Ambush in the Eastern Thornwood

Ambush in the Eastern Thornwood

An Epic UNBOUND Encounter

Supreme Kommandant Irusk looked out over the ruins of the village of Birchwood disapprovingly. His intelligence had told him that this was a thriving town that would make a good forward kommand post and base of operations for the Eastern Thornwood south of Northguard. What met him when he arrived, however, was anything but thriving – a desolate, eerily silent graveyard of broken walls and smoldering ruins next to the quietly gurgling river. His scouts reported that there were still a number of supply caches in the town, but that there were no signs of life anywhere to be found.

After thinking for a moment, Irusk decided that the town would still suit his purposes – it was ideally located, easily defensible, and could be easily repopulated once he achieved control of the area – the farmlands he had passed still looked largely intact. He had brought a large contingent of his army with him with the intention of using them to establish his base camp here, and it would make little sense to leave now.

He ordered his troops forward, and they began to advance on the town, weapons drawn but not as alert as they probably should have been. That changed when he heard the screams from up ahead. There were terrifying shrieks, an explosion of green balefire, and suddenly the mystery of what had happened to the town became much more easily solved. From the far side of the ruins and from the edge of the forest came hordes of Cryxian thralls and helljacks, charging forward like things possessed. Irusk mentally stoked his warjacks to full combat readiness and began yelling out orders to take positions. Today was going to be bloody indeed.

Summary:

The town of Birchwood is a strategically vital area on the edges of the eastern Thornwood Forest, situated near a small river and surrounded by farmland. Control of the town would be a huge strategic boon to whoever held it, allowing control over both the interior of the Thornwood from there, and also the surrounding countryside. Khadoran forces are moving in to solidify their grasp on the town, but when they arrive they find the town destroyed, and Cryxian forces laying in wait for them. A pitched battle commences, with two massive armies fighting for control of the ruins of Birchwood.

Scenario: Control the City

The table is divided into 12 control zones (see map). A player controls a zone if he has models in it and there are no opposing models in it at the end of one of his turns. A player earns 1 point for controlling a zone on his side of the table, and 2 points for controlling a zone on the opponent’s side of the table.

The first player to 20 points wins. The death of all the opposing warcasters/warlocks is NOT a win condition (though it'll probably help you considerably).

NOTES:

- This is an UNBOUND scenario, and follows the rules presented in No Quarter magazine.

- Be wary of effects that last for a turn, as the turn structure is different!

- Terrain is largely determined by the scenario. One side of the river is ruined city, one side is forest and farmland. Don’t whine about it, plan your army around it.

Impossible Dream 2

All right, after the success of my Trollblood Impossible Dream back in December (pretty much everything but my Fennblades got painted - woo fully painted lists!) I've decided to apply the same pressure to myself to get my mercs painted. I don't have a huge amount of them to do, but it comes out to 51 points that needs my love and attention so that I can field them and not feel like such a tool. The Goal is to have these all painted by the end of June (technically I shouldn't start until June, but we'll see if I have time).

Impossible Dream 2

Merc Country

Stannis Brocker 4pts

Steelhead Riflemen (10) 9pts

- Painted to match Macbain's Traitor Green

Steelhead Halberdiers (10) 6pts

- Painted to match Magnus' Exile Blue

Steelhead Halberdiers (10) 6pts

- Painted to match Macbain's Traitor Green

Drake Macbain (+6pts)

Nomad 6pts

- Painted to match Macbain's Traitor Green

Blythe and Bull 4pts

Dougal Macnaile 2pts

Magnus the Warlord (+6pts)

Kell Bailoch 2pts

51 pts

Cage Match, v3

C-c-c-caaaage Match!

Gladiatorial Combat for Warmachine and Hordes

Concept: A gladiatorial arena where cheering onlookers scream as warcasters and warlocks bring titanic ‘jacks and ‘beasts together in a brutal shower of blood and oil for their amusement.

Game Size: 15 points, Mangled Metal/Tooth and Claw rules, 2-4 players (ideally, though technically more COULD fit if everyone wants a crowded field...)

Deployment: For two players, 10” deployment on opposite sides of the board. For 3-4 players, each player deploys in a 10” by 10” square in a corner of the board.

Scenario: The Octagon: Mark a circle with radius 12” from the center of the table. This functions like a Killbox starting at the end of the last player’s 3^rd turn.

Terrain: There should be a rough ring of hard terrain (walls, rocks, etc) marking the edge of the Killbox, as well as other pieces that encourage throws, slams, and other things to get bonus damage and points.

Scoring: Unlike a normal game, the goal here is to please the onlookers with violent displays, rather than just quick kills. Whoever has the most points at the end of the match wins! In the case of a tie, whoever got the most caster kills (or the final kill, in the case of yet another tie) wins.

Points can be gotten in the following ways:

- Performing a successful Slam, arm/headlock, headbutt, or one or two-handed throw: 1 pt

- Gaining an additional damage die from collisions with terrain or other models: 1pt

- Destroying a model with a Slam, one- or two-handed throw, or headbutt: 1 pt

- Killing a warcaster/warlock in Round 1: -3 pts

- Killing a warcaster/warlock in Round 2: -2 pts

- Killing a warcaster/warlock in Round 3 or later: -1 pts

Ending the game: The game is over when there is only one warcaster/warlock in play. Alternately, players could agree on a point limit.

NOTE: Only actual power attacks grant the point bonuses. Weapon or spell effects that have effects like power attacks (Combo Smite on a Marauder or Thunderbolt on Caine) do not provide points by themselves – but they could generate a point from inflicting an additional die of damage! Furthermore, power attacks generated from chain attacks still count as power attacks for the purposes of generating points.

OPTIONAL RULE: The Whim of the Crowd

Roll a 2d6 at the beginning of each round to see what the Crowd demands! Apply the effect to ALL players for that round.

- 2: Give him mercy!

o If a player destroys an enemy warcaster or warlock, they suffer -1 pt.

- 3: Kick him when he’s down!

o Weapons with the Open Fist ability gain Trash (additional die of damage against knocked down models)

- 4: Two Enter, One Leaves!

o You get +1 pt if your most expensive remaining warjack/warbeast destroys an enemy’s most expensive remaining warjack/warbeast.

- 5: Clobberin’ Time!

o Friendly warjacks and warbeasts gain +2 to Slam, headbutt, or one or two-handed throw damage rolls.

- 6: Hold him back!

o Arm/headlock power attacks give an additional +1 pt.

- 7: Pump the Crowd!

o Your warcaster or warlock can forfeit his activation to pump up the crowd. Because of their cheering and support, all your warjacks or warbeasts do not spend focus or be forced for power attacks, and get +2 to Slam, headbutt, one or two-handed throw, and arm/headlock power attack rolls.

- 8: Drive Him Down!

o Headbutt power attacks give +1 pt

- 9: Use the Chair!

o A warjack or warbeast with the Open Fist ability can choose to use a melee weapon in one hand during its activation. The weapon has a POW of 5 and the Knockdown ability.

- 10: Get Him Outta Here!

o Slams and throws move models an additional 2”

- 11: The Walls Have Spikes!

o Models slammed or thrown into obstacles or obstructions take an additional point of damage (on top of the normal additional die, but does not give an extra pt)

- 12: Finish Him!

o If a warcaster or warlock destroys an enemy warcaster or warlock, they receive +1 pt.

C-c-c-cage match!

All right, so after some initial playtesting, I've created what I feel to be a pretty fun and functional set of rules for the Cage Match game type. I made it almost as a joke at my LGS, but it's gotten really popular, with frequent games, almost never with fewer than 4 players. It's simple, brutal, and relatively fast, while showcasing those fun wrestling move power attacks that most players ignore in larger games. Anyway, here are the version 2 rules:

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C-c-c-caaaage Match!

Gladiatorial Combat for Warmachine and Hordes

Concept: A gladiatorial arena where cheering onlookers scream as warcasters and warlocks bring titanic ‘jacks and ‘beasts together in a brutal shower of blood and oil for their amusement.

Game Size: 15 points, Mangled Metal/Tooth and Claw rules, 2-4 players (ideally)

Scenario: The Octagon: Mark a circle with radius 12” from the center of the table. This functions like a Killbox starting at the end of the last player’s 3^rd turn.

Terrain: There should be a rough ring of hard terrain (walls, etc) marking the edge of the Killbox, as well as other pieces that encourage throws, slams, and other things to get bonus damage and points.

Scoring: Unlike a normal game, the goal here is to please the onlookers with violent displays, rather than just quick kills. Whoever has the most points at the end of the match wins! In the case of a tie, whoever got the most caster kills (or the final kill, in the case of a tie) wins.

Points can be gotten in the following ways:

- Performing a successful Slam, arm/headlock, headbutt, or one or two-handed throw: 1 pt

- Gaining an additional damage die from collisions with terrain or other models: 1pt

- Destroying a model with a Slam, one- or two-handed throw, or headbutt: 1 pt

- Killing a warcaster/warlock in Round 1: -3 pts

- Killing a warcaster/warlock in Round 2: -2 pts

- Killing a warcaster/warlock in Round 3: -1 pts

Ending the game: The game is over when there is only one warcaster/warlock in play. Alternately, players could agree on a point limit.

NOTE: Only actual power attacks grant the point bonuses. Weapon or spell effects that have effects like power attacks (Combo Smite on a Marauder or Thunderbolt on Caine) do not provide points by themselves – but they could generate a point from inflicting an additional die of damage! Furthermore, power attacks generated from chain attacks still count as power attacks for the purposes of generating points.

OPTIONAL RULE: The Whim of the Crowd

Roll a d6 at the beginning of each round to see what the Crowd demands! Apply the effect to ALL players for that round.

- 1: Hold him back!

--- Arm/headlock power attacks give an additional +1 pt.

- 2: Use the Chair!

--- A warjack or warbeast with the Open Fist ability can choose to use a melee weapon in one hand during its activation. The weapon has a POW of 4 and the Knockdown ability.

- 3: Kick him when he’s down!

--- Weapons with the Open Fist ability gain Trash (additional die of damage against knocked down models)

- 4: Clobberin’ Time!

--- Friendly warjacks and warbeasts gain +2 to Slam, headbutt, or one or two-handed throw damage rolls.

- 5: Give him mercy!

--- If a player destroys an enemy warcaster or warlock, they suffer -1 pt.

- 6: Finish Him!

--- If a warcaster or warlock destroys an enemy warcaster or warlock, they receive +1 pt.

Last Night's Battle Report

So I played a really good game last night against Sean's Legion. I was playing Epic Skarre and he was playing Absylonia. I haven't played eSkarre in MKII and never played against Absylonia, so it was a learning experience all around for me.

The 35 pt lists were something like:

eSkarre

Reaper

Seether

2 Nightwretches

Skarlock

20 McThralls

Necrosurgeon

Pistol Wraith

Absylonia (tier 4)

Ravagore

Angelius

Scythean

3 Shredders

Raek

2 Forsaken

Shepherd

It was a brutal game. He went first, and his tier bonuses let him run his beasts extra far up, getting right in my face. A lucky deviation from the Ravagore killed the necrosurgeon (but not the stitch thralls...useless bastards) and set a Nightwretch and Skarre on fire. He ended up outside of charge range, but if I moved up at all I'd be in range of his charges next turn.

Luckily, Skarre is well-equipped to deal with that. Fire went out on her and damaged the 'wretch a little bit, and I put 3 focus on the Reaper. Ran the node up and arc'd perdition through it to damage a shredder and move the Reaper up 6". Then she popped her feat and made her 2 heavies, her, the skarlock, and the pistol wraith immune to enemy attacks. The Reaper moved up and reeled in the Scythean, doing some pretty solid damage and feeling quite safe due to the feat. I ran most everything up, being well within charge range, but with all the key pieces immune to attacks.

This was the turn that probably shifted the game in my favor, in the sense that he decided to fall back instead of pressing the advantage. The Scythean killed the flaming Nightwretch and the rest fell back. Absylonia threw out a blight field to prevent allocation to either the Seether (including his freebie!) or the Reaper.

While that's all well and good, it meant that I had now gained the initiative. I killed the Scythean, perditioned to move the Seether closer, where it could charge Absylonia. She transferred the damage, but now her beasts were pretty torn up, she had a Seether with Death Ward in her face, and Skarre had Admonition on herself and was in cover, making any shooting next to impossible and any melee attempts prone to failure.

Still, the Angelius, 2 Shredders, and Absylonia killed the Seether, the Raek jumped behind Skarre so she couldn't retreat (but was out of Absylonia's control, so it couldn't grab her or boost at all), and the Ravagore got Playing God on it to kill 4 or 5 McThralls.

The rest of the game was a grindfest. I killed the Raek, Ravagore, and a Shredder, a Forsaken exploded and killed something like 7 McThralls, and eventually Skarre was able to Perdition the Reaper closer to Absylonia with 3 focus to charge and kill her. In the end I had something like 5 models left, and he had 2 (not counting his dead warlock).

Lessons learned:

1. Eyeless sight doesn't ignore cover!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is huge news to me, and makes fighting Legion in the future about a million times easier.

2. The Reaper with Seas of Fate is just sicknasty.

3. Absylonia is kind of crazy good with beast attrition. Very different from the offensive beast style of epic Doomshaper or epic Kaya.

4. There's a reason eSkarre was my favorite in MKI, and I think she'll continue to see table time. My main concern? She might be TOO good. I don't want to have another situation like Mortenebra, where she's just so insane that I never put her on the table in casual games.

Illerian Realms

So I'll be starting to DM a new campaign for realsies this time, based on the West Marches campaign. There will be an overlying storyline, stronger or weaker depending on the way players are enjoying the game. The continent the game takes place on is the Illerian Realms, and the characters start out in a town called Dragonhead Bay. I've taken a lot of ideas from Dragon Age for some stuff, and borrowed liberally from the DMG for the town itself, but I think it makes it something new and exciting.

The big thing is the campaign map. Taking a cue from West Marches and Penny Arcade's experiences, I'll be using a Chessex hex mat to let the characters explore the world. Each hex represents "1 day's travel", and over the course of this game I seriously doubt the characters will explore much more than their starting area. Since I intend to re-use this setting later, I'll still keep it, though. The rules will be 4e, and there will be 3 characters (played by Jackie, and our friends Dave and Tanya), and hopefully I'll be able to expand on that later.

Anyway, here is the starting history the characters get when they start the game.

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The History of Dragonhead Bay

Your characters don’t know much about the history of the area. They know that Dragonhead Bay used to be part of the Illerian Empire, a human empire from the west that spanned the continent. The Empire was the light of civilization until the Plague of the Ten Sufferings. The plague swept through the Empire and wiped much of it out. Even worse, most of the plague victims rose again as the walking dead, and terrorized the countryside. A horde of these undead attacked Dragonhead Bay 20 years ago and breached the city walls. They destroyed many of the buildings and slaughtered most of the people of the town, though a few managed to hide and survive. Eventually the Templars rallied against them and defeated the horde, and the town was able to begin rebuilding itself.

Now there is a rather decent town built on the remains of Old Dragonhead Bay, though the inhabitants know little about the history or the surrounding area. The population is mostly poor farmers and artisans, and is mainly human, Halfling, and dwarf, with some elves, eladrin, and half-elves. Dragonborn aren’t native to the area but might have travelled through, and Tieflings are considered to be infernal agents and are generally unwelcome.

Magic is distrusted and feared by many of the common people, and is tightly controlled by the Society Arcanus, the Circle of Magi, a mystical order which regulates what magic can be learned, and by whom. They also are intimately tied to the Church of Pelor, especially its military arm – the Templar Order. These holy knights seek out infernalists and necromancers and kill them and their minions at every opportunity to protect the populace from their depredations. While they generally don’t interfere with the day-to-day occurrences of the town for the most part, they are an ever-present force, acting as a shield for the town against the dark things in the world.

The town is run by the Governor Arcanus, the Lord Mage of the local chapter of the Circle. Most towns exist with a similar structure of the Governor Arcanus, supported by the might of the Templars. She is the most powerful wizard in the local chapter, and the politics of the Circle are secretive and dangerous to anyone who gets involved.

The old Imperial Road runs through the town and connects it with the Dwarven city of Hammerfast to the south. Many of the Dwarves in Dragonhead have connections with Hammerfast, and trade moves between the two over the Road. Not much is known about the lands further away, and no one really knows what happened to Illeria, the capital city of the old empire.

Grumble Grumble Battle Report

Well, I fell into a lava pit in Minecraft and lost all my items, so now I'm cranky and figured I'd do a blog post.

That being said, I'm going to try and start writing a little more on here, since Patrick said he'd like to see some battle reports, and I don't mind waxing poetic about getting owned.

So last night was a fight against Brian and his Cygnar at 50 points. He was playing pHaley and I was playing Borka, and we ended up with the Supply Lines scenario. The game went...poorly for me. His army consisted of 20 Sword Knights, 2 units of Storm Blades, a Centurion, Thorn, Squire, and Gun Mages. Mine was Kriel Warriors, Krielstone, Fell Caller, Chronicler, whelps, and then a Blitzer, Bomber, 2 Impalers, and a pyre troll.

Right off the bat I was really outnumbered. Kriel Warriors are a great tarpit, but there was just too damn many Sword Knights and I got chewed up. All 20 SKs were ARM 19 with Arcane Shield (from Haley and Jr.), so blast damage was useless against them. On the upside, the Gun Mages were kind of useless (their POW 10s just couldn't cut through my armor), but they ended up being useful. More on that in a minute.

Round 1 went roughly along the lines of "He runs all his stuff up, I run my Kriels up, slap Iron Flesh and Hero's Tragedy on them, position beasts for maximum boomage next turn."

Round 2 was brutal. Haley ran Thorn up behind my lines and popped her feat, then arced chain lightening (can be engaged and still arc!) into my back lines, killing the Kriel Standard, some of the warriors, and one of the KSB unit. Sword Knights charged, needed 9 to hit, got 2 attacks, and just had a huge numbers advantage. I didn't make a single tough roll, and lost about half the unit. Storm Blades were right behind them, meaning even if I chewed through that many SKs I had a world of pain in store. My counterattack was less than awesome. Blitzer killed 3 or 4 SKs, Bomber got a couple gun mages Pyre lit some SKs on fire, Kriels whiffed up and down the field, Fell Caller got 7 SKs in a spray and didn't kill a single one...it was bad news bears. Worse, I had one supply point and he had 2.

Round 3 started and he basically continued the death spree. I was down to 3 KWs, and he charged the Blitzer with the Centurion, doing some solid damage but not killing him. I was losing ground and if I couldn't get Haley it was gonna be all over. I could see that with Far Strike, the Blitzer could probably shoot her, but there was an angry Centurion in the way, and Thorn's Reach would also hamper the effort. I worked it out as best I could, clearing out SKs and casting Mosh Pit, then having the Pyre knock down Thorn. With Far Strike ready, the Blitzer activated. By my calculations, two boosted damage rolls would probably do it. All I needed to roll was 3 or better on my d3 shots with him, then get 11 to hit with a boost. This was doable. I rolled a 1. Shit. Well, gotta make do with what I got, I guess. Blitzer walked up, smacked the Centurion to knock him down, then took his shot at Haley - and missed. One chance, needed 11 on 3 dice, rolled about 5 if I recall correctly. I sighed, ended my turn, he got 2 more points, then won by just ending his turn and getting the requisite points.

Basically I feel like I got diced pretty hard. I only made 1 or two tough rolls for the entire game, and flubbed vast numbers of attacks which should have tipped the odds strongly in my favor. The Fell Caller's spray alone should have eaten up a chunk of the SKs and pushed the attrition back in my favor, but it just didn't happen.

That being said, I'm glad Brian got a chance to see that Sword Knights are awesome. They're tough, cheap, and plentiful - a great combination no matter how you look at them. They can clog up the board and hold important points, tie up enemy units and hold their own even against relatively durable infantry. They performed well enough that I expect to see him fielding them a lot more now, at least a single unit, and I'm always happy when I can give someone new reasons to put pewter on the table.

Stupid Blitzer...