Sticking with Strakhov

Game 1
Strakhov
-Torch
-Juggernaut
-Berserker
MOW Kovnik
-Devastator
Thor
-Blaster
-Blaster
Nyss
Widowmaker Marksman
Kell Bailoch

OK, looking at my list now, It seems I was a point over. That's what happens when you throw a list together in a hurry without a pencil and paper. Anyway, I don't have many options at 50 points (the only other models I could have used were swapping in slightly more expensive jacks, the war dog, and my mechanics - Sylyss and the Koldun Lord are currently on the painting table).

My opponent's list (more or less, I think I've missed a few bits):
Venethrax
-Slayer
Satyxis Raiders
Satyxis Witches
Bane Knights
Gerlak Slaughterborn
Bloodgorgers


Pre-game:
The table is already set up for Scenario 8: Rally Point (two zones, two objectives), we just leave it like that. He loses the roll-off and chooses to go first, so I chose the side of the table with the wall. My main plan is to try to blow up the Berserker to thin out his infantry. That's pretty much the only thing I can think of to deal with all that infantry. Most of my forces will concentrate on clearing out my zone, while the Devastator stands around in his, and maybe opens up if he bunches up his models enough.


Deployment:
He put his Banes on my left, Witches on my right, the Bloodgorgers and his Caster in the middle. 

I put Strakhov on my left, Thor in the middle with the Nyss, and the Kovnik on the right.

He Advance Deployed the Raiders opposite Strakhov's module. I put Kell in the center and the Marksman on my far left.

The Marksman is out of frame on the left.

Turn 1:
He runs everything up.

That line of Raiders backed up by a second wave of Banes is really worrying me. I decide that I need to take out the raiders ASAP, which means blowing up my Berserker in their face, so he gets 3 focus. Problem is that even if I put Superiority on him, he still won't be able to make it into combat, which he needs to do in order to use that focus. I decide to use my Feat for the singular purpose of blowing up my own warjack. Happy times.

The two snipers activate first. Standing still to aim, they get a total of three RAT 10 shots. Which all miss. Strakhov Feats, casts Superiority on the Juggernaut, stands still for the aiming bonus, and kills a Raider with his gun. The Berserker then charges at a knot of Raiders. I boost his initial attacks and, at MAT 5, kill two raiders. Then I buy an extra attack, which kills the third Raider without boosting. He then fails to explode.

Wait, what just happened? Everything is going backwards! Well, so much for those plans. The Juggernaut charges up and kills another Raider. I can't reach the other Raider nearby because I positioned him so that he's hidden from all the Banes by the forest (without actually touching it). Torch tries to walk up and flame another Raider but can't reach. Thor uses Pronto to position his Blasters and uses tune-up for no reason at all. The Basters stand still and shoot at the two Raiders facing them, but one misses the boosted RAT 8 shot. The Devastator and Kovnik run up.

Turn 2:
Four Raiders charge Strakhov and roll 17 damage on their first CMA.

Postmortem:
... I'm not very good at this game.

I didn't realise Raiders had CMA, and I figured Strakhov could survive two or three if they managed to reach him. Looking back, there was no real reason not to hide him behind something - killing a raider or two was not worth leaving him exposed.


Game 2
Strakhov
-Marauder
-Juggernaut
MOW Kovnik
-Devastator
-Destroyer
Thor
-Blaster
-Blaster
Nyss
Widowmaker Marksman
Kell Bailoch

I've been meaning to give the Marauder a go, so this was my chance. My opponent was running:
Mordikaar
-Bronzeback Titan
-Gladiator Titan
-Basilisk Drake
-Basilisk Drake
-Basilisk Krea
Nihilators
Cataphract Incindiarii
Paingiver Beast Handlers
Tyrant Commander and Standard Bearer
Agonizer
Extoller Soulward
Void Spirit


Pre-game:
We stuck with the same scenario. I won the roll-off and chose to go second, and stayed on the same side of the table. I was quite tired and made a lot of mistakes in this game.


Deployment:
Hi put his heavies on my right, the Incindiarii on my left, Nihilators in the middle.

I put the Kovnik's module on the right, Strakhov in the middle with Thor, and the Nyss on the left. The Marksman was Advance Deployed on the far right, and Kell in the center. I think I had some vague idea of sending Strakhov's heavies after his, the Devastator to hold the the right zone, and the Nyss and Blasters after his infantry.


Turn 1:
He moves everything up.

I give a point of focus to the Marauder. I make a mistake here and cast Superiority on the Juggernaut - I had been planning to put it on the Marauder and send him up first. I also wanted to put Sentry on the Destroyer but I very intelligently left it too far away, so I have to walk towards it first instead of... I don't actually know what I would have done with him otherwise.

Everything moves up except Kell, who I decide is best of staying where he is. The Destroyer takes a speculative shot which I think scatters over and kills a Nihilator.

Turn 2:
His infantry attack my Nyss and kill a few. A few Nihilators run to engage Kell, Thor, and the Bashers. He toes the zone with a couple of warbeasts. It seems he intended to feat this turn but forgot when he was activating his Warlock. I activate Sentry and the Destroyer shoots at the Drake but misses and scatters harmlessly.

I really should have run the Destroyer up so it would be in a position to try to do something about the Agonizer. I know it won't do much, but I consider to trying to slam the Drake over it with the Marauder. I decide putting some damage on the Broneback is the better play. Of course that means he needs Superiority and Overrun, leaving me with only one focus to allocate to the Marauder. Strakhov moves Superiority around (I don't even think to move the Juggernaut first to take advantage of the extra speed), casts Overrun, then takes an aimed shot at the Nihilator... who I forgot was engaged and toeing the forest. Strakhov missed. I have to fall back to my original plan and charge the Drake, slamming it a mighty 2 inches. It is however left with only three boxes.

The Juggernaut and Devastator run up. I position the Kovnik behind the Devastator thinking that will stop him from being slammed out of the zone (I need to re-read those rules). The Destroyer walks up shoots something for little effect. Thor uses Tune-up and Pronto on the Blasters to position them out of melee - they take a tiny bit of damage from free strikes. They then kill the Nihilators and leave another knocked down, who Kell finishes off. The Marksman kills a Paingiver, and the Nyss charge and kill some infantry. At this point I've killed most of his Nihilators.

Turn 3:
So Mordikaar has been collecting souls from his Nihilators, and he starts this turn with something like 14 fury. He brings back a bunch of Nihilators, who then - with the help of the Incidiarii - cut the Nyss down to a single man. Who fails his command check. They also kill Kell. Thor dies to a Drake's spray. The Krea and Bronzeback kill the Marauder. The Agonizer does it's thing. Oh, and he also used his Feat, giving his whole army +3 DEF (and if I miss an attack I get pushed back d3 inches).

It's really late at this point and I have to go, so I decide to play one last quick turn for fun before conceding. At this point my dice explode.

For some reason I use Strakhov to kill a Nihilator to trigger Overrun, then I realise that I don't need overrun, so I end up just leaving him in the middle of nowhere camping two focus after popping his Feat. The Juggernaut charges the Agonizer and splatters it with his axe, then finishes off the wounded Drake with his fist. This is despite needing 10s to hit on both unboosted attacks.

The Devastator gets between the Juggernaut and the Bronzeback and pushed it away with Bulldoze (if I hadn't been planning to concede this would have helped keep the juggernaut alive next turn). Then, with a firm admonition to "not let me down this time", I charged the Bronzeback with the Kovnik, doing a ridiculous 14 damage with one hit! He also uses his Drive on the Destroyer, which follows his lead and does a solid 13 damage with it's charge attack. Buying another attack, I get the 9 I need to hit and the Destroyer finishes off the Bronzeback.

Flush with this little victory, I concede.


Postmortem:
I was not thinking straight in that game. Having said that, if I had been playing on and therefore paid attention to where I put Strakhov that last round, I think I would have been in a decent position. After all, I had three untouched heavies and he was down to just one, the Blasters were almost untouched and could still contest and do a bit of damage. I was going to start losing points very quickly on the left zone and the forest would make it hard for me to get my Jacks over to contest it, but I think I had a chance - in fact, in retrospect I could have pushed the Krea out of the zone and started scoring in that last round.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, the Kovnik did good work and I'm considering running him with two jacks more often - at least if I know I'm going to be facing an Agoniser.

Undead Cheese

I just played my first game against Cryx. I was running a small modification of my previous list:
Harkevich
- Black Ivan
- Torch
- Demolisher
- Sylyss
Mechanics (min)
- Officer
Koldun Lord
Thor Steinhammer
- Blaster
- Blaster
Nyss Hunters (max)

I don't remember my opponent's exact list, but it was something like:
pAsphyxious
- Harrower
- Cankerworm
- one of those little TMNT mouser droid things, not sure which one
Bane Thralls (max)
- UA
Banelord Tartarus
Satyxis Raiders (max), and some sort of attachment or supporting solo
A fat mechanic thing, I think it makes bomb zombies or something
Scarlock thrall (I think)


I forgot to take pictures so I can't remember exactly what happened, but I'll give at least a summary. First of all, my list: I was meaning to try this list last week but forgot to bring the right bits. I had a theory that Harkevich would run Torch better than Strakhov; between fortune and Broadside the flamer could be very effective. Throw the feat into the mix and Torch could potentially get three shots with the template with rerolls on them all in a single turn, that could help a lot with my infantry problem. I needed an extra point in order to afford Torch, so I decided to drop the Spriggan (sob) and give the Demolisher another go. I've been reading a bit about him so I think I have a better idea of how to use him now, with potentially up to four 4" AOEs in a single turn he should give me some good anti-infantry firepower... well, more than I had before anyway. Yes, I have less armour cracking ability than before, but between Torch and the Nyss it will probably do.

Let's talk about the Bane Thralls. I was expecting my opponent to bring Cryx, so I decided to read the Cryx section of the main rulebook again as a bit of preparation. Last time I learned what a pain Stealth could be, and at this point I'm pretty much terrified of Weaponmasters. So guess what Bane Thralls do? That's right, it's a unit of Stealthed Weaponmasters. So you can't shoot them, then when they reach you, they put out a lot of damage. But wait, there's more! They also debuff your armour just by being close to you (Dark Shroud I think it's called), so not only do they deal more damage, all the rest of your opponent's army does too. Oh, and his unit are also tough and have a mini-feat thing that lets them stand back up once for free. Lovely. A few of his other models also have Stealth, including Cankerworm. Which also has an armour-piercing attack, so that's another one I need to watch out for.

Now that's OK, I know there's going to be ways to deal with them. Problem is I'm not sure if my list has any. Well, my best bet is probably the Nyss; they're faster and have ranged attacks, so with care I can get them withing 5 inches and whittle him down a bit with shooting, or get the charge, and they have high defense, so they won't be completely wiped out up close. Plus, my list now has a lot of templates (which have a chance of doing damage) and sprays (which ignore stealth), so that's something, even if they are close-range weapons.


The scenario is one with two rectangular zones. I win the roll-off and opt to go second. He deploys everything centrally, with his Bane Thralls on my right and the Satyxis behind them. I deploy my Demolisher, Nyss, and Torch opposite his infantry, Ivan on the other side with the Koldun Lord, and the Mechanics spread out behind the Jacks.

Round 1
He moves forwards and spreads out his Bane Thralls in the zone on my right so it's almost impossible to get more than one with an AOE. Harkevich puts up Escort and Fortune on Torch. I run my guys up, except Black Ivan who takes a shot at a Bane Thrall. It misses automatically and the deviation isn't helpful.

Round 2
He moves up further. The Harrower takes a shot at Harkevich and kills off Sylyss, who was in base contact (I need to keep that guy farther back). Tartarus runs up to my Nyss and forces them to take a leadership check. Boxcars. Great. I'm still not clear on how failing leadership checks works, so I opt to not move the Nyss in my turn. They successfully rally though. At this point I'm worried about the Harrower, which if I understand correctly can shoot me through anything (filthy Cryx). So I decide to charge it with Black Ivan, even though I'm not sure it's in range. So I move my other two jacks up to take shots at the Bane Thralls, then I feat with Harkevich, then cast Broadside for some more shots at the Thralls. Ivan then declares a charge at the Harrower, taking his free shot at the Cankerworm. Which I forgot had Stealth, so he misses and does nothing. The problem is I didn't give Black Ivan enough focus as I wanted to maintain the upkeeps but had lost Sylyss, and I wanted Broadside as the Bane Thralls were still my primary concern. As a result Black Ivan did some damage (I think he took down the Harrower's gun), but not enough to wreck it. One Blaster moved up to where it could fire at the Thralls, taking a few points of damage off the Officer (had I known he was the officer before rolling for damage I would have boosted the roll, but I hadn't realised it from across the table), the other (which had the benefit of Thor's Tune-Up) tried to move up to a position where it could catch both Asphyxius and another model with it's spray, but I didn't realize Aspyxious had Reach and ended up putting it too close so it couldn't shoot. Sigh.

Round 3
Guess what? Bane Lord Tartarus has Reach, Weaponmaster, and Thresher. Oh, and he can curse a unit to drop their defense (in the same activation that he attacks it seems), so my Nyss' high defense didn't save them from losing half their number -including Cylena - to a single swing. But wait, there's more! I didn't just lose five Nyss, he also gained five more Bane Thralls that could activate in the same turn. Ugh, filthy Cryx. So the Bane Thralls are almost back up to full strength now (actually they might have been above full strength at this point). Luckily a few were knocked down and I was able to kill the guy who lets them stand back up, so they didn't all get to swing at me. Anyway, he did plenty of damage to Torch and the Demolisher but luckily they survived in working order thanks to Harkevich's feat (I think I had not opened the Demolisher at this point, just taking the shots from Broadside then closing him back up in his activation). He tried to cast a spell at Black Ivan but missed as he was engaged; I took the opportunity to use Dodge and move into base-to-base contact with Asphyxious. This was a mistake on my part; I was hoping for the chance to get a free strike on him, or possibly even to survive the turn so I could actually attack him. Unfortunately I moved before he had activated Asphyxious, the Harrower, or Cankerworm, so he devoted all three to try to kill Black Ivan, which he managed to do (the fact that he was able to use multiple armour debuffs didn't hurt his chances). Had I waited until later, I might have been able to move away after one or more of them had activated, and ideally during the Harrower's activation to rob it of some attacks, which might have been enough to survive and put him in a bad position, but oh well. Oh, and the Nyss failed their leadership roll for losing half their unit. Sigh.

I finally ask what's giving the Bane Thralls Tough. Turns out it's the Standard Bearer. So I hatch a plan to get rid of him; I wasn't sure this was legal but we discussed it and decided it was OK, and I've looked it up online since then and the consensus seems to be that it's fine. After Harkevich casts Broadside to help Torch clear some Thralls, Torch tramples up towards the Standard Bearer. He kills a couple of Thralls along the way and avoids any free strikes as any Thralls in range were knocked down from making Tough rolls. After trampling you can buy additional melee attacks, but Torch has Virtuoso, meaning he can make ranged and melee attacks in the same activation. I figured he couldn't make an initial ranged attack since you can make either initial attacks or a power move, but that didn't mean he couldn't buy additional ranged attacks. So he bought an attack and sprayed the Standard Bearer, finally ridding me of those annoying Tough rolls. The Demolisher tried to kill Tartarus and failed. The Nyss stood still then rallied again.

Round 4
Tartarus kills two more Nyss and a mechanic, generating three more Bane Thralls. The Thralls activate and kill off my Jacks. At this point I'm down to just Harkevich and a few machanics, so when his turn ends he scores a bunch of victory points and wins the game.


Post-game thoughts
So basically by the end of the game he had killed off almost my entire army and was only down most (but not all) of a unit of Bane Thralls? I know I'm not a very good player, but that was ridiculous. Of course between his good Tough rolls and respawning the damned things, I pretty much had to kill each one about three or four times.

The Nyss did NOTHING. I had a couple of unlucky rolls with them, and that was all it took. If I had known what Tartarus could do (and if I'd thought about it properly), I would have moved most of them away but left just one engaged with him, so he either killed just the one or took a free strike in order to try to reach more. Had the Nyss not frozen in fear, thing would have been very different as they were pretty much my best bet for dealing with the Thralls.

Thor and the Blasters didn't do very much. I know that they can be useful, but they aren't working for me so far; Thor tends to die early on and the Blasters keep getting engaged, at which point they suck.I really with they had Gunfighter.

Torch was pretty good in the game; Fortune really helped his spray, and getting two of them proved to be pretty much the most effective thing I had against the Bane Thralls, especially since even if they survived their tough rolls, they would still be on fire giving me one last chance to kill them.

The stat my Jacks have that's rather nice is their armour, but what good does that do when Cryx can drop my armour just by standing next to me, then can layer on two or three armour debuff on top of that?


Overall that was quite a painful match; I must say I'm not feeling an abundance of affection for the Cryx right now. Stealthed Tough regenerating Weaponmaster infantry who debuff you just by standing next to you? Yeah, nice going there PP.