We got to play a huge game yesterday! It was crazy fun and I wanted to share it with y'all. We played 150 points. Andy and I split the Cygnar points while Coffey fielded every one of his models. Each side played with three casters. For Cygnar, I took Darius and Andy took Brisbane and Gen. Nemo. Cygnar rolled highest so Andy decided to setup first and take the first turn. Below is my line up of 75 pts. I went a little crazy with labeling stuff but it was fun =)
This is Andy's line up. Brisbane isn't listed but he is tucked away behind the Defender and Centurion. In regular Warmachine, if you lose your caster, the game is over. For this game, we decided to you had to kill two of the other faction's three casters for the win.
This is Coffey's lineup. During his Advance Deployment phase, he would place a Manhunterin the trees to the right and Eiryss, Mage Hunter of Ios on the hill in the center. Both have stealth and cannot be shot at from more than 5" away. The Widow Makers will advance deploy into the trees on the left. (Coffey would want me to add that he really does have the models for the Iron Fang Uhlans but they are on the painting table and he had to use these as proxies). Karchev is one of Coffey's casters, though he is as big as a Warjack and has the heath boxes to prove it.
This is the center of the Khador line. Notice how big Karchev (the black jack) is to a person sized miniature like the Winter Guard!
This is the left side of the Khador line with most of the heavies. The other two casters are Vlad and The Butcher.
Turn 1:
Cygnar advances. Darius uses Full Throttle to run his Large Jacks forward for free. The Halfjacks get into position to become mines later. The Hunters try for shots but don't have range yet.
The top of this hill counts as trees. It bogs down the movement of the Long Gunners but provides cover.
Partway through Khador's advance, you can see the Storm Lancers (Cygnar's Cavalry on the end) is setting up to charge the Iron Fang Pikeman. The Defender will take damage from the Bombards of the Behemoth. One shot deviates and kills Andy's Journeyman warcaster. This is huge, as his Centurion warjack goes inert. The Butcher casts Iron Flesh on the Widow Makers. This spell costs 2 the first time it is played but be renewed each turn for only 1. Karchev will cast Tow on the his battlegroup and run forward. The 3 Destroyers get towed along for free and do not count as moving, giving them an aiming bonus. They shoot, killing 3 of the 6 Trenchers and 1 of the Sword Knights. Those things are almost more damaging when they deviate! Eiryss (solo in the bottom middle) disrupts my Hammersmith, causing it to not receive focus next turn.
Turn 2:
Two of Andy's Hunters are able to advance and get great shots into the Butcher (caster) dropping him from 20 to 10 health! Nemo pops his feat, giving each warjack in his battle group 3 focus. Then, Nemo is able to send an electro blast into the Butcher (I believe this is the shot that reduces him to 2 health points). The Stormsmiths disrupt the Behemoth. The Storm Lance Cavalry Assaults the Iron Fang Pikeman and kill the Captain and several others. Their Electro Leap ability is crazy!
Side note: Storm Lances have an ability to Assault. When they do, they charge in getting a ranges attack off before they engage in melee. Their weapons also cause an electrical arc to the next person. So here is how it works out.
- Give the order to Assault
- Make a ranged attack, rolling to hit and to damage.
- If it hits (no, it does not have to damage) then a power 10 electrical bolt hits the next nearest guy. The hit is automatic, just roll for damage.
- Now, with the same Storm Lance, make a melee attack, rolling to hit and, if it hits, roll for boosted damage due to the charge.
- Again, if it hits (no, it does not have to damage) then a power 10 electrical bolt hits the next nearest guy. The hit is automatic, just roll for damage.
- Finally, if that wasn't enough, let your horse kick him a bit with a +2 to his attack roll and a power 10 damage roll (the damage roll may get boosted for being a charge but I'm not sure).
You read correctly, that's 5 chances for kills from 1 guy! It took a while to roll but 5 guys on horses took out about half of the Pikeman and they are pretty tough.
On my side, the Thunderhead took out Eiryss, the Centurion took out the Manhunter, and the Sword Knights lined up.
The Halfjacks became mines (4"AOE, power 14). The Stormguard would hold this side so effectively that they never get to hit a thing in the whole game. The Khador cavalry will break to the left, following after Boomhowler's Company.
Off camera, the Khadoran Mortar Crewes miss Darius and the shots deviate, killing four Long Gunner.
Karchev (the black jack/caster in the photo) swings around, pops his feat of Total War, allowing his jacks to power attack for free, and opens a fissure beneath the line of Sword Knights. They are wiped out (i.e. not in the pic, they were in line with the Hammersmith before). The fissure also knocks down the Hammersmith, nullifying his defense. One Destroyer does a little damage to the Thunderhead (in front). The other two gang up on the helpless Hammersmith and all but destroy it, ripping off both arms and pinning it to the ground.
Off Camera, the Devestator uses reign of death tho kill 3 Stormguard. The Butcher pops his feat, boosting attack and damage rolls. He then targets the Hunter with an AOE, knocking 4 points off the Hunters hull and killing 2 more Stormguard. The Spriggan charges the Hunter, dozing him and killing another Stormguard. The Behemoth bombards Brisbane (caster) for 7 points and the remaining Pikeman cut through the Storm Lances.
Turn 3:
The Stormguard advance into the Devastator and Behemoth, causing some damage but locking them into combat. Brisbane pops his feat, misses his shot, but his Defender kills Vlad. One caster down, one to go. The Thunderhead picks up the Devastator and double-hand throws him into the the Shock Troopers. He then uses his energy pulse. All models within 6" are automatically hit with an energy pulse and take a power 12 electric hit. He took out most of Boomhowler's crew, 3/4 of the cavalry, 3 Winter Guard, and a Shock Troop. He also was able to do several points to a Devastator. At this point, Andy had to leave for work =( I had little to no experience running his troops but I knew I only had to do 2 more points to The Butcher to win the game. Each of the Stormsmiths took shots at the Butcher, knocking off one more point of health. Nemo advanced too far in front of his defenders, trying to get a spell into the Butcher to end the game but the range wasn't there. This left him exposed.
The remaining cavalry were able to charge Darius but were unable to connect with much force. The rest of the attacks were focused on Nemo and Darius. Karchev was able to open another fissure, knocking down his own jack, but putting Nemo on his back. From there, the rest were able to finish the old guy off. The Winter Guards couldn't get enough shots into Bisbane to bring him down though.
At the beginning of turn three, Brisbane was able to make the kill shot on the Butcher, ending the game and getting the win for Cygnar.
Over all, this was a crazy big game and it took about 7 hours. I don't think we knew it would take that long and we did have to refer to the rules quite a bit. I think my next game is going to be something simple like 15 points!
Currently, World of Warcraft has hooked me again. I am enjoying leveling my little gnome and getting a few achievements that will probably change with the upcoming Cataclysm expansion.
I have also done a lot of reading. I found Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. You can check out the first 7 chapters here. It's a fun book set in modern times with a definite Lovecraft feel. Monsters such as vampires and zombies are real and the federal government pays for their heads, as long as the general population is kept in the dark. I definitely recommend it.
