Bringing a gun to a knife fight: pSorscha vs pDenny

Picture unrelated.  Awesome, but unrelated.

Last week EV asked me if I was ever going to run the Man o War Kovnik.  I told him I've run it before, but that was during my first steps into Warmachine in the dark days when I had not yet started taking pictures.  I remembered liking the Kovnik, especially when paired with a Kodiak, so I took his offhanded remark as a personal challenge to field the Kovnik once again.  This proved to be harder than I expected.



The Kovnik has to marshal a jack.  As a pure beatstick he's too expensive (3 points) for what he brings.  P+S 15 Weapon Master is nothing to sneeze at, but with no Reach, Backswing, or other multiple attack option he just doesn't measure up to the likes of a Manhunter (plus an extra point) or even Yuri the Axe.  Marshaling it is then, which means a Kodiak as the Kovnik's Drive ability dovetails so nicely with the Kodiak.  Of course the combo attack isn't boosted and that's a bit of a drag, but I have an answer for that: Koldun Lord.  After some close reading, I determined that I could use Drive and Power Booster at the same time, thus boosting the attack rolls of the initial fists and the ensuing throw.  Tasty.  Of course this little combo runs 13 points, but it will whack and toss something real good, at least in theory.  Since this happy bunch lives outside the battlegroup I wanted a caster that had a non-battlegroup feat that would work with jacks.  This eliminated pIrusk (too infantry focused) and pVlad (battlegroup), while the lack of varnish took out the otherwise good choice of pButcher along with not-so-hot choices in Harkevich and Strakhov.  This left Sorscha, both flavors.  After my pining in the last post, I went with pSorscha and came up with the following list:

35+5 points, 18 models

Kommander Sorscha  +5 points
* Black Ivan  10 points
* War Dog  1 point

Doom Reavers  6 points
* Greylord Escort  2 points
Koldun Lord  2 points
Man-O-War Kovnik  3 points
* Kodiak  8 points
Widowmaker Marksman  2 points
Winter Guard Mortar Crew  3 points
Winter Guard Mortar Crew  3 points


I did a bit of metagaming while assembling my army.  Since EV has settled in to a somewhat regular list over the past couple of games I took an infantry clearing setup, thus the pair of Mortars.  The Doomies do this too, but they're my current crush so I didn't need a reason to include them.  When I found that I couldn't use the bonus jack points on marshaled jacks my first thought was a Juggy since they're so cheap, but I just couldn't make the numbers work.  Despite my intention to not bring him this time around, when I plugged Black Ivan in I suddenly had room for the War Dog and everything else clicked into place.  A small group (again), but with lots of templates and cleaves.  My plan was to have Sorscha freeze or knock things down, making them easier to drop large caliber shells on.


EV threw me a small curve with his list.  Instead of eGaspy he brought pDenny.  He also dropped the Brute Thrall since Denny has one less jack point than Gaspy.  His list, since it's been a while since I posted it:


35+6 points, 36 models

Warwitch Deneghra  +5 points
* Cankerworm  5 points
* 2x Nightwretch  4 points each
* Skarlock Thrall  2 points

10 Bane Thralls  8 points
6 Bile Thralls  5 points
Bloat Thrall  2 points
10 Mechanithralls  5 points
Withershadow Combine  5 points


Outnumbered again, by a sizable margin again, but I knew that going in.  I lost the "will there be a central forest" roll.  EV mentioned scenario while placing said forest, so I rolled for it and came up with the three objective mission that I managed to lose a few games back.  EV won the roll to go first and chose to do so.

The wreck markers are objectives.

Pretty standard setup on his side: Banes on one flank, Mechs on the other, squishy bits in the middle.  I set my two Mortars up so they had enough distance between them to be able to shoot at each other (in support of course), then filled the middle with non-Advance Deploy stuff.  It took a few minutes of flip-flopping before I went with the same strategy as last time of sending the Doomies against the MechThralls.  The Kodiak went on the MechThrall side because Ivan could shoot at the Banes.  The Marksman went on the Bane flank as the first of many brain cramps.  The plan was simple: blast the crap out of the horde with all my templates and sweep up the remains with the Doomies and jacks.

Turn 1

The first turn might as well be called the running turn, because that's all you ever really do.  It's all EV did as Denny has no upkeeps, or the one she has wasn't called for at the time.

Cryx turn one.

Contrary to the above statement, I got some work done in the first turn.  The Koldun Lord gave Ivan a Focus, which he used to hit a distant bonejack.

Unusual orientation = sense of action.

The soot covered (but fully painted, really) Mortar followed along and blew up a Bane Thrall.

Distant kaboom.

Not to be outdone, the non-soot covered (and actually painted) Mortar also took a long-ranged shot and took out a trio of MechThralls.

Big badaboom.

Everything else (ha!) advanced.  Sorscha tried to get a good Tempest scatter but failed.  The Doomies approached the right objective, but kept back enough to not get swarmed by the MechThralls while also staying spread out enough to limit the damage the Fat Thrall could do.  The double Ks (Kovnik+Kodiak) started flanking, heading for the building ahead of them.

Khador turn one.

Turn 2

Remember when I spread out my Doomies to avoid the Bloat Thrall's template?  Turns out that formation isn't as effective against sprays.  My first few games of Warmachine (battlebox games all) were all about learning how to LoS arc nodes and avoid lining up for sprays.  It's a lesson I've mostly learned, but somehow I didn't foresee the arc node spraying my Doomies.  Twice even.

First of two sprays.

In other news, EV swarmed over the objectives.  It was at this point I realized I had a problem.  Can you guess what it is?

Cryx turn two.

My half of turn two started off right.  In the upkeep/maintenance/whatever phase, my two Corroded Doomies bit the big one.

The deadliest phase is the one at the beginning of your own turn.

The rest of the squad got real mad.  Like, crazy mad.  Almost like they're really bad dudes who were given a huge sword that would make them even badder and crazier.  Wait, that's what Doom Reavers are?  That explains how two of them damn near wrecked a chickenjack.

The third guy was a slacker and missed.

Elsewhere Sorscha knocked down a couple Banes and the Mortars probably blew up some various Thralls.  Why is the Greylord UA way out in the middle of nowhere?  I wanted to avoid losing the entire squad to a single Purge, so I sent him out on his own.  More on this in a bit.  I reconsidered the "flanking action" the Ks were on and brought them back towards the middle, which was approximately where they would have been last turn if I'd just sent them forward instead of being cute about it.

Khador turn two.

I realized I was boned after EV was done this turn.  He'd taken all three objectives.  I had a shot at the right one with the Doomies and...well, that was about it.  When the Doomies didn't finish the bonejack, and therefore didn't secure the objective, I was looking at being down 5-0 at best, and probably 6-0 when the inevitable Purge and charges cleared out the Doomies.  To make things better, I had no real way to even contest the center point.  If the Greylord Escort survived the Bane Thrall charge I managed to not see while placing him, he could perhaps run on to the objective.  If the Cankerworm wasn't in the way.  Giving up before the end is a pet peeve of mine, but I was already going through the motions.

Khador - 0  Cryx - 3

Turn 3

EV injected some mystery into the inevitable Purge by putting Ghostwalk on the Bile Thralls.  This caught me by surprise even though I had read the spell on the card and commented on it before the game started.  The Purge got one of the Doomies and the MechThrall charge cleaned up the other two.  At least the Kodiak was out of range.

Purge: it's ok to hate it.

Next came my moment of sparkly goodness.  I had dropped a die in the previous turn and was looking around for it while EV got going.  I looked up when he started to arc a spell at Sorscha.  Disaster or opportunity?  His mostly wrecked bonejack that narrowly escaped the Doomies had come into Counter-charge range of my War Dog.  Result?  Another notch on the dog collar.

I've been spending too much time at the Chive of late.

That was about it for EV, other than swarming the left objective with Bane Thralls.  And scoring another three points, bringing him within one of winning.  To my zero points.  Other than that, not much happened.

Cryx turn three.

Doing what I can, and trying to do the impossible, I started with the artillery barrage.  The right side Mortar took out a MechThrall.

Imagine the Ks further back, about where they were after turn two.

Then the Ks charged in to try and clear the objective.  They came up well short, a surprise to no one.

They followed the shell in.  I don't fire on my own troops.  Often.

On the left side the Greylord was counting his blessings after surviving the Bane Thrall charge.  He did some praying and then some spraying.  The result was pleasant: two (re)dead Banes.

Sprays can turn frowns upside down.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with Ivan.  He could fire at, and auto-miss, some of the Banes.  (This would have been the option if the Banes had all charged in and bunched up like I thought they should have.  Instead EV "ran" most of them about an inch while a single Bane actually charged an actual target.  I was under the impression you moved your full distance whether you were charging or running, hence my Greylord being on the left side of the board instead of dropping back an inch or two to avoid the Purge.  Like Bulldoze, charging has been ill-understood and the source of confusion.  At least for me.  We'll get it ironed out eventually).  Or he could seize glory by the balls and charge a lone Bane.  I chose the latter.  Fortunately Ivan hit (and splattered) the Bane as I didn't factor in spending the single point of Focus from the Koldun on the charge itself, leaving him unable to boost the attack roll.

Ivan smash!

In a last second bid to avoid a shutout, Sorscha barreled into the cluster of Banes, popping off a Tempest on the way.  Forgot to fire off her feat though, so she was all sorts of sunk in the turn to come.

Sorscha plays til the whistle.

That was it, we called the game at the end of the turn. 

Endgame/Finger of Doom.

Final score: Khador - 1  Cryx 6

This was the worst sort of loss for me, the kind that I learn absolutely nothing from.  That's not true really.  I learned that if you take a list with minimal infantry against a horde list in a take and hold style scenario, you're gonna get boned.  My deployment didn't help matters, leaning away from the left as I was.  Had I run my jacks at the objectives I might have prolonged matters, but in the end I think I lost this one in the list writing phase.  I knew more or less what I'd be facing and made a list to counter it (to a limited degree) without wondering if it would work in missions.

The worst part is that since gaming is a necessarily social activity, I had not only torpedoed a game for myself but for EV as well.  It's always nice to win, but I imagine EV was as satisfied with his win as I was with my loss.  Our past few games have been tense affairs in direct contrast to this suckfest.  Even worser yet still was that while this was a quick game, it still took long enough to preclude another thanks to various work schedules.  It'll be another week before I can wash this bad taste from my gaming mouth.

Another one(two) bites the dust

More finished warcasters.

Finished up Harkevich and Strakhov this afternoon, a full day ahead of the Paint the Target deadline.  Granted I still have to do arc markings and figure out snow basing, but that will have to wait until the humidity drops below 75% here in the DMV.  While I love warcasters because the models are typically more detailed and dynamic than regular footsloggers, the unfortunate truth is that I'll only ever sit one (possibly two in the future) on the table at a time.  Thus while I've been making (some) progress in painting recently, it won't show up on the table as the painted models (assuming I ever get them varnished and buttoned up) will be sitting in my case. 

This has extra bearing in the immediate future as my first thought on "What do I paint next" was "Finish that Sorscha I started way back when."  (As a brief aside, I sure have come a long way in miniature photography.  Those pics, admittedly my first attempts, make my brain sad now.)  I'm sure I've talked about this before, but a little more never hurts, right?  When I first started up with Warmachine I intended to stick with pSorscha until I got her figured out, not to mention fully painted.  Fast forward to now and pSorscha is one of my least played casters, one of the last ones I reach for when making a new list, and no more painted than she was when I made that above post.  While I'd like to rectify that situation, on the painting front if not the playing front, by doing so I'd also be adding yet another caster to the pile of painted models while those units, jacks, and solos continue to look at me with resigned (and unpainted) eyes.

To remedy this situation, I'm contemplating drastic action.  Pending the announcement of this month's (Paint the) Target, I may pull the Doom Reavers from active duty to get them painted up.  While they didn't blow my skirt up at first, I find them more indispensable with each passing game.  They're just so good at cutting things up in tiny pieces, not to mention resilient(ish) with the UA.  Then there's the spray the UA brings along.  I almost love the Doomies enough to consider running an eButcher tier army.  Almost.  This all said, it pains me to consider taking them out of the lineup to get them painted.  On the plus side I'd have a great incentive to get them finished quickly, plus I'd be able to field another painted unit on the table instead of tucking yet another caster away in foam.  Maybe I can even get them done before the deluge arrives. 

Attack of the Parenthesis: eGaspy vs pIrusk

Random puppy pic to start the post off right.

The forces of Cryx and Khador clashed again today, "today" being Thursday despite what the post date says.  After a brief school induced hiatus, eGaspy was on the prowl again, menacing the noble sons and daughters of the Motherland.  EV did a preemptive list post over on his blog in what appears to be a wine-induced blogging frenzy, though the lack of dates makes it hard to be sure.  Considering his list didn't change from the last game, I'll just leave the link for you to follow at your whim.



My list was a bit more involved.  Despite having a couple days to figure out what I wanted to play, I didn't really get going on the list until last night (Wednesday, despite what the post date will say).  I came up with an eSorscha list that featured a bonded Devastator and Freezing Grip spam (as much as you can spam a 4 Focus spell with a 6 Focus caster).  It wasn't a bad list, but it was smushed together with less than the usual amount of thought.  Fast forward (or rewind depending on how you look at it) to this (Thursday) morning and I get a flash of inspiration where I do all my best thinking: on the john.  (Looks like there's a special going on parenthesis tonight so you might as well get to like them.)  I was flipping through the Khador book when I wondered if Superiority added to DEF.  Turns out it does, so a few moments later I had a pIrusk list together that was much tighter than the eSorscha list I was going to run.  With that teaser burning in your eyes, the list:

35+6 points, 33 models

Kommandant Irusk  +6 points
* Black Ivan  10 points
* War Dog  1 point

Doom Reavers  6 points
* Greylord Escort  2 points
Kovnik Jozef Grigorovich  2 points
Widowmaker Marksman  2 points
Widowmakers  4 points
10 Winter Guard Infantry  6 points
* Winter Guard Officer & Standard  2 points
* 3 Winter Guard Rocketeers  3 points
Winter Guard Mortar Crew  3 points



After my recent forays into smaller lists it was pleasant to have lots of boots on the table.  Though I've been trying to get away from the WGI Deathstar of late, pIrusk is so geared towards infantry that I couldn't leave them in the case.  Plus never using something is just as bad as always using something (Ask my poor MoW Kovnik about that.  We'll get 'em next time buddy).  The basic idea here is...pretty basic.  Black Ivan + Superiority = DEF 14 ARM 20.  Add plenty of infantry, a dash of pie plate, fill with man's best friend, and voila! a list that builds itself. 


We rolled for scenario before setting up terrain (for once) and came up with No Man's Land, the hold-the-strip-in-the-middle scenario that I lost in spectacular brain-fart fashion previously.  In a move no one would expect, I vowed to myself to not lose the game by leaving the zone without realizing it this time.  If I was going to lose this time it would be because I got killed!  Or at least Thrown, Slammed, or Pushed out of the zone.  I won the roll to start placing terrain.  Determined to change things up, I put a building in the middle of the board, thus foiling EV's plan to once again center the table with a forest.  Though I had my suspicions before, this time around he confessed to his tendencies.  We ended up with a somewhat sparse (for us) outlay.

Setup.

My plan with deployment was a modified old favorite: the refused flank.  The WGI almost have to be deployed in the center because the unit is so big, so I decided to overload one side with my Advanced Deployers after I saw EV's non-AD setup.  I thought about putting the Doomies up against the Bane Thralls for a clash of Weapon Masters, but instead decided to send them into the Mech Thralls which they should cut down with little resistance.  After a spate of book consulting for rules about buildings with multiple levels (I was particularly curious about AoEs in those buildings, which we had to house rule as we couldn't find anything in the book) I put the Widowmakers on the same flank.  Between them and the Mortar I figured on turning the path to the right of the center building into a shooting gallery.  The center would no doubt turn into a big scrum before long, so I wanted to have guns in place in case things went awry.  EV went with a standard Bane-Bile-Mech line.

Turn 1

Boring first turn is boring.  Iron Flesh on the Winter Guard, Superiority on Ivan, everyone goes forward.  The only bit of trickery I pulled here was to keep the Doom Reavers far enough back to avoid a potential charge from the MechThralls.  (EV had already started his turn when I took the following pic, hence the forward Bloat Thrall).

Khador turn one.

EV's half of the turn was slightly more interactive as he arced Parasite on to the WGI.  While high DEF is what keeps the lads safe, it never hurts to have some padding for the inevitable templates.  Parasite represented a significant loss of armor to them, but there was nothing for it other than to soldier on. 

Cryx and debuffs go together like "She said she was 18" and "Can you blame me?"

Fairly standard otherwise, excepting the MechThralls.  EV has taken to sending a handful of them forward as bait so that when I send my unit in for the glorious charge he can respond with the rest of the unit and mop up my victorious troops.  Unfortunately for him I have long since grown wise to this tactic...

Cryx turn one.

Turn 2

Turn two began with a barrage, as so many great military operations have.  First up was the Mortar who missed the Bile Thrall it was aiming at, but did ding a bonejack on the scatter.

This picture almost makes it look like my army is fully painted.

Ivan joined the fun and did much better, taking out a few Biles.  I suspect that the Focus had something to do with the improved aim, but am awaiting the study results before stating anything definitive.

Black Ivan: getting it done since about a month ago.

On the right flank I took an optimistic shot with the Marksman, figuring I was out of range.  When it turned out that the Thrall was close enough to be shot the rest was inevitable, and soon there was one less shambly menace on the table.  After that it was time to give EV a bit of his own medicine.  I sent a lone Doomie ambling (not charging) into the two remaining MechThralls and cut them down like so much undead wheat.

Turn about: it's fair play.

In the middle I had a bit of a brain cramp.  During setup I had neglected to put the Rocketeers in their proper place (the front line), so I had to pay more attention than usual to them in the initial moving-up part of the game.  This wrinkle makes it more shameful that I didn't realize I could (and should) shoot them at the Fatty Thrall until after I had already moved the squad.  The result was that I could only shoot two of the rockets at the pile of pus, leaving it battered but standing.  The remaining rocket did kill another Bile Thrall though, which is what I intended before realizing I could shoot the Bloat Thrall.

The field of missed opportunities.

Little extra to recap here since most of my units did something effective enough to be photographed this turn.  Kovnik Joe made the WGI Tough, Irusk cast Inhospitable Ground, the War Dog frolicked along.

Khador turn two.

EV got started by killing the lone Doomie with a second wave of Mechanithralls.

The inevitable reprisal.

Then ole' Fatty McArbuckle made me curse not killing him when I had the chance.  Fortunately only a single Winter Guard was killed, but unfortunately it was a Rocketeer who didn't have anyone close enough to hand his rockets to.

That poor son of Khador would be alive if I'd been thinking clearly in my turn.

That was it for the action.  Gaspy dropped a ton of cloud effects (you know how he roll).  The green marker on the left side of the building is where he threw his weapon to, putting up a big circle of "If you die here I get to keep your soul."  The Bane Thralls ran behind the forest like the elite troops they are while the Withershadow, Cankerworm, and Gaspy himself stayed back in the middle of EV's line.

Cryx turn two.

Turn 3

Of the many, many things I hate about Cryx their abundance of spellcasters is among the foremost.  It often seems that half of EV's army can cast spells.  Not just magic shotgun sprays or Ice Cages, but full-fledged spells like a warcaster has, and often the exact spells that said caster has.  (Not even going to mention arc nodes).  When I have a chance to kill one of the many casters I like to capitalize on it, which I did at the top of turn three when the Widowmakers sniped the Skarlock right off the table.  The fact that EV had cut off the Widowmakers' LoS to most of the board had nothing to do with it...

One less undead wizard in the world.  You can thank me via check or cash, your choice.

The clouds were blocking up Ivan's avenues as well.  I wasn't sure what I would do with him until I remembered that Superiority increased Speed as well, allowing him to shuffle around the edge of the cloud and drop a Bombard shell on a Bile Thrall.  I was hoping to take out some Withershadow as well, but had to settle for a tick of damage to one of them.

Ivan is so wonderful I may never field a regular Destroyer again.

In the center the Winter Guard finished off the Bloat Thrall.  Both rockets didn't finish the job, so I had to repurpose the CRA that was meant for the bonejack.  Killing one thing dead before moving on to the next target is something I've been working on lately.  It galled me to devote so many resources to the Fat Thrall, but if it didn't die I'd be catching a pie plate with a handful of Winter Guard, and that's a bad time.

CRA: for when that Fatty absolutely has to die.

The Doomies cleared out a bunch of MechThralls, but I missed a picture of it.  Sprays and Berserk are great infantry clearers.  Inhospitable Ground made it's first appearance.  Kovnik Joe made the WGI Tough as I expected to start taking heavy fire in the center.  I was pretty happy at this stage.  The MechThralls were all but finished with small cost to the Doomies.  The Bane Thralls were dithering around behind the woods, so they were unlikely to peek-a-boo the WGI in any devastating way.  The Bloat Thrall was dead along with most of the Bile Thralls, and I had a firm grasp on the center.

Khador turn three.

Remember all those good feelings I mentioned just now?  They were gone real quick once Gaspy moved in and dropped some pain.  Turns out he has some crazy AoE that gets stronger the more people it hits.  When you have a cluster of Winter Guard together to CRA something it gets obscene quick.  Fortunately I'd gone with Tough instead of boosted attack rolls, so a handful of troopers survived.

Did I mention Gaspy gets souls for all these victims?  Because he does.

Survived long enough to get some sort of nastiness (it's best not to think exactly what kind) when a Bile Thrall came forward to Purge.

Hate that Purge.

Then to cap things off the bonejack came up and dropped another template on the remnants of my Winter Guard.  Those days when I thought I had a firm grip on the center were long forgotten by this point.  I can only imagine the carnage if Tough hadn't been up.

The pain, when does it stop?

The silver lining this turn was with the Doomies.  EV swamped the forward trooper and smacked him pretty good, but the UA survived and the Thralls were all bunched up for some cleaves or a spray.

At least this one is going my way.

The tables had been turned with a vengeance.  The center (which was also my left flank) had disintegrated like so much toilet paper after a refrito and jalapeno bender.  Irusk had been swaddled in a warm, soft, fluffy blanket of Khadoran flesh moments before, but was now left with his ass perilously close to the wind.  The Withershadow Combine was a short hop away from turning my lone jack into some Cryx jack, plus they had stripped Iron Flesh off the WGI at the beginning of this turn of hurty pain.  (There was also the prospect of an eGaspy with something like 12 Focus to face in the next turn, but the mind can only process so much horror before it simply shuts down to protect itself).  At least the Bane Thralls were still loitering instead of joining the slaughter.

Cryx turn three.

Turn 4

Who's your buddy when you're feeling glum?  Black Ivan.  Realizing the threat before him, Ivan took the big load of Focus that Irusk gave him and turned it into a trio of pulped Cryxians.  I would have been happy with killing just one of them, as it would keep them from turning Ivan against me, but the dice were kind enough to do away with them all.

Ivan to the rescue!

Knowing I would be taking another pounding in EV's half of the turn and that I needed to do some damage of my own, I popped Irusk's feat and got to trying to shoot my way out of trouble.  I started with the bonejack on the right.  It died in a satisfying manner.

CRAs turn marginal marksmen (WGI) into engines of doom.

Then I tried to do the same to the other bonejack, which didn't work out so well.  The Doomies massacred the MechThralls, though it was a close thing.  The isolated Doomie (partially in frame ont he extreme right) whiffed on his Thrall. which necessitated the Escort spraying it down.  Lucky for the Motherland his aim was better than the frothing-at-the-mouth lunatic.  The Cankerworm was a little too close to Ivan for comfort, but I had faith in his DEF 14 bad self since it would only take a single miss for him to dance to freedom.  I hadn't done as much damage as I wanted, but I would have 4+ Tough in EV's part of the turn, which would (hopefully) help me weather the inevitable poopstorm that is the result of a nasty cater (eGaspy) with a mountain of Focus (double digits = mountain).  The scenario was a non-factor at this stage.  The Doomies were in the zone on one flank and not leaving without some serious encouragement, while the Banes were in the zone on the other flank and not getting into the fight without even more seriouser encouragement.  A fight to the death then.  Or undeath as the case may be.

Khador turn four.

EV started his turn by trying to repeat his bonejack success of the previous turn.  Despite having another handy cluster of Winter Guard to hammer with a template, he only managed to kill a single one.  Of course that single one was the standard bearer which would be unfortunate if I needed to spray the Banes to a second death.  One problem at a time though.

Less destructive than previous templates.

That was about it for EV's turn.  The Cankerworm did charge into Ivan and got a few licks in.  It did a disturbing amount of damage before finally obliging my plans and missing an attack, allowing Ivan to retreat to safety.  The Banes remained parked in the woods.  I guess they were camping or having a picnic or something.  Some clouds appeared, I saw an opening, and that was about it.

Cryx turn four.

Turn 5

Having determined that this game was going to be decided by a caster kill, I set about killing a caster.  I threw everything I had into my bid for victory.  Ivan chipped in, as did Kovnik Joe.  I sent in three pairs of Winter Guard to CRA Gaspy back (again) to the afterlife, yet still the Lich Lord lived.  (Or whatever he does instead of living.  Unliving I guess)  Casting about for more resources, I found that Irusk's gun is ROF 2, so I trundled the man forward to finish the job.  Two shots later (one fully boosted, the other only half boosted) Gaspy still stood.

At this point EV had a realization: he had mistaken a soul token for a Focus counter, so Gaspy had taken more damage than we thought.  He had five boxes left before this realization and had taken either four or five damaging attacks.  Neither of us was sure which it was.  EV was ready to forfeit for what he called cheating (I saw it as a simple mistake.  Cheating requires intent, which would preclude owning up to the mistake).  I was pretty sure it had been four damaging attacks and didn't want to take the game on such an unsatisfying note (for both of us), so I insisted we carry on.  Irusk had taken a small ding from the Withershadow when they stripped Iron Flesh, while Gaspy was on his last box, so I had a chance if EV took his swing and missed as I did.

Khador turn five.

EV surprised me by bringing Gaspy into melee.  While pGaspy is capable (to a point) in melee, thanks largely to Sustained Attack, eGaspy strikes me as less able to swing his weapon.  I'm sticking by that impression after this demonstration.  Gaspy came in with a full load of Focus, plus a bit more for soul(s), and got the job done but by the smallest margin.  It came down to the last attack, bought with the last Focus, and the roll was just enough to finish off Irusk.  I thought the Banes cheered as the noble Khadoran went down, but that may have been the wind.

End.

I hear dice cursed a lot, and do a fair bit of it myself.  The dice have turned on me of late, or at least returned to normalcy.  I blame talking about how hot my dice were while playing Uncharted Seas, when I could roll many 6s in a row.  I'm not blaming the dice now as they were pretty much as expected (or as I imagine mortals expect their dice to behave) and had their ups and downs for both of us.  That said, a brief interlude.

I like sports, which you may have gathered from my occasional foray into hockey talk and the Capitals logo that I use as an avatar.  People who cover sports love to boil an entire game down to a single pitch, play, penalty, or other appropriate moment.  They would have you believe that the whole contest was of little import compared to that one essential part of it, the keystone, the lynchpin around which everything revolves.  A hockey game is an hour long (regulation, no overtime) but the majority of it is irrelevant compared to the power play in the last minute of the game.  Never mind that the team, both teams even, had the bulk of that hour to score goals in.  All that matters, according to some most nearly all a disturbing number of reporters, is that final minute.  How ridiculous is that?

This game hinged on a collection of dice rolls.  Had I done a single extra point of damage in my half of turn five, the following reconstruction of the turn and how many times Gaspy had been hit wouldn't have mattered as I would have, at worst, done exactly enough damage to kill him instead of leaving him alive with a single box.  Had EV done a single less point of damage (that is the most awkward phrase I've ever written) then Irusk probably would have lived and I probably would have finished Gaspy off in the next turn.  Either one of those options would have changed the outcome of the game.

But that's not how things worked out.  I had five turns of opportunity to do that extra point of damage, but it didn't happen.  EV had plenty of chances to roll one less damage, but that didn't happen either.  It's easy to pick out a single part of a larger whole and call it the pivotal moment that decided the whole contest, but that's misleading at best.  This game, like all others, was built up of individual moments, movements, rolls, all building on each other.  None of them are unique and beautiful snowflakes because all of them are unique and beautiful snowflakes.  At the end of the game I came up a point short while EV did as much as required and not a drop more.  Thus the cookie crumbles.

On a more upbeat note, our games have been getting better of late.  The Winter Guard dominated for a long stretch which wasn't good for either of us.  The last couple have been nail-biters though (if you indulge in such filthy habits) and have served to recharge batteries that had, perhaps, begun to flag.  Few things stoke my desire to get back to the table more than a narrow loss, and with EV seeming to settle in to a list that he's satisfied with (and that can give the vaunted Deathstar all it can handle and then some) that's also very effective, I have high hopes for a general elevation of competition.  With reinforcements on the way (though still weeks from arrival), Warmachine stocks are on the rise.

(This post is far too long and it's far too late for a proper editing pass (not that I've had one of those in a while), plus it's a bit sillier than I've skewed of late, so apologies and all that)