10 Feb, 2018
Initial Thoughts:
Today, I’ll be facing Fyrax. He has always been a strong opponent, and one of the best things about him is that he is always experimenting with new and exciting things, so you never know what you’ll be facing with him. This time is no different, as he uncorks an MSU (that’s multiple small unit) night stalkers army. He has 16 drops including the portal of despair. That’s a huge night stalker army from a normal perspective. Nothing is over the top, but there’s also nothing I can afford to ignore either. Also, the new Clash book gives stealth a bonus against lightning, so my shooting even takes a hit. oh, well. It is what it is. Add to that, a portal and the new character: Funny Bones, and I’m potentially going into the fight at -2 to -3 to my nerve values. Not something I want to risk, so I need to take down the portal early.
Ransack is also interesting. This is my first time playing this scenario, so I really need to focus. The dead horse in the middle is worth 3 points, the 2 big tombstones are worth 2 each, and the 4 smaller tombstones are worth 1 each.
Set Up:
After choosing sides (he won and chose bottom), Fyrax drops the Portal of Despair on the side of the hill on the bottom left. He then starts his drops. I already know once I end up with top that I want to play for the center and right side objectives, and will cede the 2 on the left to him. As I consider the best way to accomplish this, I decide to put the hellhounds out far left just in case the build up on the right gets too intense. Ultimately, as the deployment plays out, it becomes clear Fyrax intends for hi main effort to be in the center, and he stacks his forces accordingly. Like me, he puts minimal force on the left of the board. Ultimately my plan is to feign on the left, shift all heavy hitters to the right, and run the flank.
My deployment, from left to right: hellhounds with brew of courage, harbinger with boomstick, succubus regiment, harbinger with lute of insatiable darkness, succubus regiment with griffin banner, Lord of Lies, abyssal horsemen with macwar’s potion of the caterpillar, gargoyle troop, Demon Princess Sophie, tortured souls horde with brew of haste, and a final gargoyle troop.
Fyrax deploys his forces in a strong counter to my own. From left to right, the night stalkers are: specter regiment, needlefang regiment, Portal of Despair, needlefang regiment followed by reaper troop, the Dream Hunter, another needlefang regiment followed by a reaper troop, Funnybones followed by a third reaper troop, another specter regiment, a shade with slashing blade, another needlefang regiment followed by a fiend regiment and a final reaper troop, and a second fiend regiment. The needlefangs all have vanguard, and advance a bit before we start.
Turn 1:
I lose the roll off, but because of the scenario, Fyrax chooses to go second, and I am off. The LoL shifts right to start things off with a bang. Sophie the far right gars and tortured souls advance into charge range (theirs only) of the fiends. The horsemen advance to claim the objective, and the other gars take up a position behind them. the hellhounds move out swiftly to avoid shooting from the left specters and to try to draw a needlefang charge. The girls advance to just out of the temple (woods.) Shooting sees the boomstick score a single wound on the Portal, and between Sophie and the LoL, they get a total of 4 wounds on a fiend regiment. I’ve left some needlefangs a charge, let’s see if they bite, so to speak.
Well, one needlefang regiment does charge the hellhounds, but everyone else advances much more cautiously. On the right, the undamaged fiends actually step back. The right side specters manage a single hit and wound on the griffin girls, and in combat the needlefangs score a wound, followed by a staggering nerve roll that wavers the hounds (Thank the great Abyss for fury.) Thus far it’s not looking good for me from the Random Number Generation (RNG) tool, but it’s not looking great for Fyrax either.
Turn 2:
Well the succubi can absolutely not ignore an exposed flank, and jump in with the hell hounds against the needlefangs. Everyone else advances, especially on the right where we move to again threaten the fiends. To add insult to injury, the harbinger tries to bane chant the succubi, but fails, rolling the dreaded snake eyes. The4 rest of the shooting phase doesn’t go much better as the boomstick tacks a single wound on the far right needlefangs, and the combined effort of the LoL and Sophie produces a paltry additional 2 wounds on the fiends, who stubbornly hold. The combat goes according to the rules of significant overkill, and the needlefangs are squished. The units reform to prevent the reapers on the hill from charging the succubi.
The central fight is about to start. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab a picture at the end of Fyrax’s turn, but I can talk you through it. Both the needlefangs charge the hellhounds, the Dream Hunter charges the purple succubi, and the reapers to the right of the hill charge the horsemen. The right side stack advances to control the objective while the far right fiends back up again. The Specters in the forest take a covered and stealthy shot at the pink succubi and score 2 wounds, not enough to waver them. In combat, the 2 needlefang regiments manage 6 wounds between them, but a 3 on the nerve roll keeps the hounds together with a waver (the +1 nerve I gave them offset from the -2 he’s causing is tough. The Dream Hunter causes 4 wounds to the griffin girls, but they’re fine, and the reapers cause 8 to the horsemen, with a waver result. That could have gone much better for the stalkers, but now they face counter charges.
Turn 3:
This is the turn of decisive combat (at least I hope.) The hellhounds counter charge the left needlefangs while the pink girls charge the right. The griffin girls counter charge the Dream Hunter and the Horsemen Counter charge the reapers. On the right, the LoL charges the needlefangs, the gargoyles charge the injured fiends and the souls and Sophie advance. The gar troop in the back flitters forward to block the reaper troop to the right of the hill. The boomstick once again becomes a fizzlestick as it fails to hit or wound the specters. The other harb bane chants the griffin girls, and Sophie finally gets her range down and zaps the other fiends for 4 damage, but no waver. In combat, the gargoyles cause 3 wounds to the fiends and waver them. The LoL does 2 to the needlefangs and bounces back, but that was expected. (“I have a cunning plan.”) The horsemen, both succubus regiments, and the hellhounds all rout their respective opponents, and position to face the second wave.
The reapers on the hill finally commit. Down they charge into the face of the succubi. The shade, who has been lurking in the back field charges the rear of the griffin girls, while the other reaper troop confidently charges the gargoyles. On the right, the needlefangs counter charge the LoL and the fiends commit against the gargoyles. Shooting from the left hand specters finally slays the hell hounds, and the right side specters waver the horsemen. In combat the fiends slaughter the gargoyles, but then it all goes spectacularly wrong for the stalkers. The needlefangs fail to cause a single wound to the LoL who is now free to fly and/or shoot. The shade does 3 wounds to the griffin girls, and the nerve roll falls flat, leaving them free to charge the specters. The reapers do 11 wounds to the gargoyles, and then snake eyes the nerve roll. What’s really worse is the other reapers do 8 to the succubi who are down 1 on nerve, and fail to waver them as well. Ouch! I feel for Fyrax on this.
Turn 4:
The LoL hops over the needlefangs and into the very injured fiends. The tortured souls charge the other fiends, and Sophie attacks the needlefangs. The horsemen throw it into reverse, clearing space for the griffin girls to charge the specters after the gars counter charge the reapers after regenerating 8 of their 11 damage. The other succubi counter charge the reaper troop. Shooting sees the harb with the lute break a string, so no bane chant on the pink girls. The fizzlestick again proves its lack of worth by managing only a single wound on the left side specters. The LoL finishes off the fiends and advances to within an inch of the reapers. The souls devour the other fiends, and turn towards center, and Sophie crushes the needlefangs with her stiletto heels. In the center, the griffin girls waver the specters, The Pink girls do limited damage, but waver the reapers, and the gars score a mere 2 wounds on their reaper troop, but roll an 11 for nerve, wavering them. Well, the center fight could have gone better, but I’ll take what I can get. the right side has the LoL now facing down the reaper troop, but she should do well against them. Realistically they should do 5 wounds to her, worst case scenario then is waver, but fury.
(Got slightly ahead of myself and forgot to take the screen shot before I started moving.) With limited resources left, Fyrax does what he can to turn the fight around. The right side reapers charge the LoL and the shade rear charges the griffin girls. Funnybones even gets into the act, flank charging the gargoyles. Shooting from the left side specters finishes off the badly wounded pink girls, and in combat the griffin girls go down as well. The right side reapers do only 2 wounds to the LoL, who holds easily. Funnybones is apparently a better comedian than he is a fighter, as he whiffs his one attack.
Turn 5:
Sophie and the LoL strike again at the reapers while the tortured souls take a flank charge on the specters in the geyser forest. The horsemen charge the shade, and the gargoyles again charge the reapers after regenerating 2 more damage. Can you believe it? I have gargoyles alive in turn 5, and still fighting. One mistake I do make is not backing up the fizzlestick harb, who sends 3 lighting bolts somewhere in the general direction of the reaper troop at the foot of the hill, but not anywhere actually near them. I had thought at this time to move the gargoyles over the reapers to claim the 2 point objective on the bottom, but decide they really want a chance to kill a unit that is worth so much more than they are. They again manage 2 wounds and again waver the reapers. The horsemen trample the shade, and turn to threaten the other reapers’ flank. The tortured souls obliterate the remaining specters and also turn to threaten both reaper troops. Lastly we come to the 2 big girls. Between them, they cause 10 damage, and with brutal, it requires a 3 to kill them. Naturally, the 2 is rolled. This really stresses me out. The last three games I’ve played were all lost because of an untimely snake eyes. Now again it happens. I am starting to regret my decision to not send the gars to the objective. I would have needed a 4, 5, or 6 for the horsemen to over run into the reapers. Oh, well. At least they’re wavered.
(Again, please pardon the late screen shot.) The right side reapers counter charge the LoL. The reapers at the base of the hill charge the fizzlestick harb in the woods (See, I should have backed him up further.) Funnybones decides to take another shot at the gars. The specters advance around the hill to take a shot at the horsemen. The firebolts from the specters are enough to finish off the heavy cavalry, bummer. In combat, the reapers kill the harbinger, and turn to face the souls. Funnybones actually lands a punch and wavers the gars, boo. The right side reapers, with their new found courage land 10 wounds on the LoL and waver her. OK, now it’s down to the wire, and looking pretty close.
Turn 6:
The enraged LoL hits the reapers yet again, but Sophie takes wing and lands to claim the 2 point objective. The souls take wing out of the geyser forest and charge the reapers up top. The gars regen the one wound Funnybones did them, and hold in place. The remaining harbinger takes a shot at the reapers, but naturally misses. In combat, both reaper troops die. The LoL turns to face center and the souls back up to claim the center objective. At this point the score is 5 to nil, but the specters can still move to contest the center making it 2 to nil in my favor. That’s risky.
The specters advance to contest the objective and shoot as they go, and causing 2 wounds. The reapers, finally not wavered, decide to take out their frustrations on the gargoyles who did it to them, and obliterate the poor guys. Damn, they almost made it through the whole shooting match. (Again, I was focused on the game, and almost forgot the screen shot. This also lets you know the roll for turn seven is a go.)
Turn 7:
I block the reapers with the harbinger, move the LoL to claim a 1 point objective and do the same with the tortured souls. The reapers kill the harbinger but hold, and the specters shoot at the souls but don’t do enough damage to rout them, and the game ends at 4 to 3, Abyssals’ favor.
After Thoughts:
Wow, what started out looking like a really significant victory for me ground to a halt on turn 5, and just about lost me the game. In the end, I was able to squeak out a win, but it was close. Points wise, Fyrax killed 110, and I killed 1575. It was a good game, with each of us having our turn with bad rolls, but most of the game was pretty average. Kudos to Tom for not getting frustrated, and fighting it out to the bitter end, it was a solid battle.
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