A Week in Winions -1-

So while the title says a week, i've actually had multiple games since my last blog post.  A lot of the games are with people who were practising for certain tournaments like the Welsh Nationals and decided not to blog a lot of the games to protect certain list secret tech etc.  Or so I use the excuse, truth be told, I've just been way too busy.  Anyway, to the games I've had most recently.

Little_Lano Plays: 35pts Warmachine/Hordes, The Charge of the BaconBrigade

Another battle report time! 

Over at Riotville, the other side to the report is there. 

Riotville Battle Report

We have a 35pts game with Lord Carver, Bringer of Most Massive Destruction, Equire III leading the charge against Ashlyne of the Resistance!

Little_Lano Plays: WarmaHordes 35pts, Everblight vs Trollbloods, Part2, Madrak1 vs Lylyth1

 So the big game is here.

Anthony reveals his warlock as prime Madrak!

So let's take a quick look at what his army comprises of..

Madrak 

Dire Troll Bomber

2 Impalers

1 Axer

Cragback and Lug

Max Pyg Burrowers 

Initial thoughts going into this game... 

That with the amount of infantry I have in this army, I simply cannot let Madrak get his feat into the middle of my army. 

Can you imagine the destruction!!

Unfortunately, the mission we rolled was Into The Beach. 

As I said in my previous blog post, I needed a scenario with little objectives in order to keep my army in formation and move in a solid unit. 

On the up side, between our armies, it looked spectacular! Apart from a single unpainted model. 

Anthony went to the effort to even make an objective marker for this game!

Isn't it pretty!!

It was stolen from my idea of making this objective marker

Anyway, back to the game and deployment. 

Anthony won the roll off and elected to deploy first very simply with Battle Group down the middle Lug and Burrowers to my right. 

Giving me a dilemma, ideally I'd like the grotesque and spawning vessel opposing the enemy infantry and collecting the resulting corpses, but I had a hunch that Madrak and his battle group was going to head for the zone which unopposed, would net him 2 points a turn. Some thing which I couldn't let him do. 

So I placed my "anvil" unit upfront to hold the control zone and the swordsmen behind waiting for the right time to counter. I field the bolt thrower and Shephard a little further to my right to try to hold Lug away from my right. 

I plan on holding the left, going for the destruction points on the objective opposite,and once Lug had been taken care of, race Lylyth over to the flag to hold. As it turns out, plans never go toft!

So, add the game starts, Madrak and his buddies move as I thought towards the zone, and Lug with the Pygs move towards the Flag. Everything running as per usual.

Silly ugly unpainted models.

Pygs approach the flag.

Meanwhile during my turn, everything runs too with the exception of the Battlegroup.

The Seraph and Lylyth both use Slipstream to help get a few more inches. The former allowing the latter to just get into range with her bow. 

An unfortunate Troll Impaler just happens to be within range and Lylyth takes a sneaky pop through the trees. After landing, she uses her Witch Mark effect to automatically hit with the Bad Blood spell. Being able to get such a spell off early is very beneficial. Forcing the Warlock to choose between taking damage or frenzying the Warbeast, or in subsequent turns not want to fury up the warbeast!

With that, the turn was ended. 

Both sides had run into position, and the ensuing turns would lead to Carnage, quite literally!!

The beginning of turn two and Madrak was ready to mobilise. All the war beasts advanced and let fly scattering bombs and thrown spears. Very few hit the mark except a scattering Bomb which deviated to the 1 ahead and promptly blew up 2 Grotesques. 

 Unfazed, the Grotesques still advance.

Meanwhile, on the right hand flank, Anthony's Pyg Burrowers had surprised me to running STRAIGHT into me! 

Now that took me off guard... I wasn't expecting these guys to be a threat for at least another turn. 

Now I have a major dilemma. Madrak is right there for the taking if I get lucky with my damage rolls. But if that fails, he WILL kill a lot of my army and those Pygs will destroy stuff in the resulting aftermath. 

I decide to go for Madrak. Lylyth pops feat to have a go at him, with the Seraphs 2 shots, we bounce off, only dealing 6 damage to him while he transferred 12 damage worth. 

Lastly, my Spawn Vessel spawns a Stinger, and true to his word, he makes a bee line for Madrak. Having hit, then told him its 4d6 damage, he promptly uses his scroll to waive the damage. 

The Groteques receive a Charge/Run order. To tie up models and shield Lylyth from the incoming Pygs.

Now I'm fearing the Feat, I've left a gap between the front line and my second line to hopefully minimise the damage.

Strangely enough, Madrak doesn't choose to pop his feat yet, but relying on his sheer weight of attacks from his Warbeasts  he ploughs through the infantry before him. The control zone is looking like his, I'm left with a few infantry but it does look like my Swordsmen will get a counter charge off.

To make matters a little worse, two throws from the Bomber scatter nicely and land directly over my spawning vessel unit. FUCK! Eurgh... That Bomber is getting annoying! Now my collection range is smaller and I'm not moving very fair anymore. At least their bodies are feeding the spawning vessel!

Still hiding behind her Grotesque meat shield *drum roll* the Pygs now burrow into the ground... Fuck, now these guys are going to cause more problems. 

Legion are suppose to have good board control but it seems Lylyth is struggling here! Meanwhile, this fucking Bear keeps coming closer. I need to find a way to get rid of it this turn. 

At the end of Trollbloods turn 3, this is what the board looks like. 

I'm now being cornered, and my Objective is now being threatened. I have a cunning plan to try get rid of Lug. I think, if I can get rid of Lug, Lylyth can hold the Flag while the rest of the army controls or contests the zone and destroy the objective. 

Plan set lets go.

So, I drop Bad blood  on the Impaler.

Lylyth shoots Lug and puts Bad Blood on him. Therefore, if I shoot Cragback, he can't transfer anything! 

Phase one done.

The Nephilim, who may I say, has done nothing the whole game... Takes a shot at Cragback, hits, boosted damage since he has Stronghold up, and deals 3 damage... Then the Naga walks up and misses with the boost... Fuck him, fuck my life and fuck this game...

I send the Seraph to destroy the objective. 3 shots all hit, and I deal 13 out 15 damage to it.

Lylyth, who Bushwacked away from Lug, watches as everyone can't kill it or Cragback! 

I also moved away to hopefully minimise how many Burrowers get to shoot me. 

As everything moves forwards onto the point to try clog it, I'm still trying to space out so Madrak can't Pac Man his way though my infantry. 

Looking back, I really didn't space everything well. I was hoping he would miss at least once or twice!

So, here comes Madrak. He pops feat, and 1 minute later...

Thankfully, he missed my Forsaken once, and when he bought an attack against the first Swordsmen, even with Carnage cast, he rolls SNAKE EYES!!!!!

*Victory Jiggle*

The Pygs come up right in front of Lylyth, but needing 10 to hit, he has no luck with the 5 that was in range. 

After Madrak failed to reach Lylyth within feat, he was left within charge range of my Blighted Nyss Swordsmen. 

With all the residual damage from Bad Blood and Odd damage here and there, the first Swordsmen swings, connects, and with 4d6 carves Madrak in half. 

This was a terribly close game. Lylyth was very close to being caught as she was running out of room to play with and Madrak was about to slice her with his massive axe of doom. 

What did I learn...

1) learn to space out my infantry. Times like this shows that wrong placement can cost me squads of infantry.

2) Lylyth needs more heavy hitting models to take more advantage of her support.

I'd like to thank Anthony for the game!

And thanks to you guys for reading my blog.

Until next time, ciao!

Little_Lano Plays: WarmaHordes 35pts, Everblight vs Trollbloods, Part 1Pre-Battle

Hello!

So as the title suggests, I am doing another battle report! This time, against my good friend Anthony. It will be an titanic clash against Trollbloods with my Everblight.  I will be going into this game the same as I did against Riot last week, il be using units and models that I've rarely used, in order to get me motivated to paint them! Having Unpainted models is simply ugly!

Anyway, similar to my list previously, this is what il be taking. And while I'm here I will go through what I hope to achieve and my battle plan.

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight (+6pts)

Seraph (8pts)

Nephilim Bolt Thrower (6pts)

Naga Nightlurker (5pts)

Max Spawning Vessel (3pts)

Max Blighted Nyss Grotesques (6pts)

Min Blighted Nyss Swordsmen (5pts)

Blighted Nyss Shephard (1pt)

The Forsaken (2pts)

Incubi (5pts)

The Plan

Now. If you read my previous blog, you'll realise that the list here is very similar to my previous one and the exception is the newer Warbeasts.  

And some people reading this will be looking at certain models and unit and be exclaiming "why have you never used these, these are stables and auto included in an Everblight Army!" While that is true, I understand the importance of some of these models and my simple explanation is, they weren't painted and they never got used. The units here that il be using to get some more experience using them is the Seraph, Bolt Thrower, Naga, Grotesques and Lylyth. While I have used Lylyth a hefty amount during my early days of WarmaHordes, it's only recently I look back at some of my older casters and see how effectively to use them.

Now the ACTUAL plan. This list lacks an effective heavy punch, which is why Lylyth with Parasite will be key to take down some of the heavier guys. If Anthony is carrying Troll Moses and the Stone Bearers, then il have some trouble in dealing with that. The Grotesques will be my buffer as usual, to hold up parts of his army while my Swordsmen can *hopefully* put dents into big shit. Il go into more detail later.

The Warbeasts job will be to snipe whatever comes my way, since this is a rough plan, I'm not entirely sure how and what!  Hopefully the scenario mission will be kinder to me this time. I am planning in going for Scenario kill, I don't think I have enough power behind this list to go for an Assasination win baring a major fuck up on Anthony part.

Photo Porn and Army 

Going into this fight il splitting my army into 3 Effective groups. 

Group 1- Battle Group, Shephard, Forsaken.

This should be a fairly simple job. Lylyth marks things for shooting and charges, and throws out her supporting spells like Parasite and Bad Blood. 

I plan on using the Naga as an opportunity targetter. May try to get a few critical a on heavy models. Critical melee is Shadow Binding (target can not move except to change facing and suffers-3Def), and critical shooting is Poison ( additional die damage against living models). He comes is useful with his animus which will be handy if Anthony uses Madrak. Madrak with Sure Foot makes his beasts annoyingly difficult to hit, the Naga's animus with Blessed will help mitigate that.

Seraph for thinning out infantry and solo sniping and more importantly his animus of Slipstream. Allowing extra 2" placement is great for positioning purposes.

The Bolt Thrower will hopefully get a few critical Knockdowns. Also being at POW14, might get lucky with damage with decent rolls! 

With the Forsaken and Shephard, Forsaken to roam and take Fury from my models. I will also pair the Bolt Thrower to the Shephard. The Shepard has Beast Handling, allowing Warbeasts in her CMD  to be forced outside of CTRL Range. Meaning the Bolt Thrower can flank for better angles independent of Lylyth.

All in all, my Battlegroup will be roaming. Needed wherever they are. They won't be dealing huge points of damage or on the front lines. But will support the other aspects of the army as seemed fit.

Group 2 - The "Anvil", Spawning Vessel, Grotesques.

When playing SteamRoller missions, it is vastly important to have board control. I'm taking the Grotesques as a "Jammer/Anvil" to block the control zone with the Spawning Vessel behind to support then.  These guys will take the brunt of the attack thrown at me.  I know people say that Grotesques are rubbish and for the same price you take Legionnaires, who, do everything the Grotesques do and better.  And to be honest, I agree, but, these guys deserve a chance to show what they can do, and everytime I've used them, they don't do that bad a job. So between these two units, I'm hoping that they provide enough weight of numbers to hold the opponent off and away from objectives.

Being Fearless also means not having to worry about Forsaken

Group 3- The "Hammer", Blighted Nyss Swordsmen, Incubi

As for my "Hammer Unit", I've gone very light. Min Swordsmen with Incubi support. 

At POW11 weapon masters, I'm hoping with the help of Parasite, they can do a fair bit of damage. Being Fearless also helps as the Forsaken won't scare them. 

I'm thinking of two ways to use them. Firstly, flanking, if the "Anvil" manages to hold the opponent, these guys can hit flanks or secondary objectives.

Secondly, if the "Anvil" doesn't last long, these guys can act as a counter charge unit to clear opposing units, the objective area or objectives themselves

The Incubi are there for several reasons.  Firstly, as a shooting deterent.  If people know that shooting or killing an infantry will give rise to these so close to enemy lines, they will think twice about it.

My logic behind this is the use with a Spawning Vessel. Since the Vessel can only carry 3 corpses, any kills after the third is technically wasted, that is where the Incubi pop out. Therefore reducing the waste corpses. By the time this happens, I should hopefully be within charge range on my next activation. Logic as I say, maybe the application maybe more difficult!

Also worthy of note, these guys pack 2 POW11s with combo strike. With the placement schenanigans afford to these guys, they can get some sneaky charges against unsuspecting models.

Conclusion

I've gone for single Hammer and single Anvil on the belief that at the small point limit we'll only be fighting over a single objective at the time. If the scenario calls for a fight on multiple fronts then Lylyth and the Warbeasts will have to get stuck in harder. 

Let's see how this game goes.

Until next time, have some Photo Porn!

Little_Lano Plays: WarmaHordes 20pts, Lano (Everblight) vs Riot(Mercenaries)

Welcome ladies and gentle! Today we have a great game lined up.

Since I finished University fairly early, I decided to call up Riot from a another blog. Il link it down below somewhere. 

A quick game, 20pts. I tried something completely new, using units and models I normally never would. 

My list is below...

Lylyth, Herald of Everblight (-6pts)

Afflictor Light Warbeast (4pts)

Shredder Lesser Warbeast (2pts)

Min Blighted Nyss Swordsmen (5pts)

Max Spawning Vessel (3pts)

Max Grotesques (6pts)

5 Incubi (5pts)

Now looking back... I realised I'm one point down! So I would have added a Shephard in but eh, mistake are mistakes.

Now the mission is Supply and Demand, consisting of,

(-) Enemy/Friendly Objectives. 1pt if enemy objective is destroyed. Models starting within 4" of an uncontested friendly objective may charge or run for free.

(-) Central Zone.  1pts for Control, 2pts for Dominate. 

Below is the deployment.

Going into this game, I knew I wouldn't be able to get a Caster Kill. I simply didn't have enough hard hitters to deal with heavy stuff specially the Nomad. The best chance I had was to hold objects and systematically use my Swordsmen to hit a single target at a time while shielding them from the gunners. Secondly, il try to get a Caster kill if the opportunity arose. The only way of doing that was to put something so juicy in front of Magnus that it will force him out and spend his Focus. Meaning potentially putting Lylyth just within his ranged threat range or leaving a nice blob of infantry.

Now this is the first time I have taken a list without a heavy war beast. Which is very rare for Hordes armies.  My plan is for the grotesques to fly forward and hold up the enemy, while feeding my spawning vessel as I advance, and then lastly, have my Swordsmen hit anything  on the counter charge. Meanwhile, when an opportunity arises, I have 5 Incubi ready to spring up and cause an annoyance and maybe stop shooting and get a few sneaky back strikes in. 

I'm planning on sending the Afflictor and Shredder into the Long Gunners with Lylyth providing the support. 

Fast forward a few turns and here we land. I go first and with all warmachine and Hordes games, I run everything forward, getting into position. Now I realise I have to play smart, shield the spawning vessel since the shredders that come out will be my transfer targets since I plan on using Lylyth very aggressively along with the Warbeasts. Meaning I'm expecting the Warbeasts to take damage which concludes to me not being to transfer as much damage to her as id like. 

As I start to play Lylyth aggressively, Riot makes some aggressive plays of his own! He sends both of his Renegades out and on the first blast, he rolls triple sixes to hit with the Obliterator! AFTER he rolls 6,5,5 for damage... Needless to say, that was a transfer... Using my one and only transfer! 

So being knocked down... The SECOND Renegade waltz up and let's fly with his one. Dealing a massive 12 Damage. Thankfully, there isn't anything else left to shoot as the Long Gunners had used there shots to clear the chaff in front. Mind you, Riot has also forgotten to double shoot, that may have altered the result!

On the other flank, Riot's Nomad charged a handful of Grotesques.  Needless to say, they died easily, but they did fill my Spawning Vassel and prevented any damage towards the Swordsmen.  During my next turn, my Swordsmen, Grotesques, an Incubi and a Shredder worked together to deal with the massive clump of metal. It turns out, two of the Swordsmen weren't needed as the first Swodrsmen dealt a whopping 12 damage at a -6 modifier. Reducing that 'Jack to a pile if scrap.

Still reeling from the Obliterator shot, Lylyth shields herself from the ensuing onslaught. Who says a pair of tits can't help you! 

I didn't get a photo... But Magnus came with a boosted shotgun shot and missed by 1! Left with no Focus... He popped his feat, he brought his renegades in front, in an attempt to stop me from getting the last 2 control points needed to secure a scenario victory. 

Unfortunately, Lylyth took this opportunity  sensing that Magnus was at his weakest, she cut herself to gain the last two fury needed, leaving her on one HP.

Thankfully, Riot used Magnus to try eliminate Lylyth.  So it was Lylyth's turn. Moved around the side, popped her feat, giving her an additional dice to hit, boosted damage, buy another shot, boosted to hit, boosted damage. Game over.

Great game full of high dice rolls. There was some hairy moments, Lylyth walking around on 3 HP and the Gunners chasing her down. 

But, none the less, closest game I've had in a while!!

Lessons Learnt

(1) be careful of incoming fire. I left Lylyth very low on Fury and nearly got punished. 

(2) Grotesques and Legionnaires are great for tar pits. I should use them more often.

(3) don't underestimate infantry, all it takes is one nice dice roll and it can all go Pete Tong