly.

Legion of Steel
Zerkova1 +28
-Conquest -37
Iron Fang Kovnik -0
Iron Fang Kovnik -0
Ulhan Kovnik Markov -7
Battle Mechaniks (Min) -3
Black Dragon Pikemen (Min) -10
Black Dragon Pikemen (Min) -10
Great Bears -9
Iron Fang Pikemen (Max) -15
-Iron Fang Officer & Standard -0
Iron Fang Ulhans (Min) -12
Fuel Cache

Legion of Flying Beasties
Fyanna2
-Angelius
-Angelius
-Naga Worm-Thingy
-Neraph
-Raek
-Seraph
-Seraph
Forsaken
Shepard
Shepard
Sorceress on Hellion
Sorceress on Hellion
Spellmartyr
(Something might be a little off, but that's the jist of it.)
Bunker

There was an obstruction just to my right and a forest about halfway up the board on that side. There was a hill on my other side I believe. My opponent's army is so fast most of the rest of the terrain didn't come into it! There was another forest near the left flag. I win the roll and take first turn.

Deployment
Conquest deploys slightly to the left of my objective and Zerkova positions centrally. A black dragon unit, a kovnik and the Great Bears deploy to the conquest's left. The iron fangs deploy to the right of my objective with the other black dragon unit behind them. Markov and the other kovnik are in among this lot and the ulhans are on my right flank. Fyanna deploys centrally with beasts all about the place. The raek is on my right flank and the naga is in the second row on my left flank, but otherwise the beasts are all fairly central. Support follows. I advance move the iron fangs forwards and for upkeeps my opponent has Iron Flesh on Fyanaa, Fury on a seraph and Admonition on an angelius.

Turn 1:
Fuel Cache puts smoke to my left, where it stays all game. The iron fangs shield wall up and the black dragons run up, everything staying out of melee threat range. Solos and Great Bears all follow and the ulhans run round on the right flank, though the forest will make life difficult for them potentially. Conquest runs up to the left of my objective and Zerkova casts Watcher, puts out a couple clouds and charges up the board.

Fyanna's spells are all upkept for free. The beasts fly up the board, led by the Admonition angelius, which is the only one to get just into threat range. The raek runs up behind the forest on my right, threatening the ulhans nicely. Sorceresses both position fairly centrally.

Turn 2:
Watcher is upkept and Zerkova keeps her remaining 6 focus. The iron fangs and black dragons all advance in shield wall. Markov moves more centrally to cover the army with his command bubble before a kovnik moves up behind the iron fangs and the other kovnik and Great Bears move up behind the black dragons on my left. The ulhans back off out of threat range of the raek. The conquest advances and boosts a main shot into a sorceress, hitting but not getting a critical. The shot does a couple points of damage before it puts down some creeping barrage to be annoying. Zerkova enters the killbox and sticks down three clouds to hamper the sorceresses and potentially give MAT penalties to beasts.

Upkeeps stay up and fury gets reeved in. Fyanna advances into the killbox and feats, dumping a couple fury I believe. A sorceress comes up and drops a 5" AoE of pain on some iron fangs and the more central kovnik before the Admonition angelius charges into the iron fangs. Markov counter charges and the angel doesn't Admonition due to setting off more counter charges if it does. Markov hits and uses precision strike to remove it's spirit. However the blast also kills a couple iron fangs, including the angelius' charge target, so it redirects it's armour piercing attack onto Markov, killing him. The seraph with Fury charges into the black dragons on my left. it kills one before advancing with overtake. This puts it in counter charge range of the Great Bears, so one charges in. I get lucky and get the 8 to hit, doing solid damage. Since it can't dodge off a miss the other two Great Bears charge in. At MAT10 they have an easier time hitting and are now weaponmasters, and they kill it. A ranged heavy shoots a Great Bear, but it toughs and stays standing thanks to the kovniks. The raek jumps into a couple of pikemen, killing one. The other angelius charges in on the flag to my right, clearing everything off and basing it for a point. The other beasts and the sorceress all position as best they can.

Khador: 0 Legion: 1

Turn 3:
Watcher stays up and Zerkova keeps 6 focus. The black dragons on my left charge a seraph, doing solid damage with a couple CMA's and dropping it's spirit with precision strike. The Great Bears charge another heavy on my left side, but don't kill it. The kovnik on the left then runs to the flag on that flank. The conquest advances and boosts a shot into some support and between the scatter and dodge of the original target it doesn't hit anything. Zerkova puts Ghost Walk on the iron fangs, feats, advances between conquest and my objective and sticks down two clouds in front of herself. Basically it means nothing can walk into melee with her without being -2 MAT and taking a Watcher punch from the conquest. The iron fangs charge the angelius on the flag, again using CMA's to make sure they hit and precision strike to remove spirits. They then use their mini-feat to get back into shield wall. The central kovnik charges the Admonition angelius, who backs away but keeps it in reach range. The other black dragons then charge it and use CMA's to do more damage, leaving it on about 5 boxes of body. The ulhans charge the raek and manage to kill it after the first two hit.

Khador: 1 Legion: 1

At this point my opponent concedes. Pretty much every beast has lost it's spirit and is surrounded by iron fangs. Plus conquest is now sitting ready to get stuck into combat and Fyanna is in a very risky spot.

Victory to Khador!

I thought that was going to go really badly given the beasts all ignore Zerkova's clouds, but it actually worked very well! The amount of counter charge can become a real pain for opponents very quickly. I'm liking that the iron fangs hit hard, but also accurately and with a couple ways to improve accuracy further. Precision strike became a big factor in this game very fast. Almost every beast lost it's spirit whenever they got attacked.

Legion of Steel
Enjoying this theme a lot! The advance move lets a unit advance in shield wall on turn 1 and still get a relevant board position. The counter charges are great, the abilities on the solos are ideal for threatening to really mess up opponent's turns.

Zerkova1
So I had read the theory on why she works in this theme force and was suitably impressed! That was against an army that can largely see through her clouds too. Sadly she never got on the offensive since beasts got into melee before she could deal with the likes of Admonition, but her defensive tech felt solid.

Conquest
Conquest is excellent at supporting armies where most of the rest of the army is melee based. It didn't get a chance to shine much here, but was still a solid center for the army. I think if people manage to chew through all the iron fang models plus Zerkova's tech they'll struggle with the conquest.

Iron Fang Kovnik
Precision Strike was a pain for my opponent in this game. That combined with counter charge is excellent, plus mass steady is great for the army.

Ulhan Kovnik Markov
I was a bit unlucky to loose him, but he was still very effective before he died. Letting things move through each other is excellent. If it wasn't for Fyanna's feat I would have counter charged with something else initially just to keep him safe, but needed the cavalry bonus to help the accuracy in this instance.

Battle Mechaniks
Nice to have with a conquest around.

Black Dragon Pikemen
I actually really liked the two minimum units. They could just follow the iron fangs and then get stuck in when needed. A bit more independent of the solos due to their in-built abilities and Ghost Walk can cover a lack of pathfinder if needed.

Great Bears
The counter charge threat is very good. I basically figured I could charge one in and see what happened, then base the actions of the other two on the result of that attack. Getting the hit immediately meant the others could get in at MAT10 for some accurate smackdown.

Iron Fang Pikemen
Very good at leading the way in shield wall. I saw an opportunity to jam up hard in turn 2 through using the mini-feat, but wanted to keep everything together. But the mini-feat plus Ghost Walk could cause some serious issues for some opponents.

Iron Fang Ulhans
A nice flanking unit for the list. A bit of extra SPD and a higher base P&S is good.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Dave

Glad to see you writing again! I've had some recent games with Strak2 in LOS and also found him to be pretty interesting even though he is mostly just buffing folks. There is a bit of a threat with him and his dudes so that even with just casting upkeeps all the time, he still needs to be respected. Once again I see that you run only one unit of Uhlans, something that I see in many other lists posted in the forums. I happen to run the double Uhlans and they have been great for me! I was wondering if you could explain why you run only one, what advantage do you feel it brings? You did mention ADR flexibility, but I don't really think in this theme that there are many other options. I've found the speed and power that the Uhlans bring, especially with being able to layer them, thanks to Markov, keeps them safe and allows for them to be unjammed.

As a side note, I believe you were the kind gentleman who helped me figure out how to post pictures on the old forums. I see that you had trouble with your photobucket pics like I did with mine. I switched to Imgur, and so far it has been really easy and still free!

Strakhov2 vs Magnus2, Recon 2

Time for another test with Strakhov2. Swapped the battlegroup around when I saw I'd be playing Magnus2, wanted a gun to use on feat turn. Here's the lists:

Legion of Steel
Strakhov2 +22
-Kommando
-Kommando
-Destroyer -14
-Juggernaut -12
Iron Fang Kovnik -0
Iron Fang Kovnik -0
Ulhan Kapitan Markov -7
Black Dragon Pikemen (Min) -10
Black Dragon Pikemen (Min) -10
Great Bears -9
Iron Fang Pikemen (Max) -15
-Iron Fang Officer & Standard -0
Iron Fang Ulhans (Max) -20
Stockpile

Magnus2 +28
-Freebooter -9
-Freebooter -9
-Nomad -11
-Nomad -11
-Renegade -10
Gastonne Crosse -4
-Vanguard -11
Kell Bailoch -5
Lanyssa Ryssl -4
Savio Acosta -6
Dannon Blythe & Bull -6
Lady Aiyana & Master Holt -8
Thorn Gun Mages -9
Stockpile

Set Up:

There was a building roughly central on the table and another off to my right. There was a forest on my left towards my opponents side, some water to my left between deployment and the zone there, plus a hill on my right on my opponents side of the zone. There were also a couple of walls dotted about. I was hoping to see how the list coped going second, but my opponent won the roll and chose sides, giving me first turn.

I deployed ulhans on my right flank, the destroyer in from them, regular pikemen in the middle, the juggernaut to their left and a black dragon unit left of that. Strakhov was between the destroyer and pikemen. Other black dragons followed behind and solos and Great Bears are spread along the lines. Pikemen use the advance move. Opponent has a freebooter on each flank and the nomads and renegade more central with Magnus. Blythe & Bull, the thorn gun mages and Gastonne and his vanguard are on my right flank while Kell, Aiyana & Holt, Savio and Lanyssa end up on my left.

Turn 1:

Inviolable Resolve goes on the ulhans and Quicken on the pikemen before Strakhov advances and repositions forward. The pikemen shield wall up and pretty much everything else runs.

Escort is cast, and everything runs up, keys pieces staying out of destroyer gun range where possible. Kell manages to advance and take out a pikeman, as expected.

Turn 2:

Both spells are upkept and I decide to test the jamming potential of the lift. Pikemen use their mini-feat to advance way up in shield wall, engaging several jacks and solos, including Kell. The juggernaut running into the zone on my left, and the black dragons on that flank set up to counter attack, staying back to be mindfull of Magnus' feat. Ulhans threaten right through the right zone and the black dragons on my right run into the middle of the zone to block access to the ulhans. Strakhov advances to my left, puts up his cloudwall and feats before casting Last Stand on the black dragons on my left. He repositions behind his clouds with his buddies. Markov moves more centrally, Great Bears move up towards my left and the kovniks run forward to hand out no knockdown everywhere. A kovnik runs onto the flag nearest me and I have jacks in both zones.

Escort stays up. Magnus advances really aggressively, using the central house to keep fairly safe, and feats on most of my army, choosing his table edge and mine. He kills one or two jamming pikemen. The rest of the army lays into them and by the end of the turn most are dead. A nomad gets within two inches of the juggernaut, but after a sideways counter charge from a kovnik he focuses on that, failing to kill it (it had to spend one to trample, then DEF12, ARM20 with tough and no knockdown is a thing). The freebooter on my right gets into the zone and kills a couple of black dragons there. The zones are contested, but my flag isn't. A couple of lead pikemen have survived the turn contesting the enemy flag, so Kell doesn't score it.

Khador: 1 Mercenaries: 0

Turn 3:

Quicken is dropped, Last Stand and Inviolable Resolve stay up. The feat causes me a lot of issues, but as planned some black dragons with Last Stand are free. They charge the nomad after the kovnik hits it again to remove the buckler and it gets taken out. Everything else largely repositions where it can, going into shield wall if possible and making the occasional attack. Strakhov takes stealth, switches Last Stand onto the pikemen and two of them CMA Acosta to kill him.

Khador: 2 Mercenaries: 0

Escort stays up. The freebooter on my left goes into the juggernaut after it is hit with Kiss, leaving it on a few boxes but with all systems up. The other freebooter gets through the remaining black dragons an into an ulhan, but can't get through Wall of Steel plus Inviolable Resolve. It does finally contest my flag though. The last of the pikemen die, leaving just the UA, plus the black dragons are wiped out.

Khador: 2 Mercenaries: 1

Turn 4:

Last Stand is dropped and both jacks receive some focus. The juggernaut make short work of the freebooter on my left (possibly with help, can't remember), letting the last two Great Bears charge up. They kill Aiyana and cripple the renegade, plus one of them contests the enemy flag. The kovnik also charges up, adding to the damage on the renegade and engaging Lanyssa. The destroyer leaves the other freebooter on about ten boxes. Markov charges in and goes crazy, killing the freebooter with the charge and putting damage on one of my ulhans (needing twelves) and a damage on my destroyer (needing elevens)! This frees up the ulhans, who finally charge in. They kill Gastonne, Bull, the remaining two gun mages and knockdown and hurt the last nomad before repositioning into base to base with others in the unit. I score the flag and zone on my right, everything else is contested.

Khador: 4 Mercenaries: 1

The remaining nomad is loaded up with focus and Escort is upkept. The only option for Mercenaries is for that nomad to charge into a position to contest the zone but not reach the flag, which it does. The contesting Great Bear is cleared out on the other side, freeing up the flag.

Khador: 5 Mercenaries: 2

Turn 5:

Just need to kill the nomad and contest the enemy flag to win. Ulhans, destroyer and guns from Strakhov's unit (after it's knocked down) kill the nomad and the last Great Bear advances to contest the flag once again.

Khador: 7 Mercenaries: 2

Victory to Khador!

That became a bit of a grind! Magnus' feat was really good against an almost entirely melee-based army, but the early jamming with the pikes let me get through. Since I split up the list in the last post I thought I'd do a brief breakdown of my impressions of Strakhov after a few games:

Stats:
A very solid statline, both defensively and offensively. P&S is maybe a little on the low side, but then there's combo-strike I guess. It's a bit odd that he and his grunts are worse at shooting than regular assault kommandos with Strakhov1 though...

Abilities:
Mostly legit! Reposition is absolutely great when combined with the clouds from the grunts, and stealth is handy when you can't get behind the cloud wall (Magnus' feat...). Overtake seems a bit niche though. I don't think that will come up very much, but I guess when it does it'll be good to have it there. The gun seems good, though maybe a little short ranged and his trench blades are good, though a little low P&S maybe.

Spells:
Mostly excellent! I've not used Lock the Target or Return Fire yet, though I guess I will at some point. His upkeeps are all excellent buffs in Legion of Steel and I've been surprised by how much use I've got out of Last Stand. I thought it'd mess with the trading game too much. He's a little focus strapped, but it's manageable (and one of the reasons Lock the Target will rarely be cast I feel). He can reduce the need to camp anything through his abilities too.

Feat:
Great! Straight up money on the feat! Not much else to add.

Grunts:
A good couple of fighters, though mostly good for their cloud wall. Haven't seen them in melee yet, though their guns get some nice work done.

Overall I'm still pleased with the list.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Dave