Hoc's War Journal

Right, I've finally had a game where I remembered to take notes! But not photos. Sorry.

I was using a slight modification of the Irusk2 list posted above. I realised that I wasn't so dependent on having a specific scenario jack when I had the Assault Chariot in a pinch. Also, any jack can just make the far zone by turn 2 in Spread the Net if you use Energiser, so I had options. Bearing that in mind, I swapped the Devastator and Kodiak for the Juggernaut and a Destroyer to give me a bit more high-end hitting power and more ranged game. I did consider going for double Destroyer, but the extra point would have required a bit of shuffling that I couldn't be bothered with.

My opponent was proxying Crucible Guard using his Retribution models. His list was:

Locke
- Vulcan
- Toro
- Vindicator
- Liberator
- Alys
Prospero
- Vanguard
Railless Interceptor
Dragon's Breath Rockets
Mechanics x3

We made a slight mistake, in that we thought the mechanics were a unit like the Ret Arcanists, so he got one extra Advance Move out of it.

Scenario was Spread the Net, and I won the roll. Terrain was pretty damn active; there was a house in the central zone on his side, and a wall just on the edge on my side. There was another wall abutting his flag, and scattered forests.

I decided that since my opponent only had 15 models in his army, 6 of which would die to a stiff breeze, I was going to try and make him spread out and split his forces around the house. I reckoned he would want the Vulcan front and centre, particularly as the right flank (around the house) was pretty congested with flags and obstructions.

To that end, I skewed to the left a fair bit. I had the Demos far right, with a Strike Tanker and Juggernaut Lined up just inside them. Both units of shocks made a huge blob with the Kovnik in the middle so he wouldn't get left too far behing. All of that was on the left flank, with Irusk and Ragman in the middle. My Right flank was the Assault Chariot, Destroyer, and another Strike tanker. That, I felt, would be able to deal with almost anything he sent to either claim his flag or contest my zone.
The mechanics were at the back, and they were damn well going to stay there against a Road to War caster.

My opponent somewhat took the bait, deploying the Vulcan at the centre with Alys and Locke, with Prospero's Vanguard hanging around nearby. The liberator and the Toro set up across from my left flank, and the Interceptor and Vindicator set up across from my right. The DBR and Prospero were lined up behind the house, and the mechanics were bringing up the rear.

I moved all the MoW units and the Chariot up, with the Chariot skewing off to the right. He advanced the Vindicator and the Railless, which mostly headed for the flank.

Turn 1 - Khador

Everything runs! The chariot hides behind the house, more or less. Irusk casts Fire For Effect on the right-hand Strike, Energizers, and casts Artifice into some open ground. Both Shocktrooper units run forwards so that there are 2 guys in cover from each unit; one unit is hiding behind a wall, one in Artifice. These guys are just over 20" from Vulcan, so if he wants to shoot them he'll have to Redline, and maybe miss because of DEF14. In the meantime I get a more aggressive board position.

Turn 1 - Crucible Guard

Locke gives 2 to Vulcan, puts Sentry on the Railless and Redline on the Vulcan before advancing.
Vulcan walks 8" and shoots one of the MoW twice with the no-tough shot, hitting once but only doing 5 damage. It takes one from Redline. The Railless runs around the flag.
The Vindicator moves up so it's just peeking around the corner of the house. It can't see the Destroyer behind a forest, so it shoots the Assault Chariot... which turns out not to be a construct, and as such only takes 5.
Prospero runs behind the house, and the Dragon Rockets charge, which is 1" faster than running, oddly. The Vanguard moves up to guard Vulcan and Locke. We realise the Mechanics are solos, not a unit, so they split up to cover jacks, and one heads flag-wards.

Turn 2 - Khador

Irusk upkeeps FFE, but lets Artifice fall.
The Assault Chariot can just see the edge of the Vindicator's base (since it shot him last turn), so it charges, kicking it with Impact Attacks and a Charge Attack for 13 damage total, but more importantly giving it a bit of LoS round the corner of the house. I only roll two shots, but that is sufficient to blow up the Dragon Breath Rocket there, and the mechanic that was running this way. It repositions to stop blocking LoS to the Vindicator and to generally get in the way of the Railless.
Irusk moves up and Feats, catching the Vulcan, Toro and Liberator, before casting Energizer and Solid Ground, moving back to safety (15.1" from the Vulcan) and camping 2.
The Destroyer, now able to see through forests, aims and shoots at the KD Vindicator, crippling both arms. The FFE tanker finishes it off. In retrospect I should have shot the FFE Strike Tanker at the Railless, as the Vindicator was KD with no cortex and no functioning arms, but I got tunnel vision about killing it off.

Everything else piles forwards in Shield Wall pairs (so that the sprays and blasts hit less models, also with one pair shielding Irusk from Arcing Fire), with the Demo Corps doing the opposite and really spreading out. The other Strike Tanker was just short of being able to shoot the Vulcan, but is in B2B with the flag. The Jugger runs to toe the far zone.

Turn 2 - Crucible Guard

The Railless shoots the Assault Chariot with the cannon for 1 damage. Locke upkeeps both spells for 1, allocates 2 to the Vulcan, two to the Liberator, and casts Road to War with some help from Alys. No camp, but not much I can get to her with either. She feats, stripping FFE from the Strike on the far side of the building.
The Vulcan moves forwards 5 to get a better angle and goes to town on the Shocktroopers in front of it, killing two with the rockets and leaving another on 1 hp from the sprays. Road To War lets the Liberator and the Toro move forwards, although the SPD2 Toro is still unable to charge things.
The Railless moves round to toe my rectangular zone and goes to town on the Assault Chariot, unleashing all weapons for a further 12 damage.
The Liberator charges two Shocktroopers, one-shotting the first but unable to kill the second thanks to tough.

I score 1 point from my flag. All other zones and flags are contested.

Turn 3 - Khador

Irusk upkeeps Solid Ground and wanders forwards a bit, casting Battle Lust on the 5-man Shocktrooper unit and camping 3.
Ragman moves up and uses Death Field, giving Vulcan a token. The Shocktroopers Assault Vulcan, doing 47 damage with the 4 that make it. This cripples the left side completely. The 5th Shocktrooper hits the Liberator for 10 damage.
The Strike Tanker on the Flag takes a shot at the Vulcan, which the Vanguard takes, losing its shield.
The second unit of Shocktroopers (4 remaining) Shield Wall forwards and shoot the Vulcan, killing it.
The Destroyer and other Strike Tanker, who were on standby, shoot the Railless instead, but my dice fail horribly and I only do 7 damage. The Assault chariot horses match that damage in one blow.
The Demo Corps charge, with one running to tie up the Toro and another charging the liberator. The rest move into the zone. The Liberator gets frozen and takes 11 damage. The Juggernaut walks up and flattens the jack.

I score my Flag and the Central Zone.

Turn 3 - Crucible Guard

Locke drops Sentry, casts Engine of Destruction, and charges the knot of Shocktroopers in the middle. She kills only two before she runs out of focus. The Toro hacks down a Demo Corps, and the Railless finishes off the Assault Chariot.

My opponent concedes, as he is standing in the middle of my army with no focus.

Thoughts

Eh, that wasn't so bad. Even if I'd failed every tough roll I'd still have been miles ahead.

Chatting afterwards, we reckoned that the Vulcan might not actually be the best thing for Locke. The whole list revolves around it, but the Toro is almost as deadly in combat for 1/3 the price. It's a really good gun platform, but it's not like they're short of P14 or sprays either. A more mixed list could have given more redundancy; as soon as I popped those DBRockets I really wasn't worried.

I asked him how he would have faced the list with Ret, and he thought Issyria would mash it by just blinding the Vulcan each turn.

Of course, that's thoughts after a first game with them. More or less meaningless.

We had one other hiccup, in that Nick though that Solid Ground was blast immunity for all; since it's only FF, he might have been able to clip Ragman with a blast.

The Railless seemed pretty solid. A lot of firepower for the price.

I'm wondering if I need two Strikes. If I drop one I could get another Kovnik, but I'm not sure. The extra move is nice, but I think I can go fast enough anyway generally. It would be nice for the crunch turns, though. I might consider the Greylord Adjutant, if he's an option. +2 RNG and a free upkeep is pretty great for Irusk, and if I get some magic out of it too that might be worth considering.

Definitely liked the Destroyer. Loved the threat projection. I think I'll stick with the Jugger-Destroyer for now, as I don't want to mix it up too much right now.

Oh, good spot! Thanks! It would also have meant that the Vulcan could have got me by advancing and Spraying, although I would have just stayed a bit further back if I'd known correctly how that worked.

Man, I feel bad; presumably that was the same in Mk2, which means I've been playing that wrong for about 5 years!