Christmas CTA `08 - Week Two

I got my first game in for Week Two. With this week's special rule of "no other characters besides the warcasters and warlocks", it seemed strange for me since I'm very used to playing with Eiryss. With the recent addition of Orin Midwinter and Beast-09, it's too bad for me since I won't be able to use them.

My first game was against Fred Escalona, who still used Iron Lich Asphyxious even at 750 points. But with the double-edged scenario rules, he won't be able to use Tartaus, Gorman di Wulfe, Darragh Wrathe or the Withershadow Combine, too. He used four bonejacks and the two spider-legged helljacks, the Leviathan and Harrower, his usual pair of Pistol Wraiths, a Skarlock, three Soul Hunters and two Ogrun Bokurs (one had the Skarlock as client, the other was Asphyxious').

I opted to use Dark Champion Vladimir Tzepesci with a Kodiak. The rest of the 750-point force was comprised of infantry - a lot of Iron Fang Pikemen, a lot of Greylords, some Kayazy Assassins, some Uhlans, a pair of Winterguard Mortar Crew and Widowmakers deployed way out front (since I won the roll off for first turn anyway - good thing there is no "Sieze the Initiative" rule yet here in WARMACHINE *hehe*).

TURN ONE

Early on I managed to snipe off the Skarlock, despite it being screened by its Bokur bodyguard. The rest of my force surged forward. No Blizzard screen for me this turn. I hoped for an early Pegasus, so I casted Hand of Fate on my Kodiak before it ran forward with the Drakhun close by.

Fred answered his Skarlock's demise with a channeled Breath of Corruption on my Widowmakers. With only one sniper remaining, he failed his CMD check and turned tail. His Soul Hunters took my right flank speedily and uncontested while his All Terrain helljack strode through some woods. His Pistol Wraith pair took to some elevated ruins at my left flank. Asphyxious was way out in the rear though, so I had to rethink my strategy.

TURN TWO

I dropped the Kodiak's Hand of Fate and recasted it on one unit of Greylords at my left flank. With seemingly precision spellcasting, the Greylords eliminated both Pistol Wraiths with Frostbite. The Skarlock's Bokur was the target of my Uhlan's charge, which was easily brought down. The bonejack which channeled the Breath of Corruption was also destroyed by my Iron Fang Pikemen.

Fred charged the Uhlans with two of his bonejacks, scoring some wounds but failing to kill even one of them. It was the start of some bad rolling for Fred.

His Scything Touch Harrower charged the furthest end of my Pikeman line, hoping to break them with a Thresher-like special attack. Only two out of its five targets were killed, and he only needed to roll 8's for the auto-kill hits.

His Soul Hunters also charged, killing another Pikeman. But it was here that he made a crucial mistake. With SR4 No Man's Land, for a unit to be counted as controlling the area, ALL models in the unit must be completely within the No Man's Land area.

With his last moves, only his Harrower was inside the No Man's Land.

TURN THREE

For a "righteous kill", I had eVlad pop Blood Legacy on my Drakhun and three Pikemen. The first Blood Legacy Pikeman scored tremendous blows on the Harrower, with an extra melee attack for good measure, too. The IFP Sergeant's first blow was the one that reduced the helljack to a smoking scrapheap, and bagged the win for the Khadoran force!