Circling the drain: Argentbadger plays Circle Orboros badly

Thanks Dev Null! I highly recommend writing battle reports for two main reasons. Firstly, and as you point out, they let you revisit the events of the game and force you to analyse what caused the game results; it's too easy in the heat of the moment to just put it onto bad dice or whatever. Secondly: Content for the Content God! The Warmahordes community needs all the content it can get, not only to share information learned across the player base but also to provide data for new or potential players.

Joe and I had another free evening for a game. We went back and forth a few times to pick a suitable match-up for my Morvanha list as he felt that some of his ‘main’ lists were probably not a good fit to make this an entertaining game. In the end, he modified someone’s Haley3 list and off we went.

Game 2 – Anarchy (scenario 5) vs Joe’s Cygnar

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Circle
[Theme] The Devourer's Host

[Morvahna 1] Morvahna the Autumnblade [+28]
- Brennos the Elderhorn [15]
- Ghetorix [19]
- Tharn Blood Shaman [4]
Gallows Grove [0(2)]
Gallows Grove [0(2)]
Gallows Grove [0(2)]
Tharn Ravager Shaman [4]
Boil Master & Spirit Cauldron [5]
Bríghid & Caul [7]
Tharn Bloodtrackers (max) [15]
- Nuala the Huntress [4]
Tharn Ravagers (max) [15]
- Tharn Ravager Chieftain [0(5)]
Tharn Ravagers (max) [15]
- Tharn Ravager Chieftain [0(5)]

I made a slight change here, removing the Tharn Whitemane in favour of the Spirit Cauldron. With all the potential corpse token users in my list, I felt that this could be more useful than Veteran Leader (though indeed, that is pretty sweet). Everything is just the same as last time.

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Cygnar
[Theme] Storm Division

[Haley 3] Major Prime Victoria Haley [+25]
- Ironclad [12]
- Thorn [13]
- Squire [0(5)]
Anastasia di Bray [3]
Journeyman Warcaster [0(4)]
- Firefly [8]
Sir Dreyfus the Storm Knight [0(5)]
Order of Illumination Resolutes (max) [13]
Storm Lances (max) [20]
Artificer Prime Nemo [18]
- Toro [13]


I’m not sure that Joe had any firm plans for this list except thinking that maybe it wouldn’t overrun me too hard, while also including some living models for me to Harvest. He did remove Ragman and a Nomad in favour of a Toro and Anastasia Di Bray. Ragman is certainly not needed here as I’m not really packing a lot of armour.

Joe wins the roll-off and chooses to move first again. I take the top side as the terrain looks a bit less annoying; note that we agreed that the burning clouds blocked line of sight. I put the Ravagers on each flank and hope to use repositioning Bloodtrackers plus Brighid and Caul to mess with the forest in the centre while camping on the flag inside my trench. Bloodtrackers Prey the Resolutes; Brighid and Caul pick Nemo.



Turn 1: Cygnar
Haley puts Tactical Supremacy on herself and summons both of her echoes. Nemo creates a Gun Mage Captain Adept from somewhere and the Journeyman casts Arcane Shield on the Resolutes.



Turn 1: Circle
I run up and stay outside threat ranges on the flanks. In the centre, I just dive right in with the Bloodtrackers and hope for the best. The Spirit Cauldron creates a few corpses and fills up Caul’s supply. Brighid and Caul mill about near the flag which is probably a mistake; I should have put them behind the forest and forced Joe to react to them. Morvanha puts Restoration on the Bloodtrackers and Harvest on herself.



Turn 2: Cygnar
All spells are upkept and nothing is allocated. Nemo gets Eyeless sight from the objective. Haley Past and Haley Prime send Chain Blasts into the Bloodtrackers, killing a couple, and Haley Prime also puts up Temporal Distortion. The Resolutes and GMCA drop another couple of Bloodtrackers. Nemo zaps Caul down to a single box and kills a Grove. I had thought that Caul had Vengeance but it seems that I was mistaken. Sir Dreyfus turns out to be a bit more mobile than I had expected and kills another pair of Bloodtrackers. Over on the left, the Storm Lances zap a few Ravagers and reposition backwards.



Turn 2: Circle
Morvahna takes a chance and returns 4 Bloodtrackers as well as upkeeping both spells; I’m hoping that I can Harvest enough Fury to stay safe. I need to move Caul out of the Blood Shaman’s way, Brighid shoots at a Resolute but fails to break armour. The Spirit Cauldron gives the Blood Shaman Puppet Master, but she fails to land Mortality on the Resolutes anyway. I send in a couple of Ravagers to ding up the Toro on the right; keeping the rest back a little so I don’t give away the whole unit. I also try to keep the Chieftain a bit further in from the board edge so it’s a little harder for Anastasia to murder him. The Bloodtrackers throw spears at Sir Dreyfus and the Resolutes but roll abysmally and do a couple of points of damage to a single Resolute after the dust has settled. Brennos kills a Storm Lance and the Ravagers on that side advance rather timidly. I do score my flag though; 1 – 0 to me.



Turn 3: Cygnar
Again the Objective gives Eyeless Sight to Nemo; all spells are upkept and no Focus is Allocated. Anastasia ambushes in on the left. Nemo’s team of Mechaniks power him and the Toro up. Thorn stabs a Bloodtracker in melee to get some space. Haley Future Revives a Storm Lance; Haley Prime casts Temporal Distortion and then she and Haley Past kill a couple of Bloodtrackers with Chain Blasts. Nemo shoots Brighid; I shield guard it to Caul who dies then Nemo’s next shot kills Brighid anyway. He also casts Lightning Shroud on the Toro which kills both Ravagers. More Bloodtrackers are killed by Resolutes and they contest my flag. Anastasia hurts the Chieftain but her failure to kill him means that she’s in the middle of a big pile of Vengeance attacks. The Ironclad and Storm Lances kill a couple of Ravagers on the left, and Sir Dreyfus sits on Joe’s flag. 1 – 1.



Turn 3: Circle
Ravager Vengeance attacks kill Anastasia and do a bit of damage to the Ironclad and Toro. Morvanha returns another 4 Bloodtrackers and upkeeps her spells. The Spirit Cauldron gives the Blood Shaman Puppet Master again and this time she lands Mortality on the Resolutes. Sadly, the Bloodtrackers are pretty useless even with Mortality and Prey and still only manage to drop a single Resolute between all their attacks. Brennos kills a Storm Lance and Battle Wizards his Ravaging Winds spell into Sir Dreyfus for no effect whatsoever. The left Ravagers drop the Ironclad, and one Storm Lance but leave another sitting on a couple of boxes. On the right, the Ravagers almost wreck the Toro but I get greedy and want to let the last one start an overtake chain through the Mechanics too. This means that I don’t buy an attack with the Chieftain even though he’s full of corpse tokens. And, of course, the last one misses his charge and fails to break armour on the bought attack, leaving the Toro on a couple of boxes. I send in Ghetorix to kill a Resolute without going into the forest hoping that it and Spiny Growth will suffice to keep him safe. This does at least clear my flag; 2 – 1 to me.



Turn 4: Cygnar
All spells are upkept, two Focus allocated to the Firefly and Thorn, and Nemo gets Eyeless Sight again. Thorn stabs a couple of Bloodtrackers. Haley Feats. Haley Past Revives a Storm Lance and puts Ghost Walk on the Firefly. Haley Prime uses Repudiate to strip Spiny Growth off Ghetorix and recasts Temporal Distortion. Haley Past, the Firefly and Sir Dreyfus bang up Ghetorix really badly. On the right, one Mechanic repairs the Toro’s Cortex and the other gives it some Focus; the last supercharges Nemo as usual. The Toro kills a Ravager and the Resolutes kill another. The Squire trundles onto the flag. Joe realises that he can just get Nemo into the forest and able to see Ghetorix, so he guns my big beastie down. The Storm Lances on the left drop three Ravagers and a Grove with a handy electroleap; they put out a lot of attacks for such a small number of models. Joe scores his flag; 2 – 2.



Turn 4: Circle
I take my Vengeance attacks but actually achieve almost nothing. Morvahna returns three Bloodtrackers and upkeeps her spells. The surviving couple of Ravagers plus their Shaman on the left clear the zone. Brennos moves up and boosts Ravaging Winds into Haley Past, boosting damage to kill her by sheer good fortune; the boosted blast also polishes off the last Storm Lance which is rather nice. On the right, things go less well as the Ravagers fail to achieve anything more than finally stripping the last couple of boxes off the Toro; they can’t even manage to hit the Mechaniks. I need to deal with Nemo, but it seems unlikely that I can really do it since most of my Bloodtrackers are engaged by the giant melee ranges on the Resolutes and Haley. In the end, the Spirit Cauldron puts Puppet Master on the Blood Shaman to land Mortality on Nemo, and Nuala uses her mini-feat to put Prey on him. Even with all that it’s nowhere near enough and I only take off about half of his boxes. I do at least score the left zone; 3 -2 to me.



Turn 5: Cygnar
It’s time to finish this. Thorn and the Firefly get their full allocations and all spells are upkept. Thron strolls over and stabs Brennos like a champion, neatly taking about both mind and spirit with some truly heroic damage rolls. Nemo takes off, killing a few Bloodtrackers I’ve jammed in there with Spatial Vortex but missing Morvahna with both of his shots. Haley Prime casts Temporal Distortion and Haley Future stabs my Warlock to death in two swings, killing Brennos via transfers in the process. Even if that hadn’t worked, I think that Joe had plenty more attacks available to kill Morvanha with. Circle lose by assassination.



Another fun game of Warmachine with Joe. I really should have played this much better strategically. I knew at the start of the game that I would need to leverage the forest in the middle for repositioning Bloodtrackers and to deliver Brighid and Caul, but I was far too timid and gave Joe too much room to play with. The end result was that he dictated the line of play and not me. I also went the wrong way with the Ravagers. Instead of starting them on the outside and bringing them in, I ought to have started them closer to the centre and then fanned them into the zones only if Joe ceded them to me. In all, I didn’t get my attacks where I needed them. I also need to work out what I actually want to do with Morvanha; I’m not sure when to Feat in particular… and indeed I didn’t do it at all this game.

Things I learned:

• Feat earlier (i.e. at all) with Morvahna. I keep wanting to save her to activate late in the turn so that she might get additional fury via Harvest and therefore contribute further. But in fact what happens is that by the time she has enough fury to do anything interesting, anything that could benefit from her activation has already finished.
  
• If I’m going to be bringing back Bloodtrackers three or four at a time, I can probably afford to be a bit more aggressive jamming the front line with them. Possibly I need to activate them later in the turn and use them more as highly mobile jammers rather than worry about what they get done with their spears.
  
• Brighid and Caul are really easy to kill if I don’t hide them. I should either get them to total safety right at the back so that they can come in late game to damage surviving heavy targets or put them somewhere forward but awkward so that if anything does try to kill them then I can get it the following turn.

Nice one.

When I build new armies, I spec out potential deployments and generic first turn moves. (I used to do this in Vassal; I'll have to try out War Table.) I do this because I struggle so much with the turn 1 unpack, and I waste too much clock on it. When I can, I try to bring the standard deploy, the unpack, and my rough notes on how to get from A to B with me to a game, but often the process of working it out - slowly, and with no pressure - cements it in my head pretty well.  Obviously you need to change your deployment and rollout based on terrain and your opponent, but it's surprising how often this results in my pre-determined deploy with one swap, or mirroring it to swap sides.  Sometimes I have to do two versions, depending on whether I'm going first.

If you find a good way to deal with shooty colossals, be sure to let us know, yeah? I mean, apart from "Get Ghettorix into it, using miracles."

Last weekend Andrew kindly accepted a game of Warmachine / Hordes with me. I was planning to use Morvahna1 again but since Andrew wanted to play Convergence I realised that would not be a great idea; having a Feat and main spell relying on living or undead enemies isn’t going to make a favourable match-up against an army of clockwork robots. I threw together a fairly simple Wurmwood1 list for the game instead but this gave me a bit more context about using Morvanha1 further; more about this at the end.

Game 5 – Invasion (scenario 4) vs Andrew’s Convergence of Cyriss

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Circle
[Theme] Bones of Orboros

[Wurmwood 1] Wurmwood, Tree of Fate [+27]
- Megalith [20]
- Wold Guardian [16]
- Woldwarden [14]
- Woldwarden [14]
- Woldwarden [14]
- Woldwyrd [9]
Blackclad Stoneshaper [0(3)]
Blackclad Stoneshaper [0(3)]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [0(5)]
Sentry Stone & Mannikins [5]
Shifting Stones [0(3)]
Shifting Stones [0(3)]
Well of Orboros [10]

I think that this is probably as simple a starting point as I can manage for Wurmwood in the Bones of Orboros. The idea is to use the Wold Wardens to hold heavies back with Stranglehold so that I can either pick them off one at a time or eventually grind out a scenario win. It feels like there is a lot of support in this list, mainly the Shifting Stones so that Wurmwood can actually move without Cassius.

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Convergence
[Theme] Clockwork Legions

!!! This army contains CID entries.

[Axis 1] Axis, the Harmonic Enforcer [+30]
- Conservator [12]
- Conservator [12]
- Corollary [0(6)]
- Diffuser [0(6)]
Frustum Locus [4]
Prefect Hypatia [0(5)]
Void Archon [8]
Void Archon [8]
Asphyxious the Sanctified [14]
- Blockader [33]
Negation Angels [6]
Negation Angels [6]

So it seems that the main draw for this list is to abuse Mage Static and Iron Aggression on the Blockader. It can also use an obscene amount of Focus in a turn between Power Up, the Corollary and Asphyxious himself. The rest seems comparatively manageable. Note that I've somehow missed something here as this looks to only end at 73 points, and also that I don't think that the Diffuser made it to the table in the end.

So it seems that the main draw for this list is to abuse Mage Static and Iron Aggression on the Blockader. It can also use an obscene amount of Focus in a turn between Power Up, the Corollary and Asphyxious himself. The rest seems comparatively manageable.

I win the roll-off and choose to go first; Andrew gives me the side with the annoying house. I skew toward the right and Andrew puts the Blockader there which is going to be hard to deal with.



Turn 1: Circle
I run forward at top speed; surprisingly fast for a load of old stones, but still not very fast. Wurmwood puts a Rapid Growth forest to extend the actual forest and block lines of sight.



Turn 1: Convergence
The whole of the Convergence force also runs at me. Mage Static goes on the Blockader, and most of the important things stroll into the central trench.



Turn 2: Circle
The Well drops the left most Angel and clips the Void Archon on that side for a bit of damage. Somewhat later, Andrew reminds me that I didn’t create a solo from it yet and generously allows me to do so out of sequence so I get a Blackclad Wayfarer. The Mannikins on the right set up a spray that kills another Angel. On the left, the Wold Warden fails to break the Conservators armour with a boosted Stranglehold so Wurmwood has to do it via Cassius; the latter gets pulled back with Dark Path. The Shifting Stones teleport Wurmwood to the right a little. Megalith boosts to hit another Angel with Stranglehold but also misses; the other Shifting Stones bring him back.



Turn 2: Convergence
The Blockader gets a full stack of Focus. It stomps forward and vaporises the Sentry Stone with guns, then leaves the Wold Wyrd on a handful of boxes; the Void Archon finishes the job. Axis puts Iron Aggression onto the Blockader and Feats. On the left, the Negation Angels swarm one of my Wold Wardens for a little damage. Andrew scores the right zone; 1 – 0.



Turn 3: Circle
Well, it’s Axis’ Feat turn so I’m not going to get a lot done. The Well misses the Void Archon so I have to kill it off with a Geomancied Stranglehold. Cassius stabs one of the Angels on the left and a Mannikin sprays both of the others to death while one of its buddies stops the Conservators from charging. On the left, I completely fail to land any spells on the Void Archon but Wurmwood does at least manage to put Curse of Shadows on the nearer Conservator. It also Feats and I’m disappointed to find that the forest is only Command Area, not Control Area as I had assumed. That felt a bit rubbish. Neither of us score; 1 – 0 to Andrew.



Turn 3: Convergence
The fires from the burning clouds all go out (not that they were going to do much anyway) and Iron Aggression is upkept. The Void Archon on the left kills the Sentry Stone. The Corollary fills up the Blockader with Focus and Asphyxious4 moves to end up in base to base with the planned landing spot. The Blockader then tramples into my forest and uses Iron Aggression, its three original Focus and five Focus from Asphyxious4 to beat both Wold Wardens to death and leave the Wold Guardian on a handful of boxes. The Conservators kill Cassius and one stone from each of the Shifting Stone units. Andrew scores the right zone again; 2 – 0.



Turn 4: Circle
I need to take out Asphyxious4 or the Blockader will kill my entire army single handed. Wurmwood clears a bit of room with a Hellmouth into my own Shifting Stone and the right Blackclad Stoneshaper gets a couple more jammers with his spray. The other Stoneshaper gives Earth’s Power to the Wold Guardian and it saunters over to pound Asphyxious4 into the floor, thereby rendering the Blockader inert. At this point, I could move to attrition as I could probably have Megalith deal with one Conservator and the last Wold Warden do some tasty damage to the other, perhaps even Chain Attack: Smite it into the Void Archon. However, I think I have a reasonable shot at getting Axis. The Wold Warden kills off the Shifting Stone in Megalith’s way, and the Wayfarer puts Hunter’s Mark on the Frustrum Locus. Megalith charges in, smacks the Frustrum Locus once then turns his attention to Axis. Sadly he misses the boosted 7 needed to start applying damage and put Weight of Stone on the Convergence Warcaster and the follow-up attacks don’t roll the crazy dice that would have been needed. It’s clear that Andrew can just tidy up in his turn so we call it there. Circle lose by concession.



Many thanks to Andrew for being a fun opponent, and especially for being helpful during the game. He’s played Circle in the past and knew all of the various things that my stuff could do so he gave good advice while we played. Wurmwood1 was really hard to play; there are just so many things that can be done each turn, and also so many limitations on movement that every activation felt like an opportunity to lose. Things I learned:

• Shifting Stones and Wurmwood1’s own movement rules means that I need to think one turn ahead about where things need to go.
  
• Sentry Stones are surprisingly easy to destroy considering stealth etc. Possibly I need to be more cautious about positioning them, but the short command range on the Mannikins means that they can’t keep a very high screen if I want the Sentry Stone to be safe.
  
• Wurmwood1’s Feat forest is smaller and considerably less useful than I had thought. I had hoped to use it to blunt offence for a turn (a bit like the Witch Coven’s Feat) but it is just too small to do more than keep the tree safe. And I could probably get away with casting Strange Growth and sitting in that forest if I just want to use Prowl.

I realised as part of the lead-up to this game that Morvanha1 was going to have issues into a lot of the game at the moment since there are plenty of lists out there with no living or undead infantry. So, as amusing as I have found playing her, I'm going to move onto a different Warlock as I'm nowhere near good enough at this wonderful game to start a chunk of games with no Feat and a non-Spell. I'm not actually sure where I'll go from here, probably Morvanha2 in Devourer's Host is the obvious choice. Wurmwood1 in Bones of Orboros might be too complex for me at this stage so I'm considering a pair with Krueger2 in the same theme.

Thanks; nother nice report.



Coincidentally, I've actually been playing Trolls lately (when I can get a game in at all, in the World of Plague) so I'm reading the Trolls forums as well as these. And one of my favorite purveyors of batreps here was always Trollock, who lately has been playing his trolls again and posting there instead. And he's running variations on Trolls lists with a couple of Dhunian Archons (trust me; I'm coming to a point here any minute now...) Anyways, he talks about one of the primary win conditions for his Dhunian-enhanced troll list being to clock his opponent. Which I thought was funny because, like you, _my_ Dhunian Archons always eat a lot of my clock time figuring out what to block.

Last week was quite the busy week of Warmachine / Hordes. I finished up with a game against Allan who is one of the heroes organising tournaments in central Scotland… at least when there is no global pandemic.

Game 8 – Bunkers (scenario 2; but note that we removed the central flag as this seems to be intended for SR2020) vs Allan’s Khador

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Circle
[Theme] The Devourer’s Host

[Morvahna 2] Morvahna the Dawnshadow [+27]
– Storm Raptor [34]
Dhunian Archon [6]
Tharn Ravager Shaman [4]
Tharn Wolf Rider Champion [0(7)]
Tharn Ravagers (max) [15]
– Tharn Ravager Chieftain [0(5)]
Tharn Ravagers (max) [15]
– Tharn Ravager Chieftain [0(5)]
Tharn Wolf Riders (max) [18]
Well of Orboros [10]

No change to my list; I feel like it is good enough and that the issue is really around my capabilities.

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[Theme] Wolves of Winter

[Zerkova 1] Koldun Kommander Aleksandra Zerkova [+28]
- Destroyer [14]
- Destroyer [14]
- War Dog [3]
Fenris [8]
Koldun Lord [0(4)]
Koldun Lord [0(4)]
Thamarite Archon [8]
Void Archon [8]
Void Archon [8]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10]
Doom Reaver Swordsmen [10]
Greylord Ternion [0(7)]

Allan is actually playing Khador with Khador models (or at least, Khador sprites on Wartable). I think that the idea here is to deliver the Doom Reavers with a cloud wall, then get Zerkova’s Feat to more or less skip my turn and have them spend two activations carving up my stuff.

I get lucky again and win the roll-off which feels like it could be quite important with the long threat ranges of the Doom Reavers. I put the Wold Riders out on the right where they’re a bit more open for javelin-throwing. The Ravagers go up the middle and on my left, accompanied by the Dhunian Archon. Allan puts his Doom Reavers out in a line across his whole force and keep the rest tightly bunched in the centre.



Turn 1: Circle
To no-one’s surprise, I run up with my whole army. The Wolf Riders can get hilariously far with their run move. The Well gets a lucky scatter onto three Doom Reavers on the right but my luck balances out as I don’t break armour on two of them; it creates a Ravager Shaman to accompany the second unit. Morvahna puts out Carnivore onto the Ravagers and casts Fog of War.



Turn 1: Khador
Zerkova uses her cool magical toys and puts four clouds out; the Doom Reavers pace up behind them, being careful to stay out of walking threat from my Ravagers. One of the Destroyers gets revenge for my lucky shot with the Well by scattering a shot directly onto one of my Wolf Riders, killing her to the box. The Koldun Lords do various things to stop shooting.



Turn 2: Circle
Morvahna upkeeps Carnivore and drops Fog of War. The Well has a target rich environment so I deliberately shoot something out of range in the hope of getting better blast damage. I luck out spectactularly getting a couple of Doom Reavers but more importantly rolling like a champion to dismount Fenris. The Wolf Riders take out most of the right and unit of Doom Reavers. My Storm Raptor wastes a load of Fury and Morvahna’s hitpoints by repeatedly missing the Void Archon on the right. Finally, the Ravagers run to jam a bit and Morvahna recasts Fog of War.



Turn 2: Khador
The central Doom Reavers use Apparition for a better threat range. One unit of Doom Reavers gets hung up on the central jamming Ravager; I use the Dhunian Archon to make the last attack miss too. Fenris walks up and smashes the poor chap, taking out a pair of Doom Reavers in the process. Zerkova walks up and zaps a Ravager to turn him into an Arc Node; she kills another Ravager with channelled Frost Hammers and then uses her Feat. The left Void Archon vapourises half of my left unit of Ravagers including the Chieftain, leaving me wondering yet again how the Archons made it out of playtesting. The other one, along with the few remaining Doom Reavers on the right, kills a couple of Wolf Riders. The Thamarite Archon guns down a pair of Ravagers in the centre. We both score our zones; 1 – 1.



Turn 3: Circle
Morvahna drops both her spells. One Ravager in the centre Vengeances forward and is torn apart by a counter-charge from the War Dog (Kommader Barkevich, the Iron Woof) so I guess I’m glad that I didn’t bother to upkeep Carnivore. I hatch a cunning plan to shoot Zerkova with the Storm Raptor until I realise that, surprisingly, being with 14” range of the its gun will also mean being within 14” of Zerkova and therefore not allowed to shoot due to her Feat. Thinking are hard. Instead Morvahna puts Carnivore on the slightly larger left unit of Ravagers, recasts Fog of War (I might as well have upkept this but I made a big error with my activation order) and bring back some Ravagers and Wolf Riders with her Feat. The Storm Raptor kills the Void Archon on the right at last, the Wolf Riders clear the Flag over there and the Champion sits on it to score. The Ravagers on the right get stuck into the Doom Reavers over there but Allan’s poor luck earlier with Tough rolls evens out and I end up only killing one of them. We both score our zones in addition to me getting the right Flag; 3 – 2 to me.



Turn 3: Khador
Nothing is Allocated. The Doom Reavers kils a few more Ravagers and both Koldun Lords casts their ‘no shooting’ spell, which is fittingly called Wind Ravager. The Dhunian Archon cancels the one spell from the Greylord Ternion that hits the surviving Chieftain; the Thamarite Archon guns him down instead. Fenris kills a Wolf Rider on the right and one of the Destroyers lumbers over to stop me scoring the Flag. The Void Archon and Doom Reavers on the left wipe out my Ravagers over there, though the Doom Reavers do helpfully thin their own numbers a little with Berserk attacks. The War Dog carries on its reign of terror by killing another Ravager and Zerkova kills the last one herself while heading back away from my few remaining pieces. We score our zones again; 4 – 3 to me.



Turn 4: Circle
Zerkova is standing in the open, and I have lost far too much to contemplate any kind of attrition play now, so it is definitely assassination time. The Dhunian Archon kills the nearer Koldun Lord, allowing the Well to shoot again. It drops the other Lord and a couple of fools standing near him at the wrong time. The Wolf Rider Champion fails to kill the War Dog, who is certainly earning her pay today. The Wolf Riders sneak into Zerkova’s back arc and throw javelins; I get lucky and hit twice which forces Zerkova to use her remaining Focus. Morvahna casts Skyfire and moves to within range of Zerkova, being careful to stay away from that counter-charging War Dog as it has done enough damage for the day. The Storm Raptor comes in and electrocutes Zerkova on the second shot. Circle win by assassination.



It was lovely to get a game of WarmaHordes with Allan; despite him being so involved with the community here I think I’ve only ever played him at Malifaux many years ago. If I’m being honest with myself, the game was Allan’s to lose at the end of his turn 3 as he had pretty much eliminated my forces and he just needed to move Zerkova to somewhere that I could have shot her. That said, I was pleased with the way that the assassination came together at the end, with all my remaining pieces having a role to play.

Things I learned:

• Once again my positioning behind the front line was too clumped, allowing the teleport / dual shot / entropic force combination on the Void Archon to wreak havoc on the left.
  
• The Wolf Riders are good for dealing with light foes but were outmatched when the Destroyer came over. In retrospect I should have been less worried about keeping them with the Fog of War / Scales of Fate aura and just sent them as deep as possible to kite Allan’s army from the rear.
• Although the attrition ended up going against me quite badly, I did feel that Morvahna’s Feat bought me enough time to enable the Skyfire / Storm Raptor assassination. I was also pleased to play the Storm Raptor such that it contributed without getting destroyed (notwithstanding the poor run of dice shooting the Void Archon on turn 2).